Chapter Eighteen: Innocent Victim

Chapter 18: Taking Fire While Lying Down

"Right Two, fire control! Bring your drone squadron up, move, move, move!"

"Already deployed, estimated arrival in one second!"

"Need support! I've been cut off!"

"Flagship! Surrounded, requesting backup!"

"Hold for ten seconds! Release shields now!"

"Left One! Expand formation fifteen degrees to the left, shoot them down!"

"Right Three, have your drone squad divert enemy fire! Right, shift thirty degrees for supporting fire!"

"Gun One, I need you to fire in ten seconds!"

"Ten seconds is enough."

"One broodmother eliminated! When will the next attack be ready?"

"Three minutes!"

"Fleet, withdraw! Drone squadrons, converge!"

The battle raged on without pause. Since the breach in the Feng Tower inner star sector, the Galactic Allied Fleet had thrust into the enemy’s heart like a pair of scissors. Yet the resistance encountered was unprecedented.

Fire, explosions, debris—these littered the cosmos so thickly that even the logistics fleet was overwhelmed, unable to clear every battlefield before plunging into another star system.

The Young Dragon Fleet served as the spearhead, carving out new ground. If they could seize this stargate, they’d sever the Feng Tower swarm’s supply lines, leaving the main force behind them to finish the job.

“Damn it, just because we’re not family, they send us to do this dirty work!” Three days of relentless combat with the swarm left Xu Meng cursing in frustration.

“First Officer, when will the Seventh Army catch up?” Liu Shaoyu, watching the battle, took a moment to ask Xu Meng.

“These lizards must have been terrified before! Even on the battlefield, they drag their feet like lazy mules!” Xu Meng grumbled as he ordered the communications officer to send another message.

The “lizards” Xu Meng referred to were the amphibian fleet now serving in the Seventh Army. Since the Young Dragon squad had been disbanded, these once overshadowed amphibians had started to show their mettle—but, as always, children raised in greenhouses struggled to weather storms.

“They should have reached the rendezvous point ten minutes ago! They’re definitely stalling on purpose!” Even Long Ruyuan joined in the complaints. They’d never respected these defeated rivals.

“All right, brace for impact. The enemy’s soldier bugs are here.” Liu Shaoyu’s brow furrowed. He instructed the communications officer, then readied himself for the next onslaught.

A jump away from the Young Dragon Fleet, another fleet was grudgingly besieging a primary broodmother.

“Captain, the Young Dragon Fleet is urging us to speed up,” a woman in white and green uniform reported to her captain.

“What’s the rush? We’re still fighting. Tell them a broodmother intercepted us—so powerful, they can wait.” The captain, Regan, now a major, smirked as she spoke.

“But…” The woman wanted to say more but Regan silenced her with a gesture.

“Prepare for assault, main guns ready, aim here.” Regan tapped a coordinate slightly off from the broodmother’s position.

Back with Liu Shaoyu, the endless combat had pushed the Young Dragon Fleet to its limits. Logistics officers were complaining bitterly from exhaustion, but it was no use. Reinforcements were delayed, and the Young Dragon Fleet had to stand their ground. Behind them lay the stargate—retreat now and three days of effort would be wasted.

But—

“Attention! Broodmother entering second phase! Release energy shields and prepare for psychic assault!” Liu Shaoyu shouted as he saw the warning on the display.

Facing the broodmother’s second phase and its impending psychic attack, Liu Shaoyu ordered the energy shields activated. But the capacitor’s conversion process left the starship cluster vulnerable, allowing the soldier bugs to encircle them.

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The swarm of soldier bugs enveloped the Young Dragon Fleet in a sphere, their dense bodies blotting out even the faintest cosmic light.

Liu Shaoyu’s brow was furrowed as never before—no reinforcements, and the situation was dire.

“Logistics officer, give me current loss statistics. Military officer, share visuals with command. First Officer, how long until the doomsday weapon is ready?” Liu Shaoyu forced himself to calm down, analyzing the situation with composure—a captain’s fundamental discipline.

“Overall fleet loss rate at thirty-five percent.”

“Visuals compromised, may not transmit properly.”

“Doomsday weapon cooldown: one hour and thirty-five minutes.”

With the numbers in, Liu Shaoyu knew he couldn’t rely solely on the doomsday weapon or reinforcements. He resolved to depend only on himself.

“Fleet, contract. Deploy all drones! Encircle and prepare.” On the command screen, Liu Shaoyu drew a circle to indicate the contraction.

The starships converged on the flagship, launching swarms of drones. Yet they were still outmatched by the soldier bugs.

The encircling swarm finally began their assault, surging from all directions. Inside the sphere, phalanxes of soldier bugs jabbed at the Young Dragon Fleet like needles.

“I’ve noticed something interesting,” Thomas’s voice startled Liu Shaoyu. Though this computer possessed advanced AI, it rarely spoke on its own. Intrigued, Liu Shaoyu pressed for details.

“Go on,” he said, conversing both aloud and mentally with the AI.

The battle display zoomed in, soldier bugs highlighted.

“Observe their attack patterns,” Thomas explained.

“The soldier bugs have no independent thought; their attacks are entirely directed by the broodmother,” Liu Shaoyu replied, recalling anatomical findings—their brains only received commands.

“In other words, individual soldier bugs lack initiative,” Thomas continued.

“Yes, our drone operation theory is based on this. Each fire control officer is like a broodmother, transmitting tactical orders to drone squad leaders.”

“Exactly. While our drone formations have rudimentary AI for flexible movement and simple individual combat, a single drone can’t execute tactical maneuvers.”

“Right—individual drone control is impossible,” Liu Shaoyu began to understand Thomas’s discovery, his mind racing.

“Thomas, you mean the broodmother directs squads, and each squad follows discernible patterns?”

“Yes. I’ve found the broodmother’s psychic control is precise within each hundred-soldier squad.”

“Our senior fire control officers can match that,” Liu Shaoyu responded. While this insight might provide an edge in future battles, today it seemed of little use.

“Yes. But extrapolating from this pattern, when control is exercised by the broodmother, the behavior becomes less predictable. However…”

Thomas’s “however” snapped Liu Shaoyu to attention. The display shrank, and the colored soldier bugs revealed—

“Is it possible the broodmother’s commands are also patterned?”

“Indeed, the broodmother’s movements follow a broader pattern during this battle,” Thomas explained, demonstrating with data on the screen. The movement of the swarm encircling Liu Shaoyu mirrored an expanded trajectory.

“So, some unknown factor is influencing the broodmother, causing this pattern?” Liu Shaoyu reached a startling conclusion.

“Yes.”

“The Feng Tower swarm’s command structure is hierarchical; if a higher-level entity appears nearby, command rights are transferred upward, which might explain this?” Liu Shaoyu reasoned out a plausible explanation.

“So, destroy the command unit and all subordinate units will halt,” Thomas concluded.

But even with predictable patterns easing the pressure, the sheer number of enemies—and the doomsday weapon’s remaining cooldown—meant Liu Shaoyu had to locate the command unit within an hour and a half.

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First, he needed to survive for ninety minutes! Liu Shaoyu glimpsed a ray of hope, his eyes lighting up anew.

“All drone squadrons, stand by!” Liu Shaoyu stared at the enemy on the screen. With this predictive pattern, he could effectively anticipate enemy attacks and dispatch drones accordingly, conserving strength. Yet such command was far from simple.

Even Liu Shaoyu’s enhanced body began to tire under such intense calculations, let alone ordinary crew seeking flaws in subtle patterns.

“Flagship, hull integrity critical under attack!” Another ship began to break apart under relentless fire.

Suppressing his anguish, Liu Shaoyu ordered, “All hands, eject escape pods!” With half the fleet lost, he had held on for an hour and twenty-five minutes. Just five more minutes and the doomsday weapon would be ready.

Around the fleet, escape pods dotted the void. These pods lacked propulsion, instead protected by layers of thick armor that allowed them to float in hostile space. Yet many were damaged by the soldier bugs’ onslaught—each pod a life, each life a weight on Liu Shaoyu.

But only by achieving victory could those lives be saved. The survivors fought with ferocious determination.

Only five minutes remained, but the prolonged battle had brought the fleet to the brink; the remaining ships were barely holding together.

Meanwhile, the amphibian fleet—the supposed reinforcements—was leisurely advancing. Detecting Liu Shaoyu’s fleet’s location, they ordered a halt, ceasing all fire.

“Thomas! I need coordinates! Give me the coordinates!” As the doomsday weapon cooled, Liu Shaoyu roared at Thomas.

No one could remain completely calm under such circumstances; Liu Shaoyu’s every ounce of reason was devoted to the fight. The officers seemed possessed, obsessed with nothing but destroying, destroying, destroying.

Finally, after more than an hour of silence, Thomas reported, “Target locked.” Coordinates appeared on the screen.

As expected, the command unit was hidden behind the dense swarm.

“First Officer! Target the coordinate!” Liu Shaoyu shared it across the battle channel. A spreading red dot appeared on Xu Meng’s tactical display.

“Two minutes fifteen seconds!”

“All drones, form up! In two minutes, charge!” Liu Shaoyu marked the red dot, sealing the drones’ fate.

The drones fighting at the fleet’s perimeter converged into a sword formation, thrusting toward the broodmother’s hidden location.

Without drone cover, two more ships were destroyed.

“Remaining ships, do not conserve capacitors! Fire outward!”

The best defense is offense! The drone assault forced the broodmother to abandon part of the encirclement to defend, easing pressure on the fleet.

“Logistics officer! Retrieve the escape pods!” Liu Shaoyu felt the attack abate and issued the command.

“Doomsday weapon ready!” Xu Meng’s voice came just in time.

“Lock target!”

“Fire!”

Three days later, the blinding flare reappeared. In the cosmos, the soldier bugs suddenly froze; explosions and shockwaves turned the region into hell.

Whether by coincidence or fate, the doomsday weapon’s firing coordinates were precisely where the amphibian fleet had stopped.

Do unto others as you would have done unto you.

“No!!” Regan cried out, hysterical—never imagining she would take fire while lying down.