Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 577

Chapter 575, Exploded into Five Sections

Chapter 575:

After the Phoenix, broken into five sections, retreated, Gu Hang simply glanced at them and ignored them.

The losses were still painful.

Eight hundred had gone, only five returned. Everyone was injured, dozens of them critically injured.

While these critically injured were beyond saving by mortal standards, this was not the case for the Space Marines. Those who

could not be saved could be placed in Dreadnoughts, allowing them to continue serving the Chapter and the Alliance in the future.

Of course, the Alliance also supported the retirement of seriously injured, providing strong life support so that they could enjoy their retirement. After all, with the long lifespan of a Space Marine, there were plenty of good years ahead. After all

, being stuffed into a Dreadnought was not a comfortable experience, not to mention the fact that once inside, there was no escape. However

, to date, no Phoenix Space Marine had ever retired after being seriously injured; all had chosen to be placed in the Dreadnoughts.

The three hundred Space Marines lost were not necessarily all killed in action. Perhaps some surviving Phoenixes were actually scattered across Alfonzo II, fighting in disarray. Since they had been assembled so quickly, they couldn’t arrive in time.

But that was really too much to do.

The moment Martins burst through the gate, Gu Hang could have leveraged the power of this Space Marine, with whom he had a deep connection, to quietly penetrate the protozoan chamber.

Du Bo, away from the control panel, wasn’t as sensitive to psychic energy. He failed to detect Gu Hang’s infiltration.

Then, precisely breaking the neurozoan’s restraints and control, freeing it, was a challenge in itself. Gu Hang carefully and accurately detected the weaknesses in the energy beams binding the neurozoan and severed them one by one.

This process required Gu Hang to accurately and silently deploy his power across such vast distances, a difficult feat.

A single mistake, detected by Du Bo, causing him to sense something was wrong and return to the control panel, would have been a disaster.

But throughout this entire process, Gu Hang performed remarkably well.

Without a single mistake or hesitation, Gu Hang completed his task.

However, it wasn’t over yet.

Releasing the Neurozoa merely eliminated the entities that had been engaging Gu Hang in a psychic confrontation.

Du Bo, the commander-in-chief, was presumably dead. Aboard the War Ark, the Neurozoa were rampaging, and the Heroic Elves Gu Hang had thrown into the ship hadn’t retreated, leaving the entire War Ark in a semi-destroyed state.

As the flagship of the entire mechanical fleet, it couldn’t function as a command ship, unable to issue effective commands to the other ships within. Furthermore, as the most powerful warship in the fleet, it was practically silenced due to internal strife, rendering it unable to serve as a key pillar.

On the contrary, the ship was practically stationary, making it a dangerous position even with its Void Shield. Unable to move or maneuver to evade certain firepower, it simply became a target, unable to withstand even its Void Shield.

To protect the fleet’s flagship, numerous frigates, even a Retribution-class battleship, moved in to provide cover. They could use their firepower systems to intercept some incoming Alliance artillery fire. Even, if necessary, they could use their own hulls to shield Alfonzo II from incoming fire.

This was a significant aid to Alfonzo II, but in the larger context of the fleet’s decisive battle, the Mechanical Fleet’s combat effectiveness was significantly impacted. The Mechanical Fleet ships that arrived to assist the flagship effectively posed no threat to the Alliance fleet.

This significantly reduced the Alliance’s firepower pressure.

The value of the boarding operation, which involved the heroic spirits and Phoenixes making significant sacrifices, was truly realized.

Furthermore, this was merely the immediate benefit provided to the Alliance fleet.

What was even more crucial was the subsequent developments.

The sacrifices of the Space Marines had created such a significant opportunity; how could Gu Hang waste it?

He had originally intended to deal with the War Ark first, to avoid further complications. But since a ship dared to block it, he decided to kill the others first.

Unstoppable, Gu Hang’s psychic powers became unbridled.

The Retribution-class battleship that had dared to block Alfonzo II’s attack became his direct target.

Its void shields couldn’t hold out for long, quickly shattered.

Then, the Alliance fleet, whose coordination was far superior to that of the mechanical fleet, launched a concentrated attack.

The massive artillery fire was secondary; the Zhuge-class aircraft carrier, the Hippogriff, bore the brunt of the attack.

Three patrol ships were catapulted out, and in a flash, at a speed barely slower than a cannonball, they bore down on the enemy ships.

Typically, an Alliance Blackfish-class patrol vessel would have a crew of around 1,200 men. The three specialized Blackfish launched into the enemy’s path weren’t fully staffed, with only around 400 men.

This number barely covered the basic operational needs of the ships, and was even slightly insufficient. During extended voyages, some of the positions requiring constant manning couldn’t be guaranteed—after all, humans needed rest.

However, in this situation, such considerations were unnecessary.

Even the operation of the ships themselves wasn’t crucial.

As long as the weapons systems were fully operational, that was all that mattered.

It’s also worth noting that every crew member on board was a death squad. Every one of them was prepared for the possibility of not being able to return.

A small boat being catapulted face-first into the face of a battleship was inherently dangerous. Even though the Zhuge-class carriers were equipped with towing systems to pull back catapulted small vessels, the probability of recovery was high.

Their mission, however, was simple: to fire all the missiles loaded onto the specialized Blackfish before they themselves were destroyed.

The problem with missiles is that they’re much easier to intercept than artillery shells and lances.

Aircraft carriers deploy aircraft like fighters and patrol ships directly into enemy ships to address this difficulty: close proximity shortens the launch range, significantly increasing the difficulty of interception.

Furthermore, patrol ships are significantly larger than the largest Dragon Elephant fighters. The Blackfish-class ships, tasked with this suicidal mission, have been specially modified to maximize their payload, disregarding all other considerations. Each

of the three Blackfishes is equipped with 18 Dongfeng Fen missiles, which can be fully deployed in just two rounds, a total time of no more than six minutes.

This means that if all three Blackfishes survived those six minutes, their mission was complete.

The first round of missiles, 27 Dongfeng Fen missiles, were successfully launched.

Six were intercepted, while the remaining 21 impacted the Retribution-class battleship, whose void shield had been torn.

Twenty-one massive explosions erupted from the ship, severely damaging the entire battleship.

Then, one Blackfish was destroyed, leaving two remaining, and they fired all 18 Dongfeng Fen rounds in the second round.

The Retribution-class battleship was thus broken into five sections.

(End of this chapter)