Chapter 221: Chapter 160, The Brilliant Explosion_2
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A cruiser, operating independently and annihilating an entire Green Skin fleet consisting of four destroyers and eight escort ships, is an outstanding military achievement. Not only within the Tianma Fleet, but even when viewed across the entire Imperial Navy, it’s an accolade worth mentioning.
Even more so, with such a record as a foundation, coupled with sufficient familial backing, her rank might well ascend again in a short span of time.
There’s a huge threshold between the ranks of Commodore and Rear Admiral. Generally, Commodores aren’t called generals, but Rear Admirals are definitely recognized as such without question.
If she really made it, she might become the youngest general in the history of the Tianma Star Sector, and no one would dare to say that her promotion was merely due to her family’s protection.
Her fame would spread far beyond the Tianma Star Sector, so much so that in the entire Dragonhawk Star Domain, and even the entire Eastern Cosmos Domain, her name Yelisia would become well-known, glittering throughout the Star Sea as a rising new star in the Imperial Navy.
These words deeply moved Yelisia.
She had thought of it herself, but having someone else voice it out, hitting right at what she was thinking, felt different.
Combining these considerations, Yelisia finally gritted her teeth, ordered the starship to leave silent mode, prepared to fire at full capacity, and made contact with the Beautiful Lady.
The situation had developed to the present state.
Gu Hang was instrumental in bringing about the current circumstances, but his ability to influence the situation further was now quite limited.
Commanding a starship was not within his capabilities.
He could only be a spectator for the time being.
And it was quite a sight to behold.
In this vast expanse of space, there were still more than a dozen space leviathans exchanging fierce firepower. Those beams of light, light particles, cannon shells, Void Shields, and the colorful flashes of energy shields being hit, the blaze of explosions when the fire directly hits the ships…
At least from Gu Hang’s vantage point on the Quintet bridge, through the Thinker Array’s feedback on the impact of their attacks, and the battle display diagrams, he could see everything clearly.
The desolate starry sky had come alive with activity.
However, these beautiful lights all contained terrible power and lethal damage.
But as Gu Hang played the role of a spectator, he was not simply enjoying the spectacle. He carefully observed Yelisia, analyzed the current status of the battlefield, and the various commands she issued, striving to absorb all he could about space naval combat.
Many of the situations that arose and the responses made by the female Commodore were beyond his understanding, but this didn’t prevent him from making an effort to remember them. He planned to revisit these after getting access to theoretical training literature, which might help him grow.
Learning about these things was of no immediate use to him, but Gu Hang had come to deeply appreciate how crucial space power was in this interstellar era.
It was a decisive force.
In the future, if conditions allowed, he would certainly build his own navy.
Perhaps with some luck, he could quickly acquire naval technology, couldn’t he?
Err… maybe not, even if he acquired it, he couldn’t afford to build starships. Such high-end manufacturing could only be approached once a planet’s productivity had sufficiently developed.
Lost in thought, he noticed that the exchange of fire between the two fleets had reached an intense stage.
It wasn’t long before the Green-Skin Frigate, which had taken hits from the Quintet’s Colossal Cannon and had overloaded energy shields, exploded in space.
The ship that destroyed it was a combined fire from the Beautiful Lady and two other escort ships.
The Beautiful Lady Convoy led by Gu Hang’s cousin had seasoned command officers who sharply caught the change in the battle situation caused by the Quintet’s fire, delivering the fatal blow.
This was the second ship to be destroyed since the battle began.
With two fewer ships, the Green Skin Fleet’s firepower had been reduced by nearly a quarter.
The results of the Quintet’s ambush had tilted the scales of victory once again in their favor by another ten percentage points.
If the Green Skin Fleet were led by rational humans, the best move at this moment would probably be to quickly flee.
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Unfortunately, that was not the style of the Green Skins.
They still charged upwards, braving the firepower of the human ships.
After sacrificing a destroyer and two escort ships in explosions, they managed to blow up an escort ship of the convoy and successfully boarded two others, deploying troops onboard.
The ship that had been boarded quickly weakened in firepower and explosions occurred inside.
Whether or not the Green Skin Orcs who had boarded could be driven out was still unknown, but at least for now, their contribution to the naval battle had been reduced by half.
The pressure of the battle was becoming greater and greater.
As the Green Skin Ships advanced, they had lost five ships, but their firepower had become even more fierce—this was due to the decreased distance between the two sides.
The Quintet was indeed well-armored and armed. Out of the five Green-Skinned Warships lost, four were destroyed by it. Its L-class large caliber guns, the “Wrath of Loyalty,” were devastatingly powerful.
However, when some of the Green Skin Ships broke off to approach the “Quintet” within a distance of fifty thousand kilometers, the firepower on the Green Skin Ships greatly improved in precision, and the Quintet felt somewhat overwhelmed.
The most direct indication of this was that the Void Shield had turned purple, even showing tendencies of becoming red, and the Green Skins’ heavy artillery started to have shells penetrate the shield and hit the ship’s armor.
Gu Hang on the bridge had felt the ship shake violently several times.
The ship’s stabilization system couldn’t completely nullify the tremors, which likely meant real damage was done to the ship. Even if it wasn’t major, the repairs afterward would probably come at a considerable expense.
However, in exchange for this effect, the Green Skin Fleet had lost another frigate.
Now, all that remained of their ships were two destroyers and four frigates.
In Gu Hang’s assessment, the battle had reached its final critical stage.
The fearlessness and determination of the Green Skin Fleet to fight to the end had left a deep impression on him.
For the human side, victory was almost within grasp.
But the remaining question was at what cost.
Even though until now the humans had only lost one escort ship, the remaining three ships of the Beautiful Lady Convoy had their Void Shields overloaded, with two boarded, in a dire crisis; even the Quintet’s Void Shield was nearly red.
If the fight continued to the end and the Green Skin Fleet was annihilated, but the Beautiful Lady Convoy was wiped out and the Quintet severely damaged, then the outcome would be quite distressing.
The political repercussions could also be quite serious.
Gu Hang also heard Matins beside him sigh.
“It would have been nice if our battle group’s strength was still present, we could have sent over a hundred or two people, along with a substantial number of the Mortal Auxiliary Army, enough to take a whole ship.”
Listening to the battle group leader’s words, it seemed they had often done such things before.
Gu Hang patted his shoulder, about to say something, but then saw on the bridge, multiple indicator lights suddenly turned red.
This was a signal of danger.
The Thinker Array relayed the information: “Warning! Multiple intrusions have occurred inside our ship! Green Skin landing ships used some unknown energy technology to deceive the interception system, and we only shot down 70% of the landing ships, which included a large number of decoy pods. Currently, it is assessed that seventeen landing pods have successfully reached the ground, and over two thousand Green Skin Orcs have entered the ship! The Navy Marine Corps has engaged them but is currently at a disadvantage.”
Yelisia suddenly turned her gaze towards Gu Hang.
“It’s time for you to play your part.”
Without a word, Gu Hang turned and left.
Indeed, the time had come for him to contribute, and there was nothing to discuss. He would go forth.