Chapter 44: Standoff at Jupiter: The Eve of War

Federation Year 201, September 3.

It’s been exactly ten months since the Battle of Nyx.

Right now, over 2,200 warships from the Human Federation are gathered in Jupiter’s orbit, forming a massive battle formation.

And millions of kilometers away, an equally overwhelming Klein fleet is closing in, advancing in formation toward Jupiter.

Their numbers surpass those of the Federation.

A great battle…

…is about to erupt.

“It’s finally starting…”

Inside the bridge of the Zhulong heavy cruiser.

Lin Yu stared at the three-dimensional tactical starmap cast by the holographic interface in front of him.

He muttered to himself.

“Lin Yu, what do you think the chances of success are for this operation?”

Next to him, George looked tense, his fists clenched so tightly that his palms were slick with sweat.

“Seventy percent!”

“That low?”

“Yeah. No one knows anything about the opposing commander—their style, personality, even skills—we’ve got nothing to go on.”

Lin Yu nodded and offered a quick explanation.

That’s right. Lin Yu didn’t know.

No one in the entire Federation did.

Even though the Fourth Fleet captured some prisoners before, they were just cannon fodder used for raids. Those soldiers knew hardly anything about the big picture, so it’s useless as a reference.

So, essentially, the Federation is going into this war breaking one of the main commandments of military strategy, because…

They know themselves, but not the enemy!

Yet even so, the Federation has no choice but to fight.

After all, humanity is out of time—and out of options.

2875…

That’s the number now showing on the tactical starmap—the count of Klein warships.

Six hundred more than humanity’s side.

With both sides fielding over 2,000 ships, the difference doesn’t seem like much.

The Federation is actually confident about winning head-on.

Of course, that’s only under the assumption that all 2,200 Federation ships are true warships.

But the reality?

Out of those 2,200 ships, less than 700 belong to the Federation’s core fleets. The rest—over 1,500…

Aren’t really warships at all. At best, they’re only disguised as warships in size and appearance.

So the real combat strength on both sides is less than 700 versus more than 2,800.

A gap of fourfold.

On a battlefield like this, with no unusual circumstances, there’s no way a commander alone could bridge that kind of difference.

That’s why Lin Yu came up with the plan to ignite the Homeworld, hoping to level the playing field as much as possible.

Then, he’d use the Asteroid Belt as a natural shield to wipe out Klein’s last advantage in numbers.

And when the time comes…

That’ll be humanity’s chance to strike back.

That’s the broad strategy, but to reach that goal, every single step along the way has to go off without a hitch.

Especially…

This battle right now!

“Range: 32 light-seconds. Supreme Commander orders: commence Phase One of the operation!”

“It’s begun…”

Lin Yu nodded as he heard the report.

“All fleets—attack!”

“Yes sir!”

In the next instant, all warships from the four main fleets began firing at once.

Nearly 700 warships, plus the Jupiter Defense Line’s network on Europa’s orbit, unleashed more than 70,000 railguns at the same time.

The projectiles swept outward like a giant fishing net, covering the enemy fleet 32 light-seconds away.

Drawing the enemy into a trap takes careful steps.

It’s never as simple as it looks.

And Phase One is the critical starting point.

At this stage, the Federation needs the enemy to believe humanity is truly prepared to fight to the death and stop them at the Jupiter defense line.

Of course, there’s no expectation that the railgun barrage in Phase One will wipe out a huge chunk of their forces.

Still…

Taking out a few dozen warships would be fantastic.

——

Interstellar wars between Class II civilizations are actually the longest drawn out of all.

That’s because they haven’t fully mastered energy weapons—most haven’t even started down that path.

So…

Kinetic kill weapons like railguns dominate the battlefields of Class II civilizations.

Just like now—the Federation Fleet and the Klein are still 32 light-seconds apart, about 9.6 million kilometers, but the railgun assault is already underway.

At this range, it’ll take nearly two hours for the projectiles to reach their targets.

And for the Klein fleet, even moving at 200 kilometers per second, it’ll take over ten hours to close with the Federation line.

This tells you one thing.

After firing, it’ll be a two-hour wait to see whether the strike lands and what effect it has.

For the next ten-plus hours, the Federation Fleet won’t be doing much except repeating this process over and over.

To those Class III or even Class IV civilizations in the Milky Way, today’s field would be summed up in just four words.

Mind-numbingly dull.

Meanwhile, on the Qiongxiao’s bridge.

The layout here has changed.

Three new seats have been added between the original captain’s chair and the staff group.

The tactical group has also expanded—from just over a dozen operating stations to more than thirty.

It couldn’t be helped; Qiongxiao is now the Federation Fleet’s flagship, with three admirals personally commanding from here.

As for Serena’s staff team…

Not only have new seats been filled by staff from Lunar Headquarters, even most of the original tactical stations have been taken over.

Well, not all…

At least one seat remains.

At least Serena’s still here.

Actually, for an operation involving the whole Federation Fleet, the flagship should have been the First Fleet’s Warstar, with a temporary command post set up there.

But after what happened with Stephen, even with a new vice admiral stepping in,

He’s only had a few months with the fleet, so teamwork and coordination aren’t fully there yet.

As the Federation Fleet’s flagship and makeshift command center, there’s no room for mistakes.

Plus, the original plan for this operation came from the Fifth Fleet.

Because of that…

The Qiongxiao Warstar was naturally chosen by Lunar Headquarters as the overall flagship, and the entire Lunar Headquarters command system was relocated here.

The fifty-strong headquarters staff is now coordinating the whole fleet’s attack.

——

Time marched on.

In a blink, ten hours had passed since the battle began. The massive Klein fleet…

Was now within 7 light-seconds of the Jupiter defensive line—just 1.9 million kilometers out.

“Moxue, alert the Zhulong! It’s their time to shine!”

“Understood!”