Chapter 295: Difficulties and Obstacles
Lu Yuan scanned the bridge and pointed to a battle station on the right side of the Captain's chair.
“You can sit there. Your specific role is Probationary Science Officer. For any operational questions, you can consult Jubian.”
“Understood.”
Nan Guo de Xue nodded and took her seat.
The bridge of the Qinling-class was quite spacious.
Compared to the Wuyi-class, its operational role was more singular, requiring significantly fewer basic operations. Therefore, it could carry more senior officers responsible for overall fleet decision-making.
This was also why Lu Yuan had chosen this type of warship as his flagship twice in a row.
From the Captain's position, the front of the bridge was occupied by the pilot's seat, with the Navigator and Helmsman sitting side-by-side to the left and right.
To the left of the pilot's seat were the First and Second Radar Operators, primarily responsible for target search and accurate detection. A spot was reserved here for Ye Xing, who could be summoned during critical moments.
To the right was the First Fire Control Officer, responsible for operating the main guns.
To the left of the Captain were 7 battle stations, responsible for intelligence analysis, communication, and electronic warfare.
For this mission, Cangyuan’s three most important Scholars—Jubian, Sister Xue, and Fashi—would all participate and were seated in this area.
On the right side were 5 battle stations, with 3 personnel operating auxiliary weapons, and the remaining two responsible for carrier-based aircraft command and Marine Corps guidance, respectively.
The entire bridge was essentially laid out in a “left civil, right military” fashion.
In front of the Captain was a large holographic sea chart table, flanked by the First Officer and two Tactical Operations Officers.
Their task was to assist the Captain in tactical decision-making and manage the ship's energy distribution.
On the flagship, Tai Bai, the First Officer's seat belonged to Chaoyuan, who also served as the Fleet Commander.
The positions of the two Tactical Operations Officers, one primary and one secondary, belonged to Xian Yu and Black Smoke respectively.
The former also served as the Fleet Staff Officer, while the latter, due to his primary responsibility for production on Li Star, was usually not on board, teleporting over to work two to three hours a day.
Including the Captain, the total personnel on the bridge ranged from 21 to 30 people, depending on the situation; there were 21 tactical operation consoles and nearly 300 holographic displays with different functions, which were dazzling at a glance.
However, in reality, only 7 people were needed to unlock all functional modules of the warship.
The minimum personnel configuration was one Captain, one Navigator, one Helmsman, one main weapon operator, one auxiliary weapon operator, one radar operator, and one electronic warfare operator.
With this configuration, the Captain would simply have to work harder, taking on multiple roles, as the capable do more.
During routine patrols, the remaining crew members were arranged in four shifts based on their available online gaming time.
Those not on duty were obligated to perform internal cleaning and act as chefs, with humanoid robots assisting in these tasks.
After fulfilling their duties, they could teleport to other places to level up.
Only during critical missions would everyone be notified to come online, gathering together as much as possible to share the workload and prevent errors.
In addition to fixed battle stations, the bridge was also equipped with numerous foldable seats that could be pulled up from the floor at any time, specifically for new recruits to assist and observe.
As for the power compartment, it was designed to be highly automated from the start.
It only required one Chief Engineer and seven shipboard Engineers to work in shifts, with the Engineers also being the main force for daily maintenance and damage control.
The entire ship, including carrier-based aircraft pilots, only needed 43 crew members at full capacity, and a minimum of 34.
For a 200-meter-long warship, the level of automation was essentially maximized.
“Cough, cough—”
Seeing the two women with subtle atmospheres around the Executive Officer leave, Chaoyuan walked over, stood at attention, and saluted.
“Report, Executive Officer! The fleet is ready for departure! All systems are operating normally, the teleportation dormant pods for mission personnel have been loaded onto the ship, and supplies have been inventoried. Please give your orders!”
He handed a pad to Lu Yuan.
Lu Yuan returned the salute, took the pad, and browsed the basic departure information on it.
The destination area for this voyage was located in the “northern” part of the universe, 550 light-years from Li Star and 400 light-years from New Hope.
Within the Star Union Space, the minimum average distance between two star systems was 3.9 light-years, and the average distance between two wormhole Jump Points was 15 light-years.
Following the shortest travel route, a total of 29 wormhole jumps would be required, taking at least 40 days.
If delays due to unforeseen combat, accidents, and severe interstellar weather phenomena were included, it would likely take a minimum of 50 days.
Undoubtedly, this would be a long expedition!
Moreover, Lu Yuan clearly could not take the shortest route directly, as this would be the easiest route for the Empire to predict, with the highest probability of military interception.
He had to take a slight detour, which would extend the journey to at least two months.
Two months—Lu Yuan didn't know if he would make it in time. The existence of cangyuan one had already been announced throughout the Star Alliance by the Empire, and the treasure hunt for the “ghost ship” had already reached a fever pitch before that.
He could only give it his all!
Departing this time were the Qinling-class ships number three and four, Tai Bai and Lishan.
The Wuyi-class ships number three and four, Dahongpao and Longhu.
And the widely beloved Star Alliance Destroyer, Qiangyun.
Compared to the main fleets of any major Star Alliance power, these five warships were not numerically superior. They could only rely on their relatively strong individual ship performance and the operational skills honed by their crew in actual combat.
“Set sail!”
At midnight that day, amidst the cheers of the branch players who had come to see them off, the five warships simultaneously weighed anchor, ascended, and slowly detached from the massive, spoke-shaped dock area.
In the highest dispatch and command tower, all staff stood at attention and saluted, offering the respect of Anya, the Space Station Board Chairman, to the brave warriors embarking on their distant voyage.
In the personnel transport corridor of the dock area, a spy from the Empire, disguised as a maintenance worker for many years, witnessed the entire scene through a window.
He casually walked into the restroom, took out his tools, removed a panel from the wall, and activated a spy communication device that had been secretly installed by his predecessors 70 years ago.
This was the first time this ancient device had truly been activated.
“Cangyuan’s salvage team has departed. Their specific heading remains to be observed.”
“And the ship configuration?”
After a full two minutes, a low, hoarse voice came from the other end.
The Empire's stealth reconnaissance aircraft was currently lurking in an asteroid belt 36 million kilometers from the space station.
“From their size, they appear to be five destroyers, but it's not advisable to evaluate them using Star Alliance Destroyer parameters. Their warships are clearly more advanced. After leaving the gravity well of the planet beneath New Hope, the Cangyuan Fleet immediately entered warp speed.
“Jump out 500 kilometers before the Jump Point, increase radar scan power to maximum in advance, and set the course to circle the Jump Point, gradually approaching in a spiral orbit.”
Lu Yuan said to Chaoyuan beside him.
The latter first needed to judge whether this captain's order had any obvious errors due to fatigue or unclear speech. After confirming there were none, he relayed the order loudly.
“But—Executive Officer, this will definitely waste some time.” The Navigator looked back, a puzzled expression on his face.
“It doesn’t matter. Rushing this little bit of time is meaningless. Listen to me.”
“Understood! New course set!”
Six hours later, the fleet jumped out of warp speed early, as requested by the Executive Officer.
“Scan the airspace around the wormhole with radar, and simultaneously conduct infrared detection!”
“Yes, sir!”
The fleet continued to approach the wormhole in a circling motion, the distance steadily decreasing from 500 kilometers to 400, then 300—
“Suspicious targets detected!”
Within 300 kilometers, the Wuyi-class’s super-powerful phased array radar was sufficient to penetrate the radar stealth of all warships, leaving them nowhere to hide.
“Two suspected warship-like objects detected near the wormhole! In addition, there are numerous small unidentified objects, about 2 meters in diameter, distributed in a net-like pattern around the wormhole!”
Hiss!
Enemies?! It hasn't been long since they set off—
On the bridge, the players couldn't help but admire the Executive Officer's foresight.
If they had rushed through the wormhole they deemed safe earlier to save time, they would likely have collided with those small unidentified objects before the radar alarm sounded and the helmsman could adjust the course in time.
To think, the Empire had already deployed its vanguard right under New Hope’s nose. This also indirectly confirmed another of the Executive Officer’s previous conjectures.
The Empire must possess Entropy Zero Element Furnaces and infrared stealth technology similar to Cangyuan, otherwise it would never have been so easy to breach Anya’s intelligence network.
Moreover, the Empire had long predicted that Cangyuan would not be easily deterred.
The Emperor's previous public speech was merely to try and dissuade a large number of 'cat and dog' level treasure hunters, reducing the risk of them successfully 'snatching a prize,' thereby allowing more energy to be focused on dealing with the strongest competitors.
Indeed, it was a completely different level from previous opponents!
“Those should be nuclear sea mines used to blockade the route,” Chaoyuan said to Lu Yuan.
“The Empire has already made interception arrangements in advance. If we don’t detonate the nuclear sea mines and clear the obstacles first, we definitely won’t be able to pass directly.
How about... we try other Jump Points in the star system?”
“I disagree!” Xian Yu immediately objected. “The Jump Point we chose is already the furthest one in the star system from our target direction. If even here the Empire has already deployed forces in advance, the situation at other Jump Points will surely be the same, or even worse.”
“The enemy has either already discovered us or will soon. If we continue to hesitate, it will probably only attract more pursuers!”
Lu Yuan nodded.
“I agree with the Staff Officer’s view. Notify the fleet to change formation and prepare for a forced breakthrough.”