A Game With No Rules (Perimeter Defense Book #4) LitRPG Series

by Michael Atamanov

  The old man looked at the map for a long time, thinking it over and sucking silently on his lips. Finally, he answered:

  "Yes, Crown Prince, the situation does look strange. But it is not my custom to fear the unknown. Perhaps, we've just overestimated our enemy's knowledge of the situation, and the Purple House doesn't know that our two huge fleets are in this distant system. When does the operation begin?"

  I looked at a table on the wall with countdown timers for various events.

  "In three hours and twenty minutes, the Perimeter Sector Eight Fleet will have the energy for a warp jump to Khell. It will take them three hours and forty minutes after that to reach their destination so, they will arrive in seven hours. Immediately after that, in accordance with our arrangement, the Purple House Fleet will receive control over the Nayal warp beacon and can send some of their ships there to take the system under control. Marat ton Mesfelle's ships then, on the other hand, will jump to Khell and join Nicole ton Savoia's fleet in four hours. The most dangerous time will seven hours from now. That is when the Antagonists will have the best opportunity to attack the Perimeter Sector Eight Fleet, when the blocked fleet has already jumped to Khell with Crown Princess Joan, but hasn't yet arrived."

  "Don't you worry, Crown Prince. By that time, the Purple House will already have joined the Grand Duchy and will thus be a clear enemy of the Empire. So, my ships will come to Khell in seven hours and attack them doggedly. I hope that your starships will be with me, and will support the Seventh Imperial Strike Fleet in battle. But we could manage regardless: two thousand ships against fifteen hundred, it will be glorious!"

  "I've already told Your Highness, and am prepared to reaffirm that this is a trap."

  "Flora, I know that. Only naive idiots could believe the Antagonists haven't noticed the movement of a fleet of five thousand ships into their space. But the enemy is not taking any actions in response, and that's strange. I do not understand our enemies' plans, and that really frightens me. So, I won't stop the Imperial ships. But I will go separately. We need a victim to voluntarily enter the trap, provoke the Grand Duchy to fight and force them to show their hand, thus disarming the trap. And let that victim be Imperial ships, not ours."

  * * *

  "My Prince, the first part of the mission is complete. The Perimeter Sector Seven Fleet has just made a warp jump from the Nayal to the Khell system. At the same time, the Purple House Fleet jumped to Nayal in its entirety. Your Highness's message to Marat ton Mesfelle was sent simultaneously."

  I smiled at my beautiful Perimeter Sector Eight Fleet Commander. On the big screen, Nicole looked flawlessly prim, strict and at the same time feminine and elegant, just as she did in real life.

  "Wonderful, Nicole! But now, don't call them the Purple House. It's the Grand Duchy. The Gold, Purple and Green Houses have all declared they are joining together and leaving the Empire. An hour ago, I lost the Largest Territory achievement, and now the Grand Duchy is the largest political force in the galaxy, larger than the Empire and our state."

  "So, are they enemies now?" my subordinate clarified.

  "Technically, the Unatari State has yet to declare war on them, but that won't last long. The Empire has already officially declared war on the Grand Duchy and moved their fleets out to attack. So Unatari, as an allied kingdom that is part of the Empire, must either also declare war on the side of our suzerain, or declare that we are also seceding from the Empire. According to the law, as the ruler of Unatari, I have one day to make my final decision."

  "Does that change my mission at all?"

  Nicole asked, her voice remaining firm, even though the brilliant fleet commander understood perfectly that her eight hundred starships were deep in foreign territory surrounded by potentially hostile ships which numbered four times more than her fleet. And at that, I couldn’t tell the girl that my main fleet was very nearby in the neighboring Forepost-10 system and could come to her aid. In the last few days, I had spoken with everyone through a retransmitter on the territory of the former Blue House, so Nicole thought that I was on my way to the Blue House capital to make my first moves as the new ruler of my expanded realm.

  "No, Nicole. You should still meet the allied ships from the Nayal system and provide for their protection. From there, it will depend on the Empire and Grand Duchy. By the way, the large Seventh Imperial Strike Fleet will reach you in Khell in a few hours, so that should make things easier. But no matter what Admiral Peres says, the Perimeter Sector Eight Fleet has its own mission, and you are not obliged to obey him. And another thing..." I made a pause to make sure this conversation was on an encrypted channel. "I order you to mine the Khell warp beacon with thermonuclear bombs before the Imperial Fleet arrives, and to do it in such a way that the staff don't notice. Even better would be to change out all the warp beacon staff with your people, so no one knows."

  What is the difference between soldiers and civilians? After receiving such a, to put it lightly, strange order, a civilian would try to figure out the reason or demand explanations, but a military person would carry it out first. And here Nicole, although she couldn't keep the dispassionate emotionless look on her face, gave me a salute and promised to complete the mission. An ideal order taker.

  Attention!!!

  A new faction has come into being: Imperial Androids

  Imperial Android faction's present opinion of you: +25 (approval)

  I turned to Bionica, who was sitting next to me sipping a vitamin enriched juice through a straw. The synthetic blonde smiled at me and commented:

  "My subjects considered this the ideal moment to reveal our existence. All the galaxy's news channels are packed with stories about the beginning of the war between the Empire and the Grand Duchy, so no one will pay particular mind to us modest androids. And after this, people and other races will gradually grow accustomed to us and, soon enough, no one will even be surprised anymore by the androids as a separate faction. Emperor August royl Akad has already given his approval, although his agreement came at a very, very high price."

  All in all, a logical move. In the place of intelligent humanoid robots, I would have done the same. All political leaders had their heads filled with completely different matters now, and no one would express much of a point of view on the androids' desires. The Emperor, meanwhile, could only be for it. After all, the hundreds of millions of androids were traditionally considered property of a Green House corporation, and paid taxes and commissions to them. So, depriving the Lavaelle family, which was now an enemy, of a stable source of funds was something the ruler of the Empire could only be glad about.

  "Crown Prince, something strange is happening! I'm detecting the arrival of a large number of previously unknown ships to the Nayal system."

  Notes of panic slipped through in Flora's mental message. My little Truth Seeker, who had the unique gift of being able to sense the movement of ships along the warp beacon transportation network, was now sensing something that simply could not be, so she doubted her sensations and even her abilities.

  "Flora, that's probably the fifteen-hundred ships of the former Purple House, which was holding the Nayal-Veyerde pocket under siege. There shouldn't be any other ships there."

  "No, Crown Prince. The Fleet of the Grand Duchy is still in warp jump from Khell to Nayal. And... It's hard to explain to a person without these abilities... I cannot tell you exactly how, but I know that these are totally different ships."

  "Aliens? Sure, that is probably it. After all, they have attacked Nayal in the past, jumping from somewhere in their space to our activated warp beacon. The beacon is on again, so the invasion is back underway. And at that, the first person to chance upon the Aliens would be the Grand Duchy's fleet of fifteen hundred. Although they'd be my enemies in five minutes' time, I hoped the people would have the strength to stop the breakthrough."

  "My Prince, I want to remind Your Highness, that I was never able to sense Alien ships before. Of course, it's been a long time since th
en, and I have become stronger, but still... Once again, I cannot describe how I know this... but I'm sure they are human ships."

  Well that's a fine how-do-you-do! An unknown fleet had just warped into a closed pocket from out of nowhere. What could this even be? Flora then added some more information to think over, telling me that both of the Grand Duchy's other fleets we knew about had begun jumping to the Khell star system, but from different directions. I didn't manage to answer, because two thirds of the monitors in my headquarters turned off, and my glowing star-map hologram as well. Sabotage, again?! But this time, it was a different reason, and the officer responsible for the tactical map told it to me:

  "I'm not getting a signal from any of the data channels connecting us with Unatari and the Empire! I also cannot connect to Veyerde! The comm lines all get cut off at the warp beacons. There's no way to send messages through the Anti, Uvara, Nayal or Forepost-9 systems. The Forepost-10 retransmitter in our system is also turned off! Data blockade!"

  * * *

  The faces of everyone in the room turned to me. They were all expecting me to react or comment, so I couldn't show any despondency or perplexity at that moment no matter how I felt.

  "Get a landing group to the Forepost-10 warp beacon at once! Take it under complete control! After that, place a two-hundred megaton thermonuclear bomb there! Can we communicate with the fleet in Khell?"

  "Yes sir, Your Highness!"

  "Tell Space Major Nicole ton Savoia what happened and ask her about the beacons surrounding the Khell system. Can we talk to our cloakers in Forepost-9? There was a mobile warp beacon deployment ship there and, I think, one or two Ghosts."

  A few seconds later, I got my answer that they were unreachable: both the Forepost-9 system and the transmission of signals through it were turned off. What an idiotic situation. In the neighboring system, there was an uninhabitable warp beacon, and we could have taken it under our complete control with just a few people. And also, the mobile warp beacon deployment ship we'd captured from the Aliens was in the same system and could theoretically open a portal for us there. But how could we tell them to do that?!

  "Flora, can you issue commands mentally?"

  "Unfortunately, I cannot, Crown Prince. Sending thoughts is not my specialty. I can speak only with Your Highness, your second cousin, and the Red Queen. But wait! Unlike me, your wife is great at that. I could try to send a mental message to Miya."

  "Go ahead. I need our cloakers in the Forepost-9 system to take the warp beacon there under control. It doesn't need to be turned on, and transmission of messages doesn't need to be restored. All-around, it's better for them not to reveal their presence. Just make sure they're ready to activate the beacon for us. And let them send one of their ships to the neighboring Amati system. The warp beacon there should also be taken under control. We need to make sure our fleet can get back to the Imperial Core."

  "I'll try and send the message, Crown Prince."

  "Great. All ships, at the ready in ten minutes! We're going to Khell to see this unknown fleet for ourselves!"

  Rat in a Trap

  THE COMING of the Unatari fleet to Khell was met with such stormy jubilation that Florianna nearly lost consciousness when trying to consume and assimilate the outpouring of emotions. The little Truth Seeker even had to be brought to her senses with smelling salts, because the girl fell off her chair and was shaking as if she'd just touched a live wire.

  "The flow of adoration and joy was unexpectedly powerful, I couldn't digest it all," Astra's sister said aloud, embarrassed at her weakness. "Even after military victories, the emotions weren't that strong. But here, the Sector Eight and Seven fleets already thought they were doomed, and feel they’ve just been rescued from a death trap. When Your Highness's ships arrived, it was as if they had been brought back from the dead."

  Flora's voice was hoarse like an old man's, not childlike at all. Nevertheless, the maimed girl's vocal cords were gradually healing, which was a huge step on the road to recovery.

  "Your Highness, the cloaked frigate Surprise-77 requests to dock on your flagship."

  "Allow them! What's more, meet the group as they arrive, provide security and bring them to headquarters."

  Surprise-77 had an especially important mission. Just a few people knew, but Crown Princess Joan wasn't under guard by soldiers loyal to her on the huge Quasar, as everyone thought. I didn't exclude the possibility of a sneak attack on the Perimeter Sector Seven Fleet by the Grand Duchy, so I didn't want to risk the girl's life. For the last few days, my daughter had been on the little cloaked frigate, perhaps not in comfort, but at least in relative safety.

  An incoming call request came in from the Perimeter Sector Eight Fleet flagship, the battleship Ravenous. Space Major Nicole ton Savoia, not even trying to hide her tears of joy, greeted me and reported on the situation:

  "Crown Prince Georg, the Imperial fleet came to Khell just as you warned. But they didn't stick around, quickly recharging at the station and leaving for Nayal to catch up with the fleet of the Grand Duchy. Admiral Peres suggested my fleet join him in the chase, but I remembered Your Highness's order and refused. Then, all the warp beacons around Khell immediately went out!"

  "Yes, the trap has slammed shut, we have been cut off from the rest of the galaxy," I said, not hiding the complexity of the situation from my subordinate or the other officers in earshot. "I order all Sector Eight Fleet Ships to take up positions in common formation and maintain combat readiness. In twenty-seven minutes, we expect thousands of Grand Duchy ships to arrive here from the Anti star system, and in another six minutes, reinforcements will come from Uvara. Then, it will also become clear whether the Grand Duchy ships are our enemies, and we will act in accordance with that. I see only two possibilities: either we are allowed to go to Unatari unimpeded, or we will destroy the enemy ships that arrive to show them not to mess with us. And from there, we can see if the Grand Duchy has the forces to hold us in this cell!"

  I interrupted my emotional speech, because Crown Princess Joan showed up in the open doors. I couldn't recognize the girl. Normally full of vibrant joy, happy and careless, she now looked tired and even ill. Her cheeks were sunken, her gaze was dim and she had huge black bags under her eyes. I could never have called her a fatty now. The girl had lost a ton of weight, and it was immediately obvious how hard the last few weeks had been on her. Joan entered the large room boldly and stopped, looking around indecisively and meeting only unfamiliar faces. It seemed she didn't see me until I stood from the fleet commander’s seat and walked out to meet her.

  "Crown Prince Georg, I... as the last representative of the ancient family of... well..." the girl sobbed and got totally embarrassed. The speech she had prepared just flew out of her head.

  I walked up to the girl and embraced her tightly.

  "Everything is alright now, Joan, be still. You're my daughter now, and I won't let anybody hurt you."

  The little girl nodded, poking me in the shoulder and bursting into tears, only then allowing herself to release the horrible tension that had been building up in her for the last few days.

  Crown Princess Joan royl Georg ton Unatari's opinion of you has improved

  Current opinion: +100 (absolutely trusting)

  But at that, I knew without any Truth Seekers that Joan wasn't just acting, and wasn't trying to butter up her adoptive father. Her emotions and behavior were totally sincere. The girl sobbed and, swallowing tears of rage together with fragmentary sentences, told me all her fears and umbrages. The little girl saw me as a reliable protector, who would accept her however she was, always understand and, beyond all doubt, punish those who did her wrong.

  And then I sensed that something had broken inside me. Tears welled up in my eyes. What was there to hide here? The decision to adopt Joan was one I had taken primarily out of political considerations. But from that moment, everything changed. I accepted Joan as my daughter without any limitations, even making no mental distinction between
her and my other children.

  I don't know how long my daughter and I spent standing, warmly embracing and speaking, having forgotten about everyone and everything going on around us. But eventually, a communications officer tore me from the family idyll.

  "Crown Prince Georg, incoming call from the planet Oveyete-VII. That is Grand Duchy territory, Perimeter Sector Three."

  Beyond all the unnecessary hints, I knew perfectly well where the capital of the Green House was, or whatever it was calling itself now. I was slightly annoyed but quickly got myself together and asked in a normal tone to wait a bit to put him through.

  They wanted to speak with me so badly they had temporarily removed the complete data blockade. But if the Grand Duchy's signal had come through the chain of warp beacons, maybe one of ours could as well?

  "Send an encrypted message to our ships in the Forepost-9 system to take the warp beacon under control! Did it send? Did you get a confirmation receipt? Great! Alright, now we can speak with the Grand Duchy. But first turn off the hologram behind me and the tactical map. There's no reason to give information to the enemy. Flora, be ready to defend me from mental attack, if necessary. Put them through!"

  I had seen the tall, thin woman with a massive golden crown in her ultrashort dark hair thousands of times in photographs and videos, but I had never spoken to her in all my time in Perimeter Defense.