The Three-Clawed Serpent Interstellar Pirate fleet didn't at once fan out into a combat formation; instead it advanced slowly, for all the world like some ordinary interstellar fleet.
Just as they were about to enter combat range of that Blizzard Zero—
—the Blizzard Zero suddenly stirred to motion, as though it had sensed something, and began sailing off in another direction.
"Boss, have we been spotted?" the skinny adjutant said.
"At this range, so what if we have? The usual play — have the two T2 Ishkur-class Medium Interstellar Frigates each lead a few T1 Vulture-class Medium Interstellar Frigates and pincer them in from both flanks. At this range, cutting them off and stopping them cold is child's play!" the bearded pirate captain said with confidence.
In that instant, the Three-Clawed Serpent Interstellar Pirate fleet dropped all pretense and gave chase at full speed after that Blizzard Zero.
Of them, the two T2 Ishkur-class Medium Interstellar Frigates and the T1 Vulture-class Medium Interstellar Frigates had the greatest speed.
For the interstellar frigate was the most maneuverable and fastest of all ship types; only some interstellar cruisers could contend with it.
An interstellar frigate, relying on its high speed, could carry out the tasks of screening a fleet formation and of intercepting and stopping enemy ships.
And so the ship the interstellar pirates loved best was this very sort — cheap, and well-suited to plunder.
They'd swarm in all at once, and never mind what kind of ship you were up against, they'd simply hound you to death.
Just then that Blizzard Zero seemed to sense something amiss, and began to pour on more speed.
But the Three-Clawed Serpent pirates' ships clung on like a plaster stuck to the skin, shake them off as it might; and the distance between the two sides drew closer and closer, until it looked as though they were about to overtake it.
"Little cutie — thinking of running? Once this old master's set his eye on a quarry, none has ever gotten away." The bearded pirate captain grinned savagely.
Just then the comms crewman cried out in surprise, "Boss, a comm signal's requesting to patch in… it looks… it looks like it's that Blizzard Zero!"
The bearded pirate captain was startled a beat, then burst out laughing. "Looks like that good-for-nothing baron's gotten himself scared and wants to beg us for mercy. Well now — I'd rather enjoy taking in the sight of a lord baron begging for his life before the end."
The video comm patched through, and a video window appeared before the bearded pirate captain.
A man's face came into his view.
But the terror, the dread he'd imagined, was nowhere to be seen. In its place was a mocking sort of gaze — the sort one turns on a toy.
"You'd be the head of the Three-Clawed Serpent Interstellar Pirate fleet, then." The man spoke light and unruffled.
This opening left the bearded pirate captain, for a moment, unable to make sense of it — had something gone wrong with the whole setup? How was it this fellow wasn't the least bit afraid?
"You know me?" the bearded pirate captain said, taken aback.
"I know, too, that you're in the pay of the Bao and Cui families, come to attack us." Zhao Chen propped his chin on one hand.
The bearded pirate captain spread his hands and laughed. "Since the baron already knows, then there's nothing more to say. We're only hired hands doing a paid job — so kindly go and die like a good fellow, my lord baron."
"Go and die?" Zhao Chen said with a light laugh. "Sorry — the ones going to die won't be me. It'll be you."
"Us? Hahahaha — you really do know how to joke, you good-for-nothing baron. Send us to our deaths?" The bearded pirate captain jabbed a scornful finger at Zhao Chen. "What right have you to send us to our deaths? On the strength of this neither-fish-nor-fowl junk ship of yours? Take a look around you, why don't you — those are all my ships! They're about to smash that ship of yours to splinters, and you, my pitiable baron, will be laying your bones to rest in your own fief."
"I'd advise you to take a look around yourself first." Zhao Chen narrowed his eyes, the corners of his mouth lifting.
And just at that moment, the bearded pirate captain's radar crewman cried out in alarm, "This is bad — a mass of energy readings has appeared all around us, and it's closing in on us!"
"Energy readings? Ships, is it?" The bearded pirate captain looked at the hundred-odd points of light on the ship radar, come swarming in from every side, their heading fixed straight on his Three-Clawed Serpent Interstellar Pirate fleet.
"They don't seem to be ships — more like interstellar fighters or the like," the pirate radar crewman answered.
Interstellar fighters?
The bearded pirate captain, baffled, brought up the deep-space telescope — and soon made out just what these dense points of light were.
A swarm of interstellar drones!
Several hundred interstellar drones had already ringed his Three-Clawed Serpent Interstellar Pirate fleet on every side.
The video comm still open, Zhao Chen, not caring in the least that the pirate leader on the far side could hear his every word—
—coldly gave the order to attack.
"Attack. Wipe out every last interstellar pirate ship — leave not a single one."
Then, one after another, the interstellar drones began to lock onto their respective targets.
The first to launch their attack were the T2 Killer-Bee-class Medium Interstellar Drones, 100 of them.
They were armed with laser autocannons — no match, in power, for a ship's weapons, to be sure.
But their strength lay in being able to close right up on an enemy ship, seeking out the most fitting angle from which to strike.
And most important of all — these were T2-tier interstellar drones!
"Boss, this is bad — my ship's taking heavy fire from a mass of interstellar drones! Damn it, these drones are too fast; my close-in guns can't hold them off at all!"
"Report — the T1 Vulture-class Medium Interstellar Frigate's bridge has been hit, the captain killed on the spot; the ship's lost its command system."
"Report — a T1 Scythe-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer is being swarmed by enemy interstellar drones, requesting support! Requesting support!"
On the bearded pirate captain's bridge, one piece of bad news after another rose and fell without cease.
Those several hundred interstellar drones were, like a swarm of bees, eating away at their ships.
"Fight back! Fight back! Throw up a net of fire to intercept these drones!" The bearded pirate captain gave the order through gritted teeth.
And just at that moment, a huge fireball bloomed, its shockwave reaching even his own flagship; the rumbling shudder of the hull armor could be heard.
"That was…" The bearded pirate captain was dumbfounded.
"One of our T2 Blue-Sparrow-class Medium Interstellar Cruisers appears to have been bombed by the enemy's interstellar bomber drones. The ship's gone down outright!" a pirate crewman reported.
The bearded pirate captain looked at the battle before him, sliding toward chaos, and gulped hard, at a loss for what to do.
"Split into two forces at once! One force keeps up the attack on that Blizzard Zero; the other, a high-mobility force, goes to find their carrier starship. Their carrier's got to be hiding somewhere nearby. Destroy that carrier, and these interstellar drones cease to be any threat!" the skinny adjutant offered up the cleverest counsel at this moment.
The bearded pirate captain came to himself and at once gave the order. "All interstellar destroyers stay here and keep pursuing that Blizzard Zero; the rest of the interstellar cruisers and frigates, search out the enemy's carrier at full speed!"
"Report — we've found the enemy carrier's coordinate position! The enemy's spent interstellar drones are all returning in that direction; the carrier ought to be somewhere in this zone!" A pirate radar crewman pointed at a spot on the star-map.
Those spent drones, returning from their runs, had made not the slightest attempt to conceal their tracks.
And under the ships' radar sweep, they soon found, on the far side of a moon, a carrier starship lurking there, plain as day.
The bearded pirate captain looked as though he'd caught sight of a mortal foe; he bellowed in hysteria, "Kill your way over there! I'll blast that carrier to smithereens!"