Zag system, near the Slag Star.

In the shadows of the planet's back, a small warship painted with pirate emblems sails slowly. From a distance, the light emitted by the battleship was like distant stars. If you don't look closely, it's hard to spot this battleship even if you get closer, let alone the fact that there are no spaceships coming to this hellish place.

As the name suggests, Slag is a planet that has been abandoned after running out of resources.

Located to the north of the Central Region, the Zag Galaxy has been around for about 10 billion years, making it the oldest star system in the Southern Alpha System. The main-sequence star is a brown dwarf star that will evolve into a white dwarf in a few hundred million years, becoming one of the densest stars in the universe.

Of course, hundreds of millions of years is an inconceivably long time for anyone.

When the Galactic Alliance came to the Southern Alpha System, the Zag system was devoid of indigenous people, nor was it colonized by indigenous people. The main reason is that the main sequence star is decaying, and the light and heat emitted cannot produce a temperature sufficient for carbon-based life outside the range of the main sequence star, and the only planet is also extremely barren, not only does it have the necessary water, but it also has no atmosphere, and there is no development value.

It wasn't until an expedition ship arrived in search of resources that the fate of the Zag system changed.

After the elimination of the indigenous civilization and the occupation of the Southern Alpha system, the Galactic Alliance ushered in the first construction climax. At that time, all the civilizations of the Galactic Alliance, including the top civilizations, were in full swing to build their homes, so obtaining construction materials became a top priority. While most of the supplies can be obtained in the native system, some important items are not available in any one star system, at least not too many. In addition, the Galactic Alliance at that time had just mastered the Primal Energy technology, making it easier to travel across galaxies and becoming a link between civilizations. It is valued by all civilizations, and it takes a lot of rare materials to build a ship that can travel across galaxies.

In those few hundred years, all civilizations of the Galactic Alliance, including the top civilizations, have risen to the trend of space exploration.

All of a sudden, thousands of expedition ships appeared in all corners of the Southern Alpha system. While the vast majority of explorers never return, only a handful of lucky ones have found rare deposits. and successfully returned to his hometown, but one such lucky person who became rich overnight after returning to his hometown can drive a hundred, or even a thousand, who want to get rich and have no shortage of courage to embark on the road of adventure.

It was also during these centuries that the Galactic Alliance completed its control over the entire Southern Alpha Galaxy.

It was only at this time that the value of the Zag system was discovered.

That is, this galaxy has been around for too long to produce an environment that can sustain life, but it also has valuable resources that other galaxies do not have.

According to the conclusions of the research of scientists. The main sequence star of the Zag galaxy is already the third form, that is, before that, the brown dwarf was once very large, and it took two rounds of evolution to become what it is now. It is precisely because of the large enough mass in the first two forms that it can produce extremely high temperatures and pressures inside, resulting in the formation of a large number of heavy atoms, which are the scarce minerals that explorers are looking for.

At that time, the slag was called "ore star".

On this small planet, explorers have discovered rare mineral deposits that are priceless. In the decades that followed, the planet became the liveliest planet in the vicinity.

It can only be said that it is lively. It's not bustling, because it's either explorers or miners who come here.

What's more, the planet has no atmosphere, and the surface temperature exceeds 500 degrees Celsius during the day and drops to minus 150 degrees Celsius at night. Although at that time there were already ecological technologies. But the cost of building living quarters on the surface is too great, so the inhabitants of the planet live underground.

At its peak, there were about 500 million people on the planet, and thousands of ships came in and out every day.

The minerals shipped from the Mine Star not only make the civilization that owns the Mine Star rich. It has also benefited many other civilizations, including the Human Federation. You know, in that era more than 4,000 years ago, all civilizations were poor and lacked the necessary resources to modernize.

Rare minerals make and destroy the planets.

After about two hundred years of frenzied mining, the main mineral deposits on the planet were gradually depleted. Although there are still some small ore veins, they are no longer worth large-scale mining, and with the gradual discovery of mineral deposits on other planets and the completion of the construction of various civilizations, rare minerals are no longer in demand. By the time the First Greenwich War broke out, the planet was an abandoned planet.

Actually, this also saved the Slag Star.

At the beginning of the Fifth Greenwich War, the Silicon Charm army once invaded the Center, and Slag Star was just north of the Center, next to the North Region, and not very far from the North Fourth Region. Because the planet has been abandoned by the Galactic Alliance, and it has no value, the Silicon Charm army has not occupied the planet. If there are still a lot of mineral deposits on the Slag Star, the Silicon Alliance will definitely not let it go.

Because it was abandoned, it was forgotten, so in the past few thousand years, few people have come to this vicinity.

Not to mention the officially operated ships, even the pirate ships rarely come to the Slag Star. It's not just that there are no resources worth visiting on the Slag Star, but it's also related to the state of the Main Sequence Star. The star in its twilight years is unstable, often erupting, ejecting large amounts of material that pose a serious threat to the spacecraft. It can be said that even the most daring pirates will not come to the Zag system for no reason.

The appearance of that pirate ship was quite abnormal, and it sailed differently than a normal pirate ship.

In fact, it was not a pirate ship, but a warship, and it was a warship of a top civilization, but disguised as a pirate ship.

On the bridge of the battleship, an officer of the Lei Ling clan stared at the starry sky map in front of him expressionlessly.

His name was McCready, the captain of the small reconnaissance ship. Although he is not his real name in the fleet of the Lei Ling clan, he is the boss on this reconnaissance ship.

The reconnaissance ship has been around for several hours and has not noticed anything unusual.

It's just that McCready didn't give the order to return, because the time had not yet come.

According to orders from the fleet command, he had to patrol the vicinity for eight hours and return after the next patrol ship arrived.

There are still two hours, which is not too long.

Although such patrol missions are common, let alone combat missions, even in peacetime training, McCready often performs similar missions, but what makes him wonder why he came here to patrol. This star system is so barren that the planet has long been abandoned. Even if there are some particularly daring pirates hiding here, there is no threat, and there is no need to stare at this star system.

Of course, there are many things that McCready can't figure out.

For example, the fleet has already arrived, but it has not been dispatched, and even pre-war preparations have not been carried out. As for who the enemy was, McCready didn't know, and no one told him. Only one thing is certain, that is, the enemy is strong, otherwise the commander of the fleet would not have been so cautious.

Perhaps, the enemy is the Silicon Charm Alliance, which has already captured the North Fourth District.

In any case, the Silicon Alliance has already started a war, and has also captured most of the star systems in the North Fourth Region with a thunderbolt, and the Human Federation has retreated to its home galaxy and will not be able to launch a counterattack in the short term. Although the Galactic Alliance Council did not pass the war proposal, if the necessary actions are not taken, the Silicon Alliance will fight out of the North Fourth Region and march into other regions, and the central region will definitely be attacked.

McCradi rightfully believes that the fleet is here to fight the invading Silicon Alliance.

As for why he didn't move, McCready didn't think much about it. He was only a captain, and only the captain of a reconnaissance ship, and had no right to intervene in the affairs of the fleet's operations. Besides, it's useless to think about it, after all, he has very little information and can't make a correct judgment.

McCready is self-aware and knows that it is enough to do his job.

At this time, the starry sky map flashed a few times, and a prompt message appeared.

Noticing this message, McCreadie's expression became grim.

Although this is only a small reconnaissance ship, it is equipped with the most advanced detection equipment of the Lei Ling clan, and the maximum monitoring and detection range is more than 100 million kilometers. Not to mention large warships, even the space disturbances generated by a pirate ship will definitely be detected by the detection equipment of the reconnaissance ship.

That alert detected unidentified spatial fluctuations, and the preliminary judgment was caused by a spatial jump.

In other words, there are spaceships that appear in the vicinity through space jumps.

What spaceship will come here?

McCready had known for a long time that the star system had been abandoned for thousands of years, far from the native galaxies of nearby civilizations, and far from the main shipping lanes. For no particular reason, there will be no spacecraft here at all. Even if a spaceship occasionally appears, it only passes by.

Obviously, there will be no spacecraft specifically entering the star system, let alone opening the exit of the space jump tunnel inside the star system.

So, it wasn't the spaceship that arrived?

McCready didn't hesitate and immediately let the light brain analyze the information obtained. It's just that he didn't give the order to fight. This is just a small reconnaissance ship, not very combat-ready, not even a battleship. McCreadie's mission was not to fight the enemy ships that popped up out of nowhere, but to report the findings to the fleet command in a timely manner. Of course, it has to be accurate information, not an alarm at the slightest hint of trouble.

At this time, the detection equipment on the battleship had been aimed at the area that generated unidentified spatial fluctuations under the control of the light brain.

Although this is the most advanced reconnaissance ship of the Lei Ling Clan, equipped with the most advanced detection equipment, it will still take some time to complete the search and accurately locate the unidentified space fluctuations. If the distance is not too far, the cause of the spatial fluctuations can be determined. On the contrary, it will take a little more time, and even have to get the reconnaissance ship closer. Of course, McCready knows how to handle these situations.

Time passed minute by minute, but the light brain never came to a conclusion.

What's going on?

McCready was puzzled and prepared to control it manually.

It was at this time that the alarm went off, and it was an attack alarm! (To be continued.) )