Chapter 2004: First Mission
After the initial voyage, a celebratory banquet was held in the starship's dining hall.
At the victory celebration banquet.
Li Hua looked at everyone, holding up his wine glass: "Everything is ready now."
Next, we will take on the task.
I felt that the previous missions prioritized safety and also helped everyone familiarize themselves with the starship and the team working on it.
"Leave the task of receiving the mission to me."
"I will definitely assign everyone the most suitable tasks," the wealthy female secretary said confidently from the side.
Soon after, the White Dragon received their first mission.
It was an escort mission, and the mission points were not many.
It's almost on par with the fuel and personnel costs they need for their voyage.
However, this first mission also held special significance for them.
The escort mission is complete, and the first mission points have been earned.
Captain Li Hua sat in the captain's chair, recording the entire process of this mission in the brand-new captain's log.
Finally, they summarized the experience they gained during this mission, as well as their shortcomings.
In the following week, they took on three more escort missions.
With the accumulation of mission experience, they have begun to get used to life on this starship.
Many imperfections have been improved.
"Li Mi, you are the deputy captain in charge of logistics."
You're in charge of the Starship Restaurant.
I've recently noticed a serious problem with food waste in our country.
Although food prices have dropped a lot now, they are not as good as they used to be.
But we still can't waste it.
You should establish appropriate management rules to prevent this kind of waste.
Besides, we've already had this for a week.
You should also draft a food list suitable for our starship.
Life on a starship, aside from the initial novelty, is soon filled with loneliness.
Food is one of the few bright spots in the monotonous life of spacefaring, and eating well is crucial, as it directly impacts the crew's combat readiness.
"Yes, I've remembered all of that."
I will have all of this arranged within three days.
I'm also preparing the recipes so that next time we go grocery shopping, we can specifically buy the grains we like.
"Song Chuan, you are the deputy captain in charge of the weapons and combat module."
So far, we haven't had any real-world experience with it.
Next, we might take on some combat missions.
You need to be fully prepared.
Even without actual combat, you should still schedule some training tasks in your daily routine.
We must ensure that our crew members can be engaged in a battle anytime, anywhere.
I don't expect you to be as good as the crew members of the Xiaolong Interstellar Empire.
But at the very least, we must have our spirit and our fighting will!
We've come together not to fool around, but truly for our interstellar dream!
"clear."
During the first high-level meeting of the Baijiao, Captain Li Hua mainly pointed out some problems they had and areas that needed to be changed.
Soon, the secretary assigned them their first combat mission.
In a peripheral universe within the Xiaolong universe cluster, a group of space pirates roams.
It was not large in scale, consisting of only a few dozen interstellar warships.
These are suspected to be remnants of interstellar warships that fled from the time of the Conqueror civilization.
Although the Dragon Star Empire and the Conqueror Civilization are currently cooperating in private, their relationship on the surface remains that of enemies.
As for these stubbornly resisting conqueror civilization fleets, their only fate was annihilation.
The Dragon Empire did give these people a chance; if they surrendered, at least they could live.
They are stubbornly refusing to see the truth.
They would also attack passing fleets.
That's why there were hiring missions specifically for them.
"This mission is a combat mission, and there is a high probability that a battle will break out."
Let me explain the main points of the task.
In this star system, a group of interstellar pirates has been discovered, estimated to number between thirty and fifty interstellar warships.
They are quite powerful and not ordinary space pirates.
Most of the starships they possess are T4-class starships, with a few T5-class starships as well.
However, these interstellar warships were in very poor combat condition, with almost none of them in good working order.
Five hundred interstellar warships participated in this mission.
There are starships from our mercenary fleet, as well as some local garrisons.
It mainly involved our cooperation to gradually compress this area and search it bit by bit.
If the space pirates are discovered during this period, the fleet that first discovers them needs to delay them, and reinforcements will arrive to support them in a short time.
To wipe out this group of space pirates in one fell swoop.
"This mission is dangerous, but the mission points are higher than all our previous escort missions combined." After the secretary finished speaking, he looked at Captain Li Hua.
Captain Li Hua looked at the several vice captains present: "This is our first combat mission."
It's not too late for you to withdraw now.
Once we actually get to the battlefield, our lives will be in real danger!
You need to think this through carefully.
"Captain, who are you looking down on? Since we're here..."
Then we are fully prepared!
"My combat unit has been waiting impatiently for a long time."
"Hey, hey, hey, yours are interstellar marines, we're interstellar heavy artillery ships."
There's no need to board the enemy.
"Just hand it over to our heavy artillery."
Seeing everyone's tense yet composed demeanor, Li Hua extended his hand.
"Then, everyone, let's work together!"
"yes!"
The next day, the White Dragon arrived at the location where the mission began and reported back.
"This is the White Dragon."
Having received this combat mission, I am here to report.
"Please give instructions," Captain Li Hua reported over the communications channel.
"receive.
White Dragon, you will be assigned to combat squad Z03.
Command will be taken over by a T5 starship. I will assign your ship to the squad's command channel.
"clear."
Soon, a new group appeared in the command channel.
There were about twenty interstellar warships, one of which was marked with a star.
You can see what type of starship this name represents.
"Our flagship is actually a T5 Fire Kirin-class heavy aircraft carrier starship!" someone knowledgeable exclaimed in surprise.
"Captain Li Hua, leading the Bai Jiao, is here to report. Please give instructions."
"Hello, Captain Li Hua."
I am Hou Sanyue, the squad leader of our Z03 combat team.
The voice on the other end was actually a woman's.
"Several interstellar warships in our fleet have not yet arrived."
Once everyone is present, I will hold a brief fleet meeting.
"yes."
Communication is temporarily suspended.
"It's actually a female captain?" The secretary was somewhat surprised and began to operate the equipment.
"What are you doing?"
"Of course, we should investigate the female captain's information."
Captain Li Hua frowned slightly and said, "Isn't this a bit impolite?"
The wealthy female secretary rolled her eyes and said, "Come on, it's perfectly normal to be familiar with the captains and commanders of your friendly ships, okay?"
Who knows, right now your information and our White Dragon's data are on display for them.
The style of each fleet is closely related to the combat style of its fleet commander.
Only by understanding the personality of our fleet commander can we cooperate better later.
After listening to the secretary's words, Li Hua nodded absentmindedly.
That statement does seem to make some sense.
"Found it."
Hou Sanyue.
Former military personnel of the **** Interstellar Kingdom, who once served as the commander of a legion of three thousand interstellar warships.
Later, this interstellar kingdom joined the alliance of the Wraith Dragon Interstellar Empire.
The kingdom reduced its military forces as required.
Commander Hou Sanyue was among those laid off due to his advanced age and lack of connections.
The wealthy female secretary pondered and said, "It seems that Captain Hou Sanyue really likes interstellar warships."
"How did you figure that out?" Captain Li Hua asked, puzzled.
The wealthy female secretary rolled her eyes and said, "Isn't it obvious?"
Although she was laid off, she was originally a captain who could lead a fleet of three thousand ships, so even if she was laid off, it didn't matter.
The benefits and treatment she receives are more than enough for her to establish her own small family on some planet and become a wealthy landowner on a continent.
But she didn't do that.
Instead, she chose to use all her wealth to purchase interstellar warships, acquiring five in one go, as required by the employment agreement.
Of course, not all five interstellar warships were under her name; some were built by her old comrades-in-arms.
If she weren't so obsessed with the stars and the sea, she could have easily enjoyed a leisurely retirement. Why would she bother building her own fleet?
Captain Li Hua suddenly realized this and felt a surge of admiration for Captain Hou Sanyue.
"Captain Hou Sanyue is very capable!"
"Now we can rest assured."
At least Captain Hou Sanyue has extensive command experience and is not a novice.
"We can rest assured and follow her instructions." The wealthy female secretary breathed a sigh of relief.
After that, I waited for about three hours.
The remaining starships of their Z03 fleet have also arrived.
An interstellar fleet consisting of thirty interstellar warships.
Perhaps this is because the enemies this time are all T4 and T5 level interstellar warships.
Therefore, in their fleet of thirty interstellar warships, there is one T5 interstellar warship, and the rest are all T4-class interstellar warships.
Even if they were to encounter this group of space pirates on their mission, they would still have a fighting chance.
The secretary took this into full consideration when selecting their first combat mission.
It's impossible to choose a very difficult combat mission on your first try.
As she had said, Captain Hou Sanyue arrived after all the interstellar warships had gathered.
They convened a video conference with all the captains, during which each starship was assigned its own combat mission.
Different types of interstellar warships are arranged together.
It also emphasized the mission instructions within the mission.
Captain Hou Sanyue assigned the Baijiao to the core area of the fleet.
It was grouped together with another T4 Hells Angel interstellar dreadnought and Captain Hou Sanyue's flagship, the T5 Fire Kirin-class heavy aircraft carrier.
Located in the core area of the fleet.
They will directly undertake the main core firepower output task in the battle.
At the end of the meeting.
Captain Hou Sanyue then ordered the fleet to set sail.
In fact, small fleets had already been carrying out missions long before them.
Gradually shrink the star field within the mission area.
By continuously shrinking the area where those space pirates operate, we can eventually locate their location and wipe them out in one fell swoop.
This is a very slow method.
However, for these small remnants of bandits, it was the safest way.
Anyway, they have plenty of time.
This wasn't a particularly urgent combat mission.
After the order to begin the operation was announced.
Captain Li Hua, filled with excitement, relayed orders to his starship.
"Zhang Wei, remember that this time we are fighting as a team."
We have our own battle formation.
"We must remember our position and make sure we don't get it wrong," Captain Li Hua reminded navigator Zhang Wei.
After several voyages, Zhang Wei is now much more confident.
He patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, just leave it to me!"
The White Dragon's first combat mission began from this point.
Unlike ordinary escort missions, combat missions are much more intense.
However, in combat missions that last for several days or even months, such bandit suppression missions may only involve a few hours of actual combat.
No one knows when this several-hour combat mission will begin.
Therefore, we need to have enough patience to wait for this battle.
Day 1, Day 2, Day 3...
For the first week, no enemy was found.
Even though the encirclement is gradually shrinking.
Neither the fleet to which the White Dragon was located, nor any of the other fleets, detected any space pirates.
This led some of them to even begin to doubt whether such a group of space pirates actually existed in this star system.
Or perhaps they had already figured out how to break through the encirclement long ago.
Time is slowly wearing down these people's patience.
Another week has passed in the blink of an eye.
Even the people on the White Dragon were finding it hard to bear the loneliness.
This wait is just too agonizing.
Especially the head of the weapons department.
His eyes were bloodshot.
As a combat mission that they had finally gotten their hands on, they were eagerly anticipating it.
The more you hope, the more agonizing the wait becomes.
"Holy crap."
Where on earth are those stinking rats?
"Can't you come out and fight us fair and square!" someone shouted angrily.
"Since you've already called it a rat, it's naturally impossible for it to have a fair fight with you."