The Almighty Ring

“I surrender this ship known as Meteor to the Valsalrian Army,” said the captain.

A Federation soldier came forth to join his captain. “We surrender as well.”

Judging from his uniform and badge, the man was the Squad Commander of the combatant force inside the ship. While there were others that managed to fend off the Valsalrian soldiers and get away, these guys weren’t as lucky since Jiang Fei was there to stir things up.

“Hand over the ship’s control codes, then I’ll accept your surrender,” demanded Sarila.

“Very well, the codes are with me. We’ll need to be in the ship in order to input them,” said the captain as he agreed to the terms of surrender.

“0541?” prompted Jiang Fei when they were heading to the bridge.

0541 answered, “I have control, Captain.”

“Would it affect the system during the handover procedure?” asked Jiang Fei.

“No. It is but formality. A system name change, that is all. I will always have real control,” explained 0541.

Right now, all controls of the Brown Bear type Hypercruiser, Meteor, had been completely seized by 0541. There was no need for any sort of code input. If he wanted, 0541 could even change the entire operating system of the ship to that of an Earth-based ship.

“Alright. Whatever you do, stay hidden and do not reveal yourself until I say so,” said Jiang Fei.

“Aye, Captain.”

The entire handover procedure went smoothly and all threats to the safety of the crew were removed.

“Lock down the ship, phase-shift shield up!” ordered Sarila.

This was done in an attempt to prevent any Federation forces from teleporting in to provide backup. If Sarila’s squad was able to infiltrate the ship, the Federation forces could do so as well.

Sarlia ordered the squad, “Send all Federation crew members to the brig.”

Even though they had officially surrendered, they were still at war and Sarila could not allow her enemies to go wandering around the ship as they please.

Boom…

A faint shockwave was felt reverberating throughout the ship.

Sarila gasped. “What was that?!”

The previous captain of the ship rushed to the console monitor and did a quick scan.

“Imperium! A self-destruct explosion!” he said.

Protocol dictates that in the case of enemies taking over the ship, standard procedure was to be followed. A self-destruct sequence must be initiated to take down the enemy as well as the ship. But obviously, the previous captain of Meteor had chosen life instead of death.

“Shields up! We are getting out of here!” ordered Sarila.

There was no time for her to worry about the rest of the Valsalrian Army. Even though many had successfully infiltrated their respective targets, so far, only her squad had managed to take control of the ship they boarded.

The odds were against them as not only did the Federation have stronger ships, they also had larger infantry forces.

“Aye, Commander!” replied the previous captain, quickly guiding the others to follow suit.

If he were to act against Sarila’s will, he and the rest of the bridge crew would all be tossed into the brig. Not to mention, Sarila had preemptively changed the access codes of the ship as soon as the controls were handed over to her.

Right now, Meteor wasn’t part of the Federation anymore, it was affiliated with the Valsalrian Army. It might be of Federation in design, but the signal it was giving off was clearly the opposite. If he wanted to continue living, he needed to help Sarila escape!

Amidst the chaos of battle, Meteor turned around and left the formation. Before anyone could notice its odd trajectory, the ship jumped into Hyperspace with a loud thump. Not long after, another ship that had been successfully taken over by Valsalrian soldiers left as well.

All in all, only two ships had managed to successfully take over an enemy ship and escape safely. The rest were not as lucky. Many died in the ship’s self-destruct while others were killed in battle inside the ship itself.

Alexis’ fleet, or what remained of it, was strong. Even so, they had to face the reality that they were outgunned and greatly outnumbered.

Of all 45,000 soldiers, only two ships ferrying a few thousands of them survived. The others were either dead before they could commence the seizing mission or while engaged in battle.

“Where to?” asked Jiang Fei.

Sarila and the soldiers onboard Meteor were the only allies he had left of Alexis’ fleet. He was not even sure whether Alexis himself was still alive…

If the Federation was able to send two fighters with over 3,000,000 combat level, there would surely be others just like them everywhere in the fleet. Alexis might be 4,5000,000 strong but to fight against all of them would be… near impossible.

“Captain, input coordinates to space sector DX07. We have an allied port over there,” announced Sarila after giving it much thought.

The port Sarila mentioned was affiliated to Aino but she had no choice. Without an official order, they were not allowed to return to Redstone.

“So be it,” said Jiang Fei.

He was fine with anywhere since all he wanted was to face stronger foes to test himself.

In reality, Jiang Fei would be able to fight against a fighter at 5,000,000 or even 6,000,000 combat level as equals. He could only grow stronger by fighting foes stronger than himself, otherwise he would never be able to get out of his comfort zone.

Alexis’ fleet had lost all of its space vessels and almost 80% of his own combat forces. That being said, the Brown Bear type Hypercruiser was a good steal. If only Alexis’ status was known, and if he was alive, the loss of all his ships was redeemed by stealing a Federation Hypercruiser.

Sadly, the 7th Fleet, 13th Division was now without a Fleet Commander. Communication was lost and if Alexis was confirmed to be dead, the entire 13th Division would be disbanded and all members would be reassigned to join other divisions.

“Fei, I think you should reveal your strength. I will announce you as the new Fleet Commander of the 13th Division!” exclaimed Sarila adamantly.

Since she had made up her mind to be with Jiang Fei, she wanted him to gain every possible benefit.

“Calm down. Let’s not be hasty about this matter. Commander Alexis is still missing. He could be sailing amongst the stars in an enemy’s ship that he took!” said Jiang Fei, quickly dismissing Sarila’s suggestion.

The man had always been nice to him and it would smear his name if Jiang Fei were to seize control of his division in his absence.

“If you think that is the appropriate move, then I shall respect it,” said Sarila.

Even though Jiang Fei’s behavior was the complete opposite of a Valsalrian soldier, she was thankful for it. It was better to be under the wing of a man that knew to be grateful and loyal.

Sarila had been given away as a gift once and she would fight back if she were to be given away again! But knowing that Jiang Fei was loyal to Alexis said a lot about his personality, and this made Sarila proud and happy.