At five o'clock in the afternoon on July 25, 217, the Star Shield and Sun Chaser that were cruising at the border had been recalled, and Lorenz, the head of the technical department, was leading his men to do the final inspection before the battle.
It was always extra busy before the war.
The logistics department was running around the fleet, checking the ammunition and energy reserves. The technical department was also busy, checking the laser cannon turrets, checking the missile thrusters for any faults, and checking whether the power systems of the starships were running smoothly...
Ye Pei finished a bag of nutritional supplement in two gulps. He couldn't tell what it tasted like. He held a metal pen in his hand and scribbled a few words on the recording board, complaining to Mondrian: "Why hasn't this 'hole' in the power system been filled yet?"
After working in the technical department until now, her biggest realization is that any small problem on the battlefield may cost lives.
"There's nothing we can do. The minister said that this 'pit' is temporarily beyond his capabilities. Now we only have the outline and need further study." Mondrian's black hair was a little long. If it grew another two inches, it would cover his single eyelids.
Ye Pei turned the metal pen a few times: "Then I'll write it down. Mondrian, when the fleet sets out, you can take this opportunity to find a barber robot to cut your hair. You look like a gloomy boy right now!"
Mondrian corrected: "Gloomy is fine, please add the word 'genius'."
Waving the clipboard in her hand, Ye Pei smiled and said, "Okay, okay, gloomy genius boy, is that okay?" Just as she finished speaking, she saw someone approaching from the corner of her eye, "Qi Yan?"
Ye Pei always felt that Qi Yan had a temperament that was hard to describe, clear and cold, like the wisps of chill coming out of the crystal clear ice, elusive, but also like the ice itself, clear and translucent.
Anyway, you can notice it at a glance in the crowd.
Qi Yan was wearing the standard shirt Lu Fenghan gave him, so he didn't stand out among the crowd. After he approached, he explained his purpose: "Lorenz asked me to help."
Ye Pei immediately thought, "Can you help fill the hole?" Seeing Qi Yan nod, she immediately took a step to the side, revealing the optical computer connected to the power system, "Here, here, there is a small problem. The impact is that the starship will be slow for 1.8 seconds when turning right. Although one or two seconds is short, it takes about this much time for the laser cannon to reach the front."
After saying that, she couldn't help but sigh: "Before in Turan, being two minutes late was nothing, but now we have to compete with one or two seconds."
These two things actually have nothing to do with each other, and Qi Yan vaguely heard a different emotion in the words.
Mondrian explained: "Ye Pei has taken Professor Shu's class."
Qi Yan understood.
Professor Shu was one of the three professors shot dead by the rebels in front of the Turan College Square.
Everyone should have known this news by now.
Hearing the name "Professor Shu", Ye Pei's eyes turned red, and he forced a smile and said, "I just... miss Turan very much. When I was studying there and listening to those professors' classes, I didn't cherish them at all. Now I regret it."
She tried her best to look up and hold back her tears: "I should have chosen more courses earlier. I won't be able to attend those professors' classes anymore if I want to."
The sound stopped and none of the three spoke again.
A sour feeling spread in Qi Yan's heart, like weeds.
He didn't know what to say or how to comfort her, so he just said, "I've already entered the power system. The problematic program is here. I'm going to start repairing it. If you don't understand anything, just ask me. Minister Lorenz can't spare the time to come here. When the fleet goes out to fight and has some free time, he will come and ask you."
Ye Pei's emotions calmed down a lot. After listening to what Qi Yan said, her back tensed up: "In person? So scary? I'm already nervous!" She was a little excited again, "But Qi Yan, you can even repair this!"
Qi Yan explained: "I was also taught by others."
The White Tower's database still retains the original design draft of the power system designer, and all subsequent revisions are also recorded. When he designed the starship's central control system, he had read through all the information and could recall it now, so he was able to come up with a repair plan when Lorenz mentioned it.
By this calculation, it was indeed taught by our predecessors.
This interruption diluted the previous atmosphere.
When Ye Pei saw Qi Yan start to explain, he calmed down.
One person cannot defeat the surging tide, but she can do everything she can.
This time, Erich still stayed behind with the command ship.
After Lu Fenghan boarded the Star Shield, the command room was also moved to the Star Shield.
A virtual star map as high as the wall slowly rose up, and Mei Jielin's video dialog box popped up first: "Commander, the Chanyuan fleet is in place!"
After she finished speaking, she saw Qi Yan, who was sitting not far away, and she made artificial faces and made two "tsk tsk" sounds.
Seeing Qi Yan looking through the porthole at the starships assembling outside and not paying attention to anything else, Lu Fenghan didn't bother to pay attention to Mei Jielin's teasing: "Why is it so fast this time?"
"I shouted that the 7th and 8th Legions had more supplies than Donald, and my men ran faster than rabbits, as if they had been hungry for half a month. I didn't even need to whip them!"
Lu Fenghan raised his eyebrows: "I'm asking, why are you so fast this time."
Mei Jie Lin stroked her hand and said, "The answer is the same as before, so I won't repeat it." Then she narrowed her eyes and said, "Oh, it's so cool to rob the rebels of their supplies!"
On the two-man destroyer, Calvin expressed the same sentiment.
Chagall was putting on his gloves and couldn't help asking, "Did you also participate in the kidnapping incident on Mikonos last time?"
"Yes, I was drinking in the tavern when I received the order from the commander. The wine on the planet Mikonos has a taste that is not found on other planets. After this battle, I will take you there if there is a chance?" Seeing Chagall's eager expression, Calvin raised his chin, "Graduated from the First Military Academy?"
Chagall was surprised: "How do you know?"
"Your First Military Academy has the strictest discipline. Even though we are adults, they still strictly forbid drinking." Calvin stretched out his arm and put it on Chagall's shoulder. "It's okay. After this fight, I'll take you to taste the most intoxicating liquid in the world!"
Although Chagall was curious, he still held his principles and held up a finger: "One glass, I only drink one glass!"
“Isn’t it hard to be so self-disciplined?” Calvin brushed his fingers away. “Okay, okay. I’ll wait for you to change your mind after you finish drinking!”
As they were chatting, a voice came from the built-in communicator. Both of them looked serious and listened carefully. Ten seconds later, according to the order, Chagall pressed the start button and he and Calvin controlled the destroyer into the sequence.
Calvin looked ahead and said, "Every time I see this, I am shocked. Humans, such fragile carbon-based creatures, can actually fly around in the dangerous space with just this pile of metal shells and energy."
Following his gaze, Chagall could see the neatly arranged black and gray destroyers in front of him. To his left, right, and behind him, there were also neatly arranged destroyers.
From his perspective, medium-sized ships are already mountains, and the main ships that can be equipped with high-energy particle cannons are even more huge, towering like mountains.
The voice of Captain Duchamp of the Jiangling came from the built-in communicator, explaining the main tasks of the destroyer sequence and how to cooperate. Chagall took it seriously.
As the fleet began to move, Chagall summarized the information in his mind: "This time the tactic is, the mantis stalks the cicada, while the oriole waits behind? We are fighting the Eighth Legion, the Seventh Legion hiding in the dark is the mantis, and the Sun Chaser, Star Shield, Pininnon and its fleet are the oriole, right?"
Calvin was happy to chat with Chagall: "It's about the same. I just don't know what powerful equipment the commander has got. Such a large flagship can be hidden just by saying so. Just imagine the frozen expressions of the rebels when our three hidden flagships suddenly open fire!"
Chagall also laughed.
Calvin glanced at him, his mouth corners raised all the time: "That's right, although you need to concentrate on the battle, you also have to be happy. Things like going to the battlefield, once you do it this time, there may not be a next time, so every second you are happy is a second you gain."
As soon as the words fell, the destroyer suddenly accelerated, and the two were lifted up by the force, and their breathing was stagnant for two seconds. However, based on day-to-day training, this discomfort soon disappeared.
After two short-distance jumps, Dushan's voice came from the destroyer: "Once you leave the jump point, change to a V-shaped array. The thrusters of the starships behind you have been preheated. Once you go out, let the rebels have a taste of being blasted into charcoal."
They both responded in unison: "Got it."
Seventy seconds later, the first second after leaving the jump channel, Chagall pulled the joystick hard, and the entire destroyer turned the bow and sailed diagonally to the side.
The moment they made way, missiles rained down fire on the rebels.
The bright firelight made Chagall feel like he was watching a pantomime.
Dushan gave the second order: "The other side is also preparing to fire, brothers, follow up with the second wave and confront them!"
Dushan never knew how to write the word "cautious". His tactics were extremely arrogant. He would fight as soon as he arrived. Once he arrived at the battlefront, he was like a war monster, with every cell trembling with excitement. This also led to his fleet being called "the mad dog of the expeditionary force" by the rebels.
Calvin and Chagall took advantage of the lightness and speed of the destroyer to fight against the small ships that were not hit by the missiles. They used sneak attacks, sleight of hand and other small moves one after another, which seemed to be elusive.
The energy fluctuations caused by the explosion of a large number of missiles caused the ship to tremble slightly, but Chagall's hands remained extremely steady, not affected at all. His expression was focused, his lips were tight, and he released his thumb button. The shells were fired and blew up two small ships in a row.
Calvin whistled, "Captain Chagall, you have a great aim!"
Chagall was embarrassed by the praise, but also proud: "During my rest period, I spent 18 hours a day in the simulation training cabin, and my shooting skills have improved a lot!"
At this moment, an extremely bright light appeared at the edge of his vision. Chagall looked closely and found that the main ship Jiangling behind him had fired a high-energy particle cannon. The arc of light collided with the incoming cannon/bullet in the middle of its journey, and the collision was successful. A huge force field exploded, and countless starship fragments were pushed away. Chagall seemed to hear a "boom" sound.
At the same time, on the main ship of the Eighth Legion, the commander of the Eighth Legion, nicknamed One-Eyed Dragon, propped his chin with his hand and asked, "Are you sure Lu Fenghan didn't go into battle?"
"Yes, from the images sent back, the expeditionary command ship is stationed in the rear. The Star Shield and Sun Chaser were indeed recalled, but they stayed with the command ship this time. Lu Fenghan has learned to be cautious. Of course, he has always been insidious and cunning, and he may also want to take the opportunity to do something else."
The reporter continued, "In addition, the images sent back by the Clairvoyance confirm that this time, only three main ships, the Chanyuan, Jiangling, and Feilian, were dispatched, and there were many non-main ships."
The one-eyed man has an ordinary appearance, with deep wrinkles on his face. The only thing is that there is a mechanical eyeball in the right eye socket, which makes a slight friction sound when it rotates, which is a bit scary. He rubbed the armrest of the seat slowly: "After all, as a man who has died twice, Lu Fenghan seems to have learned to cherish his life. Don't you think it's interesting? Two years ago, Lu Fenghan would never stay behind."
After carefully examining the battle situation, the fake eyeball of the one-eyed dragon revealed a mechanical cold light: "Tell Black Jack to go around to the three o'clock gap and take a big bite. After we finish off this group of people in a few bites, we can move on to eat other things. No matter what Lu Fenghan wants to do, it doesn't matter."
"yes."
A fleet hidden in the dark appeared like a ghost, and once it appeared, it headed straight for the gap in the expeditionary force's array.
However, contrary to expectations, as soon as the advance fleet approached, it was hit accurately by laser cannons one after another. It was completely swept away without even time to issue a warning, and became a gray dot on the star map.
It was not until nearly half of the fleet was destroyed that someone reported to the Seventh Legion Commander Black Jack: "We were attacked fiercely and suffered heavy losses!" Fearing punishment from Black Jack, the reporter immediately continued, "The coordinates are exactly as the Eighth Legion Commander said, without any deviation! He said there is a gap in the defense!"
Black Jack held a skull cane in his hand, his eyes cold, "Are you trying to say that the One-Eyed Dragon tricked me into an ambush, and it would be best if he killed me and then ate the food alone?"
The reporter was about to nod when the tip of the skull cane pierced his throat, and blood spurted out and spilled all over the floor.
Black Jack waved his hand and had the body disposed of. He then randomly pointed to someone and asked, "Are you sure that during the detection, that position was a defensive gap and there was no firepower deployment of this magnitude?"
The person who answered tremblingly said, “Yes… yes.”
After thinking for a few seconds, Black Jack stared at the blood dripping from the tip of his cane and said, "Tell One-Eyed Dragon that the expeditionary army might have invented some new toys. Be careful, or you will die in half an hour."
On the Star Shield, in the command room, the star map was filled with colorful light spots.
Po Jun reported the situation: "The advance troops of the Seventh Legion were defeated, and the damage rate reached 83%."
Lu Fenghan said, "Hmm," Black Jack should have realized that there is something wrong with the detection images sent back.
Du Shang was fighting excitedly: "It's time to find out! As long as the one-eyed dragon is not stupid, he should be able to find out that the magnitude of the fleet transmitted back is completely inconsistent with the actual level of firepower poured on them!
The information he got was inaccurate, which caused the defense force he initially organized to be weak. After two rounds of missiles, most of them were destroyed! In order to find a gap to rearrange, the one-eyed dragon had to expose the coordinates of the main ship and fired a fierce shot, but I intercepted it halfway with a high-energy particle cannon! "
Mei Jie Lin replied angrily: "Are you fucking done yet? Come on, let's rob the one-eyed dragon's home together!"
Lu Fenghan looked at the formation that Mei Jielin had adjusted and said, "According to the previous design, leave them a few gaps, half real and half fake. This is the function of the 'Mirage'. What if they discover it? After discovering it, they will be even more uncertain about which of the images sent back by the Clairvoyance are real and which are fake."
The one-eyed man couldn't help rubbing the handrail with his hands. At this moment, he felt as if he was trapped in a dense forest.
"Report! At coordinate ii71, the picture sent back shows that there are four medium-sized ships! Actually, they are four miniature ships! And we were accidentally attacked by our own side at the coordinate point, and all three medium-sized ships were damaged!"
"Report! At coordinates iii9, the picture sent back shows that there are five small ships, which are actually four frigates. Our side has been destroyed!"
"Report-"
"Shut up!" The mechanical eyeball of the one-eyed dragon's right eye kept moving, and his voice was like sandpaper scraping across the ground. "Can you confirm the actual situation?"
“… No,” the reporter swallowed hard and spoke the complete sentence, “We can’t be sure!”
At this moment, they were like hunters who had lost their eyes in the dense forest, and they could not even be sure whether they would step into a deadly swamp if they took a step forward.
Such means are terrifying!
The one-eyed dragon's eyes were red with anger. He slapped the armrest with his palm, feeling the taste of being fooled by the expeditionary army! He almost bit his teeth and said, "Tell Black Jack to get rid of these bastards as soon as possible!"
At this time, someone shouted: "Chanyuan! It's Chanyuan!"
"The Chanyuan has entered the range!"
"And there's the Jiangling!"
The one-eyed dragon stood up suddenly and asked, "Who told me that the Chanyuan is 230 miles away?"
No one answered.
After a few seconds, the entire starship shook, and then someone reported: "Under attack! The protection system is damaged!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the second and third shocks came one after another.
The one-eyed dragon's voice became even hoarser: "Where is Black Jack? What is Black Jack doing?!"
"The Seventh Legion was intercepted!"
The one-eyed dragon leaned forward, a guess crossed his mind, and he couldn't believe it: "Who intercepted him? The Fei Lian?"
The reporter's voice trembled, and he even forgot to say the word "report": "It's... it's the Star Shield! And the Sun Chaser!" His last syllable was extremely short, and he collapsed first, "Impossible... Impossible! The Star Shield and the Sun Chaser clearly never went into battle! From the beginning to the end, they have been stationed in the rear of the expeditionary force!"
He could even immediately call up the footage to prove it.
However, no one could tell him the correct answer.
Following a sharp and continuous alarm, an electronic voice sounded: "Warning, the protection system has failed, and the armor layer is damaged! The degree of damage..."
With the Jiangling fleet as cover, the Chanyuan served as a gun turret and fired one shot after another at the One-Eyed Dragon's main ship with an attitude of "I have a lot of wealth and I can fire as much as I want".
It looked very generous, but in fact, every time she pressed the launch button, Mei Jielin felt a sharp pain in her heart. She complained in the communication channel: "Is this a thousand-year-old bastard shell? It can't be broken! Old lady, I am about to have a heart attack!"
Po Jun comforted her: "Ms. Mei Jielin, you only need to fire five more shots and the enemy's main ship will be penetrated."
Mei Jielin closed one eye, gritted her teeth, pressed the launch button five times, and quickly stopped.
If you fight any more, all your savings will be gone!
Be thrifty!
At the same time, in the chaos, the main ship where the One-Eyed Dragon was located was blown apart, and under the tight firepower network formed by the fleet, not even a piece of ash was left.
On the other side of the battlefield, Lu Fenghan controlled the Star Shield, standing like a black boulder, cutting off Black Jack's rescue route.
In the communication channel, Mei Jielin was chatting and issuing orders. She talked too much and her voice was hoarse, but her tone was very excited: "Commander, do you want us to support you?"
Lu Fenghan didn't appreciate it at all: "Are you here to support me, or are you going to drag a bunch of tails to cause trouble for me? Clean up the tails first before you talk nonsense about coming to support me."
At this time, Po Jun asked: "General, I received a video invitation from the commander of the Seventh Legion. Do you want to allow the connection?"
Lu Fenghan knew clearly that Black Jack was not so polite. He probably wanted to forcefully access the video communication, but failed due to Pojun's presence, so he changed his attitude and pretended to be polite.
After silencing the internal communication channel, he ordered: "One-way access."
A few seconds later, Black Jack appeared in a corner of the virtual screen.
Because of the turbulence caused by the explosion, the signal is somewhat unstable.
Lu Fenghan uttered one word: "Speak."
In the picture, Black Jack is holding a skull cane. When he is silent, he looks like an ordinary middle-aged gentleman. However, because his face was injured, he looks weird when he makes an expression.
He got straight to the point: "It seems that Commander Lu got hold of some incredible toy. My brainless one-eyed brother died under your gun."
Lu Fenghan glanced at Mei Jie Lin who was yelling something, and thought, I didn't yell at him, but he really is stupid.
Black Jack tapped the ground with his cane and continued, "It so happens that there is a messenger who is blessed by the light of God's wisdom on my ship. He told me that this little toy of yours reminded him of the 'White Falcon'."
Lu Fenghan's eyebrows suddenly turned cold.
His aura suddenly changed, it was extremely terrifying.
Like a beast in the jungle that has been stabbed in a painful spot, it is already extremely angry.
Black Jack smiled strangely and said softly, "Y is one of the people I want to kill the most. I am very curious about him."
"Commander Lu, give my regards to Y."