Chapter 337: (EDT) Second Part - Vermilion Empress (1)
Vermilion Empress.
The vessel started its construction under the impression of extending humanity's reach towards the sea, which covered three-quarters of this planet.
Furthermore, it was not alone.
A total of four vessels were designed to celebrate their success in exploring the space. And as one of the four colossal vessels, the Vermilion Empress was supposed to be active in the southern sea.
Halfway in its development, the construction was suddenly threatened to a shutdown due to the cost to build them. Because the resources required to construct them were comparable to the price of a space mining vessel, the government is considering scrapping this project to make way for other development.
Other developments, especially on the space division. With the limited possibility of return expected from seafaring, the project was in the middle of abandonment. Planning to scrap the vessels into building material for spaceship was even proposed to recover some of the building cost.
Luckily, the idea was scrapped because the material requirement for space and sea was different. Recycling the vessels into usable material would definitely be a waste. Thus, the project was abandoned completely when it was 50-60% completed.
But a solution is needed on how to store these incomplete vessels. Trying to move them together was also considered impossible at that time.
After discussing themselves, the developers finally decided to create a sturdy shipyard at four different locations to keep the vessel there. This way, they could continue with the development and sell it at a much better price when needed again.
It ended up benefiting the Wind Base when they captured the Repopulation Shelter located in Turbine Town. Through the number of information stacking at a corner inside the communication room, Adam and Frank ended up deciphering the clue of its whereabouts.
At first, the repair was to surprise Zhang Qin Feng since the supplies brought over by Zhang Qin Feng were far exceeding what they needed to complete this vessel. Unfortunately, they had no other choice but to force this ship to sail before the work was complete.
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"Does that means… These people's target here wasn't our base, but this ship? Did anything happened when I didn't come back for a month?" Zhang Qin Feng asked.
"There is. At first, we didn't suspect anything as these people came here with goodwill. We did some exchanges like batteries and food for weaponry. But one day, Satella caught one of them with a monitoring device that could turn images into blueprints."
"At first, we were confronting them peacefully, but things turned ugly immediately. The visitor introduced himself as the second command of Western Strand Division and demanded that we surrender to them in exchange for protection." Victor said. As the second in command with Marvin, he was the most fitting individual to report everything to Zhang Qin Feng.
"So… Satella rejected him?" Zhang Qin Feng guessed.
"Correct. Satella instantly rejected him. But since we're unsure what kind of backing he had, we didn't make a move on him. And we had no idea that they'd attack us a few days ago, using weaponry we've never seen before."
"If I'm not mistaken, that Four-Legged Walker is known as Linebarrel Tank. It was a weapon in use before the unity period to destroy heavily protected bases," said Adam. Frank, who stands beside him, keep nodding to clarify the preciseness of the information.
"Let's put this aside for now. Do we know where we're going?" Zhang Qin Feng asked.
"So far, we have not set a destination yet. And our radar function was damaged from the fifth shot, so I'm afraid we're going to take a while more to get everything repaired." Victor answered.
"What do you guys think about the option of going back now? Would that do anything for us?" Zhang Qin Feng continued with his questions.
"For now, no. Even if the Linebarrel Tank isn't around, this ship has no weapon or the functionality to assemble turrets. We can assume that this is a complete support command ship with zero fighting capacity." Victor replied again.
"Then… Let's keep sailing until we find a place to stop. We'll consider what to do next. As for now, disband and get back to your post. Those without shall help those in need of help. Let's at least get an island we can stand on before we plan what to do next." Zhang Qin Feng suggested before telling them to disperse.
Minutes after the others left, Zhang Qin Feng took a seat on the corner of his bed inside the cabin.
Evidently, he was still greatly affected by his worries that Satella and the others might be killed by this second commander and his men from Western Strand Division.
But as he was about to rest, Stein's voice appeared in his mind.
[The system found three files related to Vermilion Empress inside the Creator's Record. Would the user like to listen to a quick summary?]
'Summary?' Zhang Qin Feng was surprised by what he was told by Stein. What kind of background the Vermilion Empress had to have a file existed inside Stein's archive?
'Go ahead, and read it out to me." Zhang Qin Feng accepted the system's suggestion. Again, even until now, he still finds it hard to believe that such a colossal-class mothership actually existed. Furthermore, he was riding in on right now.
In fact, if he did not request the Heavy Engineering Department to keep creating shops for his modern world, this vessel might be still stuck inside that shipyard.
He said so because this vessel was currently running using the relic navigation system he proposed on both Jiaolong, Hailong, and Assailant. If they insisted on waiting for the correct parts, it would take them longer than a year to wait before it could be started.
[The first part of the summary explained the design behind Vermilion Empress. From the record, each vessel was designed to fulfill a specific requirement. For Vermilion Empress, its design focused solely on settlement relocation, facilities, and supply]
[And to ensure this vessel could run without compromising in its power, the Vermilion Empress is fitted with not one, not two, but three Fusion Generator EX. This allowed the vessel to be capable of powering three Strand Metropolises at once]
[In addition, the Vermilion Empress has its own deployment function. As long the module was chosen correctly, it can immediately turn into a half-kilometer manmade island]
'What? Deployment?' Zhang Qin Feng was surprised by what the system just said.
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