Chapter 127: The Ion Cannon

As Jason made his decision, a sudden realization hit him: he had been overthinking this. So had the conservative experts and scholars. They were all still acting from the mindset of a weak civilization, cautiously tip-toeing through their roles. How could they possibly pull off a convincing performance like that?

If humanity were truly a dominant interstellar power, they wouldn’t be this timid and hesitant.

Think about it: if a global superpower fired a warning shot at a tiny rogue vessel crossing its borders, the smaller vessel wouldn’t dare retaliate because the power disparity would be absolute. Similarly, the more aggressive humanity appeared, the more cautious the alien vessel would become, making them far less likely to test the Noah’s defenses.

After all, the Federation could not withstand a real test. A single probe would expose them completely. They had to be domineering and uncompromising to truly project the aura of an advanced civilization!

“Alright, that’s enough arguing!” Jason’s voice cut through the noise, instantly silencing the room. “We fire one shot. That’s my final decision. Austin, begin the charging sequence for the ion cannon!”

“Yes, sir!” Austin replied, a fierce grin spreading across his face. He delivered a crisp salute and quickly strode out of the room.

The Noah actually possessed a genuine ion cannon, salvaged from the Martian UFO wreckage and reverse-engineered for limited human use. The core mechanism was authentic alien tech, but the acceleration tubes, designed and built entirely by human engineers stretched a massive 33 kilometers along the ship’s hull.

Firing a single shot required an astronomical amount of electrical energy.

Due to bottlenecks in human energy generation and superconducting technologies, its current output was likely only a tenth of its original capacity. But that didn’t matter; it was more than enough for a deterrent.

No one knew whether the civilization behind the Martian wreck or this new approaching vessel was more advanced. They also didn’t know the relative technological tier of the ion cannon, or if using it would expose them as primitive. However, logical deduction suggested that ion cannons were likely standard, conventional space weaponry. Just like ballistic firearms back on Earth, the fundamental physics didn’t change quickly. Even after centuries, kinetic weapons still used chemical propellants, and they were still highly effective.

“A shot like this requires astronomical precision and a staggering amount of calculation. We cannot afford any mistakes,” Jason said gravely. “Get Leo down here immediately!”

Firing an ion beam at a target over billions of kilometers away demanded an impossible level of accuracy, presenting a monumental challenge. Even traveling at near-light speeds, the particle stream would take over a week to reach the target’s estimated coordinates.

Furthermore… the alien spacecraft was constantly moving. Due to the speed of light delay, the thermal data humanity was observing was actually a snapshot of where the ship had been over ten days ago. They had to continuously run predictive trajectory algorithms to adjust the cannon’s targeting parameters.

Operating such an ultra-high-precision weapon required the touch of a master engineer. Leo was the only one for the job.

They only had one chance to make this count. Firing multiple shots would be interpreted as an aggressive declaration of war… But firing a single warning shot, especially when enforcing territorial boundaries, was a standard show of force.

Jason’s parameter was strict: the ion beam had to pass within 100,000 kilometers of the alien vessel. In other words, Leo had to hit a spatial target roughly 200,000 kilometers in diameter. In the context of terrestrial warfare, a 200,000-kilometer margin of error sounded massive, but across the void of space, it was a ridiculously tight window!

Humanity simply couldn’t pinpoint the alien ship’s exact location because of the light-speed delay. The data they had was deeply outdated, and the vessel was constantly altering its velocity. If they didn’t even know exactly where the enemy was, how could they possibly aim?

Space was unfathomably vast. The old saying, “a miss by an inch is a miss by a mile,” was taken to cosmic extremes here. If the cannon’s alignment shifted by a single micrometer or nanometer, that microscopic deviation would be magnified billions of times over the distance, resulting in the beam missing by hundreds of millions of kilometers!

If that happened, the consequences would be disastrous. What would the alien civilization think if they detected a wildly inaccurate blast? They would instantly realize human targeting technology was primitive. A shot missing by hundreds of millions of kilometers would shatter the illusion of a superior power. Preventing that suspicion was their highest priority.

Therefore, the weight of the entire world rested on Leo’s shoulders. He could not let the disguise fail!

His heart hammered against his ribs; even when he was engineering the Helium-3 nuclear warheads, he hadn’t felt this suffocating pressure. This single shot was the linchpin of the entire operation, dictating the survival of the human race. There was zero margin for error. Still, Leo didn’t utter a single complaint. He had rushed to the bridge the moment he received the order. This was his duty, and he wouldn’t shy away from it.

The targeting computers had already established a rough projected coordinate; he only needed to make the final, microscopic manual adjustments. He just had to wait for that elusive spark of inspiration, that hyper-focused gut feeling.

Since everything about the alien ship’s current position was purely theoretical, demanding perfect mathematical precision was impossible. Algorithmic targeting was unreliable here. He had to rely on his unique supernatural intuition. He was effectively gambling the fate of humanity on his “sixth sense.”

This was undeniably the greatest challenge of Leo’s life. Gradually, he slipped into a trance-like state. His mind cleared, his heartbeat steadied into a slow rhythm, and he reached out mentally to capture that fleeting spark of certainty.

Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes… Half an hour passed, and Leo remained completely motionless, standing frozen in front of the ion cannon’s main console.

Everyone else stood at least ten meters back, barely daring to breathe. Marcus, Austin, and the other military officers stood ramrod straight, while the civilian staff remained perfectly still. The atmosphere was suffocatingly tense. Several scientists, their hearts racing uncontrollably, quietly slipped out of the room. Soon, more and more personnel evacuated the control center, terrified that the mere sound of their breathing or heartbeats might break Leo’s concentration.

Jason simply waited in silence. He knew Leo well; the man wasn’t distracted, nor had he fallen asleep standing up. All they could do was trust his genius and wait.

Finally, after another ten agonizing minutes, Leo snapped back to reality. His expression sharpened into intense focus, his muscles locking tight as he glared at the targeting monitors.

The inspiration had struck! In that split second, he gathered every ounce of his strength and slammed his fist down on the firing mechanism!

With a deafening, bass-heavy hum, an ocean of electrical energy surged into the electromagnetic accelerator tubes. The Noah’s central power grid was instantly overwhelmed. Every light across the entire massive spaceship violently flickered.

The ship’s nuclear reactors were running at absolute maximum capacity, yet they still struggled to meet the sheer peak draw of the ion cannon. The energy consumption was absolutely terrifying!

Then, a blinding, searing white beam of light erupted from the massive muzzle. It was a high-energy particle stream, but its payload was tens of thousands of times more devastating than the ship’s point-defense gauss rifles. This torrent of highly charged protons was infinitely denser, traveling at relativistic speeds.

According to the principles of relativistic physics, specifically the Lorentz factor, the closer a particle approaches the speed of light, the exponentially greater kinetic energy it carries. The raw destructive power of this single ion blast was equivalent to a tactical nuclear warhead!

“How did it look?” Jason immediately stepped forward, breaking the silence.

“…I don’t know, but it felt right,” Leo replied, scratching the back of his head, genuinely unsure of the final outcome.

A low buzz of hushed whispers filled the room as the remaining staff processed what had just happened. The die was cast. They had done everything in their power; the rest was up to fate.

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