"It's finally here! ～”

On the bridge of the TR-735, many crew members stared at the several red cursors that suddenly appeared on the space radar, and they all showed a rare fanatical look.

Everyone on board the ship was well aware of the fact that they would be attacked during this voyage, and they had already made sufficient combat preparations. Moreover, because they had just learned the news of the fall of the Marseille Space Fortress and the death of General Adrien in battle, everyone actually held back a fire in their hearts, they longed for revenge, and they longed to vent their anger with blood. Therefore, when the long-awaited enemy finally appeared, not only did everyone not appear in the panic they imagined, but they were extremely high-spirited. The emotions that had been suppressed for a long time finally broke out completely at this moment.

"Fighters in place! ~The cannon crew is on standby! ～”

In the communication inside the ship, Robin's loud voice clearly appeared in everyone's ears through the poignant siren.

Hearing Robin's voice, Cecilia in the captain's position seemed to have suddenly found support, and she took a deep breath hard, forcing her slightly nervous mind to quickly calm down.

Seeing the change in Cecilia's demeanor, Borg, who was sitting next to her, finally breathed a sigh of relief, and asked in a slow tone: "The other party is from the Othello circle, there is no identification, and there will be official contact in about ten minutes." Do we send communication requests to confirm the identity of the other party? ”

"Send a communication request now." Cecilia decisively ordered: "Order artillery sergeant Andy to lock the coordinates of the other party, and the No. 1 and No. 2 missiles enter the launch mode." ”

In fact, whether it was Cecilia or Borg, they had already confirmed that the other party was the target of this trip, and as for sending a communication request, it was just a routine. Moreover, the experienced Borg had made a detailed analysis of this route, and in his opinion, with the emptiness of Proxima Centauri's northern star field, the spaceship could sail at an absolutely safe sub-light speed almost all the way. And when the spaceship reaches sub-light speed in advance, it is impossible for any ambush, volley, or attack mode to damage the spaceship under sub-light speed. Therefore, if you analyze it from this point, in the northern star field of Proxima Centauri, there is actually only this place that can be used for ambushes.

At present, the TR-735 has completed 95% of its entire voyage and entered the Othello circle within the gravitational range of Othello.

The Othello Circle is a dust belt affected by the gravitational pull of Othello, because Othello is a super-large rocky planet, so Othello as a stellar companion star is actually the same size as the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, which makes Othello have a strong gravitational pull far stronger than other planets, so that it can form this dust belt that is quite rare among rocky planets.

Morphologically, Othello's circle somewhat resembles Jupiter's rings. In terms of composition, in addition to containing a large amount of cosmic dust, it is also mixed with many meteorites with large masses. Many of the space stations are built on these meteorites, most of which belong to mercenaries working for the military, and some are owned by the military, and have built unmanned batteries to serve as space defenses on Othello.

During the voyage from Spaceport Hermes to Othello, the spacecraft slows down only after approaching the Othello Circle. Therefore, this seemingly safest area closest to Othello is the only star field that can be used for ambushes during the entire voyage.

Borg served as a spaceship navigator for more than a decade, and at the beginning of his voyage, he classified the voyage as a high-risk zone. Because of this, the space radar of the TR-735 can detect the whereabouts of the other side as soon as it appears.

"What happened?"

Just as Borg was sending a communication request to the incoming ship according to Cecilia's instructions, Martina, who heard the siren, ran into the bridge in a panic, accompanied by Gabriel.

Cecilia glanced back at the panicked Martina and replied flatly, "There are several spaceships that have entered the radar alert range, and I think that our enemies are lurking among them. ”

"How many spaceships?"

Hearing that this was just the case, Martina couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. In her opinion, it was normal to encounter other spaceships in this area close to Othello. After all, Othello is the military core of the Federation, and it is also the largest administrative star in the Federation, so there are countless ships coming and going in and out of Othello every day. In this case, it is an anomaly that no other ships are encountered along the way.

And Gabriel, who was beside her, noticed that the ship-based missile had entered launch mode, and immediately exclaimed: "Are you going to attack each other? ”

"Yes, if the other party does not respond, I will easily carry out the attack."

"No! ~This is absolutely not a no-go! ”

Hearing that Cecilia was about to make the first move, Gabriel immediately rushed forward to dissuade him: "What if the other party is not an attacker but an ordinary merchant ship?" It is illegal to rashly attack a merchant ship in transit, in which case we will be apprehended by the Space Police as soon as we enter Othello. ”

"I've sent a communication request."

"But most captains don't pay attention to communication requests from unfamiliar ships." Hearing that Cecilia was going to judge whether the other party had the intention to attack in this way, Gabriel could only explain with a smile and a smile: "Captain, we are not in a war zone now, maybe the army can adopt this method, but we can't, we don't have that right." ”

"......" Gabler's words made Cecilia and Borg look at each other for a moment.

Not only Cecilia and Borg, but even Robin, still haven't gotten rid of their military status. In their conception, ignoring their own communication requests can already be used as a criterion for judging friend or foe. But they forgot that they were no longer in the republic. Under the Commonwealth, they are nothing more than a bunch of civilians. Therefore, due to the restrictions of federal law, they can no longer maintain the military style of striking first.

"Can we only wait for them to attack us before we can fight back?" One of the crew members on the bridge couldn't help but ask.

"Normally this is the case, but going beyond the federally mandated safe distance can also be considered a sign of attack. In this case, the attack is justified defence. ”

"What's this safe distance?" Borg then asked.

"Ten light seconds. That is, when the enemy's ships enter within 2,997,924.58 kilometers of our own ships without our permission, we can take the lead in attacking in the name of self-defense. ”

"10 Light Seconds ......"

Hearing Gabriel's legal distance, Cecilia and Borg suddenly looked at each other worriedly.

With the flight speed of the shipborne missile, Cecilia theoretically has less than ten seconds to react if the opponent preemptively launches an attack. And being passively beaten at such a close distance is completely risking everyone's lives. However, if you are the first to attack, it is an illegal act. This immediately left Cecilia in a dilemma.

At this moment, the automatic door of the bridge suddenly opened. Already equipped with Type 3 armor, Robin and the others strode into the bridge.

"Type 3 armor! ～”

Recognizing that Robin's heavy infantry armor was the Federation's most advanced Type 3 armor, Gabriel's face suddenly showed an extremely shocked expression.

Ignoring Gablell's shock at the moment, Robin walked straight to the bridge, stared at the space radar and asked, "When will the live image be transmitted?" ”

The live footage Robin refers to is a surveillance footage recorded by a military observation point in the Othello Circle. After Christine established an information hub and connected to the federal information network in the name of Roche Logistics, Roche Logistics, as a taxpayer, was entitled to share a portion of the military's observations. Therefore, Christine, who is in charge of the entire information system on the Octopus space station, can immediately transmit the live video of the ship to the ship computer of the TR-735 as long as she is authorized by the military.

"Christine has been contacted, it should be ......" Before Borg finished speaking, a communication from the Octopus space station suddenly popped up on the three-dimensional screen in front of him.

"It's coming! ～”

Borg quickly opened the communication, and suddenly, the image of the fleet monitored by an observation point appeared on the three-dimensional screen.

The first thing that appeared in front of everyone was three medium-sized transport ships sailing in a zigzag queue, but the careful Robin immediately discovered that these three transports had different company logos, and under normal circumstances, it is absolutely impossible for a transport ship of different companies to form a zigzag queue.

"Look! ~ It's an armed landing ship! ”

After the three medium-sized transports pass through the frame, an armed landing ship with a blood-dripping skull emblem on the outside of the ship suddenly appears in the frame.

"It's a bloody mercenary!"

Seeing this blood-dripping skull sign, Gabriel's face suddenly turned bloody. His lips trembled in dismay: "This...... How can it be...... How can it be a bloody mercenary......"

With Gabriel's knowledge of Bloody Harry, he never thought that Elliott would actually hire bloody mercenaries. As for the fact that the bloody mercenaries will escort the three transport ships, it is even more unlikely.

Now it is clear to anyone with a discerning eye that these three transports must have been forced to form a temporary fleet under the coercion of bloody mercenaries.

If Cecilia and Borg weren't vigilant enough, and someone else, they might not have cared about the ship's signals on the space radar at all, and they wouldn't have looked at the live footage recorded by the military, which would have overlooked the bloody mercenary's armed landing ship hanging far behind the three transports.

"The other party is already close to a safe distance of ten light seconds, and with the current speed of the enemy and us, it is expected that the contact will take one minute and thirty-seven seconds! ～”

Hearing the number quickly read out by Borg, Robin gritted his teeth and ordered: "The fighters are dispatched in formation, the anti-aircraft guns are urgently charged, and the No. 1 and No. 2 Trident missiles will be launched after ten seconds of countdown......"

(To be continued)