A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 1408 - 952: Unlucky Planet

Chapter 1408: Chapter 952: Unlucky Planet

"What exactly is the situation?"

Upon arriving at the bridge, Duanmu Huai continued to inquire with Sister Shepard, who hurriedly responded.

"I heard what you just said and immediately used ghost privileges to send a report to the Human Embassy, asking them to thoroughly check all the star domain colonies. It turns out that the communication of one of the colonies is disrupted, and there is no response. Navy fleets nearby have already been sent to investigate..."

"Damn it, I told you to investigate and you send out a fleet? Isn’t that alarming the enemy unnecessarily?"

Upon hearing this, Duanmu Huai immediately cursed and swiftly issued an order.

"Aikute, depart immediately! Lock the coordinates, and what is that colony called?"

"Bliss Territory..."

"What?"

At this point, Duanmu Huai was not quite understanding it yet; instead, Brother Shepard was the one taken aback.

"Why that place again?"

"What do you mean?"

By now, the warship had already entered the netway and begun jumping. Duanmu Huai cut off communications and looked towards Brother Shepard, who then showed a very complex expression.

"Well... how should I put it, Your Honor, the Judge, to be honest, that planet is really unlucky..."

"Hmm?"

According to Brother Shepard, Bliss Territory is a planet within the Star Union’s range, with a very good environment, quite suitable for human habitation, its only disadvantage being its proximity to the border. Apart from that, the planet is considered a climate-friendly, habitable planet for humans, hence the colony was named Bliss Territory.

But... perhaps because of its overly grand name, ever since the colony was established, it has been plagued with incidents.

First, the Batarei People invaded Star Union territory, launching an attack on Bliss Territory. At that time, Brother Shepard, a mere regular officer, fought back valiantly, leading his men to fend off the Batarei’s attacks, a feat that earned him his current rank.

Unexpectedly, that was not the end for Bliss Territory, but just the beginning...

Soon after humans had just managed to rebuild Bliss Territory’s colony, it was attacked again by Jaycee. However, the investigation afterward revealed that the mastermind behind it was the Reapers. The encounter this time was somewhat better; Jaycee’s main goal was to steal Prolo Deity’s Relic, and after achieving this goal, they left, so the losses were still manageable.

Thinking that the continuous troubles plaguing the colony were too much, the Star Alliance Navy then decided to specifically install four anti-aircraft guns in Bliss Territory.

But before these cannons had even been activated, the Reapers showed up again, harvesting nearly two-thirds of the inhabitants, who then met untimely deaths. Only a very few survived, thinking now that both the Batarei People and the Reapers were gone, there should be no more problems.

Well, guess what, then the Dark Spirit Clan invaded?

Why is this colony so unlucky, you tell me? There are several other colonies near the border, but why does Bliss Territory always bear the brunt? Could it be the name was really a mistake?

What could Duanmu Huai say?

No choice, bad feng shui I guess...

"—————!"

Passing through the netway, in just a moment, Duanmu Huai’s fleet arrived in the galaxy where Bliss Territory was located, and at the same time, they received communication from the nearby defense fleet.

"This is the Star Union Fifteenth Fleet! Is this the Tribunal?"

"Yes, what’s the situation now?"

"The situation is bad."

Although there was only audio and no visual, one could tell that the commander on the other side sounded quite downhearted.

"After receiving orders from Naval Command, we immediately rushed to Bliss Territory with top speed, but by the time we arrived, the perpetrators behind the attack on Bliss Territory had already fled. Currently, we are investigating the losses of Bliss Territory’s colony..."

"That’s quite expected."

Duanmu Huai didn’t expect the Star Alliance Navy to be able to capture the Dark Spirit Clan; the fleet’s tactics of the Dark Spirit Clan are purely guerrilla warfare, characterized by agile and nimble ships, though lacking in defense, the main strategy is rapid and nimble mobility. If the rugged Imperial battleships are likened to a buffalo, then the Dark Spirit Clan’s warships are more like a fly, buzzing around you and totally unafraid of being hit.

Plus, the Dark Spirit Clan can also use the netway to vanish without a trace, so it is virtually impossible for the Star Alliance Navy to catch such a fleet that employs fast and flexible maneuvering tactics—by the time they arrived in this galaxy, the Dark Spirit Clan might have already received the message and prepared to flee.

"In any case, let’s first go to the colony and see the situation."

Bliss Territory.

This colony with a beautiful name has been severely damaged several times, but none of those times were as disastrous as this one.

When a group of people arrived at the center of the Bliss Territory colony on a transport, the place was already a mess, littered with corpses. Star Alliance soldiers were busy gathering bodies and assessing losses. The fleet commander who came to meet them also had a grim expression.

"Honestly, I’ve been through many battles, but none of the battlefields have angered me as much as this one."

Commander Edward gritted his teeth, his face ashen.

"You can’t imagine how the residents here died! None were killed on the spot, almost all suffered prolonged pain before dying miserably here. Those damn bastards! They were just toying with the residents here for fun!"

The bodies being moved around also confirmed Commander Edward’s words; many of them had been subjected to disembowelment — the assailants had skillfully avoided vital organs, making it impossible for these people to receive treatment and they died amidst suffering.

Some had dozens of small cuts and bled as they crawled forward, until they crawled to their death.

Even Medea and Mary couldn’t bear the sight, and Shepperd’s brother clenched his teeth in anger, but Duanmu Huai remained calm.

"This is normal, the Dark Spirit Clan does not like killing; they relish bringing pain to others, as the suffering feeds their spirit. Therefore, merely killing means little to the Dark Spirit Clan. I think those abducted colonists are probably not dead; most likely, they were thrown into the Komoro arenas or used as lab rats. Of course, if it’s a skilled Dark Spirit, they could even skin a person alive without them dying... I wonder if after all these years, the Dark Spirit Clan’s skills have declined..."

"There are indeed such evil alien races in this world, I used to think the Batarei were disgusting enough, but compared to these Dark Spirits, even the Batarei and Vorcha People seem like angels!"

"To the Tribunal, all alien races are evil remnants that must be eliminated, no exceptions."

Duanmu Huai gave a detached answer.

"But I have to admit... the Dark Spirits are really tough to defeat."

"How so... even the Tribunal can’t handle them?"

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s reply, Commander Edward looked worried.

"Why?"

"The reason is simple. The Dark Spirit Clan possesses a kind of translocation method similar to that of the Tribunal, and their main base is not in the real world but in another dimension, frankly... it’s very hard to locate."

Duanmu Huai helplessly spread his hands, speaking an undeniable truth. Even in games, all players know that the Dark Spirit capital is Komoro, and that this city is hidden in the Netway, but exactly where in the Netway... no one knows!

The occasional player who travels to Komoro mostly uses the Dark Elf’s Netway Teleportation Portal, but no player has ever found the Dark Spirit Capital in the Netway on their own. It’s like searching for diseased tissue in intestines—problem is, you’d need at least a million years to search this intestine once.

How do you search?

This is the annoying part about the Dark Spirits; if you confront them straightforwardly, given their fragile armor, you could obliterate them in minutes. But the problem is, they never confront you directly; just like mosquitoes, relying on their fast and agile nature, they keep circling around you, occasionally sneaking in a hit, enough to infuriate anyone to death.

Even the Human Empire had a tough time dealing with the Dark Elves, precisely because of this. The Dark Spirits can use the Netway to teleport themselves and their warships, appearing and disappearing unpredictably. While the Imperial Battleships have no Netway to travel through and can only use Subspace, thus they never actually clash.

Even during the Imperial Era, Astarte basically always fought defensive wars against the Dark Elves—when launching an attack, you can’t even find where they are.

The Human Empire was like this, and naturally, the Star Alliance is far worse—frankly speaking, in front of the Dark Spirits, the Star Alliance is like pigs waiting to be slaughtered; they could kill whenever they want, leaving you utterly defenseless.

So as far as Duanmu Huai is concerned... the focus is on strengthening colony defense by increasing the numbers to counter the Dark Spirits, ideally deploying a few warships to form a Patrol Fleet for fixed patrols, and then...

"Didn’t you say earlier that this colony installed anti-aircraft turrets? Where are they?"

Duanmu Huai scanned the surroundings and turned to ask Shepperd’s brother, while Commander Edward answered next to him.

"... After that previous Reaper attack, the people here dismantled the anti-aircraft turrets, saying that if it weren’t for the turrets, they wouldn’t have attracted the Reapers’ attention... "

"A bunch of idiots. I hope they can keep such an optimistic attitude when experiencing the local customs of the Dark Spirits in Komoro."

Duanmu Huai snorted coldly, compared to battling the Star Alliance who had been fighting back and forth for a lifetime, the Star Union was just an inexperienced kid... The UNSC would never make such a mistake.

In the game, Duanmu Huai didn’t have much interaction with the Dark Spirits since the quest lines of the Dark Spirits were like an old lady’s bandages, smelly and lengthy, annoying as hell. Duanmu preferred those simple and direct tasks that required firepower. Occasionally, when fighting with Dark Spirits, it was always defensive; as for offensive battles—you chase them and they just run off, leaving you chasing shadows, it’s really infuriating.

The only way to annihilate the Dark Spirits is to find the teleportation portal to Komoro and directly raid their lair—The Dark Spirits have only that one capital city, raid it and they are doomed.

Moreover, if you could take down the Dark Spirits, you might be able to make progress on the Catastrophe agenda.

The problem is, how to raid... that’s the issue.

Thinking this, Duanmu Huai couldn’t help but ponder.