The fleet finally came near Planet P on the second day after over ten hours of flight. Hundreds of thousands of space bugs surrounded them from all sides. The bugs’ attacks weren’t strong. They only had plasma balls and their defense was fragile even against thee gattling cannons on the starships. A single starship could take on one, ten, and even a hundred of these bugs at once. Since what use were these powerful plasma balls if they couldn’t hit?
Though that was the case in skirmishes. Once the scale of battle grew to the size that they were facing now, the bugs gained obtained an incomparable advantage, their numbers. Perhaps a hundred or a thousand plasma balls would miss, but what if there were hundreds of thousands or even millions? The question at this time wasn’t whether they could dodge but whether there would be anything left of them.
Humans looked down on the Arachnids. Everyone aside from a selected few considered them as simply insects with impressive reproductive ability. The military admitted they underestimated the bugs after the first loss on Klendathu, but they only believed it was due to a lack of preparation. Humans still believed the bugs were not a match especially since four heroes turned the battle around. Their offensive powers, numbers, organization and scheming showed that the bugs weren’t a low level species. The fact was, the Arachnids were way beyond humans in terms of invasiveness and offensiveness.
“Colonel, we must transmit the images back to Earth. The human race has come to a critical situation. All industries need to produce as we are in a war. One year, no, in just have a year we can have ten thousand starships. If the whole Earth starts producing, we will…” An advisor said to Xuan with passion.
Xuan took a bite from an apple. “Problem one is how many trained staffs are required for ten thousand starships? How many troopers will it take to fill? Can we gather all the people in half a year? Problem two, will the bugs leave us half a year? Once our fleet gets annihilated, the federation will be exposed to their attacks. The moment we lose our advantage in space, the bugs can attack Earth with meteorites or even transports swarms to the ground. Can humans fight them with just our bodies? Problem three, how are we supposed to transmit these images?”
The advisor had no reply. A lieutenant said. “There are high powered transmitters in each of the fortresses on Planet P. This is a technology that even we have no way of disrupting so the bugs probably can’t either. They transmit by using particles instead of electrical signals.”
Xuan took another bite. “Correct. That’s why we have to land on Planet P. And in order to preserve our forces, all starships will land around the largest fortress, Blizzard. We will establish multiple layers of defense to prepare for the upcoming war after backups come. We have to hold here like a nail on the ground so that the bugs can’t ignore us and head toward Earth. We might die with millions or even tens of millions of bugs coming at us. But our names will be written in history. Send the recording of my words to every starship. Tell them that they can either run and get killed by their own people or become a hero and return to Earth. Let them understand the situation and make their own choice.”
The advisors and officers saluted at Xuan then one headed toward the panels.
Zheng walked over and asked in a low voice. “When did you learn to incite emotions?”
Xuan replied as a matter of fact. “Didn’t you assess me as a person who sides himself with the majority? This is the first step to completing any big task. We have let them know that our fates are tied together. Now we just need to lay out the plans carefully and wait for God’s announcement. Three days left.”
At noon of the same day, the scouting fleet discovered a second massive ball of flesh floating behind Planet P. It floated on the orbit of Planet P like a satellite. As the fleet came near, tens of thousands of space bugs came out from the ball. Things happened as Xuan had predicted. With the ambush ahead of them and more pursuing the back, their only choice was to land on Planet P.
The fleet began to descend. All players including team China and team Africa on the fleet received the same notification from God.
“Protect the seven fortresses for three days. For every fortress that is lost, deduct 1000 points from each member. For every fortress protected, reward 1000 points to each member. All members will be erased if all seven fortresses fall.”
Everyone turned to Xuan afterward, including the two from team Africa. The fate of the two teams were tied together so team Africa naturally placed their hopes on Xuan. Even though Zheng had a feeling Xuan was planning something, like squeezing the last bit of use from team Africa then finish them off.
Xuan asked Aya. “Did Marnie and Rose leave before the military higher ups came? And you haven’t received notification of their deaths?”
Aya nodded. “Yes. They told us briefly then left that same day. What’s the problem?”
“No. I just feel that God is devious.” He exhaled. “The initial mission was to survive until time’s up. Logically, we just had to fly a starship into the vast nothingness of space. No one would be able to do anything to us and we will have the highest chance of surviving. But what if God announces this mission only three days before our time is over? There’s probably over a 70% chance of getting erased.”
Everyone felt a chill down their spines as they followed his thoughts. God kept setting up one trap after another for them to step on. The more they try to run, the higher the risk becomes. Fortunately, both teams had their strategists and didn’t make such a low level mistake.
The starship suddenly shook violently. It had begun to enter the atmosphere. They could see the outer layer of the starship turning red from the friction through the monitor screen. Several minutes later, the friction subsided and the yellow and dusty continent came into view.
Xuan looked at the screen then said to an advisor. “Have the troopers get ready. Each sergeant leads a squad. Assign a lieutenant to every ten squads and a major to every ten lieutenants. Establish defense lines around the fleet. Send the order to every starship. All ships head toward Blizzard fortress.”
The advisor saluted then ran over to the panel. Xuan turned to Aya and Richard. “We are leaving the defense to Blizzard fortress to you two. Richard, you were a soldier right? Lead these troopers in the defense. The fortress is not allowed to fall. Can you do it?”
Richard nodded. “These starships have powerful attacks and we have so many troopers. I have also seen the map of the fortress. Defending for three days should be an easy task. But if we are leading this army, what about you guys? You to be exact.”
Xuan said to Zheng. “The bigger the risk, the higher the reward. You will decide on the upcoming battle. There are two plans. One, we lead an army in the small starships to go around and assist the other fortresses to guarantee the highest reward after three days. Blizzard fortress will be protected to prevent us from getting erased in the worst case scenario. Two, abandon all other fortresses. Use Blizzard fortress to lure the bugs while we hunt for team South America and the brain bug!”