The Leader silently took out two sidearms and carefully wiped them down, then retrieved a combat uniform from the cabinet.
After getting dressed, he meticulously smoothed out the creases in his uniform before holstering both sidearms at his waist.
Once he had confirmed everything was ready, the Leader headed outside. As he passed the table, he paused slightly, his gaze softening as it fell upon the photo frame on its surface.
Click!
He gently placed the photo frame face-down on the table, then left the living quarters and swiftly arrived at the central control room—the command hall.
Several hundred officers had already made their preparations. Their eyes burned as they looked toward the Leader entering the room, as though blazing flames were reflected within them.
Standing atop the platform, the Leader looked over the crowd before finally speaking.
At the same time, tens of millions of people who had received the news stopped what they were doing.
"In three years—only three years—the Chaka Civilization destroyed our people. Trillions of our kin perished beneath enemy ship cannons, their blood staining planet after planet!
"The Chaka Race even treated our people as food, raising them like livestock within their territory. Only we remain, fleeing endlessly beyond the borders of the Chaka Civilization. Yet after months of running, we still could not escape their pursuit.
"Perhaps, generation after generation, those kin raised in captivity will forget everything. They will forget the glory of our people and lose their will for freedom!
"But now, the light of our people's wisdom still shines upon us! The will for freedom has not yet been extinguished!
"We cannot run, so we will not run. Let the enemy see what the radiance of freedom truly is!"
"Yes!!"
"We will live and die with our people!"
Not one among the tens of millions was afraid. They were the finest people of the civilization, the most steadfast members of the Stan Civilization.
Compared with being kept as livestock, death was easier to accept.
The Leader looked at all this, then slowly turned around. "Fleet, jump to the star system ahead. That will be Stan's final grave!"
"Yes!"
This time, the hundreds of warships did not conceal themselves. Their warp engines operated at full power.
The hundreds of warships swiftly entered jump mode.
At the same time, dozens of light-years away, lights flared across a fleet of over three hundred four-pointed-star warships. Inside the largest vessel, a ten-thousand-meter warship—
A group of creatures with waving tentacles, no facial features, and only swirling mouths immediately became excited.
"A warp signal! They aren't planning to run anymore?"
"The Stan Civilization's fleeing fleet!"
"The brains of a Level 3 Civilization's finest specimens must be delicious!"
"Gagagaga!"
More than three hundred warships immediately entered jump mode and rushed toward the fleeing Stan fleet.
They were several times faster than the Stan fleet.
Upon reaching the target star system, the Stan fleet did not pause. Large numbers of fusion mines were deployed throughout the system.
Several engineering ships hurriedly assembled orbital weapons and deployed them into the orbits of the various planets.
Every weapon they could use was brought into action. Within the enormous Seed Ship, part of the tens of millions donned equipment and entered the various warships to await orders.
The rest took relatively outdated weapons and began setting up all manner of combat obstacles and traps inside the ships.
Based on the Chaka Civilization's usual behavior, they would not easily destroy a fleet.
Instead, while toying with it, they would send troops aboard to capture the crew. After all, the gap in civilization levels was simply too great. Even if the Chaka Civilization did this, it would not increase its casualties.
Once, several million interstellar ground troops had defended a single Stan planet. The Chaka Race had sent only a few thousand mechs and completely annihilated them.
The Leader sat quietly in his chair in the command hall, staring at the central screen with no emotion visible in his eyes.
Behind him, several hundred officers stood perfectly straight, likewise staring at the screen.
All manner of barriers had already been established outside the command hall. There were even quite a few small fortresses within the hall itself.
Unless something unexpected happened, this would be the Chaka Civilization's main point of attack after boarding.
Quite a few heavy mechs, hover tanks, and soldiers were already gathering here.
Time passed second by second.
Suddenly, a shrill alarm rang throughout the entire fleet.
Several hundred signal sources abruptly appeared on the screen, heading straight for this star system without the slightest attempt at concealment.
"They're here!"
Within the Chaka fleet, the three-to-four-meter-tall Chaka Leader opened and closed its massive mouth.
"Don't use the main cannons! Peel away those toys' shields and capture every Stan alive inside!"
"Delicious brains! Gagagagaga!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The Stan warships attacked first. Countless beams and rays blanketed the Chaka fleet.
Explosions and energy waves engulfed the Chaka fleet in an instant.
Yet those seemingly fierce attacks did not inflict much damage upon the Chaka Civilization's warships.
Only the shields of a few vessels dimmed slightly.
The Chaka fleet launched its counterattack. Hundreds of dark-red beams with adjustable power shot forth, immediately striking the Stan Civilization's warships.
The warships shook violently.
[Shields down 37%]
"Keep moving! Fight while moving!"
"Keep attacking! If we have to, crash-land on the planet's surface and fight them on the ground!"
"Activate the fusion mines!"
Faced with the fusion mines that the fleeing Stan fleet had poured all its efforts into creating, the shields of more than ten Chaka warships nearly shattered.
Nearly.
Having passed through the stellar fireball zone created by the nuclear explosions without losses, the Chaka fleet rapidly closed in on the Stan fleet.
At the same time, those dark-red beams continued their bombardment.
The Stan warships' shields trembled continuously before finally dissipating completely.
Only their mediocre defensive armor remained.
One warship was blown apart completely, killing tens of thousands in an instant.
"Gagagaga! Idiots! That's food! Disable the Stan warships' weapons and board them!"
The Chaka Leader flew into a rage.
The dark-red beams continued to bombard them. The orbital weapons prepared over so long were all destroyed in mere moments.
Three hundred Chaka warships slowly surrounded the Stan fleet, continuously using ray weapons to clear away the weapons mounted on the Stan warships.
The Seed Ship's main cannon fired only once before it was destroyed, while the Chaka warship it struck suffered nothing more than shattered shields.
That had been the Stan Civilization's strongest main cannon.
Hundreds of thousands of Chaka creatures within the fleet watched excitedly as the Stan warships' weapons were gradually destroyed and gaps were continuously torn through their armor, as though they were looking at fruit about to be peeled open.
Everyone in the command hall fell silent.
The gap between civilization levels was like an abyss. Even the Stan Civilization, which ranked among the best of Level 3 Civilizations—
Had no ability to fight back against an ordinary Level 4 Civilization like the Chaka Civilization.
The fleet battle had ended in total defeat within only an hour. They had barely inflicted any damage upon the enemy.
The Leader rose to his feet and picked up a rifle.
"Enough. Prepare for the final battle."
"Yes!"
Boom! Boom!
As armor and hulls were torn open, the Chaka Race's weapons of war immediately entered the Stan Seed Ship.
They were floating, octopus-like mechs, each twenty meters tall. All twelve mechanical tentacles were capable of firing rays.
"Kill!!"
"Stop them! Our troops are the First Defense Line! Before we fall, we cannot let them enter the Residential Area!"
Hover tanks roared without pause as tens of thousands of soldiers frantically opened fire. Dense laser weapons and rays concentrated upon the several hundred Octopus Mechs.
The next moment, hundreds of dark-red rays swept across the entire defensive line.
Scorching explosions instantly spread along the line. Thousands of soldiers died, while more than half the tanks and mechs were destroyed.
The Octopus Mechs, protected by individual shields, remained utterly unhurried.
Dozens of Octopus Mechs appeared outside the command hall. Inside, the Leader took a deep breath.
He raised his rifle alongside the hundreds of officers and guard soldiers, aiming at the doors.
Outside the Stan fleet, the Chaka Leader laughed wildly.
Huh?
Suddenly, a sense of death engulfed the Leader.
Before the Chaka Leader could react, an incandescent beam crossed countless distances and pierced through seven or eight Chaka warships in an instant.
Soundless explosions spread through space.
"Evade! Evade! Eva—"
Dozens more beams came flying in, this time all focused upon the Chaka fleet's flagship!
The shields shattered like glass, and more than half the hull was sliced away directly.
The panicked Chaka Leader turned its eyeless face toward the screen.
Nine elegant, slender warships had appeared at the edge of the star system at some unknown time. Their terrifying energy levels made the Chaka warships' alarms shriek incessantly.
[This is the Star Sea Human Alliance's space warship formation] [Eternal Truth Fleet] [Barbarian fleet ahead, immediately cease your attacks against Pan-Human Civilization] [Otherwise... uh... forget it. Exterminate these ugly things.]