Two huge tit-for-tat fleets faced each other at a distance of three astronomical units. The space-time disturbance caused by the large-scale jump did not dissipate for a while, and the distorted shadows of the numerous ships were extremely spectacular.
Vice Admiral Pryor's flagship, the USS Operation Flashpoint, forty-three Minotaur-class battlecruisers were deployed on both sides of the ship in sequence, forming an inverted V-shaped wedge array, with frigates and fighter planes passing between the battleships.
, thousands of propeller tail flames look like a huge swarm of comets from a distance.
The huge fleet on the opposite side is equally formidable, with a total of 80 aircraft carriers and 120 void glow ships surrounding the magnificent mothership and arbiter in the center. More reconnaissance planes, Phoenix fighters and warp prisms are fluctuating.
Layers upon layers jumped out from under the invisible force field, and a huge number of aircraft carrier-based aircraft groups poured out of the hatch like an enraged swarm of bees.
Although it is only an advance fleet, its firepower is already comparable to that of the Empire's main fleet.
This is the greatest fleet in the history of the Protoss. No one can withstand the full force of the wrath of the Firstborn Son of God. The golden fleet is invincible wherever it comes.
The Golden Fleet placed all the hopes of the eldest son of God to regain the glory of the stars, and only hoped to live up to the glory of the deceased sages, but in the end, it backfired. The Golden Fleet, which had been corrupted by Amon, was now only given one mission, and that was
Purify everything with fire.
The current golden fleet is like a slug meandering forward in the galaxy, leaving behind countless dead planets that have been reduced to scorched earth along the way. This fleet is so powerful that you don't even have to worry about its flanks and tail.
Pryor knew that there was no possibility of negotiation and communication between them and the protoss commander of the Golden Fleet. All calls from humans were in vain, and every communication request only resulted in an attack from the protoss filled with monstrous rage.
He could not confirm that the commander of the golden fleet would have his sanity eroded by the corrupt Kara, thus affecting his judgment, or that the fleet's command hierarchy had long since ceased to exist, and the dark god Amon had taken over everything.
If so, the enemy may make a mistake.
The moment the Golden Fleet's advance fleet appeared in Torrenis, both sides observed the enemy fleet at the same time, and simultaneously chose to deploy in an attack formation and open fire in full force.
Even though the Imperial fleet was well prepared, the Protoss fleet still launched the attack before them.
Upon contact, the Purity of For, the flagship of the Void Glow Ship at the forefront of the Protoss fleet, opened its golden and silver blade-shaped fluid force field projector, like an open pod. A brilliant blue color immediately spurted out.
The color prism focused on the bow of the ship, projecting out with majestic momentum that penetrated the stars, bathing her magnificent hull of more than two thousand feet in length.
The shining prism ray is just a slender blue thread against the dark background of the universe. What falls in front of the human warship that bears the brunt is a giant beam of light filled with the aura of destruction. No captain dares to safely and boldly allow his warship to be destroyed.
Place it under it.
The imperial battleship Aphitrite immediately turned its bow, and the prism ray passed between the bottom of her hull and the Jupiter, bombarding the crumbling matrix of the Meliego in a terrifying flash of light.
Above the shield force field, the nearby Iron Crows and Viking fighter jets immediately scattered like a flock of frightened birds.
The captain of the Patroclus immediately ordered the main gun tower to fight back. The compressed nuclear explosion hit the void glow ship Pure State like a star shrunk countless times. The plasma shield rising from the ship
A dazzling huge light spot was created on the shield field.
The ion beam of the Yamato cannon from another Imperial battleship, the Aeneas, followed closely. This blow was accomplished in one fell swoop, directly penetrating the Pure State's shield and causing fatal damage to its bow.
.
The explosion that penetrated the bridge extended to the traffic tower bridge and crystal matrix array at the rear, forming a miserable dead space. Its gorgeous bow was almost completely destroyed, and the shining blue psychic flames were enough to accommodate a medical ship.
The huge gap in the transport ship keeps pouring out, which is both spectacular and terrifying.
Even so, the main body of the Pure State was still intact, and most of the hull and crew were not affected, but it had obviously lost the ability to continue fighting.
This failed to frighten the protoss and force them to retreat. Such a loss could not even elicit a mournful sob from Kara, who was filled with thoughts of hatred and anger.
The heavily damaged Void Ray ship was kicked aside mercilessly by her friendly ships. Hundreds of Protoss reconnaissance aircraft accelerated away from the own fleet like swooping falcons, quickly closing the distance with the Imperial fleet. A large number of
The anti-matter missile was ejected, and headed straight for the eleven Imperial battlecruisers, including Prior's flagship Operation Flashpoint, like rapidly amplified light points.
At the same time, many void glow ships that had left the mothership's invisible force field also opened fire together. Those dozens of huge energy beams were far out of sight, like bright blue laser cutting guns, enough to cut off any
Small celestial bodies or battleships.
The Imperial warships also opened fire, and the space between the two fleets was immediately covered by a jungle of overlapping energy beams, accompanied by a large number of explosions and flashes.
Vice Admiral Pryor's Terran Empire fleet opened fire while continuing to sail towards the Protoss fleet in front of them without losing speed. Their warships were inferior to the Protoss battleships in terms of speed, weapon range and power.
.If the Protoss fleet chooses to fight and retreat while relying on its speed and range advantages, then the Imperial fleet will be beyond their reach, so they must close the distance.
But the Protoss fleet's choice was exactly the same as that of the human fleet. They did not slow down, but instead plunged into the dense firepower network of parallel laser cannon groups of the Imperial battleships. If the Protoss wanted to launch a boarding battle through a jump offensive, then
On the contrary, it is not common.
In other words, the decision-making of this protoss fleet went against common sense from the very beginning. It was obvious that Torrenis's imperial fleet had set up an ambush on the golden fleet's only path and had been waiting for a long time. The situation in the star field was not clear yet.
Under such circumstances, the protoss fleet attacked rashly, like a crazed bull that just took it for granted to destroy all obstacles on the road.
As a result, the two fleets quickly closed the distance after the war began. The distance between the leading battleships of both sides has become incredibly close, so that the bright light produced by the explosion of weapons often appears very close to the battleships.
All protoss and human fleets that have engaged the enemy no longer care about ammunition, and terrible explosions occur from time to time.
At this moment, from the perspective of the entire battlefield, the two sides fought fiercely from the beginning. Many warships were focused on the fire, and then suffered heavy blows. The more than 40 warships of the leading force of the Tyran Empire fleet had slowed down significantly at this time, and followed
The protoss fleet fought as a group.
Judging from the formation, both the Imperial Fleet and the Golden Fleet are using their sharpest spearheads to attack the opponent's front. Once they break through from the center, the enemy will be defeated.
However, the empire's remaining nearly one hundred battleships and the remaining three hundred or so Valkyrie frigates did not slow down. Instead, they continued to accelerate from the rear to the two wings, and a vicious giant pincer was taking shape.
On the other hand, the protoss fleet invested all its warships in the front, attacking the more than 40 warships led by Prior, and was focused on winning this battle.
Even if it is mostly ancient technology, the ion thrusters and gravity thrusters of Protoss warships and fighters are much faster than the clumsy human battlecruisers. This should be a major advantage, but the problem is that without the control of the commander,
Under the circumstances, they rushed too fast and too far forward, but did not realize that they should cover each other's flanks.
If Pryor was the commander of this fleet, then he would definitely be furious at the stupidity of his subordinates.
Although the rulers of the Protoss Empire are stubborn and stupid, the executioners of the Templar class are all excellent generals, and they will not make such a mistake.
The reconnaissance planes and Phoenix fighters ran too fast, so they actually pulled the capital ships behind. These void glow ships were produced earlier and were not equipped with molten blades that could increase their speed.
By the middle of the battle, they were actually separated by a dispatched group of Imperial warships or Viking fighter planes, making it difficult to form a solid front to help each other.
As a result, the protoss fleet was caught in crossfire from the front and the left and right wings. The imperial warship that penetrated the center was even more so that they could not see each other from head to tail, like a big snake that was cut in the middle.
The situation on the battlefield gradually changed in favor of the Imperial fleet. They surrounded the protoss warship that was alone and deeply damaged it, and inflicted heavy damage on it.
In this case, the commander of the Protoss fleet did not take any remedial measures and allowed the unfavorable situation to get worse and worse, falling into absolute passivity and allowing the enemy to take advantage. The Imperial fleet divided the entire battlefield into many parts
, concentrating superior forces in several areas at the expense of the loss of some battleships, severely damaging the protoss battleships or causing them to lose their ability to move.
In contrast, each protoss warship fights on its own, and is more like a trapped beast fighting than a warship piloted by a superior intelligent race.
The Imperial fleet fought decisively and resolutely. The Protoss fleet could have saved a considerable part of its warships and retreated because their mothership was very powerful, and the Imperial warships that detoured to the rear could not prevent these Protoss spaceships from jumping away.
But what is surprising is that these protoss warships decided to fight until the last moment, regardless of the cost or damage, as long as they could cause losses to the imperial fleet.
At this time, Pryor, who had confirmed that most of the enemy fleet had been wiped out, ordered a retreat, instead of wasting precious troops on pursuing victory. The imperial warships that could keep up with the fleet tried their best to keep up, while the rest chose to bomb.
The ship was scuttled and the survivors were transferred to other battleships.
In the fourth standard after the battle broke out, all Imperial warships evacuated Torrenis, leaving a large amount of warship wreckage in the system. In this newly formed starship graveyard, the number of protoss warships was far greater.
More than Imperial battleships.
Some time later, the Imperial fleet assembled at the point.
This is a binary star system, consisting of a red giant star that is constantly ejecting energy and debris outwards, and a subgiant star that has entered its twilight years and will soon be destroyed in a few million years. The assembly point is located at one point in the system
Between the stable Lagrangian points, the deceleration traces left by many warships after their jumps can be observed nearby, which are still very eye-catching against the rough radiation background.
Systems composed of multiple stars like this are actually quite common in the universe, and single star systems like the Earth are really rare.
There is no life in this galaxy, so it is not within the strike range of the Golden Fleet. It is safe from experience, but of course it is not absolute.
On the flagship Operation Flashpoint, Pryor was busy asking his officers to count the losses. As for the enemy's losses, there was no way or need to count them. Their losses were at least ten times that of our own.
Such a victory is certainly not enough to weaken the strength of the Golden Fleet and stop them, but Pryor believes that it will force Amon to focus his main energy on the battlefield here, so that the main fleet of the Empire can go more smoothly.
Entering the Aiel battlefield.
After a few more such attacks, the Gold Fleet is likely to send more fleets to sweep the surrounding galaxies in search of Pryor's Imperial fleet. If you think about it, it's not a bad game of cat and mouse.
What worries Pryor most right now is that one of the battleships, the Aloraia, was unfortunately hit by the main gun of the enemy mothership. The big explosion that occurred at the stern of the ship once spread to the engine room, causing the battleship to have to
When it stopped, it was the ship's engineers who miraculously allowed it to keep up with the fleet's jump.
But even so, the Alolea's condition is still very bad, and Pryor may have to abandon her.
The Empire lost twelve battlecruisers in this battle, and more than 30,000 Imperial soldiers were killed or missing, which was within the range that Prior expected.
Among the famous generals in the empire, Pryor can be called cold and ruthless. He believes that as a commander, he should realize that casualties on the battlefield are inevitable. Sometimes they may suffer heavy losses, but if they are still there,
If you retreat when you can meet the pre-tactical requirements, all the sacrifices will be in vain.
Of course, this still makes Pryor very heartbroken. The fleet is different from the army. The latter will reduce its size in peacetime, leaving only key officers and elite standing forces, and wait until wartime to expand. However, the navy needs to prepare for war all year round, because of its excellent
Naval soldiers cannot be trained in a few weeks. Each warship requires a large number of personnel to maintain its combat effectiveness, but after the outbreak of war, it cannot increase too much.
There are always people in the Naval Operations Department who criticize Pryor for being too bold and reckless in his combat methods. Like a gambler, he treats the Emperor's fleet as a bargaining chip on the gambling table, and then points his fingers at it. This is fine, sometimes even
Duke is coming to join in the fun.
Their rusty brains never understood that regular troop formations based on past experience would not work against the Protoss and Zerg. Even the Kaimorian pirates' style of play was more imaginative than some Imperial Navy generals.
Much more.
Some naval commanders are not only rigid in their command, but they also formulate the orders to the troops in too detailed terms, clearly describing various situations and responses that may occur on the battlefield, as if this is some kind of game guide.
The battlefield is not a sandbox. It is really huge and can accommodate tens of thousands of planets. Everything is mobile. Those who think they can control the battlefield from a remote terminal think of war as too simple.
I'm afraid they made an obvious mistake. This world is not a game world.
Pryor believes that the secret to winning a war lies in assembling more troops than the enemy in time and space, and obtaining the maximum results at the minimum cost. Therefore, it is necessary to give full play to the advantages of fleet mobility.
…
Fortunately, the emperor had great trust in him and handed over the troops to him confidently and boldly, without wanting to listen to any rumors.
This feels...so good.
"General, someone is contacting us." Pryor's adjutant Senfa reported to him at this time:
"It's a Leviathan."
"It's actually here. Even I don't know the specific location of the Cerberus swarm." Pryor said to Senfa: "Let's see what it has to say."
Currently, there is only one zerg leader in the friendly camp. There are no tigers in the mountains, and monkeys rule the roost. Emperor Augustus even made this guy the Imperial Zerg Marshal, but he can't control even a single human anyway.
"My insect swarm noticed the battle just now." A high-pitched voice like a child came from behind the screen, but there was no picture: "At that time, I guessed it might be you."
"You may not know that I happened to be on the left wing of the Golden Fleet at that time. They sent a thousand warships to chase me, but they didn't even touch the exhaust."
"So, I'm lucky." That's what Pryor really thought in his heart. With the addition of the Cerberus swarm that obeys the Empire's orders, his soldiers can get rid of the war of attrition and implement bolder tactics.
In this case, Pryor planned to take a detour to the rear of the golden fleet and make the protoss exhausted.
He didn't know if his fleet established strongholds in the destroyed cities behind the golden fleet, whether they would turn around and destroy them again. This was like a bug.
According to speculation, what Eamon wants to do is to destroy all life in the universe, so that not even a single living thing will be left, but how can he be sure that nothing will slip through the net?
"The two of us are really too strong," Brainworm said.
"Without you attracting firepower, we will never win anyway." Pryor said: "Marshal Alpha, maybe we can join forces."
No one can explain what kind of existence such a weird creature is. It seems to speak in a human way of thinking, but the way of thinking may not be based on the same logic at all.
When a monster that imitates a human being waits for you to react, you will only feel creepy and your hands and feet will be cold.
There is also a brainworm under α, which is a mini brainworm produced by the second-generation master. It is not as good as the old brainworm in terms of psychic power, wisdom or ability to control the group.
Up to now, α has trained this brainworm, which was named β in official documents of the empire, very well.
"Tell me." There was a clear sound of chewing from the other side.