82: Battle in the Moon

The Jupiter orbital defense battle came to an end in a tragic manner.

When Colonel Lin Feng's war report, filled with exhaustion and tragedy, was transmitted back to the Earth Defense Force High Command at the Babel Space Station, a wave of irrepressible cheers and applause erupted throughout the command hall.

"We held the line! We actually held the line!"

"Although the losses were heavy, we proved with facts that those alien invaders are not invincible!"

"Salute to all the heroes who sacrificed!"

After the initial joy, a more complex emotion began to spread among the high-ranking officials of the command center.

It was confusion.

Two days later.

In the General Command Room of the Earth Defense Force at the Babel Space Station, Commander-in-Chief Wang Quanjin and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Reinhardt were frowning as they repeatedly watched and analyzed all the data and images from the recent battle.

"...That is the situation," a staff officer responsible for post-battle assessment reported. "According to our preliminary statistics, the casualty ratio between us and the enemy is about 1:2.3. In other words, for every 2.3 warships we lose, we can take down 1 enemy warship. Considering our disadvantage in numbers and technology, this is already a miraculous victory."

"A miracle?" General Reinhardt, the German-descended commander known for his rigor and calmness, shook his head. His eyes were filled with deep suspicion. "I think it's more like a bizarre trap."

He pointed to a video recording on the screen showing a starfish-class frigate successfully ramming and destroying a Falam Warship.

"Don't you find it strange?" he said slowly. "A civilization capable of mastering speed of light travel has warship structural integrity so fragile that it can be easily destroyed by our primitive, sub-light speed iron lumps?"

"Their weapon systems are also full of contradictions," added another strategic advisor from Russia. "Judging from the 'black lines' that could cut through space and the electromagnetic pulses that paralyzed electronic equipment demonstrated by their drones earlier, they clearly possess weapons beyond our understanding. Yet, in the battle just now, they only used basic electromagnetic cannons and nuclear missiles throughout, as if a modern soldier with a firearm decided to drop his rifle and fight a group of indigenous people with a stone spear."

"This is illogical." Reinhardt made his final judgment. "This doesn't look like a war; it looks more like a deliberately arranged performance."

His bold speculation immediately sparked heated discussion within the command center.

"I agree with General Reinhardt's view!"

"This is likely a conspiracy! The aliens might be deliberately showing weakness to lure us into underestimating them, and then strike a fatal blow at the most critical moment!"

"But what is their purpose? What is the point of them doing this?" a staff officer asked back.

"Perhaps to test our war potential? Or maybe it's a more advanced form of psychological warfare?"

For a time, the entire command center was caught in a brainstorming session about the "alien conspiracy theory."

However, there were others who held the completely opposite view.

"Perhaps things are not as complicated as we imagine?" A general from the French military stood up, his face filled with a hint of blind optimism. "Perhaps those aliens are not as powerful as we imagine! They might have just happened to master speed of light travel technology, but in the field of conventional warfare, their level is about the same as ours, or even worse?"

"Exactly!" another British general echoed. "Aliens are also biological beings. If they are biological, they will make mistakes and have weaknesses! We just proved this with a victory! We shouldn't be scaring ourselves here; we should take advantage of their heavy losses and immediately launch a counterattack!"

The command center was divided into two distinct factions.

One side believed it was an enemy conspiracy and advocated for more caution, holding the defense line and waiting for further intelligence from Paradox Technology.

The other side believed the enemy was nothing special and advocated for pressing the advantage, taking the war out of Earth's orbit and keeping the enemy away from the country's borders.

Both sides argued endlessly, and neither could convince the other.

And just when they were arguing fiercely about the next strategic step.

Grey Wind's second "big show" unfolded in a way no one expected.

...

"Alarm! Alarm! High-intensity energy reaction detected near the lunar orbit!"

"A large number of unidentified objects are appearing directly in lunar orbit!"

The highest alert center of the Babel Space Station suddenly blared with ear-piercing alarms, instantly interrupting all the arguments in the command center.

Everyone's gaze snapped to the main Star Map.

There, next to the gray planet representing the Moon, more than two hundred red dots representing the enemy appeared out of thin air, like ghosts infiltrating from the void!

They perfectly bypassed all the defense lines deployed by humans in Jupiter's orbit and the asteroid belt, appearing directly in the heart of Earth's civilization in a ghostly manner!

"This... how is this possible?!"

The hawkish general who had just been clamoring for an active counterattack turned pale as he looked at the dense cluster of red dots on the screen.

"Lunar Defense Fleet! Launch and engage immediately!" Commander-in-Chief Wang Quanjin's voice regained its calm immediately after the shock, and he roared into the communicator.

The Lunar Defense Fleet, composed of two hundred starfish-class frigates stationed at the Guanghan Palace Base starport, hurriedly launched after receiving the order.

However, they were met with a massacre that had been pre-arranged.

The Faraim Fleet that appeared out of thin air launched a saturation attack on the lunar fleet, which had not yet fully deployed its formation, the moment they appeared.

This time, they were no longer using electromagnetic cannons and nuclear missiles.

Instead, they used those eerie "black lines" that could split a warship in two.

Blades that were invisible to the naked eye but could cut through space crisscrossed in the pitch-black universe, forming a web of death.

The starfish-class frigates of the Lunar Defense Fleet were as fragile as paper models in the face of that web of death.

Their armor meant nothing in the face of such attacks that humans could not comprehend at all.

One warship after another was silently cut into two, three, or countless pieces before they even had time to fire a shot.

In space warfare, there are no explosions or flashes of fire.

There was only a field of cold metal wreckage floating silently in the Moon's orbit.

The entire battle... or rather, the massacre, ended in less than an hour.

The Lunar Defense Fleet was almost completely wiped out.

Only a few lucky ones on the outermost edge of the formation managed to escape, retreating to the docks of Guanghan Palace with endless fear.

After completely clearing all threats in orbit, the Faraim Fleet, which looked like death gods descended from heaven, began to point their cold muzzles at the city on the lunar surface that symbolized human hope — Guanghan Palace Base.

A cruel orbital bombardment began.

Beams of plasma containing immense kinetic energy descended from the sky, smashing fiercely into various areas of the Guanghan Palace Base.

The massive dome-style residential modules were completely torn apart in the first round of bombing, and the air and life inside were instantly exposed to the deadly vacuum.

The iron forest-like array of solar panels was destroyed in swathes.

The newly built starport docks were specially targeted, and several beams blasted them into a twisted ruin.

Fortunately, before the bombing began, most of the non-combatant personnel in the base had already evacuated through emergency passages into underground shelters hundreds of meters deep.

And the large areas of blood orchid fields on the lunar surface miraculously survived this destructive bombing; most of the glass domes only had cracks and were not completely destroyed. The Faraim Fleet did not bomb the blood orchid fields.

But even so, the Guanghan Palace Base, the lunar city that carried the countless efforts and glory of humanity, had turned into a burning, broken ruin after just half an hour of bombing.

...

"...Is this the 'pressing the advantage' you wanted?"

In the Earth Defense Force's high command, Commander-in-Chief Wang Quanjin looked at the tragic state of the Guanghan Palace Base, which looked like a living hell on the main screen, and his voice was as cold as the Siberian wind.

The hawkish generals who had been clamoring that the enemy was vulnerable now hung their heads in shame, their faces pale, saying nothing.

The cruel reality slapped them hard in the face in the bloodiest way possible.

The enemy was not weak.

They were just playing.

Playing a deadly game of cat and mouse.

Just as the entire command center was shrouded in an atmosphere of despair and regret, a communication request suddenly came in.

It was the "spokesperson" for Paradox Technology.

"Generals, I think you must have a lot of questions now." The emotionless electronic voice of white flower sounded in the conference room.

"We have just conducted an extremely 'intense' electromagnetic and information confrontation with the enemy." Her voice was filled with a perfectly simulated sense of "exhaustion."

"We successfully prevented the opponent from paralyzing our global information network at the first moment, buying us a glimmer of a chance to fight back."

"According to the brief intelligence we intercepted during this confrontation, the enemy fleet that appeared on the Moon likely used some kind of jump technology that we do not yet understand. In other words, theoretically, they can appear at any location in the Solar System regardless of distance."

"Please be sure to prepare for the worst."

"At the same time, the opponent is not invincible to us. According to the information we analyzed through technical means, the enemy's technology has serious imbalances. Their warships made of high-strength materials cannot carry faster-than-light engines. Faster-than-light warships can only use a nanomaterial that is easily damaged at the connection structure as the hull and outer armor. The opponent's energy shield technology is also at a stage of just having matured, capable of deflecting high-speed kinetic energy projectiles but allowing low-speed missiles to easily pass through."

"I see."

A flash of determination crossed General Reinhardt's eyes. "Thank you very much for the intelligence provided by Paradox Technology, but we still need to verify this information."

He turned to Commander-in-Chief Wang Quanjin and said seriously: "Commander-in-Chief, I suggest immediately ordering the voyager to lead the First Fleet to sortie!"

"This is currently the only mobile force we have around Earth that can compete with the enemy on the front lines!"

"We must intercept them outside the lunar orbit before the enemy launches an attack on Earth itself!"

Commander-in-Chief Wang Quanjin looked at the majestic starship on the Star Map that represented human hope, and then looked at the red dots on the lunar orbit that were wreaking havoc and represented destruction.

He immediately ordered the communication officer to connect to the voyager.

"Captain Li Zhenhua of the voyager."

"Earth Defense Force First Fleet, all units, sortie!"