Shi Lang put on the special suit, got into the fighter, and left the ship bay. The space outside was filled with chaos. The bigger ships were not harmed as they all had shields deployed, but the smaller ships were being targeted and attacked by the enemy and they were not doing very well.
As soon as the young man controlled his fighter to move, he was contacted by Stevenson, who said, “Ace, the morale of the enemy is rising, they are putting up a desperate fight. The rate of casualties is increasing with each passing moment, you have to act quickly.”
“Acknowledged.”, said the young man.
He controlled the fighter and headed directly to the zone where the Arcadian prince was countering the mech division. Shi Lang contacted Hercules and said, “Have the mech divisions evade temporarily and clear the area in five seconds.”
Hercules was surprised but he was given a command and he executed it without thinking too much. The mech division was under great pressure but they were not helpless. They all dispersed and stopped targeting the enemy mechs. In exactly five seconds, Shi Lang had arrived with his fighter.
This particular area of the battlefield was filled with a lot of space debris. The allied forces had targetted this patch first to open up a hole in the enemy fleet. The command ship was not affected but the rest were not spared from the heavy onslaught. After the enemy forced started to disperse, the holes became even more prominent.
Shi Lang did not hesitate to enter the thick of the enemy forces because they were the weakest here at the moment and they had not deployed fighters yet. The reason was simple, the chances of the fighters getting shot down in friendly fire were very high. Why add to the causality and fighters were used to invade the atmosphere of the planet and take down the ground defense system.
As Shi Lang looked around, he caught sight of a flicker, and upon focusing he found it to be a fighter. This was his target. He said in the comms, “Target sighted, engaging now.”
As soon as his words dropped, he moved, and the fighter turned into a shadow.
…
The Arcadian prince was about to destroy another mech from the allied forces when he found the enemy to be retreating, he rejoiced in his heart, the enemy was retreating, which meant that his troops could get away easily, however, the joy did not last long the guy spotted an enemy fighter in the surroundings and before he could react, the other side was onto him.
He was experienced enough to know that if there is a fighter in the region and it belongs to the enemy camp, the pilot will be committed to the battle completely. This meant a desperate struggle. Not only will this battle change his stance, but also the enemy will have the time to develop another strategy.
Thinking of this, the Arcadian prince gave up the idea to focus on the mechs and his target shifted to the fighter behind him. He sneered and the vessel started to move up. He wanted to use his faster speed to get behind Shi Lang.
But was the young Terran so easy to deal with? Shi Lang also started to follow the enemy but he kept in mind his angle and speed, this way he maintained the position of the hunter. The arcadian prince had been trying to shake him off from the very beginning but Shi Lang has been compensating for his speed with angels and navigation.
He was like a shadow that the Arcadian did not want to have. After five minutes of this tag and chase through the debris, Shi Lang said, “Switching the weapons to manual.”
He pressed a button on the console and then he took a shot. The shot was not aimed at the Arcadian prince. Shi Lang was aware that the shot will not hit the enemy. However, this was a crucial step in his trap. After another couple of minutes, he contacted Stevenson and said, “Sir, have your weapon expert follow my trajectory and mark it on a star map. Mark my position of fire as a big dot.”
Stevenson did not understand the purpose of this action but he saw it through regardless. Shi Lang was the best student that passed under his guidance, and this young man was not dumb. Stevenson passed the commands and the people began to execute the orders.
After ten minutes, when the Arcadian Prince was about to make a move and ditch Shi Lang, the latter said, “Sir, have your canons aim at the big dots on the trajectory map and fire at once. Do not, I repeat do not leave even a single spot. You can ask the other heavy ships to attack at the same time to cover if you miss some points.”
Stevenson was aware that it was not the time to contemplate and discuss so he just executed things the way Shi Lang asked him.
…
The Arcadian prince growled as he was about to take a sharp turn and turn the tables on this clever Terran fighter. Suddenly, he sensed a strong fear of death and changed the direction of his turn. What happened the next instant was a huge beam of phaser ray passing through the location he was heading to.
The same thing happened all the area around him. The Prince was in a little daze and began to think about what could be the enemy aiming for when the systems of his spaceship sounded an alarm. Shi Lang had a lock on his vessel, and the Terran did not hold back in taking a shot at the Arcadian Prince.
Boom!!!
Shi Lang aimed, not at the cockpit but at the engine, and took it out directly. After the engine was taken out of the equation, the prince inside the vessel became nothing more than a sitting duck. He said, “This is Ace, the target is immobilized.”
He said, “I repeat, the target has been immobilized.”
Stevenson heard this and said, “Maintain vigilance, someone will take him away.”
Shi Lang asked, “Meaning?”
Stevenson said, “You did not know?”, as the old man gulped.
Shi Lang shook his head, Stevenson said, “This guy is royalty, we will take him as a hostage and a bargaining chip.”
The young man nodded and then he watched as the operatives of the frontal forces suppress the enemy and took the Arcadian prince into custody. Shi Lang moved his fighter and began to take out the enemy mechs. He also asked Hercules and the rest to take charge and deal with the leftovers.
The battle picked up the pace once more and with the prince captured. The morale of the Arcadian army was down. They tried to put up some struggle but they were still crushed, and after the destruction of sixty percent of their fleet, they were pushed to surrender.
Stevenson asked the enemy admiral to abandon ships and leave, this was the only way to capture the resources. They could not send in the troops to take custody of the enemy ships until they were sure that the allied troops will not be killed by the Arcadian Loyalists.
That said, the Arcadian generals all one after the other, abandoned ships with the majority of the forces in escape pods. Only the bare minimum crowd was left behind because they were crucial for operating the ships. Stevenson then had the abandoned ships move to the barren moons and deployed troops to take custody of the resources.
After this, the allied forces did not return back to Nestia but they all reformed their lines and began to repair the damaged ships. They also held a funeral procession for the soldiers who passed away. Stevenson dispatched a ship especially to deliver the deceased soldiers back to the Federation so that they could rest in peace on their own and not alone among the stars.
Nexalia called over after some time to congratulate the people for winning the battle and to offer condolences for the casualties. She also issued a press message back at Nestia that the family of the deceased will receive due compensation.
…
Shi Lang was on a call with Amelia and his parents. The atmosphere of the call was very tense, Luna had just finished scolding the young man for being careless and stepping out by himself. Well, how do I tell the mother of the MC that he is the MC?
Amelia tried to calm the older people but she was scolded to take Shi Lang’s side. In the end, Shi Lang said that he will try not to do anything like this in the future, and then only did the lady calm down. Soon the call was finished.
Amelia asked, “What now?”
Shi Lang said, “Regroup and reorganize, then we take the battle to the Arcadians.”
“Can we win?”, asked Amelia.
“Yes, we can.”, replied the young man with a smile. The second battle will begin soon.