Chapter 1464: Retreat
“Commander, our drones have picked up a change in the enemy’s trajectory,” said the radar operator, speaking loudly to signify its urgency.
Jiang Fei’s heart sank. “What is their status?” he asked worriedly.
“There are currently four fleets heading in our direction. Threat a.n.a.lysis indicates complete obliteration!” replied the operator, speaking even louder than before.
The Alderaanian forces had come too quickly, not giving Jiang Fei any leg room to plan ahead. At their current pace, it was predicted that they would soon be within attacking range of Turandot. If not for the deployment of warping disruptors and artificial gravity wells, they would have arrived 24 hours earlier.
The only way they could proceed deeper into the galaxy was with conventional impulse engines. Even at their best speeds, the entire galaxy was riddled with mines.
The mines used by the Trade Federation had cloaking abilities, which made it extremely hard to detect them via orthodox tracking methods. Once the mine detected an unidentifiable signal, it would arm itself and set out on a collision course to the aforementioned signal before detonating.
Powerful in their own way, mines were used to destroy small s.h.i.+ps and even large Hypercruisers. To be specific, their potent explosive force cannot completely destroy a Hypercruiser, but being showered by a swarm of mines would cause significant hull damage, rendering the Hypercruiser weakened or even unuseable.
The mines were a great obstacle for the Alderaanian forces, as they had to proceed even slower than usual in order to neutralize the mines before they detonated en ma.s.se.
One method they used was to deploy disposable unmanned drones to seek out and destroy the mines before the main fleet proceeded. Fortunately, out of desperation, Jiang Fei had deployed every mine the Fifth Hybrid Fleet had.
This put a lot of pressure on the enemy and prevented them from making haste in their pursuit. That being said, it was predicted that they would make it through the minefield in less than 36 hours.
Jiang Fei sighed dejectedly. “Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are fast…”
With the black matter influencing his cognitive functions, Jiang Fei may now have a terrible temper, but he was still very much himself when it came to calculating risks.
Jiang Fei’s little fleet was nowhere near strong enough to fight against four legitimate s.p.a.ce fleets. It would not be a battle so much as a complete one-sided ma.s.sacre. All the Alderaanians had to do to take them out was aim all their beam cannons in their general direction, and the s.h.i.+ps of Jiang Fei’s entire fleet would be riddled with holes.
One of the captains stepped forward, hoping that Jiang Fei would make the right decision. “Your orders?”
Right now, remaining where they were and trying to fight would be the worst possible decision Jiang Fei could make. It would result in their total annihilation.
After a long silence, Jiang Fei finally declared, “Begin fleet-wide broadcast. Inform everyone to start the retreat procedure immediately!”
As a fighter, Jiang Fei wanted nothing more than to fight the enemy. However, he knew that he was standing on a paper-thin sheet of ice. Jiang had been in multiple fights, wars, s.p.a.ce battles, and large-scale galactic warfare. He knew the ways of war, having shed blood and sweat to learn.
After going through h.e.l.l and high water, Jiang Fei knew when to not pick a fight. His current move went against his very nature. His principle was to never start a fight, but to welcome it if someone pushed for one.
There was a saying in ancient Chinese war stories: “All those who welcome fights, never gather glorious achievements.”
It was an odd saying as it contradicted itself. The meaning behind this saying lies in how one interprets it. One meaning was that those who welcomed fights knew when to accept a fight in which they held the highest advantage.
Before the fight even started, one would have already calculated every possible outcome and known what action to take, even when the winds of change hit them hard. They would win every challenge they faced, every battle they fought, every war they were part of.
They would look like bullies, completely suppressing their enemies as if they were holding themselves back. Those not involved in the fight would conclude that the only reason they won was out of sheer luck.
While books and records told the story of war heroes and their deeds in war, the truth behind their actions were never revealed. Those people were never the kind who would go to war without a reason. They were forced, coerced even, to join the fight. If luck was on their side, they would emerge victorious and be dubbed as the war heroes of the century.
The tale of the indomitable King Xiang Yu was as such. He was said to be the bravest, the strongest, undefeatable. However, the truth was not all suns.h.i.+ne and rainbows as was recorded. He was only human and not infallible. When he lost his soldiers in the Wujiang province, he was defeated.
War requires strategy and a mind as sharp as a blade. Individual strength also plays an equally important role in achieving victory. In ancient times, even the strongest man could never survive against a ballista’s missiles.
That was a given since they were all humans. But in s.p.a.ce, strength knew no limits. A person like Theon could overthrow even a thousand s.h.i.+ps. His strength was unparalleled, and that kind of strength was something that Jiang Fei was currently lacking.
Now that the Trade Federation had abandoned the entire galaxy, there was no way that Jiang Fei could come up with a viable strategy. There was no way he could request for reinforcements. If he chose to make his stand on Turandot, he would have a slim chance of surviving the war.
However, if the Alderaanian forces were to call in reinforcements, and it was likely that they would, Jiang Fei’s soldiers would die of starvation before he could defeat them all.
If he still wanted to live and breathe, the only route he could take was to pack up and leave before a fight could erupt.
Jiang Fei handed over all important decision making to the captains of the fleet as he beamed down to the planet. Flas.h.i.+ng as fast as he could to the training ground, he entered the time chamber where the girls were training.
Currently, the ‘players’ have started to establish a connection with Alderaan. There was not enough time to think too deeply about this matter. His first priority was to get the girls and leave.
Jiang Fei was greeted with a scene of the girls dressed in tights and drenched in sweat as they trained themselves hard. The one girl that was putting in extra effort was Hua Mulan.
There were traces of blood on the palm rest of her spear. Pools of sweat could also be seen, and some had even dried up to form a small collection of crystallized sweat. One could only imagine just how much Hua Mulan had pushed herself to become stronger.
Nina noticed Jiang Fei’s presence and approached him. “Fei? What are you doing here?”
He had just visited them a few days ago.
Pausing her training session to talk to Jiang Fei, Ariel chimed in, “Darling, you mustn’t waste resources by coming in!”
The more people in the room, the faster the resources burned up. Besides, the more often Jiang Fei visited, the more he would disrupt their training.
“Forget about training! Please listen closely. Pack up your things and follow me out of this training room!” Jiang Fei declared loudly.
Even though time in the training room was 30 times faster than the outside world, every second counted when fleets of s.h.i.+ps were coming to destroy them.
Isabella noticed the tone of his voice and quickly asked, “What’s going on?”
When she saw everyone was gathering, Sylphy joined them. “My love, what’s the matter?”
“No time to explain. Turandot is not safe anymore. We must leave now!”
“But… all the resources that you have already invested… wouldn’t that be a waste?”
“I don’t care about that. I can always earn more money tomorrow but I cannot save you if we don’t leave now!” blurted Jiang Fei nervously.
“What’s going on?”
“Why is the Lord so nervous?”
…
Instead of following Jiang Fei’s orders, everyone started discussing the situation.
“Listen! There is no time to be talking about this. Go. Pack your things and follow Jiang Fei!” commanded Nina.
Of all the girls there, she was the one who held a certain commanding aura that rivaled even Hua Mulan. When she spoke, everyone would listen.
Because of her, everyone stopped chattering and started to pack their belongings.
With haste, they all went to their stations and back within a few minutes.