Skyfire Avenue

Lan Jue nodded. “Let Tyrannosaurus know we haven’t found any aliens yet, and include the possibility they may have teleported away. Alert human-occupied planets as well, tell them to be vigilant.”

Ling Ya nodded. She had her reservations about Lan Jue, but she was a professional soldier. This was not the time to act mutinous. She wasted no time relaying the information back to Tyrannosaurus with Wu Qiu.

“Boss, aliens incoming!” Suddenly Su Xiaosu’s urgent voice rang through the bridge. Everyone’s eyes immediately shot toward the radar screen. Sure enough, three angry red dots were closing on their position, and fast.

“Keep out of sight!” Lan Jue ordered.

“Wait.” Ling Ya hurried back to Lan Jue’s side. “Can we get a look at them first? We need to confirm they actually are aliens. We need our information to be precise.”

Lan Jue stared at her for a moment. This woman was smart. What she was saying was only part of the story. What she really wanted to know was how Zeus-1 fought or evaded foes.

“Fine.” His hesitation was brief. It was time to get down to business.

Zeus-1 continued on with no deviations in course. Lan Jue was silent, with no need to give his crew commands. Behind him, the helmet had already descended onto Lin Guoguo’s head and she was ready for her role.

Through the bridge’s windows they could see three purple spots rapidly growing larger on the horizon. Once the telescopes picked them up Lan Jue recognized them as the most common sort, shuttle aliens. They specialized in speed.

“Shuttlers. They’re fast and prefer to ram their prey. The trick is to keep your distance and deal with them as quickly as possible. Don’t give them a chance to hit you.”

She listened carefully and nodded her head. All the information humanity had gathered on these creatures was locked in her memory. She produced her recording equipment and started to record them.

Her attention was also fixed on Lan Jue. Part of her mission was to discover how this small scout team dealt with the threat of alien discovery.

There were three of them, together about as strong as four ninth level Adepts. They weren’t much of a threat.

Ling Ya continued to record the aliens as they drew nearer, while at the same time inconspicuously keeping an eye on Lan Jue. She was curious how he would handle the situation.

Yet, much to her shock the aliens flew right by. They never stopped or slowed down, and even when they got close they didn’t seem to notice Zeus-1 was there at all.

“Huh?” Ling Ya couldn’t help but vocalize her confusion. “They didn’t see us? Didn’t you say they could locate telepathically?”

“Pay attention!” That was his answer.

Ling Ya nearly groaned. Pay attention, he said! This man needed a spanking!

Lan Jue relaxed now that they’d encountered some sign of alien life. There were many reasons the aliens might not have been immediately encountered – for example, they might have moved to a more energy-rich sector of the Starfields. Now that they were sure the aliens were around, the North’s expedition could proceed.

Zeus-1 continued to penetrate deeper into the Shattered Starfields in search of the alien planets. Their encounter had already been reported to Tyrannosaurus, along with the video.

Zeus-1 wasn’t the only scout ship that had been sent out. There were seven or eight more on patrol, looking or information. All of them were specially equipped patrol boats.

The further in they went, the more aliens they came across. However, no matter what sort of alien they encountered Zeus-1 kept out of sight or flew right by. The aliens were none the wiser.

Ling Ya watched as closely as she could. It wasn’t until their third encounter with the creatures did she noticed something off about Lin Guoguo.

Skyfire Avenue had an Adept that was able to hide them from the aliens! No wonder... no wonder their missions succeeded. Finally she’d uncovered their secret.

Lan Jue didn’t take advantage of the Wine Master’s transference power to take them inside. For one, they didn’t know the condition of the transfer location. Secondly, using it was very costly. Finally there were things they could learn on the trip in.

“Hello, I’m Ling Ya. May I know your name?” With no aliens in their immediate vicinity, Ling Ya made her way over to Lin Guoguo and greeted her with a smile.

“Hello, I’m Lin Guoguo.” She answered with a pretty smile, appearing very friendly.

“Hello, Guoguo. You’re an Adept from Skyfire Avenue?” She asked. “Your Discipline helps you avoid the aliens?”

“If you look closely you’ll understand,” she answered. “It’s pretty bold to directly ask an Adept what their Discipline is, don’t you think?”

Ling Ya was not deterred. “It’s nice to meet you. If you have an opportunity you should come to the North for some vacation time. We have a lot of things to keep you entertained, as well as help with cultivation. When we’re done perhaps you’d like to stay on Tyrannosaurus for a little while? I can show you around.”

Lin Guoguo shook her head. “No thanks, I’d prefer to stay with the boss.”

“Boss? Him?” Ling Ya cast her eyes toward Lan Jue.

Lin Guoguo nodded innocently. “Yes! He’s my boss, and master. I do what he tells me and follow his orders.”

Ling Ya gaped at her. “My God! What century are we living in where he can enslave you like this! You must be suffering terribly, but can’t say anything. I’ll help you and make sure you get justice.”

Lin Guoguo sighed, her innocent expression lost and replaced with a teasing smirk. “Girl, you think you’re smart. I’m not one to start trouble. If he was like that why would I stick around? You think too much. To put it simply if the boss wasn’t around, the universe would be absent one Lin Guoguo. I owe him my life and I’m going to spend it at his side. No one’s going to change that fact. When I die, I’m going to do it in his arms, you understand?”

Ling Ya was stunned. “Are you his girlfriend?” Lin Guoguo was pretty, strong, and clearly cared deeply for her commander. It was a natural assumption.

Lin Guoguo’s answered betrayed the lump in her throat. “No! He isn’t interested in Guoguo. Sister... perhaps you can try to convince him to accept me? I’d even be his concubine!”

Lan Jue, not far away, almost fell over.

Ling Ya scowled. “Hopeless. You’re brainwashed.”

Lin Guoguo vigorously nodded her head. “I am! And not just me; Xiaosu, Mika, Ke’er, and Xiuxiu are all victims of the boss’ nefarious brainwashing technique! Even as a concubine I wouldn’t be his first.”

“Guoguo!” Lan Jue’s irritation was no secret.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“Swordfish!” Su Xiaosu’s voice cut through the banter.

Swordfish were among the fastest aliens they knew of. The moment they heard one was in range Lin Guoguo returned her head to the helmet – but it was already too late.

A flash of purple flickered outside the window, then stopped. An alien’s lumbering body came into view.

Aside from the radiant purple color of its flesh, Swordfish aliens looked remarkably like their namesake. Its main weapon was the sword-like mouth protruding from its head, but that was not to say its whole body was a danger.

It was a troublesome beast. It didn’t have any long-range attack capabilities, but was fast enough to close distances in a hurry. It could hit hard enough to tear through a battleship’s hull like paper. At full speed one of these things could put a dreadnaught out of commission.

For this reason Lan Jue and his team had a vested interest in dealing with them. Best was to kill it as quickly as possible.

Lin Guoguo had been distracted by her chat with Lingya and wasn’t wearing the helmet. The Swordfish had arrived too suddenly. They were discovered by its psychic pulse.

“Boss, what do we do?” Su Xiaosu asked. The pulse also meant the alien had a lock on them. The alien was already turning around. Its body was enveloped by a vibrant purple light, and all of a sudden it became a beam of energy headed straight for them.

Despite Zeus-1’s impressive defenses, they didn’t dare let this creature get a solid hit. Xiaosu’s experience kicked in and she quickly swerved Zeus-1 out of the alien’s path.

Lan Jue looked out the window. “I’ve got this one.” The others were resting and it would take too long to get them up to speed.

Lan Jue rushed to where Lin Guoguo was seated. She stuck her tongue out again for good measure and got out of his way. Lan Jue took the vacated seat.

The helmet descended and fit itself snugly on his head.

Zeus-1 continued to pitch and roll, but the alien was too fast for Xiaosu to keep up.

Ling Ya stuck her tongue out, fixated on Lan Jue and his reaction. She was desperate to know how he dealt with these things, and finally the time had come to tip his hand.

Lan Jue leaned back, helmet on his head, and hands resting lightly on the chair’s armrests.

Suddenly the bridge seemed different, like the entire ship had been injected with a life of its own. Zeus-1 banked hard to the side, just fast enough to avoid another attack. A pale blue light sprang up to surround them.

Then, a beam of blue light erupted from the front of the ship.