Including the carrier, the three destroyers, five frigates, one army transport ship, three pirate gunboats, and twenty Pirate Raiders formed a small fleet. It departed the starport in grand fashion, heading for the Asteroid Belt.
Bored as he sat in the transport ship's captain's chair, Wei Peng quietly opened the Earth Star Net and immediately found it filled with news reports.
The most eye-catching item was a live broadcast of the carrier fleet departing the starport.
"Good grief, a carrier fleet! This fleet could sweep the entire Solar System, couldn't it?"
"You're underestimating the Earth Defense Fleet. It has three battleships alone. By comparison, a carrier is just one giant meat pie."
"Go, Meteor Mercenary Group! Has everyone looked it up? Commander Lin is a grassroots success story from the Eastern Continent, a first-generation rich man who built his fortune from scratch!"
"666~ Times make heroes!"
"Heh, as if anyone could take off just because the wind was at their back. Plenty of pigs have fallen out of the sky."
"Meteor Mercenary Group is recruiting! Who's in?"
"They don't even provide a spaceship. Whoever wants to go can go."
"I'm in, I'm in! I'd even sweep the floors!"
"A newly risen mercenary group is already on par with fleets assembled by thousand-year-old families. Psionic warships are terrifying indeed."
"Big brother, the internet's gone crazy." Wei Peng said. By then, they had used Holographic Communication to set up a local network, turning it into a small conference room.
"Your fame has risen again. Online polls say yours is currently the top civilian fleet in the Solar System!"
"You do know that's the Solar System?" Link chuckled. "We won't have made it until we're the Federation's top fleet."
"Keep dreaming. You can have anything you want in your dreams." Wei Peng fired back without hesitation.
"Enough. The carrier's slow, so it'll take our fleet a month and a half to get there. That's a huge waste of time." Wu Tianyi cut in.
"Big brother, why don't we practice fleet formations and get the pilots some training while we're at it?"
"Good idea. We should run some drills in advance." Lin Zhichen agreed. Commanding a fleet in battle was nothing like fighting with a single ship; it was all about formation and coordination.
Training now would keep them from fumbling when they reached the Asteroid Belt and went into battle.
To make command easier, the destroyers and pirate gunboats were grouped together, in units of three on either side of the carrier. The frigates formed an arrowhead formation in front of it. Together, they advanced in a V-shaped formation, like a flock of migrating geese.
Though the carrier was the largest ship in the fleet, Lin Zhichen remained aboard the Qinyuan, directing the advance of the entire fleet.
The Qinyuan had already completed its second-generation upgrade. It was over 200 meters long and had six small gun turrets.
Together with the several newly built destroyers and frigates, they had drained the Meteor Mercenary Group's available funds.
"Fleet combat feels completely different from fighting with a single ship." Lin Zhichen watched the fleet formations displayed on the Holographic Projection, continually directing the ships to change formation.
Since he was just starting out, the warships were slow to change formation. The resulting Warship Group looked crooked and comical. He suspected that without the fleet's electronic control computer stepping in, he wouldn't even have managed to complete the most basic formation change.
"Big brother, every beginning is difficult. We all came to this late, after all. We can't compare to those Federation military insiders who started training when they were kids." Wu Tianyi offered some reassurance.
"With the Qinyuan, we still have time to change our approach, no matter what."
Lin Zhichen nodded and opened his personal panel.
Name: Lin Zhichen Elite Red Gender: Male Age: 21 Talent: Heaven Rewards Diligence Purple: Effect 1: Effort brings rewards; practicing skills improves them. Effect 2: Members of your faction are affected by this talent. Gate of Time and Space Blue: Opens once a month, searches for Spacetime Marks, and opens temporary instances. Psionicist Red: Effect 1: Awakens Psionics. Effect 2: Skill learning speed +10%. Class: Captain Elite Red, Apprentice Skills: 1-Psionic Cultivation Red, Warrior 37.14% -Fatal Strike Red, Beginner 37.13%: Fatal hit +2% -Fleet Command Red, Apprentice 12.71%: Fleet formation change speed +7% Psionic Combat Skills: 1: Ship Command Elite Red: Effect 1: Ship evasion +25%*10. Effect 2: Sublight Speed +25%*10. Psionics cost: 50. Duration: 30 min. -Sublight Assault Elite Red: Effect 1: Sublight Cannon Barrage accuracy +25%*10. Effect 2: Sublight Cannon Barrage damage +25%*10. Psionics cost: 60. Duration: 30 min. Psionics: 315 Evaluation: Behold my Flying Immortal from Beyond the Heavens!
Fleet Command had appeared. It differed from Ship Command by only one word, but the two belonged to entirely different fields.
"Some command-type skills, once psionically imbued, form a pseudo-domain that boosts the entire fleet."
Remembering what Liu Manyun had said earlier, his heart burned with excitement.
A pseudo-domain couldn't advance him to Hero, of course, but it already touched on some of a Hero's abilities. Once he mastered the skill, it would give the entire fleet a significant boost.
In the starry void, the carrier suddenly opened its hangar bays. One Space Fighter after another poured out, quickly forming up in space and taking station around the fleet.
Because of their small size and high speed, the fighters could serve as reconnaissance aircraft, searching ahead for the enemy.
The Space Fighter Swarm and the fleet formations shifted from time to time, their scattered forces gradually coming together as a single whole.
Suddenly, a Holographic Communication call came in. Lin Zhichen looked down and saw it was from the Rockefeller Family.
He opened it, and sure enough, Kadir Rockefeller appeared.
"Good to see you, my friend." Kadir Rockefeller's face was lit with a warm smile.
"Welcome." Lin Zhichen smiled politely. "How may I help you?"
Kadir said, "I heard you acquired a carrier and are heading toward the Asteroid Belt?"
"Yes," Lin Zhichen replied.
"My dear friend, a carrier is a rare beast of war. You don't look surprised at all." Kadir sounded a little exaggerated as he spoke.
"May I ask if the Meteor Mercenary Group has any more in stock?"
Lin Zhichen laughed. "You're joking. A warship like this is lucky to acquire once, let alone a second time. To be honest, even this one came to us by sheer chance. It'll probably be a one-of-a-kind in the Solar System for some time."
"I see. That's a real shame." Kadir shrugged. "If you get a second one and don't plan to use it yourself, please consider the Rockefeller Family. We certainly won't offer you a bad price."
"Of course." Lin Zhichen readily agreed.
"Old friend, things are chaotic in the Asteroid Belt. If you need anything, get in touch anytime," Kadir said.
"Of course." Lin Zhichen nodded.
The holographic image vanished. Wu Tianyi and the others exchanged glances.
"Big brother, was that just a greeting?" Link couldn't help asking.
"Of course not. It was a test, and also a veiled warning. The Meteor Mercenary Group has risen too quickly. We've already made the established factions wary of us," Lin Zhichen replied.
"There aren't any old families in the Solar System, just a bunch of Old Era scavengers," Wu Tianyi said with a shake of his head.
"I don't think we need to worry. We just have to be careful they don't join forces."
"The Asteroid Belt has become a battleground for Earth's emerging factions. There's already not enough territory to go around. Our sudden arrival as a major player has only stirred up an already chaotic situation," Lin Zhichen mused.
"We'll deal with soldiers with generals and water with earthworks," Wei Peng said nonchalantly. "At worst, we fight and see who comes out on top."
After a long voyage of thirty-five days, the small fleet finally reached the Asteroid Belt.
Lin Zhichen put away the two Killing Ship Spirits he had accumulated and looked at the Asteroid Belt just ahead.
Large ships like carriers weren't suited to fighting in the complex environment of the Asteroid Belt. They were slow, and if anything went wrong, they might not even be able to escape. But there was no way they could back down now.
The Qinyuan led the way, clearing a path for the fleet.
Psionics rippled like a giant hand, pushing away the drifting asteroids. A passage was soon cleared through the chaotic belt.
One warship after another sailed in. In terrain this chaotic, the challenge of Fleet Command became all the more apparent. The commander had more factors to consider, and the task was much harder.
"Move this frigate here to prevent a gap in our oil supply line."
"Launch the carrier-based fighters as soon as possible to scout the surrounding space."
"The standard fleet formation takes up too much space. There isn't enough room in the Asteroid Belt to spread out like that. We need to rearrange the fleet."
Lin Zhichen had been enjoying a relatively quiet time, but now he was busy again, constantly directing the fleet to change its formation.
Under these conditions, the Fleet Command skill on his character panel rose rapidly. He had spent a month without getting it to Beginner, but after entering the Asteroid Belt, it neared Intermediate in just a few days.
But now, the Meteor Fleet finally faced its first fleet battle: a Micro Fleet of seven Pirate Raiders and two pirate gunboats had been spotted by the Space Fighters assigned to reconnaissance.
A Warship Group of this size could easily have been wiped out by the Space Fighter Swarm alone. Most pirate ships had no anti-aircraft defenses, after all. But Lin Zhichen didn't send in just the fighters.
Instead, he split four squadrons of Space Fighters into two groups, sending them toward the enemy fleet like a pair of pincers. The Main Fleet left behind one destroyer and ten Pirate Raiders; every other warship pressed forward at once.
This was his first fleet battle, and with a weak enemy, he wanted to get a feel for the fighting.
After calculating their speed, the pirate fleet soon realized they were being half-encircled by enemies approaching from the front and both sides.
They didn't choose to flee right away. The opposition between the NPC and Natural Person factions let them quickly recognize what the Meteor Mercenary Group really was. The pirate fleet immediately charged at the Main Fleet.
Seated in the captain's chair, Lin Zhichen didn't charge straight into battle aboard the Qinyuan. Instead, he fought as part of the fleet, commanding it like a conventional warship.
Before you continue