When Reefia and Suyi learned that a series of large-scale battles could be on the horizon, they immediately started arming themselves for combat. Reefia especially was a battle maniac. He often kept Mo Heng busy by picking his brain regarding all the latest weapons of GAL.
Wheeze was as carefree as ever. It ate, played and slept every day.
While everyone in the Eleventh Squad was preparing for the upcoming war, the other B Squadrons were returning to Sector Z as well. It meant that D-day was growing closer and closer.
Cillin had communicated with Shawton from the A Squad, and according to him they hadn’t planned to cause such a huge scene or summon the rest of the B Squads at the time of the agreement. Later on, rumors claiming that the Vanguard and the Navigators were going to war against one another suddenly spread without warning, and more importantly, the Navigators had responded by summoning their B Squads to Sector Z. That was why the Vanguard decided to summon their B Squads as well.
This explained why they had received the summon on such short notice. Ji Feng hadn’t wanted to drag any B Squad into this mess, and even now he was doing his best to keep them out of it. As Ji Feng had mentioned earlier, he wanted to protect their future—talented individuals that displayed great potential, but needed time to grow to their fullest—he hid not just in the Eleventh Squad, but the other B Squads as well.
In fact, Cillin was among the earliest to receive the notice because of concerns regarding Yin Wushe. Ji Feng had to explain things to Cillin in advance.
“This is going to be a hard one, Cillin. Make sure that your squad is ready for anything,” Shawton had said seriously, “Even the A Squad is as tense as they can be because this is unlike any other mission we’ve taken in the past. No one knows what is going to happen when it happens.”
“Yeah. I understand.”
“Stick with the Third B Squadron when the time comes,” Shawton suggested.
Right now, Shawton trusted the Third B Squadron far more than he trusted in the
Sixth B Squadron. The Sixth B Squadron was his first squadron, but it hadn’t been the squadron he remembered for a very long time. Combined with the fact that a bunch of new members were shoved into each B Squadron during the previous general meeting, the current Sixth B Squadron might as well be a complete stranger to him.
Cillin knew what Shawton was trying to do. He was afraid that the Eleventh Squad would be helpless if something bad were to happen. If they were to cooperate with the Third B Squadron, then at least they wouldn’t be completely alone. They shared a fairly good relationship after all.
Not long after the transmission with Shawton, Cillin received a transmission from the Third B Squadron themselves. He figured that they were aware of the Eleventh Squad’s situation because they had immediately requested that they band together and look after each other’s backs when the time came.
Cillin did not reject their olive branch because frankly, the Eleventh Squad really was too small. While they were quite stronger than they seemed, they could always use an extra hand or ten especially in an emergency. And who knows, maybe the Third Squad was the one that really needed their assistance when the time came. In any case, the Third Squad was the B Squad they were closest with, and he saw no reason to push them away.
Three GAL days later, Cillin finally received a summon from Ji Feng; an actual summon that represented the will of the Vanguard. The Eleventh B Squadron immediately took off toward their destination after receiving it.
No one panicked since they were fully prepared a few days ago. In fact, Cary and the others were very much looking forward to it. Before they left, Cillin tried persuading Mo Heng to stay for the umpteenth time. No matter what his mentor might think of his own fortitude, the fact that he was too old to partake in a war. If an emergency did happen, he was worried that the crew would not be able to help him in time.
Of course, Mo Heng had waved off his concern like it was nothing. “Dias is bringing his baby, isn’t he? No way I’m missing something this exciting. Also, I’ve already written my will, so if something did happen to me, no blame or consequence will fall on you or the squad’s shoulders. My son knows what kind of person I am. He will understand.”
Like hell he will! For a time, Cillin was actually tempted to just knock Mo Heng out cold and leave him in the base. He also wondered if Sir Mo was going to use his “will” as a reason to get his way in the future. It gave him a headache to say the least.
In the end, Mo Heng went up the starship with four Origin robots surrounding him like his personal bodyguards. Reefia promised Cillin that they would protect Sir Mo from all dangers, but frankly, Cillin wasn’t very confident in his promise at all. After all, he knew the robot even less than the secretive Moon.
On the way to the A Squad’s location, Cillin beckoned Moon to his side and told him to keep an eye out for unusual activities while they were protecting Mo Heng. Specifically, he wanted them to watch out for trespassers.
“You think that someone might sneak into Little Eleven?” Moon asked with a tilt of his head. No ordinary group could sneak into Little Eleven undetected.
“That is why I want you guys to be careful.”
“Got it. I will keep Sir Mo safe.”
The four Origin robots combined should be able to detect any trespasser even if they might not be able to pinpoint their exact location.
“What about you? Are you, Czedow and Wheeze all going to be away from the ship?” Moon asked.
“No one knows what’s going to happen. I might have to leave the ship, and Czedow and Wheeze would probably be busy as well. That is why I’m leaving Little Eleven to you four.”
The light strip on Moon’s face flashed once before he said, “Got it.”
Moon was a very smart robot. He was able to glean much information from Cillin’s meaningful words. Although Moon appeared to be the least reliable of the four brothers, in reality he was the leader of the group. Even the arrogant Reefia and the quiet Suyi would defer to Moon in specific situations.
The starship passed by an asteroid belt and a few non-habitable planets on the way. They also encountered the Second B Squadron.
Since they weren’t familiar with each other, they went their separate ways after just a simple greeting. Many people in the Second B Squadron mocked the Eleventh B Squadron because the only ship they owned was medium-sized at best and smaller than even their auxiliary ships. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a platoon in their squadron still had more members than the entire Eleventh Squad.
Currently, all the B Squadrons heading toward the A Squad’s base were bringing both their mothership and their auxiliary ships. They were also accompanied by frigates, spaceplanes and more. It was no wonder that they belittled the Eleventh Squad.
The Eleventh B Squadron did not enter the A Squad’s base. In fact, they didn’t even get close to it. They had parked their starship at some smaller planets orbiting the destination planet.
The Third B Squadron went straight to the Eleventh Squad upon arrival. From the other B Squadrons’ point of view, the Third B Squadron was acting as the latter’s babysitter.
After all eleven B Squadrons had arrived, the A Squad’s fleet finally got ready to take off. The A Squad’s fleet consisted of three massive multi-purpose-combination ships. The surrounding spaceplanes, fighters and more all flew into the starships after they had left the spaceport.
“Wow! Let’s go, let’s go!” Cary whooped.
That’s right. This was just the assembly point. They would be heading to the negotiation site—and probably the battlefield—behind the A Squad.
Mo Heng clicked his tongue in amazement as he stared at the monitor displaying the three A Squad starships. “Any one of these ships is big enough to carry this starship.”
“They are quite impressive. Technically speaking, the A Squad’s ships and the B Squad’s ships belong in the same class, and yet theirs just feel greater for some reason, doesn’t it?” Dias said.
As Dias said, the A Squad’s multi-purpose-combination ships were technically almost the same size as the other B Squadron’s multi-purpose-combination ships, but for some reason, anyone could take a glance and intuit which ship belonged to the A Squad, and which the B Squads immediately.
“That’s why those B Squadrons are, you know, B Squadrons. That said, I’m certain our starship will look as grand or grander than the A Squad’s if we share the same size!” Eudy had that much confidence at least.
“Hmm. Has anyone seen Cillin?” Mo Heng asked suddenly.
The young man was just here a while ago. Now, he was nowhere to be seen. As the commander, wasn’t it his responsibility to stay at the bridge so he could issue orders at first notice?
“There was an incoming transmission,” Eudy answered. The transmissions Cillin had been receiving were so top secret that Cillin generally accepted them at his room, not the bridge. It was because he relied on Czedow and Wheeze to secure the transmission.
Cillin was receiving a transmission, but it wasn’t one of those top-secret transmissions Eudy thought he was receiving. The first one was a call from Songba Leruo informing him to keep an eye on his squad and especially on his newer members. The second one was from, yet again, Mr. Yin Wushe.
“Mist has arrived. You’ll probably want to be careful. Also, we’ve arrived as well. Again, just give me a holler if you need our help.”
“Why have you come, by the way? Are you just here to watch the show?” Cillin asked.
“I’m not that idle. I came to take out a few annoying gnats. Don’t worry, they don’t belong to the Vanguard. Sure, I don’t like Ji Feng either, but since his target is that freak, Nebelah this time, I see no reason to interfere with his business.”
Nebelah was the current leader of Mist.
Cillin was quite impressed with both Mist and Merciless. He was sure that their presence had made both the Vanguard and the Navigators very nervous, but only those who were skilled or high level enough to learn their arrival. As for those who were unaware, who would’ve thought that two of the most infamous killer organizations would be present for their war?
The Vanguard had brought over a dozen massive multi-purpose-combination ships and almost a hundred medium-sized ships and battleships. It definitely counted as a gigantic fleet. It still wasn’t everything they could bring to bear, but it was already enough to draw gasps of amazement.
Excluding those who were currently away on a mission or staying behind to guard their base, everyone from the B Squadrons was present for this negotiation. As for the A Squad, a portion of them had stayed behind at their headquarters at Sector K, and another portion at the support base in Sector Z. However, at least half of the higher-ups including Songba Leruo and Barthes ahad shown up. Moreover, some of them were on Mist’s hit list.
The negotiation site was set at a neutral zone that did not fall under the Vanguard or the Navigator’s jurisdiction. Here, there was a rank B habitable planet that used to belong to the GAL military until they started fighting among themselves. Since no one was supervising the planet any longer, the two Hunter regiments set it as their negotiation site by force. The GAL military said nothing after learning about this either. It was just an ordinary rank B planet anyway, so whatever.
“Look! It’s the Navigators!” Cary suddenly exploded in excitement. The monitor was showing a fleet more or less the same size as theirs coming to a stop on the other side of the planet. They too had just arrived a while ago.
After the motherships had all come to a stop, the multi-purpose-combination ships began to split. The auxiliary ships, accompanying battleships, spaceplanes, fighters and more all left the combination ships and spread into formation. Just a short time later, the fleet was occupying several times the space it was before. The sheer amount of starships, spaceplanes, fighters and more on both sides of the planet was staggering.
From a more distant perspective, one would see that the two fleets pincering the small planet at the center like a pair of half-spread wings.
The Eleventh Squad’s starship was located at the periphery of the “wing” belonging to the Vanguard. It was surrounded by the Third B Squadron’s auxiliary ships, large-sized spaceplanes, warships, space fighters and more.
“Should we head out, or…?” Cary looked at Cillin inquiringly while checking his equipment. Xiao Shang and the others were looking at him expectantly as well. However, Cillin denied their request because the time wasn’t right. While their starship was as conspicuous a grain of sand at a beach, their fighters were a different story. While they weren’t coated in shiny paint, they were obviously far superior than your standard fighter. Moreover, he did not trust the crew not to succumb to their desire to show up the second they went into space. He did not want them revealing their secrets before the battle had even begun.
The pregame was the moment where both sides actively tried to gauge each other’s strength. Naturally, it made no sense to send the gang out at this moment.
After Ji Feng had issued every B Squadron commander an order, a starship detached itself from the A Squad and flew toward the planet. The vanguard of both Hunter regiments had already landed on the planet a while ago.
The B Squadrons remained at the periphery. They were also spread out in a formation that ensured that friendly fire would be kept to a minimum if a battle occurred.