Chapter 1 The First Contact
The negotiation objective of the First Civilization was simple: to demand the return of prisoners of war and warships. Moreover, their representative seemed completely unaware that they were the defeated party. Not only was their tone extremely arrogant, but their attitude was also exceptionally stubborn, acting as if their presence was a great favor.
After only a few sentences, Ou Zhanpeng couldn't stand it and retorted directly, "Want prisoners? No problem. The moment you win, we'll give you Earth too!"
With that, he left without paying any heed to the other party's shouting.
The negotiator from the First Civilization – a guy who called himself a Duke – was dumbfounded, with only one question in his mind: Where did these primitive people get the courage to provoke?
If only Ou Zhanpeng hadn't heard this thought, he would have retorted again: I annihilated your entire fleet, that's our qualification!
The short negotiation ended unhappily. The representative of the other party left in a huff and returned directly to Shallow Cloud Star.
This Duke was unaware that, as part of the prisoner management, the entire negotiation was broadcast live to the captives, causing extreme dissatisfaction among them.
Especially Duke Mi Sha, who hated this pig teammate even more.
Why send such a useless strawman who could achieve nothing but cause trouble?
For this reason, she found Zhan Wenyue and volunteered to take charge of the negotiations, offering to convey the human intention to Shallow Cloud Star.
To put it bluntly, it meant: you release me, and I'll take your intentions back with me.
Zhan Wenyue didn't know what to say. Well, that was quite a clever little plan, wasn't it?
Naturally, the result was no result; everything remained the same.
However, the POW issue would eventually have to be resolved. The higher-ups did indeed find time to discuss the possibility of Mi Sha opening a dialogue channel.
After all, the higher-ups did not want to remain in perpetual conflict with the prehistoric civilization. Peace and development were the main themes pursued by humanity.
And war had always been an extension of politics.
Or rather, the higher-ups wouldn't mind a fierce struggle with the prehistoric civilization, but after winning, they must obtain due rewards. Otherwise, wouldn't this battle have been fought in vain?
For this purpose, the higher-ups summoned Ou Zhanpeng, hoping to hear his opinion.
"I think we don't need to rush to return the prisoners," Ou Zhanpeng's attitude was very clear. "We can absolutely utilize these prisoners!"
The few higher-ups looked at each other. Shan Qiuyu asked doubtfully, "Utilize them how?"
Ou Zhanpeng found a document on his terminal and transmitted it to the three leaders. "This is my plan."
With three parts doubt and seven parts curiosity, the leaders browsed the document.
Zhou Guangyi looked up in shock after only a short while. "Is all this true?"
Ou Zhanpeng nodded. "It's all true."
"Quick, tell us in detail!" Zhou Guangyi said urgently.
Ou Zhanpeng immediately began to elaborate on his plan. "Simply put, the core of this plan is just two words: expansion."
"As we all know, from the broken ships onwards, our achievements in science and technology have been remarkable. However, also constrained by technology, we have basically been on the defensive all these years. But prolonged defense inevitably leads to losses; no one can guarantee that we can defend Earth next time. Therefore, going out is a problem we must face, and it is urgent."
Shan Qiuyu gave a wry smile. "It's not that we are unwilling to go out, it's that we simply don't have the conditions!"
Ou Zhanpeng agreed. "Yes, not long ago, we were still worried about the shortage of warships, making it impossible to leave the solar system. But now it's different. We've captured dozens of warships, which is our foundation for going out!"
As he spoke, his eyes seemed to gleam. "Since we have one foot at the doorstep of interstellar civilization, we should continue to advance. Sticking to the solar system is the most foolish choice. Expanding to surrounding systems and further galaxies is what we should do. Even if Earth is destroyed by alien civilizations, we will still have the capital to rise again."
"Alright!" Zhou Guangyi waved his hand. "We all understand the reasoning. We didn't have the conditions before. Since we now have the foundation, how do you think we should expand?"
Ou Zhanpeng answered without hesitation. "First, survey the conditions of other star systems; second, establish permanent extraterrestrial bases, especially industrial bases; third, immigration; fourth, trade!"
The few leaders looked at each other again. They understood the first few points, but with the current strained relationship between humans and the prehistoric civilization, who could they trade with?
It was only when Ou Zhanpeng detailed the situation of space pirates that the higher-ups suddenly realized.
"So, you mean to issue privateering licenses to space pirates?" Shan Qiuyu said.
"You could say that," Ou Zhanpeng did not conceal it at all. "We need more technological items, and space pirates need supplies, replenishment, and security. Cooperation is mutually beneficial. Personally, I believe that for the development of humanity, we should not be bound by methods and means; the outcome is the most important thing."
Humanity was still very weak and had neither the qualification nor the ability to influence those powerful interstellar civilizations. At this time, talking about sympathy and humanity was as useless as farting.
Only when humanity truly became strong would it have the qualification to talk about sympathy and humanity.
The few leaders huddled together to discuss. After reaching a conclusion, Zhou Guangyi cleared his throat, showing unconcealed melancholy. "In principle, we agree with your plan, but there are a few points that need attention."
"First, try not to fly the human flag, to avoid being targeted by other civilizations."
Ou Zhanpeng nodded. "That's what I wanted to emphasize."
"Second, the personnel must be reliable; third, security must be guaranteed; fourth, it must be profitable; fifth..."
The higher-ups made a series of requests, and the expansion plan was happily decided upon. The POW issue was immediately shelved and never mentioned again.
Not long after, eight warships left the solar system, heading towards Alpha Centauri, Barnard's Star, Wolf 359, Luyten 21185, Sirius, Luyten 726-8, Ross 154, and Ross 248, respectively.
But these were only the first batch of exploration targets. Subsequently, these warships would also visit Eridanus, Lacaille 9352, Ross 128, Aquarius EZ, Procyon, Tianjin, Gliese 725, Groombridge 34, Indus e, Xuan Yuan Zao Twenty-nine, and Grus, and so on.
In short, the goal was to use the solar system as a base and meticulously explore all the surrounding star systems. First, grasp the general situation. For systems with harsh environments, unmanned space stations or scientific research stations would be arranged. If there were planets with suitable environments, then permanent bases would be established. If there were habitable planets, they would become immigration bases.
In addition, the search for suitable mining planets was also one of the key objectives of this operation.
Another objective was to establish a complete early warning system by surveying the situation.
Speaking of this, both the higher-ups and Ou Zhanpeng found it particularly troublesome because wormholes were the main mode of transportation for aliens, making any long-range early warning useless.
Whenever this matter was brought up, Ou Zhanpeng desperately wanted to obtain the spatial blockade technology of the Black Horn people. If a super-large radius no-fly zone could be created centered on the solar system, it would completely solve the problem of aliens appearing near Earth at any time.
Unfortunately, even if the spatial blockade technology was obtained, it would not be able to blockade such a vast space. It was merely a fantasy.
However, as the warships moved, the military not only mapped out the conditions of various star systems but also deployed the first batch of space bases.
These bases were unmanned bases built by Star Ark bases, mainly responsible for collecting basic information about the star systems.
Later, the military stationed personnel in each star system and arranged warships in important locations. From then on, countless stories unfolded in various star systems, some of which were heroic and touching, but most were ordinary and unremarkable.
In life, there were not so many dramatic events. Emptiness and solitude were the eternal themes of the universe.
During this period, there were also unexpected gains. The first was the confirmation of the universality of planets; basically, where there were stars, there were planets.
The second was the universality of water. The fleet explored over twenty star systems, and found more than seventy planets with water or ice. Fourteen planets had liquid water, which was simply mind-boggling.
However, there was only one planet with widespread liquid water, or rivers and lakes. The polar temperatures were around forty degrees Celsius, and the equatorial temperatures exceeded one hundred and ten degrees Celsius, making it a scorching hell!
Logically, this planet's atmosphere should be filled with clouds, but this was not the case. Because the atmospheric pressure was too high, more than a hundred times that of Earth's atmospheric pressure, under such conditions, the boiling point of water exceeded three hundred degrees Celsius. Yet, miraculously, stable rivers and lakes existed.
If humans were to immigrate here, they could only operate in the polar regions.
It could only be said that although habitable planets were numerous in the universe, they were not so common that one could be found by simply looking around.
In addition, the fleet had previously detected the traces of space pirates in three star systems.
The closest one was actually in Sirius!
Even Ou Zhanpeng was shocked by this news, never expecting that space pirates were so close to humans.
The warships carrying out the survey mission even had direct contact with the space pirates. However, upon seeing the distinctive one-versus-four appearance of the human warships, they immediately retreated and sent friendly greetings.
It was no joke. Although they didn't have the blood-dripping skull emblem, among the space pirate community, the "Flame" class was always considered the "Star Ark."
Moreover, most space pirates were well-informed. Very few of them didn't know about the Star Ark, and even fewer dared to provoke it.
It was just a chance encounter. Those space pirates even opened the way for the human warships, providing a lot of useful intelligence that strongly supported the military's subsequent plans.
It was quite ridiculous, to be honest.
Ultimately, the military decided to establish humanity's first trading base in Sirius.
For this, the higher-ups had a heated debate.
One viewpoint was that Sirius was too far away, which was not conducive to trade and exchange between humans and aliens, and that Proxima Centauri would be more suitable.
Another viewpoint was that proximity was not good for Earth's safety, and it was better to maintain a safe distance.
Both sides argued back and forth, but most people felt that Earth's safety was more important. As for the trade results... wouldn't it be enough if the Star Ark made a few more trips?
Yes, it was still the Star Ark.
Not the warships, but the Star Ark base.
Or rather, only with the scale of the Star Ark base could the task of establishing a trading base in Sirius and transporting a large volume of supplies be completed.
Therefore, this task could only be handed over to the Star Ark base.
This decision greatly astonished Ou Zhanpeng. To solve the transportation problem, he had to discuss with Gong Yiding and cancel the construction plans for several warships, converting them into transport ships to alleviate the burden on the Star Ark base.
After a period of preparation, the Star Ark base quietly departed and traveled through the wormhole to Sirius.
As everyone knows, this is a binary star system, with a main-sequence star and a white dwarf. Due to the gravitational entanglement of these two stars, if there were large planets, their orbits would be chaotic, regardless of which star they orbited. They would either deviate from their orbits and collide with the star, or be ejected from their original orbits by gravity, eventually leaving the star system and becoming rogue planets.
Therefore, only at the edges of the star system were there some larger celestial bodies, but the largest was only a dwarf planet.
However, it didn't matter. A trading base was not a colonial base, so the environment was not important.
The Star Ark base spent several months hollowing out a small asteroid with a diameter of more than two hundred kilometers, installing necessary systems such as a power furnace, shields, and force fields, and finally creating a space base that integrated trade, leisure, and maintenance.
A base alone was not enough. Since it was a trading base, selling what kind of goods would be crucial in attracting customers.
The military deliberated for a long time and finally decided to sell some heavy element raw materials.
For most civilizations, heavy elements were not unobtainable, but they were not readily available everywhere. Large quantities of heavy elements were even rarer, and considered a very scarce commodity.
If this were not the case, gold would not have become hard currency among interstellar civilizations.
Therefore, the First Civilization specifically included clauses on mining and trade in its membership agreement, intending to obtain large quantities of cheap heavy elements from the solar system.
At first glance, it seemed unreasonable. Since the solar system possessed abundant heavy elements, other star systems should logically also possess them.
But in reality, it was nothing of the sort. Most star systems were not so fortunate. Light elements below iron were the mainstream configuration of this universe.
It was no exaggeration to say that within a few hundred light-years, the solar system was the easiest place to obtain heavy elements, and most mineral deposits were concentrated within the asteroid belt. Beyond the asteroid belt, the further towards the edge of the star system, the less the content of heavy elements.
One theory suggested that the solar system was not a first-generation star system, but rather formed from a nebula created by the explosion of a supermassive star. After the nebula re-aggregated into celestial bodies, the current solar system was formed.
Therefore, the solar system possessed a large amount of heavy elements.
Others said that at the beginning of the solar system's formation, it passed through a nebula rich in heavy elements, and a large amount of heavy elements accumulated in the dust disk, thus forming the current solar system.
Regardless of the reason, the importance of heavy elements to interstellar civilizations was evident. Therefore, using heavy elements to break the ice was indeed a very feasible method.
However, without sufficient armed forces for protection, abundant resources would only become a reason for other civilizations to covet the solar system.