Inside the base, Luna picked up the tiny chip.
The chip employed a unique encryption method, but the information itself wasn't stored within the chip, but on its surface.
This was to prevent detection. There were devices capable of remotely reading the contents of any nearby information storage.
Even if the chip wasn't connected to any device, this was still true.
The chip's peculiarity lay in its use of the most primitive method: inscriptions etched onto the chip surface, each character only one-tenth the diameter of a human hair.
Luna detected an imbalance in the chip's data, then noticed something unusual about the chip itself.
The entire chip resembled a miniature golden stick.
Modern technology could create chips of any shape, even as small as a single cell within human blood.
The inscriptions on the chip were even smaller, almost arranged at the atomic level, comprising more than ten thousand characters.
They recorded an internal conflict.
The conflict stemmed from a Federation attack.
This war nearly resulted in the defeat of the Star Nation alliance on the Planet E.
Ultimately, they prevailed.
But not through their own strength; they relied on an unknown power.
This power allowed them to use energy to summon an unknown entity.
This entity had no form, could penetrate anything, and resembled a ghost; they called it a spirit.
The first to obtain it was an ordinary soldier.
They didn't know how that soldier obtained it, because he died soon after in the war.
He told a comrade about his discovery. After his death, the comrade retrieved his body from the battlefield, but couldn't verify the story.
Activating this entity required a vast amount of energy.
He didn't share his discovery, instead hiding his comrade's frozen body.
Then, he slowly accumulated military merit on the battlefield, staying alive.
He knew that on Planet E, the only way to advance was to survive. If you outlived everyone else, you would have sufficient power.
Because at that point, there would be no one else to choose.
That soldier was lucky; he successfully survived and became a Lieutenant Colonel.
As a Lieutenant Colonel, he had access to energy, and then he triggered a large-scale power outage, summoning the spirit.
Initially, he didn't know what the spirit was; he was merely fascinated by its beauty.
But after a sudden Federation attack, when the spirit silently eliminated everyone, he finally understood: it was a weapon.
A weapon completely at his disposal.
It attacked whomever he wanted it to attack.
It was at this time that the interplanetary battlefield of the Star Nation alliance likely underwent significant changes.
Luna, however, knew what happened to the Star Nation alliance during that period.
The Federation suddenly increased its troop deployment on the Twenty-Eight Star Nation front, disrupting the Twenty-Eight Nations Covenant's plans. To counter the Federation's advance, the Covenant levied troops from smaller star nations.
These smaller nations were forced to send troops to assist.
They couldn't resist this order; they were forced to send some warships.
This stretched their already strained front lines.
During this period, the smaller star nations' front lines retreated in disarray, only recovering after the Federation's attack ended.
Because of this event, Planet E received no new reinforcements, and the Federation accelerated its offensive.
The Lieutenant Colonel summoned the spirit during the Federation attack. The spirit annihilated the Federation forces almost instantly.
A resounding victory.
The Lieutenant Colonel aimed to use this to sweep across the Federation and completely conquer Planet E.
But at this moment, internal conflict erupted.
Some believed the Lieutenant Colonel should not use the spirit.
As soldiers themselves, they easily realized that this was a form of advanced technology, not belonging to human civilization. They also analyzed its operational patterns.
Its ability to precisely locate and eliminate enemies suggested intelligence.
Even the lowest level of intelligence in advanced technology would surpass that of a normal human. Thus, this weapon might possess "self-awareness."
No one knew if this entity was disguising itself, or if it was merely using them to achieve its own ends.
This was a hidden evil.
The Lieutenant Colonel, having tasted the benefits of the spirit, naturally wouldn't give it up.
The conflict escalated rapidly to an irreconcilable level.
Among those opposing the spirit, some advocated eliminating the Lieutenant Colonel.
The war between the Star Nation and the Federation was, after all, an internal conflict within human civilization. This entity was a third-party force. Without understanding its origins, its use could lead to irreparable consequences.
Others opposed using violence.
After all, they were just individuals among the quintillions in human civilization.
Civilizational matters weren't for them to handle.
If they died on this battlefield, what did it matter whether human civilization continued or the universe ended?
Their approach to the Lieutenant Colonel was more conciliatory; they hoped to establish boundaries.
If things went wrong, they could protect themselves.
If the Lieutenant Colonel really wanted to use the spirit, they wouldn't stop him.
In short, each faction had its own agenda.
The extremist faction then acted, using whatever means necessary to kill the Lieutenant Colonel.
But then, the spirit—the original soldier's body—caused another conflict.
The ultimate outcome was the decision to seal the entire base, killing everyone and permanently burying the spirit underground.
He activated the base server and submitted a request for humane destruction.
Humane destruction was an extraordinary measure. It involved the server taking control and terminating all relevant personnel programs after determining that a party was engaging in extremely harmful activities.
This applied to both the Federation and the Star Nation.
Individuals weren't entirely autonomous entities but parts of a larger whole.
Or perhaps the machines themselves wielded the enduring power.
After all, human hearts are unpredictable, while machine programs, though modifiable, are relatively reliable.
A warship's server had greater authority than its captain—a common practice in human civilization.
Regarding the question of what happens if the server is controlled by the enemy... if the enemy can control the server, wouldn't controlling the personnel on the battlefield be easier? The question is essentially moot.
Of course, the humane destruction mechanism was extremely strict.
The first criterion was treason.
The second was loss of control.
Treason was simple: rebellion. This defined rebellion against the Star Nation and rebellion against civilization; rebellion against civilization was a higher-level offense.
Loss of control meant a complete loss of self-control; the individual was unaware of their actions and beyond salvation. In such cases, a request could be made for the server to use its authority to terminate the individual from within.
The final request was for treason against human civilization.
He requested the termination of all personnel within the base who knew about this, including himself.
The contents of the chip were a message left by someone close to him.
It read: "Civilizational machinations are incredibly profound. We can't determine if our knowledge itself is a transgression, so we choose death, even allowing the server to erase our information."
"But I still want to leave this behind, because if this is a true civilizational act, it wouldn't be limited to Planet E. Perhaps this contains clues to a larger picture."
"Of course, we cannot determine if this is a remnant or a deliberate setup. We are too insignificant to understand this. Faced with such things, we can only choose the worst possible interpretation, and we will end this using what we deem the best method."
After reading, Luna crushed the chip.
What was the server?
Whether it was the Federation server or the Star Nation server, it was ultimately connected to Ayla.
Even if the server truly deleted the information, at the very last moment, it would transmit what happened here to Ayla.
Her arrival here might have been Ayla's decision.
"It seems there's work to be done."
...
hc23 War Zone.
Planet E, Underground Fortress.
Luna scanned the room, observing the serious expressions, and absorbed the tense atmosphere of the battle.
They were in a pitch-black area. Without illumination, there was no light; only the infrared radiation emitted by living beings was visible.
To avoid detection, numerous jamming devices were installed, rendering many detection devices inoperable, and the energy itself was extremely chaotic.
Here, everyone could only fight in darkness.
Since a war 886 years ago, the surface had been riddled with countless holes. Surface-based electromagnetic cannons had been deployed, making the surface even more dangerous.
Then followed a silent war lasting roughly 40 years. Both sides, tacitly, chose to excavate underground space, extending into each other's territory.
The war reignited, but underground.
Over several hundred years, a vast underground world was carved out beneath Planet E.
According to scans, the total underground space was approximately 110 million square kilometers, comprising 17 main spaces, hundreds of smaller underground spaces, and countless tunnels.
The 17 main spaces were designated X1 to X17; the smaller spaces had corresponding serial numbers. For example, the smaller spaces connected to X1 would be designated X1-E1 (if east), and so on.
Currently, spaces X3-X7, X11-X13, and X17 were occupied by the Star Nation alliance.
Luna and her team were stationed in space X12-S4, an area of only 270,000 square kilometers.
Because of a shift in the battle lines 20 years ago, this location became a frontline.
Luna's original team suffered heavy casualties here.
Only 1322 remained.
The entire 276th Corps had numbered 6000 upon arrival.
"Commander, the northern underground watchtower isn't responding. The enemy's main force seems to have reached the south of the water vein."
The water vein was an underground aquifer discovered in the subterranean excavations. While Planet E's surface lacked water, some ancient water remained in the lower strata, though not much.
Called a vein, it was really just a small pool, less than 100 meters in diameter.
The X12-S4 space was relatively narrow and long, shaped like a claw. The water vein was less than 3 kilometers from their position.
There was no atmosphere on Planet E, so even at a distance of less than 3 kilometers, they couldn't hear any sounds; they could only speculate.
Communication with the watchtower was primarily through a dedicated laser beam.
They confirmed each other's status at regular intervals. The northern underground watchtower hadn't transmitted at the scheduled time, confirming something had happened.
"They've arrived?"
"Lead a team through the underground tunnel to Point 4. They'll likely descend from the north through that channel, unless they attack from above."
"Set up the automated disc cannons at Point 4, then use the spiders to reach the location. As soon as the cannons detect movement, unleash a concentrated barrage. They won't disperse underground; the attackers will be numerous."
Luna assigned the mission.
The disc cannons could achieve full-coverage fire, and perform detailed reconnaissance in the complex environment. Their detection range was approximately 150-200 meters, with accuracy affected by the strength of the surrounding interference.
The spiders were a type of climbing reconnaissance device.
They could traverse the ceilings of underground spaces, were small in size, and were primarily used for surprise attacks.
"Understood!"
Fifty soldiers departed.
That was more than enough.
The entire underground space wasn't large, particularly due to its elongated shape.
Fifty soldiers could achieve overwhelming firepower. A surprise attack might even be enough to wipe out a 1000-strong unit.
Personnel were scarce on Planet E; losing 1000 soldiers would cripple the enemy's offensive capabilities for decades.
A 500-strong unit was generally considered large.
After this group left, Luna led 100 others to another passage.
That passage was narrower. For safety, the probability of the enemy using that route was only 20%.
The upper passage, however, had an 80% chance of enemy movement.
It was a passage above them, technically outside their area, belonging to space X12-S1.
However, the underground space was interconnected; the enemy could reach this area through that passage.
The passage was 367 meters directly above them.
Reaching it required a detour.
After taking 10 minutes to reach the upper level, Luna had memorized the surroundings. This passage was where their 276th Corps had previously broken through.
The surrounding area was solid bedrock.
Over 3000 self-activating infantry mines were deployed within the passage.
These mines didn't contain explosives, but antimatter.
Upon activation, the antimatter annihilation created a powerful suction force, compressing a large amount of energy within a limited area.
The blast radius was 10 meters; the central temperature reached 60 million degrees Celsius, and the outer edge reached 2 million degrees Celsius.
While the edge temperature wouldn't damage the Federation's most advanced mechs, the central temperature was sufficient to destroy them.
The remaining energy would then flood the damaged area, incinerating the occupants.
This type of mine was quite primitive. On the surface, almost nobody would use them.
But this was underground: darkness, energy interference, communication disruption—numerous factors combined to create blindness.
However, the enemy would likely deploy robots to clear mines; these 3000 mines were primarily for deterrence; the actual killing would be done by their own firepower.
Luna ordered everyone to their battle stations, preparing for the enemy's arrival.
She personally set up a ground vibration sensor; everyone had to stay off the ground.
While there was no air to transmit sound, the ground could transmit vibrations.
The ground vibration sensor immediately detected numerous vibrations caused by both sides continuously releasing energy into Planet E for interference. This not only disrupted Planet E's magnetic field, but also caused the planet's matter to resonate.
Fortunately, Planet E was massive enough; these vibrations were minor, avoiding catastrophic consequences.
The planet was far less stable than it had been millennia ago.
Luna aimed to identify the vibrations originating from the enemy.
It was a matter of luck, depending on whether the enemy produced detectable vibrations.
With prolonged exploration, the patterns of the surrounding vibrational interference could be discerned.
This led to the development of a new type of soldier on the underground battlefield: vibration scouts.
These scouts required extensive experience; otherwise, simply interpreting the hundreds or thousands of vibrational waveforms would be overwhelming.
These waveforms weren't parallel but chaotic, like tangled threads, constantly shifting and changing, jumping from one location to another.
One needed to recognize that these induced vibrations themselves were a kind of vibration, otherwise, misinterpretations would occur.
It was extremely difficult.
The server could process this information, but this was underground, with significant interference, rendering the server inoperable. Even quark robots and auxiliary brains had reduced accuracy.
Only neural-type brains, relying on chemical signals and protected within a mech, could function normally.
This was inevitable.
If the underground space rendered even brains inoperable, it couldn't become a battlefield.
Because both sides were living beings.
Luna herself was a vibration scout.
In this area, she only trusted her own judgment.
Even if she made a mistake, she could clearly identify the error—that was the most important aspect.
She carefully observed the aboveground vibrations.
Time passed slowly.
One day!
Two days!
A short distance of several kilometers felt like an eternity to both sides.
Luna's side proceeded cautiously, as did the Federation.
They advanced slowly, fearing hidden enemies, and avoiding walking into an ambush.
Of course, it was also possible the enemy was preparing something.
Luna could only see darkness.
Her eyes were mostly closed; sight was unnecessary here; she needed to listen.
She had waited for centuries underground.
Her eyesight had deteriorated; each use required repair by quark robots to restore normal vision.
On the afternoon of the third day.
Luna detected an unusual vibration on her instruments.
She instantly alerted her troops: "Prepare."
"The anomaly is less than 800 meters away."
All the soldiers tensed.
Crimi felt a tremor of excitement—had the enemy finally arrived?
He shifted his body, but felt something wrong; his body felt unusually light, as if part of it were numb.
He touched his legs, finding he couldn't feel his lower body.
Then, as he touched further, he felt his empty abdomen, and something flowing from within.
A second later, the quark robot issued a warning.
[You have suffered severe damage; seek immediate medical attention!]
Crimi was terrified; he tried to call out to the others.
But the next moment, he felt another part of himself was missing.
If there were lights, one would see that only one-third of his body remained, and that third was further bisected.
His central nervous system was severed; he instantly entered a state of brain death.
[Soldier Crimi, deceased.]
Luna received the report.
A death, but expected.
But how did he die?
Just as Luna wondered, numerous deaths were reported.
Then, she lost connection to the vibration sensors.
Her connection to the sensors was wired; the screen was an exact replica of her quark robot's brain.
The brain replica was cut; she touched the sensor and discovered it was damaged, with a clean cut.
This was a weapon.
Not an ordinary electromagnetic weapon.
Luna shouted: "Enemy attack! Counterattack!"
Countless beams of light erupted, but due to electromagnetic interference, their weapons suffered significant energy scattering, illuminating the entire underground space.
The moment the battle began, visibility improved.
Luna's eyes widened as she surveyed the surroundings.
She saw more than 20 bodies, dismembered and scattered.
The cuts looked as if made by a razor-sharp blade.
Where did the enemy get such blades?
This question only crossed Luna's mind for a moment; she immediately ordered: "Activate shields!"
"The enemy is using atomic-scale micro-weapons."
Only then did everyone see the enemy fortress several hundred meters away. The fortress silently fired again, producing only a slight tremor.
Instantly, another soldier on her side was dismembered—an unlucky one who was slower to activate their energy shield.
Luna witnessed the entire process.
It reminded her of a weapon used against the Filament civilization.
She recalled that this weapon had indeed been adapted by the Federation for individual use.
Although the fortress looked large, any weapon not mounted on a ship or warship could be considered a personal weapon in the Federation, provided a single soldier could operate it.
"Retreat! Retreat now!" Luna shouted.
The energy shields would undoubtedly reveal their position in the darkness, turning them into sitting ducks.
They could only retreat.
The enemy was fully prepared, and with this weapon, they were completely outmatched.
In terms of individual weaponry, the Federation had a significant advantage over these star nations. The underground battlefield was created by the Star Nation to limit the Federation, and this passage, an unusually straight 1000-meter tunnel in the underground space, gave the enemy an opportunity to use this weapon.
Luna hadn't anticipated the enemy using this type of weapon underground.
It wasn't so much underestimation as a difference in approach.
She led the remaining soldiers back to the passage.
"Give me a bomb."
Luna had a large demolition charge brought to her; she set the timer and threw it.
The bomb detonated in the distant passage.
There was no sound, no flame; only a devastating shockwave compressed a spherical area around the passage, causing the entire passage to collapse.
"That passage is unusable. The enemy has established a channel for transporting large-scale personal weapons."
"Contact X12-S1 to alert them about the large-scale personal weapons."
Despite the interference in the underground world, they had buried communication cables throughout their area.
Luna sensed the enemy wouldn't end there.
This attack differed from previous ones; the enemy's deployment of these weapons likely wasn't a reconnaissance operation.
A full-scale assault was likely imminent!
Luna quickly retreated to the stronghold and ordered contact with another location.
Contact failed.
That location, with its advantageous terrain, could have defended against thousands, yet was completely annihilated, implying an unexpected attack method.
"Full alert!"
"A large-scale Federation offensive is coming."
...
The underground fortress was an emergency construction.
Cylindrical in shape, it occupied a large area of the underground space, with a diameter exceeding 350 meters. The internal space wasn't large, only a little over 20,000 square meters, but the outer metal walls were over 150 meters thick.
The walls were constructed of super-strong, self-assembling particles.
This structure didn't increase material density but arranged the particles in an ordered fashion, then interspersed artificial particles with strong tensile strength within the gaps.
The artificial particles were firmly held in place by electrostatic forces between the surrounding structural particles.
These structural particles were arranged into cubes, like bricks, with the artificial particles acting as mortar.
This stable structure could withstand attacks other than electromagnetic ones and required minimal material. It was widely used.
Through a 20-meter-high gate, everyone began retreating into the stronghold.
The gate's opening mechanism involved increasing the gaps between the particles in the surrounding wall, then disassembling the gate into particles and storing them temporarily within these gaps.
This eliminated the need for extra space to accommodate the gate; the wall itself was over 150 meters thick; a gate would need a similar thickness to maintain structural integrity.
Opening the gate was temporary; the wall would gradually expel these gate particles, returning them to their original positions.
"Hurry!"
Luna urged the soldiers to speed up.
After clearing the area of soldiers, the Federation forces would advance, and Luna expected them to be swift.
They would likely deploy reconnaissance robots.
These robots didn't use chips but a Sterling engine-like mechanism, using thermoelectric generation to power the device.
Their movement resembled a battering ram—a forceful, direct approach.
These six-legged robots could traverse most terrains.
Their primary function was clearing mines and other sensor-based traps.
A large deployment of these robots would significantly accelerate the Federation's advance. This was unavoidable.
Just as Luna gave the warning, an insect-like object sped toward them.
Luna couldn't see it, nor could anyone else.
But they could hear the mechanical whirring of its approach.
"Evade!" Luna shouted.
The soldiers outside were startled.
These robots didn't use chips but a simple biological reaction device. Generally, the surrounding environment maintained a constant temperature; only living beings differed.
Upon detecting this thermal anomaly, the robot detonated.
"BOOM!!!"
Only three seconds after Luna's shout, the explosion occurred.
The powerful blast flung nearby soldiers; even those with mech protection were reduced to pulp.
This type of bomb was specifically designed to target mechs.
Its destructive power primarily stemmed from the shockwave.
The shockwave was transmitted by compressing gas particles within the bomb. When these particles made large-scale contact with an object, they released the kinetic energy stored within, transferring it to the mech's surface.
Mechs could absorb considerable kinetic energy. Even a 1-million-ton mech could easily withstand a purely explosive physical shockwave.
However, these particles contained kinetic energy exceeding the explosive force of 500 million tons of TNT, concentrated within an extremely small area.
Furthermore, it used a highly penetrative induced resonance transmission method to affect the mech's interior.
Since mechs were also matter, the bomb's vibrating particles could cause resonance in the mech's outer shell.
This explosion resulted in 4 deaths.
The wounded would recover thanks to their quark robots.
The explosion itself wasn't the main threat.
The real threat was that the enemy could pinpoint their location through the explosion.
Once their position was confirmed, the weapons would strike.
"Move! Move! Move!"
Everyone frantically crammed into the stronghold; it was chaos, panic.
Even Luna couldn't prevent this chaos; each soldier had independent consciousness, serving their own interests.
Discipline was impossible to maintain among individuals under these circumstances.
Fortunately, Luna had another method.
She directly used her authority to subtly alter each soldier's mindset.
The chaos subsided somewhat.
The enemy wouldn't give them a chance.
The enemy had intercepted their communications; a new wave of attacks arrived instantly.
Everyone still outside felt something strike them; their bodies were instantly accelerated to over 100 km/s, smashing against the stronghold's walls.
The stronghold's surface rippled like water, absorbing the energy.
Those struck were reduced to pulp.
Including Luna.
"Lieutenant Colonel!" Those inside the stronghold saw the report.
[Lieutenant Colonel Luna, deceased!]
Everyone felt a chill.
Luna, who had guided them, was dead?
They couldn't believe it but could only enter the stronghold.
The stronghold's gate sealed shut.
Less than three minutes later, the roar of machinery sounded; more robots arrived, relentlessly assaulting the stronghold's walls.
They were simple, battering-ram-like robots.
Behind them were Federation soldiers in mechs.
"The stronghold is ahead, Legion Commander!"
The Legion Commander was practically the highest rank on Planet E; higher-ranking Captains rarely directly entered Planet E.
Yet, the Federation deployed a commander of this rank to the underground battlefield.
More and more Federation soldiers gathered before the surface fortress; their numbers approached 1000.
On the battlefield of Planet E, this was a considerable force.
While human civilization could easily create clone soldiers, this was nearly impossible on the closed-off battlefield of Planet E.
Planet E lacked high-strength mech and quark robot production lines.
Even if clones were produced, they would mostly be low-level cannon fodder, with limited impact on the battlefield.
Mechs and quark robots were essentially consumables at this level of warfare.
Numerous weapons could disable them.
Therefore, it was more cost-effective to continuously transport soldiers from outside to Planet E.
Federation Legion Commander Reeves ordered everyone to prepare their defenses and weapons.
"The upper passage is severed?" he asked his aide.
The aide, a staff officer, received information from other teams through specialized vibrational patterns.
"It was cut before our attack."
The underground stronghold resembled a jar; a lift shaft connected it to the surface, transmitting surface information to the stronghold, enabling the use of the propulsion system to escape.
The stronghold was jar-like, but also a war machine capable of subterranean movement.
To prevent this, the Federation had preemptively severed the stronghold's escape route.
"Excellent, now it's a turtle in a vase," the Legion Commander said confidently.
...
Inside the surface fortress.
Simali, the Sergeant selected to take over as Lieutenant Colonel, was grief-stricken.
Over a thousand years of working together had fostered deep respect and affection for Luna.
Now, with her death, they had lost their leader and even their morale.
"Simali, as you predicted, the enemy's previous movements weren't to attack us but to cut off our retreat," one soldier stated.
The thousand-plus soldiers looked even more dejected.
"Due to the communication jamming, we can't see the situation outside, but the enemy has likely reached the surface," Simali said.
"Should we activate the weapon systems?" another Sergeant asked.
Simali pulled himself together from his grief. "Activate them."
It was a moot point; the enemy would be prepared.
The weapon systems could only target a 150-meter radius.
If the enemy retreated beyond 150 meters and activated their shields, the weapon systems' effectiveness would be severely limited.
These weapon systems required external deployment and coordination.
The sheer number and preparedness of the enemy forced their retreat into the stronghold.
Deploying defenses outside, against the Federation's powerful personal weapons, would be suicidal.
On the battlefield of Planet E.
Their side was at a disadvantage, relying on sheer numbers to compensate.
For centuries, they had been in continuous retreat; otherwise, why would the hc23 war zone be known as the death zone?
The hc23 war zone had a relatively high troop turnover, requiring constant reinforcement due to high casualties.
Ultimately, they weren't directly under the Twenty-Eight Star Nations but smaller nations dragged into the conflict.
The Federation was a behemoth to them.
The weapon systems activated.
The soldiers within the surface fortress instantly lost their targets.
What should they do now?
Simali couldn't think of a solution.
If Luna were alive, she would have found a way out of this predicament.
But he wasn't Luna.
He racked his brains, and finally, his only answer was to await reinforcements.
Communication was severed; other strongholds would surely have detected the attack.
They might send reinforcements!
This had happened before—strongholds falling, others remaining silent.
Against the Federation's ironclad defense, most soldiers came from different places, even different star nations; there was little camaraderie, let alone selfless rescue.
This was the true predicament on Planet E—Deathworld.
Those who came here couldn't return.
Many soldiers felt that the strategic significance of this location wasn't about reclaiming the star system but delaying the Federation.
The distance to the death zone of Planet E provided time to prevent deeper Federation incursions.
This deep space was where interplanetary warfare would unfold.
If the Federation controlled the star system around Deathworld, it could supply a vast interplanetary battlefield.
"Ultimately, we're here to die."
"We've lived for centuries; that's enough," a soldier said resignedly.
He slumped against a wall, eyes vacant.
X12-S4 was a small space, not a primary battleground.
This stronghold was a defensive outpost, now merely an abandoned one.
They were insignificant to the overall war.
Less than ten minutes after being besieged, despair settled over them.
They waited within the surface fortress.
Reports indicated the stronghold's weapon systems were depleted and needed recharging.
As the weapon systems recharged to 50%, the Federation launched another offensive. They were destroying the weapons outside the stronghold.
Soon, 20% of the stronghold's weapons were disabled.
A new type of weapon seemed to have been deployed; the stronghold was subjected to intense bombardment.
The entire structure trembled.
Simali accessed the stronghold's rudimentary system; it only displayed basic stronghold information and simple operation modules.
Even late 20th-century Earth systems were more sophisticated.
It was unavoidable. This system was designed for simplicity; most of the volume was dedicated to interference shielding.
Simali watched the stronghold's energy levels decrease with each attack, dropping by 1% per strike.
While the power generation system was constantly replenishing the energy, it was clear that the enemy could breach the stronghold's defenses.
Twenty weapons of similar power, continuously attacking, would overwhelm the power supply.
The stronghold's outer shell was tightly connected, partly through intrinsic material bonds.
But against a civilization of this level, material strength alone wouldn't withstand a sustained assault.
Therefore, the materials, including the power supply system, were energy-enhanced.
Simali's heart sank.
He couldn't think of a way to save himself and his men.
Such was war.
Their initial contact had left them immediately on the brink of annihilation.
"What should I do?" he asked himself.
At that moment.
He saw a new message appear in his view.
"Who sent this message now?" Simali wondered.
He opened the message and read.
[Want to survive? Then follow my instructions!]
The opening line lifted Simali's spirits.
This was possibly a plan left by Luna.
Luna always anticipated difficulties and prepared countermeasures in advance.
She had likely foreseen this situation.
Simali continued reading.
[Concentrate all energy on a single point and strike that point. Coordinates attached. Simply follow my instructions.]
Simali stood up.
"I have a plan."