After destroying the greenskin resistance on the ground in Ghetsis, the squadron was finally able to concentrate its forces to deal with the sudden appearance of the greenskin fleet.
The enemy in this naval battle was unknown in the intelligence, which surprised Soshyan.
Because before the expedition was launched, the Ascetic Chapter had already conducted a comprehensive reconnaissance of the greenskins in the Flon system, marked their main strongholds and fleets, and even planned the movement trajectory of each fleet.
But this fleet that suddenly appeared was not on the record.
Or, this fleet is a fish that slipped through the cracks during the investigation.
Either that or other green-skinned forces intervened in this war from outside the sector.
Soshyan hopes it's the former.
Because if it is the latter, then it means one thing——
This war may last much longer than expected.
But no matter what happens next, the most important thing at hand is to quickly defeat and eliminate this green skin.
The intensity of this space battle was no less intense than the previous one.
On the bridge of the Spark, the huge tactical panel presented the battle situation clearly and coldly in front of him.
The enemy fleet has broken through the high orbit and is fighting with the escort fleet in the low orbit. They are still trying to prevent humans from landing on Gages, and they have not noticed that the surface of the planet has been swept away by flames.
Those crude warships integrated into a zigzag cone, with a large number of fighters and heavily armored cruisers wrapping the largest warships at the core.
In Soshyan's eyes, it was like a worm with fangs gnawing at the center of a ripe fruit.
Ugly but effective.
In response, twenty-four heavy cruisers formed the tip of the squadron. Their main models were the Moon-class and Gothic-class. Centered on the Avengers-class super-large cruiser "God's Punishment", they formed a uniform and intensive team.
shape.
They ran directly over the wreckage of the destroyed battleship, with traces of flames and molten iron on the bow of the ship, and quickly aimed their guns at the alien fleet.
With just one contact, the battle quickly escalated to the extreme level of intensity.
Lasers, macrocannons, and plasma cannons washed the void around them, and bombers and attack aircraft swooped down on the stricken ships like locusts, killing them with thousands of tiny explosions.
Seen from a distance, the opening scene of this battle looks like flickering firelight scattered in the dark night.
But after being enlarged, the scene in front of us turned into a group of shimmering fragments flying in pairs like fireflies. The explosion light at the intersection of them was more dazzling than the distant stars.
However, the goals of both parties are different.
The humans are committed to destroying the greenskin's large battleships, while the greenskins are eyeing the low-orbiting transport ships and the Astra Militarum on board.
The escort fleet, which was mainly composed of small battleships, was shattered under the fierce attack of the greenskins. The Sword-class and Cobra-class frigates, which were entangled in flames, continued to retreat, trying to stay away from the greenskin's firepower.
The various transport ships escorted by them staggered forward, but were hit one after another, turning into fragmented wrecks after a brief flash, throwing pieces of corpses into the cold void.
The faster Indomitable-class light cruisers shuttled back and forth in an attempt to cover the large transport ships from the battlefield.
But the main force of the green-skinned fleet ignored the broken fleet and continued to advance.
The smaller warship bites the target, and then the larger warship completes the kill.
Brutal, ruthless, and ruthless.
Not long after the war began, more than 50,000 Astra Militarum troops died without seeing a single enemy or firing a single shot.
They died on the way to the escape cabin, died on the flight deck, and died in fear and anxiety.
Many of them had just escaped from a planet full of poisonous gas, but they had not had time to rejoice that they had escaped.
This situation made Soshyan clenched his fists, but he had no better way. The commander of the detachment was ruthless and wanted to preserve the safety of the large warships in the fleet, and was unwilling to put the fleet into close range to intercept the greenskins.
In the melee.
He asked the capital ships to bombard the enemy from a long distance and concentrate their firepower to destroy the large battleships first.
It's a cold exchange.
Use the lives of Astra Militarum soldiers in exchange for the main battleships of the greenskin fleet.
Soshyan even wondered whether the Greenskin Fleet's appearance without warning was because some people deliberately ignored the warning, just like some extremely patient and cruel hunters who used their livestock to lure more valuable beasts.
But he could only keep such speculations in his heart.
Because he only has one flagship and frigate on hand, and this is already owned by the Astral Knights - until the new fleet is completed, they have no say in the void.
Even if they are Astartes.
Suddenly, Soshyan noticed a lone battleship blocking the path of the greenskin fleet.
From the transferred establishment, Soshyan found out that it was an Indomitable-class light cruiser named Yuanwang, which had been in service in the Imperial Navy for more than three hundred years.
As time went by, it gained a lot of honors and scars, but its performance gradually failed to keep up with the pace of new warships. It could only be thrown into reserve and was not incorporated into the escort fleet until before the war.
However, just like the name of the model it belongs to, it is an unyielding tough guy.
Even when faced with the green-skin fleet that was devouring the sky and the earth, it still turned its bow and faced the enemy directly, filling the space between itself and the enemy with shining cannon fire.
While it is firing, it is also overloading its own engine, pushing its speed to the limit.
And its target is a green-skinned battleship that is pieced together from the wreckage of various battleships and is as big as a super-large cruiser.
The battleship had been staggered by the human battleship in the distance. The void shield continued to peel off as it moved forward in the flame storm, but it was still a long way from being destroyed.
The Yuanwang released a stream of light spears. In an instant, the green-skinned battleship's already severely overloaded shield could no longer hold on and completely collapsed in the violent burning.
Then, a glowing gouge went from its square bow to its dorsal fin, peeling off large pieces of armor plate.
The Yuanwang's good luck ends here.
Three green-skinned capital ships noticed it and opened fire on it at the same time.
All kinds of live ammunition and energy beams exploded like boiling bubbles on the void shield of the Yuanwang. Then the entire shield collapsed, and the shells and rockets smashed into the body of the old battleship.
The Yuanwang began to flicker and tremble, hundreds of meters of armor plates fell off, and the light spear array fell off the hull, leaving a trail of broken clouds of gold and iron.
What's more serious is that the flames are running in the compartments deep in the hull, suffocating the crew members who will not be able to evacuate.
Obviously, its fall only occurred in an instant.
But the Yuanwang remained unyielding, carrying the debris behind it as it continued to approach and shoot at the green-skinned battleship.
For a moment, it seemed like it could survive a head-to-head battle with an entire fleet.
But then, a string of plasma beams and lasers cut its superstructure in half, and a large number of debris and crew members flew out under the impact of the wound explosion——
"Ahem..."
A white-haired officer stood on the nearly broken bridge of the Yuanwang, his face and chest soaked in blood.
He turned around and looked at the corpses strewn on the bridge. The old first mate who had been working hard for decades was still holding his hands tightly on the armrests of the console when he died. The technical priest who had followed him for many years had half of his body covered with blood.
Even though he was torn apart, he still tried hard to hang on to his post.
Yuanwang is their home and will also be their grave.
The captain raised his head, saluted an eagle salute to someone who was not there, and then issued a simple order to the surviving crew members.
"Overloaded warp engines! We will do our duty! Ram the enemy ships! For the Emperor!!!"
Yuanwang relied on its inertia and used its last strength to slam into the green-skinned battleship that was no longer able to dodge.
It hit the belly of the behemoth, and the bow of the ship was like a spear, shooting through the back of the behemoth.
The green-skinned capital ship shuddered sluggishly, gas and fuel spurting from the hull.
Then, the Yuanwang's severely overloaded subspace engine erupted with a nova-like flash of light.
With a nova-like explosion, a huge amount of fragments were torn out of the hull of the green-skinned battleship, as if their internal organs had been dragged away.
They drifted and rotated in their death struggle, and then the wreckage of the two ships disappeared in place as the star shrank, and several green-skinned warships were involved in it.