Legacy of the Void Fleet

All the while, somewhere in space, not too far away from the Sol Region, on a small, desolate planet...

A small fleet of ships was parked there. All the ships were of various designs and variations. Alongside these individual vessels, there was also a larger fleet of similarly designed, well-organized warships, clearly belonging to some established force.

They belonged to none other than the Azura Imperius.

Among this mix of organized and unorganized warships were five vessels, all of different designs but belonging to the same class.

In an open space in front of these five warships stood five people wearing ordinary-looking space armor. All of them were looking at their right hands, where holograms floated in the air, displaying a star chart with several locations marked on it, one of which shone much brighter than the others.

”Captain Shiba, is the intel correct this time around? We’ve been on this mission for quite a while now, and so far, most of the intel we’ve acquired from outside has failed to yield any results. Either the information was false, or even when it was true, the reported fleets of those things had already left the coordinates long ago.”

”Yeah, Captain!” another one spoke. This time, the voice was feminine. ”We can’t just keep running around like this again!”

”...” Captain Shiba was troubled as well. He also had some doubts about the intelligence they had received, but the only saving grace was that the high command had reported some observations to him that matched the information they had gathered. That was the reason he had presented this mission in the first place...

”This time, there’s some guarantee that we might find our targets,” Captain Shiba said, putting particular emphasis on the word might. ”The main reason is that the intelligence I received has some points that coincide with the observations sent by the high command.”

Lieutenant Patrick frowned, his thick eyebrows showing visible frustration at Captain Shiba’s earlier words.

However, his frown relaxed considerably upon hearing the mention of the high command, and he nodded his head. ”That’s good.”

The others followed suit, nodding their heads with a bit of relief as well.

Hearing their responses, Captain Shiba let out a quiet sigh before speaking.

”Let’s get on with this, everyone. The quicker we locate those rats, the faster we can get back home and relax.”

”Yesss!” the other four shouted in response, clearly a bit restless themselves. It seemed they were longing to return home as quickly as possible as well...

Clearly, the long-term deployment in space, combined with the constant struggle to find a handful of enemies who were exceptionally good at hiding, had added to their frustration and drained their mental strength quite a bit.

Captain Shiba waved his hand.

Captain Shiba waved his hand.

”Everyone, board your starships! According to the intelligence we received, combined with the information provided by the high command, a relatively untouched star system not far from this location was found to have traces of the Red Bull Gang about twelve galactic hours ago.

Or rather, it was a puppet force controlled by one of the Seven Superpowers. They were discovered there after carrying out a raid three days ago at...”

At those words, everyone’s expression immediately turned serious, for none of them dared to take any of the Seven Super Empires and their related forces lightly.

Arrogant they might be as elites of the Celestial Void Empire, but they also knew where to be arrogant and where not to be, for the accumulation of countless millions of years was no joke.

They knew there was still a long way to go before they could start underestimating these superstates.

”Our target is to completely eliminate the Red Bull Gang. If possible, and if the situation allows, we are also to capture a few of them for interrogation...” Captain Shiba said before pausing and looking at everyone. ”Remember, this is only to be done when the situation allows it. Capturing them isn’t a compulsory objective.”

”Sir!” everyone answered in unison before walking straight towards their respective starships.

BOOM!

One by one, the starships’ powerful propulsion engines fired up, led by Captain Shiba’s peak frigate, code-named Osprey. In actuality, it was a camouflaged SF Striker-class frigate, a military-upgraded variant of the Celestial Void Empire.

It was followed by two more frigates of the same class, each with its own distinct camouflage. They were Rank 9 and Rank 8 frigates, respectively.

Finally, the last three ships were peak corvette-class vessels, code-named Zephyr. In actuality, they were military-upgraded variants of the Phantom Dagger, with the latter being a Gen-1 ship.

A small yet overwhelmingly powerful starship team pierced straight through the clouds, their powerful propulsion engines leaving trails of mist in their wake.

Captain Shiba, using his authority as a captain-ranked individual, connected all four ships together for a forced synchronized hyperspace jump. Their destination was the location marked on the star map, glowing the deepest shade of red.

Breaking through the thick atmosphere of the unnamed planet, they rushed into space and quickly entered hyperspace together.

Their target location was about ten light-years away from their current position.

.....

12 Minutes Later...

BOOOOM!

The five ships of the Osprey Squad exited hyperspace as they arrived at their target location.

They had arrived in a very unfamiliar star system. The surrounding space was filled with meteorites and asteroid belts, and the only other distinctive feature in the entire star system was the red giant sun.

Everyone immediately became serious, concentrating all their attention on their surroundings.

In a star system like this, filled with countless large and small meteors scattered throughout space, there was no guarantee of where their target, the Red Bull Gang, might be hiding, assuming they were even here at all.

For all the members of the Osprey Squad knew, their enemies could appear from anywhere. Naturally, they had to remain at their best and stay focused, ready to respond to any sudden changes in the situation so that they wouldn’t be caught off guard.