One of the pirate ships hiding on that dwarf planet was a Ranger-class vessel, which had rendered outstanding service to the League. It was a multipurpose warship that had first hit the market around 827. Since the standard model was thoroughly unremarkable in every respect, it hadn't found much favor with buyers for a long time.
It had only begun to shine after the Thirteenth Fleet of the League refitted it into three variants—a light escort cruiser, a torpedo light cruiser, and a light carrier—and those ships went on to render outstanding service in battle after battle.
Over the past few years, the various nations had placed nearly a thousand orders for Rangers with the League. The construction schedule had already been pushed back to the year after next.
A warship like that really shouldn't have fallen into pirate hands so soon.
Of course, the underworld bosses of Great Freedom City were all well-connected and powerful. They even served as the dirty-work crews for the real big shots, so perhaps they had ways to get their hands on some new equipment.
That was what Yu Lian had thought, until the latest ship profile projection from the Skywatch Eye overlapped with data in their own database.
When Captain Nemo came to report, even he wore an expression of disbelief. After a moment's hesitation, however, he still bowed and reported the situation.
"Are you sure it's the Aachen 12? Could it be another Ranger?" Feifei asked, pressing for confirmation.
"We considered that possibility too. But look—the outline at the stern is clearly the housing for a quadruple guided-missile launcher. That's an experimental system fitted to the Aachen 12."
The weapon had been jointly developed by Red Star Industries and Falcon Company. It was an upgraded version of the standard gravitational catapult. With