Space Odyssey from Abandoned Mining Space Station

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Distress Signal

Deceleration is much faster than acceleration.

Five days later, the spaceship’s speed had already reduced to a point where it could stop at any time.

And the location of the Dark Graveyard also appeared within the range of the spaceship’s sensors.

At the same time, the asteroid scanning detector in the work cabin also detected some asteroids containing ores here.

It was evident that the mineral quality of this Dark Graveyard was indeed inferior to the rings of Rimu Star, but at least these asteroids weren’t purely rocks.

For Chen Ming, who hadn’t done anything other than modifying the spaceship and reading books for months, this was enough.

Chen Ming immediately adjusted the spaceship’s direction, preparing to approach and collect the minerals to relieve the mental fatigue of only doing one or two things for such a long time.

The spaceship maintained a relatively low speed, slowly approaching the Dark Graveyard to avoid colliding with the asteroids here.

Chen Ming quickly identified a moderately-sized asteroid with a decent content of minerals inside.

He used a tractor device to fix it on the spaceship’s wing.

But just as Chen Ming was about to start the mining laser to begin collection, the spaceship suddenly received a special signal.

This signal wasn’t the meaningless electromagnetic waves that often appear in space; it was a regular and recognizable signal type to Chen Ming.

A distress signal.

The distress signal is a special signal set by the Empire.

All spacecraft can rely on their communication systems to send out distress signals to the outside world.

Marking its location in space, guiding other passing spacecraft to come to the rescue.

Helping those spacecraft that can’t rely on themselves to reach the nearest human-inhabited space station or colony due to accidents.

After all, in space, the reasons for a spaceship accident are countless, and no one can guarantee they won’t encounter an accident in some corner of space one day.

Saving someone today might mean being saved in the future in some place.

However, although officials gave everyone the right to use distress signals, there is no mandatory obligation for those who receive them.

If you are willing to rescue, go ahead; if not, no one forces you.

Even waiting nearby after receiving a distress signal and going over to claim the inheritance after everyone on the ship has died is not explicitly prohibited.

However, correspondingly, the initiator of the distress signal might not have good intentions, using people’s sympathy to bait and engage in pirate-like activities.

The distress signal itself isn’t problematic, but human behavior has deprived it of its original meaning.

At least that’s how it is in the Empire’s Edge Star Realm.

Currently, the distress signal Chen Ming’s spaceship received originated from deeper within the Dark Graveyard.

Honestly, Chen Ming wasn’t sure if it was a genuine distress signal or something else.

Because in this area, it is indeed possible for a spaceship to have an accident.

After all, no matter how sophisticated the equipment is, it can never guarantee no accidents forever, and in an asteroid-dense area like the Dark Graveyard, it’s normal for a spaceship to encounter an accident.

But Chen Ming didn’t want to gamble.

Especially since there’s a Pirate Space Station two months’ travel away from the Dark Graveyard.

Other ships may not be like his without a Superspace Navigation System; coming from the Pirate Space Station wouldn’t take much time at all.

So Chen Ming chose to directly abandon the asteroid his tractor device was pulling.

Immediately turned around to leave the Dark Graveyard.

However, before Chen Ming could get out of the Asteroid Belt, Iron Ore No.’s engine suddenly indicated overheating and shutdown, relying only on inertia to fly slowly in space.

And at the next moment, the sensors suddenly gave an alert.

Three ships, with transponders turned off, flew out from various parts of the Dark Graveyard, heading rapidly towards Chen Ming’s location.

Chen Ming immediately realized something was wrong.

He was very familiar with his spaceship’s engine; overheating was impossible unless the matching Emergency Cooling System activated first.

Overheating and shutdown under normal circumstances could only be due to some interference device disrupting the engine’s temperature reading.

And those three suddenly appearing ships were definitely the culprits of this situation.

Chen Ming directly forcibly closed the spaceship’s safety limit system, making the engine ignore the temperature restrictions and restart.

But during the few seconds the engine restarted, those three ships had already approached.

They definitely wouldn’t give Iron Ore No. the time to accelerate and escape.

And even if Iron Ore No. really accelerated, Chen Ming felt he wouldn’t be able to escape.

The controllers of those three ships obviously came well-prepared.

They had one ship send out a distress signal while other ships turned off all systems, drifting nearby.

Making the passing ship that received the distress signal unable to detect them, then seizing the opportunity to cripple the ship’s engine, making the victim a sitting duck.

This series of operations clearly indicated they were professional pirates; they would definitely be well-prepared for any unexpected situations.

For example, preparing a disposable item called a channel tractor device.

This channel tractor device is originally an equipment used in some dangerous areas, like the rings of Rimu Star, when constructing space stations.

It can temporarily send low-mass objects within a region into a Superspace Channel for rapid transfer.

It works on asteroids; it can also work on spacecraft and humans.

And the Superspace Channel has a unique property.

Anything coming out from the channel, no matter how fast it was moving in the channel, will reduce to zero speed after exiting, maintaining relative stillness to the exit position.

Once locked by the channel tractor device, no matter how fast you run, it doesn’t make any sense.

The Superspace Navigation System has already been popularized in the Empire, and the cost of a disposable item is negligible compared to the successful robbery’s gains.

Running away is no longer an option; Chen Ming didn’t have many choices left for what to do next.

Facing the enemy without almost any information, he didn’t choose to attack directly. Instead, he immediately turned the ship’s head, charging toward another direction of the Dark Graveyard.

The ship’s window protection panels rose, and Chen Ming no longer avoided those small asteroids, maintaining a certain speed and directly enduring impacts, rushing into the depths of the Dark Graveyard.

The three pursuing ships didn’t expect Chen Ming not to run towards the almost nearby outside of the Dark Graveyard, but rather into the more complex internal environment.

For a moment, they couldn’t accurately lock onto Chen Ming’s spaceship through a large number of asteroids and had to temporarily follow behind Chen Ming, waiting for an opportunity.

Seizing this chance, Chen Ming quickly confirmed the model of these three ships.

Only by grasping more detailed information could he formulate a more effective counterattack plan later and take the initiative in the battle.