Interstellar Survival: Invasion

Chapter 133: Seventh Armored Division

"That guy must have gone mad. We must be careful," said Zhang Bao'er.

"He's so angry because of the loss of a Zeus-class battleship. As the commander of the operation, he will be subjected to a hearing for the loss," said Old Du.

The three of us stood against the wall and assumed defensive positions. The door opened, and Carter rushed in, furious. Several soldiers were still trying to stop him from doing anything extreme.

"You idiots! If it wasn't for you guys wasting my time, we wouldn't have lost a battleship and over 1,000 soldiers!" roared Carter.

"There are always casualties in war, especially when working against certain strategic goals. There are many such cases in history," argued Zhang Bao'er unyieldingly.

"You still dare to twist your words and keep quibbling? I'll kill you!" said Captain Carter as he tried to snatch the gun from a soldier's hands.

The guard was already on guard against something like that, so he kept an iron grip on his gun. When Carter saw that he had failed to snatch the gun, he suddenly reached for the dagger on the soldier's waist and then stabbed it toward Zhang Bao'er's chest. Everyone exclaimed in alarm. Everything had happened suddenly, so nobody could react in time. In a flash, the blade stabbed into Zhang Bao'er's chest.

"It hurts! You imbecile! You dare stab me?" roared Zhang Bao'er as he pulled the dagger out.

We suddenly saw that Carter was standing completely still. The dagger had not gone in too deeply. In fact, only a tiny bit of the blade's tip had stabbed through Zhang Bao'er's skin; it was barely enough to draw blood. I knew that Bulu had acted during the critical moment and saved Zhang Bao'er.

"You animal! You're actually so ruthless? We are prisoners. Before subjecting us to a trial, you tried to take our lives in private. This is highly illegal. Soldiers, why aren't you arresting him?" I roared at the soldiers who were staring blankly.

My roar seemed to have awakened them. One of them, who seemed to be an official, signaled the others with his eyes. They understood tacitly what he meant and stepped forth to arrest the captain. Right at that moment, a military messenger appeared outside the room with a new order.

"Duke Yidon ordered that the three prisoners are to be immediately brought to the temporary command center," said the messenger.

The three soldiers escorted us and Carter, who was restrained, to the temporary command center. At that point, Bulu had stopped the control. Along the way, Carter kept threatening the three of us. Surprisingly, all three of us reached a unanimous decision to ignore him regardless of what he said.

Shortly after, we arrived at the temporary command center. Through the window, I saw that we were currently within one of the fleet's outer space military bases. The command center was filled with soldiers and military officials in ceremonial attire. Duke Yidon and King Xido were seated on the two big chairs in the center of the room. Standing beside them were Kelly with a concerned expression and our companions, Dondon, Domo, and Wuzhou.

'Weird. Why are all these people in ceremonial attire? What weird thing are they trying to do now?' I wondered inwardly.

After we entered the room, Duke Yidon walked up to us. He wordlessly stared at us, to the point our hairs stood on end.

"Going back on your word and tricking us to help you before taking us prisoner. Just kill us and get it over with. Why waste time here?" said Zhang Bao'er unyieldingly.

The duke smiled and ignored Zhang Bao'er. After he was done staring at us, he walked up to Carter and started staring at Carter wordlessly as well. After a while, Duke Yidon shook his head, turned around, and waved his hand.

Several soldiers immediately stepped forth and removed the bindings on the three of us and Carter. The moment our bindings were removed, Duke Yidon's assistant stepped forth with a letter of commendation in his hand. He started reading from it.

"In view of Zhang Xingxing, Li Canyue, Zhang Bao'er, and Dudal Homlu's contribution in the war, Duke Yidon hereby exercises his prerogative to promote Major Zhang Xingxing to lieutenant colonel. Private Li Canyue, Zhang Bao'er, and Dudal Homlu are all promoted to second lieutenants. Zhang Xingxing is hereby appointed captain of the Poseidon-class battleship Spacetime. In Zhang Xingxing's absence, Li Canyue will be Spacetime's acting captain. Their fugitive status is officially removed," announced the assistant.

The change and surprise had arrived so suddenly. Even people who had faced countless dangers and hardships like us were completely stunned. We had always dreamed of returning to the league after making enough contributions, and our dream had been achieved. We had even been promoted. It felt like all our hardships had been worth it. After Assistant Xink finished, Duke Yidon turned and walked up to me.

"Young man, although you have offended me, I understand the principles of justice and fairness that you and your team pursue. You have returned to the league, and from now onward, you have your own ship to captain and have the right to recruit the crew for your ship. I hope you can prove your worth to the league in this war," said Duke Yidon.

"Thank you, sir. My first mission will be rescuing our captain. We will reconvene with the league fleet after," I said.

"The battleship Spacetime is equipped with formidable firepower. It also has extremely flexible maneuverability and comes with 200 experienced crew members. Additionally, your spaceship Fearless will stay with you, serving as the deputy under the battleship Spacetime. Your requested 200 sets of morph-capable gears have been prepared. This is as much as I can help for your rescue mission," said Duke Yidon.

"But the Southstar Army has created a defensive perimeter of 500,000 people. How do I save the captain with so little manpower?" I asked.

"In the history of war, including the history of your Planet Blue, there are many examples of defeating the many with the few. My apologies, but I won't be able to spare more manpower to help you," said Duke Yidon.

I stopped insisting. I knew that facing a major war, a small number of losses would always be taken as a matter of fact. After speaking to me, Duke Yidon turned to face Captain Carter.

"Captain Carter, for your exemplary performance in the rescue operation to free the king of Akko and me, you qualified for a medal. But today, you had broken military law and attempted to harm your prisoners without trial. Fortunately, no big damage was done. Thus, your contribution and your fault will cancel each other out. But if you repeat the same offense, you will receive double the punishment," said Duke Yidon coldly.

Kelly finally smiled when she saw that Captain Carter wouldn't receive punishment. She had been worried that her brother would receive severe punishment for his actions.

"Thank you for the forgiveness, sir. I will work hard to make up for my offense and fight for the league until my very last breath," said Captain Carter, who was similarly relieved.

"Don't embarrass your father," said Duke Yidon.

'So in the end, it is still General Edward's reputation that has shielded him,' I thought inwardly.

"Canyue, your unit still needs a designation. What do you have in mind?" Duke Yidon suddenly asked.

I looked at Old Du and Zhang Bao'er before sinking into thought. I suddenly blurted, "7th Armored Division."

"Soldier, you only have two ships. How can you call yourself a division?" reminded Assistant Xink.

"A single spark can start a prairie fire. We will grow in battle," I replied.

"No problem. Their unit will be incorporated into the 11th Corps of the B Army," decided Duke Yidon.

I did not expect to have our very own unit and soldiers so soon. At the thought of that, I couldn't help but grow excited.

"Lord Duke, we're running out of time. Permission to lead my unit to Akko and commence the rescue operation," I applied.

"Granted. I hope you can complete the mission and return speedily. I will be awaiting your good news," encouraged Duke Yidon.

"Duke, I have a request," a voice rang out. Everyone looked over and saw that it was Kelly.

"What request?" asked Duke Yidon.

"Sir, permission to join Captain Zhang Xingxing's unit," said Kelly.

"Oh? Second Lieutenant Canyue, what do you think?" asked Duke Yidon instead of giving his answer.

"Canyue, she is a major. She might disobey direct orders with her higher military rank. Don't forget what she did previously," reminded Zhang Bao'er.

"I promise to follow all the captain's orders," said Kelly.

"Canyue, Kelly has a rich experience in leading Poseidon-class battleships in battles. She will be a good helper if she joins you," said Duke Yidon.

"I agree to have Kelly join the 7th Armored Division. She will assist the captain in all our battle assignments," I replied.

"Good. Xink, make the arrangements and have the crew members assemble as soon as possible. They will assist Captain Canyue with the rescue mission," said Duke Yidon.

"Yes, Lord Duke. The corresponding personnel have been assembled. I will take Captain Canyue to them soon," said Xink.

Both Zhang Bao'er and Old Du appeared excited. They were impatient to get the show on the road now that we had our own unit to lead. Kelly approached her brother to give him a proper farewell. In interstellar wars, nobody knew when one would perish. Each farewell could very well be the final farewell.

Suddenly, when we were about to leave, King Xido said, "Young man, I need to ask for a favor from you."

"Your Majesty, what request do you have? Just say it. I'll try my best," I said politely.

"Thank you, young man. You have helped Akko many times with your courage. I hope you can save both Prince Toruse and Prince Arude during your rescue mission. Those two are intricately linked to the war with the Divine Empire," King Xido earnestly requested.