Chapter 62: Waves in the Fifth Fleet: The Battle Report

Knock, knock, knock…

Mars orbit, Fifth Fleet Temporary Home Port.

Right now, the Qiongxiao is docked here for its routine month-long maintenance.

Mu Qingxue sat alone in her room, sorting through a stack of documents.

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

“Come in!”

The next second, the door opened.

Ye Lingwei walked in, wearing a strange expression.

“Lingwei, what’s up?”

“I just got a notice — in half an hour, Headquarters is holding an emergency meeting. Every fleet commander and chief of staff must attend.”

“Another one? Didn’t we just spend half the day in a meeting yesterday?”

Mu Qingxue couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

Seriously, are we supposed to do anything besides meetings these days?

“Ahem, well, the main reason for this meeting is actually because of something our fleet did…”

“What happened?”

Mu Qingxue frowned slightly.

She wondered if someone under her command had caused a huge incident — something that even alarmed the higher-ups.

That definitely wouldn’t be good.

“Just take a look at this and you’ll understand!”

As Ye Lingwei finished speaking, she tapped on the smart computer strapped to her wrist and sent a report to Mu Qingxue.

It was a battle report Lin Yu had just sent back.

Both the Fifth Fleet and Federation Fleet Headquarters had received it.

Mu Qingxue opened the file as soon as she got it.

Inside was a complete three-dimensional tactical star map, along with a mountain of video footage.

“Hm? Lin Yu ran into the enemy? And it’s eighty-seven Klein warships?”

Mu Qingxue’s expression instantly turned serious.

Eighty-seven Klein warships, while Lin Yu’s task force only had fifteen. Even with the Zhulong, a next-gen heavy cruiser, head-on they wouldn’t stand a chance.

After all…

The numbers were just too lopsided.

But since he’d managed to send back a battle report, and since Ye Lingwei didn’t seem that worried, it couldn’t have gone too badly.

Now, let’s see — how did you pull it off this time?

Come to think of it, Mu Qingxue always enjoyed reading Lin Yu’s after-action reports. His tactics were so off-the-wall, they always sparked new ideas.

They brought her plenty of inspiration.

“Oh, by piecing together just a few simple and easy-to-miss clues, he figured out that the asteroids they were supposed to tow on the last day were compromised. Then, without hesitation, he ditched the suspect asteroids, even turning them into bait, luring the entire Klein fleet into a narrow channel where they were trapped and completely immobilized.”

“Impressive!”

Mu Qingxue muttered to herself as she scanned the report.

Ye Lingwei just curled her lip.

Qingxue… you’re praising him a bit too soon. The real shocker comes next…

And sure enough, only a few seconds later.

Mu Qingxue froze, stunned.

She had assumed Lin Yu took out a few warships, used the trap to block the enemy in the channel, then seized the chance to get his mining ships out.

That would have been a perfect ending already.

But she never expected Lin Yu to go even bigger.

A single asteroid more than 700 meters across, weighing over 4 billion tons, accelerated by twelve asteroid haulers to 178 kilometers per second — and then flung straight down the channel…

“Now you see why Headquarters called this emergency meeting, right?”

“That kid really pulled off something huge. He wiped out nearly 8% of the entire Klein warfleet in one strike.”

“Looks like no matter how much they try to keep it low-profile, he’s still bound for another promotion!”

“Colonel at nineteen. That’s the same rank as me, tsk…”

Honestly, Ye Lingwei was at a loss for words.

She’d made colonel by twenty-eight, which was already a huge feat.

But Lin Yu was only nineteen. If things kept going at this rate, soon he’d have the same rank she did, or maybe leapfrog her and become a general before she ever could.

Seriously…

Would she have to salute him one day?

The thought made Ye Lingwei’s face go all sorts of odd.

“Chu Wei?”

At that moment, the hint of relaxation on Mu Qingxue’s brow vanished as she frowned again.

“Yeah, General Chu’s youngest grandson. Remember, you gave the green light for him to team up with Lin Yu in the Asteroid Belt.”

“I remember. It wasn’t a big deal, so I agreed. General Chu did me quite a few favors in the past, after all.”

Mu Qingxue nodded.

Although Vice Admiral Chu was already retired, even without knowing exactly what Lin Yu could do, he could guess.

And with Lin Yu’s plan to ignite Jupiter turning the fleet’s fortunes around,

he felt compelled to send his youngest grandson to the Fifth Fleet, personally put him in charge of the mining task force, and asked Mu Qingxue to have Chu Wei work alongside Lin Yu.

He just wanted Chu Wei to learn from Lin Yu, plain and simple.

Honestly, with Chu Wei tagging along, it gave him some extra peace of mind, too.

Mu Qingxue normally wasn’t a fan of these kinds of arrangements — but after all, Vice Admiral Chu had always supported her, and his request wasn’t so overbearing.

At least he didn’t force Chu Wei into the combat units, right?

So she agreed.

But she never expected…

Trouble could still find them.

When crisis hit, Chu Wei disobeyed orders — not once, but twice!

Lin Yu immediately stripped him of command on the spot and threw him into the brig. She couldn’t fault that.

On the battlefield, the last thing you need is someone who refuses to follow orders just because they don’t get it.

People like that have no place here.

——

Half an hour later.

A mid-sized conference room.

Except for a handful, everyone else joined through remote holographic projection. Their images flickered over the meeting room.

Within moments, the whole room was full.

Next, virtual screens appeared before everyone.

Some showed tactical star charts, others displayed formal reports, and then —

dozens of battlefield clips rolled across the displays.

Clearly, this was Lin Yu’s combat report.

Everyone unfamiliar with the Fifth Fleet or Fleet Headquarters leaned forward, eyes glued to the screens.

A few minutes passed…

Hisss…

The sound of people sucking in their breath echoed through the not-so-large room.

“Now that everyone’s caught up, let’s get started!”

Of the three people seated at the head table, Mu Xingchen took the lead.

“Three agenda items!”

“First, a review and discussion on this battle by the Fifth Fleet Fourth Special Operations Unit.”

“Second, how to deal with Chu Wei, the captain of the 67th Mining Team.”

“Third, a vote on promoting Lieutenant Colonel Lin Yu once again for exceptional merit!”

Mu Xingchen declared the focus of today’s meeting right from the start.

The first item was a given.

A battle plan this classic had to be analyzed by every fleet. There was a lot here to learn.

Actually…

This campaign would likely make it into the Fleet Command Department’s curriculum at the military academy.

Come to think of it, that big battle at Jupiter was already slated for the next Command textbook.

And it’s barely been any time at all!

Now Lin Yu pulled off a second example that’s about to be logged too.

Forget the other young commanders — even the brass present couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous.

For a Federation officer, having just one of your battles written into the books was enough to leave your mark on history.

Future generations would read about you in their textbooks.

Lin Yu’s already set to have one case canonized, and now another’s coming right behind.

He’s a living legend.

And to think, the guy’s only nineteen.

There’s no telling just how far he’ll go.