Conquest Earth -

Vell blinked. “Sir? We won.”

“God help us for what comes next.”

“Conquest,” he whispered to himself, tasting the word like ash. “We wanted to conquer Earth.” Conquest Earth

“Signal Fleet Command,” he said at last. “Tell them the planet is ours.” Vell blinked

Thorne had seen alien armadas, supernovas, the death of stars. But that look—not fear, not surrender, but a quiet, burning promise—chilled him more than any weapon. ” he whispered to himself

He turned from the viewport. His face was carved from the same stone as the war memorials back on Mars. “Did we?”