Chapter 53: Combat Power
Although this Warship had a mass of over one hundred tons, it was still the smallest type in Li Qingsong’s plans, serving as the most basic combat unit.
Li Qingsong designated this level of Warship the "Mercury-class."
Mercury is the closest major planet to the Sun. In order, from the inside out, are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
In the future, as Li Qingsong built larger and more powerful warships, they would be designated Venus-class, then Earth-class, and so on.
This Mercury-class Warship was crewed by seven Clones.
Two of the Clones were machine gunners, assigned to operate two machine guns. Another two were autocannon gunners, assigned to operate two autocannons.
There was also a missile operator responsible for the eight Interstellar Missiles, a pilot responsible for flying the ship and controlling its attitude, and a communications officer.
Communication between Li Qingsong and the Clones naturally required no equipment. However, the Warship itself had to exchange vast amounts of information with logistical support systems, allied units, and more. A dedicated communications officer was needed to manage this data.
During flight, this officer would continuously determine the Warship’s position. He would also calculate the coordinates of enemy targets, allied units, and any other coordinates transmitted from high command. He would then convert all this data into parameters relevant to their own Warship, feeding the information to the pilot, machine gunners, autocannon gunners, and missile operator.
In addition to these roles, there was one logistics and support crewman.
Stationed in the main cabin, he was responsible for first aid, emergency repairs, and other logistical duties. Should any of the other Clones be too severely injured to perform their roles, he was also required to step in and assume their combat tasks.
This brought the total crew to seven Clones.
Ordinarily, a captain would also be required to coordinate and command the rest of the crew. But with Li Qingsong present, a captain was obviously unnecessary.
At that moment, the pilot Clone pushed the ship’s control stick forward hard.
As the command was received, the output from the liquid oxygen and methane tanks instantly surged to maximum.
Torrents of liquid oxygen and methane flowed into the Warship’s six engine combustion chambers and ignited violently. A massive volume of high-temperature, high-pressure gas was generated in an instant, blasting out from the precisely oriented nozzles.
Under the immense retro-thrust, the hundred-plus-ton Mercury-class Warship’s velocity surged. It broke free from the gravitational field of Ceres in a near-straight line, hurtling directly into the boundless depths of space.
Approximately 150,000 kilometers from Ceres, a derelict cargo ship serving as a target drone drifted onward at 1.6 kilometers per second.
The Mercury-class Warship gave chase, and by the time it was only 500 kilometers away, its own velocity had reached seven kilometers per second.
Upon reaching the designated firing position, the communications officer quickly calculated the target’s position and determined the firing solution.
Without a word spoken, this information synchronized with Li Qingsong’s mind, then flowed from him into the minds of the machine gunners and autocannon gunners.
Following these parameters, they made rapid adjustments on their control panels. On the Warship’s hull, the two large machine guns, guided by automatic controllers, precisely adjusted their aim.
The two autocannons also locked onto the target simultaneously.
The pilot quickly began adjusting the angles of the Warship’s nozzles and the fuel consumption, setting them to synchronize with the anticipated recoil.
The trigger for the machine guns was pressed.
Instantly, the two machine guns, each capable of firing two thousand rounds per minute, opened fire simultaneously.
A torrent of projectiles, moving at one kilometer per second on their own, combined with the Warship’s seven-kilometer-per-second velocity, streaked toward the target ahead at a final speed of eight kilometers per second.
Simultaneously, the Warship’s engines activated. Hot gas vented from the nozzles at a relatively gentle rate. While not enough to propel the ship, it was just enough to perfectly counteract the recoil from the machine guns, keeping the hull stable and preventing any juddering.
Before the stream of bullets could reach the target, the autocannons opened fire.
Two massive shells blasted from their barrels at a velocity even greater than the bullets.
Their recoil was far more powerful. Although they had a specialized low-recoil design where the shell’s backblast was vented to help counteract the force, it couldn’t be completely eliminated.
This remaining recoil would have caused the Warship to shake violently.
But it didn’t matter; Li Qingsong had already accounted for this in his design.
The attitude control system, developed in his space laboratory, kicked in. The Warship’s thrusters fired in the opposite direction with just the right amount of force, once again perfectly neutralizing the recoil.
Thus, the target drone was first riddled with tens of thousands of bullets. Then, the two shells arrived, blowing it to pieces.
With the first combat drill complete, the Mercury-class Warship didn’t pause. It immediately began to turn and accelerate, building on its existing inertia to head in a new direction.
The communications officer continued to report a constant stream of parameters, which the pilot used to make adjustments. Before long, another target drone came into view.
This target drone was faster, but it didn’t matter—the Warship’s velocity had increased as well.
Another fierce barrage of fire, and it too was blown to smithereens.
Then the third, the fourth...
The fifth target was different.
This fifth target drone had a powerful drive. As the Warship gave chase, it accelerated desperately, performing constant random evasive maneuvers to dodge the incoming bullets and shells.
Several bursts from the machine guns missed their mark.
And so, an Interstellar Missile was launched.
Propelled by the fierce flare of its engine, the Missile added another three kilometers per second to its initial velocity and continued to accelerate rapidly.
Moreover, with the aid of its onboard tracking unit and external guidance, it maintained a firm lock on the frantically fleeing drone.
The target drone executed a sharp turn, but the Interstellar Missile turned with it—turning faster, and moving faster!
Ultimately, the Interstellar Missile caught it.
An instant before impact, the 150 kilograms of high explosives packed into the Missile’s warhead detonated.
Although there was no shockwave in the vacuum of space, the searing heat and flying shrapnel instantly obliterated the target drone.
In total, Li Qingsong had deployed twelve target drones.
These drones had varying specifications. Some were designed for high-speed escape, some for frantic maneuvers, some released countermeasures, and others were fitted with heavy armor.
But regardless of their capabilities, under the assault of the Mercury-class Warship, all twelve target drones were destroyed in less than five hours.