Space Odyssey from Abandoned Mining Space Station

Chapter 5: Chapter 5 Selection

This is how it is, Chen Ming didn’t even want to go to the star system where the nearest military outpost was located.

By the time Chen Ming’s ship enters the Space Station, the military personnel would certainly uncover his identity.

If they directly found the record of Iron Ore No. passing the Star Gate decades ago, along with his company’s ship passing through the Star Gate.

Then contacting the military outpost directly using the Space Station’s communication anchor point would make no difference for Chen Ming.

So the remaining choices are actually not many.

Chen Ming’s gaze returned to the star map he had just opened.

In a small star system very close to the star system with the military outpost, there is another Space Station known to many people belonging to humans.

However, it does not nominally belong to the military, but to... pirates.

This is a Pirate Space Station.

Of course, ”pirate” is just a general term, everyone knows that a scattered group of disorganized criminals couldn’t possibly build a well-equipped infrastructure and maintain a Space Station for a long time.

There must be someone funding it, and the funders have a lot of power.

Otherwise, how could the military, just a star system away, turn a blind eye to a Space Station known to everyone trying to make a living around this Edge Star System?

If Chen Ming decides to go there, the danger is naturally present.

How many good people choose to go here instead of the military outpost?

But correspondingly, the possibility of exposing himself as a company employee coming from this abandoned mining space station is almost nil.

Although the time required to return to the Human World would be longer and the pressure to solve food problems beforehand would be greater.

But Chen Ming at this point has no more choices, he doesn’t want to get caught up in affairs between big figures due to his identity and origins, ending up dead without even knowing why.

The Pirate Space Station became his only option.

Therefore, to solve the food problem, the planting chamber of the spaceship must be utilized.

And the best place to acquire consumable seeds...

Chen Ming’s gaze turned to the tri-colored planet in shades of blue, green, and purple located directly below the spaceship.

But before considering this matter.

Chen Ming stood up from the chair, spread his hands, and braced them against the bridge in front of him.

Chen Ming half manually operated the control panel, half relied on his consciousness for assistance, and set the flight path for Iron Ore No. after leaving the Space Station.

To let it remain in the orbit around the planet in front of him, maintaining a certain distance from the abandoned mining space station.

Visible, but out of reach.

To prevent any bugs from drifting over from the Space Station.

At the same time, avoiding losing this extremely rundown yet resource-rich location in space.

Chen Ming had thought about it before leaving the Space Station.

Compared to asteroids containing rare minerals out there in space, this Space Station holds more value to him.

He only has a civilian mining ship, lacking everything.

Gathering minerals from asteroids can only supply the most basic materials needed for the spaceship, while industrial products could not be supplemented.

For example, daily necessities, and tools and materials used for some spaceship equipment.

Chen Ming can’t just knead a chip out of his maintenance kit in space.

But in the Space Station, it’s different; this is a place to maintain long-term operation and provide a living environment for many people.

All sorts of precise and specialized electronic equipment, various rare metal materials, and various living essentials are everywhere in the Space Station.

Even though the bugs above are very dangerous, Chen Ming can’t just abandon and leave it so easily.

Even if all he did was scrape off some iron plating from the side, it’s still more efficient than searching for asteroids with iron resources out in space and then smelting them into iron.

So even if leaving, he has to at least wait until he gathers enough resources from it.

After completing the ship’s orbit settings, the urgent tasks on Chen Ming’s hands were considered done.

Deadly crises wouldn’t appear before Chen Ming for the time being, and death would at least come three months later.

And later, the key to Chen Ming’s ideas is food.

This problem must be resolved after Chen Ming has repaired the landing module of the ship, allowing it to land on the planet.

To repair the landing module, Chen Ming needs to use those maintenance skills in his head and his ability to directly open the spaceship panel.

So now, Chen Ming finally has the time and necessity to research the abilities he acquired after crossing over.

Chen Ming’s consciousness focused on the ship, opening the panel once again.

[Ship Panel]

[Ship Name: Iron Ore No.]

[Type: Small Civilian Mining Cargo Ship]

[Fuel Reserve: 99.8%]

[Port Weapon: 22mm Machine Gun (Damaged)]

[Starboard Weapon: 22mm Machine Gun (Operational)]

[Armor: Aluminum-Steel Composite Exterior Armor]

[Engine: Civilian Guard Level Engine]

[Internal Chambers: Captain’s Chamber, Engine Room, Work Chamber, Planting Chamber, Living Chamber, Storage Chamber]

[Important Equipment: Bridge Control System Module (Operational), Forcefield Traction Module (Operational), Life Support System Module (Operational), Pseudo-Gravity Module (Operational), Landing Module (Damaged), Superspace Navigation System Module (Missing)]

Except for the fuel section, there were no changes on the panel.

But Chen Ming suddenly noticed something he hadn’t paid attention to before.

These displayed entries on the panel, Chen Ming could click on them to see more detailed data.

For instance, the entry [Type: Small Civilian Mining Cargo Ship], when clicked on, a more detailed panel appeared before him.

[Small Civilian Mining Cargo Ship]

[Manufacturer: Sinda Rockwell Shipbuilding Company]

[Length: 33 meters]

[Width: 15 meters]

[Height: 7 meters]

[Tonnage: 2000 tons]

[Power Source: Civilian-Grade Fusion Reactor]

[Maximum Speed: Standard Speed]

[Ship Load Points: Standard Civilian Level (Small Load Point *2)]

[Superspace Navigation System: Capable of Carrying]

Looking at this newly appeared panel, Chen Ming quickly scanned his memory for these new concepts on the panel.

Combining his memory and the content displayed on small pop-up panels after clicking these entries again, Chen Ming roughly summarized.

Those load points refer to a basic component or facility on the ship meant for placing ship-mounted weapons, protecting the ship and preventing weapon recoil from affecting the ship’s normal operations. All ship-mounted weapons must be placed on it.

If placed elsewhere on the ship, it could easily lead to unnecessary damage during the ship’s operations.

Ships like Iron Ore No., a civilian guard-level ship, are designed with only two small load points meant for mounting some small weapons for self-defense.

Military ships, or larger-grade ships of higher rank, such as destroyer-level, cruiser-level ships can install more and larger load points.

And the standard speed of maximum speed refers to the ship’s limit speed while travelling in a normal universe environment, 99% of light speed.

This is the interstellar travel standard speed that all ships in this world, including civilian ships, can reach.

Of course, for civilian ships, reaching the limit speed requires prolonged acceleration.

That’s why when Chen Ming planned the route between the Space Station and the military outpost, he said the distance is not significant on the cosmic scale, but large for him.

His ship is missing the Superspace Navigation System, making the half-light-year journey difficult to traverse.