Doomsday: I Build a Space Fleet

Chapter 264 Artillery Fire Clears the Way

At the same time the fleet set sail, in a mountain valley 160 kilometers away from the Stonehenge base, all the long-range strike units stationed there had already deployed, their cannons raised high, pointing at the nearest cluster of silicon-based main units.

Meanwhile, the assault ship and command aircraft at an altitude of 10,000 meters once again activated their radars, observing the movements of the silicon-based biological cluster below the assault ship and the situation below the surface.

Time passed slowly, and the silicon-based organisms below became somewhat irritable due to the irregular electrical signals. To vent their emotions, their attacks became increasingly fierce.

Fortunately, there are a certain number of robot troops and repair teams inside the Stonehenge base, so the situation on the entire front is not too bad, and the second line of defense can still hold out for a long time.

Lorraine now has a total of 8 transport ships, each with a carrying capacity of more than 7000 tons, which is enough to airdrop all the components of a semi-permanent fortress to a designated location in a short time.

Once the semi-permanent fortress is in place, the eight transport ships will be split into two teams, with each team consisting of 12 transport aircraft operating in coordination.

Each squad is responsible for transporting an assault force consisting of 12 conventional super-heavy tanks and 4 Hunter super-heavy tanks. The four officers in charge of commanding the assault force will be evenly distributed on each transport ship.

At this point, all components had boarded the transport ship in sync with the transport team, and they would take off before the first wave of artillery fire ended after the electromagnetic shielding field was activated.

The 10 siege-type super-heavy tanks, 40 155mm vehicle-mounted electromagnetic cannons, and assault ships parked here will fire simultaneously, with the goal of destroying all silicon-based creatures except for small war behemoths.

The remaining two siege-type super-heavy tanks will use the least powerful plasma bursts to continuously attack the smaller war behemoths. The aim is to use the high temperatures of the plasma bursts to melt down the war behemoths' weapons and equipment as much as possible.

Before arriving at the forward base, the transport force will separate from the flagship. The transport force will fly at low altitude to reach the forward base, while the flagship will begin to climb, preparing to go to an altitude of 10,000 meters to take over the position of the assault ship.

"Platinum, the flagship has reached the designated location. We can begin."

"Roger that, Commander."

Next, Platinum contacted the logistics troops waiting on the periphery of the battlefield via the laser communication system on the assault ship.

"Troops are ready, electromagnetic barrier activated."

Immediately afterwards, invisible lasers lit up the entire perimeter of the battlefield. Then, nearly a hundred electromagnetic barrier nets were activated at the same time, forming a huge electromagnetic barrier net 210 kilometers away from the Stonehenge base.

High above, Platinum, through its powerful sensor array, observed a brief period of chaos in the silicon-based biological cluster below.

Then, a dense array of bullet trajectories appeared in the sky.

A series of extremely dense explosions rang out, and one different firework after another exploded in the cluster. In an instant, the cluster of 2000 "people" was reduced to less than 300 silicon-based creatures.

The artillery fire paused briefly, and then, guided by the airborne command aircraft, more precise shells arrived over the remaining cluster. A large number of conventional shells, mixed with a small number of high-explosive shells and plasma clusters, slammed into the last remaining silicon-based life forms.

After the second round of artillery fire ended, the transport corps, carrying all the components of the semi-permanent fortress, hovered above the battlefield. The small war behemoth, which had been rendered incapable of combat and movement by a large number of plasma clusters, was irradiated by four red lasers and completely lost its life signal.

Finally, the eight transport ships descended slowly in a circle, and components were quickly unloaded from the cargo hold.

Once all the components were delivered to the ground, the transport aircraft, with its powerful levitation capabilities, lifted these massive components, helping the engineering corps complete the construction of the fortress's outer wall within 15 minutes.

[The outer walls of the fortress are complete. The two nearest silicon-based bio-fighter groups are expected to arrive in 5 minutes and 45 seconds.]

"Roger that, assault ship to launch."

"The artillery group turned around, fired two rounds of rapid fire, and quickly withdrew from the scene to assemble at the second artillery position."

The tracks of the siege-type super-heavy tank turned, and the gun barrel slowly pointed at the silicon-based creature that was advancing towards the fortress.

The 155mm self-propelled electromagnetic gun, on the other hand, needs to retract its spade to complete the turning maneuver.

With 5 minutes and 10 seconds remaining on the countdown, all artillery had turned, and a large number of deadly shells flew from the muzzles, bombarding the rapidly advancing silicon-based biological swarm.

"The attack was effective. The enemy unit loss rate on the eastern cluster was 34.5%, and the enemy unit loss rate on the western cluster was 34.6%."

At this moment, the artillery units that had completed two rounds of rapid firing were orderly moving to the east and west flanks, with siege-type super-heavy tanks in front and 155mm vehicle-mounted electromagnetic guns behind.

Twenty-five tactical transport planes were deployed in full force, instantly transporting half a battalion of robot units into the fortress.

After the eight transport ships returned to the valley and loaded the heavy troops, the 25 tactical transport aircraft had completed two batches of transport, loading the reinforced company that would accompany the heavy troops on the assault mission.

With a constantly updated "God's-eye view," the commander of the troops quickly identified suitable assault positions.

After the location information was uploaded, the artillery that had arrived at the second and third artillery positions deployed, with their guns pointed at the designated entry points for the two assault forces.

"Fire!"

Along with the artillery fire, smoke grenades launched from transport ships arrived on the battlefield. In an instant, 100 smoke grenades, along with the smoke from the explosions, created a huge wall of smoke on one side of the battlefield.

However, after the smoke and gunpowder that formed the wall dissipated, 12 conventional super-heavy tanks and 4 Hunter super-heavy tanks appeared on the battlefield and, under the protection of reinforced companies and support units, launched an attack on the small war behemoth.

After the scorching laser and the massive armor-piercing high-explosive shell were fired together, the reinforced company around it immediately raised its own laser and plasma weapons and launched an attack on the nearby large and medium-sized silicon-based creatures.

After several loud explosions, the small war behemoth, whose front half had completely disappeared, lay limply on the spot.

Immediately afterwards, 12 conventional super-heavy tanks turned their guns and launched an attack on the remaining large and medium-sized silicon-based organisms in the surrounding area.

All data from the assault force's first attack was transmitted back to the flagship, where it was received by two senior officers in the cockpit and six mid-level officers in the combat information center.

Cleveland analyzed the information as soon as it was transmitted back, and then a simplified version of the data was sent to the two senior officers in the cockpit.

The conventional super-heavy tank achieved its designed kill efficiency, while the hunter-type super-heavy tank exceeded its designed kill efficiency. Calculations show that the firepower of a single assault unit exceeded its design capacity by 33.5%.

"The assault force has withdrawn two Hunter-type super-heavy tanks and four conventional super-heavy tanks, and the number of transport ships has been reduced from four to three. Each unit is now equipped with eight 105mm assault guns and two ion gun squads."

Once the order was given, the two overloaded tanks inside the assault force, slightly overloaded with their internal miniature anti-gravity units, moved outwards from the battlefield at a speed of 100 kilometers per hour.

Meanwhile, the transport ship carrying four conventional super-heavy tanks quickly changed course and flew towards the two combined arms battalions not far away.

Meanwhile, the two combined arms battalions that had set out from their base in the mountain valley and broken through the battlefield toward the fortress stopped and then fired a large number of smoke grenades to cover the battlefield.

After the smoke cleared, the two combined arms battalions had retreated to a safe position and were quietly waiting for the transport ship to arrive.

Just as the two transport ships carrying super-heavy tanks arrived at the location of the combined arms battalion, Platinum's assault ship appeared on the northern perimeter of the battlefield. Amidst the smoke and fire, a mech appeared behind a medium-sized war behemoth.

Behind this mech are two weapon bays, one containing a spare high-frequency saber and the other a plasma pistol, as well as a shoulder-fired plasma cannon.

Platinum quickly located the medium-sized war behemoth from the perspective of the assault ship. Then, she activated her jetpack, leaped into the air, and fired repeatedly from a large-caliber laser rifle.

With the aid of jetpacks, the mech's movement speed far exceeded the War Behemoth's rotation speed, leaving the medium-sized War Behemoth helplessly vulnerable to attacks.

During this time, Platinum, with his powerful abilities and the assistance of the fire control system, hit the electromagnetic cannon on the back of the war behemoth with every shot.

Unfortunately, the laser rifle's firepower was insufficient to completely destroy the electromagnetic cannon on the war behemoth's back in a short time.

Seeing the silicon-based creatures that had broken through the assault ship's firepower and were rushing towards them, Platinum fired a round of smoke grenades, threw out a cluster of energy mines, and then quickly retreated.

Back in the weapons bay, Platinum first secured the shoulder-fired plasma cannon to the slot on his left shoulder, then removed the laser rifle and took out the high-frequency saber and plasma pistol from the weapons bay.

As the blast wave from the shaped charge mine exploded, breaking through the smoke, two plasma clusters of different sizes shot out, heading towards the nearby war behemoth and the approaching large silicon-based creature, respectively.

The first plasma burst exploded on the back of the war behemoth, and the high temperature successfully melted the cannon barrel on its back.

Platinum then controlled the mech to try to get closer to the war behemoth, but was blocked by a dense barrage of kinetic energy projectiles and was forced to begin clearing out enemies in the distance.

"Bang! Sizzle—"

Platinum controlled the mech to throw out a second cloud of smoke. Facing the dense barrage of projectiles, she used her flight pack to leap high into the air, put away her high-frequency saber, and began to fight back using the laser cannon mounted on her left arm and the plasma weapon in her right hand.

As Platinum, supported by assault ships, roams among war behemoths and swarms of silicon-based creatures, the situation subtly shifts once again.

Thanks to the extensive experience of the two veteran officers, the next move of these 10 silicon-based organisms was quickly ascertained.

"Are they leaving?"

The two senior officers were not clear why they were evacuating, but they were well aware that they could not allow these silicon-based life forms to leave with intelligence.

Eight WF01 fighters equipped with ground attack capability were then launched from the flagship and, together with the four Qianglong fighters that had just arrived, launched an attack on the small war behemoth below.

Looking at the massive number of silicon-based life forms below, both senior officers felt that the ground attack was unlikely to go smoothly.

But what happened next was beyond their expectations.

Four Qianglong fighter jets dropped their bunker-buster bombs at an altitude of 8 meters, followed by eight WF01 unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAVs) that began a shallow dive.

Just as the two were wondering, 24 dazzling plasma clusters flew out from under the fuselage.

"Um?"

What happened next completely exceeded the expectations of the many officers on the flagship.

When a mid-level officer in the combat information center transmitted images from afar, they discovered that the fighter jets did not have weapons mounted on their wings, but instead had two huge conformal bulges.

"Since these eight fighter jets are the elite force on the flagship, I equipped them with nanotechnology systems."

"As long as it is equipped with the most critical components and sufficient materials, the fighter jet can complete the construction of a ground attack cannon in 15 seconds and recover it in 5 seconds."

After all, such an exposed structure will inevitably affect the aerodynamic performance of the fighter jet.

The officers on the flagship abandoned further thought and turned their attention back to the ground battlefield.

Under the cover of dense plasma clouds, three specially designed bunker-buster bombs successfully hit the three war behemoths closest to the electromagnetic barrier.

The 24 plasma clusters also burned the silicon-based creatures near the three war behemoths into glassy remains.

Immediately afterwards, a mushroom cloud rose from the ground in the distance, and the shock wave from the explosion rushed toward the electromagnetic barrier.

However, amidst a series of metallic clanging sounds, cone-shaped steel walls appeared in front of the electromagnetic barrier generator, which resembled utility poles, successfully protecting the fragile electromagnetic barrier generator.

The evacuation of silicon-based organisms on the east and west sides was being handled by the artillery group.

With its extremely long range and precision, two mushroom clouds rose one after the other on the east and west sides, blocking the silicon-based biological cluster that was trying to escape.

Meanwhile, Platinum had already boarded a transport ship and headed to the eastern battlefield, preparing to kill another medium-sized war behemoth exposed by the shockwave.

Since there were no other silicon-based creatures guarding this medium-sized war behemoth, Platinum easily dealt with its attack capabilities using the cutting mode of his laser rifle, and then decapitated it with a high-frequency saber.

Only five minutes had passed when she controlled the mech to fly into the sky and boarded the assault ship to head to the western battlefield.

Seeing that the battlefield was too scattered, Lorraine thought for a moment and prepared to activate the electric field weapon in order to attract all the enemies in the surrounding area.

However, due to his lack of experience in commanding campaign-level operations, Lorraine did not issue the order directly, but instead shared the idea with two senior officers.

After all, Lorraine didn't know what kind of effect this weapon would have on this kind of battlefield.

After briefly glancing at the information provided by Lorraine, Zhou Wei took a deep breath and spoke.

"Comrade Lorraine, the deterrent power of this weapon is too great, no less than that of genetic weapons, and no living being driven by electrical signals can escape it."

"If it were deployed on a large scale to the battlefield, the consequences would be unimaginable."

Renowned author Qingkong Xingchen has joined Cola Novels with his new work, "Doomsday: I Build a Space Fleet"!