Destroy All Interstellar Pirates' Spaceships!
Like space pirates, Interstellar Pirate mercenaries are a type of independent organization. Each team has a variable number of members, ranging from one to tens of thousands. Simply put, they are organizations that do work for money, and they take on almost any job. Since many mercenaries are former Interstellar Pirate, they are willing to take on almost any job as long as the price is right. Therefore, it's not uncommon for interstellar mercenaries to be wanted by the Federal Government.
The Federal Government occasionally seeks out mercenaries anonymously to handle tasks that are inconvenient for them to handle directly. Therefore, the relationship between the Federal Government and the Mercenary Alliance is quite complex and difficult to explain in a few words.
There are generally two ways for interstellar mercenaries to take on jobs.
One method involves finding jobs through the Mercenary Alliance online. These Mercenary Alliance take a cut of 1% to 10%, and in return, they award the mercenary team points. Mercenaries are categorized into ten levels based on these points, from one star to ten stars. The lower the level, the higher the commission the alliance takes; a one-star Mercenary Alliance charges 10%, a two-star charges 9%, and so on, down to 1% for the tenth star.
Another method is for the client to make a specific request and directly contact the corresponding mercenary team to commission the mission. In this case, the Mercenary Alliance network is not used, and the alliance does not charge any fees.
If the client chooses the first commissioning method and posts the mission on the Mercenary Alliance network, the client can set mission acceptance conditions. Mercenary teams that do not meet the conditions can see the relevant missions, but the missions will be read-only for them, with no option to accept. This is the effect of the system's automatic filtering; only teams that pass the condition filtering can accept the mission.
Of course, the client can also set the number of teams that can accept the task—one, multiple, or even unlimited. If only one team is set, the task will become read-only after the first team accepts it, and no other teams can accept it. If multiple teams are set, the teams accepting the task will compete for it, because usually only the team that completes the task receives the commission.
Sea Emperor easily bypassed the planet's signal jamming and connected to the Interstellar Mercenary Alliance's network.
In the upper right corner of the website, there was a large "Commission" option, which Sea Emperor clicked on.
"How should it be written?" the Sea Emperor asked.
Gu Ding pondered for a moment, resting his chin on his hand. "The title will be: Destroy three of the Federal Government's Young Dragon interceptor ships!"
Location: Outside the atmosphere of Titan Star, above the Interstellar Port.
"Task acceptance team limit: Unlimited"
"Mission acceptance requirements: Only teams capable of destroying the Young Dragon interceptor are eligible!"
"Task completion time limit: within two days, the sooner the better."
"How much should I fill in for the entrusted amount?" Sea Emperor filled in the information one by one, with the last item being the entrusted amount.
"How much money do we have in our account?" It wasn't until this moment that Gu Ding thought to check the amount of his assets.
"There are still over 3.5 billion Universe Coin," the Sea Emperor announced, revealing an astonishing figure. "Your request is rather urgent, so it's best to set the amount higher. Their system is set to have the highest amount for a certain period of time set as the top, until it's pushed down by a higher commission amount. The current top commission amount is 230 million Universe Coin, and it was posted three days ago. In the Long Teng Universe Country, that commission amount is already very high."
"Then fill in 300 million Universe Coin, 100 million for one ship!" Gu Ding made the decision immediately.
Once the request is submitted, it is immediately pinned to the top of the list by the system.
The title of the task certainly caught the attention of many people.
"Destroy three Young Dragon interceptor ships of the Federal Government Military Department!" Who issued this mission? How arrogant! Is this a public provocation against the Federal Government? A space mercenary inadvertently glanced at this mission title that was pinned to the top of the system.
"Being pinned to the top means the task commission is quite substantial. Let's check the task requirements!" The team leader, who was leisurely sipping a cup of coffee, immediately came over upon hearing this news.
"Mission acceptance requirements: Only teams capable of destroying the Young Dragon interceptor are eligible!"
"Task completion time limit: within two days, the sooner the better."
"Entrusted amount: 300 million Universe Coin, 100 million for one ship."
Looking at the large "Accept" button below, La Weier gulped down the steaming coffee in his cup, then turned to the team's spaceship pilot, "Titan Star, can we get there in two days?"
"If we set off now and go all out, we should be able to get there quickly." The driver nodded. "But boss, do we really want to take this mission? This is going directly against the Federal Government."
"Our team is already wanted, right? What's the harm in taking down another Federal Government interceptor? Besides, this mission is like giving us three chances. As long as we destroy one interceptor, we can get 100 million Universe Coin. There will definitely be a lot of people taking on this mission, but we only need to steal one." La Weier thought it was worth a try. "100 million Universe Coin. After we pull this off, I'll give everyone a ten-day holiday!"
"Boss, your decision is truly brilliant!" Upon hearing about the ten-day holiday, the young man on the task page pressed the "Accept Task" button without hesitation.
"I'm going to start the spaceship. Assemble inside the spaceship cabin in ten minutes." The pilot, who had been lounging listlessly on the sofa, suddenly stood up and jogged towards the door.
Besides La Weier's team, many other powerful mercenary groups have also taken notice of the mission issued by Gu Ding.
Some well-informed mercenary teams are even quite aware of what is currently happening on Titan Star.
"There must be a bunch of Interstellar Pirate trapped on Titan Star right now, and all the planet's external signals should be blocked, so how could they send out a mission like this?" someone asked.
"There are two possibilities. One is that this commission didn't come from Titan Star, and the other is that the person who issued the mission is the rising pirate newcomer, Gu Ding. He's done things like breaking through planetary signal shields before. Getting people to help destroy three Young Dragon was probably to escape as soon as possible. There's a more than 90% chance that this commission was issued by Gu Ding. This kid is not only bold, but he also seems to have a lot of money."
"Boss, should we take this mission?"
"Of course we'll take it. Three hundred million Universe Coin, even if we manage to snatch one hundred million, it's not bad. It's just the cost of a few Energy Crystal, right? This mission couldn't be simpler than it gets." A Big Beard, cigar in hand, exhaled a smoke ring. "Two days is enough for us to get there. Let's go!"
The mission issued by Gu Ding became a hot topic of discussion among many interstellar mercenaries in less than half an hour.
Many teams that met the requirements even accepted the mission and set off for Titan Star.
Of course, such important news did not escape the ears of the military.
"Marshal, the Mercenary Alliance just posted a top-ranked mission..." a young man said, projecting the page onto the screen.
Upon seeing the mission title, the gray-haired Howell immediately knew what had happened. "That kid Gu Ding really has guts. It seems Sharp and the others are really in trouble this Sharp. Send this page to Sharp and the others, and see what their decision is."
"Shouldn't we just send reinforcements? If the three interceptor ships are destroyed, with Gu Ding around, the chances of those Interstellar Pirate escaping are high, right?" The young man seemed somewhat worried.
"I also want to send reinforcements, but Sharp has sacrificed so much for the military over the years. If I send reinforcements directly, it would be telling him I don't trust his abilities, and I can't do something so blatantly disheartening. Send him the page; if he determines that reinforcements are needed, then we'll send them. If he decides not to need reinforcements, causing the mission to fail, then he's certainly prepared to accept the consequences. Let's see how he decides." Howell shook his head. "Go ahead, let me know as soon as he gets a reply."
On Titan Star, Sharp, who was in a half-asleep state, soon received a message from the military headquarters. The message contained no text, only a screenshot of a mission from the Mercenary Alliance.
Upon seeing that screenshot, Sharp broke out in a cold sweat.
He knew, of course, that only Gu Ding could have issued this mission; no one else could. He hadn't expected Gu Ding to react so quickly. He had deliberately mentioned requesting reinforcements in front of the monitor to let Gu Ding know they had nowhere to escape. No matter what they did, they wouldn't be able to hold out for long. But unexpectedly, Gu Ding had turned the tables on him.
Withdrawing those interceptor ships is not an option at all. Gu Ding will definitely find out immediately. With his abilities, it wouldn't be difficult for him to sneak back to the port, take back the spaceship, disable the port's Sky Dome system and Armor-Piercing Cannon control system, and then leave this planet.
The interceptor ship is the only guarantee to keep the Gu Ding Team on this planet. Without this guarantee, the chances of the Gu Ding Team escaping will be very high.
Sharp knew even better that, even if Gu Ding wasn't the mastermind behind the Night Raid, Gu Ding was definitely one of the culprits. Without Gu Ding, the imprisoned Interstellar Pirate wouldn't have been released. Without Bigge from Gu Ding Team, he himself would have been on the battlefield, preventing this tragedy from happening.
Just then, there was a rapid knocking on Sharp's door. "Sharp, did you see the picture that headquarters just sent over?"
At the entrance stood Emily, who hadn't slept at all. When she saw this picture, she was half-lying on a deckchair at the harbor, pondering how to resolve the current crisis, but little did she expect that a new crisis would arise.
Sharp opened the door. "I already know. It seems I don't need to wait until tomorrow morning. I'll write the report requesting reinforcements now."
"Two days isn't enough time for reinforcements from the military to arrive, is it?" Emily frowned slightly. "Even the fastest spaceship would take at least three days to get here from headquarters. Gu Ding calculated this timeframe to escape before the reinforcements arrive."
"There's nothing we can do about that. Do you have any good ideas?" Sharp was well aware of Gu Ding's plan, but he couldn't think of a solution either.
"Before receiving this news, I had already thought of something: how to keep them on this planet for an extended period of time." Emily seemed to have a plan. "Destroy all the Interstellar Pirate ships! Although according to military practice, all spoils must be returned to the military warehouse and then disposed of by the people there in exchange for military funds, the issue of funding can be temporarily put aside in order to complete the mission."
After a moment of silence, Sharp nodded. "Then let's do it this way. Tomorrow morning, in front of everyone, destroy all the Interstellar Pirate ships!" (To be continued.)