dtnovels Chapter 45: Space Pirates
Chapter 45: Space Pirates
Galactic Era 341, Star Marker (1, 1, 11, 4c0).
The Alpha Fleet reached a star 3890 light-years away from Kepler 186 via a portal from the Earth Empire's 7th Fleet.
The commanders of the two fleets and Zhou Yuan are having a secret meeting.
"What exactly is going on?" George asked Reiber, commander of the 7th Fleet.
"I'm truly sorry. The 7th Fleet was sailing in deep space when, upon reaching this star system, an affiliated planet of the Osme Empire, a member of the Galactic Alliance, insisted that we had violated their territory." Reibu said indignantly.
"I see." George and Zhou Yuan pondered. The Osmetic Empire? The Galactic Alliance?
Besides knowing about the gods of Thor and the "metal civilization," Reibu, George, and Zhou Yuan didn't know much about the Galactic Alliance.
Who does the Ottoman Empire even belong to? Of course, they wouldn't be so blunt.
“According to the Tab race, an affiliated planet of the Osme Empire, we violated the territory of the Osme Empire when we passed near their star system, and we must give the Osme Empire a reasonable explanation.” Reibu looked somewhat worried.
"Who knows this is Osmerian territory? Do they have any specific landmarks?" Zhou Yuan asked Reibu.
"Dean Zhou, there really isn't one. It would be fine if they had marked it, but we really don't know where the marking is or if there is one at all."
"oh, I understand now."
"Has the Osmite Empire sent any envoys or fleets?"
"Not yet. We're worried they're on their way."
"Hmm, could it really be a coincidence? Did they also issue a 'protection statement'? But we haven't received any similar protection statement information. Commanders, since neither of our fleets has received any similar 'protection statement,' I personally think that this Tab race is trying to intimidate us. The most important thing right now is to make contact with the Osme Empire."
“Dean Zhou, that’s what we’re thinking too. But the Tabu race just won’t provide the location or contact information for the Osmei Empire’s star envoy, which puts us in a very passive position.”
"Will any other civilizations, or organizations belonging to the Galactic Alliance, step forward to act as mediators?"
"not yet."
"No?" Zhou Yuan lowered his head, deep in thought. This problem was truly thorny. If handled improperly, it could very well offend the so-called Osme Empire or even the Galactic Alliance.
"That's strange. It's impossible for the Osme Empire, a member of the Galactic Alliance, not to take this incident seriously. Unless..."
"Unless what?" the two commanders couldn't help but ask.
"Unless, unless we are completely unimportant to them, nothing in their eyes, or to put it bluntly, we are bullying strangers?"
"What?" The two commanders were truly taken aback.
"That's the only explanation," Zhou Yuan said, waving his hand helplessly.
After thinking about it carefully, the two realized that it might really be true; as the saying goes, "a large forest has all kinds of things."
"Commander Reb, what compensation or demands has this Tabu race made?"
"They said everything should be resolved according to the Galactic Federation charter."
"The Galactic Alliance Charter? What is that?"
"We still know very little about the Galactic Alliance," Reeb couldn't help but sigh.
"How about we say we have connections with the civilization of the Thor gods?"
"This has also been mentioned to the Tab people, but they said they don't know the gods of Thor at all."
Zhou Yuan felt like cursing. Were the Tabu aliens idiots?
"Wait. Commander Reb, how did the Tabians discover you?"
"Our fleet first hid near this star. According to relevant regulations, we set up a teleportation portal near this star system. Everything was done in secrecy. Then, my adjutant Zheng Pei led five interstellar cargo ships, pretending to be transporting hydrogen ore, and suddenly appeared near this star system, preparing to make close contact with Tab.
"As per Commander Reibu's instructions, the Alpha Fleet also went into stealth mode immediately after being teleported here."
"I understand. Where are Zheng Pei and the others now?"
"The five cargo ships he led, along with all the people on board, were all captured by the Tabians."
"Detained?" George and Zhou Yuan were both taken aback. This was no simple matter; it could very well be a conflict between two civilizations, not to mention the Galactic Alliance involved—the name alone was intimidating. Perhaps that was why the Earth Empire's fleet headquarters had dispatched the Alpha Fleet to provide support.
Not to mention Commander Reibu, no one on Earth has ever encountered such an event before. It's understandable why Commander Reibu is hesitant and afraid to act rashly in this matter. It's estimated that the name of the Galactic Alliance has had a great deterrent effect.
“Reibu, how about we secretly rescue them?” George asked Reibu.
"Secretly rescuing the fleet members shouldn't be a problem, but getting those cargo ships out will likely be quite difficult. While the technology of the Tabians hasn't reached our level yet, the Osme Empire, their backer, is probably on par with the Thor gods."
"Gentlemen, I have a plan, but I don't know if it's feasible?" George suddenly had an idea.
"What's the plan?"
"Let's pretend to be space pirates and rob them!"
"That's a good idea, we can give it a try." At least this way we won't expose our identity or other issues.
"Because the gods of Thor know the form of our warships, we must rebuild some of them."
"Yes, currently only the Thorian civilization is relatively familiar with our warships; other civilizations probably don't even know we exist."
"Okay, that's settled."
The three then discussed specific details such as the staged robbery and backup support.
A week later, the Tabians discovered a chaotic, disorganized fleet of at least 300,000 ships rapidly approaching their planet near their sun. Each warship was nearly 300-400 meters long, its hull painted in various colors, its main design featuring a gaping shark, with terrifying shark fangs adorning its prow. These shark-like warships were roughly the same size as the Tabians' main fleet. The large fleet hovering near Tabians' surface quickly assembled, activating all of Tabians' space-based and ground-based air defense systems.
"Fleet ahead, serious warning! This is the territory of Tab, an affiliated planet of the Osme Empire, a member of the Galactic Alliance. Cease all operations immediately and turn back. Otherwise, we will destroy it by force!" The Tab fleet issued the order to the shark fleet.
These shark-shaped warships seemed to have received no warning at all, instead accelerating as if a large group of sharks had spotted delicious prey and were rapidly pouncing on the school of fish.
The Tabian fleet seemed to panic for a moment, probably because it was the first time they had encountered a fleet that wouldn't listen to warnings.
The Tabian warships did not launch an offensive, but instead stayed within the space-based and ground-based defense perimeter. After all, the Tabian warships numbered only over 180,000, putting them at a numerical disadvantage, so they had to rely on space-based and ground-based air defense systems to make up for their shortcomings.
Without a word, the shark-like warships charged directly at the Tabu alien warships, unleashing a barrage of space cannonballs and powerful laser beams. The Tabu alien warships' energy shields blocked these projectiles and laser beams, creating a large halo around them, as if they were enveloped in spheres of light. The Tabu space-based laser cannons then fiercely fired at the shark-like warships, sending ripples across their surfaces. In this respect, it seemed the shark-like warships' energy shields were stronger than those of the Tabu alien warships.
The Tabian warships quickly coalesced, forming a large energy shield. Each warship shared the shield's energy; just as a single chopstick can be easily broken, but several chopsticks are not. Using this combined energy shield, the Tabian warships launched a counterattack.
The shark fleet seemed to sense something was wrong and quickly split into two groups: one group continued to fight against the Tab alien warships with their shields joined together, while the other group flew towards the planet Tab.
The Tabians are struggling with a shortage of their own warships. If they were to forcibly dedicate a number of warships to intercept, the combined shield would be much less effective. Therefore, they have no choice but to hope that the ground-based weapon system can play its role.
Tab is truly a prickly planet, densely packed with various ground-based weapon stations: space bombs, plasma lasers, kinetic energy projectiles, electromagnetic projectiles, anti-aircraft mortars, near-ground missiles... a complete array of weapons.
The shark-like warships heading towards Tabb were met with dense artillery fire on the planet's surface. Relying on their powerful energy shields, they dodged and weaved across the planet's surface, carving a bloody path. The shark-like warships then flew towards a massive mountain, their target the seized cargo ship.
The mountain's air defenses were formidable, suggesting it was an important military base. The main force of the shark fleet systematically eliminated the weapons units hidden on the mountain, while the remaining warships bombarded the metal door of a cave, attempting to open it. However, these shark warships discovered that the metal door seemed very hard, and even powerful laser attacks had no effect.
Should they blow up this massive mountain entirely? But the shark-like warships don't have that kind of powerful weaponry. Even if they could blow it up, it would likely injure their captured comrades. Besides, they can't display too much force, after all, this is a surprise attack disguised as interstellar pirates.
After clearing out the various armed units in the mountain, these shark-shaped warships hovered in the air, seemingly searching for a way to open the cave entrance.
Suddenly, the warships turned around, took off, and accelerated, speeding back the way they came. The shark warships that were still fighting near the surface of Tabu were retreating while fighting. After the two groups of shark warships met, they accelerated and fled towards the sun in this space.
More than 300 billion kilometers away from the sun, a massive interstellar fleet is traveling at near the speed of light toward Tab. It is expected to arrive in about three days.