Global Crossing: Empire of Stars

One after another, after their vulnerable sterns were exposed, the pirate fleet's situation didn't improve at all, and their destruction rate further increased.

Especially the salvo fire from the large cannons on the Pirate Gunboats; each wave could sink several ships. Some Pirate Pursuit Cruisers that were caught in a pincer attack were directly blown to pieces in violent chain reactions.

Just as the situation was becoming clear, the radar quickly sounded an alarm. Over 6.5 light-seconds away, in the direction of Dakan I, a new pirate fleet appeared—this was reinforcements from the pirate base!

Undoubtedly, the disastrous defeat of the pursuit fleet had alerted the pirate base. The reserve fleet originally set aside for defending the base had also been dispatched and was approaching the space battlefield, finally revealing itself.

"Tianyi will take command, I'll be right back!"

Seeing the fleeing pirate fleet showing signs of regrouping, the "Tengshe" suddenly accelerated, turning into a beam of light that shot straight through the retreating pirate fleet and charged towards the reinforcement fleet.

Undoubtedly, the "Tengshe"'s movement drew the attention of the pirate fleet. Upon receiving the intelligence, the reinforcement fleet immediately adjusted its formation, preparing to disperse.

But it was too late. Moving at near-light speed, it sliced through space, evading incoming beams and cannon fire, and unleashed the Spacetime Shockwave once more!

The Gravity Beam began to spread the moment it left the warship. The cone-shaped shockwave, like a tornado, swept a large number of starships into its vortex.

Accompanied by repeated violent explosions, the once neat and orderly pirate reinforcement fleet was immediately torn open with a large gap. Nearly a hundred starships exploded, throwing the seemingly imposing fleet into temporary chaos.

The reinforcement fleet's numbers were clearly inferior to the pursuing fleet. According to Lin Zhichen's observation, there were at most 500 pirate ships, and now one-fifth of them had been directly destroyed!

The heavily struck pirate fleet fell into a brief state of confusion. Some were busy dodging fragments of shattered hulls, while others were terrified by the Spacetime Shockwave and frantically evaded the distorted spacetime.

Although the pirate fleet's commander had received intelligence in advance, he was still unable to control the chaotic fleet at this moment. If there had been a few minutes to buffer, the situation might have been very different, but the poised "Tengshe" was already ready.

The second Spacetime Shockwave destroyed seventy to eighty pirate ships, further tearing apart the pirate fleet.

Then came the third wave, the fourth...

At this point, the desperate pirate commander finally understood why the massive pursuit fleet had been so thoroughly routed in less than an hour after the battle began.

As time passed, fewer and fewer pirate pursuit ships retreated, and the pressure of death grew greater. By the time they finally reached the battlefield where the reinforcement fleet was, they found not a mighty allied fleet and hope for survival, but pathetic, damaged hulls.

Finally, the last straw broke. The first Pirate Pursuit Cruiser to surrender powered down and surrendered, floating in space like a lamb awaiting judgment.

Then came the second, the third...

The remaining dozen or so pirate ships finally surrendered, allowing the Meteor fighter swarms to circle them like flies without any resistance.

Meanwhile, the heavily damaged reinforcement fleet, after losing most of its warships, desperately fled towards the pirate base, pursued leisurely by the "Tengshe" from behind.

"Zzzzt~"

Energy surged, and a basketball-sized alloy projectile shot out at near-light speed, accurately piercing the energy deflection shield, destroying the Pirate Butcher's rear engine, and igniting its fusion furnace.

In a thunderous explosion, this behemoth became a broken iron coffin floating in space.

One after another, when they were only ten light-seconds away from Dakan I, the last Pirate Butcher was destroyed, bringing a fierce space battle to a close.

"Big Brother, we won," Lin Ke's excited projection appeared on the holographic projector as they re-entered the fleet's radar range, along with a few others.

This battlefield was different from any before. It was the Meteor Mercenary Group's first fleet battle involving over two thousand ships, and their first fleet battle in the Dark Galaxy.

Their participating starships numbered close to 300, while the pirate fleet exceeded 2,000. The result was a one-sided slaughter—the Meteor Fleet was completely unscathed, while the pirate fleet was annihilated.

"Additionally, we've acquired some spoils of war—5 Pirate Butchers and 8 Pirate Pursuit Cruisers!" Wu Tianyi placed the projections of the Pirate Butchers on the holographic projector.

"Classified by ship type, the Pirate Butcher should be considered a Battlecruiser, on par with a Battleship. Its advantage lies in its higher speed, while its disadvantage is its relatively weaker armor, though the firepower of both is comparable."

"Big Brother, this is the first time we've acquired a capital ship!" Lin Ke's excitement was palpable.

Unlike a Light Aircraft Carrier, which primarily relied on its carrier-based aircraft for combat, its greater role in the Meteor Fleet was to provide a wide field of vision or to perform auxiliary tasks such as early warning and enemy ship tracking in the vast expanse of space.

Although the Battlecruiser was inferior to a Battleship in terms of hull and armor, that was still in comparison to a Battleship of the same class.

"If we were to use BC-106 Superalloy to manufacture battleship-grade external armor, the armor strength of the Pirate Butcher might even exceed that of a standard Battleship!" Wu Tianyi suggested.

BC-106 Superalloy was a superalloy that Li Heng reverse-engineered from a relatively common superalloy on the interstellar market. Its strength far surpassed Universal Alloy. Apart from its high cost, scarcity of materials, and demanding manufacturing process, it had virtually no other drawbacks.

"Li Heng, as a materials scientist, his role is immense. Using him solely for building external armor for warships would be a waste of his talents."

Lin Zhichen frowned slightly. Such a strategic talent should be utilized for greater purposes, such as promoting the industrial production of superalloys.

"Big Brother, you might not be aware of this, but we've actually been able to smelt BC-106 Superalloy on a small scale," Wu Tianyi explained.

"Li Heng and the mercenary group's engineers are currently working on industrializing the production technology for BC-106 Superalloy, and they've made some progress. Superalloys are being experimentally produced during this process and are piled up in warehouses. It's perfect for processing into battleship external armor, and it can also improve our metal processing technology. It's a win-win situation!"

"That's a good idea, proceed with it," Lin Zhichen finally agreed upon hearing this.

Of course, these matters would have to wait. The most pressing task now was to capture Dakan I and Dakan Ia. These pirate bases would undoubtedly be on high alert by now, and might even be seeking help from other pirate groups in this galaxy.

Perhaps an unknown number of pirate NPC fleets were gradually approaching from the Dark Galaxy. If they waited too long, unexpected events might occur.

"Big Brother, let's attack the pirate base." Wu Tianyi was about to say something more when Lin Zhichen interrupted him, "I will personally take command from now on! You lead the fleet to approach gradually, I'll go and break open their turtle shell first!"

Watching the "Tengshe" rapidly retreat, Wu Tianyi and the others could only offer wry smiles. They had initially thought of following along to help, but Lin Zhichen's intentions were clear.

"We're still too weak!" Lin Ke lamented, resolving to cultivate himself diligently. He had awakened his psionic energy over half a year ago but was still stuck in the apprentice stage, with no prospect of advancing to elite. He was truly unwilling to accept this.

With the pirate fleet's interference gone, the "Tengshe" once again advanced near Dakan I. From the two lava planets, streaks of intense particle beams sliced through space, striking directly at the Psionic Warships.

"Hiss~"

A projectile shot out, easily tearing through the deflection shield, and a dazzling Particle Light Spear was extinguished. The light beam net that had already formed was immediately torn open with a gap.

Breaking out, the "Tengshe" cut through space, braving dense barrages of projectiles and laser beams, approaching within 0.5 light-seconds of Dakan Ia. A powerful gravitational fluctuation erupted.

"Boom!"

A Spacetime Shockwave spread out, perfectly covering half of Dakan Ia's planetary cross-section. The powerful gravity wave diffused, distorting spacetime and directly tearing apart all the pirate bases distributed on the planet's orbit on the side facing space.

Psionic energy sensing spread along with the radar waves, bringing the entire surface of the planet into view. There were a total of 5 pirate bases attacked, 3 small bases and 2 medium-sized bases.

Unlike bases built on the surface, these space bases relying on the planet's gravity had inherent limitations. When the total mass of bases in orbit reached a certain value, they could not continue to expand. Exceeding this value would cause the planet's gravity to become unstable, thereby increasing the risk of falling.

Therefore, NPC bases established in space were basically limited in their development space. No matter how much time passed, their scale remained unchanged.

At this moment, under the impact of distorted spacetime, the energy shields covering the pirate bases were the first to bear the brunt, being directly torn apart. In an instant, the overloaded energy destroyed the shield generators, causing a series of explosions within the bases.

But at this time, the pirate NPCs had no time to care about these. When the energy shields were torn apart, not only was the air inside the bases instantly evacuated, but the subsequent shockwave directly tore apart the alloy. The massive and sturdy spaceports, like glass that had suffered a heavy blow, were immediately torn into thousands of fragments and plunged towards the molten planet.

But before these metal "meteoroids" could fall, the shockwave that followed further distorted and tore apart the metal fragments. Under repeated impacts, they became fine metallic dust.

At this time, on Dakan Ia, the side affected by the gravity shockwave immediately surged with large amounts of crimson lava. It was like an earthquake caused by continental plate collision, stirring up tsunamis. The lava sea on half the planet was shaken by this blow.

The violent lava tides churned and surged into space, then rapidly fell back under the influence of gravity. In this back-and-forth, several pirate bases exposed in the lava sea were immediately affected, torn apart on the spot, followed by a chain of explosions that completely submerged them.

"..." Lin Zhichen fell silent upon seeing this. He had not expected that the Spacetime Shockwave attacking the planet would cause such severe consequences.

Of course, this was also because Dakan Ia was too small and had low mass, with a weak gravitational field, making it poor at resisting gravitational attacks. If it were Dakan I, it would at most stir up the lava sea.

Needless to say, after this maneuver, one side of Dakan Ia was completely cleared. Not only were all the pirate bases in orbit destroyed, but even the pirate bases hidden within the lava sea were also annihilated.

In any case, the Dakan I he had his eye on would not be completely destroyed. Moreover, the large pirate bases in the lava sea were incredibly sturdy; ordinary attacks could not penetrate dozens or hundreds of kilometers of crust to directly destroy bases deep underground. In other words, even if they were destroyed, it didn't matter. According to his estimation, as long as one could be preserved, it would be enough for the development of the legion for some time to come.

The "Tengshe" darted rapidly through space, dodging the barrage of fire from the pirate bases.

As if stunned by the previous blow, the surviving pirates, driven by the constant pressure of fear, had become frenzied. The base's firepower network was fully engaged, even meaningless point-defense cannons were activated, all in an effort to inflict even a negligible amount of damage on the "Tengshe."

Lin Zhichen activated his psionic sensing. With the boost from the Psionic Crystal, his danger perception ability increased by several levels. He easily dodged the attacks of the destructive beams, weaving through them like a fish, until he reached a suitable angle and released another Spacetime Shockwave.

The powerful Gravity Beam activated again. Incoming beams were torn apart, electromagnetic projectiles were destroyed, and the cone-shaped shockwave spread out, completely covering the other half of Dakan Ia.

The planet's small mass led to a fragile gravitational field. The attacked planet once again erupted with a sky full of fire clouds. Whether it was the spaceports in orbit or the hidden bases buried deep within the lava, they all exploded under the violent gravitational impact.

The "Tengshe" nimbly passed through the firepower net constructed by the pirate bases. When it returned to space, Dakan Ia had already regained its original appearance.

There were no more secrets in the lava sea; everything was buried in flames.

"Just two shockwaves..." Lin Zhichen sighed slightly as he looked at Dakan Ia on the radar.

Sometimes, a correct tactic alone could easily dismantle a seemingly powerful enemy. To be honest, before the battle, he hadn't expected everything to go so smoothly.

If it were before, relying on the "Tengshe's" assault capabilities, he would have had to chip away at the pirate base's defensive turrets one by one, followed by an army landing operation.

Not to mention how much time and effort this would have consumed, the risks involved were not insignificant—whether it was the possibility of pirate reinforcements or the casualties caused by pirate NPCs self-destructing their bases in desperation, the dangers were immeasurable.

"It's Dakan I's turn." Lin Zhichen looked at another larger molten planet. Dakan I, in terms of both size and mass, was tens to hundreds of times larger than Dakan Ia.

The pirate bases' counterattack continued. Particle beams swept through space in vain, and dense barrages of projectiles continuously flew into the deep darkness of space.

With his considerable combat experience, Lin Zhichen only needed a moment of thought to reach a conclusion: if a fleet were to attack head-on, it would require a standard fleet of at least ten thousand ships, and they would have to be prepared to lose half of them!

Of course, this was at full strength, with two thousand pirate ships providing support, and while the pirate bases on Dakan Ia were still present.

The defenses on this planet were enough to resist the long-range attacks of a standard fleet head-on. It was no wonder that the Federation's fleets, despite their large numbers, rarely launched proactive offensives.

Taking down one planet was this difficult; what about a galaxy?

With so many Dark Galaxies in the Milky Way, how many fleets would be enough to fill the gaps if they were to conquer them one by one!