Li Xiucheng had been feeling extremely frustrated these past few days. On board the frigate, he was responsible for hosting Long Huijuan and Lin Yuehua, and from time to time, he had to find ways to avoid Lin Yuehua.
Who could blame him? The employer, Long Huijuan, had paid such a large sum just to come and tour the Lepanto-class Escort Frigate.
Long Huijuan hadn't expected that a frigate would have so few crew members, with many tasks automated and handled by machines.
Qian Tong and several bodyguards were formerly retired special forces soldiers from their home country of Hanxia. They discovered that the automation features inside the Lepanto-class Escort Frigate were technologically superior even to what Hanxia possessed.
What shocked Qian Tong and the others even more was that Prototype Mobile Suit called the RX-78 Gundam. Its design wasn't just aesthetically pleasing; its weapon systems were highly advanced.
In many countries, Mobile Suits were equipped with conventional projectile weapons and physical blades. Very few possessed beam weaponry. Mobile Suits with beam weapons typically belonged to special forces units or were assigned only to ace pilots.
The Lepanto-class Escort Frigate's captain had also been feeling helpless these past few days. This employer was the boss's aunt. She had her own luxurious tourist spaceship, surrounded by nearly ten bodyguard frigates for protection, yet she insisted on coming to them and commissioning their escort services.
In this massive fleet, their mercenary group's frigate was the only one, making them stand out awkwardly.
Long Fei spent most of his time hiding in his room, trying to avoid meeting his aunt.
"Little Fei Fei, Auntie has something to discuss with you."
"If it's about the frigate and its automated systems, I advise you to drop the idea."
"No, no, no. It's about the Mobile Suits you developed—especially that one called the RX-78 Gundam. Auntie wants to talk to you about it."
"You can forget about that. I definitely won't discuss it."
Long Huijuan had been coming to the frigate intermittently these past few days, and her real purpose was to talk with her nephew about the Mobile Suits he had developed.
The Long family owned their own private arms enterprise. Long Huijuan was thinking that if she brought her nephew Long Fei back and informed her father about his talents, she might be able to persuade him to cancel Long Fei's arranged marriage. It would also allow Long Fei to stay with the Long family, fully utilizing his abilities and contributing to the family.
Suddenly, alarms blared as a pirate fleet consisting of dozens of ships appeared.
"Little Fei Fei, are you going to sortie?" Long Huijuan asked worriedly as Long Fei rushed toward the bridge.
Long Fei didn't respond and headed straight into the bridge.
All Four Mobile Suits from the Lepanto-class Escort Frigate launched.
The Ten Bodyguard Frigates responsible for protecting Long Huijuan deployed all their Mobile Suits and Fighters.
The Mobile Suits deployed on Long Huijuan's side were all [Annihilator] models developed by the Long Family Arms Company. These were also one of the standard-issue Mobile Suits for the Hanxia military. The Fighters were likewise the Hanxia standard [Cheetah] models.
Long Huijuan's forces deployed 50 Annihilator Mobile Suits and 20 Cheetah Fighters.
The pirates, on the other hand, launched over 100 Mobile Suits and more than 50 Fighters.
The flag of this pirate group featured a pair of pistols crossed with a wolf.
This pirate band was known as [Gunwolf]. Their leader was a middle-aged man wearing an eyepatch named Le Tai. The reason he and his pirates had appeared here was that he had been hired—taking money to do someone's bidding.
His employer's request was to capture Long Huijuan.
To ensure he could complete the task, the employer had even gifted him 100 [Tigerfang] Mobile Suits for free. These were one of the standard-issue Mobile Suits from the military of another superpower, the United States. The Fighters were similarly the United States standard [Ferocious Wolf] models, totaling 20 units.
"It seems my employer is determined to capture this lady," Le Tai said, holding a photo of Long Huijuan. "All units, launch! Shoot down all of the targets Mobile Suits and Fighters. Capture the objective target."
The entire force of Gunwolf Pirates Mobile Suits and Fighters launched.
Long Huijuan's troops could only adopt a defensive formation.
The numbers were heavily disparate.
However, the pirates were ultimately a ragtag bunch, while their opponents consisted of pilots retired from the military.
In the initial clash, neither side could decisively overwhelm the other.
Long Huijuan, Lin Yuehua, and Qian Tong, along with several bodyguards, rushed to the Lepanto-class Escort Frigate's bridge.
Under normal circumstances, the captain might have directly opened fire on outsiders, but since they were the boss's relatives, the captain felt extremely awkward and unsure how to proceed.
"How is that Little Fei Fei doing?"
When the captain first heard "Little Fei Fei," his expression showed a moment of surprise, but he quickly replied, "The boss is fine."
Long Huijuan looked around the bridge's control room. Aside from the captain, there were only two others responsible for reporting the battle situation.
At that moment, a sound came from the console at the captain's seat.
"Captain, our ship's missiles have locked onto 20 enemy Mobile Suits and 5 Fighters. Missiles are ready to fire."
"Launch!"
Thirty Missile Launchers on the Lepanto-class Escort Frigate's flanks opened, and 30 VLS Missiles fired in an instant.
Nearly a third of the locked targets were shot down; the rest evaded the missiles.
"Captain, 60 incoming missiles targeted at our ship. All 60 have been locked by the 2-Barrel Machine Guns. Distance to ship: 30 kilometers."
"Engage with 2-Barrel Machine Guns."
All incoming missiles were intercepted, with the last one destroyed 450 meters from the Lepanto-class Escort Frigate.
Long Huijuan, Qian Tong, and the bodyguards were all astonished by this result.
What surprised Long Huijuan even more was that the Lepanto-class Escort Frigate's combat operations were entirely handled by automated systems, with only the action orders decided by the captain.
Long Huijuan had initially thought the frigate's automation was limited to maintenance and logistical tasks, but she hadn't expected it could also manage combat. If her nephew Long Fei's technology were brought back to the Long family, he would become a great contributor to the family.
This technology could reduce manpower pressures for the military and be applied to civilian spaceships as well. At that point, everyone would scramble for it.
If the Long family controlled this automation technology, they would reap countless benefits.
At that moment, one of the bodyguards whispered in Long Huijuan's ear, updating her on the current battlefield situation.
Despite having superior numbers, the Gunwolf Pirates were somehow being subtly suppressed by the smaller force.
"What the hell is going on? How are we, with greater numbers, being suppressed by the smaller side?" Le Tai said furiously.
"Captain, we've detected an enemy Mobile Suit with a distinctive appearance. Many of our brothers have been shot down by that unit," a subordinate reported to the leader.
"Bring up the image of that Mobile Suit."
As Le Tai looked at the image of the Prototype RX-78 Gundam in his hand, his brows furrowed tightly. He suddenly felt that his employer's commission wasn't as straightforward as it appeared.
"Damn it! So you've been using me as a pawn. On the surface, you told me to capture the person, but in reality, you're sending my men to their deaths. You want to test the performance of their newly developed Mobile Suit to gather the data you need," Le Tai analyzed, realizing his employer's true intentions.
"How many of our brothers has that Mobile Suit taken down in total?"