Emerald felt that she was pressed under a huge stone after she read the declaration. It was 2. a.m. Although there was no day and night in space, the mercenaries, who were familiar with life on Freedom Planet, felt the most exhausted right now. But no one was sleepy. They all opened their eyes and stared at the Commander, who was still silent. After running away four times, they had lost half of the fighters, and the engine to leap on this ship was even destroyed, so they couldn’t run away anymore. They also hurt the enemy’s fighters. Under the condition that the machine planes could leap continuously in a short distance, they still destroyed at least half of the fighters surrounding them. However, it could not change the situation. The enemy’s fighters kept on coming like the tide. They had more than one space fortress. Maybe the enemy thought that they only needed one when they attacked Galaxy Eternity, and because the mercenaries were fighting fiercely with the enemy, they had to use more fortresses. But now, as the only team left in Galaxy Eternity, the mercenaries were surrounded in a Spiral Nebula by two machine space fortresses and hundreds of black fighters. It was clear who won the war. Emerald also looked at Patrick. Tears filled her eyes, but she tried not to cry. Patrick stood up as everyone stared at him, and he seemed so lonely but still proud and resolute in holding that declaration. He didn’t think for that long time, but it was like a whole century in Emerald’s and other people’s minds. Then they saw their Commander, who had never lost or surrendered, turned to the communication officer. “We surrender.” He said calmly. The commanding center was silent like dead water. The communication officer opened his mouth silently and just nodded, “Yes, sir.” Other people stood up. Patrick walked directly to Emerald as if he had seen no one and looked at her. He didn’t say anything, but Emerald knew what he wanted to say. She held his hands and smiled warmly at him. But he raised his hands and pulled her into his arms. Her arms were like his home. “Commander, I’m still proud of you despite the defeat.” She said it word by word. All the people heard what she said, and they all smiled after a while. These outstanding young people exchanged handshakes just like every victory they had. Although there was no applause for them, they were still peaceful and had no regrets. One hour later, the rest of the mercenaries leaped back to Galaxy Eternity under the surveillance of the machine fortress. The galaxy still seemed peaceful, and the six fortresses of the alliance were floating outside the atmosphere, which had experienced a fiercer battle than the mercenary.A black fighter boarded the deck of Patrick’s fortress. Patrick, the chief mate, and several other commanding officers walked out of the commanding center. Emerald followed him through the aerial for the wounded, the machine rooms, and the deck. All the people were surprised when they saw the Commander and saluted him solemnly, but Patrick just kept walking to the deck. It was a drone, and the cabin, which could contain five or six people, opened up automatically. It was the demand of the machine man to have the Commander and other high-end officers. Almost all the soldiers who could still move gathered on the deck. They watched silently as Patrick and other officers walked to the fighter. Emerald rushed to Patrick and said, “I want to go with you.” Patrick looked back at her and shouted, “Harvey, take care of the lady.” Harvey rushed to her and stood between Emerald and Patrick. Patrick jumped up to the fighter. Emerald didn’t struggle too hard because of the baby in her belly. But she knew how dangerous it was for him to go, and she was devastated watching him jump into danger. Didn’t he understand? It was even better to die together than to be separated like that! She seemed to wake up when she thought about this, but Harvey was prepared for that, grabbed her arm firmly, and said, “My lady! The Commander will be alright!” Patrick suddenly shouted, “Let’s go!” The door of the cabin closed, and the black fighter entered the runway and suddenly disappeared. All the people stood on the deck silently. Emerald threw away Harvey’s hand and left the deck. Her steps were faster and faster and didn’t stop until she went to the corridor with windows. She could see countless black fighters floating in the space through the small window, but she couldn’t tell which one Patrick was on. Outside the atmosphere of Freedom Planet, in the Carslaw, the space fortress of the First Civilization. In the commanding cabin of the machine man, only two people were there, which was different from the crowded human commanding center. More precisely, there was one human and one machine man. The machine man’s body was made of silver metal, and there were facial features on his elliptic head. His eyes were round and red, and his nose was high, but he had no lips. There was only a line left when he closed his mouth. But these features, which mimicked the humans, made him handsome, and his red eyes were cold. The human stood beside the machine man. He changed into a crease-free uniform suit, which was different from what he wore every day. The uniform was silver white and made of some extremely light materials, which made him look even taller and stronger. The machine man said to that human, “Kahlil Silas, I did this because of you this time.” Kahlil bowed to him and said, “Commander, you have made the right choice.” The machine man seemed indifferent about his words, “you are the vanguard for this arrival, and you have made ineffable contributions to the Empire. I respect your thoughts. But I don’t like trouble. Once these humans cause any trouble, please kill them yourself.” “I totally agree with you, sir,” Kahlil said calmly. At this time, they heard footsteps in the corridor. Two black machine men, who were made completely out of metal, came in first. They were twice as big as the machine man in the room, and their arms and legs were strong and big, and their heads were round. The end of their arms was a muzzle pointing at the humans behind them. Although Patrick and the captains had become prisoners, they still seemed calm and fearless. They walked into the wide commanding cabin and were surprised by what they saw. At the sight of this room, they knew that the machine man’s technology was way more advanced than theirs. There was no computer or staff in the room. Silver light currents of data ran on the thin wall as if they would never stop. Actually, the data currents were surrounding the whole cabin. Yvonne Williams, the chief technical officer, whispered to Patrick, “this room was their host machine.” Patrick raised his head and looked around, but someone behind him shouted in a low voice, “Calman…” Even Patrick, who had no fear of death, was astonished and raised his eyebrows when he saw the human and the machine man clearly in the room. When the machine man saw how surprised they were, he smiled like a human.Kahlil Silas had seen Patrick’s look, and his blue eyes also seemed bitter, but then his face looked indifferent again. “Patrick Lewis,” he said with no emotion, “I am Lieutenant General of the First Machine Civilization, Kahlil Silas. I, on behalf of the Empire, accept your surrender.”