Within the second star system, the commander of the Katon Fleet, upon seeing the Starsea Fleet suddenly appear before him, didn't react by engaging in battle. Instead, he ordered all corvettes and fighter jets to cover the retreat while the main fleet immediately turned to exit the star system.
Simultaneously, the scattered scout ships began regrouping with the fleet, sending distress signals to the nearest Katon Fleet.
Li Yali was puzzled as she watched the Katon Fleet gradually split into two, unsure what tactics the enemy intended to employ after concentrating so many corvettes and fighter swarms.
Out of caution, she even ordered the Starsea Fleet to slow its advance, allowing the already deployed fighter swarms and defense systems surrounding them to launch attacks on the Katon Fleet.
After several rounds of fire exchange and the engagement of both sides' fighter swarms, Li Yali finally realized their goal was to cover the retreat of the main fleet.
Liu Hai couldn't help but marvel at this. A Katon commander decisive enough to make such a call was surely no ordinary figure in the Katon Fleet.
Once their objective became clear, the defense systems unleashed their full firepower. Energy fortress cannons with a range of one light-minute emerged from asteroids, bombarding the Katon Fleet relentlessly.
Under the control of the central core, over a million fighter swarms executed Li Yali's tactical strategy flawlessly. In just two rounds of combat, half of the Katon Fleet's fighter swarms were destroyed, leaving only a sparse hundred thousand or so, which were then overwhelmed by another wave of Sparrow Fighters before charging straight toward the Katon Fleet.
After receiving the first round of energy cannon strikes, the Katon Fleet knew escape was impossible. A one light-minute range far exceeded the main guns of their warships, which at best reached ten light-seconds and at minimum only three. Moreover, they were outnumbered in warships.
Thus, the Katon Fleet made a move that left Liu Hai utterly stunned.
They transmitted an unencrypted message to the Starsea Fleet: "Our fleet is willing to surrender under the condition that the lives of our members are guaranteed, and we will unconditionally disclose all classified information of our civilization."
The war had come abruptly—and ended just as abruptly.
The outcome left Liu Hai repeatedly questioning whether Igor had gotten him drunk on counterfeit alcohol and if he was still dreaming.
After nearly a decade of peaceful expansion without conflict, Major Stallone once again received combat orders.
Hundreds of transport ships were urgently mobilized to the ground military bases in the Brolly Star System, tasked with transporting clone soldier legions. A combined force of over a million clone soldiers and armed robots was deployed to the surrendered Katon Fleet to take custody of the Katon Creatures aboard the warships.
"Li Yali, do you think this could be some kind of enemy trick?" Liu Hai's hostility toward the Katon Creatures stemmed from the Federation, as did his belief that their civilization only fought to the death—never surrendered.
Years of experience had reinforced these views, to the point where they were regarded as unquestionable truths.
But now, a Katon Fleet of nearly five thousand ships, under the threat of hundreds of energy cannons and over a million fighters, had voluntarily shut down their weapon systems, locked their warships' reaction furnaces, and transmitted an unencrypted surrender message.
The whole thing seemed utterly surreal.
Liu Hai didn't even dare to contact the military. After all, this was the first time in Federation history that a Katon Fleet had surrendered. Without confirming whether their surrender was genuine, he didn't dare inform anyone. He even imposed a gag order within the fleet.
If the surrender was real, the classified intelligence they could extract from them remained uncertain. But as the saying goes, "A thousand pieces of gold can buy a horse's bones." As the first Katon Creature to surrender, the Federation would undoubtedly offer generous terms, and Liu Hai's rewards would be equally substantial.
The entire fleet's morale was like a cat meowing incessantly—their curiosity was at its peak, and their vigilance had noticeably dropped.
Li Yali didn't know how to describe her current emotions. If the enemy truly surrendered to her, she would become the first commander in history to force the enemy into voluntary surrender. A statue of her would likely be erected at the entrance of the Konor Military Academy.
Immortalized in history, folks! The three auxiliary commanders standing by wore expressions of utter bewilderment. Though they couldn't match Li Yali's fame, they were still figures destined for textbooks. This dreamlike outcome left them even more unsettled than Liu Hai.
The only clear-headed person here was Igor, who cared only about profit. As a logistics officer, even if this military miracle were celebrated across the stars, no one would bother mentioning how much effort or contribution a mere logistics staff had made.
So, adopting an "out of sight, out of mind" attitude, Igor took command of the Clone Legion. Within an hour, hundreds of transport ships picked up the legion from the ground base and warped to the vicinity of the Katon Fleet. Thousands of landing crafts, with the Katon Fleet's cooperation, boarded their main warships one after another.
Due to the physiological and ideological differences between the two civilizations, large armed robots couldn't enter Katon warships. Instead, small armed robots had to work alongside squads of Clone Soldiers to seize control of the warships' core reaction furnaces and control centers.
The operation progressed astonishingly fast. In less than three hours, all 4,382 remaining Katon warships had their cores secured by Clone squads, with explosive devices installed on their reaction furnaces. Any sign of trouble would trigger immediate destruction.
But handling the surrender of over 300,000 Katon Creatures proved trickier. They lacked the proper ecological environment to sustain them, nor could they let them remain aboard the warships.
In the rush, it was Igor—still busy calculating the potential profits from the surrendered fleet—who came up with a solution.
"Just retrofit those Plant Cultivation Space Stations in the second star system. Adjust the air composition to suit the Katon Creatures and tweak the gravity as needed. The cultivation spaces inside are large enough—just clear out some equipment and add partitions. We probably won't even need to manage it later; the military will handle everything."
"Ohhh! Right!"
The others suddenly realized they'd forgotten to report this to the military.
Using his authority as a Trailblazer Reserve Lord, Liu Hai submitted a full, unredacted account of the incident to the military merits exchange.
The military seemed just as baffled—it took a full half-hour before they even began processing the merits.
Half an hour later, a military communication forcibly connected to Liu Hai's channel, and the projection of a young woman in an admiral's uniform appeared before the group.
"I am the Star Queen Overlord of the Star Queen Starfield, the Queen Mother of the West. Pleased to meet you, young Pioneer." The Queen Mother of the West clasped her hands behind her back as she paced lightly, her bright, clear eyes boldly sizing up Liu Hai and his companions.