Chapter 1 The Affairs of the Frontier

The right to handle affairs in this border area has always been vague. If DarkStar were to appear in the official territory of the two civilizations, they would definitely be warned and expelled. However, due to the sensitivity of this area, neither fleet acted rashly.

Stoneshield Border Defense Force, Third Squadron Command Ship, Gleam.

The atmosphere was solemn, filled with tension. DarkStar was notorious, and Black Raven had a tense relationship with them. Siwardi, the commander of the Third Squadron, said with a serious face, "Full squadron, level one alert, standby."

At this moment, the Gleam received a message from the DarkStar mothership. Sarota stated his intentions, emphasizing that DarkStar had no intention of offending Stoneshield or Black Raven, but was merely carrying out a capture operation, targeting some mercenaries. Once the mission was completed, they would leave immediately.

Siwardi's tense face relaxed slightly. Without hesitation, he said, "Reply to them that Stoneshield will not interfere with DarkStar's actions, but during this period, DarkStar is not allowed to take any suspicious actions. We will monitor here and hope they leave as soon as possible."

Siwardi was unwilling to start a fight for many reasons. The first, of course, was that he didn't want to provoke DarkStar. The entire Shattered Star Ring knew about DarkStar's history of conflict with Godora. No one wanted to wade into the muddy waters. The most terrifying thing about DarkStar was its elusiveness. If they couldn't win, they could run, and their subsequent revenge would cause heavy losses in minutes. Second, if they opened fire, it would easily cause misunderstandings with Black Raven, turning into a mixed battle and igniting a border conflict. If the military court ruled that they had deliberately provoked war, the punishment would be severe.

Due to border disputes, the relationship between the two civilizations was very tense, with everyone on edge. The political system of the Stoneshield Civilization was an empire, ruled by royalty and nobles. The political institutions were complex, and decision-making efficiency was generally low. They disliked war and were good at diplomatic mediation. Whether in terms of resources, connections, or combat power, they were slightly better than Black Raven. However, because the Black Raven Civilization had limited innate resources, its development process was arduous, so it developed a tenacious spirit and a high degree of collectivism, with a military centralized system and high execution efficiency. Even if its national strength was not as good as Stoneshield, Stoneshield could do nothing about it. A large-scale war would definitely result in mutual destruction, and both sides were willing to control the scale of conflict.

Therefore, what Siwardi feared was not only DarkStar, but also the risk of causing misunderstandings. The risk was too great. He was afraid of hurting the rat by throwing something at the vase.

The most important reason for Siwardi's decision to stand idly by was that DarkStar's target was just a group of mercenaries, unimportant passers-by. If they were not citizens of their respective civilizations, the two armies would not go to war over them. Seeing that the Black Raven army was also standing by, Siwardi knew that the other commander had made a tacit decision—not to interfere, but to be on guard and monitor from the side.

After all, for the two civilizations, the lives of those mercenaries were irrelevant, like a drop of water in the ocean, insignificant.

So, the hastily arrived fleet watched silently. Siwardi waved his hand and ordered his subordinates to scout the targets fleeing on the planet.

"Oh, so they are members of three large mercenary groups. Their backers are quite strong, but it's a pity they provoked DarkStar."

Seeing the observation report, Siwardi was slightly surprised, then shook his head and said, "It's best to be caught quickly, so that DarkStar can leave sooner…"

From the perspective of his own interests, he would rather the mercenaries surrender and not let him have long nights and many dreams.

The same scene was also happening on the Black Raven Civilization's command ship.

On the other side, the DarkStar mothership received a reply. Sarota's expression did not change, as if it was as expected, confident that the two sides would not attack.

...

In another area of the planet, the Blade spaceship was being hunted down by many floating warships, and the situation was precarious. The shield was riddled with holes, and the repair speed could not keep up with the speed of destruction. The urgent system alarm made the Blade mercenaries' nerves tense.

"Faster, faster." Port muttered to himself, covered in sweat. When the situation got worse and worse, he squeezed out the original pilot and personally controlled the spaceship, but the situation did not improve.

Suddenly, a laser exploded on the shield.

Bang!

The shield flickered twice, reached its limit, and disappeared all at once.

Everyone on board froze, and Port's face changed drastically.

Without a shield, the hull was unprotected. If they were focused on again, the spaceship would definitely crash.

Boom boom boom!

Just as the floating warship fleet was about to fire the next wave of laser rain, a series of light cannons shot out diagonally, hitting the formation and causing a series of explosions.

The floating warship fleet was caught off guard and hurriedly dodged, and the accuracy of their attacks was completely off, barely missing the Blade spaceship.

In the distance, the Heavenly Ring spaceship was speeding over, followed by a chasing force. It was Han Xiao who had detoured back and rescued his teammates in a hurry. The chasing force was no pressure to him. He led them around in circles. With this as a premise, Han Xiao tried his best to support his teammates.

The existence of teammates could share the firepower. The longer the teammates persisted, the less pressure he would face.

Han Xiao stopped the enemy for a moment, then immediately turned around and ran away. The Blade spaceship's shield took the opportunity to recover. Port almost collapsed, with a look of relief on his face. "That was dangerous. We almost died."

At this moment, Han Xiao sent a message, contacting the other two ships, "Don't run around blindly. You can't deal with the pursuit alone. I'll send you the route. Even if you split up, don't be too far apart. I'll provide support from time to time to form a joint operation."

"Why did you switch to driving the ship?" Port asked in surprise.

"We're all relieved when he drives the ship."

Goya's voice came from the side. Port looked over and was immediately shocked. He saw that the lower bodies of all the mercenaries in the Heavenly Ring's cabin were frozen in solid ice, firmly fixed to the deck, like half-body ice sculptures. It was Goya who was using magic to help everyone stand firm.

It didn't look like they were relieved at all!

Port's eyelids twitched wildly.

However, Han Xiao's suggestion was fine and received unanimous approval. The Blade and Purple Gold teams agreed to carry out Han Xiao's plan, quickly changed their routes, and maintained contact between the three companies. Once in a dangerous situation, Han Xiao would turn around to provide support.

He had solved the urgent needs several times in a row and was a true interstellar teammate. The other ships also recognized Han Xiao's driving skills and were amazed. They were immediately convinced.

Han Xiao temporarily stabilized the situation. The three ships, carrying hundreds of floating warships, were running around on the planet. Half an hour passed, and the floating warship fleet could not catch up for a long time, and the situation was deadlocked.

On the DarkStar mothership, Sarota looked impatient.

"How come you haven't caught them yet with more than three hundred floating warships dealing with three ships?"

The original plan was to end the battle in ten minutes and then retreat quickly. Sarota was very dissatisfied with the current situation. He stared at the Heavenly Ring spaceship on the screen with unkind eyes.

"It's all because the driver of this ship is too skilled that it has delayed the time… Send more medium-sized combat ships to surround this area and cut off their escape routes."

The order was issued, and more warships detached from the DarkStar mothership and sailed towards the planet in droves.

In the distance, on the bridge of the Gleam, Siwardi was a little surprised to see this scene.

"Faced with DarkStar's pursuit and trapped on the planet, those three small spaceships have been able to delay for half an hour. Not only have they not been caught, but they have also forced DarkStar to send reinforcements…"

"But, if this continues, the time will only get longer and longer…"

...

Through the spaceship porthole, everyone saw the DarkStar mothership suspended in the outer space acting, and more warships were landing on the surface.

"Not good, DarkStar is sending reinforcements!" the pilot operating the weapon exclaimed.

"It's bound to happen sooner or later. Don't be surprised."

Han Xiao glanced out the window, not surprised at all. He had expected it. His eyes flashed.

'They're already sending reinforcements after only half an hour. DarkStar's speed of changing tactics is faster than I thought. In game terms, it means that the interval of the difficulty stage change of this mission is very short. How am I going to drag it out these two days…'

Han Xiao was helpless. It seemed pretty safe to drive the spaceship at the moment, but he was still dancing on the tip of a knife. When DarkStar completely lost its patience and didn't care about the loss of resources, they would make a big move, such as forming an encirclement, and then there would be nowhere to escape. After all, driving skills have a limit. He was driving only a small spaceship, not an interstellar mech.

He calmed himself down and decided to implement the next phase of the plan. However, at this moment, the three spaceships received the same message.

"This is the Third Squadron of the Stoneshield Border Defense Force. We have received your distress signal and have arrived near the planet. We hope you will gather at the coordinate point. At that time, we will pick you up and provide protection."

Accompanying the message was the location of the coordinate point, not far from here. This message was like a shot in the arm, and everyone's spirits were lifted.

"Stoneshield is willing to lend a helping hand. We're saved."

All the mercenaries on the three ships looked surprised.

Han Xiao frowned. After thinking about it, he immediately poured cold water on everyone.

"I think there's something strange…"