Chapter 382: Pre-war Exploration of Venus_1
When Cheng Ping requested Logic to contact Jiang Yu, Jiang Yu was already on his way to low Earth orbit.
By now, three legions had assembled, and war was on the brink of eruption.
Wu Xinghai was the commander-in-chief of this battle, with the general headquarters set up two million kilometers away, on the inner side of Earth.
This place served not only as the command center but also as the front line since all warships could strike Venus from here.
Jiang Yu came to the general headquarters not to supervise the war but to understand the battle situation at the earliest opportunity.
When he arrived at the command center, Wu Xinghai and the senior officers of the three legions were in a pre-battle meeting. Jiang Yu did not disturb anyone and stood quietly in a corner, listening in.
In the meeting, the first thing was to summarize the intelligence. According to the data previously obtained from PDC, the forces on Venus seemed only capable of affecting targets in Venus's near orbit.
(During the great migration, PDC had completely lost all intelligence on Venus, hence Cheng Ping and others were completely in the dark about it.)
Furthermore, based on the last piece of intelligence provided by the Black Cuboid People, it seemed that possessing the capability to destroy a planet could force Venus into submission.
Wu Xinghai believed that in the face of the unknown, they should start with reconnaissance and send a large number of modified J135 squadrons to scout Venus first.
This plan met with objections from the senior officers. Most believed that a saturation attack with more than ten thousand spaceships at once, coupled with a couple blasts from the Monster Cannon if needed, would be suffocating–not just for Venus but Jupiter as well.
Waging war in such a tentative manner was making them a laughingstock to the nearby PDC!
After listening to the officers' complaints, Wu Xinghai spoke seriously, "Have you considered that PDC's exploration of Venus was over a hundred years ago?
"Back then, Venus showed no abnormalities, but now, Venus, which has 'hung over humanity's head' for countless years, has suddenly developed so many anomalies. Can intelligence that's over a hundred years old still be trusted?
"And about the intelligence from the Black Cuboid People, with their highly advanced technology, wouldn't they have a way to destroy a planet?
"Then why were they still routed by Venus?"
The room filled with officers fell silent, many showing surprise or deep in thought.
Wu Xinghai continued, "After this war, I am going to report the widespread issues of arrogance and self-importance that plague our military!"
"No need to report, I've heard it now," said Jiang Yu, who had been listening from the corner, as he stepped forward, casting a glance at the officers:
"Three years ago, we achieved a victory that humanity could take pride in, but even now, I haven't forgotten for a moment the sacrifice we made in that victory!
"I hope you all never forget either.
"In interstellar warfare, especially in the face of the unknown, one must always be cautious!"
The atmosphere in the command center became exceedingly oppressive.
Jiang Yu took a deep breath, "Let's fight first. We can deal with these ideological issues after the war is over."
Backed by the Wallfacer, Wu Xinghai's prudent tactics were fully implemented, starting with deploying transport ships to carry the J135 squadron to the surface of Venus for pre-war reconnaissance.
After the meeting adjourned, the senior officers returned to their respective posts, and thus the war began.
Twenty small transport ships, in an assault formation, carried ten thousand J135s to land on Venus.
After Venus started to rotate on its own accord, its atmosphere became even more turbulent, with violent winds forcing the J135s to exert their full strength to maintain their planned trajectory.
However, the landing operation went smoothly, without any resistance.
According to the data sent back from the J135s, the surface of Venus had undergone dramatic changes!
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First came the unceasing fierce winds, with very low visibility, and the atmospheric pressure had increased from before, the temperature also rose by over a hundred degrees; even the modified J135s were somewhat struggling.
To adapt to Venus's combat environment, the First Legion fortified a large number of J135s with thicker armor and also increased their cooling facilities' power.
10,000 J135s, divided into several hundred squads, patrolled the surface of Venus.
Yet Venus seemed to have no reaction, which made many officers doubt whether Venus really could be the enemy. Look at the images sent back, this is clearly a planet with a complex climate!
Suddenly, the communication staff said, "Squad Sixteen has received a radio signal!"
In the command room, Jiang Yu, Wu Xinghai, and the other staff were stunned; the planet had not been visited by humans for over a century, how could there be a human-made radio signal?
After a pause of a second or two, Wu Xinghai decisively gave the order, "Immediately trace the source of the signal, direct Squad Sixteen to investigate, and have other squads on standby for support.
"Attempt to decrypt the signal right away!"
A few seconds later, the communication staff reported again, "The signal has been decrypted, it's a distress signal, but it was a PDC encrypted message, so the Milky Way II couldn't decrypt it immediately."
This became even weirder, why was there a distress signal?
Jiang Yu rubbed his forehead and said, "I suddenly remember the story of 'ghost signals' I heard when I was a child!"
Wu Xinghai couldn't help but smile and said, "I've heard similar stories, and if I'm not mistaken, Squad Sixteen should be walking into an ambush."
But he had no intention of recalling Squad Sixteen, using thirty-six J135s to obtain some information was a fair trade.
But stories are, after all, just stories; Squad Sixteen did not encounter any mishaps, and after searching for over twenty minutes, a massive shadow appeared before them.
With caution, they approached the shadow, only to find it was a gigantic spacecraft buried in the ground.
However, the appearance of the spacecraft already looked very battered, resembling a pile of scrap metal.
The staff collectively let out a sigh of relief, judging by its profile, this should be a human spacecraft. Emitting a human encrypted signal from a human spacecraft, it made sense.
Now, they just needed to investigate the origins of this spacecraft.
Two seconds later, Milky Way II confirmed based on the comparison of the shape of the spacecraft that this should be the PDC "Enterprise" warship.
During the war three years ago, the warship coordinated with "The Waterdrop" in a surprise attack on the Mercury Colony of the Solar System State.
As a result, it was struck hard by the defending forces on Mercury; the "Enterprise" warship went missing during the battle.
Later, the PDC concluded it was destroyed by the First Legion, but Sophon's explanation was that the warship disappeared within three minutes after the war began.
At the time, the military of the PDC was in dire straits and didn't take it seriously.
Looking at the report again now, Sophon said "disappeared" and did not mention being destroyed or missing.
It's very possible that even Sophon didn't notice when exactly the "Enterprise" disappeared, nor knew where the "Enterprise" went.
Now they've found the "Enterprise"; but this place is tens of millions of kilometers away from Mercury's orbit. If Mercury and Venus were on opposite sides of the sun, they would be separated by more than one astronomical unit.
Why would the "Enterprise" appear here?
Squad Sixteen, along with Squad Eighteen and Twenty that came to support, began the attempt to explore the interior of the warship.
Since there was a distress signal, the possibility of survivors couldn't be ruled out, so they couldn't resort to violent dismantling, and the search proceeded relatively slowly.
It was at this moment that Squad One Hundred and Eighty-Nine discovered an incredibly vast pit on the surface of Venus.
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