Chapter 427 Mining, everything can be mined
After discovering the Forerunner's 'large-scale mining and refining core' from the asteroid as a base, Amber completed the 'binding' of the core. , assigned part of the authority to the miner leader George.
After all, Amber cannot stay in the asteroid base every day and manipulate the advanced creations left by the forerunners for mining operations, so George, who is responsible for coordinating the asteroid mining work, becomes the best choice.
After so long, George's proficiency in operating the 'large-scale mining and refining core' has also changed from being jerky and cautious at the beginning to the level of an experienced driver's 'one-handed direction' .
It was also at this time that Amber discovered that the miner he rescued from pirates was more creative than he imagined and completely broke many people's stereotypes of miners.
After becoming proficient in controlling this Forerunner creation, George found a way to separate the control core through his own exploration, and finally set up a core control room in the asteroid base.
The refining components of the ‘large-scale mining and refining core’ are placed in the ore refining workshop.
As for the most important mining component, thanks to the extremely free combination model of Forerunner creation, George reorganized it into a 'decomposition ray generator' that can follow the movement of the mining fleet.
The basic working process is that the decomposition ray first breaks down the huge asteroid into small pieces, and then the mining fleet like a school of fish will be divided into groups to mine.
And George controls the decomposition components and is on standby near the mining area. Occasionally, when he encounters some asteroid rubble that is difficult to mine, he will respond to the call of the mining ship and fire another shot at the target.
Over time, George gradually gained some experience in the use of decomposition rays, but they were basically aimed at mineral mining.
This is the first time that we are preparing to use disintegration rays against a huge fleet attacking an asteroid base.
In other words, this is the first time to attack with a decomposition ray.
Before this, due to its relatively remote location, the A. Bawa Ku asteroid base had never been discovered by anyone else.
The few times the mining fleet encountered pirates were all due to the existence of the escort fleet, so there was no danger, and the decomposition rays had never been 'weaponized'.
But today, the 'weaponization' of the decomposition ray has become one of the key points in this battle. Even though George is already very good at controlling this thing, he can't help but be a little nervous.
“Target setting. Added decomposition target customization mode. New type: ship.”
George nervously fiddled with the virtual screen while transmitting the message just transmitted from the command room. The enemy fleet characteristic data was uploaded to the database of the 'Large Scale Mining and Refining Core'.
Since the 'Large-Scale Mining Refining Core' does not have attack capabilities in the traditional sense, if you want to use decomposition rays to attack, you must enter the target's characteristic information in advance and set it as a 'mining target'. In this way Only then can it pass the verification before decomposition ray emission.
The Forerunner's creation can be said to be very friendly in terms of 'user experience'. It can not only directly recognize human language, but also directly receive various information and data transmitted by humans, and make it compatible with simple Use it later.
This is also the reason why George can easily control the "large-scale mining and refining core" without knowing the Forerunner language.
While he was setting up, the temporarily built decomposition ray emission channel under the guidance of Saleh was also completely opened.
After adding the energy control technology provided by Saleh, the attack distance of the decomposition ray released through the emission channel can reach about 10,000 kilometers.
So in the combat plan, the launch point for Atlas's counterattack was exactly after the combined fleet had advanced 10,000 kilometers away.
"This is the core command room. The enemy fleet is currently 15,000 kilometers away and has a relative speed of 80 kilometers per second. It is expected to enter the 10,000 kilometers attack zone in one minute!"
"Received, the decomposition ray has completed pre-launch preparations and can be attacked according to the predetermined plan!"
"Received in the core command room, after the enemy enters the attack range, open fire freely."
After receiving George's response, Guterres took a look at the time and then issued the order 'The outer fleet begins to enter the jump'.
The three unmanned fleets that had been on standby in deep space for a long time did not hesitate at all after receiving the order, and quickly entered hyperspace in the form of a 'fleet attack jump'.
One minute passed quickly. When the combined fleet crossed the 10,000-kilometer red line, they took the lead in attacking A. Bawa Ku. The main guns of more than 1,800 warships fired a salvo, briefly lighting up the entire universe. Then, the arc suddenly lit up outside the asteroid base, directly lighting up the universe.
Since the asteroid itself cannot withstand heavy particle cannon fire, even if the internal structure is reinforced and the external armor plate is added, it is no exception. Therefore, in terms of defense, A. Bawa Ku focuses on Regarding the construction of the deflection force field.
Forerunner's energy management technology has increased the output efficiency of the 200 fusion furnaces built into the asteroid base by at least 60%, which has also provided sufficient power for the large number of deflection field generators deployed in the asteroid base. energy supply.
In addition, although the combined fleet has a large number of ships, the number of battleships as the main output force is not large, which is far lower than the proportion of battleships in the regular military fleet.
So this first round of salvos was not unexpectedly blocked by this huge deflection field.
When the shining arc disappeared and the intact A. Bawa Ku reappeared on the main screen of the bridge, Combined Fleet Commander Megan took a breath of air.
"What level of deflection field is this? Can it withstand such a salvo?"
He stared at the potato-like asteroid base on the screen with wide eyes. , quickly came to his senses and issued new orders.
“The entire fleet began to slow down, and at the same time continued to fire all gun salvos at the target!”
Aware of the gaze of the adjutant beside him, Megan continued without looking back:
"Even if the energy supply of this level of deflection force field can keep up, the deflection force field generators still have limitations. Even if our salvo cannot break through the defense, the pressure on these generators is still huge. , just a few more times will definitely overload these generators."
To be fair, Megan's judgment was not wrong, and she even overestimated A. Bawa Ku's deflection force field array.
In fact, after the first salvo of the combined fleet, the fortress' deflection field had reached the edge of overload. In the entire deflection field generator array, more than 30% of the generators It was directly overloaded and burned under the attack just now.
This means that even if the deflection force field can be propped up again, its strength is not as high as before. If the coalition fleet fires another salvo, the entire force field may not be able to absorb all the attacks. It will disintegrate directly.
Fortunately, George also completed the final preparations. When the decomposition ray generator locked the combined fleet that entered the attack range, he launched the attack without hesitation.
"Decomposition ray generator, full power irradiation begins!"
The entire asteroid fortress shook slightly at this moment, and the attitude control nozzles arranged throughout the fortress also flashed to stabilize the 'large asteroid' Potato' gesture.
A majestic energy was also released at this moment, and turned into a green ray that swept towards the location of the combined fleet under the control of a special energy field.
Unlike the short pulsed irradiation of heavy particle cannons, or the irradiation of high-energy lasers and charged particle cannons for several seconds, the decomposition rays were visible to the naked eye and shot straight into the right side of the fleet's formation. The planet base was adjusting its posture, sweeping from right to left like a whip.
Although the irradiation area of the decomposition ray is not large, after this green ray entered the formation range of the combined fleet and hit the target, it directly produced some kind of 'split' effect, which directly affected the on the surrounding ships.
The decomposition rays used to mine asteroid rock walls are equally effective when faced with laminated armor plates. After being swept by the decomposition rays, these laminated armor plates and the deeper titanium alloy frame structures disintegrate. .
This directly caused many warships that were slowing down to twist and bend out of control under their own force.
The loss of pressure caused by those swept gaps not only scattered dense debris and crew members into outer space like garbage, but also caused the entire ship's attitude to be completely unbalanced.
When the minute-long irradiation time ended, the formation of the combined fleet seemed to have been cut by a big knife, and it was cut into two sections visible to the naked eye.
(End of this chapter)