The sudden appearance of an unfamiliar fleet left both the Kree Empire and the Ravagers confused.

After launching their first attack, the newcomers sent a warning to both sides:

"All warships must stop resisting. Shut down your engines and wait for our troops to board. Otherwise, you will be treated as enemies and killed!"

"Damn it! Can we find out who they are?" the Kree fleet commander shouted angrily. What was happening to the universe? How could any random force show up and act like they ruled the empire?

"Sorry, sir. Our system couldn't find any data on this fleet. We believe they might be a new power from an unknown part of the universe," his officer quickly reported.

Hearing this, the commander's face turned serious.

Even though the Kree, the Shi'ar, and the Skrulls were known as the three biggest empires in the universe, that title only really applied to the area centered around the Milky Way and the Andromeda galaxy, which is about ten million light-years across.

Scientists called this area the "Local Group."

That's just a small part of the observable universe, not to mention the entire universe itself.

While there are many civilizations in the Local Group, it's also a known fact that many stronger civilizations exist beyond this area.

Due to limitations in space travel technology in the Marvel Universe, these distant civilizations are simply too far away. Communicating with them is difficult, so they aren't usually counted among the known star systems.

If this fleet really came from beyond the Local Group, they had to take it seriously.

No one knew whether this fleet belonged to a civilization stronger than the Kree or Shi'ar in their own region.

And they didn't know whether the fleet in front of them was that civilization's main force—or just an exploration team.

If it was the main force, maybe it was manageable. But if it was only a scout team, things could get really bad.

"Sir, what should we do?" one of his men asked.

"Tell them we surrender, but only if they promise our safety and protect us from those Ravagers," the Kree commander replied after thinking for a few minutes. His eyes narrowed as he made up his mind.

"Sir?" His officer was shocked.

In the Kree Empire, surrendering was a huge crime!

"What are you panicking for?" the commander scolded. "While we tell them we're surrendering, quietly inform all empire personnel to move to the remaining escort ships and prepare to retreat. As for those two cargo ships, we'll just leave them."

He knew very well that surrendering was not allowed—but retreating wasn't a crime.

If he surrendered and got caught by Ronan someday, he might not survive.

But losing the cargo? That would only get him scolded or demoted at most.

He clearly understood which option was less risky.

But even the retreat plan needed the Ravagers to play along.

The cargo ships were too slow, and one of them was damaged, which made escape impossible. The escort ships, however, were fast.

They weren't far from the jump point, though some Ravager ships were blocking the way. Still, if the Ravagers and the unknown fleet started fighting, it wouldn't be too hard to escape this area safely—after all, the Kree warships were the fastest in the known universe, second only to the Shi'ar Empire, and could reach near-light speeds.

The Kree commander believed that the Ravagers wouldn't give up their prize just because of a warning from the new fleet.

To be fair, the Kree commander had a sharp mind. He judged the Ravagers' mindset perfectly.

While he publicly announced surrender and quietly moved his people to the escort ships, the Ravagers made their move.

"Brothers, I need you to hold off that fleet for just a few minutes...only a few minutes!" said Lyan, the Ravager leader behind this operation, broadcasting to the other captains.

The Ravagers were never truly united. Of the more than a thousand warships here, fewer than a hundred were actually under Lyan's command. The rest came from over a dozen different Ravager groups.

Lyan had pulled this whole operation together at the last minute using the strong reputation he had built over decades among the Ravagers.

So expecting them to risk their lives against a powerful unknown fleet was unrealistic.

All he could do was ask the other leaders to buy him a bit of time—enough to get into those two cargo ships and rescue the person he was looking for.

"Hahaha, Lyan, what nonsense are you saying? They're just nobodies who don't even dare say who they are. Don't worry. Go do what you need to do. I could hold them for hours, let alone minutes! The real question is whether the other cowards have the guts to help!" came a loud, bold voice over the channel less than a minute later.

"Hey, you big idiot, who are you calling a coward? Don't worry, Lyan. With us here, no one's getting past!" said another voice right after.

Soon, all the other Ravager leaders began to show their support.

"Thanks, everyone! In that case, let's move!" Lyan said, clearly moved by their support.

He immediately split his fleet into two groups and sent them toward the two Kree cargo ships. He didn't know which ship held the person he wanted, so he had no choice but to divide his forces.

As he made his move, the rest of the Ravagers pushed their engines to full power and charged toward the unknown fleet.

Seeing this, the Kree commander panicked and quickly ordered his men to speed up the evacuation.

"General, it looks like the Ravagers aren't planning to surrender," a tall human officer reported to the slender figure seated in the captain's chair of the unknown fleet's flagship.

"They're just ignorant pirates. Then let's show them what real fear looks like. All units, fire a full volley! Then launch all fighter squadrons… Want to compete in numbers? Heh!" the figure laughed coldly and gave the order.

As the lights lit up her face, it became clear that it was none other than Vereesa Windrunner, the Supreme Commander of the Ouroboros First Ranger Fleet.

But now, even her two older sisters might not recognize her.

Though her body hadn't changed much from the time she was just a young elf not even a full ranger yet, the dark gray starfleet officer uniform she wore now and the commanding presence she gave off showed she had become someone completely different.

Even their eldest sister, Alleria, didn't have this much power.

The high elf kingdom always struggled with numbers; even as Ranger-General, Alleria commanded only a few thousand.

But Vereesa's First Ranger Fleet?

Thirty-six starships.

Tens of thousands of human soldiers.

Hundreds of thousands of support droids.

She rose from a skilled officer to fleet commander in just a few years, not because Josh favored an elf from another world, but because she truly had talent.

You can't build a star fleet by piling up ships.

As the old saying goes: one year to make an army, ten for an air force, a hundred for a navy. A fleet—whether in space or at sea—is huge and complex, and its leaders must be exceptional.

Josh didn't start from zero.

Although Anakin was still only a Jedi apprentice and couldn't supply ready officers, he could share knowledge—and fleet command is a core Jedi subject.

A Jedi's strength isn't just in combat skill; their vast knowledge is also a major weapon.

From fixing ship parts to directing whole fleets, a trained Jedi knows everything, differing only in the depth of their skill.

So Anakin provided full Republic fleet-command courses and holo-sim trainers. Using these, the Ouroboros group ran open training and built its fleet.

Vereesa stunned everyone: perfect scores in every command class, undefeated in all games. That was her record.

Second place went to Thalorien, who, like in Azeroth's timeline as Kael'thas's chief engineer, cared more about research—especially merging magic and tech—and is now Josh's top scientist in truth as well as title.

The other elves lacked command talent and remained in their previous roles, never joining the fleet.

At Vereesa's order, more than a hundred warships flared with brilliant light—light that meant death.

These were turbolasers, the main heavy guns for every large Star Wars warship, including the Death Star; only their power levels differed.

The earlier shot that destroyed a Kree escort ship and over a dozen raider vessels came from the main cannon of Vereesa's flagship.

But clearly, the raiders knew how powerful a fleet's main gun was. As they charged, they spread out widely to avoid concentrated fire.

So even though the Ranger Fleet's 30+ warships fired over 100 turbolasers, the results weren't as stunning as that first blast—about half the shots missed, with only around 50 enemy ships destroyed.

Still, Vereesa had expected that.

After all, turbolasers were meant for large targets. Using them against nimble pirate ships was like swatting mosquitoes with a hammer.

And those pirates?

They were veterans of space combat.

The Ranger Fleet's gunners?

They were fresh troops with only simulator experience.

So a 50% hit rate was actually impressive.

But now came the real fight.

As the hatches on the undersides of the starships opened, squadrons of starfighters poured out—roughly the same size as the raiders' vessels—until the space before the fleet was packed with over 2,000 ships.

Each starship in the fleet carried six squadrons (72 fighters), with Vereesa's flagship boasting a full 120 fighters.

The Ranger Fleet didn't just outnumber the raiders.

They outclassed them.

Their fighters were none other than Z-95 Headhunters, the standard model of the Galactic Republic in the Star Wars universe and the direct predecessor of the X-wing.

Before the rise of the X-Wing or the Empire's TIE fighters, the Z-95 had been the most widespread starfighter in the galaxy, known for excellent performance both in space and atmosphere.

Its only real flaw?

It had no hyperdrive.

Which made it obsolete in Star Wars' later eras—but in the Marvel universe, where FTL travel relied on wormholes, that didn't matter.

In terms of speed and maneuverability, these ships were top-tier.

The raiders, on the other hand, flew clunky cobbled-together junk.

It was like fifth-generation jets versus biplanes.

It was fathers beating their sons.

Even though the Ranger Fleet's pilots were new to space combat, the battle was one-sided.

That said, these weren't green recruits—they were World War II veteran pilots.

The war wasn't that long ago, and after joining Ouroboros, these "old trees" bloomed again in a new era.

One attack, and the raider fleet was more than halved.

The rest panicked, abandoning their brave words and fleeing in disarray.

But it was no use.

Outgunned and outmatched by the Z-95s, their escape was hopeless.

And as all this unfolded, Lyan Ogde and his team had just boarded the two Kree ships…Not only had they failed to rescue their target—they'd walked right into a trap.

--

Join Patreon to read ahead!