Interstellar Survival: Invasion

A massive sense of exhaustion assaulted us.
But as my mind cleared, I regained clarity over my surroundings.
We had already arrived inside Skyhawk.
We had four hours to take control of the ship.

I struggled up before walking over to Jack and helping him up.
At that point, the others were also slowly regaining their strength.
One after another, they stood up to study the ship.
Skyhawk was a Milky Way–class battleship powered by nuclear and electrical power.
The ship was massive, and we were all inside the bioelectric cultivation room.

With Jack leading the way, we soon headed toward the command room.
We had been inside a different Milky Way–class battleship before—Captain Wessex ’s Starpath.
That ship ’s incredible firepower had left a deep impression on us.

Skyhawk ’s internal design was basically the same as Starpath ’s.
Looking through the window, we could see that the ship was semicircular in shape.
Its front was slightly angled inward, and numerous rail and laser cannons could be seen at its front.
There should also probably be over a thousand drones hanging on the bottom of the ship.
This was a terrifying machine of war, a Milky Way–class battleship with enough firepower to destroy an entire planet all by itself. 

After walking past numerous sleek rooms, we reached the command room.
The moment we were there, Jack worked with Baron Sisse to change the entire ship ’s procedures and passcodes.

”Jack, I understand that you ’re changing the passcodes to prevent our enemies from entering, but what about the procedures? Is that to prevent the empire from controlling the ship remotely? ” asked Old Du.

”Yes.
The ship ’s central control system can be accessed from a supercomputer called Fantasy at the Imperial Military Academy.
We must fully sever its connection with Fantasy to obtain full control over the ship, ” explained Jack even as he worked at a high intensity.

”How long will that take? How can we help? ” I asked.

”I will probably need a bit over two hours.
Dondon might be able to help, but it ’s too bad that he ’s unconscious, ” said Baron Sisse.

”You can take him to the ship ’s medical room.
There is probably some equipment there that can wake him up, ” said Jack after our conversation reminded him of Dondon.

Old Du immediately left with Dondon with Wind Spirit tagging along.

”This ship needs at least ten people to crew it.
There are only nine of us here.
We ’re one person short, ” said Jack.

”Bao ’er, try using this ship ’s communicator to contact Spacetime through the encrypted channel, ” I said decisively.

Zhang Bao ’er did as told and tried to contact Spacetime.
With the battleship ’s communicator, the range of his connection had extended beyond the planet, but we still did not receive a reply.
Slowly, an ominous feeling started rising in my heart.
Kelly and the others couldn ’t have truly been struck down, right?

”Canyue, I want to deploy a drone to Lightning to verify the effect of the lightning strike we produced.
We must make sure that Li Yizhi ’s mission was completed, ” said Baron Sisse.

I looked outside the window.
The repair center was extremely busy.
Apart from the usual repair activities, countless air defense drones and unmanned fighters were roaming about, seemingly in search of us.
There were also two juxi beasts constantly scanning the surrounding battleships for us.

”Don ’t bother looking at them.
The ship ’s outer shield still stands.
The juxi beasts ’ scans won ’t be able to penetrate it.
Each restored battleship will be guarded tightly.
There are over a thousand restored ships here.
By the time they are done searching all the tubes, we would have left, ” said Jack when he looked up and noticed that I was looking at the juxi beasts.

”If they follow the tube into Skyhawk, they can quickly reach the command room, ” I said, still worried.

”I have already locked the entrance to the cultivation room with a new passcode, turned on the electrical agents ’ cycling mode, and altered all the security lock procedures of all entrances to the ship.
They won ’t be able to enter so quickly, ” said Jack confidently.

”I thought you said that there ’s a supercomputer called Fantasy capable of controlling this ship? ” questioned Zhang Bao ’er.

”That is why I ’m trying to sever the connection with Fantasy.
Even for Fantasy, it will take some time to establish control over Skyhawk.
We should take this chance before the enemy discovers us to quickly sever the connection, ” said Jack before shifting his focus back to his work.

”Canyue, should we deploy the drone? ” Baron Sisse repeated his question.

”Since there are too many patrols outside for us to reach Lightning ourselves, permission granted, ” I agreed.

With my permission, a drone set off on a mission to scout the area where Lightning had been.
Right at that moment, Old Du entered carrying Dondon.
The little fellow had awakened, but he still looked exhausted.

”Dondon, good to see you awake! ” I said.

Dondon only nodded in reply.
Old Du then placed him on the control panel.
Dondon, recently awakened, immediately got to work, joining the efforts in severing the connection between Skyhawk and Fantasy.

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”The drone has arrived.
Images have been sent back to us, ” said Dondon when he saw the notification.

”Show it! ” I said.

The screen in the command room immediately showed the image of a badly burnt area.
The super lightning strike had not only destroyed Lightning but had even scorched the area around the ship.
The entire ship had turned into a scorched scrap of iron.

”It was a success! Li Yizhi ’s sacrifice was not in vain! ” said Baron Sisse with a sigh.

With the ship ’s destruction assured, our hearts were rid of one of our concerns.
Now, we only needed to focus on gaining control over Skyhawk and then depart for Planet Rumble.
They still needed an hour to work on the connection, so we all waited anxiously.
Looking at the three working on severing the connection, I had to rejoice at the fact that at the very least, the enemy had yet to discover us.

”Old Du, we still can ’t contact Spacetime.
I ’m worried that something has happened to Kelly and the others, ” I said worriedly.

”Don ’t worry too much.
Kelly was once a deputy captain of a Poseidon-class battleship.
You need to trust her ability.
She is probably moving about farther away in outer space.
We need to escape Cloudcast first before doing anything else, ” said Old Du.

His words placated me somewhat.
Our current focus was to return to outer space on Skyhawk, leaving this planet where so many things had happened.
Outside the ship, the patrols were roaming about everywhere.
However, none had discovered that we were hiding in Skyhawk.
After an hour, the connection between the ship and Fantasy was finally fully severed.

”This ship is now fully ours.
We can leave at any moment, ” said Baron Sisse in excitement.

”How should we break through the blockade outside and the blockade in outer space? Will this ship be able to evade the magnetic mines? ” asked Zhang Bao ’er.

”I know an escape route.
I can take you through the route with the weakest defenses.
Apart from these restored battleships, there are no other battleships on Cloudcast itself.
After leaving the planet ’s atmosphere, we can leave quickly with a wormhole leap, ” said Jack confidently.

”The defenses here are simply not good enough to stop a battleship.
By moving suddenly, by the time the battleships stationed outside the planet noticed us, we would have wormhole-leaped away already, ” said Baron Sisse.

”But we still haven ’t established contact with Spacetime, ” said Old Du.

”Set the leap destination 0.5 lightyears away.
We will return to search for Spacetime after escaping, ” suggested Baron Sisse.

Everyone agreed with the plan.
Jack promptly set a destination 0.5 lightyears away on the wormhole-leap system.
We were going to set off in 10 minutes.
There was still a tiny issue we needed to resolve.
The ship needed a minimum of 10 people to crew it, but including Wind Spirit, there were only 9 of us.
We couldn ’t staff the ship like it was meant to.

Jack worked rapidly on the system, ultimately deciding to set the engine monitoring system and weaponry system on automatic mode after manually turning them on, temporarily vacating one of the spots that needed to be staffed.

”Hopefully the engine monitoring system will be able to work alongside the weaponry system by itself.
I also hope that the weaponry database of this ship is accurate, ” said Jack.

With everything prepared, everyone looked at me, the commander of the operation.
However, I wasn ’t familiar with the empire ’s Milky Way battleships.
Thus, I made Baron Sisse the captain for our escape.
I sat down on the deputy captain ’s seat.
The round window in front of me gave me a 180-degree view of the area in front of us.

After confirming that everyone was at their respective posts, Baron Sisse loudly said, ”Activate the shield.
Enter invisibility in 10 minutes.
Turn on all our offensive weapons.
Adjust flight trajectory.
Full speed ahead! ”