Arlen, Grimor, and Rothur were amazed at the unusual sight before them. Rothur’s expression turned curious.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a scene like this, countless massive battlecarrier starships and fighter starplanes gathered together as one fleet.”

Grimor’s expression turned serious.

“This isn’t the first time I’ve seen something like this, but I must admit the Lantern space pirate alliance fleet is impressive.”

Rothur tuned to Grimor with a curious expression. Arlen smiled broadly with an excited expression.

“Alright, just a little more to reach the Ark city!”

Arlen spoke in a raised voice. Rothur and Grimor smiled. On the other hand, the cloaked man was amazed at the sight of the massive battlecarrier starships and fighter starplanes outside his cockpit windows before him.

“I never imagined in my life that I would see a scene like this.”

The three planes arrived near the thick metal hangar door they were headed for. As Nolan’s starplane approached, the hangar door slid open in opposite directions to each other. Nolan’s starplane flew through the hangar door, followed by the other two planes. The hangar door then closed again.

Ark-001 city airport-003, inside the Lantern space pirate alliance’s main battlecarrier starship.

The three planes arrived inside a vast, rectangular hangar that expanded to the right and left, illuminated by rows of lights on the hangar’s ceiling, three times the height of the airport terminal building before them. The airport terminal was a luxurious, modern-style, five-story building merged into the hangar's metal wall behind it, with its front wall mostly covered by rows of sturdy metal-framed window panes. In front of the building were parking slots for starplanes and small-sized starships. Various types and sizes of unarmed passenger starplanes have been parked around here. Nolan’s starplane was parked in one of the starplane parking slots, with its rear door facing the airport building. Arlen’s fighter starship and the cloaked man’s fighter starplane parked to the right and left of Nolan’s personnel carrier fighter starplane. A woman’s voice sounded from the communication devices inside the cockpits of Arlen's starship and the cloaked man's starplane.

“Please wait inside your plane and ship until the outside air is restored.”

Arlen stood from his commander’s seat and looked at the airport building before their starship with an amazed expression.

“Incredible, there’s an airport inside a battlecarrier starship.”

Rothur was still in an amazed expression.

“This airport alone is extraordinary; what about the city later.”

Grimor looked around curiously.

“The size of this battlecarrier starship is unusually massive; maybe Nolan built his own by combining several battlecarrier starships.”

Rothur nodded.

“The Lantern alliance members also have battlecarrier starships that are this massive. Do each of those starships also have cities inside them?”

Grimor’s expression turned curious.

“I’m more curious how he built all of these.”

Rothur appeared to realized something. Shortly after, the woman’s voice from earlier came back on the communication line, immediately drawing their attention.

“The air in the hangar has been adjusted; the passengers are welcome to get off the planes and ships.”

Arlen smiled broadly.

“We’ll think about that later; now, let’s go to Ark City first!”

Arlen spoke enthusiastically, turned back and walked away. Rothur and Grimor caught up with him astonishedly.

Outside, they ran into Nolan and the cloaked man. At the airport terminal entrance, a humanoid woman flight attendant with maroon skin came to greet them while smiling.

“Welcome back, Mr. Nolan. Do I need to record the administration of your guest of honor?”

Hearing that made the others appear slightly awkward. Rothur spoke to the cloaked man nearby with a whispering intonation.

“Guest of honor, she said?”

The cloaked man shrugged.

“That’s what I heard too.”

Nolan continued speaking.

“No need for that; we’ll immediately enter the city. From here, let me take care of them.”

The humanoid woman flight attendant smiled and bowed respectfully. Nolan turned to the others and smiled.

“Follow me.”

The others nodded. The four walked into the building through thick automatic sliding glass doors with sturdy metal frames.

Inside the airport’s terminal, the building was an expansive rectangular room with a modern style interior, expanding to the right and left with glossy floors and a two-story high ceiling, decorated with dozens of niche lights and spotlights. This room is furnished with luxurious-style single sofas with armrests, arranged in four-seat for every rows as waiting chairs. This airport terminal had various facilities such as shops, stores, restaurants, etc. The atmosphere was quiet, with only a few people passing by or sitting on waiting seats. They walked together while talking to each other. Arlen looked around him astonishedly.

"It's quiet for an airport."

Nolan turned to Arlen.

"Yes, usually Ark City accepts arrivals and departures not only between Lantern Alliance's battlecarrier starships but also from the outside. Because the current situation is dangerous, this has been temporarily halted."

Rothur, Arlen, and Grimor were surprised. Rothur's expression turned curious.

"So, it's true that other battlecarrier starships also have cities inside them?"

Nolan's expression turned astonished.

"Yes, but not all of them. Only half of battlecarrier starships' fleet have city inside them, while the rest are ordinary battlecarrier starships. This is so that every battlecarrier starship that has a city inside it has one fully operational battlecarrier starship to guard it."

The others were surprised. The cloaked man appeared to realize something.

"You better be careful; your enemies might use that information for bad intentions."

Nolan smiled.

"Of course, because I trust you guys."

The others were surprised; they then smiled. Nolan resumed speaking.

“The city of Ark is divided into the half battlecarrier starships fleet and is given additional naming to the city name. The city you are going to visit has the full name Ark-001 city. All parts of the city have the same complete facilities; what distinguishes them are the area of residence and its completeness. For example, all parts of the city have tourist attractions, but not all of them have beaches, or companies that stand as places of work are not always on every starship.”

The others nodded curiously. They continued walking and arrived at the other airport terminal entrance behind the metal wall of the hangar. There were rows of automatic sliding glass double doors with an expansive porch along the airport building, which led to the highway in front of it.

After walking through the entrance, they were amazed to see a vast city with skyscrapers towering in front of them and the solid metal ceiling of this battlecarrier starship. Many flying vehicles flew amongst the buildings and modern-looking cars on the highway. Arlen walked toward one of the flying vehicles parked nearby, the size of a bus. Near this flying vehicle, a green-skinned male humanoid with horns stood; he was a member of Nolan's crew and had been waiting for them.

"Welcome, Captain Nolan. Let me accompany you and your guests."

Nolan nodded and smiled; he then turned to the others.

"We're taking this vehicle."

The others nodded curiously. They all then boarded this flying vehicle.

Inside the flying vehicle was decorated with a luxurious interior with beautifully carved, glossy brown wooden-framed sofas facing each other on the right and left sides of the passenger cabin, a short table in the center, and a refrigerator that stores drinks and snacks. They sat on the seats provided while Arlen remained standing and looked around him in amazement. Nolan's crew sat in the pilot seat and started the vehicle's engine. The vehicle took off vertically until it reached dozens of meters in altitude, hovered, and then flew toward the city.

The flying vehicles flew amongst the skyscrapers in this city. The beautiful night view of Ark-001 city makes them enjoy this trip while talking to each other. Arlen looked at the city view outside the vehicle through the window panes in amazement.

"So, this is the Ark city you talking about."

The cloaked man appeared to realize something.

"Seeing a city inside a battlecarrier starship is like a miracle."

Nolan smiled.

"This is a city with its citizens who have no place in the universe they can call home. For some years, the Lantern Space Pirates Alliance has been accepting citizens of various races all over the universe. Some of them were formerly slaves, refugees, nobles, etc."

Rothur turned to Nolan curiously.

“How did you build something like this? I mean… cost and labor.”

Nolan crossed his arms and appeared to be halfly in thought.

“About 95% of the labor is done by machines, which is not too much of a problem. But the cost? Many of the nobles caught between the wars or who lost their places because of the wars wanted safety and chose to move or took refuge here. At first, I also could hardly believe how we got so many sources of funds.”

The others were stunned. Grimor appeared to realize something.

“It seems that being a powerful person has many advantages at a time like this.”

Nolan smiled.

Government headquarters building, the Ark-001city.

After some time exploring the city, their flying vehicle arrived at the tallest skyscraper, a beautiful classic modern-style building. This building was the government headquarters of Ark city, and Nolan lived in apartments that covered the top few floors of the building.