Chapter 26: Humiliation

25. Humiliation

"Boss, it looks like they're out for blood!" Onboard the three bounty hunter ships, one man looked at the massive mothership before them with fear. "A ship that big could crush us with a flick of a finger!"

"You coward, look closer! A ship that large has no visible turrets, understand? This is a damn civilian vessel! What good is size?" their leader barked.

"But they must be carrying fighters inside!"

"That's why we don't fly toward their ship. See the mining station over by the Endo gas planet? We'll head there and test their mettle. If they're truly formidable, we'll just use the mining station as a shield and run!" the leader said.

"Hahahaha! Exactly! If they're just a bunch of useless security personnel, we'll make a killing on this trip!" another man added with a manic laugh.

"But... Master Duke only told us to come and scout..."

"Why are you so talkative? Stupid as a Bansa! Master Duke told us to scout, so naturally, we're going to scout if these people have any money! Hahahaha!"

"Hahaha! Right! Let's go, time to feast!!"

The three ships began to accelerate, charging toward the interstellar mining station like three hungry wolves!

"Hahahaha!!" Amidst the bounty hunters' mad laughter, two G-9 light freighters and one GX-1 transport ship tore toward the mining station built by the Fourth Civilization on the outskirts of the Endo gas giant!

A returning mining vessel, unable to dodge in time, was instantly struck by a barrage of intense laser fire. With almost no protection, the mining ship was instantly blown into a fireball!

Almost simultaneously, the massive hangar platform in the center of the mothership deployed, and four squadrons of Blade-class fighters poured out in succession. The mothership's hangar was large enough to launch cruisers directly, so these fighters didn't even need to queue for takeoff.

A total of 48 fighters from the four squadrons flew toward the threatened mining station.

"Boss! They're coming!"

"They're just light fighters! What's there to fear? We'll take down a few, then we make our escape." The bounty hunter leader was incredibly fierce; even in a retreat, he intended to take several others down with him.

In many parts of the galaxy, bounty hunters and interstellar pirates were often indistinguishable; it simply depended on what kind of job you were doing at the moment.

Especially in the Outer Rim of the galaxy, where the Republic had no jurisdiction, it was a lawless wasteland.

The G-9 freighters had been modified with two additional turrets at the rear of their cargo holds. As the Fourth Civilization's Blade-class fighters approached, the turrets began to rotate and opened fire!

Bolts of energy streaked out like red meteors. The Blade-class fighters immediately formed up; each squadron of twelve planes split further into small flights of four.

From a great distance, the fighters began their engagement. Two six-barreled electromagnetic autocannons spat bursts of flame, raining down countless rounds of electricity like a torrential downpour upon the targets.

However, at such a distance, these rounds could not hit effectively. Even when a few bullets struck the bounty hunters' ships, they were completely blocked by deflector shields.

The firepower of the two modified G-9 freighters, however, was much more ferocious. Their continuous energy bolts soon struck a Blade-class fighter. A fighter without energy shields had no chance of survival; the energy bolts tore through the fragile hull, and the fighter was blown into a fireball in a series of sympathetic detonations.

At that moment, the larger GX-1 transport turned around as well. This transport, nearly 40 meters long, had been modified with more laser turrets, instantly destroying any approaching Blade-class fighters without any struggle.

The two sides quickly closed the distance into close-quarters combat, but the result of the battle remained hopeless!

The bounty hunters' ships were larger, faster, possessed stronger firepower, and their shields were nearly indestructible. The Blade-class fighters, equipped only with basic electromagnetic autocannons, could not even deal effective damage to them.

Among the four squadrons, only one was equipped with infrared laser weapons. Only the attacks from these fighters caused visible ripples in the bounty hunters' shields.

However, compared to laser weapons that required continuous irradiation, energy weapons that caused explosions upon impact were clearly superior—not to mention the unresolved issue of the Blade-class fighters' low power output.

Even with a numerical advantage of 48 to 3, the Blade-class fighters were being shot down one by one. Yet, the remaining fighters continued to charge like moths to a flame, launching relentless attacks.

"Hahahaha! Boss! Their fighters are pathetic! Hahahaha!!" The bounty hunter who had been timid moments ago burst into laughter upon seeing how weak the opponents were.

"Hmph! So they're just all show and no substance! Come! Show them what we're made of! Today, we're going to make them fill our cargo holds with their money!" the leader said, his eyes gleaming with malice.

Realizing the gap between the two sides, the three bounty hunter ships became even more violent. They stopped maintaining formation, relying on their deflector shields to ram through the Fourth Civilization's fleet.

In the mothership's command center, Qi Jian watched the fighter icons turn red and vanish from the screen, his fists clenched and his body trembling.

"Commander! Our fighters are no match for them! The performance gap is too large!" the adjutant beside him shouted, his eyes bloodshot.

*Bang!* Qi Jian slammed his fist onto the table so hard that even the holographic projection shuddered. "Tell the pilots to stall for as long as possible. Draw the combat toward the mothership, into its close-range firepower zone. They can't break the mothership's shields. If necessary, we will temporarily abandon the mining field!"

Turning to Clement, he added, "Also, notify the engineering department to switch to infrared laser weapons as soon as possible. It will give our fighters at least some ability to resist!"

Clement nodded silently.

Guan Yan, Feng Yongwang, and the others from the research department had also arrived on the bridge upon hearing of the battle. They had originally intended to observe the performance comparison of the fighters to gather combat data, but the results were shocking!

"Do you understand?" Feng Yongwang said flatly. "Go back to work."

With that, he left the bridge. His steps were somewhat unsteady; he didn't even notice when he bumped into a potted plant.

Seeing this, the others in the research department said nothing and left the bridge one by one to return to their research posts. They swore to work tirelessly, to complete the analysis of more technologies as quickly as possible! Whether it was Ghost fighters or light frigates, they needed more and stronger ships!

To ensure that today's humiliation would never be repeated! To ensure their warriors would never again have to fight a desperate battle in fighters that were an entire era behind.

[Easter Egg Chapter Figure 1: G-9 Light Freighter]

[Easter Egg Chapter Figure 1: GX-1 Short-range Freighter]

Thanks to Ying Xiaolong for the 1500 Qidian coins!! Thanks to Zi Yue丶Yin for the 100 Qidian coins!!

(End of Chapter)