From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars

Robert 4 geostationary orbit, 'Plenty' spaceport.

As the only civilian throughput port and orbital elevator on this agricultural planet.

Every day, a large number of containers loaded with cash crops, meat, and animal husbandry by-products are launched through orbital elevators and then loaded into cargo spacecraft parked in the space port.

August in Cosmic Standard Time is the harvest season on Robert 4.

It is also the busiest time for the 'Funding' spaceport.

If someone could stay in the space near Port of Plenty at this time, they would be able to see densely packed cargo spaceships sliding out from various exits of the space port.

The light at their tails gradually changes from dark red to blue, which is a symbol of the increasing power of the plasma propulsion array.

The cargo ships leaving the airport gradually gathered together like a school of fish in the deep sea after adjusting their orbit and attitude.

They will follow a fixed orbit, continue to accelerate with the help of Robert 4's rotation, and finally reach the speed required to escape the gravity of the planet.

Further back, the flow of water diverges again in different directions.

A small number of ships will use gravity slingshots to travel to other planets in the galaxy or nearby galaxies.

If they were not in this border galaxy, but in a more prosperous galaxy.

The flight time can also be further shortened through the ultra-large mass accelerator built by the federation.

In addition to these short-distance ships, most of the ships will be heading to the large jump drive arrays in deep space, and after waiting in line, they will be sent to other star systems.

The big guys in the fleet, the giant cargo spacecraft equipped with jump engines, will directly start the engines and sail into subspace after reaching a safe distance.

For such important scientific and technological achievements that promote human development, the ruling classes of all major human forces have very strict control over them.

Even though it has been carried on all military ships, it is still relatively rare for civilian cargo spacecraft.

Civilian spaceships mostly use large jump drive arrays built by major forces to travel across galaxies.

At present, in this endless fleet, fifty-meter-class traffic boats are constantly passing through it.

These traffic boats belonging to Robert IV Customs will board the ship for final inspection during the acceleration process of the spacecraft.

The patrol boat numbered LHJ-117, under the control of the pilot, passed through this large group of 'fish' lightly.

Finally, it docked on a cyan-painted fox-class cargo spacecraft.

As the air-tight door slowly opened, the first thing the several customs staff responsible for boarding and inspecting the ship saw was the captain with a flattering smile on his face and rubbing his hands.

"Ship number 6277, Mithril."

"Customs boarding inspection now."

"Please open the shipboard terminal interface, we need to access it."

The expressionless customs staff ignored the captain's sneer and walked into the cabin without looking back.

One of the staff members directly found the fast passage inside the cargo spacecraft.

After jumping into the gravity-free zone, he held the handles on the transmission tracks on both sides and 'floated' towards the cockpit.

He will be responsible for accessing the ship's terminal and checking the original documents of the voyage log and cargo manifest in the terminal to see if they comply with regulations.

The other staff, led by the captain, went to the cargo hold at the rear of the spacecraft.

"Captain Ramos, I have been running this route for almost ten years. We are all old acquaintances. Why do we still need to be so strict?"

The captain, who had a wrinkled face, calmly handed a pack of cigarettes to the customs leaders.

This is a truly hand-rolled cigarette, which is considered a rarity for the staff who stay in Fengrao Port all year round and rarely go to the ground.

The middle-aged man known as Captain Ramos skillfully took the cigarette and put it into the pocket of his uniform.

However, the expression on his face remained unchanged, and his speed to the warehouse did not slow down at all.

"Routine inspections are routine inspections, that's the rule."

"Don't think that because you are familiar with me, I will lower my inspection standards for you."

The captain, who was half a body behind, looked at the guy in front of him who was trying to get cards and refused to do anything, and he cursed in his heart countless times.

However, he still put on a smile and followed honestly.

The speed of this routine random inspection is very fast, and it is nothing more than a random inspection of the dozens of composite warehouses inside the Mithril.

After all, the throughput of the port during this period was too great, and the customs stationed in Fengrao Port were almost overwhelmed.

Soon, after the inspection was completed and no abnormalities were found, Ramos was ready to collect the team and head to the next boat.

Just when he was about to open the last warehouse for inspection, the captain, who had always been very cooperative, suddenly stood in front of him.

"Captain Ramos, let's just say, have you finished the inspection?"

Looking at the guy in front of him, Ramos frowned and said unhappily:

"Get out of the way! This is the last one. Leave after checking."

"No, I see everyone has worked hard. There are many ships waiting for you to inspect."

The captain was still blocking the door of the warehouse, with no intention of getting out of the way.

His uncooperative behavior made Captain Ramos a little angry.

The captain of the customs inspection team, who had dominated Fengrao Port for many years and had taught countless captains a lesson, immediately pulled out the stun gun from his waist.

But the next second, an LED sheet handed over by the captain in front of him stopped his movements.

The words "Special goods from Yasin Base will be released immediately by random inspection personnel" are simply written on the LED sheet.

But where the signature was placed, Commander Adam’s signature and electronic signature made this LED sheet seem to weigh a thousand pounds.

After a moment of hesitation, Captain Ramos finally sighed and returned the stun gun to its holster.

"Forget it, let's go."

The customs inspection personnel quickly returned to the traffic boat and undocking with the Mithril.

Looking at the cargo spacecraft entering the 'school of fish' outside the porthole, Captain Ramos was unwilling but helpless.

If it is in the core star circle of the Federation, the customs under the planetary administrative center can still compete with the military.

But this is the border, and having a gun is more useful than anything else.

Even his immediate boss's immediate boss, the chief executive of Robert No. 4, had to give Commander Adam a smile.

If you are a small customs inspector, don't get into trouble.

"The god of plague has finally been sent away."

In the cockpit of the Mithril, the captain with a wrinkled face no longer had the playful smile on his face.

Instead, there was a serious expression.

He raised his wrist and looked at the personal terminal screen above. The cosmic standard time in the upper right corner had reached 14:15 on August 17.

"Fortunately, it didn't waste too much time."

"Continue to act according to the plan and abandon warehouse No. 42 in one hour!"

"As you command, Captain!"

August 17, 15:15 Cosmic Standard Time.

Container No. 42 'accidentally' detached from the Mithril.

After detecting foreign objects on the waterway that hindered the ship's navigation, a small engineering boat rushed over.

After urgently contacting the surrounding cargo ships that were passing by, the owner was not found.

Several carbon fiber cables with electromagnetic hooks were ejected from the small engineering boat to control the rolling container.

Immediately afterwards, this small engineering boat towed the container and headed towards Fengrao Port in accordance with the standard procedures of "Channel Cleaning Operation".

August 17, 15:30 Cosmic Standard Time.

The Star Dragon Empire's border system, the Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group of the Imperial Royal Navy.

They were surrounded on the bridge of the third ship of the Requiem-class battleship - the 'Sword of Dawn', the flagship in the center of the fleet.

The commander of the strike group, Vice Admiral of the Imperial Royal Navy, Margrave Riemann von Ascania, who had been waiting for a long time, finally heard the news he had been waiting for.

"General, we captured the signal of a decoy beacon!"

"The signal characteristics are exactly the same as those provided in the intelligence!"