Chapter 545: Empress Xalvoria

Sirens shrieked through the shuttle's dashboard console as red warning lights bathed the cabin in a harsh glare. Outside the reinforced viewport, dozens of Jupiter's orbital cruisers tore out of the atmospheric docks. Their engine trails painted aggressive lines across the dark void as they swarmed the colossal draconic dreadnought. They formed a tight blockade, locking their targeting lasers onto the metallic beast.

A local fleet admiral broadcasted his voice across every open frequency, his words echoing through the shuttle's comms. "Unidentified vessel, you have fired upon an anchored ship within Jupiter's sovereign orbital territory. Power down your weapon systems and identify yourselves immediately, or we will open fire."

"Oh… so… they are like the big shots," Xavier said, glancing at Kylus's pale face on the secondary monitor. "Looks like they didn't like Kylus's ship, so they blasted it."

Kylus did not even have the breath to formulate a response. He just stared in pure horror.

The massive jaws of the draconic dreadnought parted. A circular platform forged entirely of solid golden light materialized and descended toward the leading Jupiter cruiser. Two female figures stood upon the glowing construct, completely unaffected by the vacuum of space.

One woman wore an intricate crown forged from dark metal and rubies. Her wavy red hair spilled over a mantle of crimson and gold. She looked down at the surrounding warships like they were nothing more than bothersome insects. A towering female knight entirely encased in obsidian plate armor stood right beside her, resting her gauntleted hands on the hilt of a massive broadsword.

The knight tapped a device on her wrist, bypassing the local comms relays to project her voice directly into the command decks of every surrounding ship. "Lower your weapons. You stand before Empress Xalvoria of the Void Dragon Sovereigns, absolute ruler of the First Pillar."

The local commanders scrambled over their communication lines in sheer panic. The fleet admiral's voice crackled through the speaker again, completely losing his previous bravado. "We require verifiable proof of this lineage before we can stand down our defense grid."

The obsidian knight raised a single gauntleted hand. A massive holographic crest projected across the entire sector. Xavier watched his own shuttle console flash green as the encrypted signature directly linked to the deepest archives of the Federation.

The system recognized the divine authority instantly and overrode the Jupiter fleet's targeting computers, forcing all their weapon systems to power down automatically.

The terrified admiral stammered over the channel. "Empress Xalvoria, we apologize for the hostility. We must ask your exact purpose for traveling so far into the outer systems. Federation jurisdictional protocols mandate we catalog all dreadnought-class vessels entering our borders."

Empress Xalvoria stepped forward to the edge of the light platform. Her eyes blazed with absolute fury as she looked directly at the flagship.

"You dare question my presence in this pathetic dirt pile," Xalvoria stated. Her voice carried no mechanical distortion, yet it rattled the metal hull of Xavier's shuttle. "Under the Ancient Accords of the Galactic Law, my authority supersedes any local governance. I am the highest law on any world I choose to step upon. I must be welcomed by right. If a planet fails to show proper deference, or if its inhabitants displease me in the slightest manner, I possess the absolute legal right to burn the entire world to ash."

She tilted her head, a cruel smirk playing on her lips. "Do not test my patience today. Disperse your fleet before I turn Jupiter into a second sun."

The military cruisers broke their blockade and scattered immediately. They reversed their thrusters and retreated toward the lower atmospheric layers, desperate to get out of her sight.

As the warships cleared the orbital lane, an opulent, gilded transport ship ascended from the capital city's private docks. It approached the golden platform with its sub-light engines completely muted.

The local comms crackled as the King of Jupiter spoke personally from the transport. "Your Divine Majesty, I offer my most frantic apologies for my fleet's insolence. They did not recognize your grandeur. Please, I beg you to grace my royal palace with your divine presence so I may properly host you and make amends."

Xalvoria looked at the gilded transport with undisguised contempt. "Your palace is a slum. Your presence is entirely beneath my notice. Leave me alone."

"Your Majesty, I have prepared a grand banquet," the King pleaded, his voice trembling with desperation. "We have the finest culinary offerings in the sector. Allow me to appease your anger."

The obsidian knight drew her broadsword an inch from its scabbard. The metallic ring echoed through the comms channel. The royal transport immediately engaged its thrusters and fled back toward the safety of the planet without uttering another word.

Xavier leaned against the pilot's seat and watched the display. "She seems friendly."

Xavier leaned closer to the reinforced viewport and watched the golden platform begin to retract into the massive draconic dreadnought. He crossed his arms while keeping his eyes completely fixed on the imposing figure of Empress Xalvoria as she stood beside her obsidian knight.

"I have never seen a hot woman quite like her," Xavier commented casually while watching the dreadnought's massive jaws prepare to lock shut.

Rin slowly turned his head and gave Xavier a highly judgmental side-eye. "I am absolutely going to tell Lyra and Reva that you just said that."

"You are taking my words entirely out of context," Xavier replied without even looking away from the viewport. "Lyra is undeniably cute, and Reva and Angel are incredibly sexy. But that woman floating out there in space is just genuinely hot, and there is a very clear difference between those categories."

Klatos let out a painful groan from the passenger seat as he clutched his bruised ribs and looked at the colossal metallic beast dominating the entire orbital lane. "What exactly should we do right now? Because we are sitting in a very small transport shuttle right next to a ship that could obliterate us entirely by accident."

"We sit right here and we watch," Xavier responded as he walked back to the pilot's chair and relaxed into the seat. "We have absolutely no reason to interfere with a galactic empress or whatever business she has in this sector, and we definitely do not need to attract the attention of a dreadnought that just vaporized Kylus's multi-billion-credit ship in under five seconds."