High above Remnant, with a groan of tidal forces and gravity waves, a smokey red portal tore itself into existence. The phantasmal energies spawned from the tear caused the space to expand in on itself as the portal grew in size exponentially. Red ethereal lightning lashed itself into the void surrounding the portal, striking at invisible points in space as it tethered itself into reality.
Across the planet and local space, sensors crashed and malfunctioned, computers spit out errors and burned as the portal expanded itself to a size larger than the local star… and then some.
With a roar of subspace stress, a truly gargantuan ship began to translate itself into realspace. Tapered and angular in shape, dozens of afterimages of it were created and shifted as reality was subsumed by the extradimensional forces. A ship larger than entire solar systems finally clawed itself free from the confines of FTL as crimson arcs of electricity larger than whole planets shocked it's hull to no effect. Behind it trailed smaller ships, infinitesimally smaller than the colossal flagship.
As the portal collapsed in on itself, the hundreds of ships formed up around the larger one. Arranging themselves in formation, they approached the local space station as one.
As the monolithic vessel moved through the void, a name could be seen on its side, written in continent-sized lettering.
'EIV-A001-Deliverance'
[x]
"Delphonic sensor sweep in progress My Lord."
"Space within twenty-five light-years of breach point… Clear."
"Space within fifty light-years...Clear."
"Space within one hundred light-years...Clear."
With practiced ease the crew on the bridge continued their call-outs, all the while a man sat in a regal throne overlooking the crew below him and the inky black void in front of him.
John tensed slightly, his eyes widening a fraction as he sensed just how many Gamers had answered the call… there were at least thousands.
John shifted his attention again as the final call out sounded. "All space within five hundred light-years in all directions is clear… no stealthed ships or fleets… no RKVs, no signs of a gamma level or delta level civilizations… nothing but pure void my lord."
He smiled slightly. "Not unexpected, who in their right mind would even try to attack a gathering such as this?"
John turned to face the crewmen responsible for the sensors. "Keep the scans going until we get a clear picture of the local cluster…maximum power. I want to know if a fucking gnat farts in our direction on a planet five galaxies away. Understand?"
The crew who he was addressing all nodded gently and saluted, long used to his minor paranoia for these types of things.
"My Lord, we are being hailed." One of his crew called out.
Honestly a surprise they took so long to actually do something about the solar system-sized starship parked on their metaphorical front lawn.
Not that he couldn't fault them for it, it's not everyday someone strolls to a Gamer baby shower with a ship the size of the Deliverance.
If Faust was with him he probably would have commented on how much of a power move bringing your FIFTY AU long ship to a gathering of Gamers was.
John sighed and got up from his command throne, clasping his hands behind his back as he stared into the sea of stars in front of him.
Hopefully he's down there already… would be nice to have some agreeable company, he idly thought.
"Put it on-screen." John responded, not taking his eyes off his view.
This is gonna be annoying. He mentally sighed as a very angry-looking woman glared at him through the holographic screen.
[x]
After a…very verbal argument over parking and general bemoaning by the station manager, John had finally negotiated docking for the rest of his fleet—besides The Deliverance, for obvious reasons.
Coming aboard the station was a bit of a novel experience—sure, he could have taken a landing corvette down to the castle, but he was sure that his arrival had already stirred up enough trouble. There was no need to anger the hosts even more.
Seriously, seeing a massive ship take up the entire sky even when it's several billion miles away would make most people rightfully antsy.
John resisted the urge to sigh once again. Several Gamers were giving him the stink eye or shooting him glares.
You would think a guy who arrives on a solar system-sized starship, being flanked by two ten-foot-tall behemoths in power armor and is a gamer himself would give these guys some level of common sense.
He smiled.
Speaking of two ten feet tall behemoths…
"Gaius, Titus…" He addressed his two bodyguards. "This is very important… if someone tries to start a fight or kill me, do not fight them."
"But… my emperor it is our sworn duty as wardens too—"
John held up a hand. "No, Gaius. It's more trouble than it's worth, and as much as I want to kill these genuine scumbags, doing so would be…problematic."
Oh, he was definitely going to take out some of the trash once the ceremony was over. He had already counted half a dozen Gamers whose sins would make even being tortured to death for eons seem like insufficient punishment.
But he didn't want to start a fight—not yet at least. The battle could come later.
Wow, that's new. You usually never shy away from a fight, especially to deserving scum. What's changed this time?
Not now, Lilith. This is a unique circumstance that merits caution. I can't just throw it to the wind to kill some fucks no matter how much I want to.