March 9, 2298, afternoon.
The entire fleet was immersed in grief. Today, everyone would bid the heroes a final farewell. The fleet would hold a grand memorial for the more than 1.5 million service members who had died in the war. Standing inside the base on Planet 3, Hu Yu delivered a eulogy before the more than 500 million people at the base and aboard the Deep Blue.
"Fellow citizens, it has been 113 years since we left Earth and the Solar System. Eighty years ago, we were forced to part from the leader and come to this desolate Tau Ceti System. Over the years, everyone has worked together, forgetting food and sleep and overcoming countless difficulties. At last, we built the mighty Hunter-Killer Fleet and Polaris Fleet. But against the Sand Python Civilization, we were still at a disadvantage. To win this war, to defend the fruits of our labor over these decades, and to protect the more than 500 million people aboard the Deep Blue, 1.5 million outstanding crew members sacrificed their young lives.
"For the sacrifice of these 1.5 million service members, I bear a responsibility I cannot shirk. The information we obtained before the war was not comprehensive enough, and we underestimated the enemy's strength. During the war, we carried out almost no rescue operations, and we were unable to respond effectively to the enemy's sudden changes. To preserve our Deep Blue Fleet, we had no choice but to resort to a tactic that would bring us down with the enemy. We used antimatter bombs to enrage Tau Ceti and its power to destroy the Sand Python Civilization. But the hundreds of thousands of our crew members whom we could not rescue in time also perished in Tau Ceti's fury.
"If these were not exceptional times, I should be standing before a military court right now, facing the people's judgment. But I cannot abandon the fleet now to soothe my guilty conscience. I promised the leader that I would develop and strengthen the fleet, and that I would carve out a safe home for everyone in the Milky Way. When that time comes, we will no longer wander or worry about enemy attacks. Everyone will be able to live and work in peace and enjoy life. But we must still earn all of this through our continued efforts. In the future, we will have to work even harder and may have to make even greater sacrifices. But do not lose heart, and do not be afraid. As long as we have confidence, we will surely stand at the pinnacle of this universe.
"In the battle against the Sand Python Civilization's fleet, not one of our commanders or fighters flinched or retreated, and not one forgot their mission. They did not disgrace the honor of Chinese soldiers. All our people should be proud of them. Their achievements will be recorded in the great history of the Chinese Nation and endure for all time.
"Today is the day we bid farewell to 1.5 million martyrs. They are the pride of our Chinese Nation and the pioneers of our Chinese Civilization. Though we cannot speak each of their names, we will forever remember their deeds.
"Fellow citizens, the future must be created by us. It requires our blood and sweat, the dedication of every one of us, and the protection of every one of us. Every drop of our sweat is hope for the future, and every effort we make lays a solid foundation for it. We cherish the memory of those who have passed, and we cannot let their sacrifices be in vain. Creating the best possible future is the finest recompense for their sacrifice.
"The fleet belongs to everyone. Whether soldiers or ordinary civilians, we are all part of it. For the fleet's future, we must work together to forge a new future and make the name of the Chinese Nation resound throughout the universe.
"All right, now let us bid farewell to the 1.5 million martyrs together. Everyone, salute."
A small white spaceship slowly powered up. The little ship, named the Immortal, carried the personal effects of every martyr. Tau Ceti's eruption had reduced the remains of all the fallen to gas under the onslaught of extraordinarily powerful gamma rays and particle streams, so the Immortal carried only some of the martyrs' personal effects. With its course set, it would coast on inertia for more than 300 years to reach the Solar System. Although the Solar System no longer existed, and its planets had all left their original orbits and flown off to unknown destinations, that region of space in people's hearts was the heroes' resting place. A fallen leaf returns to its roots; this was a traditional belief of the Chinese Nation.
In the sky, the 190,000 surviving Hunter-Killers roared, and the flashes of exploding cruise missiles lit up the entire starry sky. Everyone was seeing off their comrades and loved ones. Their lives had passed, but their deeds were as dazzling as the flares exploding among the stars.
In the Deep Blue Fleet and the ground base, people sobbed softly. These 1.5 million martyrs were not only their loved ones, friends, husbands, sons, and fathers, but also members of the fleet. They were young, outstanding, brave, and fearless. They knew full well that serving in the military was the most dangerous occupation in the fleet, yet they pressed forward without flinching, because the entire fleet needed their protection and dedication. They were the most lovable people.
Now they were gone. How could people not grieve, not mourn their loss, not weep for them? Most remained immersed in profound sorrow, but Hu Yu had already forced himself to set his grief aside. As the fleet's leader, he had many important matters waiting for him.
Tau Ceti's location in the universe had been completely exposed, and other civilizations could come to investigate at any time. The fleet had little time left to recuperate. It had to replenish its military strength quickly and set out as soon as possible. The previous battle had thoroughly exposed the Hunter-Killers' various shortcomings. Their defenses were adequate, but their mobility and firepower were far from satisfactory, a long way behind the Sand Python Civilization's fleet.
Although the Hunter-Killers' warp speed was only six times the speed of light, much slower than that of the Sand Python warships, neither could attack while traveling at warp. For one thing, the force fields around warships in warp were highly unstable, with wide fluctuations in gravity. Missiles or other bombs launched into such enormous gravitational differences would explode prematurely, making it no different from a suicide attack. Even directed electromagnetic weapons would be distorted in such a force field and lose their original direction.
All the captured Sand Python Civilization technology had been moved aboard the science ship, where countless scientists were working urgently to analyze it. Optics, mechanics, materials science, computer science, and even architecture, among other fields, had all made leaps forward. This was especially true of the high-efficiency engines and various weapons systems the fleet needed most urgently.
When they first encountered the technology of these civilizations, the scientists had been so excited that they forgot everything else. For days and nights on end, no one left the laboratories. When hungry, they grabbed whatever there was to eat; when tired, they made do with two hours of rest in a corner of the laboratory before getting back up. This was humanity's first contact with extraterrestrial technology. Some technologies had never been mastered by humans, such as the technology for inducing decay and fusion in elements at will. Others, such as warp technology, had been mastered by humanity, but not in sufficient depth.
After obtaining this information, the scientists could hardly wait to read it all at once. But it was the entirety of several civilizations' technology. Even without eating or sleeping, one person could not possibly finish reading it in less than tens of thousands of years. Even a single branch of technology would take a considerable time. Ordinary people were curious, let alone scientists who were utterly enthralled by technology.
The scientists classified and organized the information as quickly as possible, then chose to tackle the easiest areas and those the fleet needed most urgently. Only then could they address the fleet's present predicament.
The Improved Hunter-Killer's design had already been submitted to Hu Yu's office for approval. Its appearance had not changed at all; only its propulsion and weapons systems had been upgraded. Designed using the Sand Python Fleet's technological reserves, the Improved Hunter-Killer could travel at warp at twenty times the speed of light, and its conventional propulsion had also improved enormously. Laser weapons and antimatter weapons would become standard equipment. Hu Yu believed that if the earlier Hunter-Killers had performed at this level, they could have put up a fight even with 500,000 against two million, without being forced to resort to a tactic that devastated both sides.
The Deep Blue had suffered no damage in the war. After its engines were upgraded this time, it too would reach around three times the speed of light, several times faster than its previous speed of 0.8 times light speed. Most importantly, neither the Hunter-Killers nor the Deep Blue would need to consume precious chong element for warp travel in the future.
The surfaces of several planets orbiting Tau Ceti became busy again, and countless pieces of engineering machinery roared once more. Rock and mineral ores were extracted in a steady stream, and after a series of smelting and processing steps, they would become part of the new Hunter-Killers. With the groundwork laid previously, mining proceeded quickly and efficiently this time. From transferring the equipment to producing the first batch of steel, it took less than a week. Steel output soon climbed to several million tons a day, and that figure set a new record every day. For the fleet's safety, everyone was working hard.
The 190,000 Hunter-Killers that had survived the war stood guard around the various planets. Although the Sand Python Civilization had been routed, more than a hundred thousand Sand Python warships remained. They had fled beyond the Tau Ceti System in the later stages of the war, and Hu Yu was still uneasy. If they regrouped, they would remain a major threat. But now that the fleet had the devastating power of antimatter weapons, its combat strength was gradually increasing as more antimatter was produced each day.
Day by day, Hu Yu grew more anxious. More than twenty years had passed since the antimatter-triggered eruption of Tau Ceti. The high-energy particle streams and gamma rays had traveled more than twenty light-years and spread to several neighboring planetary systems. The longer they delayed, the more Tau Ceti would be exposed, and the less safe humanity would be.
Construction of the Hunter-Killers was nearing completion. Including the original 190,000, a total of 600,000 Hunter-Killers now cruised through the Tau Ceti System. Not only had their original numbers been restored, but through the efforts of the technical personnel and workers, another 100,000 had been built. All were equipped with the latest warp and conventional propulsion engines, which had only entered production two years earlier. Technology was advancing by leaps and bounds every day as it was analyzed: an engine capable of ten times the speed of light yesterday might reach eleven times or even more by the following morning. For precisely that reason, the warp engines were the last equipment to enter production.
The new warp engines were already approaching thirty times the speed of light, far exceeding the earlier estimate of twenty. Even aboard the Deep Blue, they could reach as much as five times light speed. Besides that, the Improved Hunter-Killer's AI system was more powerful, and its crew had been reduced from five to two. If not for the need for crew members to rest, and the fact that interstellar wars often could not be settled in a day or two, an Improved Hunter-Killer could have been operated by one person. With two crew members, they could take turns going to the Deep Blue to rest during peacetime, and if war broke out, they could keep the warship ready to attack at all times.
The Improved Hunter-Killer was equipped with ten laser blades, each more than 50,000 kilometers long. After the breakthrough in gravitational technology, the lasers were contained within a length of 0.2 light-seconds by an invisible hand. When they struck no other objects, the lasers lost very little energy. With all ten laser blades activated, a Hunter-Killer looked like a hedgehog covered in glowing spines. These lasers had reached an extremely high energy level, making cutting through steel as easy as slicing tofu. Besides being contained around the Hunter-Killer, the laser blades could also be released as before for long-range strikes.
One could imagine how spectacular it would be to see hundreds of thousands of Hunter-Killers activate their laser blades and charge through an enemy fleet.
Besides the lethal laser blades, the Hunter-Killer's most fearsome weapon was the antimatter bomb. Antimatter production had now reached two kilograms a day, an amount that had previously taken years to produce. Without the Sand Python Civilization's technology, output would still have been stuck at a few grams a day. Twenty thousand kilograms of antimatter had already been produced. It was divided into fifty-gram portions and loaded into specially made warp-engine bombs. Contained by directed magnetic field lines, the antimatter would have no contact with ordinary matter.
Those fifty grams of antimatter were not to be underestimated. The energy they contained was enormous, since it was multiplied by the speed of light squared. These bombs carrying antimatter were small and nimble, and could be said to be inconspicuous in battle. By the time the enemy detected them, it would be too late. The antimatter weapons were made in various forms. Some were tiny and launched by electromagnetic rails, making them undetectable to the enemy for a stealth attack. Some were disguised as warship debris or meteorites to serve as space mines. Others were fitted with warp engines to strike the enemy rapidly at the superluminal speed of thirty times light speed.
Gravity bombs were merely an extension of warp engines. With warp speed increased fivefold, their attack power had likewise increased fivefold, and their attack range had expanded from 200 kilometers to 1,000 kilometers.
As for high-energy particle beam weapons, they were no longer being deployed on a large scale for the time being. They had short range, high energy consumption, and poor directional control. They had been fairly good at the planetary level and the early Star-Level, but the fleet's technological reserves had now reached the advanced Star-Level, so these weapons were no longer considered worthwhile for the time being. Only a small number were fitted to the fleet. Everything had its strengths and weaknesses; perhaps these weapons would prove remarkably effective at some point. Other conventional weapons were completely unnecessary. Antimatter weapons could replace all conventional bombs, including extremely high-yield fusion bombs.
With high-energy lasers, antimatter bombs, and gravity bombs, the Improved Hunter-Killer had become a true war machine. No wonder the Patrols had said that a single warship could destroy a stellar-level civilization. Now a single Hunter-Killer could easily destroy a planetary-level civilization. The gap between civilization levels was simply too great.