Super Mothership
Earth Defense Force, Virtual Command Room.
“What… what’s going on?” Schneider stared in bewilderment at the sea clan fleet turning away without even looking back.
We’d only just arrived, hadn’t even said a word yet, and… you’re already retreating?
“Maybe these new warships are just that intimidating? If you look closely, that spherical battleship even has a very unusual name — it could well be some secret weapon the Ghost Captain has been hiding!” Yuri speculated.
Indeed, on the radar screen’s green friendly markers, among all the generic “Hou Yi-1,” “Hou Yi-2” and such throwaway codenames… the Sea Wolf certainly stood out as a crane among chickens!
“It seems… the situation in the Proxima system is far better than we imagined…” Lao Hu’s face showed some pleasant surprise.
Originally they’d thought a brutal fight awaited the moment they emerged — who’d have thought they’d actually “scare off” a wave of enemies just like that?
Could it be the Ghost Captain was just as fearsome in the alien systems?
In fact, the Ghost Captain’s audacious plan to lead an expedition into the Proxima system had been seen as reckless not just by the Earth Defense Force, but by military experts around the world, who strongly opposed it.
So this kind of situation was almost inevitable. Although Nie Yun had carried out a war mobilization for this mission as well, many details remained classified, so he never publicly disclosed the full story of the “shadow war” in Proxima.
The identity of Arthas, the Water of Life, the taming of the Immortals, even Gustav’s “defection”… there were simply too many secrets that couldn’t be made public. Nie Yun could hardly come up with a plausible script to explain how things in Proxima had developed to this point — so he didn’t bother trying.
The fog of history always obscures many truths. Let the scholars of the future worry about it…
Though this approach was a little irresponsible, Nie Yun didn’t actually conceal the size of the Twin Stars Expeditionary Corps.
That massive fleet of nearly a hundred warships still weighed heavily on everyone’s minds. Even though Earth’s side had already repelled two attacks, no one believed they had the ability to launch a counterattack into Proxima anytime soon.
And if they failed and suffered heavy losses, even the wormhole defensive line would be in jeopardy.
Faced with such a powerful foe, just holding the wormhole with the home field advantage was already the limit of what most people thought possible.
In their minds, keeping a low profile and developing strength cautiously was the wise course. Yet here was the Ghost Captain, wanting to charge straight into the enemy’s heavily-guarded home base for a reckless strike? Had he lost his mind?
Their earnest, jointly-signed objection was duly submitted — and naturally… rejected.
Not only was it rejected, but the Ghost Captain even named the Earth Defense Force to send three warships to “assist” — and what was more shocking, that “assist” really was meant in the literal sense!
According to the mission briefing, they weren’t required to fight, could even just watch the whole time, and even if they withdrew immediately they bore no responsibility. Throughout the operation, there were no mandatory tasks — the Earth Defense Force had complete freedom of action.
And the pay… was generous!
“Haha! See? I told you — the Ghost Captain wouldn’t do something he wasn’t sure of!” Yuri laughed heartily, feeling like this mission was going to be a windfall.
With this commission fee, they’d soon be able to add another warship to their fleet, and their strength would grow again!
“Don’t jump to conclusions yet — let’s observe the situation in Proxima first,” Lao Hu cautioned. “This mission is risky, but also a rare opportunity. We can gather intelligence on the Proxima system while we’re here.”
“Mm, well said!” the other two nodded in agreement.
The Ghost Captain did provide intelligence — but it didn’t come free, and for some reason information about the Proxima system was ridiculously expensive…
Their warship radars had been at full power collecting astronomical and military data from the moment they came through the wormhole.
The Earth Defense Force fleet was still in its infancy, and had little experience with interstellar warfare. Now they’d stepped into a completely unfamiliar star system.
For them, this was like a fledgling eagle spreading its wings — commanding independently without the Ghost Captain’s intel and support, starting from scratch to accumulate experience. For this fledgling interstellar armed force, it was an exciting challenge.
Thanks to optical and gravitational detection equipment, streams of intelligence poured in before the three of them.
“The Gemini really do have deep strength — just a secondary corps alone can field this many warships. But… what’s with that green friendly marker? It seems… to be approaching us?”
On the radar, a strikingly large green marker was slowly moving toward their position at the wormhole. And behind it, two full red enemy fleets were close on its heels. Even the fleet that had just retreated seemed to have turned around and was charging straight at it.
Being chased and encircled by three enemy fleets — it was impossible not to notice.
“Hiss… with this many forces surrounding it, the enemy must have thrown in almost an entire corps!”
“I think… we might’ve just found the key to this whole battlefield! That friendly force deep behind enemy lines is probably the real reason the Ghost Captain dared to launch his expedition to Proxima!”
The three of them quickly analyzed and came to their own conclusion.
“But… why doesn’t the Ghost Captain’s fleet show any intention of going to help? Even if they just caught up and put some pressure on the intercepting fleet, that would at least provide some support, wouldn’t it?” Yuri wondered aloud.
All three of them were puzzled — but not for long. Soon enough, they realized their concern was completely unnecessary…
Eight hours later, the green friendly force collided head-on with the Gemini’s second intercepting fleet!
Though the distance was too far to receive live visuals from the battlefield, the powerful energy and radiation fluctuations made the ferocity of the fight perfectly clear!
And then — they watched the green friendly marker crash straight into the enemy formation. One by one, the red enemy markers representing their warships rapidly disappeared…
“…What the…”
The three of them were left utterly dumbfounded.
That scene — it was like a bowling ball charging forward, with a dozen fragile pins lined up in front of it. Ping! — and then nothing more…
Far out in the distant starlit void, the Immortal once again left in triumph, leaving behind nothing but devastation.
What had once been a proud and orderly fleet was now reduced to just two or three battered ships — some still spewing thick black smoke, clearly heavily damaged.
“Quick! Put out the fires!”
“Repair crew! Hull breach in sector 23, seal compromised — get over here!”
“…”
On the flagship of the Sea Clan’s Third Squadron, the commander looked down at his crew’s panicked, frantic rescue efforts, tears nearly falling from his eyes.
What heavy damage? What “hollow and weakened”? Lies! It was all lies!
From the way the enemy fought — vigorous and unstoppable — there wasn’t the slightest trace of “injury”!
His own two squadrons couldn’t stop them. With just his remaining forces, how could they possibly stand a chance? But by the time he realized this… it was already far too late to retreat.
“Lady Isabel has led me astray!”
“This was a trap! This is definitely a trap meant to get us killed!”
Once, there had been a warning bought with Lord Gustav’s very life placed right in front of him — but he hadn’t heeded it. Now he regretted it, but it was too late…
Tears welled up in the commander’s eyes as memories of Lord Gustav’s voice and smile when he was alive came rushing back. Grief and shame mingled in his heart…
(Gustav: “…
Who am I?
Where am I?
What did I even do?”)
TL Note- Gustav 007
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