Counterfeit Hero

Helen bit her lip hard and leaned her body against the railing of the command post, trying to maintain balance amid the violent shaking of the battleship. She did not expect that her life had already reached its end so quickly. This was not a movie; this was the brutal reality.

”Now…” Chekov straightened his clothes and said hoarsely, ”Everyone, pray.”

In the silence, he turned and extended his hand to Fatty: ”Colonel Tian, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I believe next time, I’ll be able to make such a decisive decision more firmly than you.”

”Hmm…” Fatty, who was shaking hands with Chekov, seemed a bit absent-minded: ”I’m saying, shouldn’t we be running away now?”

”Running away?” Chekov looked back at the huge virtual screen on the main control console with a wry smile. There were enemy ships all around, two Destroyers, two Armed Merchant Ships, and three Torpedo Boats, almost blocking every direction.

And the cruiser ”North Star,” armed with a 2000MM main gun and six 800MM secondary guns, with rotating turrets all over, was already hovering high above directly in front of the ”Blue Rose.”

”How do we escape?” Chekov felt he didn’t even have the strength to smile bitterly. The crew present also looked dejected.

”Ram the Destroyer in front of us.” Fatty blinked his eyes and said very seriously, ”Use our bow to hit their stern! As long as it temporarily loses control, we have a chance to complete power preparations under the cruiser’s body. Our shield strength can hold up for a while, and by the time the cruiser turns back, we will have gone far.”

”Ram it?” Everyone was startled by Fatty’s plan.

Chekov exclaimed, ”Are you crazy? At such high speeds, we could crash and be destroyed instantly. Even if we manage to get past the Destroyer, we would be torn to pieces before completing the power preparations.”

”I am confident about the structure of the ships. As long as the collision speed doesn’t exceed ten kilometers per second, we will at most damage the bow!” Fatty said firmly. ”You don’t need to worry about that; you just need to tell me how many minutes the power preparations will take.”

”Six minutes!” Chekov, thoroughly familiar with his battleship, answered without hesitation.

”If I tell you that using a backup Power Cabin, this process will only take three minutes?” Fatty, finally getting a chance to prove his work, couldn’t help but feel a bit proud. ”Do you think we can escape then?”

”Three minutes?” Chekov was stunned. As a veteran who had served in the Space Fleet for nearly twenty years, he was familiar with various ships. For any type of vessel, power preparations were incredibly time-consuming.

Although in the Leray Country, the ”Blue Rose” was considered the latest Destroyer and had a speed advantage over larger battleships, it still took six minutes to complete power preparation. That was the fastest speed within the battleship.

But this Fatty claimed that the Power Cabin he modified only needed three minutes for power preparation!

”That’s impossible!” Chekov stated flatly.

”Bullshit!” Fatty exploded in anger: ”You insulted me in every way just now, and I haven’t settled that with you yet! And now you dare to question my skills! I tell you three minutes, then three minutes it is!”

”This is…”

Chekov shook his head. Before he could finish speaking, Fatty grabbed him by the collar and dragged him down from the command seat: ”Are you blind? Take a good look at the data on your console! From the beginning until now, if it weren’t for me modifying the main gun charging system and the energy shield generator system, do you think this crappy ship could have lasted this long?”

”Data?” Chekov was stunned, leaned over, and looked at the console. With just one glance, he was dumbfounded. Not only him, but all the crew members in front of the main control console who were curious enough to glance at the data were also stunned.

”Stay on the side and watch carefully!” Fatty brushed aside Chekov and pressed the communicator: ”Blue Rose, this is Tian Xingjian. I am now in command. Switch the Power Cabin to backup power, initiate power preparations immediately after collision shutoff, turn off main gun power, all personnel evacuate the bow. Seal the bow isolation compartments.”

”What…” The Power Cabin and the main gun room were obviously thrown off by the sudden orders.

Seeing Fatty’s glare, Chekov, who had just recovered from the series of statistical data on the console, quickly replied on the communicator, ”Execute.”

”Yes!”

”The Desic cruiser is sending a signal, requesting communication.” The communications officer at the main control panel removed his headset.

”Connect it.” Fatty, enjoying his brief moment as a ship captain, said: ”Let’s hear what he has to say.”

On the virtual communication screen appeared the figure of a Desic Major General: ”Leray Destroyer, now I command you to immediately shut down your engines and surrender, cease all resistance. Otherwise…”

”Can we surrender?” Upon hearing this, Fatty’s eyes lit up; he muttered to himself, ”That is not negotiable…”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the unfriendly expressions of the surrounding crew, including the woman holding the camera next to him. Fatty quickly interrupted before the Desic Major General could finish speaking and shouted angrily in unison with Chekov: ”Bullshit!”

Chekov swore and stopped talking, but Fatty relentlessly continued: ”Spit on you!” As he said this, he spat, a messy, scattered spray of spittle partially crossed the virtual screen, landing on the bulkhead behind. The other part, however, fell on himself.

Looking at Fatty, who was scrambling to wipe off his spit, the entire control room fell silent. Especially Helen, who stood by and insisted on filming, felt her head throb. She wondered if broadcasting such records would cause the Leray people to collectively lose hope of winning the war.

On camera, Fatty wiped the spit off the corner of his mouth noisily and loudly ordered, ”Helmsman, right rudder 5 degrees, ram!”

At Fatty’s command, the desperate ”Blue Rose” accelerated suddenly like an arrow off the string, charging towards the rear of an old ”Phoenix” Destroyer ahead in a diagonal position.

This mad action took all the besieging forces by surprise.

Especially the ship captain of the old Destroyer ahead of the ”Blue Rose.” From the start, he had been closely monitoring and calculating the main gun charging time of this Leray Destroyer, whose shield was extraordinarily robust and main gun fired nearly one-third faster than an ordinary Destroyer.

In his view, as long as he maintained this position and with a cruiser beside him, the Leray people had no other choice but to surrender. Their main gun had just fired two minutes ago. It would take several more minutes to accumulate energy again. During this time, the cruiser’s Space Mechas could invade the Leray Destroyer’s interior.

Even if the Leray people fired another main gun, it wouldn’t matter. After all, while the ”Phoenix” might be old, its shield was also effective. Based on the current shield status, it could withstand one hit without being fatal.

However, what he didn’t expect was that the Leray Destroyer didn’t use its main gun but directly rammed forward!

These Leray people were crazy!

In space, with battleships accelerating to dozens or hundreds of kilometers per second, what kind of outcome would come from a collision? Did these Leray people not know?

Did they want mutual destruction?!

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.(To be continued. For more chapters, please visit www.qidian.com. Support the author, support legitimate reading!)