Thanks to the cloud that I dispensed, the enemies were reluctant to fire their laser-based weapons at us. This led to their firepower dropping by a whopping 80%, leaving only their secondary weapons able to reach me.
"T-They’re planning to switch from offense to defense, delaying us until backup arrives!"
And thanks to Cassandra listening in on their discussions, we discovered their plans before they could even act on them.
"Delaying tactics, eh?" I grinned, pulling the trigger once again, firing all lasers at once. "In a few more minutes, I doubt there’ll be enough of them left to delay us at all!"
It had barely been a minute of battle, but the other side had already lost six of their ships.
As for our side, we hadn’t even suffered a single scratch—not even a drop in our shield’s energy. Currently, we were dominating the battlefield, so there was no way I would allow them to escape just like that!
I floored the pedals, accelerating forward, and approaching the closest enemy vessel.
Seeing our sudden approach, they must’ve panicked, as they fired lasers—their main turrets—right at us... a decision they would regret a moment later.
I flicked a toggle, turning off the underbelly-side barrier as I tilted the ship 90°, allowing the lasers to pass by below the ship—missing their target completely.
But it didn’t end there. The lasers landed in the reflective cloud behind us and rebounded, sending their own attacks straight back at them. The reaction was instantaneous—far too fast for them to counter.
The returning lasers slammed into their shields, quickly melting them down. They were lucky their weapons weren’t as strong as the Brionac, so their shields barely held—but not for long.
"Fire!"
I pulled the trigger, arming all laser turrets and focusing on the weakened shields. In an instant, they buckled under the incessant barrage, allowing the beams to melt into the ship’s hull.
The powerful array of eleven combined laser turrets wasn’t something they could ignore. Even with their reinforced armor, they didn’t last more than three seconds before their ship exploded, scattering debris into the void.
At the same time, the Brionac finished its cooldown and recharge, unleashing another devastating shot—this time, taking down a larger vessel further away.
"That’s two more down!" I exclaimed. "Only four more, and we can ditch the rest!"
Right—our goal wasn’t to wipe out the entire fleet, but to escape.
The enemy had started with twenty ships, and we had already eliminated eight. If we took down just four more, they wouldn’t have enough forces to hold us back, leaving us with a clear path to escape.
"Found it!" Eva suddenly exclaimed, marking two ships on the display. "Those two have the Jump Drive Jammers! Take those bastards down!"
"Got it!"
Unlike my initial guess, the ships carrying the Jump Drive Jammers weren’t the biggest ones but rather the smallest. Prioritizing speed over armor made them hard to catch—but if all they had was speed, then they were nothing before the Brionac.
While the eleven laser turrets focused on neutralizing incoming missiles and hammering nearby ships’ shields, the Brionac locked onto one of the marked vessels, completing its charge.
As soon as it was ready, I half-pressed the trigger—just enough to activate the targeting system—before letting go.
The enemy ship suddenly banked hard to the side, as if dodging a phantom bullet, only to realize too late that no shot had been fired.
"Idiots." I chuckled before pulling the trigger for real.
They attempted to maneuver again, but I micro-adjusted the Brionac’s aim at the last moment, tracking their movements precisely.
The prismatic beam lanced forward, puncturing through three layers of shielding before slicing the ship clean in half. A brief moment of silence followed—then an eruption of flame and debris as the vessel was obliterated.
Only one jammer ship remained, and it immediately pulled back, trying to escape.
Well, with the Brionac’s range, running was pointless unless they could warp away.
"Oh?"
To my surprise, half of the remaining ships shifted their formation to block my line of sight to the fleeing jammer ship.
"Really, does King Meyers have nothing but idiots in his army?"
The Brionac cooled down and started charging again. Within three seconds, it was ready to fire—just as five of the enemy ships had fully positioned themselves in front of their precious jammer ship.
"You just made this easier for me!" I sighed, then pulled the trigger.
The Brionac’s prismatic beam, fully charged, streaked forward. Nothing could stop it—not shields, not armor, not even the laws of common sense.
One by one, the five ships in its path were impaled. Their hulls crumpled as the beam bored straight through them, continuing toward its true target at the back—the final jammer ship.
In a matter of moments, six ships detonated in a chain reaction—an utterly pointless sacrifice on their part.
"Eva!" I called out, giving the signal.
After checking the radar and sensors, she nodded. "Jump Drives are now online! Only five ships remain. We can escape safely now!"
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"Alright!" I grinned. "Cassandra, activate the decoys and deploy more smokescreen! Percy, activate Jump Drives—we’re getting out of here!"
We had achieved our objective, and the remaining enemy ships were moving erratically, likely switching to manual control to avoid being picked off by algorithms. If we stayed to finish them off, it would take at least ten more minutes—not worth the risk.
I activated the stealth drive, before surrounding the ship with a cloud of reflective particles. Unlike the earlier one, this was just to obscure vision, without the ability to bounce laser fire.
Of course, the enemy wouldn’t know that. And knowing what happened last time, they wouldn’t dare fire into it blindly.
Decoys were launched, throwing off any heat-seeking or guided missiles. With this, even without weapon systems, we were safe for the time being.
The Jump Drive countdown ticked away: one minute.
By then, five of our eight decoys had been shot down—the enemy was being overly conservative with their fire, wasting their time instead of pressing the attack.
Then, at last, the ship accelerated, transitioning into Hyperspace Travel.
First stage of the plan: success!
---
Back in the Eclipse Sovereign, one of the soldiers manning the numerous consoles on the bridge spoke in panic.
"M-My King! Princess Cassandra has finally appeared at sector G-64!" He reported—his voice shaking. "The deployed fleet couldn’t stop them and lost 15 out of 20 ships!"
*SPLAT!*
A sickening, wet sound echoed, followed by a low thud. Something heavy hit the floor, making everyone reflexively turn toward it—
It was the severed head of the man who had just reported the situation!
"Useless bastards!" King Meyers cursed, his anger showing on his face for the first time in a long while. "You! Tell me where they’re heading!"
He pointed at the man beside the now headless body, whose face had gone deathly pale. His limbs trembled violently. He knew—without a doubt—that if he failed to meet the king’s expectations, he would suffer the same fate.
Quickly turning back to his console, he frantically reviewed the data his "late" comrade had received. His eyes darted across the screen before he swallowed hard and forced himself to speak.
"I-It seems they’re heading straight for the Primula System! I presume they plan on hiding there among the pirates!"
"... Primula?" King Meyers frowned upon hearing this.
Something felt off. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but something was wrong.
The Primula System was known as one of the most chaotic regions in the sector—overflowing with pirate activity. If Arthur and his crew went there, it would be inevitable that they would get caught up in fights, delaying them significantly.
"Unless..." King Meyers placed a hand to his chin, deep in thought.
The entire bridge remained tense—every officer standing stiff, as if waiting for a death sentence that, thankfully, didn’t come.
Then, the king extended his hand forward, voice filled with authority.
"Contact all nearby fleets and surround the Primula System! No one gets out—not even a single pirate or merchant!"
This time, he would not let them escape.
---
"Alright, Percy! Stop Jump Travel!" I commanded after a while.
We had covered about 10 AU of distance—roughly halfway between our previous exit point and the Primula System.
What? Weren’t we heading for Calumet?
Yes, we were.
But, of course, if we had directly locked onto Calumet for a Jump, the enemy would have immediately identified our true destination. Worse, they could have used their widespread forces to get ahead of us, setting up another ambush.
That’s why we needed a decoy.
The Primula Star System, a.k.a. Pirate’s Paradise, was the perfect bait. It was a massive system spanning 24 AU in diameter, riddled with hundreds—if not thousands—of unstable wormholes leading to unknown destinations.
’With King Meyers’ meticulousness, he would definitely think we’re planning to use those wormholes to escape him.’
With that possibility in play, he wouldn’t be able to ignore Primula. He’d have to react.
Well—not like it mattered anymore.
By the time they realized we weren’t actually going there, they would have already lost track of us entirely.
"Percy, change our waypoint from Alpha to Theta!" I commanded.
With our trajectory corrected and the Jump Drive reinitialized, we finally set course for our true destination—
The secret wormhole leading to Astoraxia!
