Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Bob's body was sitting completely still on the floor. We all knew that the great sovereign was probably establishing a connection with the other pulp worms. None of us dared to disturb the great sovereign. After about a dozen minutes, Bob's body slowly stood up.

"How is it? Have you contacted Violetvoid? Can they help us?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

"Yes, I was able to contact Violetvoid. He is willing to help," said the great sovereign.

"Great!" Zhang Bao'er exclaimed in excitement. The others also cheered.

"Wait, I'm not finished. Why are you getting so excited?" said the great sovereign, extinguishing our excitement.

"What do you mean? You said Violetvoid is willing to help, right?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Were you the one who had talked to Violetvoid back then? You were the only one who had made contact with it?" the great sovereign ignored Zhang Bao'er and asked me.

"Yes. I was the one who had negotiated with both Violetvoid and Bluevoid. I was alone on both occasions," I answered.

"Did they tell you about the mutation in the brains back then?" asked the great sovereign.

The great sovereign's question reminded me of what Bluevoid told me before. Some of the cores had mutated and escaped their control. I proceeded to tell the great sovereign what I knew.

"The mutated cores have reached a far higher number than before. Half the superweapons have completely fallen under their control. These weapons will fully obey Emperor Fille," said the great sovereign. That was terrible news for us.

"What? Half of the superweapons are no longer under your control? How is that possible? Aren't those worms all your offspring?" said Zhang Bao'er.

"Emperor Fille's seduction must have worked on the pulp worms. The mind control had probably progressed considerably during the great sovereign's imprisonment on Pluto, the world of germs. Most of the germs on Pluto rely on brainwaves to communicate. The concentrated brainwaves had shaken the great sovereign's grasp over the pulp worms, accelerating the mutation," said Temo.

"What should we do now? Half of the superweapons are no longer under our control. Just half of the superweapons will be enough to destroy Blue," said Zhang Xingxing.

"That's why I came up with an idea to solve this issue. However, the plan involves bitter battles," said the great sovereign.

We all focused on the great sovereign, awaiting the solution.

"Commander, contact has been established with Carter. He is coming from Gliese's defensive line on Skyhawk. Since he needs to escape the enemy's encirclement, he will need one hour to reach us," said Kelly.

"That fellow survived the black ball's attack? What a lucky person," I muttered.

"It is good for us to have reinforcements. Your ship can help me with my plan. I intend to have the superweapons destroy each other," said the great sovereign.

"Destroy each other? Are we going to have the superweapons under our control attack the other superweapons?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

"Yes, but there is a fleet near the superweapons. If our superweapons attack, they will be jointly attacked by the other superweapons and the fleet," said the great sovereign.

"So you want us to lure the fleet away?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

"No. That's pointless. They can return quickly. I need to trigger the battle between the league and the Southstar Army in advance. That will attract their attention. Then, we can send Violetvoid and Bluevoid out on assassination missions. Afterward, we can proceed with our attack on the superweapons not under our control," said the great sovereign.

"Assassination missions? What's the plan?" asked Zhang Xingxing.

"Violetvoid will call a meeting between all the worm colony brains. With the mental connection, all the mutated cores will be killed. Without the cores, the brains will lose their mental power. Without mental power, they won't be able to control the superweapons. The automatic turrets on them will still work, but they will no longer be able to toss planets. That will make our job easier when it comes to destroying them," said the great sovereign.

"There is no need to make the plan so complicated. The fleet is nothing scary. I alone am enough to destroy all of them," said the fiend.

"Sure, they can't kill you, but have you forgotten how you were sent so far away previously? Would we have the time to make another journey back before the final attack?" asked the great sovereign.

"Exactly. It will be safer to create chaos and buy time for Violetvoid to carry out his task," said Baron Sisse.

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"But how do we trigger the battle? They won't listen to us," said Old Du.

"Carter will be here soon. Only he can persuade the league to attack in advance," said Baron Sisse.

"Death is already coming for them. What is the fleet waiting for? This is the final battle. Instead of attacking, are they all waiting for death to come?" complained Zhang Bao'er.

"The league has suffered so many defeats that they are now scared of the empire. Those commanders will only focus on defending. Very few of them still have the courage to attack," said Kelly, who had also fought in the war.

"This is the final battle. I'll persuade Carter," said Zhang Xingxing.

A decision was thus reached. The great sovereign continued contacting Violetvoid to work on the details of their plan while we waited anxiously for Carter's arrival. Zhang Xingxing had already concluded our action plan and sent it to Carter.

The hour was over in the blink of an eye. The massive Skyhawk appeared before us. It hurriedly became invisible while a small shuttle flew out of it and headed toward our ship. Before long, Carter was standing in our command center. Different from our previous meeting, Carter had gained a long scar on his face. The pain a war could deal was obvious from the scar on his face and his severed arm.

"What happened to your face?" Zhang Xingxing asked with concern.

I was naturally uncomfortable hearing the concern in her voice.

However, Carter did not answer the question. This was the final battle to save our civilization. It was understandable that he wasn't bothered about his personal safety and was instead focused on the mission.

"I know your plan. General Edward is in charge of the fleet around Blue. I have already requested him to attack. I believe his reply will come soon," said Carter. After the long war, Carter had clearly grown more efficient in carrying out his tasks.

"Good. So long as General Edward is willing to attack, we can work with the fiend to attack from the rear as well. That will create enough of a diversion for the great sovereign to work with," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Why should I attack from the rear? Can't I attack from the front?" said the fiend, unwilling to follow the plan.

"If you can actually destroy a hundred of their battleships, you are free to attack from whichever direction you desire," said Zhang Xingxing.

Surprisingly, the fiend did not argue upon seeing how determined Zhang Xingxing was. And with that, a unique allied army of higher and lower civilizations took form. Shortly after, General Edward's reply came. The league would send half their defensive fleet out to attack the empire.

"Why are they separating their elite army? That is never a good idea. What is your father thinking?" asked Domo.

"I believe General Edward is already trying his best. It is said that Emperor Fille's envoys had offered to spare the league from planetary destruction as long as they surrender. The parliament is starting to waver. The pro-surrender faction is slowly gaining ground. Therefore, they won't send the entire fleet out, because the fleet is basically their last bargaining chip against the empire," said Carter.

"What? So we're going to surrender again? Fine, we'll surrender each time we meet a stronger opponent. Previously, we surrendered to the Gliesens. Now, we're surrendering to the Eternals. I am ashamed to be a Blueling," said Zhang Bao'er gloomily. I felt the same as well.

Unfortunately, there was nothing we could do about it. Survival of the fittest was the most basic rule of the universe. But since half the fleet was helping us, there was still hope for victory. After all, we had a powerful ally like the fiend with us. Nobody would know the result of the battle before actually fighting it. Carter quickly replied to General Edward, agreeing to attack after 30 minutes. We were only 22 hours away from the empire's offensive. We were basically racing against time.

"I also brought the league's newest fighters with me. Is anyone interested in piloting them?" Carter suddenly asked.

"Fighters? So we can pilot our own fighters in the battle? That would be perfect! That has always been my dream!" exclaimed Zhang Bao'er in excitement.

"Fighter piloting is not included among the knowledge we had downloaded during training," said Old Du.

"That won't be an issue. I have the knowledge to pilot the newest fighters with me. You only need 10 minutes to download the entire knowledge package," said Carter.

Even the weaker combatants like Dondon, Wind Spirit, and Master Crystal grew excited at the mention of fighters. All of them requested to participate in the battle as fighter pilots. At that moment, I could clearly feel how near the final battle was.

The knowledge download facility was only available on Skyhawk, so those wishing to participate in the battle followed Carter back to Skyhawk. Only Temo and the fiend were left on Markus. Even the great sovereign followed us to Skyhawk because the final battle was going to start very soon.