Chapter 54: Mutation and Preparation

At the same time as Xiang Yuan's heavy armored transport ship Brown Bear III flew to the "Eden", McCas's team also broke into the hangar, and after Du Jin saw the size and structure of the space inside, he only felt a shock:

According to the different aircraft maintenance volume and maintenance project requirements, the layout of the hangar, the building height and the structural form are also different, which mainly depends on the following factors:

(1) The type and quantity of the aircraft to be maintained at the same time, the items to be maintained and the degree to which it needs to be overhauled;

(2) Requirements and restrictions on the height and layout of the hangar structure;

(3) Requirements for the setting of hangar gates and cranes and working platforms in the hangar;

(4) Requirements for the configuration of fire-fighting facilities inside and outside the hangar;

(5) Site conditions and development trends.

And the "Eden" hangar parked dozens of mining spaceships, at least four to five times larger than the civil airliner on the Blue Star, judging from their size and a huge energy emitting device at the top of the spacecraft, the repair, maintenance and daily maintenance costs of these dozens of mining spacecraft are far beyond Du Jin's cognition.

The structure of this hangar is also particularly large, and the hangar layout and height requirements are relatively special, which directly affects the structural form of the hangar. Due to the large span of the hangar, the self-weight of the structure (mainly referring to the roof system) accounts for a large proportion of the total load, and if the self-weight of the structure can be reduced, obvious economic effects can be obtained.

The hangar on the blue star generally adopts steel structure, because it has the advantages of high strength, light weight, small cross-section of components, weldability, and relatively simple manufacturing process, so it is more common to use steel structure as a roof load-bearing system in large-span structures, but those alloy columns that emit dazzling black can make Du Jin sure that what is used here is definitely another material that is probably not found in the present world.

The overall structure adopts the space structure system, which is well stressed, light in weight, and can solve the problems that can not be solved by some plane structure systems, and the space structures such as shell structure, grid structure, and suspension structure have been widely used as the roof system of large-span buildings.

In general, the shock in Du Jin's heart at this time is not only the shock of science and technology, but the fact that the Interstellar Federation can build such a huge hangar inside a spaceship, not to mention that the "Eden" is just a civilian mining ship, although it belongs to the "Zeus-class" giant ship, but many ship-based weapons and carrier-based fighters are not installed, if there is a warship of the same size, Du Jin can't imagine how terrifying the other party's firepower is.

After all, in space combat, close-range "hand-to-hand combat" scenes rarely appear, unless the gap between the two sides in science and technology is too large, or the long-range attack means are temporarily ineffective, otherwise in the unusually huge battlefield space, it is very common to end the battle at a long distance.

In the military education system for space operations, including the Interstellar Federation, long-range combat tactics are also listed first:

Due to the constraints of the space environment, in the three-dimensional environment, the probability of being detected by large formations is much greater than that of small formations, so long-distance battles generally occur between large formations. Since there is no theoretical basis for the energy shield technology, there is basically no possibility of realization, and the mobility of large warships is very poor, and the lethality of energy weapons is huge, and the cannon-style combat mode of giant ships is equivalent to self-killing. Therefore, large formation space operations are generally dominated by battles between space carriers and carrier-based aircraft. It is equivalent to the current aircraft carrier formation operation.

Attacking in a straight line, with the shortest attack route, but not the best option. The huge space space, the ultra-long range of energy weapons, and the coverage of a large area determine that the strike distance of carrier-based aircraft will be very long, so the attacker will inevitably suffer huge losses.

The defender should only take the following means: the mother ship escorts the gunboat forward to a certain distance, uses the giant energy weapon to cover the formation of the carrier-based aircraft, and the missile ship simultaneously launches a large number of missiles to intercept it, and then the mothership uses the carrier-based aircraft. The difference between the three attack methods naturally forms three counterattack waves, which can cause huge losses to the attack. Among them, the speed of light, the huge penetration and the ability to continue to attack make it impossible for the attacking carrier-based aircraft to achieve effective dodge, so the lethality is also the greatest.

Therefore, generally speaking, when a large formation fleet meets, the two sides will usually confront each other for a long time outside the range of naval guns at the initial stage, and adopt means such as changing the formation to expand the attack area and reduce the density of attacking troops in the unit space.

In the early stage of the battle, due to the distance of the enemy's carrier-based aircraft, the fleet generally adopts an umbrella formation, with the fire support ships located in an umbrella shape and facing the direction of attack, the second layer of the umbrella surface is composed of missile ships and other ships that adopt controllable weapons, and the space carriers and logistics support ships are lined up to form an umbrella handle, so as to reduce the attack surface with their heads.

In the later stages of the battle, when the enemy's carrier-based aircraft are relatively close, the fleet generally adopts a spherical formation, with heavy armored ships such as fire support ships and heavy firepower ships in the outermost layer, missile ships and other secondary heavy ships in the second layer, and the core is space carriers and logistics support ships. According to the humanitarian principle of space operations (which will be explained later), the possibility of an active attack on an ambulance ship is small, so it should be far away from the battlefield during combat, protected by a small number of small ships and carrier-based aircraft, and a rescue ship should be dispatched in advance to prepare for rescue. At the same time, it can also cause confusion in the formation of the enemy's escort fleet.

The main danger faced by the defenders in a rear-strike strike is that once the enemy's carrier-based aircraft protrude from the inside of the formation, it will inevitably lead to a state of chaos in the fleet, which will cause huge losses to the fleet.

Equivalent to a ground war, both sides should have carrier-based aircraft reserves to defend their fleets or conduct a second wave of attacks. However, if the defender's strength is small, or the attacker's carrier-based aircraft are outstanding, the entire force may be used at once to achieve annihilation. This depends on the commander's self-confidence and decision-making ability.

In large formations, the combat effectiveness of a large formation is manifested in the speed with which it changes its formation and its determination to maintain it. A good captain must have a strong spirit of sacrifice and steely nerves, and be able to keep his position in place while watching his friendly ships being blown up one by one.

In a word, in large formations, we must avoid close combat, and destroying 1,000 enemies and inflicting 800 losses on ourselves is not the quality that an excellent commander should have.

Looking at Du Jin, who was in a daze, Li Mengyan on the side patted him on the shoulder, and then said with a smile:

"It seems that Du Jin, you don't usually come to the hangar, to be honest, I was a little surprised when I saw the scale of this place for the first time, the "Eden" is the largest civilian ship produced in the old era, even compared with the current "Titan"-class ocean-going space combat aircraft carriers in the federal army, it is not much worse, much larger than my previous Pioneer. ”

Du Jin nodded, he looked around, the strange thing is that there is not much blood on the ground of the hangar, but some mining ships seem to have been hit by some huge force, there is a huge depression in the fuselage, and it is far away from its demarcated parking area, in short, it is actually quiet and a little scary here at the moment.

"Mengyan, I think there's something wrong here, I feel ........ It's like there's something lurking in the dark, ready to ambush us. ”

Li Mengyan immediately nodded in agreement, but she didn't immediately say what she thought, but pulled Du Jin to slow down and widen the distance between the two of them and McCas's team, Li Mengyan looked at Du Jin and said:

"I know Du Jin's concerns, but this actually has something to do with the security mechanism of the Eden, you should know that the research deck is equipped with many escape pods, but why didn't these mining ships in the hangar take their place? According to the transformation of the Federation, in order to prevent large-scale alarms or the spread of alien creatures in the ship, when the central security system confirms that the security situation in the ship has deteriorated, it will put a large amount of deadly poison gas in the hangar, and will forcibly lock all the ships, McCas's authority as the captain is high enough, so he brought us here to find a way to leave, if it is someone else, I am afraid it will be .........."

She paused before continuing:

"I'm afraid we'll be killed by the automatic attack devices here, and since we entered here, there hasn't been any alarm, or an attack from the automatic defense system, everything seems to be going very well, but in fact, Mercasse and I both know that something must be going on here, but in order to stabilize the morale of the army, he didn't say it, and so did I."

Du Jin's attitude towards the Federation is a little colder, the Federation's approach to eliminating risks is really a bit inhumane, you must know that in its own principles of space warfare, life safety is the primary principle of warfare:

The principle of life first. The harsh nature of the space combat environment makes rescue efforts difficult. Due to inertia, the wrecked spacecraft can only fly infinitely along a fixed route, and if it is rescued from a long distance, if it adopts twice the speed, it still takes more than twice the time of the rescued ship to arrive. This kind of rescue means little. Therefore, any ship sailing in space, if it encounters a ship in distress, must be rescued unconditionally. In fleet operations, traditionally, both sides are not allowed to attack the crew barns thrown by battle-damaged warships, and they are obliged to carry out rescue operations without distinguishing between friend and foe.

The principle of life first is concrete:

1. Life is the most precious treasure in the universe.

2. When anyone encounters a wrecked spacecraft, they must unconditionally carry out rescue.

3. In the absence of obvious hostility, it is forbidden to attack civilian spacecraft.

4. The two sides of the war shall not attack the spacecraft with the obvious ambulance mark, and shall not attack the crew warehouse of the warship in a state of waiting for rescue, and shall have the responsibility to rescue the enemy's personnel in distress if conditions permit.

5. Anyone who violates the above principles has the right to treat them equally.

But according to Li Mengyan, everything the Federation did seemed to be the opposite, Du Jin looked at Li Mengyan and bowed his head slightly, signaling that he would also keep this matter secret, Li Mengyan then relieved Du Jin to speed up, and at this moment, Xiao Ai's voice came from Du Jin's mind, but this soft voice contained a trace of vigilance:

"Doctor, there's a large creature resembling a corpse mutant coming at the back of this hangar."

"Large creatures?"

Du Jin couldn't help but make a sound, Li Mengyan turned her head and glanced at Du Jin suspiciously, but Du Jin didn't care about anything else, and quickly opened her mouth to ask "Xiao Ai":

"Large corpse variants? How many are there? How big is it? ”

"Doctor, there's only one, and I can't call on too many nearby probes due to the fact that the materials in the hangar have some kind of shielding effect, but Ai is sure that it's at least a hundred times the size of the corpse variant we encountered before."

Hearing this news, Du Jin immediately realized the seriousness of the problem, a hundred times the size, this corpse mutant is obviously some kind of huge mutant, its strength and defense ability are probably not what they can deal with now, and now this unknown monster obviously sensed something, and actually attacked straight towards the hangar, saying that the other party was just here to "hang out" Du Jin would not believe it, he immediately explained to Li Mengyan what he knew, and Li Mengyan is the same as Du Jin, judging from the size described by "Xiao Ai", Without a team with heavy firepower and explosive weapons, I'm afraid there will be a lot of risk in front of this monster.

She immediately said to Manuka from the armored communication unit:

"Captain Manuka, I've received some information from here, there's a giant mutant coming towards the outside near the hangar, and it's best to get your team ready."

Manuka was stunned for a moment, he turned his head to look at Du Jin and the two of them at some distance behind him, looking at the situation they were running towards him, this is probably not a joke, Manuka immediately told McCass about the situation, and McCass, who heard the news, also looked solemn, although he didn't know where Li Mengyan's information source was, but in the current situation, no matter how cautious he was, he was just about to wave what to say, a huge impact sound came from the alloy wall at one end of the hangar, echoing in this huge hangar space.

And the people who felt the tremor of the ground also realized something, they immediately picked up their guns and pointed the muzzle of the gun towards the discovery of the impact sound, did not stop for too long, a few seconds later, the continuous impact sound came from the alloy wall of the hangar, everyone looked at the huge outline that continued to protrude on the alloy wall, and couldn't help but start to retreat to find some cover.

McCas looked at the ever-expanding convex silhouette, he knew very well the structural strength of the hangar, if this was the monster that Li Mengyan said, then its size and strength were definitely a nightmare for the current team, McCasse knew very well how much supplies and weapons and ammunition the current team had, the only heavy firepower was those machine guns that could fire large-caliber kinetic ammunition and high-intensity lasers, and the ammunition reserves of these weapons were already insufficient.

"The whole team is looking for cover nearby, keeping a distance from the incoming monsters, and firing again when ensuring their own safety, and the fire support team will set up a fire point at the place I designated, and the specific combat formation will be deployed according to my instructions."

He immediately gave the battle order, and nearly 30 members of the team entered their respective combat positions according to McCas's instructions, and the mining ship placed in the hangar was their best temporary shelter, which was much safer than the control room erected in mid-air by several alloy load-bearing columns.

Because the number of these thirty people is indeed a little dangerous to deal with the unknown enemy, so McCasse can only choose the Butch soldiers, instead of fighting separately, but in the specific deployment, McCasses is still a little helpless, he means the captain rather than the Marine officer, he has his own experience and experience in space group operations, but his ability in ground combat is not very outstanding, after all, every commander can only choose one direction that he is good at, otherwise all the sea, land and air must know, This general can only be miscellaneous but not sophisticated, and his role is far less than that of a specialized position, coordinating other officers to fight.

Although he has not really commanded on the battlefield, he has a systematic and comprehensive study of infantry jungle and urban combat deployment in his military academy study, and also has his own unique opinions, and in reality, he is good at commanding ground troops to use fishing formations to perform tasks in the red and blue confrontation military simulation exercises organized by various military academies across the country:

Fishing formation. Sun Tzu said: "All those who fight, with the right match, with the odd victory." Therefore, those who are good and surprising are as infinite as heaven and earth, and inexhaustible as rivers. In order to apply strategy to the battle formation, it is necessary to deploy strange soldiers and use strange soldiers in the arrangement of troops, and achieve various strategies and tactics through the mutual growth and mutual restraint and complementarity of each other. Therefore, when arranging the combat formation, it is usually necessary to arrange auxiliary secondary formations in addition to the regular main formation, and move within a certain range outside the main formation. The odd troops formed by the second formation are mainly responsible for the tasks of interspersing and detouring, dividing and encircling, containing and blocking attacks, attacking and harassing ambushes, and demonstrating and mobilizing, and creating fighters for the main formation's regular operations. The regular soldier is like an angler with a fishing rod in his hand, and the strange soldier is like a hook thrown out by the fishing rod, patiently waiting for the "fish" to take the bait.

This is the formation that the retired colonel who taught Du Jin summed up from the experience of many generals in the early years of battle, and is a combat strategy prepared by using a small number of soldiers against a large number of enemy targets. According to the arrangement and combination of regular soldiers and odd soldiers, the fishing array can be one positive and one odd, one positive and many odd, many positive and one odd, and many positive and many other different forms. Xia Guo's "encirclement point reinforcement" and "siege and reinforcement" two classic tactics are the specific use of the fishing formation, encirclement point reinforcement, encirclement point is a strange soldier, reinforcement is a regular soldier, siege is a regular soldier, siege is a regular soldier, blocking reinforcement is a strange soldier.

In many simulated exercises, Du Jin also relied on his unique insights and the combination of theory and practice to win many competitions for Du Jin's Xia National Defense Military Academy, which is also the reason why Si Qing first appreciated Du Jin's ability, after all, as a child like Si Qing who grew up in the military environment, it is impossible for modern romance to touch her heart, and Du Jin's attainments and ability in operational command were undoubtedly a huge attraction for Si Qing at that time, of course, this is a later story.

Looking at McCas's somewhat flustered command, Manuka on the side wanted to help but was powerless, the experience he experienced in suppressing riots was based on his own strength advantage and guaranteed backup, and the combat field he was good at was also in the narrow space or complex corridor in the ship, for this kind of semi-open area blocking, he was also powerless, and just when he wanted to ask his former "teacher" Li Mengyan to make command suggestions, Du Jin ran to the two of them, In a somewhat short of breath but extremely confident tone, he said:

"Captain McCas, Captain Manuka, I have some suggestions for deployment for the next battle."

Du Jin's self-confidence, as well as the recognition of McCass and Manuka's command authority, made the two of them seem to have found an outlet for redemption in their already anxious hearts, and immediately agreed, in fact, McCasses and Manuka both know the current situation Li Mengyan is the best choice as a commander, but they have a certain selfishness towards this kind of team that belongs to their own family, and they don't want their soldiers to see their embarrassment in command, and Du Jin's "suggestion" at this time makes them more acceptable.

Du Jin immediately told the two of them about his knowledge and key points of the fishing formation, but the monster's ever-accelerating impact frequency and the stretched limit of the hangar alloy wall made their hearts a little flustered, McCasses and Manuka looked at each other for a short time, and Manuka said to his teammates:

"Now the deployment of the combat formation is entrusted to Dr. Du Jin, who has his own views in this regard, and I believe that we can get through this difficulty."

Although these soldiers didn't understand how a scientific researcher could have military insights, out of gratitude to Du Jin for rescuing his commander McCass, and out of trust in his captain, they all tacitly accepted Du Jin's temporary command, and Du Jin didn't twist anything when he heard Manukei's assignment, and immediately let the remaining soldiers deploy in a temporary formation according to the structure of the hangar.

Combat formation is an intrinsic requirement of force deployment. The essence of commanding operations is to carry out a highly organized, orderly, and coordinated use of troops and weapons; for the use of any forces and weapons, it is always necessary to set a precise spatial position for them, and they must always set a relative distance and orientation between them, and various forces and weapons must always form a unified and coordinated organic whole, and it is absolutely impossible to arbitrarily deploy and disrupt the war.

It is the unity of the macro outline and the concrete flexibility. From a concrete and local point of view, the deployment of troops and weapons has become more flexible, more spatially dispersed among them, and more mobile in the course of operations. However, from a macroscopic and abstract point of view, there are regulations on the arrangement of troops and weapons in relative directions, requirements in terms of distance from each other, and regularity in the structural layout of the front, rear, left, and right; it is only that the various forces and weapons components that make up the combat formation are more mobile and flexible in terms of specific deployment, but the contours and boundaries formed by the basic orientation arrangement, distance, and structural layout cannot be broken.

As a creation of the old space age, with the later transformation of the Federation, the material quality of the alloy wall of the "Eden" mining hangar is indeed excellent, and after Du Jin probably commanded the team to complete the deployment, the alloy wall that has protruded from the outline of the monster finally could not resist the impact, and was cracked a huge "hole".