Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones.

Chapter 53 Combat Power

Although this battleship weighs more than 100 tons, it is still the smallest battleship in Li Qingsong's plan and is the most basic combat unit.

Li Qingsong calls this level of warship the "Mercury" class.

Mercury is the closest major planet to the sun. From the inside to the outside, they are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

In the future, when Li Qingsong builds larger and more powerful warships, they will be Venus-class, then Earth-class, and so on.

This Mercury-class battleship carries seven clones.

Two of the clones are machine gunners, specializing in operating two machine guns; two of the clones are machine gunners, specializing in operating two machine guns.

There is also a missile operator, who is responsible for controlling eight interstellar missiles, a spacecraft pilot, who is responsible for flying the spacecraft and controlling its posture, and a communicator.

Communication between Li Qingsong and his clones naturally didn't require the use of instruments, but the spacecraft itself also exchanged a large amount of information with numerous logistical support equipment, friendly forces, etc. This information also required a dedicated communicator to handle.

He will continuously determine the position coordinates of the spacecraft during its flight, and will also measure the coordinates of enemy targets relative to his own, the coordinates of friendly forces, various coordinates transmitted by superior combat units, etc., and convert them into the parameters of his own warship, and provide them to the driver, machine gunner, gunner, and missile operator for reference.

In addition to these, there is also a logistics support staff.

In the cabin, he is not only responsible for first aid, emergency repairs, logistics, etc., but also needs to take over the combat mission in case the other clones are seriously injured and unable to perform their duties.

So there were seven clones in total.

Originally, a captain was needed to be responsible for coordinating and commanding all other crew members, but with Li Qingsong, a captain was of course not needed.

At this moment, the clone of the spaceship pilot pushed the spaceship control stick hard.

As the command arrived, the output flow of the liquid oxygen tank and methane tank reached its maximum in an instant.

The billowing liquid oxygen and methane entered the combustion chambers of the spacecraft's six engines and burned violently. A huge amount of high-temperature and high-pressure gas was instantly generated and violently ejected from the nozzles that had been adjusted in direction.

Amidst the huge reverse thrust, the Mercury-class battleship weighing more than 100 tons suddenly increased its speed, almost breaking free from the gravitational field of Roselle in a straight line and flying straight into the depths of the boundless space.

About 15 kilometers away from Luoshen, an abandoned cargo spacecraft serving as a target is slowly moving at a speed of 1.6 kilometers per second.

The Mercury-class battleship chased it rapidly, and when it was only 500 kilometers away from it, its speed had reached seven kilometers per second.

After arriving at the predetermined shooting position, the communicator quickly observed and calculated the positions of each target and determined the shooting parameters.

Without speaking, this information was synchronized into Li Qingsong's head, and then synchronized from Li Qingsong's head to the machine gunner and gunner's heads.

According to these parameters, they quickly operated on the dashboard, and the two large machine guns on the hull of the spacecraft accurately adjusted their shooting directions under the action of the automatic controller.

The two machine guns also completed aiming at the same time.

The spacecraft pilot quickly began to adjust the angle of the spacecraft's jet nozzle and the amount of fuel used, setting it to synchronize with the recoil.

The machine gun switch was immediately pressed.

In an instant, two machine guns with a maximum firing rate of two thousand rounds per minute began bombarding at the same time.

A large number of projectiles rushed towards the target spacecraft in front at a speed of one kilometer per second, plus the spacecraft's own speed of seven kilometers per second, and finally at a speed of eight kilometers per second.

At the same time, the ship's engines started up, and hot gases gushed out of the nozzles at a relatively slow rate. Although they couldn't propel the ship, they just offset the recoil caused by the machine gun fire, while also maintaining the stability of the ship's hull and preventing it from shaking. Before the torrent of bullets reached the target ship, the machine guns also started.

Two huge shells were fired out from the barrel at a speed faster than bullets.

They have a stronger recoil. Although they have been specially designed to reduce recoil, that is, the tail flame of the shell will be ejected in the direction of offsetting the recoil, it is ultimately impossible to completely eliminate it.

This part of the recoil that cannot be eliminated will cause violent shaking of the spacecraft.

But it doesn't matter.

Li Qingsong had already taken this into consideration during the design.

The spacecraft attitude control system born in the space laboratory then came into play, and the spacecraft thrusters started synchronously to spray in opposite directions with a force that was neither too strong nor too weak, just enough to offset the recoil again.

So, the target ship was first riddled with holes by tens of thousands of bullets. Later, two shells arrived and blew it to pieces.

After completing the first exercise, the Mercury-class battleship did not stop, but immediately started turning and accelerating, flying in another direction at the original inertial speed.

The communicator continued to report various parameters, and the pilot adjusted them accordingly. Not long after, another target spacecraft came into view.

This target spaceship is faster, but it doesn’t matter, as the speed of the battleship has also increased.

Still a burst of heavy artillery fire, and it was shattered into pieces again.

Then the third, the fourth...

When it came to the fifth ship, the situation was different.

This fifth target ship was quite powerful. As the warships chased it, it accelerated desperately and performed random maneuvers to avoid the bullets and shells fired at it.

Several rounds of machine gun fire fell into oblivion.

Then an interstellar missile was suddenly launched.

Driven by the fierce tail flame, the missile suddenly accelerated by three kilometers per second from its original speed, and was still rapidly increasing.

Not only that, with the help of the automatic tracking unit and external guidance, it firmly locked onto the fleeing spacecraft.

The target spacecraft turned sharply, and the interstellar missile also turned with it, and the turn was faster and the speed was even faster!
Eventually, the interstellar missiles caught up with it.

In the moment before the impact, the 150KG high explosive loaded in the missile warhead exploded.

Although there was no shock wave here, the scorching heat and flying shrapnel still destroyed the target spacecraft in an instant.

Li Qingsong had previously set up a total of 12 target spacecraft.

The status of these spacecraft varied: some were escaping quickly, some were desperately maneuvering, some were releasing interference, and some were equipped with heavy armor.

But no matter what the situation was, under the attack of this Mercury-class battleship, all 12 target spacecraft were destroyed in less than five hours!

(End of this chapter)