The next five days went by smoothly. Without being aware of it, Winslow gave all the trouble-makers rations that were spiked. Since the AI could track every individual on the starship, Erin had it confirm that only the problematic beastmen ate these rigged rations. With that finally settled, Erin focused his attention elsewhere.
[We are approaching the star route’s designated spatial exit. The starship will exit warp drive shortly.]
[Due to no precedence being set in the system’s memory, and to avoid missing the spatial channel’s exit, the warp drive will end earlier than previously calculated.]
A notification rang through Erin’s ears. He was currently sitting on his chair in the Command Center.
“Notify Winslow that we’ll be arriving soon. Tell him to head over the command center.”
Erin was making a few preparations just in case. When they exit the spatial channel, they will probably stumble upon some Ursidae Tribe guardships. Even though he had both the passcode signal and two insignias, he still wanted Winslow to be next to him in case the guardships sent out any communication requests.
By the time Winslow arrived, the starship was on the edge of exiting warp drive.
Although Winslow didn’t say anything, his eyes shone with excitement. They were about to reach the Ursidae Tribe’s outer-homeplanet soon.
[Exiting warp drive now]
Erin and Winslow were looking out the giant front window of the Command Center. The flashing rays of light quickly slowed down before finally being replaced by intergalactic space. Erin looked around and saw that everything was normal.
The translucent barrier on the spatial channel made it possible to see all of the surrounding space. The energy waves inside the channel were moving at the same pace he saw two weeks ago.
“We exited safely. That’s good.” Erin let out a sigh of relief.
“But of course, spatial channels are very stable and safe. That is why many tribe’s value them so dearly.” Winslow added his opinion. The only things that can make a channel unsafe are other starships. That’s why they were regulated seriously.
Since they were still inside the spatial channel, the energy waves helped Erin’s starship move many times faster than it would by itself.
[We are currently 18 minutes from the designated spatial exit.]
“Oh? Longer than I expected. Winslow, feel free to take a seat down anywhere.” Erin thought they would only be a couple minutes away. He assumed that the AI was simply being extra cautious. This was okay since Erin was the one that insisted the AI minimizes any potential risks.
“My thanks, honored one.” Winslow sat near the sleeping dragon hatchling. Even after all this time, he was still amazed that this young human man was the master of a heavenly dragon.
Time passed very quickly and the starship was only two minutes away from seeing the spatial channel’s exit.
“AI, activate all of the ship’s holographic displays. Connect it to some of the cameras facing the front of the starship. Let everyone see our arrival at their outer-homeplanet. It should calm their nerves a lot.” Erin ordered.
Based on the star route’s coordinates, the outer-homeplanet was actually located right next to the spatial channel’s exit! Erin understood that the Ursidae Tribe probably developed this mega-planet because of its valuable location.
Winslow nodded gratefully at Erin. The one thing that his people were most concerned about was the unknown. Even though they were on Erin’s starship, they had no idea when the arrival day was. This would quell a lot of concern and confusion.
[Understood. Transmitting a live-video feed now.]
A lot of the beastmen on the starship were asleep when Erin gave these orders. Once a few of the awake ones saw the live-feed, they quickly started waking up everyone else. A little bit of lost sleep was nothing compared to seeing this moment.
As the last two minutes passed, the sight that Erin and Winslow expected to see was far different from their imaginations.
At the far distance, Erin saw hundreds of starships flying into the spatial channel and trying to enter warp-drive. From civilian to military, and from small to big, there were simply too many different variations! The numbers never stopped. It was like an endless river of ships.
“Honored one, all of those ships are Ursidae Tribe starships.” Winslow said. “This is quite odd. Usually, the spatial channel is restricted. At most, there should only be a dozen gaining entry at any one time. The guards would never allow so many to enter at the same time!”
Winslow frowned. This sight wasn’t orderly either. Some of the larger starships actually bumped into smaller ones carelessly! This would never be tolerated by the guardships.
Erin understood that this chaotic sight wasn’t normal either. Both of them grew very concerned as they looked out the giant glass windows.
“AI, activate the command center’s holographic display. Redirect several cameras to the space surrounding the spatial exit and zoom in.” Erin was so focused on this crazy view that he didn’t pay attention to the surroundings. The same went for Winslow.
As the cameras activated and zoomed in, Erin and Winslow both dropped their jaws.
The outer-homeplanet that they were heading to was completely covered in flames! The space around this planet was an active war-zone! Thousands of military-grade Planetoid starships were currently in a vicious battle with thousands of military-grade Ursidae starships! It was very obvious that the Ursidae ships were outnumbered.
At a distance, a large Planetoid mothership surrounded by Destroyers was launching ranged attacks on the mega-planet! Countless ships were escaping from the planet and making their ways to the spatial channel. The fighting Ursidae starships were protecting these fleeing ships from being struck-down as they escaped. Many of them were merely civilian grade ships that couldn’t even fight back. Even the fighter-grade ones were ants in a war-zone like this.
Throughout the entire starship, many of the beastmen refugees started crying. Parents were trying hard to calm down their children.
Even the trouble-makers with red auras looked gravely concerned. Their family’s were the first to cross the dimensional gate before it broke. They knew that their Branch only had so many starships in their city. If the outer-homeplanet was on the verge of destruction, as refugees, their families would have the lowest priority during the escape. Their faces looked like they were betrayed.
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“Winslow. It seems we won’t be able to land in your Branch’s main city.” Erin’s voice was emotionless.
“Indeed.” Winslow was very somber.
“If we continue down this spatial channel, where will it lead?” Erin asked.
“The Ursidae Tribe established many key planets around this channel. It stretches all the way into the inner and core realms of the Beastman Universe. Normally, we need authorization to enter these areas. However, based on the thousands fleeing in the same direction, I think we should be okay.” Winslow promptly answered.
[A communication message has been detected. Accept?]
Erin and Winslow were interrupted by Ai’s sudden notification.
“Accept it.” The only starships inside this spatial channel are Ursidae starships. Since transmissions can’t cross the spatial channels translucent borders, Erin knew that this request wasn’t being sent from a hostile starship.
A video-feed quickly popped up with a very well-dressed beastman at the center. He was clearly inside of his starship’s command center. Since it was a message, this video was pre-recorded. This beastman couldn’t see Erin nor Winslow on the other side.
“Greetings, honorable senior. I am Renald of the Morack Family. My Flight Officers detected an approaching starship from within the spatial channel itself. In these troubling times, such a thing is quite rare. Never did I imagine to see the marvelous starship of such a senior figure! Might I add, your taste in starship design is quite superb. From my adventures as a youth, the design definitely reflects human talent.”
“Formalities aside, as you can see from the chaos on the outside, the outer-homeplanet that I was in-charge of is about to fall. My deepest apologies to the family. The Planetoids launched a surprise attack roughly three days ago. At first, many of us believed that we could stand our ground; yet the number of Planetoid starships only kept increasing! To think, only a few hours ago, the entire mega-planet was perfectly intact. Pity, this outcome was both unexpected and tragic.” The well-dressed beastman wiped tears that were forming on his eyes. To Erin, this view seemed a little fake.
“In this chaos, warping down the channel has proven to be a challenge. Too many starships are crowded inside; increasing the chances of an unsafe warp. Large starships like ours are the most affected by this. Fortunately, with your esteemed status, I believe that everyone will make way for you.”
“My best regards! I truly hope that we safely meet again in the Morack Family’s core homeplanet!”
The message ended there.
“That was a nobleman of the Morack Family.” Winslow muttered in surprise.
Erin was absorbing the information quickly. He understood a few critical points from Winslow’s comment and this message.
“AI, do not exit the spatial channel. Re-direct our path to the center of the spatial channel. We’ll wait for an opportunity to enter warp-drive again.” Erin ordered as his ship was nearing the long river of escaping starships.
He then activated the control panel in front of his Commander’s seat. Since the internal live-feed was still active, Erin knew that everyone else on board was probably panicking. He sent out an internal announcement to quell their worries.
[Greetings to all those on-board.]
[Due to extenuating circumstances, we will not be exiting the spatial channel at this time. Our route will be redirected to a Ursidae planet located in deeper territory. We will be entering warp drive shortly. Rest assured that I have no intentions of joining the battle. My primary objective is to reach a safe planet.]
Erin’s voice was easily recognized since he was the only one capable of making an announcement on this starship.
Many of the worried beastmen relaxed at this news. They continued to believe in the Dragon Rider’s capabilities. A great number of them had green auras that turned several shades darker. Some yellow auras converted to a light green while even some red aura’s lightened up considerably. Erin wasn’t aware of these changes yet since he was in the starship’s command center.
As Erin’s starship approached the waves of escaping ships, he noticed that many of these starships started making way for him. Even the larger and more powerful Ursidae starships openly made way when Erin’s starship got near them. None of them dared to block his way.
With so many starships making way, Erin was able to get closer to the front of the waves where starship’s were activating their warp drives. Although he was surprised, Erin assumed that this was probably due to the insignia’s installed on his starship. It must have been more special than he assumed.
“Brother Warrick was generous. The insignias he gave us are proving to be very useful right now.” Winslow sighed in relief.
“Indeed. I must really thank him again next time.” If Warrick was on-board, Erin would probably hug him gratefully right now. His gift was literally saving them. Time was of the essence when there was a losing war-zone outside the spatial channel.
Due to the chaos, Erin didn’t notice a small starship leaving the spatial channel. This sight befuddled many starship pilots that were trying to escape.
Erin also didn’t notice that one of the larger starships was directly following his starship. It appeared to be the same starship that the well-dressed beastmen sent a message from.
[The starship is about to approach open-channel space. Activate warp drive?]
“Activate it.”
[Understood. We will be entering warp drive in 3.. 2.. 1..]
Because Erin didn’t turn off the live-feed, everyone on-board could still see the cameras pointing outside of the starship. When they saw the scene shift into countless rays of light, almost all of the beastmen started cheering! The starship was now in warp while inside the spatial channel! For the time being, this meant that they were safe.
“It is a true pity.” Winslow eyes were moist. Although his relationship wasn’t the greatest with the other people in his Branch, he was still concerned for their well-being. Since there were so many fleeing starships, he really hoped that some of them were from his Branch city.
After Erin’s starship entered warp, the large starship directly behind them also prepared to enter warp drive.
“Haha. I was right. Even in the chaos, all of the other starship pilots made way when they saw the High Elder’s insignias. We finally managed to safely make it through that barbaric flood!” Renald Morack was cheering while ordering his Flight Officers to enter warp drive. He was annoyed because very few starships recognized his ship’s insignias. What he didn’t know was that many people did recognize it; they just were unwilling to give way to him.
Since many of the starships around him never made way, life was very difficult for his pilots. When he saw the insignia’s on Erin’s starship, Renald hatched a brilliant idea that was now bearing fruit.
As for the small starship that reversed out of the spatial channel, it was now sending out a discrete signal while in front of the spatial channel’s entrance.
“Officer Zorvek, we’ve received a transmission from one of our Ursidae spies. It seems to hold information related to the Admiral’s personal case from two weeks ago.” A subordinate officer saw this transmission and immediately notified Zorvek.
They were currently on-board one of the Planetoid’s Destroyer class starships that was firing long-range attacks at the Ursidae outer-homeplanet. The Admiral himself granted Zorvek full control of this starship.
“Let me see it myself.” Zorvek pushed the subordinate officer away and directly looked at the transmission. The information made him go wide-eyed.
Roughly two weeks ago, the Admiral’s younger brother was killed on a very basic mission.
During this basic mission, his starship was orbiting the target planet. Due to its special features, it was the only one that had a salvage-able surveillance feed of its surroundings.
Zorvek had access to all this footage. Under the Admiral’s orders, he watched it repeatedly to try and find clues. The only thing he discovered was a strange starship that entered and exited the planet. He sent out images of this strange starship for his subordinates to reference.
“..Identical!” Zorvek quickly came to a realization. The transmission included a video-recording of this strange starship. It was currently inside of the spatial channel! The spatial channel just turned a thousand times more valuable right now!
“That starship is the one that the Admiral wants! Send forces to capture it immediately!” Zorvek yelled out. He sounded a little crazed. If the Admiral found out that they discovered the culprit but didn’t act immediately, then Zorvek’s head would be crushed next.
He was afraid that the strange starship was going to warp at any moment. The only saving grace was that it was a large starship. It would probably be held back by the waves of starships that were fleeing en masse.
The only reason why the Planetoid forces weren’t heavily attacking the fleeing Ursidae starships was because they had spies planted in some of the fleeing ships. However, compared to some spies, capturing the strange starship was far more important!
Receiving Zorvek’s emergency orders, many of the Planetoid Destroyer class starships stopped firing at the mega-planet.
That’s how much authority the Admiral granted him! All because of this one case!
They re-directed their weapons at the river of fleeing Ursidae starships. Even the battleships shifted their focus. All of the Planetoid’s forces were now aimed at capturing the spatial channel’s entrance in the shortest amount of time possible!