r18novel Chapter 77 Sea Route
Chapter 77 Sea Route
More than a month has passed since the families were all settled under the Garros dome.
In the past month or so, the city under the dome has transformed from slightly crowded to orderly. Administrative staff completed household registration, schools reopened, hospitals resumed normal operations, and the second batch of crops in the agricultural area was planted. The first 200,000 family members adapted to their new environment; children chased and played in the streets, and adults found jobs in factories and office buildings. Garros was no longer just a blueprint; it began to breathe.
Over the past month, the Truth has completed all system self-tests and sea trials. Vera and her team conducted over a dozen short runs in the airspace around Garros, testing the reactor's maximum output, the energy curve of the light spear, the firing accuracy of the macro cannon, and the energy distribution logic of the void shield. Every piece of data was recorded, and every single one exceeded the factory standards for Imperial Navy Moon-class cruisers. But the real sea trials are only now beginning.
The Black Pearl and the Aletheia stood side by side in their berths at the spaceport, the two five-kilometer-long steel behemoths gleaming with a cold gray sheen in the beams of their guide lights. The Black Pearl's hull was mottled and its paintwork aged, making it look like an old ship that had been in service for decades; the Aletheia's deep red armor plates gleamed with a dark red sheen under the starlight, and the nameplate on its side was already engraved—"Aletheia," in ornate high-gothic script, below which was the gear and skull emblem of the Garros Dominion.
"Dual-ship formation, departing. Black Pearl flagship, leading. Truth, following." Liu En pressed the ship's broadcast button on the bridge, his voice echoing throughout the Black Pearl and also reaching the Truth's bridge via the laser communication array. "Destination: Armageddon. Course synchronized, Mandeville coordinates confirmed. Proceeding."
The regular journey from the spaceport to Mandeville Point takes nearly twenty hours. Marcus's route markings on the holographic projection show that Mandeville Point at Galos is located at the edge of the galaxy, nearly forty astronomical units from the star. The spacecraft needs to advance from the inner perimeter orbit outwards until gravitational interference diminishes below a safe threshold. At the fleet's current cruising speed, twenty hours is the most conservative estimate.
The Black Pearl led the way. Sierra locked onto the direction of the Starbeam in the navigation module, synchronizing the course parameters to the Astral's navigation terminal via a laser communication array. Marcus monitored the formation status on the holographic projection platform, confirming that the Astral was maintaining the predetermined following distance.
"Astral is in position, formation spacing confirmed." Vera Nazari's voice came through the communication channel, clear and steady.
Liu En didn't go to the bridge. He stood by the porthole of his private workshop, watching the Truth's tail flame burn steadily in the darkness through the thick bulletproof glass. Twenty hours of routine sailing was enough for him to review the blueprints piling up in his database once more.
The hatch was locked, and the lighting panel was turned down to its lowest brightness. He leaned back in his chair, his consciousness sinking into a higher dimension. He opened the atomic deflection shield project file in the database, and glanced at the line in the remarks column: "Blueprint for CMC-200 powered armor grafted with atomic deflection shield generator. Mass production engineering optimization derivation." He could create the atomic deflection shield for the Starfortress mechs, but the mass production plan had encountered many difficulties. There were also mass production plans for the optimized and improved vehicles of the Solar Auxiliary Force. These projects unfolded layer by layer in his higher dimension, deduced step by step. He spent several hours every day doing these things, unhurried and calm.
After nearly twenty hours of flight, Liu En emerged from his private workshop and walked through the corridor. The corridor's lighting panels were still in daytime mode, but the lights were a shade dimmer than usual—a standard procedure before entering Mandeville—to reduce energy consumption and reserve more power for the warp engine's activation. Veteran soldiers from the garrison, wearing power armor, patrolled the key points; they saluted him as he passed, and he nodded in response.
The bridge lights were dimmed to their lowest setting, leaving only the faint glow of the instrument panels and indicator lights. Marcus stood before the holographic projection platform, while Sera stood behind the navigation console with her eyes closed, a pale purple light emanating from the gaps in the metal disc on her forehead. That was her third eye, locking onto the stellar beacon—in warp space, the only reliable reference point for a navigator was the psionic beacon projected by the Emperor into the warp, spanning tens of thousands of light-years, the sole hope for all Imperial ships to avoid getting lost in the Chaos Sea.
"Mandeville point, five minutes remaining," Marcus said without looking up. "The Truth is in position, formation spacing confirmed. All parameters are synchronized."
Liu En sat down in the commander's seat and pressed the ship's broadcast button.
"All departments, approaching Mandeville point. Subspace engines warming up, all personnel in position. Geller field activated, charge confirmed. Porthole armored covers closed."
The corridor lighting switched to emergency mode, dimming the lights even further. One by one, the armored covers on the portholes slid down, the heavy terrazzo plates slowly sliding across the bulletproof glass under the hydraulic pushers, producing a dull thud. The sound of the covers falling echoed across every deck and every compartment, like a series of heavy sighs.
The activation of the Geller Field was almost silent on a perceptual level, but everyone felt the subtle change—the air seemed to thicken slightly, and there was a faint static charge on their skin. In Imperial Navy terminology, this was called "reality anchoring," a side effect of the Geller Field generator forcibly projecting the physical laws of the real universe into the subspace.
Sera's voice came from the navigation cabin: "Geller position stable, output power within standard range. Starbeam signal locked."
Hera Worth's voice came through the communications channel, hoarse yet calm: "Star-speaking communication array is ready. The Star Speaker of Truth is online. Warp communication environment—silence. No abnormal signals."
Marcus turned to look at Liu En. "Captain, the formation is ready."
"Start. Black Pearl as navigator, Aletheia as follower."
Sierra's finger hovered above the navigation panel. The Geller Strike was activated at full power, the subspace engine's auxiliary loop was cut off, and the ship's vibration frequency shifted to a lower, shorter tremor.
"Geller position stable. Pressure readings normal. Subspace engine preheating complete." Her voice was as calm as reading from a manual, but the knuckles of her fingers gripping the joystick were white. "Start."
The ship shuddered violently. It wasn't the continuous thrust of a propeller, but a tearing—the physical laws of the real universe were forcibly ripped open, and the chaos of the subspace poured in from the crack. The Geller Force created a fragile bubble around the ship, keeping the surging colors out.
Hera Worth's voice came through the interstellar communication channel: "The Black Pearl has jumped into warp space. The Truth requests entry."
"allow."
The Truth's warp engines activated immediately. Vera Nazari's voice came through the interstellar channel, compressed into dry binary pulses by psionic energy: "The Truth has entered warp. Formation spacing confirmed, correcting course, locking flagship heading parameters."
Sierra reported from the navigation module: "The Atrume is following, maintaining a safe distance."
No one spoke in the bridge. The newly arrived communications officer was pale, his hands gripping the armrests of his seat tightly. Marcus's fingers paused for a moment on the holographic projection table, then continued swiping. Kara leaned against the bridge entrance with her arms crossed, expressionless, but the cooling pipes at the joints of her power armor's shoulder armor hummed louder than usual.
Hera Voss's voice came through again: "Subspace communication environment stable. Dual-ship formation status confirmed: lead ship Black Pearl, follower ship Truth. Course parameters synchronized, formation spacing safe."
Serra added, "The starlight signal is clear. The current subspace current is stable, and the estimated journey time is several weeks."
Liu En leaned back in his chair. "The duty roster remains unchanged. All departments are operating according to procedures."
Marcus responded. Kara turned and left the bridge to inspect the garrison training area. Phyllis sent a brief message from the logistics compartment: "Supplies are sufficient."
The two-ship formation moved silently forward in subspace.
Liu En knew how difficult it was for multi-ship formations to navigate in subspace. No two navigators could see the exact same route. The navigator on the lead ship determined the direction and transmitted course parameters to the follower ships via the Star Speaker; the navigator on the follower ship had to find a balance between using their own third eye and following commands—they couldn't rely entirely on the lead ship's data and ignore their own senses, nor could they deviate from the formation and act independently. The lead ship's navigator provided direction, while the follower ship's navigator provided calibration. Sera, in the navigation cabin, kept an eye on the direction of the Star Torch through her third eye, while simultaneously maintaining a psionic communication link with the Star Speaker on the Truth via Hera, transmitting course parameters and fine-tuning instructions one by one. The Truth's navigator, upon receiving this data, repeatedly compared and corrected it in their own senses, locking the Truth's course onto the Black Pearl's track.
The navigator's and star-speaker's abilities are crucial here. In the Imperial Navy, only the most experienced fleets can maintain tight formation in the warp. Most fleets disperse quickly upon entering the warp, fighting independently, only to regroup near their destination—because the perceptual differences between navigators are almost impossible to eliminate. But Hera Voss, though her abilities have deteriorated, is still capable of transmitting parameters over short-range psionic communications that only navigators can understand and that cannot be described in words—a slight leftward deviation in course, changes in the warp current's velocity, and phase shifts in the starbeacon signal. The star-speakers of the Truth receive, decode, and translate these psionic signals to the navigator, who then performs the final course correction through their third eye.
The distance between the two ships is precisely calculated, ensuring they won't accidentally approach each other due to subspace currents, nor gradually drift apart due to course corrections. The navigator on the lead ship judges the direction and speed of the subspace tides, maintaining the formation within a safe distance; the navigator on the follower ship constantly monitors their relative position to the lead ship, continuously correcting their course through fine-tuning commands transmitted by the astro-speakers. This is not a one-way command chain, but a continuous, two-way calibration process—the lead ship provides direction, the follower ship corrects deviations, a cycle that never ends. No two ships can follow the exact same route; they can only approach each other infinitely.
The flight was remarkably smooth. Turbulence was minimized. Every few hours, Sera reported the course status to Liu En from the navigation cabin, her tone shifting from initial vigilance to habitual calm. "Subspace currents stable, starbeacon signal clear, formation maintaining safe distance. Truth undergoing course correction, deviation within acceptable limits." When she said this for the fourth time, Liu En replied with only one word on the communication channel: "Good."
Liu En's life returned to its fixed rhythm. The canteen, the bridge, the reception room, the private workshop. Four places, four functions, day after day.
In the mess hall, the veterans were used to him sitting in the corner drinking coffee. Carlos would occasionally sit down with his tray and ask, "Captain, which group should we recruit first when we get to Amegadoton?" He would reply, "Recruit those with families first, then those with leadership experience." Carlos would nod, finish his meal in a few bites, and leave.
On the bridge, Marcus handled formation coordination at the holographic projection table. He single-handedly managed everything from synchronizing the two ships' routes and summarizing their statuses to updating emergency response plans. He maintained contact with the Astral through the Star Speaker to ensure the two ships could operate in unison at all times.
In the reception room, he processed the documents that required his signature: Phyllis's resource allocation plan, Marcus's recruitment plan, and Kara's training plan. He reviewed each document, confirming there were no irregularities, wrote "Cohen Severo," and then closed the data panel.
Weeks of warp travel passed by smoothly. There were no warp storms, no demonic incursions, and not even a decent fluctuation in the Geller's Field. Occasionally, brief conversations between Vera and Liu En would break through the interstellar communication channel—"Navigation course stable," "Following normal"—before falling silent. Hera periodically synchronized the formation communication, exchanging heading parameters with the Starspeakers on the Truth via the interstellar link to confirm the navigation status and formation data. Each time, the result was the same—heading parameters consistent, formation spacing safe, no anomalies.
The Black Pearl remained the most stable ship. The Geller Field readings drew an almost straight horizontal line on the dial, and the subspace engine output curve was as smooth as a meticulously calibrated standard waveform. After the initial tension of the first few days, the crew of the Truth gradually relaxed. The star-speakers of the two ships established a stable psionic communication network within the formation. The lead ship's heading parameters never deviated significantly, and the corrections made by the follower ships became increasingly smaller.
Everything is on track.