Extreme Star Domain, Pandora Galaxy, Ring Asteroid Belt
"Captain Neo, the key now is to send the remaining transport teams to Caya safely. I must remind you that as a senior military officer, it is my responsibility to send these three Imperial Guards on the transport ship to their destinations safely."
Neo Plar, the captain of the dictator-class cruiser, is staring at the holographic image of the haggard military official on the fluorescent screen.
After a while, he gave his carefully considered reply.
"It is true that those cargoes are your duty, but I am responsible for transporting their ships. As the commander of the Transportation Escort Fleet, the decision I made was to find the two missing ships. Recently, the Black Legion's plundering ships have been on this route. The Transportation Fleet last time
By this time, four transport ships have been lost, and five more times have been lost. This is a humiliation. I will not let them succeed again... So I will leave the frigate and as many Star Eagle squadrons here, pray that they will protect you enough, and the communication is over."
"Then you have to sacrifice the entire fleet for two transport ships!?"
Neo turned off the communication and turned to face the officers who gathered on the deck of the bridge ahead of him, who then nodded politely.
"Your order, sir?"
The one who sent the call was Neo's first mate.
"I passed my order and the Hurricane Wing took off immediately, set it as an escort posture, and set the battleship route to the last known position of the Starblock and Mackerel, and headed there at full speed. We were going to rescue the two lost compatriots from the robbers."
The dictator-class cruiser was built to rebuild the entire light spear deck into a carrier-based launch platform based on the moon-class hull. The purpose of this temporary measure was initially implemented to provide a simple way to launch a large number of in-atmosphere aircraft, such as Blitz and Raider Bombers, to low orbit to support surface operations.
However, the subsequent upgrade of the dictator-level communication and detection system has expanded her business scope, allowing her to launch carrier-based aircraft to attack deep space targets at a long range.
Later, the dictator class increasingly began to carry the Furious Interceptor and Star Eagle Bomber, and while carrying out missions as a fleet support ship, it also began to assume the role of independent patrol ships in various star zones.
Accompanied by the escort fleet, a single dictator-class cruiser has been proven to have quite flexible combat power after actual combat inspection. They can not only pursue small enemy warships, but also use carrier-based aircraft fleets to raid hostile worlds. Therefore, they are often deployed in combat hotspots.
But the dictator level often appears in combat missions to sweep pirates, and this is the reason why the reliable loyal servant can perform escort missions.
The dictator class is the most popular flagship choice in the Navy's long-range anti-pirate combat. The carrier-based aircraft launch platform provides significant strategic flexibility. Pirates usually like to hide in the asteroid belt or hidden planet-like atmosphere. The carrier-based aircraft has the extremely practical ability to drive these parasites to the outside world and enter the range of ship's macro guns, which are precisely what giant ships and cannons are difficult to play.
Just as the cruiser launched his own Star Eagle bomber formation and left the fleet, the commander of the Black Legion Plunder Detachment hidden in the nearby asteroid belt was looking at the signals on the display screen in front of him, the largest of which was marked with the Imperial Dictator-class cruiser leaving the other escorts. At the same time, he also found that groups of smaller energy signals suddenly appeared around the cruiser.
"He turned around and looked for those who were left behind and launched space fighters to protect other transport ships."
He recorded this and confirmed the enemy captain's plan.
"Star Eagle formation, probably, even if those three frigates did not move, he did not leave any firepower that could protect the safety of the transport team's flanks."
The commander stopped, covered his scarred hand on his face, feeling the new strange bones formed under his broken flesh.
Although he was a mortal, he joined the army of the great plunderer Abaddon fifty years ago, and the effect of the Chaos Seal was already reflected in him.
"Notify other guys to prepare for work, and when that cruiser comes back, we will only leave him with drifting wrecks and burnt waste ships."
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"I'm leaving his mother, why are you so unlucky today?"
Captain Tucker Ingle of Stars, sadly looked at the old bridge and had to stand against his podium to maintain his standing, because another explosion shocked his ship.
Somewhere behind them, about a thousand kilometers away, the Starsplatter sister ship Mackerel was already in dying state - her main reactor was down, and the air inside was sprayed into the universe from the holes drilled out of the enemy's shells with malicious shells.
Strictly speaking, these two ships can be called "trash cans". They retired five hundred years ago, but were quickly modified and added to active service due to war needs.
As the slowest ships in the transport team, their stuttering speed has put other ships in the team in danger, so they are thrown away by other transport ships eager to rush to the safe navigation point.
boom------!
In the words, another shock occurred, more intense than the last time, shaking the command deck.
Captain Tucker looked at the technician in charge of the damage management system and said weakly:
"Damn it, report the damage."
The bald middle-aged man quickly checked the runes floating through the screen in front of him, and then wiped the sweat from his forehead with his dirty sleeves.
"No torpedo or anything else was found, but Captain, something had just penetrated our hull, and our broken machine scanned one of the enemy ships to launch a landing craft, maybe we will soon enter the platoon fight... I've never touched the gun yet, why don't I go find a water pipe first?"
"I'll throw his mother away!"
Tucker cursed and subconsciously pressed his hand on the hilt of the sword hanging from his belt - this was probably a meaningless and painful resistance.
The ship had neither more weapons nor many sailors—most of the transport ships in the fleet were stuffed with bigheads from Kadian, but the Stars and Mackerel transported only some equipment and supplies, and the crew would win only in this battle against the invading enemy forces.
If you really want to say it carefully, this probability is probably a little higher than the Emperor's direct appearance - but Captain Tucker is a loyal servant, and he knows that his duty is to ensure that his ship and the cargo on it will not fall into the hands of the Emperor's enemies.