Charlas Star System.
Megalodon Fleet Home Port.
Fleet Commander Isaac Jenkins, a burly officer renowned for his ferocity and temper, had just concluded an intense live-fire exercise. He entered the command center wiping sweat with a towel when his adjutant approached with an unusual expression, handing him General Strauss's secret order.
Jenkins scanned the document, then his eyes widened. He snatched the orders and read them again carefully.
"Four fleets?
Plus Savannah's group... that makes seven?
To attack a single Federation rookie sub-fleet?"
Jenkins' voice grated like sandpaper.
"Has old Strauss lost his mind from anger?
Using a butcher's knife to slaughter a chicken?"
He gazed out the window at his port, where his viciously-contoured warships painted like shark teeth rested quietly at berth.
"Fine then!" He suddenly grinned, flashing white teeth, his eyes gleaming with bloodlust. "I've been getting bored stiff lately anyway. Good chance to stretch our legs.
Might as well see what three-headed, six-armed monster managed to beat that proud bastard Lancaster!"
Brisbane Star System.
Beside the "Azure Melody" orbital garden city lay the elegant home port of the Mermaid Fleet.
Commander Lorraine Albert, a handsome man whose graceful bearing suggested aristocracy more than military service, stood on the officers' club terrace with several artistic friends. They were admiring the city's glittering lights below and an open-air symphony performance.
An aide quietly approached and handed him an encrypted message pad.
Albert smiled apologetically to his friends and stepped aside to read. Gradually, his smile faded into solemn surprise.
"Mobilizing on such scale... this is no longer tactics, but politics," he murmured, looking up at the stars. "Qin Bei Wang... the fire you've ignited likely burns far beyond your imagination.
Very well, as the Empire's blade, I shall share the Empire's burdens."
He straightened his immaculate cuffs and regained his composure.
"Notify the fleet: all leave is cancelled, immediate first-level combat readiness.
Let us take to our stage in the most elegant, and most lethal, manner."
The massive mobilization began.
Across four star systems—key military nodes of the Empire—within their ports, starships of varying designs but uniform lethality ignited their engines and detached from berths. Maintenance corridors cleared as supply vessels scurried about. The massive fleets began forming up like awakened beasts, converging toward their respective systems' major military jump points.
The Megalodon's ferocity, the Deep-sea Jellyfish's mystery, the Sphinx's frenzy, and the Mermaid's elegance and sharpness merged into a suffocating steel tide.
At the Federation Border Security Bureau's observation station, codenamed "Lighthouse," Federation spy satellites and agents hidden in asteroid belts or disguised as civilian facilities nearly simultaneously captured images of this abnormal large-scale assembly.
Data streams surged like startled fish through layers of encrypted relay points, flooding toward Federation intelligence hubs.
Federation Border Security Bureau Headquarters, Analysis Center.
When clear images and analysis reports of four Imperial sub-fleets simultaneously moving on a large scale toward the warp point were projected side by side on the main screen, a collective gasp echoed through the command center.
"Four fully organized sub-fleets mobilized at once! What is Strauss in the Opal Star Sector planning? A prelude to a full-scale offensive?" a senior analyst exclaimed in disbelief.
"Immediately elevate the intelligence to 'Yellow' alert status and transmit it to the Wanshi Star Sector Theater Command with the highest priority! Demand they immediately assess the threat and enhance vigilance in the relevant star domains!" the duty officer decisively ordered.
Wanshi Star Sector Theater Command.
When the urgent intelligence arrived, the command headquarters was similarly filled with shock and suspicion.
"Four fleets? Reinforcements for the fiercely contested Gretto Star System? Or an attempt to open a new front for a surprise attack?" Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Wen Shiheng stared at the star chart, his brow deeply furrowed.
Staff officers debated fervently, proposing and arguing over various possibilities.
"Could it be..." A young lieutenant colonel staff officer, recently transferred and sitting in a corner, hesitantly raised his hand. "...that they're heading for Savannah?"
The conference room fell silent for a moment before a few light chuckles broke out.
"Savannah? For Lieutenant Colonel Qin Bei Wang's new fleet?" A seasoned colonel shook his head. "Impossible. The Obsidian Fleet is no Welles Fleet; they're a relatively powerful sub-fleet! Sending five more fleets there? Five sub-fleets against one new fleet? The Empire isn't that extravagant, nor would they risk becoming a laughingstock."
The young lieutenant colonel shrank back and said no more.
Just then, another urgent report from FCB arrived, this time with attached images.
Wen Shiheng opened them, and a series of high-resolution photos were projected.
The Morelos Star Military Port, its berths densely packed with starships. Yet those starships...
Their hulls were covered with horrifyingly large breaches, torn armor, molten scars from laser burns, and explosion-blackened patches. Some had even lost structural sections, held together by temporary supports.
An aura of extreme devastation, as if they had just survived a life-and-death ordeal, seemed to leap from the photos.
And on the broadsides of several of the most heavily damaged, yet still vaguely recognizable leviathans...
The distinctive emblem, resembling the fractured pattern of black obsidian, was clearly visible.
"Obsidian..." someone murmured.
The entire operations room instantly fell deathly silent.
All staff officers stared fixedly at the photos, their faces etched with shock, disbelief, and confusion.
"Recently... aside from the Pluto Fleet, which of our fleets has been active near Savannah?" Wen Shiheng's voice was slightly hoarse.
"Report, none. Only the Pluto Fleet was dispatched to carry out Operation 'Dawn,'" the intelligence officer quickly confirmed.
In the tomb-like silence, the young lieutenant colonel's voice spoke up again, trembling slightly and venturing a bolder speculation. "Sir... could it be... that it was the Pluto Fleet? Did they... inflict this damage on Obsidian?"
"Hiss—"
This time, it wasn't chuckles but a unified, sharp intake of breath throughout the room.
Heavily damage Obsidian? That was an Imperial veteran elite force, equipped with T5-Class Battleships! The Pluto Fleet? That newly established fleet with a 22-year-old commander?
Wen Shiheng sharply turned to the intelligence officer. "Has Security confirmed which Federation Fleet was responsible?"
The intelligence officer shook his head.
"The Security Bureau sent us the photos precisely because they couldn't confirm anything themselves.
They're also suspicious..."
"Immediately attempt to contact the Pluto Fleet!
Any frequency, any method!
I need to know immediately where Lieutenant Colonel Qin Bei Wang is, what he's doing, and what exactly happened in Savannah!"
Wen Shiheng ordered sharply.
A few minutes later, the communications officer reported.
"Sir, the Pluto Fleet remains under strict radio silence. All pre-set emergency communication channels are unresponsive.
We cannot establish contact."
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