Chapter 15

After advancing for a long time they finally reached the bridge position, unexpectedly the reinforced hatch of the bridge was open and Coshawn's voice came from his helmet, 'Commander, we have taken the engine room and have met no resistance."

'Keep watch, we're on the bridge as well." Edward said, making a few hand signals as four crew members rushed into the bridge two by two, reporting over the comms that it was safe.

He stepped into the bridge and saw Serki, who was paralyzed on the floor, and Raphael, who was crouched next to him, and after instructing two of his team members to keep an eye on them, he walked straight to the command deck.

After opening the comm system, he began broadcasting to all units of the fleet, 'All units, this is Commander Edward of the Free Federation Dosas Fleet, your flagship has been captured and the rest of the large ships have all been destroyed.

I am now ordering in all combatants to leave their combat positions and wait for us to take them in, shuttles please stand down and wait for dispatch, if there is any aggression shoot on sight."

'What does Your Excellency intend to do with us?" Serki said.

'Excuse me?" Edward asked.

'I am Serki, Commander of the Third Fleet of the Golgan Star State, and this is my Chief of Staff, Raphael." Serki straightened his uniform and forced himself to stand up, failing at several attempts.

'Lord Serki, I am the Commander of the Free Federation Dosas Fleet, Edward." He said as he opened his helmet, leaking out the youthful features.

'Indeed! heroes are born in youth.I thought we were dealing with a Federation Dryad who had been fighting for years." Raphael marveled, not remotely chagrined by the fact that he had been made a prisoner of war.

'What does Your Excellency intend to do with us?" Serki asked again.

'Well, we'll have to wait for instructions from our superiors." Edward finished and stopped paying attention.

He operated on the command console for a while, connected the communication to the Luchelle, and after talking to Winchell for a few moments, he sat down on the command seat and crossed his legs on the command console comfortably and waved his hand at the team member next to him, signaling him to go and make a cup of tea.

Not long after a cup of hot tea was delivered to him, he gently sipped it and said, 'No thanks to the Tyndall, the tea is better than ours."

A day later, the Free Federation Dosas fleet with a 1:3 disparity in combat strength, completely wiped out the neighboring fleet and captured the enemy flagship's deeds spread throughout the galaxy.

The Dosas fleet made good use of the starfield environment to accomplish the ambush, and this battle example was written into the military textbooks of the Federation and even the Empire.

Everyone speculated about the origins of this young commander named Edward, and there was even a legend that he was the son of the Dosas Star God, and for a while rumors and legends were spreading.

There were still battle shuttles traveling through the starfield, and just taking in the battlefield and searching for survivors took all of their energy.

Edward simply stepped aside from this, leaving all of this tedious business to Winchell, and hid in the hatch looking at the star charts and pondering something.

'We're all busy blowing up, and you're hiding out here in the clear?"

His sight crossed the star chart and looked at the sulky Elina, saying, 'My little wildcat, the commander needs to think more."

'You're here looking at star charts so you can think properly? The wounded, the POWs, the power recovery issues, the training issues, you don't care about any of that?" Elina said sitting down next to him.

'That's not with Winchell." Edward scratched his head and continued, 'Besides, I heard Dad say that Dosas is going to be completely integrated into the Federation system, and thinking about that news gives me no energy."

'Hey, that's only a matter of time, not to mention that the Federation's ambition is Dad's ambition, as long as the people on Dosas can live in peace and work happily, what's your ambition?" Elina said as she touched his hand.

'My ambition? My ambition is an acre of land, two cows, and a wife and children!" He said as he got up and wrapped the cheekily grinning Elina in his arms, pinning her down on the bed with a twist.

'Lord Edward to the bridge please." The voice of the intercom came in at an inopportune moment.

'Don't go." Elina said shyly as she cupped his face.

As if inspired, he sped up the undressing he was doing.

'Lord Edward please come to the bridge quickly." The voice on the intercom sounded again as if it was having its way with him.

'Shit! Elina wait for me, I'll be right back!" He said as he quickly got dressed and walked out of the cabin.

Coming to the bridge, Winchell looked at Edward for a moment and then said, 'I'm sorry for disturbing Your Excellency's moment of spring, ah."

Edward was also stunned, busy asking, 'How did you know?"

Winchell handed over a handkerchief and pointed at Edward's face and said, 'The commander of the Free Federation's Third Fleet, Walter Bomba, is looking for you, so you'd better wipe the lipstick off your face first."

On the arched bridge of the Luchelle, Edward was talking to General Walter Bomba through the intercom.

The general in front of him had a very different style from General Barr, who gave off a wolf-like cunning and viciousness, whereas the general in front of him gave off the biting coldness of a heavy sword slash.

'It's like this General Walter, I have decided to retire." Edward said.

'Edward, since Dosar has been incorporated into the Free Federation, you are a citizen of the Free Federation, I am asking you once again to contribute your strength for the sake of the Free Federation, for the sake of the citizens of the Federation."

General Walter was obviously not too keen on letting Edward retire from military service and return to farming easily.

'When we return to Dosas and hand over the fleet matters, I will retire." Edward didn't want to explain much, he was now preoccupied with fulfilling his pact with Elina.

'Young man, the Empire has run out of steam.

Their technology is stagnant, their generals are weak and incompetent, and their soldiers are fearful of death, don't you want to take advantage of the chaotic times to accomplish something?" General Walter felt that it was a great pity for Edward to retire at this time, and he thought that Edward was burying his talent.

'I've been thinking about this today, if Andre Star Fortress can't be breached, even if we transform Essoda into a Star Fortress we won't be able to fight against it.

If Andre can't be taken, our starfield will always be harassed by the Empire, so what's the point of talking about the cause?"

Edward became a little disdainful as he watched the General begin to put the big picture together, so he pointed out the crux of the problem.

'Because of this Edward, the Federation is in dire need of commanders like you, I believe that our Free Alliance will be able to break through Andre Star Fortress if we are all of one mind and all of us are united." General Walter said with excitement.

'Impossible is the thing is just impossible, it's like you can't bite the back of your own head." Edward rubbed his eyebrows, he felt like he couldn't help himself and was about to start retorting.

He stopped the words that General Walter was about to say and spoke before he could, 'Even if we transformed Essoda into a star fort, then we wouldn't be able to achieve the same results as Andre Star Fort as far as Essoda's location from the star bridge is concerned.

Andre Star Fort is like a bottle cap! It keeps other things out of the bottle as well as stops the wine from flowing out of the bottle!

It's because of Andre's Starfort that the Empire is able to keep a steady stream of battleships coming through the starbridge, whereas with Essoda, the starbridge is completely outside of its effective strike radius!"

'That's precisely why we need to take Essoda to use against Andre!" General Walter reasoned to.

'What are we going to do by taking Essoda? Build a star fortress against meteoric Nova-class artillery fire?

We've been completely set up! The Empire is letting us see that possibility and then dragging us into a war of attrition!" Edward wasn't going to save face with the General and went straight to the point, 'Let me tell you what's going to happen!

When the Federation's fleet steps into Essoda's starfield, there will be a flourishing star of Imperial starships appearing on this side of the starbridge.

At that point, you go in, you're going to have to sacrifice your fleet for valuable construction time, you go back, their fleet blasts Essoda into a scorched earth, a couple times back and forth, and our economy is finished!"

General Walter was dumbfounded, his lips quirked to say something.

Edward fiendishly continued, 'By the time that happens, our populace will be starving and suffering high prices.

By that time, there will be nothing on the medicine shelves in the hospitals, and there will be no one to treat our old and sick! By that time, our children will be crying to us that he wants a piece of cake for his birthday, and there will be nothing you can do about it!"

All the officers and men on the bridge looked at each other in disbelief, they were all from the Dosas Star Resistance, Edward's fiendish words resonated in their hearts as they stood up and looked at Edward.

General Walter's face flushed red just about to get angry, suddenly he laughed and calmed down, saying, 'You sound like you're trying to convince yourself."

Edward froze, the sparkle in his eyes slipping from the side of his eyes with that freeze as he shook his head and said, 'Unfortunately, I can't do anything about it."

'So, you mean someone can do something?" Elina's voice rang out from behind him.