Ten Stone Starfield.
Bitoia Star System.
Qin Bei Wang regained consciousness amidst a dizzying, spinning sensation.
"Commander! Wake up! The meeting is about to start in ten minutes!"
Qin Bei Wang forced his eyes open, his gaze falling upon a metallic ceiling.
His head was splitting.
This wasn't the pain of a hangover—at least, not entirely.
He propped himself up from the bed, his palm touching the cold alloy edge.
"Where am I..." Qin Bei Wang muttered to himself.
Countless unfamiliar memory fragments flooded his mind like a tidal wave.
Qin Bei Wang, Commander of the Pluto Fleet, a Sub-Level Fleet under the Blue Star Federation's Iron Fist Sub-Fleet.
Twenty-two years old, with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
His father was the Commander of the Blue Star Federation's First Fleet in the Galaxy Starfield, one of the Federation's seven Marshals.
Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Qin Bei Wang had started life at the finish line.
As the youngest son of a Federation Marshal.
He was pampered and grew up amidst praise.
This also led to him becoming arrogant, domineering, and disdainful of others.
In everyone's eyes, he was a dog of a son to a tiger of a father.
He had even graduated from the Federation Starsea Academy's Captain Command Department with the worst grades.
Yet, because he had a good father, he was assigned to be a Commander of a Sub-Level Fleet right after graduation, completely skipping the need to work his way up from the bottom.
He was usually drunk, lazy, and indifferent to the fleet's affairs.
The entire Pluto Fleet was actually kept running by Deputy Commander Zhuang ZhiXuan.
As for him before he transmigrated...
"Qin Bei Wang, a thirty-three-year-old engineer from an aerospace research institute in Huaxia, Earth, had an accident in the lab..."
He subconsciously touched his face; it felt much younger.
His attendant, Duan LinChuan, a young soldier who looked no older than twenty, was watching him anxiously.
"Commander, Commander Yang Shao hates people who are late.
Last time, Commander Wang of the Uranus Fleet was three minutes late and was punished to clean the engine filtration system for a month..."
"I know."
Qin Bei Wang cut him off, his voice a little hoarse.
He stood up, his body surprisingly coordinated, as if it had always been his.
He walked to the small washroom in the corner of the cabin and splashed his face with cold water.
The face in the mirror was young and handsome.
But his eyes were puffy, a clear sign of a long-term lack of regular sleep.
Just as the water droplets slid down his cheeks, a strange change occurred.
His vision suddenly darkened, no, not darkened—it transformed.
Qin Bei Wang blinked and found himself seemingly suspended in the universe, a three-dimensional star map unfolding before his eyes.
Countless points of light flickered within it. Some were stable like stars, some moved slowly like planets, and there were also some man-made objects moving in specific orbits.
A line of small text appeared in the lower-left corner of the star map:
[Commander System activated
Function 1: Stereoscopic Star Map
Current Mode: Passive Reception
Data Source: Pluto Squadron Full-Fleet Sensor Array
Information Delay: 0.008 seconds]
"A system?"
Before Qin Bei Wang could figure out what this system was, Duan LinChuan's voice pulled him back to reality.
"Commander Qin? Are you alright?"
The star map vanished in an instant, and his vision returned to the cramped view of the washroom.
"I'm fine."
Qin Bei Wang took a deep breath, dried his face, and quickly changed into the dark blue fleet uniform hanging on the wall.
The Federation's star-ring emblem was embroidered on the left chest, and his epaulets bore a silver bar and a star—the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
He followed Duan LinChuan out of his personal cabin and into the ship's corridor.
The sides of the corridor were lined with constantly flowing status display screens, showing real-time data from the ship's various systems.
Occasionally, crew members in the same uniform would pass by. They would salute him, but the contempt in their eyes was hard to miss.
"So this is the interior of the T5-Class Battleship, the Kunlun Mountain..."
Qin Bei Wang marveled inwardly.
According to the original owner's memories, this battleship, the Kunlun Mountain, was the flagship of the Pluto Fleet, with a total length of 4.8 kilometers.
It was equipped with two "Sky-Opening" class heavy Particle Beam Main Cannons, twelve missile launch arrays, a close-in laser defense matrix, and "Dragon Scale" Adaptive Reactive Armor.
This was a T5-Class mainline battleship of the Blue Star Federation.
T5 signified the culmination of the entire Federation's most advanced technology, most ferocious firepower, and most durable armor.
As for subsequent classes like T3 and T4, they were starships progressively weaker than the T5.
If not for Qin Bei Wang's father's status, this T5-Class battleship probably wouldn't have been assigned to a Sub-Level Fleet.
After all, other fleets of the same level were still using T4, or even T3-Class battleships.
They passed through three airlock doors and entered the central bridge area.
The space here opened up dramatically, spanning three stories high. Directly ahead was a massive, curved observation window.
It was actually a composite structure made of high-strength transparent alloy and several layers of energy shields.
Outside the window was the deep, boundless starry sky.
In the distance, the silhouettes of two "Gale Class" cruisers and several "Shadow Moon Class" destroyers could be seen on escort duty.
"Commander, the conference room is this way."
Duan LinChuan pointed to a sliding door on the right.
The moment the door opened, all conversation inside ceased abruptly.
The conference room was oval-shaped, with a large Holographic Star Map Projection suspended in the center.
Around the conference table sat the projections of about twenty people.
They were all the commanders and deputies of the Sub-Level Fleets under the Iron Fist Sub-Fleet.
All eyes turned in unison to Qin Bei Wang, who had just entered.
Seated at the head of the table was a middle-aged officer of about fifty.
His face was as resolute as carved stone, with a prominent scar at the corner of his eye.
His epaulets had two silver bars—the rank of Colonel.
This was the Commander of the Iron Fist Sub-Fleet, Yang Shao.
Qin Bei Wang's immediate superior.
"Lieutenant Commander Qin," Yang Shao's voice was not loud, but every word was as piercing as an icicle. "The meeting was scheduled to begin at 0900 hours. It is now 09:07:37. On the battlefield, those seven minutes are enough for a fleet to complete a tactical jump and launch a first salvo at your mothership."
Qin Bei Wang stood at attention and saluted.
"My apologies, Commander. I..."
"I don't want to hear excuses," Yang Shao interrupted him. "Find a seat. If I didn't only have five Sub-Level Fleets under my command, I would have recommended that Command Headquarters replace you with a more reliable fleet for this mission."
Barely audible snickers echoed through the conference room.
Qin Bei Wang could feel the gazes falling on him—scornful, disdainful, indifferent.
He found an empty seat in a corner near the door. A female officer next to him gave him a slight nod.
She was about twenty-six or twenty-seven, with delicate features but a stern expression.
Her epaulets showed the rank of Lieutenant.
Based on the original owner's memories, Qin Bei Wang knew her identity.
The Deputy Commander of the Pluto Fleet, Zhuang ZhiXuan.
Unlike the "slacker" Qin Bei Wang, she was a top graduate of the Federation Starsea Academy's Tactical Command Department.
She had fought one tough battle after another, earning countless merits, to sit in the position next to Qin Bei Wang.
"Alright, let's continue."
Yang Shao tapped the table, and the central Holographic Star Map began to change.
"As I was saying, we've received an urgent order. We need to proceed to the Elvira Star System immediately."
Yang Shao pointed at the star map.
The map locked onto a star system with seven planets, marking three red arrows indicating an invasion trajectory.