150 Imperial Civil War Chapter 8: Surprise Attack
side: Secret Neural Conference Room (Akira, Kyle, Lorenzo)
I, Akira, swept through Lorenzo’s (Seventh Prince) star system, physically destroying the Dimensional Jump Gate.
Needed to buy time to summon reinforcements and crush Leonardo (Fifth Prince) before he reached other star systems.
After finishing the job, I took a breather in the Crowne system.
"Right. One more urgent task to tackle."
I sent a transmission to Kyle (First Prince), demanding an emergency briefing.
‘Lorenzo (Seventh Prince), okay? I’m heading to the secret conference room now.’
‘I’ve been waiting. Akira.’
‘So, could you wait for me in the virtual space of the fortress ship as an avatar?’
‘Understood.’
I entered the virtual space from my Personal Ship and dove into the fortress ship’s virtual realm, picking up Lorenzo (the Seventh Prince)'s avatar before heading toward the encrypted conference room online.
His avatar was already there.
“Kyle (First Prince), emergency report!
Leonardo (Fifth Prince) has taken control of Neahyūm — over 180,000 ships are now united under his command, lying in wait at the Rasty system.
Our plan to throw Neahyūm at Leonardo failed spectacularly — instead of ambushing him, we just handed him reinforcements.
Rasty system’s already under Leonardo’s control. The fortress satellite’s been seized.
My antimatter particle cannon’s been disabled.
We destroyed the fortress satellite’s Fortress Cannon — but we’re still outmatched. Had no choice but to retreat.”
“Control over Neahyūm? You’re serious? Akira?”
“That’s a fact I witnessed myself. Leonardo, the Fifth Prince, was too far beyond our combat capability to fight.”
Lorenzo, the Seventh Prince, nodded in agreement. Kyle, the First Prince, rubbed his chin and fell into thought.
“So I decided, given the emergency, to physically destroy the Dimensional Jump Gate we were retreating to.”
I know. We’ll install a new Dimensional Jump Gate right after the battle.”
Kyle grimaced at the mention of destroying a Dimensional Jump Gate, so I spoke up preemptively to avoid unnecessary debate.
“So I destroyed all the Dimensional Jump Gates beneath the hub Dimensional Jump Gate, to trap Leonardo within the star system.”
Leonardo’s only means of movement is the Neahyume-class light carrier. The Neahyume’s dimensional jump—warp—covers one light-year per day.
Even the nearest star system from the Rasty system is fifteen light-years away. So that gives us fifteen days’ leeway.”
Lorenzo, the seventh prince, adds, after my words.
“I’d like to request reinforcements sent to Kyle, the commander.
We estimate Leonardo’s fleet has been reduced to around 140,000 vessels from fighting us.
We have only 65,000 capital ships and nine fortress ships in active combat readiness.
To fight on even terms, I’m requesting at least 100,000 vessels be dispatched.”
Kyle, the first prince, hesitates at Lorenzo’s request.
“Hmm. But the unmanned ships are likely to be seized by Leonardo.
Sending 100,000 would mean equipping them all with crews—impossible.”
There’s a countermeasure.
Even though the unmanned ships under my control got hijacked, I managed to reclaim them by jamming the enemy’s comms.
They’re probably spoofing the Tactical Weapon Integration Control System’s signals to take over the drones.
Their comms seem to use the Dimensional Communication System—once I sent a signal to the black box and locked it, the jamming stopped.
So if we send stronger control signals through the Dimensional Communication System, the hijacking should be neutralized.
I think this’ll stop the drone takeovers.
That method’s effectiveness should be confirmed… but sending reinforcements will take time.
Fine. I’ll dispatch 100,000 reinforcements. But they won’t engage until the countermeasure’s proven successful.
That works—BRRRRT!
Suddenly the comms cut out. Akira’s avatar vanished.
“Hey, what the hell, Akira!”
Akira’s avatar was frozen, too.
“Lorenzo (7th Prince)! Respond!”
Only Kyle (1st Prince)'s shout echoed through the secret conference room.
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s i d e: Crowne System (Leonardo)
In the Crowne System, Leonardo (5th Prince)'s Fortress Ship—five vessels—warp-out from hyperspace.
At the same instant, the Fortress Cannons charged energy. Four beams of power pierced the four Fortress Ships of Lorenzo (7th Prince).
And the final beam was aimed straight at Akira’s Personal Ship.
Akira’s Personal Ship was swallowed by a vortex of high-energy light, disintegrating down to the particle level until it vanished entirely.
“Got him! This time, I’ve finally killed Akira!”
Leonardo, the Fifth Prince, roared with triumph in the fortress ship’s command chamber.
“Guess my luck ran out. Thought you’d be dead by the time I got here—let your guard down, did you?”
Leonardo was elated, drunk on the success of his own clever plan.
The plan, you see, was simple:
A fortress ship with a locked Master Key? Useless as scrap.
So why not hand it over to the Nyahyuum? They’d put it to better use.
In other words, Leonardo’s fortress ship had been consumed by the Nyahyuum, its systems seized, turned into a Nyahyuum fortress ship.
Two Nyahyuum corvette-class vessels clung to each fortress ship, like parasites feeding on the host.
From the hangars of the corvette-class and fortress ships, Nyahyuum vessels swarmed out like a swarm of locusts.
With Nyahyuum, the Black Knight’s power could subjugate them.
If the Black Knight’s Personal Ship was aboard a Nyahyuum fortress ship, even Leonardo (the Fifth Prince)’s orders would be obeyed.
“Dimensional Radar too has been reclaimed and revived by the Nyahyuum. The regular military’s unmanned ships—we’ll take those.”
Nyahyuum spread across the remaining five fortress ships, creeping in, consuming them.
The Crowne system fell under Leonardo (the Fifth Prince)’s control.
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side: Crowne system (Lorenzo)
As Akira’s avatar froze, Lorenzo (the Seventh Prince) was yanked back into the command chamber of the fortress ship.
“What happened!?”
“Our fortress ships were hit directly by fortress cannons.”
“What?! The dimensional radar—!?”
“It didn’t detect any enemy presence.”
“Damn it. Jamming again. But it should’ve been locked down… how’d they get through?”
“I don’t know.”
“What about Akira’s personal ship?”
“Gone… swallowed by the fortress cannon’s light…”
“Come on, Akira. Pull another one of your shape-shifting tricks already.”
Lorenzo (the Seventh Prince) shook himself back to focus, issuing damage control orders.
He was determined—only Leonardo (the Fifth Prince) must be destroyed with what forces remained.
Added and revised for clarity and flow.
Expanded description of how the Nea Hyume ship was transported.