The Mars possessed immense thrust, yet it remained stationary; no matter how revolutionary its engines, it could not instantaneously achieve high velocity.

The area enveloped by those tens of thousands of light beams was vast; the Mars could not escape the bombardment zone. The instant the hull was struck, a ripple spread across its black surface, shattering like foam to reveal the dark cyan plating beneath.

On the bridge of the Hongxian Federation flagship, a sharp glint flared in the Commander’s eyes. "Got you," he barked.

He immediately gave the order: "All ships, heed my command! Engage all thrusters, full speed ahead."

The main cannons of every warship were fully charged, awaiting the moment they achieved optimal range. Every warrior held their breath, ready to blast the enemy into oblivion.

In the brief moments of the last few minutes, half of their supposedly invincible super-battleships had been destroyed—a fact they could barely accept.

Having held the clear advantage and being on the verge of annihilating the enemy, they had been struck by such a sneak attack. Nearly half the Federation forces had perished in that contemptible ambush.

A fire seemed to ignite in the chest of every man; they vowed to tear the shameless attacker to shreds.

Zhong Yun remained composed; the situation was unfolding exactly as Xiao Ling had predicted. After he had settled on the plan to cloak and strike from hiding, Xiao Ling had devised hundreds of contingency responses. He knew how to proceed and felt no panic.

The bombardment just moments ago had inflicted no substantive damage upon the Mars; the explosions looked terrifying, but in reality, only the outermost layer had been scraped away.

Watching the overwhelming, aggressive enemy force surge toward them, Zhong Yun calmly gave the command: "Sub-cannons eleven through thirty, target and fire."

Twenty light beams sliced across a distance of over two thousand kilometers, instantly detonating across three enemy main vessels.

The primary cannon bay on the portside warship was struck precisely as it reached full charge, triggering a violent internal explosion. The massive blast ripped a gaping wound into the vessel where the main cannon used to be, revealing sparking electrical arcs within. Its speed immediately dropped.

Misfortune never comes singly. Several shell impacts erupted near its stern—fire from the two heavily damaged Dawo warships pursuing from the rear.

Seeing the enemy caught in a sneak attack and instantly losing four ships, the Dawo officers, recovering from their shock and wild elation, reacted swiftly. They reversed course and turned back to pursue the Hongxian Federation fleet, intending to sandwich them with their mysterious savior.

Though the Dawo warships were slower than the Hongxian Federation vessels, their thirst for vengeance drove them to maximum speed. Upon spotting one enemy capital ship slow down due to damage, they impatiently launched several high-velocity secondary rounds, aiming to pin down that ship and ease the pressure on their mysterious rescuer.

Even though the Dawo vessels were inferior in performance to the enemy’s, the two combined were confident they could hold a heavily crippled capital ship.

"What's the situation?" In the command bridge of the Dawo flagship, the figure of Zhang Haokun appeared. His "Blaze" was the highest-grade mech in the entire Dawo fleet, far outpacing the warships in speed. He had quickly caught up and hurried back to the command center after deploying his mech.

The battle staff and senior officers felt utterly resigned concerning this irresponsible commander. The old man's seniority was terrifying; he had participated in the Defense War fifty years ago and held a "Medal of Valor." Based on those two merits alone, few in the Dawo sector could match him.

Consequently, even though the old man occasionally behaved irregularly, no one dared to question him, and few could effectively manage him.

For the commanding officer to personally pilot his mech onto the battlefield for melee engagement, as he had done today, was unprecedented in the entire Omi star system.

Regarding this clear violation of military protocol, everyone pretended not to notice, leaving the Military Police department to deal with the headache. We certainly tried to stop him, they thought, but we couldn't hold him back.

"Report, Officer, we have successfully intercepted that damaged enemy vessel. We are currently maneuvering outside the effective range of their main cannons, harassing them," a staff officer hastily reported.

"Did you manage to identify the nationality of the ship supporting us?" Zhang Haokun asked, his gaze fixed on the battle unfolding.

"Yes, sir, I saw it," the staff officer replied, his expression peculiar. "Hm?" Zhang Haokun turned to him. "What is it?"

"That vessel displayed no national markings, and moreover—"

"And what?" Zhang Haokun frowned as the officer hesitated.

Sensing his superior's displeasure, fine beads of sweat appeared on the staff officer's brow. He gritted his teeth and voiced his suspicion. "And… that doesn't appear to be a warship, sir. It looks like an ordinary transport vessel."

"An ordinary merchant ship?" Zhang Haokun stared without blinking. "Bring up the image."

The staff officer scrambled to transmit the captured images of the Mars to the main screen.

Zhang Haokun recognized instantly that it indeed resembled a standard transport. Warships and common vessels were usually distinguishable by their external profiles. Warships tended to be long and angular to minimize their cross-section when hit; an egg or spherical shape, like the common passenger or cargo vessel, was an ideal target.

Standard transports adopted the egg shape to maximize internal volume for carrying more cargo or passengers. Divergent operational needs resulted in vastly different external designs.

Seeing that dark, egg-shaped vessel, Zhang Haokun groaned internally. This ordinary-looking ship had disabled four sturdy, fortress-like warships with only four light cannons? In all his life, he had never heard of a transport vessel defeating a capital ship of this caliber. Their combat capabilities were on entirely different planes.

His own battleship, facing one hundred comparable merchant vessels simultaneously, would achieve absolute victory.

An ordinary vessel? Could it be a "Satellite-class" warship disguised?

Zhang Haokun pulled his gaze away. After several rapid changes in expression, he bit down and declared, "Abandon pursuit of that damaged warship. Full speed ahead, to jointly sandwich the enemy alongside that… merchant vessel."

Everyone quickly grasped his intent. The current enemy ship was nearly derelict; not only was it sluggish, but the massive wound kept flashing with sparks—who knew when it might detonate. Lingering near it was a waste of time.

If the merchant ship were destroyed, their turn would come. They could imagine how an enemy that had just lost five capital ships would deal with them.

With that thought, none dared to delay. They engaged all power engines, surging toward the remaining enemy warship. Only by sandwiching the enemy between themselves and their mysterious ally was there any hope of victory.

Precisely at that moment, the vanguard flagship of the Hongxian Federation fleet entered its effective firing range.

"Prepare to—" The Commander stared fixedly at the dark cyan, egg-shaped vessel. It was the one responsible for the loss of five of his 'Quasi-Satellite' class warships. Now, "Die!"

"Fire!"