From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 97 The fleet enters the scene

"My Lord Marquis, I feel that I must explain to you the time and potential risks involved in transferring troops."

Raphael thought for a moment, then stepped forward and made a few operations on the holographic projection platform.

Soon, the current distribution of the empire's ground troops on the Robert IV was revealed.

"Our current strength on the surface is mainly 22 orbital parachute regiments and two brigade-level armored combat teams that have not yet completed full deployment.

Due to the unavailability of the space elevator, in addition to these troops that have landed, there are still two fully equipped brigade combat teams that have not started to be launched, and have been delayed too far from the planned time.

If we mobilize all air and space transport aircraft to mobilize troops within the atmosphere, it will delay the deployment of the remaining two brigade combat teams.

Moreover, after the federal fleet appeared and showed its presence to the remaining federal soldiers on the ground, the morale and determination of these remaining soldiers to resist improved.

According to reports from various ground forces, the intensity of the recent battles has also become higher and higher, and it can no longer be suppressed by orbital paratroopers and a small number of HCPs alone.

If some heavy troops are transferred away at this time, I am worried that there may be a risk of counterattack on these fronts. "

After listening to Raphael's report and looking at the situation between the enemy and ourselves on the holographic projection map, Marquis Ascania fell silent.

He knew that the situation of this battle had actually deviated from the planned trajectory from the beginning.

Defected imperial spies, blocked space elevators, autonomous remnants of the Federation, and the sudden appearance of the Federation fleet as annoying as bed bugs

Under the influence of various factors, the Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group's original plan of 'quick victory' could actually be torn up.

Marquis Ascania raised his head and looked at the young staff officer opposite the holographic projection map.

"Then what do you mean?"

"Continue with subsequent brigade combat team drops, my lord."

"Continue to increase the number of troops on the ground so you want to deploy these troops directly to the space elevator?"

"Yes sir, but not directly deployed to the location of the space elevator."

Raphael swiped at the holographic projection map, and the map quickly zoomed in and located the location of the space elevator base.

"The space elevator is built directly in coastal areas. The seaside areas are basically large ports with dense mechanical equipment, which cannot meet the take-off and landing conditions of aerospace transport aircraft."

The inland north and west sides are cities built on bases, which are also not suitable for take-off and landing.

Therefore, the only suitable landing site is the area south of the base, which has not yet been fully developed by the federation. From a geographical point of view, it is indeed suitable for the take-off and landing of aerospace transport aircraft.

But what we can think of, I believe the commander or command group of this federal remnant can also think of. "

Upon hearing this, the Marquis nodded thoughtfully.

"You mean, these federal remnants might ambush here and ambush the transport fleet during the takeoff and landing phase?"

"Yes, sir, so my idea is to make full use of our advantages in troops and equipment, safely deploy the troops to the outer areas, and then form a force that cannot be blocked by these remaining soldiers and punch them."

"But in this case, it will also give the remaining federal soldiers sufficient time to prepare, right?"

Although he admitted that Raphael's analysis was reasonable, Marquis Ascania raised questions again.

"Indeed, such a plan will bring certain risks, but the risk does not come from the remaining federal soldiers on the ground."

"Are you worried about the arrival of the Federation's support fleet?"

"Your Excellency is wise."

"There's no need to flatter me. Raphael, you're still not suitable for this job. It's too blunt."

The Marquis waved his hand, and then continued:

"Support from the Federation's main fleet? Humph. It's not certain who's support will arrive first."

Raphael's eyes lit up when he heard this.

"You mean, our support fleet has also been dispatched?"

"Yes, the latest news received within an hour, according to time calculation, the fleet's jump distance has already passed halfway."

Marquis Ascania clicked a few times on his personal terminal, and the corresponding fleet information also appeared on the holographic projection platform.

"The Twelfth Expeditionary Strike Group? It seems that the Supreme Command is determined to capture the Robert Galaxy."

"Not only that."

The Marquis raised his terminal and motioned for Raphael to come over.

The young major walked quickly behind him. After seeing the information displayed on the terminal, his eyes widened uncontrollably. "This is the Fortress of Sorrow?!"

Robert IV's surface, Southern Continent.

After nearly five hours of sailing, Amber and the three 'Pelicans' they were on finally arrived near their final destination.

During the previous voyage along the coastline, the reconnaissance force found a way to drive the reconnaissance vehicle to the open deck of the 'Pelican', and then used the vehicle-mounted catapult to launch the drone for preliminary reconnaissance.

The result was similar to what the brigade staff had guessed. The drone indeed discovered the imperial troops in the base area of ​​the space elevator.

Although the drone was eventually destroyed by high-energy lasers deployed by the Imperial troops, the staff still found that there were fewer Imperial troops here than they expected.

Leaving the coastline and once again entering the ocean and circling wildly in the three 'Pelicans', Lieutenant Colonel Dallas held an impromptu meeting.

After ruling out the possibility that this was a trap set by the imperial forces, Lieutenant Colonel Dallas finally decided to find a suitable place to land.

the reason is simple.

First, the plan has been implemented to this point, and the arrow has to be fired. At this time, retreating or changing the plan will have a greater impact on morale.

Moreover, the entire combined brigade has no better place to go at this time. If they return to the Northern Continent, they will only be surrounded by imperial troops again.

The second, and most important, reason is that after approaching the coastline previously, the communications force received a signal from a friendly force on the South Continent.

Amber is not the only person on this planet who has a quick mind, and Dallas is not the only passionate federal commander.

This remnant of the Southern Continent, which was about half a combined brigade in size, after receiving the message sent by the federal task force through the public frequency band, also maneuvered in the direction of the space elevator under the leadership of its commander.

Although they did not learn the news that the space elevator was locked at the first time, being in the Southern Continent, they were much more convenient to detect the space elevator than Amber and the others.

Therefore, this remnant of the Southern Continent soon discovered that the space elevator had not yet been put into use.

This also strengthened the command of this force to take back the space elevator.

After the two forces from different continents got in touch, they naturally decided to join together and fight together.

Finally, about 340 kilometers away from the urban area of ​​Jabra, three huge ground-effect flying delivery platforms washed up directly on the beach.

A few hours later, the Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group received a report from the space elevator defenders about the downing of an unidentified drone.

This confirmed the speculation by Marquis Ascania, Raphael and others that federal forces were gathering near the space elevator.

The Marquis also approved the decision submitted by Raphael to drop the subsequent heavy troops into the outer zone of the space elevator.

On September 9, the temporary 11rd Combined Brigade completed the rendezvous with the remnant soldiers of the Southern Continent Federation that had been contacted. At the same time, there were many small-scale troops that broke out and were also maneuvering towards the space elevator.

On September 9, the Empire's aerospace transport fleet was discovered by federal reconnaissance forces when it was trying to deploy troops outside the space elevator. It was immediately irradiated by a large number of high-energy lasers and lost a fully loaded 'Taurus' aerospace transport aircraft.

From September 9th to September 14th, the area where the Empire's heavy troops were dropped moved to the outer periphery, and troop drops were carried out for many days.

During this period, federal forces launched multiple attacks on the landing site area designated by the empire. Although they once again caused the loss of two aerospace transport aircraft, as the defense near the landing site was stabilized, subsequent attacks were fruitless.

From September 9th to September 19th, ground troops from both sides exchanged fire around the space elevator base area and Jabra.

Finally, the federal troops moved to the Jabra City area, and the Empire's heavy armored troops completed their assembly on the south side of the space elevator base area.

During this period, in addition to the ships delivering troops to the ground, all warships of the Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group also left synchronous orbit and began to conduct tactical maneuvers.

Time comes to September 9, Robert 21 outer space.

When the warships of the Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group maneuvered to a predetermined battle position, the reconnaissance ship discovered the movement of the federal task force jumping.

The imperial fleet immediately deployed its formation, preparing to defeat the federal fleet, which had lost many ships during this period, in one fell swoop.

But when the Federation fleet began to break away from the jump, the Imperial reconnaissance ship discovered that the number of this fleet had far exceeded the number of enemy fleets recorded after the last battle.

This news and the ship's shadow captured by the optical sensing equipment were quickly transmitted to the bridge of the Dawn Sword.

Watching more and more Federation warships on the screen, they continued to arrive on the battlefield in the flash of light produced when the jump ended.

Marquis Ascania said calmly:

"Notify the 12th Expeditionary Strike Group that it's time for them to come out."

　I've created a group. Anyone who wants to chat or something is welcome to come and play.

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(End of this chapter)