Super Mothership
War. The two resources consumed the most are weapons and energy, but in most cases these two things can actually be summed up as one… money.
Energy crystals are the “gold” of the interstellar age. No matter where you go—whether the local currency is dollars, yen, euros, or RMB—this is the natural interstellar currency.
“Energy crystals… How much do you need?” Girard asked after pondering for a moment.
“If it’s just for this rescue mission… 100 tons will be enough,” Nie Yun said after thinking briefly.
It might not sound like much, but 100 tons is equivalent to the annual standard energy consumption of a thousand warships. It’s definitely not a small number. If exchanged in Shattered Star City for Shattered Star Points, it would be worth at least 100 million.
The Ghost Pirate Group had only just been established and its foundation was still weak. If they wanted to keep expanding and growing stronger, relying solely on high-interest loans obviously wouldn’t work. Nie Yun was basically getting the Gemini civilization to invest in his “startup company.”
No need to be greedy—let’s first earn ourselves a hundred million!
Black Sail had Jinlok backing them, but the Ghost Pirate Group wasn’t any worse—after all, they’d directly pulled in an entire civilization as support!
“100 tons?” Hearing the number, Girard let out a sigh of relief.
Recently, the energy crystal exchange trade handled by Chu Xiaoxiao had repeatedly hit record highs. The Gemini Council’s finances had become much more comfortable. On top of that, with the Wolf Empire’s threat level raised to Class S, the higher authorities had been quite generous in allocating war supplies. Girard therefore had the confidence to spend money to avert disaster.
Besides, this money wouldn’t come out of his own pocket anyway—the Victor family would naturally foot the bill.
“Alright! As long as your friend can rescue Beckman, we’ll pay the money!” Girard said decisively.
Nie Yun had just secured a big order and was all smiles. He immediately sent over the coordinates for payment. The location was on the outer edge of the Shattered Star region.
“This coordinate… answering it isn’t much of a problem, but the goods might take a little while before they can reach you…”
100 tons of energy crystals isn’t large in volume and is easy to transport. A modified small high-speed ship could carry it easily. Because the target would be very small, and since the wormhole at the border between the two sides had recently expanded, secretly smuggling it across wouldn’t be much of a problem.
But no matter how fast they were, it would take at least ten days for the money to reach Nie Yun.
The question was… could Beckman last that long?
By the time the payment arrived, his corpse might already be cold.
“Don’t worry about that. Save the man first, pay later. I still have a bit of reputation,” Nie Yun said confidently, patting his chest.
Save first, pay later?
Girard looked puzzled.
In his mind, the people Nie Yun had contacted were probably just local desperadoes or mercenary forces. Could such people really allow payment on credit?
Your reputation… is it really that valuable?
Damn it! Looks like he’d have to re-evaluate Arthas’s diplomacy skill level…
…
While Nie Yun and Girard finalized their deal, the unfortunate Beckman Fleet was desperately fleeing for their lives.
Compared to before, this Gemini special vanguard fleet had already shrunk by more than half. Only a dozen or so warships remained, and most of them were damaged, looking utterly battered.
Originally, Beckman had been quite cautious. After picking an easy target, he planned to lie low for a while and see if he could slip deeper behind enemy lines, far from the frontline, and quietly snipe a few targets. For that reason, he had carefully avoided all large celestial clusters and busy routes.
But man proposes, heaven disposes.
Halfway through the journey, they unexpectedly encountered a mobile radar unit from Jinlok’s Fifth Fleet.
This type of mobile radar was a standard patrol method used by the Fifth Fleet. It used ordinary drifting meteoroids as carriers, equipped with pulse-type wide-area detection radar capable of emitting radar pulses at fixed intervals to map real-time enemy activity in the surrounding star systems. Its concealment was excellent.
Simply launching these mobile radars between two patrol stations could partially replace the function of patrol fleets, and they could be recovered and redeployed repeatedly, making them extremely cost-effective.
However, while convenient, these mobile radars could only travel in a straight line and could not change direction. Anyone who investigated the positions of the patrol stations could easily avoid them. Therefore, they could only serve as a supplementary patrol measure.
Beckman had been cautious enough, but he still suffered from insufficient intelligence. Unfortunately, he had run straight into the monitoring network of the Fifth Fleet’s mobile radars.
Once discovered, because the ships’ identification codes could not be recognized, they were immediately treated as illegal vessels, triggering the alarm.
This brought the Fifth Fleet’s encirclement forces down upon them.
Fortunately, the enemy had underestimated the combat strength of this “small fleet.” The first wave of encirclement they dispatched consisted of only about sixty warships—and they were immediately stunned by the 100 Sea-Storm-class mechs equipped within the fleet.
The combat power unleashed by so many of Gemini’s top-tier mechs was truly formidable. They directly crippled the Fifth Fleet’s mech units and seized local air superiority.
After a fierce battle, Beckman sacrificed almost all of his mech forces to forcibly break through the encirclement with the remaining half of his fleet, finally escaping with their lives.
Even so, the exposed Beckman Fleet was far from safe.
After failing to eliminate them in one strike, the furious commander of the Fifth Fleet immediately reinforced his forces, dispatching more than 100 warships in total to pursue and intercept Beckman.
Taking advantage of their familiarity with the terrain, along with the dense radar network of the Fifth Fleet, they clung tightly to Beckman’s group.
At this moment, inside the fleet flagship…
“Lord Beckman, the enemy fleet has caught up again. The decoys we released have probably been exposed,” the adjutant hurried over to report.
“So fast?” Beckman gave a bitter smile, his face looking somewhat pale.
During this period, they had already used every escape method available, but before long the pursuers behind them would always catch up again. Now even their decoys had been exhausted. They had truly reached the end of their rope.
“We should have entered the enemy’s monitoring zone. If this continues, unless reinforcements arrive, we probably won’t be able to escape the enemy’s pursuit,” the adjutant said anxiously.
By now their mech forces had been completely wiped out, and the remaining warships were all heavily damaged. Once the enemy caught up with them, the outcome was obvious.
“Reinforcements? Heh!” Beckman laughed bitterly.
With the current battle situation around the wormhole, sending one or two warships over wouldn’t be too difficult. But dispatching a rescue fleet… did they think the Wolf Empire was their backyard?
Although they were on the brink of desperation, Beckman was still an elite of Gemini, and he didn’t panic in fear. After thinking calmly for a moment, he asked, “How long until the enemy catches up with us?”
“Based on our current speed and distance, we’ll enter the enemy’s firing range in about three days,” the adjutant replied.
In a chase like this, three days wasn’t very long.
And if enemy forces appeared ahead to block their path, they might be caught even sooner.
After lowering his head and pondering for a long time, Beckman finally gritted his teeth and issued an order.
“Have all warships discard every unnecessary weapon and supply onboard. Reduce the load!”
“My lord, you can’t!” the adjutant cried out in shock. “We’re currently behind enemy lines. If we abandon our weapons and supplies, even if we escape by luck, what will we do afterward?”
“If we don’t do this, we won’t even survive this situation. What future would we have to talk about?” Beckman replied bitterly.
The adjutant was left speechless and could only carry out Beckman’s order.
After the fleet discarded its supplies, their speed increased noticeably. But everyone knew that this was nothing more than drinking poison to quench thirst—a temporary measure that solved nothing.
However, just when the entire fleet was at a loss and despair was spreading through their ranks, they unexpectedly received a message from “friendly forces.”
“Escape toward this coordinate?” Beckman looked puzzled.
“Yes! Lord Arthas’s reinforcements will meet us there. They’ll help intercept the pursuers behind us!” the adjutant said excitedly, his face flushed.
Hope in the midst of despair! What could be more surprising than that?
“Even if Arthas’s fleet is at full strength, it only has about thirty warships. Even if we join forces with them, we still wouldn’t be a match for the pursuers. Isn’t he just coming here to die?” Beckman frowned.
To be honest, his first reaction upon hearing the news was…
This must be a trap!
But on second thought, if someone really wanted to eliminate him as a competitor, wasn’t this a bit unnecessary? What, were they so bored that they wanted to tell him a joke before he died so he could pass away smiling?
Was their mind really that petty?
No… could it be that they actually had confidence in dealing with over a hundred warships?
Right! He himself had obtained 100 Sea-Storm-class mechs. Perhaps the Feathered Race had also given Arthas some kind of super equipment. There was no reason only he could cheat!
After convincing himself this way, Beckman finally believed it somewhat.
“Lord Arthas might really be prepared. Because they didn’t just send coordinates—they also sent the mobile radar patrol route map of the Fifth Fleet, telling us to avoid them,” the adjutant continued, activating a projection device.
It displayed a star map of the surrounding star systems, with numerous lines marked in red.
Beckman’s eyes widened immediately.
The mobile radar patrol routes?! They could even get this?
How did Arthas obtain something like that?
Did they capture an enemy patrol fleet alive?!
Naturally, he didn’t know that for pirates and local space rogues who roamed these nearby star systems year-round, such fixed-route patrol methods were practically useless.
At the intelligence trading posts in Shattered Star City, you could buy real-time updated patrol star maps of nearby systems for just 10,000 Shattered Star Points. Dirt cheap!
“Let’s treat a dead horse like a living one. Order the fleet to change course toward this coordinate!” Beckman finally gritted his teeth and decided to take the gamble.
…
Seven days later…
Beckman’s fleet, with the Fifth Fleet’s pursuers practically biting at their heels, barely managed to plunge into the outer region of the Shattered Star sector.
The two fleets—one chasing, one fleeing—entered the Shattered Star region one after the other.
And then both sides slammed on the brakes almost simultaneously.
Because standing before them was a group of warships waiting in formation, along with dense swarms of mechs surrounding them!
“Which faction do you belong to, daring to barge into the territory of my Ghost Pirate Group? Do you think the tens of thousands of brothers under my command are just for show?!”
Mechanical bugs: “…”
A familiar opening line.
A familiar feeling…
TL Note- Deja vu.....
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