Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 376: Take No Prisoners!

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

"We do not ask for any compensation…"

Blue 6 had already removed his space armor and hurried to central command. Along the way, he was speechless from sheer excitement. His act of sacrifice had become an unexpected reward. Not only did he not die, he might even become humanity's hero. This was a good method for him to really assimilate into the human civilization, and in fact, this might even improve humanity's impression of his original race, the Blue Race.

All of these thoughts were percolating in Blue 6's mind. Even though he was excited, he maintained most of his rationality. The key was what humanity was going to do next.

According to the unwritten rules of the cosmos, humanity had won this war with a landslide. However, this did not mean that humanity could rest easy, because dealing with the aftermath could be said to be the most crucial part of the war. To nab a large amount of valuable technology for the Hope? Or to gain new vassals for humanity? Or to take over this Shelter?

Each of the choices had its own hidden problems; one wrong step and the advantage humanity had might be lost just like that, and it could even harm humanity itself. This was because humanity had too much unawareness regarding the cosmos. Blue 6 was cognizant of this, so even though he was excited enough to want to hold a celebratory ball, the first thing he did was rush to central command as fast as he could.

When Blue 6 used a strategic manner to bring up the question of humanity's future plan to Yao Yuan, Yao Yuan repeated the same thing he said earlier.

"Of course, if there was a level 3 space civilization technology that could enable us to become a level 3 space civilization in the shortest amount of time and thus greatly increasing our security during our travels in space, that would be perfect, but…"

Yao Yuan paused to look at Blue 6 before continuing, "But reward and danger are not proportional at the moment. For us to get the compensation that you mentioned, we humans have to have at least have an overwhelming military advantage, but you understand the real situation. I believe that that level 3 space civilization is not an idiot. They know that our technological level is actually not that high. The only reason the result is as we see currently is because we managed to strike with an unusual and surprising method… but there is such an adage among us humans, or rather, more accurately, among us Hans. As for the war, one should engage it by regular way and win it by non-regular way. However, the non-regular way is merely another way of saying we've given it our all simply because we are not powerful enough. After all, who would opt for the non-regular way if a war could be won the normal way?

"That is our current situation. We can defeat them, yes, but vanquishing them is impossible. If we attempt that, it will be us humans who might end up losing. Therefore, my decision is simple: we will block all exits from the Shelter for 24 hours and even use another shot of the Gravity Cannon. We have to ensure that no alien spaceship is allowed to get out of this Shelter. After 24 hours, we will escape as far as we can. After we exit this solar system, we will immediately enter warp drive to get away from this Shelter."

When Blue 6 heard Yao Yuan, he nodded continuously, and the worry in his heart was settled. In reality, he was most afraid that Yao Yuan would act too recklessly or perhaps be blinded by profit and think that humanity could swallow this Shelter with its current power. That was what Blue 6 was scared of the most. However, since Yao Yuan still maintained his clear head, then Blue 6 had nothing to worry about. Currently, he needed to keep a low profile after such a high-profile victory. This was what they called "hide one's capacities and bide one's time" in Blue Race language…

On the other hand, the battle on the surface of the Shelter's ruins had reached its height…

Several hundred Space Combat Jet Prototype 011s were cruising the space just outside of the Shelter. Like a patrolling shark, they would occasionally show themselves out of ECS invisibility to strike at an enemy. After the quick strike, they would disappear again. This was a favorite tactic among the Black Star Troopers' space combat manual, the hit-and-run tactic. After so much simulation training, their power was fully on display at this particular moment. From the beginning of the indiscriminate attack, the Black Star Troopers had suffered no losses other than two Space Combat Jets that suffered minor damage and had to return to the Hope for repairs.

Actually, those with a clear eye could tell that including the troopers who were in the war themselves, the so-called hit-and-run tactic relied on Black Star Troopers' scary reaction time and danger sense. Other than that, it also required a powerful space transport. If this was the earlier generation of Space Combat Jets, only Yao Yuan's Red Lightning was capable of hit-and-run, the rest would be limited by technology. It wasn't until this generation of Space Combat Jets and masterful training that almost all of the Black Star Troopers could conduct a hit-and-run attack.

The key to the hit-and-run tactic lied in the fact that if they suddenly appeared for a second to attack, the enemy would not be able to hit the Troopers. Around the Shelter's surface, plenty of exploding circles of light and Gaussian bullets covered the space, but most hit their own combat spaceships and almost zero bullets landed on humanity's Space Combat Jets. Furthermore, the Shelter was still crumbling. The alien spaceships were taken down by stray falling constructs and exploded. These explosions caused even more chaos and more and more spaceships exploded around the Shelter's ruin…

The Space Combat Jet Prototype 011s took advantage of this vicious cycle. The thousands of spaceships and millions of combat spaceships that could not expand into the wider space were like lambs waiting for slaughter. Their immense number had helped the Black Star Troopers because in the chaos, almost half of the alien ships were destroyed by the crumbling structure of the Shelter or died under friendly fire. What the Black Star Troopers were doing was practically sowing more chaos.

Everything was going humanity's way. Due to the natural advantage of the Black Star Troopers, which was formed by several hundred Homo Evolutis, the battle was completely one-sided. Who knew how many space civilizations had ended their lives in this Shelter, and who knew how many sentient space lifeforms were lost…

Suddenly, a triangular, silvery-white spaceship shot out from inside the Shelter. Its speed was unusually fast, it was faster than when the Hope was moving at maximum speed. Nothing stood in its way; be it the Shelter's falling debris or the other spaceships who stood in its way, they exploded in a shower of fireworks when they came into contact with this silvery-white spaceship.

Needless to say this was a spaceship for a level 3 space civilization. It was small in size and was triangular in shape. There was a layer of plasma shield on its surface that was visible to the naked eye. It was why the spaceship could storm through the crowd without worry. None of the weapons or materials present could harm this layer of plasma shield. It created a path by cutting through the crowd, and it was close to getting out of the range of the Shelter's ruin.

At that moment, the Diviners among the Black Star Troopers felt the imminent danger. Even Yao Yuan, who was in central command, felt it as well. It was like a beast was leaping at them. Even though the danger was not strong enough to cause extinction, the danger level was slowly climbing.

Without warning from Yao Yuan, the Black Star Troopers could feel the danger presented by this level 3 space civilization's spaceship. The threat of this one spaceship was bigger than all the level 2 space civilizations' spaceships combined. They peeled away from dealing with the level 2 space civilizations and focused on this one level 3 space civilization's spaceship. Using the same hit-and-run tactic, they fired continuously at this spaceship.

However…

As expected of a level 3 space civilization, the focus fire of several hundred Space Combat Jet Prototype 011s had practically no effect on the ship's plasma shield. Just like a dinosaur facing an ant, it did not even retaliate and just focused on getting out of the ruin.

Xiao Niao was in one of the several hundred Space Combat Jets, and he was the leader of one of the units. Behind him were his two best friends, Qiu Qiu and Dan Dan. Noticing how their own forces were unable to even cause a dent on the alien spaceship, he did not say a word but circled his jet at a spot three times. Then the two jets behind him opened the emergency valves in their jet bodies and, using magnetic pull, the three jets joined into one!

It was not only Xiao Niao's unit that did the combination. Following their example, more units joined as well. Instantly, flashes of light appeared around the Shelter. After combination, the power of the Space Combat Jets turned from a medium-sized Gaussian weapon to a heavy duty Gaussian weapon; the power increased at least tenfold.

The plasma shield on the level 3 space civilization's spaceship finally showed traces of ripples. Even though it was not enough to destroy the plasma shield, they did manage to slow its speed down, since they had to transfer the energy from mobility to shield formation.

Back on the Hope…

"Release the cockpit protective layer…"

"Raise the cannon platform…"

"Initiating energy coagulation! Opening energy storage system, energy storage 3 percent… 7 percent…"

"Activating the Genesis lock-on system!"