HBWnovel Chapter 292 The Internal Competition That Is About to End
Chapter 292 The Internal Competition That Is About to End
[The damaged compartment partition has been repaired; the system self-check is complete.]
[The core energy source was damaged, and the gas turbine has started operating. The estimated operating time is 42 hours and 27 minutes.]
[Energy scheduling complete. Anti-gravity units have ceased operation. Only emergency lighting, life support systems, early warning radar, and maintenance systems remain operational throughout the ship.]
[Damage control team enters; estimated repair time to seaworthiness is 4 hours, 52 minutes, and 13 seconds.]
"Commander-in-chief, we are fine, but the Bifang has now lost its combat capability. All drones have been launched and are under the command of the various front-line airfields."
"Understood. Teams 3 and 4 have all left the field. We have taken control of Team 3's solid defense system. The alien fleet has been eliminated. You may take the shuttle to the flagship."
"receive."
Olivia switched to the general channel and began discussing the upcoming tactical arrangements.
"Zhao Yu, you will lead the border garrison fleet forward to investigate the situation in the left half of the region, with the main focus on reconnaissance and harassment."
"Yes."
"Xu Yun and Xu Ling are returning to the flagship and will temporarily assume the position of staff officer."
"Yes."
"Yes."
"Wu Yue, proceed to destroyer 2001 and assume the position of captain of destroyer 2001; Ryan, proceed to destroyer 2002 and assume the position of captain of destroyer 2002."
"Yes."
Two taciturn middle-aged men raised their hands in salute, then turned and left the command room, heading towards the hangar behind the flagship.
"Lei Yu, proceed to the 1004 heavy frigate and assume the role of captain of the 1004 frigate."
"Yes."
The young officer stood up and saluted, then followed Wu Yue and Ryan to the hangar, preparing to board the shuttle to their respective ships.
Five minutes later, all personnel were in place, and the underlying code of the fixed access system left by Team 3 had been overwritten.
"Set off."
The sterns of all seven ships simultaneously emitted even more dazzling plumes of flame, propelling them toward the outer edge of the asteroid ring, heading straight for the boundary between their own forces and the left half of the ring.
When Team One was halfway through its journey, Zhao Yu's border defense fleet had already entered the combat zone between Teams Two and Five.
At this point, after a long battle, both teams had few ships left, and the area of their fighting was expanding.
Now, Team 5 is left with only its flagship, one destroyer, and two heavy frigates. The damaged aircraft carrier was caught in a counter-ambush and was targeted by the entire Team 2.
As a result of focusing fire on one warship, the only remaining heavy frigate in Team 2 was destroyed.
The pursuing Squadron 2 consisted of only its flagship, two destroyers, and one upgraded frigate.
The damage to the aircraft carrier of Team 2 occurred at an ambush point set up by Team 5.
Here, the commander of Team 5 used his flagship as bait to lure Team 2 into the ambush zone.
As the flagship of Team 5 served as the arrowhead of the wedge formation, it quickly charged into the formation of Team 2, engaging in close combat with the ships of Team 2 as if fighting with bayonets.
This reckless plan yielded greater results than expected. The No. 2 flagship, which forcefully stormed into the enemy camp, successfully tore open a gap and forced the No. 5 flagship to reveal a weakness.
Seeing the fleeting opportunity, the commander of the No. 2 carrier decisively ordered the carriers to fire. The four particle cannons, with their energy at 73.2%, fired in succession, successfully breaking through the plasma shield of the No. 5 flagship and damaging its port side.
However, this attack also exposed a weakness in the No. 2 carrier, which suddenly turned and broke away from the escort ship's protection.
The assault ships not far away ceased fire under the command of the assault fleet commander, activated stealth mode, and quietly drifted toward the aircraft carrier of Team 2.
A stealth reconnaissance ship that had been hovering nearby suddenly appeared and dropped four heavy anti-ship torpedoes at close range.
Immediately afterwards, the carrier squad of Team 5 fired a salvo, shattering the shield of the carrier of Team 2.
Unfortunately, only one of the four torpedoes fired by the stealth reconnaissance ship hit its target.
In the distance, when the No. 2 flagship received news that its own space mothership's shield had been shattered, it fired a partially charged main gun shell at the enemy flagship and released eight heavy anti-ship torpedoes and 16 missiles.
Subsequently, the attitude adjustment nozzles on the left front and right rear of the No. 2 flagship worked at full power, propelling the flagship to complete a 180-degree turn in a very short time and aiming the gun muzzle at the suddenly exposed No. 5 carrier.
The flagship's secondary guns fired, buying time for the overloaded main guns to reload.
Immediately afterwards, the aircraft carrier of Squadron 2, protected by three frigates, slowly retreated, while the destroyers on its left and right flanks moved forward to relieve Squadron 5 and search for the enemy reconnaissance ship that had just laid torpedoes.
In the midst of the close combat, the assault ship of Team 5 is about to enter its assault position.
To cover their attack, Team 5 ceased maneuvering and used its main guns to attack the escort ships around Team 2's carrier. The stealth reconnaissance ship also suddenly appeared and released a low-power directional electromagnetic pulse.
Seeing the sudden opportunity, the commander of Squadron 2 decisively ordered his flagship to stop evading and, while taking a large-caliber shell, launched an attack on the carrier of Squadron 5.
Immediately afterwards, the assault ships of Squad 5, under the command of the fleet commander, overloaded all their systems and, trailing a long plume of flame, rammed into the aircraft carrier of Squad 2.
The electromagnetic pulse interference reduced the interception efficiency of Team 2, allowing Team 5's assault ship to successfully collide with Team 2's space mothership before it disintegrated.
[Initiating self-destruct command; reactor enters irreversible meltdown phase. Countdown: 10, 9, 8...]
As the countdown ended, a dazzling spark exploded beneath Team 2's space mothership, subsequently detonating it.
A series of explosions occurred on the space carrier of Team 2. When the explosions ended, the commander of the space carrier of Team 2 left the exercise with the ship.
While the space carrier of Team 5 launched its attack, the flagship of Team 2 opened fire again. The fully charged large-caliber shells shattered its remaining shields, and the secondary guns that followed successfully destroyed a set of auxiliary thrusters of the enemy carrier.
Immediately afterwards, both sides fired a large number of smoke grenades to cover the battlefield and began to retreat.
Shortly after the damaged aircraft carrier of Team 5 was destroyed, Zhao Yu arrived at the battlefield with the border defense fleet of Team 1. The stealth reconnaissance ship hid outside the enemy's observation range and used high-precision optical equipment to observe the movements of both sides.
By the time the main force of Team 1 reached the asteroid belt in the left half of the region, neither side had suffered any further losses.
Ophia looked at the remaining 8 ships in Teams 2 and 5 and quickly came up with a battle plan.
With the order given, Zhao Yu boarded another heavy frigate, leading an improved frigate and a stealth reconnaissance ship, fully loaded with space mines, to the ambush area.
Based on everyone's experience and the AI's calculations, the most suitable ambush location on both sides' routes of movement was quickly found.
After the space mines were laid, two stealth reconnaissance ships moved forward to monitor and ensure that the ships of Teams 2 and 5 could smoothly enter the ambush area.
To ensure the enemy does not escape, during the initial ambush phase, only two squads led by Lei Yu and Zhao Yu, totaling six ships, will attack.
The flagship and destroyers will only begin their attack once all eight enemy ships have entered the ambush zone.
After discussion among everyone, the plan was implemented as expected.
However, to prevent the enemy from escaping, Ophia also used the remaining nanocores on the flagship to create four fixed cannons to hinder the enemy's retreat at critical moments.
Whenever Team 5, which was traveling ahead, deviated from its course, a stealth reconnaissance ship would launch an attack from the opposite direction of the ambush point, luring it into the ambush point.
"boom!"
The first stealth mine exploded next to the destroyer leading the charge in Squad 5, instantly blasting its shields into the danger zone.
"Alert! Mine countermeasures system activated, interceptor fire in standby mode."
No sooner had the commander of Fleet 5 finished speaking than four large-caliber armor-piercing high-explosive shells flew in from all directions.
Due to the suddenness of the incident, all of Fleet 5's interception firepower did not have a significant effect.
Thanks to its maneuverability, the destroyer, whose shields had entered the danger zone, successfully evaded two shells, sacrificing its shields and two sets of point defense systems to survive the attack.
These four shells also allowed Team 5 to locate the four ships lying in ambush and begin to return fire.
As they attempted to retreat, half of the smart mines in the ambush site were activated and began converging on Team 5.
The ambush fleet's firepower was not particularly concentrated, allowing the four remaining ships of Squadron 5 to intercept mines while simultaneously retaliating.
But not long after, Team 2 followed closely behind and entered the ambush point.
"Mine activated! All units! Free fire!"
Immediately afterwards, three large-caliber shells flew from directly in front of Formation 5, followed by a large number of missiles launched by each ship.
The three large-caliber shells flew through the gaps in Team 5, shattering several stars and accurately hitting the vanguard of Team 2.
[Warning! Shield capacity has fallen below the warning threshold!]
Seeing this horrifying scene, before the commander of Team 2 could give any orders, several mines exploded from behind Team 2.
"Hoo, everyone! Charge! Take down Team Five first. They entered the ambush zone before us, so their losses must be much heavier."
Team 2's four ships, with all engines running at full power, charged towards Team 5 ahead, firing as they went.
Seeing this, Olivia did not order the fleet to block Team 2's attack. Instead, she ordered the stealth warships to launch torpedoes to disrupt Team 2's attack rhythm, so that both sides could suffer heavy losses.
Seeing that he was caught in the crossfire, the commander of Team 5 decisively chose to change direction and engage in a "life-or-death struggle" with Team 2 behind him.
Seeing the change in the posture of Team 5, Olivia's heart tightened instantly.
"Lei Yu, Zhao Yu, the flagship that led the concentrated fire into the ambush zone."
"Wu Yue and Ryan, focus fire on the nearest flagship."
As Olivia spoke, she assigned the targets to each ship on the system.
After a few seconds of pause, seven large-caliber shells were fired in succession, flying toward their respective targets.
The first ship to be hit was the flagship of Team 5. Its shield above the warning line was instantly shattered, and subsequent secondary gun shells struck the hull, exploding into brilliant but deadly fireworks.
The flagship of Team 2 was in even worse shape. Two shells from a heavy frigate shattered its shields, and two more shells caused the two missile launchers on its port side to explode.
Amidst a series of warnings, the commanders of Team 2 and Team 5 simultaneously issued the same order.
"All ships, overload engines, full speed ahead!"
The sterns of the eight ships emitted dazzling blue light, propelling the ships of both sides to fly in a crisscross pattern towards a suitable breakthrough point.
But what awaited them was a large number of activated smart mines. The mines exploded one after another around the ships and the missiles that were launched. The remaining shields of both sides' ships were continuously reduced in the explosions and soon fell into the danger zone.
Those ships without shields were in even worse shape. The continuous explosions completely rendered the destroyers of Squad 5 unable to attack except for their main guns, and the charging efficiency of their main guns was also affected.
As for why not fight to the death?
It's very simple. A group of wounded soldiers can't deal much damage, especially since they're in the enemy's ambush zone.
Seeing the two sides fleeing frantically, Olivia divided the existing ships into two groups. Two heavy frigates followed the flagship and pursued the worse-performing Group 5.
The other team, consisting of two destroyers and two upgraded frigates, was sent to pursue the better-positioned Team 2.
The two stealth reconnaissance ships in the fleet will not launch attacks proactively; their role is simply to ensure that both sides' forces do not escape their line of sight.
Then a space chase ensued in the exercise, with a large number of missiles and shells flying between the pursuers and the pursued. Whenever one side's speed was slowed down, there would be even more intense artillery fire.
As time went on, Team 5, in worse condition, was the first to suffer casualties. The destroyers, having lost their shields and with their hulls damaged, decided to stay behind and block Team 1, which was in pursuit, in order to provide cover for the other three warships.
After a delay of 1 minute and 42 seconds, the last remaining destroyer of Team 5 was destroyed, but the remaining three ships had already scattered and fled.
Fortunately, there was a stealth reconnaissance ship following them in secret, and the delay was not too long, so Olivia quickly located the direction of the three ships.
"The reconnaissance ship will follow the flagship of Fleet No. 5. Lei Yu and Zhao Yu, you two will pursue the escort ship to the left and forward. I will pursue the other one."
"Yes."
After escaping a certain distance, the two ships in Team 5, excluding the flagship, decisively activated their camouflage systems and began charging their main guns, preparing to tear a piece of flesh from Team 1 before being destroyed.