671 Race to the third sea (1/2)
A war took years, months even. With how many people the Sunshield's had and how many planets they owned, one would expect a slow demise, not to be wiped out within a couple of weeks. They couldn't comprehend in their heads just how strong the Blades were.
But this event was starting to give the rest of them an idea. For Peter, Logan and Quinn, they had experienced a small part of it first hand.
”Everyone was keeping a close eye on each other, so it seems like not only the big three, which is now down to two, noticed the change.” Sam continued to explain. ”I guess it was impossible for them to keep this a secret.
”However, all the Blades did was exterminate and get rid of all the Shelters and people on the Sunshields Planets, swiftly moving onto the next one. Usually, when one would take over a planet, they would take some of their people in and leave a token army behind. This would deteriorate others from attacking.
”But the Blades did no such thing. Leaving all of the Sunshield planets unclaimed. Since then, rumours had circulated around that Burnie had been defeated by an unknown medium-sized faction. People assumed that the battle was great and that faction now must be heavily injured. So factions that were once under the Sunshield's control, and those not affiliated with anyone have started to come out from the shadows.
”Their goal is to claim these unclaimed Planets.”
”Have the military or the other families made any moves regarding this?” Paul asked. Having worked for the military in a high position himself, Paul could often predict the military's movements, but that was when times were regular. At the moment, it was hectic, and when things got like this, Oscar himself usually liked to move out.
The supreme commander could be very unpredictable.
”The military's movements have been a little strange. They have taken out two large spaceships similar to this one and sent them to the beast planet where the demon tier is meant to be located. It seems like they have no interest in what is happening to the big four, and are allowing people to do what they want without interfering.”
”I've never seen a demon tier weapon before in combat,” Linda said. ”But the supreme commander is already meant to have one, right? Maybe they know it's worth more compared to others and are risking everything on that.”
”These factions that are appearing are there anything we need to worry about?” Quinn asked.
The others started to look at each other for a second before answering, and looking back at Quinn. ”Some of these factions are quite strong. Remember in the past, they tried to form an alliance, and they would have had enough power to rival the big three. However, in their early stages of development, they chose to step on the toes of Pure.”
”And what was with the strange looks you all gave each other before?” Quinn asked. It was so bluntly obvious they didn't even try to hide it.
”Well, while you were away, a faction actually approached us. They are now on the Crows planet, setting up a base themselves. A little away from the land that had already been cleared.”
”What!” Quinn said, placing his hands on the table. ”After everything we did to get that planet, we're now sharing it!”
”Quinn, I know how you feel, trust me.” Blip said. ”More of the Crow's blood was spilt than anyone for that planet. We were the ones that cleared the land that they are safely parking their backsides on. The truth is, the Crow's name never had much weight, to begin with and we are now going under the Cursed name. The second they found out our faction Rank was so low, they were swiftly content on staying here. If we refused, they were happy to fight for it.
”We just got out of fighting with the Sunshields; I didn't want to make everyone go through with fighting another faction so soon. Without you, we didn't want to make any rash moves either.”
The faction Rank also acted as a good deterrent against oncoming attackers. In the past, sharing a planet with many different factions was actually quite common. This would cause the odd dispute here or there, and when one learnt what faction they came from, they could look up their rank. If it was a high one, they would often not try to cause any trouble. This was all until the Civil war. It no longer became about faction Rank but instead about who you were allied with.
However, it looked like with the Sunshields out of the way, this was changing.