Interstellar Survival: Invasion

"Since you have no other troubles, I'll be taking my leave," said the fiend before vanishing from the mental space.

"Why did that fellow leave so fast?" complained the great sovereign.

The footsteps continued approaching them. It sounded like the creatures from the drawings were about to reach them. Suddenly, I noticed that Bulu looked straight at me from within the projection. All my hair stood on end. I did not understand what it meant by that look. Suddenly, I came to an understanding and darted toward Bulu's sleeping body. I lifted the body and started shaking it. Bulu's body felt like a flexible ball. As I shook it, the light in the body grew brighter. Abruptly, the projection vanished.

"We were nearly stuck there. What a close call," said the great sovereign, who had awakened.

"It might only be the two of you in there, but we felt just as anxious watching you from out here," said Domo.

"Luckily, we completed our mission. Can you contact your descendants now?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Temo, you need to work with me as I contact those cores. We're running out of time," said the great sovereign.

At that point, the battle near Jupiter had grown even more intense. Many of the superweapons were already on the brink of defeat under the joint attack of other superweapons and imperial ships. Without their cores, the superweapons loyal to the great sovereign could only rely on their mechanical memories to deal with incoming attacks.

"Canyue, what are you blanking out for?" Zhang Xingxing asked when she noticed that I was staring at the battlefield.

"I feel extremely terrible. These outsiders are fighting within our home system while we can only watch on helplessly. When will our technology reach the level where we can stop these external invaders? Only then will we be able to taste real peace," I said.

"Be patient. I believe that day will arrive," said Prince Toruse.

"Everyone, the great sovereign has managed to contact the cores. The superweapons on our side are already losing. The great sovereign suggested for us to retreat to preserve our strength," said Temo.

"What? If we retreat now, what should we do when the superweapons start attacking Blue?" said Zhang Xingxing.

"Yeah. Is that old worm even reliable? It promised to take control over all the superweapons, but it was defeated by Emperor Fille with its descendants turning on it," said Zhang Bao'er.

Bob, under the great sovereign's control, looked up at us and shouted, "Why are you shouting? The main superweapons assigned to attack Blue and Gliese are now under my control. Only the ones in charge of Mars remain loyal to the empire. Do you want to protect the other two planets, or do you want all three planets to be destroyed together?"

This was our first time seeing the great sovereign so angry, so we all stopped complaining.

"Temo, ask the great sovereign about retreating. How should we work with them while they're retreating?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

"The great sovereign will have the superweapons create a wormhole. The superweapons under the great sovereign's control will enter the wormhole to flee the battlefield. We should follow them into the wormhole as well. Dodo, you will need to pilot Markus. The ship's system has been adjusted accordingly. You only need to follow us," said Temo.

"What should we do with these planets they dragged here to bombard our planets?" asked Zhang Xingxing. She still felt uncomfortable leaving these superweapons behind.

"Each weaponized planet was chosen after intensive calculations. Otherwise, the attacker might suffer as well. Also, throwing planets is different from carrying planets. More than 80 percent of the superweapons need to work together to throw them. Apart from the division in charge of attacking Mars, the other two divisions no longer have the numbers to toss planets," said Temo.

"Will it be possible that the empire changes their order for the Mars division to attack Blue instead?" asked Baron Sisse.

"The cores in charge of altering action plans are still under the great sovereign's control. The cores are living beings, not pure technological products," said Temo.

"Look, one of the superweapons has produced a wormhole," said Lamo.

The moment the wormhole appeared, the superweapons started moving toward it. The imperial army had clearly noticed the wormhole as well. They focused their firepower on the wormhole and chased the escaping superweapons. However, no amount of focus fire could affect the wormhole's stability. Before long, a large number of the super weapons loyal to the great sovereign had escaped into the wormhole.

"Skyhawk, go! Enter the wormhole. It will only stay active for a limited period of time," said Carter. With his order, Skyhawk started moving toward the wormhole.

Something suddenly streaked past us like an arrow. When I looked over, I saw that it was Markus, with Dodo piloting. We managed to enter the wormhole and escape without much difficulty. Our entire army entered the wormhole, but not long after, sounds of battle started coming behind us.

"This is bad. Several enemy superweapons followed us through the wormhole," exclaimed Kelly.

At the same moment, I noticed the great sovereign exert itself mentally. Slowly, the wormhole behind us shrunk and vanished. The battle continued to rage behind us, but our side was able to gain the advantage quickly. Only three of the enemy superweapons had managed to enter the wormhole while the others were stuck outside. On our side, there were nearly 20 superweapons.

"We finally escaped," said the great sovereign as it tiredly looked up with Bob's metallic head.

"Where is this?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

"According to the system, we're between the Solar System and the Oort cloud. We're roughly one lightyear away from our previous battlefield," said Lin Feixue.

"Shit, this is too close. Since some of the enemy vessels have followed us here, they will receive the signals here soon. The empire will be here before long," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Don't worry. I had my descendants construct a light barrier. All signals will be blocked. We can now catch the turtle trapped in a jar," said the great sovereign, somehow able to use a saying originating from Blue.

"Turtle in a jar? Are you thinking of capturing these superweapons intact? Did you intentionally let them through the wormhole?" asked Old Du. He was quick-witted enough to instantly figure out the great sovereign's plan.

"Yeah. I wanted to take a closer look at how these cores have mutated to turn against me. They are all my descendants. I need to think of a way to bring them back," said the great sovereign.

"Would the empire stick to their plan and attack Mars?" asked Zhang Xingxing anxiously.

"Based on what I know about the emperor, there is no doubt that the empire will proceed with the attack," said Somo.

We all felt terrible upon hearing that confirmation. Silence descended as everyone stopped talking.

"Hey, which school were you from? Why hadn't I seen you before?" Lamo suddenly asked, seemingly completely uninterested about the fate of the league.

When I looked, I saw that the question was directed at Domo.

'This fellow is probably going to suffer now. Domo isn't one with a good temper,' I thought.

But surprisingly, Domo remained completely silent. He showed no reaction toward the rude question.

"What a realistic fellow. He knows to keep a low profile when his enemies have the numerical advantage," whispered Zhang Bao'er.

Zhang Bao'er's words helped me realize the reason for Domo's silence.

"Why are you not speaking? Which school did you graduate from? I'm from the Blue Banner Academy of the Sacred Wing race. How about you?" asked Lamo.

"He's a little cousin from my clan. He's not very good with words," said Temo. It was quite surprising that Domo's nemesis, Temo, would be the one to help Domo in that situation. However, Domo had an odd expression on his face as he was forced to silently accept the claim that he was Temo's younger cousin.

"Oh, so he was from the Black Banner Academy like you. No wonder I never saw him before," said Lamo. Sure enough, Lamo had only initiated the conversation with Domo to get a chance to sneer at his education level.

"I graduated from your patriarch's school. Keep talking, and I'll break all your teeth," said Domo, who finally lost his temper. Perhaps he had gained some courage after seeing that Temo was standing on his side. He wasn't speaking in the Eternal language. Rather, he used a language that was most likely the Jido language. Lamo instantly turned pale with fright.

"Both of you are actually barbarians? Temo, how did you infiltrate the Sacred Wing race?" Lamo asked.

"Your high priest is the barbarian! I am a true Sacred Wing! How dare you categorize me as a barbarian?" scolded Temo.

"But didn't you say that this barbarian is your younger cousin?" asked Lamo doubtfully.

Their conversation was truly pointless, so Zhang Xingxing stopped them from continuing their bickering. A meeting was called to discuss the coming imperial attack on Mars. We believed that we shouldn't exhaust too much of our remaining military strength on the defense of Mars. Instead, we should try to evacuate as many people from Mars as possible.

The guests on the ship were given their own rooms so that they could get some rest. As a precaution, Lin Feixue had the two Sacred Wings be watched by guards at all times. The rest of us started the meeting immediately.

"The army surrounding Mars is the Midstar Army. Coupled with the superweapons, there is no way the league can stop their attack. It's only a matter of how long your Kax Ring can last," said Temo.

"Victory or defeat, there is no way to preserve Mars. I only want to evacuate as many people as possible before the Kax Ring fails," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Everyone, I have gained control over the four superweapons that chased after us. I have new information," said the great sovereign.