Counterfeit Hero

Helen fastened her safety belt, and so did Chekov. Everyone on the Blue Rose was securely strapped to their seats.

Fatty was even more thorough; he practically tied himself up like a rice dumpling.

The battleship was accelerating. Besides the roar of the engines, there was no other sound on board. Everyone waited in dead silence for their fate to be decided.

Fatty reached out and grabbed the communicator. At that moment, he felt a sudden urge to say something.

It was a lie to say he wasn’t nervous. Despite confidently assuring everyone that as long as the speed didn’t exceed ten kilometers per second, the destroyer would be fine, Fatty had been praying to all the gods he knew.

Calculations based on theoretical data didn’t always come true. What would happen if they collided? Fatty had no real certainty himself.

But Fatty knew he had no other choice.

He couldn’t watch the Castle Lily shatter into pieces and disappear into space. Nor could he let the Federation’s hopeful diplomatic mission turn into a mirage. The beleaguered Leray Federation couldn’t afford such a loss.

Boswell... Maybe his new space jump technology research would end this war!

Bernadotte... This steady Federation General had been the stabilizer during the three-year war for national survival.

And Flavio... This unfamiliar old man now shouldered the most crucial mission for Leray!

Each one of them was more valuable than himself! They were the nation’s elites. Without them, how long could Leray hold out?!

”Please allow me to say a few words at this moment.” Fatty rested his head against the back of his seat and took a deep breath, ”I want to say... I am honored.”

”I am honored to fight alongside Leray’s finest soldiers.”

Fatty’s voice echoed through the corridors and cabins of the battleship via the broadcast system...

”I am also honored to see the unwavering determination of everyone on the Blue Rose in this most difficult choice!”

”Today, we are all heroes of this nation!”

”No matter who you are or where you come from, we fight together.”

”We have destroyed two armed merchant ships and four torpedo boats. We have rescued the flagship Castle Lily, which bears Leray’s mission. We did not retreat because we knew that behind us were 1.6 billion Leray people!”

”We cannot retreat. In that familiar Star Domain, we have our families, friends, lovers, and the peaceful, undisturbed lives we once led.”

Everyone quietly listened to the broadcast. Some female officers had tears glistening in their eyes.

”For three years, countless Leray Warriors’ sacrifices have allowed our loved ones to continue to have hope and to live on. And our sacrifice will enable this country’s elite to make more efforts to end the war.”

”Now, the ship’s speed is 9.3 kilometers per second. We will collide with our enemy in fifteen seconds. Perhaps we will escape... perhaps this will be a catastrophe. Before we turn into meteors, shooting towards different Star Domains, I want to say...”

”God bless Leray!”

Fatty put down the communicator and turned to face Helen and Chekov, who were watching him intently, with a smile that was more of a grimace. Three hundred years ago, the country’s war of independence was marked by one sacrifice after another, and now, it was his turn!

Damn this war!

”God bless Leray.”

Everyone aboard the Blue Rose softly repeated the sentence.

These six miraculous words suddenly brought an immense sense of calm and composure to each of their hearts.

”God bless Leray!”

A young warrior, tears streaming down his face, shouted. His voice swept through the entire battleship. As more and more joined in the cry that echoed through the universe, the main control pilot adjusted the bow, firmly locking onto the enemy ship trying to evade them.

”Ancestors protect us!” The main control pilot made the sign of the cross and pushed the control lever forward abruptly.

With a thunderous crash, the shouting abruptly ceased.

Everyone on the Blue Rose felt as if they had been turned into a golf ball being struck by a club.

If not for the ship’s gravity device’s reverse force field or the exceptionally strong safety belts that cut into their flesh but held them tightly, they would have been sent flying like a cannonball.

”Oh, God!” A Desic maintenance worker stared dumbfoundedly out of the merchant ship’s porthole at the crazed Leray Destroyer.

In the star-punctuated space, the two high-speed moving battleships silently pressed together. The sleek, streamlined shells of the ships deformed entirely in an instant like two colliding eggshells. The dislodged armor was flung away violently, and some pipes, parts, and metal fragments scattered silently into space.

”Clang.” A tool tray fell at the feet of the maintenance worker, spinning noisily on the metal floor scattered with rivets.

The Desic maintenance worker turned his head and saw his companion standing beside him with a gaping mouth: ”What are they trying to do?”

The maintenance worker silently shook his head and looked back into space at the Leray Destroyer, clinging to the shattered aft of the Phoenix, pushing forward with sparks flying.