Unknown Civilization Spaceship
"Commander Yue, Vice Commander Man, look, this is the footage captured by our probe." The Science Officer tapped a few times on the keyboard in front of him, projecting the image onto the central screen. He then turned and pointed at the screen, saying, "The Electromagnetic Wave signals should have been emitted by these spacecraft. Based on the probe's AI behavior logic, our probe should have stopped moving forward by now."
The probe mentioned by the Science Officer was actually Probe Spaceship, about the size of a large transport plane. In the vastness of space, it was practically indistinguishable from a speck of dust. It was probably discovered because of the bright exhaust plume and the fact that the two were too close together.
At this moment, Yue Yuan looked up at the large screen and frowned slightly. "Hmm, it seems to be a detector from some civilization, but why is it so big?"
The screen displayed three spaceships significantly larger than human-made probes. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the images, including optical remote sensing technology and the length of their exhaust plumes, these three spaceships were likely considerably larger than an aircraft carrier.
Based on human understanding of the structure and function of spaceships and warships, a spaceship of this size is definitely not a warship, but if it is a probe, then it is a bit too big.
"Commander Yue, Director Gao Kun believes that these three spacecraft are likely manned Probe Spaceship or some kind of Starry Sky Patrol Spaceship," the Science Officer replied.
"Where is Gao Kun?" Yue Yuan asked again.
"They're on their way. The linguists and codebreakers have also begun analyzing and deciphering the signal." The Science Officer paused, then asked, "Commander Yue, should the fleet slow down?"
"No rush. The situation is still unclear. Let's wait until the Electromagnetic Wave signal is deciphered before making any moves," Yue Yuan said, shaking his head. However, as soon as he finished speaking, he fell into deep thought. Although it was not advisable to act rashly when the situation was unclear, some preparatory work could still be done.
After a moment of contemplation, Yue Yuan said to the communications officer, "Send the message to the duty officer of the First Fleet and order him to send out more probes into the surrounding starry sky to ensure that early warning work is carried out effectively."
"Yes!" the communications officer at his post replied.
After speaking, Yue Yuan dialed Zhu Pete's communication channel again. Without waiting for the other party to exchange pleasantries, he said directly, "Pi Te, order you soldiers of the Security Department to do a good job in social security work, strengthen internal security, and cooperate with the internal affairs department to awaken the hibernating personnel in the scientific community."
"Received!" Zhu Pete replied.
"Hmm!" After hanging up Zhu Pete's communication, Yue Yuan then sent a message to the duty officers of various departments of the New Government, instructing them to begin waking up the hibernating personnel in their respective departments.
After disseminating the message, Yue Yuan turned to Man Yuemei beside him and said, "Vice Commander Man, please also notify all key personnel and soldiers of the Second Fleet to be awakened."
Man Yuemei said, "Okay!"
The human fleet is currently about three light-years away from the Target Star System. According to normal navigation procedures, it is far from the time to awaken a large number of hibernating personnel. Therefore, at present, the various departments of the New Government, the First Fleet, and the Second Fleet are mostly only under the responsibility of duty officers.
In the face of this emergency, it is natural to mobilize personnel. Civilians can be dealt with later, but scientists from various fields, key officials of the New Government, commanders of all types of spaceships, captains of all warships, and soldiers are urgently needed.
After issuing a series of commands, Yue Yuan turned his attention back to the large screen, carefully watching the three unknown spaceships on it.
The fact that all three spaceships left long trails of flame indicates that the technological level of the Unknown Civilization behind them was not outrageously advanced, at least within the scope of human understanding.
Judging from the fact that these three spaceships entered the probe's field of view, this Unknown Civilization has not mastered Warp Speed Travel. Humans have seen images of Warp spaceships appearing in the Kun-Tai Civilization's database, but the sudden appearance of the spaceship followed by a reversed image did not occur, indicating that the Unknown Civilization behind these three spaceships does not possess the means to Faster-Than-Light Travel.
The main reason Yue Yuan remained calm was because he gleaned this information from the images.
As for why the three spaceships in the current scene are emitting such long plumes of flame, Yue Yuan judged that they were probably slowing down.
A civilization that has not mastered Faster-Than-Light Travel would be quite surprised to suddenly discover a probe team that does not belong to its own civilization in outer space. Therefore, it is normal for it to slow down and initiate communication.
And those who can make such a judgment directly might actually be, as Gao Kun said, that these three spaceships are manned.
"I hope the Unknown Civilization behind these three spaceships understands how to communicate Cosmic Civilizations," Yue Yuan thought to himself, his eyes fixed on the big screen as he stroked his stubble.
Humans are quite familiar with the AI they have created, and the probe team should have stopped when faced with this situation.
If the Unknown Civilization behind the three opposing spaceships knew the rules of communication and exchange between civilizations, they would probably wait patiently instead of attacking directly.
Due to the information delay caused by the vast spatial scale, the human fleet had no idea about the situation of the probe team a light-year away. This was because the scene Yue Yuan was seeing was from about a year ago.
Fortunately, the images transmitted by the probes were continuous, so if anything went wrong, the human fleet would receive them a year later. Well, as the fleet continued its journey forward, this time difference was less than a year, roughly eleven months and twenty days.
As time went by, the images on the big screen gradually changed.
First, it can be determined that the three spaceships are indeed decelerating. The human probe team is also decelerating; based on data from various instruments on the probes, the two sides are currently only about 5,000 to 6,000 kilometers apart, and are gradually approaching each other over time.
Awakening scientists from various fields from hibernation is not something that can be done overnight, not to mention that they will need some time to adapt after waking up.
So at this moment, there weren't many people in the entire Lyra Command Center. Even the people in front of the rows of Work Platform and computers were scattered around. And the only people standing in the hall looking at the big screen were Yue Yuan, Man Yuemei, and the duty Science Officer, among a handful of others.
However, Yue Yuan had nothing else to do, so he just kept watching the big screen. He hoped to get more information about the civilization to which the unknown spaceship belonged before everyone arrived.
The situation on the screen did not disappoint him. After staring at the big screen for a long time, Yue Yuan finally grasped another important piece of information.
As the probe gradually approached, Yue Yuan noticed a change in the exhaust plumes of the three warships that were slowing down. The long, bright exhaust plumes were interspersed with flashes of light.
If I'm not mistaken, that should be the exhaust plume produced by the Cold Nuclear Pulse Thruster. In other words, the civilization to which these three spaceships belong is most likely a Level 2 Civilization!