Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station

Chapter 68 Raid Plan
Chen Ming was stunned for several seconds after hearing the target location mentioned by Gamma AI.

His mind was full of thinking about what was in the galaxy where Ruimu was located, attracting the attention of the military, Yuhui, and even Sindar Company.

But Chen Ming immediately realized that he didn't seem to have to think about it himself.

"Gamma, what is your mission plan this time? Why do you want to attack the pirate space station first and then jump to other places? What is in the RM-2 galaxy?"

Gamma AI responded immediately as before; "I don't know, because all tasks are notified in stages."

"The first phase of the mission was to attack the pirate space station, and I did not fail to participate."

"The second phase of the mission, this time, is to launch another attack on the pirate space station."

"The third phase of the mission will not be notified until the second phase of the attack is completed and the jump to the RM-2 star system is completed."

"So as of right now, I don't know exactly what the next phase of the mission will ask me to do."

"And I was just completing the mission, with absolutely no idea of ​​the purpose of the mission."

"So I can't answer your question exactly."

Chen Ming shook his head with regret.

If even Gamma AI, the afterglow individual, couldn't give an answer, then he could only wait for the jump to begin.

Chen Ming put all the images captured by the diopter-level high-precision camera before his eyes.

Soon, the circumstances surrounding the diopter scale began to change.

Although the ship body did not move, the starry sky that Chen Ming could see was suddenly stretched, flying towards the rear of the diopter like a stream of light.

This strange scene lasted for about ten seconds.

The starry sky returned to its original state again.

The jump is over.

The Afterglow Fleet arrived some distance away from the RM-2 star system and did not jump directly into the galaxy.

Chen Ming took advantage of this moment to carefully observe the galaxy where Rui Jupiter is located.

In this galaxy, in addition to Rui Jupiter, there are a total of three planets orbiting the star.

The four planets from the inside to the outside of the galaxy are: a hot rocky planet, Rui Jupiter, and an ordinary desolate planet.

And a gas giant planet with rings like Rami.

If Chen Ming's Iron Mine and the diopter-level sensors are correct, then there are now a large number of ships fighting near the gas giant planet's orbit around the star.

One of the parties at war is definitely Afterglow.

As for the other party, Chen Ming probably knew who it was.

A few seconds after the jump ends.

The order from the Afterglow Cruiser suddenly came to the Diopter.

Instead of joining the battle directly, all the Afterglow ships that had just retreated from the battlefield with the pirate space station were given an hour to rest.

The maintenance ships responsible for logistical maintenance began work.

Immediately afterwards, the second message was also sent.

It is the requirements for the tasks to be performed after the rest, as well as some explanations related to the tasks.

The mission requirements are very simple. It is not what Chen Ming wanted to do by joining the battle and assisting Yu Hui in attacking the other side.

Instead, they took advantage of the time they were fighting to directly attack a small outpost belonging to the human military located in the orbit of the gas giant planet.

"There is actually an outpost here?"

Chen Ming is very confused now. He doesn't understand why the military clearly has a small outpost in the galaxy, but it didn't find him at all before?

It was normal for the Iron Ore's sensors not to detect small military outposts, but it was absolutely abnormal for the military's sensors not to detect the Iron Ore.

Even if there is a planet separated in the orbit, even if the orbital period is different, the outpost may be far away from Rui Jupiter.

But Chen Ming drove his spaceship openly and openly to and from the mining space station so many times without being discovered. This is too outrageous.

Unless someone in that small outpost was lazy and didn't take scanning and detection tasks seriously.

But this can only barely explain the situation Chen Ming encountered. If things were not what he thought, then the problem might be bigger.

Following this line of thinking, Chen Ming actually hoped that Yu Hui's action this time would be successful.

As long as the outpost is destroyed, the possibility of his existence being discovered by the military will definitely be further reduced, which will do no harm to him.

When Chen Ming kept having various thoughts in his heart.

Gamma AI suddenly answered the question that Chen Ming had just subconsciously asked: "Yes."

It obviously finished reading the somewhat long mission information sent by the cruiser AI faster than Chen Ming, and began to explain to Chen Ming: "This outpost is a small outpost used by the human military to detect the collection of sky steel. Outpost."

Chen Ming was slightly stunned when he heard what Gamma AI said, and asked, "You mean there are sky steel veins in the orbit of the gas giant planet?"

"No, there are no mineral veins in Sky Steel."

Chen Ming was stunned again. Although he had often used Sky Steel as a material, he didn't know much about the formation of Sky Steel ore.

He only knew that Sky Steel was indeed smelted from the ore, and that he had done so himself, that's all.

The gamma core could tell that Chen Ming was unclear about this matter, and continued to explain to him: "The sky steel ore comes from a space creature called the Alturan sky eel."

"The body length ranges from about 20 meters to 80 meters, and it relies on absorbing gas from the surface of gas giant planets to survive."

"They will eat various asteroids containing metallic minerals, and after special reactions with the materials in their bodies, they will produce sky steel ores containing many impurities."

Chen Ming immediately recalled the piece of sky steel ore he had found in the Ramu Star Ring before.

Although he did feel a little disgusted with Sky Steel Ore in his heart at this time, it didn't matter more.

At least the Sky Steel ore doesn't look like any feces, and the price of smelted Sky Steel per gram is indeed enough to make people ignore any of its other shortcomings.

Anyway, it’s not like Chen Ming has never seen similar things in his previous life. The bird’s nest is just swallow’s saliva, and the cat poop coffee is even more outrageous.

Therefore, Chen Ming was not too exclusive about things like sky steel that needed to be smelted before they could be used.

He quickly accepted the fact that Skysteel was the excrement of an empty eel in Arturan.

Gamma AI didn't know what Chen Ming was thinking, and it continued to explain the mission situation to Chen Ming attentively: "The purpose of the raid mission is to raid the warehouse of the outpost, where there is a batch of sky steel ingots that the human army has been storing. "

"You can then decide whether to try to capture the Alturan sky eels living in the gas giant planet rings based on the battlefield situation."

"My next mission is the same as before."

"They are still valuable ships wandering around the edges of the battlefield, looking for opportunities to capture troops."

Chen Ming silently digested what Gamma AI had summarized for him, calmed down a little, and said: "I understand, then just like before, ensure my safety with the highest priority, and you can take care of the rest. "

"receive."

"Once your current raid mission is completed, you should have time to do your own activities, right?"

Gamma AI replied: "Yes, under normal circumstances we will first reach our distribution point through jump engine resonance, far away from the human empire, and then we have free time."

"So do you need repairs now?"

"No need, the diopter level is in good condition and only needs to be replenished with a small amount of fuel."

"Row."

Chen Ming exhaled and became quiet.

But his mind was not idle.

It just so happens that it's downtime and there's nothing to do.

Chen Ming planned to briefly study the functions of this diopter class and think about how to use it in the future.

Several equipment and systems of research value on the Diopter-class ship were listed by Chen Ming.

They are the electromagnetic capture cabin, high-energy focusing system module, full-width shield module, high-frequency electromagnetic pulse generator and electromagnetic pulse amplifier device, and long-range scanning detection system module.

These are all devices that Chen Ming can research and develop.

Among them, he felt that the one with the greatest development potential was the electromagnetic capture cabin.

Chen Ming has now confirmed with his own eyes that three escort ships can be parked inside the diopter-level electromagnetic capture cabin.

And the various types of equipment used to investigate captured ships only need to be slightly modified to be used for something else.

For example, modify and repair the spacecraft.

Thinking about it this way, the diopter can completely serve as a small dock.

Moreover, the Diopter class itself is not a specialized combat ship. Those electromagnetic pulse equipment are clearly for auxiliary purposes.

Therefore, it can also cooperate with other ships to adapt to different situations.

If mining is needed, Chen Ming can directly control the Iron Ore to go out. If combat is needed, Chen Ming can prepare a special combat ship. In other cases, he can also prepare ships with different functions.

Anyway, Chen Ming can change the spacecraft he controls at any time, so modifying the cabin is definitely the most valuable option.

That is, Chen Ming must be prepared for the possible rebellion of Gamma AI after it escapes from his forced control.

But the way to deal with it is actually very simple.

It is to completely remove all the aggressive means of gamma AI in the cabin, so that Chen Ming can safely switch back the control authority of the spacecraft at any time.

It just so happens that if he wants to transform the diopter-level electromagnetic capture cabin into a cabin for parking the spacecraft, then there will be no need to attack the interior.

Chen Ming thought about the modification plan, and half an hour passed in the blink of an eye.

He originally wanted to continue thinking about more complex transformation methods, but at this moment, the Diopter-class ship suddenly shook slightly.

Gamma AI immediately informed Chen Ming of the specific situation: "It is the maintenance ship that is replenishing fuel for the diopter class."

"Row."

Chen Ming replied casually and looked at the situation outside the diopter level.

After confirming that nothing happened, he didn't pay too much attention to the interruption of his thinking.

Anyway, he has almost planned the transformation idea just now. He only needs to fill in more detailed steps later to completely complete the transformation plan.

Chen Ming stood up from his seat, stretched his stiff body a little, and his hand unconsciously touched the control panel of the Iron Ore.

Just like when he encountered the unconnected spacecraft before, a prompt suddenly appeared in Chen Ming's mind.

But this time the prompt is a little different from the previous one. [New spacecraft signal detected, whether to add a new brain control signal connection]

[Number of currently connected spaceships: 1/2]

[Spaceships that can be connected: Iron Ore (small civilian mining cargo ship), Sentinel-class (Sentinel-class civilian armed frigate)]

In an instant, Chen Ming had several more questions in his mind.

Has the number of connectable ships increased?when?Just now?What does the connectable spacecraft below mean?
After Chen Ming controlled the diopter level, he directly waited for the Iron Ore to be repaired and then opened the hatch with his consciousness and walked in.

His hands had never touched the hull of the Iron Ore, so he never noticed this situation.

Moreover, after Chen Ming controlled the diopter level, he did not think about switching back to the iron ore number in a short time.

After all, Gamma AI is still in the Afterglow Fleet, and he cannot guarantee that Gamma AI can continue to obey his orders without the forced control of the panel.

Therefore, Chen Ming has never taken the initiative to touch the Iron Mine.

But now, since there are two spacecraft control numbers, it seems that he does not need to unlock the control of the diopter level to control a new spacecraft.

And if Chen Ming understood the meaning of the third line correctly, he seemed to be able to directly connect to the spacecraft he once controlled.

Otherwise, there would be no reason for the Sentinel-class ship to appear on it.

As for the earlier pirate Sentinel-class ship, it was probably dismantled in the last afterglow raid, so it is not shown on it.

Try?

The idea flashed through Chen Ming's mind, and he wanted to connect to the Iron Ore Number and see if it could really connect through the air at a close distance.

But he suddenly thought that there was no such prompt when he had no space to control the spacecraft.

Is it possible that this remote connection function is only available when there is an empty spacecraft control position?

So Chen Ming slowed down his movements a little and chose to first connect to the Sentinel class of the pirate space station half a light-year away.

After a little consumption of mental energy, Chen Ming clearly felt that the Sentinel was under his control.

He immediately turned on the sentry-level camera and observed the surrounding environment.

At this time, the No. 30 space arm where the Sentinel class is located is still half missing as before.

The remaining half is filled with high temperatures, high heat, and molten iron everywhere.

The Sentinel-class was parked in the repair shop by Chen Ming because of his previous plans.

Therefore, when the dock was attacked by Tachyon spears, the repair shop was just not affected, and the Sentinel class was safely preserved.

Chen Ming did not rush to control the Sentinel. Instead, he moved aside the real-time transmission of the Sentinel-class image and placed his hand on the Iron Ore.

The prompt appears again.

[New spacecraft signal detected, whether to change the brain control signal connection]

[The current number of remaining spaceship connections: 2/2]

[Replaceable connecting spacecraft: Iron Ore (small civilian mining cargo ship)]

The content of this prompt made Chen Ming feel that his control of the spacecraft should be able to switch at will.

He tried it directly, canceling the control of the Sentinel and switching to the Iron Ore.

After a little consumption of mental energy, Chen Ming could clearly feel that he was gradually losing control of the Sentinel, and the Iron Ore was quickly under his control.

After getting satisfactory results, Chen Ming continued to change the control back to the sentinel level.

Then he started to use the communication equipment on the sentinel level to contact Lao Wu.

Although the Sentinel class is under Chen Ming's control, it is still impossible to obtain Chen Ming's voice from half a light-year away.

Therefore, Chen Ming could only use the voice system of the spacecraft to communicate with Old Wu like Diopter.

When the communication was connected, Chen Ming immediately told the story of how he and Lao Wu got to know each other, and also specifically mentioned the terminal and the boss.

Old Wu was silent for a while, probably considering whether what this unfamiliar communication code said was worth believing.

The content that Chen Ming specifically emphasized worked.

Old Wu did not doubt Chen Ming's identity too much. Instead, he said with some nostalgia or reluctance: "Xiao Mu, I have been looking for you. Can you come back if you are still alive? Our mission is to finish this battle. There’s a lot more, I really can’t finish it.”

Chen Ming was slightly relieved after hearing what Lao Wu said, and said: "I am outside the space station now and cannot come back for the time being."

Old Wu suddenly seemed to notice something and asked: "You are not going to do what you did before with your captain, are you?"

Chen Ming looked at the Afterglow fleet outside through the diopter-level camera, then looked at Xiaoshi lying in his helmet and said: "It's almost there. There is an Afterglow ship that looks pretty good. It will take us about a day or two." Only then can I come back.”

"Are you sure you can come back?"

Chen Ming said with great certainty: "Sure."

"That's good."

The communication channel was temporarily quiet for a while.

Chen Ming suddenly asked, "By the way, do you know what I did at the dock before?"

"What happened? Oh, you already knew about the incident when you blew up the dock and ran away, right? But Lao Lu helped you delete the surveillance. No one knows about it except us. We can all understand emergency situations, so there will be no problem."

"Anyway, you should come back soon. The task of cleaning up the battlefield is really troublesome."

"I will as soon as possible."

The communication is over.

Old Wu, who was at the space station, looked up at the factory director sitting opposite and said, "The signal source at the maintenance factory should be the Sentinel."

"Xiao Mu probably modified the Sentinel-class control system, and then used some special method to remotely connect to it, and used it to send us messages."

"By the way, aren't you sure what happened after his ship flew out?"

The director shook his head and said: "The direct hit of the Tachyon Spear has affected many equipment of the space station, and the external monitoring is basically broken."

"Xiao Mu deliberately avoided the firing range of the weapon, so the positioning equipment provided by the weapon did not take a picture of his ship."

Old Wu shrugged and said helplessly: "Then there is no other way. We can only wait for people to come back. We should go to work now. I will pay attention to Xiao Mu later."

"It's not us, it's you who go to work. I have other things to do."

"What are you doing?"

"Have a meeting and talk to Lao Wu."

"Who are you talking about?"

"You asked who we were talking about, then you must know what I want to talk to Lao Wu."

Old Wu chuckled, took a can of tea from the factory director's desk, stood up from his chair, and left the administration building.

at the same time.

Chen Ming finally waited until the rest time was over.

The Afterglow Fleet, which had been waiting outside the galaxy for a long time, finally took action and began to accelerate towards the orbit of the gas giant planet.

As the distance shortened, Chen Ming quickly confirmed the situation on this side of the battlefield through sensors.

There are a total of four cruisers on Yuhui's side, all with the same appearance, and a fleet of more than [-] destroyers and frigates.

A fifth of these small ships had been lost in previous engagements.

There are also four cruisers on the military side.

The two ships are the Dominator class, which have the strongest frontal firepower and armor among all cruiser models currently known to Chen Ming.

There is also a Defender class designed by Sindar Company, which was favored by the military during the external bidding process.

The last cruiser, like the Dominator-class, has extremely thick armor and is called the Mora-class aircraft carrier.

Although the aircraft carrier itself is not very powerful in combat, it still occupies an important position on the battlefield relying on fighter aircraft that are smaller and more flexible than frigates.

The fighter planes carried by aircraft carriers are different from ordinary ships in design. All designs are only for combat.

Fighters abandon most of the functions of normal ships, including long-term voyages, entering hyperspace channels, etc. Some of them do not even have life-support systems and rely only on the pilot's protective suit to maintain combat duration.

Therefore, the combat capabilities of some aircraft carriers are even stronger than those of frigates.

Only on large-scale battlefields, due to the limitations of ship size and weapon range, may fighter aircraft not adapt to the combat environment.

Therefore, the existence of fighter jets is still very meaningful, and the existence of aircraft carriers that carry and maintain fighter jets naturally also has significance.

On small-scale battlefields, fighter planes can often bring greater advantages than the same number of frigates.

Just like now.

Although the number of destroyer and escort-level ships on the space station is much smaller than that of Afterglow, there are even some complicated-looking ships on the edge.

Chen Ming guessed that they were bounty hunters or mercenaries hired by the military, just here to make up the numbers.

In such a situation where the number of reliable combat capabilities is insufficient, the military relies on the Mora-class aircraft carrier. Small fighters are active on the edge of the battlefield, forcefully pulling the situation back, and even pushing back. trend.

Because the shields of many spaceships are not like those of pirate space stations, which can completely protect themselves in the shield.

Most of the spacecraft shields are full-width shields. Although they can rotate at any angle around the spacecraft, the expansion range is limited and the rotation speed is prioritized. They can only protect a certain angle.

Therefore, once the fighter plane is given the opportunity to get around, no matter how powerful the ship is, there is basically only one possibility of being destroyed and the engine shutting down.

And Chen Ming also noticed.

Afterglow ships are rare ships with a large number of point defense weapons mounted against small fighters and missiles.

So much so that all ships harassed by fighter planes must allocate part of their main weapons' firepower to deal with those very maneuverable fighters, which may not be able to be dealt with.

As a result, Yuhui's frontal firepower was diluted.

The military relied on fighter planes to continuously exert pressure on Yuhui's front, especially the edges of the front where firepower was relatively weak.

No matter where a front begins to collapse, it is likely to be directly flattened by a wave.

The army is now relying on its own advantages to advance slowly.

The idea is good and the execution is fine.

But another fleet of Afterglow has arrived.

(End of this chapter)