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Chapter 551  Where No Human Has Gone Before

No one was speaking; everyone simply gave each other courtesy nods when they made eye contact with someone else. But the silence didn’t last long before Huang Wei, the head of the imperial space agency, appeared on the stage in the front of the hall. Administrator Huang was a middle-aged Chinese man with salt and pepper hair and a regal bearing, dressed in the utility uniform of the exploration fleet, a pair of black slacks with light blue piping on the sides and a close-fitting, tailored coat with matching blue piping.

(Ed note: If you’re interested in seeing what the uniforms look like, it’s very similar to the uniforms from David Weber’s Honorverse novels, specifically those of the Royal Manticoran Navy. The difference is that the uniforms in this novel lack shoulder flashes, rank insignia, awards, and any kind of headgear. Everything that would normally be displayed on a uniform is all displayed in augmented reality.)

Everyone stood and saluted Administrator Huang, who returned the salute with a slight bow and said, “Please be seated. There’s a lot to cover in today’s meeting, and not much time to cover it in.

“To give you the important part first: the ISA is about to undertake a mission that is of the utmost importance to the human species: you, ladies and gentlemen, will be the first group of humans to ever pass the heliopause and engage in extrasolar exploration.

“As a semi-militarized fleet, you’ve all undergone all of the same training as the regulars in the Terran Space Fleet, and have inherited their professionalism and tradition. You only lack the heavy weaponry that the TSF has in spades.

“Sure, you each carry a small contingent of ARES troopers to defend against potential boarders, as well as act as guards for teams of researchers sent to the surface of planets. You even have a spook assigned as a general specialist. But your exploration cruisers are limited mostly to defensive batteries and a single gun that’s only effective against stationary targets or viable in knife fighting range.” Administrator Huang paused, noticing that most of his audience had gone slack-jawed and glassy-eyed. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

It was true, though—the exploration fleet was incredibly lightly armed. They had a few Mk. XIX Titan’s Wrath cannons, an updated version of the Mk. XIV Titan’s Wrath, which had proven its effectiveness in Islamabad and Delhi, as well as Faisalabad and Bhopal. The Mk. XIX, however, had been specifically designed for use in the harsh vacuum of space, especially for clearing potential environmental hazards out of their path.

They also had a spinal-mount hybrid gun capable of unleashing streams of charged particles or switching to coilgun mode for large target bombardment. The range of the particle beam was limited, though, and the coilgun was only capable of accelerating projectiles up to 0.29c. And any moving target capable of interstellar travel would also be capable of dodging slow projectiles like those.

The decision had been made for the exploration fleet’s primary armament to be energy-based for a few reasons, primarily accuracy. Coilgun rounds were extremely damaging, if they hit, but that was an awfully big “if”. In order to be effective, a saturation attack would need to be carried out, and that had implications that Aron didn’t want to even think about.

Any coilgun round of sufficient size and speed to take out an enemy vessel would eventually become another planet’s Chicxulub, after all, quite effectively ruining someone’s day, somewhere, somewhen. Maybe it would be hours later, or maybe it would be ten thousand years later, but the only guarantee when dealing with projectile weapons in space is that those projectiles will always hit something.

Sir Isaac Newton has always been, still is, and will forever be the deadliest son of a bitch in space.

Administrator Huang judged that the attendees of the briefing should have digested his previous statements and continued, “As a result of your ships’ lacking combat capability in the face of a potentially hostile galaxy, orders have come down from above that you are to be escorted by the first batch of the Terran Space Navy to graduate from training. And today’s briefing is to give you an overview of the regular TSF ships and offensive capabilities.

“First, let’s talk about guns. Your fleet is primarily armed with energy weapons, which are considered secondary armaments in the TSF. Even though beam coherence isn’t an issue that needs attention in the vacuum of space, the requirement in terms of energy generation and capacitors is simply too high for space combat at distances that could measure up to millions of kilometers. Thus, the primary armament for vessels in the TSF is missiles.

“Missiles have extreme range capability with multi-stage design, they’re stealthy, and they’re capable of engaging in maneuvers to increase their accuracy. They can also carry different warheads, ranging from electronic countermeasures that blind targets all the way up to multidirectional bomb-pumped X-ray laser warheads and beyond.

“They also carry sophisticated sensor and targeting suits, as well as come equipped with robust electronic counter countermeasures (ECCM). But most importantly, they can be command detonated to avoid collateral damage, unlike dumb rounds fired from coilguns and other kinetic weapons.”

Administrator Huang swept his gaze across the captains in the lecture hall seats and paused, as what he had to say next would have to be delivered exactly right. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then exhaled, opened his eyes again, and continued, “I have to notify you now that the information I am about to disclose next is classified Top Secret, code word GRO J1655-40. You have all been preliminarily cleared for the information, should you choose to accept it. If you do not accept your new clearance level, please log out of the briefing now.”

He stood ramrod straight in the middle of the lecture hall stage, waiting with his eyes closed for the five-minute logout procedure, in case any of the captains or commanders chose not to accept the remainder of the briefing.