Chapter 73

A squad of space pirates appeared out of nowhere, as if materializing from thin air.

This time, they were definitely not the half-hearted impostors from the other star system's fleet with hastily modified ship exteriors. These were the real deal.

Putting the genuine article and the knockoffs side by side, the difference was so stark it could blind you.

These galactic desperados piloted an array of small and medium-sized ships, their hulls devoid of any fancy intricacies, with ugly and blatant weapon systems exposed for all to see.

They approached in eerie silence. By the time anyone noticed, they were already upon them. They came suddenly and left just as abruptly, their movements elusive, with hardly any warning signs. Their fleet's speed was spine-chillingly fast.

Silent, lethal, with a chilling and cunning bandit-like air in their bones.

Like ghosts in the void of space, or a flock of vultures in the wilderness.

At that moment, everyone in the Second Department thought: before coming here, they must have either forgotten to check the almanac or forgotten to burn incense. Could they really be so unlucky as to have the roof leak on a stormy night?

At the same time, the other star system was also suspicious, because the space pirate corps was a group of allies that didn't play by the rules. They couldn't figure out their allies' game plan.

In the pre-prepared script, there didn't seem to be a role for this group of uninvited allies.

The pirate legion approached straight from afar, their demeanor extremely arrogant. Seeing the battlefield ahead, they didn't even swerve, seemingly planning to cut straight across the Earth's Second Department. Whether intentionally or not, they happened to block the path of the other star system's already dispersed patrol fleet.

The other star system's commander hurriedly ordered the patrol fleet to stop and sent a communication request to these erratically acting allies.

The communication request sank like a stone.

The other party acted all high and mighty, not even deigning to acknowledge them.

However, just as this high-speed advancing pirate corps was about to pass through the Earth forces, they suddenly stopped without any warning.

You have to understand, even small ships are only "small" relative to the universe. Their mass and scale are incomparable to any tool on the ground. Both the inertia of high-speed ships and the space environment make this kind of "emergency braking" require not only excellent technology and equipment, but also the pilot—at least the lead pilot—to have unimaginably precise operation and ship-piloting experience.

This flashy move was almost akin to a show of force.

Both sides of the battle felt uneasy, because they couldn't help but narcissistically feel that this was a show of force against them.

The other star system's commander issued orders again, sending a second trembling communication request, which was once again ignored like a flower intentionally dropping into a stream of water.

Meanwhile, after several attempts to call the command ship and getting no response, the Earth forces facing the pirates finally lost their composure. They couldn't help but turn their high-energy cannons in that direction, ready to strike first at the slightest movement from the other party.

More and more space pirates emerged, densely packed, a vast expanse. All the pilots seemed to have synchronized their ship operation procedures, moving in unison, and none of them turned on any signal lights or illumination.

Only the lead medium-sized command ship had a lonely signal transmitter lit, scattering faint light signals in all directions, like a will-o'-the-wisp traveling through the dark night.

If they hadn't clashed with the Second Department rescue forces before, then with the strength of the other star system's fleet, no matter how bizarre the behavior of these elusive pirates, there would be no need to fear them. But now that they were badly wounded, it was a different story - of course, the same went for the Second Department rescue forces.

For a moment, the scene fell into complete silence.

The Earth military rescue forces moved at a uniform speed in a straight line towards the predetermined coordinates under inertia, while the other star system's patrol ships were blocked by the pirates of unknown intent, not daring to act rashly for the time being, and could only watch helplessly from the side.

As for the pirates, who knew if they were posing or performing a "commander's inspection", they actually remained frozen in place, allowing the tense Earth rescue forces to pass right under their noses.

Time must have been stuck.

Finally, seeing that the Earth forces were about to leave their field of view, the other star system's military couldn't take it anymore. The commander issued a stern warning to the not-so-normal "allies" - according to interstellar conventions, after three warnings, if the other party ignored them, regardless of whether they were friend or foe, they could launch an attack.

At this point, although the other star system and the space pirate corps were strange bedfellows, they hadn't reached the point of infighting yet. The commander's handling of the situation was actually quite excessive, showing how fed up he was with these lunatic pirates.

However, after the first warning, something terrifying happened.

The space pirates, who had been treating them like air, suddenly turned collectively, shifting from facing the Earth forces to facing the other star system. The rows of dark, unlit gun barrels were enough to inspire a primal fear, and the abnormal pressure was so strong it was suffocating.

At this time, the tail end of the Earth forces had left the area where the pirate corps was located. In just a few short minutes, the Earth rescue forces had retreated to five firing range units away.

The pirate corps had ignored them from start to finish, and only moved after the Earth forces withdrew. The entire pirate corps lined up, spreading its wings like a bird of prey about to pounce on a rabbit, cutting off the Earth forces and the other star system's fleet, becoming a man-made boundary.

The other star system's commander quickly exchanged light signals with his staff officers, all of them puzzled and uncertain - had these damn pirates taken the wrong medicine?

Before they could figure out what was going on, the pirates who had taken the wrong medicine suddenly advanced as a whole.

At this point, no matter how friendly the forces were, it was clear that these pirates meant no good!

The hunter had quickly become the hunted. The other star system's fleet rapidly formed up, gathering its remaining elites, concentrating its forces, and preparing to attack. At the same time, the commander issued a second, even sterner warning.

A row of giant ships and large ships in front put up a tight protective shield to prevent a sneak attack from the other side - after all, these were just a bunch of small and medium-sized ships, right?

In the end, the difference in scale was there for all to see. Even if ants could really bite an elephant to death, there had to be enough ants and vicious enough species.

But this time, the elephants didn't expect that they had really encountered the once-in-a-century meat-eating ants. Just a short while after the second warning was sent, the entire pirate corps suddenly moved... no, they suddenly disappeared.

The other star system's commander was stunned on the spot. Immediately after, he received an alert that his ships were under attack and exploding.

The enemy did not launch missiles, but instead utilized the gaps between the large warships and giant ships that could not be blocked, directly passing their ship hulls through. In an instant, the pirate group collectively appeared inside the other star system's formation.

This was... a warp jump!

No, impossible!

How could the space pirates possibly have curvature drive technology?!

However, the pirates used Earth's technology, but their fighting style was the traditional pirate approach. Two to three small ships formed a group, with extremely high mobility and tacit understanding. After locking onto a target, they quickly repositioned, surrounding and annihilating it in the blink of an eye. Before the situation could change, they immediately turned to the next target.

Admittedly, the small warships and a small number of medium-sized ships had some difficulty biting into the giant ships and large vessels, but they firmly entangled them.

If the large ships chased after them, they scattered like flies. The targets were small and fast, and would use the other star system's warships for cover. If their warships dared to launch missiles, eight out of ten times they would hit their own people.

Ramming was not feasible either, because the other star system's fleet had not yet obtained the complete curvature system technology and could not outrun the pirates.

The people of the other star system were going crazy. Were these Earth people pretending to be pirates, or pirates who had obtained Earth technology?

Were the Earth people playing the role of pirates deserving of an Oscar, or had the allied space pirate groups already defected to the Earth side?

Seeing that the Earth rescue team had already disappeared without a trace, the commander-in-chief of the other star system finally became furious. He gave up the small and medium-sized ships, letting the pirate groups wreak havoc on them as they pleased. He gathered all the giant ships and large vessels, forming an imposing encirclement, vowing to strangle this shit-stirring pirate group to death here.

However, the commander of the pirate group was perceptive on the battlefield, just like a wolf king accustomed to hunting on the grasslands. He found the killing exhilarating, but at the first sign of trouble, his tactics could change in a myriad of ways. As soon as the other star system fleet was about to change formation, the pirate group immediately gave up the hunt for small and medium ships. They slowly converged in a strange rhythm into a certain shape, and the signal lights on the command ship that had been extinguished when it charged into the formation lit up again.

The commander of the other star system immediately gave the order: Shoot down that command ship!

But before the other star system fleet could respond, the familiar four-section bombs were exposed to the sight of all monitoring systems.

The people of the other star system could hardly believe their eyes - it was a gravity bomb!

The enemy had actually thrown a gravity bomb in the gradually shrinking encirclement when they were surrounded. It was said that in ancient times on Earth, terrorists used human bombs. Had this glorious tradition been preserved?

Crazy alarms sounded, and the commanders of the three-sided fleets of the other star system simultaneously issued hysterical orders - run!

And the "pirate group" obviously did not intend to become human bombs. When the four-section gravity bomb had not detached, they initiated a second warp jump together.

Long before the war between Earth and the other star system broke out, there had been fierce debates in the other star system's academic circles about gravity bombs. Later, it was suppressed by General Graf alone, and all scholars who raised questions were silenced before it was introduced to the space battlefields of both sides.

Now, even though the technology was immature, they had seen that the innocent scholars who died unjustly back then were right.

The gravity bomb was like a tiger released from its cage, and Earth's curvature technology gave this tiger invincible fangs, allowing it to bite back at their own star system's military.

Any dangerous technology is a double-edged sword.

A huge vortex erupted in the center of the encirclement, and countless warships were devoured before they could retreat, instantly digested into a pile of steel scrap.

The "pirates" who had successfully warped withdrew at ease. With a few swift maneuvers, they merged into the boundless darkness.

The maddening thing was that these guys didn't say a word from beginning to end. They came and fought, fought and ran. In the end, the people of the other star system didn't even figure out whether they were pirates or Earthlings.

This was fucking inexplicable, with heavy losses!

The Earth rescue team successfully escaped, running three hundred range units in one go. They still detected that cluster of violent gravitational waves, but they had no time to care about anything else. The captain of the Penglai ship finally took the initiative to salvage the rear command ship. There were not many medical soldiers accompanying them, and they were all summoned to the Penglai.

At this time, the sharp alarm sounded again - that group of pirates from before had caught up.

The captain of the Penglai was shocked. He was about to organize a defense when the already battered command ship received a communication request. The command ship's communication system was more than half damaged and basically inaudible, so they had to temporarily connect the Penglai's communication system. Then everyone heard Fu Luo's voice, like a heavenly melody.

"Hey, hey, don't defend, it's our own people - I just saw that the command ship seems to be severely damaged, is there anyone inside? Colonel Yang? Is Colonel Yang okay?"