Chapter 39: The game begins, Lord Baron

Soon, two pieces of information arrived before Zhao Chen.

Zhao Chen looked at the two information frames, which not only contained the Starship names and models, but also model images, as these were all relatively common Starships on the market.

The Interstellar Pirate fleet had a total of thirty-five Starships, including five T2 Starships, which were:

One T2 Gray Shark-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser;

Two T2 Ishtar-class Heavy Interstellar Destroyers;

Two T2 Ishkur-class Medium Interstellar Frigates.

The thirty T1 Starships were:

Fifteen T1 Vulture-class Medium Interstellar Frigates;

Ten T1 Scythe-class Medium Interstellar Destroyers;

Five T1 Blue Sparrow-class Medium Interstellar Cruisers.

Looking at the rebel nobles' side, there were only a mere sixteen Starships, which was enough to show the desolation and poverty of the Xiaolong Star System.

Among these sixteen Starships, there were two T2 Starships, which were the T2 Gray Wolf-class Light Star Cruiser and the T2 Hyena-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer.

The remaining fourteen T1 Starships were all T1 Vulture-class Medium Interstellar Frigates without exception.

Looking at these Starships, Zhao Chen couldn't help but laugh.

A pile of Starships whose age was greater than his own.

Even the relatively new T2 Hyena-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer was a second-hand Starship bought by the Cui Family head, who spent decades of family savings on it.

As for the Starships used by the Interstellar Pirates, they were basically the pirates' common ships. Setting # Nоvеlight # aside their performance for a moment, they were all cheap and easy to repair Starships.

And among them, the most numerous was naturally the T1 Vulture-class Medium Interstellar Frigate. This was a T1 Starship developed by the Starlight Empire two centuries ago. Although its combat power was not high, its cost was low, and the technical barrier was low.

Moreover, the Starlight Empire directly publicized this Starship technology, so the market price was even lower, making it the favorite Starship of small nobles, Interstellar Pirates, and Interstellar Adventurers.

“Based on the enemy ship information from the intelligence alone, it’s very simple for us to win this battle.

The problem now is where and how we should fight.” Charlotte said.

Zhao Chen rubbed his chin with his finger and thought for a moment.

He looked at the Star map of the Xiaolong Star System and muttered, “We can’t fight on their pre-set battlefield. Although we will win no matter where we fight.

But we should minimize our losses as much as possible, and what if fighting near my Zhao Family’s home planet causes collateral damage?”

Zhao Chen suddenly thought of something. He narrowed his eyes and pointed at a location on the Star map: “Who said we have to go find them?

We’ll let them come find us!”

Charlotte and Zhao Wan'er looked at the place Zhao Chen was pointing at, and almost at the same time, they understood what Zhao Chen wanted to do.

——————

Interstellar Pirate Fleet · flagship

This was a T2 Gray Shark-class Medium Interstellar Cruiser. Looking at the bullet holes and patched marks on the hull, one could clearly see the ‘history’ of this Starship.

A burly man with a full beard was half-reclining in the captain's chair, his feet propped directly on the console in front of him.

“Damn it, I’ve been waiting here for two months. If it weren’t for those guys being sensible and sending some women over.

I wouldn’t be willing to wait here for nothing!” The one complaining was the captain of this Interstellar Pirate fleet. They called themselves the Three-Claw Snake Interstellar Pirates.

On their hull, there was a Starship emblem of a three-clawed snake.

At this moment, another Skinny Lieutenant walked out from a nearby room, pulling up his pants. From the room behind him, one could hear the pleas and cries of women.

“These women are all as thin as bones, they’re done after a few tosses. It’s boring; it’s still more fun with those noble young ladies.

If you ask me, we should just directly attack the nobles of this Star System!” The Skinny Lieutenant said, still unsatisfied.

The bearded captain glanced at the Skinny Lieutenant, who was his aide.

“Although the fleet of this broken Star System isn’t strong, don’t forget who invited us here; if we really move against this Star System, we won’t be able to handle the consequences.

Just honestly earn this commission and don’t stir up trouble.” The bearded captain said.

The Skinny Lieutenant picked his nose: “We can not plunder these planets, but we can extort a bit more on the commission, after all, our dozens of Starships here can’t wait for two months for nothing, can they?”

The bearded captain smirked, holding up three fingers and saying: “I’ve considered this. When they tell us to act, we’ll demand a 30% increase in commission!”

The Skinny Lieutenant gave a thumbs up: “As expected of our boss, so calculating!”

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

Just then, a communication request appeared.

“Looks like, work’s here.” The bearded captain chuckled as he clicked on the video communication.

A middle-aged man appeared on the other side. He recognized this middle-aged man.

He was the patriarch of the Bao Family in this Xiaolong Star System.

“Patriarch Bao, if you didn’t come looking for me, I was about to come looking for you. My brothers here have been waiting for over two months, and they’re all itching to go.” The bearded patriarch said, sounding displeased.

Patriarch Bao said sternly: “Didn’t we send you a batch of women and food every month?

Alright, let’s talk business. The target has already appeared, but they just sent a message, temporarily changing their itinerary and not returning to their home planet.

They will make an appearance as a lord on a planet called Dragon Tail Star on the outskirts of a Star System, stay for one day, and then leave to return to the North Star Starship Military Academy.

So, our combat plan needs to be modified.

You are to depart immediately and eliminate the target near Dragon Tail Star!

The other side only has one Starship, I think you should be more than enough.”

The bearded leader scratched his foot and said, “Modifying the combat plan is no problem, after all, they are all in one Star System, and it’s only a matter of a few hours to get there.

But we’ve been delayed for over two months.

Patriarch Bao, you must know how much business these two months have cost my brothers.

You have to calculate this time cost with us, otherwise, it’s not easy for me to explain to my brothers, is it?”

Patriarch Bao heard the other party's intention to extort money and secretly cursed them as a bunch of Interstellar hooligans.

He knew these people usually wouldn't get such a job for a year or even half a year.

And two months delaying how much business? They were just bragging.

However, the most important thing at the moment was to deal with that useless baron.

“Name your price.” Patriarch Bao said coldly.

The bearded captain held up three fingers: “A 30% increase in commission, no bargaining.”

Patriarch Bao’s mouth twitched, but he finally suppressed his anger: “Alright! I’ll transfer it to you as soon as the job is done!”

“Excellent, I like straightforward people like you. Give us the coordinates, and my brothers will go take care of this baron.” The bearded captain put down his feet, adopting a serious posture.

“I’ll send you the coordinates immediately. Remember, send us a message as soon as the operation is complete.” Patriarch Bao reminded him.

“No problem, we are professional at what we do!” The bearded captain said confidently.

Subsequently, the bearded captain received the coordinates.

He immediately arranged for his Interstellar Pirate fleet to depart, confirmed the coordinates, and entered warp speed mode.

Due to the presence of T1 Starships, and considering the uniformity of the fleet's speed, the T2 Starships deliberately lowered their speed.

The entire journey took approximately six hours.

When the bearded captain woke from the hibernation pod, he immediately ordered battle preparations and simultaneously searched for the target.

In fact, there was no need to search for the target, because when they activated the Starship radar.

They detected a lone Starship hovering next to the Dragon Tail Star, as if a prey was waiting for its hunter.

“Captain, our target, the Baron’s Blizzard Zero, is twenty minutes away from our current position!” The Skinny Lieutenant said excitedly.

The bearded captain grinned sinisterly and said, “The game has begun, Baron.”

At the same time, the Baron on the Blizzard Zero finally awaited his prey.