At five in the afternoon on July 25, 217 of the Star Calendar, the Star Shield and Sun Chaser, which had been patrolling the border, had already been recalled. Lorenze, the head of the Technical Department, was leading his people in carrying out the final inspections before the battle.
Before a war, everything was always especially hectic.
The people from the Logistics Department were rushing all over the fleet, checking and counting the reserves of ammunition and energy supplies in every corner. The people from the Technical Department were equally busy, barely stopping to catch their breath.
The laser cannon turrets needed one last inspection, the missile propulsion systems had to be checked for any possible malfunctions and the propulsion systems of every starship had to be tested to make sure they were running smoothly…
Ye Pei finished an entire pouch of nutritional supplement in two gulps. She couldn’t even taste what flavor it was. With the metal pen still in her hand, she hurriedly scribbled a few words onto the record board before complaining to Mondrian, “Why hasn’t this ‘pit’ in the propulsion system been filled yet?”
After staying in the Technical Department until now, Ye Pei’s greatest realization was this: any tiny problem, once brought onto a battlefield, could potentially cost someone their life.
“There was nothing we could do about it. The Minister said that this ‘pit’ is temporarily beyond his capabilities. Right now, we only have a few clues and we still need to continue researching it.” Mondrian’s black hair had grown slightly long. If it grew another two inches, it would probably cover his single lidded eyes completely.
Ye Pei twirled the metal pen around a few times. “Then I’ll make a note of it anyway. Mondrian, once the fleet sets out, take advantage of the gap in your schedule and go find a hair cutting robot to trim your hair. The way you look right now makes you look exactly like a gloomy teenager!”
Mondrian corrected her, “Gloomy is fine but please add the words ‘genius’ as well.”
Waving the record board in her hand, Ye Pei laughed. “Fine, fine, fine. A gloomy genius teenager. Is that good enough?” Just as she finished speaking, she caught sight of someone approaching from the corner of her eye. “Qi Yan?”
Ye Pei had always felt that Qi Yan possessed a kind of hard to describe quality. He was cool and aloof, like wisps of cold air rising from a crystal clear icicle, elusive and difficult to grasp yet at the same time, he was like the icicle itself, clear and translucent.
In any crowd, he was the kind of person one would notice at a glance.
Qi Yan was wearing the standard issue shirt Lu Fenghan had given him and among the surrounding crowd, it did not look particularly out of place. When he approached, he explained his reason for coming. “Lorenze asked me to come and help.”
Ye Pei immediately made the connection. “Help fill the pit?” When Qi Yan nodded, she instantly moved one step to the side, revealing the optical computer connected to the propulsion system. “Here, here. There’s a small problem. The impact is that when the starship turns to starboard, the steering becomes sluggish by 1.8 seconds. One or two seconds may sound short but when a laser cannon is fired right at you, that’s about all the time you have between life and death.”
After saying that, she couldn’t help sighing. “Back when I was in Turan, being two minutes late didn’t mean anything. Now, we’re actually fighting over one or two seconds.”
The two things were not really related at all but Qi Yan could vaguely sense a different emotion hidden beneath her words.
Mondrian explained from the side, “Ye Pei attended Professor Shu’s classes.”
Qi Yan understood.
Professor Shu was one of the three professors who had been shot and killed by the rebels in front of Turan Academy’s square.
By now, everyone should already know about it.
At the mention of “Professor Shu,” Ye Pei’s eyes reddened slightly and she forced a smile. “I just… really miss Turan. When I was studying there and attending those professors’ classes, I never appreciated them enough. Now I regret it.”
She tried her best to look upward, forcing the tears threatening to spill over back into her eyes. “If I’d known, I should have taken a few more classes. Those professors’ lectures… even if I wanted to listen to them now, I wouldn’t be able to anymore.”
Her voice fell silent and the three of them stopped speaking.
A sour, aching emotion spread through Qi Yan’s heart, like wild grass taking root and spreading unchecked.
He didn’t know what he should say, nor did he know how to comfort her. In the end, all he could say was, “I’ve already entered the propulsion system’s internal program. The section that has the problem is here. I’ll start repairing it now. If there’s anything you don’t understand while you’re watching, ask me. Minister Lorenze can’t spare the time to come over right now. Once the fleet goes into battle and he has some free time, he’ll come and ask you about it himself.”
Ye Pei’s emotions had stabilized considerably but after hearing what Qi Yan said, her back straightened immediately. “Personally? That’s terrifying! I’m already starting to get nervous!” She became a little excited again. “But Qi Yan, you can actually repair this too!”
Qi Yan explained, “Someone else taught me as well.”
The White Tower’s database still retained the original design drafts created by the designer of the propulsion system. Every subsequent modification had also been recorded in detail. When Qi Yan had been designing the starship’s central control system, he had gone through all of those materials once. He could still recall them now, which was why he had been able to think of a repair solution when Lorenze brought up the problem.
In that sense, it was indeed all thanks to the people who had come before them teaching him.
This interruption diluted the atmosphere from before.
Seeing Qi Yan begin his explanation, Ye Pei composed herself and reined in her emotions.
The strength of one person could never stand against a surging tide but she could make sure to do everything that was within her power to accomplish.
This time, Erich once again remained behind with the command ship.
After Lu Fenghan boarded the Star Shield, the command center was transferred to the Star Shield as well.
A virtual star map as tall as the wall slowly rose into view. The first video communication window to pop up belonged to Magelyn. “Commander, the Chanyuan fleet has taken its position!”
After saying that, she spotted Qi Yan sitting not far away. She deliberately raised her eyebrows and narrowed her eyes at him, making an exaggerated expression as she gave two loud, meaningful “tsk, tsk” sounds.
Seeing that Qi Yan was looking through the porthole at the starships assembling outside in formation and had not noticed anything else, Lu Fenghan couldn’t be bothered with Magelyn’s teasing. “Why are you so fast this time?”
“I shouted that the Seventh and Eighth Legions had far more supplies than Donaldo and my people immediately acted as if they’d been starving for half a month. I didn’t even need to crack the whip behind them. Every single one ran faster than rabbits!”
Lu Fenghan raised an eyebrow. “I’m asking why you’re so fast this time.”
Magelyn smoothed down her princess cut hair. “Same answer as before, so I won’t repeat myself.” As she spoke, her eyes narrowed into a pleased smile. “Ah, raiding the rebels’ supplies is just too damn satisfying!”
On a two person fighter, Calvin voiced the exact same sentiment.
Xia Jial was putting on his gloves when he couldn’t help asking, “You also participated in the Mykono Star kidnapping operation last time?”
“That’s right. When I received the commander’s order, I was sitting in a tavern drinking. The liquor on Mykono Star has a flavor you can’t find on any other planet. Once we’re done with this battle, if we get the chance, I’ll take you there?” Seeing the eager look on Xia Jial’s face, Calvin lifted his chin. “You graduated from First Military Academy?”
Xia Jial was surprised. “How did you know?”
“Your First Military Academy has the strictest rules. You’re clearly an adult yet they still strictly prohibit you from drinking.” Calvin stretched out an arm and draped it over Xia Jial’s shoulder. “It’s fine. Once we’ve finished this battle, I’ll take you to taste the most intoxicating liquid in the world!”
Xia Jial was curious but he still had his principles. He held up one finger. “One glass. I’ll only drink one glass!”
“Isn’t being that disciplined exhausting?” Calvin brushed his finger aside. “Got it, got it. I’ll just wait until you’ve finished your first glass and changed your mind!”
The two of them were chatting idly when a voice suddenly sounded from the built in communicator. Their expressions instantly turned serious at the same time and they listened carefully.
A dozen or so seconds later, following the orders they had received, Xia Jial pressed the activation button. Together with Calvin, he piloted the fighter and entered the designated formation.
Calvin looked ahead. “Every time we reach this moment, I get this strange sense of awe. Humans are such ridiculously fragile carbon based organisms yet we can actually rely on these piles of metal shells and energy to fly through dangerous outer space.”
Following his gaze, Xia Jial could see rows upon rows of black and gray fighters arranged neatly ahead of them. To his left, to his right and behind him, there were also fighters lined up in orderly formations.
From his perspective, even a medium sized warship already looked like a mountain. As for the capital ships equipped with high energy particle cannons, they were even more enormous, towering and majestic like entire mountain ranges.
The voice of Duchamp, the captain of the Jiangling, came through the built in communicator. He was explaining the primary mission of the fighter formation and how they were supposed to coordinate with one another. Xia Jial listened carefully and committed every detail to memory.
Once the fleet began moving, Xia Jial summarized the information in his mind. “So the strategy this time is the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind? We’re fighting the Eighth Legion, while the Seventh Legion hiding in the dark is the mantis and the Sun Chaser, Star Shield, Peaceful Ning and their fleets are the oriole, right?”
Calvin was more than happy to chat with Xia Jial. “More or less. It’s just that we don’t know what impressive equipment the commander managed to get his hands on this time. A capital ship this enormous can actually be hidden just like that. Quick, imagine the frozen expressions on those rebel fanatics’ faces when our three hidden capital ships suddenly open fire!”
Xia Jial laughed as well.
Calvin glanced at him, the corners of his mouth still lifted. “That’s more like it. When you’re fighting a war, you have to stay focused but you should also enjoy yourself. Going onto a battlefield is the kind of thing where you might get another chance after this one, or you might not. If you can enjoy yourself for one more second, that’s one second you’ve earned.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the fighter suddenly accelerated. The force threw the two of them back and their breathing stalled for two seconds but thanks to their day after day training, the discomfort quickly faded.
After two short distance jumps, Duchamp’s voice came through the fighter. “The moment you emerge from the jump point, change into a V shaped formation. The engines of the starships behind you have already finished warming up. The moment we get out, we’ll let the rebels have a taste of what it’s like to be blasted into charcoal.”
The two of them answered in unison. “Copy that.”
Seventy seconds later, in the very first second after exiting the jump channel, Xia Jial yanked hard on the control stick. The entire fighter swung its bow around and veered diagonally to the side.
The instant they cleared the passage, missiles connected into a rain of fire and surged toward the rebel forces in a furious barrage.
The brilliant flashes of fire made Xia Jial feel as though he were watching a silent film.
Duchamp’s second order came down. “They’re getting ready to fire too. Brothers, follow up with the second wave. Charge straight at them!”
Duchamp had never known how to write the word “cautious.” His tactics were outrageously aggressive. Whenever he arrived, he simply attacked. The moment he reached the front line, he became a monster of war, every cell in his body trembling with excitement. Because of this, the fleet under his command had long been given a nickname by the rebels: “the Expeditionary Force’s mad dogs.”
Calvin and Xia Jial made full use of the fighter’s characteristics, light, agile and incredibly fast. They targeted the smaller ships that had escaped the missile barrage, continuously employing little tricks such as surprise attacks and feints. Their movements were elusive, almost ghostlike, appearing and disappearing before the enemy could react.
The energy fluctuations caused by the explosions of countless missiles made the hull tremble slightly. Xia Jial’s hands remained completely steady, unaffected in the slightest. His expression was focused, his lips pressed tightly together. When he released the button beneath his thumb, a shell shot out and immediately shattered two small warships in succession.
Calvin let out a whistle. “Captain Xia Jial, that’s some damn good aim!”
Xia Jial was embarrassed by the praise yet there was unmistakable pride in his voice. “I’ve spent eighteen hours every day in the simulation training pod during my break. My shooting skills have improved a lot!”
Just then, an extremely bright light appeared at the edge of his field of vision. Xia Jial focused his eyes and realized that it had come from the capital ship Jiangling behind him. It had fired a high energy particle cannon.
Midway along its trajectory, the arc of light collided head on with an incoming shell from the opposite side. The two forces successfully neutralized each other and an enormous force field erupted in the collision. Countless fragments of starships were violently pushed away.
For a moment, Xia Jial almost seemed to hear the resounding boom of the explosion.
Meanwhile, aboard the Eighth Legion’s capital ship, the commander of the Eighth Legion, whose nickname was One Eye, rested his chin on one hand. “Are you certain Lu Fenghan didn’t go into battle?”
“Yes. From the footage sent back, the Expeditionary Force’s command ship is stationed at the rear. The Star Shield and Sun Chaser were indeed recalled but this time, Lu Fenghan has chosen to remain behind with the command ship. He’s learned to be cautious, of course. Then again, he’s always been cunning and deceitful, so he may also be planning to take advantage of this opportunity to do something else.”
The person reporting continued, “In addition, the footage transmitted by the Clairvoyant confirms that this time, the Expeditionary Force has deployed only three capital ships, the Chanyuan, the Jiangling and the Feilian. There are a relatively large number of non capital ships.”
One Eye had an ordinary looking face but the lines on it were deeply etched. The only unusual feature was his right eye socket, which contained a mechanical eyeball. Whenever it rotated, it produced a faint grinding sound that was somewhat unsettling.
He slowly rubbed the armrest of his chair. “After all, he’s someone who’s died twice. Looks like Lu Fenghan has finally learned to value his life. Don’t you think that’s rather interesting? Two years ago, Lu Fenghan would never have stayed behind at the rear.”
After carefully examining the situation on the battlefield, a mechanical chill gleamed from One Eye’s artificial eye. “Tell Blackjack to circle around to the gap at three o’clock and take a good, hard bite out of them. Once we finish eating up this wave of people, we’ll be in a better position to move on and eat the others. Whatever Lu Fenghan is planning to do, it doesn’t matter.”
“Yes.”
A fleet concealed in the darkness emerged like a ghost. The moment it revealed itself, it headed straight for the gap in the Expeditionary Force’s formation.
However, things did not go as expected.
The moment the vanguard fleet approached, it was struck with pinpoint accuracy by beam after beam of laser fire. The entire fleet was swept clean. They didn’t even have time to send out a warning before becoming nothing more than a gray point of light on the star map.
Only after nearly half the fleet had been lost did someone finally report to the Seventh Legion’s commander, Blackjack. “We have come under heavy attack and suffered enormous losses!” Afraid that Blackjack would punish him, the reporter immediately continued, “The coordinates were exactly as the Eighth Legion commander instructed. There wasn’t even the slightest deviation! He said that position was a defensive gap!”
Blackjack held a skull headed cane in his hand, his expression cold and grim. “Are you trying to tell me that One Eye deliberately tricked me into walking into an ambush, preferably getting me killed so that he could keep all the spoils for himself?”
The reporter had just begun to nod when the tip of the skull headed cane pierced straight through his throat. Blood sprayed out and splattered across the floor.
Blackjack beckoned, ordering someone to dispose of the body, then casually pointed at another person and asked, “Are you certain that when the area was scanned, that position was indeed a defensive gap, with no firepower deployment of this scale present?”
The person he questioned answered nervously, “Y… yes…”
After thinking for several seconds, Blackjack stared at the blood dripping from the tip of his cane. “Tell One Eye that the Expeditionary Force may have invented some new little toy again. Tell him to be careful. He’d better not die before he can even last half an hour.”
Aboard the Star Shield, multicolored points of light covered the star map inside the command room.
Pojun reported the situation. “The Seventh Legion’s vanguard has been wiped out. Their casualty rate has reached eighty three percent.”
Lu Fenghan gave a quiet “Mm.” “Blackjack should have realized by now that there was something wrong with the reconnaissance footage sent back.”
Duchamp was fighting so enthusiastically that he was practically brimming with excitement. “He should have figured it out! As long as One Eye isn’t an idiot, he should be able to tell that the number of ships reported back doesn’t match the level of firepower that actually came crashing down on them at all!
“The information he received contained errors, which caused the defensive forces he initially organized to be ridiculously weak. Two waves of missiles were enough to leave most of them crippled! In order to carve out another opening and reorganize his formation, One Eye had no choice but to expose the coordinates of his capital ship and fire off one hell of a shot but I intercepted it halfway with a high energy particle cannon!”
Magelyn snapped back irritably, “For fuck’s sake, are you done yet? Hurry up and follow me. Let’s go steal One Eye’s home together!”
Lu Fenghan looked at the formation Magelyn had adjusted and said, “Just as we designed beforehand, leave a few gaps for them. Half of them will be real and half of them will be fake. That’s precisely what ‘Mirage’ is for. So what if they discover it? Once they do, they’ll have even less ability to determine which parts of the footage transmitted by the Clairvoyant are real and which parts are fake.”
One Eye’s hand unconsciously rubbed against the armrest.
At that moment, he had the terrifying feeling of being trapped deep inside a dense forest.
“Report! At coordinates II71, the transmitted footage shows four medium sized ships! The actual vessels are four miniature ships! Furthermore, our forces accidentally came under friendly fire at the coordinates and all three of our medium sized ships have sustained damage!”
“Report! At coordinates III9, the transmitted footage shows five small ships. In reality, there are four escort ships. Our forces have already been destroyed!”
“Report, “
“Shut up!”
The mechanical eyeball in One Eye’s right eye socket rotated continuously. His voice sounded like sandpaper scraping across the ground. “Can you determine the actual situation or not?”
“…No.” The reporter swallowed hard. Then, gritting his teeth, he forced himself to finish the sentence. “We cannot determine it!”
At this moment, they were like hunters who had lost their eyes in the middle of a dense forest. They could not even determine whether taking another step forward would cause them to sink into a swamp that would claim their lives.
This kind of tactic was enough to instill fear in anyone!
One Eye’s eyes seemed ready to split with rage. He slammed his palm against the armrest, finally experiencing the maddening sensation of being toyed with at will by the Expeditionary Force. He nearly ground his teeth to pieces. “Tell Blackjack to hurry up and get rid of those bastards!”
Just then, someone shouted, “The Chanyuan! It’s the Chanyuan!”
“The Chanyuan has entered firing range!”
“And the Jiangling!”
One Eye abruptly rose to his feet. “Who was the one who told me that the Chanyuan was more than two hundred and thirty star units away?”
No one answered.
A few seconds later, the entire starship trembled. Someone immediately reported, “We’re under attack! The defensive system has been damaged!”
The moment his words fell, a second and then a third violent tremor struck in rapid succession.
One Eye’s voice became even rougher. “Where’s Blackjack? What the hell is Blackjack doing?”
“The Seventh Legion has been intercepted!”
One Eye leaned forward. A thought flashed through his mind but he couldn’t bring himself to believe it. “Who intercepted him? The Feilian?”
The reporter’s voice trembled. He was so shocked that he even forgot to say the customary “Report.”
“It’s… it’s the Star Shield! And the Sun Chaser!”
His voice became extremely shrill at the end, collapsing into disbelief before he could even finish speaking. “Impossible… impossible! The Star Shield and Sun Chaser clearly never went into battle! From beginning to end, they’ve remained at the Expeditionary Force’s rear base!”
He could even bring up the footage immediately to prove it.
However, there was already no one left who could tell him the correct answer.
Amid a sharp, continuous alarm, an electronic voice sounded: “Warning. The defensive system has failed. Armor layer damaged! Extent of damage…”
With the Jiangling fleet providing cover, the Chanyuan had positioned itself like an artillery platform. Putting on an attitude that practically said, “I’ve got plenty of wealth, so I’ll fire my shells however I damn well please,” it aimed directly at One Eye’s capital ship and bombarded it, one shot after another.
It looked extraordinarily generous but in reality, every time Magelyn pressed the firing button, her heart ached.
She complained over the communication channel, “Is this fucking thing a ten thousand year old turtle shell? Why won’t it break?! I’m, this lady’s heart is about to start hurting from all this!”
Pojun comforted her. “Miss Magelyn, you only need to fire five more shots and the enemy capital ship will be penetrated.”
Magelyn closed one eye, gritted her teeth, pressed the firing button five times and hurriedly stopped.
Any more and her entire fortune would be emptied!
They had to practice thrift and economy!
At the same time, amid the chaos, the capital ship where One Eye was stationed was blasted open. Then, beneath the tightly interwoven web of firepower formed by the fleet, not even a single larger fragment of debris remained.
On the other side of the battlefield, Lu Fenghan controlled the Star Shield. Like a massive black boulder standing immovable in space, it coldly and forcefully blocked the route Blackjack needed to take to provide reinforcements.
In the communication channel, Magelyn was both chatting idly and issuing orders. She had talked so much that her voice had gone hoarse to the point of nearly breaking yet her tone remained extremely excited. “Commander, do you want us to come over and give you some support?”
Lu Fenghan showed no appreciation whatsoever. “Are you coming to support me, or are you planning to drag a whole string of tails behind you and come here to cause trouble for me? Sweep those tails clean first, then come talk to me about supporting me.”
At that moment, Pojun asked, “General, we’ve received a video invitation from the commander of the Seventh Legion. Should we allow the connection?”
Lu Fenghan knew perfectly well that Blackjack was not actually this polite. He had probably been preparing to force his way into the video communication but because Pojun was there, he had failed. Only then had he switched to this seemingly courteous manner of formally requesting entry.
He muted the internal communication channel before giving the order. “One way connection.”
A few seconds later, Blackjack appeared in one corner of the virtual screen.
The turbulence caused by the explosions made the signal somewhat unstable.
Lu Fenghan uttered a single word. “Speak.”
On the screen, Blackjack held his skull headed cane. When he wasn’t speaking, he looked like an ordinary middle aged gentleman but because his face had been injured before, even the slightest expression made him look strangely sinister.
He got straight to the point. “Looks like Commander Lu got his hands on some rather extraordinary little toy. My brainless elder brother One Eye has now died beneath the fire of your cannons.”
Lu Fenghan glanced at Magelyn, who was currently shouting something or other and thought to himself that he hadn’t been the one to blast the man apart. As for being brainless, that part was indeed true.
Blackjack tapped his cane against the floor before continuing. “As it happens, there is an emissary blessed by the light of God’s wisdom aboard my ship. He told me that your little toy reminded him of the ‘White Falcon.'”
Lu Fenghan’s expression suddenly turned icy.
The aura surrounding his entire body changed in an instant, becoming terrifyingly oppressive.
He was like a beast in the jungle whose most vulnerable spot had just been struck, already driven into a state of absolute fury.
Blackjack’s smile became strange as he said softly, “Y is one of the people I most want to kill with my own hands. I’m very curious about him.”
“Commander Lu, give Y my regards.”
✦ ✧ ✦
Vynellia
[Translator]
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← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 50 · I am Pojun.Chapter 51 · Unable to deceive oneselfChapter 52 · Resurrected from the deadChapter 53 · Hello, General!Chapter 54 · My hand is injured.Chapter 55 · Come to my place.Chapter 56 · First VictoryChapter 57 · Self-introductionChapter 58 · Never changedChapter 59 · One reasonChapter 60 · Gentle and restrainedChapter 61 · Only you are allowed.Chapter 62 · To the Souls of the FallenChapter 63 · His reliefChapter 64 · His ambitionChapter 65 · Date TimeChapter 66 Part 1 · Abducting PlanetsChapter 66 Part 2 · Abducting PlanetsChapter 67 · Did not leaveChapter 68 · Perceiving EmotionsChapter 69 · My own effortsChapter 70 · Bright FlameChapter 71 · Dress codeChapter 72 · Take me with you!Chapter 73 · MirageChapter 74 · I’m used to it.