NOVEL WEB Chapter 46 - The Full Map of the Star System
Chapter 46: The Full Map of the Star System
The “Qinyuan” cautiously approached, and as the distance closed, the number of visible light beams increased.
In space, being able to observe beams of light with the naked eye meant that the local energy intensity was comparable to the brilliance of the sun.
At this moment, there were hundreds of thousands of intersecting beams of light!
“My heavens, this is magnificent!” Lin Ke’s mouth hung open in awe. No matter how spectacular fleet battles appeared in the virtual world, it was entirely different from experiencing it firsthand. The beams of light, each containing terrifying energy, made him feel a genuine sense of dread through his psionic perception.
As they drew closer, they saw even more. They didn’t even need the gravity sensors; they could see with the naked eye stars suddenly lighting up and then quickly extinguishing.
Those were the final glows of exploding starships.
Lin Zhichen’s psionic perception was working at full capacity, absorbing information from the battlefield, remaining silent for a long time.
The surging energy fluctuations constantly disturbed this region of space. Although this amount of energy was insignificant compared to the universe, it was vast as a galaxy when compared to an individual.
The “Qinyuan,” merely a frigate, even as a psionic warship, was like a small boat in a storm on a battlefield of this scale, with the slightest negligence posing a risk of capsizing.
“Both sides have at least a hundred thousand warships, with over ten thousand of them being battleship-class main warships. If we include those without energy weapons like light spears as their main guns, the number is even higher,” Lin Zhichen shook his head. In a fleet battle of this magnitude, even he wasn’t confident they could escape.
“Big brother, we’ve been spotted!” Lin Ke warned.
At the edge of the radar, hundreds of tiny light points were rapidly approaching. According to the radar’s speed measurement, they were moving at over 1 km per second, a speed far exceeding that of a frigate.
“They’re space fighters,” Lin Zhichen realized. “There must be an aircraft carrier nearby.”
“Big brother, what should we do?” Lin Ke asked.
“There must be a complete fleet near the carrier. Let’s check elsewhere first.”
The “Qinyuan” was not equipped to take on an aircraft carrier. It was armed with three small turrets, all electromagnetic cannons, which were suitable for engaging warships but too weak against fighters. Even with the crew’s master-level gunnery skills, they could hit the targets, but the slow firing rate would put them at a significant disadvantage.
The “Qinyuan” traced an arc through space and quickly vanished, its 50% light speed making it easy to shake off the enemy.
Soon, after multiple probes, Lin Zhichen had figured out the main players in this battlefield.
“It’s a major battle between the pirate faction and the rebel faction, likely fighting for control of this star system,” Lin Ke remarked, curling his lip.
“To be honest, this is the most common scenario in the starry sky.”
NPC fleets refreshed in a star system would initially engage in decisive battles for system ownership according to their respective factions, turning the entire star system into the exclusive territory of either the pirates or the rebels.
Once the main faction was decided, the wild NPC fleets that spawn would belong to the corresponding faction.
But that wasn’t the end. After the pirates or rebels took control, there were different bases, each led by different NPC leaders. They would also fight among themselves. After jointly eliminating the opposing faction, they would battle for supreme power again until a Pirate King or Rebel Marshal emerged.
It seemed they were still in the first stage.
“If that’s the case, we might still have a chance—if they can’t determine a winner in the short term, they won’t have the resources to hunt us down,” Lin Ke suggested.
“Why don’t we check out the asteroid belt in this star system? The environment there is quite complex, and it should be relatively safe for a while.”
“That’s a good idea, but we need to first understand the orbital dynamics of the planets in this star system,” Lin Zhichen nodded.
This was crucial. Understanding the larger environment was necessary before deciding where to start.
Carefully avoiding the battlefield and the reinforcement fleets spread throughout the star system, the “Qinyuan” moved like a fish swimming through space.
Exploring a star system wasn’t difficult; it only required determining the positions and types of planets from a distance using space telescopes.
But this wasn’t an uninhabited star region. The star regions of the New Universe were filled with NPC wild fleets and nests.
At a distance of about 2 light-seconds* from the planet, there were numerous starships patrolling the starry sky. When a battle occurred, nearby starships would quickly converge, making the entire space like an impenetrable curtain, blocking everything in the distant starry sky.
(*A light-second is a unit of distance. It represents the distance that light travels in one second.)
Fortunately, the “Qinyuan” was not an ordinary starship and could always force its way near a planet to complete simple reconnaissance before the reinforcement fleets arrived.
It took twenty days for this unpleasant reconnaissance mission to conclude. During this time, they spent at least half of it being chased by wild NPC fleets. They were forced to sink hundreds of starships but had no time to collect the spoils, as they were constantly pursued by the wild NPC reinforcements.
“Now confirmed, the entire Dakan star system has six terrestrial planets and three asteroids serving as moons, orbiting Dakan I, III, and V respectively,” Lin Ke said, looking at the completed star system map and reviewing the NPC wild bases they had detected along the way.
According to the common naming conventions of the various civilizations in the New Universe’s Milky Way, once a star system’s name is determined, the planets are named starting from the star outward. The planet closest to the star is Dakan I, the second is Dakan II, and so on.
If there are asteroids, they are named based on their proximity to the planet they orbit, such as Dakan Ia for the closest moon, followed by Dakan Ib, and so forth.
Based on their reconnaissance, the closest planets to the star, Dakan I and Ia, were directly exposed to the star’s radiation, covered in high-temperature lava, and completely uninhabitable. Naturally, the wild NPC bases in these locations were minimal—only a small pirate spaceport was found on the side of Dakan Ia facing away from the star.
This was similar to the spaceports above Earth, but because Earth was a habitable planet, its spaceports were primarily commercial, with developed logistics and transportation.
In contrast, this pirate spaceport was primarily military. Not only was its defense stronger than that of a commercial port, but it also had a small dock capable of berthing starships for regular maintenance and repairs.
Dakan II was a toxic planet, with its surface covered in poisonous gases. Any life entering it would quickly succumb to the toxins.
This planet did not have any pirate bases, and there were no space stations in its orbit either. Perhaps there had been, but they were destroyed in previous battles.
In fact, spaceports directly exposed in outer space orbits were more likely to become targets for enemies.