Chapter 474 - Maintenance Worker
After taking a deep breath, Wang Zheng started working. He climbed onto one of the mecha and entered the cockpit. All the mecha in this place had a security mechanism when one tried to start it. However, once Wang Zheng scanned his military badge, the safety mechanism immediately released. Other than not being able to equip weapons, all the other systems could be used freely.
The control of mecha in the military was still very tight. Separating the mech from the weapons was just basic security.
Vroom, the engine started to howl. At the same time, the mech was running a system check and a signal appeared on the screen of the mech. Wang Zheng looked at the screen seriously. In the field of mecha repairs and maintenance, Wang Zheng could be considered a master.
The message from the system check was a series of “mech language”. This language was different from the usual programming languages and was specially developed. If you weren’t a mecha maintenance worker, you would not be able to understand.
Wang Zheng read through it thoroughly. Initially, he was worried that he would forget about it as he had not done his revision for a long time. However, something when learnt would seem to be etched in one’s bones. Reading the starting two lines of symbols was a little difficult. However, towards the end, it became something more familiar. The current conditions of the mecha were listed out in a clear manner.
Du du, as the last two lines of symbols were scanned, a green light was shown, indicating that the mech was in good condition. However, Wang Zheng started to frown. The condition was okay. However, there were some issues in the details as indicated in the symbols. These issues would not affect the overall condition of the mech but would restrict the full capabilities of the mech.
This wasn’t a real issue. When a mech was used for some time, having wear and tear would be inevitable. It would require a manual adjustment, and this was something a machine couldn’t do.
Wang Zheng’s love for mecha was a little stubborn. No matter how he got here, he seemed to have become a real mech warrior. He had his own section and even received his first mission. He would definitely want to complete it seriously!
Wang Zheng started the mech and moved towards the crane. He stopped at the front of the crane and left the mech. Following which, he started the controls for the crane. Two large mechanical arms immediately grabbed the mech. The mech was lifted and fixed in a position on the crane.
A screen appeared from the crane and amplified the conditions of various parts of the mech based on Wang Zheng’s needs.
After maintenance, Wang Zheng would had to clean the mech. This was a huge project even with the help of mechanical cranes. A mech would require a lot of time to clean. This was especially so for a serious person like Wang Zheng. He wouldn’t dare to say that he had cleaned it unless he had made it sparkling clean.
Under the surface of the armor, there was dust accumulated. This wasn’t something that a cloth could clean, it required using water to flush it multiple times.
After two hours, Wang Zheng had finally completed the cleaning of the first mech. After the huge project, Wang Zheng felt a great sense of achievement when he looked at the huge and mighty mech under the scorching white light. However, this was only the beginning, and he would need to continue with maintenance. The main tasks after examining the parts were to apply oil and a layer of protective film to the respective parts. After which, he would have to recalibrate the mech using the mechanical cranes to attempt to bring the performance of the mech to the point similar to when they had just left the factories.
It took a total of four hours to complete all of the tasks required for one mech. It was apparent that there were many issues with the maintenance of mecha in this place, and it couldn’t be compared to the level at the IG. In fact, this was the truth. Much less the condition of a super mech like the Phantom King.
Looking at the other 14 mecha that he had not started with, Wang Zheng let out a long sigh. It seemed that he had to think of a way to increase his efficiency.
Just when he was getting ready to clean the second mech, his stomach started growling.
Luckily, there were instant noodles and a water dispenser in the lounge of the garage. After having a simple meal, Wang Zheng started focusing on his mission again.
The second mech was slightly different. It was a scout-type mech that had the most advanced scout mech technologies of the Milky Way Alliance. However, this mech was also the dirtiest. It seemed that no one had used it for a long time. Even the cockpit had dust accumulated within it.
While Wang Zheng was busy, the rest of the people had driven out of the camp excitedly as it was their holiday time.
“Jing Long, where is that kid?”
“Haha, we got a free laborer. He is a simple and serious student. Those mecha will occupy him for quite some time, and this saves us the trouble.”
“I really had no idea what the military is thinking to send a kid over. He even ended up in our section. Won’t this make things hard for our boss? It seems that the difficulty of the battle for platoon leader has increased again.
“Let’s not think about all this. We must get really happy today. Everything’s on me!”
The crowd cheered and fully enjoyed the night life on the Titatitan Star...
At the other side, Wang Zheng was busy working. After a full five hours, he had finally finished cleaning this mech. It was already 2 AM. However, Wang Zheng had no intention of going back for a rest. Although he was tired, he felt a strong sense of achievement. It was especially so when he recalibrated the mech. It seemed that he was back to the times when he was working part-time in OMG. The only difference was that his friendly and competitive colleagues weren’t around this time.
Truthfully, this was an opportunity for him to get familiar with the mecha. The 15 mecha consisted of various models. Each model also had their own equipment specifically made for battles on the Titatitan Star.
At this place, equipment related to pure energy was dismantled. What replaced it was some of the older equipment. These types of mecha would be easily defeated at other places. However, these slightly older equipment were the most effective equipment on the Titatitan Star. At this moment, there weren’t any new technologies that could replace these more primitive weapons.
When he became tired and sleepy, Wang Zheng would cultivate his Primordial Regression Technique. By keeping it circulating constantly within the body, he could maintain a clear head and vitality within the body.
When he was cleaning and doing the maintenance for the third mech, Wang Zheng’s efficiency had clearly increased. Practice made perfect, and Wang Zheng only took three hours to complete all the tasks.
The sky had started to light up. However, the following tasks were still arduous. Jing Long had set the time for this mission as “these few days”. Looking at his progress, he couldn’t afford to slack off.
Continue, continue...
Wang Zheng was humming a tune as he placed the mech back to its original position from the crane. Following which, he moved the next mech out. This was a sniper-type mech with a double engine. This allowed it to have a certain degree of close-combat ability.
Wang Zheng was moving around the garage quickly with the sniper-type mech. After completing some tactical maneuvers, he placed the mech onto the crane again.
While Wang Zheng was working hard cleaning the mecha on the Titatitan Star, the Solar System Federation’s first and seventh fleets were having a joint military exercise against one another in the asteroid belt of the Solar System
The two parties had just had a huge battle. The first fleet had the advantage, while the seventh fleet had been forced to retreat to the fortress at the edge of the asteroid belt.
The seventh fleet had placed the emphasis of their defense at the the front of the fortress. More than 10 gunboats were deployed at the side, facing the back of the asteroid belt.
Clearly, the commander of the seventh fleet did not believe that anyone could have emerged from within the asteroid belt.
This was common knowledge. Flying within the asteroid belt posed extremely high risks. It might be possible for one or two surprise spaceships to emerge. But it would be impossible for a fleet of spaceships, especially for a huge spaceship, to maneuver within the asteroid belt!
Any commander with brains would not take such risks unless they were desperate.
Even if they could barely make it out, asteroids would have badly damaged them as they approached the space fortress, resulting in them being unable to maintain much of its battle power.
Therefore, approximately 10 gunboats in coordination with the firepower of the fortress would be enough to defend against attacks from that direction.
However, things wouldn’t always head towards that direction as one thought. Reality was also most likely to strike you the hardest when in ways that you couldn’t have expected.
After clearing the battle field for a while, the first fleet, under the leadership of their mothership, Uranos, moved quickly towards the space fortress. After forming a three-dimensional blockade, they had started to lock down the space fortress. However, it didn’t seem like they had any intention of making an attack.
Indeed, in the face of the space fortress’ strong firepower, together with the fact that the main battleships of the seventh fleet had maintained their battle force, trying to attack head-on wouldn’t be a good option. Even if they could win, it would come with huge sacrifices. This type of victory would not have much meaning in space battles.
However, at this moment, the vice flagship of the first fleet, Hydra, led 11 spaceships quietly to a detour and entered the dangerous asteroid belt...
The twelve spaceships lined up in a straight line with the vice flagship Hydra leading the way at one third of their usual speed. They were meticulously dodging one irregular asteroid after another.
The intent of the battle strategy was clear, and it would be to make a detour to the back of the seventh fleet and the space fortress for a flanked attack. This was to attack from the place where the enemy had least expected to destroy them and to take the psychological advantage.
In the command station of the vice flagship Hydra, Lear was sitting in the position of the main helmsman and wearing his military uniform!
At this moment, the calculation screen in front of Lear was vigorously calculating the flight route within the asteroid belt. Under the steering of Lear, the Hydra’s flight route was constantly making minute and detailed changes to avoid one asteroid after another.
Sounds of surprise came from time to time.
What a strong ability to calculate and control! Could this even be done? The energy shield of the Hydra was barely of any use. Every little asteroid was avoided in an almost perfect way. When there were so many asteroids around, auto-piloting to avoid was useless and it would require manual control. No matter how mentally strong a person was, how could anyone concentrate at such a high level for such a long time? ... However, Lear had done it.
Such perfect calculation of the flight route did not only allow Hydra to avoid numerous asteroids. He had also taken into account the flight path of the 11 following spaceships. Although it wasn’t so perfect, it was able to avoid all of the larger asteroids. As for asteroids the size of a fist, there would be no damage to the decks of the spaceships even when they crashed into them, as the spaceships were only moving at one third of the usual moving speed. There was also the protection provided by the thick layers of energy shields.