Friendly talks

As they stepped into the cabin, several crew members in spacesuits saluted them.

"Thank you for your hard work. You are all pillars of the empire!" Xi Yan's words of encouragement came readily, and the crew members visibly nodded with excitement.

"This ship is called the Galactic Throne. It was once Grand Marshal Xi Lie's flagship, and now I serve as its captain."

Ning Zhiyuan surveyed the central section of the cabin with a touch of nostalgia as he introduced it to Xi Yan.

Xi Yan's expression shifted slightly.

That's Dad for you. His taste in names is right up my alley.

When I get to command a Colossus, I'll give it this name too!

No, I'll call it the Star-Sea Throne!

"These three corvettes were all brought out of the United Nations of Earth by the previous marshal," Beta added. "He took more than half of their ships with him. Unfortunately, almost all were lost during the voyages that followed. Only these three remain."

"Back when we followed Grand Marshal Xi Lie out of the United Nations of Earth, the Human Federation secretly plotted a course for us and even provided aid." Ning Zhiyuan reminisced, then gave a rather unkind laugh.

Xi Yan laughed along with him.

Real men in the Human Federation, useless trash in the United Nations of Earth!

The dominant ideology in the United Nations of Earth was xenophilia. That was the polite term; less politely, it meant groveling before aliens. Its rulers really were capable of that sort of thing.

Still, Xi Yan was not at all surprised that the Human Federation had helped their Interstellar Human Military Junta.

One empire was fanatically militarist, the other fanatically authoritarian, and both were ideologically opposed to the United Nations of Earth.

Yes, although the two nations cooperated, they were also hostile to each other in many respects, especially when it came to their respective ideologies.

Returning to the matter at hand, Ning Zhiyuan walked to the bridge at the front of the ship, switched on the basic combat computer, and showed Xi Yan the [Galactic Throne]'s ship configuration.

Xi Yan glanced at it. Its power source was a Fission Reactor, the lowest-tier option in the Stellaris technology tree. Its thrusters, at least, were not the lowest-tier Chemical Thrusters, but the more advanced Ion Thrusters. It carried the lowest-tier Hyperdrive, giving it faster-than-light capability.

Its sensors were likewise the lowest-tier radar system, and its combat support was a basic combat computer. Wow, that sucked.

Xi Yan could barely stand to look.

Outdated, but not terribly outdated.

Almost all starting technologies from Stellaris, Xi Yan mused, then asked, "What about the weapons?"

"We have over a dozen weapon slots..." Ning Zhiyuan began explaining at length.

Xi Yan waved a hand to interrupt him. "I want to see the weapons exclusive to large faster-than-light warships. The ordinary weapons aren't important."

Ning Zhiyuan was somewhat displeased for a moment, but started over nonetheless, bringing up a structural diagram of the Galactic Throne. "Three. Mass-produced corvettes like this use an Interceptor Section, with three small weapon slots under standard specifications. We've equipped Nuclear Missiles in all of them."

"And the defenses are three Deflector Shields? What about armor? You put nothing but shields on this ship?"

Xi Yan pointed at the ship's structural diagram and asked incredulously.

"Armor? Why install Nanite Armor? Shields can be restored with energy, while repairing armor is a real hassle." General Ning Zhiyuan spread his hands.

Xi Yan took a deep breath. "Who designed this loadout?"

"I did." Ning Zhiyuan pointed at himself.

"Great design. Don't design another one." Xi Yan patted his shoulder.

"Why? I think I designed it quite well," Ning Zhiyuan asked in confusion.

"What the hell is wishful thinking going to do? Can't you listen to our scientists?" Xi Yan nearly exploded with anger. "Where are the Red Lasers? Where are the Flak Cannons? Why didn't you install those two?"

"But conventional Nuclear Missiles do a lot of damage." Ning Zhiyuan scratched his head.

Xi Yan clutched his chest again, beginning to feel the pain.

No wonder you can't beat those little sublight ships!

Who the hell equips warships with Nuclear Missiles? Low firing rate, short range-you deserve to get blown apart by their little sublight fishing boats!

Xi Yan felt his blood pressure begin to soar.

How was he supposed to explain that most nations favored armor on corvettes, that Nuclear Missiles were inefficient against armor and had long cooldowns, while Red Lasers excelled at breaking armor and Flak Cannons at breaking shields?

"Could you replace the interceptor core with a Sentinel Core, install Flak Cannons and two Red Lasers, and use two armor modules and one shield for defense?"

"I'll consider it."

Ning Zhiyuan nodded without much concern.

Xi Yan's blood pressure began climbing again...

Damn it, do you know how to outfit ships, or do I?

Warship design in Stellaris was highly intricate. You selected a ship section, then chose equipment to fit its weapon slots, accounting for range, firing rate, accuracy, and all sorts of other factors.

Still, there were generally plenty of standard solutions.

For instance, Blue Laser corvettes in the early game, disruptor cruisers in the midgame, and arc emitter battleships in the late game.

But fitting three garbage Nuclear Missiles and nothing but shields right at the start was utterly absurd!

Ning Zhiyuan! You absolute moron!

Perhaps sensing the awkward atmosphere, General Ning Zhiyuan straightened his collar and suggested, "Marshal, would you like to sit in my captain's quarters for a while?"

"Sure." Xi Yan only wanted to get away from this place that sent his blood pressure soaring. He did not want to look at the Galactic Throne's shitty loadout anymore.

They headed toward the upper level behind the bridge.

Naturally, the ship's interior was in zero gravity. Xi Yan floated easily up to the upper level and found it rather fun.

Out of courtesy, he left his twenty personal guards outside the door and entered the captain's quarters with Ning Zhiyuan and Yu Shuo.

To his surprise, apart from the central work area, the coffee table, and the sofa, every available space in the captain's quarters was filled with display cabinets of various sizes, containing a vast collection of...

Guns!

From sixteenth-century matchlocks to the latest Matter Projection Guns and Personal Red Laser emitters, Ning Zhiyuan's cabinets held them all. Xi Yan could not help warming to the general.

A fellow enthusiast!

Just look at these exquisitely crafted, beautiful guns. Who wouldn't fall for them?

"Marshal, what do you think of my collection?"

Ning Zhiyuan knew that young people his age liked this sort of thing.

"Great. Absolutely incredible!" Xi Yan could not keep the corners of his mouth from lifting.

"I'll give you one, Marshal."

Smiling, Ning Zhiyuan opened a display cabinet and took out a Matter Projection Gun decorated with a golden eastern dragon, presenting it to Xi Yan with both hands.

"Nice, nice! This is fun! Exactly my kind of thing!"

Xi Yan looked delighted as he accepted the Matter Projection Gun and turned it over in his hands.

It was really just an ordinary electromagnetic gun, classified as a Matter Projection Weapon. Like the weapons used on warships, it employed electromagnetic coils to launch projectiles. In Stellaris, the endpoint of its technology line was the Gauss Cannon.

"Please be careful. It's loaded with live ammunition."

Ning Zhiyuan said with a smile.

"Mm-hmm." Xi Yan stroked the gun, beaming.

They chatted in the office for a while before Xi Yan suddenly suggested going to the uppermost level, at the top of the Galactic Throne, for some fresh air.

He wanted to admire the view of space from atop the warship.

Naturally, Ning Zhiyuan did not refuse. He rose first to lead the way.

Xi Yan followed behind with a smile, listening to the general's explanations and occasionally chiming in, still holding his golden Matter Projection Gun.

Their spacesuits all had magnetic attachments, allowing them to anchor themselves to the cabin walls and walk normally.

Yu Shuo trailed at the rear, keeping watch over their surroundings, when he suddenly felt an ominous chill beside him.

He looked up. That dark aura was coming from Xi Yan.