Super Mothership
Pirates—this ancient profession—not only failed to disappear in the interstellar age, but instead experienced a powerful resurgence.
In the vast and boundless reaches of space, even the mightiest empires still have dark corners within their borders that the light of civilization cannot reach.
The Shattered Star Sector, a region with little development value and an extremely dangerous celestial environment, provided the perfect breeding ground for such people.
Even thousands of ships thrown into it could vanish in the blink of an eye amid the asteroid fields.
A place like this, if put into ancient terms, would be considered barren badlands—poor soil, treacherous terrain.
Add to that several prosperous trade routes nearby, rich with profit, and it naturally attracted large numbers of desperate outlaws to settle here and prey on passing traffic.
The Shattered Star Sector has no high-luminosity stars. Countless asteroids and fragments of celestial bodies fill the region, severely limiting all kinds of radar systems and greatly increasing the difficulty of official anti-piracy operations.
Facing pirates who knew the terrain far better and would flee the moment a fight turned unfavorable, even the Wolf Empire found itself deeply frustrated.
Every time the Wolf Empire dispatched a major force to suppress the Shattered Star Sector, even if most of the pirates were wiped out, the area would soon relapse and spring back to life.
After repeating such thankless, costly campaigns several times, the Empire concluded it was simply not worth the expense. As long as the pirates didn’t go too far, the Wolf Empire chose to turn a blind eye.
Over time, the region became infamous far and wide as a pirate haven.
And Nie Yun’s long journey here was, of course, not to help the Wolf Empire eliminate pirates—but because he had his eye on the chaos itself.
As expected, Jinlok’s side should already have reacted. In the near future, fleets would certainly be dispatched to search at full strength for both himself and Beckman’s two guerrilla forces.
At a time like this, having Beckman draw the enemy’s fire while he himself lay low was clearly the wisest choice.
A mere thirty-odd warships—once they dove into a sea of pirates, who could tell friend from foe?
Even if he actually went and robbed a few trade routes, the law wouldn’t punish everyone at once. Safety levels would be off the charts.
In other words, starting today, Nie Yun—leading the Gemini system’s regular forces—had officially taken to the hills as an outlaw.
…
“Catherine, send out all reconnaissance ships. First, map out the terrain here!” Nie Yun issued his first order upon arrival.
The Ryan race was merely a vassal species specialized in combat. Aside from knowing that this place was a pirate den, they possessed very little useful information. Everything still had to be explored by Nie Yun himself.
“Sir, are you planning to use this place as our fallback route?” Catherine pondered briefly and immediately grasped Nie Yun’s intentions.
Indeed, the environment of the Shattered Star Sector was obvious at a glance—this was the perfect place to play hide-and-seek. Even with pursuers on your tail, once you slipped inside, you’d be sure to make them cough up blood trying to find you.
Of course, Catherine didn’t yet know that in the Shattered Star Sector, they weren’t the only ones playing hide-and-seek…
“Correct. A cunning rabbit has three burrows—safety comes first! We must preserve ourselves before worrying about mission completion. The terrain here is perfect for a secret base.
Behind enemy lines, the most important thing isn’t how many facilities you destroy, nor how many transport ships you sink, but maintaining a sense of presence and deterrence.
So for this operation, we have only one primary objective… to survive!”
Nie Yun declared the famous slogan with a serious expression.
Catherine found it quite reasonable at first—but the more she thought about it, the more something felt off. She stared at Nie Yun, suspicion flickering in her eyes.
The slogan sounded grand, but Girard sent you here to gather intelligence and sabotage enemy supply lines—and the moment you arrive, you find a corner to play hide-and-seek?
Are you sure you’re not just planning to hide and coast until the end?
Hmm… given her understanding of her commander’s laid-back personality, it was honestly hard to say…
Catherine shook her head, casting aside the unspoken doubt, and began relaying Nie Yun’s orders.
Nie Yun’s plan allowed both advance and retreat. After all, pirates rob or don’t rob depending on their mood.
When things outside got tense, they could stay home and “farm” in peace. When opportunities arose, they could head out and grind some Gemini faction reputation.
It was practically the perfect profession—for home living, travel, murder, and arson.
Although the Wolf Empire posed a greater threat, for now there was still Gemini between them, maintaining a safe distance.
As the saying goes, befriend the distant and strike the near. At the very least, the enemy would have to beat Gemini to the brink of collapse and be too busy to keep an eye on the Solar System—only then would Nie Yun consider going all out to help.
After all, helping Enemy A fight Enemy B—would that earn me fifty cents?
…
With the orders issued, the fleet slowly began entering the Shattered Star Sector. Five reconnaissance ships at the front spread out in a fan formation, scouting ahead to confirm safe navigation routes while also searching for suitable hiding spots.
Yet no one—including Nie Yun—noticed that near the point where they entered the sector, a probe no larger than a fist, disguised as a pitch-black asteroid, was silently aimed in the direction they had just departed.
In the next instant, it transmitted a concealed signal deep into the star sector…
…
The deeper the fleet advanced, the more everyone could feel how hostile the environment was. All ships were forced to activate their shields to withstand dangerous meteor showers and high-speed cosmic dust.
Though hazards were everywhere, careful maneuvering allowed the fleet to proceed with nothing more than a few scares.
After several long hours, the fleet finally passed through the outermost asteroid belt and entered a slightly more open region. Their field of view suddenly expanded.
However, just as everyone was starting to relax, a sudden change struck!
Boom! A brilliant burst of flame erupted from the side hull of a warship on the fleet’s left wing, startling every officer aboard.
As if it were a signal, seven or eight warships along the flank were hit by unidentified attacks in rapid succession. More than a dozen fireballs exploded across their armor, instantly throwing the formation into chaos.
“We’ve hit mines! All personnel on alert—shields to maximum power! There are enemies nearby!” Nie Yun rapidly assessed the situation and issued a loud command.
Others might not know, but Nie Yun was well aware—the Shattered Star Sector was not uninhabited.
How many pirates were ever decent people?
What he hadn’t expected was just how unlucky he’d be—charging straight into another pirate group’s territory the moment he arrived.
The sector was vast, far too large for pirates to fully fortify. Which meant there was only one possible explanation…
He’d hit the jackpot.
Fortunately, the Gemini regular forces were no pushovers. Despite the sudden attack, the fleet reacted swiftly, unleashing dense streams of metallic projectiles toward the open space on the flank and deploying dozens of force-field bombs, forming a defensive barrage.
Boom boom boom! Hundreds of concealed mines were detonated directly, blooming like fireworks in the void.
The immediate crisis was resolved—but there was no relief on the faces of the Gemini officers.
“Sir, how could there be an enemy ambush here? Has our movement been exposed?” Catherine asked in alarm.
In everyone’s mind except Nie Yun’s, there was only one possible enemy—the Wolf Empire.
At the thought of facing encirclement by hundreds or even thousands of warships, no one could remain calm.
“Relax. Things aren’t that bad,” Nie Yun said, rolling his eyes. “If their main fleet had really arrived, they wouldn’t bother with mines. They’d have rushed in and chopped us to pieces already.”
It seemed this group of uninvited guests had annoyed some local overlord.
Beep beep! “Multiple high-energy signatures detected!” the radar suddenly blared.
At the same time, mech units burst out from nearby asteroid belts—large and small alike—their numbers exceeding a thousand.
Farther back, signals from nearly a hundred ships appeared almost simultaneously on the radar display, slowly closing in on them.
What finally allowed everyone to breathe a sigh of relief was that the enemy mechs came in all shapes and sizes, and the ships were equally varied—clearly not a regular military force.
These mechs and ships spread out in a fan formation, faintly encircling Nie Yun’s fleet.
Then, a slightly arrogant wide-area transmission came through.
“Which faction are you from, daring to trespass into the territory of my Goldfang Pirate Crew? Do you think the tens of thousands of brothers under my command are just decoration?!”
The moment Nie Yun heard this, he couldn’t help but grin.
Should I tell him that today is my very first day as a pirate?
That I used to go by the nickname Ghost Captain, commanded billions of subordinates, and was a man determined to become the Pirate King?
Mechanical Insect: “…”
TL Note- Space Pirates....
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