They all raised their heads toward this system's one fixed star.
That star was in its prime, and had been exceedingly brilliant.
But at this moment a black spot had appeared upon it.
And that black spot was spreading without cease, as though it would cover the whole star.
"Can this be some eclipse? But I have never heard of any eclipse here," the pig-headed captain asked, making nothing of it.
And at this moment they all saw the warships charged with keeping order in this system set out in a swarm toward that star.
Some three hundred and more of them.
Most were of T3 grade; only two or three T4 warships could be seen,
which, among the lords' security fleets of the many star systems, counted as well-off indeed.
For in a remote system a great many T2 warships are still in service.
But to return to the matter,
these three hundred of the lord's security fleet had marked the star's strange condition too, and quickened their speed toward the target region.
And at this moment lasers, from where none could tell, struck these relieving warships one after another.
Their star-shields were raised in time.
But against these lasers those T3-grade warships were destroyed, almost one by one.
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Our fleet is under attack, under attack! The enemy ship's strength far surpasses ours; it may be a T5-grade interstellar warship!" the system fleet-leader reported.
To destroy dozens of T3 warships outright in so short a time, and with their energy star-shields at full,
that was in all likelihood a warship of T5 grade or above.
At this they caught sight of the enemy's warship as well.
It was a single warship standing alone, of a strange outward form, its hull liveried in black.
By the quarter those lasers had come from, the culprit should be this warship.
Judging by the hull's form, this warship was in all likelihood at least of T5 grade, and might even be of T6.
And its trace had not been detected at all before.
So in all likelihood it was a warship possessing hull stealth.
"Do not engage the enemy ship; keep your distance," the system fleet-leader ordered.
If the enemy were truly a T5 warship, then these warships of theirs, though all three hundred charged in.
Would not surely be his match.
For even their flagship was no more than a T4 Skeleton-King-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Destroyer.
And at this moment the communications petty officer beside him cried aloud: "Fleet-leader, someone is speaking upon the system's public channel. It is thought to be the captain of that attacking warship! And… and the one speaking seems to be the pig-headed folk's old traitor, the Black-Bristle Pig King!"
The Black-Bristle Pig King?
At the sound of that name,
something of terror showed in the eyes of not a few upon the bridge.
They had forgotten that name these several years, and had not thought it would sound in their ears again.
"Bring up the video!" the fleet-leader ordered without hesitation.
A video was brought up, and he saw opposite a black-skinned pig-headed man.
His mouth was full of tusks, and there were many scars upon him besides; half his mouth was scarred with a tear, which made him exceedingly savage to look upon.
And upon half his face was branded the character for prisoner.
This fleet-leader was of the pig-headed folk as well.
And he knew this Black-Bristle Pig King before him very well; in the days of the old Warhammer tribes he had many times been sent upon the task of taking him.
The Black-Bristle Pig King.
He appeared within the Warhammer Kingdom's borders twenty years ago, and was chiefly active in the Pig King tribe's star-region territory and along its borders.
It was once rumored that the Black-Bristle Pig King had been royalty of a small tribe under the Pig King tribe; but coveting a princess of the neighboring pig-headed tribe, he carried her off, dishonored her, and afterward destroyed the body outright to leave no trace.
The later inquiry found that the means he had used was to cook and kill her, and the final evidence was that the pig-headed princess's DNA was found in the Black-Bristle Pig King's excrement.
But considering what the Black-Bristle Pig King then was, the Pig King chieftain only stripped him of his small tribe's headship, and then held him prisoner.
By rights he should have stayed in that cell all his life, until he died.
But someone or other helped him, and let him escape alive.
Thereafter, by his own means, he formed an interstellar pirate band; and leaning upon his knowledge of the Pig King tribe's star-region geography, he knocked about here for years,
attacking now and then the local pig-headed natives, or passing interstellar merchant trains.
And even attacking merchant trains that carried materials to the army.
Which brought it about that the Black-Bristle Pig King became one of the Warhammer Kingdom's SSS-grade wanted criminals.
A fleet had been meant to be sent to take him in those days.
But most unluckily, the civil strife broke out just then, and so the Black-Bristle Pig King was set aside.
Thereafter, naturally, the Owl Dragon took control of the Warhammer and founded the Warhammer Interstellar Federal Kingdom.
And by the Owl Dragon's thinking, if a place is to grow it must naturally have a peaceful environment.
So the first task issued to every region was to sweep clean every strutting clown.
And for certain thornier cases, the work was given first to elite fleets such as the Dragon-Tiger Legion.
Interstellar pirates such as the Black-Bristle Pig King had strength and to spare against their own tribes.
But meeting the Dragon-Tiger Legion, an interstellar fleet fitted with Owl Dragon-line warships even then, they were checked at every turn.
And just as the Dragon-Tiger Legion's fleet was about to annihilate him, word came that his whereabouts were unknown.
And he had stayed vanished until now.
None had thought he would spring up again at such a time as this.
"My dear kinsmen. I, the Black-Bristle Pig King, have come back. I wonder whether you have missed me. I have missed you to death… heh, heh… And this time I have come back with a great gift ready for you. I am sure you have all seen that black spot upon the star. That is the great gift I have made ready for you. Heh, heh…"
The corners of the Black-Bristle Pig King's mouth rose in a smile most savage.
"Didn't you all wish to kill me before? Well, here I am. You are very welcome to come and kill me. So long as you are confident that you can beat this T6 interstellar warship I sit in… heh, heh."
A T6 interstellar warship?
At that word, everyone watching this system's public channel was startled.
A T6 interstellar warship!
That is the topmost sort of warship, of which even the Owl Dragon Legion has but a few in service.
How should this Black-Bristle Pig King have one?
The great part of them did not believe it.
But the system fleet-leader was somewhat inclined to.
For he had guessed before that this was a T6 warship, only he had not dared be sure.
And since the Black-Bristle Pig King now owned it, it was likely the truth.
As for the gift the Black-Bristle Pig King spoke of,
the system fleet-leader's eyes passed over that warship and went to the star, one third of whose face had already turned black.
And his eyes grew slowly full of terror.
As though he saw some sight most dreadful!