Chapter 124: Space Fortress

What could the Federation use? What resources would give them an advantage in pulling off this disguise?

Everyone racked their brains. Humanity possessed far too little information; they had only intercepted a string of inexplicable electromagnetic waves. They had no idea where the other ship was, or its distance from Mars…

After half an hour of intense discussion, they reached three conclusions that supported the disguise plan.

First, the Noah itself was a powerful asset. Its sheer size proved that an inferior civilization could never have built it.

Second, the weapon recovered from the UFO was a genuine alien artifact; at the very least, its appearance was authentic.

Third, the wreckage of the Martian UFO could also be repurposed to sell the illusion…

The room buzzed with excitement. They had to seize every opportunity, no matter how small! These Senior Scientists shared a unanimous belief: they would never sit idly by and wait for their doom. Their destiny belonged in their own hands!

“This operation is codenamed: Disguise…”

Meeting adjourned!

After Jason concluded the meeting, everyone hurried out of the conference room. The situation had escalated rapidly, and with so much to do, there was no time to lose.

Soon after, the Aegis Industrial Complex maxed out its production capacity. Numerous assembly lines began churning out bizarre components: electromagnetic cannons, laser and particle beam weapons, and strange tubular structures with purposes unknown even to humanity itself…

Most of these were purely imaginary space weapons, designed to look complex, beautiful, and heavily metallic.

The engineers let their imaginations run wild, drafting increasingly outlandish computer models. But that didn’t matter; if they could design it, the Aegis Industrial Complex could build it and… mount it on the exterior of the Noah!

Of course, these were just empty shells, built for aesthetics rather than performance. The built-in lights might flash for a few moments, but they couldn’t fire a single shot.

They were essentially overgrown toy guns, built purely for intimidation!

This was Jason’s crazy idea, and the final decision of the emergency meeting: they would disguise the Noah as a heavily armed space fortress!

Even if the aliens were incredibly intelligent, they wouldn’t expect a heavily armed space fortress to be a complete fake. The countless cannons bristling across its hull were nothing more than children’s toys, completely useless in a real fight.

Building such cumbersome, useless structures went against all logic; no real civilization would do it. But humanity planned to exploit this psychological blind spot to bluff the unknown alien threat!

However, this approach carried immense risks. Its success relied on three assumptions:

First, the universe is not a purely hostile wilderness(Dark Forest Theory) ; two civilizations wouldn’t necessarily fight to the death the moment they met. If the other side fired on sight without hesitation, the disguise would be useless.

Second, the other side hadn’t discovered the Noah immediately, hadn’t watched them build the disguise, and didn’t already know humanity was a weaker civilization.

Third, the approaching vessel didn’t belong to the same civilization as the Martian UFO, and held no prior grudge against humanity.

If all three assumptions held true, the disguise had a high chance of fooling the enemy!

Everyone aboard the Noah, from the engineers to the scientists, felt their hearts pounding with a mix of fear and awe. Death had never felt so close. They executed their tasks with meticulous care, terrified of making even a single mistake…

In times like these, the authority of Captain Jason and the Federation kept the general public in check, preventing mass panic.

Everyone understood what an unknown extraterrestrial civilization meant…

It meant danger, a danger that could wipe them out at any second!

Over 70% of the population supported this audacious, outrageous disguise plan. The conservative minority could only stay silent, as they had no better alternative. Surrender? Impossible!

Since the Earth’s destruction, humanity had weathered countless trials. Looking back, people realized the Federation had done an exceptional job handling emergencies.

Though there were occasional missteps, Jason and his team weren’t gods; they couldn’t be omniscient or omnipotent. Minor flaws were acceptable…

Despite a few lingering objections, the vast majority were willing to bet their lives on Jason’s plan. Hiding in a corner of Mars would inevitably lead to discovery, so it was better to take a decisive gamble.

This was a true life-or-death crisis. Everything rested on this one roll of the dice!

What brought Jason comfort was seeing how much the Federation had grown through each disaster…

When the Earth first exploded, humanity was paralyzed by panic and confusion. Back then, he had to suppress riots and exhaust himself just to keep people motivated and working…

But things were different now. The threat of annihilation was the same, but the public’s reaction was entirely different. Though the atmosphere was tense, there were no riots or mass panic. People were spontaneously doing whatever they could to help.

Many were anxious, but they still believed in the power of their community. Their ability to act, organize, and unite was leagues ahead of where it used to be.

“Don’t worry, we’re going to survive… we have to,” Jason said, clenching his fists.

In just two days, following 48 hours of non-stop retrofitting, the Noah’s exterior had been completely transformed!

The hull was now covered in tens of thousands of turret-like structures of all shapes and sizes! Some had straight barrels, others were coiled, and every single one gleamed with a metallic finish, radiating pure menace…

Jason nodded in satisfaction; they really did look like heavy artillery!

Suddenly, he spotted a massive circular structure, a hundred meters across, that seemed to be generating intense internal heat. Confused, he asked, “What’s that?”

“Just think of it as our main cannon. In reality, we just shoved a nuclear reactor inside it…” an engineer replied with a grin. This dark humor reflected an underlying optimism; people genuinely believed they could survive this.

Honestly, the engineers had no idea what a hundred-meter cannon was actually supposed to do. They just made it up. How would the aliens know? Let them guess!

Looking up at the Noah from a distance, Jason felt a profound sense of awe. So many cannons, gleaming in cold bronze, could they shatter a planet? A heavily armed space fortress, 15 kilometers in diameter, built in a matter of days. If this thing parked over Earth, it would terrify the entire world!

For a brief moment, he genuinely felt that humanity was an unstoppable force, as if… they truly owned a space fortress this powerful!

Well, if it could fool him, there was a good chance it would fool the aliens.

“Add some more radar dishes and communication arrays, and throw in a few more warning lights!” he instructed, pointing out a few gaps. Then, he headed back to the Noah; there were still more decisions to be made…

He had just received an urgent alert: the science team had tracked the trajectory of the alien spacecraft!

“…Whenever a civilization engages in interstellar travel, their ship’s engines inevitably vent massive amounts of heat. Of course, a highly advanced civilization might possess the technology to mask this thermal radiation, but this particular alien vessel clearly doesn’t…”

The speaker was Dr. Arthur Lambert from the Tesla Institute, presenting his findings with confidence while pointing at a thermal imaging display.

“It’s highly unusual. The ship is venting an enormous amount of thermal energy, registering as a massive infrared bloom. According to our tracking, it’s entering the Solar System at 0.4 times the speed of light, and it’s actively decelerating… At this rate, it will reach Pluto’s orbit in roughly one month!”

“However… thermal radiation data suffers from a time delay, meaning this timeline is only a rough estimate.”

Jason was stunned. One month? That was far less time than he had anticipated.

“We can only extract so much data from thermal imaging. We don’t know the ship’s size, its technological level, or whether it outclasses the Martian UFO.”

Jason processed the information carefully, his brow furrowing. “If this ship belongs to the same civilization as the Martian UFO, then our disguise is pointless and war is inevitable… But if it isn’t, why would they come to our Solar System? Any theories?”

Another scientist chimed in immediately. “We have two working theories. First, the Solar System might be a graveyard of ancient civilizations, and they’re here to scavenge and reverse-engineer advanced tech. Second, they might just be stopping in the Solar System to refuel and resupply… Both scenarios are highly plausible.”

Jason remained silent for a moment before asking, “Have we cracked the alien encryption yet?”

“Not yet, sir. Two days simply isn’t enough time. We project it will take at least two weeks, possibly over a month…”

Two weeks? A month? That was far too long! They couldn’t afford to wait. By then, the extraterrestrial civilization might have already crossed the orbits of the eight planets and pinpointed humanity’s location!

We can’t wait until then…

Jason lowered his head, deep in thought. Suddenly, he made his decision. Looking up, his expression hardened. “In that case… power up the high-frequency broadcasting array. The disguise operation begins immediately!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep