The world-devouring dragon

What would space age warfare look like?

In the age of ancient Earth, many science fiction works like to describe beings driving various space battleships, and then shooting various beams of light in space.

However, among these many science fiction works, most of them ignore the changes in technology. In the eyes of science fiction authors from the ancient Earth era, they often habitually believe that space is just an expansion of the ocean, and space battleships are just an expansion of ocean battleships. Therefore, in this vast space, naval battles are staged one after another. .

Therefore, wooden warships with dark matter engines crisscrossed the space, relying on the strong neutron star material collision horns to collide with each other. Soldiers holding machetes made of neutron star material relied on gang-hopping tactics to kill seven people in the crowd. In and out, the Space Age uses tactics from the Sail Age, the black hole weapon is like a big bomb, and the dimensional laws are modified at will...

But unfortunately, this situation does not exist in the physical universe.

Even if the pace of interstellar humans expands to the entire galaxy, interstellar humans still will not know the "mathematical modifications" and "law weapons" in the science fiction works of the ancient Earth era. Just like humans will not create omnipotent weapons even if they reach the 22nd world. Just like the wish-making Doraemon.

In this extremely rigorous and sometimes boring physical universe, countless illusions have been extinguished, but at the same time, the tactics of interstellar humans are far beyond the understanding and imagination of humans in the ancient Earth era.

With the improvement of technology, human beings will not wear thicker and thicker armor and sharper and sharper swords to fight. Instead, they will wear lightweight military uniforms, because no matter how thick the armor is, they will be vulnerable to firearms and bullets kilometers away. It makes no sense either.

Countries in the Middle East once believed that they had countless artillery tanks. Relying on the experience of World War II, they believed that firepower was everything. However, the United States' effortless information-based combat easily achieved a battle loss ratio of 50:200,000.

Technology, its changes are always beyond the understanding and imagination of the ancients.

…

In space, in the fluctuations caused by psychic jumps. A huge spaceship appeared in space.

"General Tilloan, the troops have been assembled."

The information coming from afar was received by the processor in his brain. The middle-aged man known as General Tilloan didn't say much, but just signaled preparations for battle.

However, he clearly only has one spaceship, so what kind of battle is he commanding?

Yes, he only has one spaceship...a ​​flagship spacecraft that does not have a weapon system at all. This huge flagship spacecraft has no combat capabilities and only has a large number of command systems.

Because 10 billion kilometers away from him, in the vast space, a group of neatly arranged drones, numbering more than one billion, were floating quietly, like a dead army, waiting for orders.

With the formation of AI technology, the idea of ​​relying on humans to drive battleships has become silly.

Humans need food, clothing, and daily life, and need to plan many redundant areas on the battleship as living areas; but AI does not need that, AI only needs energy supply, and a loyal AI will execute all orders without hesitation. The greatly compressed space spacecraft can therefore carry more efficient weapons and become a high-speed, deadly and cheap killer.

As long as factories continue to produce, armies can be formed continuously. How can flesh and blood bodies compete with steel in quantity? A drone swarm measured in billions is meaningless to interstellar civilization, even if the number is increased by another 100 million times, it will be meaningless.

On this basis, the ancient soldier profession has almost disappeared, and there are only generals who manage drones and commanders who manage generals in the army.

Therefore, a long time ago, space combat changed from a battle of lives between humans to a calm calculation of numbers, which to some extent is closer to the strategy game played in the ancient Earth era.

"A-1 Group...C-6 Group..."

In the flagship with only a few dozen people, the general calmly issued orders. Any order will directly affect the fate of more than 10 billion drones.

Any of those drones loaded with celestial weapons can easily destroy an asteroid, and some are even loaded with star-destroying weapons. Although it can only be used once, there is no need to think about reusing this cheap machine. It will be destroyed if it is destroyed.

These drones are like billions of rounds of incredibly powerful ammunition. All that is needed now is to tilt these ammunition out.

According to detection, in about 17 galactic hours, the target will enter the front of a huge military force composed of drones.

Taking advantage of this break, Tiloan even took the time to connect to a private channel to exchange command experiences with his companions.

"General Tilloan, do you think this test can be successful?"

Next to him, a young reserve general asked. His body exuded flickering spiritual fluctuations, and he seemed to be a little curious.

Tiloan glanced at the young reserve general beside him. He thought for a moment, frowned, and then shook his head.

"To be honest, I'm not very optimistic about it."

Obviously, this answer was completely beyond the expectations of the young reserve general. In his opinion, this long-famous general should be more bold and radical. How could he be so pessimistic?

he asked somewhat surprised.

"Why?"

Tilloan did not directly answer the young reserve general's question, but asked rhetorically.

"Newcomer, why do you think you can win?"

"We have the most advanced weapons and the most advanced drones... If our power is really poured out, we can completely destroy a star."

The young reserve general couldn't help but straighten up and replied proudly.

Indeed, in this era, no human country can compete with the technology of the Second Republic. At this moment, the Second Republic is expanding crazily. In the eyes of many people, the day when mankind in the galaxy will be unified again is not far away.

The general asked again without comment.

"What about your opponent? What do you know about your opponent?"

opponent?

The young reserve general was at a loss for words. He knew the composition of his army very well and knew the advantages and disadvantages of those unmanned machines, but the opponent? How could he know something that he didn't even know about at academic conferences.

Looking at the reserve general in front of him, Tiloan sighed and said softly instead of using his mind waves to communicate spiritually.

"This is what worries me. We don't know the target's information, and we just attack rashly based on confidence. Even if we can really test the target's fighting style and behavior, it will just be a lucky victory."

Unlike other colleagues who were quite optimistic, Tilloan, who had made military exploits in various space battles all year round, felt uneasy.

This uneasiness is not only because his psychic ability senses danger, but also because of his experience.

Just as he was talking, AI had already sent a message.

"coming."

Tiloan's eyes narrowed out of habit, watching the information coming from the front.

…

At the front, there are some drones equipped with subspace communication capabilities. They have no combat capabilities and can be easily destroyed when dealing with fellow human fleets. They have basically no actual combat value.

It was originally used to explore space, but considering that the target would not know the role of these drones, some remote eyes were called. These subspace communication drones will use the super-light speed capabilities of subspace to directly transmit information to the flagship 10 billion kilometers away for immediate command.

In the information sent back by the subspace communication drone, Tiloan could see the huge giant snake that was regarded as the ultimate specimen by academic conferences and caused heated discussions in the human world.

Just as the rumors said, it was an unbelievably huge monster. Even with a super powerful prosthetic eye, it was almost impossible to capture the shape of this huge monster, and could only see a huge light coming.

Almost nothing can catch up with its tracks, not even drones known for their high speeds. However, as long as you ambush where it passes in advance, it will be fine.

The first wave of drones have already rushed forward.

The weapons carried by these drones are not very powerful and can only penetrate some small celestial bodies. In Tiloan's view, it is impossible to penetrate the scales that can resist stellar matter. However, neither Tiloan nor the Academic Council expected this. After all, Tiloan's mission was to test, not to kill.

The first round of weapons hit the target successfully, at least according to the feedback, but it seemed to have no effect.

"Test... small plasma... invalid..."

Beside, the spacecraft AI is silently doing statistical work.

Almost immediately after, the second round of drones rushed forward, followed by the third, fourth, and fifth rounds...

Amid the continuous weapon impacts, the huge light showed no intention of stopping, but in just a few rounds, the light had flown over tens of millions of kilometers.

Tilloan's face did not change.

He is very clear about the high-speed characteristics of the target. All drones are distributed according to the speed of the target. Within this 1.4 billion kilometers, there are rows of drones. The contempt of the target is more suitable for this test task.

"test……"

The spacecraft AI is constantly counting the results.

In the rounds of tests, dozens of rounds of weapon impacts seemed to have no impact on the target, and Tiloan frowned slightly.

Although the target has no reaction, it is indeed very suitable for testing the effect of weapons. However, what is more important is the target's attack method. If you don't know the target's attack method, there will be no real battle.

"Planetary level weapons preparation."

Tiloan made some adjustments. It was expected that the previous weapons had no effect, but the real focus was the planet-destroying weapons. Faced with weapons that could destroy planets, could the target continue to turn a blind eye?

Finally, facing the incoming Star Destroyer weapon, the huge light seemed to move, and in an instant, a change occurred...

"puff!"

Suddenly, the distant information coming from the front disappeared instantly.

"what happened?"

No more on-site information could be seen. The spacecraft AI automatically tried to reconnect through subspace communication, but the subspace communication drone also showed no response. Not one drone lost its response. It seemed that in an instant, more than hundreds of millions of drones scattered all over the place lost their response.

Not only that, even when trying to contact other weapons testing drones, there was no response, as if the flagship spacecraft had lost contact with the outside world in the vast space.

"Tilloan, we have detected anomalies... What is the situation ahead..."

Suddenly, a rapid subspace message came. In the image, the fleet commander of Area 21 looked anxious.

Not a malfunction?

Tilloan felt inexplicably uneasy.

"Leap away immediately!"

Without even thinking about calling the drone group ahead again, Tiloan directly ordered the spacecraft to perform a subspace jump.

The spacecraft AI carried out Tiloan's order, and more than ten seconds later, the huge flagship spacecraft disappeared from the spot.

…

Several galactic hours later, a strange space-time fluctuation formed in the original drone cluster, and a fully armed spacecraft appeared.

Tiloan looked at the vast space in front of him and remained silent.

"how so……"

Beside him, the young reserve general was stunned.

In the dark and silent space, countless drone fragments were seen suspended in this 1.4 billion-kilometer-wide universe, like relics left after a war.

What happened here several galactic hours ago? No one knew, even Tiloan, who had experienced all this, couldn't explain it. It was as if more than quadrillion drones were shattered into pieces in just an instant.

"We...we test it again."

The reserve general gritted his teeth, while Tiloan looked at the huge space machinery cemetery in front of him and shook his head.

"It's useless. I think it will be the same no matter how many times I repeat it."

Just as Tilloan said, the next few tests also ended in strange failures. They all disintegrated into pieces in just an instant, and no one knew why.

And this situation was quickly known by academic conferences in the ring world.

Faced with this result, the president of the 7th Ring World Society gritted his teeth and looked at it for a long time.

What kind of abilities does that giant snake in space have? How does it behave? To this day, it remains a mystery to the Second Republic and no one knows.

In the second step, I still fell into trouble.