Chapter 979 - Certainties and Uncertainties (1/2)

At a certain place in the borderlands of the Kunde Race, the remainder of a Kunde Race fleet was slowly cruising through space.

Not long ago, this fleet with the code name of ‘Sea Flag’ had gone through a rough fight. They were attacked by a dynasty admiral’s fleet, which forced their command ship and guard ships to break away with their lives and escape with their tails tucked between their legs.

Currently, there were only twenty or so guard ships around the command ship. The rest were either eliminated or scattered somewhere else.

The Sea Flag fleet belonged to the Third Cosmic Army of the Kunde Race. The commander of their fleet was the renowned general of the third army, Oliert, who was praised to be the ‘Star of Tomorrow’. When the Marshal of the third army reached his retirement age a few years ago, Oliert was seen as the top candidate to take on the position of the Marshal.

However, due to the fact that the data of a destroyed ship was received a few years ago, the upper echelons made the decision to prepare for war. This led to the retirement of all army officials to be delayed, so this matter was put aside for the time being.

At this time, the Sea Flag fleet was moving in stealth mode while waiting for the next order from command.

Inside the bridge of the command ship, the atmosphere was grave and silent. Everyone was immersed in the pain and agony of losing the battle and losing their comrades.

Oliert stood before the most front porthole in silence, only showing his back to everyone in the room. The color of the carapace on his body was a mixture of sorrowful green and raging red.

In the battle earlier, almost everything he did was expected by the enemy commander. He was partially responsible for the loss of that battle.

Everyone knew that the commander was the one facing the most pressure, so none dared bother him.

After hesitating for a very long time, the aide-de-camp finally found the courage to walk to Oliert and said quietly, “Sir, we…”

“Say no more.” Oliert turned around as his body gradually turned into the color of calming blue. He then said slowly, “This was not just my personal failure but a failure on the level of civilization background. I did not lose to the opponent but the enemies’ entire civilization.”

Oliert knew that his talent as a commander was no match for the dynasty’s admiral, but he felt that this was not just the issue of individual ability and that the main difference came from the civilization backgrounds.

During the battle, he made the most detailed and careful decisions he had ever made in his life. To him, his performance this time could even be placed in the curriculum of military schools as a crucial case study. However, to his absolute shock, the response of the enemy was unbelievably quick. His plans were seen through almost instantly.

Meeting such an opponent was a heavy blow to his confidence as a commander.

This did not mean that Oliert was incompetent. In fact, he was already considered top-notch by the Kunde Race’s standards. On the surface, this situation happened because the ability of the dynasty admiral was far superior to his, but the deeper reason lay within the difference in civilization backgrounds.

The rise of the three Universal Civilizations was accompanied by the wails of countless races. As they experienced the flames of war, all the battles were recorded in the curriculum of their military schools. Therefore, no matter what situation their commanders faced, they were able to come up with the respective solutions almost instantly.

Comparatively, the Kunde Race had experienced way too few galactic wars. All the strategies they were using had been abandoned by the explored universe long ago for being too behind. This was what the difference between backgrounds meant.

After the battle, Oliert was pessimistic. He saw completely no way of winning even parts of the battle, and the continuous crumble of the various fleets right now was the best proof for that.

He was not the only one that felt this one; all the soldiers fighting on the frontlines basically had the same pessimistic view of this war.

They were furious that their home was coveted by the enemies, but they did not think that the sacrifices in this war were necessary. However, as soldiers, they had to follow the orders.

Oliert sighed in his mind, put these pessimistic emotions away, looked at the aide-de-camp, and asked in a deep voice, “Has an order from command arrived?”

“Er… It has just arrived. They’ve told us to standby and retrieve the scattered fleet, then rendezvous with the main fleet of the third army to plan for the attack on the enemy stargate.”

Oliert slammed the table and said with rage, “Bullsh*t! Why aren’t we retreating now? Have command lost their minds‽”

We were just defeated and forced to scatter. How can we stay in this dangerous area to recover the rest of the ships? Do they think that the enemies won’t chase after us‽

Furthermore, the main fleet is already in shambles, yet we’re being asked to rendezvous and attack the enemies’ stargate. This is basically asking us to commit suicide!

Many of the officers in the room felt that this strategy was problematic, but they did not dare speak. They all stared at Oliert and waited for the decision of their commander.

Oliert took a few steps back, suppressed his rage, and said, “Contact the Marshal. I’m going to ask him personally about what’s going on with this decision!”

The aide-de-camp nodded and immediately made the arrangements. A communication interface popped up on the virtual screen. After a few seconds, the other side picked up the communication, and the third army Marshal appeared on the screen.

“Oliert, I heard you were attacked. Glad to see you’re still alive.”

“Luck was part of the reason.” Oliert tried his best to speak as calmly as possible. “I have received the order from the command department. Are we planning to attack the enemies’ stargate?”

“Yes, that’s the order.”

“Don’t you think that’s problematic? The battle has already deviated from our initial plan. We shouldn’t linger now. It will only cause more meaningless sacrifices.”

“I know. I think it’s time to retreat, too, and I’m talking to the upper echelons. For now, let’s follow the order.”

Oliert became silent for a moment before ending the call.

The aide-de-camp asked cautiously, “Sir, what should we do now?”

Oliert glanced at him and suddenly said, “How many battleships do we have left?”

“Er, twenty-four.”

“Gather all the captains into the communication channel.”

As this order was executed, Oliert stood in place with hands behind his back and waited for a while. The images of the remaining captains then appeared one after another on the screen.

This time, Oliert made a hand sign and said slowly, “Remember what I’m going to say next. I’m only going to say it once…”

He then went on to say a ton of standard encouraging words and repeated the order of the command department, during which, he kept making several hand signs. All the captains stared at him very closely.

“Alright, that’s all. Let’s do it.”

Finally, Oliert placed his hands down and completed his speech.

The images of the captains disappeared on the screen one after another.

This time, the aide-de-camp who was looking at the other command screen suddenly said with shock, “Sir, all the captains have turned off their artificial intelligence cores and blocked all outside information. We can’t contact them anymore!”

Oliert, however, expected this. He nodded calmly and said, “Very good, go turn off the artificial intelligence core of our spaceship.”

The others were shocked to suddenly understand what was going on. They were in disbelief.

This means that… we’re going to be deserters‽

“Th-this…” The aide-de-camp was stunned.

Oliert glared at him and said with a stern tone, “What are you waiting for‽”

The aide-de-camp hesitated for a moment before making the arrangements. Very soon, the artificial intelligence core of the command ship was turned off.

This way, the remnants of this Sea Flag fleet became a ghost fleet that had lost contact completely to the outside world.

Only now did Oliert heave a sigh of relief. He looked at the others who were still lost and explained, “Sorry, this is all to be as cautious as possible. If I’m not wrong, our quantum network has already been completely infiltrated by the enemies.”

With these words said, everyone was shocked.

Oliert glanced around and said slowly, “I know the Marshal very well. He’s a stubborn soldier who would never question orders from the superiors. Although this is a difficult time and everything could change, we can’t ignore any suspicious behavior. I suspect that what I just spoke with was not the Marshal at all.

“The enemies have very likely infiltrated our command system. All of you are experienced, so I don’t have to emphasize the consequences of that. Therefore, the war is already over. I can’t possibly follow their orders anymore. The only thing we can do now is save ourselves. The hand signs I made earlier were a special code that very few people know. I told the captains to cut off all external connections. From now on, we have only ourselves to rely on.”

Everyone was completely stunned by these words and could not process this much information shortly. Their minds went blank.

The aide-de-camp clenched his teeth and said, “Sir, what we’re doing is making us deserters!”

Oliert was not insulted or furious at all. He calmly glanced at him and said, “This is a war that we’re destined to lose. No matter what you think, I will not send my troops to the battlefield to die. Deserters? Now, we might be… the last survivors of the Kunde Race.’

“Then, where should we go?”

“As far away from here as possible.”

Oliert looked outside the porthole into the depths of the galaxy.

…

“I think that there might be a problem with the route we’re taking.”

Inside an extremely narrow room on a spaceship, a few members of the Kunde Race in ordinary clothes gathered around.

This was one of the spaceships of the migrant fleet; everyone on board was civilians. Most people on the ship felt uneasy and lost about the future. The atmosphere was depressing.

Due to the high population, many civilians had to squeeze in one room on all the spaceships. Those in this room happened to be blood-related brothers.

“Big brother, what did you discover?” a short brother asked.

The buff and muscular elder brother among these brothers said with a deep voice, “I have a friend who’s a crew member on the guiding ship. He told me a piece of inside information. According to the schedule, the fleet should have arrived on one planet for a short rest. However, we did not come across any planets yesterday, and the fleet has been moving nonstop.”

“Could it be that they’ve changed the plan? How about asking your friend again?”

“I’ve been unable to contact him,” the elder brother said. “I think there’s something wrong.”

“Bro, could you be too sensitive? If something happened, the people above would have notified us.”

“I have a very bad feeling about this. I can’t quite describe it.” The elder brother shook his head.