Emily Thompson glanced once more at the long list of grades. When her eyes swept over the last few columns, her expression shifted as she said, “His individual combat and mecha combat are both excellent!” When she first entered the military academy, the way that ordinary-looking boy defeated Alex in an instant had left an exceptionally deep impression on her.

“Indeed, he’s quite impressive! Even when facing cadets from our school’s infantry and mecha piloting departments, he has never lost.”

At this, James Foster’s lips curled into a faintly mocking smile. “But for someone like him, if he were to become a mecha pilot or a combat officer, don’t you think, Miss Thompson, that would be a waste of talent?”

“But after all, he’s still a student, and he hasn’t even had any experience boarding a warship yet.” Emily Thompson’s brows furrowed beautifully, a hint of hesitation in her eyes. “These are just simulated combat results; they don’t necessarily mean he has the ability to command an escort fleet of five hundred armed escort ships. For now, we can only say that he has the potential to become an outstanding fleet commander in the future.”

“But if you miss this opportunity, by the time he makes a name for himself, your company may not be able to recruit him anymore.”

James Foster smiled. With his experience, how could he not see that Emily Thompson was already tempted? It was just that Brian Carter’s youth made her hesitate. He opened a drawer and took out a stack of discs, piling them in front of Emily Thompson and Paul Turner. “If you can’t make up your mind right now, you can take these—full recordings of all his simulated battles over the years—back to review. Maybe they’ll change your mind.”

“Oh, right! Right now is the time for his first solo ship combat exam in today’s graduation test. Why don’t you both watch it with me?”

As if remembering something, James Foster pressed a few more keys on the keyboard. Soon, the 3D projection screen changed scenes. In the endless void, an asteroid belt occupied most of the screen. The three of them could see a destroyer-class warship crawling forward at a snail’s pace.

“The scenario is an encounter battle, but the blue side already knows the red side’s patrol route, and ten minutes ago, they detected the red side’s approach via a hidden surveillance satellite. However, the red side is unaware of this. How should I put it? Although it’s called an encounter battle, it’s more accurate to call it an ambush, and that’s closer to reality. Haha! Looks like I don’t need to worry—he’s already detected the ambush in advance—”

Staring at the scene on the 3D projection screen, James Foster’s eyes sparkled.

……

“Electromagnetic radar scan, no anomalies detected—”

“Infrared scan, seventeen minor heat sources detected, all below alert thresholds.”

“Area space scan complete, no Mi particles detected in the vicinity, no signs of electromagnetic interference.”

Here, Mi particles refer to a special type of particle in physics, named after its discoverer.

In Galactic Year 72, the renowned physicist Minovsky and his research team, while studying helium-3 nuclear reactors, discovered a particle with zero rest mass and either a positive or negative charge. Due to the electromagnetic and gravitational interactions between particles, they would automatically form a cubic lattice structure similar to sodium chloride molecules.

This seemingly accidental discovery brought about a huge revolution in the military and weapons industries. In areas where Mi particles are dispersed, electromagnetic waves are severely disrupted, causing radar and other detection systems to fail, and rendering traditional guided weapons ineffective.

Because of this, over-the-horizon weapons officially lost their dominant role on the battlefield that day, replaced by humanoid mobile combat armor (mecha for short)—mobile weapons designed for direct identification and close-quarters combat. Thus began the era of mecha and ancient martial artists traversing the universe.

“Meteorite composition analysis, completion at fourteen percent, twenty-seven percent, thir—Warning! Large amounts of abnormal metal detected in meteorites at one o’clock and ten o’clock ahead.”

As expected, it was an ambush!

Brian Carter sprang to his feet, nearly gritting his teeth. This wasn’t mentioned at all in the scenario script. Still, he was puzzled—why were there two large meteorites with abnormal metal content? Could it be that the enemy’s warship and onboard mecha were lying in ambush in two separate locations? But how did George manage to mask the heat signatures of those mecha? Without a heat-shielding layer like that on a commerce raider’s hull, that wouldn’t be easy.

“Restart main engines three and four, power at ten percent, all auxiliary engines to standby. Notify the hangar maintenance crew: if preparations are complete, launch both channels immediately. Observation team, transmit coordinates and images to weapon platforms seven and eight. Fire all six-tube Sharp Sting VII over-the-horizon guided missiles—target the abnormal metal zones—”

On both sides of the destroyer, weapon bays flipped open from within. A total of twelve missiles shot away from the ship at nearly 100,000 kilometers per second. At the same time, the hangar doors beneath the warship opened, and two Federation ‘Swift Edge IX’ mass-produced aerial combat mecha were catapulted out.

The launch of the mecha seemed to be a signal. All the active turrets flipped out from the previously smooth warship armor.