Chapter 979: Certainty and Uncertainty

Chapter 979: Destiny and Indeterminacy

The Milky Way hung inverted, star-sand cascading like a waterfall; somewhere in the frontline sector of the Kunde race, a remnant of their main fleet drifted slowly through the cosmos.

Not long ago, this fleet, codenamed the Sea Banner, had endured a brutal battle, ambushed by an imperial general; the command ship and its escort fought desperately to break through, severing their tail to escape.

Now, only a little over twenty escort warships remained beside the command vessel; the rest had either been annihilated or scattered to the winds.

The Sea Banner Fleet belonged to the Third Space Corps of the Kunde race, commanded by the renowned officer Aoliete, hailed as the rising star of the Third Corps; a few years ago, when the Marshal of the Third Corps reached retirement age, Aoliete was considered the foremost candidate for the marshal's seat.

However, because data from a crashed spacecraft was received several years ago, the high command made the decision for war mobilization, delaying the retirement of all officers and recalling them all, thus putting the matter on hold.

At this very moment, the Sea Banner Fleet, having just suffered a defeat, was stealthily hiding its tracks while awaiting the next orders from headquarters.

On the bridge of the command ship, the atmosphere was silent and despondent, everyone immersed in the grief of defeat and the loss of their comrades.

Aoliete stood silently before the foremost viewport, turning his back to all the operators and adjutants in the room, the hues of his carapace mingling sorrowful green with angry red.

In the battle just fought, he had been practically led by the nose by the opposing commander, and his share of the blame for the defeat was undeniable.

Knowing the commander bore the greatest pressure, no one dared to approach and disturb him.

The adjutant hesitated for a long time before finally gathering the courage to walk up to Aoliete, whispering softly, "Sir, we..."

"Say no more."

Aoliete turned around, his body gradually shifting back to a calm blue, and said slowly, "This is not a personal failure of mine, but a failure of our civilization's foundation; what I lost to was not my opponent, but the enemy's entire civilization."

Aoliete knew his command talents could not match those of the imperial general, but he believed it was not merely a matter of personal ability; the gap also stemmed from the depth of their respective civilizations.

During the engagement, he had executed the most meticulous maneuvers and decisions of his career, believing his performance could even serve as a prime case study at the military academy; yet to his shock, the enemy's reactions were unbelievably swift, seeing through his deployments almost instantly, as if in a game of chess, the opponent had instantly perceived the traps he had painstakingly laid ten moves ahead, as though they had memorized the entire playbook.

Encountering such an opponent was a heavy blow to a commander's confidence.

It was not that Aoliete's skills were lacking; in fact, by the standards of the Kunde race, he was already considered a renowned general; the surface reason for this situation was that the imperial general's abilities far surpassed his own, but the deeper cause was the disparity in civilizational foundation.

The rise of the three great civilizations was accompanied by the wails of countless races, stepping forward through the flames of war; all records of battle were inscribed into the military academy's curriculum, so that no matter the situation, officers could instantly derive corresponding solutions, their thinking far more agile.

The Kunde race, however, had experienced too few interstellar wars, their battle records far inferior to those of the empire; every tactic their officers employed was an outdated relic discarded by the explored universe years ago, and this was the difference in foundation.

After this practical engagement, Aoliete was pessimistic; he could see no possibility of victory in localized warfare, and the steady retreat of the various fleets now was the best proof.

In truth, he was not alone; unlike the aggressive stance of the Kunde high command, these soldiers fighting on the front lines were mostly pessimistic about the war.

They were indignant that their homeworld was coveted by the enemy, yet they did not believe the sacrifices in this war were necessary; however, military orders were as immovable as mountains, and the high command's directives were the soldiers' will.

Sighing silently, suppressing these pessimistic emotions, Aoliete looked at his adjutant and asked in a deep voice:

"Have the orders from headquarters arrived?"

"Uh... they just came through; we are to stand by here, regroup the scattered fleets, then join the main fleet of the Third Corps and plan a strike against the enemy's stargate."

Hearing this, Aoliete slammed his hand on the table, roaring in anger, "Nonsense! We're not retreating yet? Has headquarters truly gone mad?!"

We have just been scattered, and now we must linger in this perilous zone to reclaim our old units, as if the enemy would not hunt us down!

Moreover, the main fleet has collapsed to such an extent, and we are still forced to converge and strike the enemy's stargate? This is merely sending us to our deaths!

The many officers in the room all felt something was wrong with such tactical arrangements, but dared not voice their anger, all staring at Aoliete, awaiting the commander's decision.

Pacing back and forth, Aoliete suppressed his anger and spoke, "Get me the Marshal; I want to ask him myself what on earth is going on with this decision!"

The adjutant nodded and immediately operated the console; a communication interface popped up on the virtual screen, and after a few seconds, the call was connected, revealing the figure of the Third Corps Marshal on the screen.

"Aoliete, I heard you were attacked; it is fortunate you are still alive."

"It was partly luck," Aoliete steadied himself, "I received orders from headquarters; are we planning an attack on the enemy's stargate?"

"Yes, these are the orders from headquarters."

"Don't you think there's a problem? The battle has deviated from the initial plan; we shouldn't continue to engage now, as that will only sacrifice more troops in vain."

"I know, and I also think it is time to retreat; I am negotiating with the high command, but until then, follow orders."

Hearing this, Aoliete fell silent and terminated the communication.

The adjutant asked cautiously, "Sir, what should we do now?"

Aoliete glanced at him and suddenly asked, "How many warships do we have left?"

"Uh, twenty-four."

"Summon all the captains and bring them into the communication channel."

At his words, everyone immediately sprang into action; Aoliete stood with his hands behind his back and waited for a moment, and soon, one avatar after another appeared on the screen, precisely all the remaining captains.

At this moment, Aoliete made a gesture and spoke slowly:

"Remember, I will only say the following once..."

He delivered a string of hollow encouragements and repeated the orders from headquarters, all the while making various gestures, with all the captains staring at him intently.

"Alright, that is all that needs to be said; everyone, move out."

Finally, Aoliete lowered his hands, ending his speech.

The avatars of the captains on the screen went dark one by one.

Just then, the adjutant glanced at another command screen and cried out in alarm, "Sir, all the captains have shut down their intelligent cores, blocking all external information; we can't reach them!"

Aoliete, however, had anticipated this and nodded calmly, "Very good, go and shut down our ship's intelligent core as well."

Everyone was instantly startled, suddenly realizing something, somewhat incredulous.

Does this mean... we are to become deserters?!

"Th... this..."

The adjutant was stunned.

"What are you waiting for?!" Aoliete glared, his tone suddenly turning severe.

The adjutant hesitated for a moment but still ran off to arrange it, soon having the command ship's intelligent core shut down.

In this way, the remnants of the Sea Banner Fleet became a ghost fleet, cut off from all external contact.

Only then did Aoliete slowly exhale, looking at the bewildered crowd beside him, and explained, "I apologize, all this is for the sake of caution; if I am not mistaken, our quantum network has been thoroughly infiltrated by the enemy."

At these words, everyone was greatly shocked.

Glancing around, Aoliete said slowly, "I know the Marshal very well; he is a rigid soldier who never questions the high command's orders; although these are extraordinary times and everyone might change, we cannot ignore any suspicious points; I suspect the person just now was not the Marshal at all.

The enemy has likely infiltrated our command system; you are all sensible people, so I need not spell out the consequences; thus, the war is lost, and I cannot continue to act on their orders; we can only save ourselves now. The gestures I made earlier were a special set of codes known only to a few; I had all the captains sever their connections; from now on, we can only rely on ourselves."

Everyone was dumbfounded by these words, unable to process such a massive amount of information for a moment, their minds going blank.

The adjutant gritted his teeth and gathered the courage to say, "Sir, this is desertion!"

Aoliete, however, did not get angry, merely giving him a faint glance.

"This is a battle destined to be lost; no matter what you think, I will not send my remaining subordinates to sacrifice themselves on the battlefield; deserters? No, perhaps we are the Kunde race's... last survivors."

"Then where should we go now?"

"As far away from here as possible."

Aoliete gazed out beyond the viewport, his eyes cast into the depths of the starry sky.

...

"I have a feeling something might be wrong with our course."

In a cramped and claustrophobic cabin aboard the starship, a few unassuming members of the Kund race stood gathered in a circle.

This vessel was one of the many in the migration fleet, carrying nothing but commoners; most aboard harbored deep anxieties and uncertainties about the future, casting a pall of gloom over the ship.

Due to the massive population, each ship packed crowds of civilians into single quarters, and the occupants of this particular room were all brothers born of the same clutch, bound together by blood.

"Eldest brother, what have you found?" asked one of the shorter brothers, breaking the silence.

The eldest of this clutch was a burly Mantis Shrimp, his voice a low rumble as he spoke:

"I have a friend serving on the vanguard ship, and he let me in on some inside information. According to the plan, the fleet was supposed to reach a planet yesterday for a brief respite, but we encountered no world yesterday; the fleet has just kept moving."

"Could they have altered the plan? Why not ask your friend again?"

"I haven't been able to reach him, no one is answering," the eldest brother said grimly. "I suspect something is amiss."

"Brother, could you just be overthinking it? If there were a problem, the higher-ups would surely notify us."

"I have a bad feeling about this, I can't quite put my finger on it," the eldest brother shook his head.

"Ah, why worry so much when we can't do anything about it anyway? We should just follow the fleet's arrangements," one of the brothers chimed in casually.

Just then, the youngest brother beside him suddenly spoke up, "The eldest brother is right. There's a problem with the fleet's course; we're heading back the way we came."

Hearing this, everyone turned to look at him.

"Don't talk nonsense, how did you figure that out?"

The youngest pointed to the viewport. The others followed his gaze to see a crude doodle on the glass—a series of concentric circles growing from small to large. At that very moment, a planet outside the window fit perfectly into one of the middle circles.

At this sight, the expressions on everyone's faces changed.

Living together in one room left no secrets among them. Some time ago, when a planet appeared in the fleet's field of vision, the youngest had used a marker to trace its outline on the viewport every day; the circles grew from small to large, then large to small, changing daily to represent their shifting distance.

And now, the planet's outline coincided exactly with the one from several days ago. Everyone understood what that meant.

"I'm going to ask!"

Unable to sit still any longer, the eldest brother sprang to his feet, and the rest hurried after him.

The group hurried through the aft sections of the ship, which were as crowded as a refugee camp, and made their way to the midship corridors, where they approached a few soldiers stationed on board to report the situation.

"You're saying there's a problem with the course?" one of the soldiers picked at his ear and said impatiently, "That's not something you need to worry about. Why fret over things out of your control?"

"It's true, I can show you the evidence, I..."

"Enough, enough." The soldier waved his hand dismissively. "The vanguard ship has the star charts. If we've truly deviated from the course, they'll adjust it immediately. Just go back and wait peacefully."

With no other choice, the eldest brother had to lead his brothers back to wait.

However, three days passed, and as they stared daily at the doodle on the viewport, they realized the fleet was still retracing its path, with no adjustments made at all.

The eldest brother tried every day to contact his insider friend, only finally reaching him on the third day, but the reply he received chilled him to the bone.

"You're saying we deviated from the course? No, no, our star charts show the route is perfectly correct... Didn't encounter the resupply planet I mentioned? Oh, oh, that was an error in long-range observation, the star charts weren't entirely accurate. We've reported it to the higher-ups, and they've updated our charts, so there's no problem now... What doodle records? Hmm, you might have gotten it wrong; that's a new planet marked on the updated charts, not the one we saw before. Anyway, the navigator on my end shows we've been moving forward the whole time."

Shutting off the communicator with a cold expression, the eldest brother remained silent for a long time.

Suddenly, as if having made up his mind, he spoke, "Do you trust me, or do you trust the higher-ups?"

The many brothers exchanged glances, somewhat hesitant.

"What are you planning to do?" the youngest brother couldn't help but ask.

"My intuition is growing stronger by the minute; there is definitely something wrong here. Perhaps the higher-ups are leading us straight into a trap," the eldest brother lowered his voice. "I don't want to stay on this ship anymore. I'm going to steal supplies and a life pod, and we'll escape on our own."

"Are you out of your mind?!"

Someone gasped in shock. "That's suicide! The fleet will definitely hunt us down. Even if we succeed, the stolen supplies will eventually run out. Without food or fuel, what will we do then? Besides, do you even have star charts? Without them, how can we run?"

"I can get the star charts and life pod access codes from my friend. As for supplies... a medium-sized life pod has complete facilities. Once we reach that planet, we can use its built-in harvesters to replenish our fuel reserves, enough to last us for many years. To solve the food problem, we'll need greenhouse incubators, crop seeds, and nutrient paste makers. We can get all these things on the ship, and while the crops are growing, we can hibernate in the cryo-pods," the eldest brother whispered. "I've been considering our fallback plan for the past three days. This isn't a decision I made on a whim."

The others still shook their heads repeatedly.

To break away from the main fleet of their kin establishing a new homeland, and for just a few of them to survive in the unknown universe?

Just thinking about it made the plan seem utterly insane!

"I'm going with you." At this moment, the youngest brother stepped forward and shrugged. "Eldest brother, you know me. I don't like being bound by rules. Since we've left our homeland, I have no intention of continuing to live a safe, conformist life. The universe is so vast, and I want to see it for myself. Call it a love for adventure or a pursuit of thrills, just count me in."

The eldest brother nodded and looked at the other brothers. "I know everyone has their concerns. The universe is too vast, and if it's just the few of us, it will bring forth the deepest loneliness and fear of the soul. Perhaps in the end, it will be proven that I was wrong, but I am unwilling to wait passively. I won't force anyone to come with me."

The second brother hesitated for a moment, then steeled his heart and spoke, "Eldest brother, I'm going with you too. You are the person I trust most, and I believe in your judgment."

Hearing this, more people wavered.

Someone shook his head helplessly. "Sigh, forget it, let's just go. The moment we left our homeland, I considered this life as good as dead. What's the harm in taking a few more risks? We are brothers; we cannot be separated."

Having grown up together since childhood, this group of brothers was long accustomed to sticking together. After much agonizing, they ultimately all agreed to the eldest brother's plan. Miraculously, once the decision was made, their previous hesitation and anxiety vanished, transforming into unparalleled excitement and anticipation.

"Eldest brother, I have a proposal. At the very least, we should bring a woman along."

As soon as these words were spoken, the group burst into laughter. The tense atmosphere dissipated completely, and the room was filled with a joyous air.

"Well said, and not just one; we should bring several."

"Haha, who knows, maybe in the future we'll become a wandering civilization."

...

Over the next few days, the brothers split up, utilizing their respective connections to prepare in secret. Since the migration ships carried vast amounts of daily supplies, everything they needed could be found on board; the only problem was how to get their hands on it.

With courage, money, connections, and a little bit of luck, they managed to gather most of the required supplies through various means and completed their reconnaissance.

Soon the day of action arrived, and things went more smoothly than imagined. Following the intelligence gathered from their reconnaissance, they quietly infiltrated the life pod launch bay, boarded a medium-sized life pod, shut down the intelligent core, and switched to manual control mode.

The eldest brother's hand hovered over the launch button, hesitating to press it.

"Have you thought it through? Once this button is pressed, there's no turning back. If we're caught, we'll be treated as prisoners."

"There's not much difference between now and being prisoners. The higher-ups view us more like a bunch of coolies," the youngest brother smiled freely. "They just changed the name to 'population resources.' I've wanted to shed this identity for a long time."

"Nonsense." The eldest brother shook his head with a wry smile and slammed his hand down on the button.

Hiss—

The life pod plunged downward violently, shooting out into the cosmos.

Having detached from the ship, they instinctively turned to look out the viewport, only to suddenly freeze.

They saw that the other ships in the migration fleet were also launching sparse life pods, scattering away like dispersed sparks in the wind.

...

More than half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

At another border of the Kund territory, the core fleet, where the Kund command was located, jumped out of the star gate, immediately turning back to reclaim the gate used for their retreat.

"Alright, we've reached the target zone. According to the coded orders issued last time, all surviving fleets will converge in this area."

In the command center, the high-ranking officials of the Kund race gathered together, reviewing the messages sent back by other units just before the network connection was severed last time.

"The Scorched Earth unit has sent a report: the Nether Energy in various locations has been successfully detonated, and the plan has been fully executed... The other fleets in the field have reported that they are retreating toward our designated coordinates. Phew, the situation is still manageable."

The leader of the Kund race let out a sigh of relief.

Seeing this, everyone's spirits improved slightly.

At long last, the tide of events was slowly ebbing back to its proper course.

Fearing a breach of intelligence, the command dared not sustain a prolonged link, thus forsaking real-time communication; and dreading that ordinary orders might be intercepted by the enemy, they dared not transmit them through normal channels either, resorting instead to esoteric ciphers.

Yet before anyone could even draw a breath, the radar suddenly shrieked a blaring alarm!

"Attention, attention! An unknown massive fleet detected dead ahead!"

A collective gasp of sheer astonishment swept through the room, draining the color from every face.

"How could we possibly encounter a fleet out here! Could it be an ambush?!"

"Quick, find out if they're the enemy!"

The senior officers hastily relayed their commands, and within mere seconds, a report came flashing in from the captain.

"Commanders, we have confirmed the identification; they are not the enemy, but a fleet of our own."

Upon hearing this, the senior officers collectively exhaled in profound relief, feeling as though the sheer terror had nearly stopped their hearts.

"You nearly scared me to death—it turns out they're our own people."

"It must be the reinforcements summoned for the rendezvous, arriving ahead of schedule; their speed is astonishingly faster than ours."

Just then, the captain spoke once more, his voice taking on a profoundly bizarre cadence:

"You have misunderstood, everyone. They are not our armed fleet, but the colony fleet dispatched long ago. For some inexplicable reason, they have all turned around and fled back!"

As his words hung in the air, a deathly silence fell over the entire room.

For a single, suspended second, every senior officer present sat frozen in stunned disbelief, before a sudden, chaotic tempest of panic seized their minds!