Stars, Players and Immortals

Chapter 85: The First Round of Standoff Ends

In the public chat, neither side would back down.

Terra Defense has ordered the Mars training fleet to immediately withdraw from its temporary safety identification zone, submit a complete voyage plan, and provide a cargo manifest.

The Mars side insists on one thing: this is just a routine joint exercise in the distant lunar public space route, legal and compliant, and their main message is to ignore it completely.

Everyone was talking their own thing, and neither side dared to fire the first shot. But the ship formations were getting closer and closer, and the fire control radar beams swept back and forth across the other ship's hull. Electronic reconnaissance signals were firing at each other in deep space.

The entire lunar orbit is taut like a fully drawn bowstring, ready to snap at any moment.

Terra's three patrol squadrons moved extremely quickly and were in formation in the blink of an eye.

The first surveillance fleet hovered at the entrance to the main channel from Terra L1 to the outer edge of the lunar near side, blocking the straight passage from Terra's low orbit to the far side of the moon.

The other two branches are located on the upper and lower sides of the lunar orbit, forming an angle with their high-angle orbits, thus cutting out a triangular warning fan-shaped area in the far-moon transfer corridor.

The phased array radars of the air defense destroyers were fully deployed, the vertical launch cells of the missile cruisers entered a cold start standby state, and the orbital patrol boats, like a circle of moving steel nails, patrolled back and forth along the temporary security perimeter drawn by Terra, leaving not even the slightest gap.

In front of the flagship's command platform of the First Fleet, Zhang Nanhai gazed at the blue-gray-white ship insignia that lit up on the star map.

That was the signature paint scheme of the Terra Fleet, with its cool white and light gray hulls accented by blue identification stripes, a stark contrast to the Martian Fleet's fierce, red-black, steel-like style.

Terra in the old era was already a step ahead of Mars, possessing a larger population, a more complete Terran army, and inheriting the vast majority of orbital assets from the old Federation's homeland defense.

The Terran United Government has four main fleets on the surface:

The Taiyue Mainland Fleet, the Inner Solar System Mobile Fleet, the Outer Solar System Channel Fleet, and the Strategic Reserve Fleet.

Among them, the Taiyue home fleet is responsible for the defense of low Earth orbit, Taiyue route and the near side of the moon. It is the fastest-reacting and the most unwilling to back down.

The force that collided head-on with the First and Third Fleets of Mars was the homeland surveillance group drawn from this elite force.

This homeland surveillance group of the Thai Moon Fleet is led by a Kunlun-class SA aircraft carrier and includes two Rhodes Island-class heavy cruisers, two Ural-class guided-missile cruisers, six Danube-class air defense destroyers, twelve Rhein-class multi-purpose frigates, twenty-four Senna-class rail patrol boats, and one Hive-class unmanned combat mothership.

Now is not the time for a full-scale war. Zhang Nanhai's goal for this trip is very clear: to escort the transport fleet and bring the civilian consumer goods delivered by the Lunar Council back to Mars.

Terra also did not want the situation to slide directly into a full-scale war. They had not yet figured out the true relationship between the Martian fleet, the lunar cargo pod, and the abnormal launch from Busan. Opening fire rashly would only turn the entire Terra-Lunar Journey into a battlefield.

However, Terra had no intention of backing down.

The Taiyue home fleet remains stuck on the outer edge of the far-moon side of the shipping lane, the inner solar system mobile fleet has turned around from the Venus-Earth inner route, and the strategic reserve fleet has also entered a state of temporary combat readiness and begun to transfer to the outer Taiyue defense zone.

If a real fight breaks out, they can pay a price and devour this Martian fleet.

To prevent the Terran authorities from acting rashly, several unmanned fleets on the far side of the moon also started moving from their dark berths.

Although they did not actively approach the Terra fleet, they still gave the Terra authorities a headache.

Zhang Nanhai was not disrupted by these actions. He ordered the First Fleet and the Third Fleet to maintain restraint, with the fire control systems only performing passive locking, the missile bays remaining locked, and the electronic reconnaissance ships continuing to mark Terra probes but not actively suppressing Terra's main battleships.

The escort ships spread out along the flanks of the transport fleet, delivering the Mars cargo ships loaded with precision components to the delivery window of the lunar relay bay.

The exchange of goods began quickly.

The Mars transport fleet first delivered the first batch of precision components, server maintenance parts, and unmanned equipment replacement parts to the lunar relay warehouse, while the Lunar Council transferred civilian consumer goods sent from Busan into the cargo hold of the Mars cargo ships.

Prosthetic body maintenance consumables, medical accessories, life terminals, basic repair parts and household mechanical parts were checked box by box. The cargo list was constantly updated. Zhi Shilang completed the account verification in the background, while the Great Wall ICE kept an eye on the data interface to prevent the Lunar Council from stuffing unnecessary things into the cargo system.

While exchanging supplies, the Mars Fleet also completed the basic projects according to the training plan submitted by Zhang Nanhai.

Two heavy SA aircraft carriers released their carrier-based SA formations and conducted short-range escort drills along the outer edge of the transport convoy.

The heavy cruisers and destroyers completed formation turning, lunar flank formation changes, and deep-space replenishment.

The electronic reconnaissance ship conducted a round of counter-reconnaissance drills around the Terra probe.

Aside from not firing, the Martian fleet carried out all the necessary fleet maneuvers, escorts, resupply, reconnaissance, and communications jamming procedures right in front of the Terrans.

The Terran fleet kept a close watch on the entire process.

They could tell that the Martian fleet was using military exercises to protect its cargo, and they could also tell that the relay warehouse on the far side of the moon was receiving and transferring some large quantities of supplies. However, as long as the Martian fleet remained in the public deep space route on the far side of the moon, and as long as the transport ships did not cross the Terra low orbit control zone, they would not open fire rashly.

After the exchange of supplies was completed, a video communication was connected to Zhang Nanhai's encrypted command chain.

Zhang Qiming's image appeared on the side screen of the flagship's tactical command console. Without exchanging pleasantries, he said directly, "The basic objective has been achieved. The first batch of civilian consumer goods will be transported back to Mars immediately."

"Continue to keep an eye on the Terra fleet on the return voyage, exercise restraint, do not give them a reason to open fire, and do not let them get close to the transport convoy. Our goal is simply to bring the cargo back. Military exercises are just a side matter. Do not put the cart before the horse."

Zhang Nanhai nodded.

"clear."

After the communication was lost, he immediately issued the order to return to base.

The First and Third Fleets began to regroup for the training exercise. Shipborne SAs returned to port in batches. Frigates reattached themselves to the flanks of the transport convoy. After marking Terra probes for the last time, the electronic reconnaissance ships withdrew from the front line. The entire Mars fleet slowly turned along the original course, escorting the transport convoy loaded with civilian consumer goods away from the far-lunar transfer area.

Terra failed to catch up.

The Thai Moon home fleet maintained its alert position, with patrol boats moving back and forth along the temporary warning line. The carrier-based aircraft group of the Kunlun-class SA aircraft carrier was on standby at all times, and the mobilization orders for the Inner Solar System Mobile Fleet and the Strategic Reserve Fleet were not revoked.

Only after the Mars fleet had completely left the sensitive area on the far side of the moon did the Terra fleet begin to relax its outer perimeter formation, leaving only electronic reconnaissance ships to continue tracking the trajectory.

The first round of military standoff between Thailand and Thailand ended in a tense atmosphere.

Both sides held their ground and exercised restraint in their initial confrontation, but everyone knew that this was just the beginning of the game in the Taiyue Channel.

Such standoffs will only become more frequent in the future, and the probability of accidental clashes and direct military conflicts will only increase with each round.