Chapter 96 The Prelude to the Decisive Battle
For safety reasons, except for the temporary crew responsible for various positions, Lieutenant Colonel Dallas ultimately did not put anyone on the Pelican where Amber was.
Instead, they loaded up the collected ammunition, fuel, battery packs and other supplies.
After all, if these supplies are gone, you can still find a way to get them again. If a ship of soldiers is driven into the sea by Amber, Lieutenant Colonel Dallas will have no place to cry.
While the loading of supplies, personnel and equipment was coming to an end, the only integrated reconnaissance vehicle left in the entire combined brigade also reported a piece of information to Lieutenant Colonel Dallas.
While monitoring the planet's atmosphere, they discovered the phenomenon of charged particles and heavy metal particles bombarding the atmosphere, so they speculated that there might be a fleet battle going on in outer space, and there was even still a battle going on.
Thinking of the sudden orbital strike that only landed two warheads in the end, Lieutenant Colonel Dallas felt that no matter what the cause of this fleet battle was, it at least hindered the operation of the Empire's orbital assault ship.
This also means that the current Imperial fleet may be at war, resulting in a significant reduction in surveillance and support for Robert IV's surface.
So now is an excellent time for ‘strategic transition’.
The sea route distance from Blue Bay Port to Jabra, where the space elevator is located, is less than 3,000 kilometers, and it can be reached in less than five hours at the speed of the 'Pelican'.
If they set off immediately, they can take advantage of the intense fighting in space to cross the ocean and reach their destination.
"All units! Speed up the loading. Once the loading of Big Bird 1, 2, and 3 is completed, set off immediately!"
At the urging of Lieutenant Colonel Dallas, he was responsible for the three 'Pelvis' The officers of the Lilican's loading work sped up the progress and put all the things that could be taken away on the ground-effect flying transport platform in the shortest possible time.
The sorting and sorting work has been skipped for the time being. Anyway, we will be ready to unload the goods in a few hours.
As the three 'Pelicans' completed all preparations, Big Bird 1 and Big Bird 2, which carried all personnel, vehicle equipment and some supplies, were launched one after another.
Propelled by ten high-power turbofan engines, the two huge ground-effect aircraft left the port, and continued to accelerate to produce ground-effect aircraft. They were finally lifted into the air about 15 meters above the water by the 'air cushion'.
"Big Bird 3, you can set off, please pay attention to safety."
"Roger, Big Bird 3 is starting to leave the port."
Listen to the communication channel After hearing the voice of Lieutenant Colonel Dallas, Amber responded, remembering the scene where Lieutenant Colonel Dallas was forcibly dragged away by the staff team just now, and couldn't help but laugh again.
This macho lieutenant colonel was initially planning to stay on the ground-effect aircraft with Amber and the others.
However, the deputy brigade commander and the staff forcefully towed it away on the grounds that the driver was inexperienced and might be at risk of crashing.
Amber understood this very well. After all, he would not dare to sit in a car driven by a novice.
However, with the help of Lilith, Amber, who was flying a giant ground-effect aircraft for the first time, was not nervous at all. She even had the guts to joke a few words on the communication channel:
< br>"Lieutenant Colonel, you can actually tell the staff so that they don't have to worry so much. We psychic agents have to learn everything in the military academy. Things like ground-effect aircraft are a piece of cake for us."< br>
"Hahahaha, if you successfully drive Big Bird 3 to its destination, then next time a similar situation occurs, I will let their staff team ride in the vehicle you drive."
The lieutenant colonel's hearty laughter came from the communication channel, accompanied by comments from the staff such as, "Lieutenant colonel, you are taking human life lightly!" ’ type of protest.
With the turbofan engine running at low power, Big Bird 3 smoothly pulled out of the berth and drove away from the port to an area where it could take off and land.
Then, relying on the guidance of Lilith disguised as a driving assistance AI, Amber pushed the throttle to the maximum thrust position, and then controlled it with Major Randall at an increasingly faster speed. direction and angle, and finally takes to the air with the help of ground effect.
After leaving the water, without the resistance brought by the sea water, the 'Pelican' quickly accelerated to a speed of 600 kilometers per hour, keeping up with Big Bird 1 and 2 who set off first. Three giant ground-effect flying carrier platforms formed a triangular formation at a distance of 20 kilometers and rushed towards the final destination of the temporary 83rd Combined Brigade - Jabra.
The fleet battle in space also came to an end after a few hours.
In the end, it was the Empire's Eighth Expeditionary Strike Group that relied on its superiority in firepower projection to obtain a higher exchange ratio, forcing the Federation task force to withdraw from the battle.
Although he won the battle, Marquis Ascania still felt as sick as if he had eaten an alien mosquito.
The federal fleet's attack was like a 'harassment war', but it actually did not cause much damage to the ships of the expeditionary strike group.
However, this kind of harassment still had a considerable impact on the fleet's orbital strikes and airdrop operations, seriously interfering with support for ground combat and the efficiency of troop delivery.
When the orbital attack ship dropped back to low orbit, it quickly sent back the news to the flagship that the Blue Bay was "empty of people."
Obviously, due to the interference of the federal fleet, the temporary 83rd Combined Brigade, the remaining federal soldiers that had been targeted by the Marquis of Ascania, once again escaped their surveillance.
However, after this attack on Blue Bay and combined with the previously obtained intelligence, both the Marquis, Raphael and the staff team made the same judgment.
The next destination of this federal remnant is 100% the Robert IV space elevator.
“This move is a bit counter-intuitive, but I have to say it’s a bit clever. If they hadn’t chosen to attack Blue Bay, I wouldn’t have been sure that the goal of this remnant federal army was the space elevator.”
In the battle meeting, Marquis Ascania took a sip from his wine glass.
After noticing that he was in a bad mood, Raphael brought him a glass of soothing imperial ice wine.
"Yes, Lord Marquis, we thought they would keep going in circles in the North Continent, but this also shows that the key to the space elevator is probably in their hands."
Rafi Er looked at the planet plan on the holographic projection platform with a calm expression.
“And they are also sure that we don’t want to destroy the space elevator. As long as they can reach the vicinity of the space elevator, then our orbital strike will be a bit of a nuisance”
"Yes, if I were the commander of this force, I would also consider maneuvering to the space elevator after getting the key, and then wait for the arrival of the support fleet before cooperating in the operation."
Askan Marquis Nia nodded, and then continued:
"How many troops do we have near the space elevator?"
"Originally there was an orbital paratrooper regiment and subsequent troops arriving via aerospace transport aircraft. Some heavily equipped troops, but after it was confirmed that the space elevator could not be used for a short period of time, these troops were gradually transferred to other areas to fight."
Raphael opened his personal terminal and found out the current situation. Details of deployment of ground forces.
"Currently, there are only two battalions left in the base area of the space elevator."
"Huh, now we are a little passive."
Marquis Ascania said thoughtfully. :
"Stop the deployment of follow-up troops. First use all air and space transport aircraft to urgently transport some heavy troops already on the ground as quickly as possible."
(End of this chapter)< br>