Space Battle

Coming back to the battlefield once again, Ethan was stunned at the changes that took place in just a few minutes. The supposedly 'merchant ship' was now raiding the largest ship in the entire area.

It looked like a naval battle where the ship would connect both of their vessels via bridge. But, the bridge was air-tight, clearly designed for the vacuum of space.

Now that the 'merchant ship' was extremely close to the flagship, the other vessels in the area had ceased firing their weapons, not wanting to harm the flagship in the process.

"Is this really a merchant vessel? It looked like a skilled and experience raider to me." Ethan said in surprise. You can see that despite being outnumbered, this ship was able to hold their ground.

Narrowing his eyes, Ethan saw other vessels flying closer to the flagship. Similar to what the Eclector had done, they are attempting to insert their force in the flagship by linking their ship to it by means of bridge.

Unfortunately, their opponent was not going to let that happen easily. The Eclector began firing a torrent of ionized bullets at the vessels getting close. Due to this, several vessels released a bunch of smaller spacecraft that would assault the Eclector to buy them time.

Ethan also noticed few vessels flying to the side where they could fire their weapons without creating damage to their flagship. However, he could see that their attack was greatly restrained.

He guess that they didn't want to make the Eclector to explode since it could potentially cause greater harm to the flagship. It seems that both sides were using tactics to gain upper hand in this battle.

"Now, that is quite interesting!" Ethan let out a faint smile as he readied the aiming control of the ship. Taking a deep breath, Ethan begun firing the smaller spacecraft while his spacecraft maneuver in the space.

Although he was inexperience in intergalactic battles and tactics, Ethan was after all, an accomplished duelist. His sharp combat and tactical acumen allow him to understand the flow of the battlefield.

Moreover, his spacecraft had enchantments, making his opponents have a hard time tracking his whereabouts. Despite his massive advantage, Ethan was still getting used with this new form of fighting, so it is natural that he missed a lot of shots.

Fortunately, as a duelist that use apparition a lot in fighting, Ethan have a great sensitivity to space and angles, so it did not take long for him to become skilled in it.

"Hmm? Are these smaller spacecraft not equipped with energy barrier?" Ethan wrinkle his brows, and contemplated.

Destroying several smaller spacecrafts should have alerted them, and without knowing where the attack will appear next, isn't it better to activated their energy barrier?

After thinking deeply for a while, Ethan immediately understood, recalling his previous experience. "I see... These smaller spacecrafts don't have that much of energy reserve to maintain energy shield."

Moreover, they seems to be used for assault support that can be sacrificed at anytime, so their main equipment and parts are for greater maneuverability and damage. As such, the energy barrier are technically useless, not to mention, it would only increase the cost.

Understanding this, Ethan let go of his worry and quickly annihilated all smaller spacecrafts. Then, he turned his attention to other larger vessel. Destroying them proved to be difficult with his current firepower due to the lack of energy.

So, Ethan controlled his spacecraft towards the vessel that have the least damage and connected his spacecraft to its entrance, preparing to raid and take control of it from the inside.

Looking at the tightly sealed entrance of this vessel, Ethan cast a transfiguration spell to create a hole, enough for his entire body to pass through before returning it back again. Then, he cast disillusionment spell to himself to keep himself invisible.

"I only need to understand the ins and outs of this spacecraft." Ethan points the tip of his wand to his forehead, and cast a Sense-Expansion charm, allowing his sense of hearing, smell, and sight to have a wider range.

Contrary to his expectation, the spell didn't provide him much. The spacecraft are designed to be tightly sealed in each chambers and division, so it wouldn't be easily affected once one part of the ship were damaged and was exposed to the vacuum of space. Naturally, even if his senses have wider range, it couldn't penetrate this tight seal.

"It seems I had to do it in traditional way." Ethan let out a faint sigh. However, he did not remove the Sense-Expansion charm, as it allow him to locate his enemies faster.

...

*RING!* *RING!*

[Attention everyone, an enemy had appeared on board. Stay on high alert and report any suspicious activity immediately! I repeat...]

Red light filled the entire area as a stern warning sounded. After taking down the alien in front of him, Ethan immediately stopped his track. "I've been found? But then, it really was a troublesome situation."

Looking at the Kree military personnel on the ground, Ethan let out a faint sigh. Although he had some guesses earlier, Ethan finally confirmed this doubt.

This fleet wasn't actually a space pirate, but a Kree Empire's military force. Apparently, they are catching a space mercenary operating within their territory, the Ravagers.

However, for Ethan, what is the most important at the moment was to take down this vessel and return to Earth. Anyway, even if he helped the Kree, he doubted that they would appreciate his aid, simply because, they would think that they could catch the Ravagers without his help given they have advantage in number.

This was his understanding through experience. Unless you saved them when they are in precarious situation, most of the commanding officer wouldn't appreciate that help.

As for whether the Ravagers deserve to be caught, Ethan didn't care either. He could see that with their skill, they can escape this assault even if they couldn't win. Not mentioning the fact that this battle give him an opportunity to learn and understand many things.

"Huh? A group of soldier?" Ethan immediately focus his attention. He could hear a series of footsteps getting closer to him. "Did they know my location? But, how?"

His disillusionment charm was still working. Even if they found something amiss, they shouldn't know his exact location. Not unless, they have a way to see through his invisibility... like the heat-sensitive charm.

Well, thinking about it is not important. Anyway, unless these soldiers can sneak attack him or have similar power like him, Ethan didn't think they can harm him. Wizard's spell are much lethal than they looked.

This was because, offensive spells typically have the characteristic of a lightning. When they hit the target, the spell wouldn't immediately disappear, as the remaining energy would flow through any physical matter connected to the target.

It doesn't matter if his spell hit the armor, as long as the magical energy contained within it was enough, it will eventually affect the intended target. That's what makes spell terrifying.

"It seems all of you wanted to die faster, then it will makes everything easier." Ethan mutter as he grip his wand tightly. Although these Krees are stronger than muggles on Earth, they are still defenseless against his spells.

...

*Thump!*

A kree soldier fell on his knees weakly as Ethan aimed his wand at him. The floor was now littered with corpses, with the middle of it was Ethan, who looked like a death god for the the last kree soldier.

"Y-you- t-the Empire will not let you go!" Hearing the soldier's trembling voice, Ethan cast a spell. It was not an offensive spell, but Legilimency.

He took advantage of the current state of mind of this soldier. So, he was able to access his mind without trouble. Ethan navigate all information he could find; from the map of this vessel, more information about the Kree Empire, and the forces known in the cosmos.

After finding no more useful information, Ethan stopped the spell and killed the soldier. Now that he knows the ins and outs of this vessel, he could now easily take control of the ship.