It has been too long since the black malice had influenced Jiang Fei and this time was no different from when it happened the previous times. It made Jiang Fei extremely greedy and hot-tempered.

“Sir, I should warn you that what we are doing goes against military rules,” one of the many captains said.

“Obey the command,” Jiang Fei hummed. His intonation was clear in sending the message: Anyone who decides to go against Jiang Fei will be treated as outsiders.

“As you command.”

On the one hand, no one dared to disobey Jiang Fei’s orders as he was the commander of the fleet. On the other hand, as they were merely obeying orders from their superiors, all faults and blames rested on Jiang Fei’s shoulders.

Consoles were tapped and the targeting system was activated. All ships that were now loaded with goods had been locked. Cannons and missiles were aimed at them.

“Alert. Enemy target detected and locked on!”

…

All the ships’ systems blared out warnings.

“He’s serious!”

“What can we do now?”

“They say they are the Fifth Fleet. We should ask help from the Ninth Fleet!”

“Go go go!”

…

Unless they wished for all their belongings to be destroyed, the civilians had no choice but to obey Jiang Fei’s orders. Some that managed to escape from their ships hurried to contact the soldiers of the Ninth Fleet.

…

“This is Fleet Commander Kuala of the Ninth Fleet requesting emergency communication with Commander Jiang Fei of the Fifth Hybrid Fleet!”

Not long after the civilians ran away for their lives, leaving their prized possessions behind, Jiang Fei received a transmission from an ally.

“On screen,” Jiang Fei said. The scar on his forehead was glowing slightly brighter albeit still dim.

“What do you think you are doing, Commander Jiang Fei?” Kuala barked as soon as a connection was made.

“I’m thinking of asking your lot to leave this galaxy!” Jiang Fei said tauntingly.

“What?”

Kuala was infuriated to have Jiang Fei talk to him like that.

“Are you daft? I’m asking you to leave!” Jiang Fei repeated his words.

“You imbecile! You dare to talk like that to another commander?!” Kuala yelled. He was another young hot-headed officer of the military. That being said, the man had hated Jiang Fei ever since he saw him waltzing into the City of the Mass with General Lockseed. His first impression of Jiang Fei wasn’t good as he had nothing but contempt for someone who pulled strings to get where he was. Now that Jiang Fei was blatantly behaving like a bandit, just like the people that he once served, the Valsalrian Army, the rage in his heart burst out.

“Imbecile? I don’t think so. I’m asking you to leave. What are you going to do? Do you want to fight me? In the middle of a defense? Are you going to take on the invaders on your own?” Jiang Fei scoffed.

“Bastard! Sit tight! I’m going to teach you a lesson!” Kuala barked as he disconnected immediately.

Kuala’s fleet was an official military fleet answering directly to General Lockseed. Their overall forces were stronger than Jiang Fei’s. That being said, there was no way he would dare to pick a fight with Jiang Fei.

Kuala had received a direct order to help evacuate civilians from Hyur. Most importantly, he did not have an almighty pass that allowed someone like Jiang Fei to do whatever he wanted. He could never disobey his primary objective in order to fight Jiang Fei. Secondly, even though Jiang Fei’s fleet was but a mixture of random soldiers of various functionality, the entire Trade Federation high command knew that Jiang Fei had his own personal infantry units!

If he chose to fight Jiang Fei, Kuala would suffer a great loss. Even if he managed to defeat Jiang Fei, who was going to defend the incoming invaders?

That logic itself almost gave Kuala a brain aneurysm. He could not accept the fight, but he could still report this matter to a higher authority.

…

“I can’t believe what I’m hearing. Did Commander Jiang Fei actually do such a thing?” Lockseed’s voice raised after listening to Commander Kuala. He was light years away from the galaxy now and there was nothing he could do. To make things worse, the person causing the trouble was Jiang Fei!

Jiang Fei was known to be the disciple of Theon. He had only just entered the Trade Federation, so who knew whether his allegiance lied. Betraying was but expected. However, with Theon covering his back, Lockseed dared not to do anything too harsh to Jiang Fei.

“Listen closely. I want you to leave the Domini System right now and let me deal with Commander Jiang Fei,” Lockseed said dejectedly.

“Aye, General. You must teach Commander Jiang Fei a lesson to never betray the military’s code!” Kuala barked happily. Of all the high commanders he knew, General Lockseed was probably the only person who could bring Jiang Fei down a notch.

“What are your orders, commander?” said the captain of the ship that Kuala was on.

“General Lockseed is taking care of this matter. For now, we are leaving. Gather our men. Our evacuation order has been withdrawn,” Kuala said after inputting a coordinate that was somewhere between the Domini System and the main Trade Federation’s domain.

“We are pulling back?”

“Aye. General Lockseed is handling the matters with Jiang Fei. There is no need for us to remain here anymore.”

“Is it just me, or did we just get our fleet to retreat after reporting the ruffian?” the captain said to himself.

Kuala overheard the captain’s muttering and realized what just happened. Instead of helping General Lockseed, he had just asked the entire fleet to retreat from the scene! That was playing right into Jiang Fei’s plan!

“Who the hell is he…” Kuala hummed.

“Are we still retreating then?” the captain asked, sensing that Kuala might not want to leave.

“Of course we are! What else could we do? The general has just given us a direct order!” Kuala blared.

“Aye, commander. Contacting all ships of the fleet now…”

Not long after the confrontation between the Ninth Fleet and the Fifth Hybrid Fleet, all ships under Kuala’s command began to leave and disappeared into Hyperspace.

“What the hell just happened? Why did the Ninth Fleet leave?”

“What is to be of us then? Who is going to help us now?!”

“Oh my god. I don’t want to be left alone with that ruffian!”

…

Panic ensued as soon as the Ninth Fleet left the galaxy. They had been scolding Jiang Fei with every breath they had and now they were left alone with him. Suffice to say… there was no one else left that could go against Jiang Fei.

Rules were rules but when an outlaw comes to plunder their houses, rules alone cannot stop them! Only enforcers could! Right now, the only enforcers had just left them to fend for themselves! What could the civilians do besides holding their hands and letting Jiang Fei do whatever he wanted?

…

“What are you doing, Jiang Fei?” Lockseed said, careful to not raise his tone while talking to Jiang Fei.

“These civilians are just too selfish. The Fifth Fleet literally bled to save their lives and they could not be gracious enough to offer some of their properties! All I wanted is something that I can use in battle! I couldn’t care less for any of their prized possessions!” Jiang Fei declared defiantly.

“Yes, but you cannot just drop in on the planet and rob them! Sigh… Just tell me what do you need and I’ll send them to you!” Lockseed said. The headache he was having was something not even advanced medication could relieve.