144 Imperial Civil War Arc 2: Suppression

side: Imperial Capital (Emperor, Kyle)

“Does he not understand the gravity of this moment?

This operation, you will command it. Assign Akira as your second-in-command.”

The Emperor, face a picture of disbelief, issued orders to Kyle (the First Prince) to lead the campaign against Leonardo (the Fifth Prince).

“Your will be done. I shall assemble the strike force from the reserve forces.

Keep the regular army on alert for the Naihyuum invasion.”

Having received word that the Fifth Prince (Leonardo) had launched an assault on the Seventh Prince (Lorenzo)'s system, the decision was made to deploy from the Imperial Regular Army reserves.

“Let me handle this suppression! I’ll see it through!”

It was Cox, a professional officer and baron, who raised his hand.

Though a minor figure as commander for the suppression of the prince, he was the one chosen—couldn’t move the forces holding position against Nyahyūm, after all.

He was entrusted with five hundred thousand troops—four hundred fifty thousand of them unmanned ships.

Baron Cox, having assembled his forces, stepped through the dimensional jump gate (the Gate) toward Lasty, the primary star system of Prince Lorenzo (7th).

Kyle (1st Prince), watching Cox’s overblown sense of duty, couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

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s i d e: Secret Virtual Conference Room (Akira, Kyle)

I was holding a scheduled status report with Kyle (1st Prince) in the secret virtual conference room.

Kyle (1st Prince) was still not back to full health, but he was juggling the role of Imperial Aide with the dual duties of overseeing the Nihyūm Countermeasures and serving as Chancellor.

To offload part of the Nihyūm Countermeasures burden onto me, Kyle (1st Prince) had appointed me as his Deputy Commander for Nihyūm Countermeasures.

That’s why we were holding scheduled status reports in the virtual space—so information could be shared.

"Ugh… Leonardo (5th Prince) went and made things worse by doing something unnecessary. Now my workload’s doubled.

I’m taking command of this campaign.

And you (Akira), you’ve been named my deputy. Don’t think you can wiggle out of this."

Kyle (Commander) reported that I’d been dragged into it too.

Fine. Might as well cooperate.

"Leonardo’s (5th Prince’s) fleet has 36,000 combat vessels and five fortress ships. The fortress ships should be unusable by now—since you locked their systems."

Cox, the noble leading the punitive force, has been given a reserve of fifty thousand.

Lorenzo’s (7th Prince’s) planetary defense fleet numbers five thousand—unless he’s an absolute idiot, he shouldn’t lose."

"The real problem is that reinforcements will take a week to reach the system via the Dimensional Jump Gate. The Rasty system has a fortress satellite too—hope it holds out until they get there."

"Communication from the Rasty system has already gone dark. If it’s just interference, that’s fine—but don’t count on it."

"Leonardo’s (5th Prince’s) fleet came in with fortress ships and their Fortress Cannons, so I think the fortress satellite’s cannons are just stalling things out—putting us in a stalemate."

"If the Lasty system holds out, they might slip through the Dimensional Jump Gate and get behind Leonardo, the Fifth Prince. Let's wait for good news in a week."

That was the extent of the plans for the Lasty system.

I relayed to Kyle, the First Prince, the status of Lorenzo, the Seventh Prince, during the interception of the Neahyume forces.

"Lorenzo, despite his home system being attacked by Leonardo, the Fifth Prince, remains calm and focused solely on annihilating Neahyume.

Not splitting his forces to fight both Leonardo and Neahyume at once—that’s no small feat.

The battle’s going in Lorenzo’s favor. The gap in strength between him and Neahyume keeps widening. Annihilation is just a matter of time."

I was tweaking the system so it could gather all the information, just in time to deploy Dimensional Radars across each star system.

That’s why we’re sharing data from distant-dimensional radars too.

With that information, I’ve got a handle on the invasion front and the Imperial forces’ defensive posture.

How’s Neahyūm doing, heading toward Leonardo (the Fifth Prince)'s star system?

I scrutinize the dimensional radar’s data in response to Kyle, the First Prince’s question.

Leonardo's (Fifth Prince) system is the Leonardo System. Naming a system after yourself? That's some serious self-promotion right there.

The Niahyūm seems to have altered course without reducing its numbers, heading toward the Leonardo system.

Eh!? No way! Trouble! Heading straight for Lorenzo (Seventh Prince)!

"What?!"

"What on earth...? No, how?!"

I was certain. Leonardo (Fifth Prince) had somehow redirected Niahyūm’s course.

Because the Dimensional Radar showed two light points trailing behind Niahyūm.

“Still plenty of distance. We’ve got time to react.

If we destroy the Niahyūm Lorenzo (Seventh Prince) is facing before it can merge with the other one, we might still win.”

“Or we could exploit the fact that Niahyūm can only warp one light-year per day and just put more space between us.”

“Then we’ll just end up getting sandwiched between Leonardo (Fifth Prince) and Niahyūm eventually.

Niahyūm’s ultimate target is probably the Rasty system, anyway.”

“Then why not just collide Niahyūm with Leonardo (Fifth Prince) and let them fight it out?”

“Even that option… might have to be considered. Worst case, you know.”

If push comes to shove, I’ll use my dimension-jump (warp) acceleration device to fly in on the spot.

Getting Niahyūm into a star system means putting the locals’ lives at risk. That’s something we’d rather avoid.

I doubt Leonardo (Fifth Prince) would actually go after non-combatants in the system, right?

“Then I’ll send an urgent alert about Niahyūm’s approach to Lorenzo (Seventh Prince).

I’ll lay out the response options, but leave the decision to Lorenzo (Seventh Prince).

Akira—would you come help if things go south?”

“Count on it. Leave it to Kyle (First Prince).”

“Sorry about that. Only your Personal Ship can handle high-speed dimension-jump (warp).”

And with that, the routine report ended. I reloaded my combat assets and shifted into immediate-response mode.

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side: Leonardo

“Ora ora! Touch me and I’ll drop you on the primary planet, got it?!”

The fortress satellite guarding the primary planet in orbit around Rasty III was being held hostage—its ability to retaliate neutralized by the threat of the planet’s destruction.

The fortress satellite was gradually being overrun by the invading landing force.

Leonardo (the Fifth Prince)’s war was dirty.

He’d threatened to bombard the primary planet, then halted fire—dragged the immobilized fortress ship into orbit around Rasty III, and threatened to drop it, just like that.

The greatest threat in the Rasty system was the fortress satellite’s fortress cannon.

To counter that, Leonardo (the Fifth Prince) had chosen the tactic of taking hostages and threatening them.

In response, the star system government—under strict orders from Lorenzo (the Seventh Prince) to prioritize human lives—yielded to the threat.

Leonardo (the Fifth Prince) was a man who consistently outmaneuvered Kyle (the First Prince) and Akira’s expectations, by a wide margin.

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Added and revised sections that were previously underdeveloped.