The Almighty Ring

“#@$!*&!”

Alexis blabbered in an incomprehensible language that even the scope failed to decipher. Jiang Fei however, need not rely on the translation mechanism to understand that it was none other than angry screeching.

“What’s the problem?” asked Jiang Fei.

“That bastard is sending us straight into the heart of the fight! He just gave us a death sentence!” snapped Alexis.

“Why?” asked Jiang Fei, failing to understand the concept of being thrown right into the center of the fight.

Alexis gestured as he ordered, “Captain, map please.”

A holographic map was projected and hovered in front of him. The holographic map turned around, appearing like a box with grids and lines to help visualise the location in space.

After controlling the map and zooming in and out of it, Alexis found the Dommix System and the specific location where the Valsalrian Army and the Trade Federation forces were deployed.

“Here,” Alexis pointed out, “this is where the Federation is deployed and our allies are setting up a barricade here,” he explained.

“This is the enemy fleet and they are going to ram the barricade hard. Right now, that bastard is ordering me to send my fleet to intercept the attack!”

The location Alexis had pointed out was right behind the enemy fleet. Deploying Alexis’ fleet there would surely be an open invitation for them to attack.

Jiang Fei gasped. “We are literally standing behind the entire army!”

Even someone with minimum warfare knowledge would know that they would only need to turn their ship around to surround the fleet. Alexis’ fleet would be destroyed, all in the name of delaying the main attack for only a few moments.

“He wants us to buy him time, he wants us to just die in vain!” roared Alexis as he smashed the console in front of him, destroying it instantly.

Someone quickly came over to replace it with a brand new one, which only took a few minutes.

“So, we don’t go,” said Jiang Fei.

Why should they just send themselves into a swarm of enemies like that?

Alexis sighed and explained, “That, I would. But the bastard outranks me!”

It has been established that the Valsalrian Army was strict with rules and regulations amongst themselves. Even though he was not affiliated with that particular Chief Fleet Commander, he outranked Jiang Fei by one level, thus granting him authority over Alexis.

Disobeying a direct order from a superior officer was punishable by being court-martialed or worse, with a death sentence. Either way, all of Alexis’ assets, ships, and soldiers alike, would be absorbed by that particular Chief Commander.

“Have the fleet ready for a Hyperspace jump,” Alexis reluctantly gave the order.

“Aye, commander!” acknowledged the captain of Redstone and relayed the order to the other ship captains.

All the ships aligned themselves neatly and started to calculate their trajectory before making the space jump.

Before they could finish the calculation process, Jiang Fei hurried over to Alexis’ side.

“Commander, have you thought this through? We are literally heading towards certain death!” he exclaimed angrily.

Alexis scoffed. “We have received an order and we must obey. That is the way. Death is certain even if we do not go.”

“You point being?” barked Jiang Fei.

“My point is clear. Obey the order. That is all.”

Alexis turned to the captain of the ship to check on the calculation progress. Jiang Fei was left disgruntled, alone, and a little confused. To be fair, this was Jiang Fei’s first space war and he had no idea how to inject himself into the situation to make it better.

“Commander, we are all ready for the Hyperspace jump,” reported the captain.

“Deploy shields!”

“Shields at 100%, Captain.”

“Commence Hyperspace jump sequence. We are going in one by one,” ordered the captain.

Alexis chimed in, “Drop shields to 50% and engage Antimatter Cannons as soon as you drop out of Hyperspace.”

The chain of personnel reporting back and forth continued for so long until Jiang Fei himself was confused at what was going on.

Still confused, Jiang Fei came to Alexis.

“Are we still going in?”

“Of course,” he replied simply.

“We are going to jump behind enemy lines and start attacking? Guns a-blazing?”

Alexis turned to Jiang Fei and sighed. “Depends. But that is the current plan.”

When all orders had been carried out and all ships were waiting on Alexis’ command to jump, the captain of Redstone turned to Alexis and awaited his final confirmation.

Alexis laid down the final order, saying, “This is the 7th Fleet, 13th Division, we are a go! I repeat, we are a go!”

A small squad of patrol ships were the first to initiate the Hyperspace jump.

Alexis turned to Sarila and said, “Tell base to further increase the compensation for those in the first wave.”

The first wave of patrol ships were all but doomed to die, with only a negligible possibility of survival. The compensation that would be given to their next of kin was improved by Alexis’ own coffers.

“Will do, Father,” said Sarila.

As soon as the first wave of ships had leaped into Hyperspace, Alexis quickly gave his next order.

“Commence second wave deployment.”

Likewise, the second wave consisted of patrol ships as well.

“Captain, we’ve got a reading from the Wayfinder!”

“Commander?”

“Patch it through the main screen.”

A live-feed from the Wayfinder was transmitted to the bridge of Redstone. In the video footage, a large fleet of Federation vessels were seen aligned and in formation. A few seconds later, several wormholes appeared from behind the entire fleet and the patrol ships from Alexis’ fleet emerged.

From the moment they arrived, all the patrol ships immediately opened fire. Thumps and explosions were heard, albeit muffled by the void of space. Unfortunately, the Antimatter Cannons onboard the patrol ships were extremely weak. Their firepower failed to even dent the shields of any of the Federation vessels.

A few seconds later, a few out of the countless Federation ships returned fire. There was a stark difference between the firepower of both sides. Their barrage of cannons was unable to make even a single dent on any of the Federation vessels, while a simple counterattack from the Federation, using simple Particle Beam Cannons, was enough to reduce a working patrol ship into space debris.

Just when the last of the first wave of patrol ships had been reduced to dust, the second wave appeared.

The Chief Commander of the Federation fleet scoffed.

“What’s this? Are they just throwing their lives away for the sake of it? Or have the Valsalrians greatly underestimated us? What a letdown…”

He ordered the entire fleet to proceed with their main assault, while leaving one of the few tens of Corvette class ships behind to deal with the sudden appearance of Alexis’ patrol ships.

The second wave of Valsalrians were faster and they knew what they were up against. Having seen the video feed coming from the Wayfinder, they knew what to do when they dropped out of Hyperspace.

After flying in and out of formation, the second wave managed to bring down a single Corvette class, though admittedly they also lost a good number of ships themselves.

A few moments later, the third wave of Valsalrians appeared and this time, there were a few larger Corvette class ships coming in.

The Chief Commander scoffed again. “Mhm, just that few?”

He was certain that they would pose no threat to the main fleet, as he had left more than enough ships behind to take care of their unannounced guests.

Even with reinforcements arriving, the second wave of patrol ships were unable to do anything. However, with their superior shields and powerful weapons, the Corvettes were able to provide cover fire whilst shielding the patrol ships from devastating attacks. With their coordinated attacks, the Valsalrians managed to bring down a few more Federation Corvettes.

In no time, the fourth wave of patrol ships arrived. Alas, even though the fourth wave consisted of a large fleet of patrol ships, there were no more Corvette class ships left to deploy.

“That’s it? How poor can they be to only have so few Corvettes? And here I thought that they’ve been rampaging the universe, stealing and plundering to their heart’s desire…” said the Federation Chief Commander.

He then sent a few more Corvette class attackers and decided to leave the enemy be. He had more important matters to tend to!

“Commander, our forces are sustaining heavy damage. Should we provide immediate reinforcement?” asked the captain of Redstone.

Even though the second, third, and fourth fleets of Valsalrians ships were still surviving, they were unable to deal with the Federation’s larger fleet of Corvettes.

Patrol ships were smaller and faster as they were not ferrying any passengers, merely a few autocannons. But their combat force was… laughable at best against the powerful Corvettes.

“No. Not yet,” said Alexis.

He was not at all upset by the loss of his patrol ships as they were merely piloted by non-combatants. To him, his ground infantry was his real asset. Pilots could be easily recruited and trained at any time.

“Commander, the enemy fleet has left the battlefield,” said the captain.

Alexis hummed. “Good.”

15 minutes later, after countless cries for help and requests for reinforcements were ignored, Alexis finally stood up from his seat.

“Commence Hyperspace jump!”

“Aye, commencing Hyperspace jump sequence,” replied the captain.

In just a few seconds, after zooming across Hyperspace, Redstone the Hypercruiser appeared amongst the other patrol ships!