That still sounded pretty demoralizing. But the pirates present had, after all, been the sort who'd shouted, "Long live Marshal Yu Lian!" You couldn't expect them to have much fighting spirit left.
Or rather, Captain Planck's order seemed to come as a relief to them. One by one, they relaxed. Then they all got busy, showing far more initiative than they had when arming themselves and preparing to board the enemy ship.
Perhaps because they were both relaxed and highly motivated, their work was much more efficient, too. Before long, one pirate was furiously working the terminal that looked like a black obsidian table—and actually managed to open a channel of white light flashing directly ahead.
Fortunately, though the bridge had transformed into a grand, elegant, and solemn imperial court, the general layout of the operating platforms hadn't changed.
Captain Planck couldn't help thinking the ship had adjusted its consoles to suit the intelligence and knowledge of ordinary people like them. He'd had the same suspicion when he boarded his new Black Serpent alongside Tomitaili in the Dawnstar Sector. Now, of course, he was even more convinced.
Of course, it was still just a hunch. He had no evidence to back it up.
Regardless, the peaceful-looking white light blossomed in space before the ship's bow, and Captain Planck finally let out a long breath of relief.
The dragon ship had apparently picked up their friendly signal. Though it remained at a safe distance, the star dragons and fighters had started heading their way. They weren't moving especially fast, and had formed a defensive formation. But since it wasn't an attack formation, the other side's hostility was clearly limited.
Just then, First Mate Fantine, who was at the third-floor terminal, reported, "Captain, I have one bad piece of news and one