"My lord, you say human civilization's warships are only a hundred meters long? What can ships that small do? Never mind twenty million, I wouldn't be afraid of two hundred million. Our warships are equipped with powerful laser weapons, antimatter weapons, and thick armor. Even their armor is over a hundred meters thick. It's doubtful whether human warships that small could withstand a single hit from us. When the time comes, we won't even need weapons. We'll just ram them to death."
"Foolish! Utterly foolish! Do you take humans for idiots? If they dare do this, they must have their reasons. I've already observed that their warp speed is five hundred times the speed of light, a hundred times yours. Although your warships are larger and your warp technology is more advanced, your actual warships are a hundred times slower. As for the human warships' means of attack, I haven't observed them. You'll have to adapt when the time comes."
"Don't worry, my lord. We'll set out at once. By the way, where is human civilization?" Ma Meng thought this Patrol talked far too much and was far too cautious. Besides, Ma Meng not only had ten million warships, but also a more terrifying weapon.
"At Alpha Centauri, five hundred light-years from here."
"Alpha Centauri? Humans really are cunning, hiding out in that godforsaken place. All right, my lord, we'll assemble the fleet and set out at once. Will you be coming with us?"
"No, I have other matters to attend to. If you can wipe out humanity, I'll give you some Small Star Sector Civilization technology in addition to humanity's technological reserves. If you fail, I'll help the humans hunt you down."
The Patrol's silver spaceship vanished into the stars once more, and the Sand Python fleet began to assemble. Eight million of its ships gathered at the third planet of the Tau Ceti Planetary System, while the other two million formed a loose encirclement around Tau Ceti.
As the Sand Python warships started up, the massive star Tau Ceti followed the fleet, leaving its original position. It was not slow in the slightest, reaching 350 times the speed of light. The human fleet, five hundred light-years away, knew nothing of the Sand Python Civilization's movements. They had never imagined that the Sand Python remnants from two hundred years ago would possess such strength today.
As Tau Ceti departed, its five planets would feel its gravitational pull vanish in turn. Even the most distant, the fifth planet, would leave its established orbit after a little over an hour and fly off along a tangent into the vast universe. On their present trajectories, the third and fifth planets would fly toward the edge of the Milky Way, the first and fourth would fly toward the vicinity of its center on opposite sides, and the second would travel parallel to the center.
The planets' ultimate fates were hard to predict. They might wander the Milky Way for hundreds of millions of years, or collide with other stars after a few million. The last possibility, for the extremely lucky, was that they might be captured by a star again and become planets with a place to belong.
"Chief of the General Staff, a reconnaissance satellite twenty light-years away has detected an anomaly."
"What is it?" Wen Zhonghua asked.
"Chief, look. These are the images the satellite sent back. There's a huge fleet, and we're still trying to identify this enormous bright spot."
"Keep watching," Wen Zhonghua ordered.
"Old Hu, come to the operations command room at once. There's an emergency." Wen Zhonghua urgently contacted Hu Yu.
"Zhonghua, give me a quick rundown." Hu Yu entered the command room.
"Look, this news just came in. A fleet numbering around ten million is coming at us, and it's dragging something along. Based on our analysis, it's a star. They're currently moving at about three hundred times the speed of light, only twenty light-years away. They'll meet us head-on in twenty-four days. They don't look friendly."
"Our early-warning range is still too short. They're clearly another Star System-Level Civilization. Keep gathering intelligence."
"Old Hu, what do we do now? If they're hostile, we won't have any time to evacuate. Everything we own is on the first planet."
"Get all our Stealth Killers into space. Identify ourselves and show them our strength. If they aren't coming specifically for us, they shouldn't attack rashly. On the surface, our warships are also at the Star System level. Unless one side has an overwhelming advantage, a war between two Star System-Level Civilizations would benefit neither."
All twenty million Stealth Killers left the first planet within twenty-four hours and cruised through interstellar space. The operators of eight million of them were at a base on the first planet. Holographic technology gave the operators the same view as their warships, allowing much more precise control than a game console. The operators for the remaining twelve million had not completed their training, so those ships could only be controlled by AI.
"General, don't you find the construction style of these warships familiar?" Academician Zeng said.
"The only Star System-Level Civilization we've encountered was the one that pursued Mr. Daozi. We saw several of their warships, and their construction style was completely different from this fleet's. Besides, their main target was Mr. Daozi. They wouldn't attack us on such a massive scale, would they? They left more than two hundred years ago. It shouldn't be them."
"It's definitely not that Star System-Level Civilization. If they'd really wanted to hunt us down with all their might, they would have turned the star systems around here upside down long ago. General, look at the shape of these warships. Don't they resemble the style of the Sand Python warships from back then?"
"Academician, now that you mention it, they do have something of the Sand Python warships about them. But the Sand Python Civilization no longer exists. The survivors who escaped lost their tech tree, and with their level of intelligence, they couldn't possibly have built a fleet on this scale in such a short time. According to our observations, the opposing fleet has at least ten million ships, traveling at roughly three hundred to four hundred times the speed of light. Their warships are over three kilometers long. For ships of that size to travel so fast, their warp and energy technology must be ahead of ours."
"It's highly unusual for them to be dragging a star along. When an ordinary Star System-Level Civilization travels through the universe, it has no need to bring a star with it, even if it needs to replenish its energy. There are more than enough planets and stars in the Milky Way to resupply a traveling fleet. I'm afraid there can be only one reason to bring a star: war," Academician Zeng analyzed.
"If they really intend to destroy us by blowing up a star, they're underestimating us. They can use spaceships to bend space and propel a star, so we should have even less trouble moving a planet. Academician, sorry for the trouble, but please assemble the relevant scientists at once and calculate the optimal positions for the warships. We'll take Number One Planet with us. It still can't withstand the energy of a star exploding. Since there's no time to move everything we have, we'll take the whole planet."
"General, we can't do it. During our decades on Number One Planet, we've already studied this problem. The experimental results showed that even if we used all the Stealth Killers, we could only propel Number One Planet at sublight speed. Their achievements in space technology are already far beyond ours."
"Academician, then we'll move Number One Planet behind the first or second star. Both stars are much larger than the Sun, and Number One Planet is currently right between the three stars. We only need to move it a little over a hundred astronomical units. Once that's done, our fleet will advance and take the offensive, stopping them on the perimeter. Zhonghua, you're responsible for assisting the academician with moving Number One Planet." Hu Yu swiftly made his battle arrangements.
After a group of space physicists performed the calculations, more than seventeen million Stealth Killers assembled in a spherical formation in the space around the first planet. When their engines started, the first planet slowly left its original orbit. Eighteen hours later, it passed through the gap between Alpha Centauri's first and second stars and reached the far side of the first star, opposite the unidentified fleet.
After placing the first planet in its designated orbit, the fleet immediately advanced to meet the unidentified fleet. This was a head-on clash. The Stealth Killers' armor and space-warping force-field defenses could easily withstand the impact of a star exploding. Although the opposing fleet had only half as many ships as the Stealth Killers, they were all massive warships.
The two sides were now less than a light-day apart, practically within sight of each other on a cosmic scale. The Stealth Killers had dropped out of warp and spread out through the area, waiting for the order to attack.