Chapter 146
Activation
Chu Shen stepped outside the small hut he had made. He cracked his back, groaning as popping sounds came from his spine. He had spent a month straight inside the small hut cultivating, without moving an inch. He was finally starting to feel hungry again, so he decided to come out and get something to eat.
As he stepped outside, he saw Lucas standing by a large building. The building was huge, as big as one of his spaceships. It was oddly shaped though. Various barrels poked out of it and what appeared to be tracked wheels were attached to its sides.
The top half of the building rotated suddenly, surprising Chu Shen. A long barrel as wide as his hut was suddenly pointing right at him. Lucas turned and saw Chu Shen standing there in shock. “Oh. Hey Chu Shen! Nice to see you come out of your hut, you hermit!”
Chu Shen shook off his shock and walked closer to Lucas to avoid having to yell. While he walked closer, the barrel swiveled smoothly to follow him. “Nice to see you too Lucas. By the way, what is this thing?” He gestured at the behemoth beside him.
Lucas grinned. “What, this thing?” He smacked the side of the thing beside him. “It’s a Goliath Class Tank. On Sparta, they were what we used to defend our infantry against spaceships. That huge barrel you see there can fire a plasma round through the atmosphere and into space.”
“It can quite easily blow through any of the shields I have on my ships, much less those aliens’ shields.
They also have shields to defend themselves from enemy attack, along with multiple infinite repeaters on the side, basically plasma rifles with a bigger punch.”
Chu Shen looked at it in confusion. “Just why did you make this thing? I mean, aren’t we going to be defending the planet with spaceships, why build this tank?”
Lucas nodded. “Very good question. The answer, my dear friend, is simple. Where are we going to be during the attack? We can pilot the ships remotely, so we don’t have to get involved in the fight. However, we are targets of their attack since we are on this planet. So, how are we going to protect ourselves? We can teleport out, but what if we can’t for some reason, or they attack us with a stealth ship?”
Lucas nodded towards the tank beside him. “This is how we can protect ourselves. Its armor can withstand direct thermonuclear attacks like the ones they used on this planet before. With its shields, it could withstand over a hundred thermonuclear attacks at once without flinching.”
“During this war, we are gonna be inside the Goliath tank to avoid being killed by some sort of surprise attack. There are simulators inside the Goliath so we can directly control the ships we have from here. There are also sleeping quarters and food dispensers. We won’t want for anything inside them. It also has sufficient firepower to blow holes in anyone looking at us funny.”
Chu Shen nodded. “Wow. You really are in your element here, aren’t you. I didn’t even think about stealth ships.”
Lucas grinned. “You may be the expert in cultivation, but when it comes to technology, it’s my game.”
Chu Shen grinned back at him. “What about artificing? We are both pretty equal in that.”
Lucas paused to consider it for a moment before shaking his head. “Nope. I think I win there too.”
“Why you little! Come here and let me show you what I think of your inscriptions!”
“Oh yeah? Well this is what I think of yours!” As Chu Shen and Lucas were fighting, a Scout Drone interrupted them.
Walking up to them, it paused outside the range of their fists. “Privateers. Your assistance is now required.”
Lucas glanced up as his arm was bent behind his back. “What is it? We’re kind of busy at the moment.”
Chu Shen also looked at the robot as he twisted Lucas’ arm. “Yeah, if it isn’t important then give us five minutes.” He suddenly grabbed his stomach as Lucas elbowed him in the gut.
The Scout Drone seemed annoyed for a split second. Of course, this was impossible. How could a machine show annoyance? “This matter cannot wait. As of this moment, the defense forces are insufficient to defend this system against attacks. Therefore, the privateers are activated immediately.”
Lucas immediately let out a yell. “YEESSS!!!! We can finally FIGHT!”
Aslo and Chrissa came running when they heard Lucas yelling. “What is it Lucas?” Aslo asked.
“We finally got permission from rust bucket here to fight!”
Aslo immediately started celebrating as well. While he did that, Lucas turned back to the Scout Drone. “So when can we expect the next enemy fleet to arrive, and with how many forces?”
The Scout Drone immediately replied back. “The next attack will be in 6 days and 14 hours. The enemy is expected to have 10 standard fleets.”
Lucas groaned. “Great, more waiting.” He turned towards Chu Shen, Aslo, and Chrissa. “Well, I guess I can teach you guys how to pilot the ships remotely while we wait.”
Aslo looked confused. “What do you mean pilot the ships remotely? I thought we were just going to fight them with that stealth ship of yours.”
Lucas shook his head. “Of course we can’t fight with the stealth ship. With so many weapons going off, it’s basically guaranteed that the ship will be hit sometime. Because of that, our stealth will be basically meaningless. It would be better that we pilot the ships remotely to get involved in the fray directly. It’ll be like a video game, if your ship blows up then switch to another.”
Aslo was still confused. “What’s a video game?”
Lucas put an arm around Aslo’s shoulder. “Ah, my poor friend. You have been neglected since such a young age. Come with me, I’ll teach you all the things you need to know…”
Aslo immediately shoved Lucas aside. “No way would I listen to a snake like you.” He shuddered. “I remember the last time you said to trust you I got thrown over a mile by one of the mechs.”
Lucas shrugged. “Hey, it wasn’t my fault that they took my instructions to take you to new heights literally.”
Aslo looked at him in disbelief. “Then what did you think they were going to do?”
Lucas shrugged again. “No idea, I just wanted to see what they would do.”
Aslo groaned. “Of course you did.”