BATTLE FOR STARS

Ding Yufei hadn't expected even these gigantic starships to be capable of changing shape.

Then again, for a civilization as technologically advanced as these extraterrestrial humans, perhaps it wasn't all that remarkable.

“Then how exactly are your starships powered?” he asked. “I don't see any flames shooting out of the back like the engines on Earth.”

He had always been fascinated by weapons and military technology. He simply hadn't felt comfortable asking before, since such things could easily be considered military secrets.

Now that the opportunity had presented itself, he wanted answers.

“We still have engines that produce exhaust flames like the ones you're talking about,” Claudia explained. “They're just rarely used. Propulsion based purely on combustion isn't practical for long-duration interstellar travel.”

“I know what you're really asking, though. Our primary propulsion system relies on gravity controllers.”

“Gravity controllers?”

It was the first time Ding Yufei had heard the term.

“Yes. The same devices that generate artificial gravity aboard our ships.”

She continued,

“Gravity is simply a form of gravitational force. Once you can control gravity, you can control the movement of a starship.”

“If you increase gravitational attraction ahead of the ship and reduce it behind the ship, it will accelerate forward. Other maneuvers work on similar principles.”

“Of course, many vessels also carry fusion pulse engines. They're mainly used for rapid adjustments to heading and velocity. Those are the exhaust ports you see on the hull, though they're rarely activated during normal operations.”

“Are those engines powered by nuclear fusion or nuclear fission?” Ding Yufei asked.

He knew nuclear fission was the principle behind atomic bombs.

Fusion, however, remained extremely difficult to achieve on Earth.

“Fusion, obviously,” Belina replied. “Fission is far too dangerous.”

“Impressive. Very impressive.”

Ding Yufei nodded in admiration before adding with a hint of disappointment,

“I thought your technology would have progressed all the way to highly efficient ion drives and antimatter engines.”

Belina and Claudia exchanged amused glances.

“We've been using ion engines for a long time,” Belina said. “The low thrust-to-weight ratio problem has largely been solved. However, they consume considerable energy and accelerate too slowly, so they're mostly used on commercial vessels.”

“As for antimatter engines...” Claudia picked up the explanation. “Only a small number of Carriers are equipped with them. Most starships aren't.”

“Why not?”

“Safety and cost.”

She folded her arms.

“Antimatter must be contained within magnetic fields. The problem is that modern weapons capable of disrupting magnetic fields are far too common. One mistake can lead to a catastrophic accident.”

“On top of that, producing antimatter requires enormous amounts of energy and highly specialized facilities. From a manufacturing perspective, it's simply not cost-effective.”

“To be honest, if antimatter weren't useful as a weapons material, we wouldn't bother producing it at all.”

Antimatter was, in essence, the opposite of ordinary matter.

Whenever the two came into contact, they annihilated one another and released tremendous amounts of energy.

Because of this property, antimatter couldn't be stored in conventional containers and had to be confined using magnetic fields.

“What?!”

Ding Yufei's eyes widened.

He knew what antimatter was.

But to him, it had always been the sort of thing discussed in advanced physics papers and science fiction.

He had never expected it to actually exist.

“Weren't antimatter missiles banned under the Interstellar Convention?” Belina asked.

“They are banned from use,” Claudia replied. “That doesn't mean they're banned from possession.”

She looked out toward the fleet.

“Weapons capable of destroying entire planets exist primarily as deterrents.”

Ding Yufei nodded.

That sounded very familiar.

It wasn't much different from nuclear weapons on Earth.

Strategic assets designed to discourage enemies from attacking.

Weapons everyone possessed but hoped never to use.

What Ding Yufei didn't know was that the widespread deployment of modern interference weapons—including penetration-class EMP missiles—had made antimatter weapons even less practical.

A sufficiently powerful disruption field could destabilize magnetic containment.

In the worst-case scenario, an antimatter missile might destroy the fleet that launched it before ever reaching the enemy.

For that reason, antimatter weapons were rarely employed in actual combat.

Even the antimatter engines installed aboard Carriers were subject to strict safety protocols and severe limits on fuel storage.

Looking out at the countless starships beyond the window, Ding Yufei suddenly realized just how much there was to learn if he ever hoped to become a Fleet Commander.

“By the way,” Liang Jinsong suddenly said, steering the conversation away from warfare and starship technology, “how long will it take us to reach the Kramic Kingdom?”

“If everything goes smoothly,” Belina answered, “about two weeks.”

“Two weeks?”

Ding Yufei looked puzzled.

“Aren't Stargates supposed to transport you directly across space? I thought we'd only need to go through one.”

In his imagination, a single Stargate jump should have taken them straight to the Kramic Kingdom.

Apparently, things weren't that simple.

Belina laughed.

“That only proves you know almost nothing about how Stargates actually work.”

“I'll give you a proper lesson,” Claudia said with a smile.

“Stargates are indeed our method of cross-space transportation. But that doesn't mean you can enter any Stargate and immediately arrive anywhere you want.”

“Think of them like major intersections on a highway. You travel from one junction to the next. You can't simply skip all the intermediate points and jump directly from your starting location to your final destination.”

“Why not?” Ding Yufei asked. “If you can already cross space, why not cross a little more of it?”

“Because creating a spatial passage isn't as simple as building a bridge.”

“Not every region of space can be linked.”

“In most cases, stable routes are established only after extensive surveys and exploration. Both ends require Stargates, and maintaining a long-term spatial connection demands enormous amounts of energy and computational power.”

“Then how do you establish the very first route into unexplored space?”

“We can forcibly create temporary passages to distant locations.”

She thought for a moment before offering an analogy.

“Imagine firing a bullet directly into a distant region of space. That's roughly what it looks like.”

“However, these temporary corridors can only transport small starships. They're highly unstable, especially if interference Space Mines are present.”

“In a good situation, you might get one or two ships through.”

“If strong interference is present, creating the passage becomes impossible.”

Ding Yufei's eyes lit up.

“I get it now.”

“If a military force wants to invade a region, it first sends small starships through temporary corridors. Those ships establish a forward outpost and clear nearby interference mines.”

“Only after that can a stable cross-space route be created for the main fleet.”

“Exactly.”

Claudia nodded approvingly.

“You've understood the process perfectly.”

“That's why we defend our core territories with extremely powerful minefields—or simply enormous quantities of mines.”

“With those defenses in place, it's very difficult for an enemy to establish temporary corridors for spatial insertion.”

“Then are the Stargates used during military operations the same as that one?”

Ding Yufei pointed toward the massive Stargate near Planet Boman.

“Not at all.”

Claudia shook her head.

“Our military Stargates are temporary structures. They're designed solely for troop transportation, so they're much smaller. They only need to be large enough for starships to pass through.”

She glanced at the colossal gate outside.

“Structures like that are a completely different matter.”

“Building a permanent Stargate of that size is a project measured in years.”

“Temporary Stargates, depending on their size and intended purpose, can be assembled in a matter of days.”

“In some cases, even half a day is enough.”