Li Xiucheng had been feeling extremely stifled these past few days. He was responsible for hosting Long Huijuan and Lin Yuehua aboard the ship, and from time to time, he also had to find ways to avoid Lin Yuehua.
Who could blame him? Long Huijuan, their employer, had paid so much money and wanted to come aboard the Escort Ship for a tour.
Long Huijuan had not expected there to be so few staff members inside an Escort Ship, with much of the work automated and handled by machines.
Qian Tong and several bodyguards had once been retired special forces soldiers. They discovered that the Escort Ship's automated systems possessed technology that not even their own Hanxia Nation had.
What shocked Qian Tong and the others even more was the MS called Proto Gundam. Its design was not merely beautiful; its weaponry was also highly advanced.
The weapons equipped by MS units in many countries were live ammunition and physical weapons. Very few MS possessed beam weapons. MS equipped with beam weapons usually belonged to special forces, or were only available to ace-class pilots.
The Escort Ship's captain had also been quite helpless these past few days. This employer was the boss's aunt. She clearly had her own luxurious space cruise ship, protected by nearly ten bodyguard Escort Ships, yet she had still come to hire them for protection.
Among such a massive fleet, theirs was the only Escort Ship belonging to a mercenary group, making them look terribly out of place.
Long Fei spent most of his time hiding in his room, doing his best not to run into his aunt.
"Little Fei, Auntie has something to discuss with you."
"If it's about the Escort Ship and its automated systems, I advise you to give up on the idea."
"No, no, no. It's about the MS you developed, especially the one called Proto Gundam. Auntie wants to talk to you about it."
"Forget it. I definitely won't discuss that either."
Long Huijuan had been coming to the Escort Ship from time to time these past few days because she wanted to discuss the MS her nephew had developed.
The Long Family owned its own private arms company. Long Huijuan wanted to bring her nephew Long Fei back and tell her father about his talents. Perhaps she could persuade her father to cancel Long Fei's arranged marriage, while also keeping him in the Long Family so he could put his talents to use and contribute to them.
An alarm sounded. A Pirate Group consisting of dozens of pirate ships had appeared.
"Little Fei, are you going out?" Long Huijuan asked worriedly as she watched Long Fei rush toward the cockpit.
Long Fei did not answer and went straight into the cockpit.
All four MS aboard the Escort Ship deployed.
The ten bodyguard Escort Ships responsible for Long Huijuan's safety deployed all their MS and fighters.
All the MS deployed by Long Huijuan's side were Exterminator MS developed by the Long Family arms company, one of the standard MS models equipped by the Hanxia Nation military. Their fighters were also Cheetahs, one of the Hanxia Nation military's standard fighter models.
Long Huijuan's side deployed fifty Exterminator MS and twenty Cheetah fighters.
The pirates deployed over a hundred MS and more than fifty fighters.
The pirate flag bore the image of a pair of pistols and a wolf.
This Pirate Group was called Gun Wolf. Its leader was a middle-aged man wearing an eyepatch, named Letai. The reason he had brought his Pirate Group here was because he had been paid to do a job.
His employer's demand was to capture Long Huijuan.
To ensure he could complete the mission, the employer had even given him a hundred Tiger Blade MS for free. They were one of the standard MS models used by the military of another major power, the United States of America. There were also twenty Fierce Wolf fighters, likewise one of the United States of America military's standard fighter models.
"Looks like my employer is determined to capture this woman." Letai held Long Huijuan's photograph as he said, "All units, deploy! Shoot down every MS and fighter around the target, then capture the target."
All of the Pirate Group's MS and fighters deployed.
Long Huijuan's forces could only adopt a defensive formation.
The difference in numbers between the two sides was enormous.
However, the pirates were ultimately a disorganized rabble, while the pilots on this side were all retired military personnel.
For a time, neither side could suppress the other.
Long Huijuan, Lin Yuehua, Qian Tong, and several bodyguards ran to the Escort Ship's control room.
Under normal circumstances, the captain might have directly drawn his gun on outsiders. However, these visitors were the boss's relatives, leaving the captain awkward and at a loss for what to do.
"How is Little Fei doing?"
When the captain first heard "Little Fei," his expression briefly froze. He immediately replied, "The boss is fine."
Long Huijuan looked around the control room. Aside from the captain, only two other people were responsible for reporting the battle situation.
At that moment, a sound came from the console at the captain's seat.
"Captain, this ship's missiles have locked onto twenty enemy MS and five fighters. The missiles are ready."
"Launch!"
The Flank Frigate's thirty missile silos opened, and thirty missiles shot out in an instant.
Nearly a third of the locked targets were shot down, while the rest evaded the missiles.
"Captain, a total of sixty missiles are heading for this ship. All sixty have been locked by the close-in defense guns. They are only thirty kilometers away."
"Fire the close-in defense guns."
All the missiles were shot down. The final missile was destroyed just 450 meters from the Escort Ship.
Long Huijuan, Qian Tong, and the bodyguards were all astonished by the result.
What surprised Long Huijuan even more was that the Escort Ship's combat operations were entirely handled by the automated system, with the captain only responsible for deciding operational commands.
At first, Long Huijuan had assumed the automated systems aboard the Escort Ship were only responsible for repairs and logistics. She had never expected them to handle combat as well. If her nephew Long Fei's technology could be brought back to the Long Family, then her nephew would become a great contributor to the family.
This technology could reduce the military's manpower burden and be used aboard civilian spacecraft as well. When that happened, everyone would fight to get their hands on it.
If the Long Family controlled this automated technology, they would gain endless benefits.
At that moment, a bodyguard beside Long Huijuan whispered into her ear, informing her of the current battlefield situation.
At present, the Pirate Group, despite having the greater numbers, was actually being gradually suppressed by the smaller force.
"What is going on? Why are we being suppressed by the side with fewer numbers?" Letai said furiously.
"Captain, we've discovered an enemy MS with an unusual appearance. Quite a few of our brothers have been shot down by that MS," a communications officer reported to the captain.
"Bring me a picture of that MS."
Letai frowned deeply as he looked at the photograph of Proto Gundam in his hand. He suddenly felt that the matter his employer had hired him for was far from as simple as it seemed.
"Damn it, so you used me as a gun. On the surface, you told me to capture someone, but in reality, you wanted my brothers to die. You wanted to test just how strong the performance of the other side's newly developed MS was, so you could get the data you wanted." Letai figured out the purpose of the person who had hired him.
"How many of our brothers has that MS shot down in total?"