Chapter 279: Vender’s Lies

The Commander controlling the vessel just had a stroke. And adding to that was the sudden change of direction and the short distance between the first vessel, which led to the attack reaching the vessel.

It was too late to escape as the rocket itself detonated when the Commander tried to evade it.

And apart from this, the rocket was detonated even before it hit the WGP vessel.

The WGP Commanders and Fleet Admiral Magantae received the alerts of their vessel being attacked.

"Admiral! What do we do?!" Commander Drinths immediately reacted.

"If Fleet Admiral Intrik is here, we must have already been detected! Let's just fight!" Another Commander urged.

Suddenly, a strange object hovered on the seas north of the base.

The craft was about the size of two buses, and it was hovering over the waters and lit up the sky with various attacks.

It flew at a speed that was fast and headed towards the base.

"Ha Ha Ha! You missed!" General Vender laughed. Lowengren had given him instructions on what to do, and by hijacking a frequency that Lowengren had prepared, his laugh was broadcasted back at the base.

The Broadcast confused everyone.

Even the Commanders and Magantae paused as they heard this.

"How was this possible? They hacked into the signal of the base!" A Commander asked.

"Was this General Vender?" The Fleet Admiral asked.

"It could be him."

Despite the startling broadcast, the Commander immediately responded.

"Missed? Check your other ships! Have you been terminating the signals to avoid us detecting you?" Fifth Fortress's Commander replied through the same channel causing it to be broadcasted on different parts of the base.

The Commander then turned to Maver.

"You were right. They can hack into our comms." The previous confidence he displayed turned to despair. Hacking into a comm system like how the WGP did was something beyond their current tech capabilities.

At his command, a whole squadron of Jet-Propelled Exoskeletons blasted from the base and rushed towards Charles ship's location.

The moment the platoon moved, General Vender launched a single rocket.

The rocket was equipped with a manual anti-air tech that could shoot at incoming projectiles.

General Vender was controlling the movement of this device.

"Rocket launched! It's releasing an unknown signal!" One of the soldiers reported to the Commander.

The signature of the rocket was unlike any other of the recorded signals used before.

The Anti-air rockets were launched, and it lit up the base.

The nearby Jet-Powered Exoskeletons began to shoot at the approaching rocket through their anti-air weaponry, but suddenly, the rocket's signal disappeared.

"What? The heat source vanished!" An Exoskeleton exclaimed as his attacks struck nothing.

"OH MY GAHD! IT'S OVER HERE!" An Exoskeleton cried and moved out of formation as it panicked and moved.

The entire group was shocked and immediately broke ranks as the rocket, which was over a kilometer away, suddenly appeared next to them.

The base's anti-air signature couldn't detect the rocket and all began to self-deactivate as the targets were no longer found.

As the Exoskeletons broke out of formation, the rocket without any signal was able to fly through the group.

It had a gliding system that allowed it to move. The rocket managed to travel without being detected through Cold Fusion.

As for the Exoskeleton that claimed the rocket was near him, it was Lowengren.

As the rocket glided through the Exoskeletons who used heat signatures, General Vender used the gun installed on this rocket to snipe through various Exoskeletons.

In that moment, where time slowed down, it was as if Vender was playing a video game wherein he was trying to score as many points as he could when shooting several armor-piercing rounds that would hit at least three Exoskeletons.

Vender did his best to move his arm to the other side of his view to attack another Exoskeletons group. This made it difficult to pinpoint the location of his rocket.

Lowengren began to open fire to the skies where he claimed he saw the rocket, and everyone else automatically began shooting at that place.

And because of this, no one could find the real location of the gliding rocket.

Suddenly, the rocket-boosted off as it bypassed the numerous Exoskeletons.

The first wave of anti-air rockets had already deactivated itself as it couldn't find the signal, and when the signal resurfaced, it was too late, and the rocket was too close.

"What?!" The Commander was stunned at the rocket's sudden appearance, and it exploded and created a powerful icy nova.

The explosion was like a sudden blizzard bursting from a small concentrated place.

The moment the rocket's signal resurfaced, Magantae and her Commanders immediately executed evasive maneuvers and cut off the signal that they were using.

In this, they managed to evade the frosty explosion.

"What was that? Even our signals couldn't detect it!" Commander Drinths was frightened.

"Is it Canadian tech? That much frost! How can that be?"

"But it's weak." Magantae assessed.

"Look, the explosion didn't do much damage apart from creating an icy, wet region in the area! I think only a few soldiers were killed in that! Even if you were at the center of the explosion, an average Exoskeleton pilot would survive that attack."

"What do we do? That group doesn't seem to be African as we thought. What's going on here?"

"The only explanation is that there is another group that wants to take advantage of our chaos. Let them fight."

The Commanders nodded and began to move deep inside the base. They had successfully infiltrated the place.

"Find and secure Vender. Someone as brilliant as him cannot die here." Magantae added.

The Commanders nodded and moved out.

The sudden explosion of ice damaged various sensors and scanners. The many scanners had the capability to hide, and These scanners couldn't withdraw in time.

Lowengren glanced at the icy explosion and praised Rosa.

Charles was valued to be the most important person in their team. As such, his treatment was special. Each group didn't hesitate to send Charles their recent discoveries and development.

And so, the earliest prototype of a rocket that used Rosa's Cold-fusion tech was handed over to Charles. The vessel that Charles used was Lennox's very own mobile base.

As the rocket attack occurred, no one noticed that the ship itself also disappeared from their scanners. And then bright lights suddenly appeared surrounding the Exoskeletons.

The Exoskeletons, who were now in disarray, suddenly opened fire at the appearances of these lights.

"Honey. I think I'm close enough." Vender's wife handed him the controls. While Vender was navigating the rocket, his wife controlled the ship to bring it closer and launched several light balls that were propelled magnetically.

The lights appeared and caused the Exoskeletons to go all out, allowing Vender to aim.

With the ship now using Cold Fusion, it was not easily detected and began to shoot the Exoskeletons while at the same time ensuring that Lowengren, who was instructing where he was, wasn't hit.

Lowengren used the chaos to kill the nearby soldiers and immediately ejected from his Exoskeleton.

At that moment, Vender shot Lowengren's suit.

The nearly fifty Jet-Propelled Exoskeletons were easily killed at this.

The light balls landed on the water and began to move through magnetism, and returned to the ship.

Lowengren looked at the devices and couldn't help but be amazed. He was now standing over the vessel that Vender was piloting.

"Amazing. Lennox must have used my battle against the Fang's as a reference. He is even employing deception tactics."

A small door opened, and Lowengren quickly entered the deck.

"Vender. Just carefully follow my instructions! I'm suiting up!" Lowengren immediately went towards the room to take the necessary techs that he had already talked about with Charles.

As the group made preparations, Fifth Fortress was reorganizing their group.

The annihilation of the platoon of Exoskeletons shocked them.

What's more, the Commander who decided to launch the attacks was confused at the enemy's sudden counter-attack. But all the more, they believed that the sub also was controlled by the WGP.

"Damage report!" The Commander cursed.

"We underestimated the WGP! It seems they have techs that cannot be fathomed! Even the decoy ship was this formidable!" Planted Maver was shaking.

"If they have something that even General Barak wants, this is only normal."

"Ha Ha Ha! Fools! You think you can stop me! Send me more of your Exoskeletons! Get Fleet Admiral Intrik here! I want to see what makes him so special!" An arrogant voice shouted.

"Identify yourself, WGP! Fleet Admiral Intrik has already reported you to the WGP! How dare you attack us!" The Commander broadcasted back.

"Commander?" Maver was surprised.

"We need more information! This could be an Elite! This bluff should buy us time and information! We have already used Fleet Admiral Intrik, and they believed it."

They waited. There seemed to have been a strange pause from the other end.

"WGP?! What? No! I'm from Africa! Why is the WGP interfering with two countries already at war?!"

"Africa?" Maver was confused.

Even the Commander was dumbfounded. Feigning ignorance was not among his expected response.

Lowengren quickly left the room and began to gear up with the many devices inside the vessel. Along with it, was the many dildos that he also requested. They came in all colors and shapes, but Charles had already did as requested and painted all these with black through the devices inside Lennox's ship.

After instructing Vender on what to do, Lowengren was now preparing to go out. Moving in here was a last-minute plan since Vender seemed so incapable.

"You can't lie to me! We know you are from the WGP! We have even attacked your primary vessel! Surrender now, or we launch another Gehanna Piercer at you!"

"I'm not from the WGP! I'm really with Africa!"

"You have Canadian Frost!"

Back in the ship, Vender looked back at his notes. He had written down with extreme haste all of Lowengren's instruction.

"Make up a story about how you acquired Canadian Frost…" Vender read silently.

"I won that in a card game against a sketchy guy named Lando." Vender announced.

Lowengren nearly triggered and dropped several bombs.

"Lando?" Lowengren turned towards the deck in shock.

"Lando?" The Commander of Fifth Fortress clarified through the speakers.

"Lando?" Fleet Admiral Magantae turned in confusion.

"He- he could be Jeff for all I know. I don't really know his name. But that's how I, an African General, got it."

"Who are you?" The Commander asked.

"I am Brian." Vender answered very easily.

"Brian who?"

"You know what, I think I'll just go with Charlie." Vender changed as he recalled a friend General named Brian. He didn't want Brian to get mixed up in this mess.

"Wait! Not Charlie! I'm… Edward! That's it!" Vender realized that Charlie was too near to Charles.

"Edward?"

"Edward Lalgriend." Vender felt good with himself. This time, his answer impressed even himself.

"Edward Lalriend of the African Twelfth Brigade? He's dead!" The Commander shouted in anger.

Edward Lalgirend was indeed a dead African General.

"N-No, he's not. He's… I mean… you think he's er- I'm dead. But the truth is I'm not. Lando's tech… The Ice thing allowed me to freeze him cryogenically. I mean myself! Freeze myself!" Vender was sweating.

His wife had face palmed herself. Lowengren was dying as he was stealthily trying to return to the base using an Exoskeleton suit with Cold Fusion.

"WHY THE HELL DID I MAKE HIM LIE!?" Lowengren was cursing.

"Edward Lalgirend is dead because I killed him in the battle of Red Sea three years ago! I shot down his Armor and blew up his body with my Exoskeleton! I am Commander Owens Shedd! The hero of the Red Skirmish!"

Vender was sweating beads as he heard this. But he couldn't back down now. And so, he thought for a few seconds to make the perfect excuse to fool Owens Shedd.

And finally, Vender gave his dissertation.

"No, you didn't!"

Lowengren was in tears.

Vender just couldn't think of any reason. What else could he say?

"Screw you! We have General Vender here! We have captured him sneaking in and will execute him! If you don't surrender, we will not hesitate to kill him and declare war with Africa! With General Intrik, your country can burn! We have Vender in the open ground and will kill him!"

It was then that the broadcast soon showed a live feed right in the middle of the field where a masked soldier was chained between two Exoskeletons. Surprisingly, this soldier was wearing Lowengren's former attire.

Commander Owens was nervous at this play. Maver had mentioned that the Planted soldier explained that many in that ship were wearing Caliphate uniforms. But General Vender was wearing a helmet similar to what he was wearing. This was also the identifying mark that Owens had ordered Maver to secretly search for, but they could not do so.

"…" Vender was confused. He turned to his wife and mouthed, 'but I'm General Vender.'

In all the confusion, Vender did not know that Lowengren had still been masquerading as General Vender. Lowengren also did not make this clear enough.

His wife shrugged her shoulders, also not knowing what to do.

But as this was happening, Magantae and the Commanders were shocked at what they heard.

"Fleet Admiral?" The Commanders hesitated. Saving Vender was no longer beneficial for them.

"We save Vender." Magantae gave an adamant answer.

The Commanders nodded and changed their actions, and began to move towards the area where the broadcast happened.

"Alright. About that… I'm sure you don't have General Vender."

"Oh? Confident of your ally's skill?"

"It's because I caught you in your lie! I am General Vender!" Vender boldly declared.

"Dear!" Vender's wife tugged him.

"You can't say that your Vender! They might target us for real! Our friends will all be targeted!" She whispered in fear.

"You're General Vender Hirock?" Commander Owens scoffed. But a part of Owens was trembling. Could it be? The supposed spy, Vender hasn't made it inside yet?

"Right. About that. There has been some confusion. I thought you said… Vender as in family name. Not first name. I am General Vender, Vender being my um… last name. I'm General… um… Gender Vender."

Facepalms resounded across the base.

Lowengren wanted to facepalm himself so bad, but any action in his stealth suit could make the enemy detect him. The great urge was taking a toll on himself that Lowengren was so close to urinating because of the frustration.

Owens was now sneering.

"So it looks like Vender is already here. Let's initiate our plan! Activate the distorter to block all comm lines on my go!"

"Ha Ha Ha! Then, Gender Vender. I'll advise you one thing. Make sure that your comm lines haven't been hacked and that the person you have been talking to is indeed who he says he is!" The Commander followed the suggestion that Maver gave.

With this, the Commander ordered the activation of the distorter.

The soldier did as instructed, and a powerful signal was transmitted that was now affecting all comm channels. All lines were now creating loud static noises.

"With this, they can't confirm if this was the real Vender! And in their doubt, they are bound to do something reckless! The bait has been set, Planted Maver, you should be a Commander!" Owens gave his praise.

"Now send all the armies up front! Let's finish this!" Commander Owens ordered everyone to attack. The announcement used microphones all over the base.

"Maver, are your Planted's on standby?"

"Yes. They're already outfitted for Dune Combat! We have a special technology ready for these WGP invaders!" Maver smirked.

A few moments back, when he and Lowengren talked, Lowengren stated that he had already requested the Arbiter to deliver a particular technology when the WGP was still controlling him. The tech drop had already happened, and this tech would aid them in combat.

"Don't use it yet! We need to use it at the right time! The WGP will reveal their techs. Find the right moment to reveal our techs!"

"As you command, Commander." Maver nodded and relayed the instructions.

The announcement rang out, and a full-scale attack was ordered.

General Vender expected this response.

"I just hope I bought everyone enough time for them to move!" At this, General Vender led his ship to a retreat.

Just when most of the forces had left the base to attack the alleged WGP vessels' two locations, the entire fortress trembled as powerful magnetic energy caused the sands to move in chaos.

This was one of the Caliphate's most dreaded weapons. The very sand on their feet was weaponized through their technology, and they could create an artificial sandstorm.

The moment it happened, the expressions of the WGP Commanders and Magantae changed. They were in the middle of Dune World.

"Admiral…" A Commander spoke softly. He knew they would be found out because of the Dune World.

"Prepare for combat!" Magantae gave her orders.