Interstellar Survival: Invasion

The three ships moved forward in a line.
Moving while invisible, we attempted to sneak through the defensive perimeter into the Horsehead Nebula ’s inner region while the imperial forces were in chaos.

Due to the nuclear explosions, many of their defensive forces had headed toward the explosion sites.
The chain explosion set off by the fifth nuclear warhead had yet to cease.
The fiery shockwaves continued spreading and wreaked havoc everywhere, destroying more and more transport ships.
Our attacks seemed to have angered the enemies, as suddenly, Fearless ’s probe let off an urgent alarm.

”Canyue, more battleships and drones have appeared from a different defensive section as reinforcements.
There are nearly 60,000 of them.
This is triple our estimation, ” said Dodo.

”Looks like the explosions had attracted the attention of their command.
They were able to send so many reinforcements over so quickly.
This is quite a fast reaction, ” said Baron Sisse.

”Only 60,000 drones? I thought they had millions of these drones.
Are they looking down on us by sending so little over? ” Zhang Bao ’er was uttering nonsense as usual.

”Brother Bao ’er, they need to defend an area a lightyear wide.
You should think before speaking, ” teased Baron Sisse.

”That fellow has never been that bright, ” Domo ’s voice also came from the communicator.

”This is the communication channel for the command.
Why are unrelated individuals in here? ” Zhang Bao ’er immediately raged.

”Fatty, I ’m sorry to tell you that I ’m now in charge of Skyhawk ’s flank warning system.
I need to stay in contact with the commander at all times, ” said Domo smugly.

”Zhang Xingxing is truly bad at delegating, ” complained Zhang Bao ’er softly to me as he didn ’t dare to actually voice those words out.

Everyone knew that Domo and Zhang Bao ’er never got along well.
But since we were in an urgent military operation, nobody tried to comfort Zhang Bao ’er.

”Canyue, we have entered the front formation of the enemy ’s defensive perimeter.
We need roughly 15 minutes of constant flight to avoid their scans, ” said Dodo.

To avoid their scans, we had been moving at a lower speed, attempting to sneak through by moving at a consistent speed.
Currently, the chain explosions had been contained by the imperial drones.
The outer defensive perimeter was slowly returning to normal, and around us, random drones were starting to appear.
These drones were searching for the culprit of the nuclear attacks.

According to our probes, the drones that had come as reinforcements were rapidly approaching our area.
Once they arrived, with their sheer numbers, they would be able to detect us without even scanning.
But to stay invisible, we were unable to accelerate.
Thus, we could only carefully maneuver around anything that could detect us.

Behind us, the enemy ships were reforming their defensive perimeter.
The radiance and the clouds from the nuclear explosions had yet to fully fade.
In fact, with the absence of wind, the clouds could potentially remain for a long time.
Perhaps if one was looking this way through a telescope on Blue, one would even mistakenly believe that a new nebula was forming.

At that point, the shockwaves from the nuclear explosions had spread farther away.
Meanwhile, calm was slowly returning to the central explosion zones.
However, our nuclear attacks had definitely angered the enemy army.
A large-scale search was underway, but they had probably not expected us to have sneaked through their lines.

”Canyue, the enemy has reformed their formations.
At this point, there is no going back for us, ” Baron Sisse reminded.

”I never expected to return from the same way we came in anyway.
Only by entering the dark region can we find a path of survival, ” I said as I pointed at the massive Horsehead Nebula ahead of us.

”Canyue, we ’re approaching their space base.
Watch out and utilize manual piloting to avoid touching anything, ” reminded Dodo.

At Dodo ’s reminder, we shifted our attention from the back of the ship to the front.
The imposing space base could clearly be seen in front of us.
Previously, when we looked at the base from afar, it looked like a gigantic space fortress.
Now that we were slowly approaching it, we were able to better observe this great metallic construct.

”My god.
Look at the workmanship that went into constructing this place.
It is at least centuries ahead of us in technology, ” we gasped in admiration.

A massive tube so deep its other end couldn ’t be seen floated in the middle of space.
The tube also looked like it actually circled around the entire Horsehead Nebula.
Numerous cubes floated around it, and the tube was running through the middle of them.
The distance between each cube was exactly the same. 

We could also see that these constructs were all made with an extremely high level of craftsmanship.
On the surface of each cube, millions of nuts could be seen, and the size of these nuts and the gaps between them were also exactly the same.

’This is basically a delicate work of art.
It is so beautiful I almost can ’t bear to damage this place, ’ I thought inwardly.
This base was indeed made with a level of technology far ahead of ours.

”Wuzhou, if given a chance, will you be able to construct something like this? ” Zhang Bao ’er started talking nonsense again.

”Something like this requires large-scale space construction equipment to build.
Also, a powerful energy source is required to support the operation of a base this large.
Look at how neatly they are arranged.
They are not being held in place by dark matter.
Rather, they are keeping these cubes fixed in place with their energy supply, ” said Wuzhou.

”What? This base is maintaining its balance through its energy supply instead of making use of the gravitational forces of dark matter? ” I asked in shock.

”Yeah.
If you ’re right, just how much energy would be required to support something of this scale? ” questioned Zhang Bao ’er.

”Energy is something the universe never lacks.
If something this massive only relies on dark matter to maintain balance, a malfunction with a single cube will be enough to destroy the entire base.
A base engineered so meticulously will definitely be supported by a powerful energy source, ” said Wuzhou convincingly.

”I did not notice any supporting power system in this base.
Wuzhou, where is the energy source you speak of? ” asked Zhang Bao ’er.

”I believe they are using electrical power.
These cubes are being fixed in place by electromagnetic power, ” said Wuzhou.

”Weird.
Why did the empire spend so many resources to build a massive space fortress like this? ” I looked at the floating construct in confusion.

”Canyue, look at those transport ships.
Just what are they transporting? ” said Baron Sisse as he pointed at the fleet of transport ships above us.

We could clearly see that under the escort of a group of drones, several transport ships had passed through the perimeter of cubes and stopped at a distance.
Nothing seemed to happen for 5 minutes before they returned to where they came from.

”This is so weird.
They didn ’t do anything at all.
They merely stopped before returning.
Just what are they doing? ” muttered Zhang Bao ’er, who had shifted his attention to the behavior of the ships.

”Canyue, there is no need to think about this.
Perhaps we will find the answer after going through the giant tube.
I believe the answer we want lies at the other side of this fortress, ” said Zhang Xingxing through the communicator.

With Zhang Xingxing ’s reminder, we stopped guessing.
The three ships continued moving slowly.
It was quite fortunate that we still remained undiscovered.

”Dodo, adjust our trajectory based on our distance from the tube.
Take note of the electrical energy there.
If we touch anything, we might be discovered, ” reminded Wuzhou.

Upon hearing the reminder, Dodo immediately made some minute adjustments to the flight trajectory, trying to distance the ships as much as possible from the tube.
This was a delicate job because the three ships couldn ’t get too close to the tube or be too far away.
After all, the space above the tube was filled with invisible mines.
If we accidentally touched anything, we would be swallowed alive by numerous drones.

I believed that Dodo was probably utilizing their computing power to the maximum capacity at the moment.
I could see the three ships slowly and steadily moving across the meticulously built space fort.
A few minutes later, we successfully crossed half the tube, arriving at the other side of the fort.

The moment we crossed the halfway point, we had a feeling that the space around us was different from the universe we were in before.
All around us, we were surrounded by some sort of shining substance.

”Dodo, what is this light? ” I asked Dodo.

”I am still analyzing its spectrum.
I will report the moment I have the result, ” replied Dodo.

The ships continued moving forward.
At that point, we had crossed over the ring-shaped tube and were heading toward the end of the base of cubes.
Shortly after, we arrived close to where the transport ships had been stopping.
Looking at the vast darkness before me, we kept having the feeling that something enormous was hidden within the darkness.
However, none of our scans detected anything extraordinary.

”Canyue, we have arrived at the transport ships ’ final point.
No transport ship would go farther than this.
Do we continue? ” Dodo asked.

At that time, the people in Fearless focused on me once again.
Perhaps what awaited ahead of us was an abyss of terror.
However, we had to suffer so much hardship to come here because we wanted to penetrate and learn more about this place.
In fact, Dodo asked me if we should continue only because it was part of the standard operating procedure.

”There is nothing to hesitate about.
Continue ahead.
This is only the outer region of the Horsehead Nebula.
Fearless will take point.
The other two ships will enter after we confirm that it is safe to enter, ” I ordered.

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Domo, who was in charge of the warning system, reported, ”Canyue, two groups of drones are approaching us, one from each side.
They seem to be scanning the surroundings of the tube. ”

”Fearless, sneak in immediately.
Be careful.
We will enter after receiving your confirmation, ” Zhang Xingxing ordered, adding her support to my plan and expediting it.

”Bao ’er, start moving Fearless.
Move ahead slowly, ” I ordered.