T3 Cavalier-class Medium Interstellar Destroyer · bridge.
This was the Morton eldest son's flagship, and just now he was burning with anxiety. The terror of the hive-race fleet's assault refreshed his worldview time and again. The second defensive line had collapsed in a mere span of under eight minutes! Indeed, the warships that had retreated to the third defensive line hadn't even had time to regroup. By this state of things, the third defensive line might well fall faster still.
And just as bad news kept coming in from the various positions of the third-line defenders, a terrifying scene appeared in his video display. Patches of exploding fireballs shattered those swarms come screaming to the attack!
"Interstellar missiles? This is the Owl Dragon Fleet's missile ship!" the Morton eldest son cried out. Because the battlefield situation just now was tangled and chaotic, he hadn't studied that Owl Dragon lord's fleet information in detail; he knew only that over 100 interstellar warships had come in all, of which 10 were T3-grade interstellar supply ships, and close to 30 more were T3-grade interstellar warships, with all the rest, uniformly, T2 warships. He hadn't imagined that this Owl Dragon Fleet was, of all things, fitted with a missile ship!
And at this moment, the fire support of the interstellar missiles let the third defensive line's defenders catch a breath. But if this were all of it, then it was far, far from enough.
The crimson interstellar fighters and drones began to launch attacks on the swarm nearing the defensive line, their machine-cannons pouring out their ammunition without cease. Because the swarm was so very numerous, indeed the T3 Phoenix-class fighter pilots didn't even need to aim — they needed only to sweep their fire toward that dark, dense mass. Once a round of sweeping fire was done, these fighter pilots at once returned to resupply, making ready for a second round of assault!
At the same time, the T2 Black Rhinos and T2 Snow Mastiffs, too, entered the third defensive line. For, mind you, the T2 Black Rhino possessed a very strong ability for "independent combat" — its proper job was, after all, that of an interstellar frigate. Just now its point-defense guns fired at full power, sweeping the nearing swarm clear one after another. And the T2 Snow Mastiff-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship's main guns took aim, specifically, at the high-grade hive-race units, or at things like the T2 Hive Motherships. A single main-gun shot could destroy one T2 Hive Mothership.
Defense was far, far from enough. There still had to be offense!
The T3 Blizzards, three to a squad, opened their shields and, at full speed, charged toward the swarm. They didn't, of course, charge in blind; each had long since locked onto its target. Some were T3 Hive Motherships, some were T4 hive-race units.
The T3 Blizzard No.1 where Charlotte was locked its very first target onto a T4 Colossus-class Leviathan!
"Bow cannon, fire!" On entering fire range, Charlotte at once gave the order! The blue cluster-laser pierced through patch after patch of swarm and slammed heavily into that T4 Colossus-class Leviathan! Though it was a quasi-T4 — a quasi-T4 was, in the end, not a T4! All the more so since the Blizzard was no ordinary T3 warship either. Charlotte stared fixedly at the target, ready at any moment to deal the finishing cut, to give the order for the Blizzard interstellar missiles to fire. Happily, the T3 Blizzard's bow cannon did not disappoint the hopes of all. It killed this T4 Colossus-class Leviathan in a single shot! Its whole body exploded apart, shredded flesh flying. This was, too, as of now, the first T4 Colossus-class Leviathan to be killed. Having completed the annihilation task, Charlotte, without the least hesitation, at once led her squad to withdraw, to await the bow cannon's cooldown and reset. The moment the bow cannon's reset was complete, she'd strike again, and annihilate the next target!
"It's simply incredible… just what sort of interstellar warships are these…" The Morton eldest son watched this scene, dumbstruck. The combat style of these warships, set against those defending warships of his, was quite simply a matter of heaven and earth.
Interstellar-missile fire-strikes! Interstellar fighters sortieing without cease! Interstellar frigates holding fast to the line, forming a wall of bronze and iron! Interstellar battlecruisers, for all the world like gods of slaughter, charging into the swarm again and again to reap those main units of the enemy! This perfect scene of combat — he'd never have dared even to dream of it! And yet this interstellar fleet before him carried it out smooth as flowing clouds and running water, for all the world as though they'd already gone through it all several hundred times.
At this very moment, within his heart there had, of all things, genuinely risen a hope that this star gate could be held.
This wave of assault lasted a full half hour, and the Morton star gate's third defensive line was, of all things, still in their hands! The interstellar missiles of the five T2 Lion Kings had all been fired off.
"Bessie, lead your T3 Virgos at once to resupply our warships! Above all the T2 Lion Kings — guarantee their needs first!" Zhao Chen gave the order to Bessie.
"Yes!" Secretary Bessie at once dispatched the 10 T3 Virgo-class Heavy Interstellar Supply Ships to begin, right on the battlefield, resupplying the interstellar warships. Under such circumstances, these 10 T3 Virgos not only carried out the warship-resupply work, but did so with their efficiency not diminished in the least! From this point alone, one could see well enough the excellence of this T3 Virgo! Battlefield nanny — worthy of the name without a shred of doubt!
"Warning! Warning! Warning! High-intensity energy detected inbound!" A warning cry issued from the T3 Phoenix's bridge. At the same time, on the ship radar there had already appeared a predicted attack trajectory. This attack trajectory passed through the star gate's third defensive line, and there were dozens of interstellar warships right upon this line! Including one T2 Black Rhino!
Zhao Chen cast an eye over the energy intensity the ship radar had detected, and the time until it arrived. Without a word, he connected straight through to that T2 Black Rhino's bridge.
"Black Rhino No.046, abandon ship and withdraw immediately! I am Commander Zhao Chen; I order you — abandon ship at once!" The veins on Zhao Chen's head all but leapt out; he gave the order in a voice near to a roar.
On the bridge of T2 Black Rhino No.046, the captain listened to the Commander's order with some surprise. Were it any other fleet — even an Empire-military fleet — upon suddenly receiving this order, they'd surely have found it beyond all reason. Everything was perfectly fine; why abandon the ship? But having gone through the T3 Goddess Academy's training, they held one supreme tenet: at any time whatsoever, the Commander's order was the highest priority of all!
The captain of T2 Black Rhino No.046 decisively pressed the ship's highest-level warning before her, and in an instant, from every department and post aboard this ship there issued a mechanical voice.
"Highest warning! Abandon ship immediately! Evacuate the ship!"
Happily, the T2 Black Rhino's hull was itself not large, and its combat personnel numbered a mere 20. The speed and efficiency of abandoning ship and withdrawing were very high. In the dozen-odd seconds of Zhao Chen's shouting, they'd bored into their respective nearest escape pods. The escape pods automatically thrust out — toward the direction of the Owl Dragon Fleet, at that. And almost at the same instant, the T3 Andromeda-class Interstellar Medical Ship, standing by at all times, sent out its own rescue pods to take in the crew within those escape pods.
The captain of T2 Black Rhino No.046 lay within her escape pod; before her eyes was a palm-sized window, through which she could just make out her own flagship. Though she'd carried out the Commander's order, to abandon one's own flagship was a thing painful to the heart of any captain. But the very next second, a terrifying green beam of light engulfed this T2 Black Rhino No.046. No.046's captain's eyes went wide, disbelief in her gaze.
Vanishing along with T2 Black Rhino No.046 were dozens of interstellar warships on the Morton defensive line, including two of the already-few T3 Cavalier-class Medium Interstellar Destroyers. With no room whatsoever to strike back, they were destroyed.
This terrifying attack. This chief culprit — it could only be that one thing!
Zhao Chen stared at that vast, terrifying figure in the video display.
The T4 Hive Mothership… also called… the T4 Leviathan-class Hive Mothership!
A true interstellar behemoth!