Chapter 29: Steam and Stars: The Klein Civilization Unveiled

Steam technology…

Who would’ve thought this path would lead all the way into the interstellar age?

In this moment everyone in the conference room sat in stunned silence.

After all, from a human perspective, the steam era was just a brief transitional period in our history.

Nowadays, that era is basically shorthand for being backward.

Yet the Klein had doubled down on this path, digging deep until they became a true interstellar civilization.

The report also listed some of the Klein’s technologies.

For example…

They developed nuclear reactors—uranium or thorium molten salt reactors—as heat sources, replacing old coal boilers, generating superheated steam above 1000°C.

By integrating nuclear reactors with steam turbines, they pushed efficiency above sixty percent, using neutron reflectors and liquid metal cooling systems to regulate reactions.

Another example…

On planetary orbits, massive mirror arrays focus starlight onto heat towers, creating a constant high temperature that drives steam turbines and provides fuel-free energy for space colonies.

And then…

For their warships, they inject water and liquid oxygen into the combustion chamber in turns, igniting it with sparks to create detonation waves, instantly vaporizing water for high-pressure thrust. Think of humanity’s old pulse detonating rockets, only way more powerful.

Even their ships’ life support runs on steam-powered ecological cycles and something like mechanical lungs.

Crew exhalations are recaptured by condensation pipes, urine gets sterilized by steam then distilled back to purity, and with algae tanks to regenerate oxygen, their water recycling hits ninety-eight percent efficiency.

Crew quarters are laced with copper coolant pipes, keeping humidity steady at seventy percent and moss growing on the walls as a bio-indicator.

The document listed even more—an endless array of breakthroughs.

Everyone reading it felt utterly dazzled.

No one had ever imagined steam technology could go this far.

Talk about opening your eyes to new possibilities.

The Klein’s science was truly one of a kind.

But maybe that’s why they attracted so much… attention.

Oddball civilizations have always been coveted by other powers.

After all, everyone else walks more or less the same path, there’s hardly anything worth copying.

But when a civilization shows up marching to a completely different tune, their tech suddenly becomes hot property for everyone.

To any civilization, it feels like—

A whole new way of thinking!

So, a few Tier 2 civilizations banded together and invaded the Klein.

In the end the Klein just couldn’t hold them all off and had to launch their Fireseed Project.

They assembled a fleet of exiles and began their wandering journey in space.

After more than twenty years of drifting, they reached the Solar System and discovered…

A planet with an unusually high mass that teemed with life.

Grabbing the Don River-class frigate and pulling data right from the crew’s brains…

The Klein decided, even if Earth had a native civilization, it wasn’t really a big threat.

They might pay a price during the process, but compared to the survival of their entire species…

It was a price worth paying.

And so, the Klein’s formal invasion of the Solar System…

Began!

——

To tell the truth…

This information left everyone deeply shaken.

It’s been over six centuries since humanity launched its first satellite.

For all these years, no matter how things changed or whether aliens existed, the question was always a hot topic.

But today, at last, the answer is clear.

Aliens exist!

And there’s a lot of them!

Within the Milky Way alone there are tens of thousands, maybe millions, of alien civilizations.

Humanity is no longer alone—and yet…

We’re not safe, either!

Still, every crisis is just the flip side of an opportunity!

Danger means risk, but it also brings chance.

According to the Klein’s intel, there’s not another advanced civilization for over a hundred light-years around the Solar System.

If there are any others, they’re still stuck on their homeworlds, not even out of their own solar systems.

In other words, if we defeat the Klein, then…

Humanity can step out of the Solar System and launch a wave of interstellar colonization.

At that point, we’ll see explosive growth a hundred, maybe a thousand times faster.

If humanity’s first Age of Discovery started on Earth, and the second happened when we left our homeworld…

Then stepping past the Solar System will mark the dawn of our third great Age of Exploration.

Will we falter at the Solar System and face extinction?

Or will we break through, charging toward new heights?

It all comes down to the Jupiter defense line and the Asteroid Belt—our last protective barrier.

We wear the enemy down at Jupiter.

Then finish them off in the Asteroid Belt.

I will make it happen!

Under the table, Lin Yu clenched his fist tight.

——

“So this is the Zhulong? The warship we’ll be serving on?”

Mars orbit, Fifth Fleet’s temporary home port.

A colossal warship was just docking, while thousands already stood at attention in neat rows, eyes filled with excitement.

All the department heads and bridge crew were personally picked in the past few days by Lin Yu and Qin Qiong, chosen from countless candidates and transferred here.

The other several thousand were all new recruits.

Not that they’re complete rookies—at minimum, they’ve finished a year of Federation Fleet training, and were always meant to reinforce the Fifth Fleet.

Basics? No problem at all.

Everything else will just have to be learned on the job.

Thankfully, Lin Yu had time— even if the Klein set off right now, with their ship speed, it’ll take about three hundred days to reach the homeworld’s defense line.

They still had some three hundred days to spare.

Three hours later.

The warship handover was complete.

Most of the crew who handled sea trials or piloted the ship here would be leaving soon, but actually, quite a few were staying.

Not forever—just for a while.

Their job? Help Lin Yu’s team master the ship and work out any potential issues.

That’s why more than ten folks in white lab coats, from the Federation Far East First Warship Design Institute and Academy of Sciences, are staying back as well.

Right now, Lin Yu sat upright in the captain’s chair on the bridge.

Unlike the Qiongxiao Warstar, the Zhulong’s bridge was much smaller, about the size of a current third-gen light cruiser.

And this was supposed to be a heavy cruiser.

A third-gen heavy cruiser bridge usually came with seventy or eighty posts at the very least.

But the Zhulong?

It only needed thirty-two, and that’s counting the commander, executive officer, and eight on the staff team.

Shows just how automated the Zhulong really is.

The staff group still sat just behind the captain’s seat, as always.

Ahead, four large curved areas lay divided into two rows of two each.

These four regions held every post for helm, navigation, communications, radar, and more.

That’s the entire bridge of the Zhulong.

It might not look as imposing as the Warstar’s, but it’s definitely more streamlined—visually, it even feels higher tech.

Lin Yu was more than satisfied!

“Helmsman, status?”

“All clear, Captain!”

“Good. Take us out of dock!”

“Aye, Captain!”