Chapter 32 : Dying for a Greater Cause (1) "Ship-Master, most of the second legion's corvettes and many destroyers following them have been pulverized by an enemy minefield." "Keep the same direction, follow the third legion battleships." As soon as we came out of warp space, the Scyllas immediately attacked us with their main fleet, supported by numerous mega-structures that seemed much more powerful and resistant than those we faced outside the core sector. We were plunged into a barrage of fire, dozens of our vessels were getting destroyed every second. "Multiple hostile ships locking their heavy weaponry on us." "Be ready for evasion manoeuver. Our shield are weak and can not wisthand a lot of shots anymore, we can't be as reckless as before. Move ourselves behind our allies' battleships. Prepare our interceptors." We didn't even have the time to breathe as the battle was raging intensely all around us. Everywhere I looked, I could see Void ships shooting, burning, exploding... We arrived just a few minutes ago and I could already see an uncountable number of shipwrecks floating in the deep space, all those Void vessels destroyed by the Scyllas' powerful weapons. I have never experienced a massacre of this scale. [Jun, our sensors detected a great number of enemy fighters rushing straight to our position.] "Deploy all our interceptors and set up a middle-range defensive perimeter. Activate our point defenses to shoot down those who goes through it." Just after giving my orders, a support cruiser crossed the front of our flagship. It was firing with all its broadside batteries when it got separated in two by a powerful purple beam. We had to pass through its still burning wreckage and continue moving forward with the rest of the third Legion to not be shot down the same way. When we passed by the remnants of this cruiser, I noticed many people from its crew floating in outer space, either dead or slowly agonizing. Unfortunately, none of us were able to save them. Their fate was already decided. "What is the state of our scan ? Do we have a complete map of the core sector yet ?" "We do, ship-master, but powerful jamming waves block our sensors from analyzing the massive object at the center of the Scylla formation. We only know its size, which is around the same as a class-B telluric planet." "I see. Continue moving forward with the third legion battleships and cruisers, redirect our main caliber focus to the most imminent threats." During the two days before the beginning of this mission, I talked a lot with Admiral Aubouros and I was able to explain to him the plan I designed with Gladia. At first, he thought we were crazy. Then, he rejected our idea by saying that it is pure insanity and nothing more than a suicidal plan. Only by trying to convince him non-stop for a whole day, did he finally change his mind and agreed to help us. While we were advancing, I was looking through the screen displaying our surroundings when I noticed a flicker of sparks growing rapidly on the horizon. "Neutron torpedoes detected. Prepare for impact." A few seconds after an operator drone loudly warned us, everything around our flagship was engulfed in flames ; we felt the heat of the extreme radiations up to the control room where I was standing. I had to close my eyes, but even then I was still blinded by the bright flash. After a dozen seconds, I started to slowly regain my eyesight. Once our ship's visual sensors adapted to the light and displayed our surroundings, I immediately checked the main screen to see if we have been hit. Fortunately, we didn't. And still, these explosions were so violent that their waves and radiations went through our hull and have been felt in the whole ship. I looked around and tried to find where and who those neutron torpedoes hit. I was horrified by the sight : the massive battleship that was the closest to us had been hit by a myriad of those extremely powerful torpedoes and the major part of its outside plating was floating above its forward-upper deck. [Jun, this battleship's commander is contacting us.] "On screen !!" The image displayed a bloody alien that was looking like a muscular 2m tall feline with a huge mouth, containing an array of teeth that looked as sharp and numerous as those of a shark. This commander, despite being from a physically strong species, seemed rather old. His long mane was grey-white, and he had a slightly bent back. "Greeting, Lone Slayer. Our ship, the Rouge Blessing, has been too badly damaged to pursue the fight further. I received orders from the Admiral to protect your flagship at all cost until you reach a certain place. Unfortunately cough cough..." He seemed to be in the same state as his ship ; seeing how much blood he was losing from the large open wound on his torso made me respect this commander for still being able to think rationally and talk about the mission in his current state. "Unfortunately, it seems like the Scyllas are truly determined to shoot you down. Those torpedoes were aiming at you, but we intercepted them before they could get in range and blow up your already damaged ship." During the few seconds he took to communicate with us, his battleship was still under heavy fire and it has already been hit twice more by enemy heavy gauss cannons. "Our weapons and shields are down, but not our engines. We will push forward as much as we can ; stay behind us until we can not withstand the Scyllas attacks anymore. May our sacrifices permit you to make the Scyllas' blood flow. Commander Kykraa from the Third Legion Assault-Battleship Rouge Blessing. Over." I didn't have time to respond before he cut the communication. His immense battleship moved forward at full power and shielded our ship and the few cruisers following us for long minutes. We could see sparks and pieces of metal flying every time they got hit by a projectile or a laser beam. Even when their battleship was on the verge of collapsing, the few remaining cannon batteries on its front and broadside were still shooting at the Scylla fleet ; like their commander, the crew fought until the very end. The battleship kept advancing at full speed under concentrated fire until its engines went off and many parts of its hull got separated from its lower deck. This single battleship was able to resist the sustained fire of a whole Scylla battle group consisting of dozens of cruisers and destroyers for more than fifteen minutes, before its reactor finally exploded and sent flying at high speed what was left of the massive ship, in all directions. Their sacrifice won't be vain. Their valor shall be remembered. [Jun, we are at the perfect distance, we cannot get closer while still in the flagship…It is time.] "Yes, it is time... I let you remotely control the ship. Contact Aubouros and inform him about the situation. Tell him to be ready." When Gladia gave me the signal I was waiting for, I rushed out of the control room and stepped on a teleportation slab next to the front door to reach the hangars. Once there, a completely modified interceptor was waiting for me. "Alpha Zero, are you ready ?" 'Always. Master.' "Let's go then." I went inside the cockpit, took manual command of the interceptor, and set off the hangar at maximum speed. Although the numerous interceptors left behind by the Ancient Beings were autonomous, they still had a cockpit for manual control. One of the first things I did when we escaped Kar'goth was to learn how to fly one of those without crashing it in a second. I knew it would come in handy one day, and I was right. While piloting through the countless debris that were a few minutes ago the enormous battleship escorting us, I picked up the little blue gem that I found in the golden hangar and always kept on me in my hand. Who could have known that this little gem made of an unknown material that even Gladia couldn't analyze was the key to beating the Scyllas. For those many years, I got used to always having it inside my armor and fiddling with it when I was deeply thinking. It became a sort of luck charm. This gem was what looked the most like the vague memories I still have of my planet, the Earth. I didn't want to be separated from it, but I had no choice. I gave it to Alpha Zero who had half his body out of my shadow. "Keep it safe until we arrive. If we get shot down and I die, you know what to do." 'Yes. Master.' When we were about to pass by the battleship remnants and get out of cover, many violent explosions ravaged its floating wreckage and multiple purple beams pierced through the cloud of smoke aiming at my interceptor. I was shocked to see the Scyllas so desperately trying to shoot me down. At this distance, it was absurd to focus a tiny interceptor with those heavy weapons that were originally used to destroy massives targets, like cruisers or battleships. And yet, they preferred to dedicate a whole battle group solely for the purpose of shooting me down rather than redirect their weapons to the large ships still advancing behind me. A Scylla destroyer went as far as to keep shooting at me even after getting separated in half. Its weapons aimed at me until it got hit by multiple explosive rounds and was reduced to dust. The battlefield was extremely wide, I could not see its end on the left-wing nor on the right-wing. I could only see the third legion ships scattered where I left the Lance of Kar'goth behind me, with some vessels from the Second and Fifth legions close by. They were facing the biggest division of the Scylla fleet. Three out of the five Scylla army corps grouped at the same place to deal with the Third and Fifth legions. That was insane. After flying at full speed for a few minutes and doing my best to dodge every projectile and lasers beams aiming at me, while navigating through the numerous debris that now covered the whole area, I finally reached the interceptors that I deployed earlier. There were swarms of fast-moving ships dogfighting all around, I could see all of my interceptors and the few remaining bombers we had left after the last battle forming a circle-like formation to protect our heavy ships and the Lance of Kar'goth. We were in the middle of this bloody battlefield, right between the two fleets facing and shooting at each other with their heavy weaponry. It was by far the most dangerous place to be and yet, I was there in a small ship that would certainly go down after only getting hit once. I now understand why Aubouros thought my idea was pure insanity, and nothing more than a suicidal plan. I'll prove to him that he was wrong. "Gladia, call back the remaining interceptors. Make them form up the 'Spear' formation as we planned." [Yes, Jun…Be careful.] Even if I was right inside the heart of the battlefield, I continued to move forward. I didn't use my weapons once yet, I was too focused on dodging everything coming at me to think about shooting at the enemy fighters. It was already a miracle for me to not be shot down after the first minutes I did set off from the flagship. I would not test my luck by trying to be a hero, and in the end, die like a fool.