The First Shot

Humans wanted to prolong the process, and the Kun-Tai Civilization also wanted to prolong it, but they wanted to prolong it until the fuel transfer was completed.

Humans are unaware of this.

Because at such a great distance, although humans could see the Kuntai People fleet, it was normal for transport ships and transport boats to travel between the various spaceships of a fleet.

Moreover, the Kun-Tai Civilization did not appear to be taking their time in the subsequent discussions, but rather remained as anxious as ever.

This makes people think that they just genuinely want to resolve the issue through negotiation.

And so, another two months passed amidst the wrangling between the two sides.

"Commander Yue, the Kun-Tai Civilization has made a move. The eight probes that we withdrew earlier have also turned around and are heading towards the Asteroid Belt." The announcer's voice rang out from the bridge of the Lyra.

Yue Yuan immediately looked at the star map, where the icon representing the probe was flashing continuously, displaying the probe's real-time speed, predicted route, and other information.

"So you finally couldn't hold back anymore!" Yue Yuan thought to himself.

Seeing that Kun-Tai Civilization had finally taken action, Yue Yuan did not give any pre-launch speech on the bridge of the Lyra, nor did he issue any command instructions to the Mount Wudang-Class Warship and Mount Emei-Class Warship formations.

Because there is currently a communication delay between the Lyra and the Mount Wudang-Class Warship and Mount Emei-Class Warship. Moreover, he has clearly explained the general strategy, and I believe the captains of the two warships will make their own judgments.

This is how interstellar warfare works. Without Superluminal Communication and detection methods, any warship not in the same formation will experience communication delays, and the pace of the battle will generally not be fast.

However, the slow pace refers to communication. Once the battle actually begins, every warship is racing against time. In this situation, the more it resembles remote control micro-management, the faster it will be destroyed.

Of course, this doesn't mean that not giving direct instructions means ignoring everything.

The detection information is updated on the star map so that the Lyra ship and other warship formations can make judgments that conform to their strategic intentions based on the development situation.

"Report: The Kun-Tai Civilization's Main Battleship formation remains unchanged. Just as we accelerate, their probes have already crossed the Red Line we drew!"

As this announcement was made, the Mount Wudang-Class Warship and Mount Emei-Class Warship formations, which were out in the open, also began to move.

Not long after, a Gamma Laser lit up from the gun barrel of an Escort Ship in the Mount Wudang-Class Warship, and then, thirty seconds later, passed by the nearest detector at a distance of eighteen kilometers.

Thirty seconds later, the system sounded on the Escort Ship.

"Test firing complete, target missed, error 17.235 kilometers, firing data being corrected!"

"Calculating relative position, calculating target speed, calculating the target's possible change of course within 30 seconds, determining completion, completion!"

"The other two Escort Ships in the coordinated area have completed their coordination. The fire control systems of all three ships are working in tandem. Our ship's laser cannons No. 1, 2, and 3 are ready. The first salvo is ready."

"Fire!"

With a shout from inside the Escort Ship's cockpit, nine laser beams silently shot toward the target.

Or rather, it was aimed at the location that the enemy's detector might be in 30 seconds, calculated by the shipborne Combat AI of the Escort Ship.

"Fire!"

"Fire!"

Other Escort Ship then fired at the approaching detectors, while more Escort Ship formed small squads and slowly dispersed.

Like the Mount Emei-Class Warship fleet, the Wudangshan Mount Wudang-Class Warship formation has 50 Escort Ship. Although these Escort Ships are called Escort Ship, they were not actually incorporated into the fleet to protect the Mountain-Class Warship or Callisto-Class Warship.

They are actually protecting Residential Spaceship and other non-military ships to prevent them from being destroyed by enemy small-scale attacks.

However, the Kun-Tai Civilization did not have any small ships, so the Escort Ship were brought over to conduct coordinated interception operations against the enemy's probes, but their main target was the enemy's Residential Spaceship.

Therefore, spreading out the formation was also to find an opportunity to launch a surprise attack on the Kun-Tai Civilization's Residential Spaceship later.

"Target missed. Firing data calculations completed during parameter correction. Prepare for second salvo."

"Target missed, prepare for third salvo."

"Target missed, prepare for fourth salvo."

"Target hit. Damage assessment complete. Commander, we have sunk an enemy detector."

The probes are fragile and primarily designed for agile detection; they have virtually no combat capability. Therefore, at this stage, human Escort Ship are essentially just playing target practice.

Laser Weapon are undoubtedly the most suitable weapon to deal with such agile aircraft because they are very small, only slightly heavier than a space-based nuclear missile. Under the same Nuclear Fusion propulsion conditions, missile-type weapons would have a hard time hitting them.

Moreover, at this distance, even light takes thirty seconds to travel. If we use a nuclear missile, we can fire one shot, go back to sleep, and then continue the attack when we wake up.

Minutes later, the first few probes to approach were destroyed, marking the beginning of a physical war Human Civilization and the Taikun Kun Civilization.

Meanwhile, inside the bridge of the Mount Wudang-Class Warship,

"Very good, you're all in high spirits! I'm sure you all know what we're about to face, but I'll tell you again, it's the Kun-Tai Civilization, a civilization with 120 Mountain-Class Warship. Now tell me, are you afraid?"

"I'm not afraid!"

"It's not true that I'm not afraid. I'm telling you frankly, I'm afraid too. But we are soldiers. The glory of the human spirit has allowed us to overcome the fear of death. If we retreat, humanity will be wiped out of the universe by those insect-like aliens. We have no way back. We can only move forward, towards the enemy's gunfire. Now let us show these aliens what blood and fire are. Now tell me, is anyone trembling with fear?"

"No!!!"

"Very well, now I'll give you thirty minutes to write your wills. Then come with me and fight the aliens!"

"Let's take down the aliens!"

The captain of the Mount Wudang-Class Warship spoke with a touch of childish eccentricity, but such a scene was not unique to the Mount Wudang-Class Warship; it also occurred on the Mount Emei-Class Warship and various warships in the Man Yuemei fleet.

The Kun-Tai Civilization's warships will enter the range of Laser Weapon in four hours. As the frontline warships, they must be prepared to face death.

As the warship formation unfolded, time gradually drew closer to the actual Main Battlefield engagement. During this period, the other Escort Ship had destroyed countless probes attempting to penetrate the Asteroid Belt.

"Attention all ships in this formation! Please assess your own positions and wish us good luck!"

With a self-blessing, the Main Battlefield officially began.