This time, a total of six pirate ships, all modified from small freighters, entered the Luna Star System through a jump.
Their weaponry and armor were only at an average level for pirate ships, but they had greatly enhanced their speed and stealth using technology from an unknown source.
This was also the standard setup for the Morda Black Flag Army's "deliveries" to various rebels.
They could always use the Far Shore Nebula as cover, silently infiltrating a remote planet in a certain part of the Star Region.
After completing the transaction, they would activate their jump engines and disappear into the chaotic nebula before the Distant Shore Defense Fleet's warships could arrive.
Even the most advanced star radars couldn't continuously monitor every corner of a star system 24 hours a day, naturally leaving plenty of loopholes for these outlaw ships to exploit.
On the other hand, for the Navy, venturing rashly into the Far Shore Nebula would be a death trap due to the unstable gravity wells alone.
The jump capacity of gravity wells is limited, which is why some star systems can become traffic nodes while others remain remote areas.
Even more terrifying, if a gravity well suddenly collapsed mid-jump, all ships within it would instantly vanish.
The primary mission of the Distant Shore Defense Fleet was still to guard the vital transportation routes of the I Earl Star Gorge and the Luknar Corridor, defending against the Bakerville Republic and the imperial forces behind it.
The enemy was fierce, and the Commonwealth's forces were limited; every ship and every soldier was extremely valuable.
After all, they were just pirates and smugglers; if they occasionally encountered them, they could fight to their hearts' content, but there was no need to risk their lives.
And so, the soldiers of the Distant Shore Defense Fleet were like the fully armed and armored officers and soldiers of ancient times; even if they arrived at a crime scene, they could only helplessly watch as the lightly dressed mountain bandits, familiar with the terrain, fled into the mountains.
They could only sigh at the sight of the mountains, helpless, and finally pack up and retreat, returning home to their mothers.
Over time, the various pirates and smugglers, including the Morda Black Flag Army, operating from the Far Shore Nebula, even formed a certain unspoken understanding with the Distant Shore Defense Fleet.
Because of this, the pirate leader leading the team still believed it would be a simple "delivery" mission before arriving in the Luna Star System.
Some pirates even clamored that they would secretly sneak into New Seville this time to find some fun.
In the first minute of entering the Luna Star System, they did not detect any abnormalities in the vast starry sky.
These unalert pirates headed straight for their destination, Lumina Planet.
However, when the pirates could even see the green planet with their naked eyes through the viewport, they finally discovered the Commonwealth Fleet waiting in orbit around that planet.
Fortunately, the pirates must have discovered the Commonwealth Fleet before the Navy—after all, the Thirteenth Fleet was a newly formed unit, with very new ships and most of its crew also new, still in the process of breaking in—so they didn't immediately face a barrage of cannon fire and a saturation attack of missile torpedoes.
Pirates who actively sought to engage the Navy did not exist in any era.
The pirate leader immediately issued a retreat order.
However, it was already too late.
Before this, they had already been locked on by the carrier-based aircraft group.
Brigadier General Makarov had long since ordered all three squadrons of fighters from Mist Capital 14 to take off and enter ambush patrol status, guarding along Lumina Star's orbit.
The fighters had seen the approaching pirate ships early on and immediately roared and pounced like a pack of wolves that had found their prey.
The inexperienced Lieutenant Li Baolu and Lieutenant Martha Deacon finally welcomed their long-awaited first real combat.
"Even though they're just pirates, be careful.
Good luck," Li Baolu, piloting a blue and white Ghost Fighter with the designation RX78, sent his girlfriend a final blessing before the battle.
Li Baolu was indeed participating in his first real combat, so he was a little nervous.
"I'm not a rookie!
Take care of yourself, little rookie," the blonde girl responded proudly.
She was piloting a red fighter with the designation MS04.
"...And you're not in real combat either!
Did you forget Navy Day in the summer?" Martha Deacon added.
The future "Eagle of Advance," and his equally capable girlfriend, were currently just newly commissioned personnel and could not immediately take command of frontline air combat.
The current chief pilot on Mist Capital 14 was Major Rost Yasenbolen, one of the ace pilots from the former Outer Rim Fleet.
Although he constantly ridiculed himself as "the nanny Paris sent for his little lover," at this moment, he displayed remarkable decisiveness and judgment, directly ordering a bombing attack on the enemy fleet, concentrating fire on their engines.
"Don't aim to sink the enemy ships!" he said.
"As carrier-based pilots, our primary goal isn't to get everyone a Long Spear medal, but to create an opportunity for the fleet to annihilate the enemy."
His judgment was indeed correct.
With the firepower of these three fighter squadrons, if they concentrated their fire, it was indeed possible to sink one to two pirate ships in the first round.
However, the remaining enemy ships could then completely escape.
Now, the fighters, contrary to common sense, suddenly launched a dispersed attack, engaging in dogfights, which completely disoriented the pirates, throwing them into chaos.
The older the ginger, the spicier it is.
Major Yasenbolen's command sounded simple, but only those elite grassroots officers who had undergone extensive real combat could provide the most accurate reactions and judgments in the shortest time and at the most critical moment.
Of course, the "rookies" Li Baolu and Martha Deacon also gave Yasenbolen a great surprise.
Their movements were truly beautiful; they piloted their fighters like sea swallows, sweeping Past the pirates' sparse anti-aircraft fire, precisely landing their shots on the enemy ships' vital points.
Their piloting was steady enough to be textbook.
Their final attacks were also very accurate, even among ace pilots, they were among the best marksmen.
Real combat is not like training; Yasenbolen had seen too many individuals who were famous in their student days but completely fell apart when they actually went to the battlefield.
However, the performance of these two young people today had proven that they at least had the potential to become aces.
"...After all, they are Paris's little lovers!
How could they not be beautiful?" The major laughed.
"Well, I can't lose to these young people!"
And then the development was... the pilots' morale exploded, the pilots rampaged, the pilots completely surpassed themselves.
Before the Thirteenth Fleet's warships could arrive, the battle had already entered its final stage.
The pirate fleet completely lost its ability to resist and decisively surrendered before the assault ship arrived to prepare for boarding.
By this time, two of their ships had been completely destroyed, and four were heavily damaged and lost power.
As for the pirates' own achievements, they had only grazed one fighter and shot down one drone.
The Thirteenth Fleet's first battle since its establishment was a triumph.
Thus, when Yu Lian and his companions boarded the Corsica, they also received the battle results sent from the fleet flagship, Mist Capital 14.
"The captured pirates said they were just here to transport goods, and incidentally to receive some items from the Lumina Rebels, then deliver them to their employer," Elinore didn't exchange pleasantries with Yu Lian and went straight to the point.
"Employer?"
"The employer is what the Black Flag Army leader Morda calls them; these mid-level pirates haven't met him in person.
According to their original plan, after they get the items, they will quickly return to the Far Shore Nebula and meet the employer in the ISA782 star system; then it will be clear."
Yu Lian nodded, then loudly ordered, "Lieutenant Autumn Mountain, star map!"
He looked so matter-of-fact, as if he were the leader on this ship.
Fortunately, the true leader on the ship was a refined and kind elder sister, who didn't mind Yu Lian's overstepping, and nodded, adding, "Bring up all the data on the Far Shore Star Region collected in the military database, mainly the data on all confirmed jump channels... But, Captain Yu Lian, aren't you going to lie down in the cultivation tank?"
I just casually interjected, and now I'm going to be thrown into a cultivation tank?
I don't remember my senior sister having such a petty character!
"If it weren't for Fina, um, if it weren't for Lieutenant Li reminding me, I wouldn't have known you were so badly injured."
Only then did Yu Lian realize that he had sustained serious injuries in his recent battle with High Priestess Wanda, breaking two ribs.
However, he had been suppressing the wounds with cell activity, so there was no life-threatening danger.
Coupled with the effect of the Source of Life, his surface wounds had already healed.
Outsiders couldn't see any problems at all.
As for the pain... as the saying goes, for an old ranger who roams the universe, this was indeed just a "flesh wound."
Feifei, however, immediately saw that Yu Lian was injured, but her medical armor only contained very common medications, which were of little use to Yu Lian at the time.
Of course, it's good to lie down in the medical bay; one should fully trust modern medicine!
After all, his lung had been punctured, so a little repair with gene culture fluid would be good.
So, Yu Lian let everyone, with many hands, push him into the medical bay.
Of course, at his suggestion, Feifei opened a hole in the medical bay, just big enough for his head to stick out.
"This must be the legendary human pig!" Autumn Mountain Yawata observed Yu Lian, whose head was sticking out of the medical bay, with interest and a poker face.
He secretly took a photo, then pushed aside the holographic image and unrolled a full star map: "This is all the known data for the Far Shore Star Region so far.
As you can see, the positions of the stars are complete, but the navigation information is very chaotic, basically making it impassable."
At least for a large fleet, it's absolutely impossible.
In fact, all militarily significant natural barriers in the galaxy are based on this concept.
Autumn Mountain Yawata then pointed to a star on the edge of the star map: "This is the SA782 star system, 6.42 light-years from the Luna Star System... Physically speaking, it is indeed next to the Luna Star System."
"So, there's a gravity well between it and the Luna Star System?" Elinore asked.
"Yes, there is, but it's very unstable because it's a binary system composed of two brown dwarfs.
Two years ago, our country's scientific research vessel detected a gravity well signal, but after a month of observation, it was determined that this jump channel only opens once every four to six hours, and the total mass it can carry for a jump varies between 500,000 and 1.1 million tons.
This should be the pirates' escape route."
"But... the employer the Black Flag Army mentioned should have already received news from here.
There's no reason for him to still be waiting there for us!"
Autumn Mountain Yawata had just said this when he was interrupted by Yu Lian's laughter.
"At this point, who cares about common sense!"
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