Chapter 719: Chapter 404, The Tall Pirate Crew_2
He had to issue a hard-line response to let all potential pirates know that to challenge the Alliance was to court death.
Gu Hang did not hesitate to refuse the ransom demands, even though it meant hundreds of people would die.
At the same time, he also gave orders to the newly established Alliance Navy and Du Shiliang of the Tianma Fleet, demanding that they resolve the issue as soon as possible and prevent such incidents from happening again.
This was not easy, mainly because the pirates were hard to find.
The only measures they could take were somewhat clumsy.
Reduce flight frequency, assemble a group of ships, and then travel together, all the while escorted by the Alliance Navy.
…
The method was effective, but the key issue was that it was extremely disagreeable. The efficiency of interstellar shipping was greatly reduced, and the escort duty also consumed naval costs—fuel money, ship depreciation, all were additional losses.
There might be a thief for a thousand days, but can there be a defense against the theft for a thousand days?
The goal of the Alliance Navy and the Imperial Navy was still to eradicate the pirate group as quickly as possible.
In several battles that repelled pirate harassment, the Alliance’s rapid vessels played a major role.
Thanks to the Alliance’s technological accumulation in advanced engines, they had generously equipped almost all types of ships with excellent motors while designing them.
The Spirit Engine, a type of engine typically used for regular navigation, wouldn’t be fitted in large numbers on normal ships. For example, even patrol ships might not be equipped with it. It’s quite expensive, and most importantly, it consumes high-grade energy crystals, which are costly. For lower-grade ships, using it seems wasteful.
But the Alliance was not afraid of wastefulness.
Rage Owl Star had a large output of energy. Currently, Rage Owl Star had extensive experience in the collection and utilization of energy from Low Energy Storms. Energy compression technology was also derived from the Black Box output, and after many years of expanded production, it now had a pretty decent yield.
Especially after an abundant population was established, the other two uninhabited continents on Rage Owl Star have already been entered into the development process. The Planetary Government has built sizable energy collection factories on those two continents.
Moreover, the Alliance’s Technological Center, in collaboration with the Storm Mage Corps and the Psychic Cultivator’s Association, were already researching how to completely quell the Low Energy Storm worldwide. Once this project is overcome, it’s expected that Spiritualized Gas Fields could reappear on Rage Owl Star. By then, just from energy production, Rage Owl Star could potentially reach a development level similar to Grade 4 or 5. Plus, with industrial production and shipbuilding stronger than the pre-war era, the entire planet’s development potential would exceed any other world in the Tianma Star Sector!
Even at present, by only roughly collecting the energy from the Low Energy Storms, which couldn’t compare to the efficiency of the Spiritualized Gas Fields, they still managed to reach about twenty percent efficiency, which was quite a decent output.
Benefiting from the convenient high-grade energy, and because the Spirit Engine produced by the Black Box could greatly reduce costs, Alliance ships were able to be massively equipped with such engines. Especially the ‘Silver Sword’ and ‘Black Fish’—these two types of rapid vessels—once they bit into a pirate ship, there was no escaping.
Pirate ships, generally speaking, due to their combat characteristics, would not choose head-on confrontation, aiming for asymmetrical strikes instead. Being able to defeat transport ships and armed merchant ships was sufficient, and the rest of their points were allocated into speed.
However, under the ships of the Alliance Navy, they still couldn’t escape.
After being hit by several annihilating blows, the Red Eye Pirate Group was significantly weakened; their frequency of appearances greatly decreased, and they never succeeded again.
For an average Star Sector, solving the pirate problem to this extent would be considered the end; even most places with active pirates can’t achieve this much.
But the Alliance would clearly not let it go at that.
Without completely annihilating the Red Eye Pirate Group, the Alliance Navy would not cease their pursuit.
Through the severe torture of captives, psychic searches of the mind, plus the Star Language Hall of the Psychic Cultivator’s Association monitoring all Star Language communications within the entire Star Sector, catching snippets of information about the pirates, they finally clarified the trail of this group of pirates.
They had established a hidden base on a satellite near a gas giant in the Hongjian Star System. There, they stored supplies needed by pirate ships, and thousands of slaves worked on ship repairs, locally sourced manufacturing of parts, and even managed a small underground plantation.
That satellite of the giant planet, of course, was not subjected to any habitability transformation, and humans normally could not survive there; the slaves could only exist inside the base, and stepping outside required the appropriate spacesuits.
“””
Over a thousand Alliance captives were being held there.
After obtaining this intelligence, the Tianma Fleet dispatched some forces to join the Alliance Navy and carry out a surprise attack on the location.
Nine pirate ships were destroyed, and their base was demolished; thousands of slaves and Alliance hostages were somewhat injured, but most were rescued.
However, beneath the news of victory, there were losses.
One of the Alliance Navy’s ‘Blackfish’ Rapid Patrol Vessels was lost.
It wasn’t lost in a naval battle; with overwhelming power, the Alliance Navy, no matter how poor, shouldn’t have lost ships. But after all the pirate vessels had been annihilated and the rebel forces at the base on the island were neutralized, as the Navy Marine Corps landed on the satellite’s surface to liberate the slaves and hostages, they were fiercely attacked by a bizarre enemy squad.
The loss of personnel was very heavy in the ground combat. What’s more, this strange enemy squad turned around and seized a landing craft, taking it to the skies.
Caught off guard, this landing craft demonstrated extremely agile piloting skills, slipped through the somewhat hesitant gunfire net, and crashed into a Blackfish patrol vessel. Subsequently, the pirate squad hijacked the ‘Blackfish’ and escaped pursuit.
When Gu Hang first saw this battle process, he was somewhat shocked.
The entire operation proceeded without unexpected events, and the performance of the Alliance Navy met expectations, and could even be considered excellent for a newly formed force.
But this debut was thoroughly messed up by that so-called pirate squad.
The ability displayed by that squad was just too fierce.
Before the action, the Alliance Military had considered the possibility of ground combat, since they needed to resolve the personnel without bombing everyone. Therefore, at the start of the operation, in addition to the Navy Marine Corps established with the Navy, they also requested to borrow some elite troops from the 10th Special Operations Brigade of the Alliance Army.
A hundred special operations elites participated in the battle, including three teams wearing ‘Servant God’ Feedback-Type Powered Armor.
Could such a force really be breached by a so-called pirate squad?
What the hell kind of pirate squad is this? Interstellar warrior pirates?!
Interstellar warriors?
Wait a minute.
Gu Hang immediately focused on the following line in the battle report, which mentioned the survivors’ description of these enemies.
They were very tall, much taller than the average person, with an estimated average height of around 2.2 meters; they were wearing heavy powered armor, which was clearly different from the Feedback-Type Powered Armor; their armor seemed somewhat tattered, with pure red paint, but the parts that should have clear markings, such as the breastplate and shoulder armor, were all scratched and painted over.
In the back, there was a blurry photo.
The emblem on the shoulder that was painted over was not very clear, but Gu Hang guessed, after some deliberation, that beneath it there might be a phoenix in flight.
After pondering for a moment, he dialed a special number on Rage Owl Star.
“Commander Matins? It’s me; the Alliance might need you and your warriors to provide some assistance. It could also be related to Phoenix itself.”
After a pause, he added:
“Anyway, take a look at the report first.”
“””