The Falcon Spaceship was still launching its attacks. Snowball shells were fired out one after another. The Swordfish Spaceship in front of them was no longer an agile and slippery fish. It was about to become a dead fish.
It was a good thing to be a dead fish. The spaceship was now a fireball in its final flight.
Baines stared at the map. "Keep a close eye on it. Shoot any suspicious spaceship that appears."
The blonde lady pointed at the screen. "Officer Baines, a miniature spaceship is coming out. It must be an escape pod."
The radar wouldn't lie. On the three-dimensional map, the red cursor representing the swordfish was flickering at a very fast frequency. This was a sign that it was about to explode. At this moment, a tiny dot flew out from the cursor, flashing with a weak yellow light. If one didn't look carefully, it would be hard to notice.
Baines said, "Zoom in."
The image quickly zoomed in. It was a UK-type escape pod. From the outside, it looked like a spherical spaceship. The alloy on the surface of the escape pod was extremely hard. Even if it collided at high speed, it would not break. It was very suitable for escape.
Baines finally smiled, but he only spat out one word coldly. "Kill!"
The blonde lady smiled too. Since they were on the escape pod, there was no use for a hacker like you. She quickly connected the control system to the international space network and switched the shooting mode to automatic aiming.
This time, the four turrets opened fire at the same time. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Electrical particles covered the sky, completely forming a cylindrical trajectory that surrounded the escape pod.
This situation was like a heavy downpour on the ground. No matter what was inside, there was no way you could avoid it.
As the electrical particles covered the escape pod, the alloy steel plate on the surface of the escape pod was immediately hit with a "ping ping ping ping ping" sound. But as the spaceship continued to increase its firepower, the steel plate began to burn and soon melted. And then … there was no "and then". The escape pod was reduced to nothing under the fiery red cylindrical firepower.
The system's voice sounded. "Warning, warning, hull damage is 76.89%. All units, please evacuate immediately. All units, please evacuate immediately …"
The interior of the Swordfish had turned into a sea of fire. Ding Meng and the sloppy man were facing rows upon rows of neatly arranged hibernation cabins. The white cabins were connected together, giving off the feeling of a graveyard.
Ding Meng casually opened the hatch of one of the cabins, then turned around and said, "Before I leave, I want to ask you a question."
The sloppy man asked, "What is it?"
Ding Meng stared at him. "I still don't know your name."
The sloppy man revealed a self-deprecating smile. "I'm afraid the two of us are doomed in the end. What's the point of knowing?"
"I must know."
Ding Meng sounded very determined. "Even if I'm going to die in the end, I want to know the name of the person who saved me."
Looking at his serious eyes, the sloppy man smiled again. This time, it was a very gentle smile. "You don't owe me anything. If it weren't for that steak, I would've starved to death. That was the best steak I've ever had."
Ding Meng nodded. "You're also the best pilot I've ever seen. But like I said, I must know."
"You're a very special guy."
The sloppy man sighed. "If you must know, I can tell you. My name is Xin Jie. Xin as in hard work, Jie as in hero."
"Xin Jie, Xin Jie …" Ding Meng repeated the name five or six times before he looked up. "Xin Jie, thank you."
Xin Jie smiled. "You're welcome. We're about to die."
Ding Meng said, "Alright, let's go together."
After that, the two of them entered the hibernation cabins. The hatch quickly closed, and the system began the countdown. "Loading the cabins. Prepare to launch. 10, 9, 8, 7 …"
At the same time, in the imperial fleet, the adjutant pointed at the detection screen and said, "Sir, that transport ship is probably done for this time."
The officer nodded. He could already see that in the deep and eternal space, the transport ship was exploding violently. The hull of the ship had completely turned into a bright white fireball. All sorts of metal wreckage floated out from within. It was obvious that the ship was disintegrating. Finally, the fireball slowly disappeared, and space returned to darkness.
However, in the depths of the darkness, a black carrier that resembled a missile was opening. The outer metal plates kept falling off, and one by one, the white hibernation cabins were ejected in all directions, flying into the endless depths of space.
Baines and the others could not see this hidden image, but it could not escape the detection of the leading ship's advanced radar. The officer was already giving orders. "Send out three jellyfish aircraft to search. Check the wreckage and confirm their identities. Teams 6, 9, and 12, prepare to depart. If you find any survivors, bring them back immediately. Team 1, set out. Check the nearby area and see if you can find anything valuable …"
The adjutant walked up. "Sir, what about the pirate ship?"
The officer glanced at the screen. The Falcon Spaceship was turning. His tone was very calm. "No matter who they are, bring them back."
What he meant by 'bring them back' was: no matter if they were dead or alive, even if they were just bones, they had to bring them back. Only then would they be able to answer to their superiors.
As soon as he gave the order, two blue dots in the imperial fleet immediately left the formation and flew in the direction that Baines and the others had escaped.
Of course, they were not real blue dots. They were completely blue 'Skywalker Assault Spaceships'. This kind of spaceship looked like a sharp bullet head, with eight wings spread out at the back. It had a high-power ion engine and a variety of weapons systems. It was one of the sharpest spaceships in space battles.
The Skywalkers on the Falcon Spaceship were like a father beating his son. It was just like how the blonde woman fought with Ding Meng and the others. You could only defend, but you couldn't fight back at all.
On the other side of the space, three jellyfish spaceships also flew out of the fleet. This type of spaceship was exactly like its name, it looked exactly like a jellyfish. The three spaceships formed a triangle and kept spreading out circular ripples. This was actually a search and rescue force field. It sucked in all the tiny dust particles, escape pods, and debris from the explosion nearby. Then the mecha teams on the spaceships would fly down and check carefully. The useful things would be brought back, and the useless things would be taken care of by the cleaning team.
Once the cleaning was done, the area would be like nothing had happened. The other spaceships that passed by would not be able to find any traces.
While the officer was watching the 'cat and mouse' game between the Skywalkers and the Falcon Spaceships on the screen, the adjutant walked over again. "Sir, we found two survivors among the thousands of hibernation pods. What should we do with them?"
The officer's eyes lit up. "Oh?"
The adjutant hesitated. "According to the rules, we can follow the standard procedure."
"Wait!" The officer waved his hand to stop him. "Bring these two people to the connecting cabin. I'll go down and take a look."