Conquest Earth File

Vell blinked. “Sir? We won.”

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

Thorne didn’t flinch. He had memorized the brief: Three billion human lives lost in the first hour. Another two billion displaced. Ninety-seven percent of military assets vaporized. The numbers had lost their meaning somewhere between the fall of the Atlantic Wall and the surrender of the Pacific Fleet. Vell blinked

He sat down in the command chair, suddenly feeling every one of his fifty years. “Tell them the planet is ours

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.

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

Then he added, so softly only the stars could hear: