Star Ocean: Starting from the Abandoned Mining Space Station

Chapter 96 The battle suddenly stopped

The terrifying destructive power of the armor-piercing class can be exerted in the most perfect way under the protection of many company ships.

Such a devastating attack that could come at any time would definitely put more pressure on the opponent than the pressure the military put on Chen Ming just now.

But the commander on the military flagship did not panic at this time, but calmed down again.

The commander had heard the name of the armor-breaking class, and also remembered the situation of the armor-breaking class.

This is Sindar Company's unique, and can be considered as radical, spaceship design.

Although it has extremely strong firepower, when the armor-breaking class only had a design concept and no physical proof of combat effectiveness, its too fragile armor and line-resistance capabilities prevented the military from choosing it in the annual tenders.

Before, he also thought that armor-piercing weapons were just unreliable experiments.
But now that he had seen the final object, he suddenly felt that the ability to destroy equal-level ships in an instant did have considerable tactical significance.

But the commander remembered that this ship seemed to have been taken away by the government in a previous tender.

Why would the government... No, not the government.

The commander suddenly realized the problem, summoned his deputy and asked, "Do you have the recent movements of Chen Ming, who is wanted by the military?"

"Yes. After Chen Ming's identity is confirmed, all the information is traceable."

"Tell me the key points."

"Yes."

"After arriving at the pirate space station, Chen Ming changed his name to Mu Shuikong and rejoined Xinda Company with a new identity."

"There is nothing wrong with this part. He was just an ordinary employee at the time. He must have been quite suspicious of the situation on the space station. It is normal for him to change his identity and infiltrate again to test the company's attitude. What happens next?"

"What followed were two afterglow attacks on the space station. He was involved in both incidents."

“The first time, although there was evidence that he had been staying on the space station, his ship clashed with other ships on the edge of the battlefield, destroying four civilian merchant ships, one Cerberus, and one Sentinel, against many. Two-ship expedition.”

"And later captured a complete Civilian-class Sentinel and acquired half of the Afterglow remnant destroyer that led to their conflict."

The commander was not surprised at all by this result.

A spacecraft with several times the radiation capacity and seemingly endless firepower could easily take out several civilian ships of the same level.

As for Chen Ming himself, he has been staying on the space station.

First of all, it is certain that Chen Ming returned to the space station alone, otherwise the military would definitely be hunting down more than just Chen Ming.

Secondly, Chen Ming has not recruited anyone to join the space station, nor has he mobilized personnel within the space station through his connections within Sinda Company.

The answer is actually easy to guess.

In addition to having the ability to amplify the spacecraft, Chen Ming also has the ability to remotely control the spacecraft.

Is this the psionicist?

Although the commander felt a little emotional, there was no envy in his eyes.

Because just now he had relied on his own ability to suppress Chen Ming, a psyker, and that was enough.

The deputy continued: "The civilian-grade Sentinel is still in the repair shop of the space station. The other half of the Afterglow destroyer was sold by Chen Ming at the space station. The specific target of the sale has not yet been determined."

"Can this be investigated?"

The commander once again understood the incompetence of the local military, shook his head slightly, and waved his hand to indicate to his deputy to continue.

"There is no detailed information on how Chen Ming participated in the second incident. We only know that he was directly involved in the battle and brought back two ships after the incident, including a military Centurion. class, a Lumen class of Afterglow.”

"The military seriously suspects that Chen Ming returned to the RM-2 star system after the second Afterglow attack on the space station, wandered around the edge of the battlefield between Afterglow and the military, and then acquired the two ships."

The commander who is now personally fighting Chen Ming has no doubt that Chen Ming is capable of following Yu Hui to pick up the pieces on the battlefield with the military.

But he obviously didn't believe that Chen Ming only brought back two ships.

However, he did not say it directly, but asked his deputy: "I just saw the Centurion he brought back, but what about the Afterglow ship?"

"It has not yet been determined. The Lumen was originally parked in the space station's repair shop, but was later transported to Chen Ming's own Mule-class armed merchant ship, and then there was no trace."

"Wait a minute, where did Chen Ming get the mule class? Did he buy it?"

"No, he seemed to have organized a fleet to kill a group of wanted pirates after the second Afterglow attack and stole it from them."

"seem?"

"Well... yes, this section of the military information is not detailed, but it is certain that the Mule-class is his trophy."

"Later, he went to the capital of the Star Territory and submitted a pirate bounty, which can also prove this."

The commander immediately noticed that there were some problems with Chen Ming's handling of the afterglow ship.

If he wanted to sell it, Chen Ming could just sell it as before, but he took the ship away personally, and there has been no news about the Lumen class recently.

Even if any company directly takes Lumen away point-to-point, it is impossible for the military to not notice it at all.

Then there is only one reason left that can be explained.

Chen Ming has the ability to control even Yuhui's ship. The Yuhui Lumen has been controlled by Chen Ming and is parked somewhere in space that no one knows about.

The fleet organized by Chen Ming probably included several Yuhui ships.

As for whether Chen Ming can control the Afterglow AI core installed on the ship, the commander would rather believe that the answer is yes.

Because humans can completely control the meaning of afterglow, everyone in the entire empire knows it very well.

The commander had completely made up his mind at this time, and no longer considered whether there was anything or not, he directly contacted the communications room and said: "Activate the emergency contact equipment and transfer the authority to me."

He wanted to send Chen Ming's complete information back to the legion, along with his own analysis of Chen Ming's abilities.

The value of Chen Ming is higher than he thought before.

While compiling a message to the legion, he listened to his deputy's explanation of Chen Ming's subsequent whereabouts.

"After Chen Ming killed the pirates, he went to the star capital to collect the bounty."

"While the government was verifying the identity of the pirates that Chen Ming brought, he went to attend an auction held by the government. The main item was the armor-breaking class."

That's right.

The commander was now certain that no one from the government was involved, but he still had some questions to figure out.

"I have some impression of this matter, but I remember something went wrong at the auction?"

"Yes, Luddite attacked the auction as cover for their attack on the space elevator."

"How long has it been since then? He should still be under investigation as one of the people involved in the incident."

"That's how it was supposed to be. Someone got him out."

"Who?"

"Wu An."

The commander's expression changed significantly for the second time, and he said, "Wu An from the Psionic Association? In this ghost place? Is Chen Ming also a member of the Psionic Association?"

Before the adjutant could answer, the commander rejected his idea and said: "No, he is not, he is just a psyker who has a certain relationship with Wu An."

"If so, he should be able to directly suspend the mission we are currently performing, and it is impossible for him to really fight here with me for so long."

"Forget it, whether it is or not, let's continue fighting."

At this time, the commander saw another destroyer being destroyed by an armor-piercing automatic pulse laser.

He knew that he could no longer distract himself from figuring out Chen Ming's affairs.

Chen Ming is a very good person with great potential. He wants it very much, and his legion will definitely want it too.

But if he fails to fight and overturns here, it is still a small matter if he is killed. It is a big deal if he is not caught yet.

And just when he was distracted from dealing with Chen Ming's affairs, there were already several areas on the military front that were about to be unable to withstand the pressure brought by armor-piercing.

He must immediately start to command the fleet more carefully and start to implement the method he just thought of to deal with large armor-breaking weapons.

Under Chen Ming's control, the armor-piercing class was in slow fire mode, continuously creating pressure on the military spacecraft on the entire front.

The best way to deal with this attack mode is clustering.

Under the command of the commander, the military fleet began to form small-scale clusters of three to five spaceships. While maintaining the battle line as much as possible, it was organized into more densely packed small battle clusters of more than a dozen.

The automatic pulse laser is a restrained energy bullet type weapon, which means that its bullet speed is not as fast as a laser beam weapon.

The attacked spacecraft still has a certain amount of time to react.

Although people can react, they may not be able to control the spacecraft in time, but they can at least struggle.

If you can hide, then hide. If you can't, then find a way to share some damage with other ships in a cluster.

This approach can slow down the pressure on the front line from Chen Ming's current slow-shooting mode.

As long as this output cannot break through the military's front line instantly, then with the commander's careful operation, any moment of respite will become an opportunity for him to counterattack.

Chen Ming could clearly see the changes in the military front.

He could immediately detect the disadvantages of just using a single armor-piercing ship in slow-fire mode.

He also instantly realized the commander's ability to find opportunities to counterattack and destroy several frigates that rushed in because the shields of military ships were about to be overloaded.

So in the end, Chen Ming had no choice but to give up suppressing the entire front and chose to let the armor-breaking class destroy the military ships with explosive output that cooled down for about 15 seconds.

Chen Ming would definitely not be able to compete with the commander in conducting a large-scale battle, so Chen Ming decided to rely on his own strengths to deal with it.

The commander on the other side also knew that doing so could not prevent the battleship from being destroyed every time the armor-piercing fire was fired, but the attack efficiency of the armor-piercing class did decrease to a certain extent.

Originally, if the automatic pulse laser shuttle hit all the targets, it could destroy two destroyers instantly.

But with swarm assistance, it will often destroy one ship and leave several ships with nearly overloaded shields.

There is still a big difference.

Although this method seems to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause, armor-piercing can still destroy military destroyers with a terrifying efficiency than any other ship.

But the commander's reasons for doing this don't end there.

He never thought that a destroyer would have such a big impact on the battle situation, and he was now sure that they did not have the means to deal with armor penetration.

Therefore, he did not have the idea of ​​dealing with the armor-breaking level directly now.

Instead, he chose another approach.

Fight head-on with Sindar's ships, Dui Zi.

The few rounds of shots that had just broken through the armor had already allowed the commander to determine that the cooling time of the large weapon that broke through the armor was 15 seconds. This seemed very short, but it was still a bit long in the battleship firefight.

The 15-second vacuum period means that the company's fleet has the same combat effectiveness as before, or even worse, during these 15 seconds.

Because the other ships in the fleet need to help share the firepower of the armor-piercing armor, this is the only chance.

to be frank.

Originally, the commander had a very obvious advantage in the battle, but in the end he was forced to rely on the number of ships. It was really embarrassing to talk about it.

But for the commander, it doesn't matter whether he is embarrassed or not, victory is the most important thing.

After losing another destroyer and an escort, the armor-breaking class created a vacuum period for a short 15 seconds.

The commander found the weakest point in the company's front and directed the remaining fleet to launch the most violent attack as hard as possible.

With no concern for losses and a determination to win.

The patrol ship, which is usually only responsible for patrolling the space station, suddenly became unable to handle it.

Even the people on the spacecraft sent by the company themselves were a little flustered by the military's desperate fighting attitude.

Even if Chen Ming was able to destroy at least one destroyer for 15 seconds, the overall battle situation began to tilt toward the military.

After all, the army is an army. No matter how experienced the people in the company are in combat, they can't compare to real people licking blood from the edge of a knife.

Chen Ming, who had time to observe the overall situation on the battlefield, naturally discovered the commander's plan.The army is now desperately exchanging battle loss ratios.

If all the ships protecting the armor-piercing ones are used up, then there will be no point in leaving only one armor-piercing ship.

Even if the military exchanges the loss not at the original one-to-two battle loss, but at one-to-one, the company will definitely not be able to withstand it.

But there is not much that Chen Ming can do now.

Although panel repair can speed up the cooling time of the automatic pulse laser, it is not just the cooling time that affects the attack frequency of the automatic pulse laser.

There are also energy limitations.

Antiparticle Antiparticle Energy Stimulation Modules require time to recharge, providing energy for automatic pulse laser fire.

This is where repair can't fix it.

So the current battlefield situation is about who can kill faster, and the one who kills faster can win the final victory.

Chen Ming's advantage due to the armor-piercing arrival instantly became a balance of power due to the disparity in other aspects.

Chen Ming, who was controlling the A-level offense, felt more and more pressure.

He really didn't have any good means of cracking the military's well-known style of play.

Moreover, Chen Ming's mental power was close to the limit during the long battle, but Chen Ming was still thinking with his brain that was constantly feeling tingling.

Consider whether he needs to use last resort.

But at this time, Chen Ming suddenly noticed that there was sudden chaos within the military front, and there was chaos in scheduling.

Several spaceships suddenly seemed to have conflicts internally and began to fight on their own.

And a large number of the ships suddenly stopped attacking and began to withdraw from the battlefield.

what happened?

Chen Ming had taken control of all the destroyers in the fleet at this time, and returned to the cattle driver again.

I happened to see the captain receiving an unsolicited message from the military.

"The commander of the RM-2 military outpost was designated as an insurgent. His orders were deemed invalid and the review was not authorized."

"Please terminate the war immediately. The military will compensate your company accordingly in the future."

The captain was filled with anger at this time.

The military said it could stop if it wanted to?How can they find the people they lost?

But his reason allowed him to forcibly suppress this anger, and instead began to restrict his ships, gradually opening them up in cooperation.

The two sides, who had been having a fierce exchange of fire just now, and even wanted to exchange their lives for their lives, suddenly became peaceful again.

What exactly is going on?

Not only Chen Ming and the captain, but also the commander also had this idea in his mind at this time.

He had just received a joint message from the legion to which he belonged, as well as from the star domain government and the star domain military.

The commander of a small military outpost that collects sky steel located in the RM-2 star system is also the commander of the military outpost closest to the pirate space station. He illegally used his authority to divert military resources.

After being discovered, he still did not give any reason for the illegal operation and went his own way, which was subsequently characterized as an act of rebellion.

The time is just now.

The commander came here just to fight and take away Chen Ming, but not to get involved with the rebels.

So he immediately chose to stop the battle and distance himself from the company fleet.

Most of the people in the fleet who have not completely lost their minds have no objection to this, and they also do not want to be affected by the rebellion of their superiors.

The rest who still want to continue fighting are basically those who have become red-blooded during the battle.

But it is impossible for everyone in a spaceship to be jealous, so all warships in the entire military fleet carried out the commander's orders.

As for the confidants of the station commander within the military, they were all sent away by the commander during the battle just now.

The battle started suddenly but ended peacefully.

Just when Chen Ming thought he could finally rest and head to the capital of the Star Territory safely.

The boss, who had not spoken for a long time, suddenly spoke: "Xiao Mu, you seem to have a big trouble over there."

"what?"

As soon as Chen Ming finished speaking, inside the hyperspace where the fleet was located, some distance away from the fleet, some ripples that Chen Ming had never seen suddenly appeared out of thin air, just like the space was fluctuating.

To the complete surprise of everyone on the battlefield, a Dominator-class heavy cruiser arrived in this hyperspace with its own jump engine.

"Fuck!"

Chen Ming, who originally thought that his mental energy was exhausted and his brain was dizzy, did not dare to feel sleepy at all.

"Boss! Dominator! Cruiser!"

"I'm already...thinking...of contacting...people..."

The last few words came intermittently from the boss's voice, and then the communication was completely disconnected.

The only thing left in Chen Ming's eyes was the extremely terrifying heavy cruiser.

And at this time.

inside the empire.

An Earth-like planet located in the Asconia star system in the bustling star field.

This is the headquarters of Xinda Company.

Preparations for the upcoming board meeting are in the final stages.

But in fact, there is no need for any preparation. After all, this is an online meeting. From preparation to getting everyone together, it is just a matter of adjusting the work.

In short, in the final conference room, except for Chairman Xu Lin, who was present in person, everyone else existed in the conference room through virtual projections.

After everyone confirmed that they were present, the chairman said directly: "This decision-making meeting was initiated by me, and half of the members have agreed to hold it."

“There are two issues that require a vote by the board.”

"First, is it necessary to conflict with the military again to get back the resource extraction rights of the galaxy?"

"Second, is it necessary to protect Chen Ming, allow Chen Ming to return to the company with a higher status, and invest in him."

"Everyone should be aware of what happened. Except for a few directors who have only recently joined the board of directors, others should not forget what happened 30 years ago."

"Then I won't waste your time and let's start voting on the first proposal."

The results came in within seconds, and the vote was unanimous.

The existence of Chen Ming already means that the military's blockade of the star system where Sindar Company has obtained mining rights has no meaning.

Retrieval is something that companies must do.

"Then the next step is the second proposal, please vote on it."

What the chairman did not expect was that the final result was four votes in favor, eight votes against, and one abstention.

The collective opposition of the board of directors caused a dark look to appear on the chairman's face for a moment.

One of the directors who voted against said immediately: "A psyker who can control a spaceship has different values ​​for different people and forces."

"We all know the value of Chen Ming and how much his abilities can help the development of our cutting-edge technologies."

"But the government just gave us a message."

"The armor-breaking grade we sold to them suddenly ran away on its own. Everyone knows who did this, right?"

"Chen Ming's information cannot be completely kept secret without the intervention of the military. Sooner or later, the government will know who took away the broken armor."

"Then, they will know how terrifying Chen Ming's ability is."

"After that, who will dare to buy our company's spaceship?"

"For the sake of a statement, I offend the military and the government at the same time. Is such an exchange worth it?"

"The company's business, the company's technology, we have to make a choice."

The director has put the pros and cons of the whole thing on the table.

The chairman also knew whether what he said was correct. After sighing slightly, he said: "What about the opinion of the board of directors?"

"Chen Ming can only be used mainly."

"Find a way to gain his trust, securely exchange Sky Steel back, and then sell him."

In order to prevent any ambiguity, the director added another one and said: "Of course not to kill, but to sell to other forces."

"Other companies, the military, even the government, can sell it."

"Chen Ming is our bargaining chip, but what we have on hand, or in other words, what all companies that produce spacecraft for sale will have negative value on hand."

"But for the military and the government, there is no need to consider negative issues, so they will definitely be happy to buy Chen Ming from us."

"Do you want Chen Ming? Of course you want it, but you can't want it all, you can only want it for a period of time."

"This is the choice that is in the best interest of the company, and stating personal wishes is not important."

The chairman suddenly crossed his fingers and put them in front of his mouth and said, "But Chen Ming, a psionic person, is favored by Wu An of the Psychic Association."

The conference room fell silent for a moment.

The director in charge of the Pirate Space Station who voted in favor said, "I can testify."

"Wu An has always been under my jurisdiction, and his attitude toward our company is at a mixed stage. I'm still trying to show favor to him, so I haven't announced this news to the board of directors yet."

After the meeting room was quiet for a while, the director who had just abstained said: "I think this matter needs to be seriously considered, and I propose to postpone the vote."

"That's good."

"I agree."

"Seconded."

The directors all agreed to postpone the company's decision on Chen Ming's attitude. Wu An's existence required them to take time to carefully consider whether their attitude towards Chen Ming would affect Wu An's attitude towards them.

At this moment, there was a sudden knock on the door of the boardroom.

Anything that can interrupt such a meeting must be the most urgent matter.

The chairman immediately let in his secretary who knocked on the door.

The secretary immediately handed a paper document he brought to the chairman, and then exited the conference room.

After scanning the documents, the chairman said quickly: "In case of emergency, the military is attacking the fleet I sent to bring Chen Ming back, and also used cruisers to chase him."

"The statement given by the military is that the captain of the cruiser illegally activated the cruiser and launched a rebellion. The army has been dispatched to suppress it."

The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became anxious.

There was a hurried discussion about how this was definitely not a good situation for the company.

Relying on the fact that he was present, the chairman reached out and knocked on the table, making the conference room quiet, and said: "Everything else is empty. The most important thing now is that Chen Ming cannot die."

"Chen Ming is dead, and the rest is just empty talk."

"Whether it's Skysteel, or a top-level research-type psyker who possesses a certain level of spaceship technology knowledge, or even the possibility of forming a relationship with a psyker association in a short period of time, all are in vain."

"Everyone, if you have the ability to carry out rescue in a short time, please act immediately. Chen Ming must survive."

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(End of this chapter)