From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 295 Breaking the Formation and Hastings’ Backup
"Threat detection ended. A total of two threat targets were found."

"The light patrol detachment closest to our ship has a straight-line distance of 12 kilometers. It is expected to be attacked by the opponent within 15 minutes after being exposed."

"The other escort detachment has a straight-line distance of 18 kilometers. After the ship is exposed, it is expected to be attacked by the opponent within 25 minutes."

After completing the threat detection, the shipboard control personality quickly reported the surrounding imperial units that may cause danger.

At the same time, on a shabby-looking virtual screen in front of Brownie, the best path for emergency evacuation of this long-distance penetration reconnaissance ship was drawn.

Yes, in order to minimize unnecessary energy consumption and compress the size of the bridge, the standard holographic projection platform on conventional warships has also been castrated by the R&D team of the Naval Equipment Manufacturing Bureau.

"Why does it take 15 minutes to enter the jump? Is it such a coincidence?"

Looking at the calculation results given by the shipboard controller, Captain Browne couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

Now, this long-distance penetration reconnaissance ship is really going to dance on the edge of a knife.

After thinking for a moment, Brownie decided to take action immediately. Every minute and every second now was precious. He must pass on the precise coordinates as soon as possible so that the assault fleet could better jump in the face of the enemy.

Otherwise, once the coordinates are not received back when the attack starts, the assault fleet will have to use extremely risky 'estimated coordinates' and make an extremely dangerous blind jump.

In this case, it may even happen that you directly hit the celestial fortress after the jump.
"No wait, the whole ship is attentive! All units prepare quickly. This ship will send intelligence 30 seconds after the broadcast ends. At that time, our ship's position will also be exposed, so we will enter the emergency jump procedure immediately after the intelligence is sent! "

After the ship-wide broadcast ended, the long-distance infiltration reconnaissance ship, which had not many people on it, fell completely silent. Although the crew members were all very courageous guys, they still couldn't help but become nervous at this time.

30 seconds usually seems like a blink of an eye, but in the eyes of these crew members, every second seems so long.

The electronic clock seems to use all its energy to jump from one number to the next.

"87654321"

"Send intelligence packet now!"

"The optical camouflage on the entire ship is lifted, the axis is adjusted 180 degrees, and the main propulsion array is lifted from restrictions on super-power operation!"

The empire's celestial fortress battle group is extremely strict with electronic reconnaissance within the middle warning circle, so the moment this long-distance penetration reconnaissance ship sent intelligence, it was located by several electronic reconnaissance ships at the same time.

The ship of the nearest light patrol detachment quickly captured the position of this long-distance penetration reconnaissance ship based on the positioning information provided by the electronic reconnaissance ship.

Then the dozen or so light cruisers looked at the optical lens. A battleship with a slender hull and a very small front projection made a sudden somersault and rushed towards the periphery.

"Quick! Stop it!"

The light patrol detachment, which was originally performing a warning patrol, did not hesitate at all. It immediately increased the power of the plasma propulsion array and pursued the location of the lone ship.

"High-energy lasers and charged particle beams try to attack! There is no need to pursue absolute accuracy, just shine it first!"

A distance of 10 kilometers, and both sides are maneuvering at high speeds. Under these conditions, even 'light speed weapons' such as high-energy lasers and charged particle cannons cannot actually guarantee a hit rate.

But these light cruisers can't control so much now. Just like the commander of the light patrol detachment said, let's shine the light first.

Even if you don't hit, just make the opponent nervous.

For these ships responsible for security missions, it would be fine if they did not find such an enemy ship lurking under their noses, and if they let the other side escape in the end.
Losing face is a trivial matter, maybe even this military uniform will be lost.

After entering the chase, time seemed to speed up again. For the crew of the long-distance infiltration reconnaissance ship, it felt like more than ten minutes had passed in the blink of an eye.

As the ship was about to enter a jump, the high-energy lasers and charged particle beams directed at them were getting closer and closer.

"This is beyond the estimation of AI. It will take fifteen minutes. Damn, I feel like I will be blown away in the next second."

Captain Browne, who was pressed tightly on the captain's seat, still found time to complain under such circumstances.

However, complaints were complaints, and he kept staring at the virtual screen in front of him, watching the ship's various indicators getting closer and closer to the jump standard.

When the green words 'Allow entry to jump' lit up, Captain Browne could no longer suppress his nervousness and shouted:

"Quick, enter the jump!"

The jump drive of this long-distance infiltration reconnaissance ship immediately began to operate, and space collapsed directly in front of the ship.

But at the last moment when the transition channel was about to take shape, a blue charged particle beam accurately hit the middle of the ship, and then swept through the superconducting battery stack during 2 seconds of continuous irradiation.

"I'm so lucky."

Before Captain Browne finished his last complaint, the entire bridge was completely swallowed up by the rapidly expanding high-temperature plasma fireball.

When this huge plasma fireball appeared in the dark starry sky, everyone in the light patrol detachment finally breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the prompt that 'the target has been destroyed' in front of them.
-
Gospel Fortress, combat command center. The Duke of Hastings had already received the report of destroying the enemy's "suspected reconnaissance ship" unit in the middle security area.

And not one, but three.

The three new federal reconnaissance ships had been lurking under the nose of the battle group for an unknown length of time, and had just sent out intelligence one after another before being destroyed by the patrol fleet.

"It seems that traditional security patrols are no longer enough. As expected, only the blood shed in actual combat can improve technological progress in this area."

The Duke of Hastings couldn't help but have this thought flashing through his mind, just as he was about to ask the patrol fleets in the middle-level security circle to conduct detailed screening again.

The combat command center sounded an alarm.

[warn! Unauthorized space collapse detected! ]
[warn! Abnormal mass growth in space has been detected! ]
The fortress control personality quickly began to solve the problem and gave a series of coordinates of the 'jump escape point' within a few seconds.

After seeing these dozen coordinates that were no more than 5000 kilometers away from the Celestial Fortress battle group, everyone in the combat command center had cold sweat streaming down their foreheads.

They were jumped in the face.

In a minute at most, there will be more than a dozen federal fleets in their faces.

But unlike the reactions of others in the combat command center, Duke Hastings had an expression of 'relief' on his face.

At the same time, the communication from Duke Artesia also came in. The first words the duchess said when she came up were:

"Boarding battle, you really guessed it."

"After all, this is one of the few ways to break our 'turtle formation'
Unfortunately, this is not good news. The other party is obviously well prepared and has high morale, otherwise it would be impossible to execute such a combat plan with a high casualty rate."

The Duke of Hastings's face showed no joy at having guessed the other party's plan. Instead, he had a solemn look on his face.

He and Duke Artesia had received a secret message from the rear and learned that the old emperor Frederico Rosa Leon was critically ill.

If it were done before, the Duke might still have some thoughts in his heart. After all, this means that His Highness the Princess, whom he supports, is one step closer to the throne of the Empire.

But this unexpected news came only after he and Duke Artesia took over from the 'friendly forces' and led the Celestial Fortress Battle Group to the federal territory.
Thinking of this, the Duke of Hastings couldn't help but think of the 'troop rotation' proposal that the Prince Regent had previously proposed at a regular meeting of the Imperial Military Department.

At that time, both he, Duke Artesia, Her Royal Highness the Princess, and even Duke Sauron, who abided by neutrality, were all surprised.

Now it seems that this is a conspiracy.

"Duke Artesia, prepare to implement Plan C. If the battle situation and our battle losses reach the situation we two agreed upon before, I will consider the suggestion you made before."

"Thank you for considering my suggestion and wish you good luck."

"You too."

When the two dukes ended their brief exchange, the two celestial fortress battle groups A and B also prepared for battle during this time.

The red light representing the battle alarm has turned on, and the CIC of each warship has also entered a blackout.

All power will be concentrated on firepower and defense systems, and power will be cut off in some places that are not related to the battle.

For non-combat units such as prepositioning ships and hospital ships, while the fusion furnace is operating at combat rated power, the superconducting battery stacks on the ship are also emptied to reduce possible secondary damage.

These batteries, which are used to maintain the daily low-power operation of the warship, if not drained during battle, will act like plasma bombs placed inside the ship one by one.
Soon, one after another fully-equipped federal main fleets left the jump one after another and appeared directly in front of the eight imperial expeditionary strike fleets.

The farthest one is 5000 kilometers away, and the nearest fleet is only 3000 kilometers away from the enemy in front of them.

There was no countdown, no pre-war speech, the entire airspace lit up in an instant.

The warships of the Federation and the Empire launched a full volley of main guns at almost the same time. Just like the code name of the Federation's combat operation, they emitted light like a supernova explosion.

All the battleships also adjusted the power of the deflection force field to the highest level. When countless jets of heavy metal particles pierced the target, the flashing lightning on the battle lines of both sides almost formed a huge 'halo' in this space.

But this was just the beginning, as the combat command center once again captured six jump characteristics.

The coordinates this time were located in the narrow gap of less than 5 kilometers between the two celestial fortress battle groups in the "back-to-back" state.

When the warships of the unmanned fleet escaped from the jump one by one, the two celestial fortresses of 'Gospel' and 'Tranquility' opened all exit channels at the same time.

"The reserve strike group and the fortress garrison fleet are dispatched."

(End of this chapter)