Super Mothership
“Ordered to rush to this coordinate and lie low on standby?” Captain Emilia of the Fallen Angel stared at the command in her hand in surprise.
“Yes. The message just came back from Lord Arthas. It seems that… he’s made some progress within the pirate ranks and obtained a relatively safe hidden location from them.
It’s a backup base the pirates prepared as a fallback in case they were hunted down. In terms of security, it should be reliable,” Catherine said, her expression somewhat strange.
“What?” This time, Emilia was genuinely shocked.
How long had it even been? And the pirates had already handed over their backup hiding place?
Did he chop off the chicken’s head to scare the monkeys? Even counting everything, had it been a full 24 hours? Even the Oath of the Peach Garden hadn’t been sworn that fast.
“And… if everything goes smoothly, we should also be able to obtain some supplies from there…”
“Uh…”
So even logistics were taken care of?
Their commander… had he maxed out his Diplomacy skill?!
“Are you sure this isn’t another trap? Could it be that Lord Arthas…” Emilia frowned, hesitating after a moment of thought.
Although the encrypted communication codes confirmed it was sent by him, who knew what methods these aliens might have?
If the commander couldn’t withstand torture or interrogation…
“I understand what you mean. But besides this message, Lord Arthas also attached a set of materials. You should take a look,” Catherine said, her expression growing even more peculiar.
“Materials?” Emilia opened her personal terminal in confusion and accessed the file Catherine had just sent.
“This is…” Emilia’s eyes gradually widened.
…
Two hours later, at the edge of the wormhole boundary zone.
“Beep beep! Intelligence received. Orders confirmed. Returning immediately!”
A shimmer of light and shadow rippled through the void as a stealth device roughly three meters in size appeared, ignited its engines, and plunged straight into the nearby wormhole.
Although the wormhole on the Wolf Civilization’s side was controlled by the Jinlok faction, the sheer size of the wormhole made it extremely easy to place one or two signal-receiving devices.
Using this method, the Gemini Civilization maintained contact with its two special task fleets operating deep behind enemy lines.
Soon, the intelligence was laid out on the desks of General Girard and the assembled officers.
“Hiss—”
The sound of sharp inhalations echoed throughout the conference room.
Girard frowned deeply, his expression dark as he stared at the documents in his hands. The further he read, the more violently his emotions churned.
The intelligence wasn’t particularly detailed. To avoid arousing suspicion, Nie Yun had only sketched a rough outline of the enemy power distribution on the other side of the wormhole, along with some basic information about Jinlok.
Yet with only a few thousand words, it had already revealed the tip of the iceberg of a vast empire.
“Outrageous nonsense! The ones fighting us are nothing more than a subsidiary force of a local warlord? This is utterly absurd! False military reporting! This is false military reporting! General, I demand the immediate and severe punishment of this maliciously negligent officer!”
An officer in the conference room slammed the table, shouting—whether out of rage or fear was hard to tell.
And the “malicious” officer he referred to was naturally the one who had submitted the report: “Arthas.”
Isabel frowned. Although she didn’t believe Arthas would joke about something so serious, the intelligence itself was simply too hard to accept, so she didn’t speak up immediately.
Everyone present looked grim. They would rather believe this was fabricated intelligence.
Because no one wanted to believe that the enemy who had pushed them into such a bitter struggle wasn’t even part of the opponent’s regular forces.
“Enough! Calm down, everyone!” Girard’s voice was steady, but the slight tremor in his fingers betrayed the turmoil in his heart.
“This intelligence was brought back from behind enemy lines by our soldiers at great risk. The possibility of it being false is extremely low. Moreover, whether it’s genuine or not will become clear once our other task fleet sends back its report!”
The commander’s composure temporarily suppressed the fear and unease in everyone’s hearts. The officer who had been shouting also realized his words had been inappropriate.
“My apologies. I lost my composure just now. It’s not that I distrust Lord Arthas—it’s just that the forward task fleet hasn’t been gone for long. To receive news so quickly… it could be fake intelligence deliberately spread by the enemy to disrupt our morale.”
“No need to dwell on it. Your concerns aren’t unreasonable,” Girard said with a soft sigh. “But if this intelligence is real, then this time… the Gemini Civilization may truly be facing a matter of life and death.”
Everyone fell silent. If this topic continued, it would become far too heavy.
“Adjutant, where did Arthas obtain this intelligence? Is there a detailed explanation of how it was acquired?” Girard asked.
“Out of concern that communications might be intercepted by the enemy and expose their whereabouts, Lord Arthas did not mention their position or the specific process by which the intelligence was obtained,” the adjutant behind him stepped forward and reported immediately.
Girard raised an eyebrow. Afraid the communications would be intercepted?
Hah! More like he was afraid of exposing his own movements to us. That fellow’s vigilance toward others was really something…
But Girard no longer had the mood to dwell on Nie Yun’s little precautions.
“What matters now is verifying the authenticity of this intelligence. Has there been any word from Beckman’s side?” he asked again.
“Lord Beckman’s fleet transmitted its last message about two hours ago, stating that they had already locked onto a target. Presumably, further news will be coming back very soon,” a liaison officer stepped forward to report.
Hearing this, the expressions of those present varied.
Beckman’s side had only just begun tailing a target, while Arthas had already sent his intelligence back. Whether it was simply better luck or not, the gap between them was already evident.
However, compared to the terrifying implications contained within this intelligence, the competition among the younger generation of the clans was utterly insignificant. Even the avian officers had no mood at a time like this to mock their long-standing rivals with cold sarcasm.
…
The perspective shifted to the other special task fleet.
A fierce space battle had just come to an end. The surrounding area was filled with wreckage from warships and drifting cargo containers, while a small fleet of several dozen ships was cleaning up the battlefield.
“Lord Beckman, confirmation complete: ten enemy warships and twenty-three transport vessels have been completely destroyed. Our losses amount to thirty-seven mechs, including seven Sea Storm–class units. Three warships sustained light damage. The entire battle lasted less than one hour!”
“Haha! Excellent!” Beckman couldn’t help but laugh heartily.
After several days of patient stealth maneuvers and careful positioning, Beckman’s forward task fleet had finally seized an opportunity. Using the terrain and a large number of Sea Storm–class mechs, they executed a textbook ambush and wiped out a small transport fleet.
“What about the prisoners?” he asked.
“Due to time constraints, we couldn’t afford to hold back. We only managed to capture twenty-seven enemy personnel from escape pods. However, these logistics personnel have weak willpower—the interrogation division should have results very soon.
Additionally, we are searching the data vaults within the wreckage. There may be some gains.”
“Good. But we don’t have much time left. The enemy has clearly received word—the intensity of their patrols is increasing. Pass the order to the fleet: we must withdraw in fifteen minutes. Release decoys and evade pursuit according to Route One!”
“Yes, sir!”
More than three hours after Beckman’s fleet withdrew, the patrol fleet that had received the distress signal finally arrived at the scene.
After a brief sweep of the area, the enraged elements of the Fifth Fleet dispersed, searching frantically for any trace of the enemy…
…
“General, Lord Beckman has sent word back!” The adjutant rushed in, bringing the news everyone had been anxiously awaiting.
After silently reading the message in his hand, Girard raised his head, brows knit tightly, and said nothing.
The hearts of those present gradually sank…
Sure enough, when Girard finally spoke after a long silence, his first sentence was like dropping a nuclear bomb into the room.
“Report to the council immediately. Raise the civilization threat level of the Wolf Empire… to S-class!”
An S-class civilization threat—something that had never appeared in the history of the Gemini Civilization…
A Calamity Level.
TL Note- Cat is out of the bag.....
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