"A Sequence Fleet of a hundred thousand starships is indeed intimidating."
He paused, his voice laced with a cold, mocking tone:
"But have you forgotten? During Savannah, Obsidian, Bloodblade, Iron Curtain, Megalodon... combined, their paper strength far surpassed ours."
"And what was the result?"
Silence filled the channel.
"The Pandora Fleet is a behemoth, that's true." Qin Bei Wang continued, his words deliberate and clear, striking a chord in everyone's heart. "But it needs time to travel from the Opal Star Sector to Savannah. It needs to mobilize, assemble, and coordinate its attached fleets. It can't possibly throw all hundred thousand ships at us at once."
"Command gave us advance warning. That is our greatest advantage."
"We have two months to integrate the new ship and familiarize ourselves with the new weaponry." He was referring to the "Zhen Yue" and the Graviton Array. "We have the entire Myriad Stones Star Domain as our strategic depth and support. Commander Wen will certainly not stand idly by."
"Most importantly—"
Qin Bei Wang's voice suddenly rose, carrying a resolve that severed all hesitation:
"Our name, 'Pluto,' was earned through battle! Not through fear!"
"So what if it's a Sequence Fleet? It's just a thicker pile of steel."
"Order all ships: Execute according to First-level Combat Readiness protocols!"
"Operations Department, I want a preliminary analysis report on the known tactical characteristics and potential attack routes of the 'Pandora' Fleet within one hour!"
"Intelligence Department, use all means to closely monitor the Savannah Star System and its jump points. Report any anomalous energy fluctuations immediately!"
A series of clear, decisive orders were issued, instantly pulling everyone back from the abstract fear of "a hundred thousand ships" to the concrete and urgent tasks of combat preparation.
"Yes, Commander!"
Responses echoed in the channel one after another. Though tension was still audible, order and operational capability had been restored.
Qin Bei Wang cut the core channel and stood alone before the bridge command console.
Outside the window, the lights of the Shiva Star Military Port appeared somewhat eerie under the glow of the combat readiness red alert.
Beneath his calm exterior, his thoughts were racing at an unprecedented speed.
Sequence Fleet... Pandora...
They've come so quickly.
The response from the Myriad Stones Star Domain Theater Command was swift and decisive.
Following emergency strategic simulations, a stream of encrypted orders was dispatched from Shiva Star, targeting the various elite forces across the vast star domain.
Faced with the explicit threat posed by the Empire's "Pandora" Sequence Fleet directly targeting the Elvira Star System, the Theater Command played its heaviest card.
The standing Sequence Fleet of the Myriad Stones Star Domain—the "Vault" Fleet—was ordered to immediately cease all current missions and proceed at full speed to reinforce the Elvira Star System!
The "Vault" Fleet, the Federation's Sea-Calming Needle safeguarding the Myriad Stones Star Domain. While its scale and combat power might be slightly inferior compared to veteran Imperial Sequence Fleets like "Pandora,"
it was still a behemoth possessing a hundred thousand capital ships.
Its forward deployment meant the Theater Command had resolved to engage the Empire in a Sequence Fleet-level frontal clash at the critical Elvira direction, vowing to defend this star domain that had just given birth to a heroic fleet.
Simultaneously, to guard against potential multi-point diversionary attacks or surprise assaults by the Empire's multiple Duke-class Fleets—Gorgon, Capricorn, Lava Roar—assembled in the Bushman Star System,
the Command ordered three powerful combined fleets—the "Purple Lotus" Fleet, the "Four Seas" Fleet, and the "Severed Sun" Fleet—to immediately deploy to the three Federation border star systems adjacent to the Elvira Star System:
Blue Moon Star System, Lou Yang Star System, and Shang Yu Star System.
They were to construct a solid defensive line, strictly preventing Imperial Fleet infiltration or pincer attacks from this direction.
The entire war machine of the Ten Stone Starfield, like a giant beast startled awake, began rumbling into motion, every nerve stretched taut.
At the Pluto Fleet Garrison in the Elvira Star System, the atmosphere was tense to the extreme.
Qin Beiwang ordered the fleet into the highest state of alert, constructing multiple defensive rings by relying on the star system's fortifications and the imminent support of the "Vault of Heaven" Fleet.
All sensors were fully activated, vigilantly monitoring any sign of movement from the Savannah direction.
However—
One day passed.
Three days passed.
A week passed...
The anticipated overwhelming, annihilating offensive of the "Pandora" Fleet did not arrive.
Just as the attention and main force of the Ten Stone Starfield were firmly fixed on the silent "Pandora" behemoth in the Savannah direction—
Deep within a vast, high-energy particle nebula marked as a "danger zone" in the outer reaches of the Blue Moon Star System.
This was not empty space.
Churning, surging ionized gas displayed eerie hues of purplish-red and dark blue, like the viscera of a cosmic beast.
Intense radiation permeated everywhere, distorting spatial perception;
Violent energy turbulence silently tore at any object that intruded.
Suddenly, in a relatively calm "window" area within the nebula's depths, space began to warp and fluctuate unnaturally.
Immediately after, massive, ferocious shadows violently "squeezed" out from the billowing particle mist!
The first to emerge were several Imperial heavy cruisers.
Their appearance was nothing short of horrific.
The once-smooth bow armor was now covered in fine yet dense scorching and erosion marks, as if ground by countless invisible sanding wheels.
Special thickened modification plates in some areas even showed signs of melting and warping—scars left from resisting extreme particle impacts and radiation burns.
A large number of external sensor arrays, communication antennas, and secondary gun mounts on the hulls were either charred and broken or completely melted away, exposing the scorched internal wiring.
Most of the navigation lights and identification signals that should have been steadily flashing were now either extinguished or flickering erratically.
The entire ships seemed as if they had just been dragged from the surface of a star, emitting invisible "heat"—evidence of residual radiation and overloaded cooling systems desperately working.
Clearly, traversing this lethal nebula had been a hellish ordeal even for these specially reinforced Barrier Breaker Ships.
Yet, they had broken through.
Their engines spewed unstable but still powerful plumes, forcibly stabilizing their posture as they assumed an alert formation at the nebula's edge.
Immediately following these heavily scarred heavy cruisers, the nebula's "window" stretched open like a distended sack, as more and larger shadows emerged in single file!
Battlecruisers, Destroyers, Escort Ships... and even bulky Assault Landing Ships and stellar carriers.
The condition of these subsequent vessels was clearly better than that of the heavy cruisers at the forefront. Although their hulls also bore radiation burns and minor damage, their key systems remained largely intact, with Shield Generators steadily emitting an azure glow.
Evidently, the heavy cruisers at the front had used their bodies and sacrifices to "clear" and "neutralize" some of the most dangerous sections of the path to a certain extent, paving the way for the following main force.
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