This vibration was not the trembling experienced by a spaceship at a jump point, but a massive, violent shake. Margaret, unable to keep her balance, fell headlong into Fatty’s arms. The two of them tumbled to the floor like a pair of rolling gourds.

The alarm blared shrill and piercing almost simultaneously with the vibration. In the corridor, red lights were spinning rapidly, and the air was filled with the disordered footsteps and frantic shouts of bandit army soldiers.

"What’s happening?!" Fatty quickly pushed Margaret off and got up, stumbling as he hurriedly grabbed his clothes and put them on. Margaret, feeling weak all over, her face flushed red as if it were about to drip blood, struggled to stand up amidst the violent shaking. Her full, voluptuous chest rose and fell dramatically, and on her quivering, orange-red T-shirt-wrapped bust, one could vaguely see the imprint of a pair of Fatty’s fingers.

"Battle preparation!" came the electronic voice of the central computer and the ship captain’s call over the broadcast: "Major General Tian Xingjian, please report to the control room immediately."

"Battle preparation?"

Even though they hadn’t heard the dreaded words "enemy attack," the three people in the room all changed their expressions. They immediately realized that the speed of the warship had decreased, and the room lights were dimming. Looking back, the closing armor outside the porthole quickly descended, completely blocking the light of the constant star. This was the prelude to the spaceship activating its cloaking device!

With the agility of someone caught in the act of an affair, Fatty deftly put on his clothes, grabbed Margaret’s hand to pull her up from the ground, and dragged her toward the control room. Staggering, Margaret didn’t mind Fatty’s hand-holding; she was just horrified to discover that, in front of her and Fatty, a little kid in a pair of briefs was running faster than the wind, disappearing in a flash at the stairway.

"What’s the situation?" Fatty rushed into the control room, only to see the ship captain sweating profusely.

The ship captain, Sechter, was a short, lower-class Feili clansman, with a head of curly black hair and dark, somewhat reddish skin. He was originally a small leader in the Redbeard Pirates, known for his fierce combat and rigorous training, and was exceptionally familiar with the Mars Channel. Because of this, Chekov had promoted him to captain of this Bandit No. 6 armed merchant ship. In previous battles, his command of Bandit No. 6 had already destroyed more than thirty warships of various sizes.

Besides those Mars pirates surrounded by Chekov’s First Fleet, the conquests even included two destroyers belonging to the Suss and Binart. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"General! The attack we just received was from an Energy Cannon shot that exceeded its range and scattered. They haven’t discovered us." Sechter, who had previously served in the Desic Empire, still adhered to strict traditional military etiquette and terms of address. After saluting, he swiftly pointed to a row of screens on the command console and said, "Take a look, sir!"

Fatty and Margaret focused their eyes, seeing on the radar screen on the console thirteen red markers and six green markers moving rapidly in the obstacle zone directly in front of the merchant ship. And on the long-range viewer screen next to the radar, through the thick cloud-like stardust, they could see two fleets engaged in fierce battle. To their surprise, the more numerous side was the Suss Fleet.

"The Suss Fleet?" Fatty was startled: "Identification number!"

"It should be a detachment of the A3 Fleet under Gershkov’s command from the Saleria Front Army," said Sechter. "The identity of the other side is still unclear. Their ships are military warships, but they lack insignias and identification numbers."

Gershkov here? Fatty was taken aback: "Anything else discovered by the radar?"

"Not at the moment." Sechter shook his head, adding, "We have already deployed a long-range satellite radar at the first moment, and so far, there are no other ships in the vicinity."

Fatty furrowed his brows and walked briskly to the interstellar map.

The current star system of the spaceship was very close to the Resk Star System.

Looking at the interstellar map, this was a B-grade subsidiary channel outside the Southeast Main Channel. Although still within the Mars Free Channel’s range, it wasn’t secretive because of its proximity to the main channel. During peacetime, when the main channel was congested, many ships would take this route, detouring around several star systems before returning to the main channel. And during wartime, fleets controlling the Southeast Main Channel would monitor this channel.

There were two reasons why Fatty took this route.

First, to reach the most suitable jump point for sneaking into Canglang Star, this path was unavoidable!

It was the exit to a micro jump point, in a nebula 12 million kilometers away from Canglang Star within the Resk Star System. Since it only allowed passage for medium to small ships like armed merchant vessels, even slightly larger destroyers couldn’t pass through. Thus, in military terms, it had no strategic value. Coupled with the dangerous and complex environment of the jump point area, even if the Western Alliance fully occupied the Resk Star System, they wouldn’t send forces to station there.

Secondly, in the route planning of the bandit army’s Combat Department, this channel was relatively safe. Because currently, the Longbow Star System to the south of the Southeast Main Channel was completely blocked by the bandit army, while the Resk Star System to the north was still in a state of chaos. Meaning the Southeast Main Channel now wasn’t entirely controlled by any power. The likelihood of the two armed merchant ships encountering danger here wasn’t high.

But who would’ve thought they’d run into the greatest force currently on this channel—Gershkov’s Fleet!