The period that followed consisted of routine administrative tasks. First, there was the necessary work of clearing the battlefield: searching for potential survivors from both sides, cleaning up and collecting various broken parts scattered around the airspace, investigating the astronomical and celestial conditions after the battle, and repairing ship damage.
During this time, the fleet members, including the militia from New Seville, a military group of nearly five thousand people, would take turns eating, resting, and working.
In addition, the crew of the sunken centurion 927 destroyer were transferred in batches to the Corsica and Luoyang, temporarily serving as replacements. As for the Lancer 622 destroyer, which was heavily damaged in the subsequent battle, after emergency repairs, it was fortunately not scrapped. Fortunately, its warp drive and basic defenses were still functioning well. Although it couldn't be used in battle, it could still perform several system jumps without much issue.
Therefore, everyone unanimously decided that the Lancer 622 would return to New Seville for major repairs with a small number of disabled casualties—disabled casualties, as long as they weren't completely dead, could be healed through genetic therapy. However, such large-scale treatment equipment could only be installed on larger vessels; for now, they could only be sent to New Seville for treatment.
After brief emergency repairs, the other vessels recovered to about eighty or ninety percent of their original condition. Elinore felt that the entire fleet's combat strength was still very strong, so she waved her hand and began the next jump.
"According to the star map left by Wanda, the ISA872 system, in addition to leading to Runa, should have a new jump channel in this airspace, specifically within the range marked X729-811.Y9632-11234.Z1745-2312 on the star map. Moreover, it should be a guaranteed solid line."
Yu Lian drew a solid line on the navigation map, indicating that this should be a stable jump route.
"Considering that the enemy ship also performed a jump just now, mass maintenance is not an issue," he paused, then added, "However, the next DK17 system is a white giant star system, so everyone needs to pay attention to protection. Additionally, because it's a massive white giant star, there are multiple jump channels, so we don't need to guess which direction the enemy ship is fleeing; we can just proceed according to our original pace."
Autumn Mountain Yawata nodded, "But it's not a straight march. We should ensure that we don't reach Kerna City before the enemy ship. At the same time, we also need to guard against ambushes from pirates and underworld elements."
"There's a pirate stronghold here, and it's at least over a hundred years old. And it's very close to us." Feifei also pointed on the star map, and the previously isolated star immediately lit up.
Feifei knew about it too! Yu Lian looked at her suspiciously, but she smiled calmly and said, "That's not strange. Even if the National Unification Committee and Country Statistics are incompetent, they at least know to maintain some contact with the underworld. The Commonwealth isn't completely ignorant of the outlaws inhabiting the Far Shore Nebula."
Yu Lian thought the word "inhabiting" was very apt.
Although their next opponents were pirates, Elinore still ordered everyone to rest for a night. It wasn't until 6 AM on November 13th, the next morning, after all crew members had finished breakfast, that the next round of jumps began.
With the "Wanda's Star Map" data provided by Yu Lian, and Yu Lian himself navigating, the fleet easily detected the existence of another jump channel at the edge of the ISA782 system. The gravity well detector worked for less than an hour before naturally discovering it.
The Commonwealth's exploration of the Far Shore Nebula had actually taken a considerable amount of time, but it had only involved systematic data collection of the surrounding areas. As a result, within a single day, the Thirteenth Fleet's returns from exploring the Far Shore Nebula surpassed what the entire Commonwealth had achieved in several years.
No! Not the Thirteenth Fleet, but Captain Yu Lian himself...
At this thought, Commodore Markov on the Mist Capital felt a surreal sense of absurdity.
Then came another day and night of patrol. During this time, everyone in the fleet truly understood why this nebula was considered a natural border, a forbidden zone for civilization.
They swept past dying stars, seeing planets around them that had fallen silent.
They could feel dense reflective particles, like a blizzard in the mountains, continuously buffeting the ship's shields and armor.
They saw expanding giant stars, like a colossal demon greedily devouring everything around it. Beyond the blinding glare, it was like the endless abyss-stomach that could digest the entire world.
If not for an experienced navigator, any of these extreme celestial changes could have led them to their deaths.
"I now understand why the Commonwealth hasn't conducted effective on-site surveys of the Far Shore Nebula," the Commodore thought.
Yes, even if they surveyed it, it would be impossible to establish a busy trade route, so there would naturally be no profit, and therefore no financial support. Similarly, too many deaths would be difficult to explain to the constituents.
However, the Empire on the other side had such an obsession and ambition to conquer this great nebula.
Now, they were just one step away from conquering it.
The Empire's system was truly good! The spiritual energy users nobles didn't value their lives, so the Imperial citizens had no choice but to not value their lives. Of course, even if they did value their lives, the Great Elector King of the Morningstar Royal Family and generations of divine rulers would surely whip their backs.
...Where would the Commonwealth's future lie if things continued this way?
The old Commodore felt a moment of panic, but when his gaze passed through the bridge's viewport and saw the Corsica leading the entire fleet at the very front, he felt relieved.
Wasn't the future right there? His heart was suddenly filled with hope.
At 14:12 on November 14th, after a long march, all units of the Thirteenth Fleet finally arrived in a very stable star system.
The star here was a young star that had just entered its prime. There were seven planets in the system, with no stable habitable planets, but the overall environment of the fourth planet was similar to Mars and could be terraformed.
Soon, the reconnaissance officers confirmed the presence of artificial structures of considerable size on the planet's surface.
"No enemy ships have been detected in this star system for now!" The reconnaissance personnel then provided this intelligence.
"We can't rule out the possibility of a trap!" Autumn Mountain Yawata whispered.
..."Indeed, order the entire fleet to maintain vigilance!" Elinore readily agreed.
She was indeed a brave general who liked to charge in personally, but she was not a brainless mediocre person.
Thus, the Thirteenth Fleet maintained its due vigilance and caution, carefully approaching the far side of the planet, observing for a while longer, and only then confirming that it was indeed a pirate stronghold. Furthermore, the pirates in the stronghold had indeed not set any traps; they truly did not expect to be found by the Earthling Navy. Even the several pirate ships of varying sizes, full of patchwork styles, were docked in the port, as if also sound asleep.
"They're truly not alert at all," Elinore said, losing interest. She really couldn't get excited about such weak enemies.
"After all, they're pirates; they live for today. Besides, it's common sense that no navy would come to such a remote and poor place," Yu Lian laughed. "Also, at least the construction capabilities of these pirates are worth commending, wouldn't you say?"
They could indeed be considered a rare underworld gang that knew how to farm. Using various discarded spaceship cabins and various parts they scavenged from who knows where that could be used for 'I-think-so' engineering, they actually pieced together a sizable planetary space base. Its scale was much larger than the few outpost planetary bases the Far Shore Fleet had set up on the Corridor front line, and they even managed to set up a dome farm.
Amidst the desolate brown rocks, such a vibrant dome stood, and Yu Lian felt it was truly the “Pearl of the Far Shore Nebula.” He was instantly filled with respect, thinking that from a different perspective, he would definitely be interested in having a pleasant chat with the leaders of this pirate group.
Unfortunately, Eleanor, who came from a wealthy family, had no such feelings. After confirming that there was truly no danger nearby, she ordered an attack.
Thus, justice descended from the sky and completely wiped out this pirate stronghold.
The battle process was very simple: five or six consecutive rounds of bombing within a minute easily destroyed almost all the pirate ships in the port and several pirate-style turrets and monitoring stations, followed by two more rounds of deterrent bombing on the main building.
Immediately after, the New Seville militia landed jubilantly.
Facing such enemies, Yu Lian didn't even bother to participate in the battle. He only requested the Marine Corps to collect as much astronomical data as possible from the pirates while he was commanding from the ship.
“Also, vegetables! Yes, don’t bomb that dome farm! We can replenish a lot of fresh ingredients for the fleet!”
“Got it! I’ll go pick two oranges for you. Yu’er, just stay here and don’t wander off.”
Feifei, as a war correspondent, was much more dedicated than Yu Lian. She carried two unmanned aerial vehicles and went down with them.
The other three spiritual energy users in the fleet were also more energetic than Yu Lian and participated in the landing battle. With Meng Jiao’s charge, Feifei’s assistance, and Ina and Simon’s long-range support, not a single Marine Corps member was killed, and only three suffered minor injuries.
…Furthermore, these three unlucky injured individuals were bitten by space-grown Venus flytraps while picking vegetables in the farm. It was said that the fresh vegetables in the dome were an important source of income for the pirate group and were not for ordinary subordinates to eat. Therefore, the leader, Santos, planted more than a dozen such incongruous things in the vegetable patch to prevent his subordinates from stealing vegetables.
Perhaps because the only injury data on their side in this battle was caused by plants, Eleanor felt deeply humiliated. After asking for all the information, she unhesitatingly ordered all surrendering pirates to be shot on the spot.
No one raised an objection; pirates, after all, have no human rights. Everyone collected the usable supplies, then razed this “Pearl of the Far Shore Nebula” with a single shot, and only then did they continue their advance with satisfaction.
The morale of the Thirteenth Fleet was high. They had driven off an Imperial warship, and now they had taken out this “Red Beard Pirate Group” with zero casualties, which was said to have some reputation in the underworld. The officers and soldiers of the Thirteenth Fleet, most of whom were new recruits, finally realized that they seemed to be part of a rather formidable team.
The New Seville militia were even happier; they had finally opened for business. Some of the large stolen goods in the pirates’ warehouse were indeed difficult to deal with and could only be buried on the spot, to be dug up later if the opportunity arose, but they captured over 20 million gold dragons in cash.
It should be known that the Empire still used a large amount of precious metal currency. In any known celestial region of the Universe, whether it was a national administrative district or the private territory of underworld chiefs, there was no harder currency than these glittering little darlings.
Additionally, according to the confession of the pirate leader Santos, whose head was blown off by Ina’s shot before he died, these gold coins were painstakingly saved by him from growing vegetables. He was just about to acquire three or four good ships in Kerna City when the Earthlings arrived.
Yes, that space station, which was still under construction, had become a transit point for pirates to exchange intelligence and supplies. The management of the space station also seemed to be very pleased about this.
Furthermore, there was already a shipyard there that was willing to provide repair and construction services to pirates and smugglers.
Of course, Santos did not know that its management was the Empire. Most pirates only knew that it was a mysterious behind-the-scenes party with vast financial and technical capabilities… As for anything else, they really couldn’t explain it. Or rather, even if the great pirates vaguely guessed something, they just pretended to be ignorant.
With a wave of Eleanor’s jade hand, she distributed half of it to the New Seville militia soldiers. Each person would receive an average of over ten thousand gold coins. With just this one sum, the soldiers earned the equivalent of more than half a year’s allowance income.
They were almost cheering for Commodore Markov’s longevity, Officer Bonaparte’s eternal blessings, and even for Lilia, the big sister who brought them wealth, they could come up with something like “forever healthy.”
Ms. Lilia Alfonso, “Colonel,” showed no complacency about this. She knew her subordinates’ nature well; when they had money, they would call her mother, but when they didn’t, even their own mother couldn’t command them.
“This is enough! At least you’ve established some prestige, and it will be much easier to lead troops in the future. When the time comes to reorganize, you’ll at least have a foundation. And, seeing everyone’s morale so high, subsequent actions will be much easier,” Feifei comforted her.
“No matter what, I graduated from Central Defense University, and I also hope that the troops I lead aren’t just a disorganized rabble… But there’s no helping it, local militias naturally lack the motivation to become stronger,” Lilia thought for a moment, then added, “Fortunately, there are still a group of ambitious young men in the unit who say they want to join the Thirteenth Fleet and make a name for themselves. What the fleet needs most right now are assault troops and Marine Corps, right?”
“Eleanor should be very welcoming!” Feifei said.
“However, the first thing to ask is Father Markov’s attitude. After all, it will be a regular army establishment in the future, and many procedures need to be handled. However, if the Commander of the fleet personally sends the application to the General Headquarters, many procedures can be simplified,” Lieutenant Annie Romanova said.
Lilia nodded.
“In the future, Lilia will be the militia Commander at home, Fina will be a reporter, and I’ll continue to sail. Everyone has a bright future!” Annie said with a smile.
“Yes, when you put it that way, no one needs to sneak off!” Lilia also smiled.
“It’s a pity, girls, I not only snuck off, but I ate everything up, leaving not a single crumb,” Feifei revealed a frank and charming smile.
“Oh, you’re annoying! Fina, what kind of lewd words are you saying to an unmarried lady?!” Lilia exclaimed loudly, covering her face.
“…Not a single crumb left? How old was that guy that he couldn’t perform anymore? Fina, I know you’re good, but you still need to pay attention to his health,” Annie felt she had discovered a very important point.
The girls from the 830th Student Council giggled and played for a bit, then clinked glasses with the red wine provided to officers at dinner. They then swiftly ended their first gathering since leaving school, already completely exuding the aura of busy, elite socialites.
In fact, they were indeed very busy now.
Annie was currently the helmsman of the flagship, Luoyang. Lilia was busy compiling the list of soldiers willing to join the Thirteenth Fleet. As for Fina, her interview schedule for the week was fully booked, from Commander Markov down to the most ordinary crew members, no one was left out.
The following week was what Fina later referred to in her reports as the “Far Shore Nebula Great Purge” military operation.
The Thirteenth Fleet advanced towards Kerna City while sweeping through like a fierce tiger descending from the mountains, invincible wherever they went, engaging any enemy they encountered. Along the way, they at least cleared out seven or eight pirate groups and destroyed over a dozen strongholds of various sizes belonging to lawbreakers.
By November 21st, the Thirteenth Fleet was still three jumps away from the star system where Kerna was located. And at this time, they finally encountered a pirate fleet of a rather pleasing size.