130 Expedition Arc 15 Sudden Turn

It’s brief.

"Your Majesty, I return command authority."

I disengaged the Tactical Weapon Integration Control System as those words left my lips.

At that moment—if I hadn’t disengaged the Tactical Weapon Integration Control System, if I’d instead fed data to the main fleet, or worse, started probing their origins—would history have changed?

Events followed that I could never regret.

One battleship slowly approached the flagship where the Emperor sat.

Its design was unmistakably that of a noble’s personal ship.

The escort fleet guarding the flagship recognized it too—no reaction, no alert.

"Lord Austin. What is your purpose?"

The commander of the escort fleet demanded.

But the battleship didn’t answer. It just kept approaching.

"Lord Austin! Even nobles must respect the limits—further approach will require forceful removal!"

Then the battleship suddenly accelerated and rammed straight into the flagship.

‘W-what are you doing!’

The escort fleet opened fire in unison. But by then, it was too late.

The battleship had overloaded its mutual annihilation reactor, causing the flagship to explode in a massive blast.

Classic self-destruct terrorism.

‘Your Majesty!!!’

The central section of the flagship—where the CIC was located—had been completely sheared away.

The escort fleet soldiers stood frozen, dazed, unable to comprehend what had just happened.

More self-destructs erupting across various locations.

The ships detonating were from the main fleet led by the Emperor.

‘Akira. Check the Emperor’s status immediately. If the pilot transfer system’s still functional, escort the recovery vessel for pilots!’

I give orders without waiting to be asked.

Why would the main fleet launch a terrorist attack? A noble uprising?

I activate the Tactical Weapon Integration Control System, trying to reassert control over the main fleet.

But among them, a vessel resists domination.

That ship detonates itself.

I try to reassert control again.

Something incomprehensible brushes against the edge of my neural net—refusing control.

Not human. Something else entirely.

“This is how it goes, huh?”

Then hesitation is pointless.

“Target identified: hostile vessel. Do not assume alliance. Engage.”

I mark every ship in the main fleet as hostile and send the data out.

I also deploy a new vessel from the Dimensional Storage Vault, assigning it to guard duty.

The guard target: the recovery vessel and me.

One of these new vessels extends its Anti-Ship Blade, piercing the energy systems of the approaching vessel suspected of being hostile.

The energy fails to transmit back to the neural net—its systems shut down.

I dispatch a recon ship to dissect the captured vessel.

The contents revealed after stripping away the armor plate were...

『What in the void... part of the main fleet's been infested by the enemy Nahyuum!』

I sent the autopsy footage to every ship in the main fleet.

The image showed the Nahyuum core parasitizing the ship's neural net—and the grotesque end result of Imperial soldiers fused into it.

Likely infected and hijacked during the last defense operation.

『All marked ships are contaminated. Shoot them—doesn't matter who. Noble or not.』

But the main fleet’s soldiers hesitated.

They were told their comrades, their lords—were the enemy.

You don’t just nod and open fire on that.

『If you can’t shoot, fall back. Just isolate any ship suspected of being hostile. If it acts hostile—or becomes unmanned—you can shoot it.』

The main fleet began reorganizing, splitting into separate squadrons.

I take position before the Dimensional Jump Gate and use the Tactical Weapon Integration Control System to check each ship individually, evacuating those not yet contaminated through the Dimensional Jump Gate.

I quietly shoot down enemy ships that sneak in, destroying them with G-Bullets.

For the large ships that might self-destruct—troublemakers—I lock them down with Erosion Bullets.

"Guard Fleet, tow the flagship and retreat to the capital via the Dimensional Jump Gate, along with the recovery ships."

The Emperor seems to have been secured by the recovery ships, though his condition remains unknown.

"Kyle, are you alright?"

"Fine."

"Good. Sorry, but I need you to stay behind and help clear out the remaining enemies."

"Got it. I never thought the main fleet would be infected..."

"Is there a pattern to which ships are being parasitized?"

"Looks like it's mostly the minor fleet commanders with little combat experience—especially those from the Niahyume region."

"Maybe they didn’t destroy the core… or maybe they just took it as loot."

"Likely that’s it."

We kept identifying the enemy ships—infected by the parasite—and dispatching them one by one.

"This is Fourth Prince Lucas. My men made a mess of things. I’ll be joining the cleanup sweep myself."

"Lucas… so your men were the ones? If they harmed the Emperor, this is now a matter of accountability."

Kyle’s voice was sharp. True enough—this was a mess.

"Whether they’re my best officers or even my mother… the one who caused this mess will answer to me personally."

Lucas was clearly determined—this wasn’t just a formality.

"No words… 'bout it." "Yeah."

And so we kept clearing the infected ships, letting our allies escape as we went.

Several warships had already fled using their own dimensional jump (warp) drives.

Escape without knowing who exactly was behind it… that’s gonna be a problem later.

They’re supposed to be multiplying. Real pain in the ass.

‘Which one’s the second prince, and which is the third?’

Kyle piped up with something unpleasant. They were definitely among the ones who got away.

Thanks for the ratings and bookmarks.

It really keeps me going.

Fixed the phrasing—was too vague, like we just buried the enemy without certainty.

Ayame had full confidence they were the enemy before issuing the attack order.

Fixed the sequence numbering.