Chapter 301: Starship Fleet Returns_1
Representatives of the three factions, after repeated consultations, agreed that they should first try to deceive the fleets into returning home, as the path ahead was uncertain, and they would likely prefer the embrace of the Solar System.
If deception failed, they would then pursue them.
This was especially true for Starship Earth and "Bronze Age"; these dark ships simply had to be pursued and all their crew brought to trial! Nothing less would quell public anger!
Another compelling reason to bring them back was that they knew the coordinates of the Solar System. These people, who had abandoned the most basic of human morals, were not to be trusted.
It was imperative to prevent them from willingly exposing the coordinates of the Solar System!
The Trisolarans were also highly concerned, for these fleets also knew the coordinates of the Three-Body Star System!
They suggested that "The Waterdrop" initiate the pursuit, but Jiang Yu was relieved that this proposal was rejected.
The three million souls around Uranus Orbit would not agree! Neither would the entire human society!
PDC and Fleet International still had some integrity; in this operation, the power of the Trisolarans could only serve an auxiliary role!
Jiang Yu had no objection to this deception plan, but he insisted that the trials be held in Jupiter's Capital.
Once the representatives of the three factions signed the contract, the operation officially commenced.
As for the plan, Jiang Yu had no intention of obstructing or deceiving.
The six Starship Fleets dispatched by the Solar System State had long been notified to proceed at full speed and ignore any messages from the Solar System for seventy years.
All this must have been under Sophon's surveillance, but the Trisolarans did not undermine Jiang Yu.
Because on the surface, there was only one Sophon in the Solar System, and that Sophon was currently at Desert North Farm, waiting for Jiang Shiliu to create a new body for her.
If they revealed Jiang Yu's covert scheme at this time, it would amount to a confession, indicating that not a single Sophon had been withdrawn.
And the current supreme commander of Starship Earth should be Chu Yan, whom Jiang Yu knew would not return so rashly.
So, it was very likely that only "Bronze Age" would come back.
Jiang Yu remembered that this spacecraft had been seriously damaged during acceleration; it would be good for them to return, as reaching another star system would likely be very difficult for them.
Jiang Yu entrusted the entire affair to You Ze, as he had no time to manage these matters.
Furthermore, at this consultation meeting, the three factions also agreed to rename the year 208 years after the Crisis to Deterrence Year One, commemorating the deterrent Logic had formed against the Trisolarans.
...
At the beginning of Deterrence Year Three, "Black Square" arrived at Jupiter Orbit.
After three years of accumulation, the Solar System State had money once again, and Jiang Yu simply built a separate Space City for "Black Square" to focus on its research.
He also awakened Wu Zheng and others, who had been in hibernation for two centuries, and had them acclimate to the current environment while the Space City was under construction.
Once conditions allowed, he would immediately resume the research on "Black Square".
Having just arranged for "Black Square", the first Starship Fleet finally made its return.
The first to return was the fifteenth fleet, and the fleet's commander was Sean Truman.
He was of mixed heritage, with black hair inherited from his mother and blue eyes from his father.
Without waiting for orders from Jiang Yu, he had already commanded the fleet to start turning back, all to hurry home as soon as possible!
The Jupiter Civilization Circle is now weak, and it is said that around Deterrence Year Four, the entire human world might be able to restore the industrial system necessary to manufacture interstellar spacecraft.
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For Sean, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to return early would mean his fleet would be the only interstellar spaceship fleet in the entire Solar System!
A planet-class spaceship is not on the same level as an interstellar spaceship, and five interstellar spaceships in a Solar System without any other interstellar warships is the absolute ceiling of combat power!
If he played his cards right, the Wallfacer might even be forced to appoint him as commander, or he might even become the Governor.
Just as Sean was dreaming big, his operational staff informed him that the Wallfacer had sent warships to rendezvous with them.
Sean laughed, "Is the Wallfacer trying to intimidate us with those little ships?"
The people in the captain's room laughed along, not taking it too seriously.
However, when they saw the fleet that had come to greet them, everyone was stunned. They saw a two-winged fleet formed of thirty large warships surrounding their five spaceships.
It took a while for Sean to come to his senses, "Where did Jupiter get interstellar warships from? Quick, get me in touch with the commander of this fleet!"
After the video communication was established, Sean immediately stood up, "Colonel, good day!"
The commander of this fleet was none other than Sean's former direct superior, Kazunari Tanikawa.
Tanikawa stood with his hands behind his back, a serious look on his face as he regarded Sean, "Straighten the formation! Head to dock at Zone C!"
Sean immediately responded, "Yes, sir!"
Then he smiled and said, "Colonel, where did Jupiter get so many warships? Weren't you at the battle of Uranus? How, how..."
"How did I not die?" Tanikawa, who never had even a hint of a smile in the military, said, "Thanks to a piece of advice from the Wallfacer, hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers survived that battle!
"And where did we get so many warships? Have you forgotten the glory days of the Solar System State with more than one thousand five hundred warships?"
After the communication was cut, Sean's face turned ashen, all his well-laid plans rendered useless.
All along, Jiang Yu had been restricting the handful of starship fleets from obtaining information about the Solar System.
Sean only had a vague idea of the situation in the Solar System, he didn't even know that The Waterdrop's previous mission was to destroy interstellar warships.
Tanikawa's words made Sean think that many warships had escaped from the battle of Uranus.
And now the entire Solar System was without an industrial system capable of producing interstellar warships, this sort of ambiguous news was long discarded by him.
Even if it were a sneak attack, five warships had no chance against thirty!
In the Solar System, thirty warships make a combat brigade, and it is a small combat unit. The weaponry of these ships combined can launch an attack within a small area without any blind spots!
Moreover, this unit was commanded by Sean's superior, Tanikawa, so the 15th fleet had no advantage in either combat power or morale.
After the warships docked, Sean and his crew surrendered without a fight.
Until his trial by the military court, he didn't realize that the warships that had come to meet him were all large planet-class ships.
If it came down to a real fight, these thirty ships might not necessarily be a match for Sean's fleet.
The power of an interstellar warship's nuclear engine is seven or eight times greater than that of a large planet-class warship! Especially during battle, the nuclear engine of an interstellar warship can provide sustained, huge energy, while a planet-class warship would run out of energy after firing a few shots.
Jiang Yu had tricked six fleets with such a tactic.
By the time the seventh fleet returned, the Solar System State had already gathered thirty interstellar warships.
However, the returning seventh fleet, unwilling to simply accept the trial, ill-fatedly launched a sneak attack, only to be obliterated to ashes.
But before being annihilated, this fleet managed to send out a warning to the other fleets on their way back, indicating that what awaited them upon their return to Jupiter would be judgement and death.
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