Chapter 242 Changing Course

Crisis Era Year 203, Summer. Kuiper Belt.

The Peace Fleet, flagship "Adjacent Peace," virtual meeting control hall.

In the virtual meeting hall, all the fleet commanders were present for the meeting because Mr. Lin Sen had sent a message saying there was going to be a change in the fleet's course.

Mr. Lin Sen looked at everyone in the hall and began to speak:

"Navigator, what is our current course bearing? What is the planned route for the operation to intercept the Trisolaran warship?"

The status of the fleet navigator is crucial; they command a high position within the fleet. Their decisions are directly related to the fleet's security and navigation efficiency, thus navigators bear immense responsibility.

Their core responsibility is to ensure that the fleet can navigate accurately and safely to the destination. They must precisely calculate the route, avoiding potential danger zones while optimizing the path to reduce time and resource consumption.

Fleet Navigator: "Mr. Lin Sen, we are navigating directly towards the direction of the Trisolaran lost warship, with a course set at Right Ascension 15 hours 38 minutes, declination negative 56 degrees.

"According to the plan, the warship will undergo a series of accelerations, decelerations, and reverse accelerations, and it is expected to meet with the Trisolaran warship that has lost contact about 15 years later, at a distance of 1.4 light-years from the Solar System.

"After multiples observations, there are no abnormal danger zones along this route.

"Following that, we will rendezvous with the Trisolaran warship and together proceed with the next phase of acceleration, aiming to return to the Solar System.

"As we approach the Solar System, we will carry out the corresponding deceleration maneuvers to ensure a safe arrival. The entire round trip, from departure to eventual return to the Solar System, is expected to take about 25 years."

The actual bearing of the Trisolaran Interstellar Fleet is Right Ascension 14 hours 31 minutes, declination negative 60 degrees, but the warship that has lost contact is clearly off course; it will eventually skim by the vicinity of the Solar System, no longer on the same trajectory as the Trisolaran fleet.

In the original timeline, there was no further mention of this warship; obviously, it skimmed past the vicinity of the Solar System during The Deterrence Era.

In the original story, it was also mentioned that the warship was still accelerating after it had separated from the fleet, clearly indicating it did not wish to be captured by humanity.

Mr. Lin Sen: "Your navigation planning is excellent, and it is the most fuel-efficient option. We are now in interstellar space, and although we carry a large amount of fuel, anything can happen in interstellar space, so conservation is essential.

"But have you considered whether the Trisolarans are willing to be captured? This essentially amounts to being taken prisoner.

"We have repeatedly called out to the Trisolarans, hoping to negotiate this issue with them, but the Trisolarans have not responded.

"Therefore, there is a high likelihood they refuse to be captured by us, and it is even possible they may retaliate against us."

Fleet Commander: "We have considered this point, and this is why we dispatched a thousand warships.

"In our combat simulations, our thousand warships might not be able to defeat a single Trisolaran lost warship, but our thousand ships can certainly deplete all the resources on that warship.

"The lost warship's fate is one of two outcomes: one is that we capture it, we establish equal diplomatic relations with it, and we do not board their warship without their permission.

"The second is self-destruction. This is the outcome we hope to avoid, but the self-destruction of their warship is likely different from that of The Waterdrop; we might still be able to recover some debris."

Although Rey Diaz is not the actual commander of the fleet, he holds the highest decision-making authority. After all, Rey Diaz is a character from 200 years ago, and his knowledge and insights are far from those of the fleet commanders of this era.

The promise not to board the Trisolaran Warship is but a wishful thinking on humanity's part, an attempt to communicate with the Trisolarans and achieve real contact between humanity and them.

But so far, the Trisolarans have not responded at all; humanity also understands that the Trisolarans are likely to choose self-destruction, which is the view of most people in the fleet.

Therefore, before the departure of the Peace Fleet, many people in humanity hoped the fleet could leave later, intercepting the lost warship as it approaches the Solar System; this would be the most efficient approach.

But Lin Sen disagreed and insisted on going now. Only by leaving now and following the current path was there a slight possibility of finding a Four-Dimensional Space Fragment.

The most critical factor was that near the Four-Dimensional Space Fragments, there was also a Sophon Blind Zone. Once Sophons entered that area, they would lose contact with the Trisolarans.

The quantum entanglement between Sophons was a one-time affair. If disrupted, it could not be restored, and those Sophons that entered the blind zones would be forever lost in space.

Therefore, there was a high probability that the Trisolarans didn't know what had happened to Lin Sen in the Four-Dimensional Space Fragments. Moreover, after Lin Sen left the Four-Dimensional Space, many secrets could also be kept within the Sophon Shielding Room.

If this exploration yielded significant findings, it could serve as a real trump card against the Trisolarans. Research on four-dimensional space was rare; this might also be an opportunity for humanity's technological leap forward.

For this purpose, Lin Sen had Ding Yi and a large number of scientists with outstanding achievements in their respective fields form several top-tier scientific teams.

Ding Yi was originally studying The Waterdrop, and he was quite dissatisfied when Lin Sen pulled him away, but there was no helping it; he couldn't refuse Lin Sen's invitation.

To ensure the smooth progress of the exploration and research of four-dimensional space, Lin Sen also meticulously prepared a vast array of research equipment and resources. These included high-precision measuring instruments, advanced experimental setups, as well as extensive scientific data and databases.

Outwardly declared as for interstellar space research, nearly half of the equipment carried was for this purpose, not arousing too much suspicion from humanity or the Trisolarans.

If it weren't for the need to avoid being too conspicuous, Lin Sen would have even liked to bring an Accelerator Spaceship, especially since there was a Sophon Blind Zone there.

Lin Sen, "Your analysis is correct, but decelerating and accelerating in a straight line on the same trajectory is very dangerous, especially when the warship's speed reaches zero. The lost warship should not be far from us, and it is entirely capable of attacking us.

"I plan to take a different trajectory, not a straight line for accelerating and decelerating, and the warship's speed will remain constant.

"We can first change direction, heading toward Cygnus, on a course of Right Ascension 19-hour region, about 40 degrees angle from the original trajectory.

"After one light-year along this trajectory, we will carry out tangential acceleration to change the direction of the warship, but not its speed, allowing the warship to move in a curve and eventually catch up with the Trisolaran Lost Warship from behind.

"Moreover, it's best for our warships to proceed dispersed, forming 50 small warship squads, each with 20 warships, traveling independently.

"Eventually, they will rendezvous at the predetermined convergence point with the Trisolaran Lost Warship, which could also avoid Trisolaran ambushes along the way.

"This route is less than 0.5 light-years from the closest point to the Trisolaran Interstellar Fleet, and we can't know what other tactics they may have; maintaining high speed and dispersion is quite necessary.

"Although this plan will waste more time and resources, it will have a higher safety factor."

The best way to keep hidden is to find a logical reasoning for all one's actions.

Fleet Commander, "I agree with this plan; it is a more secure approach, and the resources we carry are sufficient for two rounds of full acceleration and deceleration.

"However, once the warships are dispersed, we will not be able to use the warship telescope array for observation, which will reduce the observation capability of the warships. Each small squad will need to navigate in column formation, with the lead warship playing the role of fleet navigator, maintaining distance from the other warships, so they can provide early warnings in the event of danger."

After the Fleet Commander's agreement, the decision was transmitted to the Command Headquarters in the Solar System, awaiting a response. Once the response from Command Headquarters arrived with their agreement, all warships had to rigorously execute the order.

When the warships left the Kuiper Belt, they were already divided into 50 small squads, dispersing and heading toward the direction of Cygnus.

PS: From the original text, it's apparent that the universe has too many Sophon Blind Zones, with the Trisolarans encountering them several times just near the Solar System, making it virtually impossible to use Sophons to explore interstellar space.

However, this makes sense, as it's very likely that interstellar space near here has been the site of cosmic civilization wars, with extensive use of sophon and anti-sophon measures.

The Singer Civilization also said this region is a seed route, where risks and opportunities coexist!