Light, Part One

At the Dragon Mech Database.

The hexagonal space station slowly rotated like a windmill.

From each of its six corners, tiny white beams continually shot out toward the depths of space.

They were beams from signal towers.

This place was too far from the Empire's core. The signal beams had to be constantly recalibrated at intervals, lest external interference cause them to drift apart and sever contact.

The quiet, precise Dragon Mech Database resembled a hard, tranquil turntable. It looked harmless and beautiful.

"The Flying Eagle Fleet's arrival has been delayed. The temporarily controlled spaceports nearby can launch 3.5 million medium-sized ships and 400,000 large ships at once, enough to seal off the surrounding area for at least fifteen minutes. Things are a little better than we expected."

Twenty thousand kilometers from the Dragon Mech Database, a long, black warship shaped like a submarine silently settled out of spatial transit.

Within the warship's forward compartment stood the true main force of this surprise raid.

The leader was the Immortal, Cole, with Gould and Aifulia as his deputies.

The three were top-tier Immortal psychics who specialized in combat.

Unlike those devoted to research and academia, the gap in actual combat between specialists and non-specialists was immense.

It was like the difference between special forces soldiers and ordinary civilians.

Though both were human, the former could dispose of the latter in a single exchange.

"First, we have brothers and sisters inside. They'll help temporarily shut down the emergency self-destruct procedure.

"As for the guarding Heavenly Fox System and Kashadell, we'll have to breach them ourselves," Cole said gravely.

"Split up, or move together?" Gould asked.

"Together. We'll end this quickly; we don't have much time. This time, once we get the Dragon Mech data, we'll have a proper head-on clash with the