Conflict was eternal in the galaxy. Space was vast and covered such stupendous distances that hardly any authority possessed the ability to exert absolute order in their territories.

In general, only well-developed star systems with populations surpassing a billion residents featured decent patrols.

The less populous star systems and the ones devoid of any people featured much worse security conditions.

As a result, the starships traversing the stars constantly faced the risk of attacks.

In the current age, trading companies saturated the logistics industry. Hardly any planet or star system were self-sufficient these days. It was too difficult to cover every possible need when there were specialized trading partners who could cover the same need better at a substantially cheaper price!

Rural planets provided food and raw materials. Industrial planets converted raw materials into finished products. Highly populated planets consumed goods en masse.

Though the actual roles of planets were considerably more complicated and mixed than described, this simple classification was sufficient to describe the majority of trade that took place in a given region of space.

In the current day and age, trade was the glue that held billions of populated star systems together.

If trade across the entirety of human space collapsed one day, it was not an exaggeration to say that humanity might go extinct shortly afterwards!

At the very least, the prosperity and development of the human race as a whole would definitely degenerate to levels not seen in many millenia!

Trade was as essential to human civilization as blood in the human body.

Where there was money, crime quickly followed.

Though trade was ubiquitous, it was largely a slow and steady way of earning money. The profit margin was never very exciting.

Instead of earning a small profit from conducting a lot of trades, why not just steal the cargo and sell it at a much higher margin?

Unlike the company who purchased the goods, the pirates who absconded with the goods didn't have to invest any money to obtain their riches!

There were always people who possessed crooked minds. They saw the advantages of robbing trade ships and didn't hesitate to go pirate to earn a much greater fortune than they ever could in a legal society!

Of course, the dynamics of piracy was never so simple.

To obtain their ill-gotten goods, the pirates had to pay for them in other ways.

Most notably, their lives.

Piracy was a high-risk occupation that featured a disproportionately high death and capture rate!

Since their activities directly disrupted the profitability of trade and interrupted the economies of many star systems, the authorities did their best to make the lives of pirates as miserable as possible!

Only when the 'cost of doing business' in the 'piracy industry' remained high would the number of 'entrepreneurs' remain low!

This was not as easy to accomplish. Since the profit margin of transportation was so low, it was not very viable to provide escorts to every single ship that plied the stars.

Mechs were expensive, and so were the carriers that moved them around. The transportation and logistics industry often needed to make a detailed cost-benefit analysis to determine how to protect their trade ships in the most efficient manner possible!

A company that spent too much on protection never lasted long. Their profit margins rapidly shrunk due to fielding so many mechs or spending too much on security companies.

On the other hand, spending too little was not a good thing either!

Once the pirate community found out that a trade company was spending less than anyone else on security, they would immediately target the vulnerable ships before anyone else could take advantage of the bounty!

Therefore, in most cases, trade companies spent a moderate amount of money on security. Not too much, not too little.

However, that was still too little to go around.

From a macro perspective, a firm balance existed between both sides.

Pirates had to make a calculated risk when attacking any target, especially when most goods were being transported in organized trade convoys.

A large amount of trading vessels banded together in order to make it more viable to protect them. Even so, a typical small-scale convoy consisting of half-a-dozen cargo haulers generally only enjoyed the protection of a small outfit.

This meant that it was often possible for small bands of pirates to attack the convoy and capture just a single trade vessel before pulling back!

This was the preferred modus operandi for many pirates.

By avoiding going all-out, the pirates limited their losses while still securing a decent rate of return.

The guards assigned to protect the trade convoy would limit their losses as well while still being able to boast to their employers that they did their due diligence. After all, returning with 5 intact trade vessels was better than returning empty-handed!

Such incidents were common and reflected the helplessness of the protectors. Their budgets were limited and they could only do so much to do their jobs!

At this time, a new development disrupted this long-standing balance.

Throughout a portion of the Komodo Star Sector, a growing number of battles in space ended in a different fashion than before!

In one minor star system, a modest trade convoy consisting of 9 cargo haulers had transitioned out of FTL some time ago and needed six more hours to cycle their FTL drives.

This was far too long!

This was because a small fleet of pirates appeared out of nowhere!

The Steel Howlers was known as an up-and-coming pirate gang from the Nyxian Gap. Just like every other greedy pirate, they eagerly took advantage of the recent destabilization of the Sentinel Kingdom.

When order declined, piracy increased!

"Come on, boys!" Commander Rachel Feriz shouted over her command channel! "We outnumber the guards three-to-one! We're hijacking two vessels this time! I'll smash any pirate who runs before we secure our bonus!"

"AOOOOHHH!"

The Steel Howlers brought three mech companies as opposed to the single mech company fielded by a mercenary corps contracted to protect this trade convoy.

Standing inside the bridge of the sole light carrier of Norton's Shieldbearers, Commander Egon Norton scowled at the sight.

"I knew this contract was too good to be true."

"You needed the money, sir." The captain of the light carrier noted. "Our latest purchase put us deep in the red. I still don't understand why you spent this much on a new toy."

Commander Norton sighed. "It sounded too good to pass on. This mech is the future as far as I'm concerned. If we don't get in early, we'll be at least two steps behind compared to our competitors!"

The mercenary industry was very volatile. In order to remain lucrative, Norton's Shieldbearers had to develop its reputation with every mission.

Despite being outnumbered by a considerable margin, the mercenaries were expected to stand their ground!

Their employers expected Norton's Shieldbearers to present an unmovable defense. They needed to discourage the attacking pirates as much as possible!

Fights never escalated to the bitter end. Not when both sides valued their lives so much.

That said, the pirates didn't come here to return empty-handed!

Soon enough, the Steel Howlers entered the range of Norton's Shieldbearers.

Stationing themselves a small distance from the vulnerable trade convoy, the Shieldbearers numbered much less mechs.

If not for the fact that the mercenary mechs were several times more expensive than the pirate mechs, Commander Norton wouldn't have the courage to put up a serious fight!

The Shieldbearers fielded an interesting mix of mechs. As suggested by their name, they fielded a larger amount of space knights than usual. A small but formidable-looking metal wall of shields emerged.

Floating behind the shield wall, An equal number of rifleman mechs extended their customized laser rifles and placed the muzzles through the customized holes drilled through the sides of the shields.

Then, they fired!

Powerful streaks of red pelted the weak and shabby-looking mechs of the Steel Howlers! The pirate mechs did their best to weave and dodge, but the mobility of their wasn't all that great and the training of their mech pilots wasn't very good!

Though the relative lethality of a laser beam was rather modest, the Shieldbearers cleverly concentrated their fire. At least five laser rifles focused on a single target with every volley!

The ramshackle mechs hit by the lasers weren't capable of withstanding that much firepower!

Commander Feriz didn't need to say anything. The Steel Howlers were already familiar with this routine. As soon as the damage to any single mech reached a certain threshold, their mech pilots automatically received permission to withdraw.

Piracy was a costly business. The Steel Howlers couldn't afford to lose too many mechs per assault. Letting a damaged mech retreat before it got wrecked was a good way to minimize the costs.

Though the Steel Howlers continuously bled more mechs as their opponents pelted them with fire, they had many more machines to go around!

As for the Shieldbearers, Commander Norton increasingly frowned despite the excellent performance of his mechs.

The pirates did their best to retaliate, but most of their ranged attacks impacted the shield wall without doing any further damage.

This didn't reassure the mercenary commander very much because the Steel Howlers fielded a lot more melee mechs!

"They're going to close in very soon! Prepare to enter the modified formation!" He shouted.

Norton used to be a former officer in the Sentinel Army. His knowledge of training, discipline and formation warfare partially carried over to his mercenaries!

Just as the pirates closed in, the Shieldbearers shifted their formation!

The mercenary mechs split into two. One group went left and one group went right! Both of them consisted of an equal mix of space knights, rifleman mechs and offensive melee mechs.

Their maneuvers seemed illogical at first. The Shieldbearers were hired to protect a trade convoy. Their current actions seemed akin to making way, providing the pirate mechs a straight path towards their lucrative prizes!

Yet even as the Shieldbearer mechs reoriented their formations at the sides, a small number of mechs remained in the middle.

One average-looking space knight flew protectively in front of a noticeably reddish mech. The head of the latter shone in an ominous red light.

It was too bad that the bulk of the defensive mech and its shield prevented the pirates from getting a good look of the mech floating behind.

"Are you ready, buddy?" The pilot of the space knight asked.

"Hahaha! I should be asking you that question!" The pilot of the newer mech laughed. "They don't call me Mad Jack for nothing! This mech is a breeze for me to pilot!"

"Do your thing, then. I can handle the pressure!"

The Steel Howlers didn't split their forces in response to the actions of their enemies. All they cared about was reaching the trade convoy and hijacking as many of them as possible! If the mercenaries didn't want to put up a fight against a numerically-superior foe, then that was even better!

"Hahaha!" Feriz exultingly cried. "Looks like the Shieldbearers have already given up. They even made way for us! Go run over those stubborn two mechs and grab our loot! AHOOOOO!"

"AHOOOO!"

The Steel Howlers didn't take the two Shieldbearer mechs in the middle seriously. Every outfit featured a number of stubborn, honor-bound fools who thought that retreat was unacceptable.

They usually didn't last very long in the mercenary business.

As a number of eager Howler mechs flew forward in order to batter the Shieldbearer mechs to pieces, the mech pilot of the brand-new Doom Guard flicked a switch.

A field of doom came into existence. As the wild pirate mech pilots haphazardly barged into this field, they began to experience a sudden palpitation in their hearts!

"What is this?!"

"It's so dark!"

"I can't go further!"

The massive charge rapidly faltered as the Howler mechs no longer accelerated forward. In fact, some mechs even started to turn around to fly backwards!

When Commander Feriz entered the range of the Doom Guard's glow, she quickly experienced the same sensations as the other Steel Howlers!

Her eyes almost popped out of her sockets!

Unlike her subordinates, she kept herself together. She experienced far more stressful situations during her rise to her current height!

"Pipe down, Howlers! This is a trick! Get yourselves together and push through! I bet that as long as we destroy those two mechs, this effect will end!"

Her guess was right. Though half of the Steel Howlers lost their marbles, enough of them were left to continue the assault.

However, just as Commander Feriz and her strongest subordinates came into the range, the Doom Guard finally unleashed its hellfire.

A huge, scarlet plume of flames bellowed from its Enison Spreader! A wide zone of hellish fire blocked the entire approach of the pirate mechs!

"AHHH!"

Combined with the increased potency of the Doom Guard's glow at closer ranges, almost every Steel Howlers aborted their assault!

"Cowards!"

Even as she said so, Commander Feriz quickly turned her mech around before her mech embraced the inferno!

"What is that new mech?!"