By the time Cillin returned to the bridge, the A Squadron had already sent them the alert signal. The negotiations could not be going well considering that it hadn’t even been a few hours since it began.
“Should we get ready?” Cary asked while working his elbow a little. He was wearing propeller rings on his arms and knees. There was also a shrunken apparatus behind his back. These were something Xi Mu had added to their Armor after observing Merciless’ Armor. This would allow them to fly in space in their Armor without having to wear any additional flight equipment. Not only was it highly responsive, the crew had proven themselves capable of utilizing the new enhancements to its maximum capacity.
“Yeah, we should—”
Before Cillin could finish, they abruptly received a transmission request from a ship belonging to the A Squadron. Upon accepting, the crew was surprised to learn that they were speaking to Vice Admiral Stanley, the only vice admiral of the three to have come to this planet.
Grim-faced, Stanley wasted no time in launching straight to his point, “I need you to surrender control of your ship. I’ll be heading over to handle the takeover in a moment…”
Stanley was still speaking, but that was all Wheeze managed to hear before it started scratching up a table uncontrollably.
He wants us to surrender our ship? But why? Is he trying to claim my territory? Is he trying to commit suicide or unalive himself?!
Czedow poked Wheeze and shook its head before the gray cat could completely lose its shit. There would be time to throw a tantrum later.
Stanley thought he would have to waste a lot of time persuading the Eleventh Squad’s commander into accepting the order, so he was surprised when Cillin had agreed to his request immediately. However, Cillin had also made a few demands in return, to which Stanley could barely stop himself from responding with an impatient outburst. Right now, his main objective was to take over Cillin’s ship and protect a certain person on their ship. Everything else was secondary.
“Fine. I will send someone to take over your ship two minutes later,” Stanley cut off the transmission the second he said this.
“Why are we giving up Little Eleven, commander? And why is the A Squad doing this?”
“Yeah! Our crew may be small, but we’re still a squadron! They can’t just claim our ship as their own no matter how much they look down on us!”
“We built this starship with our own two hands! Why on earth should we give it to them? It’s not like they’re lacking in vessels right now!”
“Who the fuck does the guy think he is? He’s just a vice admiral! He has no right to claim our starship!”
The crew was extremely displeased with Stanley’s action to say the least. The B Squadrons of Vanguard normally did not interfere with each other’s business. While the A Squadron did possess the right to assist with the management of a B Squadron if the situation was deemed necessary, that should be the extent of their authority.
Why were the squadrons sometimes addressed as independent squadrons? It was because they acted independently and did not have to answer to their higher-ups’ every whim. The admiral himself could give them an order, and their commander could still reject it if he decided that it was unreasonable or something!
The problem was that Cillin had agreed to the unreasonable demand.
That said, they had worked under Cillin long enough to trust his judgment. That was why they still obeyed his command after venting. Cillin had not explained himself, but they were certain that he had a good reason to do this.
“Please make the necessary preparations. Pango, Kong Lujia, Mogas, Phoebe and Mao, the five of you will be staying behind. The rest of you will be flying out on your fighters.”
“But of course! Like hell we’ll leave our fighters to the fuckers! This is fucking oppression, I swear!” Cary complained unhappily as he left with the others. Before they left, they even shot the five members who had been asked to stay behind unfriendly looks. It was because Stanley had explicitly stated for the five of them to stay behind. He had also said that the rest of them could do whatever they wanted, meaning that they could remain in the ship or fuck off to elsewhere. It clearly did not matter to him either way.
There had always been a rift between the A Squad and the B Squadrons. Barring a handful of exceptional individuals, the A Squad—especially those who had joined the A Squad from the beginning—generally looked down on their B Squadrons. In fact, people who were promoted to the A Squad like Songba Leruo and Shawton were often discriminated against by their supposed allies. They had thought that this discrimination would lessen after the impromptu merging of their members a while ago, but it was clear that they had thought wrong.
Cary was so pissed he could punch a wall or two. That was why he was venting it on the group of five.
Mogas and the others looked wronged, but they did not protest the evil looks they received. In fact, they were so silent that Cillin had a feeling they knew why the A Squad was doing this.
Later, Cillin activated a spaceplane and sent Dias’ baby boy, Mo Heng, Xi Kai and Xi Mu on board. The spaceplane had been built by their best engineers, and part of Xi Kai’s robot army was stored inside as well. Assuming that the spaceplane could safely evacuate the war zone before the war began, they should be as safe as they could be.
Cillin had also spoken to Xi Kai and Xi Mu in private during this time. No one knew the contents of their conversation.
After the spaceplane had left, Cillin sent the remaining crew members into another spaceplane that had also been retrofitted after acquisition. Their remaining fighters had been moved into the spaceplane as well.
“Keep our ship safe, Little Eleven. And don’t let them into the places I told you about,” Cillin said.
“I will,” responded Little Eleven in a sad voice.
“Don’t be scared. We’ll come back before you know it. We haven’t abandoned you.”
After saying this, Cillin turned around and watched a gray cat dragging an entire cabinet into the spaceplane. Behind it, Czedow was carrying more stuff such as its fluffy nest.
“Wheeze, we’re just leaving for a bit. We’re not actually moving out of our ship.”
“No! I don’t trust them!” Wheeze responded without looking back.
Seeing Wheeze’s reaction, Snowball and the other crew members started moving their stuff into the spaceplane as well. Just like Wheeze, they were afraid that the A Squad would steal their precious treasures.
Stanley had said that he would be sending someone to take over the ship, and it turned out that person was himself. What about their ship was so important that the vice admiral himself had to come over himself, when he could be helping Ji Feng instead?
Only a few people were aware of his true intentions.
As expected, the first thing Stanley did upon arrival was to check on the group of five. He did not care what anyone else was doing. After giving Cillin a nod, he and his men went straight to the bridge.
While staring at the A Squad members’ back, Cillin made a hand gesture and said, “We’re leaving now. Keep our ship safe, Little Eleven.”
Cillin was the final person to board the spaceplane. When they finally departed, everyone felt terribly bitter on the inside.
It was not unlike the feeling of being kicked out of their own homes.
Cary might not know why this was happening, but he had been a Hunter long enough to know some common traits that they all shared. For example, Hunters generally did not bother to take care of things that weren’t theirs. Since the ship belonged to the Eleventh Squad and by extension him, he always took care of his surroundings as best he could. He would even avoid damaging the walls when he was training in the training ground. Would their so-called “allies” do the same though? Would they not open fire at a wall at random, kick the chairs around as they pleased or, god forbid, flip the tables to use as barricades even though it was completely unnecessary?
The more Cary thought about it, the more bitter he felt. In the end, he decided to vent all his rage and frustration against their enemies.
Cillin had promised them that they would return to the ship. That was the only reason they hadn’t gone to town with the chuckleheads. No one in the Eleventh Squad was afraid to butt heads against the A Squad if necessary.
Meanwhile, Stanley and his men were beginning to realize that the ship was more than what it seemed after taking control of it. At first, they had thought nothing of it. However, they soon discovered that there were an ungodly number of places that they were forbidden from entering. Some places were even locked down in a way that not even Stanley could open with his administrative authority. Their codebreaker was unable to hack the doors open either.
When someone suggested shooting the door open, Phoebe immediately whipped his ass across the corridor. They would not allow the A Squad members to damage the ship.
“Is this really necessary? It’s just a shitty B Squad ship, man,” said the guy who was sent flying just now.
The group of five remained silent, and Stanley told his subordinates to watch themselves. He was clearly accommodating them.
“VA, there are a ton of places in the ship that are sealed as tight as an airlock. The crew cabins, workshops and more are barred from entry,” Someone said.
“I would advise you to rein in your curiosity and not explore the ship anymore than is necessary,” Mogas said to a guy who was looking all over the place.
“If I insist?”
It was a childish voice who answered him instead of Mogas, “Then I will not hold back.”
…
In the spaceplane, Cillin was holding a video conference with everyone and discussing their next action plan. He also discussed various contingency measures against unexpected situations.
Cillin did not cut the transmission until he got everyone to promise twice that they would carry out his plans as he dictated.
“What are those people planning, Cillin?” Wheeze asked a bit languidly from the side. The gray cat was currently plucking away at a round nut. It was worried for Sigma’s indoor fruit garden and the territories it had marked with its scent. It was worried about far too many things for its own good. This was why one should never give up their territory for any reason!
Cillin stroked its back while answering, “We won’t know until we know.”
“What if they damaged the ship? What if something happened to Little Eleven? What will happen to Sigma’s indoor fruit garden, your workshops and my territory?”
“If the worst happens, then we will teach them a lesson. Though, I suspect they aren’t the only ones who’ll be visiting our ship. There would be Navigators and other forces as well.”
“Who cares? We’re gonna kick all their asses!” Wheeze rose to its feet and did a quick shake.
“Yes, we will.”
“It’ll be a lesson they’ll never forget.”
“But of course.”
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The system suddenly beeped three times. It was the signal that the negotiations had broken down completely, and the battle was about to begin. Right after that, a corner of the planet abruptly exploded and discharged a massive mushroom cloud. It was of course the negotiation site.
