Those who face the wall, but are in the Nascent Soul stage.

Chapter 206 Brakes and Accelerator

Crisis Era 202 Years.

Jupiter's orbit, Solar System Fleet—Asian Fleet Base

"Commander Zhang Beihai of the Future Reinforcement Task Force 1 reporting for duty! Salute!" As soon as Zhang Beihai finished speaking, the seventeen soldiers behind him saluted in unison.

Standing before the commander of the Asian Fleet was a team of seventeen people, led by Zhang Beihai, who were all members of the first six phases of the China Space Force's Future Reinforcement Task Force.

They were among the first to hibernate and the last to thaw, awakening in this final era to face the threat of a consuming empire.

"Salute to you." The commander of the Asian fleet returned the salute.

This was the first time the reinforcement task force had met this legendary commander of the Asian Fleet.

But when they learned that the commander of the Asian fleet was also a contemporary of the same era, and even a comrade-in-arms of Chang Weisi, everyone felt a strange sensation.

Before hibernation, we were at the same level. Now you're the supreme commander?

Of course, this is just a thought. In reality, this former ordinary mid-level officer of the Chinese Space Force Command has taken two hundred years to rise to his current position as a leader, which deserves everyone's admiration and respect.

The seventeen people in front of them were not the entire reinforcement team for the future task force. At least seventy people were still undergoing adaptation training on various planetary warships. Zhang Beihai led the team of 17 people, while Bi Yunfeng was the commander-in-chief leading the remaining 70 people.

Due to differences in individual qualifications, only a few Unfrozen soldiers can obtain official military status in the Solar System Fleet within two years. As reserve crew members or even captains of star-class warships, Unfrozen soldiers must possess the physical constitution to withstand 100G acceleration.

In other words, the late stage of the Innate Realm is the minimum requirement for crew members of a stellar-class warship.

Because the training time for thawed soldiers is relatively short, it is very difficult to meet this basic requirement in a short period of time.

Of the remaining 70 people, after two years of rigorous training, apart from Colonel Bi Yunfeng who voluntarily stayed behind to lead the team, most of the others were at the mid-stage of the Innate Realm and could only exist as reserve crew members of the Solar System Fleet.

Compared to ordinary crew members, the requirements for captains and vice-captains are much higher. Captain-level positions must be held by members who have reached the perfect level of Innate Martial Artist. Among the current seventeen special task force soldiers, only Zhang Beihai has reached this level.

This is not a matter of discrimination based on skill level, but rather a necessity in future high-intensity space warfare, where those with greater physical strength and stamina will be required to perform tactical command duties. The Space Warfare Research Agency indicates that, under similar circumstances, crew members at the Martial Arts Grandmaster (Innate Perfection) level tend to make faster and more effective decisions. In space, their superior individual strength also allows them to maintain mental well-being for longer.

In the early days, the Joint Space Force would equip its fleets with psychologists or shipboard chaplains, but since the Age of Warriors, these two psychological positions have become unnecessary.

A powerful martial artist must have a rich and steadfast inner world.

Especially those at the Innate Perfection level are beings who, even if thrown into space, could survive for more than ten days by relying on their innate true energy.

Hiking on the Sea of ​​Tranquility on the Moon and traversing the Utopia Plain on Mars would be a piece of cake.

The total number of hibernating soldiers in the Future Reinforcement Program is as high as one million, of whom 90% have been thawed and integrated into various parts of the Joint Space Force/Solar Fleet over the past century.

Of the remaining 100,000 soldiers from various countries who were thawed in the last wave of thawing during the 200th year of the Crisis Era, less than 3000 advanced to the late stage of the Innate Realm in a short period of time.

If, during the future battle between the dinosaurs, the soldiers of the Thawed Army are still stuck at the mid-stage or even early-stage of the Innate Realm, then these ancient soldiers will only be assigned to planetary warships by the three major fleets.

As for ancient soldiers who couldn't even break through to the Innate Realm, they could only engage in civilian jobs outside the military system.

As the main force of humankind in space, starships must be composed of the most elite forces.

Of course, not all crew members of stellar-class warships have strict realm restrictions. A small number of stellar-class warships that undertake scientific research missions will also carry some scholars or even scientists on board. These non-military personnel are often not subject to realm restrictions and are generally only at the mid-stage of the Acquired Realm.

However, these shipboard scholars must also be able to enter deep-sea conditions at any time, in case the warship suddenly accelerates and causes a fatal accident.

Despite being entirely innate, each star-class warship is still equipped with a deep-sea acceleration fluid buffer system to prevent unforeseen events.

The reason for this is related to the acceleration mode of the star-class warship.

Of the 5015 starships that humanity already possesses (the latest 15 were produced in the last two years), all use the [Forward 1] → [Forward 2] → [Forward 3] → [Forward 4] propulsion mode.

四级加速模式也基本对应［第三宇宙速度16km／s］→［5‰光速160km／s］→［2％光速6000km／s］→［20％光速60000km／s］。

Starships do not experience high-G acceleration in all phases of motion. When relatively stationary or in uniformly accelerated motion, the G-force inside the ship is relatively small.

The high-G overload acceleration phase generally only occurs during variable acceleration motion. Only when a stellar-class warship actively switches its acceleration state (deceleration or acceleration) will the spaceship enter a high-G acceleration of tens or even hundreds of Gs. This high-G acceleration generally does not last long. During this brief phase, only martial artists at the late stage of the Innate Realm can withstand it.

Even when transitioning from [Forward III] to [Forward IV] at full power, the ship will not maintain a high acceleration of 120G for more than an hour. The crew can endure this for that long.

Once the uniform acceleration phase begins, the acceleration will quickly drop below 1G. During this phase, even an ordinary person can escape the deep-sea acceleration fluid and move freely inside the warship.

Since the expansion and absorption of deep-sea acceleration fluid requires a preparation time of up to two hours, the presence of innate crew members can greatly reduce the time it takes for warships to accelerate and change speeds. This indirectly improves the warship's maneuverability, and this advantage of high maneuverability has been demonstrated in the battle against the Devouring Empire.

There are reasons why the warship cannot accelerate rapidly to the limit of 20% of the speed of light with a high acceleration of 120G, but instead takes a year to slowly accelerate to 20% of the speed of light.

The reason is that the accelerated state is strictly limited by the reserves of nuclear fusion fuel.

At the current propulsion ratio, the nuclear fusion fuel carried by a stellar-class warship is already at its maximum. Increasing the reserves would simply increase the mass, which would reduce maneuverability.

When a star-class warship is fully loaded with nuclear fusion fuel and accelerates at full power with an overload of 120G, the nuclear fusion fuel inside the warship will be consumed rapidly. If the power is not reduced, the warship will accelerate to 7% of the speed of light within a day.

It will then run out of fuel and become a dead ship in the vast expanse of space.

To reach 20% of the theoretical maximum speed, a low-power propulsion system without propellant must be used continuously to accelerate the vehicle at a normal rate of resource consumption, taking one year to reach 20% of the speed of light.

As for deceleration, it takes longer and, due to limitations in engine technology, it also requires more fuel.

In short, the number of times a star-class warship can 'accelerate' and 'brake' is extremely limited, making it very precious.

In interstellar travel, distance is never a problem. Whether it's 10,000 light-years or 100 light-years, the fuel consumption is the same for humans.

The resource consumption for gliding at a constant speed in a vacuum region without resistance is zero. What truly limits human warships is the weak energy system of controlled nuclear fusion.

The energy density of nuclear fusion is still too low for a star-class warship.

Since the technological blockade imposed by Sophon was lifted only two years ago, humanity's exploration of matter-antimatter annihilation energy and vacuum zero-point energy is still only in the theoretical stage.

A fully fueled stellar-class warship can reach a maximum cruising speed of 20% of the speed of light twice. After reaching this speed for the first time, the stellar-class warship can decelerate to zero within two years, during which a total of 70% of the fuel will be consumed. The remaining fuel is enough to climb to 20% of the speed of light again. After that, the warship will be unable to decelerate due to lack of resources and will drift eternally into the deep space of the universe.

Humanity did not choose to launch an expedition to the Trisolaran system due to energy considerations. Fleet International was concerned that there were not enough helium-3 resources or other nuclear fusion fuels available for replenishment in the vicinity of the Trisolaran system.

Energy limitations are not a drawback unique to human fleet systems.

According to human observation, the Devouring Empire also follows this law.

When the giant ring is accelerating or decelerating, it also consumes a huge amount of its mass. Because the giant ring has an extremely low propulsion ratio, it cannot complete more than a few accelerations and decelerations when fully loaded with fuel.

Maintaining a constant speed of motion for thousands or tens of thousands of years is the norm for the Devouring Empire when it is on expeditions to other star systems.

The act of the Devouring Mothership actively braking and parking in the outer Kuiper Belt has already depleted the dinosaurs' already dwindling resource reserves. The Devouring Empire's remaining energy is only enough for one full-power maneuver and one planet-devouring operation.

The fact that the dinosaurs were willing to expend enormous resources to brake rather than blindly venture into the inner solar system is enough to show that they recognized the threat posed by the human solar system fleet.

In this era of great confrontation, there is no possibility of reconciliation between the Devouring Empire and human civilization on Earth. The dinosaurs must devour Ganymede, Earth, Mars, and Venus before the Devouring Empire can continue its wandering in the Milky Way.

Otherwise, swallowing the giant ring would also become a dead ship adrift in the vacuum of space.

However, there are exceptions. Compared to humans and dinosaurs, the Trisolaran First Fleet's movement pattern is quite different from that of human fleets and dinosaur motherships.

Humans have observed through space telescopes that the Trisolaran First Fleet has undergone multiple acceleration and deceleration movements, with at least six long acceleration and deceleration changes occurring in the past 200 years.

Such a high degree of speed change without refueling is something that human warships cannot do.

Although the Trisolaran fleet was slow, it recklessly displayed its ability to brake and accelerate at will.

How the Trisolaran fleet manages to continuously acquire energy for variable acceleration motion in a complete interstellar vacuum remains a mystery to humanity at this stage.

(End of this chapter)