Chapter 913 Escort Fleet
Standard Terra Calendar, 954.M41
Ultimate Star Field, Pandora Galaxy, Ring Asteroid Belt
“Captain Neo, now The key is to deliver the rest of the transport team to Gaia safely. I must remind you that as a high commissioner of the Ministry of Military Affairs, it is my responsibility to deliver the three Imperial Guard regiments on the transport ship to their destination safely. "< br>
Neo Pral, the captain of the Dictator-class cruiser Reliable Servant, was staring at the holographic image of the haggard-looking Military Affairs Ministry official on the screen.
It took him a while before he gave his carefully considered reply.
"Indeed, those cargoes are your responsibility, but the transport ships that transport them are my responsibility. As the commander of the transport escort fleet, the decision I made was to find the two missing transport ships. Recently, black The Legion's plundering ships have been operating on this route. The transport fleet lost 4 transport ships the last time
passed here, and the previous time it lost 5 transport ships. This is a shame. I won't let them succeed again, so I will keep the frigates and as many Starhawk squadrons here as possible, and pray that they can protect you enough. End of communication."
"Then you have to fight for two ships. The transport ship sacrificed the entire fleet!"
Ignoring the other party, Neo turned off the communication and turned to face the officers gathered on the bridge deck in front of him. They nodded politely.
"Your orders, sir?"
The speaker was Neo's first mate.
“Pass my command, the Hurricane Wing will take off immediately, set to escort attitude, and set the battleship course to the last known positions of Star Spot and Mackerel, and head there at full speed. We We need to rescue the two lost compatriots from the bandits.”
The Dictator-class cruiser was originally built by rebuilding the entire lance deck into a carrier-based aircraft launch platform based on the Moon-class hull. The purpose of this temporary measure was to provide a simple means of launching large numbers of intra-atmospheric vehicles - carrier-based aircraft such as Lightning fighters and Predator bombers - into low orbit to support surface operations.
However, the subsequent upgrades of the Dictator-class communication and detection systems have expanded her business scope, allowing it to launch carrier-based aircraft to remotely strike deep space targets.
Later, the Dictator class increasingly began to carry Fury-class interceptors and Starhawk bombers. While performing missions as a fleet support ship, it also began to assume the role of independent patrol ships in various sectors.
Accompanied by the escort group, a single Dictator-class cruiser has been proven to be quite flexible in combat through actual combat tests. Not only can they pursue enemy small warships, they can also use carrier-based aircraft groups to raid hostile worlds. Therefore, they are often deployed in large numbers in combat hotspots.
But the Dictator class more often appears in combat missions to clean up pirates, and this is why the Reliable Servant can perform escort missions.
The Dictator class is the Navy's most popular flagship choice for long-range anti-piracy operations. The carrier-based aircraft launch platform provides significant strategic flexibility, and pirates often like to hide in asteroid fields. Or in the atmosphere of hidden planetoids, carrier-based aircraft have the extremely practical ability to drive these parasites to the outside world and into the range of the ship's macro-cannon. These battlefields are exactly where the cannons of giant ships cannot function.
Just as the cruiser launched its own Starhawk bomber formation and broke away from the fleet, the commander of the Black Legion predator fleet hidden in the nearby asteroid belt was looking at the display screen in front of him with sadness. The signal on the ship, the largest of which marked the Imperial Dictator-class cruiser, broke away from the other convoys. At the same time, he also noticed that swarms of smaller energy signals suddenly appeared around the cruiser.
"He turned around to find those stragglers and launched space fighters to protect other transport ships."
He recorded this and confirmed the enemy captain's plan.
"Starhawk formation, probably, but even if the three frigates did not move, he did not leave enough firepower to protect the flanks of the transport team."
The commander He paused and placed his scarred hands over his face, feeling the strange new bones forming beneath the shattered flesh. Although he is a mortal, he joined the army of Abaddon the Despoiler fifty years ago, and the effects of the Mark of Chaos have already been reflected in him.
"Inform the other guys and get ready to work. When the cruiser comes back, we will only leave him with drifting wreckage and burned-out hulks."
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“Why am I so unlucky today when I’ve lost my mother?”
Captain Tucker Angel of the Star Spot looked at the old bridge sadly, and must He leaned on his command platform to stay standing as another explosion rocked his ship.
Somewhere behind them, about a thousand kilometers away, the Starspot's sister ship, the Mackerel, was in a dying state - her main reactor was down, and the air inside was poisonous from the hostile enemy. They used cannonballs to drill holes in the ship's hull and spray them into the universe.
Strictly speaking, these two ships can be called "trash cans". They were decommissioned five hundred years ago, but were hastily refitted and put into active service due to war needs.
As the slowest ships in the transport team, their stumbling speed has put other ships in the team into danger, so they are abandoned by other transport ships rushing to a safe navigation point. Got off.
Boom——————!
As he spoke, another impact occurred, stronger than the last one, shaking the command deck.
Captain Tucker looked at the technician in charge of the damage control system and said weakly:
"Damn, report the damage."
The bald middle-aged man quickly checked the runes floating on the screen in front of him, and then wiped the sweat from his forehead with his dirty sleeves.
“No torpedoes or other deadly things were found, but Captain, something just penetrated our hull, and our broken machine scanned that one of the enemy ships was launching a landing craft, maybe We will soon enter the boarding battle. I have never touched a gun in my life. How about I go find a water pipe first? "
"I'll throw his mother away!"
Tower Ke cursed and subconsciously put his hand on the hilt of the sword hanging on his belt - this was probably a meaningless and painful resistance.
The ship had neither more weapons nor many sailors - most of the transports in the convoy were packed with heavy soldiers from Cadian, but Starspot and Mackerel only carried some equipment and Supplies, the crew face the incoming enemy forces in this battle with only a slim chance of victory.
If you really want to be careful, this probability is probably only slightly higher than the direct appearance of the Emperor - but Captain Tucker is a loyal servant, and he knows that his duty is to ensure that his The ship and its cargo would not fall into the hands of the Emperor's enemies.
(End of this chapter)