Epoch of Twilight

Chapter 551: Authority Is Needed
Chapter 551: Authority Is Needed

Translator: EndlessFantasy TranslationEditor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Although it was just a space fighter, it was somehow not small in size.

The length of the body of the space fighter had reached 230 meters whereas its wings measured a length of 120 meters. Without taking various types of warheads into consideration, the weight when the space fighter took off had exceeded 12,000 tons. When it was fully loaded, it could reach a weight of 15,000 tons. It was a mini dual-use spacecraft.

Since it was an unmanned space fighter, one would not have to worry that it would be overloaded. Therefore, regardless of its sensitivity or its acceleration performance, they were far beyond the actual spaceships. Its firepower was an exception!

Of course, this was only applicable to the actual spaceship.

The war has begun right when the opponent had been discovered!

The artificial intelligence system equipped in the space fighter that was nearest to the spaceship could soon detect its target. After about 10 nanoseconds, the opponent had been set as the target to kill through characteristic identification, message verification and a variety of identification techniques. The location of the opponent had been rapidly estimated.

The next moment, a beam of high-powered gamma ray flashed out from the muzzle of the space fighter and shot towards the front at the speed of light.

At a distance of more than 10,000 kilometers, it was already considered as a face to face attack for an actual interplanetary war. The electromagnetic weapons (including laser and gamma-ray) took only 0.1 seconds to hit the target.

The gamma-ray cannon was a strategic weapon which mimicked the ability of the interstellar beast. Ever since it was invented, it was the human strongest weapon aside from the antimatter bomb. Since the speed of the former one was being restricted, it was not practical to be used. The latter was the most effective weapon to use when engaging in an interstellar war.

Thanks to the continuous research that had been done throughout the years, the weapon was constantly improved and optimized.

As its size was getting smaller and smaller, the time taken for the transmission of energy had been instantly reduced and at the same time, it grew stronger and stronger.

It was originally a large cannon that was only suitable to be used as a strategic weapon and now it was a space fighter.

Furthermore, a speed type weapon could travel at the speed of light. Unless detection could be done at the superluminal speed, otherwise, once it was being fired, it was impossible to detect it. Nobody could avoid it beforehand. When it was discovered, there were only two possibilities. The first one would be it had missed the target or had surpassed its target and the second possibility would be it managed to hit the target.

The Glassian’s latest warship was bad luck as it belonged to the latter.

The gamma-ray cannon struck the tail section of the warship. Part of the energy crashed into the Glassian’s spaceship armor, resulting in a glow that was hundreds of times brighter than the sunlight. A small portion of the energy had directly penetrated through the armor and exploded inside the warship. It had done a significant amount of damage.

All the electronic devices being equipped with the spaceship exploded. The spaceship was putting out the fire and at the same time, hundreds of Glassian collapsed before they could react to it.

After 0.3 seconds, another Glassian’s spaceship joined the war. However, it was its last time to have such glorious results. When the second beam of gamma-ray was being fired, the space fighter was being completely drowned by a high-powered laser.

…

”Who can tell me what’s happening?” The commander of the Glassian shouted.

The Glassian had been preparing for the voyage for about 10 years. They only managed to construct such an amazing fleet by putting in their maximum effort. They only had 12 fleets in total. They just showed up and in an instant, they had lost one-sixth of them.

It was such an irony that they were merely attacked by a mini warship.

How could it be possible?

Regardless of how talented humans were and regardless of how well they were mentally prepared that something bad might happen, they could not believe it. The reality was cruel but yet it happened in front of them in a bloody way.

Looking at the screen displaying two of the spaceships that had lost contact, he trembled a little and felt chilled to the bone.

He shivered, seeing a mini warship with such an immense attack power and could achieve such a technological standard. He had to evaluate again the human’s ability.

Perhaps the Glassian was wrong for releasing a demon which in turn had destroyed them.

As the commander questioned them, the face of all the Glassian turned pale and remained silent. They initially had a mentality that they could easily defeat humans. It now seemed like a sharp knife had pierced through their heart.

It was a huge psychological gap and seemingly, they felt that everything was unrealistic.

The opponent that they now encountered was no longer a sheep that one could trample upon. Instead, it was a ferocious beast.

At that moment, the ear-splitting siren of warning tore through the serene atmosphere within the control cabin.

”A large number of unknown mini warships are detected. Number of spaceships: 999… An energy source is discovered. It is 30,000 kilometers away from the nearest spaceship.”

”Energy source is discovered. It is 10,000 kilometers away from the nearest spaceship!”

”Energy source is discovered…”

The artificial intelligence system said with a neutral tone. The commander of the Glassian was frightened to the point where his scalp was numb. He then stood up and instructed loudly, ”Activate the weapon system. Take aim right at the target and kill them all!”

”Commander, based on the analysis of the situation, there is no hostility in the opponent. It is not considered as a self-defense counterattack. It is an act of declaring a war. According to the war power clause No.3, before declaring a war, an authority has to be granted by the supreme head of state. Please submit your application as soon as possible.”

The commander of the Glassian was stunned as he heard that. His body shook a little.

”Couldn’t you discover that they have started attacking us!?” He was suppressing his anger.

”I’m sorry to inform that there is no sufficient evidence to prove this. I’d suggest you get an authority as soon as possible!” The artificial intelligence system replied.

Similar to humans or how other high intelligence creature would be aware of an intelligence system, the appearance of the artificial intelligence had put the Glassian on alert. Without a doubt, the Glassian had become even more careful especially regarding the use of weapons in the spaceship, setting up a lot of restrictions and they were being constrained by the rules. Everything was so rigid like machines.

As a stable yet mature civilization, the power from the military had to be balanced especially when one party still had control over the most advanced spaceship of the civilization. It was extremely risky. If one was ambitious, the political power of the entire Glassian civilization could be ruined.

In addition, the analysis done before going on the long voyage had shown that the journey would be a less risky one since who would expect that a civilization that could not even leave the planet 10 years ago could now threaten the powerful fleets?

Compared to humans, the person behind who was controlling such a powerful fleet was the greatest threat to the superior. They had to be particularly aware of the person.

Before departure, he was not granted an interim power to declare war.

He did not discover the drawbacks of the rule in the past. The Glassian had achieved world peace for more than 500 years. Even when a war was declared, there would only be a low-level domestic violence. It happened only once 200 years ago when there was the need to use the air vehicles on the planet. The issue had been resolved after a few days.

They had no experience in an interplanetary war. They had no reason to declare a war as well since they had no opponent. Therefore, they used to relax their vigilance against war and lacking awareness of war. The long voyage they made to the Earth previously was their first time.

Due to the big difference in abilities, it did not require much of their efforts and alertness since the superior paid more attention to the human potentiality to threaten them rather than their abilities.

”Spaceship No.5 is attacked by a spaceship of an unknown model and has lost contact. According to the self-defense laws, activate the defense system… The target has been destroyed!”

A bad news was heard again coming from the artificial intelligence system. He was startled. The atmosphere in the control cabin was heavy.

He shivered and immediately regained his senses. Right now, it was meaningless to argue with the artificial intelligence system. Furthermore, once the artificial intelligence system had made its decision, changes would not be made even after arguing with it. He quickly instructed, ”Immediately activate the warp drive flight mode of the spaceship and travel at the superluminal speed. At the same time, please connect me to the… director office!”

He was clenching his teeth as he uttered his last word.

”I’ll follow your instruction!”

The next moment, the spaceship trembled a little and began moving in full force. The fluctuation of the space became more intense and it started accelerating.

All the Glassians held their breath and their heart was beating fast. They were afraid of the unknown future. The atmosphere in the control room got tense and oppressive.

There was one thing good about the warp drive flight mode and it could be a drawback as well. It could instantly stop without inertia but it would take a long time to accelerate.

Beams of lights would appear in front of the spaceship or at the back of the spaceship occasionally. The Glassian’s heart was beating fast as they were afraid that the next moment, the spaceship would experience what that had been gone through by the previous spaceships.