Chapter 159, Star Tunnel
In this vast universe, if you want to travel across galaxies, the most important thing to rely on is the astral tunnel.
An astral tunnel connects two galaxies, compressing the distance of hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of light-years into a voyage of a few days, a dozen days, or at most a month.
Spaceships and starships that have the ability to enter astral tunnels essentially enter a hyperspace state after entering the tunnel.
The normal way for a starship to sail in the universe is to sail within the star system at sub-light speed, fly from one transition point to another, then enter the astral tunnel, arrive at another galaxy, and then find the next one. A transition point...
This requires star charts, and navigators.
The latter are specially trained psykers.
Only they can identify the specific location of the star tunnel transition point in the void of the universe and guide the ship through the tunnel to the opposite side of the tunnel.
At the same time, the so-called star map also has meaning.
The star map shows many star fields connected by astral tunnels. Two neighboring star systems may actually be very different in a physical sense. Perhaps two star systems that are physically close are only a few dozen light-years apart. However, since there is no direct connection through astral tunnels, navigation between each other requires jumping through multiple astral tunnels, so they are far apart. Very far away; and in a physical sense, two star systems that may be tens of thousands of light years apart are connected by a star tunnel, so they are two similar places on the star map.
Within the Imperium of Man, the physical distance between galaxies means little. Without an astral tunnel, relying solely on the power of the spacecraft itself and sailing at sub-light speeds, communication between two galaxies no matter how close they are is unrealistic.
Of course, physical distance cannot be completely ignored. Some monsters, ghosts, and snake gods can really endure countless years of time, slowly fly out of the void of the universe, and actually fight their way out.
The empire's territorial divisions: space domain, star domain, star sector, and galaxy. These four-layer structures are all based on the star map. The dense astral tunnels are like a huge network, connecting the entire empire.
There are three astral tunnels in the Nuo Xiao Galaxy. Tunnel No. 1 connects to the Koroga Galaxy, Tunnel No. 2 connects to the Black Arrow Galaxy, and Tunnel No. 3 connects not the Pegasus Star District, but the Shenjun Star District next door. The Pegasus Star Region and the Divine Horse Star Region both belong to the Dragon Eagle Star Region and are both under the jurisdiction of the Eastern Universe Region.
Wang Jiarong's caravan came from Tunnel No. 1. They had just completed a business in the Koroga system.
Originally, her plan for this voyage did not include a remote place like Raging Owl. Wasn't this Yelicia conveying her cousin's needs to her?
After thinking about it for a while, it wouldn't be a big problem to take a detour to the Raging Owl Galaxy, then go from Tunnel 2 to the Black Arrow Galaxy, then transfer back to Koroga 3, and then back to the capital Wing Star.
If you run a little more distance and travel to two more planets, you shouldn't lose money - you won't make much money at most, just support your cousin who you used to hang out with when you were a kid.
From the Koroga Galaxy to the Raging Owl Galaxy, the fleet will travel through the star tunnel for five days. Nothing major happened in the first four days. As always, I could see strange scenes outside the window. But in fact, as long as I didn't leave the ship and didn't risk my life by releasing any detectors or the like, there would be no danger.
But on the fifth day, the navigator on the 'Beautiful Maid' reported news that they detected an abnormal signal in the star tunnel. It seemed that there was a fleet following them, also in the star world. Walking through the tunnel.
This made Wang Jiarong very uneasy.
The tunnel from Koroga to Raging Owl is a deserted one. It is not a busy waterway. Even the empire is too lazy to build checkpoints at the jump points on both sides.
Outside of the ruins of the Raging Owl Star, this situation has been going on for hundreds of years.
Besides her fleet, who else would pass through here?
Going to the Shenjun star area next door?
That's not realistic. The prosperous hive world of Koroga has a route that leads directly to the Shenjun star region. No one will go to the Divine Horse System through the Raging Owl Star. No one will do the detour and higher cost.
So what's going on with this fleet?
In interstellar navigation, all abnormalities require vigilance.
The empire's space is not really that safe.
Pirates are the most common threat, but there are also threats from other aliens.
The empire calls all non-human races aliens and is committed to annihilating all intelligent races except humans.
Not to mention that when traveling through the astral tunnel, it is easy to encounter some... supernatural events. For example, a scrap ship crashed in the astral tunnel. During the voyage, dozens or hundreds of people were missing from the ship, and sometimes there were even dozens or hundreds of people added...
These things are even somewhat commonplace.
But now, after they clearly noticed that there was more than one ship following them in the same star tunnel, they had no choice but to be careless.
After completing the astral jump, they did not dare to stay any longer. They chose to switch the engine mode immediately, gradually accelerate, try to bring the speed to the upper limit of sub-light speed, and head towards the Raging Owl Star.
Wang Jiarong knew that Ye Lixia's cruiser was docked in the orbit of the Raging Owl. After reuniting with the Quintet, her merchant ship had strong security protection.
To this end, she also ordered the astropaths on the ship - which is also a profession for psykers after special training - to try to communicate with the Quintet.
However, the Astropath brought her quite bad news: they could not contact the Quintet.
The star language message has been sent, but there has been no response.
This situation further deepened Wang Jiarong's anxiety.
If they can't be contacted, there are only two reasons: either their astrological messages are blocked and cannot be transmitted, or the Quintet cannot receive their messages.
Neither is a good thing.
When the ship leaves the transition state and resumes regular sublight navigation, it will take a certain amount of time for the engine to accelerate.
Now she just hopes that this acceleration process will pass quickly. For this reason, she has urged the mechanical priest in charge of the engine many times.
At the same time, she also ordered that the entire fleet enter a first-level combat readiness state and must be prepared to face the enemy at all times.
The 'Beautiful Maiden' is equipped with 11 M-class specifications of the 'Hot Hammer' macro cannon and is ready to go. The other three frigates are each equipped with 15 S-class "Defense" rapid-fire cannons and 3 M-class "Retribution" cluster laser cannons.
These naval guns, as well as the operators behind the naval guns and the Thinker array as the fire control system and navigation system, have all entered the highest combat readiness state.
The so-called cogitator array refers to a collection of 'wetware' composed of specially trained psykers or even ordinary people under the cogitator technology, which is used with basic mechanical calculators to assist ship operations. , assisting the artillery in calibrated firing. But even though she had made all preparations for the war, Wang Jiarong was still praying to the emperor, hoping that bad luck would not really befall her.
It is definitely the best if nothing happens. As for the current tension and extra preparation, it doesn't matter if it is in vain.
However, not every prayer can have corresponding good results.
"They're coming out..." The navigator's voice sounded in Wang Jiarong's ears.
She quickly returned to the main console, and the screen cut to the opposite direction of the starship's travel.
In the void, many ships are gradually appearing.
In fact, the distance between the two sides is already more than 50,000 kilometers.
However, this distance is still too close in space.
Through the meditator array zooming into the virtual screen in front of them, the identities of the ships that followed them, passed through the transition point, and entered the real universe have been very obvious:
The fleet of green-skinned orcs!
This can be distinguished from their exaggerated, chaotic appearance, like a pile of garbage randomly spliced together. Only green-skinned orc warships will develop this virtue.
However, it was ugly, the paint was messy, it had no sense of beauty in the traditional sense, and its rough appearance did not look like a technological product... However, it was indeed a serious interstellar battleship.
"One, two, three, four... twelve greenskin battleships... Who can tell me why there are so many greenskins here??"
Wang Jiarong lost her composure.
However, no one could answer her question.
The middle and high-level managers of the caravan on the console are not ignorant. The orc ships that appeared later were not easy to deal with.
In the starry sky, there is one most intuitive way to judge the strength of a starship: look at its size.
That's certainly not 100% accurate, and there are countless exceptions to prove it. However, when the difference in technical level is not that big, generally speaking, the larger the warship, the stronger it is. This is a piece of information that holds true in most cases.
At present, four of the twelve green-skinned warships are the size of destroyers in the human empire fleet; the remaining eight are at least the size of frigates.
The huge, outward-flaring cannons on these ships also adhere to the style of the green-skinned orcs: caliber comes first!
Wang Jiarong tried her best to stay calm and gave the order: "The engine team accelerates with all its speed. We must try to get rid of these green-skinned orc fleets before they speed up."
"All fire teams, fire at the greenskin fleet with all their strength! Concentrate firepower on a single target! Try to cause damage as much as possible!"
"Yes!"
Everyone on the ship, who doesn’t know that the critical moment has come? No one dares to be lazy when their lives are at stake.
It is certainly the right choice to distance yourself and try to escape.
The 'Beautiful Maid' is larger than the average main destroyer, but most of the space is used as a cargo warehouse. The strength of the void shield and the strength of the ship's armor itself can barely reach the level of a destroyer. However, the firepower is only half of that of a normal destroyer at most.
The other three frigates were of normal frigate specifications, and at most they only carried some cargo.
Against the greenskin fleet's 4+8 configuration, a head-on confrontation is hopeless.
When you open fire, you just have to fight for free. The key is to run.
And while escaping at full speed, it was certainly impossible for them to adjust the hull so that all firepower could be directed at the enemy. In fact, if you fire behind you now, only one-third of the firepower will be used.
However, those green-skinned ships had just left the star tunnel. The energy shield on the hull has been turned on, but obviously the power has not yet been reached to the maximum.
When he just jumped out of the star tunnel, the starship was relatively vulnerable.
Because of this, three rounds of concentrated firepower directly destroyed a green frigate.
The energy shield of the green-skinned starship was overloaded, turning from blue light to dangerous red in the blink of an eye. A large number of shells passed through the overloaded energy shield and hit the hull. The armor was shattered and the hull was severely damaged. Even if you zoomed in on the camera, you could see many green-skinned orcs flying out of the damaged parts of the hull.
This green-skinned frigate has basically lost its combat capabilities. If the greenskins win at the end of the battle, they may be able to recover the ship and repair it for use, but at least in this battle, the frigate cannot pose any threat.
Wang Jiarong was somewhat inspired by the victory, and the morale of the entire caravan was also slightly improved.
However, this is almost the only good news in the future, as the bad news comes one after another.
When they turned the focus of their firepower to the second greenskin ship, the greenskin fleet had already gotten rid of the fragile state it had just completed the transition. This not only means that the energy shield on their ship has begun to operate at full power and is not so easy to penetrate, but it also means that the weapon system on their ship has also begun to operate normally.
The eleven green-skinned starships that were still functioning normally opened fire at the same time.
Kinetic artillery and green-skinned laser cannons all opened fire.
The style of the greenskin ships is consistent with the style of their entire race. The number of various types of artillery fire on ships is generally much greater than that of human warships of the same level, and the caliber is generally larger. But at the same time, the characteristic that the accuracy is generally much worse than that of human naval guns has also been perfectly inherited.
But the distance between the two sides is really too close. At this time, the distance is only about 70,000 kilometers at most. However, for a space naval battle, it can still be regarded as a face-to-face confrontation.
Humanity will suffer greatly.
On the four ships under Wang Jiarong's command, almost at the same time, there were blue lights flashing around them. That was how the void shield would appear after being exposed to fire.
In the blink of an eye, the void shields around the four ships showed signs of turning purple, which was a sign of imminent overload.
(End of chapter)