Chapter Summaries

Humanity destroyed the remaining defenses on the planet and learned that its Third Fleet and the Donghai (East Sea) Warship had defeated an Interstellar Transaction Market subfleet. The report suggested the enemy fleet might be manned or lack a Strong Artificial Intelligence, giving Yue Yuan reason to hope before the coming battle.

• Humanity used asteroid impacts to destroy the planet’s remaining Underground Bases and defenses, while Yue Yuan ordered the Command Center crew to rest before the next battle.
• Yue Yuan reviewed the Third Fleet’s report that it and the Donghai (East Sea) Warship had ambushed and destroyed the Interstellar Transaction Market’s five-million-warship subfleet, suffering heavy losses in the process.
• The report noted that many enemy warships had fled, leading Yue Yuan to consider whether the enemy’s ships were all manned or whether it lacked a Strong Artificial Intelligence.
• Yue Yuan decided to rest and planned to judge the enemy’s fleet control from its movements during their next battle.

Yue Yuan prepared Lyra and humanity’s fleets for battle as the Interstellar Transaction Market fleet split toward two planetary orbits. Lyra’s three million warships met fourteen million enemy ships, and the opening exchange revealed that enemy fire could overwhelm a human ship’s Polarization Shield.

• Yue Yuan received warning that the Interstellar Transaction Market fleet would soon enter the Laser Energy Cannons’ range and assembled Lyra’s crew for combat.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market fleet split, sending one group toward Planet Twelve and another toward Planet Thirteen, and Yue Yuan kept the plan for the North Sea detached fleet’s preemptive attack.
• Lyra’s warship cluster and the enemy Main Battleship fleet faced each other, with three million human ships confronting fourteen million enemy ships.
• Humanity fired a long-range volley that missed, while enemy Energy Weapons struck Ship 99189, overloaded its Polarization Shield, and destroyed several Close-In Weapon Systems.

The Lyra warship cluster fought the Interstellar Transaction Market fleet and Yue Yuan deduced that the enemy had only one Strong Artificial Intelligence, deployed against the North Sea. The enemy then split its forces to encircle the Lyra, leaving Yue Yuan to prepare for a close-range fight against one of its subfleets.

• The Interstellar Transaction Market fleet opened fire on the human warships, but its saturation barrage failed to destroy a Lyra vessel.
• The Lyra and the Interstellar Transaction Market fleet exchanged salvos as both sides maneuvered, and dozens, then thousands, of enemy warships were destroyed.
• Yue Yuan compared the Lyra’s battle with a report from the North Sea, which had lost more than a thousand warships to the enemy’s precise attacks.
• Yue Yuan concluded that the Interstellar Transaction Market had one Strong Artificial Intelligence, likely fighting the North Sea fleet near Planet Thirteen.
• The enemy fleet split into three forces to maneuver around the Lyra, and Yue Yuan sent his hypothesis to the North Sea and prepared to engage a detached subfleet at close range.

Yue Yuan maneuvered the Lyra fleet cluster toward an Interstellar Transaction Market sub-fleet, sacrificing a rearguard to cover the turn. With enemy forces converging from several directions, he ordered a full-speed charge at the Second Sub-Fleet, and Lyra’s front-line warships began destroying enemy ships.

• Yue Yuan ordered the Lyra fleet cluster to change course toward an Interstellar Transaction Market sub-fleet, while enemy fire destroyed more than a thousand unmanned Sea-Class Warships.
• Yue Yuan sent roughly one hundred thousand warships to cover the fleet’s maneuver, and they were destroyed after engaging the enemy vanguard at close range.
• The Lyra fleet cluster completed its turn and headed toward a sub-fleet as the Interstellar Transaction Market’s central fleet pursued and two other sub-fleets moved to attack.
• Yue Yuan ordered the Lyra fleet cluster, now numbering 2.7 million warships, to charge at full speed into the four-million-ship Second Sub-Fleet.
• Lyra’s front-line warships engaged the enemy, and reports announced that several enemy warships had been destroyed.

Humanity’s Lyra warship cluster charged through the Interstellar Transaction Market’s sub-fleet in a close-range battle that showcased Alloy No. 2 armor’s resilience and the strength of human railgun attacks. The clash broke the enemy’s three-pronged encirclement, but cost the Lyra cluster 567,377 warships.

• The fleets exchanged laser fire, then railgun shells as they closed to effective firing range, while both sides’ nanotechnology began damaging and repairing ships.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market’s nanobots decomposed human armor slowly, while human nanobot warheads penetrated enemy armor and disabled ships from within.
• Human warships accelerated to 34% of light speed and punched through the enemy sub-fleet before its other two fleets could converge.
• The Lyra warship cluster lost 567,377 ships, while the Interstellar Transaction Market’s sub-fleet fell from four million ships to 1,100,087.

Yue Yuan used the Lyra battleship cluster’s momentum to evade the regrouped Interstellar Transaction Market fleet and race toward Planet Thirteen to reinforce the North Sea battleship cluster. Humanity’s plan was to defeat the opposing fleet there before the pursuers arrived and hold out until its Second and Third Fleets joined the battle.

• Yue Yuan analyzed the battle losses and concluded that the Lyra battleship cluster had suffered most from Super Micro Nanobots, while humanity’s laser weapons had destroyed many enemy ships.
• The Lyra battleship cluster had 2.3 million battleships left, while about 10.4 million Interstellar Transaction Market battleships remained engaged; the enemy regrouped its divided forces and pursued.
• Yue Yuan ordered the Lyra battleship cluster to abandon Twelfth Planet and accelerate toward Planet Thirteen, aiming to reach the North Sea battleship cluster four hours before the pursuers.
• Yue Yuan reasoned that the enemy fleet at Planet Thirteen contained the Interstellar Transaction Market’s sole Strong Artificial Intelligence, and that defeating it would leave the pursuing fleet less dangerous.
• The Lyra battleship cluster accelerated to 50% of light speed, then prepared to slow to about 10% before entering the debris-filled Planet Thirteen battlefield.

The Interstellar Transaction Market’s Great Commander ordered his forces to pursue Lyra and told Wu Ersala to bring the Third Warship Fleet around for a pincer attack. Lyra and the North Sea fleet raced to join forces, but both sides were set on a collision course that would soon leave them pincering each other in a chaotic battle.

• The Great Commander ordered research into Earth Civilization’s alloy, continued the pursuit of Lyra, and directed Wu Ersala to turn the Third Warship Fleet around for a pincer attack.
• The North Sea fleet reported that the enemy’s main force of roughly seven million warships was heading toward Lyra while one million ships remained behind to cover its retreat.
• Lyra hoped to join the North Sea fleet, but the Third Warship Fleet forced Lyra to decelerate and meet it between the planets’ orbits.
• The North Sea fleet broke through the enemy rear guard but still needed about twenty minutes to reach Lyra, while the Great Commander’s fleet was expected to arrive at roughly the same time.
• Lyra’s and the enemy fleets were on course to pincer each other and become embroiled in a chaotic melee.

The Lyra battle group engaged the Interstellar Transaction Market fleet at close range, where both sides’ warships exchanged devastating fire. The battle grew more intense as Nano Weapons reduced the human fleet’s earlier advantage, leaving the Lyra with a one-to-three loss ratio.

• Yue Yuan ordered the Lyra battle group to advance in a spherical formation while maintaining relative velocity and prioritizing evasive maneuvers and close-in weapons.
• The unmanned vanguard warships of both fleets began firing at a distance of twenty-three light-seconds, using coordinated strikes to overload enemy Polarization Shields.
• The fleets’ second and third echelons joined the battle, and the Lyra fired its first shot at the enemy fleet.
• As the fighting moved into close-range dogfighting and Nano Weapons appeared, the Lyra battle group’s loss ratio fell from one-to-six to one-to-three.

After Lyra survived an enemy laser strike, Yue Yuan ordered an evasive maneuver and sought the flagship controlling the Interstellar Transaction Market fleet, hoping to disable its Strong Artificial Intelligence. The pursuing fleets joined the battle before Lyra reached the target area, turning the fight into a vast, chaotic melee.

• Lyra's Polarization Shield overloaded and shut down after an enemy attack, but Alloy No. 2 armor absorbed the remaining damage without needing repairs.
• Yue Yuan ordered Lyra to evade and repeatedly requested the approximate location of the enemy fleet's central flagship.
• Yue Yuan planned to charge into the enemy formation and destroy the flagship carrying its Strong Artificial Intelligence.
• The fleet following Lyra caught up twelve minutes later, and Lyra's formation and North Sea's formation joined the battle, trapping both sides in a pincer.
• Countless warships exchanged fire in a sprawling melee as shields overloaded, vessels were destroyed, and wreckage filled the battlefield.

Lyra and Yue Yuan led a desperate charge through the intermingled fleets to destroy the Interstellar Transaction Market flagship, which carried its Strong Artificial Intelligence. Lyra reached the enemy flagship under heavy fire, but the chapter ended as another enemy railgun strike hit the battered ship.

• Humanity’s inferior Nanotechnology caused rising losses in close combat, so Yue Yuan ordered more than thirty thousand nearby warships to converge on Lyra and attack the enemy flagship located 370,000 kilometers away.
• Lyra’s railguns switched back to hydrogen-bomb warheads, helping humanity maintain a battle loss ratio of 1 to 3.1 against Interstellar Transaction Market warships.
• The enemy gathered more than one hundred thousand warships around its flagship and charged toward Lyra after identifying it as the human command ship.
• Yue Yuan ordered Lyra and its escort warships to charge the enemy flagship, and Lyra advanced through laser fire while sustaining heavy damage.
• Lyra reached within 100,000 kilometers of the pristine enemy flagship, lost twenty-eight Close-In Weapon Systems, and was struck by another enemy Electromagnetic Railgun.

Yue Yuan struggled to sustain humanity’s fleet as its resources dwindled during a prolonged stalemate with the Interstellar Transaction Market. When the enemy flagship’s Magnetic Propulsion was destroyed, the Lyra gained a chance to turn the battle, though the first salvo hit a sacrificial escort instead.

• The Lyra and the Interstellar Transaction Market’s fleet fought for seventy-eight days, suffering heavy losses as both sides depleted their fuel and supplies.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market adjusted its tactics after detecting that human warships were firing Electromagnetic Railgun shells less frequently, while Yue Yuan avoided a risky charge toward its flagship.
• Yue Yuan received news that Bu Guiyu’s Third Fleet had reached the enemy’s First Planet Base, while Man Yuemei’s Second Fleet had been intercepted far from Planet Thirteen.
• Yue Yuan weighed withdrawing to resupply at Planet Thirteen but hesitated to abandon the campaign against the enemy flagship.
• The Lyra confirmed that the enemy flagship’s Magnetic Propulsion had been destroyed and fired a Laser Energy Cannon salvo at its predicted position.
• An unmanned escort warship sacrificed itself to shield the enemy flagship, and other escorts moved closer to protect it while the Lyra continued attacking.

While the Lyra battle group bombarded the enemy flagship, Yue Yuan and the other senior officers considered how humanity could improve its fleet composition. The flagship was destroyed, leaving the enemy unmanned warships without their Strong Artificial Intelligence and turning the battle decisively in humanity’s favor.

• Humanity’s nearby combat formations and the Lyra battle group concentrated fire on the enemy flagship as unmanned warships screened it.
• Yue Yuan and the senior military personnel recognized the limits of an all-Sea-Class-Warship fleet and considered specialized raiders, guard ships, support motherships, and reconnaissance craft.
• The Lyra’s crew received confirmation that the enemy flagship had been destroyed.
• The enemy unmanned warships lost their Strong Artificial Intelligence’s control and began fighting with sluggish movements, poor aim, and broken coordination.
• Humanity’s fleets destroyed tens of thousands of the disorganized unmanned warships within a few hours.

Humanity won the Planet Thirteen battle after destroying the Interstellar Transaction Market’s Strong Artificial Intelligence, but the Third Fleet was in danger against a nine-million-warship enemy fleet. Yue Yuan sent South Sea to reinforce it and ordered North Sea to return to Planet Thirteen.

• The Interstellar Transaction Market’s main fleet withdrew while the Human fleets destroyed its remaining unmanned warships, confirming humanity’s victory at Planet Thirteen.
• Yue Yuan reported the victory to the Third Fleet and learned that humanity’s First Fleet had lost over 3.7 million warships while destroying more than 15.7 million enemy vessels.
• Communications personnel reported that the Third Fleet was fighting a nine-million-warship fleet and had fallen into a disadvantage after the enemy targeted its flagship.
• Yue Yuan reviewed the Third Fleet’s battle records and found that it was locked in close combat at a casualty ratio of about one to two.
• Yue Yuan ordered North Sea to transfer command of its unmanned warships to Lyra and return to Planet Thirteen, while South Sea led 100,000 guard warships to reinforce the Third Fleet.

Yue Yuan sent support to the Second Fleet while the Lyra battle group destroyed the uncontrolled Interstellar Transaction Market fleet. The South Sea's arrival turned the battle in the Second Fleet's favor, forcing the pirate-style fleet to retreat as the human fleets returned to Planet Thirteen for resupply.

• Yue Yuan mobilized support for the Lyra and joined its battle group in wiping out the remaining Interstellar Transaction Market fleet.
• The South Sea arrived and took command of 1.5 million Second Fleet warships, forming a battle group that fought the enemy's detached fleet.
• The pirate-style fleet's Commander ordered a withdrawal after realizing humanity's Strong Artificial Intelligences kept its forces under control.
• The Second Fleet and South Sea turned toward Planet Thirteen, while the Third Fleet returned after destroying the First Planet Base.
• The Third Fleet brought intelligence that the Interstellar Transaction Market still had six planetary bases, including the shipbuilding-capable Aboer Planet Base.

After the first major battle, humanity and the Interstellar Transaction Market repaired their fleets and prepared for a prolonged contest of production and resources. While their main fleets recovered, both sides continued probing, raiding, and fighting across the star system.

• The Interstellar Transaction Market destroyed its mining infrastructure on the Tenth and Eleventh Planets as it withdrew, showing humanity that it intended to keep fighting.
• Humanity reorganized about 4.2 million intact warships into a fleet led by Deep Sea, while the remaining ships underwent armor repairs and the Third Fleet guarded Planet Thirteen.
• Humanity identified the gaseous planet's moons as the enemy's core region and planned to focus its next campaign there after repairs and reinforcements.
• Deep Sea led part of the Third Fleet to harass the enemy's Sixth Planet Base, while enemy detachments retaliated against humanity's base at Planet Thirteen.
• Humanity sent Probe Spaceships to survey the star system and Engineering Ships to extract resources from the Twelfth Planet, prompting frequent clashes with enemy detachments and probes.

Humanity and the Interstellar Transaction Market salvaged wreckage from their battles, while the Market struggled to reverse-engineer Alloy No. 2 and prepared to mass-produce Alloy No. 1 instead. The Great Commander sought enough ships to face humanity’s forces, but the Market’s Strong Artificial Intelligence refused to fight, leaving him to continue conscription and mobilization.

• Humanity and the Interstellar Transaction Market scavenged enemy wreckage for useful components, data, and warship designs.
• The Market’s scientists recovered Alloy No. 2 samples but could not determine how to manufacture the alloy, so the Great Commander ordered new warships to use mass-produced Alloy No. 1.
• The Great Commander learned that eighteen billion people had enlisted and ordered conscription to continue because the Market needed at least twenty million warships to match humanity.
• The Strong Artificial Intelligence refused to join the fighting, and the Great Commander regretted that the Market had not acquired another military-type AI.

Humanity and the Crimson Flame Civilization prepared for another major battle while repairing and expanding their fleets. Humanity’s steady strategy included a surprise strike that crippled the enemy’s Sixth Planet Base, and the chapter ended with the restored Lyra arriving alongside a six-million-warship fleet.

• The Crimson Flame Civilization’s Great Commander ordered continued recruitment and readiness to evacuate if the war went badly.
• Yue Yuan and human officers debated strategies, then spent a year settling on a steady and sure plan for the coming war.
• Humanity and the Crimson Flame Civilization repaired and built warships as probes, detachments, and raiders continued clashing across the system.
• Humanity built Engineering Motherships and prepared countermeasures against enemy fleets controlled by Strong Artificial Intelligences.
• Three years later, humanity resumed New Warship construction at Planet Thirteen, and clashes escalated as both sides deployed larger fleets.
• Humanity unexpectedly sent three million warships to cripple the Sixth Planet Base, and two years later the restored Lyra returned with a six-million-warship fleet.

Humanity’s First Fleet advanced toward the Interstellar Transaction Market’s Second Planet base as enemy reinforcements gathered. A nine-million-ship enemy fleet appeared near humanity’s rear, and the First Fleet’s approaching battle began.

• An intelligence officer reported that three million enemy ships were reinforcing the Second Planet base, bringing its expected force to at least fourteen million Main Battleships.
• Yue Yuan confirmed the Seventh Planet’s satellites had no hidden enemy fleets or resource bases and ordered the advance to continue.
• A detector operator spotted another enemy Great Fleet of at least nine million Main Battleships approaching humanity’s rear, so Yue Yuan alerted Planet Thirteen and ordered the Second Fleet to prepare to sortie.
• Yue Yuan’s fleet neared the enemy, and he ordered it to maintain its spherical formation while Donghai (East Sea) Warship and West Sea followed the plan.
• The enemy Great Fleet moved to meet humanity’s fleet, and Yue Yuan and the Command Center personnel entered combat status.

Yue Yuan kept the human First Fleet together and concealed its other command centers while the Interstellar Transaction Market tested its defenses and waited for reinforcements. Nearly a year later, the enemy finally launched a three-direction assault on Lyra, giving Yue Yuan the chance he had been waiting for.

• Yue Yuan had Lyra command Donghai (East Sea) Warship, West Sea, and their assigned warships to make the enemy believe Lyra was the fleet's only Strong Artificial Intelligence.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market began the battle with long-range attacks, then brought three million reinforcements and harassed the human fleet from three directions without directly striking its flagship.
• Yue Yuan refused his officers' suggestions to split the fleet, choosing to wait while the humans wore down the enemy and concealed their command structure.
• After nearly a year, the enemy learned that another human fleet had multiple Strong Artificial Intelligences and concluded that Lyra was the only one in Yue Yuan's fleet.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market's three subfleets opened their distance, curved through space, and charged the human First Fleet from three directions.

Yue Yuan split humanity’s First Fleet to destroy the Crimson Flame Civilization’s Second Sub-Fleet while his smaller Lyra formation faced the enemy’s main fleet. The Crimson Flame Great Commander sacrificed the Second Sub-Fleet and ordered the main fleet to scatter and target the Lyra as its support fleet raced to join the fight.

• Yue Yuan waited until the three enemy fleets drew close, then sent the Donghai and West Sea formations to attack the Second Sub-Fleet while the Lyra formation advanced toward the First Sub-Fleet.
• The Crimson Flame Great Commander realized Earth Civilization had multiple Strong Artificial Intelligences and called for the support fleet to change course toward the main fleet.
• The Great Commander abandoned the Second Sub-Fleet, ordering his warships to split into fifteen-ship formations and attack independently, with the Lyra as their target.
• The Crimson Flame Great Commander rallied his crews to hold out until the support fleet arrived, while Yue Yuan planned to use the Donghai and West Sea formations against the enemy’s support fleet afterward.