Super Mothership
“I have another piece of good news!” Isabel was clearly in high spirits following the Locke Consortium's withdrawal.
“Does this mean we're getting promoted?” Renault asked eagerly, being the career-minded man he was.
Isabel glanced at him and rolled her eyes helplessly. “If we can successfully reclaim our lost territory and perhaps even retake the wormhole, then another promotion would indeed be quite likely. But that's not what I'm talking about.
The good news is that our reinforcement fleet will be arriving soon.”
Previously, Gemini had been dealt a devastating blow when Chloros unleashed his “Planetary Devastation” attack, leaving the entire civilization severely weakened and destroying more than half of its active fleet.
The losses in the Gallente Sector afterward had been even more catastrophic. Nearly half the sector had fallen, triggering not only a refugee crisis but also massive destruction of its industrial infrastructure. Its development had effectively been set back by decades.
Fortunately, the other three sectors had escaped relatively unscathed. Ever since the crisis began, they had been operating at full capacity, churning out new warships as quickly as possible.
Combined with the large numbers of reserve troops who had been transferred to active duty, Gemini had managed to assemble another reinforcement fleet in a remarkably short time.
“Does that mean my fleet can finally reach full strength?” Nie Yun's eyes lit up.
Heaven knew how long he had been a commander in name only, with practically no troops under his command.
After he rescued Beckman, the Victor family honored its promise. Combined with the support of Assad, who stood behind Isabel, and Cruze, Nie Yun's own family connection, three powerful clans had joined forces.
As a result, “Arthas” had finally received an official promotion in rank not long ago. He had become the youngest and fastest-promoted corps commander in Gemini's history!
For a time, Arthas was the talk of the town. He was hailed as a once-in-a-century genius in Gemini and a leading contender to become the next senior general.
Unfortunately, despite his meteoric rise, this rising star had spent a long time being little more than a figurehead. The only ship under his command was the Fallen Angel, which was barely enough to maintain appearances.
Given Gemini's pitifully depleted resources, a fully staffed corps consisting of one hundred warships might not qualify as a formidable military force, but it was certainly a force no one could afford to ignore.
Of course, with such a small force, Nie Yun still couldn't pull off any ridiculous stunts like the “Chenqiao Mutiny” or “having the Yellow Robe placed upon him” to seize the throne.
Nevertheless, during wartime, military authority was equivalent to political influence. There was absolutely nothing wrong with grabbing a little more of it!
“This time, the council has allocated a total of eight hundred warships: five mixed corps drawn from various sectors, plus three corps directly under the Central Star Cluster.
“I have no say over those three independent central corps, but the other five will all fall under my command. Naturally, I'll prioritize replenishing your forces.”
Long live factionalism!
Nie Yun was positively delighted.
This was the advantage of belonging to an organization. Resources could be shared, strengths could complement one another, and what belonged to your powerful ally could become yours as well. It was far better than fighting alone.
But military authority was only one benefit. More importantly, as a senior officer at the corps commander level, and with an ally like Isabel—a potential heavyweight—at his side, Nie Yun now had access to virtually all of Gemini's military intelligence.
“You want a deployment map showing troop positions? Catherine, go print one out for me!”
“You want the battle plans? Would you prefer Plan A or Plan B?”
Heh! Only elementary school students bothered choosing between them. Intelligence reports were what really mattered...
...
Three days later, the Ryan people's migration was finally nearing completion.
Nie Yun was extremely satisfied with what he had gained from this operation. He had acquired a full five million Ryan people, a population in which practically everyone was capable of fighting. Even after excluding the elderly, children, and other noncombatants, he could easily select two or three hundred thousand elite warriors from among them.
This meant that, for the foreseeable future, he no longer needed to worry about a shortage of personnel.
Using the Ryan people as the backbone and ordinary pirates as supplementary forces, he could build up a conventional military of his own. Combined with the players' mechanical army, which could unleash explosive combat power when needed, his envisioned “human-machine mixed force” system was steadily becoming a reality!
“Boss, the Locke Consortium's fleet has passed through the wormhole and is now rushing back to reinforce its territory along five separate routes,” Code Name reported, bringing Nie Yun some new information.
“The timing makes sense. If they hadn't returned by now, Black Sails and the others would probably have reached Locke Star already,” Nie Yun replied without the slightest surprise.
“Should we notify the other pirate groups?”
“No need. These people are experienced pirates, and they're all sharp as tacks. When you're robbing someone else's house, how could you possibly fail to post a lookout?”
Nie Yun was certain that the other pirates had spies stationed near the wormhole. The moment the Locke Consortium began its return, they would have received the news.
For all he knew, they were already gathering their fleets and preparing to run for the hills.
According to intelligence reports, the Locke Consortium's expeditionary fleet numbered approximately 2,200 warships.
Even divided into five groups, each force would still consist of roughly 400 warships. In terms of raw strength, each group was certainly no weaker than any one of the five major pirate fleets. In fact, they were probably a little stronger.
Even if they could win, no pirate leader with even a shred of intelligence would pit his own fleet against a regular military force in a head-on battle.
Besides, every pirate group was now hauling away a mountain of loot. Fighting at this point would be equivalent to volunteering to become a transport service for the enemy, delivering all their spoils straight into its hands.
“There's one more piece of not-so-good news. The enemy has sent a somewhat larger force in our direction—around six hundred warships.”
“Uh...”
It seemed they had drawn the enemy's attention rather successfully. The Ghost Pirates were clearly receiving special treatment from Chloros.
The complete annihilation of the jailers on Ryan Star had already been reported to the Locke Consortium. Given Chloros's intelligence, there was no way he hadn't figured out what Nie Yun was planning.
A tiny outfit like the Ghost Pirates had already managed to leave him thoroughly humiliated. Who knew what kind of chemical reaction would occur if they were joined by five million battle-hardened Ryan people?
And given Chloros's suspicions about the powerful forces supposedly backing Nie Yun, being singled out for retaliation was practically inevitable.
Perhaps Chloros himself was even aboard that fleet, grinding his teeth as he prepared to avenge his previous humiliation.
“We've finished looting. Notify the fleet to withdraw immediately and proceed with the second phase of the operation according to plan!”
“Understood!”
Not long afterward, the Ghost Pirates' fleet began slowly departing from Ryan Star, which had now become an empty nest.
However, after sailing for an entire day, the two hundred warships at the rear of the fleet suddenly began to disappear from everyone's sight amid a flicker of shifting light and shadow...
...
“Where exactly are we going?” The old clan leader frowned as he watched the main body of the fleet gradually recede through the observation window.
“We have another mission to carry out. These cargo ships are too slow, and they aren't equipped with stealth systems, so they can't travel covertly. That's why we need to split up our forces.
“But don't worry, Chief. Some of our warships will remain behind to protect your people. Before long, they'll rendezvous with the other pirate fleets and return to the Shattered Star Domain together. Their safety is absolutely assured!” Spartacus explained.
“The other pirate fleets?”
“The Red Dragon and Dragon Riders pirate fleets!” Spartacus didn't bother hiding the truth.
That's right. Nie Yun had never intended to escort the Ryan people all the way back to base himself. Instead, he had decided to entrust the delivery to the “Twin Dragons Express”, while leading his elite forces away from the Locke Consortium's surveillance under the cover of secrecy.
“I see...” The old clan leader's frown deepened.
He had come to trust the Ghost Pirates because Spartacus and the others were fellow members of the Ryan people who had personally vouched for them. That didn't mean he trusted other pirates.
Because of his special status and enormous prestige among the Ryan people, Nie Yun had granted him the privilege of freely exploring the fleet and accompanying the troops on their missions. As a result, the old clan leader had gained a fairly good understanding of their current circumstances. He knew that the Ghost Pirates seemed to have close ties with the Twin Dragons faction.
But no matter how close those ties might be, the other side was still a bunch of notorious pirates who had no ceiling on their greed and no floor beneath their moral standards.
What if they took a liking to the Ryan people as well? What if they saw the benefits and forgot all about loyalty—damn it, forgot all about loyalty, not fell for their looks!
Wouldn't they be tempted to double-cross the Ghost Pirates and seize the Ryan people for themselves?
Did the Ghost Captain really trust these two allies of his that much?
The Ghost Pirates' captain had gone to so much trouble to obtain the Ryan people. Surely he wasn't simply working for someone else, handing over these outstanding recruits for free.
There had to be something going on behind the scenes that he didn't understand.
Could there be an even deeper personal relationship between the Ghost Pirates and the Twin Dragons?
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A rhythmic series of metallic footsteps came from ahead, interrupting the old clan leader's thoughts.
He looked up and saw a squad of mechanical soldiers approaching. They wore black, fully enclosed faceplates, each equipped with a 270-degree linear mechanical eye. Their appearance was cold and intimidating, and they marched toward him in a somewhat peculiar goose step.
There were five mechanical warriors in the single-file column. Their movements were perfectly synchronized, though there was something stiff and mechanical about them.
Yet when Spartacus encountered these utterly ordinary patrol robots, he solemnly raised a hand to his forehead and made a strange gesture. He then smiled and nodded at them.
There he goes again...
Weren't these things just robots? Was this some kind of special courtesy practiced by the Ghost Pirates?
It wasn't just Spartacus. The other Ryan warriors frequently greeted these robots for no apparent reason, even though the robots invariably ignored them.
It seemed that all the Ryan warriors felt some kind of... inexplicable fondness for them.
But what was the point?
The old clan leader stroked his chin.
Hmm... He had heard that the Ghost Captain was apparently of mechanical-race origin.
The mechanical race and robots were fundamentally two different things, of course. But perhaps they could still be considered distant relatives from five hundred years ago?
So... could this be some subtle form of bootlicking?
The old clan leader shot Spartacus a strange look.
For the sake of their people, had these straight-laced men of steel finally learned how to be flexible?
After thinking it over, he raised his hand and imitated Spartacus, wearing a warm smile...
Mechanical Bug: “...” (→_→)
TL Note- Factions....
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