Counterfeit Hero

Fatty’s show-off performance was interrupted by Markovich.

Seeing the encrypted message sent by Chekov, Fatty, ignoring Sade and the others who were left gaping, hurriedly left the training ground.

Forgetting old friends once new ones come. This had always been Fatty’s style. This scoundrel, who already had the Four Great Schools in his pocket, was not paying them much attention. Along the way, he kept calculating in his mind, ”My goodness! A carrier, two battleships, five cruisers! Isn’t this Saleria Fleet determined to haunt me? If I could capture this fleet, wouldn’t the entire Mars Free Channel be under my command?!”

Imagining himself commanding the fleet rampaging through Mars, invincible, Fatty felt a sudden urge to pee. His mind was constantly turning over the contents of Chekov’s message, calculating the enemy fleet’s ships on his fingers. As he entered the electronic mecha control room, a deduction made him shiver all over.

”Colonel...” Markovich noticed Fatty’s abnormality and asked with concern, ”Are you alright?”

”I... I’m perfectly fine,” Fatty shivered even more violently.

”Then why are you...” Markovich was startled by Fatty, whose whole body was jiggling like jelly, eyes wide open with a green glow. How could this be alright?

”Carrier... it’s destiny!” Fatty stared at the interstellar map, rubbing his hands affectionately, looking like a fox wooing a hen: ”Compose the message, Magic Cube of the First Fleet, Fierce Bandit No.1, No.2, and Fierce Bandit No.7, 8, 9, and 10 continue to stay concealed, their positions should be between coordinates 3451.172.8963.3 and 2714.1931.6578.3, maintaining surveillance and threat over the outer combat zone of the Demon’s Eye Base. Await orders!”

”Fierce Bandit No.3, No.6, and No.11, lurk at the coordinate 2100.754.1530.8 space area, be ready to launch a surprise attack on the Demon’s Eye Base, await orders!”

”Second Fleet, cease harassment of the Demon’s Eye Fleet, turn towards the DE-4543 Star System, approach the Saleria Fleet’s carrier battle group, ensure concealment, await orders!”

”Order, Lookout No.2...”

As the communicator’s hands flew over the virtual keyboard, Fatty’s continuous string of commands was encoded into encrypted messages, sent through the antenna of the electronic mecha’s communication system out into the vast space.

********************************************************

In the quiet bridge, the distinctive hissing sound of the life support system was faintly audible. All light sources were turned off, and the distant starlight, filtered through the edge of a blocking planet, poured through the bridge’s windows, casting a soft golden glow in this cold and silent world.

Some officers sat in a daze, some chatted in low voices, and others walked around silently. No matter what they were doing, their gazes would frequently fall on the silhouette bathed in gentle light by the window. Some fascinated eyes never even looked away.

Major General Fang Xiang of the Saleria Federation’s interstellar navy, at twenty-nine years old, possessed a stunningly beautiful face that could topple nations, paired with a charm that could captivate any man. No matter how cold she appeared, every frown and smile was enchanting and captivating. Her numerous followers spread throughout the Saleria military. She was hailed as the Saleria Navy’s Flower.

Those familiar with this title knew that the Flower of the Navy represented not only enticing beauty but also the legend of being the first in the history of the Saleria Naval Academy to graduate with top scores in all thirty-two subjects! Since joining the navy, her extraordinary intellect had allowed her to stand out among countless elites. She was not only acknowledged as Admiral Tolstoy’s goddaughter but also became the highest commander of the Longbow Local Fleet.

At this moment, Fang Xiang stood quietly in front of the large floor-to-ceiling window of the bridge, her slender white fingers holding a pale green ceramic coffee cup that emitted light steam. Her eyes gazed at the starry sky, seemingly calm on the surface, but waves of thoughts surged in her mind, the fragments of the recent days flashing like a movie before her eyes.

Since that doomed Longbow blockade battle, Fang Xiang had been leading the remnants of the fleet, evading the Suss Empire and Saleria Fleet’s pursuit within the Mars Free Channel.

Those desolate public star systems, with numerous space jump points of varying levels of secrecy and coordinates, were mostly unknown to the Longbow Fleet that had fled into the Free Channel in a panic, as well as to the seasoned navigators of the smuggling ships of the Free World. How many could understand even a fraction of this interstellar wasteland?

With only a few stored coordinates in the navigation system, the scarred Longbow Local Fleet could only wander aimlessly in the labyrinthine Free Channel. For this fleet labeled as rebels by Congress, the future seemed bleak.

Fang Xiang didn’t know where to go. On that day, she had been prepared to die for her country. If Admiral Tolstoy hadn’t ordered her to lead the fleet out of the battle, she would have perished then and there. During these days of drifting, every time she recalled Tolstoy’s sacrifice, staying behind with his ship to die, she would hide in her room and weep. The passing of that respected elder and the current plight of Saleria left her in unbearable pain.

However, no matter how much grief she felt, she couldn’t show it. She wrapped herself in a tough exterior, calmly and confidently commanding the fleet every day to find navigable routes for the carrier and battleships. But in this enigmatic Mars Free Channel, any form of intelligence seemed powerless.