Chapter 395: The Battle of Pursuit (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The owners.h.i.+p of this area has always been blurry. If DarkStar showed up in the official territory of these two civilizations, they would definitely be warned and evicted. However, due to the sensitivity of this area, the two fleets did not make a move.
In the Holy Stone Border Guards Army, command s.h.i.+p of the third formation, Stream Light.
The atmosphere was filled with nervousness. DarkStar’s fearsome name was well known, and they had quite the tension with Black Raven. The captain of the Third Formation, s.h.i.+vate, said with a very serious face, “All units on level one alert, hold the position.”
At this time, Stream Light received a message from the DarkStar mothers.h.i.+p. Sarota expressed their motive, emphasizing the fact that they meant no offense to Holy Stone and Black Raven. They were just carrying out a pursuit, of which the targets were some mercenaries. Once the mission was completed, they would leave immediately.
s.h.i.+vate’s tightened face relaxed a little, and without thinking, he said, “Tell them that it’s possible for Holy Stone to not interfere with DarkStar’s operation, but during this period, no suspicious action will be allowed. We will be monitoring from here, and we hope they leave as soon as possible.”
s.h.i.+vate did not want a war to break out. There were many reasons. The first would of course be, they did not want to mess with DarkStar. The entire Shattered Star Ring knew the ugly history between DarkStar and G.o.dora, no one wanted to be part of it. The most horrifying characteristic of DarkStar was that they were very stealthy. If they lost the battle, they would still be able to run away, and the revenge afterward would make you suffer a large loss. Secondly, if they fire, it might very likely cause Black Raven to misunderstand, which would then turn into a scrimmage, leading to a territory conflict. If he was determined guilty of deliberately starting a war in the court martial, the punishment for that was very heavy.
Due to the territorial conflicts, there had always been some tension between these two civilizations. The Holy Stone Civilization was an aristocracy civilization, ruled by a royal family. Its political construction was very complicated, and its efficiency in making decisions was mediocre. They did not like wars, and they were good at using diplomatic measures. Be it resources, connections, or power, Holy Stone Civilization was a little higher than Black Raven Civilization. However, as Black Raven Civilization had limited resources in their early days, their developing process was very tough, which made them have very strong minds and become collectivists. Their efficiency in executing matters was very high. Even though their nation was not as strong as Holy Stone, Holy Stone could not find a way to get rid of them. If they started a large-scale war, both sides would definitely suffer a huge loss. Therefore, both sides controlled the scale of their conflicts.
Hence, DarkStar was not the only thing s.h.i.+vate feared—he was more afraid to cause a misunderstanding.
The most important reason that made s.h.i.+vate decide to sit on the sidelines was that DarkStar’s target was just a bunch of mercenaries; they were just pa.s.sersby that did not matter at all. Unless it was the people from their own civilization, these two armies would not make a huge move for it. Seeing that Black Raven’s army also held their position, s.h.i.+vate knew that the captain of Black Raven had made the same decision—sit on the sidelines and monitor.
After all, to two civilizations, the life and death of these mercenaries were not their concern. Like a droplet of water in the sea, it did not matter.
Therefore, the fleets that rushed there were watching silently. s.h.i.+vate waved his hands and told his subordinate to check the escaping target on the planet.
“I see, they’re members of the three large mercenary armies. Their background is rather impressive. Sadly, they met DarkStar.”
After reading the report, s.h.i.+vate was a little bit surprised. He then shook his head and said, “The sooner they’re caught, the better. Then DarkStar can leave earlier…”
From the perspective of his own benefits, he would prefer the mercenaries stop resisting.
The same scene also played out in Black Raven Civilization’s command s.h.i.+p.
On the other side, the DarkStar mothers.h.i.+p received the replies. Sarota’s face remained the same as if it was exactly as he expected. He knew both sides would not attack.
…
On another area of the planet, the Blades s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p was being chased by many hovering s.h.i.+ps. They were struggling—its s.h.i.+eld already had countless holes, and its recovery speed could not match up to the speed of it being destroyed. The rapid system alarms had the Blades mercenaries on edge.
“Faster, even faster,” Porter mumbled with sweat all over his face. When the situation was not looking good, he pushed away the original pilot to control the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p himself. Yet, the situation did not become better.
Suddenly, a laser exploded on the s.h.i.+eld.
Bang!
The s.h.i.+eld blinked twice and disappeared. It had reached its limit.
Everyone in the s.h.i.+p was stunned. Porter’s face changed drastically.
Without a s.h.i.+eld, the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p itself would not have any protection anymore. If they were fired on once again, the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p would definitely crash.
Boom!
Just as the hovering s.h.i.+p fleet was going to fire the next downpour of ‘laser rain’, a chain of cannons. .h.i.t the formation and caused a series of explosions.
This hovering s.h.i.+p did not have the time to react to it fully, and they hastily dodged. The accuracy of the attacks all missed the Blades s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p by centimeters.
Faraway, the Sky Ring s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p drove there at a high speed. Behind him was the pursuing fleet. It was Han Xiao, who had returned after a detour and saved his teammates hastily. The pursuing fleet did not give him any pressure at all, and they were going around and around chasing after him. Therefore, Han Xiao tried to help his teammates as much as he could.
The existence of teammates could divert the enemy’s firepower. The longer the teammates lasted, the less pressure he would face.
Han Xiao stopped the enemy for one moment before turning around and escaping immediately. The s.h.i.+eld of the Blades s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p took the opportunity to recover. Porter almost collapsed, and his face was filled with happiness. “That was close.”
This time, Han Xiao sent a message to the other two s.h.i.+ps. “Don’t run around randomly; you guys can’t deal with them yourselves. I’ve sent you the route. Even if you split up, don’t stay too far from me. I’ll provide support from time to time.”
“Why did you become the pilot?” Porter asked with surprise.
“We all feel safer with him being the pilot.” Goa’s voice came from the side. Porter looked over, only to see all the mercenaries in the Sky Ring s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p were encased in hard ice from the waist down and firmly fixed onto the ground like ice sculptures. It was Goa that used her spell to help everyone to balance. Porter was shocked.
You don’t look like you feel safe at all!
Porter’s eyelids twitched.
Anyway, Han Xiao’s suggestion was approved. Blades and Purple Gold’s teams agreed to follow Han Xiao’s plan. They quickly changed their route and maintained communication between them. As soon as they got into a dire situation, Han Xiao would provide backup.
After helping them out in dire situations time after time, the members of the other s.h.i.+ps also realized how good Han Xiao’s piloting skills were. They were immediately convinced.
Han Xiao stabilized the situation temporarily. Three s.h.i.+ps brought hundreds of hovering s.h.i.+ps and ran around the planets. Half an hour pa.s.sed, and the hovering s.h.i.+p fleet had yet to capture them. They were in a stalemate.
On the DarkStar mothers.h.i.+p, Sarota was getting impatient.
“More than three hundred hovering s.h.i.+ps against just three s.h.i.+ps. Why have we yet to capture them?”
The initial plan was to be done with the battle within ten minutes then retreat quickly after. Sarota was very unsatisfied with the current situation. He stared at the Sky Ring s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p on his screen with unhappiness in his eyes.
“It’s all because the pilot of this s.h.i.+p is too good, that’s why they’re able to stall this much time… Send out medium fighter s.h.i.+ps. Surround this area and cut off their escape route.”
As he gave the order, more fighter s.h.i.+ps launched from the DarkStar mothers.h.i.+p and flew toward the planet.
Inside the far away Stream Light, s.h.i.+vate saw this and was a little surprised.
“Facing DarkStar’s pursuit and being trapped on the planet, not only were these three small s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps stall for half an hour, they even forced DarkStar to send in more support…
“But if this continues, it will drag on even longer…”
…
Through the porthole, the people in the Sky Ring s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p saw more fighter s.h.i.+ps coming toward the surface from the DarkStar mothers.h.i.+p.
“Sh*t, DarkStar sent reinforcements!” the ex-pilot shouted.
“We knew they would sooner or later; don’t sound so surprised.”
Han Xiao glanced outside. He had expected this since long ago.
It’s only half an hour, and they have already sent reinforcements. DarkStar changed their tactic quicker than I expected. In gaming terms, this means that the pace of this mission’s difficulty change is very fast. How am I going to stall for two days like this?Han Xiao thought.
Although it looked like they were safe at the moment, they were still dancing on blades. When DarkStar lost their patience completely, they would not care about the resource expenses. They might surround them, and by then, there would be nowhere to escape. After all, piloting skills had a limit. He was only flying a small s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, not a galactic level mechanical suit.
After some contemplation, Han Xiao decided to carry out the next part of the plan. At this time, all three s.h.i.+ps received the same message.
“This is Holy Stone Border Guards Army Third Formation. We have received your rescue signal and have arrived near the planet. Please gather at the coordinates we gave you; we will be there to receive you and provide protection.”
Together with this message were the coordinates, which were not far from where they were. This message was like cardiotonic, instantly giving everyone energy.
“Holy Stone is willing to help. We’re saved.”
All the mercenaries in the three s.h.i.+ps were overjoyed.
Han Xiao frowned and pondered, then said something that immediately cooled everyone down, “I think this is quite strange…”