From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars

Chapter 199 Game

When Amber and his ships took the lead in escaping into the shadow of the planet, they turned on optical camouflage and black body coverings to enter covert operations.

The situation where the enemy was in darkness and we were in the clear was instantly reversed.

Now, the Ares, whose optical, infrared and ultraviolet signals have been reduced to a minimum, has become a hunter hiding in the dark, while the two ships of Mary Bay Industrial and Yaoguang Defense are exposed to the sun.

In order to maintain the normal operation of the ship's reconnaissance unit, Mary Bay Industries' destroyers cannot enter stealth mode like the Ares.

This thrilling hide-and-seek game is, to a certain extent, very similar to the confrontation between Soviet nuclear submarines and NATO anti-submarine units in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.

One party was hiding in the dark, racking his brains to avoid being discovered.

The other side is on the sea, hoping to rely on numerical superiority to find traces of the target, and then pin it to death in the sea.

The only difference is that the Ares is not like a nuclear submarine hiding in the sea. Once targeted, it is actually difficult to fight back.

On the contrary, when the Ares was discovered by the destroyer of Mary Bay Industries, it was the moment when it showed its fangs.

It is not easy to find a hidden ship in the vast universe.

Although in the clean cosmic background, any flaws in the disguise will be quickly exposed.

However, after human ship technology has developed to today's level, the stability of optical camouflage and black body coating has prevented the captains of each warship from overturning in this regard.

Unless Mary Bay Industries' Liberty Radical can approach within 4,000 kilometers of the Ares, their optical and infrared observation equipment will basically be unable to detect the camouflaged Ares.

In this case, long-wave radar technology with a long history has once again entered the stage of history.

This technology that uses electromagnetic wave reflection to detect targets does have certain advantages in long-distance detection.

Although the main naval fleets of the Empire and the Federation now generally release a large number of probes to form a huge gravitational wave detection array for long-distance searches.

But after all, there are requirements for the number of ships and probes.

Just analyzing the results requires a large number of shipboard control personalities to coordinate calculations.

Therefore, in single-ship operations and small-scale battles, long-wave radar is still the preferred method for each captain to conduct long-distance detection.

This detection method is similar to using a flashlight to find your lost backpack in the wilderness at night.

The forest is so big, but the area that the flashlight can illuminate is only a small area.

Therefore, before using long-wave radar, you must at least know the approximate location of the target, otherwise it will be like finding a needle in a haystack.

But this is not a difficult problem for Captain Cliffs.

As an experienced destroyer captain, Cliffs originally hoped to be promoted to the commander of a destroyer escort detachment in the federal navy.

But this guy is different from many members of the federal navy. He is a relatively upright naval officer.

So after discovering and exposing a certain fleet commander's corruption, he also received the 'end' he deserved.

He was kicked out of the Federation Navy.

Immediately afterwards, under the pressure of this senior fleet official, no private military company was willing to accept him.

In the end, Mary Bay Industries took a fancy to his talents and quietly recruited him into the company.

However, because of his situation and the principle of keeping a low profile, Mary Bay Industries only allowed him to serve as a destroyer captain in the mobile fleet.

Initially, Cleves was unhappy with the arrangement.

In his opinion, with his own abilities, he could completely replace the idiot he was now and become the commander of the Mary Bay Industrial Mobile Fleet.

But Mary Bay Industries is also taking a tough stance.

Love Dangdang, don’t get lost.

In this case, Cliffs could only accept the status quo.

After all, people still have to eat, and except for Mary Bay Industries, no other company is willing to accept him.

Although Cliffs sometimes has a stubborn mind and doesn't know how to adapt, he does have unique experience in combat.

Among the federal navy in peacetime, the one with the highest attendance rate is actually the escort detachment.

These mobile and flexible warships often cooperate with the garrison fleet, the Federal Taxation Bureau and other agencies to combat piracy, smuggling, tax evasion mining companies, etc.

Long-term intrigues with pirates and smuggling ships have given Cliffs some skills in tracking hidden units.

After it was determined that Atlas's ships would operate with the help of the planet's shadow, the search range was much smaller.

Then, Cliffs provided a series of relevant parameters to the shipboard control personality.

These parameters are the essence of his many years of experience in chasing battles.

Soon, the Liberty Radical's shipboard control personality figured out multiple routes that the opponent might use, and these routes were all concentrated in a relatively small area.

And then, the long-wave radar can start to work.

"The radar is turned on to detect the calibration area."

Cliffs snapped his fingers. This is a 'bad habit' that most captains have since they think they are handsome.

But that's what you can do before you wear a space suit. Once you enter combat mode, the captains can't show off like this.

As his order was issued, a tall 'mast' was raised in the upper, lower, left and right directions of the middle section of the Liberty Radical's hull.

The optimized antenna array also slowly opened as the mast rose.

Cliffs stared at the main screen on the bridge, and began to think about the next step after discovering the target.

He was sure that the first round of long-wave radar search would definitely find something.

Without knowing the wavelength of the frequency band, the radar wave cancellation equipment on the other ship could not operate.

It was necessary to wait for the Freedom Radical to scan once before the radar wave cancellation could be carried out according to the captured signal characteristics.

But by that time, the Freedom Radical, which had already mastered the general direction of the target, had to advance at full speed to squeeze the opponent's activity space.

Once the destroyers deployed outside the border area arrived, it would be a situation of catching turtles in a jar.

On the main screen, the arc-shaped lines symbolizing radar waves swept across.

In the marked area, as Cliffs expected, something was swept out.

But not one, but two.

"Huh?"

After watching the suspected target sailing in two directions at a 20-degree angle after the data was transmitted to the holographic projection platform.

Cliffs hesitated for a moment, and then immediately judged that the other party should have released an inflatable target ship equipped with a corner reflector.

"Hmph, an old trick of the pirates, prepare for the second long-wave radar detection."

Cliffs snorted coldly, but gave the order again.

According to his experience, the other party will cancel the radar wave during the next round of long-wave radar detection.

When there is only one target left, most captains will consider a diffuse shooting like the remaining target to try their luck.

But once this is done, the opponent lurking in the dark will capture the detailed coordinates of their own ships and counterattack.

But Cliffs did not intend to do so. His way of dealing with it was exactly the opposite.

If one of the targets disappeared, he would only continue to pursue the direction where the target disappeared, and then wait for an opportunity according to the situation.

The long-wave radar quickly completed the second round of detection, and the detection results were also presented on the holographic projection platform.

However, after seeing this result, Captain Cliffs' mentality changed a little.

Because the second round of detection still found two targets.

The other party did not perform any radar wave cancellation operation.