After destroying the pirate ship, only twenty-five of the original thirty fighter jets remained—five had been reduced to space debris by the pirate ship's close-in weapon systems. The rest maintained routine patrols, forming a protective perimeter around the cargo spaceship.
Liu Hai was speechless upon learning that some pirates had infiltrated the cargo spaceship. He currently had no landing craft to transport personnel aboard, as he had never anticipated engaging in boarding tactics before.
"Mr. Liu Hai, please dispatch armed forces immediately to help us eliminate the pirates. We only have two security teams defending against their assault, and we're struggling to hold our ground," pleaded Zhang Xiuhe, the buyer, through the communication hologram. But Liu Hai was helpless—even if he started manufacturing landing crafts now, it would take at least an hour.
"My apologies, Mr. Zhang. We don't have any landing crafts or shuttles prepared, so we can't deploy security teams to your ship," Liu Hai admitted frankly, spreading his hands.
"But there is one! Didn't your employees just use a landing craft to inspect the goods? They can take that one. I've already instructed them to head to your base," Zhang Xiuhe quickly suggested.
Liu Hai was aware of that landing craft, but traveling from the smuggling port to the factory base on the opposite side of Garbage Star would take half an hour even at top speed. Then another half hour to ferry personnel to the cargo spaceship—by then, over an hour would have passed, giving the pirates ample time to capture them.
"I need to know how long you can hold out. If necessary, evacuate via the escape pods. With my fighter squadron covering you, your safety won't be an issue," Liu Hai urged, hoping to persuade them to abandon ship.
"We can't! The pirates have blocked access to the escape pods," Zhang Xiuhe replied with a grimace. "But we should be able to hold for an hour. The pirates boarded hastily and only have the weapons carried by their exoskeleton armor, so they're only slightly better equipped than us."
After ordering two clone soldier squads to prepare for deployment, Liu Hai had Zhang Xiuhe relay the battle inside the cargo spaceship.
Through the hologram, Liu Hai watched as both sides exchanged furious fire in the ship's corridors. Most of the mechanical equipment lining the passageways had been destroyed. Laser particle beams and electromagnetic cannons crisscrossed the metallic hallways, melting alloy walls into crimson patches and sending molten metal streaming across the surfaces.
The firepower between the two sides appeared evenly matched, but the pirates—seasoned from countless boarding tactics during raids—outclassed Zhang Xiuhe's security team in combat experience, allowing them to maintain the offensive.
The pirates pressed forward aggressively, attempting to seize the control room and take Zhang Xiuhe's group hostage to bargain for their escape.
After observing for a while, Liu Hai noticed something peculiar and asked, "Is this corridor located along the sides of the ship?"
Zhang Xiuhe promptly sent over the ship's structural layout, highlighting the two passageways and the positions of both friendlies and enemies in red: "The central section of the ship is the cargo hold area. The pirates also entered the ship from the cargo hold. They immediately seized one end of the passageway and, before we could react, blocked the escape pod corridor, trapping us inside the ship."
"Truly worthy of being space pirates with over a dozen ships under their command. Their knowledge of various cargo spaceship structures is probably second only to the shipbuilding companies themselves. To react and execute so swiftly under these circumstances—their leader is quite capable!"
After reviewing the ship's layout, Liu Hai couldn't help but marvel. Indeed, every profession has its talents. Years of plundering experience had given these pirates an intimate understanding of the structures of various cargo ship models, allowing them to swiftly take control of key positions upon boarding.
"Can you still control the ship now? Have everyone suit up in exoskeleton armor or spacesuits, secure themselves, and then open the spaceship portholes. I can have the fighter jet squadron eliminate some of the pirates from the outside. This will reduce your pressure and buy you more time."
Hearing Liu Hai's suggestion, the people around Zhang Xiuhe immediately brightened. They quickly donned their protective gear, evacuated the air from the ship, and then opened the portholes.
Liu Hai relayed the ship's information to the fighter jet squadron, with the pirates' positions marked in red on the fighters' radars—like playing a shooter game with wallhacks enabled.
Under the coordination of their respective squadron leaders, each fighter jet took its position, with autocannons charging and locking onto targets.
The moment the portholes opened, the pirates were momentarily blinded by the sudden influx of starlight. Zhang Xiuhe then deactivated the ship's artificial gravity field, causing several pirates who failed to react in time—and hadn't activated their armor's magnetic grips—to float helplessly in zero gravity.
Over twenty fighter jets opened fire simultaneously. Crimson high-energy lasers pierced through the cargo ship's outer metal plating in half a second, penetrating the pirates marked as targets. The molten metal from their exoskeleton armor seeped into their wounds, and the vacuum of space caused severe bleeding once the lasers ceased. Even those who weren't killed outright were rendered combat-ineffective.
With over twenty pirate combatants eliminated in one strike, Zhang Xiuhe cheered. The remaining fewer than twenty pirates no longer posed a lethal threat to those in the control room.
Having learned their lesson, the surviving pirates retreated from the outer walls, taking cover deeper inside the ship. They even stacked cargo hold metal plates as makeshift barriers, preventing the fighter squadron from striking again—after all, firing missiles at the ship itself wasn't an option.
After this devastating blow, the pirates quieted down, focusing on treating their wounded while ransacking the cargo hold for anything usable.
Had they pulled this stunt after the cargo exchange—when they'd have access to numerous fighter mechs—Liu Hai would have been powerless against them.
Unfortunately for the pirates, the cargo hold currently only contained the hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of assorted metal raw materials meant for trade with Liu Hai. There were no other devices or equipment, and the only weapons and gear were in the hands of the security team near the control room.
With no worries left, Zhang Xiuhe even dispatched repair robots to the rear engine section to begin fixing the engines and the freighter's outer hull, waiting only for the landing craft to deliver the clone soldier squad to thoroughly eliminate these pirates and commence the trade.
For Zhang Xiuhe and his team, although this transaction had its twists and turns, they also witnessed part of Liu Hai's strength—at least in terms of armed forces, the quality was excellent. Whether it was the fighter jets or the orbital turrets, their firepower was well above standard.
The performance of the fighter jets, in particular, stood out. This model was one they had purchased themselves, and seeing thirty fighter jets destroy seven pirate spaceships while losing only five of their own was impressive. Moreover, the penetrating power of the fighter jets' firepower was exceptional, already on par with the third-generation Thunder God fighters from Thor Corporation.
Originally, Zhang Xiuhe and his team had considered spending extra on modifications to arm the fighter mechs, but now they felt they could save that money to purchase more equipment instead.