Age of Cosmic Exploration

Chapter 380: Salvage Begins

Early in the morning, Yao Yuan appeared at the captain's room. Other than the guards, other government workers weren't there yet, so he occupied himself by reading over the recent supply exhaustion report.

However, not long after that, Barbie came in with a stack of documents. When she saw him, she was startled, but that quickly changed into a smile when she saw that he was in high spirits. She greeted him with a smile before returning to her office.

Yao Yuan scratched his own head rather awkwardly. In the 19 years since they had left Earth, Barbie remained unmarried. Even though she had some boyfriends through the years, just like how she liked to say during their small talks, she simply hadn't found someone she felt like settling down with. Regardless, she was single at the moment, and Yao Yuan could sense that she was still interested in him…

Yao Yuan shook his head to toss the unnecessary thought out of his mind, then he focused on the documents on his hand.

These were all related to the Hope's supply levels. Since the war on the cursed planet, the Hope's supplies had reached a dangerously low level. It was because of the need to resupply that the war at the Shelter had happened. The closer humanity was getting to becoming a level 3 space civilization, the greater the exhaustion of supply. For example, the large scale 3D imaging devices used at the recreational pavilions. These exhausted great amounts of electricity. However, due to preservation of human spirit, as long as there was enough supplies, they would be kept open 24 hours.

After that were the two levels of bio-gardens on the Hope, one for terrestrial lifeforms and another aquatic. Due to the need for the simulation of different temperatures and weather, these bio-gardens also required a large amount of supply investment.

Other than that, there was also the Hope's homeostatic system that supported the lives of 200,000 people. Circulation of oxygen, water, and recycling of waste materials, the energy to power the Hope as well as the Workshop, which depleted the supply at an alarming rate; the Hope could only remain in space for around 15 years, even if it was running at full load… And this was under the condition that it did not build any large siege engines.

Therefore, the situation was alarming. As the population increased, the usable space on the Hope decreased. In fact, in the third year during warp drive, there were some representatives who suggested selling the governmental space within the Hope to the public through privatization…

It was ridiculous!

Granted, privatization had been occurring throughout the Hope, like the government sponsor of monthly meal tickets had now changed to the H-coin purchase system, with some of the staples still using the old system. The Hope was still abiding a law of meritocracy, but generally speaking, even Yao Yuan's residence was not that much bigger or more luxurious than those surviving on governmental stipend. This was because of the Hope's natural conditions.

At least until they built a real mothership, the people on the Hope would not be able to privatize the sale of housing space…

At the end of the day, all of these problems were facing humanity because they were too hurried to enter space when they did. Their technological level at the time was simply too low. It was why the spaceship created was only at the Hope's level and not a giant spaceship common for level 2 space civilizations.

It looked like the creation of Kun Lun would have to be moved forward. After becoming a level 3 space civilization, the first thing they would have to do was find an isolated solar system to focus on building Kun Lun…

Time slowly passed as Yao Yuan studied those documents. People started to arrive at their posts around the captain's room at around 9 AM. The day was starting again on the Hope.

"…The period of salvaging this time will be set at three months. Of course, that time frame can be changed according to the amount of salvage or technological aspects or other situations. At the same time, the Hope will maintain a level 4 alert level. There has to be at least 3 Diviners at the ready at all times and at least 200 Black Star Troopers in level 4 alert status. The actual arrangement is as follows…"

This was Yao Yuan giving a speech in the meeting room. The members there included the higher authority of the Barracks, the ministry leaders and vice leaders of the various government bodies on the Hope, and ten representatives from the House of Representatives.

Just as Yao Yuan drew to a close, the slight commotion underneath settled down as well. Then several people had already hit the speak button. The AI randomly chose the people who would speak and the first was a representative. After the kind greeting, he asked sharply, "Chancellor, from the information we were given, this is an important pit stop for all that heads towards the star path. Even though the cosmos is big, and we are in the middle of an empty space, the closest solar system to us is at least 10 light years away. However, due to the contraction of space due to the Song of Destruction, all the nearby space civilizations will be heading this way. In other words, we will be clogging up an incredibly important passage. Wouldn't… that be extremely dangerous?"

Yao Yuan answered after the representative finished, "There is definitely risk, but the reason we are stopping here to salvage is to lower the danger we might face in the future. First, we have enough Diviners, including the most powerful, Zhang Heng. Currently, we have 22 human Diviners. I believe before any harm would come to the Hope, be it a space catastrophe or an extremely powerful space civilization, we will be warned beforehand and have the chance to escape…

"Secondly, it is because this place is close to the star path that we have to do this. What awaits us, what is a star path, how many space civilizations are waiting there, what can we expect, what is the reason behind this space war, we do not understand any of these, and that is why we have this salvage operation. Hopefully, we can get some more information from these ruins to let us prepare accordingly for the difficulties that await us. Information is the thing we are looking for in this operation, the technology and supplies are just an extra."

Yao Yuan's words caused yet another contained commotion among the crowd. However, generally speaking, his answer was satisfying. The amount of people reaching for the speak button had halved. Obviously their main concern was the Hope's safety.

Next, it was a Barracks' major who asked the question.

"Chancellor, I wish to understand what the Defense Unit's responsibility is in this operation and the possible enemies we might face…"

The meeting lasted for more than two hours. Of course, this was merely the framework of the salvage operation. There remained many kinks that needed to be ironed out later, like the guard roles of the army, the allocation of Black Star Troopers, Defense Unit soldiers, the salvage team, workers, and the AI robots responsible for hauling the salvaged items. The amount of supplies needed to support this operation and the H-coin salary for the government workers involved…

Many things were assigned to the Hall of Communications and related government bodies. Yao Yuan had even set up a salvage task force to deal with this operation. It was formed from several representatives from the Hope. All of these preparations meant that the operation was going smoothly. It was now already the fifth day of the salvage operation.

Around one hundred transport shuttles had left the Hope. Escorting them were 30 Space Combat Jet Prototype 011s and the several satellites that had been deployed beforehand to scout the ruins.

Even though this was a salvage operation similar to when the Hope first met the junkyard civilization, the efficiency was completely different. The salvage at the time almost cost the Hope, but if the Hope came across that AI army now, they would be able to slaughter as many robots as they came across. After all, human civilization had already reached the peak of level 2 space civilization, and it was only a matter of time until they became a level 3 space civilization. Under this situation, if they were afraid of a bunch of level 2 space civilizations, then truly that would be the cosmos' biggest joke.

The satellites released before were the latest creation. They utilized the technology of a level 2 space civilization, and the team responsible for them was the scientists and engineers from the Noah One. Compared to the scientists on the Hope, who were more suited for "common-use" technology, the personnel from the Noah One were more suited for "military-use" technology. With the five years of percolation, these scientists and engineers originally from the Noah One had reached the level of familiarity similar to the members on the Hope. In other words, their scientific knowledge had already increased to the standard of a level 2 space civilization instead of the level 1 space civilization from old Earth.

This had brought in a new wave of inventions and patents. For example, Gaussian rifles with greater accuracy, firing speed, and bigger ammo slots. They required less materials to produce and thus were cheaper to produce. There were also new designs for hovering tanks and the Space Combat Jets meant for Defense Unit. Similar to the satellites, these were the brain children of the personnel originally from the Noah One…

"Detection of low energy fluctuations and an increase in density of the creator's particle. There might be AI in the ruins…"

"…Discovered defense-use siege weapons, a half-ruined spaceship, unclear whether there is still life within it. Damn, the satellite exploded…"

Following the latest observation, the 30 Space Combat Jet Prototype 011s rushed ahead towards the half-ruined spaceship that had attacked the satellite…