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The Alliance indeed lacked the capability for intercontinental strike capability; their domestically produced missiles couldn’t reach nearly twenty thousand kilometers away.
But just because the Alliance didn’t have it, didn’t mean they didn’t have other tricks up their sleeve.
Now, within the Empire’s conventional firepower, why wasn’t there much advocacy for the development of long-range ground strikes?
There were three reasons: one was that long-range strikes were expensive; two, current air defense technology was quite exaggerated, boasting high interception efficiency.
But the reason a weapon’s appearance gets significantly reduced is rarely because it has many natural predators, but rather because its role was supplanted by another type of weapon.
The thing that significantly replaced intercontinental weapons was orbital bombardment.
The Blade Tiger could lend a hand with that.
In the communication, Yelisia said no problem.
Regarding the intelligence breach about Blackbird violating the intelligence ban, Gu Hang did not notify her immediately. Not until things got underway on his mother’s end and talks began–the matter wasn’t too confidential then–did Gu Hang inform Yelisia.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her; she wasn’t one of his own. If he told her one second, the Fufana Family would know the next, and Pei Desi would likely find out the second after that.
Now it didn’t matter.
Yelisia didn’t make much of it, just scolded teasingly for not telling her sooner and complained a few times about how many things happened on Rage Owl Star.
In reality, Gu Hang could feel that this naval commodore was quite eager.
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There was merit to be earned!
Yelisia enthusiastically arranged for the Blade Tiger to move in planetary orbit, preparing to initiate orbital bombardment on Blackbird City. Meanwhile, Gu Hang began to arrange another move.
Before Blackbird Heavy Industries launched the missile attack, the Alliance had received a warning from an intelligence agent at the front.
Although the warning came a bit late and didn’t serve as a pre-warning, as the missiles arrived shortly after, Gu Hang didn’t forget what they mentioned:
‘Missile silos detected.’
Since that was the case, it was time for tit for tat.
True, the Alliance lacked the means for intercontinental strikes and couldn’t directly bombard the missile silos; Blade Tiger’s target was also Blackbird City, not the missile bases specifically.
But the Alliance had other means.
Under Gu Hang’s command, the Wind Falcon took off, carrying the Phoenix.
…
Heavenly fire descended.
Irong Fetches sat within the metallic throne atop the high tower.
Unlike most of the modified humans in Blackbird City, Irong Fetches’s outward appearance hadn’t changed significantly; she still retained the flesh and blood of humanity. Only her deep-blue eyes twinkled with an inhuman electric light.
Atop the mechanical tower, connected to the observation monitor at the top, her viewpoint elevated and extended.
In her gaze, a strike from beyond the planet’s atmosphere descended from the heavens.
The equipment on the Escort Ship consisted of the all-firepower versions of ‘Reflector’ and ‘Defender.’ This was an entirely different concept from the anti-air Reflector produced by the Alliance or the laser cannons mounted on tanks. While the technology was the same, the power and intensity were more than tenfold.
The force of the Scalpel Missile was also several times more ferocious than those launched by Blackbird Heavy Industries that had attacked the Alliance’s intercontinental missiles.
These weapons were hurling towards Blackbird City without holding back.
A layer of azure light appeared over the skies of Blackbird City.
This was a massive Energy Shield Generator, and the first wave of strikes from space was stalled.
The second volley met the same fate.
The Shield Generator flickered but did not turn red.
The Shield Generators equipped in Blackbird City were strong on their own, and simple bombardment from S-grade ships couldn’t easily shatter them.
However, this was after all a situation of passively taking hits. Blackbird City lacked adequate Anti-Orbital Firepower to directly attack from the ground to space; there were some orbital air defense installations, but they were insufficient to intercept every round of bombardment from the Blade Tiger.
What made matters worse was that although the Shield Generators of Blackbird City weren’t small, they couldn’t cover the entire city. They shielded only about half of the city’s area. Barely managing to cover the core district, but many peripheral areas remained unprotected.
The Blade Tiger above sensed this too. After two rounds of ineffective bombardment, they changed tactics, beginning to target the areas outside of the energy shield’s coverage.
Soon, apart from the central district, the peripheries of Blackbird City began to blossom with explosions, and flames shot into the sky.
Irong Fetches could see it all clearly.
She knew this was already a relatively good outcome. Currently orbiting Rage Owl Star was only an old model of Blade Tiger, one of the weakest in firepower among Escort Ships.
If it had been the Quintet, a properly outfitted Main Cruiser, with an L-class heavy cannon Wrath of Loyalty raining down non-stop, let alone the outskirts, not even the energy shield over the city’s heart might have been able to withstand it.
That had been her greatest fear.
Within the family, she was an overlooked member. She had no outstanding abilities, nor a particularly valued position. Six years ago, a freshly adult Irong, had just taken a job in the government of Fetches II, where she worked decently and without mistakes for three years.
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