Super Mothership
“What exactly is happening?” Isabel muttered with a grave expression, frowning as she looked at the star map and battle report in front of her.
Ever since Earth’s forces charged into the wormhole and launched a surprise attack, the Avian fleet stationed at the Second Planet's spaceport had already become aware of the situation.
Although the intensity of the battle seemed to exceed Isabel's expectations, the roles of both sides were clearly defined. The Sea Clan was originally responsible for defending the wormhole war zone and had the home-field advantage. Therefore, Isabel hadn’t planned to intervene in the battle and chose instead to observe the situation with cautious surprise.
The two Avian sub-fleets under her command were primarily tasked with guarding their largest logistics base—the Second Planet—and were not to be deployed lightly.
However, things started to spiral beyond expectations.
First, the Sea Clan's defensive fleet in the wormhole battlefield began suffering defeats, despite having the geographical upper hand. They lost ships and personnel, and the battlefield was slowly being pushed inward into the nearby star system.
From the battle footage, it was clear that the wormhole had been lost—there was no doubt about it.
A strong hand had been played terribly, and to be honest, Isabel was a bit stunned.
Could this be Gustav’s overconfidence? Letting the enemy in completely before counterattacking?
Soon enough, the Sea Clan's blockade fleet stationed at Kara Star was indeed pulled out to reinforce the wormhole war zone. Gustav’s flagship and escort fleet, however, remained in orbit around Kara Star.
Isabel thought for a moment and understood that Gustav intended to use overwhelming force to annihilate the invading fleet that had entered the neighboring star system.
Given the limited capacity of the Solar System's wormhole, even if the enemy had sufficient forces, they couldn’t send too many into the neighboring star system. Forget a full pioneering legion—even if it was only a Sea Clan legion, once their forces combined, it would be enough to wipe out the invaders entirely.
What made the Unity of All Things so troublesome wasn’t their absolute strength, but the fact that they either hid in the shadows or remained within the Solar System, never giving the Twin Stars a chance for a direct confrontation.
If such a fair, head-on clash were possible, Isabel herself would likely adopt the same "lure the enemy deep" tactic, to probe the true strength of the Unity of All Things as much as possible.
Though surprised that Gustav was, for once, using his brain tactically, Isabel found no real issue with his strategy—aside from thinking Kara Star was now a bit under-defended.
Since Gustav hadn't asked her to send troops, it meant the Sea Clan still had the situation under control. Isabel was happy to stay uninvolved and had no interest in jumping into this mess—much less volunteering for battle.
She merely ordered her fleet to activate all observation systems, closely monitor the battle developments, and collect intelligence on the Unity of All Things’ warships and weapon systems—hoping to extract as much data as possible from this battle.
And indeed, the findings were significant.
The enemy had deployed the most of one unit in particular: the blue-painted “Sword Immortal” mechs.
While these mechs weren’t nearly as strong as the Sea Clan’s Sea Storm-class, their numbers—over 2,000—clearly indicated that they were mass-produced.
As a standard unit, their combat performance already surpassed that of her side’s Wanderer-class mechs, and the battlefield kill ratio had even exceeded 2:1.
It was precisely because of these high-performance enemy mechs that, despite the Sea Clan having more ship-based weapons and fire support from rear fleets, the two sides were fighting evenly. In terms of losses, the Twin Stars had suffered even more.
And as for the enemy escort ship that charged first into the neighboring star system—it left Isabel even more shocked.
That “Houyi-class” escort ship had always acted like a gatekeeper at the wormhole exit, under constant protection from numerous mechs.
Moreover, after the initial engagement, the Sea Clan's wormhole defense fleet decisively adopted a "lure the enemy deep" tactic, gradually retreating beyond the enemy’s firing range. As a result, no Twin Stars unit had ever tested the true combat capabilities of that ship.
This lack of combat data meant Isabel had no way to accurately assess its full capabilities.
But just its main cannon alone was enough to move her.
When assessing the combat strength of an interstellar civilization, the key is the warship’s performance. And evaluating a space battleship’s power isn’t that different from traditional naval warfare:
Cruising speed, armor defense, firepower output, and anti-air capabilities—these are still the core indicators.
Although she lacked enough data to assess the ship’s other specs, in terms of firepower output—its range and destructive power—probably only her side’s two flagships could match it.
As for its firing speed… even Isabel herself was astonished. She couldn’t quite understand what she was seeing.
When comparing the tonnage of warships, the technological gap between both sides was instantly apparent.
At least in terms of shipborne artillery, the enemy’s tech tree had likely climbed even higher than that of the Twin Stars!
This realization made Isabel even more wary of the Unity of All Things. Besides the Twin Stars civilization, they clearly had access to additional sources of technology—and this claim might actually be true!
Could it be that they had received technological support from the Ant Empire?
While Isabel adjusted her assessment of the Unity of All Things' capabilities upward, there was something she couldn’t understand… the enemy’s deployed units seemed far too singular.
Mechs—these units were certainly powerful in battle, and once deployed in great numbers, they could even pose a threat to warships through concentrated assault.
However, at the end of the day, mechs were shipborne weapons. Their combat radius and endurance were inherently limited. Yet the enemy had allocated their limited wormhole transport slots entirely to mechs, as if planning to sweep away the Sea Clan fleet in one overwhelming wave.
But relying on just one escort ship clearly wasn't enough to house and support such a massive mech army. If the Sea Clan fleet were to retreat, what then—was the mech army going to chase them on foot?
Isabel thought it through carefully. The only logical explanation was… the enemy never planned to penetrate deep into the neighboring star system!
Was their real goal simply to seize control of the wormhole?
And just as Isabel was struggling to understand, she suddenly received an encrypted message from Kara Star!
One look at the message left her surprised: “Central Direct Alpha Special Ops Team?”
The identity was verified through the military system—no chance of forgery—and the message came with a military-issued mission order, requesting that the Pioneer Legion in the neighboring star system provide full support to this Special Ops team.
The military’s secrecy in this matter was enough to startle Isabel. But she quickly dismissed that concern, because the message also included something far more important: a classified intelligence report.
When Isabel opened the report and saw the recorded footage of the massive biological fortress hidden in the underground magma lake, she was instantly shocked!
The Karans had built a super fortress right under their noses? What were they trying to do?!
But what came next was even more shocking—the fortress erupted directly out of the volcano and began growing taller and taller, like a tower reaching the heavens…
In fact, after escaping with his life, the Alpha Squad’s captain had sent the intel in duplicate—one to each of the two commanders of the Pioneer Legion. But the one sent to Gustav had, unsurprisingly, disappeared without a trace.
Isabel, experienced and with sharp battlefield instincts, immediately realized the implication: the enemy's simultaneous military actions in both the wormhole and Kara Star must be linked!
Most likely, the surprise attack at the wormhole was actually a distraction—to cover for the emergence of the giant biological fortress on Kara Star!
The enemy’s true objective might have been to pull the blockade fleet away from Kara Star—and hidden within that fortress… could very well be the cosmic artifact of the Karan civilization!
These people… there’s no way they would obediently hand over such a valuable treasure. They must be planning to keep it for themselves!
If that’s the case, then indeed—the blockade fleet around Kara Star now seemed dangerously thin.
If the enemy truly had the means to launch that fortress into space under the nose of Gustav’s fleet, not only would the cosmic artifact slip from their grasp, but they might also see the birth of a military force powerful enough to challenge Twin Star supremacy—right within their own system!
Wait—if that’s true, then that mech army...
Could it be… they were meant to be the onboard weapons of that giant fortress?!
Yes! That had to be it. It was the only explanation for the enemy’s otherwise bizarre behavior.
The mech army had mobility but lacked sustainability, and the space fortress had overwhelming attack and defense but lacked agility. Separately, they were threats—but not enough to stand alone against a Twin Star fleet.
But together?
A fortress bristling with heavy cannons, supported by thousands of mechs—that would be a fully weaponized mega mothership! Its combat power wouldn’t be a mere 1 + 1 = 2—it’d be exponentially greater.
Even with the Avian fleet included, taking down such a juggernaut would cost Twin Stars a devastating price.
No… this has to be stopped!
But just as Isabel was about to send a communication to Gustav, urging an immediate strike against the enemy’s biological fortress—battle suddenly erupted in high orbit above Kara Star!
As the blue light indicators on Isabel’s virtual display screen—representing the Sea Clan fleet—dropped from four to three, then two, and finally only a lone flagship remained…
Even Isabel, seasoned and unshakable, was completely stunned.
"Pig Teammates…” she thought bitterly. “This is exactly what that means, isn’t it?”
TL Note- Useless Allies......
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