In the boundless deep space, a series of pitch-black starships were sailing toward the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars along a nearly straight trajectory.
The destination of the voyage was Ceres.
The target was the pirate space base about 0.03 astronomical units away from Ceres!
Speaking of space pirates active in the asteroid belt, they had a long history.
As early as the first attack on the Starlight cargo ship in the 1950s, the term air pirates entered people's vision through the news media.
With the continuous expansion of the aerospace industry, mining in the asteroid belt gradually became a low-cost and profitable industry, leading to a large number of spacecraft moving from the Earth-Moon system to the asteroid belt.
Everyone hoped to become rich overnight, to excavate a large pile of gold or precious metals that were more valuable than gold from 500,000 asteroids and hundreds of millions of meteorite fragments. Driven by this extreme desire for wealth, a group of lawbreakers who desired to reap without sowing and were willing to take risks were naturally born.
Taking advantage of the lack of laws on the asteroid belt and the limited binding force of various countries on this area, they modified the spacecraft they purchased or rented and attacked other civilian mining ships or mining stations, becoming a headache for the governments and regional alliances of various countries.
The complex asteroid environment made it difficult for large starships to be stationed in this area for a long time, and if it was only a small ship or space base, it was difficult to ensure the scale advantage of the regular army on the battlefield.
If they were deployed separately, those military facilities would become easy targets for those air pirates. If they were deployed centrally, although they could ensure combat effectiveness, they were basically useless in the face of a battlefield with a width of more than one billion kilometers and limited visibility.
After all, those air pirates couldn't always be expected to hit the steel plate with their heads and drill into the cage.
In contrast, the pirates who wandered between the asteroid belt and Mars could rely on small ships and smuggled firearms to make a living.
On the one hand, this was because the complex social environment of Mars provided the soil for air pirates active in the asteroid belt to thrive, and on the other hand, it was because of the connivance of some regimes or regional alliances.
After all, goods snatched from competitors were always cheaper than goods entering the market through normal channels. Not to mention that they could also limit the development of competitors and digest their excess firearms.
Although the Pan-Asian Cooperation would send a fleet every once in a while to carry out a concentrated cleanup of the asteroid belt in a certain area, the results were not very good.
Firstly, there would always be information leaked in advance, and secondly, the cost of sending a fleet to the asteroid belt to carry out a mission was just too high.
Take this operation as an example. As the command ship, the Huashan was the lightest mothership in the Pan-Asian Space Force. The two cruisers and five destroyers escorting it were also the lightest of the same type.
Even so, as long as they entered the range of the asteroid belt, they would not be able to escape. The cost of this war was destined to be an exorbitant figure …
"Send aircrafts to investigate the nearby airspace. Destroyers on guard. Open the magazines of the cruisers and use EMP bombs. If any abnormal targets approach, lock on and attack."
"Yes!"
The edge of the asteroid belt was getting closer and closer.
On the bridge.
Following the commander's order, twelve carrier-based drones were launched from the Huashan aircraft carrier. Like silver-white bullets, they plunged into the interior of the asteroid belt.
Although most of the space pirates were outdated and it was difficult for them to pose a substantial threat to the regular army of any regional alliance on the battlefield, they would usually use the terrain advantage to deal with the regular army.
For example, they would install nuclear warheads inside some asteroids with relatively stable orbits and wait for the regular army's warships to detonate the nuclear bombs and damage the hull through the high-temperature meteorites.
Another example would be cruise missiles hidden behind meteorites, drones carrying explosives or anti-armor weapons, and even small attack ships with a bunch of loose weapons.
While these space pirates threatened the mining stations in the nearby area, they could always cause trouble for the regular army's ships in unexpected places.
The job of these spaceships was to investigate the nearby battlefield environment, clear the traps left by the space pirates, and lock onto those potential threats …
Inside the bridge.
The commander stared intently at the holographic three-dimensional star map floating on the command table. He couldn't help but frown slightly.
Almost half an hour had passed since the aircrafts were sent out, but there were still no traces of mines or automatic weapons in this area.
Years of experience with space pirates told him that this group of space pirates might be a bit unusual.
"Report, there is news from the reconnaissance ship ahead that an unknown space station has been found near 0.03 astronomical units of Ceres."
The commander immediately ordered after hearing the report from his subordinates.
"Model the scanned data."
"Yes, sir!"
A light blue image appeared on the command table. A space station constructed by a three-dimensional holographic grid quickly appeared in front of everyone.
Like most civilian mining stations, this space station was embedded on a small asteroid and occupied a quarter of the asteroid's volume.
Due to the high content of metal mineral deposits in the nearby area, it formed a natural "electromagnetic wave black hole". If one didn't look closely, it would be impossible to discover the existence of this space station.
Staring at the space station, the military adviser standing next to the command table frowned and spoke.
"This is weird."
Usually, when their spaceships got close to this position, the space pirates hiding in the space station would definitely react, not to mention the intense exchange of fire between the two sides.
However, the situation now was that the entire space station and the nearby airspace were quiet, and only one base was located there.
"It's quite strange." The commander nodded. A dignified expression appeared in his eyes as he said to himself, "We dispatched such a large fleet, it's impossible for them to not react at all. Even if the radar is broken, they should be able to detect it by visual observation alone. "
"Could it be that they just went out to hunt?"
"It doesn't look like it. My intuition tells me that the things hidden inside are probably not simple."
After saying this, the commander pondered for a while before giving an order.
"Prepare to send ground forces.
"No matter what is inside, we will know once we go in and see."
Land Warfare Adviser: "Should we launch infrasonic missiles?"
"No, there are no weapons observed on the surface of the space station. The armed forces inside should not be very strong. This operation is different from the past. We need a few prisoners. "The commander looked at the holographic image on the command table. He calmed down and said in a serious tone," The Third Orbital Airborne Brigade, prepare! Send out three assault teams and prepare to attack! "
The moment the order was issued, six long shuttle-shaped landing craft launched from the mothership. They formed two parallel triangular formations, one at the front and one at the back, and followed a straight trajectory toward the space station.
Although it was an attack, it didn't mean that they were going to use flesh and blood.
The first three landing ships hit the outer shell of the space station first. After a series of bursting sparks splashed, a metal jet gushed into the space station, venting a round of suppressive firepower on the facilities and personnel inside.
More than a dozen pneumatic drones were released from the three landing ships and broke into the space station through the gap in the outer layer. They quickly occupied the favorable terrain inside the space station and fed back the situation of the battlefield to the commandos on the three landing ships and the AI battlefield analysis system on the mothership.
Then there was another round of steel collisions.
The last three landing ships crashed into the space station from three different angles like three nails. As the hatch opened, the three teams of commandos attacked the space station from three directions. They cooperated with the drones released first and launched an attack on the space station.
However …
Something unexpected happened.
The captain, who broke into the core area of the space station with a rifle, looked around vigilantly. He finally lowered the muzzle in his hand and complained angrily.
"What the hell is the command center doing …"
The control room was quiet. Other than the sound of the current running of the chassis, there was no other noise. Judging from the working ventilation system, this space station should have been inhabited before, and judging from the balance of living supplies, those people should have lived here for a long time.
However, not to mention air pirates.
There was not a single living person here …
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