Chapter 58: A Calculated Trap

The comm channel was still open.

Chu Wei’s projection still hovered in the room.

Right now, his face was flushed with anger as he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Not only were we barred from taking away those last two asteroids, now they wanted us to ditch all the dozens we’d already hauled in?

What kind of joke is this!

Chu Wei just couldn’t take it anymore.

Meanwhile, Lin Yu’s brow furrowed deep in thought.

“Major Chu Wei, I’m not negotiating with you. This is a direct order!”

“No way! I won’t allow it!”

……

……

A heavy silence choked the entire bridge.

Everyone knew that refusing an order in the Federation Fleet was no small matter.

It’s the kind of thing that could get you hauled in front of a military tribunal, ruin your life in a heartbeat.

And this was already Chu Wei’s second time pulling this stunt in just under a minute.

Lin Yu called up a virtual panel and tapped a few commands.

In the next instant, Chu Wei’s projection fizzled out, replaced by a live feed from inside the bridge—there was Chu Wei, looking agitated, standing in front of the captain’s chair.

“As Commander-in-Chief of this operation, I hereby relieve Major Chu Wei of his command and place him in confinement. From now on, Deputy Commander Jiang Kai will take over leadership of the collection fleet.”

“Major Jiang Kai, execute the order immediately!”

As expected…

Many onboard were thinking exactly that after hearing the order.

Two blatant acts of insubordination—no one was about to stay quiet about that.

You might not understand an order from above, but you can’t just refuse to carry it out.

If they had to spell out every tactical detail before every fight, how would anyone get anything done?

If that’s how things worked, how would you even wage war?

Right after that, the officer standing next to Chu Wei snapped to attention with a crisp salute.

He waved, and a few people rushed over to restrain Chu Wei and lead him away.

In truth, Jiang Kai was originally the captain of this collection fleet—Chu Wei had been parachuted in later.

The moment he showed up, he edged Jiang Kai out of the top spot, a move that left plenty of people on edge. But Jiang Kai never voiced a complaint, so the others could only stifle their own.

But right now, when a golden opportunity lands in your lap…

You jump on it without a second thought.

“Jiang Kai, you heard my order just now, right?”

“Yes, Commander. I’ll see it done!”

“Good. We’ve lost enough time as it is. Two minutes left until departure. Get ready.”

“Understood!”

A moment later, the comm went dead.

“Lin Yu, that kid’s grandfather is…”

George spent a moment thinking, but still decided to give Lin Yu a heads-up.

After all, Chu Wei’s family background rivaled even his own Campbell clan, and within the Federation Fleet, he had serious influence and connections.

Of course, George wasn’t disagreeing with Lin Yu’s decision to strip that guy of his position.

Two acts of insubordination in a row—he wouldn’t have tolerated it either.

What George really meant was, confinement was fine, but once they got back, Chu Wei could be handed over to Fleet headquarters.

No need to invite extra trouble.

But Lin Yu clearly wasn’t worried. In fact…

He didn’t seem concerned at all.

“Don’t worry. They can’t touch me.”

“Alright, as long as you’ve thought it through. But I’ve been meaning to ask—why did you order the collection fleet to dump all the asteroids in Sector E9-3?”

George handled things with a lot more tact.

When Lin Yu issued an order, George never pressed or challenged him—even if he didn’t fully understand.

So what do you do?

Wait until you get a quiet moment, or the chance to ask—so long as it doesn’t mess with the mission.

“Because the Klein Fleet is coming straight for us, which means…”

“They know exactly where we are!”

A line of question marks seemed to float over George’s head.

Okay, I get the concern.

But what does that have to do with dumping those asteroids?

Lin Yu brought up the 3D tactical starmap again.

He zoomed in on Sector E9-3.

“George, what does this area look like to you?”

“So you want to… but if we go in ourselves, then…”

At just a glance of the starmap, George could see Lin Yu’s intent.

But there was a catch.

How exactly were they supposed to lure the enemy inside?

It’s not like you could just barge in and hope they’d chase you.

If you did that, you’d be stuck in the trap with them—what’s the point then?

“Exactly. We can’t go in ourselves.”

“But if we don’t enter, we still need to make the enemy believe we did.”

“And that’s where all those towed asteroids come in!”

It looked like George got it.

Then again, maybe not quite.

He understood what Lin Yu wanted to do.

But using asteroids to trick the Klein Fleet into thinking they were hiding inside…? That part still wasn’t clear.

“Which brings us back to the real question: How did they pinpoint our location well enough to send their whole fleet barreling at us?”

“Clearly, they’ve got detailed intel.”

“Was it surveillance drones picking us up? No, I doubt it. If it were, they’d have come sooner—it’s only a day’s journey from their nearest outpost.”

“Plus, we already combed the surrounding area—if there were bugs or sensors, we would’ve picked them up.”

“So, they must’ve used some other method. And they only discovered us about a day ago.”

“If there’s any major difference between the past few days and this last one, it’s that the positions of over a dozen asteroids changed.”

Hiss…

George’s eyes widened as realization hit him.

He sucked in a sharp breath.

Lin Yu had deduced all this from their sudden approach?

Which meant… the problem was with the asteroids they’d processed most recently.

Were there tracking devices hidden inside those asteroids?

So as soon as an asteroid’s path changes, it signals someone is out there collecting?

“So all we need to do is dump the asteroids we towed in the past day into that sector, pull the fleet out, and wait for the Klein Fleet to take the bait?”

“Exactly!”

Lin Yu nodded, confirming George’s guess.

“So, what do you say? In the mood to pull off a big one—knock out all 87 of their warships in one swoop?”

“Are you kidding? Of course I’m in!”

George slapped his thigh in excitement at Lin Yu’s suggestion.

He couldn’t be more eager.

Taking out 87 of the Klein Fleet’s warships in one stroke would wipe out 7 or 8 percent of their total force.

That kind of military accomplishment…

Getting promoted to major would be a sure thing once they got back.

Jumping from lieutenant to major was a whole new league.

So, is George on board for this plan? What do you think?