Chapter 89: He Paid in Full
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
“Lost? You lost him? A Federation Chief Engineer—just gone? And in the middle of a military exercise zone, with tens of thousands of starships lined up—and you still let a bunch of star pirates slip through? I don’t understand. The funding is approved every year to buy you all those starships, mecha, and shells—what are they to you, dumplings and candy?”
Chang Jian raged in the remote conference, his voice breaking into a shout. “What’s next—tomorrow on the battlefield, star pirates breaking into our rear lines? Should I go recruit them for the front instead, since apparently they managed to defeat the Federation’s six exploration legions and fleets in the middle of this exercise?”
Even Marshal Chen Qiu involuntarily leaned back under the storm of abuse. No one had ever seen the normally genteel Secretary-General of the Space Planning Department lose his composure so violently.
“Secretary Chang, please calm yourself. We’ve already begun the investigation.”
“Calm? Should I calmly wait for pirates to break through the Rose System defenses, land on New Blue Star, and abduct me too?”
“After the hijacking, we ordered the Rose System police to strengthen planetary defense,” Chen Qiu replied. “That won’t happen. If the pirates show themselves again, the military and system police will capture them immediately.”
Chang Jian sneered. “Then they’d have to be mad to kidnap the Federation Chief Engineer only to turn around and throw themselves back into the Rose System’s net.”
Chen Qiu pressed at his temple, at a loss for how to argue. The gathered officers and military commissioners sat in suffocating silence, exchanging uneasy glances. The air in the chamber turned heavy.
Nominally, the Space Planning Department was the bridge between the military, parliament, and government. Its head bore the title of Secretary-General to emphasize its mission of coordination and dialogue. Yet over centuries of bureaucratic hum, the Department’s true power had swelled far beyond imagination.
However young he was, the authority Chang Jian wielded from that seat made him impossible to ignore. Angering this scholarly-looking omega would bring nothing but endless trouble. Breathing hard, Chang Jian could no longer bear the sight of the mute, quail-like officials before him. He turned his back to the screen, gripping his chair, trying to calm his rage and panic.
Off camera, Mo Feng shot him a glance, frowning deeply, pacing the room in agitation. No one could yet explain why pirates would risk everything to infiltrate the Rose System just to abduct Lu Yao. The Chief Engineer almost never left New Blue Star. Even when he did, it was under military escort for technical missions, nowhere near pirate contact. His mecha were supplied only to the exploration legions and fleets. Star police, the ones tasked with hunting pirates, rarely touched mecha at all. Lu Yao had no opportunity to forge any deep enmity with them.
“Marshal Chen! The flight recorder’s been recovered!” An officer burst into the conference chamber, too breathless to bother with formality.
“Where is it?” Chen Qiu shot to his feet. All eyes turned to the panting messenger—even Chang Jian whirled around—only to see the officer’s hands were empty.
“In my possession.” The voice cracked like thunder through the chamber. Zhou Yunchen strode in, dust of battle still on his frame. He hadn’t even changed into a formal uniform—just a deep-blue combat suit radiating heat from the fight and chill from the stars. His brows were carved deep with determination.
He tossed a scorched, misshapen recorder box onto the table. Blackened shards of metal clattered across the surface.
Ignoring the vacant seat left beside Chen Qiu, Zhou Yunchen stripped off his tactical gloves. From Zhao Minghe, who followed close behind, he took a projector and flicked it into the air. The device hovered, casting an image of the hijacking across the room. Chen Qiu leaned toward an adjutant, whispering orders, and the man slipped out.
As soon as the long-range satellite footage filled the chamber, the buzz of voices died. The silence of space itself seemed to seep into the room. In the hologram, a black starship burst out of the warp between New Pluto and New Saturn. Its hull was patched with mismatched sheets of metal, scarred and flaking everywhere.
Yet as the vessel slid slowly toward the S08 transport, Chen Qiu’s face hardened. Pirates’ ships were usually cobbled together, good enough to menace unarmed private craft but laughable against real fleets. This one, though—its sheer size nearly rivaled a Federation flagship. Its hulking, grotesque frame reduced the S08 to an ant crawling in its shadow.
The adjutant returned, carrying a device. Zhou Yunchen met Chen Qiu’s eyes, exchanged a grim nod. At Chen Qiu’s wave, the officer carefully retrieved the recorder’s memory chip and slotted it into the machine.
A second projection leapt into the air, pale light and sound scattering the tension. The recorder held the voices from within S08’s cabin. Synced with the satellite feed, the captain and crew’s panicked shouts filled the chamber.
“Captain! Our comms with Fleet Headquarters are jammed—messages won’t go out!”
“Captain! Detection systems scrambled—we can’t confirm the ship’s class or allegiance!”
“Report—visual observation: patchwork starship, not in the Federation registry—I don’t recognize it!”
On screen, the black vessel crept closer to S08 like some abyssal beast extending its limbs, oppressive in its silence. Starlight fell across its fractured hull, the red glare bouncing into the transport’s cabin. There, Lu Yao slept against the wall, cradling the kitten, oblivious to what loomed. A heartbeat later, his eyes snapped open. The little white cat screamed in terror.
Boom— the S08 took a direct hit from a pirate torpedo. The explosion tore through the craft, a firestorm roaring down the air-filled corridors. Flame devoured the cabin, swallowing the camera in blazing red. Even watching, the heat seemed to sear through the projection.
The feed cut to black. The recorder had been destroyed. A shrill electronic whine was all that remained. Someone gasped. The officer glanced at Chen Qiu, then hit pause. Silence swallowed the chamber again. Zhou Yunchen’s frown looked sharp enough to crush stone. His eyes never left the darkened screen.
Chen Qiu finally said, “The rescue team recovered three crew. The captain was killed. The other two are gravely injured—blast wounds, frostbite, radiation exposure. They’re receiving treatment.”
“But you didn’t find Lu Yao.” Zhou Yunchen no longer cared about anyone else. The satellite projection still played. After the torpedo shredded S08’s shields and hull, the black starship fired again—an electromagnetic beam weaving a bright-blue web around the wreck, binding crew and debris alike within a glowing sphere.
Every time fragments of wreckage drifted past the unconscious Lu Yao, Zhou Yunchen’s fingers clenched tighter. A shuttle detached from the pirate starship, pushed into the magnetic snare, and pulled Lu Yao out alone, carrying him back toward the vessel.
The recording satellites were simply too far away. The footage was blurred, stripped of sound—Zhou Yunchen couldn’t even confirm whether Lu Yao was still alive, whether he had been injured.
The pirate ship’s deck doors boomed shut, swallowing the shuttle and its cargo whole. The military had already detected traces of the explosion. Guard fleets were converging on the site when, in full view of dozens of escort ships, the black vessel slipped forward, tore open a jump corridor, and brazenly escaped—leaving the Federation nothing but wreckage scattered in its wake.
Watching the broadcast, Chang Jian’s brow furrowed. “And your anti-jump energy field? Was it completely useless?”
Chen Qiu stared at the satellite feed still playing, silent for a long time. At last, his expression hardened. “Secretary Chang, I know exactly what you’re implying. I’ll open an internal investigation at once.”
The Xiaoying exercise zone had been seeded with anti-jump devices to keep foreign ships from intruding. Yet this vessel had come and gone unchallenged, as if the defenses weren’t even there. The Federation Academy of Sciences—the technical sponsors behind the system—had sworn pirates could never breach it. If the technology wasn’t at fault, the flaw had to lie inside the ranks.
Zhou Yunchen’s voice was cold as iron. “Track their jump vector. The enemy came for Lu Yao. We need to know who they are, or we can’t take him back.”
At last General Li Qingshan, silent until now, spoke with care. “General Zhou, I believe I recognize this starship. She belongs to the Black Sea Pirate Group. I crossed paths with them in the border zones—they’re the most heavily armed and savage pirate band I’ve ever fought. Their crimes are countless. The border police have hunted them for years, fought several battles, and failed every time.”
Pain rose through Lu Yao’s body like a tide of black water, searing inflammation burning in every limb, while his lungs and gut quaked with icy tremors. Each breath scorched his chest, yet his blood seemed to rush cold, draining heat and clarity away. He thought he could hear his own pulse flooding through his veins, carrying off the last traces of warmth and lucidity.
He tried to open his eyes, but the haze of fainting still clung to him. Even when he forced his eyelids apart, all he saw was darkness. Voices drifted past his ears, shadowy and insubstantial.
“Do we really have to do this?”
“Of course.”
“But he’s already transferred the final payment. Doesn’t that prove his good faith?”
“Good faith? You think three hundred million credits prove good faith? He’s not short on money.”
“Boss, you mean…”
“Ready the weapons. As soon as we exit the jump, we open fire. No matter who it is.”
Lu Yao’s mind wavered. He thought he drifted back into unconsciousness—only to be wrenched awake again as the world shuddered with a cataclysmic explosion. Then his thoughts collapsed once more into the black tide.
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