Vol 14 Chapter 21-1 (1/2)
Vol 14 Chapter 21-1
The fleet finally came near Planet P on the second day after over ten hours of flight. Hundreds of thousands of space bugs surrounded them from all sides. The bugs’ attacks weren’t strong. They only had plasma balls and their defense was fragile even against thee gattling cannons on the starships. A single starship could take on one, ten, and even a hundred of these bugs at once. Since what use were these powerful plasma balls if they couldn’t hit?
Though that was the case in skirmishes. Once the scale of battle grew to the size that they were facing now, the bugs gained obtained an incomparable advantage, their numbers. Perhaps a hundred or a thousand plasma balls would miss, but what if there were hundreds of thousands or even millions? The question at this time wasn’t whether they could dodge but whether there would be anything left of them.
Humans looked down on the Arachnids. Everyone aside from a selected few considered them as simply insects with impressive reproductive ability. The military admitted they underestimated the bugs after the first loss on Klendathu, but they only believed it was due to a lack of preparation. Humans still believed the bugs were not a match especially since four heroes turned the battle around. Their offensive powers, numbers, organization and scheming showed that the bugs weren’t a low level species. The fact was, the Arachnids were way beyond humans in terms of invasiveness and offensiveness.
“Colonel, we must transmit the images back to Earth. The human race has come to a critical situation. All industries need to produce as we are in a war. One year, no, in just half a year we can have ten thousand starships. If the whole Earth starts producing, we will…” An advisor said to Xuan with passion.
Xuan took a bite from an apple. “Problem one is how many trained staffs are required for ten thousand starships? How many troopers will it take to fill? Can we gather all the people in half a year? Problem two, will the bugs leave us half a year? Once our fleet gets annihilated, the federation will be exposed to their attacks. The moment we lose our advantage in space, the bugs can attack Earth with meteorites or even transports swarms to the ground. Can humans fight them with just our bodies? Problem three, how are we supposed to transmit these images?”
The advisor had no reply. A lieutenant said. “There are high powered transmitters in each of the fortresses on Planet P. This is a technology that even we have no way of disrupting so the bugs probably can’t either. They transmit by using particles instead of electrical signals.”
Xuan took another bite. “Correct. That’s why we have to land on Planet P. And in order to preserve our forces, all starships will land around the largest fortress, Blizzard. We will establish multiple layers of defense to prepare for the upcoming war after backups come. We have to hold here like a nail on the ground so that the bugs can’t ignore us and head toward Earth. We might die with millions or even tens of millions of bugs coming at us. But our names will be written in history. Send the recording of my words to every starship. Tell them that they can either run and get killed by their own people or become a hero and return to Earth. Let them understand the situation and make their own choice.”
The advisors and officers saluted at Xuan then one headed toward the panels.
Zheng walked over and asked in a low voice. “When did you learn to incite emotions?”
Xuan replied as a matter of fact. “Didn’t you assess me as a person who sides himself with the majority? This is the first step to completing any big task. We have let them know that our fates are tied together. Now we just need to lay out the plans carefully and wait for God’s announcement. Three days left.”
At noon of the same day, the scouting fleet discovered a second massive ball of flesh floating behind Planet P. It floated on the orbit of Planet P like a satellite. As the fleet came near, tens of thousands of space bugs came out from the ball. Things happened as Xuan had predicted. With the ambush ahead of them and more pursuing the back, their only choice was to land on Planet P.