NABC Chapter 80 Indomitable Spirit and Heroism
Chapter 80 Indomitable Spirit and Heroism
The second dome was basically completed before the influx of immigrants.
A two-hundred-kilometer-long transparent armored dome stretches across the wasteland, its framework erected from the foundation, supporting a canopy that covers the entire city. The buildings beneath the dome are already taking shape—residential modules, agricultural areas, food factories, and warehousing centers, all constructed according to standard blueprints. Interior facilities are still being finalized; construction workers are laying the last layer of concrete on the streets, and the windows of the residential buildings light up one by one in the twilight.
The No. 3 dome is nearly 80% complete. The welding robotic arms of the engineering mechanics climb the curved surface, fixing the transparent armor plates piece by piece to the frame. Construction of the No. 4, No. 5, No. 6, No. 7, and No. 8 domes has begun in succession, each of the same size as the No. 1 dome.
Excavation has begun on underground furnaces number four and five. The excavating claws of the engineering automatons are gnawing day and night through the rock layers several kilometers deep, and the adamantite-cast skeleton extends from the excavated cavity walls, supporting the dome and sidewalls. The furnace's confinement chamber is still in the blueprint stage, but the construction of the chamber itself is largely complete. The enormous output of the Garros underground furnaces has already made most of the structural materials self-sufficient. For the Garros main planet, Enpu only needs to occasionally replenish rare raw materials like adamantite to meet its needs. At most, it will be used to mold and complete some high-precision equipment and core components that cannot be produced domestically.
Just as they were preparing to fully develop the asteroid, the crucial immigration transport capacity couldn't meet the demand. The pre-finalized blueprints for the combat transport ships had to be extracted and used for construction.
The Perseverance and ten transport ships shuttled back and forth between Helsard Space Port and Garros, with all eleven ships operating at full capacity, pushing transport capacity to its limit. Each ship docked for loading, unloading, resupply, and rest before setting off again. The target of 200 million immigrants was on the list, and with the current transport capacity, it would take decades to transport them.
Phyllis made several trips to the ship exchange in Amighiddon. Most of the transport ships available on the market were small vessels like the Steadfast, varying greatly in condition. Larger ships were beyond the reach of smaller merchant guilds. The Empire's large transport ships—those massive deep-space vessels capable of carrying hundreds of thousands or even millions of people—were entirely controlled by large merchant guilds, merchant ronin families, and the Imperial Navy. Large merchant guilds generally wouldn't sell their transport ships; they were their ancestral lifelines. New construction would have a waiting time of over ten years.
Phyllis stood in front of the shipping exchange's query terminal for ages, but couldn't find it. It was all just a matter of luck anyway. She shook her head, packed up the data panel, and left.
Cohen’s consciousness detached from the Black Pearl’s private workshop and flowed into Enp’s office on the asteroid.
Enp stood up from his chair, donned his power armor, and walked out of the office. He walked along the corridor toward the dock. The asteroid's dock had already been excavated, a huge domed cavity penetrating the rock face, one end open to the void, large enough to accommodate ships several kilometers long entering and exiting.
He stood on the dock's work platform, and the field unfolded. A 25-meter spherical perception extended outward from his body, covering the predetermined keel section.
Atoms are retrieved from the warehouse. Refined gold, ceramic steel, various alloy elements—all arranged layer by layer at the atomic level according to the material formulas marked in the blueprints. No prefabricated profiles, no splicing or welding. Atoms directly assemble into a keel, which extends in the void, bulkheads taking shape between the frames, and armor plates covering from the outermost layer. Cargo hold bulkheads are arranged according to the optimized design, and the interfaces of detachable structures are precisely formed at the atomic level in a single operation.
The turret bases of the macro cannons are formed from both sides of the hull, with the cannon barrels extending from the bases. The light spear turrets are embedded between the armor plates midships, with cooling grilles arranged in a ring. Six void shield generators are embedded in the hull core, covering all sectors.
The entire exterior has been aged. This isn't post-treatment; it's generated directly at the atomic level. Micro-meteorite impact craters on the armor plates, faded and peeling paint, wear marks on the porthole edges—every feature of aging is precisely generated at the atomic level. It looks like an old ship decommissioned from some merchant fleet, drifting in space for millennia and then towed back into service. Everything visible to the naked eye is old.
One month later, the first Odysseus-class ship was completed in the dry dock.
The ship is fully armed. The cannon's ammunition magazine is full of armor-piercing and high-explosive shells, the focusing crystal of the laser lance has been calibrated, and the torpedo tubes at the bow are equipped with six heavy torpedoes.
The crew of servants piloted the steel behemoth out of the dock and headed towards the main planet of Garros. There were no living people inside, only a few hundred servants struggling to keep it moving.
The second month, the second ship. Same process, same speed. The second Odysseus-class ship was docked next to the first, the armor plates of the two giant ships gleaming with a dull, cold gray luster under the starlight.
No one knew that they had only taken shape from the void two months ago.
The crew escorted the two Odysseus-class ships into the Galos spaceport, docking them in the newly built large berths. The berth lights flickered in the darkness, and the silhouettes of the colossal ships stood silently in the light.
The scale of the migrant influx far exceeded that of a few months earlier. In the berth area, a transport ship was loading and unloading supplies. Migrants descended the gangway, lined up in long queues, and, guided by administrative clerks, passed through the transit hall, boarded transport boats, and were transported to the settlement area under the dome. Every few days, a transport ship arrived from Armageddon, loaded, resupplyed, and rested before setting off again. Eleven ships shuttled back and forth on the route.
Enp stood there, looking at the ships and the people. The two Odysseus-class ships were already the limit of his two months of high-intensity work.
Enp's consciousness detached from the office on the asteroid and flowed back into Cohen's body.
In the Black Pearl's private workshop, Cohen opened his eyes in a chair. Outside the porthole, the guide lights of the Garros Space Port formed a continuous band of light in the darkness, and the sounds of work in the berth area echoed dully through the ship's hull. He stood up, pushed open the door, and went out.
The corridor lights shone with a cold white light, and the veteran on duty from the garrison regiment saluted at the corner. He nodded, walked through several airtight doors, and arrived at the reception room.
The lights in the reception room were on, and the cauldron at the foot of the imperial statue burned with frankincense, its smoke swirling slowly beneath the dome. A data panel lay out on the long table, and Vera sat opposite her, a coffee cup in her hand. Marcus flipped through a recruitment list on a chair nearby, Kara stood in the doorway, and Phyllis organized data in the back row.
Liu En sat down in the main seat. A servant brought him a cup of hot coffee and placed it beside him. He picked it up, took a sip, and put it down.
"Two Odysseus-class combat transport ships, large cruiser-level vessels. The necessary identification codes will be handled by Vitley once we reach Lucis. He'll use the black market; he knows the naval office well," Liu En said. "I've decided on the names. The Unyielding will be given to Captain Hawke. The Valiant will be given to Phyllis. Besides the veteran crew that accompanied Captain Hawke, we'll also add a group of experienced commanders to the Unyielding. The Valiant will be staffed by personnel drawn from the Black Pearl. There will be three more—the Courageous, the Hercules, and the Extraordinary—the ships aren't ready yet, but let's finalize the names and get the identification codes done at the same time. These are all Odysseus-class."
Vera nodded and made a note on the data panel.
Phyllis, who overheard the conversation, paused for a moment, then lowered her head and continued flipping through the data panel. Her finger hovered over the screen for a second, then continued swiping as if nothing had happened, but a barely perceptible smile played at the corners of her mouth.
Vera and Marcus weren't particularly surprised that Liu En had managed to acquire two massive combat transport ships. They'd gotten used to it over the years.
Recruiting was nearing completion. The Black Pearl and the Truth had been docked at Amighadoun's berth for a month and a half. Marcus, along with several senior petty officers, had interviewed tens of thousands of people, while Kara's veteran team worked around the clock. In total, more than 100,000 crew members and combatants were recruited. The vacancies in various positions—engineering, communications, navigation, damage control, gunnery, and logistics—were basically filled, and the garrison regiment had gradually expanded from 1,200 men to more than 10,000. The extras would be either reassigned to important positions or reassigned to other posts in Garros.
Including their families, each ship carried hundreds of thousands of people. The corridors of the Black Pearl were packed with people again, and the cargo holds of the Truth were filled with sleeping bags.
In order to obtain identification codes for the five Odysseus-class ships, the Black Pearl and the Aletheia did not return directly to Garros, but instead stopped at Lucis first. The route was set as Lucis – stop at Lucis, and then return to Garros.
The berths for stopping at Lucis were booked for three days. The identification codes were left to Vitellius, who used the black market and his connections at the Imperial Navy's Lucis office to get all the identification codes for the five ships processed at once.
The Black Pearl and the Truth departed from Lucis Spaceport and re-entered the warp. The two cruisers silently traversed the Chaos Sea.
Weeks later, the ship's vibration frequency changed, and the power curve of the subspace engines climbed. The ship shuddered violently, and the porthole armor panels rose one by one. The Galos system unfolded in view—the yellowish-white light of stars burned in the distance, and the transparent armor of the dome reflected sunlight in orbit.
The berth area of the spaceport was illuminated by a dense array of guide lights. The Resolute was loading and unloading at its berth. But this time, there were two more ships in the berth area. Not the smaller, less capable transport ships, but two enormous, seemingly extremely old vessels. Patched and rusted, with micro-meteorite impact craters on their armor plating.
But their size couldn't be concealed. Larger than the Luna-class cruisers, the thickness of their armor layers was clearly visible through the portholes. Neat rows of macrogun turrets lined both sides of the hull, while the light spear turrets amidships were embedded between the armor plates. Compared to them, the Truth looked like a frigate.
Two Odysseus-class armed transport ships. One on the left and one on the right, silently hovering in orbit along the outer edge of the spaceport.
Liu En stood at the porthole of the bridge, looking at the two ships.
Marcus stood behind him, the blue halo of his right mechanical eye slowly expanding and contracting, without saying a word.
The Black Pearl slid into its berth. The Aletheia docked beside it. The airlock opened, and air from the Garros Space Port rushed in—dry, cold, and carrying the distinctive ozone smell of the circulation system.
Liu En descended the gangway. Marcus followed behind. The influx of immigrants into Garros continued. Several ships in the convoy were loading and unloading in the berth area, and immigrants descended the gangway, forming long queues. The two Odysseus-class ships hovered silently on the outer edge of the berth, and everyone was watching them.
Vera stood at the gangway, clutching a data panel in her hand, looking up at the two steel behemoths. Her lips twitched, but she didn't speak.
Liu En turned to Marcus and Vera and said, "Hand over these two ships properly. The Resolute will continue its transport mission. Gather manpower from those ten transport ships, and if that's not enough, transfer some more to get it moving."
Marcus nodded. Vera made a note on the data panel.