Super Mothership
Meanwhile, as Nie Yun carried out his plan to conquer the Shattered Star Domain step by step, on the other side of the wormhole, the war between Gemini and the Locke Consortium was also raging...
Two Months Earlier
Gemini, Storm Star System.
The once-bustling space lanes were now in ruins. The wreckage of countless ships and pieces of equipment had formed a clearly visible debris belt stretching all the way toward the administrative planet at the center...
More than 2,200 warships, divided into eleven fleets, surrounded the administrative planet in a semi-encirclement formation.
“Boom!”
The final floating fortress, Meteor, was reduced to a fireball under the overwhelming firepower.
“Lord Chloros, the enemy's resistance forces have been completely wiped out!” the adjutant reported with a smile.
In less than a month, Chloros's second invasion fleet had swept through and utterly destroyed all resistance forces in the Storm Star System.
Faced with more than 2,200 regular warships of the Locke Consortium, which had practically mobilized its entire military strength, Gemini, whose forces had been almost completely wiped out in the previous white dwarf explosion, simply lacked the ability to assemble another resistance fleet of comparable size in such a short period.
On top of that, the supernova explosion had dealt a devastating blow to the defensive system that the Storm Star System had painstakingly developed, destroying more than 60% of its defensive facilities.
Under such circumstances, the fall of the Storm Star System was completely irreversible. Even an ordinary Gemini military officer could analyze this point.
Putting up a futile resistance was undoubtedly the stupidest choice.
Therefore, after determining the enormous size of the enemy's second wave of fleets, the Gemini military command, despite being shocked, immediately issued an order for a full-scale evacuation.
Apart from a small number of local garrison forces that remained behind to buy time, all military forces—including the remnants of Nie Yun's fleet—immediately withdrew from the Storm Star System and retreated toward the rear.
“Hmm? That lightspeed battle star didn't show up...?”
While Chloros breathed a sigh of relief, a trace of disappointment also appeared in his eyes.
“Yes. It seems that, just as you predicted, either the other side's battle star has extremely restrictive conditions for its use, or they're worried about falling into one of our prepared traps.” The adjutant looked at him with admiration.
To deal with this greatest threat, Chloros had prepared more than one plan.
For example, he had divided the fleet into eleven separate squadrons, increasing the distance between them to reduce the efficiency of the opponent's attacks.
He had also secretly switched his flagship, using another vessel as bait while simultaneously preventing a decapitation strike.
But judging from the current situation, the enemy had no intention of deploying that secret weapon again.
All of Chloros's preparations had truly amounted to putting on a show for a blind man.
So, how could he obtain that battle star without forcing the enemy to deploy it...?
Just as Chloros was deep in thought, the adjutant suddenly spoke.
“Lord, we've just received a surrender signal from the Gemini people on the planet.”
“Hmph! Surrender?” Chloros sneered.
“If they're surrendering on behalf of their entire civilization, then perhaps I could accept it. But an insignificant administrative planet? Do they really think I'll treat prisoners kindly?”
Indeed, a large number of Gemini civilians still remained on Storm Star.
It was easy enough for the military to leave, but evacuating an entire star system was another matter entirely.
For a habitable planet that had been developed for more than a century, how could its population possibly be less than a billion?
Even after the war intensified, quite a number of people with the financial means had already voluntarily migrated to other, safer star systems. Even so, more than 500 million people remained.
Fortunately, Girard had long since prepared for the worst-case scenario and had arranged a large number of transport ships requisitioned from the Gallente Star Zone in advance.
After the defeat at the front line, the Gemini Parliament immediately issued an emergency evacuation order and began arranging transport ships to evacuate the civilians.
However, the capacity of the spaceports was ultimately limited. Moving hundreds of millions of people, even with enough transport ships, was not something that could be accomplished overnight.
No one had expected the seemingly advantageous battle situation to suddenly take such a drastic turn, allowing the enemy to reach their doorstep in such a short period.
As a result, more than 20 million people ultimately failed to board the transport ships and became trapped on the planet.
Hearing the coldness in Chloros's words, the adjutant's brows twitched slightly.
“Lord, judging from some of the information we've captured, this Gemini civilization isn't weak. If we massacre their civilians, I'm afraid it could provoke fierce resistance from them.”
“Hmm... You're right. I don't care about the lives of these ants, but perhaps they'll be much more useful alive than dead...”
After thinking for a moment, a sinister smile gradually spread across Chloros's face.
...
Not long afterward, the large number of trapped Gemini civilians were driven aboard ships by the roar of naval guns, scrambling desperately to escape Storm Star.
However, before they could marvel at the enemy's mercy and rejoice at having survived, a dazzling beam of light shot straight from the Locke Consortium's fleet toward Storm Star.
In the next instant, the land sank and the tectonic plates shattered...
A gigantic shockwave, visible even to the naked eye from outer space, slowly swept across the entire planet!
“Oh my God!”
“Those demons!”
“...”
Waves of frightened and furious cries erupted from the people aboard the ships.
They couldn't understand why these invaders had allowed them to leave safely just moments ago, only to cruelly destroy their homeland the next.
“Run! Get back into the heart of our civilization!”
Witnessing the cruel destruction of their home, countless people had only one thought in their minds—
Escape!
...
Two Months Later
Gallente Star Zone, Rock Fortress.
“Report! The Yunlan Star System has fallen!”
“Report! The Izell Star System has fallen!”
“Report! The Bermuda Star System has fallen!”
“...”
One bad piece of news after another arrived from the front lines, leaving the senior officers present with extremely grim expressions.
After the fall of the Storm Star System, Chloros split his forces into five groups and, following in the footsteps of the refugees, began spreading the flames of war toward the remaining star systems of Gemini.
“Arthas, tell me, how do you think this war will develop from here?” Renault asked worriedly.
Gemini's main forces stationed in the Gallente Star Zone had been severely damaged. Their Dreadnought Battle Star had sunk, forcing them to gather all their remaining forces and retreat to the Rock Fortress, where they urgently established a second line of defense.
The advantage of doing this was that it prevented the enemy from defeating them one by one.
The disadvantage, however, was that it was equivalent to abandoning several peripheral star systems.
For Gemini, this was an extremely difficult choice.
Originally, they had still had a chance to arrange an orderly evacuation. However, they had never expected that after the first wave of enemy fleets had been almost completely wiped out, the second wave would arrive in such enormous numbers—and so quickly.
“If there is no outside interference, I'm afraid the best possible outcome will be losing a quarter of our territory.”
Nie Yun sighed somewhat helplessly.
Chloros truly deserved his reputation as a veteran commander of the Woolf Empire. His vision was razor-sharp, and he had actually found a way to turn the refugee tide into a weapon!
Every time they conquered a location, instead of carrying out massacres and purges, the enemy would drive out large numbers of refugees and then directly use planet-destroying weapons to destroy the planet!
There was only one purpose behind this...
To strike at Gemini's logistical system!
And that was a huge problem!
At present, apart from some local garrison fleets, there were hardly any mobile forces that could be mobilized. Transferring fleets from other star zones would take an enormous amount of time.
By the time help arrived, it would be far too late.
The warships of the Woolf Empire had an average combat strength that was at least equal to, if not greater than, that of Gemini. Faced with enemy fleets consisting of at least 400 warships each, sending too few ships would be nothing more than sending them to their deaths.
Conservatively estimated, they needed at least 500 warships to withstand just one of the enemy's fleets.
But where could the Gallente Star Zone possibly find 500 warships right now?
And these already pitifully small fleets also had to divert a large portion of their manpower to maintaining order among the panicked civilians and providing them with the necessities for survival because of the massive influx of refugees.
This further weakened Gemini's ability to mobilize for war.
If even their own internal situation was in complete chaos, how could they possibly resist an external enemy?
As a result, the Locke Consortium's fleets were practically taking over one star system after another without firing a shot, while continuing to create even more waves of refugees.
The constant fall of star systems had even caused civilians in star systems that had not yet been invaded to panic. They began fleeing with their entire families toward the other three, safer star zones.
This undoubtedly accelerated the spread of chaos even further.
Bringing the flames of war deep into enemy territory—that was the advantage of fighting on foreign soil.
And Gemini had no choice but to swallow the bitter consequences of having their defenses breached and their gates left wide open.
“But driving away the refugees is one thing. Why destroy the planets as well?
This kind of behavior... doesn't seem like they're trying to occupy and develop these colonies at all. Instead, it looks more like they're deliberately creating panic and putting psychological pressure on the higher-ups of Gemini.
What exactly are they trying to accomplish...?”
TL Note- War.....
Next
Comments
Post a Comment