The Beginning [III]

At this time, the Wilbur family were on the verge of despair. The originally happy family suddenly lost their joyful mood.

"What should we do?" Laura asked her husband.

"Control center, can we change the course immediately to avoid the pirate ship ahead?" Wilbur did not immediately answer his wife's question. He asked the control center computer again.

"According to calculations, even if we change the route now, depending on the speed of the other party, we will be overtaken by the other party with a maximum delay of 2 minutes. There are still 12 minutes and 28 seconds before the two ships encounter." The answer from the central computer was still disheartening. Its reply caused the family to completely lose hope.

Looking at his weak wife and young children, Wilbur made a decision. "Bob, take my wife and two children to the rescue cabin at the back. When you are all ready, I will put the rescue cabin and The garbage cabin will break away from the spacecraft together, and at the same time, I will also drive the spacecraft off course to try to attract the attention of the pirates."

"No! I want to be with you." As soon as he stopped speaking, Laura expressed her objection, "Besides, the rescue capsule cannot hold two adults and two children."

"Madam, you go to the rescue cabin with your kids. I will stay and lead the pirates away with the master." Bob also expressed his opinion.

"No, Bob, I will stay with my husband." Laura firmly rejected Bob's suggestion. "Take the kids, and please take care of them."

"No darling, you have to go with the kids. They need you. One of us has to be there for them."

"My dear husband, if you stay, I stay. No question about that." She looked at her husband, waiting for his decision, her eyes full of firm determination and tenderness.

Looking at his wife's eyes, Wilbur took a deep breath: "Bob, just do what she said. Hurry up, otherwise it will be too late."

As if to match Wilbur's words, the central control computer issued another time report, "There are 10 minutes and 37 seconds until the two ships encounter each other."

Bob left with the children towards the ejection pod, and Laura's hand held her husband's hand tightly.

"Master, we're inside the pod. The three of us." Bob's voice came from the intercom.

"Please, take good care of our kids, Bob. So long." Wilbur replied. Then he issued an order to the computer in the control center: "Eject the escape pod, and then change our course to the opposite direction of the ejected pod."

"The escape pod was ejected successfully, and the course has been changed. According to the new course calculation, there are 5 minutes and 11 seconds left before the encounter between the two ships." the control center computer replied.

Through the dark window, Wilbur and his wife watched the escape pod gradually floated away from the Raven.

"They're going to be fine," Wilbur said.

"Yes, they will." Laura replied in agreement.

"Three imperial warships has appeared behind the pirate ship, and they asked us to reveal our identities." Suddenly, the control center computer sent out a new message.

"Quick! Tell them that this is the Raven Spacecraft owned by Imperial Baron Wilbur Raven. We have encountered pirates. Please come and save us!" Wilbur seemed to have seen a life-saving straw, and he ordered immediately. Then he hugged his wife excitedly, "Honey, the Imperials are here. They will save us."

***

Inside the Pirate Spaceship, everywhere was in turmoil. The condition of the flagship was nothing to write home about, making the crew to panic.

"Boss, our stern deck was hit by an imperial warship. The port side baffle has also detached, and the power has dropped by 30%."

"Boss, our ammunition reserves are almost gone."

"Boss, we still can't get in touch with the base. There's too much interference."

"Boss,..."

Barbarian was very depressed at this point. All the news his crew were bringing him were bad ones. The decline in power was prioritizing the remaining power supply to the power system and weapon system. The lights in the flagship flickered on and off, and the warning lights flashed, filling the entire cabin with a depressing atmosphere.

"Is it possible that I, Barbarian, will die here today?" Barbarian thought pessimistically.

"Boss, the civilian spaceship in front of us has changed its course after discarding its garbage pod." The adjutant came to report to Barbarian again.

"Then change our direction too. Direct our spacecraft away from it. Didn't I say that the ship is lucky today? I have no intention of robbing them!" Barbarian seemed very impatient with the adjutant who always made a fuss about it. "All that matters right now, is to escape the Imperials."

"But boss, the problem is that we are both heading in the same direction." The adjutant felt a little aggrieved.

"Meaning?"

"They have completely blocked our path."

"It's on them!" Hearing the words of the adjutant, Barbarian puffed his beard and glared at the screen. "Since they blocked our path to escape, we have to destroy the spacecraft! Launch attack on them, now!!!"

Following Barbarian's order, the pirate ship fired its remaining torpedoes at the Flying Raven. The torpedo hit the target, and the jet tube of the Flying Raven was blown up. The entire spacecraft suddenly stopped.

"Boss, we hit them, but they're not completely destroyed. They're still blocking our way." The adjutant reported.

"Then fire again! Either we destroy it or we die!" Barbarian roared.

Just as the pirates were about to use the last power to charge the main guns and give the Raven the final blow, the ship's control room sounded an alarm, "Alert! Alert! The main guns of the Imperial fleet are firing at us. Attention!"

"Quick! Turn right! Quick! Turn right!" Before Barbarian could give the order, others had already started shouting at the spacecraft pilots.

The reactions of the pilots on Phantom's flagship was of sheer terror. They steered the battleship to the right as if reflexively. This deflection caused the energy beam of the Gore cruiser's main gun to pass right by the Barbarian flagship and fly straight towards the Flying Raven.

In a very bright flash, the Raven was hit by a missile from the main gun of the Imperial cruiser. After the flash, only some floating wreckage remained where the original Flying Raven had been.

Through the observation screen, Barbarian witnessed the destruction of the Flying Raven. However, before he could rejoice, another alarm sounded in the control room, "Alert! Alert! Two more energy missiles are approaching our location! It is recommended to abandon ship! It is recommended to abandon ship!"

At this moment, the entire battleship was completely boiling, and everyone ran towards the escape cabin. Even the pilots jumped out of their seats.

Looking at the increasingly chaotic pirates, Barbarian knew he was completely finished. He was recalling the glorious days of the past when he suddenly felt a hand on his back. "Hm?"

It turned out to be his adjutant. "Boss, we need to go now. If we linger any longer, I'm afraid it'll be too late."

Glancing at the adjutant with gratitude, Barbarian suddenly felt an unprecedented desire to live. He turned and ran towards the tarmac inside the ship. His lieutenants followed closely behind him.

Along the way, Barbarian saw the pirates fighting each other, these former brothers fighting for an escape pod. However, there was no time to focus on this now, everyone was thinking about survival.

When he arrived at the helipad, several lifepods had already been been used. But there was still one of the largest lifepods that almost no one bothered to use. It was not that the pirates didn't want to, but there were a group of armed men with live ammunition standing around the lifepod.

When everyone was about to escape, these people, instead of joining the others, shot at the pirates who tried to approach the lifepod. .

These people were not ordinary pirates, but Barbarian's personal bodyguards. Although there were only about ten of them, all of them were experienced combatants.

It was once rumored among pirates that the reason why Barbarian became so strong was due to the support he got from a secret organization, and his personal bodyguards were specially sent by this secret organization to protect him.

When the personal guards saw Barbarian and his adjutant coming, they immediately opened up a path and allowed Barbarian to board the lifepod, and then the personal guards followed closely and boarded the lifepod in an orderly manner.

During this period, there were also pirates who tried to join in, but they were all ruthlessly eliminated by the personal guards. The hatch of the lifepod was closed, and the engine roared into life.

As Barbarian's lifepod left the flagship, two energy missiles fired by Cross Stars One and Two, hit the flagship. Continuous explosions occurred on the pirate ship, and the people left behind, were blown into space from the explosion.

Looking at the gradually disintegrating flagship behind him, Barbarian finally let out a long breath. His personal guard piloted the lifepod towards the meteorite belt and disappeared from the chaotic scene in the blink of an eye.