On the summit of Mount Luojian on the moon.
Ou Zhanpeng and Xu Qing walked side-by-side, occasionally bumping their helmets together to whisper.
Many others were also stranded on the mountaintop, gathered in small groups, either chatting loudly or whispering.
A frantic alarm blared from the radio, and everyone immediately retreated to the edge of the mountaintop until the alarm ceased.
Ou and Xu were no exception. They found a rock to sit on, nestled together quietly, and gazed at the blue planet in the sky.
The giant airlock in the center of the mountaintop slowly opened. After a moment, with a muffled boom, a warship module shot up into the sky.
The magnetic levitation base supporting the module separated silently and slowly descended outside the mountain. Only when it neared the ground did the retro-rockets ignite to decelerate, bringing the base safely to rest.
Assault team members, who had been waiting, swarmed forward and dragged the base back to the base.
As soon as the danger zone was cleared, the base launched the second module, then the third, the fourth…
“What number warship is this?” Xu Qing asked softly.
Ou Zhanpeng counted on his fingers, “The tenth, I think.”
“That’s fast!” Xu Qing exclaimed.
“Yes, it’s very fast,” Ou Zhanpeng agreed.
Six months flew by. Under the immense pressure of the alien species, Earth’s nations worked overtime, accelerating preparations, wishing they could stretch one minute into two. The propaganda machines blared news about aliens, no longer as secretive as before.
The Luojian Mountain Base initially built warships at a rate of 1.4 per month, but as production capacity increased, the construction speed grew faster and faster, eventually reaching two per month with nothing to spare.
The result was that the several dozen members of the expeditionary team were simply not enough, necessitating the deployment of more personnel. The vast majority of these were old acquaintances who had trained at the base.
Originally, Xu Qing should have been part of a ship’s crew, but due to her relationship with Ou Zhanpeng, she received special treatment and remained at the Luojian Mountain Base.
This made her feel like she was betraying the team, and she had been feeling very uneasy.
But there was no way around it; Ou Zhanpeng’s current position was too sensitive. To allow him to work with peace of mind, the higher-ups couldn’t assign Xu Qing to any more expeditionary missions.
Ou Zhanpeng had planned to create some “trouble” to get Xu Qing pregnant, exploiting a loophole in the rules – no matter how short of personnel the military was, they wouldn’t assign pregnant women to dangerous missions.
However, after several months of trying, there was no sign of pregnancy, which left Ou Zhanpeng quite frustrated.
He insisted on a comprehensive check-up for Xu Qing, which only made him more depressed: the doctor said his genes were different from ordinary people, making it difficult to conceive naturally!
It turned out to be a genetic issue. The problem was that his genes had been altered before birth, and it was impossible to revert them. The only feasible solution was to repair the genetic problem through artificial intervention and then achieve pregnancy with Xu Qing through assisted reproduction.
In other words, without Xu Qing’s consent, his plan was completely in vain.
Fortunately, the higher-ups were relatively humane.
In the distance, someone rather inconsiderate bounced over, “Hey, I’m truly impressed. How can you two be so clingy?”
Ou Zhanpeng glared fiercely at the “lightbulb” that was Ling Xiao, “Just find yourself one, and you’ll know?”
“Never mind, not in the mood,” Ling Xiao sat directly on the ground, tilting his head to look at Earth, “Did you hear? The next one won’t be an expeditionary ship. They plan to build two aerospace carriers as the core of the fleet.”
Ou Zhanpeng was somewhat disappointed, “Are they planning to put you on an aerospace carrier?”
“Yes,” Ling Xiao said, “The warship hasn’t even been built yet, and they’ve already assigned me the position of aviation commander, letting me command the air wings… Sigh, what do you think I’ll be commanding?”
“It hasn’t been built yet, so it’s good that you have time to learn,” Ou Zhanpeng was even more dejected, “You still have a chance; I’ve completely given up hope.”
Aerospace carriers were not expeditionary warships. Their standard crew was over three thousand, with a maximum capacity of nearly five thousand. Yet, for such a large warship, there was still no place for him.
“Tch!” Ling Xiao curled his lip dismissively, “Give it up. Plenty want to stay, but only you two can. Don’t show off in front of me.”
“What am I showing off to you for?” Ou Zhanpeng sighed, changing the subject, “The higher-ups don’t know how to organize a space fleet, so they’re copying the naval fleet’s setup!”
Ling Xiao glanced at him, “Isn’t that good?”
Ou Zhanpeng shook his head, “I don’t know if it’s good or not.”
He had seen many fleets in his dreams, but he hadn’t found any civilization that used a mothership as the core of its fleet. However, based on historical experience, space fleets did have commonalities with naval fleets, which was a dilemma.
Xu Qing chuckled, “He’s just got too much time on his hands. He’s a eunuch, yet he’s always worried about the emperor’s affairs!”
Ou Zhanpeng immediately chuckled foolishly, “You know better than anyone what I am, don’t you?”
Xu Qing’s face blushed, and she spat at the shameless Ou, “There’s an outsider here, what nonsense are you talking about?”
Ling Xiao also expressed his deep displeasure, “You two, that’s enough!”
Ou Zhanpeng wasn’t embarrassed at all, “If you don’t like it, go find someone yourself. Stop being a third wheel around me all day!”
Ling Xiao refused to move, “You’re so self-absorbed when there’s someone of the opposite sex around!”
Ou Zhanpeng laughed heartily, “Are you just getting to know me now?”
Xu Qing was annoyed and pinched the soft flesh on Ou Zhanpeng’s waist, twisting it hard.
Amidst their playful banter, the last module was launched into the sky. As everyone walked back in twos and threes, before even entering the base, Ou Zhanpeng suddenly received a notification from the base requesting his immediate presence in the conference room.
He sighed helplessly, “They’ve called a meeting. You two go back first.”
The group separated. Ou Zhanpeng hurried to the conference room as quickly as possible. Xie Yu and several other base senior officers were already waiting.
“We were just waiting for you,” Xie Yu said.
“Just came down from the mountaintop,” Ou Zhanpeng explained.
Xie Yu shook his head and gave a wry smile, “Sigh, what were you thinking? It’s just launching warship modules, what’s so interesting about that?”
“I don’t know,” Ou Zhanpeng shrugged, “But my wife likes it.”
Having been force-fed a mouthful of “dog food” by Ou, Xie Yu immediately fell silent.
Single people had no rights!
The door opened, and Gong Yiding entered the conference room. Everyone immediately dropped their teasing demeanor.
“Just received news. The alien fleet has stopped in the asteroid belt and is pushing asteroids towards Earth. The first wave is expected to reach Earth in August. We’ve been ordered to quickly draft a crisis response plan!”
Xie Yu’s eyes widened in surprise, “Such a major event, and they want us to draft the plan?”
“Let’s brainstorm. Other units should have received similar notifications,” Gong Yiding said.
“What else can we do? We definitely can’t let the asteroids hit Earth. The simplest way is to bombard them with warships,” Zhu Yuhan said.
Old Zhu stayed at Guanghan Station to manage operations back then. Later, all resources were channeled towards Luojian Mountain. Guanghan Station had effectively lost its role as a scientific research station. Yanjing simply merged Guanghan Station into Luojian Mountain. Now, Guanghan Station had become Luojian Mountain’s water supply, with only five or six people maintaining the buildings and equipment.
Gong Yiding remained non-committal and turned to Xie Yu and Ou Zhanpeng, “What are your thoughts?”
“I don’t think it’s appropriate,” Xie Yu said.
“I also think it’s not good,” Ou Zhanpeng agreed, “Let me state first, we are addressing the issue, not the people. This is a critical time for war preparations. Every warship equipped consumes massive resources. Wasting precious ammunition on asteroids is simply not worth the cost.”
The cost of a single bullet is at most a few cents, a shell at most a few thousand dollars, but missiles are different. Each one costs at least hundreds of thousands, and if it includes a nuclear warhead, the cost is even higher.
This is just on the ground. If they are sent into space, it’s not that simple.
With a cost of 4000 USD per kilogram of payload, the cost per gram is about 5 USD. For a 12-gram bullet, that’s a full 60 USD, which is over 430 RMB.
A magazine of 30 rounds is 12,900 RMB, and five loaded magazines would be 64,500 RMB.
A small-caliber shell weighing 320 grams is about 11,500 RMB.
A 155mm howitzer shell weighing 50 kilograms is about 1.8 million RMB.
Missiles are even more costly, simply burning money!
The military factories in the lunar industrial zone are already operational, and ammunition costs have been halved, but the cost is still much higher than on the ground. Furthermore, production capacity is limited, barely meeting the fleet’s needs. There is no spare ammunition to use on asteroids.
Zhu Yuhan spread his hands, “I can’t think of any other way. How about using lasers?”
Gong Yiding immediately shook his head, “Too inefficient.”
“How about electromagnetic cannons? They’re cheaper.”
Gong Yiding finally nodded, “Let’s note this down as a backup option.”
The moon has mines. Although smelting capacity has always been low, it’s still sufficient for electromagnetic cannons.
Moreover, the earlier the interception, the less force is needed. If an asteroid could be intercepted in Martian orbit, even a slight nudge could deflect it by tens of thousands of kilometers.
Therefore, if the warships departed promptly and used even small steel beads to strike asteroids, the interception mission could be completed.
Ou Zhanpeng thought for a moment and said, “Station Chief, what is the enemy’s position? Are they gathered together or dispersed?”
Gong Yiding tapped his terminal lightly. A planar map of the solar system appeared on the screen behind him, “Here, here, and here. Alien ships have been detected in all these locations.”
“So, at least four directions,” Ou Zhanpeng frowned, “Each direction requires at least one warship, preferably two to support each other… If we send all the warships out, can we return to Earth before the enemy ships arrive?”
“That’s right, it’s easy to leave Earth, but difficult to return!” Xie Yu said.
The solar system is a constantly moving system. Neither celestial bodies nor man-made spacecraft can stop and then reverse course.
This would not only require a lot of time but also consume a vast amount of fuel. Unless humanity’s propulsion technology achieved a revolutionary breakthrough, it would be impossible to turn back midway.
The most reliable method is to fly to another planet and use its gravity to change direction.
Gong Yiding and Zhu Yuhan both understood this point. They both shook their heads simultaneously, rejecting the idea.
Although the enemy ships were still far away, at this critical juncture, all human warships had to stay and defend Earth. Otherwise, if the enemy arrived, the consequences would be unimaginable.
The conference room fell silent. Several people racked their brains but couldn’t come up with a suitable solution.
“Why don’t we call in a few more people to brainstorm?” Xie Yu suggested helplessly.
Gong Yiding shook his head, “Not yet. Let’s wait for the higher-ups’ arrangements… Meeting adjourned!”
“Wait a minute!” Ou Zhanpeng suddenly called to stop them, “I have a crude idea.”
“Whether it’s crude or not, just say it,” Xie Yu urged impatiently.
“Go ahead,” Gong Yiding offered an encouraging look.
Ou Zhanpeng pulled at the corner of his mouth, “What if we equip missiles with shields and have them directly collide with the sides of the asteroids?”
“The principle is sound, but implementing it won’t be that simple,” Xie Yu instinctively felt the idea was unreliable, but he couldn’t pinpoint the specific issue.
“Direct collision?” Zhu Yuhan was stunned, “With such high relative speeds, can the shields withstand it? I think a non-contact method would be better.”
Non-contact?
Zhu Yuhan originally meant various ship-borne weapons, but her words were like a key. Ou Zhanpeng’s mind suddenly cleared, “That makes sense. Collision is too unreliable. Station Chief, I heard that artificial gravity and protective force fields have similar principles. Since we can generate gravity within a certain range, can we also generate repulsion within the same range?”
Gong Yiding was taken aback, “You mean, use a force field to repel asteroids and change their orbits?”
“Yes, that’s what I mean!” Ou Zhanpeng nodded vigorously.
“Hey, hey, this idea is good, it’s good!” Xie Yu exclaimed loudly in agreement, as if the idea was his own.
Zhu Yuhan said worriedly, “Can this gravity be converted into repulsion?”
“I’m not sure,” Gong Yiding said, “Even if repulsion can’t be generated, using gravity directly can still change the asteroid’s orbit!”
“Hah, why are we discussing this? We can just ask an expert,” Xie Yu said.
They acted immediately. Gong Yiding contacted headquarters and quickly received a reply: “Theoretically, there are no problems. Experiments are being arranged!”
“That’s great!” Xie Yu said excitedly.
Just a few days later, good news arrived from the ground: the first prototype artificial repulsion generator was successfully trial-produced. Although the repulsion force was not large, arranging multiple generators together could produce a sufficiently strong repulsion force to alter the asteroid’s orbit!
Furthermore, relevant personnel had a flash of inspiration and planned to design a repulsion thruster to provide power for warships through the interaction between the thruster and celestial bodies.
However, while the idea was good, it couldn’t be realized overnight. The immediate priority was to solve the asteroid problem.
Therefore, the relevant design was immediately put on the agenda. Just a few days later, Luojian Mountain received a set of very special spaceship blueprints.
Its hull was equipped with eight repulsion generators mounted on robotic arms, capable of influencing eight targets simultaneously.
In addition, the ship was equipped with two small-caliber electromagnetic cannons, making it convenient to influence celestial bodies outside the repulsion range.
Although the design was excellent, it would consume Luojian Mountain’s precious printing resources again, prompting Gong Yiding to file several reports requesting additional production capacity.