From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 296: A miserable victory is also a victory (Chapter )

The man-made celestial fortress will naturally be equipped with a garrison fleet.

Although the man-made celestial fortress will generally not be dispatched alone, but will form a 'celestial fortress battle group' with other fleets, there will still be no shortage of garrison fleets.

The composition of the garrison fleet is basically the same as that of a main fleet, except that there will be fewer battleships and more more functional ships such as light and heavy cruisers.

After all, the firepower of the Celestial Fortress is already strong enough, so a few more battleships are of little significance, and the main role of the garrison fleet is to assist in air defense and protect the wings and rear of the Celestial Fortress.

The Duke of Hastings's trump card, in addition to these two garrison fleets, is also two reserve strike groups parked inside the two celestial fortresses.

Since setting off from the Empire, these two reserve strike groups have never appeared and have been on standby inside the Celestial Fortress, in order to prevent the Federation from misjudging the Empire's troop allocation.

During the battle meeting before the battle, Duke Hastings considered the possibility that the Federation might launch a surprise attack here when he saw the narrow gap in the middle of the 'Turtle Formation' composed of two celestial fortresses.

In order to ensure sufficient maneuvering space, the distance between the two celestial fortresses must be maintained at least 4 kilometers, and normally the distance will be maintained at 6 kilometers.

A 'gap' of this size is theoretically enough for multiple fleets to jump in at fixed points, and Duke Hastings also believes that the other party must have relatively high control over the astronomical conditions and coordinates of the galaxy within the territory.

So he was always on guard.

The garrison fleet and reserve strike group, which have already completed preparations for dispatch, have been waiting for this moment.

The reserve strike group and garrison fleet, equivalent to four full fleets, immediately strangled the unmanned fleets that entered the scene one after another.

Their mission is also very simple and clear, which is to prevent these unmanned fleets from destroying the rear propulsion array of the celestial fortress at all costs.

On the other side, Marshal Trafalgar, who was the first to enter the First Fleet, also learned that the unmanned fleet was entangled.

At this moment, he had to admit that the Duke of Hastings on the opposite side was quite capable of hiding. He had the combat power equivalent to four full fleets, but he had to hide it until now.

The six unmanned fleets that were originally intended to enter the scene as 'surprise forces' were now forced to start a close-range 'mincing' with these emerging new forces.

Although there are more unmanned fleets in number, the empire's reserve strike group and garrison fleet can be supported by defensive weapons from the two celestial fortresses, so they are not completely at a disadvantage.

Marshal Trafalgar's idea for this operation was to use his 'strongest punch' to hit the enemy directly in the face, so he did not retain any reserves when making combat deployments.

At present, 21 fleets, including the th and th fleets that implemented the plan to lure the enemy, as well as the escort formations that performed the "deportation alert" mission in the outer security circle, have all joined the battle.

Counting the various fleets of the empire, in addition to the two celestial fortresses, more than 8,000 warships of various types gathered in this battlefield.

Such a 'grand scene' never happened even in the last war 80 years ago.

Although in the last war, the number of warships invested by both sides during the war was still larger, but now such a large number of warships are concentrated in a galaxy, or even in a space near a planet.
This is really my first time doing this.

This battle has entered a fierce stage from the first round of salvos fired by both sides.

The salvo strategies adopted by both sides are also relatively consistent. In the same fleet, 50% of the firepower is concentrated on one or two battleships, and the remaining 50% of the firepower is selected by the target for output.

On the one hand, while ensuring that each salvo can stably kill one of the opponent's battleships, all battleships on the opponent's front line must keep the deflection field turned on.

Marshal Trafalgar, who was on the bridge of the Federation Navy flagship 'Dreadnought', and Duke Hastings in the Gospel Fortress combat command center, looked at the chaotic battlefield and said in unison almost at the same time. :
"It's so fucking ugly."

To an outsider, the various lasers and rays flying randomly in this space, as well as the silver-white arcs of deflection force fields, as well as the firelight of the battleship being hit and exploding, can be said to be a 'splendid scene' in space.

No panoramic movie or game scene can be as shocking as the scene of the two sides fighting at this moment.

But in the eyes of soldiers and senior military officials such as Marshal Trafalgar and the Duke of Hastings, the scene of the battle between the two sides could be said to be extremely ugly.

Because the current battle has become a war of attrition without any skill or 'artistic'.

What the two sides are fighting for is to see whose capital ships are exhausted first, or whose fleet's morale is destroyed first.

Fleet warfare, which requires precise calculation and deployment of tactics, has become a simple and cruel mathematical problem.

80% of the tactics used in fleet operations are no longer useful at this moment, because all the fighting forces on both sides are fighting within a distance of 5000 kilometers, and some have even entered a distance of 3000 kilometers.

At this engagement distance, the battleship's heavy particle cannon has only a 'flight time' of just over 1 second, which is basically equivalent to a sure-hit state.

All tactics and maneuvers have become meaningless at this moment.

All battleship captains concentrated most of their energy on the main guns and deflection fields. While following the fleet commander to roll call the enemy warships, they prayed that their own warship would not become the target of the other party's "roll call".

In the case of saturated concentrated fire, no matter it is the Federation Navy's 'Grand Monster' or the Imperial Royal Navy's 'Requiem', these two most resistant main battleships are unlikely to survive the salvo.
But as the initiator of the attack, Marshal Trafalgar did not want the battle to become such a war of attrition, so he quickly issued new instructions based on the battle plan.

"The entire fleet, engage the enemy at full speed to close the distance! All ship-borne HCP pilots board the plane and prepare to join forces!"

Orders from the fleet's supreme commander were issued via shortwave, laser and light.

On a chaotic battlefield, using a single communication method is very unreliable.

The chaotic and responsible electromagnetic environment will affect short-wave communications, and the battlefield with debris flying in the sky and constant high-speed maneuvers will also make laser communications intermittent.

Therefore, light signals have become a guarantee.

When the shipboard control personality 'sees' the light signal emitted by a friendly ship, it will interpret it in an instant and control the ship's communication light group to transmit the information.

Soon, all federal warships that received the order increased their speed and began to advance.

Those warships that did not receive the order due to various reasons quickly realized what was happening when their captains saw longer and longer tails appearing behind the surrounding friendly warships.

Under their orders, the helmsmen pushed the clock to 'forward three' without hesitation.

Suddenly, the proximity rate of the two warring parties increased again, and the distance between them was also greatly reduced.

On the other side, after observing the movement of the Federation fleet, without even waiting for the Duke of Hastings to issue an order, the various battleship captains of the Imperial fleet also issued the order to 'prepare for a full-deck attack'.

After putting on their heavy-duty hydraulic anti-gravity suits, all the pilots boarded the HCP and walked to the departure area of ​​Gnaku under the guidance of the maintenance team.

There is no need to eject in a gang-hopping battle, because the efficiency of ejecting HCPs is relatively low.

Currently, in the naval fleets of the Federation and the Empire, a common practice is to have the HCP pass through the regular disembarkation channel, and then stand on the deck of the battleship on standby.

After entering the jumping distance within 500 kilometers, let the entire squadron rush up at the same time in one breath.

The formation of this tactic originated more from the operations of both navies when encircling and suppressing pirates in peacetime.

Although this style of play is barbaric and full of flaws, for a while both sides couldn't find a better way to 'jump gang war'.

When an HCP pilot comes to the deck of a battleship through the regular exit channel, if they are not destroyed by flying 'stray bullets', then the first thing they see is the 'lit' starry sky.

Within sight was a huge fleet that had never been seen before, and a large number of friendly and enemy logos almost covered the entire cockpit screen. However, the combat assistance AI quickly reacted and began to filter out those units that were too far away.

But even so, countless beams, projectiles, and fires caused by explosions were still intertwined between the fleets of both sides.

The deflection fields directly in front of all the battleships are activated at this time, and the dancing electric snakes seem to be twisting endlessly, because in such a large-scale fleet battle, the battleships are suffering almost all the time. enemy attack.

Once the deflection force field of a certain warship is overloaded or fails, what awaits it is to be pierced by a heavy metal particle jet or charged particle beam swept from nowhere in the next second.

3000 kilometers, 2000 kilometers, 1000 kilometers
A series of huge 'light balls' lit up between the fleets of both sides. They were 'defensive hydrogen bombs' released by the assaulting federal fleet.

The huge 'wall of light' formed by these massive hydrogen bombs after the explosion almost enveloped the front of all the attacking federal fleets.

If the physical warhead cannot fly through the 'wall of light' formed by this high-temperature plasma fireball, it will be melted. The heavy metal particle jet and charged particle beam will also be disturbed by the chaotic electric field after the nuclear explosion, causing it to be completely inaccurate.

The propulsion tactics formulated before the war are now being resolutely implemented by the fleets of the Federation Navy. Whenever the 'wall of light' directly ahead begins to gradually extinguish, the multi-functional launch silos on each warship will throw out a new round of fire. Nuclear bombs, and form a new 'light wall' after detonating.

At this time, the federal fleet was like a Spartan warrior charging with a heavy shield, regardless of how the imperial fleet directly ahead would respond.

Their purpose is very simple, just to rush over in one go and then talk about it.

The imperial fleet opposite them was also dumbfounded at this time. They never thought that "defensive thermonuclear weapons" would be used by these federal warships in an attack.

What's even more frightening is that they couldn't find any effective way to deal with it for a while, and could only watch the federal fleet forcefully advance in front of them by relying on the 'nuclear bomb to open the way'.

"Attention all HCP squadrons, prepare to attack!"

In the command link, the voices of the captains of each battleship issuing orders sounded almost simultaneously.

"3! 2! 1! Attack! Attack! Attack!" When the distance between the two fleets was only 500 kilometers, all HCP pilots saw the arrow symbol representing attack in the middle of the all-circle display.

The external solid fuel booster rocket was activated, and these HCPs, who had sufficient impact speed standing on the battleship deck, rushed out at a faster speed.

Although the duration of the solid fuel rocket engine is very short and cannot compare to the plasma propulsion array behind the HCP, when short-term burst acceleration is required, these equipment with a long history of technology still play their role.

One HCP after another, with a bright wake behind them, pounced on the hostile warships ahead like eagles leaving their nests.

But how many are left to 'return home' after the battle?

No one can answer this question.

The working time of the solid fuel rocket engine is only 5 seconds, but the powerful thrust not only made the pilots blush, but also brought the HCP to combat speed.

The pilots abandoned these completed boosters without hesitation, and then drove the HCP, which was wrapped like an iron box with external armor plates and heavy shields, and aimed at the heavy particle cannon like a lance. Rush to the attack point of your squadron.

When the wall of light formed by the last round of nuclear explosions between the fleets of both sides was extinguished, the first thing to rush through the barrier was the massive HCP from both sides.

The HCP squadrons of the Federation and the Empire almost passed each other at a distance of dozens of kilometers. Except for those squadrons that were hit by the attack route and had to open fire, the other attack squadrons simply ignored the opponents they passed by.

Our own warships still have some HCP left behind for defense, so they don't need to worry about it. Their attack squadrons have only one goal, and that is to cause as much damage to the enemy warships as possible.

After releasing the warships of the HCP squadron, they began to make final tactical maneuvers at this moment. They all aimed at the enemy warship selected as the target and began to adjust its axis, trying to catch the opponent's side and fire a salvo. Send them to heaven.

However, when all the battleship commanders thought so, a must-have part of the space fleet battle - the 'two-person turn' began.

In fact, after the battle enters the real "hand-to-hand combat" stage, the progress of the battle has nothing to do with the commanders of both sides.

Whether it was Marshal Trafalgar or the Duke of Hastings, there was only one thing he could do at this time, and that was to wait.

Marshal Trafalgar was waiting for the Imperial Fleet Commander to be unable to bear the casualties and take the initiative to start a retreat. If the opponent still had no such plan, he would be ready to pull out his last trump card.

Marshal Hastings is also waiting. He is waiting for the number representing the battle loss ratio between the two sides to get closer and closer to the line in his heart.

If it was the blue line, then he would choose to join forces with Duke Artesia 'all in' and find a way to eat up the federal fleet in front of him, creating the greatest result since the beginning of the war for the Imperial Royal Navy.

But if it was close to the red line in his heart, then he would have to consider withdrawing from the battle to preserve his strength.

After all, for him and Duke Artesia, the enemy is not just the Federation in front of them.——
Lieutenant Larry of the 809th HCP Squadron of the Imperial Navy did not rest for too long.

He felt like he had just gotten into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes when the battle alarm sounded in the rest cabin.

After rubbing his face vigorously to wake up quickly, Larry took out rookie Jeff from his sleeping bag and kicked him towards the hatch.

Out of habit, Lieutenant Larry looked at Bob's sleeping bag, preparing to call the middle-aged man as usual.

It wasn't until he saw the empty sleeping bag that he finally realized that this member of his team had been killed in the CSP mission just now.

However, the shrill battle alarm made Larry unable to care about his sadness at the moment. Before leaving the cabin, he inadvertently took Bob's notebook out of his sleeping bag and put it in the lining pocket of his driving suit. .

"Let's go out together as a team again, Bob."

Like other reconnaissance teams that also hurried back from the outer security circle, the commander of the reconnaissance team where the Speeder was located was also stunned by the sight in front of him.

With the joint efforts of the Federation Navy and the Imperial Royal Navy, the space area where they are located has been "burning".

"Captain, what should we do now?"

"How the hell did I know? I've never seen such a battle."

The captain of the reconnaissance ship said in a daze, and then he quickly realized the location of their reconnaissance teams - behind the federal fleet.

"Fuck their ass!"

"Ah? Captain, what did you say?"

"I said, let's go fuck their butts!" The captain of the scout ship waved his hand and continued:

"Contact all the reconnaissance and escort detachments around you that you can contact. There is only one way to join the friendly forces now, and that is to break through their defenses! If you are brave, come with us!"

"Yes! Captain!"

The communications officer quickly began to try to contact other friendly forces around him, although this was not an easy task in a complex electromagnetic environment.

At this moment, a 'Heavenly River' once again crossed this space.

Under the order of Duke Hastings, Gospel Fortress directly launched the second round of irradiation without waiting for the Focusing Iris to complete its full self-inspection.

Although this time the irradiation only used 50% of the power and the irradiation time was shortened to 5 seconds, with the cooperation of the 'Master Gunner' and the fortress control personality, a federal fleet was still successfully irradiated.

This federal fleet, which had not yet fully entered a state of close combat, was forced to wipe out more than 80% of the warships under the attack of Focusing Iris, becoming the largest loss since the beginning of the "Supernova Burst" operation. A federal fleet.

But for Gospel Fortress, this round of attacks also paid a price. The result of skipping nearly half of the self-inspection procedures and forcing the fire was that Gospel Fortress's Focusing Rainbow was directly forced offline.

The main gun cannot be used again until it returns to a safe area for thorough self-inspection and repair.

The entire battlefield seemed to be peaceful for a moment under the deterrent of the Focusing Iris, and this blow that seemed to penetrate the stars also greatly improved the morale of the Imperial fleet.

The peripheral reconnaissance teams, including the Speeder, no longer waited, and accelerated towards the rear of the nearest federal fleet in front of them, and released all the shipboard HCPs.

The battlefield situation seems to be changing at this moment due to the attack of Focusing Iris.

Seeing this scene on the bridge, Marshal Trafalgar sighed. No matter how well prepared the Federation fleet was, the Celestial Fortress was still a gap that could not be crossed in a short time.

It also forced him to use the 'hole card' he had prepared for this battle.

"Give me the order to remotely detonate the proton annihilation bomb carried by the First Unmanned Fleet."

"Marshal! If it is detonated now, a large part of the six unmanned fleets will be affected!" A combat staff officer raised an objection.

Although he did not want to jump out and sing a different tune at this juncture, if Marshal Trafalgar's orders were followed, more than 80% of the unmanned fleets fighting against the four enemy fleets would be destroyed by proton annihilation bombs.

And this was not his only idea. Everyone on the bridge and in the CIC were looking this way.

"Of course I know, but if our unmanned fleet is gone, we can still rebuild it, and the fleet command AI can also be quickly mass-produced!"

Marshal Trafalgar pointed to the surrounding Imperial fleet and continued:
"The enemy is different. The ships needed by the four fleets may be produced quickly, but the required crews, HCP pilots and fleet commanders cannot be trained so quickly.

Exchanging machines and AI for professional soldiers who have been trained for a long time is not a loss-making deal, do you understand? ! "

Seeing the young combat officer in front of him nodding responsibly, Marshal Trafalgar didn't bother to tangle with them anymore.

"Now that you understand, execute the order immediately!"
-
The purple ball of light rapidly expanding in the universe seemed to be the response of the Federation Navy to the Focusing Iris shot.

The huge purple ball of light swallowed up more than 8% of the unmanned fleet in an instant, as well as the two garrison fleets + two reserve strike groups that were fighting with them, a total of four imperial fleets.

After detecting abnormal energy fluctuations, the two celestial fortresses directly started emergency evasive maneuvers.

The proton annihilation bomb that 'erased' the Robert IV was deeply remembered by the Imperial Navy. The relevant characteristics were immediately reported to the rear and added to the characteristic database of all ships and fortresses.

So when the proton annihilation bomb was detonated again this time, the control personalities of the two celestial fortresses reacted quickly.

After seeing this huge purple ball of light and the four fleets marked with 'red crosses' in the fleet list to indicate comprehensiveness, the Duke of Hastings's face finally changed.

"Madman. You are truly a madman, Marshal Trafalgar.
In order to achieve the combat goal, you will do whatever it takes. You are indeed the purest soldier. "

At the same time, Duke Artesia also sent a message.

"That's it for now. If Hastings continues to suffer further losses, it will be difficult to deal with later."

The Duchess's expression at this moment was no longer as relaxed as before, and was replaced by a solemn expression.

"Well, I understand."

(End of this chapter)