Him and their stars

Any decent adult must understand that the hole he dug must be filled with his own flesh; even if the hole he pretends to be stinky, he must hold his nose and lick it clean.

As a result, Colonel Yeager Soback, who was on the verge of mental collapse, finally did not lose the upright and upright attitude on his face, and boarded a Clear Sky-class cruiser with tears in his heart.

The name of this cruiser is the Etrida, which is the pronunciation of Sanan secret language. The direct translation is "Snowstorm".

She sacrificed a little bit of firepower, but installed an additional set of source wave transceiver devices and wide-area gravitational wave sensing devices. In fact, she can serve as a specialized flagship and communication ship. The captain is a Kimyan naval lieutenant colonel named Saddam Hongsha. Although he is highly qualified, capable and experienced, and is twice as old as Sobek, at least he is still very respectful on the surface.

Of course, even if things were disrespectful, Soback really didn't have time to pay attention to the other party's attitude. He suddenly realized that the ability to survive in the workplace that he had worked hard to survive from the colonial repressive forces did not always work. These astral knights, who claim to value honor above all else, are really dark, but they are much better than ordinary kids like us.

Look at this Viscount Chamaine! Except for the recent God of War Festival, which was a little overturned, it can be said that he is a winner in life. He has naturally developed such a model of a perfect knight who is open-minded, magnanimous and courageous.

But now? He actually knows how to use his strength to pull off tricks! Who knows what kind of bad water is flowing in the stomach?

Jaeger Soback, have you been a little too carried away lately? Are you going to marry the eldest daughter of a wealthy family, revive the Soback family, and reach the pinnacle of life step by step? How can you forget the expectations of your ancestors and your mother who is waiting for you to succeed in your hometown!

From now on, when interacting with a genius child from a famous family like Ymir Shameen, you must pay more attention to your methods.

Sobaek is still a little bit of a villain, but he has the heart of a gentleman. In fact, a young genius like Viscount Shameen, who has attracted much attention since his childhood, will become a knight captain or even enter the Privy Council at the end as long as he survives. He will be a proper elite child of the empire's ruling class.

This kind of people have received "big picture" leadership education since they were young, and they really don't bother to think about office politics. He really felt that Colonel Soback was a very strategic and quick-witted general, with insight, imagination and logical reasoning abilities, and was indeed more suitable for this investigation mission than himself.

Of course, such a top-notch intellectual general is not without his shortcomings. For example, at critical moments, there will always be hesitation and wavering reactions. Although he appeared calm on the surface, how could he hide his violent psychological fluctuations from Shameen.

This may be related to the fact that he lacked rigorous knight training since childhood. The wars he had experienced before were basically suppressing the indigenous people in the colonies, and the intensity was not high. Shameen felt that if he found a way to force him, he might be able to bring out his potential and become a pillar in advance.

In short, the two parties broke up with tears in their eyes. Shameen held Sobek's hand tightly for a full minute, and then reluctantly separated, and said earnestly: "Take care." Yourself! The first priority must be to protect yourself! Remember, your wisdom is the empire’s precious asset! You are much more important than you think! Please take care of yourself.”

Shameen's words were so sincere and sincere that Colonel Soback was somewhat moved, and the previous resentment disappeared. He suddenly realized that in his life before the age of twenty-five, he had been a (relatively) mediocre psychic and a (relatively) ordinary officer, and the one who valued him first was someone whose name could not be mentioned on the other side of the earth." The "God's Chosen Champion" is Viscount Shameen.

"Sure enough, even if Renjie's positions are opposite, at least they have similar visions!" After parting, Soback said with emotion to Captain Saddam Hongsha.

Captain Hongsha just didn’t understand it, but when he saw the sympathy between the two of them when they parted, he was greatly shocked. He always felt that some kind of flag had been raised in his profession.

"As the Imperial Navy, how can we be so superstitious? As long as we act carefully, everyone will return safely!" Colonel Soback said to him: "Anyway, listen to me, first go here and observe the D77 galaxy with the telescope. Here There are only two jumps away from the lion's den, and I guess that if the predators launch attacks from all directions, they will take this route."

Captain Hongsha looked at the star map and felt that unless the Marauders wanted to move into the Great Abyss Nebula or "go south" to the Gate of Glory star area, they would never telescope the D77 galaxy. Of course, there are two icy planets in the telescope D77 galaxy, as well as a large string of beautiful icy asteroid belts. Once our own ship drills there, even the most advanced radar cannot find it.

Although the captain had such doubts, since he had the endorsement of Viscount Shameen, it was of course not difficult to say anything. In other words, he wished he didn't say anything at all.

The cruiser Buran broke away from the formation and moved quickly towards the Lion's Den. Then, still one hundred and fifty light years away from the fortress, it made a direct turn in front of the enemy, changed its route, and bypassed the Lion's Den. The galaxy jumped three more times and took more than a day's journey before arriving at the telescope D77 galaxy.

This is also a border galaxy in the Extreme Star Region, but there is no connection with the galactic center. On the contrary, its jump channel leads all the way to the Lion's Den, and all the way to the hinterland of the Milky Way, in the direction of the Abyss Nebula and the Gate of Glory.

If the plunderers really wanted to plunder deep inside the empire, they would definitely not take this path. Of course, it is possible to hide here for a while and then find an opportunity to go to the lion's den to observe the situation. Naturally, it can also be used as an outpost for investigation.

Although the nearly three-day voyage was not uneventful, it could still be considered a near-miss. The enemy they encountered the most was a predator reconnaissance fleet composed of three small ships. Although they were one against three, in a real fight, the winner would most likely be their own heavy cruiser. However, to avoid alerting the enemy, Soback did not launch an attack. Instead, he tried his best to keep the communication silent and sail at a constant speed.

Obviously, the reconnaissance level of the Predator fleet was not too high. They did not discover an Imperial cruiser in the same system. Instead, they discovered an automatic space mining factory that was still operating. They immediately rushed over to rob and mine it happily. The laser battle was a blast.

Soback, who arrived at the telescope D77 galaxy, was ready to go. Of course, in order to ensure his character, he still had to make some arrangements, so he called a meeting with the officers on the ship: "We are hiding here, no, there are twelve lurking hours before taking the next step.”

He estimated that after twelve hours, Queen Brunhilt's fleet would have arrived nearby, and at least they would be able to meet up with the remaining soldiers of the Valor. At that time, she will definitely give the next order, and all she has to do is execute it. If you are so unlucky that there is still no news after twelve hours, then...of course you have to admit that you are unlucky and then think about it in the long term.

"We have six automatic detection machines on board, and we can launch them into the Lion's Den Galaxy to have a look." Captain Hongsha suggested.

"Won't you... alert the snake?" Soback actually wanted to ask if there would be any safety hazards. He knew that kind of unmanned detection aircraft, which had extremely powerful detection capabilities, good self-defense and survivability capabilities, and was also equipped with a small jump engine. However, we must know that any aircraft equipped with a jump engine, no matter how small it is, can't go far, and no matter how concealed it is, its concealment can only be limited.

More importantly, we all know the level of AI in this universe. Every automatic machine is stupid and will only detect or escape according to rigid predetermined procedures. It is difficult to predict potential dangers and retreat in advance.

"There will be certain risks." Captain Hongsha also showed a helpless expression: "But we can't just do nothing? This is not easy to explain to the superiors!"

"What, what do you mean by doing nothing?" Colonel Soback felt that he was indeed offended, and immediately ordered all the drones to be released. However, it was not sent directly to the Lion's Den Galaxy, but instead took a walk on several important nearby galaxies that could be called transportation thoroughfares.

"We don't need to find out all the enemy's forces, but we must find out their movements in advance." He said plausibly.

Captain Hongsha felt that what this guy said was quite reasonable, but he always felt that this was not his true purpose.

He was thinking of pretending not to hear, but the voice of an intelligence officer came to the bridge: "Captain, His Excellency Soback, a high-quality response has been detected. A large man-made object is passing through the jump channel."

In fact, Soback is still just a colonel. Logically speaking, he is not qualified to be called "Your Excellency." However, he is a genuine astral knight after all. As long as he does not die now, he will get the title of admiral sooner or later. thing. Anyway, there are no other generals on this ship, so calling in advance is not a problem. Just like in the workplace, only people with hopeless emotional intelligence would call the deputy director "Deputy Director X".

"Man-made object? Where is the direction?" Soback asked.

"It's from...the direction of the lion's den! The mass parameters are being calculated, but it's at least...more than 6 million tons!"

Is this the dreadnought class? Colonel Soback and Captain Hongsha exchanged glances, each seeing shock in the other's eyes.

Not only a dreadnought, but also a big man among the dreadnoughts, even larger than many lighter Titans.

No, it really isn’t! We are just an ordinary small cruiser that came over to observe secretly. As for sending out a dreadnought to attack us?

"It's still too late to retreat now." Captain Hongsha reminded in a low voice: "Although this is not very honorable, according to the Imperial Navy's regulations, we have no reason to fight the dreadnought..."

Well, isn't it in the empire's naval code that you must fight the enemy when you see it?

"The spirit belongs to the spirit, and the ethics belongs to ethics." Captain Hongsha showed an apologetic expression: "As an old Kimyan sailor like me, I can only put production considerations first! Your Excellency, I hope you will I can forgive you, but I hope you can carefully consider my suggestion."

Looking at the other officers on the bridge, not only did no one object, but they all looked concerned.

Sobak suddenly felt that one of his wisest choices during this period was to get on this ship, and he wanted to agree. However, for the sake of character, he still proposed to keep the communication and engine silent and observe secretly in the ice crystal asteroid belt.

"You can run away, but you can't just hang out without seeing the enemy?" He said: "Even if we can't fight the enemy when we see it, we should at least escape when we see the thief."

Captain Hongsha felt as if he had been ridiculed, but he had to admit that what the other party said was quite reasonable, so he acted like this.

Then, the next thing that appeared in their observation range was not the ugly and hideous Dreadnought-class battleship of the Predator as they imagined, but a very flat-looking ship with a circular shape.

Because of the flat shape of the ship, the battleship overall looks larger.

There are more than a dozen transparent domes laid on top of the huge hull, which reflect colorful and changeable spots in the light of stars and stars, giving it a slightly translucent beauty. Going forward, it looks like a giant oval plate holding a row of jelly.

"What a majestic giant ship!" Soback sighed with emotion. Although he had been studying the navy recently and wanted to get a degree at the Royal Naval Academy, he had never seen such a ship. I just feel that those huge jelly must be the secret weapon of the predators, it makes me feel chilled all over.

Didn’t the looters even take down the lion’s den? Isn’t there a secret weapon that makes perfect sense?

"Yes, it is an almost perfect little world! Air, water and various microorganisms circulate as much as possible in these closed domes, operating accurately to milligrams. Only in this way can the loss be minimized. Maintain the longest living environment under the conditions." Captain Hongsha also agreed: "In this regard, the predators have a lot to learn from the empire."

"...Oh, it turns out this is the predator's residential ship group!" Soback suddenly realized.

He knows that there is a lack of stable stellar environment and habitable planets in the galactic center - even if there are geological structures, they are not stable. As a result, most civilians and slaves of the Predator tribe can only live in large ship groups, constantly migrating between relatively stable star systems. This is the origin of the so-called interstellar nomads!

In a sense, they are more worthy of the title of "People of the Void" than the Tirero people who claim to be the conquerors of the universe.

There is no race in the known universe that is better at transforming a large ship into a mobile city and extending the life of the city.

"But why are the predator's residential ships here?" Colonel Soback was extremely surprised: "In previous predator wars, did they let civilian ships accompany them?"

"...Well, the production fleet has accompanying people. They are nomads after all. But I have never heard of the residential fleet." Captain Hongsha thought carefully and shook his head again: "At least the war history records There is none!”

Everyone on the bridge was puzzled. At this moment, two more residential ships of the same size jumped into this galaxy. Captain Hongsha has a certain understanding of the Marauders and tells everyone that there are at least a million people in these three ships alone.

Soback was a little excited, and he was wondering whether he should drive over to the blizzard and shoot a few rounds. Even sinking one ship is enough to change the epaulettes into general stars.

As for whether the people on board are civilians - anyway, the predators have not joined the Galactic Civilization Council, so naturally they have no human rights. When Soback said it was a battleship, it was definitely a battleship, and everyone on the Blizzard must also accept it.

But at this time, another seven or eight cruiser-sized Predator warships entered the galaxy and joined the escort queue. Along with these three giant Predator residence ships, they sailed towards the distant starry sky.