Monday, November 22, 2066.
In the dark void, the red Jupiter hung in the sky, like a giant from myth, guarding its territory.
The pale blue Swordfish stealthily cut into orbit, at a vertical altitude of 26 million kilometers.
Inside the living module, Ou Zhanpeng stared at the time on the screen, confirming it several times before he was sure he wasn't hallucinating. Yet, he couldn't fathom why they had arrived more than two months ahead of schedule!
If it weren't for the certainty that the system time could not be wrong, he would have thought the warship's control system had malfunctioned.
Recalling carefully, the arrival of the alien species seemed to be at the end of September, barely half a month after the escape pod. Such speed was truly unprecedented!
He immediately made a decision: as soon as communications were restored, he would report this news to the base. In the future, the Swordfish spacecraft could be standardized and become an important means of transportation within the solar system!
However, as the Swordfish had just arrived at Jupiter, it was still in the outer regions of Jupiter. The distance from the red planet was too vast, and the colossal planet did not appear as immense as imagined, looking like a red moon hanging high in the sky.
Because he had been asleep before reaching Jupiter, and the Swordfish lacked observational equipment, Ou Zhanpeng had no idea where the escape pod was. But the enemy's target was undoubtedly the four Galilean moons.
Io's environment was too harsh and too close to Jupiter, so it was ruled out first. Europa was on the periphery, particularly favored by small celestial bodies, suffering impacts from time to time. However, the alien species might not care about this. Then there were Europa and Ganymede. Both of these moons were true ice worlds. Considering that the "brain fish" were aquatic species, the probability of landing on these two moons was the highest!
But it was difficult to say which one specifically.
However, it didn't matter. These extra two months were a bonus, and he could observe slowly.
For a period afterward, the Swordfish continuously lowered its altitude, gradually approaching Jupiter's inner regions.
Yet, the alien species was always full of surprises. Several days later, Ou Zhanpeng discovered that the escape pod had appeared on the surface of Callisto!
Upon closer thought, however, it made sense. This moon was half rock and half water, making it more suitable for the alien species to inhabit and develop.
After all, development couldn't rely solely on water; other resources were equally essential.
In comparison, Europa and Ganymede had too much water. Simply breaking through the ice layer would exhaust the alien species.
But what surprised Ou Zhanpeng even more was yet to come. In the following days, he successively found parts of the escape pod on Ganymede and Europa, and finally, even a section of the hull on Io!
The complete disintegration of the escape pod was excellent news, but the escape pod being in four pieces and the alien species thriving in multiple locations was perplexing. Especially on Io, did the alien species particularly favor harsh environments?
This was simply unscientific and made no sense!
The situation was a bit complicated, much like Ou Zhanpeng's thoughts.
He didn't want to just watch, but the Swordfish had not been designed for combat from the outset. Apart from a suit of power armor and matching individual weapons, the ship had no other equipment, unless they were to ram... No, that wasn't right; there were still four missiles on board!
What's more, to balance the weight, the warheads had not been removed, only the safety mechanisms had been strengthened.
When these were installed, combat was never intended, but given the urgency of the situation, Ou Zhanpeng couldn't afford to be picky. He had studied the structure of the missiles extensively when installing them onto the Swordfish. Restoring the safety mechanisms and firing the missiles posed no problem. The only issue was the lack of fire control guidance, making it uncertain whether they could hit the targets accurately.
He decided to act immediately. Even if he couldn't destroy the escape pod, causing some trouble for the enemy would be beneficial.
Over the next two days, Ou Zhanpeng was busy with this task. First, he restored the warheads, then loosened the connections between the missiles and the ship, and finally, used the fire control equipment on his armor to input the target coordinates.
It was unclear if they would hit, but in short, Ou Zhanpeng made all the preparations possible under the existing conditions, pushing each step to the limit of his abilities.
With all preparations complete, he released the final restraint on the missiles and issued the ignition command.
The four missiles ignited simultaneously, accelerating away from the Swordfish. Initially, they stayed together, but before long, they separated and flew towards different targets.
Ou Zhanpeng floated above the ship, watching the missiles fly away until they became small specks of light before returning to the living module.
The missiles did not hit immediately but took a full four days to approach their targets.
The prolonged flight had already alerted the alien species. As one of the missiles approached Callisto, over a dozen alien fighter jets suddenly soared from the moon's surface.
Ou Zhanpeng had already witnessed how primitive the alien fighter jets were, but these dozen or so aircraft still managed to lower the bar for spacecraft in space—they were primarily constructed of ice, and instead of expelling flames from their rear, they emitted white airflow.
Ou Zhanpeng was amazed; could it be done this way?
However, upon closer thought, it was evident that these alien fighter jets were purely perfunctory. Their maneuverability and structural integrity were certainly far inferior to the originals.
But then again, it was truly surprising that these contraptions could fly.
Ou Zhanpeng guessed that they most likely did not take off from the four major moons but were hastily constructed on some minor moon somewhere.
The alien species had indeed exhausted all means to deal with their missiles.
It was clear that the "brain fish" were at their wit's end to resort to such shoddy creations. Otherwise, even if they had carved fighter jets out of stone, Ou Zhanpeng wouldn't have been this surprised.
As the missiles flew closer, the alien warships actively intercepted them.
Ou Zhanpeng found it strange that no weapons were visible on these ice-based fighter jets. It was only when the fighter jets blocked the missiles and the giant alien species ejected from their cockpits that he finally understood.
So, they had never intended to destroy the missiles with weapons!
Unexpectedly, a missile collided with an alien fighter jet, smashing through it without any effect and continuing towards its target.
The remaining alien warships became agitated and, as if they had consumed the wrong medicine, rammed the missiles one after another. However, in the end, they couldn't stop the targets, and the missiles continued to fly towards them.
Whether it was the impact of the giant species that ultimately had some effect, or an excessive error in the coordinate input, the missile ultimately missed, veering off by tens of kilometers and creating a massive crater tens of meters deep on the surface of Callisto.
The other three missiles were also intercepted by alien fighter jets. One veered off and missed its target, another exploded in mid-air, engulfing all nearby alien fighter jets. Only one successfully hit, though not directly on target. The immense power of a nuclear explosion at the moment of detonation engulfed that section of the escape pod.
One hit out of four, Ou Zhanpeng was already very satisfied.
Afterward, the alien species considered retaliation, but Ou Zhanpeng was very prudent, staying in a higher orbit and refusing to descend. The ice-based fighter jets were too crude to increase their altitude, leaving a group of giant aliens sighing with regret.
The two sides disliked each other but were powerless to destroy the other, and the situation became deadlocked.