The fierce battle against the orc hordes and the subsequent fight against the Nexus magus took Emery and the others around eight hours. During that time, it turned out that half of the evacuation process that took place in the Nexus colonies had been completed.
“Our men reported that the evacuation in the third and second colony were almost done, with only the first colony still busy as there are still more people needed to be evacuated,” said one of the rebels, reporting the information given by the scouts deployed to monitor the colonies.
The man also reported that the settlements that were in close proximity to the three colonies were all in chaos due to the sudden evacuation notice. On the other hand, those that were distant from the colonies had no clue at all.
“Most of the people didn’t know why they were leaving, which caused disorder to sprout among the masses. Meanwhile, those who knew and resisted the order were quickly detained by the soldiers.”
Hearing this, Shane Quartermain who was still recovering said, “This is very unusual… Their actions show that they seem to be in a great hurry.”
Agreeing with the old marshal, everyone’s attention once again turned to a certain person.
‘Otto, tell us about Protocol 66!” Stildar said, being more emotional than ever. “I want details! What is it exactly, everything!”
To the surprise of everyone, Otto was quite cooperative and explained to the group what he knew. Perhaps even he himself felt that something was wrong, or it was either because he thought the plan couldn’t be stopped anymore at this point. Or maybe, he had given up and left everything to fate.
Either way, the group listened attentively to the man’s words.
Otto explained in detail the number of ships that were deployed for the protocol, the positions in which they would be deployed, the timetable for implementing everything in the protocol, and what actions the faction would take afterward.
“By our last estimation, the station should be ready to leave the orbit in 12 to 16 hours.”
Upon hearing that, Emery asked, “Does this mean that the stargate will be ready by then?”
Otto turned quiet at the question, but everyone knew that was the case. As soon as the evacuation was completed, the Nexus faction would abandon the planet entirely, leaving it in the hands of the elves.
“B-but brother… What about the people here?!” the First Brother of the flaming brothers asked.
Julian stepped in and answered in the magus’ stead. “They will most likely suffer, since this planet will be a war zone if that happens. A new frontline of the ongoing war.”
The expression of all the people in the room immediately changed when they heard such words, especially those who heard and knew the horror happening in the frontline.
“We should stop them then!” said the Second Brother of the flaming brothers, to which the Third Brother quickly supported. “Yes! ..We can stop the evacuation! That will definitely delay them from leaving!”
It didn’t take long for a debate to break out in the room as everyone started throwing ideas and opinions on how they should go about it.
Julian, however, interrupted and put a stop in the ongoing debate by saying, “You are free to correct me if you think I am wrong. But if a threat that could thwart their plans emerges, does it really matter to the Nexus whether they evacuate a hundred thousand fewer people?”
In an instant, those words made the previous mood disappear as everyone knew how much the Nexus didn’t care, and that delaying the evacuation would most likely force them to leave the rest behind, or worse, hurt more innocent people.
Seeing the reaction, Julian continued and revealed what he was thinking.
“The most important thing we need to do right now is to somehow deliver this crucial information to the Magus Alliance. If they could arrive before the elves themselves, it doesn’t matter how many people are in the space station. Everything will be resolved by the alliance.”
Everyone quickly fell into contemplation, thinking of a way to do what Julian had just said. At this moment, a man who had been silent – the rebel engineer Burdock – opened his mouth.
“All long-distance communications from this planet need to be routed through the space station because it is the transmitter to the outside world. So the only plausible way to send a message to the alliance is to do so from the station.”
While the others were having a discussion on how exactly to contact the alliance, Emery was still deep in thought. Informing the alliance of the situation here and getting them to dispatch reinforcement faster and in a state of readiness was definitely a solution, but Emery still had his mind troubled with the stargate.
He approached the Minister of Science, which caught everyone’s attention. Looking at the man, he said, “Tell us about the key you mentioned earlier… How exactly did it stop the elves from arriving early?”
It seemed that Emery had finally hit the one question that Otto found hard to answer. The latter’s face immediately changed when he heard the question, signs of conflict could be seen clearly from the expression on his face.
Seeing such a reaction, instead of aggressively pushing for an answer as one would expect, Emery lowered his body so that their gazes were level and spoke calmly.
“Please, Minister Otto, I believe you don’t want to harm the thirty million people living on this planet.” Staring at the man’s eyes, he said, “I sincerely ask you, please tell us how to stop stargate from working..”
Silence fell in the room as everyone waited for Otto’s answer with bated breath.
“We have put a safety measure in the stargate. It’s a sequence of code that ensures the stargate won’t work unless we unlock it. This is the guarantee we have if the elves intend to back out of the deal.”
With Emery and the others paying attention to him once again, Otto began to talk at length about this.
It turned out that the code was only accessible from the Nexus space station, so they could always enable and disable it remotely. The safety code was one solution to stop the stargate; as long as they were able to hijack the key, the stargate would basically be rendered useless.
The other solution was for them to head back to the South Outpost, stopping the dark elves from operating the stargate. This option was arguably more dangerous and risky, as it meant the group had to penetrate through the hundred millions of orcs protecting the elves.
Julian was silent as he weighed the options. A while later, he shook his head and sighed before saying, “I guess all our solutions are up there in the station”, heaving another sigh, he added, “If I knew about this, I wouldn’t be trying so hard to get off the ship before.”
“So what is the plan?”
As they devised a plan for the solution they would take, another rebel arrived with the latest news from the scouts. With his breath panting, the man spoke with a frightened expression on his face.
“T-the… orcs… more were sighted.. Much more!”