Evan cheerfully headed toward the Light of the People, which had been lying in wait for its prey. When he arrived, he was dumbfounded.
Indeed, destroyed enemy ships littered the barren star system, and Wind and Cloud-class Battleships cruised around the enormous hull of the Light of the People.
In a rare occurrence, they had fought a grueling boarding action. The mortal boarding "flying bricks" had also smashed into enemy ships as supporting forces.
Evan immediately hailed the other ships. "Everyone, prepare for battle. Something may have happened to the flagship."
"Chapter Master, the flagship has activated its screening field. We can't communicate with them."
"Landing forces, prepare for combat. Can the flagship's landing bays still open normally? What do the Wind and Cloud-class Battleships say?"
"The surrounding ships say they received notification of a level-one alert, then the flagship activated all its screening systems."
Evan knocked on the door, called in the veteran outside, and had him take over command.
The flagship had an emergency passage. It had originally been a maintenance hatch, where external maintenance workers returned after completing their tasks. But since they generally used Space Mantas for repairs, the maintenance hatch had been converted into an emergency passage.
Only three people were authorized to open it. Anyone who opened it illegally would be shot full of holes.
Evan's key was hidden in his tooth. That was where he had previously kept Malcador's token; now it held the key.
"Beiwei Army, prepare disposable jet propulsion units."
Evan turned around to find Kazhaniv standing behind him, almost nose to nose.
"What's wrong?"
"I feel something isn't right."
"In what way?"
"My will tells me I'll fight anyone who dares oppose us to the bitter end, but my body instinctively recoils from that direction. No, recoil isn't quite right.