Chapter 108: A Hybrid Wars.h.i.+p
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
‘July 15: The operation failed. We have three hundred twenty-two mental ability users combine forces to attack the mysterious force. We not just failed to stop its control over us but also angered it further. Just what sort of spiritual energy can control not only humans but machines as well? I’m not in a good mental state; perhaps I should go to sleep.
‘July 16: Ziyun delivered a green potion this time; it’s a mental ability boosting potion that is fatal. I can tell from her eyes that she has no will to continue living. The s.h.i.+ps under this capital s.h.i.+p are still killing one another. That ent.i.ty is just like a disobedient child, treating us as playthings. We’ve lost a total of twenty-six s.h.i.+ps and nine thousand three hundred and eighteen men today.
‘July 17: I spoke to all the mental ability users. Everyone agreed to take the potion, which was completely out of my expectations. They are resolved to have a battle to the death with the enemy. A young man, who recently joined the military, told me that it’s torture just to live and he’d rather die. I didn’t know what to say, so I just quietly nodded.
‘July 19: Just as agreed, we all took the potion to try and fight against it. Unfortunately, its power was much stronger than ours. By the time I woke up, the entire fleet had already been devastated. All the members of the fleet are dead, and I’m the only one alive. I have no idea why it didn’t kill me, leaving me and only me alive.
‘July 23: I found a few bottles or Norma alcohol; it tasted pretty nice.
‘July 28: I woke up with a ma.s.sive headache. I feel extremely depressed from the silent s.p.a.ce. Perhaps it’s time to choose.
‘August 20: I’ve spent half a month transferring all the bodies to the cold storage. The bodies won’t rot now. I couldn’t hold back my tears when I saw the bodies of my subordinates all in a row. Also, it’s my birthday today.
‘September 1: This will be my last entry. I’m sick of being toyed with. Since I can’t control my life, I decided to end it. The sixty-fourth battalion of the fifth theater of the Alliance navy—all 467, 554 of us had died in combat. Not a single survivor. Captain Robert Dan, cause of death: suicide.’
Xia Fei was deep in thought after closing the captain’s log. What being could have possessed such a strong spiritual energy to toy with an entire fleet?
“Turns out the s.h.i.+ps outside killed one another under somebody else’s command,” muttered Phantom. “That explains why there weren’t any insectoid s.h.i.+ps nearby.”
“Possibly not.” Xia Fei shook his head. “Nothing indicates that it’s a human behind this.”
The two of them were silent for a bit. Xia Fei then broke the silence with a shrug. “Let’s set this aside for now; we should get out of this place as soon as we can.”
Xia Fei came to the control deck, trying to start the s.h.i.+p, but there was no response from the engine. The energy system was running at an extremely low capacity, totally not enough to support flight.
Xia Fei furrowed his brows. The s.h.i.+p’s self-a.s.sessment showed that it should be in perfect condition; why was it not starting?
After a few moments, Xia Fei decided to go to the engine room and power room to see for himself.
As they walked past the flight cabin, Xia Fei noticed that there were hundreds of combat drones arranged neatly on the flight deck, like arrogant warriors showing off their might.
The main strength of a carrier came from the countless combat drones in its flight cabin. Normally, a capital s.h.i.+p-cla.s.s carrier would, at the very least, have five hundred combat drones, and supercarriers could even carry over a thousand.
During combat, capital s.h.i.+p carriers could command three hundred drones at once, and supercarriers could command six hundred at a time.
Unlike normal wars.h.i.+ps, the unmanned drones on carriers were known as the iron cavalry. Be it in terms of size, firepower, or defense, the iron cavalry was superior to the average unmanned drones.
The size of the iron cavalry was almost a third of a frigate, but because it did not have a pilot, there was no need for a life-support system, gravity system, or crew cabins, providing a significant increase in armor, firepower, and agility.
A carrier releasing three hundred iron cavalry that had a comparable defense to a frigate, swarming the skies like a large cloud of angry hornets, one could only imagine how terrifying that would be.
Moreover, the iron cavalry did not know how to dodge projectiles. They would execute any strategy just as programmed by the onboard fire-control computer. What was more; once one of these drones was destroyed, the carrier would release another to take its place. Unless one could destroy them in the hundreds, their firepower would never dwindle.
Enormous carriers that were capital s.h.i.+ps had no rival in the navy or on the battlefield. The combat strength of a capital s.h.i.+p alone was comparable to a small fleet.
Xia Fei slowed down his steps to fully take in this incredible iron cavalry, his heart racing as he imagined it on a battlefield.
If he really could get the Thanatos-cla.s.s carrier, he could at least travel as he wanted within the Wild Star Region. What would pirates be when faced against a capital s.h.i.+p? Killing them would be just as easy as stomping on ants.
However, it would be difficult to bring back a capital s.h.i.+p belonging to the navy back to the Alliance-occupied areas. Moreover, Xia Fei was still a wanted person somehow.
After clearing his thoughts, Xia Fei entered the air service hangar next door. From the structural maps of the fleet, there was a path that led straight to the power room.
The air service hangar was filled with s.h.i.+ps that could carry people. They were responsible for transporting anything and other miscellaneous roles.
Suddenly, Xia Fei came across a weird-looking s.h.i.+p among these supply s.h.i.+ps. It looked like a leech with a dark red coat and was covered with dots, appearing incredibly different from the others.
“Huh?” Xia Fei walked over to the s.h.i.+p. “What is this?”
Having read plenty of books related to wars.h.i.+ps, he had a pretty good understanding of wars.h.i.+ps of different shapes and sizes, but it was the first time Xia Fei had come across a s.h.i.+p like this.
“Could it be,” said Phantom hesitantly, “a hybrid wars.h.i.+p produced during the golden age?”
Xia Fei had not spent much time with the interstellar community, so it could not be helped that he was unable to recognize some s.h.i.+ps, but there was clearly something up if Phantom could not identify it, either.
Xia Fei put his hand on the s.h.i.+p and looked closely at its corners. Xia Fei realized that the craftsmans.h.i.+p of this s.h.i.+p was comparable to his naval, Eagle-cla.s.s frigate. Its sh.e.l.l was similarly in one piece, formed using refined tritanium alloy
Xia Fei went around to the other side of the s.h.i.+p to see a few lines of tiny inscriptions on the side of the hull close to its engine.
Model: Anathema-cla.s.s special ops frigate
Manufacturer: A collaboration between Amarr Aviation Industries and Mittal s.p.a.ce Technology
Serial number: 00061
“I knew it!” Phantom was incredibly excited upon seeing these tiny lines of text. “This is the legendary hybrid wars.h.i.+p produced in the golden age!”
Xia Fei was confused. “Golden age? Hybrid wars.h.i.+ps? What do these words mean?”
“The golden era refers to the time when the war between the human alliance and the insectoids happened. Although the war caused an economic recession on both sides, the military industry developed quickly during it. The four large s.h.i.+pping companies managed to come up on top of their peers and become the four giants dominating the s.p.a.ce and aviation industry because they received large batches of orders from the armies as a result of this war.
“During the time of rapid development of wars.h.i.+p manufacturing, the Big Four and a few other s.h.i.+p manufacturing companies produced many incredible cla.s.sic wars.h.i.+ps. Wars.h.i.+p and munitions technology were being developed at an unprecedented rate, too. That is why we refer to the three hundred or so years of war as the golden ear for weapons research.”
Xia Fei nodded. Wars had always been like that. An overwhelming need triggered the military to grow exponentially. In fact, most battles.h.i.+ps currently used by the Alliance were developed in the golden area. As there had not been any conflict in the last two thousand or so years, the growth of the military industry had slowed down significantly.
“So what’s going on with these hybrid s.h.i.+ps?” asked Xia Fei.
“Each top battles.h.i.+p manufacturing company had their own specializations, and because of the compet.i.tion, all companies would guard their unique skills closely and would never even consider sharing their knowledge.
“As with all things, there are exceptions. During the war, there was a large demand for high-performance wars.h.i.+ps from the military. They forced the Big Four to band together and develop special wars.h.i.+ps that were of even higher standards.
“This Anathema-cla.s.s special ops frigate was jointly developed by Amarr and Mittal. Once the war ended, the production of the hybrid s.h.i.+ps halted, so this Anathema-cla.s.s frigate became a limited edition s.h.i.+p from the golden ages. You’d never be unable to buy one of these out in the market again,” Phantom explained as he excitedly took in every nook and cranny of the wars.h.i.+p.
Xia Fei asked after a few moments of thought, “How does this Anathema-cla.s.s frigate compare to my Lunar Eclipse?”
“They are the same rank; both are top-of-the-line frigates. Lunar Eclipse is a top-tier a.s.sault frigate, whereas this Anathema-cla.s.s is the top-tier special ops frigate. They serve different purposes, but in terms of actual combat performance, Anathema-cla.s.s is naturally more powerful.”
“Top-tier special ops frigate?” Xia Fei asked puzzledly. “What’s so special about it?”
Phantom laughed. “Unique optimizations were made to this Anathema-cla.s.s special ops frigate’s energy-draining device. Normally, frigates would not be able to equip an energy-draining device as they have smaller reactors and wouldn’t be able to support the high energy cost of the device. Even if you forced it onto the s.h.i.+p, it’d still be pa.s.sable at best.
“This Anathema-cla.s.s had made special changes to its energy-draining device, allowing it to be easily installed onto the s.h.i.+p. As a result, it would not overload the reactor upon use, and the efficiency of energy-draining is even improved by fifty percent.”
Xia Fei was utterly shocked.
Energy draining was a vicious weapon; like a vampire, it could absorb the opponent’s energy and make that its own.
This s.h.i.+p had similar defense and firepower to his Lunar Eclipse, yet it had an energy-stealing function included on top of that. This was definitely a rare and top-grade s.h.i.+p.
It was a known fact that a s.h.i.+p’s performance was based on its energy. Being able to claim other’s energy as its own was comparable to weakening the enemy while strengthening one’s self.