Chapter 2: Something is wrong with this mothership!

2. Something is wrong with this mothership!

The hatch opened, and green indicator lights flickered on along the pristine white corridor, guiding Tang Xiao toward the elevator leading to the bridge. The nurse who had been guarding the door kept her head down as she hurried back to the medical bay to tidy up.

【The Administrator has awakened. All personnel, please take note of your work schedules... The Administrator has awakened...】 The broadcast from the Mainframe continued to echo through the corridor.

However, the entire area still felt empty. It took a long while for Tang Xiao to reach the elevator, where he finally spotted two soldiers in black uniforms.

Seeing Tang Xiao approach, the two soldiers snapped to attention and gave a textbook military salute. "Greetings, Administrator!"

Tang Xiao felt a bit awkward, but he nodded and returned the salute. Seeing his response, the two soldiers puffed out their well-developed chests even further.

After a ride in an elevator that felt like it lasted forever, he arrived in a vast hall. Two more soldiers stood at the entrance, their expressions resolute; they immediately stood at attention and saluted as Tang Xiao approached.

In the center of the hall was a massive holographic star map, though most of it was shrouded in darkness, revealing nothing.

There were many seats and control consoles scattered around. It looked like this place would require hundreds of people working in coordination to function properly, yet there were only a dozen or so people working in the hall right now.

"Salute!" Everyone present stood up in unison and saluted Tang Xiao. "Greetings, Administrator!"

Tang Xiao still wasn't used to this, but he nodded and looked out through the massive panoramic observation window. A green planet came into view. Unlike the blue Earth, this planet was covered in vast amounts of green vegetation, making the whole thing appear green.

Outside the planet, white atmospheric cloud formations were clearly visible, indicating a favorable atmospheric environment.

However, the most striking sight wasn't this planet, but the incredibly massive planet behind it. Compared to the giant, the planet in front of it looked like a mouse standing at the foot of an elephant.

The pale blue sphere looked smooth and clean, with only a few dark, swirling cyclones in some areas, much like a bouncy ball from his childhood—it was clearly a gas giant.

"Is this the habitable planet we've found?" Tang Xiao asked.

【Yes, Administrator.】 The central holographic projection immediately switched to show a star system. The Mainframe explained: 【The current star system is a stable binary system, possessing two stars that rotate around a common center of gravity. Within the star system, there is only one planet: this gas giant with a diameter of 48,951 kilometers.】

【In addition, there are nine moons orbiting this gas giant, and we are currently positioned next to one of them. There is another moon with a suitable climate, but its ocean coverage exceeds 95%, making it unsuitable for colonization under current conditions.】

"Nine moons orbiting a gas giant?" Tang Xiao frowned, searching his memory. "Fine, so you're saying we have to settle for colonizing this small moon? At least tell me what the current situation is."

A young man of about 25 or 26, dressed in a dark blue military uniform, stood up from a round table nearby. He saluted Tang Xiao and said, "First, we need to replenish our conventional fuel. The atmosphere of this gas giant contains large amounts of helium, which can be used as fuel for the fusion reactors of various spacecraft. Therefore, we need to build a mining station near the gas giant. The mothership's warehouse contains modular semi-finished products, and there are some small engineering ships stored in the hangar that can complete the assembly work, but these ships require pilots."

"So I need to wake up these pilots?"

"Yes. After you awakened from hibernation, the Mainframe woke up a total of 50 of us to begin preparations for you. This includes 10 marines, 5 administrative staff, 5 staff officers, 5 communications officers, 5 maintenance personnel, and 10 mothership control personnel. Additionally, there are 10 medical staff on standby to ensure our health. We still need your authorization to wake up more people."

"Very good. What is your name?" Tang Xiao asked, noting the man's professional demeanor.

"My name is Qi Jian! I am a member of the General Staff!" Qi Jian replied loudly, chest puffed out.

"Qijian (Flagship), that's a good name. Very good. If there isn't a corresponding position yet, then from now on, you are our acting Chief of Staff," Tang Xiao said.

He was beginning to understand a few things. What he needed to do now was build a team. He couldn't possibly know everything himself, but as long as the people under him did, that would suffice.

Sure enough, after being hand-picked by Tang Xiao, Qi Jian was visibly excited. He shouted, "Yes! I guarantee the mission will be completed!"

"Alright, let me see the status of our hibernating crew." Following the Mainframe's prompt, Tang Xiao sat in the main seat at the center of the bridge. A massive holographic screen immediately unfolded before him.

The screen listed the personnel available for awakening, including 600,000 colonists and 50,000 crew members, all with different areas of expertise. Given the current situation, it was clearly better to choose from the 50,000 crew members, as they were more familiar with operations on the mothership.

These personnel were divided into different levels: Ordinary, Elite, and Master, with three levels beyond that marked only by question marks. The conditions required to wake these people up varied.

For instance, Master-level talents were essentially grandmasters at the pinnacle of their fields. Waking them up to face a colony that was starting from scratch—without even a tent—would be as wasteful as asking a PhD to lay bricks.

Therefore, the conditions required to wake them were noted below their profiles. Most of these were conditions they had set themselves before entering cryosleep, determined by contracts signed with the mothership.

Tang Xiao was curious to see what the Master-level people were like. He randomly clicked on one and found it was a Master-level astrophysicist. His requirements included a three-story villa, a private pool, state-of-the-art laboratories, and a super radio telescope built on a plateau at an altitude of at least 3,000 meters.

He clicked on another: a Master of quantum mechanics. He required a dust-free laboratory, the most advanced experimental equipment, a particle collider at least 50 kilometers long, and—in addition—two beautiful women under the age of 20 as private secretaries and a velvet bed at least 5 meters in diameter?

Nani? Brother, something is wrong with you!

There were some more reasonable requests. For example, a Master-level sociologist had a very simple demand: no need for food or clothing, just that the colony population must exceed 10 million...

...

............

That demand is even more ridiculous, you jerk! (╯°Д°)╯（┻━┻!!

Tang Xiao decisively closed the Master-level interface. He didn't even look at the Elite level this time. He had nothing right now; even if he woke those people up, they would probably just quit or die on him.

The logic was simple: initial work could be done well by Ordinary-level personnel, such as laborers, with perhaps a few Elite-level personnel to lead them.

But the harsh conditions for waking Master-level figures were necessary. For example, if you woke up a Master-level physicist while the colony was still under construction, with no precision instruments or laboratories, what would you have him do? Teach physics at a school? The problem is, you don't even have a school yet!

Most of these Master-level figures were 50 or 60 years old. Every year they spent was a year lost. Should they be brought out early to waste their lives away during the colony's initial development?

So, it wasn't without reason that these people had signed such conditions and contracts before falling asleep.

Relatively speaking, waking Ordinary-level personnel had no conditions. He opened their files and saw that, basically, as long as there was food, shelter, and work, they were fine. Only a small number had minor requests, like needing a work environment with members of the opposite sex, or hoping to eat noodles.

Before authorizing the awakenings, Tang Xiao thought for a moment and asked, "Mainframe, am I the only one who can authorize the awakening of the crew? And do these people work for me?"

【Yes, you are the holder of the highest authority on the mothership. All crew members and colonists were selected by you, and they will offer their loyalty to you.】

Tang Xiao nodded silently. He quickly found the Engineering Department among the Ordinary-level crew and chose to wake up 10 squads, each with 10 people, to be responsible for operating an engineering ship. Afterward, he woke up two 10-man squads of logistics and maintenance personnel. After appointing captains for each, he established a small leadership team.

Once he got the hang of it, Tang Xiao quickly settled into his role. Perhaps this was due to the learning he had received while in his sleep, as the Mainframe had mentioned. This kind of small-scale work allocation was quite simple. He then woke up 20 people in the Agricultural Department to look after the hydroponic bays on the mothership, as he had checked and found that many of the crops inside had withered.

No wonder the Mainframe told him that supplies were bottoming out. He didn't know what had happened to this ship—perhaps a disaster?

After completing the most urgent tasks, Tang Xiao finally relaxed. He crossed his legs and said, "Mainframe, give me an introduction to the basic situation of this mothership."

【Understood.】

The central holographic projection displayed a panoramic view of the mothership. The Mainframe continued to explain: 【The civilization to which this ship belongs is unknown, the manufacturer is unknown. It is a civilian colonization mothership with only minimal armament and armor. The current holder of the highest authority is Administrator Tang Xiao.】

【Technical parameters: Total height 41.37 km, longest section 10.92 km, total weight 373.079 billion tons. Armament: 5 mass drivers and a point-defense system containing 377 small electromagnetic rapid-fire cannons. Total capacity...】

While the Mainframe was explaining in a matter-of-fact tone, Tang Xiao wasn't paying attention at all. He was stunned by the holographic projection of the massive ship appearing before him!

It was a giant ship shaped like a crescent moon, or perhaps a banana. The overall design had a very minimalist aesthetic. There was a gap in the upper-middle section, where a large number of portholes were located—that was the bridge.

But what shocked Tang Xiao wasn't the fact that this super-giant ship was the size of the distance from the Imperial Capital to Langfang, but because... he recognized this ship!

"Homeworld!! The Kushan Mothership!!" Tang Xiao's face changed drastically, and he gasped.

Tang Xiao had, of course, played the famous game *Homeworld: The Kushan Song*. It was an epoch-making game that had ushered in a new era of space real-time strategy games. Not only that, but the game was also known for its grand storyline. Tang Xiao, who was still in elementary school at the time, had been deeply fascinated by it.

But now, this ship, which could be called the iconic vessel of the entire *Homeworld* universe—the Kushan Mothership—was actually the one he had taken over?!

This isn't right! Why would something from a game become reality? And if even the mothership from *Homeworld* had appeared in reality, does that mean...

That dream might be real!?

【Easter Egg Chapter Attachment 1: "Homeworld", Kushan Mothership】

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(End of chapter)