Chapter 503: The First Interstellar War (II) (1/2)

Chapter 503: The First Interstellar War (II)

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

In the central control room, team leader Yuan Guoqing wore a helmet and controlled the battleship through the miniature quantum computer on his visor as it flew towards the sun. Compared to the other rookie pilots who only had slightly more than 100 hours of flight experience throughout their entire career, he was without a doubt, the most experienced there since the establishment of the team.

He had almost 20 years of flight experience during the reconstruction area and although the aircraft used during that era were now obsolete, being able to survive the harsh environment in the reconstruction area definitely made him an elite pilot. However, he was not always lucky and his aircraft had a collision with a mutated bird during a battle which caused his aircraft to crash. Though he managed to survive and escape the crashed aircraft, his arm had been pierced by a tree branch when he landed. Badly injured, they were sent back to the reconstruction area three days later. At that time, the flesh around his wound had begun decaying and a piece of his flesh was beyond saving. Though he was healed, his arm was not as flexible as it was before and that was like an early retirement for pilots.

After he recovered, he went back to United City and joined the interview being held to recruit new pilots. This allowed him to escape the war between humans and Glassians. Yuan Guoqing thought he had bid farewell to his flying career but did not expect to be recruited once more as a pilot. The technological development was beyond his wildest imagination. He never imagined himself to be piloting an interstellar battleship in this lifetime even though he was controlling it via his brainwaves. He looked at the interface of the battleships and seeing the asteroids pass by occasionally on the screen, he felt like he was in the battleship himself. He was nervous at first but slowly, he began to adapt to it.

Yuan Guoqing looked at the speed that was displayed on the control room interface and they had reached the top speed of 1,500 kilometers per second which was their threshold for safe travel. As the reference point was too far away, without looking at the speed displayed, one would not feel any movement at all.

”Please send me a report of your situation.” Yuan Guoqing connected the communication device and said to all team members. Although they were just beside him and he could hear them without using the communication device but as an experienced pilot, this procedure was mandatory. It would help them avoid accidents most of the time.

After all, flying an interstellar battleship was too easy. It was basically idiot proof and did not require any additional steps. To put it into perspective, even a pig could fly it if you spend some time teaching it and in time, it might even be better than any of the pilots here. The simple operations of the battleships had caused many of them to slack off.

”Reporting, team leader! Everything a-okay with Swan.”

”Reporting, team leader! Everything a-okay with Crow.”

”Reporting, team leader! Everything a-okay with Eagle.”

”Reporting, team leader! Everything a-okay with Sparrow.”

…

”Sparow, Eagle! Pay attention to the flight formation, do not deviate from your positions!” Yuan Guoqing looked at the position of the other battleships on the map and noticed that they have deviated from their position. Such irresponsible junior pilots were a headache for someone like him who had vast experience in the military and had developed a boring character over time. Not only were they not disciplined, they often wanted to show off as well. Fortunately, the battleships were on autopilot. If it was the obsolete aircrafts, they may have already crashed and burned.

Fortunately for him, he could still be able to manage the rookies so there were no problems yet. He closed his eyes for a moment as it would take some time before they reached their destination. It was a challenge for him both physically and mentally especially for a middle-aged man like him who needed more energy to keep up with the younger ones. Furthermore, they were the first line-of-defense and would be the first to get into a fight so everything had to be done perfectly. The military was actually very skeptical about the development of an interstellar battleship and they debated endlessly in a chaotic manner. The radical camp suggested that the battlefield would change from a two-dimensional battlefield to a three-dimensional battlefield and the old model of war on earth would no longer be effective. It would be an era of giant spaceships and the battleships they were piloting would only serve to be supplementary forces in future wars.

After all, a spaceship would usually have a terrifying amount of combat strength, an almost impenetrable defense system, and the most advanced detection ability. Compared to the interstellar battleship, the both were nowhere close to one another especially since the spaceship had laser weapons which rendered the battleships ineffective. Although the interstellar battleships had laser-based weapons as well, its limited energy limited its ability to destroy a spaceship. The laser on the spaceship, on the other hand, could destroy an interstellar battleship easily even with its weakest lasers. Both of them were beyond compare.

Under such circumstances, there would need to be an immeasurable amount of interstellar battleships on the battlefront in order for there to be sufficient firepower to destroy a massive spaceship or there would not be a chance to even win. Yuan Guoqing did not dare disagree with the opinion and although he was not one of the radicals who supported the idea of a mothership, he completely disagreed with the idea of using the mothership as the main fighting force. It was the only spaceship that belonged to humankind and all mankind resided in the spaceship. Even if they were to manufacture their own spaceship, they would be limited by the scarcity of resources.

Comparing the spaceship to their battleships, the latter was relatively cheap to make. The amount of steel required to build a single spaceship was enough to build up to 10,000 battleships. Even if all the battleships were to be destroyed and only one got through enemy lines, humankind would still benefit. Moreover, the technological gap was nothing to worry about. The only thing they had to worry about were these - the enemy was either stronger or weaker than humans. The former was the current situation they were facing and the only way they could escape was while the battleships distracted the enemy to halt the attack while in the latter situation, it would be better if they had a large quantity of battleships attacking at once.

In his opinion, future spacecrafts will be a combination of spaceships and battleships while individual battleships augment the fleet's strength. All these will play an important role in the defensive and offensive forces of the fleet. In the early stages of war, it will be responsible for intelligence operations. During the war, it will assist the attacks launched and strive to block off enemy artillery. Regardless of the level human technology was at, interstellar battleships will still remain a force to be reckoned with.

…