Chapter 98: Shockwave
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
After dropping the shock bomb, the Lunar Eclipse started to beat a hasty retreat. Xia Fei turned on the defense system and held onto his seat, bracing himself for the storm that was about to come.
He could clearly see the faint blinking indicator light atop that round bomb, which flashed faster and faster.
The moment that light finally stopped flas.h.i.+ng, the bomb exploded. A bright ray of white light emanated from the bomb, lighting up the dark s.p.a.ce.
It was blindingly bright as if he had just created an artificial star. A majestic red shockwave followed the initial bright light as it expanded outward spherically.
The shockwave quickly went past the Lunar Eclipse to spread even further out. All the electronics...o...b..ard the Lunar Eclipse flashed frantically, illuminating the inside of the s.h.i.+p with various colors that were accompanied by an ear-piercing siren.
The s.h.i.+p was shaking violently as if it was in the middle of a fifteen magnitude earthquake. Everything on the s.h.i.+p went into a state of hibernation, and as the warp engine stopped, Lunar Eclipse gradually slowed down.
Xia Fei leaped out of his seat and activated the emergency system on the command deck.
“Check for damage; start the recovery operation,” Xia Fei commanded the AI computer.
“Affirmative. Self-a.s.sessment has begun. Radar is thirty-seven percent damaged. Lidar is completely damaged. Gravitational radar is forty-two percent damaged.
“Gravity system operational.
“The power of the warp engine has been reduced by thirteen percent.
“Energy s.h.i.+eld has taken eighty-seven percent damage. Energy s.h.i.+eld recovery has been initiated.
“The reactor has been damaged by nineteen percent…
The computer made quick calculations to figure out the damage the Lunar Eclipse had sustained in addition to initiating the recovery work.
The shock bomb was like an electromagnetic-pulse (EMP) blast. If the enemies were not prepared for it, their electronics would suffer severe damage.
Due to the innate structure of stealth systems, their worst enemy was an EMP blast. If all went well, the stealth system would be completely destroyed, rendering them unable to hide in s.p.a.ce.
Xia Fei had his eyes on the radar and the window in hopes of finding that hidden insectoid wars.h.i.+p.
Everything now depended on his luck. As the shock bomb would only work for a limited time, if the enemy had left the radius of the bomb ages ago, the shock bomb would not do anything to their stealth equipment.
It would be near impossible to find them again in the vast s.p.a.ce, so the bomb was Xia Fei’s only chance.
A few hundred miles away from the Lunar Eclipse, on the Amarr Inquisitor-cla.s.s frigate, Bosingwa painfully stood up with a hand on his head. He had a b.u.mp about the size of a teacup on his head, likely caused by the impact of the bomb blast.
He was not the only one who had sustained an injury. When the bomb hit, everyone on the s.h.i.+p was knocked off their feet. It was an embarra.s.sing sight, to say the least.
“Is everyone all right!” Beihai called as he climbed out from underneath a table, looking for his two front teeth. He sounded very strange, struggling to form words without his front teeth.
Manjun had broken his nose and blood dripped down from it. With one hand on his nose, he shook his head vigorously with a helpless expression, his face screwed up in agony.
“Can someone help me up?” Moon Song was lying on the ground, sweat steadily forming on her forehead.
Chen Dong walked over as he dissipated his ice armor. He was probably the only one who came out of this unscathed with the protection his ice armor rendered. However, he looked quite pale as it seemed that the power of the shock bomb had left a lingering impression on him.
“What’s wrong?” asked Chen Dong as he got on his knees.
“I dislocated my left arm,” replied Moon Song through gritted teeth.
“Oh.”
Chen Mo nodded, grabbing Moon Song’s arm and pus.h.i.+ng it upward.
“AHH!” Moon Song let out a pain-filled scream. She hit the ground with one hand repeatedly, having completely lost her cool as anguish filled her face.
“Xia Fei, you piece of tras.h.!.+ You’re crazy and I’ll never forgive you!” Of course, Xia Fei did not know about Moon Song’s pain. Even if he did know, he would not care as everything came with a price. This was the creed Xia Fei lived by. As long as he could find Xiaoyu, a small price like this was negligible. Besides, he could always make it up with Moon Song later.
Xia Fei only had one thing in mind, and that was to intercept the opponents at all costs. A few seconds later in the area underneath the Lunar Eclipse, a weird wobbly insectoid s.h.i.+p appeared as if it was drunk.
It had a dark sh.e.l.l that made it look primitive and strange as if it was a huge beetle crawling along in s.p.a.ce.
This insectoid s.h.i.+p was bigger than Xia Fei’s Lunar Eclipse, and from its tonnage, it should be at least a destroyer.
Xia Fei could not help but be ecstatic. “We did it! The shock bomb destroyed their stealth system!” The Lunar Eclipse was now heading full-speed at the insectoid. “Keep within one hundred and fifty kilometers of the s.h.i.+p at seventy percent power. Maintain a ninety percent capacity for the energy s.h.i.+elds. Prepare the warp disruptor and the traction controller. Lock onto the enemy’s power system.”
Commands followed one after another as a large number of weapons appeared from every crevice of the s.h.i.+p, all aimed directly at the opponent. The weapons were usually kept hidden within the s.h.i.+p, and upon receiving orders, every port and hatch opened to reveal the various offensive or control weapons the frigate possessed.
The Lunar Eclipse finally bore its menacing fangs. The traction controller and warp disruptor had an effective range of two hundred kilometers, and once the insectoid s.h.i.+p entered this range, the two weapons would be activated to actively subdue the target. Anti-matter sh.e.l.ls and missiles soon followed, bombarding the enemy s.h.i.+p as they engaged in combat.
As the shock bomb had destroyed one of the main cannons and a missile launcher, Lunar Eclipse had less than forty percent of its firepower available and lacked the firepower to destroy the enemy s.h.i.+p.
Moreover, Xia Fei was worried that Xiaoyu was on the s.h.i.+p, so he did not dare attack the critical parts of it.
What was even more surprising was that the insectoids did not seem to be retaliating, and Lunar Eclipse’s detection systems showed that it was rapidly charging up energy.
All of a sudden, the insectoid s.h.i.+p opened a wormhole. It turned out that they had a warp stabilizer, and Xia Fei’s warp disruptor could not do anything to prevent them from escaping.
“Tag it with the marking system immediately!” commanded Xia Fei.
The marking system could lock onto an opponent continuously as if installing a beacon on them. No matter where they went, Xia Fei would be able to know exactly where they were.
Alas, the market system took some time to activate. Moreover, all of the energy of the s.h.i.+p was focused on its different parts, meaning he would need to redistribute the energy in order to activate the marking system and turn off some non-essential equipment to gather energy.
Xia Fei was anxious but helpless as he saw half of the insectoid s.h.i.+p enter the wormhole, but the marking system was only seventy-three percent done. The wormholes generated by the warp engine were temporary and could collapse anytime, so Xia Fei could not follow the insectoid s.h.i.+p into the wormhole and could only give chase after determining its position.
If Lunar Eclipse failed to tag the s.h.i.+p before it escaped, Xia Fei would completely lose track of it, and all his previous actions would go to waste. Rage filled him as Xia Fei clenched fists and let out an angry roar. It was as if the flames of anger in his eyes were about to flare up for real as his heart fought to get out of his chest. Just when the insectoid s.h.i.+p was about to enter the wormhole fully, the marking system shot out a faint green ray of light, hitting the tail of the insectoid through a tiny gap in the closing wormhole at the last possible second, barely marking the insectoid s.h.i.+p in time. “Perfect!” exclaimed Xia Fei as he slammed his fist onto the console.
A white blip appeared on the projected screen immediately. The blip was advancing incredibly fast. Xia Fei zoomed out from the starmap and saw the s.h.i.+p moving toward the outer reaches of the star region.
The Endaro Star Region was a star region at the edge of the Pan-Human Alliance area, far away from its core areas. It appeared that his foes were trying to escape the Endaro Star Region altogether, making their way toward the military buffer zone set by the humans and insectoids.
Military forces from either side were not allowed into the buffer zone, so the military would lose track of it once they entered that zone. They had to stop the s.h.i.+p before it entered the zone at any cost.
“Bosingwa, are things all right on your end?” Xia Fei initiated a connection to Bosingwa’s s.h.i.+p.
“We are fine, but most of the s.h.i.+p has been damaged. I’ve sent out a distress signal, and I’m now waiting for help.”
“There are only one minute and thirty-seven seconds left in the self-destruct system; you know what you should do,” said Xia Fei.
Bosingwa was a little sad as the self-destruct of the s.p.a.ce station was also a farewell to Xia Haili and Queiroz, two of his most trusted friends. Farewells were always difficult, and a tough guy like him was no exception.
At this moment, there was another signal from the tracking system. The insectoid s.h.i.+p only warped three thousand lightyears before leaving the wormhole.
There were two possibilities: One, the shock bomb had affected its warping capabilities, dramatically shortening the warp distance; two, the insectoid s.h.i.+p had been forced into initiating a warp, meaning that it was not entirely in control of its destination.
Without any hesitation, Xia Fei entered the insectoid s.h.i.+p’s location into the AI navigation system and activated his own warp system to try and follow it. s.h.i.+ps needed to take some time to recharge their power after every warp, and they would be unable to open a wormhole during this time. This was Xia Fei’s best chance.
“I’m going after that insectoid s.h.i.+p; take care,” said Xia Fei.
Right as he finished speaking, Lunar Eclipse entered the wormhole in the direction of the insectoid s.h.i.+p.
Bosingwa sighed, turning around to inform his pa.s.sengers awkwardly. “Hold on tight; a second explosion is coming.”
Moon Song was trying to move her arm around at the moment. She was still in pain from her newly relocated arm and stubbornly put all the blame onto Xia Fei as she spat with vitriol, “Xia Fei, you’d better watch out!”