Chapter 84: No Way Out

“Commander, all Klein warships have been destroyed. The Zhulong is currently targeting the ships still on their assembly line!”

“How much longer until our fleet is within ion beam cannon range?”

After Ye Lingwei finished her report Mu Qingxue nodded then asked.

“Five hundred fifty-seven seconds!”

“Good. That should be just enough—there’s no way they can escape in time. They were caught completely off guard and none of their ships are powered up!”

Yeah, it takes time just to get things going.

You need time just to leave the docks.

Let alone accelerating—it takes even more time!

Less than ten minutes, there’s no way over three thousand warships finish everything that fast.

“Once we’re in range lock down every escape route for the Klein immigrant fleet with the ion beam cannon.”

“If they don’t try to run we’ll hold position. But the moment one ship tries to flee, don’t hesitate—blast it on the spot!”

Mu Qingxue gave the order, hands moving across the tactical starmap in front of her.

“Yes, Commander!”

——

A few minutes after the operation began.

Twenty-seven newly built warships on Europa, plus seventy-eight ships still under construction, were destroyed.

A little over nine minutes in, the Fifth Fleet closed to within eighty thousand kilometers of Europa. Every destroyer and heavier warship activated its ion beam cannon.

In the next three minutes, they decisively took down every ship that started up and tried to bolt.

After losing over fifty ships, the Klein seemed to realize humans only targeted the ones trying to escape.

So they stopped running.

Eighteen minutes into the operation.

The Fifth Fleet completed deceleration and surrounded the Klein immigrant fleet in Europa’s orbit.

Meanwhile, everything happening here was transmitted across the Asteroid Belt.

Right into Patriarch Tumelo’s ear.

It was like—

The sky had come crashing down!

When a Klein officer on the bridge read the message aloud,

Everyone panicked.

If something happened to the immigrant fleet, then all their fighting at the frontline—what was the point?

“Entire fleet…”

“Halt!”

A moment later, Tumelo practically growled the order through gritted teeth.

He knew exactly what this human blockade meant.

But right now, there was nothing he could do…

Because what the Fifth Fleet had grabbed hold of—the very lifeline Tumelo couldn’t afford to lose.

As leader of the Klein civilization, his greatest duty was to ensure their survival, growth, and prosperity.

So more than anyone, he could never just watch the Klein immigrant fleet get wiped out.

“Send a message to the humans. We can pull back, but the human fleet must release our fleet at Europa!”

“Yes, Patriarch.”

Yes, it was humiliating.

But everyone on the bridge, not just Tumelo, knew this was their only option.

No one stood up to challenge the order.

——

Elsewhere.

First Fleet, Warstar Vellesharana.

“Fleet Admiral, message from the Fifth Fleet—urgent transmission…”

“Our fleet has arrived at Europa. Destroyed twenty-seven completed warships, seventy-eight under construction, and fifty-eight immigrant ships. Successfully secured two thousand nine hundred ninety ships from their immigrant fleet.”

“Right now, eight heavy orbital assault regiments with mobile armor units are carrying out rescue operations and classified mission number seven!”

The report echoed across the bridge.

For a moment everyone stared blankly, then their faces lit up with excitement.

After all, the fate of the Fifth Fleet directly decided whether the Federation Fleet could hold Mars and take back the Asteroid Belt.

It might even—

Determine if humanity would survive at all!

“Excellent work!”

Mu Xingchen sprang to his feet.

He clenched his right fist hard.

Right at that moment—

“Fleet Admiral, the Klein fleet is messaging us too. Full translation ready. Do you want it read aloud?”

“Go ahead!”

Mu Xingchen already had a pretty good idea of what they’d say.

He waved his hand, looking relaxed.

“Release our civilian fleet at Europa, and we’ll withdraw to Jupiter as a trade.”

Mu Xingchen looked completely unimpressed.

Civilian fleet—yeah right…

The Intelligence Department had already learned from interrogating prisoners that the Klein had never had anything like a true civilian ship.

The Klein must’ve picked up this ‘civilian’ story from some Fourth Fleet prisoners captured earlier.

They were just parroting human phrases, hoping to reclaim the upper hand.

But they had missed one key point.

Morality—that only exists within human civilization.

But you lot? Are you human?

Of course not!!

So when you start talking about morality, it means nothing.

“Reply and let them know they have no choice, no right to bargain. We’ll only talk after they’ve retreated to Jupiter!”

“Understood, Admiral!”

Once the message was sent,

Everyone’s eyes locked on the red dots in the 3D starmap—each one a Klein warship.

One minute…

Ten minutes…

An hour…

Some people started to worry. Was the Admiral being too tough? Would it force the enemy to fight to the death instead?

“Look—they’re moving! The Klein fleet’s retreating!”

Someone shouted.

Everyone looked at the tactical starmap again.

The cloud of red dots—Klein warships—was shifting toward the Asteroid Belt.

They were pulling back!

Suddenly the whole bridge burst into celebration.

“Quiet!”

“It’s not over yet!”

This time Mu Xingchen stood once more, calling for order.

No, it wasn’t over yet.

For Mars, it might be—for now.

But for his granddaughter, Mu Qingxue, and her team…

Their war was just beginning.

The Fifth Fleet would soon face at least half a year of brutal fighting, without resupply and with crazed Klein ships in relentless pursuit.

This would be no easy task…

——

At the same time.

Europa.

In fact, beyond the main objectives, the Fifth Fleet had two other missions.

These extra missions were possible thanks to information obtained from Shivana.

Shivana was tight-lipped; normal questioning got them nowhere.

But by Federation calendar 202, reading someone’s memories really isn’t that hard.

So the Federation got a trove of intel from Shivana’s mind.

Two pieces were absolutely vital.

First, of the Don River-class frigate’s crew, even after intense interrogation and all kinds of experiments to study humans, about fifty survived.

Those survivors are now being held on Europa.

This is the rescue mission. As for the other task—called Classified Mission Seven—it’s about a derelict research base of a long-lost civilization the Klein passed on their way to Earth.

They picked up some equipment from the ruins.

But because human and Klein tech are so different, they’ve never managed to extract any data from those devices.

So the goal of Classified Mission Seven is to seize those devices from Europa.