Chapter 147

Serious Gaming

It was time for the aliens to once again invade. It had been 77 days and 14 hours since Lucas had first started construction. The total number of s.h.i.+ps he had was almost beyond reckoning. 

696 battles.h.i.+ps, 464 carriers, 2088 destroyers, 9280 sniper drones, 4640 s.h.i.+eld drones, and 6960 fighters. This was the total number of s.h.i.+ps Lucas had created. The enemy would have 100 battles.h.i.+ps, 10 carriers, 400 destroyers, 2000 fighters, and 200 cruisers. Their forces outnumbered the enemy by at least six to one and in some cases ten to one.

All of Lucas’ s.h.i.+ps were hidden on the backside of the fifth planet, preventing the aliens from discovering them when they invaded. Lucas was controlling a sniper drone. Aslo and Chu Shen were controlling destroyers, while Chrissa was controlling a hundred s.h.i.+eld drones still inside the carrier. Once they deployed they would form a square s.h.i.+eld, allowing Chrissa to manipulate them like one unit.

None of the drones except the sniper drones were released from the carrier yet. After all, the drones couldn’t teleport unlike the other s.h.i.+ps. They would need to get close in order to fight the enemy. The sniper drones, on the other hand, wouldn’t need to get close and could fight no matter the distance.

Suddenly, the scanners lit up as the enemy jumped in. Chu Shen grinned. Finally, it was time to fight. He sighed and deactivated the simulation. According to their ‘orders’, they weren’t allowed to attack the aliens until they were even with the sixth planet. This was to avoid having some of them run away to warn future fleets of the sudden upsurge in technology. 

The AI of the Nugitraaiil would not be directing their s.h.i.+ps, only setting down some guidelines for their attack. According to the AI, previous privateers would control their own s.h.i.+ps, but would be told to attack certain s.h.i.+ps or to not engage unless the enemy was in certain areas. 

This was to give the privateers autonomy and not distract them while they fought. Such privileges were not extended to the military since they were trained to take orders while fighting. They had almost total control of how to engage the enemy. However, they would have to wait for three hours before the enemy would come into their targeting envelope.

Chu Shen wasted some time chatting with Lucas and Aslo. After some good natured ribbing, along with a couple drinks, it was time to fight for real. Activating the simulation, Chu Shen was suddenly piloting a s.h.i.+p.

Their fleet flew out from behind the planet. Their numbers matched the enemy exactly. There was no point in scaring them off too soon after all. The fighters were half regular fighters, one quarter s.h.i.+eld drones, and one quarter sniper drones.

They were in teleportation range. As a result, all of Lucas’ s.h.i.+ps disappeared and reappeared behind the enemy. The destroyers formed a half sphere with the open end facing the enemy. The battles.h.i.+ps were behind the destroyers and behind them were the carriers.

Chu Shen could see the top of his s.h.i.+p. The plasma cannon started to power up as he targeted an enemy carrier. Firing the large plasma projectile, he watched as it hit the carrier’s s.h.i.+eld and sliced through it like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter. 

It hit the carrier directly in the middle. He must have hit the reactor or a fuel depot because the carrier exploded shortly after the plasma went through the middle of the s.h.i.+p. The carriers were priority targets to prevent them from launching their fighters.

Chu Shen followed the plasma projectile as it went through two enemy destroyers and one battles.h.i.+p, crippling the battles.h.i.+p and wiping out the destroyers. He looked at the energy banks of his s.h.i.+p and realized that he didn’t have enough power to fire another shot like that.  

Sighing, he selected several destroyers’ rear engines and activated the targeting systems. Immediately, several hundred plasma turrets on his s.h.i.+p started firing hundreds of plasma bolts at the targets he selected, crippling their engines and turning them into sitting ducks.

Chu Shen smiled at the destruction he was causing, but got bored after crippling his tenth destroyer. He toggled an option on his simulator, switching over to one of the fighters. The fighter had apparently been on a strafing run on a destroyer. Upon taking over, Chu Shen had to immediately dodge a laser as its bright red beam shot towards him.

Doing a barrel roll, Chu Shen pulled up, away from the destroyer. Flying away from the fight, Chu Shen gathered himself and examined the fighter’s condition. Its s.h.i.+elds were still at a hundred percent and only a small amount of its railgun ammunition had been expended so far.

Grinning, Chu Shen quickly highlighted potential targets before zeroing in on one of the battles.h.i.+ps. Activating the engines, he shot straight towards the enemy s.h.i.+p. He fired his lasers and bright red streaks of light shot towards the battles.h.i.+p. 

Currently the battles.h.i.+p was distracted by 3 other fighters, so there was almost no defensive fire coming towards him. The battles.h.i.+p’s s.h.i.+eld flared to life as his lasers struck it. Unfortunately, nothing else happened even after repeated blows to its s.h.i.+eld. 

Frustrated, Chu Shen fired two plasma bombs. The s.h.i.+elds flickered as two blue b.a.l.l.s of light exploded right next to it. Part of the s.h.i.+p’s hull became scorched as some of the plasma leaked through. Unfortunately, the s.h.i.+p’s s.h.i.+eld came back online five seconds later. 

Chu Shen realized that none of his armament was doing much good against this behemoth of a s.h.i.+p. Honestly, fighters weren’t meant to fight these monster battles.h.i.+ps. They were too heavily s.h.i.+elded to be taken out by the light armament of the fighters. Only other capital s.h.i.+ps, like their own battles.h.i.+ps and destroyers, could take them on in a one-on-one fight.

Right as he was about to give up, Chu Shen realized there was one weapon he still hadn’t tried. Switching over to his railgun turrets, Chu Shen looped back around for another strafing run. 

This time Chu Shen flew towards the s.h.i.+ps engines. Firing the railguns, his s.h.i.+p tracked the otherwise invisible projectiles. He watched as the projectiles flew straight at the engines at over 100 times the speed of sound. 

There was a flash as the projectiles smashed through the engines and penetrated the s.h.i.+p’s fuel line, causing a ma.s.sive explosion. The s.h.i.+p’s s.h.i.+eld hadn’t even attempted to stop the railgun! Chu Shen grinned. Just like they had thought, the invaders’ s.h.i.+ps weren’t designed to stop physical objects, only energy weapons. 

Suddenly, all of the enemy s.h.i.+ps around him turned around. Activating their engines at full power, the enemy suddenly started fleeing from the solar system!