Chapter 1474: Trespassing

Teleports were complex machines that required the best available technicians and scientists. After all, a single miscalculation could maim or worse anyone making use of those machines.

Things worsened when it came to evolved warriors. They didn’t only require far higher amounts of energy so that the teleport could activate. Those machines also had to adapt to their specific existences to avoid problematic interferences.

Obviously, Khan exemplified those complications. His return to Earth wouldn’t have been so delayed otherwise. Zedekiel had technology suitable for existences at his level, but it had taken time to prepare them, especially since the Emperor was with him.

Even then, Khan and the others had to cover the last stretch of the trip by ship, delaying their arrival to Earth even further.

Luckily, Khan didn’t have to resort to improvised methods to hurry to the battle. He even had the best helpers in the universe at his disposal. Garret was on Earth, too, and his collaboration with Kros and Fuveall solved the issue rather quickly.

Therefore, Khan departed alone, almost leaving the party as soon as he had returned to it, relying on Aynor’s teleport to appear in an unfamiliar but also familiar location.

White and grey surfaces expanded in Khan’s vision as the artificial illuminations went off. Even the oval machine he had appeared upon went dark, deprived of all the synthetic mana that had filled it.

That trend stretched past the relatively small room and affected the entirety of the vast structure. A whole space station had to go dark to provide the teleport with enough energy to teleport Khan there. Of course, that didn’t include the life support systems, so the people inside didn’t instantly die, at least.

Khan’s eyes provided much-needed illumination in that darkness, shining upon the team of human soldiers that had greeted him with military salutes. One of them even chanted his name and title, announcing himself as the leader of that escort.

“Just lead me to the hangar,” Khan said, waving his hand dismissively. “I left my wife, my daughter, and the biggest party in history to deal with this. I’d rather it be quick.”

The team leader didn’t dare to argue with Khan. He was his subordinate in the end, and not a direct one. Being in the presence of the infamous Prince Khan would actually mark the apex of his career, but that was a story for when he completed his task.

Khan didn’t care for his surroundings. All of humankind’s space stations looked the same on the inside, so he followed the team leader through a series of narrow, dark corridors, luckily illuminated by his eyes.

Some artificial light returned when the two reached the hangar. Those places needed mana barriers to avoid blowing everything into space, so the energy reserves spared by the teleport kept them active and bright.

Khan stopped following the man after entering the hangar, rushing toward the mana barrier to gaze past it. The blackness of the universe was in full display there, but a seemingly nearby reddish dot was visible among the distant stars.

“Is that Chigoilara?” Khan wondered, leaning forward as if trying to see better.

“Indeed, My Prince!” The team leader shouted from behind Khan, running at full speed until he reached him. “Prince Thomas had us find and surveil the planet when you expressed your desire to recruit the Orlats. We have been monitoring the situation since then.”

“That was a good call,” Khan praised. “It saves me the trouble of looking for it.”

“We have one ship ready to set off, My Prince,” The team leader revealed. “We don’t have much on this space station, but we made sure to outfit your vessel with all the comforts we are capable of providing.”

“Keep it,” Khan reassured. “Just get me a tracker.”

“A tracker, My Prince?” The team leader asked, confused about the question and slightly panicking at his own casual words.

“My perception isn’t great in space,” Khan explained. “I can see Chigoilara, so reaching it isn’t a problem, but finding this space station on my way back will be difficult.”

“My Prince!” The team leader gasped, realizing what Khan wanted to do. After all, his extraordinary exploits were common knowledge by now, especially among his force.

Yet, the team leader had to add a warning to abide by his role, too. “My Prince, the situation on Chigoilara is unclear, and an unauthorized landing might be seen as trespassing.”

“If you came here to monitor the situation,” Khan muttered, “How can the situation be unclear?”

The team leader’s eyes went wide while his body froze. Prince Khan had hit right in the mark. Despite the space station’s best efforts, studying Chigoilara had turned out to be difficult. Actually, the mission had been a complete failure.

Of course, the team leader wasn’t to blame. He had to keep his distance from the planet to respect interspecies treaties, and the space station’s scanners couldn’t do more than what they were programmed to do.

However, the situation had been bizarre. The space station had picked up signals from time to time, with most of them that very day, but the scanners had systematically failed to spot anything.

It was as if an interference surrounded Chigoilara and its surrounding space, making anything that entered it disappear.

Still, blame was a fickle thing. That failure wasn’t the team leader’s fault, but the Prince wouldn’t necessarily accept it. It was unclear whether he would even hear his reasons.

Tension accumulated inside the team leader, almost making him puke in anxiety, only for everything to come crashing down when Khan smirked at him.

“I’m just teasing you,” Khan chuckled. “The Orlats are that good. I wouldn’t want them otherwise.”

The team leader didn’t answer. He couldn’t since his brain was still processing that rollercoaster of emotions, but Khan didn’t want to waste any more time.

“Go get me that tracker,” Khan ordered. “And fuck trespassing. If the space station has enough energy reserves, start heading for the planet’s orbit, and hope I haven’t burned it to the ground by the time you get there.”