The tens of thousands of kilometers wide space between the Empire and the Red Corsair fleet is already filled with interceptors and bombers with the colors of the Mechanicus. They react like a swarm of angry insects. Although the Red Corsairs also have a fighter formation,
But the mere number of a few hundred is completely negligible in front of this vast fleet of aircraft.
"What a ghost..."
From the moment he became a Space Marine, Kelkus had never seen so many fighters, and he didn't think much of these little things in the past.
After all, although fighter jets are fast and agile, they cannot survive the pressure exerted on them by the huge firepower.
But today, the situation seems to be a little different. The pilots of those red fighter planes were not afraid of life and death at all, and attacked the Red Pirates' air defense formation risklessly. Even though they destroyed thousands of them, thousands more came up immediately afterwards.
The anti-aircraft firepower of those small warships has begun to be unable to support them.
"The spine turret array is recharged and awaiting my orders."
"As commanded."
Kelkus looked at the holographic tactical device. Judging from the screen, the entire fleet was surrounded by hostile signs. Groups of red colors gathered around the ship, and these could also be seen through the armored glass of the observation window.
He realized that they should not choose this place as a battlefield. Although they were far away from the firepower of the planet's orbital station, Angstrom's huge escort fleet was not included in it at all. At this time, he instead supported the fleet commander and war leader Mo
According to Garro Carle's idea, the best way to break the situation at this time is to drop landing troops on Liuli 3 and destroy the enemy's hangar and star fort, so that they can take the initiative whether to fight or retreat in the future.
The command deck was filled with muttering inquiries and reports from stupid servants, mixed with the brief but efficient battle chatter of Chaos Space Marines.
"Sir, the spine turret array has been charged. Do you want to give the order to fire?"
Kelkus took a look at the fleet's firepower distribution plan, sat on the command seat, leaned forward, massaged his hands on the armrests of the seat to make the metal gloves squeak, and then said:
"Target the enemy Emperor-class battleship Alloy Truth."
"Locked complete!"
"Fire!"
The Retribution-class long-range artillery poured deadly firepower towards Alloy Truth, causing the opponent's shield to flicker. Then the Emperor-class battleship, which was providing a transit for frontline fighters, began to turn, trying to escape from the hunt of the Red Pirates' battleship.
At the same time, a salvo was fired from the Eternal Loyalty, hitting the Desperate Prayer, allowing Kelkus to feel the pressure of the shield.
"Shield energy dissipated by 67%!"
"Shield coverage reduced to 51%!"
"Start the emergency charging plan!"
Just when the ship's void shield was severely weakened and had multiple huge gaps, a bell rang, and the air defense detection officer chirped an alarm.
"There are multiple small target formations approaching from the third quadrant."
Kelkus wanted to stand up but stopped immediately. He had to stay calm, at least on the bridge.
"More enemy aircraft formations are approaching, interceptors and bombers! They came very quickly, and they made contact after 20 seconds, 19, 18..."
"Alert, alert."
Kelkus quickly stood up from his seat and said loudly:
"All fighter formations return to defense!"
"Sir! The fighter formation has been completely lost!"
Kelkus was stunned for a moment. It had only been ten minutes since he sent out the interceptor force, and more than sixty fighters were all gone?
"Bombers approaching! They launched torpedoes and missiles!"
Accompanied by the continuous sound of sirens, a group of crimson furious interceptor aircraft soared on the spine of the Desperate Prayer, chasing the stream of glowing tracer bullets, and using missiles and cannons to clear out the small anti-aircraft turrets.
After a while, the ship began to shake, and dozens of Starhawk bombers roared through the sky. Even under the intensive anti-interception firepower of the battleships, they dropped those bombs and missiles desperately, and then each one was broken down into glowing missiles by the anti-aircraft firepower.
cloud of debris.
Kelkus heard it clearly, mixed with the muffled sound of melta bombs penetrating armor.
"Damages."
"Report! The upper main deck was penetrated in 5 places, the auxiliary armor belt was penetrated in 3 places, and the transmission of the No. 3 main turret of the spine was damaged. It is being repaired urgently!"
The damage was not serious, but Kelkus couldn't relax at all because there were not many enemies.
"How is the void shield recovering?"
"91% restored! All layers are within optimal limits."
"Sir, a new enemy aircraft formation is approaching."
Kelkus glanced at the tactical display. Those dense spots of light were like swarms of stinging bees flying in the sky.
"The main gun continues its attack on Alloy Truth and sends new firing plans to all gun crews to destroy enemy planes before they approach."
The beam of the light spear burst out in space, and the huge-caliber secondary guns also roared, spreading high-speed chaff around the spacecraft, forming a razor-like net, trapping the red fighter and tearing it into pieces.
At this time, an Indomitable-class light cruiser blocked the gun line of Alloy Truth.
"Destroy it."
When the gunfire on the port side sounded, the ship began to shake. 20 seconds later, the cruiser shuddered in the gunfire, the void shield broke, and then the hull burst from the cracks. Flickering energy and flames crawled on the armor for a while, and then
Break into several pieces.
"Sir, there are enemy fighter planes everywhere, and the artillery crew can no longer intercept them completely!"
Kelkus stared at the tactical instrument as various foreboding data were being input into its computing center.
Soon, the new enemy came to life, dazzlingly bright red, forming a huge net surrounding his ship.
"Don't let them get close to the stern and concentrate the anti-interception fire on the belly, or they will tear us into pieces!"
Kelkus stood up from his seat, his connection cable tugging at his nerves.
Then, the charging mode shell flashed across the port side like ripples, and the glittering ammunition flew quickly through the air——
"Assault Wing, precision strike on grid 1-1-9."
The voice of the commander of the Angstrom Fighter Company spread through the communications.
"Missile breaks away, missile breaks away!"
When the missile was launched, enemy interception fire followed, and dozens of Furies were smashed into pieces.
But the rockets launched successfully opened a gap in the weak point of the void shield, and the larger Starhawk joined the attack, releasing a series of revenge missiles, filling the void in front of them with explosions and spinning shrapnel.
Although such a barrage attack can never cause more significant damage to such a large battleship, it can reduce the enemy's speed when attacking the enemy's engine.
With this opportunity, the assault squadron filed in, continued to attack the rear of the enemy warship, and after releasing all ammunition, flew towards the Alloy Truth.
At this time, there are only 21 fighters left in the entire formation. They will quickly replenish ammunition in the hangar of the Alloy Truth, and then form a new formation with the remaining fighters in other formations to launch another attack. After using up the ammunition for the second time, they will
Return directly to Liuli No. 3, where it will be quickly repaired and refueled, and reorganized again for a new round of attacks.
Relying on such a continuous offensive, although Angstrom's fighter fleet was rapidly depleted, the Red Pirates also suffered huge losses. A large cruiser completely collapsed under the continuous attack of thousands of fighter planes. The upper deck
and engine were completely blown up, and the bridge fell into silence, turning into a dead fish in the void battlefield, slowly floating to the edge of the battlefield.