Reform and Research

In the deep darkness of space, a fleet is flying towards the distance, and it is the fleet of the Free Hearts.

They now have an official name, called the Freedom Fleet.

When they entered the Tianhe Star Region, the Free Hearts only had a dilapidated starship, but when they left, they already had a fleet, which was a significant change.

Ten large transport ships were filled with various equipment from the Tianhe Base and research institute, one of which also carried some prisoners of war.

The equipment obtained from the research institute is mainly used for scientific research, while the equipment obtained from the Tianhe Base is mainly military. The prisoners of war are mainly technical personnel, whose presence ensures the normal operation of the equipment.

It can be said that the gains from this trip to Tianhe far exceeded expectations, making everyone excited.

In addition to this equipment, an exceptionally large gain is those warships.

The entire Tianhe Fleet, except for two escort ships and one battleship that couldn't be taken away due to battle damage, the remaining Warrior-class mothership, five Guardian-class battleships, and ten conventional escort ships were all taken away by the Free Hearts.

This is quite a significant fortune.

According to the current classification of the Federation, mechs and starships are divided into three levels: Guardian-class, Warrior-class, and Overlord-class, with the Overlord-class being the best equipped, most advanced, and most powerful in firepower, making it the most powerful starship in the New Federation.

The Abrody's Wrath is an Overlord-class starship, otherwise it would not have been chosen to carry out the Holy Artifact mission.

If the Overlord-class is the top starship of the New Federation, then the Warrior-class is the elite, and also the main force of various fleets. The Destiny was such a starship, originally the flagship of the Tianhe Fleet, but captured by the Free Hearts, it became the second flagship of the Free Hearts.

As for the battleships, they carry far fewer mechs than motherships, but in terms of onboard firepower, they are much more powerful than motherships. They are the main force of the starry sky wars, with the only mission being to annihilate the enemy with fierce firepower. The Guardian-class battleships are already equipped with high-powered antimatter annihilation guns, although they are only the lowest level, they are sufficient to create planetary-scale shock reactions, creating effects similar to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes on a planetary scale.

In comparison, conventional escort ships appear much weaker. The primary responsibility of escort ships is to protect the mothership. Their combat power is not outstanding, but their numbers are numerous, and they can provide cover for their own side through a large amount of defensive firepower. The conventional class means they are not of the same class, so the value of these ten escort ships is far inferior to that of the five battleships.

Nevertheless, the acquisition of sixteen starships instantly strengthened the power of the Free Hearts by a large margin.

The rapid expansion also prompted Reno and Claire's previous discussion to be put on the agenda promptly. Reno began a large-scale reorganization, officially establishing the basic systems of the Free Hearts organization, including the drafting of organizational regulations and principles, the establishment of organizational systems, and the appointment of relevant personnel.

In this reform, Reno was formally established as the highest leader of the Free Hearts, and also the captain of the Abrody's Wrath.

Inigo Laveil was confirmed as the second leader and the captain of the Destiny.

The original third vice-captain of the Magro, Isadore Eckley, became the third leader and the captain of the Scorpion battleship.

The "Opener" Alec Davril became the captain of the "Spider" battleship.

The original ensign of the Red Rain, Wang Yile, became the captain of the "Desert" battleship.

The original assistant third vice-captain of the Magro, Uthered Kuchman, became the captain of the "Sand River" battleship.

The original flight officer of the Tianiu, Alexandra Condren, became the captain of the "Sand Dune" battleship.

A medical department was established, with Claire in charge; a department for studying abilities was established, with Dr. Sarah in charge; a scientific research institute was established, with "Woodpecker" in charge; an information department was established, with Virus Ike in charge; a maintenance department was established, with Amon Palmer in charge; besides this, Tychus and Stark were responsible for leading the mech forces.

From the structural form, it can be seen that the Free Hearts organization structure is still a standard military organization form, far from mature in terms of systems, organization, or other aspects.

Nevertheless, as the first institutional reform of the Free Hearts, it was successful and extremely important.

History has repeatedly proven that only with perfect institutional construction, personnel structure, and core concepts can an organization mature and have strong potential!

Although the reform of the Free Hearts is still in its infancy and there are many deficiencies, it has already begun to have its own soul and basic framework. As for those missing things, they will naturally be gradually supplemented and perfected in the subsequent development.

After leaving the Tianhe Star Region, the Freedom Fleet once again entered warp and flew towards the Condon planet.

This is a long journey, and the fleet needs to

 fly for about three months to reach its destination. To be honest, this is already quite fast. In the era of interstellar voyages, a starship often had to fly for decades or even hundreds of years, and sometimes a captain might only fly once in his lifetime. Although the invention of hyperspace greatly shortened the distance between galaxies, it was far from the point where humans thought they could conquer the universe. In fact, the Milky Way alone has a diameter of 100,000 light-years. That is to say, even if you fly at ten times the speed of light from the midpoint of the Milky Way, it would take 5,000 years to leave the Milky Way, so humans have never truly owned the Milky Way in the true sense.

Therefore, this period of flight became the most precious leisure time for the fleet members.

After entering hyperspace, the daily flight was handed over to the AI brain. Except for the duty flight officers, everyone else would have nothing to do. Most of the time, the soldiers would choose to watch movies, play ball games, or go for a run or swim in the recreation room. Quiet-loving crew members would stay in their cabins with a bedtime book, or find a few good friends to chat and have tea in the ecological garden.

With the establishment of the Department of Psychic Research in the Free Hearts, the soldiers had another place to go: to study and test their abilities in the psychic research institute and practice combinations.

The diverse abilities of the soldiers meant endless possibilities for combinations. However, which combination was better and stronger couldn't be determined just by words; it had to be tested in practice.

The battle at the Tianhe Base exposed the shortcomings of Free Soldiers. Although they had powerful abilities, they fought individually without utilizing their ability combinations—not because they didn't want to, but because they had never undergone such training before.

For this reason, Reno and Claire were committed to researching this tactical combination.

"The magnetic field test has confirmed that the psychic fields can indeed familiarize with each other, merge, and even support and inspire each other."

In the ecological garden of the Abrody's Wrath, Claire sipped coffee and doodled on the electronic tactical board, the artificial sunlight gently illuminating her graceful shoulder, her golden short hair shining brightly in the sunlight, making Claire exceptionally attractive.

The so-called psychic field refers to the invisible energy field emitted by soldiers when they use their abilities. This energy field is extremely special, being a kind of super subatomic particle field, very difficult to detect, hence named the psychic field.

It was not discovered by the Free Hearts but by the Federation government, and the name was also given by the Federation government. All psychic soldiers were therefore collectively referred to as psychic soldiers, which was also the origin of the Federation Psychic Forces and Ghost Soldiers.

After obtaining the data from the research institute, the Free Hearts knew about the existence of the psychic field and conducted targeted tests to confirm its existence. The special abilities of all soldiers were actually generated because of the psychic field. Each person's sensitivity to the psychic field and the method of control were different, resulting in different effects.

And if psychic soldiers trained together for a long time, their psychic fields could become familiar with each other, producing effects of mutual support.

This supportive effect includes strengthening psychic power, reducing consumption, and even distinguishing between friend and foe.

Yes, psychic power can distinguish between friend and foe.

Psychic power is the power of the mind, and the psychic field is actually an extension of the power of the mind.

Interestingly, this argument was not made by the Federation Research Institute but by Reno.

It was told to him by Dandy Bag.

This was something said to him by a spirit race warrior who had died under Dandy Bag's command, and the spirit race were the true users of the Holy Artifact's power.

No one knows the Holy Artifact better than them.

"It sounds like the combination bonuses in games," Reno said.

"Indeed, but it requires long-term and fixed training to achieve," Claire replied.

"So, once the combination is formed, it cannot be arbitrarily changed?" Reno asked.

"Yes, by then, a tactical team must be treated as a basic combat unit, and losing any member will affect others. Therefore, the number of tactical team members should not be too many. According to the data from the research institute, the effect of the psychic field is best when it does not exceed five people," Claire explained.

"In that case, let's use five people as the basic combat unit. By the way, do you think that different psychic fields may have different growth effects when combined?" Reno asked.

Claire hesitated for a moment. "Do you think that's possible?"

Reno took a sip of coffee leisurely. "Whether it's possible or not, we won't know until we try. We are living in an unprecedented new era, and in such an era, abandoning old thinking and daring to try everything new is the most appropriate choice."

Claire pondered.

Just then, Reno's terminal suddenly rang, it was a message from Dr. Sarah.

"Come to my place, Reno, there's a major discovery."