Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

A pitch-black starship is sailing along a straight path towards the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars in a deep, unbridled sky.

The end of the voyage is Valley Divine Star.

The target, on the other hand, is a pirate space base approximately 0.03 astronomical units from Valley Divine Star!

Speaking of air thieves active on asteroid belts, it's a long history.

As far back as the 1950s, after the first Starfleet attacks, the term "air thief" entered people's horizons through the media.

As the space industry continues to expand, asteroid belt mining has become a low-cost and highly profitable industry, resulting in the movement of a large number of spacecraft from the Earth's moon system to the asteroid belt.

Everyone expects to be wealthy overnight, unearthed from half a million asteroids and hundreds of millions of meteorite fragments, or precious metals that are more expensive than gold, and driven by this extreme desire for wealth, naturally a group of outlaws are born eager to get away with it and risk it at all costs.

By virtue of the legal gaps in the asteroid belt and the limited binding power of States over this area, they have become a headache for Governments and regional alliances by modifying purchased or leased spacecraft and attacking other civilian mining vessels or stations.

The complex meteorite environment makes it difficult for large starships to stay in the area for long periods of time, and for small ships or space bases alone, it is difficult to guarantee the size advantage of regular armies on the battlefield.

If deployed in a decentralized manner, those military installations could easily be targeted by those air thieves. And if deployed centrally, while ensuring combat power, facing a billion kilometres of battlefield width and limited visibility is basically equivalent to set-up.

After all, you can't expect those air thieves to always hit the steel plate with their heads and drill themselves into the cage.

By contrast, pirates travelling between the asteroid belt and Mars are able to flourish with small ships and smuggled arms.

This is due, on the one hand, to the complex social environment of Mars, which provides a breeding ground for air thieves active on the asteroid belt, and, on the other, to the connivance of some regimes or regional alliances.

After all, goods stolen from competitors are always cheaper than those normally flowing into the market, not to mention limiting the development of competitors, accompanied by the digestion of surplus arms in their own homes.

Although Pan-Asian cooperation sends fleets every once in a while to centralize asteroid belts in a given region, the results have not been significant.

It's too expensive to send a fleet to an asteroid belt to carry out a mission.

For this operation, the Huashan, the command vessel, is considered the lightest carrier of the Pan-Asian Space Force, with two cruisers and five destroyers escorted, both of the same type of lighter tonnage.

Even so, however, as soon as it enters the range of motion of the asteroid belt. The cost of this war is destined to be a very expensive number...

“Shipboard aircraft were dispatched to reconnaissance nearby airspace, perimeter perimeter alert of destroyers, cruiser warehouse was opened, and EMP rounds were used to detect an anomalous target approaching a direct lock attack. ”

“Yes!”

The edge of the asteroid belt is getting closer and closer.

On the bridge.

With the order of the Commander, twelve onboard drones fired from the Huashan carrier, like a silver white bullet, into the interior of the asteroid belt.

While most of the armed air thieves are lagging behind and posing a substantial threat to the regular army of any regional alliance on the front field, they are usually smart enough to take advantage of the terrain and circle with the regular army.

For example, nuclear warheads were installed inside some relatively stable orbits and not very large asteroids until regular military warships approached them and detonated them, damaging the hull by firing high-temperature meteorites.

For example, some cruise missiles hidden behind meteorites, drones carrying explosives or anti-armoured weapons, or even small attack boats with bulk weapons.

While threatening nearby mining stations, these air thieves are always able to cause trouble to regular army vessels in unexpected places.

And the task of these ships is to inspect the nearby battlefield environment, clear out the traps left by the air thieves, and lock in the potential threats...

In the bridge.

Staring blindly at the hollow three-dimensional star image suspended on the command table, the commander's eyebrows behind his hands could not help but slightly wrinkle.

Almost half an hour has passed since the dispatch of the ship's aircraft, yet no trace of any sophisticated mines or automatic weapons has been found in the area.

Experience with air thieves over the years tells him that the group may be somewhat unusual.

“Reports have been received from forward reconnaissance vessels that an unknown space station has been discovered near the 0.03 astronomical unit of Valley Spirit. ”

Upon hearing the report from his subordinates, the Commander immediately gave the order.

“Modeling scanned data. ”

“Yes!”

The light blue image appeared on the command table, and a space station built of a three-dimensional holographic grid quickly emerged in front of the crowd.

Like the vast majority of civilian mining stations, the station is embedded in a small asteroid and occupies a quarter of the size of the asteroid.

Due to the high metal deposits in the surrounding area, a natural "electromagnetic black hole” has been formed, and if not looked closely, the existence of the station could not be detected at all.

Staring at the station, the military adviser standing next to the command table frowned and said.

“It's weird. ”

Often, when their aircraft approached this position, not to mention the fierce exchange of fire that had begun between the two sides, at least the air thieves hiding in the station could not have reacted at all.

What is happening, however, is that the entire station and the surrounding airspace are quiet, with only one base sitting there alone.

“It's strange," nodded the commander, with a heavy look in his eyes, talking to himself, "we've launched such a large fleet, they can't be unresponsive. Even if the radar breaks down, visual observation alone is not entirely unaware. ”

“Did they happen to go hunting? ”

“Not quite, intuition tells me. I'm afraid it's not easy to hide what's inside. ”

After saying this, the commander pondered for a while and gave the order.

“Prepare to send troops on the ground. ”

“Whatever's in there, go inside and you'll see. ”

Land Warfare Advisor: "Do you want to launch a infrasound missile? ”

“No, no weapons were observed on the surface of the station, and the armed forces inside should not be strong. Unlike in the past, we need a few prisoners," Look at the holographic images on the command table, the commander has set his mind to himself, speaking in a serious manner, “orbit three, airborne brigade ready! Send in three strike teams and prepare to strike! ”

At the moment of the order, six long-shaped landing craft were launched from the aircraft carrier, forming two parallel triangular formations, one before and the other after, heading straight for the station.

Although aggressive, it does not mean filling in the flesh and blood.

The three landing craft at the beginning took the lead in hitting the outer shell of the station and, as a series of bursting sparks splashed, the front-end jet of metal poured into the station, releasing a round of suppressed fire on the interior facilities and personnel.

More than a dozen pneumatic drones were released from those three landing craft and burst into the interior along the gap in the outer layers of the station, quickly occupying favourable terrain within the station and feeding back the battlefield situation to the commando crews on the three subsequent landing craft and to the AI battlefield analysis system on the aircraft carrier.

This was followed by another round of steel collisions.

The last three landing craft crashed directly into the station from three different angles, like three nails. As the hatch explosion opened, three groups of commandos attacked the station from three directions, accompanied by a drone that had been released in advance, and launched an offensive towards the station.

…

Something unexpected happened.

Facing the empty, unmanned space station, the captain of the squad, who burst into the core area of the station with a rifle, looked around cautiously and eventually lowered the gun in his hand, complaining in some annoyance.

“What the hell is Command doing...”

The control room is quiet and you can't hear any extra noise except the current noise of the chassis running. From the point of view of the working ventilation system, the station should have been inhabited and, from the balance of living stock, those people should have lived here for a long time.

Nevertheless, don't say what an air thief is.

You can't even see a living person here...