Chapter 164: The Scene of Rebellion
Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
Three days earlier. Arnold’s leg had mostly healed thanks to the support of the medical pod. He was already able to walk again, and with a bit more physical therapy, he’d make a full recovery.
His eyes had also been swapped back to the original model. Arnold said the original ones just worked better. Heinrich had brought him back to the Victoria.
Arnold quickly noticed that most of the starships in the Abyss Fleet had been recalled and were now gathered in a tightly packed docking formation. The Sixth Legion’s main fleet was stationed right beside them.
“Marshal, did we negotiate a truce with the rebels?” Arnold asked. Otherwise, why were both fleets in a ceasefire?
His head was spinning with questions. How had Chief of Staff Guy suddenly become the leader of the rebellion? Had the Empire officially absorbed the Dawn Front?
“…No.” Heinrich’s face remained unreadable, but Arnold could sense that his superior was weighing something behind those cold eyes. Arnold stood at attention and waited in silence.
“Arnold,” Heinrich finally said, “I recall you don’t have any living relatives.”
Arnold wasn’t sure why the Marshal was suddenly asking about this, but he still answered honestly. “No, sir. I’m a war orphan.”
His parents and all close family had died in the wars against both the Empire and the Zerg.
“Do you like the Empire?”
“Huh?” Arnold blinked in confusion. “The Empire… the Empire…”
It wasn’t a word people usually paired with “like,” especially not soldiers. Arnold had sworn an oath of allegiance to the Empire. It was what every Imperial soldier did.
“I… I guess it’s fine?” Arnold said uncertainly. “I was born here. There’s not really a question of liking or not liking it. I mean, I’m human. If I don’t stay in the Empire, where else would I go?”
Heinrich replied, “There’s still the Dawn Front, Haven, and the Exiled Alliance Fleet.”
Marshal Chu wasn’t one to talk sentimentally with his subordinates—never had been. This wasn’t that kind of conversation either. Looking at his Marshal’s cold, steady expression, a wild, reckless thought suddenly occurred to Arnold.
“Marshal… why are you asking all this… are you planning to defect to the rebels?”
“Mm.” Heinrich gave a small nod. Arnold froze. He hadn’t actually expected him to say yes.
“I’m going with you, Marshal!” Arnold blurted out. His sudden response made Heinrich raise an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”
“Marshal, like you said, I have no family left in the Empire. And I don’t believe you’d rebel without reason. Maybe… maybe this is necessary.”
Heinrich fell silent for a while. Why had he chosen to ally with the Dawn Front? Why rebel? Part of it was doubt—doubt that had grown after learning the real, bloody history behind the Empire. But more than that, it was selfishness. The Marion Empire was rotting from the inside. Like a massive, majestic tree with lush green leaves on the surface, but hollowed out at the core, eaten away by decay, swaying on the verge of collapse. Before it completely fell, its heavy, splintering branches had landed on the people Heinrich loved most—his lover, his child.
Heinrich was willing to be the one to pick up the axe. It was selfish, all of it. And because of that, he didn’t want to drag too many others down with him. Arnold had worked by his side for many years. Their relationship had long surpassed the simple roles of superior and subordinate, and Heinrich felt it necessary to ask for Arnold’s answer.
“All right,” Heinrich said. “Come with me to the core control room.”
“Now?” Arnold looked surprised. “You’re starting now?”
“Yes. You don’t need to do anything—just follow me.”
Typically, the command center of a starship was located on the bridge, but the Victoria, as the flagship of the Abyss Fleet, had a core control room with authority over all the ships in the fleet.
Arnold followed Heinrich’s stride toward the core control room. Along the way, several officers saluted Heinrich. None of them could have guessed what their commander was about to do.
Once inside, after verifying their credentials, Arnold saw that all the monitoring systems had already been activated and were running at full capacity. Heinrich had clearly been preparing for this day for a long time.
Arnold couldn’t help but wonder how Heinrich would’ve handled things if he’d refused to go along with this rebellion. Would the Marshal have just knocked him out and thrown him out the door?
Heinrich was dressed in his standard black uniform, seated calmly before a bank of monitors. The soft blue glow of the screens highlighted the sharp angles of his profile.
He looked completely at ease. When he opened the preloaded control program, there wasn’t even the slightest hesitation in his movements.
Woooooo—
The alarm blared across every ship in the Abyss Fleet the moment Heinrich pressed the button. Lights across each starship flickered off, plunging them into darkness. Out in the vastness of space, it was as if a violent gust of wind had swept through, casting the fleet into silence like tiny fishing boats adrift on a shadowy sea.
But the main fleet of the Sixth Legion continued to operate normally, gradually converging on the location of the Abyss Fleet. Back on the Victoria’s bridge, Captain Honda Agana immediately turned to the comms officer. “Report to Marshal Chu at once. We may have walked into a trap set by the Sixth Legion.”
The Sixth Legion’s ships were maneuvering as if to encircle the Abyss Fleet, while the Abyss Fleet’s own operators discovered that their consoles had all gone dark.
Even with commanders still giving orders, the sudden loss of power and the realization that their allies might have become enemies sent murmurs of panic and dread rippling through the ships. A creeping fear spread through the darkness of space.
The communications officer tried three times before turning back to Honda Agana. “Captain, I can’t reach the Marshal. There’s no response.”
“Try again!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Honda turned to another technician. “Can we contact any other ships? What about enabling manual weapon control?”
“Captain, the manual systems are locked.”
That was impossible. Honda’s instincts flared with alarm. Manual weapon systems could only be locked or unlocked from within. There was no way for an external signal to override them. There was a traitor on board. No—not just in the fleet—on the Victoria itself.
But only a handful of people had the clearance to lock the system. Marshal Heinrich Chu. Or Honda herself, along with the joint authorization of three admirals. And she had done nothing.
In the thick silence and darkness, a cold sweat soaked through the back of her uniform. Then, in a sudden flash, the lights came back on across the ship. Only this time, every single light glowed an ominous red. The consoles came to life again, but across each screen floated a glowing red message:
SYSTEM OVERRIDDEN.
No matter how furiously the technicians typed at their virtual keyboards, nothing changed. A voice came through the ship-wide broadcast system. “Attention, all members of the Abyss Fleet. This is Heinrich Chu.”
The familiar voice brought a collective sigh of relief on the bridge. Marshal Chu was their backbone. As long as he remained standing, they had nothing to fear. Only Honda Agana felt the chill spreading across her back. “I have taken control of all ships in the Abyss Fleet.”
The words didn’t immediately raise alarm—Heinrich was their Marshal, after all. But something about the way he said it sounded… wrong.
“Please put down your weapons and proceed to the escape pods as directed by the AI system Ruth.” Everyone stared at each other in disbelief.
What?! What is the Marshal saying?
While most of the soldiers were still confused by Heinrich’s orders, an older general—one of the highest-ranking officers—had already reacted. He shot to his feet and shouted into the broadcast receiver, “Marshal Chu, what do you mean by this? Are you trying to commit treason?”
“You can interpret it that way,” Heinrich replied calmly. Outside the Abyss Fleet formation, the Sixth Legion continued to tighten its encirclement, boxing in the incapacitated Abyss Fleet at the center. Heinrich’s answer sent the soldiers into an uproar. They couldn’t believe those words had come out of his mouth.
The general hadn’t expected Heinrich to admit it so bluntly. His face went blank for a second before twisting into pure rage. “Heinrich Chu! Are you in league with the Sixth Legion?!” Their conversation was broadcast across the entire fleet.
“Yes,” Heinrich responded. “Once you’ve evacuated via escape pod, the Sixth Legion will take you into custody as prisoners of war. Do not resist. No one will be harmed.”
“Marshal Chu, you…” Someone’s voice broke as their eyes turned red with disbelief. To most of the soldiers, Heinrich Chu had been the Empire’s sharpest sword—unmatched in battle, a symbol of glory and invincibility. And now, that sword was turned against the very Empire it had sworn to defend.
“Marshal Chu, we won’t surrender without a fight!” someone declared, raising their weapon.
The next second, an automated turret suddenly extended from a corner of the ceiling. A flash sparked—bullets struck the floor by the soldier’s feet in a warning shot.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Machine guns, suspended from the ceiling on sliding rails, descended in front of the general. A cold, menacing red light blinked on their mechanical limbs, indicating they were fully loaded and ready to fire at any moment. With the barrels trained on him, a mechanical voice echoed through the room. “Please, lower your weapon.”
Another robotic arm extended a tray in front of the general. In its flat, emotionless tone, it repeated the pre-programmed command: “Please, place your weapon on the tray. Do not engage, or lethal force will be used.”
More hidden turrets revealed themselves, one after another. Every ship in the Abyss Fleet had similar automated systems. Now, those cold black gun barrels were all aimed at their original crew members.
“Now,” Heinrich said in a low, commanding voice, “drop your weapons and leave.”
A small, blackened crater marked the spot where the bullet had hit, the air thick with the scent of gunpowder. The silence that followed was suffocating. But then, someone turned around and began walking toward the escape pods. One by one, others followed. The crowd slowly shifted, moving forward in grim silence. Shoulder to shoulder, they marched toward the escape pods.
The general wrestled with himself, beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. Finally, with deep reluctance, he handed over his weapon to the waiting robot. More turrets continued to aim at the soldiers’ heads, overseeing the disarmament process. In the end, not a single shot was fired.
The sudden, inexplicable betrayal of their commander had left them all stunned and disoriented. None of them could understand why Heinrich had done this. It was a coup that cost only a single bullet—and not a drop of blood.
Honda Agana had originally stood at the very front of the bridge. But when it was time to leave, she walked at the end of the group, her steps slow and deliberate. When the last of the team disappeared at the end of the corridor, she paused at the threshold of the bridge doors.
“Captain Honda, it’s time to go,” Heinrich said, his gaze steady on the scene before him.
Honda Agana turned around. She glanced around the room, uncertain which surveillance camera to look into. In the end, she fixed her gaze on the starlit sky beyond the forward viewport.
Escape pods had already separated from the starship, each following an automated course toward the Sixth Legion’s encirclement.
“Marshal.”
“I’m no longer an Imperial Marshal.”
“Alright then, Heinrich Chu. May I stay?” she asked.
“…Why?”
“I think you’ll win,” Honda Agana replied. “Mr. Chu… you know I was born into a plutocratic family in the Long Whale Region. My siblings joined the military or entered politics, aligning themselves with different factions—all to expand the family’s influence.
“I believe I should bet on you.”
“…”
“Hand your weapons over to Ruth, and you can stay.”
—
The Sixth Legion accepted the prisoners from the Abyss Fleet, along with their starships and weaponry. When Heinrich left, he only took the Victoria and her four escort ships, minimizing their footprint.
Even so, the Abyss Fleet’s unexpected movements still drew the attention of the Crescent District. By the third day, news of Heinrich Chu’s betrayal had hit the front page of every major news outlet.
The Sixth Legion suppressed any mention of internal instability, and Capital Star assumed they had simply taken in the soldiers abandoned by Heinrich Chu out of goodwill. They issued a formal order to Alonso, demanding he send troops to pursue the Victoria.
Alonso agreed without hesitation. But once the communication ended, he did nothing. He treated the Empire’s words like passing noise and instead wandered over to Adrian’s crib to play with the child. Adrian giggled and grasped Alonso’s elegant fingers with delight.
Guy, who had been tallying the weapons and equipment they had just received, turned his head at the sound of Adrian’s laughter. His eyes softened. “Heinrich’s got a heart. The weapons he left behind are enough to rearm the entire Dawn Frontline,” Guy said. “The folks in the Special District are probably too busy cleaning up his mess to deal with us now. Once we get the Dawn Frontline properly reorganized, we’ll take over the Second Legion’s territory too.”
The Dawn Frontline had been preparing for a rebellion for years, but milking the Abyss Fleet had been an unexpected stroke of luck.
“Alright, whatever you say,” Alonso replied softly, clearly in high spirits.
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