The stars, but they become the gray wind

At first, this discovery did not attract much attention. After all, it was normal for asteroids in the galaxy to deviate from their orbits due to gravitational disturbances from stars or planets, or for other natural reasons. Until the radar soldier on duty discovered that the asteroid that had deviated from its orbit seemed to be accelerating at an abnormal speed and was heading towards the Liandian Belk Fortress on a collision course.

The radar soldier on duty later observed that the asteroid was exhibiting an acceleration that completely violated the laws of physics. At a distance of less than 1000 kilometers, the asteroid had accelerated to nearly 15 kilometers per second, rushing directly towards the Lendian Belk Fortress 30 astronomical units away at 50% of the speed of light.

Although it felt unbelievable and completely contrary to common sense, after confirmation, Reinhardt had to believe that an asteroid with a mass large enough to destroy the Lendinberk fortress was speeding towards him from 30 astronomical units away, and at this time, there were nearly eight hours left before the impact countdown.

"Sir, I think we should abandon the Lentenberk Fortress. If we evacuate immediately from now on, there will be plenty of time for everyone to evacuate from the Lentenberk Fortress." Oberstein suggested in his emotionless and cold voice.

"Tsk... It's really hard to abandon the enemy stronghold that we finally captured."

"Sir, I know you're unwilling, but we don't have the ability to change the orbit of such a huge asteroid in such a short time."

Oberstein's words reminded Reinhardt that deflecting an asteroid of this magnitude and mass in such a short time was impossible. Neither the Empire nor the Alliance could do it. Thinking of this, Reinhardt thought of the strange Invincible Battleship. Could it be the culprit behind this asteroid, whose trajectory completely defied the laws of physics? Reinhardt wondered.

Although Reinhardt found this a little unbelievable, the invincible battleship from an unknown species that was now elusive in the empire might indeed appear here. With the advanced technology possessed by that invincible battleship, it was not impossible to move an asteroid in a short period of time and accelerate it to sub-light speed. If it was that invincible battleship whose movements were irregular, it was indeed possible to do such a thing.

Chapter 230: The Conspiracy Exposed (6000 words)

Finally, under Oberstein's persuasion, Reinhard agreed to abandon the Lentenberk Fortress and issued an order to the entire fleet, requiring all personnel in the Lentenberk Fortress to evacuate as soon as possible, take the supplies that can be taken from the fortress, and leave behind what cannot be taken away.

Two hours later, all personnel had been evacuated from the fortress and returned to the ships. After all personnel were evacuated, Reinhard immediately ordered the fleet to move away from the Lendenberk Fortress and retreat to a safe distance to prevent being affected by the asteroid that was about to hit the Lendenberk Fortress.

The huge fleet retreated quickly, and when the asteroid was finally about to reach the Lendianberk Fortress a few hours later, Reinhardt's fleet had already retreated to a safe distance.

.........

A few hours later, the asteroid, moving at a speed of 0.5c, finally crossed a long distance of more than 30 astronomical units and crashed into the Lendian Belk Fortress, which was also built on an artificially modified asteroid.

The Reinhardt fleet in the distance first observed that at the moment when this asteroid, which was quite large in size and mass, collided with the Lian Dian Berk Fortress, the Lian Dian Berk Fortress burst into a violent flash from the impact point. Then, a huge explosion occurred on the Lian Dian Berk Fortress from the impact point. The entire fortress was swallowed up by the dazzling light in an instant. Under the chain reaction caused by the 0.5c kinetic energy impact, the surface material of the asteroid that constituted the main body of the fortress directly underwent a fusion explosion. A huge plasma fireball rose from the impact point and affected the entire interior of the fortress, then detonated the entire fortress and the reactor at the core of the fortress. The originally sturdy Liandianberk Fortress was transformed into countless fragments and liquid metal cloud debris by the nuclear explosion plasma fireball caused by the fusion reaction in this dazzling flash, and flew into the surrounding cold space. The asteroid that collided with the Liandianberk Fortress also turned to ashes at the same time. Under the huge kinetic energy destruction and fusion reaction, the asteroid with a diameter of 12 kilometers was directly blown into tens of thousands of fragments and debris, and floated into the void together with the liquid metal cloud formed after the explosion of the Liandianberk Fortress.

In the distance, many officers and soldiers of Reinhard's fleet, who witnessed the terrifying explosion from a safe distance, breathed a sigh of relief. If they had not evacuated the fortress in time under Reinhard's order, they might have been buried with the fortress in front of them. Nothing could survive this asteroid hitting at 0.5 times the speed of light. Even the Iserlohn Fortress, known as the strongest, would have been reduced to ashes under the impact of a sub-light speed asteroid of this size and mass.

As the supreme commander and commander of this fleet, Reinhardt also witnessed the massive and spectacular fortress explosion. After being glad that he had issued the order to evacuate the fleet in time, Reinhardt also began to think about who was responsible for such a sub-light speed asteroid. Although accelerating an asteroid to sub-light speed is not impossible with the technology of the Empire and the Alliance, whether it is the Empire or the Alliance, it requires an extremely long acceleration distance to accelerate an asteroid of such a large mass to sub-light speed. According to the radar soldier and the super-light speed communication repeater near the asteroid's position in the galaxy, as well as the intelligence of the surveillance satellite. An asteroid was accelerated to a sub-light speed of 0.5c in a manner that was almost completely inconsistent with the laws of physics within a distance of just 1000 kilometers from its original position. Such terrifying acceleration performance made Reinhardt think of the black aircraft that appeared in the Yamlitza star system and was now called the Invincible Battleship, which was now feared and revered by his soldiers. The black aircraft displayed an acceleration performance that was completely inconsistent with common sense during the Yamlitza melee. If the drive device that could instantly accelerate that strange-looking black aircraft to near the speed of light could also be used to move asteroids that were much larger in size and mass, then the source of this sub-light speed asteroid would be easy to guess.

While guessing the culprit behind the incident, Reinhardt also raised the threat level of the black spaceship called the Invincible Battleship to a higher level in his mind. In his next actions, he must consider and guard against the potential threat posed by the Invincible Battleship, which had no pattern of movement at all. If it were to hit him directly as an asteroid at sub-light speed like this time, if he did not react in time, he would probably suffer heavy losses, and even make Reinhardt's long-term efforts fail.

If the system where the Liandian Belk Fortress was not equipped with a comprehensive system-wide surveillance system, the radar operator, while routinely scanning the space within the system using surveillance satellites distributed throughout the system, would have discovered the asteroid that had deviated from its orbit and allowed sufficient time for response and evacuation. Reinhardt asked himself: if the asteroid had approached the warning range of the fleet's optical observation and radar, and if he had evacuated personnel at that time, it might have been too late. His fleet simply could not have destroyed or deflected an asteroid with a total mass of over a trillion tons in such a short time.

This extremely rough and brutal tactic did catch Reinhardt off guard, but Reinhardt had to admit that although this tactic was simple and crude, it was extremely effective. A huge sub-light speed asteroid bombardment was enough to render the entire fleet helpless. Although he suffered a loss at the hands of the enemy, this move also taught Reinhardt a lesson, that is, it is not necessarily a fleet or fortress that can pose a sufficient threat to the enemy. A seemingly unpretentious asteroid can also annihilate the enemy's entire fleet or fortress.

.........

Goniff nervously tapped the armrest of the chair with his fingers, and from time to time he raised his right hand to check the time shown on the watch on his wrist. In the end, he chose to take the initiative to meet with Rubinsky.

After a while, the door of the waiting room was opened, and Rubinsky's secretary gestured to Gonif to meet Rubinsky directly.

"You are the Captain Gonif who is known as the Lucky Star, right?" Lubinski called Gonif by the nickname given to him by his colleagues when they met.

"I dare not, I dare not. I really don't want to go through that kind of thing a second time. I was able to escape from that thing before, it was pure luck."

"It takes more than just luck to escape from that terrible invincible battleship, on Gonif's ship." With an expression that Gonif could not understand, Rubinsky took out two goblets and poured a glass of red wine for himself and Gonif respectively.

"It is said that during the melee at Yamliza, many Alliance and Imperial ships were reduced to atomic form by that invincible battleship before they could even react."

"You were lucky enough to survive that invincible battleship. It took more than just luck."

"So, tell me about that invincible battleship, Captain Gonif?"

"I don't have much to say about this. We didn't even notice that the invincible battleship was tracking our ship until it was only 5000 kilometers away. Only then did we observe the invincible battleship, which was almost completely invisible against the pitch-black background of space."

"Oh, what exactly is Lin Ba Wu Lu doing when he raises his wife?"

"I swear, that invincible battleship is absolutely the blackest thing I've ever seen in my life. The electromagnetic wave signals emitted by the radar can't detect it at all, as if it doesn't exist. Its shell is so black that it doesn't reflect any light. I've never heard of such a material."

"My crew and I don't know exactly when this invincible battleship started tracking us, but according to the speculation of one of my experienced pilots, it's very likely that the invincible battleship was already tracking us when we entered the galaxy we were in at the time, and we didn't even notice it the entire time."

"It's really scary to think about it. We were all on the boat, and we were just a little bit away from death." Gonif slumped in the chair, recalling the scene at that time and describing it to Rubinsky who was sitting opposite him.

"I also have to thank the Imperial fleet that was patrolling and conducting reconnaissance in the galaxy. If they hadn't attracted the attention of the Invincible Battleship in time, who knows what the Invincible Battleship was planning to do to our spaceship? Maybe my crew and I would have become guinea pigs for the research experiments of the forces behind the Invincible Battleship." Gonif said self-deprecatingly.

"Then, Captain Gonif, have you ever thought about why that invincible battleship chose to target an ordinary civilian merchant ship owner like you, instead of following the local system and the numerous nearby Imperial fleets?"

"How would I know? I was on a mission to transport a group of Earth Cult believers to the sacred Earth they consider their home. Before I encountered that Invincible Battleship, I was stopped and inspected by a large-scale Imperial fleet. Seeing that I didn't have any weapons or dangerous goods on board, they let me go. A few days later, I encountered that Invincible Battleship."

"Oh? The Imperial fleet blocking the road? Which fleet is it?"

"It seems to be a fleet commanded by a young red-haired commander. I think his name is Gilfias, right?" Gonif recalled the face of the red-haired young admiral who looked quite serious and upright. After hearing that the poor passengers on his ship were short of food and clothing, he immediately asked several soldiers downstairs to send a batch of baby food and basic clothing for the children.

"That admiral named Gilfias is quite good, but it's a pity that good people often don't live long these days." Gonif sighed.

"Captain Goniff, I have a lucrative business opportunity. Are you interested?"

"Please tell me." As a shrewd businessman, Gao Nifu's eyes lit up when he heard the words "generous rewards".

"I want you to go somewhere with your boat."

"Are you shipping something?"

"No, you just need to fly the spacecraft to these places." Rubinsky took out a holographic projector, opened the star map, and marked out several bright spots.

After taking a look at the star map, Gonif, who was very familiar with these places, found that the places marked by Rubinski were basically some important strategic or economic hubs of the alliance or empire. There seemed to be nothing special about them, except for one exception in the star map, which was the original black hole galaxy that was said to be the gateway to the home of another alien country.

"Isn't my position Sanliujiu?"

"That's right, Captain Goniff. I need you to go to that galaxy that leads to another mysterious alien kingdom. I will pay you this amount afterwards. How about it?" Rubinski pushed a note with a number written on it to Goniff across the table. Goniff opened the folded note doubtfully, and his eyes widened when he saw the series of zeros after the number. Rubinski even heard the sound of him swallowing.

Across the table, Gonif was also having a fierce psychological struggle. As a businessman, he certainly knew that the greater the risk, the greater the reward. If this deal could be done, he and all the crew members on the ship would not have to worry about the rest of their lives. However, this generous and somewhat abnormal reward made Gonif subconsciously alert.

"Captain Gonif, all I need is for you to arrive in these star systems in a timely manner. You don't need to bring anything on board, or if you want, you can bring some insignificant cargo. Just treat it as a normal business trip through these places."

"Mr. Lord... there's no problem in other places, but here... you can't let me use this excuse to fool the aliens, right? What's more, what if I enter that galaxy and are thought by the aliens to have invaded their airspace and sunk? "Gonif pointed to the original black hole galaxy on the star map.

"You can lie and say you accidentally strayed into this system and are only staying there for a short time. I also don't need you to stay in that system for too long. Just pretend you're on a normal business trip and then accidentally stumble into that system."

"This..." Gonif seemed a little hesitant.

"In that case..." As he said this, Rubinsky took out a pen and added two more zeros to the number behind the note.

"If you think it's not enough, I can consider increasing the reward several times." After saying that, Rudolf pushed the note with two zeros added to it to Gonif across from him.

.........

Twenty minutes later, Goniff walked out of the gate of Rudolf's mansion in a daze, with a check in his pocket. He sat in the passenger seat of the car he had driven here. His subordinates who had come with Goniff and were waiting in the car looked at Goniff with a puzzled look on their faces.

"What happened? Did the Dominion do anything to you?"

"No, I just borrowed a business from him, but I always feel that this business is very suspicious and may even be life-threatening."

"If it's such a dangerous business, why do you take it?"

"Because I couldn't refuse. Whether it was the reward that Rubinsky offered or his expression at the end, it was clear that I had no right to refuse."

"What did he give you in return to make you work so hard for him?"

"Here, take a look at it yourself." Goniff took out the check from his pocket and handed it to the driver sitting in the driver's seat.

"!!!" The driver also widened his eyes after seeing the long string of zeros on the check.

"Whether it was the price he offered or his attitude that if I didn't agree, I'd forget about doing business in Feisha, I had no choice but to take this order..."

"So...what should we do next?"

"What else can we do? We don't know if we'll ever live to spend such a large sum of money. Why not cash this check before the scheduled sailing date arrives and find a few places to experience the life of the rich?"

"That's right..." Gonif looked at the first mate who had followed him for many years and his mouth was watering as he saw the long string of zeros on the check.

"Call all the crew members along, and consider it as a reward for following me for so many years. Let's find a place to have some fun together. Let's enjoy it as long as we can while we still have time." Goniff pulled a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, took a deep puff, and thought about what he should do next.

…………

"Lord Dominion, why did you offer him such a high price?" As Rubinski's secretary, although it was not easy to ask his boss directly, the secretary who was deeply trusted by Rubinski was still very curious about the deal that had just been concluded between Gonif and Rubinski. Why could a small merchant ship owner be worth such a high price from the Dominion?

"Hmph, of course it's because this fellow, Gonif, is worth such a high price. Think about it, why would that Invincible Battleship, with so many Imperial warships at its disposal, go after a completely worthless cargo ship?"

"You mean... is there something on that ship that Gonif has overlooked or concealed from us? And this overlooked or concealed thing could even attract the attention of that invincible battleship?"

"That Gonif wouldn't dare hide anything from me. I secretly sent someone to carefully inspect the Beluska, and there were no secrets on board. A detailed inspection of the cargo manifest for that voyage also revealed nothing unusual."

"Then, there's only one possibility left. That unidentified alien warship isn't interested in the cargo it can carry, but the ship itself or the people on board."

"Since the invincible battleship is interested in this ship or the people on it, we might as well send this cargo ship out as bait. Since such an inconspicuous cargo ship is worthy of being tracked by the invincible battleship, then,

When the Beluska bait reappears, there's a high probability that the Invincible Battleship will take the bait again. At that point, we simply need to lure the Invincible Battleship to that desolate star system leading to another alien kingdom. Given all the previous records of the Invincible Battleship attacking both the Imperial and Alliance fleets, perhaps we can seize this opportunity to directly pit these two alien groups against each other, and profit from it.

"But...how can we make a profit?"

"When these two alien groups, fighting each other, start a war, it will undoubtedly affect the nearby Empire and Alliance. At that time, these aliens will undoubtedly show us more technology. As long as Feisha can offer a high enough price, we can buy this technology and resell it to the Alliance and Empire at an even higher price, seizing the opportunity to further control the economic arteries within the Alliance and Empire. The Alliance and Empire, fearing the invincible battleship and another alien nation, will stop at nothing to obtain the alien technology in our hands in order to ensure their own safety. We will be the ones to take advantage."

"For Feisha, it will be a situation where we win twice. We will use bait to drive the tiger to devour the wolf, let the two groups of aliens fight each other, and we will act as middlemen to buy the technology from the aliens at a high price, and then sell it to the Alliance and the Empire at a higher price, so as to completely control the scientific and technological research and development and economic arteries of the Alliance and the Empire. Feisha will become the real controller of human society!" Rubinsky smiled and poured himself a glass of wine, imagining that in the future he would become the real person in charge of science, technology and economy in human society.

What Rubinsky didn't know was that all his ugly behavior and all his conspiracies had been seen clearly by "aliens" light years away.

"It's a good plan, but the premise is that we are not in the same group."

"What a self-righteous fool! He wants to be a yellow bird? He probably doesn't know that when the yellow bird is trying to catch the cicada, there is already a hunter's shotgun pointed at it from behind."

"Those who scheme against others will ultimately be schemed against themselves. It seems this guy doesn't understand."

"So should we teach him a lesson?"

"Since this guy has set a trap for us, why don't we just pretend to step into it? Then we can kill him when we have the chance."

"It's also a good opportunity to teach this guy a lesson. Any conspiracy or trick must be based on strong enough hard power. When your comprehensive strength is strong enough, any conspiracy or trick will be useless."

Yuki looked at the images sent back by the nebula probe, which had broken down into elementary particles and was lurking in Lubinski's office, and commented on the self-righteous and cunning black fox with a look of contempt.

"Can I help you here?" asked the hologram of Khaleesi.

"Xixi, I need you to act out a scene with me. This self-righteous guy thinks he's succeeded. I'll just give the Empire and the Alliance a scare and give them a shocking warning, just like when a certain Ark easily wiped out the entire Interstellar Covenant fleet like swatting a bug. We also need to establish our authority. After all, some humans are like that. They don't learn their lesson until they're hurt."

"How to do it exactly?"

"you need to………"

On a dark fighter plane thousands of light years away, Carlisle listened to Yuuki's plan and smiled knowingly.

"Put on a shocking enough show for the Alliance and the Empire? To intimidate both sides and establish their authority? Interesting..."

"And that conceited old fox Feisha, he wouldn't be so foolish as to think I'd just take the bait if I did. My interest in that ship was just a spur-of-the-moment decision. Does Feisha, that cunning old black fox, really think he's that big of a deal?"

"Ha, this makes me laugh to death. Does this guy really think he isn't dying fast enough?" Kalisi tapped lightly with her knuckles on the pistol-sized star-shattering weapon in front of her, wondering how to better-lookingly smear the star-shattering ray on the face of Fesha, the self-righteous old black fox.

Meanwhile, Rubinsky, who was far away in Fraser, sneezed inexplicably while tasting wine, and had no idea that a big "Danger" had appeared above his head.

Chapter 231 Rational and Emotional Options

The civil war on the Imperial side raged. In the Border Sector, Siegfried successfully commanded his fleet, forcing Lidenheim's main fleet into retreat. In the final moments of the battle, Lidenheim, desperate to escape, even ordered an attack on a friendly transport blocking his path. This directly cost Lidenheim the trust of his men. By the time his fleet reached Fort Germison, it was practically in ruins. Of the original fifty thousand ships, fewer than three thousand survived. The remaining five thousand, having fled the battlefield, ignored Lidenheim's orders, which had already eroded his men's trust, and fled in all directions or surrendered directly to Siegfried's fleet. Marquis Lidenheim's abhorrent behavior, which involved attacking friendly forces just to save his own life, undoubtedly completely lost the trust of his men.

At this time, the Germison Fortress was shrouded in a suffocating atmosphere. Liddianheim was not only completely overwhelmed by his own fear and the frustration of losing the battle miserably, but also by the uneasiness about his own actions and the shamelessness in facing the Duke of Brunswick as his ally. He began to numb himself with alcohol.

An unexpected assassination by an officer who suddenly requested to meet with Li Dianheim directly led to the death of Li Dianheim and the entire command room where he was.

At this time, on the bridge of Gilfias's flagship, the Germison Fortress on the main screen seemed to be floating like a silver-gray sphere, but a part of the outer wall exploded after emitting a white flash. Then, red and yellow gases were seen slowly but oppressively throwing some of the personnel and debris in the fortress directly into space.

"It seems that a violent explosion occurred near the fortress commander's office." A captain muttered, not knowing why.

Gilfias did not miss this opportunity and immediately ordered the fleet to attack the fortress with all its strength. In the end, he succeeded in taking the entire fortress. After losing the commander, the personnel in the fortress had almost no fighting will and morale and quickly surrendered. The Marquis of Liddenheim, who was assassinated in the explosion, had not even his body found. He was most likely blown to pieces in the explosion.

At this point, the aristocratic coalition army, which already lacked unity, suddenly lost nearly one-third of its strength.

Later, when a highly provocative, classical-style notice of decisive battle sent by Reinhardt to the leaders of the United Nobles appeared in front of them, it directly angered these nobles who had no tactics or strategies and were still emotionally charged.

A group of arrogant young nobles, who were in a state of anger, even ignored the order prohibiting attack, and secretly led part of the fleet out of the fortress to launch an active attack on the Midamaia fleet.

However, the retreating Midameier fleet seemed to make these arrogant young nobles think that they had won. After returning to the fortress, they proudly boasted about their victory and ignored the orders of the fleet commander Merkaz.

Merkaz never said another word about such things. From that moment on, his view of these so-called nobles changed from disappointment to despair. He knew that these stupid nobles were completely hopeless.

After several proactive attacks organized by Reinhardt, the aristocratic coalition army, which suffered heavy losses, finally remembered the commander-in-chief who covered their retreat on the battlefield, and asked the commander why he failed to support them in time?

Merkaz's adjutant was extremely annoyed by the noble attitude led by Brunswick.

"There's no need to be angry, because Duke Brunswick is actually a patient." Merkaz admonished and comforted his adjutant who was almost unable to hold back his anger.

"patient?"

"It's mental. Although his body is healthy, this mental illness is long-standing and deeply rooted."

"The source of this disease has existed for a long time. It is the aristocratic privilege that has lasted for more than 500 years. All the nobles have suffered from this disease for 500 years. The Duke is also a victim of this tradition. If he had done this a hundred years ago, he might have been very successful, but now... Alas, in some ways, he is actually a pitiful and extremely sad person." Merkaz seemed very open-minded about the attitude of these nobles towards his waste.

When the people on the planet Westat rose up in rebellion due to their long-term dissatisfaction with the tyranny of the Brunswick family and killed the Duke Brunswick's nephew in the rebellion, Brunswick was furious.

"These damned pariahs... how dare they kill my dear nephew with their filthy hands!" The enraged Duke of Brunswick not only believed the people had no right to resist repressive policies, but also believed they had no right to live without the permission of the nobles. The sick, the elderly, and anyone else among the people, those unable to serve and please the nobles, were worse than livestock and certainly had no value in living. Having long been conditioned by the sense of superiority brought on by aristocratic privilege, he firmly believed this.

And now, this group of untouchables in his eyes not only rebelled against him as a great noble, but even killed his nephew. In his view, this was simply an act of treason. Duke Brunswick was venting his anger helplessly in the fortress.

These ungrateful pariahs must be punished with the sword of justice! "In his irrational rage, Brunswick made such a decision without any bottom line.