Isaac entered the control room.
Numerous holograms appeared before him. With just a touch or through voice command, he could control any of them.
“Aravark, are the defensive systems working?”
[Yes, Admiral. The Veil System and the primary defensive shield have been deployed.]
“Good. That should be enough. Aravark, disconnect 700 golems from the System. We need to conserve as much energy as possible.”
[That would leave the ship with only 38 golems. Are you sure you wish to proceed, Admiral?]
“Do it.”
[Affirmative.]
Seven hundred golems were immediately disconnected from the System at the same time.
Isaac felt somewhat vulnerable, but he deemed he needed to do this much in order to preserve the few remaining energy of the ship.
“Aravark, I know it’s a bit late but… where exactly are we?”
A hologram of a blue planet, an image Aravark captured before landing here, appeared before Isaac.
[We are currently on Planet EA908-XRV of the LY78 System, Admiral.]
“What? LY78 System?”
He’d been to numerous planets and systems before, but this was his first time hearing of it.
The planets and systems under the Galactic Federation weren’t even under alphabetical classification.
[It’s a primitive system in the UI99EK Galaxy under the Betelgeuse Empire.]
Isaac combed his hair to the back using his fingers.
“Haaah… that’s basically the border of the Empire. How did we even manage to reach this far?”
[The part of the control room responsible for the calculation of the warp’s coordinates was malfunctioning back then.]
[Due to the error, we ended up warping to the imperial border.]
This information was driving Isaac crazy.
Not only because they were currently in the territory of the Empire, but also because they were basically trapped in this place, without a way out.
They would need a lot of energy to warp back to the nearest outpost of the Federation. And currently, the ship had only around 5.83% energy left at most.
“Aravark, have you repaired the part of the control room responsible for calculating warp coordinates?”
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[Yes, Admiral. It’s currently fully functional.]
“Good. Calculate the energy needed to warp to the nearest outpost of the Federation.”
[Understood.]
Several seconds passed before the voice of the System AI was heard again.
[Based on my calculations, the ship would need around 83% energy in order to safely warp to the nearest Galactic Federation’s outpost. If we include the energy needed to maintain the ship until it docks at the outpost, around 86% energy is needed.]
Warping to another territory under the Empire was out of the question. Due to the Federation and the Empire’s enmity, the battleship would be blown into pieces the moment the Empire detected its arrival.
It was already a miracle that the Empire hadn’t manage to detect Aravark when it arrived to this planet, probably due to the fact that this was the border.
“86%?!”
Isaac groaned.
“Aravark, analyze the ambient Aether in this planet. Calculate how long it would take to gather that much energy.”
[Understood.]
From within the ship, several hundred drones flew out. After an hour, they came back.
[Admiral, this planet is severely lacking in Aether. Based on our calculations, it would take approximately 4551 years and 27 days to gather enough Aether to warp to the nearest outpost of the Federation.]
“You…! You gotta be kidding me!” shouted Isaac.
Out of frustration, he started pulling out his hair.
Although it should be possible for him to live that long using the medicine remaining in the Medbay, four millennia were still a long time.
[Admiral, please refrain from self-harm.]
Isaac shouted even louder, “I can’t even pull my hair out of frustration, huh! Screw you! Four thousand years! How am I supposed to return to the Federation and report about the incident!”
Isaac already knew that it wasn’t the System AI’s fault. Still, he couldn’t help but feel frustrated when he heard how much time it would take to return to his home planet.
“Damn it! Damn it! System, create a practice target! A punching bag! Anything!”
[Affirmative.]
Immediately, the hologram of a punching bag appeared before Isaac.
“Arggh!”
Venting his anger and frustrations, Isaac started punching and kicking the bag, even going as far as slamming his head against it. Of course, he heard the AI’s same reminder about refraining from inflicting self-harm again.
“Haaahh…. Haaaahh…!”
Filled with sweat, Isaac ordered the System to create a chair and sat on it.
“Shit… shit!”
Just like before, Isaac felt it was such a waste that it was him who’d survived and not another officer.
He already knew he wasn’t someone exemptional or special.
Surely, if it were the Captain or the Admiral, they would know what to do in a situation like this one.
In the end, after pondering over the current situation for several hours, Isaac decided that the best course of action was to consult the System AI.
"System, find the best route to gather Aether in this planet.”
[Affirmative.]
[Requesting permission to mobilize surveillance drones.]
“Permission granted.”
From the dockyard, nearly ten thousand drones started coming out in droves. The drones flew around the Wasteland first, before flying and scattering in various directions.
***
The arrival of the dreadnought-class battleship caused a domino effect in the Wasteland.
Unbeknownst to Isaac, the place they landed on was the territory of the Lightning Dragon Lord Uurgamak.
Although the forcefield deployed by the battleship softened the landing to a certain degree, the impact of their landing still held enough strength to pulverize the Dragon’s nest, together with its owner.
On the same day the dreadnought-class battleship landed on the planet, the life of the Lightning Dragon Lord, one of the rulers of the Wasteland, ended.
Remotely, the System AI collected information about the planet they’d landed on.
Through the drones, numerous images and information were transmitted to the System of the ship.
[Collecting data.]
[Gathering ambient Aether sample.]
[Unidentified creature spotted.]
The thousands of drones that flew out of the ship started capturing the Wasteland monsters they encountered along the way.
Each of the drones – a product of the Galactic Federation’s Fifth Weapons Factory – held strength comparable to an A-ranked awakened on this planet.
Suffice to say, even the Wasteland monsters, notoriously known for being fierce and dangerous, could hardly put up a fight against these flying machines.
There were some monsters that managed to put up a decent fight, but whenever a drone deemed the target was troublesome, it would immediately request backup from the nearby drones, turning the capture process into a many versus one.
[Delivering sample to the Specimen Room.]
[Delivery complete.]
[Collecting data.]
[Unidentified creature spotted.]
[Proceeding to capture the unidentified creature for analysis.]
That day, the Wasteland monsters experienced the most terrifying moment of their lives.
The monsters shuddered in terror upon seeing thousands of bird-like creatures swooping down and effortlessly capturing their kin, one after another.
The System AI of the dreadnought-class battleship did not discriminate as it collected various samples throughout the land.
It did not care even if the sample was a monster from the Wasteland.
“Kiiiik! Kiiik!”
Even the Butcher, a Named A-rank monster, was helpless the moment the drones spotted it.
“Kiiiiiiiiik!”
Carried by eight drones, the Butcher shrieked in terror as it flew toward the invisible battleship.
The indiscriminate act of capturing Wasteland monsters caused the monsters to flee from the place.
Those that had been living near the lair of the Lightning Dragon Uurgamak started evacuating into the outer areas, the regions near human cities.
This, in turn, caused the weaker monsters to flee the outskirts, forcing them to attack the human settlements nearby.
The landing of the battleship caused a cascade of events, eventually spiraling into a monster stampede.
And this affected not only the Republic of Krista, but all of the countries that bordered the massive Wasteland.