Chapter 35 Chaos

Hearing the Emperor ask about his mother's health, Alphonse took a moment to think and said, 'Thanks to Your Majesty's thoughts, it has improved." The waiter removed the schnitzel in front of the pair, which had only been eaten in a single bite, and replaced it with a caviar salad. The Emperor took a sip of the wine in his cup and said, 'Well, this time, I summoned the two of you here because I wanted to hear your views on the war situation." Alphonse spoke the words he had long thought of, 'Your Majesty, at the moment, our fleet needs starships to replenish, and in order to ensure that the mines in the various star states can function properly, we need to step up our efforts against the forces of resistance." The Emperor slowly nodded, and Jan continued, 'In this way, we will return to pre-war levels in two years, and by then, we will not only blockade the star bridges, but we will also be able to strike forcefully to clear out the rebellious forces on the various spiral arms." The two sang a duet, clearly having rehearsed countless times. Another waiter came forward and removed the caviar salad that the duo hadn't taken a bite of, replacing it with a freshly roasted oyster. The Emperor poked the oyster in front of him with his fork, but did not eat it, and then threw the fork aside, and a waiter immediately came and removed the freshly roasted oysters in front of the three of them, replacing them with a pan-fried foie gras, and then took the wine away as well, replacing it with a white wine that was more in tune with the foie gras. 'I have heard of the heroic performance of the two of you in the Battle of the Star Fortress, and I am now breaking the rules and promoting you to three consecutive ranks, giving you a fleet of ships, and you will go to the Dorado system, where the conflict is intense, to ensure the normal operation of the six mining stars there." The Emperor finished raising his wine glass, the two hurriedly raised it, and after the Emperor drank from it, the two held it up to take a careful sip. The Emperor then rose and left at a brisk pace followed by his guards, leaving Alphonse and Jan standing at attention. They were led by the guards as they prepared to leave the palace, and on the way they met two acquaintances, one was the captain of the Dragon Rider, Admiral Danny, and the other was his chief of staff, Halbo. After exchanging a few pleasantries and learning that they were also recruited to meet his majesty, Alphonse looked meaningfully at Halbo's distant back and revealed a faint smile. After leaving the palace, Alphonse suggested to find a place to eat something, after all, after tossing and turning for so long, the total amount of food was just a little bit of stuffed teeth. 'Good." Jan turned the wheel and said, 'We're going to receive the fleet the day after tomorrow, the Toronto Galaxy, I think it's on the Perseus spiral arm." 'Well, it's pretty close to the Centauri spiral arm." Alphonse said. 'So, is this the chance you were talking about?" Jan asked as he drove the shuttle. 'Not yet, don't worry, this is just a trial run, this fleet won't be very big, we'll need a bigger fleet." Alphonse finished and squinted his eyes at the stars. On the planet Toronto, Joe, who was in line to add energy, stepped out of the car in a huff, holding onto the door and standing on tiptoe to look ahead, when a violent explosion came from ahead, startling Joe into a crouch behind the open door. Edward was also startled by the explosion and was busy asking, 'What's going on?" 'I don't know, I don't know, something exploded." Joe rolled into the car and started it up, trying to find a gap in the progressively riotous driveway to get out. 'Have the Silver Dragon ready to leave." Edward said to Elina, looking out the back window of the car as the smoke from the explosion was rolling in, rising higher and higher. There was a steady stream of people running towards the energy station on the road, these people were not bare handed, they were holding various weapons of varying lengths. Edward said to Joe, 'Go back to the store first, see if your mother has gone out, if she has gone out look for her, if she hasn't go out pick up and go home and stay there." The flying shuttle made one acceleration and ignored the rules of the road in the direction of the copter store. Edward said slowly through the window, seeing the crowd that had already begun to smash and grab there were even guards among them, 'Chaos has begun, this fire will soon burn to every corner of this planet and everyone will begin to lose control." Edward began to check the two EM pistols he had with him, then handed one to Elina, and the two skillfully loaded the magazines and fiddled with them for a few moments. Joe couldn't help but ask as he watched the two's skillful movements, 'What the hell do you two do?" As he finished, he drove the vehicle in a sharp turn to avoid the thugs trying to stop the vehicle on the road, the violent shaking of the body making it hard for Edward to bump around in the car. Edward said, 'As you can see, we're newlyweds, out on our honeymoon, ah, just watch the road will you? I'm the one who paid for it." Elina giggled at Edward's mess and said, 'This honeymoon is starting to get exciting." 'Exciting? The populace is out of control, they'll just be venting their frustrations and looting everywhere now, so watch out." Edward said unhappily. The shuttle pulled up in front of the ravioli store, luckily Joe's mother hadn't left the house yet, picking up Joe's mother, the car drove to their house. There were no words along the way, Edward stared closely at the window of the car to observe the development of the situation, these thugs gradually began to appear in the hands of hot weapons, and also more orderly, they no longer just smash and grab, but began to purposefully pile up at intersections, major roads and near the energy station. Elina spoke up at this point and asked Edward, saying, 'How bad is it?" Edward pointed to a conspicuously tall man in the crowd and said, 'The worst of the chaos should have passed, but it's still dangerous. Look at that guy, he's holding an Imperial standard EM rifle, that one over there, and that one too, this is already organized resistance." 'What the hell do you two do?" Joe's mother asked as she looked at the two men holding electromagnetic pistols. Elina said, 'Auntie, we're really just traveling." Joe's mother stared at the two of them with a suspicious gaze for a long time, and then suddenly said to Joe as if she remembered something, 'Go back quickly, I forgot to take the ingredients I bought to make spicy chicken." Joe also ignored him and sped towards Pops' hostel on his own. Suddenly, Elina's communicator poked out a dialog request, from the Silver Dragon's AI, and she picked up the communication. 'Elina, several suspicious individuals have been spotted around the ship, trying to open the hatch, are they shot down?" AI said. 'Do you think they can open the doors?" Elina asked. 'The probability of them being able to open the hatch is zero." AI replied matter-of-factly. Elina rolled her eyes and said, 'Then let them scratch the door, when do we refuel?" 'No answer from the self-service refueling port, there is no fuel to refuel at all." AI said. Elina couldn't help but get angry and said, 'Huh? So you haven't done anything in the last half day?" 'During that time, I attempted to contact the tower crew one hundred and forty-seven times, all of which went unanswered." AI replied. 'So you didn't know to report it?" Elina finished and turned to Edward, 'We can't afford to be stuck on the ground, we can't afford the regular power drain of a trip back and forth if we let a guy the size of the Silver Dragon come through the atmosphere to pick us up." 'Well Joe, do you guys want to come with us? Live on a different planet." Edward answered, turning to the mother and daughter. 'Ah, that's...no thought at all, what do you say mom." Jo was stumped by the sudden question. 'It's good to be able to go, but your father's temperament is afraid he won't agree." Joe's mother said. At that moment a violent explosion came from the distance, followed by several more explosions. 'It's the m26 Warp Cannon, one of the most commonly used Warp Cannons in the Empire, the suppression is about to begin, is it still not here yet?" Edward said. Joe made a sharp stop and stopped in front of an inn and turned around and asked, 'What the hell are you doing?" Joe's mother jumped out of the car, and without answering Joe, Edward followed her into the huge tree house of the hostel, whose door had disappeared, making him a little uneasy. Several people fishtailed into the room and collided with a thug who was trying to bolt while clutching a couple bottles of liquor. The thug nearly dropped the one he was holding onto the ground, and he cursed in anger, 'You guys don't have the eyes for it! There's nothing left in there, block me again and I'll slap you to death with a shovel!" Edward stepped forward and subdued the thug in a couple of moves, the bottle fell to the ground crumbs shattered and the aroma of alcohol overflowed. Joe heard the thug's words and made a desperate dash for the back kitchen while still screaming his father's name. Edward and the others followed close behind, and when they rushed to the back kitchen, they were stunned by the scene before them. A man in a kitchen apron, covering his abdomen that was being filled with blood, and next to him lay a knife thug with a knife stuck in his chest. 'Dad!" ' Husband!" Elina rushed forward and bent down to check the situation, then Elina shook her head at the crowd and said, 'There's no more breathing and heartbeat." 'Let's go, it's too late if we don't leave." Edward said as he listened to the explosions that were getting closer.