FT DR Chapter 26: Fires of War

Chapter 26: Fires of War

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

“Where did that spacecraft come from?” Wu Chenghe became nervous. “Wasn’t there any notice about visitors coming?”

“No,” Jin Xuan controlled the thrusters to change direction. “The experiment is ending in a few hours, and we’re heading back to Gabriel. Who would come at a time like this? Plus, the information from the probes shows that they have no serial numbers, neither military nor civilian. This is abnormal… only pirates or terrorists would behave like this.”

“Pirates?” Wu Chenghe was startled. “There are pirates here?”

“The universe is vast, and pirates are like endless fleas. No matter how powerful the Voyager Army is, they can’t conduct a sweep of every star system. There will always be some that slip through the cracks,” Jin Xuan dragged him slowly towards the gate of Zone A. “There are also some notorious terrorist groups, like the Free Revolutionary Army, the Lighthouse Church… They occasionally rob and plunder for supplies. But we’re too close to Gabriel; they shouldn’t dare to come this far.”

Upon hearing the name “Free Revolutionary Army,” Wu Chenghe’s heart sank inexplicably. He remembered that before school started, Hannibal had said they would have the “Quadrant” fleet encircle them. He didn’t know what the outcome was now.

For space travel, a thousand kilometers was just a short distance. A few minutes later, Jin Xuan and Wu Chenghe had just floated above the space station when they could see with their own eyes an unidentified flying object flying towards them.

It was a medium-sized warship that looked somewhat military, but its hull had no markings. Jin Xuan stopped and pulled Wu Chenghe into the shadow of an energy sail panel, saying, “Wait, if we float over now, we might be discovered.”

Wu Chenghe adjusted the viewport on his helmet and said, “Maybe they’re just passing by, not coming for our space station…”

Before he could finish his sentence, a beam of white light shot out from the distant warship’s bow, hitting the central part of the “Grasshopper” space station’s Zone A directly. Wu Chenghe was shocked speechless. He couldn’t hear any explosion in the vacuum, but within his field of vision, there was a huge burst of fire, which quickly extinguished due to the lack of air, followed by large plumes of smoke.

“God! They’re here to attack us!” Wu Chenghe could hardly believe his eyes. They were just a research group at a basic school. Why would someone attack them?

Jin Xuan didn’t speak, quickly pulling him towards the other end of the dumbbell-shaped space station, avoiding the scattered debris. In a short while, they arrived at the middle of the space station, hiding in the shadows under a porthole. Jin Xuan opened his personal terminal and connected to the internal network of the space station. “Is anyone there? I’m Dr. Jin Xuan from Aston University, and my intern Wu Chenghe and I were just outside the lab changing a part when we saw someone attacking the space station. What’s the situation inside now?”

“I’m the station master.” An urgent voice of a middle-aged man came through. “We’ve been attacked by unidentified enemies. Zone A has suffered extensive damage, and we’ve issued a red alert. The project team leader is organizing personnel to evacuate to Zone B.”

“Did they try to communicate with you?”

“No, they started with heavy firepower as soon as they arrived. We’re an educational space station with no offensive weapons, not even a force field defense for Zone A!” the station master said. “Right now, we can only gather people in Zone B, but the force field defense there is very weak and probably won’t hold for long.”

“Have you sent a distress signal to the nearby garrison?” Jin Xuan asked. “I remember there’s Garrison 28 here, and a patrol team’s base.”

“Garrison 28 has just been renovated. Only a small squad from Commander Hannibal’s Royal Guards is doing training there. They’re on vacation today and have all returned to Gabriel,” the station master’s voice was almost shouting, “The patrol team has been contacted, but they’re far away. It may take several hours for them to arrive. Oh God, what should we do…”

Shouting to God at this point was of no use. Jin Xuan remained silent for a while and said, “You keep communicating with the attackers. I’ll try to hack into their internal communication system and at least find out what they want.”

“Okay, okay,” the station master obviously knew about his hacking skills and said hurriedly, “Do you want to come back first? Zone B is still safe for now.”

“I won’t come back for now. I need to use the space communicator. Zone A has been severely damaged, and remote control devices may have been destroyed. I need to go to the external equipment to connect with it,” Jin Xuan said. “Stay in touch. Our spacesuits should still have enough energy to last for a while.”

After cutting off communication, Jin Xuan undid the tether and said to Wu Chenghe, “You stay here, hide carefully. I’ll go up to connect with the space communicator and infiltrate their communication system.”

Wu Chenghe had heard all their conversations just now, and his heart was in his throat. He asked, “Do you want me to help?”

“No, take care of yourself,” Jin Xuan awkwardly embraced him through the spacesuit, saying, “If I don’t come back within half an hour, walk along the outer wall of the space station to Zone B. Let them take you in…”

Such instructions for what to do if he didn’t return made Wu Chenghe feel inexplicably uncomfortable. He interrupted him, saying, “I’ll wait for you to take me.”

Jin Xuan’s tone choked for a moment, then he suddenly smiled and said, “Alright, I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

Just as Jin Xuan floated away, the attackers launched another attack. Intense beams of light struck one end of the space station’s dumbbell-shaped body. A few minutes later, Zone A became a scene of devastation, with most compartments engulfed in flames.

“They’re firing again!” Jin Xuan’s voice came through the communicator. He was asking the station master, “What’s the situation? Have everyone evacuated from Zone A?”

“…No,” the station master’s voice was unusually heavy. “There are still four people who haven’t made it out, including the project team leader…”

Wu Chenghe’s heart sank. He couldn’t help but clench his fists. After a pause, he asked, “Station master, what about my classmate, Chen Miaomiao? Has he safely evacuated?”

The station master was silent for a moment before replying, “He’s missing.”

Wu Chenghe’s breath caught in his throat. With Zone A almost completely destroyed, being “missing” likely meant they hadn’t found his body yet…

“Don’t be sad,” Jin Xuan cut off the communication from his end and comforted him, “Zone A is vast, there are probably blind spots they couldn’t bomb. Maybe he’s still alive. When the patrol team arrives, we’ll search together.”

Though choked up, Wu Chenghe knew it wasn’t the time to despair. He tried to sound as normal as possible and said, “Okay.”

Jin Xuan had already maneuvered the thrusters to float directly above the space station. He approached the space communicator, connecting his personal terminal to it, swiftly searching for unfamiliar communication channels nearby.

Wu Chenghe, hiding in the shadows, suddenly remembered the message Hannibal had sent him before he left. He quickly opened his personal terminal and sent a distress signal to Ivanov using the communication code he had been given.

Surprisingly, within a few seconds, he received a reply from Ivanov. Ivanov said he was leading his team towards Garrison 28 for training on Monday, but they would change course immediately to come to their rescue.

“Jin Xuan! I’ve contacted my dad’s Royal Guard special operations team,” Wu Chenghe informed Jin Xuan of the good news. “Captain Ivanov said they’ll be here soon.”

“Good,” Jin Xuan replied briefly, busy with his task. Wu Chenghe felt slightly relieved, inching up half a meter along the outer wall of the space station, adjusting his helmet’s view towards the attackers. He zoomed in as much as possible and saw the orange-red lights flashing at the front of the unmarked warship.

“That’s…” Wu Chenghe muttered, realizing the danger. He shouted, “Jin Xuan! Be careful, they’re about to start the third round of attack!”

Before he could finish, a bright light flashed, and a barrage of intense beams of light struck towards the space station again. This time, their target wasn’t the already devastated Zone A but the survivors hiding in Zone B!

The station master activated the force field defense, and a semi-transparent spherical energy shield enveloped Zone B. The attackers’ beams struck it, creating countless energy ripples, but they were all shielded and dissipated, causing no harm to the space station.

A hurricane-like energy fluctuation surged towards Wu Chenghe. He quickly hooked one end of the tether onto the turbine of the ventilation port and grabbed onto the outer wall tightly, preventing himself from being blown away. Looking up at Jin Xuan, he saw him firmly secured on the ladder next to the space communicator, with data streams flowing on the holographic screen in front of him, indicating he was still working.

At that moment, the attackers launched a relentless assault. A wave of even more intense firepower struck towards Zone B, blocked by the energy shield, but immediately followed by another wave. The space station trembled like a leaf in the wind, and the color of the energy shield grew lighter, while the ripples became denser.

“Boom!” A massive white light flashed, and the energy shield was finally completely shattered, disappearing without a trace. Before the force field emitter could form another energy shield, the attackers’ beams struck again. The gunfire hit Zone B hard, blasting a charred hole in the outer wall, with flames erupting and thick black smoke billowing out.

“God!” Wu Chenghe was almost blown away by the energy storm. He watched in horror as Zone B, which had survived until now, became even more devastated than Zone A. His heart sank, and he shakily connected to the communicator in Zone B, shouting, “Station master, team leader, teacher… are you still there? Is anyone there?”

Silence. A deathly silence. Not a single person responded.

A tremendous despair swept over his heart. Wu Chenghe stared blankly at the devastated Grasshopper space station, almost losing his will to live. Teachers, classmates, Chen Miaomiao… just half an hour ago, they were all alive and now, in the blink of an eye, they were all torn to pieces by the gunfire!

As a soldier, he had experienced many battles, but this was different. This wasn’t a battle; it was a massacre, the slaughter of ordinary people by armed thugs!

Wu Chenghe clenched his fists tightly, his teeth gritted, even his jawbone aching faintly. If he survived today, he vowed to kill these thugs and execute these executioners who had targeted teachers and children!

“Wu Chenghe!” Jin Xuan’s anxious voice brought him back. “Wu Chenghe, are you alright? Answer me!”

“I’m fine. I’m still here.” The thought of having someone else beside him, still alive, flooded Wu Chenghe with a wave of warmth. He tried to calm the anger inside him and steady himself. “Zone B has been heavily damaged, and the damage seems to be worse than Zone A. I tried calling through the communicator, but no one responded. They’re probably… all dead.”

“Don’t move, I’ll be back soon.”

Wu Chenghe held onto the turbine blades of the ventilation port, looking through the viewport of his helmet towards the distance. Countless fragments floated aimlessly in space, obscuring the brilliant starlight. Those were parts of the space station that had been blasted away, perhaps even with people’s bodies among them. They were too far away for him to see clearly.

In the vastness of space, with no space station, no starship, it would take Ivanov one or two hours to arrive. With just their spacesuits, how would he and Jin Xuan survive the next one or two hours?

Wu Chenghe felt lost until he saw Jin Xuan safely return, standing beside him. A tiny glimmer of hope emerged in his heart.

“What do we do?”