As swiftly as a falcon diving for a fleeing meal, the-second-in-command suggested, “Commander, we should leave this galaxy.”

Jiang Fei turned to him but before he could say anything, he turned away and sat on his chair.

There was a reason why Jiang Fei alone dared to remain in this galaxy. He was the only person who knew that those ‘invaders’ were merely players who were fresh out of the beginner’s village. They were still weak and unaccustomed to the fear of dying.

The big problem now was the Alderaanians. They were coming and would be doing so in all their power and glory. For Jiang Fei’s forces, facing them would be like trying to use a wall of straw to defend against a fire. They would be defeated all too easily.

Despite all logic and reason pointing towards retreat, Jiang Fei still hesitated. He had invested too much into the chrono accelerator for the girls. Choosing to leave would mean throwing it all away.

“Set up gravity well traps and spacetime warping disruptors all around Turandot. Send out all Interceptor drone carriers and spread them out evenly throughout the galaxy. I want to know if someone even throws a stone in my direction,” said Jiang Fei.

The traps and disruptors were meant to prevent anyone from warping into or anywhere close to Turandot. The only way to get close to it was by using regular old impulse engines.

Even though impulse engine technology had reached its current upper efficiency limit, it would still take them a long, long time before they could even detect Turandot on their radar. This extreme duration would give Jiang Fei enough time to decide whether to run or fight.

“Aye, Commander. However, I must say that I am strongly against remaining in this galaxy. We are greatly outnumbered in terms of ships and severely weaker in terms of firepower,” the second-in-command insisted.

It made sense as the Fifth Hybrid Fleet was just a fleet of troop carriers, while the Alderaanians would be coming with multiple fleets!

“Thank you for the reminder,” said Jiang Fei begrudgingly.

When the officer left to carry out his orders, Jiang Fei dropped into his chair and frowned.

“This is so frustrating! My trump card, Master Theon, is nowhere to be found and now I have to worry about a war with Alderaan! Just how far will they go with this…” thought Jiang Fei.

If the Alderaanians attacked Jiang Fei, they would officially be inciting a war with the Trade Federation as a whole. If so, Jiang Fei would have to retreat, and that would mean wasting all his efforts in setting up the training regime for the girls.

That being said, Jiang Fei understood that he could always earn more money later. Life, on the other hand, could never be returned once lost.

Even though Jiang Fei had set up multiple early detection systems, he also went the extra mile and prepared his entire fleet for an emergency retreat. Once the Alderaanian forces arrived, Jiang Fei would immediately leave the galaxy.

…

Three days later, one of the observation drones picked up movement at the border of the galaxy. It was a large swarm of drones which belonged to the Alderaanian force.

Unlike the Interceptor and Funnel designs of the Trade Federation, the Alderaanian forces used another design, which was aptly named Seeker. As their name suggested, Seekers were meant for only one thing—to seek.

They were not equipped with any combat arms and had very little armor. As such, they were incredibly fast, with speeds that exceeded even the Funnel design.

Seekers also had an extra feature, Psi-Emitters, which worked in tandem with the psychic nature of the Alderaanians. This machine emitted psychic energy which the Alderaanians were able to adapt.

In the case of a sudden, unexpected destruction, the drone operator would still be able to ‘see’ things around the drone and relay those last moments to the central computer.

With both sides possessing drones with superb observational capabilities, it was only a matter of time before they discovered each other.

…

“We have located possible Trade Federation vessels at XXX,XXX,XXX!”

“Dispatch Seekers and start a thorough sweep.”

“Aye, Commander Clark.”

Orders went down the chain of command and drone carriers packed with Seekers were deployed, heading towards the local group where Turandot was located.

…

“Detected enemy observation drones!”

“Shoot! They’ve found us!” yelled Jiang Fei.

“Your orders, Commander?”

“Switch our Interceptors to seek-and-destroy mode. Don’t let any of their drones have enough time to find out where we are!”

The plan was to destroy their eyes in the galaxy and prevent the enemy from knowing where Jiang Fei and his forces were. Without insight, any sensible military commander would not move in to attack.

This would buy Jiang Fei more time. If they discovered that Jiang Fei’s forces consisted of just a single fleet of troop carriers, they would dive in like a falcon and exterminate the entire fleet.

“Aye, Commander,” said all the members on the bridge.

Truth be told, they were all hoping for Jiang Fei to order a retreat. Unfortunately, their commander wanted to buy more time for something no one could understand.

Drone carriers carrying Interceptor-type drones were deployed towards the enemy. These were upgraded versions of the regular drones, they were more akin to a small battlecruiser than a spaceship. Even though they were so much larger, they possessed drone-like speeds and had better weapons and armor systems. This was the best type of unmanned drone system for a seek-and-destroy mission.

Swarms of large drone carriers zoomed ominously across the galaxy, to begin a seek-and-destroy mission. At the same time, Seeker-type drones were deployed, whistling across space to get a closer look.

From their formation and movements, it was easy to see that they weren’t even trying to conceal their presence. It mattered not for them, as even if they were destroyed, the Psi-Emitters would allow them to still function for a little while.

One thing that all the other civilizations had misunderstood about the Alderaanians’ drone system was the fact that they were not unmanned. Each Seeker had a living, breathing pilot inside the machine, as it was powered by Psi-Energy.

Two swarms of ships zoomed around, one unmanned, and the other manned. Destructive beams lit up the dark void as ships were destroyed.

Every time a Seeker was destroyed, a small area would glow with intense psychic energy, allowing the pilot’s consciousness to remain for a little longer before death inevitably claimed their soul. Their death was only slightly postponed, as the psychic energy dissipated with time.

“Damn! An enemy drone passed through the defense line!”

“Shoot it down!”

“I can’t! It’s too fast!”

“SHOOT IT DOWN NOW!”

An absolute defense line was created by the fleet of drone carriers, but an enemy Seeker drone managed to slide past in the midst of the chaos. It was now heading towards Turandot.

Not long after it slid past the defense line, it was shot down by the auto-turret systems installed around the equator of Turandot. However, as it was destroyed, the pilot was still able to capture images of the planet and discovered nothing but an empty facility.

What was important for the Alderaanian forces was the information being relayed back. Even though they could not detect any signs of a fleet, they knew that the enemy did not possess large fleets. One thing was for sure, their enemy was low in numbers.

The operators of the drone system panicked. Their secrets had been discovered and they knew what was coming next. The enemy would now proceed to launch a full-scale attack. Alone, the Fifth Hybrid Fleet would be scrap metal in no time!

A captain showed up on the screen and pleaded for Jiang Fei to come to his senses, “Commander! We must retreat now!”

“Not yet… I need more time to think!” replied Jiang Fei.

Even though he did not say he would retreat, the thought of it was extremely compelling given how the situation developed. He could not give up the training regime now, but the Alderaanian forces were too big a threat to be ignored.

Jiang Fei only had two choices: retreat now or attempt to fight.

“Commander, we will try to delay the enemy while you make your decision,” said the captain of the ship.

The fleet captains decided to pull one last miracle while their commander decided their final fate.

“Deploy mines! Let’s hope this last line of defense can buy us more time…”