Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!-Chapter 150: Crossing the Line

We were two systems away from our target location.

The route Eva charted deliberately snaked around all the inhabited stations and planets in the next star system, making sure our "presence" wouldn't go unnoticed. The ominous presence of the so-called "Shadowless Hawks."

To make that work, we had to slow down significantly—at least outside of interstellar jumps.

We only used hyperspace jump drives when transitioning between systems. We jumped into the next one over—the Tianxin-17 Star System.

Upon arrival, our fleet commenced its parade.

We began from the orbital station around the 16th planet in the system, then proceeded to the nearest neighboring planet, one by one. From station to station, we traveled, never lingering for too long.

Our only purpose was to display our existence. That "we" were "here."

But without hyperspace jumps, traversing an entire star system became a lengthy and time-consuming process.

In fact, even just reaching the next nearest planet could take a few hours.

With the irregular orbits in play, we couldn't simply go down a straight line and visit them all one after the other.

Roughly two days into this charade, we managed to hit the halfway mark—visiting 10 of the 16 planetary bodies. And just then...

"Arthur, there's an incoming encrypted call. Should I patch it in?" Nyssra asked, finally showing signs of engagement after hours of boredom.

"Oh? Finally?"

I smiled when I heard that. I had been waiting for this moment. It was inevitable—

"Ignore the call," I said. "But leak our coordinates from three hours ago, and feed them our projected destination. Make sure they receive it."

"Hmm?"

Nyssra raised a brow in confusion but didn't question the order.

She moved fast and executed it with precision.

She dropped the call, but in doing so, she allowed the enemy a sliver of information—just enough to give them a taste. Coordinates, timing, trajectory.

Everything else they accessed was fabricated. False data wrapped in a believable package.

As expected from Nyssra—clean, fast, and efficient.

"Eva, monitor the area we were in three hours ago. Use the drones we've been dispersing along our trail. If you pick up any spatial distortion, alert me at once."

"You mean...?" Eva narrowed her eyes, hesitating briefly. Then she caught herself. "Alright, got it," she said with a low murmur.

I caught the flicker of hesitation in her movement.

Unlike Nyssra, Eva understood exactly how dangerous the ones we were baiting truly were. This entire stunt—just like the shipyard chief warned—was nothing short of walking a tightrope over a minefield.

And then, just minutes later, Eva tensed and called out.

"A spike in spatial fluctuations detected! Distance: 1.65 AU and closing!" she reported, almost on the edge of panic.

"They're fast." I nodded, unsurprised. I flicked my hand, issuing a direct command. "Activate jump drives! We're heading straight for the target—full speed ahead!"

Nyssra whipped her head around, face blank with confusion. "Wait, what? Why are we running...?"

"Because..." I paused, searching for the right words. "...If they catch us, they won't treat us with respect or anything—they'll turn us into test subjects for their laser turrets for sure."

When the real Shadowless Hawks catch someone impersonating them, death is the best-case scenario. The punishment varies depending on how blatant your imitation is and how seriously they take the offense.

The more accurate your mimicry and the bolder your display, the more attention you draw. The logo we used? It wasn't random.

I'd spent multiple sessions perfecting it—selecting the most calculated design to lure out their big fish. This version of the emblem was tailored for that purpose—for baiting the top brass. Their leader, specifically.

Soon, the jump drives finished their sequence, and hyperspace swallowed our fleet. At this distance, we should be out of reach. No way they'd catch up in time.

By the time they arrived at our last known location, we would be long gone—ghosts in the cosmic wind.

"ETA is three hours," Eva announced, finally letting go of her controls. "Three hours until we find out whether we live or die."

"Relax," I said with a half-shrug. "They'll be occupied with something else. We should be safe for now."

I turned toward Nyssra.

"Anyway, let's go over the plan one more time before we arrive. Nyssra?"

"Hm? Oh!" She snapped out of her daze. "Right, right. We're headed for H3-55 Space Station—it's the outermost station in Voltherian territory."

"Exactly. I picked that spot for a reason—best place for a layover before diving in." I gave her a nod. "So, what's next?"

Nyssra tapped on her console, fingers dancing across the keys. A large tactical window opened up before us seconds later.

It was a 3D Live Image of a star system—one with a staggering 340 planets orbiting a luminous blue giant. The sheer number of planets alone was absurd, and to make it even more surreal, each one had its own wildly eccentric orbit—some requiring over a millennium just to complete a single revolution.

Instead of the typical disc-shaped structure found in most systems, this one resembled an atomic model, where each planet spun like electrons around the core nucleus—the central star. The orbits somehow managed to narrowly avoid one another, an intricate ballet of cosmic chaos edged with fragments of order.

"Our current position is here," Nyssra said, pointing to the outermost orbiting planet—the 55th within the 3rd cluster of planetary groups.

"And our target lies here."

She traced her finger inward, finally resting on the 10th planet from the central star.

"That's… really far," Eva muttered, eyebrows rising.

Not only was the star massive, but the entire system spanned such a distance that it bordered on myth. Approximately 1,400 astronomical units from edge to core. Even with jump drives at full capacity, traversing from the rim to the center would take days.

This was the largest known star system in the entire explored universe.

"Exactly, it's too far," Nyssra agreed, nodding solemnly. "And if we try to head in there—crossing from the second cluster into the first—we're almost guaranteed to be shot at."

"Shot at... by other ships, you mean?" I asked for clarity.

"Nope," Nyssra said, shaking her head. "I mean shot at by the Primula itself. It has an automatic defense protocol that vaporizes intruders the instant they cross without proper clearance."

"Yikes. And you don't happen to have that clearance key, huh?"

Nyssra sighed. "That sort of thing isn't exactly easy to get. It's like an express-level security pass issued by the Voltherian government—and it expires within hours of activation."

"…And?"

I tilted my head, eyes narrowing, inviting her to skip the runaround.

"And… obviously, I can forge the passkey," she grinned proudly. "But to do that, I'll need to get my hands on the military's current encryption key. And that's not as easy as it sounds."

"You mean... hack their system and copy the key, right?" I smirked. "Considering the defense system was built by Voltherians themselves, it'd be tough for a native to break it. Old habits die hard."

"…True, I can't deny that."

"Then leave the encryption part to me."

Cracking into a military-grade framework was difficult, yes—but not beyond me. Hacking and programming had been my bread and butter back in the game. In this world, too, those skills held weight.

"Perfect. That saves me some legwork." Nyssra nodded, visibly relieved. "Once we reach H3-55, I'll take you to a console where you can do your thing."

With that, we continued fine-tuning the rest of our plan for the remainder of the jump. We reviewed the main objective, built fallback options, and laid out multiple contingencies in case everything went south. Nothing was left unprepared. No scenario was too far-fetched.

By the time hyperspace spit us out, we were already within the dominion of the Voltherian Empire. Right in front of us floated a small space station, cleverly fused into the side of a planetary moon.

The camouflage was so convincing that I might've missed it, if not for the visor tagging it as our destination.

"All ships, hold position," I commanded—just as we had planned.

Since we were masquerading as the Shadowless Hawks, it would be suicide to enter with our entire fleet. That much firepower would trigger all sorts of alarms on the defensive troops stationed there.

From here on out, only our flagship would proceed.

We advanced slowly toward the docking bay of the H3-55 Space Station.

With the ship's AI syncing up with the station's system, docking was seamless. The engines powered down into standby mode, and shortly after, the three of us disembarked.

"What do you want from our station, you fiends?!"

"..."

What greeted us—who were wearing powered suits that covered our entire body—upon arrival was a full security detail. An army, weapons locked and loaded, staring us down with twitching trigger fingers.

Eva and Nyssra both flinched.

Understandable—having hundreds of laser muzzles aimed at your face wasn't something you could easily ignore. I, however, simply smiled and stepped forward—crossing the Black Halberd's barrier threshold.

"Arthur?!"

"You… what the hell—!"

The two of them were stunned as I walked calmly past the safety line.

"Well, well… what's this?"

I said coolly while ignoring the two, eyes flicking across the soldiers.

"You're pointing your toys at us? Are you really sure about this? Are you ready to place the fate of your entire race on the line, Mr. Soldier?"

"...!"

The apparent commander flinched, startled by my words.

But he didn't issue the order to fire.

Just as expected… They'd been thoroughly convinced that we were part of the actual Shadowless Hawks.

"Lower your weapons," I ordered, my tone sharp. "While I'm still in a generous mood."