Super Mothership
"They actually surrendered?" Nie Yun stared at the three white light orbs, his expression a little odd.
The opposing captain had reacted with impressive speed—upon seeing the situation deteriorate, he immediately backed down.
Nie Yun's original plan had been to destroy these three escort ships. First, to protect the Longevous One and ensure its “return to the cosmos” went smoothly and unimpeded. Second, to divide and conquer—eliminate part of the Gemini Star forces early to ease the pressure on future operations.
But this situation had deviated slightly from Nie Yun's expectations. The fact that this captain was so perceptive and quick to adapt genuinely caught him off guard.
Still… this wasn’t a bad thing.
He immediately issued surrender terms to the warship:
“Shut down your shields, power down the thrusters, lock the weapons systems, and then… abandon ship—everyone.”
Faced with the flagship’s surrender demands, the escort ship’s captain hesitated for a moment and sent a question to the flagship: Why are you attacking your own allies?
Without an answer to that, he felt he wouldn’t rest in peace even in death.
However, what responded to him was the faint glow of the flagship’s main cannon beginning to charge—clearly, “Gustav” had no intention of answering his question.
This act frightened the captain into immediately and unconditionally complying. He shut down the shields and thrusters, locked the weapon systems, and initiated an emergency abandon-ship protocol.
Ten minutes later, dozens of escape pods, packed with Sea Tribe officers, departed the battlefield. Everyone looked at their slowly receding ship with complicated expressions and dazed eyes.
Suddenly attacked by their own flagship, suddenly ordered to surrender, suddenly told to abandon ship… everything happened so fast, and no one had figured out what was going on.
The next moment, a bright beam of light struck the now-empty escort ship, blasting it into pieces. Then came another volley from the secondary cannons, mercilessly finishing off the already damaged warships!
The Gemini Star survivors in the escape pods went cold with fear. Thank goodness their captain had reacted quickly—otherwise, they too would have become nothing more than cosmic dust like those shattered hulls.
Everyone praised their captain’s wisdom. Yet the captain himself, watching this from the escape pod, was in utter disbelief.
Had his plan been discovered?!
Though he had chosen to surrender under desperate circumstances, it wasn’t because he lacked the will to fight—it was simply the only rational option at the time.
So when he heard the surrender terms, he didn’t entirely comply. Before leaving, he’d acted cautiously, secretly leaving behind a well-equipped marine squad on the ship.
His thinking was simple: the enemy wanted them to abandon ship so they could take it intact and strengthen their own fleet. That hidden squad might be able to launch a surprise attack and retake the ship.
But he hadn’t expected the enemy to destroy the ship without hesitation, even though it had already surrendered!
So then, why did they make them abandon ship first?
Had they seen through his plan? Or had they shown mercy to former comrades by sparing their lives?
The captain stared at the distant Sea Tribe flagship that had caused all of this, falling into deep doubt...
Mercy? Naturally, that was out of the question—Nie Yun had no interest in showing kindness to his enemies.
He had the Sea Tribe officers abandon their ship for a different reason!
After eliminating the only remaining threat to the Longevous One, Nie Yun immediately triggered an alarm on his own warship using the flagship's AI system.
“Woooo~ woooo~”
A shrill and urgent alarm echoed throughout the ship.
Although information had been tightly controlled and the crew inside the flagship didn’t know what had just happened outside, the prolonged communication blackout with the bridge and the restriction of their personal freedom had already made them uneasy.
Now, hearing the highest level of alert being sounded, panic began to spread among the crew.
“Alert! Alert! The ship's self-destruct system has been activated. Countdown begins: 10 minutes…”
“Escape routes have been opened. All personnel are to abandon ship immediately! I repeat—escape routes are open. All personnel, evacuate the ship immediately…”
Everyone was stunned on the spot.
What?! Self-destruct?!
The ship was in perfect condition—not even scratched. Why the hell would it self-destruct now? Was this some kind of joke?
As far as they knew, the only one with the authority to activate the AI’s self-destruct protocol was Lord Gustav. What on earth was he thinking?
“Countdown: 9 minutes remaining…”
The AI's repeated announcement made everyone flinch.
There was no time to question the reason behind this baffling order. For the sake of their own lives, they immediately followed the emergency lights guiding the way toward the nearest escape pods and rushed out as fast as they could.
Before long, a new wave of escape pods filled the skies above Planet Kara, this time in even greater numbers. Their blinking beacons nearly lit up the orbit like a swarm of fireflies.
The distance between the two groups wasn’t far. In fact, two pods even passed one another at close range. The survivors inside peered out their viewports—and saw the exact same look of shock and confusion on each other’s faces.
What… is going on here?
The Gemini Star’s escape pods relied mainly on their initial launch speed to exit the battlefield. While they had decent protection, they had minimal ability to change direction or accelerate.
Nie Yun had deliberately controlled the launch trajectory of this latest batch. Most of the pods would soon be pulled into Kara's gravity well, descending into its atmosphere and deploying parachutes for landing in its vast jungle.
By his calculations, the nearly 1,000 survivors in these pods would be scattered across Kara’s forests, waiting for possible rescue.
But Nie Yun hadn’t spared these Sea Tribe officers out of kindness—he wanted to drive them down to the surface of Kara!
The battle in Kara’s orbit would undoubtedly draw attention from the Gemini Star fleet—especially the Feathered Race stationed on the second planet. Isar would certainly respond.
From here, how things developed would depend on Isar’s decisions. Nie Yun couldn’t predict the outcome. But one thing was certain: Kara, being a stationary, large target, would be caught in the crossfire.
Though Nie Yun had already "packed up and taken away" Kara’s most valuable essence, this planet was one of only two habitable life worlds he had encountered so far. He still wanted to preserve this “empty city” as much as possible.
Even if the Gemini Star eventually retook control of Kara, conducting a rescue mission for so many people would be no easy or quick task.
And that meant… if “destroying Kara” ever became an option for the enemy, they would now have to think twice.
These survivors… were a temporary “talisman” Nie Yun had left behind to protect Kara—limited in time, but effective.
The sniper threat above the Longevous One had now been cleared by Nie Yun. Ahead lay the vast ocean of stars. As long as it overcame Kara’s gravitational pull, it would be like a dragon plunging into the sea, never again bound by this little planet.
At the same time, Kara Civilization would finally shed the shadow of destruction cast by the Gemini Star over its skies—free at last to roam the sea of stars!
With its powerful thrusters at full capacity, the massive body of the Longevous One slowly began rising along a curved trajectory.
Behind it, the Sea Tribe’s flagship—now having openly declared its rebellion through battle—fired a straight tractor beam, once again assisting the Longevous One in its ascent.
120 kilometers… 150… 200 kilometers…
According to Newton's law of universal gravitation, gravitational force is inversely proportional to the square of the distance.
The roots of the Longevous One began to detach from the ground, one by one. And with every meter of altitude gained, Kara’s grip on it weakened.
Once it passed a certain critical threshold, the Longevous One officially became a satellite of Kara!
The first step of the “Save the Longevous Tree” plan had been successfully completed, and Nie Yun now had a powerful orbital fortress in the neighboring star system!
With the “defected” Sea Tribe flagship by his side, Nie Yun’s strength in Kara’s orbit had become formidable.
The tide of battle was beginning to tilt dramatically—in Nie Yun’s favor.
TL Note- Table Turner....
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