Chapter 142
Orders
Time: Day 15 (The day after the Invader fleet was destroyed.)
Positioning fighter group 192… fighter group 192 positioned. All fighter groups have been relocated. Analyzing… Combat efficiency is rated at 99.97%. Combat efficiency cannot be improved without instantaneous communication. Computing combat readiness of privateers… Privateers’ combat readiness is 9,528.028%.
Error. Privateer combat readiness far exceeds that of previous projections. Analyzing error in projections… Error found. Resources of Privateers far exceeds that which was identified earlier.
Privateers have managed to construct a fleet of unknown spaceships. Analyzing structure of spaceships. Predicting threat level of fleet… Error. Spaceship cannot be analyzed. Unknown weapons and power sources have been used. Threat level unclassified.
In order to identify threat level, weapons must be verified. Ordering privateers to demonstrate weapons of their spaceships…
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Lucas had, at first, been angry about the mechs helping them move the dirt. That was, until he realized something. The amount of dirt he had asked for them to move was only the amount needed for one ARD.
Now that there were ten ARDs, the amount of dirt needed would increase by a lot. Aslo and Chu Shen were running themselves ragged keeping up with just one ARD, much less ten of them. It would be better if the mechs took over that job for them. They were far more efficient then Aslo and Chu Shen could ever be. Especially since they were robots and didn’t need to take a break.
Chu Shen was busy training, using the abundant radiation left over from the solar flare. Aslo and Chrissa were busy talking to each other. Lucas was keeping an eye on the machinery while playing solitaire mentally. The three mechs were busy walking back and forth between the ARDs and the huge pit they had dug out using their four arms.
The mech that was busy loading the ARDs with dirt paused. Dumping the unloaded dirt on the ground, it walked over to Lucas. Lucas didn’t notice the mech, absorbed as he was with his card game. That is, until it started speaking.
“Privateer. I have an issue with the spaceships you are building.” The sudden voice so close to him caused Lucas to jump up. Realizing what a fool he made of himself, Lucas immediately tried to act casual. Unfortunately, Aslo had seen him.
“What is it Lucas? Afraid of a voice?” Aslo teased him a bit.
“Oh shut up Aslo!” Lucas yelled at him. Then he turned back to the mech. “You mentioned a problem you had with the spaceships. What is the problem exactly?”
“I cannot classify the spaceships you have. The weapons are unknown. Until the weapons’ exact nature has been determined, all attempts at assimilating them into pre-existing strategies are pointless.”
Lucas grinned. “Of course they’re unknown. I brought the plans from another dimension, so it would be weird if you actually knew what they were.”
“According to the contract you previously signed, you cannot refuse a military order without having your privateer license revoked. In accordance with this agreement, I order you to demonstrate your spaceships’ capabilities.”
Lucas grinned. “Alright then.” He turned towards everyone. “Hey guys! Tin man over here wants us to demonstrate the fleet’s weaponry. How about we show it to him!”
Immediately, there was a cheer from Chu Shen and Aslo. Chrissa just nodded. “Alright! I was getting bored trying to talk with Chrissa.” Aslo smiled at Chrissa as he said this, communicating his intent wasn’t to hurt her.
Lucas made his spaceship appear in front of them. Just like before, it was a huge silver ship that looked like a teardrop. The mech turned to look towards it before looking back at Lucas. “This spaceship will also be included in the demonstration.”
Lucas nodded. “Alright then. I never really got a chance to show off its capabilities, so now is a perfect chance to show off a little bit.” He turned to his companions. “Alright gang, everyone on the spaceship!”
Aslo walked up to the ship and poked it. “How are we supposed to get into this thing anyways.”
Chu Shen grinned. “Here, all you have to is walk through it. It gives way easily, just like this.” As he said that he walked up to the ship. Confident in the nanites that made up the ship, he walked right into it. What did not happen, however, was the wall dissolving. Instead Chu Shen hit it face first and fell backwards.
As Chu Shen laid on the ground stunned, Lucas’ face was split in half by his grin. “Whoops. I may have forgotten to activate the nanite walls. Just maybe.”
Chu Shen immediately shot to his feet. “Lucas! I thought we talked about pulling pranks!”
Lucas held up his hands. “Hey! It’s not my fault you decided to be cool by walking into the ship without warning.”
Chu Shen coughed. He quickly changed the subject to avoid embarrassment. “A-anyways, we need to get moving.”
Aslo grinned. “Yeah. I remember you saying that the ships could blow up stuff! Come on, I wanna see!”
Lucas grinned and approached the ship’s side. “This is what Mr. Cool Guy over there was trying to show you.” As he spoke, his hand sunk into the ship. Walking forward, he became completely enveloped by the ship and disappeared. Chu Shen followed sulkily while Aslo and Chrissa held hands and went through.
They all found themselves standing on a metal walkway. What they also found was an unexpected guest.
“Privateers.” A robot voice came from right beside Lucas.
Lucas jumped and quickly looked around. Standing beside him was one of the drone scouts. “Ahem. Uh, what are you doing on my ship?”
Chu Shen grinned. “The bigger question is how you can jump that high.”
The adult-sized robot ignored Chu Shen’s remarks. “I am here to observe directly from your ship’s bridge. This is to verify that you have used all weapons available to you.”
Lucas rolled his eyes. “Fine. Come with me then, all of you.” They walked down the hallways for a while. Soon they reached a round room. Had a huge screen with a view of the outside. There was nothing else in the room. Suddenly the floor flowed upwards, creating five circular chairs.
Sitting down on the chair in the middle, Lucas patted the one next to him. “Everybody take a seat, robot included. Next stop is the asteroid belt so we can blow up some asteroids.”