Chapter 232: The Dawn of a New Home Among the Stars

Federation Year 278.

Large Magellanic Cloud.

Driss Star Region, Star Kory.

Based on observations of the Large Magellanic Cloud, this star system is believed to have a high chance of hosting a life-bearing planet.

Of course, whether that’s truly the case still needs to be confirmed with detailed scans after we arrive.

Suddenly, the otherwise calm void was torn apart as quantum windows forcefully expanded the rift.

Next, one warship after another emerged from hyperspace through those quantum windows.

That’s right, this is the Federation exploration fleet that set out from the Solar System 744 days ago.

“Admiral, we’ve arrived at our destination. The coordinates match exactly. All ships are in perfect condition!”

“Scan the entire Kory star system and map out the star chart.”

“Yes, Admiral!”

Moments later, the bridge crew sprang into action.

A three-dimensional star chart materialized as a projection.

At first, only the main star appeared, but soon one planet after another—and countless celestial bodies of every size—gradually lit up the chart.

They even detected three full asteroid belts.

About half an hour later.

The star chart of the entire system was complete.

They’d even clearly marked each planet’s rotation and revolution speeds.

Kory had a total of 17 planets, with five in the habitable zone—all with serious potential.

Of course, just because a planet sits in the habitable zone doesn’t guarantee it has life. It only means the probability exists, and honestly, it’s still shockingly low.

“Lin Yu, take a look at the data for Kory VII!”

“Diameter of 12,790 kilometers. Rotates every 24.33 Earth hours, orbits the star every 364.7 Earth days.”

“Incredible! It’s practically Earth’s twin. We have to check it out. If this turns out to be a naturally evolved life planet, that’ll be amazing!”

Now promoted to Major General, George could barely contain his excitement.

Can’t blame him—even Lin Yu was a little shocked after seeing the data for Kory VII.

The resemblance to Earth was almost uncanny.

“Assign sixteen warships to scan the other sixteen planets thoroughly. As for us… let’s head directly to Kory VII.”

“The rest of the fleet stays put and forms a guard screen, awaiting further orders!”

Lin Yu didn’t hesitate and issued his commands on the spot.

Because…

Nothing artificial had been detected floating anywhere in this star system.

Meaning, even if there was a naturally evolved planet home to intelligent natives, at most they’d be a primitive civilization.

No real threat to the fleet at all.

True, the hyperspace engines couldn’t be used right away, but the jump engines worked fine.

So the Houyi and sixteen Zhulong D-class warships performed a series of ultra-short jumps, each arriving in orbit around a different planet.

Then, a host of satellites were deployed to establish orbital networks.

These began an exhaustive, detailed scan of every planet.

“Oceans cover 71.5%. There are five continents. Atmospheric elements are nearly identical to Earth’s, and average temperature is just right…”

“Apart from a few minor differences, this planet is almost a mirror image of Earth.”

“As for the biosphere: diverse flora and fauna, but zero signs of artificial or advanced civilization.”

With each new wave of data coming in,

George grew more and more ecstatic.

Just then, initial data on the other sixteen planets came in, one after another.

Still, Lin Yu’s attention was squarely on Kory V through Kory IX—the five planets in the habitable zone, including the current focus, Kory VII.

He quickly scanned through the data.

A faint smile crept across Lin Yu’s face.

Though the other four weren’t life planets yet, every one of them was perfectly suited for terraforming.

In other words, Kory could eventually host five life planets—one natural, four terraformed. Even compared to star systems in the Milky Way’s main arm, that’s a top-tier result.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Continue the full evaluation of each planet, strictly by protocol.”

“Meanwhile, George, prep the warships for alternating use of hyperspace and jump engines to conduct non-contact surveillance of neighboring stars within an 18-light-year radius, and leave behind monitoring devices for early warning.”

Lin Yu stood and clapped his hands.

Then issued his orders.

Until all those steps were completed, he wouldn’t let anyone leave the ship.

If a Level 4 civilization suddenly showed up, they’d never escape in time.

As for the 18-light-year range—well…

That’s the theoretical maximum for a single jump.

If the whole 18-light-year radius was monitored and secured, with watch stations at the edge,

Then even if a Level 4 civilization appeared, the monitoring devices would detect them before their final jump.

That would give everyone a chance to react.

Anyone trying to make their last jump would first have to purge residual radiation from their jump engine.

No matter how advanced their tech, that’s not something you do in a minute or two.

For the early phase, this should be enough.

Why not deploy jump disruption devices right away? They just take more work.

You need all sorts of data and calibration before you can install them correctly.

It’s not the kind of thing you just toss out and hope for the best.

So for now, a temporary warning net will have to do. Once they’ve decided to settle down here for good, Lin Yu would start deploying those jump disruptors.

——

Originally, Lin Yu just wanted to scout and place monitor stations to secure a safe zone of 18 light years.

But then…

On the very next day, two of the warships sent back messages in succession.

They’d found another two life planets—one 3.7, the other 7.8 light years away from Kory.

Just like that, two more natural life-bearing worlds.

Everybody was stunned.

Are natural life planets this common in the Large Magellanic Cloud, or…

Did we just get insanely lucky and stumble into a hotspot for planets teeming with life?

Looking at the data sent back,

Those other two are also natural life planets, but their conditions aren’t quite as favorable as Kory VII.

After discussing it with Mu Qingxue, Lin Yu finally decided to choose Kory VII as…

The stepping stone for humanity in the Large Magellanic Cloud.