Super Mothership
Bridge of the Sea Tribe's Flagship.
“Lord Gustav, the propulsion system of our ship has been fully repaired!” the adjutant reported to Gustav, seated at the central command seat.
After several days of emergency repairs, Gustav’s flagship had finally recovered from the previous “rear-end” collision incident.
“Good! Have the flagship rejoin the combat formation as planned. Also, how’s the internal virus cleanup progressing?”
Due to the fleet’s internal communication network being shut down recently, the entire command system had been heavily impacted. If the Electronic Warfare Division still couldn’t get rid of the internal virus issue, Gustav—whose temper was already close to erupting—would definitely explode.
“Reporting, sir! We’ve developed a targeted patch that has effectively blocked the virus from spreading further. Although some remnants of the virus remain, they pose little threat now,” a technician on the bridge responded.
Without enemy activation or control, even the most adaptive virus was just a rootless threat—its elimination was only a matter of time.
“Good! Well done,” Gustav’s expression softened slightly.
“Then… have we found the origin of the virus?” he asked again.
“Um… we’ve figured out how the virus spreads, and we’re now fine-tuning a specialized backtrace program. Progress is rapid, and we believe we’ll soon…” the technician’s words were abruptly cut off by Gustav’s sharp voice.
“I don’t want to hear ‘soon.’ I want concrete results! Do you understand what ‘results’ mean?” Gustav snapped impatiently.
“Yes! Yes, give us two hours… no! One hour! We’ll launch the backtrace program within an hour and attempt to pinpoint the target!” the technician stammered, wiping sweat from his brow.
“Good! I’ll wait here for one hour. I’ll grant you the highest command-level access to the AI system. Whoever it is—find them!” Gustav narrowed his eyes.
Let’s see if this time… they could catch that spy by the tail…
One hour later.
“Lord Gustav, the backtrace program is ready! We’re set to begin!” the technician said excitedly.
“Excellent! Begin! I want to see exactly who is behind this!” Gustav looked expectant.
As the backtrace program activated, lines of data began flashing rapidly across the central screen on the bridge.
Every time the virus moved from terminal A to terminal B, the AI logged the data transfer. As long as the virus’s basic signature was known, they could trace it through those logs.
From there, it was simple: follow the timestamps backward to trace the virus to its source.
Names of infected devices flew across the screen like a river. Occasionally, photos of military officers would appear—signifying that their personal terminals had also been infected.
The technician’s fingers flew across the controls, his expression growing more exhilarated by the second—the backtrace was clearly working.
“Found it! Hahaha! Finally found it!” the technician suddenly slapped the desk and stood up in excitement.
“Sir! We found them! We’ve located the source of the virus! Haha—uh?”
Halfway through his triumphant exclamation, something felt wrong. The bridge had gone completely silent. His laughter abruptly died.
What’s going on?
He looked around and saw everyone staring wide-eyed at the screen. Gustav’s expression was particularly... complex.
Puzzled, he looked at the screen—and froze.
It was Gustav’s ID photo. Not particularly flattering, though it projected authority. But in this context, surrounded by the bridge crew’s eyes—it was a picture soaked in black humor.
Yet… no one could bring themselves to laugh…
If the source of the virus was Gustav’s personal terminal, then…
No one dared to fully consider that terrifying possibility.
“This is what you call the virus source?” Gustav growled, enunciating every word through clenched teeth. His face alternated between red and pale, veins bulging on his forehead.
Beyond the humiliation of being made a fool of, a deep, inexplicable sense of danger was welling up inside him.
It felt as if a conspiracy… was closing in around him…
“S-sorry, sir! There must be some kind of error. I’ll recheck the backtrace program—something must’ve gone wrong!” the technician stammered, cold sweat pouring down his face.
They were supposed to uncover the spy who released the virus—yet somehow the trace pointed to their own top commander. This kind of mistake could cost lives!
Judging by the look on Gustav’s face, he might already be considering taking his.
Everyone on the bridge wore strange expressions, but no one actually believed Gustav was that elusive, ghost-like spy from the “Unity of All” cult.
It had to be that the virus was programmed in advance to frame someone, or maybe Gustav’s personal terminal had been tampered with. After all, Gustav was the leader of the entire Aquarian military force.
If even their supreme commander had turned traitor, then things would be… far beyond disastrous.
No—no way! Everyone was internally resisting that horrifying conclusion.
Then, as if on cue, they all turned their eyes toward the technician—waiting for him to offer a reasonable explanation.
But despite sweating profusely and working at his terminal for quite a while, the more he investigated, the more uneasy his expression became. He even glanced at Gustav now and then with increasingly disturbed eyes.
Holy crap! There’s nothing wrong with the data! It all checks out too well!
Not only was there no evidence of error, but even more damning evidence had started showing up!
Not only had the virus infiltrated the fleet through Gustav’s personal terminal, but according to the operation logs, it had actually been written on that terminal—live!
Who could possibly have spent hours writing virus code on someone’s personal terminal right under their nose?
No one—except the person themselves. Damn it!
Everyone on the bridge was no fool. From the technician’s expression alone, they understood the outcome of the diagnostics. Several of them began exchanging uncertain glances.
Could it be… was their own commander really the culprit?
What were they supposed to do now? Suspend him and investigate? But the problem was—no one present had the authority to do that!
Should they escalate and report this to higher command?
Damn it, there was nothing about this in the emergency protocols!
Facing the strange and wary gazes of everyone around him, Gustav finally snapped.
“Speak! What are your findings?” His voice was hoarse and low, clearly teetering on the edge of an explosion.
“Th-this…” The technician stammered, unable to get a coherent sentence out.
Even someone with zero emotional intelligence would understand—one wrong word, and this could spark a full-blown military mutiny!
So… should he just chalk it up to a technical error? Laugh it off and try to move past it?
But what if Gustav was really a spy? Then he’d be the one responsible for letting the traitor go—and that would make him the villain of the entire legion!
What was the right choice?
What kind of galactic joke was this? A decision with this kind of weight shouldn’t fall on the shoulders of some nameless, background tech guy!
He wanted to say nothing—but with all eyes locked on him, the message was painfully clear:
You have no right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used as evidence…
Just as the poor technician was on the verge of a stress-induced heart attack from this impossible situation, a comms officer suddenly broke the eerie tension on the bridge.
“Report! Invasion detected at the Solar System wormhole! It’s the Unity of All fleet!”
What?! The Solar System wormhole?
Gustav shot to his feet, eyes wide with disbelief.
The Unity of All was trying to breach their wormhole defense line? How could that be possible?
They had, at most, four or five warships. With the advantage of the wormhole terrain, they might be able to hold off the Gemini fleet on defense, but to launch an attack with that kind of firepower?
Were they insane?
...
Solar System Wormhole Zone.
Countless Earth military drones surged out of the wormhole, charging through the dense barrage of firepower from the Gemini defenses toward enemy lines.
The sky was lit up with beams and dazzling explosions—turning this section of space into a brilliant battlefield.
For the first time, Earth’s civilization sounded the call of offensive war—against the powerful Gemini system…
TL Note- Counteroffensive?
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