Super Mothership
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" Without any declaration of war, Black Sail unleashed a volley of fire. A rain of energy beams tore a massive breach through the Gold Coin Pirate Corps' outer defensive network, shattering the last sliver of hope in Gold Dagger's heart.
"Why... How did this happen..." Gold Dagger stared at the three pirate fleets slowly closing in, his face deathly pale.
He simply couldn't understand how a perfectly executed plan to "set the tiger upon the wolf" had somehow turned into "bringing disaster upon oneself."
What exactly had gone wrong?
"Boss, we've got to do something! Our fleet won't be able to hold out much longer!"
The subordinates panicked as they frantically redeployed their defenses. But with attacks coming simultaneously from three directions, the base's defensive forces were stretched dangerously thin and were on the verge of collapse.
At this moment, the number of warships participating in the assault had already soared past two thousand, with nearly half of them being elite vessels.
Although they had made some preparations for battle, the Gold Coin Pirate Corps had never been known for its combat strength. Under these circumstances, they didn't even have time to summon the powerful experts they normally kept on retainer, leaving them completely on the defensive.
Gold Dagger was panicking as well. However, having weathered countless storms, he quickly forced himself to calm down.
"Immediately redeploy the eastern fleet to reinforce the other three fronts! Deploy every mech warrior we have and buy as much time as possible! Tell every brother that reinforcements will arrive soon. As long as we hold out until then, everyone will be heavily rewarded! Compensation for the dead and wounded will be tripled!"
Gold Dagger understood that his side was at an absolute disadvantage. Anyone with eyes could see that the Gold Coin Pirate Corps was facing inevitable destruction. The most important thing now was to stabilize morale.
As expected, the promise of generous rewards, coupled with the news that reinforcements were on the way, gave the Gold Coin Pirate Corps' morale a significant boost.
However, Gold Dagger knew this wouldn't last long. He immediately sent out an emergency distress signal...
...
Aboard the Black Sail flagship.
"Boss! The Gold Coin Pirate Corps really is loaded with resources. Look at all those mechs coming out of their base—they're all top-quality Imperial models that were only recently retired!
And those radiation fortress cannons are obviously military surplus too. Those things aren't easy to get!" the adjutant said enviously.
"Mm! They're truly swimming in wealth. Tell the brothers not to charge too aggressively. Minimize casualties and simply pin down the enemy forces." Flint calmly issued orders as he observed the battle.
"Yes, Boss!" the adjutant acknowledged. "But Boss, are we really going to make peace with Red Dragon and the others?"
"If I could, I'd naturally prefer to swallow Red Dragon whole. Unfortunately, both the Dragon Riders and the Ghost Captain have stepped in one after another to disrupt everything. Even if we continue fighting, it'll only end with both sides badly crippled. That benefits none of us.
Since that's the case, why shouldn't we join forces with them? The Ghost Captain said something very true... There are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests!"
"Then do you really believe that His Highness is involved in all this?" the adjutant asked worriedly.
"Heh! Whether it's true or not... does it really matter?" Flint sneered.
"Even without His Highness, the Gold Coin Pirate Corps is definitely far more than it appears on the surface.
I've long known that huge sums of their funds have been flowing elsewhere. And I also know those funds are going either to the Dark Temple or to Karon.
That means at least two of the three neutral pirate groups are secretly working together. I'd put the odds at over eighty percent.
Gold Dagger has hidden himself far too well. He may appear weak, but the forces he can actually mobilize are definitely far greater than Red Dragon's. Otherwise, why do you think I chose to attack Red Dragon first? Because when picking persimmons, you squeeze the soft ones first!
This time, they calculated everything, thinking that sending the two pirate fleets away would let them sit back and watch the tigers fight. What they didn't realize was that leaving the Gold Coin Pirate Corps behind exposed a fatal weakness!
Since that's the case, why shouldn't I join forces with the Dragon Riders and eliminate this greatest hidden threat first?"
"So that's how it is! Boss, truly brilliant!" The deputy suddenly understood and immediately offered some flattery.
"But... the Ghost Captain ruined our grand plan this time. His origins are mysterious, and he's obviously no ordinary opponent. Are you really planning to give him one of the Seven Great Pirate Corps seats afterward? Wouldn't that just be raising another tiger to threaten us later?"
"The Ghost Captain..." Flint narrowed his eyes at the mention of the name.
"Hmph! So what if I give it to him? Even if the opportunity is there, he'll still need the strength to claim it!" Flint snorted coldly as his gaze shifted toward the east...
...
"Commander! The Gold Coin Pirate Corps' main fleet has already been drawn away. However, the three attacking forces clearly aren't fighting with their full strength. Should we wait a little longer?" Codename asked as she adjusted her rimless glasses.
She was dressed in a sharp black female officer's uniform with her hair tied into a ponytail, giving her a valiant appearance.
Nie Yun glanced at the utterly serious-looking Codename beside him, and the corners of his mouth twitched.
She was really getting into character...
"Heh, there's no need to wait. They're simply testing our strength. Pirates have always lived by the law of the jungle, where might makes right.
If we don't demonstrate enough military power, even if they promise us a place among the Great Pirate Corps today, they'll deny everything the moment they turn against us tomorrow.
Deploy the 'Ghost Knights' immediately!"
"Yes, Commander!"
As the order to attack was issued, a sudden meteor shower burst out from the asteroid belt east of the Gold Coin Pirate Corps' base.
The largest asteroids measured several kilometers across, while the smallest were only a few dozen meters wide. Numbering between thirty and forty thousand, they formed an arrow-shaped formation stretching hundreds of kilometers.
And the arrowhead... pointed directly at the core of the Gold Coin Pirate Corps' base!
...
"Boss Gold Dagger! A massive meteor shower has suddenly been detected approaching from the east. Its trajectory is extremely suspicious! Judging from the size of the asteroids, they can't conceal warships, but they're very likely hiding medium and small space combat units such as mechs!"
Already under attack from three directions and overwhelmed with problems, the Gold Coin Pirate Corps received yet another piece of bad news.
The surrounding astronomical environment had long since been thoroughly cleared. There was absolutely no way such a meteor shower could suddenly appear out of nowhere—especially one heading straight for the base.
It was clearly man-made!
"The east? Damn it! They're creating a diversion!" Gold Dagger's expression changed drastically.
With the base already surrounded on three sides, the eastern defenses were naturally the weakest. The enemy had clearly planned this from the beginning.
"Order the base's defense system to fire at full power! Stop every asteroid you can! Also, how many forces can we spare from the other three fronts?"
"Boss, we can't! Their fleet outnumbers ours two to one, and their firepower is overwhelming. We're already struggling just to hold the line. If we divert troops now, the other fronts will collapse!
The only force we can still deploy is the fifty-thousand-man reserve mech corps inside the base."
"Then send out the entire reserve corps! Tell every brother that reinforcements will arrive in just three more hours. Hold the line no matter what!" Gold Dagger shouted, his eyes bloodshot.
"Yes!"
Soon afterward, countless mech warriors were launched from the Gold Coin Pirate Corps' base once again, rushing toward the eastern front to establish a defensive line.
At the same time, the base's defense system unleashed a massive barrage of high-speed missiles toward the incoming meteor shower.
Against solid targets like asteroids, energy weapons were far less effective than conventional kinetic weapons.
Three minutes later...
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The first wave of missiles struck successfully, surprisingly encountering no interception whatsoever.
A chain of explosions illuminated the surrounding starfield.
Under the control of the combat AI, the missiles were highly specialized. High-explosive missiles targeted the larger asteroids, blasting them into pieces, while field-disruption missiles distorted the surrounding gravitational field after detonation, deflecting the trajectories of smaller asteroids and causing them to collide with one another.
No sooner had the first wave finished than the second wave arrived seamlessly.
After two consecutive bombardments, the tip of the asteroid formation had been shaved back by nearly five kilometers.
Just as the Gold Coin Pirate Corps breathed a sigh of relief, believing the eastern attack was merely a feint and that the enemy lacked additional forces, countless palm-sized triangular drones suddenly flew out from the asteroids farther back.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!" Nearly three hundred thousand miniature drones shot forward at incredible speed, blue exhaust flames trailing behind them as they raced toward the incoming third wave of missiles.
"Beep! Beep! Beep!" Several high-precision integrated anti-air radar units hidden within the asteroids rapidly locked onto the incoming missiles, remotely guiding the miniature drones with pinpoint accuracy.
Dozens of kilometers away from the asteroid formation, the drones collided with the missiles one after another before detonating.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" The explosions produced cone-shaped high-speed metal jets that spread out like white umbrellas, covering an area roughly five meters across. They instantly inflicted massive penetrating damage on the incoming missiles, ensuring their complete destruction.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" More than five thousand missiles in the third wave were intercepted without a single one slipping through.
The cost? Fewer than ten thousand miniature drones.
Missile Defense Drones!
Prerequisite technologies: "Micro Nuclear Thrusters," "Miniature Artistic Pluto Bomb," and "Large-Scale Drone Cooperative Defense Network."
This was the latest product of the Cloud Research Institute, specifically designed to intercept low- and medium-speed missiles in space. It could be considered the spaceborne equivalent of a missile defense system.
Each interceptor drone cost only a few cents to manufacture. This highly cost-effective defense system immediately caught Nie Yun's attention, and he adopted it as one of the Ghost Pirate Corps' standard missile interception methods.
As a result, he had ordered the Mechanical Bugs to construct a fully automated production line at the Ghost Pirate Corps' base long ago. With an ample supply of raw materials, the facility was now capable of producing fifty thousand drones per day.
The meteor shower continued forward, passing through the flames and smoke without slowing down.
Seeing this, the Gold Coin Pirate Corps immediately increased the number of missiles being launched while also using electromagnetic weapons and fortress cannons to bombard the meteor shower and eliminate the miniature drones.
The asteroid formation, stretching for dozens of kilometers, was steadily worn away piece by piece before the naked eye. Large numbers of drones were also destroyed, yet the formation continued its relentless advance toward the Gold Coin Pirate Corps.
The Ghost Pirate Corps was still a newly established force and lacked the large warships necessary for a breakthrough assault.
Therefore, the Earth Defense Force General Staff had specially devised today's unique battle plan.
Making full use of the nearby natural asteroid belt, Nie Yun gathered materials on-site to construct an ingenious "Arrowhead Breakthrough Formation."
And concealed within that asteroid formation, the "Ghosts" quietly drew ever closer to their target...
TL Note- Drone Warfare...
Next
Comments
Post a Comment