Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 252: Infiltrating the Space Merchants' Mother Ship!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

After the space merchants’ mother ship experienced such a drastic change, Yao Yuan snapped back into focus after several seconds. He abandoned the supermagnetic orbit cannon. After all, after the technology behind it was perfected, they could build as many of the cannons as they wanted. It didn’t matter even if it was abandoned. Furthermore, it was in the middle of collapsing, so Yao Yuan had to get away from it as soon as possible.

After Yao Yuan returned to the Red Lightning, he used his Anima power to order the rest of the Prototype 003 Space Combat Jets to give the supermagnetic orbit cannon a wide berth. After about 10 seconds, the cannon exploded in a fiery blaze. Thankfully, by then, all of the combat jets were already far away enough that no one got hurt.

Simultaneously, Yao Yuan had recovered from the sudden melancholy. He used his Seeker power to study the mother ship. Other than the still bursting sparks, the mother ship seemed to have entered lockdown. There were no more electromagnetic shields, not even the appearance of more plate-shaped combat jets.

"Attention to all Prototype 003 Combat Jet pilots, move your jets closer to the mother ship. Stay in formation with leaders in the front and the Survivors at the back. Without my orders, no one is allowed to get too close to the mother ship!"

After Yao Yuan relayed the information, he steered the Red Lightning towards the mother ship. This time, his Diviner power didn’t tingle, but he couldn’t afford to be not careful. The Red Lightning had entered its maximum speed and was dashing towards the mother ship in a flash of red lightning. It eventually stopped several kilometers outside of the mother ship. It made a quick swerve practically just outside of the mother ship and there were no signs of any attack.

Indeed, the space merchants’ mother ship had been completely disabled!

"Attack! Every trooper in Prototype 003 Combat Jets, attack! Attack with everything you got!"

With this observation, Yao Yuan ordered them to launch a full-on assault.

Very quickly, the remaining 100 plus combat jets started attacking. The roaring of the Gaussian rail guns never stopped. Interspersed in between was Yao Yuan’s own Gaussian mini cannon. The surface of the mother ship proceeded to be shot into pieces.

After a series of attacks, Yao Yuan ordered the troopers to change tactics. After all, the mother ship was gigantic, so it would take years for the combat jets to be able to do any real damage to it. Even though the Gaussian weaponry had great penetration, they weren’t carrier missiles, they were like mosquito bites on the mother ship.

At that time, it had been 3 minutes after the mother ship went down. Yao Yuan had finally figured it out. He immediately used his Anima power to locate Xi Kong inside the Hope and had her contact Guang Zhen and Bo Li.

"Tell Guang Zhen to immediately gather all the Defense Unit soldiers he can find. Of course, leave some for necessary defense. The rest of the defense responsibility can be left to the Black Dragons. Get all the Defense Unit soldiers into a transport shuttle. Right, also bring along around 5 Black Dragons. Use Bo Li’s alien robot to carry them out. After they leave the Hope’s creator’s particle range, it will be time for action! Tell them to go towards the space merchants’ mother ship!"

Xi Kong was unfamiliar with military events, so she delayed Yao Yuan’s orders word for word to Guang Zhen and Bo Li. Guang Zhen was initially curious as to why Yao Yuan hadn’t directly communicated with himm but he was quick to realize that unlike Xi Kong's, Yao Yuan’s Anima power couldn’t reach the non-Homo Evolutis. Therefore, he quickly tossed the confusion out of his mind.

Since it was Yao Yuan’s orders, Guang Zhen quickly moved to oblige. In a short amount of time, he gathered all of the Defense Unit’s lieutenant leaders and they started to calculate the amount of still active Defense Unit soldiers. Other than the ones who had sacrificed themselves, those that were still unconscious from the aliens’ electrical attacks, and those that were injured, they currently could gather around 1,200 soldiers. It was a saddening number.

As noted in Yao Yuan’s orders, Guang Zhen left behind 200 soldiers and 15 Black Dragons to look over the Hope, while the remaining 1,000 soldiers and 5 Black Dragons were led into the transport shuttles. After that, Bo Li’s alien robot lifted the shuttles one by one beyond the confinement of the Hope’s creator’s particle zone. After that, the shuttles recovered their functionality and started to fly towards the Prototype 003 Space Combat Jets.

Yao Yuan’s Red Lightning zipped towards the shuttles and he finally regained contact with Guang Zhen. Guang Zhen asked, immediately after communication was established, "What’s the update? Yao Yuan, why are we going towards the alien merchants’ mother ship?"

Yao Yuan answered, "Because we don’t have enough firepower to take down the entire mother ship. Furthermore, it is not in our interest to destroy it. As you can see, the mother ship has been completely disabled, as its energy circuits and energy systems seem to have short-circuited. This is an opportunity that we can’t miss. We shall take advantage of this chaos and send in our troops to seize their mother ship…

"We’ve lost so much in this war, and until now we haven’t heard anything from Ying’s group, and we probably won’t anymore. Regardless, the mother ship’s shut down has completely taken away the space merchants' will to fight, so they're at a disadvantage. Now is the perfect time to attack. Ol’ Wong, you’ll lead the troops into the mother ship and split into 5 units to take hold of strategic location. Each of the units will have a Black Dragon accompanying it. The goal is to set up a bridgehead within their mother ship."

Yao Yuan took a pause before continuing, "Us Black Star Troopers will aid in the combat as well. I will give you half of the Troopers to act as the shock troopers to take down and decimate the alien merchants’ military resistance. We have to expand our control on their mother ship as much as we can. What to do next will be decided after we gain contact with the space merchants."

Guang Zhen was taken aback. "Gain contact? What contact? Why?"

Yao Yuan answered firmly, "Of course, for peace talks."

Guang Zhen immediately retorted, "Peace talks? Have you lost your mind? Yao Yuan, you want us to have peace talks with the alien merchants? What is the meaning of this? Do you know how many lives have been lost on the Hope? Do you know that our three spaceships have self-destructed? Are you aware that the Hope is still immobile and is shut down? You seriously want to have peace talks?"

"Indeed, we need to have this peace talk…"

Yao Yuan confirmed, "Because we can’t completely take down the alien merchants. Our current advantage is not a really big advantage, so we’re still in risky waters. This infiltration of the mother ship is also to gain some leverage for the peace talks. You too have seen how things were when the supermagnetic orbit cannon was fired. The mother ship has access to nano repair bot technology…"

Guang Zhen gave it some thought and nodded. "I know, Bo Li gave me a brief on it when we saw the mother ship start to repair itself."

"That’s right," Yao Yuan continued. "We might have an advantage now, but it’ll be useless if we don’t turn that into a victory. The moment the alien merchants regain their senses and pull out some emergency energy supply to reactivate the nano bots, then what will happen? Maybe it’ll take several days or even weeks to fully repair their mother ship, but do you think we can control the whole mother ship in a short period of time? Impossible.

"We don’t have the military force to seize the whole mother ship. After the mother ship comes back online, the space merchants can keep it on lock down to prevent our entry. What if they start to charge up the Requiem again? How are we supposed to defend against that? The quantum lock in the Hope’s central mainframe cannot be resolved in a short period of time, so we will need the space merchants’ technology for that…"

Yao Yuan took a deep breath. "Of course I realize the extent of the damage the space merchants have done. After tricking us under the disguise of trade, killing them all will not compensate for what we’ve lost. They will have to pay for the lives that they have taken. However, Ol’ Wong, politics is politics. Even though you and I might not like it, politics is a part of war. We can’t fight a war simply because of our emotions, because if so, this whole war has no meaning! The reason we go into war is only one… profit!

"Based on everything so far, peace talks will bring us the greatest profit. It will provide us with the benefits we need and take away the danger we’re in…"

Yao Yuan’s tone suddenly dropped. "Of course, this peace talk will not be built on faith alone. That way, we will not get the benefit we deserve! The so-called peace talks can only exist when the space merchants are under the mouths of our cannons! Other than setting up the bridgehead, I want the soldiers to decimate their remaining military and capture more captives! After I escort you guys to the mother ship’s hangar, I will return to the Hope and have Bo Li’s alien robot send to me all the H-bombs that still remain on the Hope!

"Since the space merchants have already pushed us to the point of extinction, if they still refuse to bow down to our conditions, then their mother ship will become a fireworks display in space. I’d rather we spent decades here sifting through the quantum lock than give these space locusts another chance to wiggle their way out of their responsibility and repayment. If they are that stubborn…

"Then they shall have a taste of the H-bombs!"