"Reporting to the commander! The radar has detected two targets! A straight-line distance of 120,000 kilometers from us!"
"Reduce the power of the sublight thrusters, evacuate all non-combat cabins, and prepare to engage the enemy!"
In the battleship command room, the morale of the naval officers was quickly boosted after Ramsay's reprimand, and they quickly entered the state of mind. Under the detection of the radar system operating at full power at all times, the naval captain in charge of this battle immediately issued a warning to prepare for the enemy after learning that the cargo ship transporting pollen and a much smaller escort force than expected were waiting at the target location. Order.
Suddenly, the thousands of crew members on board the three frigates were busy - the damage control team members responsible for damage control, with the help of their comrades, put on heavy-duty exoskeletons specially designed for work in high-risk environments, and were responsible for operating the spacecraft's weapon systems. The weapon operators also keep their eyes firmly on the screen and holographic projection, ready to press the fire button at any time.
Their enemy was a basically unarmed cargo ship and a backward frigate that was almost running out of fuel.
Perhaps the outcome of this battle has been determined from the beginning, but for the navy of the Star Group, no matter how weak the opponent is, this is their first actual combat and they cannot afford to be careless.
"This is the flagship Brilliant calling the fleet. Is the communication smooth and without interference?"
"This is the frigate code-named SGN-2 'Retribution'. The communication is smooth and without interference."
"This is the frigate code-named SGN-3 'Discipline'. The communication is smooth and without interference."
After confirming that there was no problem with the communication with the other two frigates, seeing that the fleet that had completed all preparations was still a few minutes away from the preset engagement position, the naval captain joked in the communication channel: "Call SGN-2, 3 Frigate No. 1, help me ask your captain, was your ship’s name really chosen through democratic voting?”
"Reporting to Fleet Commander Captain Paterson, we don't know about it. We have never heard of such a thing as voting."
Patterson smiled helplessly after hearing this. Of course he could tell that the signal soldier was joking with him, so he turned around and nodded to Ramsay beside him: "Young men, get ready."
"Ah, very good."
Ramsay nodded and then said seriously to the communicator: "This is the flagship Brilliance, and I am Daniel Ramsay."
"Your Excellency, General! What are your instructions?"
Compared to Colonel Patterson, who was amiable and a bit humorous, the signal soldiers were obviously more afraid of General Ramsay, who never seemed to have a good face, so their tone became serious, for fear of leaving the opponent with a bad impression. What a bad impression.
"Wales! Ramos! You two listen up and kick those bastards' butts!"
The pre-war encouragement with the characteristics of the Army made the two captains who were also in the channel quickly stand up from their seats, saluted the not tall but very tall figure of Ramsay in the holographic projection and then stood together. The voice responded.
"Yes, sir!"
...
"Why hasn't Boss Sechka's ship jumped over yet?"
In the bridge of the No. 2 escort ship responsible for escorting the pollen transport ship, several humans and aliens in different costumes were discussing something around their captain, such as whether they should take this batch of unknown value A lot of goods escaped and were resold on the black market in Fenhabenis to make a quick buck.
"When we get the money, we have to do things."
In the end, the captain who was surrounded in the middle couldn't stand the chattering of his subordinates. He stood up and yelled: "Mr. Rexgar is willing to resell this warship to us at a low price, then we have the obligation to protect him." goods."
"Besides, aren't you afraid that that guy from Lankshire will come to your door and cut us in half?"
The subordinates who heard their boss say this were speechless - the deterrence of the Cole Azan warriors was too great, and it would be a lie to say that they were not afraid. They should not mention this matter again until they are sure whether the cargo on the cargo ship is worth risking their lives for.
The human captain who had "comforted" his subordinates also felt a little strange, but considering that the other party had also been hit by a few electromagnetic railguns while escaping, he shook his head and assumed it was the hyperspace engine of Sechika's No. 1 ship. There was a breakdown and arrival would need to be delayed.
As for why he didn't ask the other party in person, maybe there was a sense of luck in the human captain's heart - if Sekica and Rankhir died while jumping due to a hyperspace engine failure, then it would be okay to take the goods themselves. It's reasonable, no need to have any psychological burden.
Just when he was about to smoke some chemical addicts and have a good time, the man in charge of operating the backward radar on the spacecraft suddenly panicked: "Boss, there are three spacecrafts of unknown origin coming towards us!"
"Don't be so fucking surprised! Nine times out of ten, it's the buyer contacted by Sechka. Give me access to their communication, and I'll find out after asking!"
Therefore, about 10,000 kilometers away from the cargo ship, Colonel Patterson, who was already highly nervous, received a communication request from a ship marked as an enemy.
After thinking for a moment, he chose to let the communications soldier connect the other party to the channel and listen to what these space gangs, who were no different from space pirates, wanted to say to him.
"Hello? Are you the client Mr. Sekika has made an appointment with?"
The human captain's voice came out from the communicator, and his slightly friendly tone made Patterson squint his eyes, feeling that he might be able to take away the pollen with less effort.
"That's right, where's Sekka Rexga? We are the buyers of that cargo ship."
Patterson's gentle tone made the human captain in the No. 2 escort ship breathe a sigh of relief. In order not to cause misunderstanding, he quickly explained: "Boss Sechka's ship has a small problem and it hasn't arrived yet. If you want to wait, If so, you can come over and wait with us."
After hearing this, Colonel Patterson looked at Ramsay who was also a little surprised next to him in surprise, and then pretended to be angry and yelled: "What the hell are you talking about? This is the time we made an appointment! This is Fenhaben. Nice system! Don’t you know how risky it is to wait for him at the jump point?”
The human captain obviously did not hear Patterson's bluff, but also angrily said: "Then you go to him! I am the captain of the escort ship, and this cargo ship is not under my control."
Feeling that he was only a hair away from success, Patterson saw that the other party was taking the bait, so he pretended to make a proposal that was "beneficial" to both parties.
"What do you think of this? Sechka must trust you when he entrusts the cargo ship to you for protection. Now I will give you this cargo together with the money for the cargo ship. How about you let me drive the ship away?"
The human captain, who was obviously a little moved, hesitated for a moment, swallowed, and asked cautiously: "The value of this batch of goods is not low. How much do you plan to pay?"
The smile on Patterson's face became even brighter when he heard what the captain said. Now he was sure that the other party had no idea what was being carried on Sechika's cargo ship, so he could set a price at will.
"Let me tell you, Sekika and I bought a batch on the cargo ship. Well, it's quite sensitive stuff, worth tens of millions of credits!"
Worried that the other party would be suspicious if he said anything less, Patterson chose to use the ambiguous figure of tens of millions to deceive the other party after obtaining Ramsey's consent. As expected, the human captain and his men almost straightened their eyes after hearing "tens of millions of credits" and almost drooled and said, "I do."
If Lanksheer and his swords had not maintained a certain degree of deterrence, they might not have even blinked when they sold the cargo ship.
"One hundred million! Transfer 100 million Universal Credits to the account sent to me, and you can sail the cargo ship away."
While discussing the final price with Patterson, the human captain ordered his men to drive a transport boat to transport all the people and fuel on the cargo ship to his second ship, so that he could just take the money and run away. .
After more than 20 minutes of "bargaining" by Paterson, the cargo ship worth tens of millions of credits and Malinkaline Pollen worth 10 billion credits were sold to the human captain for 80 million credits. It was packaged and sold to Qunxing Group at a "high price". Even the crew and fuel on the cargo ship were evacuated by the traffic boat sent by the No. 2 escort ship, which was considered a big favor to Paterson.
Unfortunately, under Paterson's guise of bargaining but delaying time, the three slowly advancing Javelin-class frigates were already less than a thousand kilometers away from the No. 2 escort.
"The combat computers of the three frigates have completed searching for enemies. The current position of the enemy ships is constant, the electromagnetic railguns have been charged, and the optimal task assignment has been communicated to each turret."
Colonel Patterson, who was always paying attention to the situation of the fleet, smiled slightly when he saw this situation and put down the communicator. He put aside the human captain who was still asking why they suddenly changed direction, and issued his first order in this battle. Order to fire.
"All 400mm rail guns on the three ships were aimed at the enemy ship's bridge area, thruster area and core area, and fired in full salvo."
"Fire!"
