Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 445: Cannon Fire!
Chapter 445: Cannon Fire!

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Another space warp…

This message caused a serious commotion among all those who lived at the City of Light Moon. Everyone from all walks of life, Black Star Troopers, Defense Unit soldiers, normal citizens, teachers, students, scientists, engineers, were discussing this latest order by the human government. This was an order Yao Yuan had used his power as the Chancellor to make, and this was the first time Yao Yuan had used this power that was written into the constitution.

”…the Chancellor has the right to issue any command in any situation that could threaten the survivability of humanity. This command ranges from defense, sacrifice, escape, and even self-destruction. This command is at the highest chain of command, and other than the Chancellor him or herself, no one else is allowed to deny this order!”

This was the first law that was written into the constitution when the human government was first formed. In fact, the many powers and responsibilities of the Chancellor were extensions of this law. However, since humanity was a civilization that left old Earth and was submerged in the thought process of democracy for millennia, there were plenty of limitations to this law. This was especially true after humanity entered the New Solar System. There were six pending changes to the constitution, and they were all surreptitiously targeting this issue of the Chancellor having too much power.

Of course, humanity’s Chancellor was Yao Yuan. He was the biggest hero humanity had ever seen, he had led humanity for almost 30 years since they escaped the catastrophe on Earth. In these 30 years, he had shown no signs of being corrupted by power. His government was transparent and was kind to everyone. That combined with his willingness to expand the power of the people during peaceful times meant that the general public was willing to hand him absolute power.

And now Yao Yuan was going to use this highest power the public had given him as the Chancellor!

Back at the first defense line, the first bell of war had been rung. The speed of their enemy fleet was incredibly fast; they had reached the first defense line’s final warning zone in less than a day. Then the Genesis, Requiem, and the only weapon that came from a level 3 space civilization, one that was personally designed by Bo Li…

Energy Storm!

Its firing range was one-third the solar system. Its concept was not the simple plasma weapon of level 3 space civilizations, not energy expansion, but energy coagulation. The Energy Storm’s design ideal was similar to the design ideal of the weapons for peak level 3 space civilizations. It was a manifestation of super energy coagulation technology.

It was a technology that collected energy within a unit of space to form something like a light ball before firing. When it arrived at its destination, it would lose the binding force on it, causing a great explosion. The damage and coagulation technology was related to energy technology. In fact, in the simulation, when this weapon’s coagulation technology reached its maximum, one shot could evaporate the sun. Of course, this was something unimaginable by level 3 or even level 4 space civilization…

This energy weapon was named Energy Storm, and it was humanity’s biggest trump card, or rather, the trump card that they could use.

As all the weapons at the first defense line roared, several large pillars of light fired in unison. Behind them were several conspicuously bright laser beams. Their brightness was such that they couldn’t be viewed by the naked eye alone. Like looking at the sun, one’s eyes would be blinded and might go blind if exposed to it for too long.

Behind these two different rays of light was an inconspicuous light orb. It looked small, barely 100 meters in size. In fact, for this weapon, the smaller the ball, the greater the damage. If the ball was the size of a needle, then the power would be great enough to blow up even a dark hole.

These three weapons were the long distance weapons currently in humanity’s arsenal. They were the Defense Unit’s specialty. The Genesis could fire every 30 minutes, Requiem one shot every two hours, while Energy Storm… one shot every eight hours. Therefore, it was in a way lucky that the alien fleet was moving towards humanity in a group, because if they moved separately, the damage of these weapons wouldn’t be so pronounced.

”Move! Get maintenance here immediately! Energy team, start energy light-fractal analysis now! Reactor team, get on with the checking! Everyone move! We’re racing against time here!”

”Yes, Sir!”

This kind of shouting could be heard everywhere at the first defense line. All the Defense Unit soldiers were busy conducting their work. They were now the people fighting at humanity’s frontline, and behind them were their families who had just left the first defense line one day ago. If they couldn’t stop the enemy… the transport shuttle didn’t even have a self-destruct option; therefore, they had to block the enemy’s passage!

All the long-distance weapons shot at the enemy at light speed, so the enemy was unable to detect their presence. Under normal circumstances, a space civilization above level 3 would have superlight speed surveillance technology, and that would be able to tip them off to incoming light ray attacks. However, during the time of war, and when creator’s particle covered the whole battlefield, such surveillance techniques would be indisposed. Of course, unless the creator’s particle was removed; however, if one did that, the accuracy of enemy fire would greatly improve and ECS system and the like would be down, which would only lead to a greater problem.

Therefore, unless they were directly hit, the enemy fleet wouldn’t know that they had been targeted.

Currently, the enemy fleet was 3,600 light seconds away from the first defense line. In other words, they would need one hour to reach their destination if they were travelling at light speed. The damage report of this first round of fire would be ready after two hours.

In reality, the energy umbrella technology that humanity had could reach up to 1.4 percent light speed, and the speed of the unknown fleet was 5 percent light speed. Theoretically speaking, they had reached the maximum potential of the energy umbrella propeller. This was a sign that they were a peak level 3 space civilization, and this was the reason why Yao Yuan ordered to initiate another space warp.

After the first round of firing, all the soldiers at the first defense line started moving. Almost all the cannons had shortened their expected firing times by 5 to 10 minutes. Two hours later, the first defense line was ready to fire another round of Requiem and Genesis shots…

However, before everyone’s eyes, several exploding weak globes of light appeared in space. Some of them glowed brighter than the others. This was the result of the reactors exploding after being shot by the cannons. This observation made the soldiers at the first defense line cheer and the fatigue from the two hours of non-stop work fell off them easily.

Using the data analysis of AI and the latest photographic telescope, the result of the first round of firing was out within 20 minutes and was issued to the City of Light Moon at first notice.

At the city’s military central command, all the officers were turned towards the entrance, waiting for the new report to arrive. When the report arrived, a 3D image immediately appeared at the center of the room.

In this 3D image, several large light beams shot towards a spot in space. The place that they shaved through caused a series of explosions. However, that was only at the beginning. As the light beams travelled deeper, the number of explosions decreased.

”That’s so unfortunate, we missed! If the accuracy was slightly better, this shot could have taken down at least 10,000 spaceships!” One of the majors slammed his fist on the table and groused.

The major-ranked strategist beside him laughed bitterly. ”The enemy is within the creator’s particle range and is in ECS state, so our attacks are at best educated guesses. The fact that we managed to land one hit is lucky enough.”

Everyone else nodded slightly. This was how it was in a space war. The cannon fire on the 3D image was still carrying on. The cannon fire by the Genesis was followed by the light beam of the Requiem. To everyone’s surprise, when the light beams reached their destination, they started to distort and spread across the whole battlefield. Initially, nothing happened, but when they swept a particular corner of space, a series of explosions occurred. The rate of explosions was even bigger than the ones caused by Genesis.

”It is as we expected! The cannon fire of the Requiem can twist in direction, making it perfect for wide area attacks!”

There was a clear excitement in the room when the 100 meter globe of light reached the space and a bright light swallowed up the whole area. As the light dissipated, many explosions detonated, causing the wide expanse to light up like an expanse of stars…

”The analysis result is out. The first round of cannon fire managed to take down around 14,000 battleships and 3,000 main spaceships. The rest of the result is still in calculation…”

At the same time, a soldier suddenly rushed in to say, ”Report. The the first defense line is currently under cannon fire!”