Surprise attack (Please keep reading! Please bookmark!)

Universal Standard Time, August 17, 15:30.

Lansford military spaceport, 8,000 kilometers directly above Abundance spaceport.

It was the final extension built as part of the Robert IV Space Elevator project.

Apart from the counterweight section in a higher orbit, Lansford Port was the highest point of this artificial structure.

It served as the base of the Robert IV Defense Fleet and was also the Federation's military port closest to the border.

In theory, this vast military port could accommodate 20 battleships, 80 cruisers, 200 destroyers, and even more frigates for maintenance at the same time.

But at present, apart from a Mixed Fleet of cruisers and destroyers conducting routine orbital patrols,

almost the entire Defensive Fleet was undergoing maintenance in port, yet it occupied only a small portion of the facility.

Three Giant Kraken-class battleships, 15 Hydra-class cruisers, 52 Cold Crow-class destroyers, and nearly a hundred frigates of various models.

That was everything the Robert IV Defense Fleet had.

In Lansford Port's combat command center, dozens of personnel sat at their stations on readiness duty.

But if someone walked up behind them and took a look,

they would find that a third of them were dozing.

Another third were holding personal terminals they had brought into the command center against regulations, watching the celebrations being held in the military port's recreation area.

Green, the Defensive Fleet's commander, was on a "ground-to-space link" with Commander Adam on the surface.

The two were offering Armed Forces Day greetings to the many Federation soldiers stationed on Robert IV.

The remaining third were the few people in the command center actually doing their jobs.

Second Lieutenant Tom, a tactical information coordinator, was one of them.

His job was to filter the data gathered by the military port's various observation devices, over and over again.

As a fresh batch of data began refreshing on his screen, Second Lieutenant Tom picked up the carton of concentrated coffee beside him.

It was essential for keeping him from dozing off on duty.

But before he could unwrap the straw, a message scrolling across the screen jolted him alert.

[Attention: Induction Beacon signal detected! Identify immediately!]

The message flashed across the screen three times in bold red lettering.

Snapping out of his daze, Second Lieutenant Tom immediately accessed the beacon detection equipment and shouted over his shoulder:

"Sir, the observation equipment has detected an Induction Beacon!"

At the command station in the combat command center, Major Randall had been engrossed in his personal terminal. His subordinate's report jolted him too.

He unfastened his seat restraints, pushed off the chair with both feet, and floated away.

Only some of the recreation areas in Lansford Naval Port had artificial gravity.

The combat command center clearly was not one of them.

"If I get over there and find out you've broken the equipment, I'll shove a spirit injection rod up your ass, understood?!"

"Yes, sir!"

After floating over a group of snickering duty personnel, Major Randall came down beside Tom.

Once he had carefully reviewed the information returned by the observation equipment and confirmed that every device had passed its self-check,

the duty officer finally realized something was wrong.

The observation equipment had indeed detected an Induction Beacon, and it was moving at a constant speed toward Abundance Port.

"Locate that beacon and use the optical observation equipment to see what's going on."

Randall patted Tom's shoulder, then turned toward the communications NCO on the other side of the command center.

"Bill, ask those layabouts sitting in port whether some damned idiot set off an Induction Beacon like a firework!"

The communications NCO, who had been slacking off just moments earlier, now realized how serious the situation was.

He immediately sent a message to every warship docked in port.

Ten minutes later, the duty personnel aboard each warship had sent back their reports.

Although it was Armed Forces Day, nobody had been irresponsible enough to throw an Induction Beacon into space.

Meanwhile, using the coordinates they had pinpointed,

The optical observation equipment also picked up the steadily moving Induction Beacon.

When the magnified image was projected onto the main screen,

everyone in the command center saw a small engineering vessel and the cargo container it was towing.

As he stared at the cargo container marked as the signal source on the main screen,

Cold sweat streamed down Randall's forehead.

Although he usually acted carelessly and was even somewhat negligent in his duties,

he had enough basic tactical competence to have risen to the position of tactical commander.

Unfortunately, he was still a step too late.

The defensive weapons mounted on the military port and the Space Elevator were all high-powered directed-energy weapons.

The many cargo ships around the engineering vessel were also in their line of fire.

Opening fire recklessly could easily hit innocent vessels and even trigger a chain reaction.

Randall therefore had to find a unit better suited to such delicate work.

Just as he was about to dispatch an HCP squad to deal with the cargo container immediately,

alarms erupted throughout the command center.

[Warning! Unauthorized spatial collapse detected!]

[Warning! Abnormal increase in mass detected in space!]

[Warning! Intense electromagnetic interference detected!]

[Warning! Intense neutrino communications interference detected!]

[Warning! Fleet of unknown affiliation detected at ecliptic 23 degrees, north celestial pole 52 degrees, angle to the ecliptic plane 18 degrees, straight-line distance 9,542 kilometers!]

A string of warnings flashed across the main screen in bold dark red lettering.

At the same time, the numerous automated detection devices at Lansford Naval Port picked up the enormous fleet that had just completed its jump.

Every ship had an elegant, elongated, streamlined form, with a smooth silver exterior.

These were the signature features of Star Dragon Empire warships.

As the immense flagship slowly emerged from the planet's shadow, a brilliant gleam reflected off the curved plating of its outer hull.

In the automatically magnified image, the gilded name on the massive warship's flank was clearly visible.

SENY-BB-24, Dawn Divine Sword.

Then, without warning, a brilliant streak of light flashed through the pitch-black depths of space.

Everyone felt as though a white beam had been seared into their retinas.

The next second, the entire command center shook as though the heavens and earth were falling apart.

The enemy had opened fire.

A piece of bismuth metal forged to standard specifications was instantly heated to tens of millions of degrees by the energy of a fusion detonation inside the warship's Fusion Reactor.

Compressed by a containment magnetic field, the mass of plasma passed through the Heavy Particle Cannon's acceleration rails and accelerated to 2,000 kilometers per second.

The resulting torrent of plasma struck the communications array atop Lansford Port with pinpoint accuracy.

And destroyed it completely.