“Change of plans. Retreat! Retreat! We! Are! Leaving!” Jiang Fei declared. He was unable to fully be in control of his body and if there was any sudden spike in fighting intent, he would morph into the Umbral form and eat his enemies alive. There was no use in hunting anymore if he could not even collect the corpse of the Ultralisk.
“Retreat, sir?”
“Where can we retreat to?”
“There’s nowhere to run!”
“Sir! We ought to stay here and fight for our lives! Retreating now or later would only spell the same outcome!”
…
Besides those that were extremely close to Jiang Fei, no one else knew about the Hypercruiser he had in close orbit. They had no idea that they could retreat at his beck and call! That explained the look of confusion when Jiang Fei had ordered a retreat.
“I have a cruiser within the Ausvia system. I’m going to activate the teleportation system now! Do not move!” Jiang Fei ordered. All expressions of disbelief and confusion were now replaced with pure bliss and euphoria. Not a minute earlier, they were all subjected to an all-out battle with the Ultralisks. Even though their leader, Bison, was more than happy to kill the incoming beast, the soldiers were not very keen on participating in such a battle that could kill them. No matter how strong Jiang Fei was, they found it hard to believe that he alone could fend off the entire uprising.
But Jiang Fei came through with his words. The call to salvation was rung and a certain hope descended from the heavens. An interstellar cruiser was the answer to their prayers, to leave the wretched place in an exodus led by Jiang Fei!
“0541, start the teleportation sequence,” Jiang Fei ordered.
“Aye, captain.”
Bright particles started to swirl around each and every soldier then. It was slower than normal since there were too many that were teleported at the same time.
“This! This is it!”
“Oh my god! It’s real! We are being teleported away!”
“Goodbye forever Tallgeese outpost!”
“All hail the almighty Jiang Fei!”
…
Screams of joy and showers of praises started. To be honest, almost half of the soldiers then did not believe Jiang Fei’s statement when he said he owns a cruiser. Even though they were excited, they thought Jiang Fei was only feeding them false hope. It was only fair since not a single soul had ever left the outpost.
The Valsalrian Army had absolute authority over the entire planetary system of Ausvia and the Tallgeese outpost. Ships only did one-way travels to the system for prisoner and supply deliveries. Ships that landed there were immediately rendered useless. It started off with self-destruction but it was far simpler to simply load the ship with limited fuel capacity. Any ship that entered the system would require authorization from higher officers in the Valsalrian Army.
The high energy particles that were swirling around the soldiers was the ultimate proof of Jiang Fei’s claim. The miracle lord did own a ship and was teleporting them away to safety.
Usual teleportation would take less than 3 seconds but since the ship was teleporting close to 30,000 soldiers at a time, it took almost 12 seconds.
“It’s our time,” Jiang Fei said, signaling both Kaa’lna and Bison to stand still and not interrupt the teleportation sequence.
“Yes, sir.”
“As you wish, my master.”
Who would say no to an invitation to salvation?
The flash of light beamed and the three arrived in the teleportation pad safely. Sarila was waiting for them, for Jiang Fei specifically. She was eagerly waiting, her emotions bottled up for the one man that had truly proven to be her mate for life, but when Jiang Fei, Kaa’lna, and Bison materialized, Sarila’s eyes became teary immediately.
“Fei… You… The two of you…” she choked on her words. Ever since the day Alexis had given her to Jiang Fei, the man had never once shown his affection toward her. Sarila, on the other hand, had already accepted him as a man. The “underaged” kitten always believed that if she did a good job, Jiang Fei would eventually offer his heart to her. Alas, that was but a dream, and reality was always crueler.
“Sarila? I… This is…”
Jiang Fei saw the pain in Sarila’s eyes and responded quickly by removing his arms from around Kaa’lna. Even though he was not in that sort of relationship with Sarila, he would not want her to misunderstand the situation. Especially since he was far from having a relationship with Kaa’lna.
“Master…”
Seeing that, Sarila’s eyes locked onto Jiang Fei’s, spelling nothing but infatuation and longing. That being said, she did not try to have him close. She just stood there, clinging to herself; nothing that she was doing reflected the mature woman that she was before.
“Fei… What does she have that I don’t…”
Sarila muttered sadly. Both of them were as cute as cuddly cats with slender bodies and attractive faces. That being said, there were still differences. While Sarila had a cute, domesticated look of a house cat, Kaa’lna was that of a wild one. Another glaring aspect was the fact that Sarila was still an underaged Caitian. She was beautiful but not well-endowed, not as curvy as Kaa’lna. Everything about that other woman reflected seduction!
“Enough of this. I do not have the time to entertain this!” Jiang Fei barked. His blood boiled with annoyance and he paced hastily toward the bridge.
“Fei… I…”
Sarila felt abandoned. She came onboard the Meteor earlier to collect information and have everything compiled and organized. The only thing left for her to do was to wait for Jiang Fei’s arrival. What she had expected was completely different from what she had experienced.
“What is going on with me?”
Jiang Fei stopped halfway through the corridor. Something was odd. The last time he talked to a girl was unlike what had happened back there. He usually talked normally to them and even felt awkward when they were flirty, and felt conflicted when they were sad. Today, back in the teleportation pad, when he saw the tears rolling down Sarila’s cheek, he felt a sudden burst of annoyance, anger even!
“0541, start the warp core. Take us away from this system right now!” Jiang Fei ordered. He had no idea where he should go but he didn’t want to stay put for even a second longer. The ship was far but still within the vicinity of Dhiras. If the Ultralisks sensed them and started to attack, they would be in trouble.
“Aye, captain.”
0541 obeyed the command. Sarila had already made preparations beforehand. The ship’s entire system was in optimal condition and the warp core could be activated at an instant. All that was needed now was for a course to be input into the navigational system and a quick power charge to start travelling at FTL speeds.
Thump.
The ship made the jump into Hyperspace smoothly, leaving the Ausvia system and Tallgeese Outpost, possibly forever.
“Captain, we are en route to the Locca system. We should be arriving in less than 15 minutes.”
The Locca system was only a few hundred lightyears away. Even so, that distance was good enough to be absolutely safe from the Ultralisk Uprising.
“Good.”
Jiang Fei sat on the captain’s chair. As he let out a deep sigh, Bison, Kaa’lna, and Sarila entered the bridge.
When Kaa’lna saw how relaxed Jiang Fei was, she shot to his side and tried her best to stay as close to him as possible. If she could, she would have squeezed herself on the seat to sit beside him. That was only if that would not anger him or disrespect him as the leader.
Jiang Fei was annoyed. He had no idea what kind of spell the girl was on.
Sarila was standing in place, looking a little jittery as a result from her forcing herself to stop sobbing.
Of all the people in the room, Bison was feeling the worst. He was incredibly awkward as he could not bring himself to intervene in his leader’s relationship with his women. Standing there, awaiting orders, was almost suffering for him.
“Sarila, report what you have gathered. After that, you are dismissed.”
Seeing as how Sarila was unable to stop sobbing pitifully, Jiang Fei felt the same boiling rage in his blood.
