Chapter 160: Strategic Stalemate at Okka

Losing Skywarehouse V stung, but as long as Glumbrich remained in his hands, Parlo could deal with it. Defending a single strategic point was still manageable.

The defeat was a blow, yet so long as Glumbrich stayed under his control, he could accept the outcome—he only had to defend one vital node.

But the loss of Skywarehouse V meant he no longer had any strategic advantage over the Xitoris Kingdom.

Parlo started doubting if any outside civilization had intervened after all.

No one had seen any outsiders from another civilization from start to finish. Whether it was the four planets inside Skywarehouse V being overrun, or the later negotiations, it was always Tuoba and his clan handling everything.

He just couldn’t wrap his head around it.

Was he simply overthinking things?

But Parlo didn’t have any extra energy to keep mulling over all this—nor did he care about what happened to the Xitoris Kingdom anymore.

An empire that had lost two elite legions would need at least ten years to recover.

Let alone those 4,800 large transport ships he’d been forced to pay Tuoba as compensation, packed with rare and high-value resources.

That hit the empire hard as well.

So after sending Sadik a message, letting him know the empire would no longer get involved in the Xitoris Kingdom’s internal affairs, he simply washed his hands of it.

Sadik nearly lost his mind with rage.

He cursed Parlo as useless over and over, smashed countless things, and finally calmed down.

Even if the empire wouldn’t step in, there was always the Totran Kingdom.

Besides, the real thorn in his side—Tuoba—was still bogged down in Okka by the Totran Kingdom.

After all these years he hadn’t returned to his peak strength, but he’d still gathered over ten thousand warships. Maybe it was time to make a move.

Right, while Tuoba and Totran were locked in a standoff at Okka, he could deal with those other border clans first.

With that, Sadik pulled up the kingdom’s star chart.

Half of the inner circle had already fallen. The star systems Sadik still controlled were now fewer than ten, and the border regions were marked—some under the control of a single clan, some contested by several.

Warship counts were all over the place—some clans had just a few hundred, while the largest coalition of families barely scraped together two thousand.

Even if all of those clans joined forces, they’d have only 5,800 ships.

He had twice that and better ships—theirs were just second-rate Pioneer Fleet leftovers.

“First things first, I’ll break Tuoba’s wings, then march the main force straight to Okka and strike alongside Totran for a pincer attack.”

“Let’s see how you handle that.”

A slow smile spread across Sadik’s face as he called in Batu, the commander of the King’s Army’s royal guard.

He ordered him to mobilize immediately for war.

The mobilizing troops included 2,000 former royal guard warships, 3,000 ships from the former First, Second, and Fourth Legions, 5,000 patchwork ships from inner circle clans, and another 2,500 ships rushed to completion in recent years.

That made for quite the armada.

With all forces assembled, they thundered out.

——

“What’s the situation with Tuoba?”

Inside the conference room, Lin Yu asked.

George pulled up a report.

“The latest intel: Tuoba is currently commanding 6,300 Seawolf-class warships, holding a standoff against the two Totran Kingdom legions at Okka. The enemy fleet numbers over 8,000 ships.”

“Meanwhile, the remaining sixteen border clans have taken all territory in the Xitoris Kingdom except for the inner core sector.”

“The analysis team predicts Sadik will use the time Totran is tying down Tuoba to rapidly sweep through and quash all other rebels. Then he’ll throw his strength at Okka, joining Totran’s two armies for a pincer assault on Tuoba.”

“If it comes to that, Tuoba’s chance of victory is slim. He won’t have any defense bonuses from a narrows, and he’ll be outnumbered more than three-to-one.”

“Thus, our strategy team recommends Tuoba fall back from Okka and set up a defensive line at Haiser.”

“With just 1,500 warships left at Haiser, it’ll be enough to hold the line. The rest can coordinate with other clan fleets and clear out Sadik’s remaining forces completely.”

“Based on the numbers, this plan bumps Tuoba’s odds of final victory up to 99.93%.”

Lin Yu nodded at the summary.

It was a solid plan—maybe not the flashiest, but easily the safest of all the options on the table.

…But that all depended on one thing.

Tuoba actually following the plan to the letter.

“Let’s go with it then. Send the proposal over to Tuoba first. We’ll see how things play out from there.”

“Understood!”

——

Meanwhile…

At the border of the Xitoris Kingdom: Okka.

Things here were… complicated.

On one side were two Totran Kingdom legions, with a total of over 8,200 warships.

On the other, Tuoba’s main fleet with about 6,300 ships.

They’d been in a standoff for over a year, still with no battle.

For the Totran Kingdom, coming here was all about taking Okka and fulfilling the deal with Sadik to attack Tuoba from both sides.

But going head-to-head with Tuoba alone at Okka…

Even with a fleet 1,900 ships larger, a direct fight would be bloody—at least 4,000 losses just to win.

That was far too high a price.

Tuoba felt the same. He had no intention of attacking, just blocking the enemy and hoping to send them packing back to Totran.

Otherwise, he’d bleed strength before even facing Sadik—not worth it at all.

In other words, both sides figured they could win. Neither wanted to back down.

At the same time, nobody wanted to take massive losses…

So neither side was willing to fire the first shot.

And so—

They’d just stayed locked in this stalemate for over a year.

Meanwhile, word reached Tuoba from Lin Yu.

“Abandon Okka, pull back to Haiser, set up a defensive line to stall Totran’s advance, then use the main fleet to support the other clan ships and take out Sadik’s remaining forces fast?”

But once Okka was gone, getting it back would be almost impossible…

Tuoba wavered.

After all, Okka was like Skywarehouse V’s mirror, only their positions were totally reversed.

Okka was an ultra-critical hub star system. It doubled as a colossal logistics base.

There were 18 planets, including one naturally habitable world and nine more fully terraformed in the star’s habitable zone.

Plus, Okka had two separate asteroid belts—each one bigger and richer in resources than the Asteroid Belt in the Solar System.

There were even eight external flow routes here—five leading straight to Totran, three heading back to the kingdom’s core.

That’s why Totran had always coveted Okka.

The place was simply too important.