Chapter 289 05.0288: "Orc Attack Fleet"

In the void, two petite frigates were protecting the Imperial Tower-class transport ships that were more than ten times larger than them as they evacuated in the direction of the Gothic fleet.

A tattered escort aircraft carrier used a shuttle ramp with its doors unable to be fully closed to release carrier-based aircraft to cover its own retreat.

Horatio saw through the optical observation equipment that in the void behind them, a huge shadow emerged from the darkness.

When only a small portion of the huge shadow emerged from the darkness, the super-large cannon on top of it opened fire.

The fleeting muzzle flame illuminated the enormous turret.

An extremely large artillery shell that was visible to the naked eye from a distance of thousands of miles smashed heavily into one of the Sword-class frigates, whose engine was damaged and whose void shield was flickering.

In just a moment, the void shield was disintegrated, and then the huge cannonball smashed the frigate in half, and continued to fly away under the action of inertia, flying towards Horatio.

On the fleet signal display screen in front of Horatio, a signal disappeared forever into the dark void.

Just as he was sweating, the shell suddenly exploded, creating a brilliant plasma spark in the void, and the dust and rolling debris formed a hot field that was enough to sweep across the entire cruiser.

In other words, the force feedback signal from the giant cannon when it smashed a frigate failed to even trigger its fuse.

As the light of the stars gradually illuminated the figures of most of the attackers.

"God-Emperor..." Horatio couldn't help but mutter when he saw the strange creature.

It could hardly be called a 'battleship', as Horatio clearly recognized that its body was an enormous space rock.

Relying on unknown substances as adhesives, in a way beyond human common sense, using crude and simple rivet inlay and welding techniques, countless turrets and various weapons of different styles were built in a haphazard manner.

"Hurry! Boys! Don't let these shrimps get away! WAAAAAGH!"

A big guy wearing a captured blood-stained navy captain's bicorne hat and replacing the noble Imperial Navy helm emblem with a blasphemous orc symbol stood on the bridge, waving a large and long blade imitating an Imperial Navy saber and roaring at the boys below.

"KAGAGOK! KAGAGOK! WAAAAGH!!"

"Ah! Hoo!"

Thousands of armed orcs and fart elves cheered with great excitement, shouting the heroic name of the war boss.

Behind them, there were several war crafts of varying sizes, but all of them were so crudely made that the naval officers and soldiers were shocked.

Some of them were converted from destroyed Imperial Navy void defense turrets and connected to meteorites with iron chains.

There are also a lot of orc warships that are made by splicing and sewing together a lot of scrap metal from destroyed ships, and they look pretty decent.

No matter the size or armament of these ships, it is harder to find a second one like them than snowflakes.

The only similarity between them is the strange orc face with a platinum armor plate on the front and a huge, grinning jaw.

Like a 'weird-faced anglerfish' flying in the void.

Before traveling through time, Horatio thought these faces were very funny and ridiculous.

But when he actually stood on a warship and faced these huge ghost faces with red eyes rushing towards him.

And when he saw the huge grinning jaw carrying a super cannon that was bigger, more powerful and more domineering than the Imperial Navy's heavy cannon, he, who was now considered a veteran of many battles, broke out in a rare cold sweat on his back and could not smile at all.

At this moment, he truly felt an impact that was completely different from the last Void Extermination War.

The enemy may outnumber our own fleet by a huge margin, and there are no reinforcements or starports for repairs and supplies.

Everyone must fight for their own survival, and those seemingly crudely made huge artillery pieces are no joke.

Under the metaphysical design of the Orc master's "An Xunsi", these exaggeratedly shaped cannons only need one hit to really tear an enormous scar and crack on the hull.

Besides, he had just seen it.

If they were defeated, they would become food for the orcs and turned into their excrement. Their own weapons and warships would become these deformed war creations, contributing to the green-skinned orcs' war cause.

After receiving instructions from the captain, Horatio, as the fleet liaison officer, began to coordinate the battle formation of the 25th Squadron.

"The 1st frigate squadron will form a wedge formation and serve as the forward reconnaissance squadron.

The second frigate division is arranged in a square flank escort formation, with two frigates on each side providing cover for the main squadron.

The destroyer squadron was deployed in a cross-shaped combat formation to conduct reconnaissance and raid at the forefront.

The 'Moon-class cruiser Lord Darros' will sail in front of our ship, and you will serve as the vanguard.

Defiant-class light cruiser 'Rising Feather', prepare the Starhawk bomber formation. Diligence-class 'Sword of Glory', Endurance-class 'Rising Fire', maintain a single-line combat formation. "

"We can't engage in close combat with these green-skinned pirates. Navigation Department, Communications Department! Send a telegram to all ships and the entire fleet, and tell us to stay out of the effective range of those filthy aliens' shabby cannons."

"Based on the range and accuracy of the captured stray bullet..." the Mechanical Sage reported to the Operations Department using electronic sound:
“超大炮有效射程为4500虚空单位（约481公里），但异形中型炮弹有效射程大约在13500虚空单位中约有25%命中率，建议保持远程炮距（约1443公里）交战。”

"These green-skinned pirates are not our first opponents. Although their firepower is fierce, their effective range and accuracy are poor. We must maintain long-range artillery range. We must not fight with them and destroy half of them before reaching Far Star. If we do that, the expedition will not be able to continue." Captain Peru waved his hand:
"Lieutenant Horatio, the shuttle ramp of the 'Rising Feather' and the surviving Karl-Duniash frigate fleet can both deploy a large number of Starhawk bombers for combat.

Our ship will be responsible for the covering mission of their mother ship.

In addition to your duties, you will also serve as the chief officer of the aviation department to command carrier-based aircraft and prepare the furious pilots. I will assign three lieutenants to assist you in your work. "
-
Shuttle apron hangar.

"Captain Fasha?! You're still alive!" Seeing Fasha walking into the apron neatly dressed, the three female pilots who were chatting came over, and one of them with short golden-brown hair shouted excitedly.

These naval sisters were all members of the same fighter squadron as Anya Fasha, and all of them were pulled back from the brink of freezing to death.

"Yes, Veronica. This time, only our squadron has more survivors. The wing commander was killed. Now the air force is in chaos."

"We're off to a bad start... and I heard that the people in charge of us in the Gothic Fleet are all amateurs." The short-haired woman curled her lips and said, "It looks like we'll be cannon fodder."

After a while, they saw several naval lieutenants coming to the shuttle apron.

Needless to say, these people are their leaders.

"Look at that young man. Do you think he is 20? He looks good, but I don't know what his skills are like."

The female pilot named Veronica put her hands on her hips, poked the captain with her elbow helplessly, and complained about the immaturity of Horatio's team in a dirty tone.

"Of course, I mean the conducting technique." She grimaced and swung her hips.

The female captain let out a long sigh.

The young man had saved her life and the pilot's life, and she was grateful to Horatio and had no grudge against him personally.

But she was unhappy that the Gothic Fleet had sent such an inexperienced officer to run the aviation department.

He looked so young, just like the 'little lieutenant' that I teased him as when we first met.

Other fleets of the Imperial Navy generally treat their pilots as consumables, and only the fleet in the Extreme Star Region is slightly better.

Looking at the current situation, she felt that she was being treated as a "toy for children" by the Gothic Fleet.

"Lieutenant Veronica, be serious and assemble the pilots." Anya Fasha ordered.

"Yes~ yes~ yes~ Captain Fasha, I just hope he won't kill us all at once like a child treats a toy he doesn't like. Everyone assemble!" Veronica smiled indifferently.

After a while, two male and two female naval lieutenants came over.

The pilots have lined up, but the team is not neat, but loose, and the overall atmosphere is rather casual.

"Report to the commander, all pilots have assembled." The female naval aviation captain in front of him saluted Horatio.

Her bronze skin looked shiny under the light, and he recognized her at first sight.

"30 general-purpose Fury fighters at your command, sir."

"Thank you for your hard work, Captain Fasha. I remember you were the commander of the 217th Interceptor Group of the aviation wing."

"Yes, sir."

"The commander of the wing has been killed, and you will take over the tactical combat command of the wing.

The enemy is approaching our fleet, and we need to provide cover and escort for the Starhawk bombers, but we have no aviation command equipment now."

"I have an alternative to this problem, sir."

"Please say."

"My fighter plane has an aviation command array, and I'm in the original navigator's position. If it's just an emergency, I might be able to help you."

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(End of this chapter)