Chapter 1260: Are You Talking About Me? (1/2)

The silence before the storm was always the calmest. Ironically, Jiang Fei could not rest his nervous self in the vast emptiness of space.

Braveheart was now under a cloaking blanket and all the engines and radar systems had been deactivated. With no absolutely zero support from the huge battleship, 0541 could only observe his surroundings with the light detection system.

“0541, are they here yet?” Jiang Fei asked nervously. This encounter, or rather, clash with another alien space race was a first for him. Technically second, if he were to include the Namekian race. Under the veil of his nervousness, there was a hint of anxiety as well as curiosity. He, for all he knew, was representing all of humanity, or the Terran race. There was a sense of elevation as well as an overwhelming sense of exposure. Finally, humanity was about to be introduced to the galactic space race.

“Captain, calm yourself.” 0541 tried to relieve his stress a little.

“Asking me to calm myself right now isn’t going to help.”

Besides the constant blinking of stars and faraway galaxies, the void of space presented no changes. From where he stood, he could see zooming asteroids across the skies of Ceres. Without them, Jiang Fei could not have gauged the amount of time they had spent on the dwarf planet.

Perhaps it was an hour, or perhaps a day, for all he knew, he had just lost the concept of time. The eerie silence of space was both magnificent and terrifying. Looking back to Earth from the asteroid belt, he felt a strong overview effect affecting his judgment. Earth was so small, so fragile, compared to the vastness of space. Who’s to say that there weren’t any future threats hurling toward the planet now?

“Captain! Look!” 0543 blared out suddenly. His calls literally made Jiang Fei, who was calm for only a few minutes, skipped a heartbeat.

“What?! Are they here?” He quickly headed over to the nearest monitor. Two small gold-colored dots were highlighted over the blackness of space.

The gold dots represented the color scheme of the ship that 0541 was tracking. Not far from where the ship was cruising was a larger blue-colored crystal, glowing like a light bulb, guiding the ship.

“That’s a Wayfinder,” said Jiang Fei as he recognized the crystal. It was the same thing he saw when 0541 discovered the advent of the Valsalry.

“Keen observation, captain. The enemy’s ship is approaching now,” 0541 added. A Wayfinder functioned the same as Scout Drones. Compared to Earth’s drones, alien races across the universe used these simple crystal constructs to discover the universe. They are comparatively cheaper and easier to build. The Valsalries had deployed so many of them to locate and signal the main fleet if they detected valuable treasures. Besides exploring, they were also used as guidance, hence the name “Wayfinder”. They were to be deployed into uncharted quadrant of space.

As the Wayfinder approached them, Jiang Fei could hear the faint, beeping-like signal that the Wayfinder was emitting. The wave was able to even travel across the near-vacuum state of space.

“We… wouldn’t be spotted… right?” Jiang Fei asked.

“No. I have already activated the cloaking system. While it wouldn’t escape close encounters, that Wayfinder would never detect our presence,” said 0541 confidently.

As the beeping continued, the Wayfinder, guiding the small spaceship, cruised across the asteroid belt and toward the orbit of Mars. Earth would be next.

“Let’s get ready. I am eager to set things on fire!” Jiang Fei muttered. The Wayfinder had already passed Braveheart and soon the Valsalry’s ship.

“Prepare to charge the main cannon!” Jiang Fei ordered. Even though shouting in Braveheart could never be detected by someone else across the distance, moreover outside the ship, Jiang Fei couldn’t help lowering his voice.

“Engines ready. Cannons will be charged on your command, captain!” 0541 replied. As a precaution, 0541 had disabled all machines in the ship that generated heat and energy. The cannons and all weapon systems were offline until just now. The traditional radar systems were all turned off, except for the Light Differentiation Radar System which detected moving objects in space by measuring light intensity and movement. It was an older and more primitive means of detection but when compared to other detection systems, the LDR system would not alert others to your presence.

Just then, the LDR monitor reported movements. The golden light, that was the ship of the Valsalry, beeped faster and faster. In no time, Jiang Fei himself could see the silhouette of the ship.

“The heck? Is that it?” said Jiang Fei with a hint of disappointment and condescension. The Valsalry’s ship was not big… It was so small that calling it a stowaway rescue pod wouldn’t be wrong!

0541 kept quiet. At this point, even 0541 was evolved enough to experience emotion. Concurrently, he was a little embarrassed. He had been feeding Jiang Fei information that he too, had expected to see a bigger… ship!

“It would seem that the Valsalry had not set its eyes on Earth… That’s not a warship but a small, one-man spacecraft…”

“You don’t say! What are they thinking?!” Jiang Fei snapped. All this time, he had been a nervous wreck, waiting for so long, just to see a tiny one-man ship! It’s not even a proper invasion! Oh wait, it was an invasion, alright, an invasion of privacy! That’s if entering Mars’ orbit was considered to be a violation of privacy!