Chapter 146: Glorious Showdown
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The image followed the signal to a pulsar galaxy, which was one of the main battlefields of the two Voyager civilizations.
There was a neutron star here that was the source of gravity. However, unlike ordinary neutron stars, this neutron star’s rotation speed was as high as 700 cycles per second.
Such a high rotation speed caused it to emit a large amount of pulsed radiation at all times, which was why this neutron star was also called a pulsar.
Although the pulsar’s high-speed rotation did not affect the spaceship’s navigation, the pulsed radiation it released had a huge impact on the spaceship’s shield system.
In the history of the Milky Way, there was once a famous interstellar war that took place in a similar pulsar galaxy.
At that time, the number of fleets on both sides of the war was similar, but one side’s shield technology was extremely advanced. In the battle, the loss ratio was often one to two or even one to three.
Although the other side had used weapons that ignored shields to counter, the effect was not very good.
Therefore, they secretly set up a trap and lured the enemy’s main fleet into a pulsar galaxy for a showdown.
The special cosmic environment here almost caused the shield system to fail, and they, who were prepared, temporarily thickened their armor and won a beautiful victory, rewriting the balance of victory.
This battle was also included in the interstellar war teaching materials, which made the Milky Way civilizations pay more attention to space wars in different cosmic environments.
Today, space wars between Milky Way civilizations often avoided these special environments, but excellent war artists could always make the enemy jump into the trap.
The ancient Voyagers had built a dock in the pulsar galaxy long ago and created a sense of distance by boiling frogs in warm water, giving the Voyager the illusion that they had almost annihilated the enemy.
In addition, the dock in this place was also a strategic point that could not be ignored. Therefore, the Voyager sent a main fleet to this place, aiming to quickly occupy this galaxy.
However, even if a main fleet was sent in, it was still almost in this galaxy. The Voyager had to increase the number of fleets.
The fallen lost empire had underestimated their compatriots who had not been eliminated in ancient times.
When the Voyagers realized that their fleet could no longer withdraw from the galaxy, the pulsar here was like a swamp, dragging them into a quagmire.
The fleet that had been deployed in this pulsar galaxy already accounted for 50% of their total fleet, and the troops belonging to the ancient Voyagers were using more advanced and cheaper armor and hulls to fight them.
They had completely abandoned their shields and used cheaper prices and stronger hulls to successfully make the Voyagers fall into decline. The fleets that were invested in the pulsar galaxy were being eaten up.
Now that the Voyagers could not withdraw their fleet, there was basically no stable environment for warp in the chaotic battlefield.
Although they had a way to evacuate, it was difficult for the troops to accurately locate the galaxy. Most of them came to barren space without a hyperspace channel connection and could only wait for the next warp.
Such a situation was no different from the disappearance of this fleet. If more than 50% of the fleet disappeared at once, they would not have to fight this battle.
Therefore, the current Voyagers had no choice but to send more fleets here, hoping to defeat the enemies here.
However, most of their colony planets were controlled by the robot riots, which cut off their production capacity by a large margin. The artificial people army, which had been fighting for a long time, was unable to recapture those occupied planets, which made them tacitly acknowledge the loss of these planets.
And the resources that had been accumulated over the years were no match for the seemingly endless fleet of ancient Voyagers.
Therefore, the Voyagers decided to put everything on the line. Except for the fleet that was stuck in the pulsar galaxy, they abandoned the defense of every other system. Even the fleet of the mother planet, the Source of Knowledge, was pulled away to form a showdown fleet and warped to a galaxy that was closest to the Beacon of Infinity.
Their territory was very large. They could stop the enemy’s warp with the superluminal suppressor. They could only advance by slower hyperspace navigation. It would take at least a dozen hyperspace navigations to reach the Source of Knowledge.
In comparison, their enemy’s territory was much smaller. They only needed three or four hyperspace navigations to reach their mother planet.
The showdown fleet, on the other hand, was personally led by the supreme commander of the Voyagers. Its purpose was to besiege the mother planet of the ancient Voyagers and force them to return to rescue them.
The main forces of the ancient Voyagers seemed to have been transferred to the pulsar galaxy and the other small battlefields. They were completely powerless to stop the advance of the decisive fleet.
They had successfully destroyed the outposts along the way, but they had not been able to wait for the enemy’s rescue. Instead, the news of the former border falling kept coming, which gave the fleet commander an ominous feeling.
However, he believed that the strategy of exchanging space for time was feasible. Even if there was really a problem, he would still be able to return in time.
Finally, they arrived at the galaxy where the Beacon of Infinity was located.
The circular world here seemed to have been repaired, but every section of the circular world looked lifeless and uninhabited.
Surprisingly, there were not many fleets here, at least much fewer than the decisive fleet of the Voyager.
There were only a few old battleships that looked extremely simple and unadorned, as if they had been through a battlefield.
The ominous premonition of the commander of the Voyager fleet reached its peak at this moment.
“Where is he?” According to his speculation, it was impossible for their old-fashioned enemies to leave these symbolic places full of beliefs and ideals.
But soon, he received a familiar communication message. It was from their former compatriots, the artificial lifeforms that had completed the synthetic evolution.
[ Dear compatriots, this may be the last time we call you our compatriots. ]
[ Over a long period of time, we’ve understood one thing. If a Voyager only insists on staying in one place, can he still be called a Voyager? ]
[ In order to move forward, there is nothing that cannot be given up, even the Beacon of Infinity that carries our lofty ideals. ]
[ It’s my honor to be able to witness the prosperity of the galaxy with you in ancient times, but now, it’s time for the curtains to fall. ]
With the termination of communication, the Beacon of Infinity circular world began to collapse.
Originally, there was only one circular world that was still intact, but under the repair of the ancient Voyager, at least it seemed that every circular world had been repaired.
At first, the fleet commander of the Voyagers wondered why his former compatriots wanted to repair the circular world without living there, but now he understood.
These circular worlds only looked like circular worlds. They were actually another type of megastructure.
“You guys…” The fleet commander sitting in the Titan Battleship could not help but want to speak. He knew that the other party could not hear him, but at this moment, he seemed to hear a response.
“Let us begin a glorious showdown…”
Accompanying them were the ancient battleships that were moving again.
Their simplicity wasn’t a disguise. The ancient Voyagers had dug out their battleships from the remains of the ancient battlefield, repaired them, and transported them here.
Those old fogeys were no match for the new battleships of the Voyager, but the ancient Voyager, too, had no intention of defeating the decisive fleet. Their purpose was only to feel the ceremoniality, as well as to buy time.
Their real target was the unguarded mother planet of the Voyagers, the Source of Knowledge.
As a certain megastructure under the outer shell of the circular world activated, the entire Beacon of Infinity galaxy seemed to be blocked and lost its trace on the star map.
Li Wenyuan, who was far away on Earth, also received this special fluctuation. He immediately sighed with emotion, “It’s indeed a scene full of ritual…”
He actually had a good impression of this group of ancient Voyagers. When they decided to wage war against the Voyager, he had even asked if they needed help.
However, the ancient Voyager declined his kindness and told him that it was an ancient custom that had been passed down within the civilization before they were upgraded by humans.
To obtain a title, one had to defeat the holder of the title in a duel.
After stepping into the galaxy, they had already forgotten about this custom. However, this exchange between the old and the new rekindled this idea in this batch of ancient Voyagers.
“Of course, this is actually a conspiracy. In the duel, we really can’t defeat the current Voyager. After all, our foundation is still lacking.”
“However, since we have advanced to the interstellar era, it’s possible for some of our customs to become interstellar, right? Whoever can conquer the enemy’s mother planet first will be considered the winner of the duel!”
It was hard to imagine that these synthetic evolution mechanical lives would occasionally be so mischievous, but when Li Wenyuan heard them, he couldn’t help but laugh.
He witnessed the disappearance of the Beacon of Infinity from the star map. Finally, he set his eyes on a special technology on the technology tree:
[ Fleet Doctrine: Glorious Showdown ]
[ Technology Level: 6 ]
[ Introduction: According to sociological research, most lifeforms seem to be strongly moved by the image of a showdown that can determine the outcome of the battle. This irrational behavior was obviously not suitable for a real space battlefield, but… If we do this once in a while, it might be able to greatly increase our cohesiveness. We can lock the enemy and us in an arena that we can’t leave for a short period of time, and then have a glorious showdown. ]
[ Possibility of Technology: None ]
[ Special note: This is actually a performance. Why do we have to build this? We need to build a megastructure that can reinforce space-time and temporarily block the hyperspace channel. After activating it, at least the superluminal methods we know of will not be effective in this area.. Perhaps this is more appropriate to call it a closed-door dogfight rather than a glorious showdown?