Chapter 25: Hold Your Fire, They're Friendly!

"Greetings, commander of the Imperial fleet. I am General Parr, the supreme commander of the Alliance fleet," Parr spoke, his face twitching slightly, as if struggling with an immense decision.

"Hello, I am General En. Luxun, the supreme commander of the Empire," Li Mingze responded without a change in expression, effortlessly telling a lie.

"I have a very attractive proposal. I hope you will consider it," Parr's face twitched even more noticeably.

"I'm listening. Go ahead," Li Mingze said curiously. Was the enemy trying to negotiate a surrender?

"Our Alliance military has officially split from the Parliament! We now seek a ceasefire agreement with you. If possible, we might even cooperate," Parr, seemingly having made up his mind, regained his composure.

"Tell me your terms. If they're reasonable, we can agree to a ceasefire. Our Empire is a nation that loves peace and has always been committed to promoting peaceful transitions in the universe," Li Mingze said smoothly, lying effortlessly.

Parr hesitated briefly before speaking slowly, "If you agree to a ceasefire and help us eliminate the Parliamentary fleet, we are willing to cede 16 star systems to you, including 10 border systems. We will withdraw every single resident without taking even a screw with us! All your settlers need to do is take over our cities! How about that?"

"That's not a great deal," Li Mingze said, pushing Parr further. "These star systems are already within our 'occupation' range, and now you want us to fight and eliminate the Parliament's fleet too? That doesn't sound very profitable for us."

"We can add our capital star system to the deal! We will even remove all the factories! But that's the most we can offer! Any more, and I won't be able to justify it to my troops!" Parr gritted his teeth, his mind consumed with the flames of hatred. He no longer cared if he was branded a traitor—he would do anything for revenge!

"Throw in six months' worth of mineral extraction. You know, it's not us who are in a hurry here," Li Mingze pressed further, pushing the final condition.

"No way! Three months at most!"

"Fine, four months then. Any less, and we walk away. Honestly, we've already had our fun, so it wouldn't be a big loss for us if we left now," Li Mingze said with a sly smirk.

"D-deal!" Parr spat through clenched teeth. Deep down, he was already plotting a future military reform to rebuild his strength. The day he regained power would be the day the Empire was annihilated!

The soldiers of both the Imperial fleet and the Alliance First Fleet received an unexpected order: to cease hostilities and merge their forces. Confused, they struggled to comprehend how their mortal enemies had suddenly become allies. However, military orders were absolute, and soldiers were trained to obey.

The two fleets slowly converged.

Meanwhile, Parr received an intelligence report that the Alliance Second Fleet had already entered hyperspace, en route to the capital star system. He immediately relayed this information to Li Mingze. Their newly allied forces swiftly moved toward the system's outer edge to prepare an ambush.

Since the Alliance military had cut off all interstellar military communication channels to the Parliament, the latter had no way of contacting the Second Fleet. Despite their desperate efforts to break through the blockade, they were too late—the Second Fleet had already entered hyperspace.

Aboard the Alliance Second Fleet

The fleet's commander was still operating under outdated intelligence, believing that the Alliance First Fleet was in a standoff with the Imperial forces near the capital star. He remained oblivious to the political upheaval that had just taken place.

Moments ago, a soldier had spread rumors about the First Fleet defecting. The commander had the man executed immediately for treason.

The soldier had claimed to have received the news from family members in the Alliance, but the commander dismissed it as subversive propaganda.

Even though he had long been bought off by the Parliament and was no longer aligned with the military high command, he still refused to believe that the First Fleet would ever defect. The Alliance had never before experienced a large-scale military betrayal. After all, if the soldiers leading the war defected, what was the point of fighting in the first place?

Relaxing in his private command chamber, he swirled a glass of rare red wine imported from the planet Phila. He had joined the Parliament's ranks because he had been lured by such luxuries, and he had no regrets. Many of his fellow officers had followed him into the Parliament's fold, and they had all enjoyed a standard of living they could never have imagined before.

"Commander, we're exiting hyperspace in ten seconds," the pilot reported.

"10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 3… 2… 1."

A brilliant flash signaled their emergence from hyperspace. The deep purple tunnel of hyperspace gave way to the dazzling expanse of the stars. The distant sun shone brightly, forcing the ship's monitors to auto-adjust the brightness.

"Captain, we've got the Imperial First Fleet ahead of us. Wait! A civilian channel just sent out a message claiming the First Fleet has defected! The message states—"

Before the communications officer could finish his sentence, hundreds of crimson laser beams lanced toward them from the First Fleet.

"Evasive maneuvers! Evade! Evade!" the commander shouted in panic.

Unfortunately for him, his flagship—disguised as a regular destroyer—had already been marked by those in the First Fleet who knew the truth. Nearly half of the incoming laser fire was aimed directly at his ship, sealing off all possible escape routes.

Dozens of powerful laser beams smashed into the flagship's hull. The outer armor melted almost instantly under the relentless barrage.

Within seconds, the ship was reduced to hundreds of burning fragments before erupting in a massive explosion. The commander and his high-ranking officers perished instantly.

With their commander dead, the Second Fleet became a headless swarm, disorganized and aimless. The Alliance had protocols in place for such a scenario, designating secondary, tertiary, and even quaternary command ships.

But the First Fleet had anticipated this and had systematically targeted every single backup command ship in the initial assault.

Imperial and First Fleet light cruisers took advantage of the chaos, charging straight into the Second Fleet's formation. Their disciplined attack shattered the enemy's battle lines.

Destroyers followed up with another barrage of lasers.

Hundreds of crimson beams streaked across space, igniting dozens of warships like silent fireworks.

The Second Fleet's return fire was pitifully weak. Having expended most of their weapons in the earlier battle, their scattered laser fire barely scratched the shields of the attacking ships.

Seeing the light cruisers preparing for another devastating charge, one of the Second Fleet's captains panicked. He immediately fired a white flare, shut down his engines, and signaled surrender.

With the first ship setting the example, the remaining vessels quickly followed suit.

Their command structure had collapsed, and without leadership, none of them had the will to fight to the death.