novelnext Chapter 257 250 Aquarius launched
Chapter 257 250 Aquarius launched
Xu Lanzhou stretched her perfect figure, glancing at the lazy cat-eared fox by the window, feeling a touch of melancholy.
The adorable little creature turned its head to look at the freshly awakened Xu Lanzhou, then laid its head down again, appearing listless. It was the very cat-eared fox raised by Bai Zhongqi, who didn't take it with him on the Sacred Falcon but left it in the care of Xu Lanzhou.
Xu Lanzhou sat up in bed, her pale legs touching the ground, her hands bracing the edge of the bed. Warm sunlight streamed in from the window, bathing her sitting in the light, as enchanting as a water lily.
Xu Lanzhou's personal AI assistant greeted her through the smart home system, "Good morning, Commander Xu."@@@@
"Good morning," Xu Lanzhou responded, slowly emerging from her groggy state.
"The Chancellor has been on his strategic reconnaissance journey for 77 days."
Read latest chapters at My Virtual Library Empire
Xu Lanzhou's expression turned wooden, she had set up this timer after Bai Zhongqi left, though unsure of the motive behind it, she did it anyway.
With employment organized by the Star Alliance, people quickly found their bearings on Spratly Island. Nowadays, other nationals living on Spratly Island partly comprise family members of Star Alliance officials and Universe Army personnel from other than Country C. Although residency in Spratly Island remains open for application by other nationals, without the aforementioned dual identities, available slots are limited, making applications more challenging.
After all, Spratly Island, Ruyi City, and Lunar Palace City are the true interstellar civilization cities of the Star Alliance at present, whereas other cities on Earth and some cities on Emerald Sea Star, though modernizing quickly, face more difficulty adapting pre-existing urban structural issues.
After arriving at Tai Ping Spaceport, Xu Lanzhou took a shuttle spacecraft to Ruyi City. Now there are over twenty spaceports with flights to Ruyi City globally, typically taking no longer than 20 minutes. As Earth's largest spaceport, Ruyi City has taken on a massive load of logistics. Various resources from other planets are delivered non-stop to Earth. A multitude of Iridium Star-style industrial bases have been established on Earth, producing an array of consumer and industrial goods, and the resource consumption has become enormous. To protect Earth's environment, the Star Alliance has essentially put a halt to the extraction of Earth's local resources, due to their destructive nature.
Ruyi City Spaceport is gradually failing to meet Earth's vast transport and docking demands, especially the ever-expanding Universe Navy Fleet, which clearly isn't suited to compete with commercial vessels for docking space. The Star Alliance has built a dedicated military port near Earth's shipyard, named Changxiu Port.
The launching ceremony would not be at Ruyi City but at Changxiu Port. After Xu Lanzhou's arrival, she encountered the new captain of the Aquarius Aircraft Carrier, the renowned Lv Zhinian, former captain of Country C's Navy.
Xu Lanzhou nodded to Lv Zhinian, impressed with the captain. He was the only Earthling who, in a mere three months of training, had passed the Star Alliance main battle ship captain's examination. The previous two main battle ships, the Bojiang Class Battleships Bojiang and Beiluoshimen, were captained by Iridium Star citizens. The selection of the Aquarius's captain was won by Lv Zhinian against two Iridium Star competitors.
In Iridium Star, someone like Lv Zhinian, who qualified to command a main battle ship in three months, was an unparalleled genius, so Xu Lanzhou did not hesitate to appoint him as the captain of the Aquarius.
The Star Alliance's launching ceremony involved neither the traditional Western bottle-throwing nor the Eastern offering of a pig head, nor did it include the Slavic-style blessing by a priest. Instead, an Iridium Star custom was followed: all weapons on the warship were opened from the armories, and all lights aboard the ship were turned on. At the same time, every crew member placed a blood sample on the inner walls of the ship's cabins.
This was a very traditional custom of the Iridium Star Universe Army, pledging their hearts with their blood, swearing to share life and death with the warship.