Chapter 1 The Start
Starship Base, Bridge.
The panoramic screen displayed the situation outside the base, the moon hung high in the front right, and the long terminator left a huge curved arc on the lunar surface.
In the front left, squadrons of warships silently flew to their respective positions, gradually forming neat queues. In the darkness, an unspoken heaviness pressed upon the heart.
"How many warships are there? They don't look like many?" Ling Xiao asked curiously.
"More than two hundred in total," Ou Zhanpeng said.
"So few?" Ling Xiao was very surprised, and others also showed expressions of astonishment.
"It's not a small number. We only have over two thousand warships in total, and this is already one-tenth," Ou Zhanpeng said with a sigh. "This battle has boosted our confidence. The higher-ups think over two hundred ships are enough... Besides, aren't the Giants also sending some!"
"Ah, that's right!" Ling Xiao smacked his lips. "We've fought against the Giants quite a bit. In just a few years, we're already on good terms?"
Ou Zhanpeng tugged at the corner of his mouth: "For benefits, there's nothing to be ashamed of!"
Ling Xiao couldn't help but exclaim: "Profound... Ah, it's about to begin!"
In the front left, over two hundred warships had already formed a neat square formation. From a horizontal view, they formed a straight line, from a vertical view, they were also a straight line, and from a diagonal view, they were uniformly aligned.
Well, it was an old tradition of the military.
In front of the formation were several other warships. Although they were also neatly arranged, their numbers were far fewer.
The formation was the reviewing fleet, and the few warships in front were equivalent to the reviewing stand for the parade.
At nine o'clock sharp, Zhou Guangyi's voice transmitted through the airwaves to all warships: "I declare that the Expeditionary Fleet is officially established, and the fleet review ceremony begins!"
One warship broke away from the formation and flew back and forth in front of the square formation, creating a very solemn atmosphere.
Ling Xiao complained in a low voice: "Just doing these useless things, is it interesting?"
Ou Zhanpeng chuckled lightly: "Isn't this for the sense of ceremony? Even if it's just form, it still needs to be done."
As they spoke, the warships returned to their original positions. The reviewing fleet passed by in formation, with four warships as a group, flying from the left side of the Starship to the right side, until they passed the moon, and then opened wormholes to leave.
The last group of warships entered the wormhole. Ou Zhanpeng tapped the armrest: "Alright, we're rich!"
As he spoke, the Starship detached from the base, opened a wormhole, and disappeared. Not long after, it appeared in a strange void.
The Expeditionary Fleet was assembling here. Ou Zhanpeng soon received a communication request from the fleet.
The signal connected, and Luo Tu, dressed in a crisp military uniform, appeared on the screen: "Fatty Ou, long time no see!"
Ling Xiao's eyes flashed: What the heck, you call him Fatty Ou too?
Ou Zhanpeng chuckled lightly: "It's been a few years, and you're already a Major General!"
"Can't compare to you!" Luo Tu grinned, not hiding the envy in his eyes at all.
Ou Zhanpeng, with his possession of the Starship, far surpassed others in both status and role. He had experienced more battles than anyone else. He had been promoted to Major General several years ago – purely based on military merits, even a General would not be too much. But how old was he now? If he was promoted to General at such a young age, wouldn't he have no room for further promotion in the future?
No choice, the military had to suppress his rank and compensate him in other ways.
Ou Zhanpeng had held the rank of Major General for several years. This time, with the expedition to conquer alien civilizations, it was estimated that his promotion would be considered after the battle.
"Let's not talk about that between us. How about it, are you all ready?" Ou Zhanpeng asked.
Luo Tu nodded: "Don't worry, absolutely no problem!"
The command had hoped that the fleet would take on this battle when reorganizing the Expeditionary Force, to train the troops while also campaigning against aliens.
Although the Expeditionary Fleet only had over two hundred warships, judging by the performance of the Flame-class in combat, they were more than capable of completing this unprecedented counterattack.
Although the Starship had come along, Ou Zhanpeng's mission was not to participate in the operation, but to add an extra layer of insurance, to stabilize the Expeditionary Fleet and prevent any accidents.
However, it was not yet time for action. The Expeditionary Fleet regrouped and waited patiently.
Two hours later, the Starship suddenly issued an alarm. The radar showed a large number of wormholes appearing nearby.
A short while later, fleets from the three ancient civilizations arrived at the assembly point and merged with the Expeditionary Fleet, forming a joint fleet with a total of over eight hundred warships, comparable to the fleet that invaded Earth by the seven civilizations.
Long before the fleets set out, the various parties had reached an agreement on the joint expedition to conquer alien civilizations. The composition of the fleets and the attribution of command authority had already been allocated. After simple communication, the fleets departed in batches, majestically heading towards their targets.
Were eight hundred warships not necessarily a match for the enemy?
Indeed, such a possibility existed, but considering how many warships those seven civilizations lost on Earth, one could guess that the remaining warships on their home planets would not be too many. With the Allied fleet of over eight hundred warships, it was a completely overwhelming military force.
When in dire straits, they resorted to tactical maneuvers; when prosperous, they resorted to firepower coverage. Since they possessed such a strong force, what else was there to worry about?
The fleet went directly to the planet's outer space. When the first batch of warships passed through the wormhole, the enemy immediately sounded the alarm, and the remaining warships quickly launched.
When the second batch of warships passed through the wormhole, the alarm still sounded, but the enemy fleet immediately slammed on the brakes.
The third batch of warships appeared, and the enemy retreated, showing severe timidity.
When the last batch of warships appeared, the enemy completely lost their nerve and surrendered unconditionally without a word.
Ou Zhanpeng didn't know what to say. What kind of civilization was this? They were scared before even fighting. Didn't they know what courage was!
The enemy was also in despair. They only had so many warships. The fleet sent to Earth was gone, leaving only over a hundred warships at home.
If there was any hope of fighting, they wouldn't mind giving it a try, but one hundred against eight hundred... forget it.
Thus, the joint fleet conquered the first hostile civilization without bloodshed.
Next was the confiscation of all warships, demilitarization, and the announcement of stationing troops, trusteeship, and a series of other arrangements, as well as a series of privileges for humanity.
Ou Zhanpeng originally thought that facing these harsh conditions, the other party would at least try to negotiate, but they didn't even retort. They agreed to everything without a word.
Humanity was wondering if the progress was too smooth. Then, the Giants, the Demi-Giants, and the Little Giants contacted the Expeditionary Fleet one after another, all feeling that the conditions proposed by humanity were too lenient and generous. As the victor, they should not give the other party so much power.
Only then did everyone realize that the conditions that seemed harsh to humans were not even a hair in the eyes of interstellar civilizations. Directly enslaving an entire race was the norm in interstellar warfare.
However, Luo Tu ultimately strictly followed the arrangements from above – the military had never intended to directly rule alien civilizations, because doing so would require a lot of time and personnel, as well as various troubles to resolve.
Compared to this, indirect rule supported by representatives was simpler, although it yielded less profit.
The debut of the Expeditionary Force concluded with a complete victory. After leaving a batch of warships, the main fleet immediately transferred and rushed to the second target.
The second civilization was not so soft. Although they didn't have many remaining warships, they refused to surrender and engaged in fierce resistance with the Expeditionary Force, ultimately meeting a complete annihilation.
Their desperate resistance earned them the respect of the Joint Fleet, but it was useless. The same conditions would still be imposed.
Just as the fleet was about to head to the third target, the Starship suddenly issued an alarm, making Ou Zhanpeng tense up. He thought the enemy had called for reinforcements.
However, he soon discovered that the alarm originated from wormholes that suddenly appeared near the battlefield. A few seconds later, a Flame-class warship emerged from a wormhole, and the Starship immediately received a communication request from it.
The signal connected: "This is Ou Zhanpeng!"
"Captain Ou, this is the messenger ship!"
Before the voice finished, a document was transmitted to Ou Zhanpeng: Order, the Expeditionary Fleet to continue its operation as planned, and the Starship to return immediately upon receiving this order!
Ou Zhanpeng's eyebrows twitched, and he suddenly had a bad premonition: "Messenger ship, what happened at home?"
It wasn't that he was being overly sensitive. Since the higher-ups had arranged for the Starship to participate in the expedition, they shouldn't have abandoned it halfway.
But now? The expedition had just begun, and the Starship was suddenly called back. Anyone with a discerning eye could tell that this situation was very unusual, and it was highly likely that something unexpected had happened.
The messenger ship quickly replied: "Sorry, I don't know either."
"Okay, I understand," Ou Zhanpeng sighed, contacted Luo Tu to say goodbye, and the Starship immediately turned back.
Luo Tu had been full of confidence, but with the Starship's departure, his once ample confidence suddenly wavered slightly.
He secretly warned himself not to get too complacent and that the upcoming operations must be cautious.
Caution prevented mistakes. It was precisely because of this caution that the subsequent operations went very smoothly. They saw through the enemy's ambush, turned the tables, dealt a heavy blow to the enemy, and successfully completed the expeditionary mission.
From then on, a new establishment was added to the human fleet: Overseas Fleet!
Although humanity possessed over two thousand warships, the warships were not completely finished once built. Every voyage, every crew member, the ammunition and missiles equipped, every piece of steel plate, from the inside out, represented a massive amount of money.
Two thousand warships could already be considered a ruinous military buildup, placing a huge burden on all of humanity. Years ago, it had already had an adverse impact on the human economy.
However, for the sake of Earth's safety, they could only grit their teeth and continuously expand their military and prepare for war, fearing that if aliens attacked again one day, humanity's fleet would not even have a chance to counterattack.
And the result? It turned out that not every civilization's fleet was so difficult to deal with, and humanity's fleet was already strong enough!
But it was still not enough. The Rallians were truly powerful.
Therefore, they had to continue expanding the military and preparing for war. However, the military expenses would have to fall on those protected races.
And so, for a period of time, the Overseas Fleet flourished, and the number of warships steadily increased.
That's all for later, let's not mention it for now.
The Starship returned to Earth and appeared near the moon.
Ou Zhanpeng discovered another warship near the moon. The Starship automatically scanned it and immediately provided target information: Expedition Nine!
He immediately realized something was wrong. Shouldn't this warship be flying to deep space with the immigrant ships? Why was it here?
Before he could figure out the situation, he had already received a communication from the command. Zhou Guangyi appeared on the screen: "Have you seen Expedition Seven?"
Ou Zhanpeng nodded: "What happened?"
"Aldebaran exploded."
"What?" Ou Zhanpeng's scalp tingled. "Are you talking about Aldebaran?"
"Yes, Aldebaran. Is there anything unclear about it?" As he said this, Zhou Guangyi sent a document to the Starship.
It was a video. At the beginning was a familiar starry sky, with a dim red dwarf star at the edge of the screen.
A wormhole opened in the image, but before the spaceship could pass through, the video was suddenly filled with a piercing alarm, the image first blurred, then became chaotic, and in an instant, it completely disappeared.
The video switched angles to a bridge, where all the screens had lost their images.
A voice exclaimed anxiously: "High-intensity gamma rays detected!"
"What's going on?"
"I don't know, it seems like there's a problem on the other side of the wormhole!"
"Close the wormhole!"
"Wormhole closed... Gamma rays have disappeared!"
"Mark the exit position, try again!"
"Coordinates locked, wormhole opened... High-intensity gamma rays detected!"
"Close wormhole, move the exit forward by one month."
"Received, exit moved forward by one month... High-intensity gamma rays detected!"
"Which is the nearest red giant star?" A stereoscopic star map appeared on the video, and several people were carefully studying the star map.
"It should be Aldebaran!" a voice said. "Move another month in the direction of Aldebaran!"
"Coordinates locked, wormhole opened... High-intensity particle flow detected!"
"How far are we from Aldebaran?"
"17 light-years!"
"17 years... that should be enough. Move the exit half a light-year in the direction of Aldebaran!"
"Received... No gamma rays detected, low-intensity particle flow detected!"
"Shields at full power, pass through the wormhole!"
"Shields at full power..."
On the screen, the warship entered the wormhole and then appeared in a dark starry sky.
Before entering the wormhole, the image lingered on the starry sky for a moment. The bright Aldebaran still hung in the sky.
But after passing through the wormhole, there was only a dim point of light in the direction of Aldebaran, yet a layer of brilliant nebulae surrounded Aldebaran.
Ou Zhanpeng knew that was stellar matter ejected during a supernova explosion, forming a supernova remnant... Well, it couldn't be called a remnant yet.
He rubbed his face vigorously: "I remember Aldebaran is about... 65 light-years away? In which direction are its poles?"
Gamma-ray bursts produced by supernova explosions generally do not affect planets more than fifty light-years away, but this distance does not include the poles.
If, at the time of Aldebaran's explosion, one pole was directly facing the solar system, then Earth would soon welcome a spectacular gamma-ray burst.
In the face of such a sudden interstellar disaster, if not handled properly, not only humanity would be completely annihilated, but all terrestrial life on Earth could also be wiped out. Only marine life might survive, and over a long period of millions or even tens of millions of years, they would slowly evolve and eventually rebuild Earth's ecosystem.
Zhou Guangyi shook his head: "It is not clear yet. We called you back precisely to figure out the situation with Aldebaran as soon as possible!"
"Understood!" Ou Zhanpeng perked up his spirits. "We'll depart immediately!"