Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 681

Chapter 679, Superior Fleet

Zerg fleet on Dantao retreated. It couldn’t have been driven back by Xi Rui’s forces.

It must have been because Gu Hang’s main force had been discovered.

This didn’t surprise Gu Hang.

During the Battle of Dantao, his main fleet had only made a brief appearance at the very beginning. Subsequently, no matter how intense the fighting became, the vast majority of ships were absent.

The Zerg weren’t foolish; they were quite shrewd. As time went on, their suspicions grew that something was amiss.

They clearly intensified their reconnaissance and expanded their scope.

Initially, perhaps suspecting a human back-up plan, they worried the fleet might cross the battle zone and attack Readuches. Therefore, their primary reconnaissance and exploration efforts focused on the route from the human-controlled area to Readuches.

Then, after failing to locate any trace of the main human fleet, they expanded their search, eventually spotting Gu Hang and his forces in the northern part of the Empress Star Region.

By then, Gu Hang’s forces were not far from the Zerg reinforcements heading south.

Upon discovering Gu Hang’s main fleet at this location, the Queen immediately understood Gu Hang’s intentions. The Zerg fleet, drawn from Dantao, was to protect the Zerg’s reinforcements heading south.

Seeing the Zerg reconnaissance ships appear alongside his fleet, Gu Hang was certain they had been discovered.

He hesitated no longer, stopped trying to conceal his fleet’s movements, and stopped cautiously avoiding every possible Zerg presence. All ships surged forward at full speed.

The southbound Hive Fleet had received the message. Though considerable in size, they were unwilling to engage in a decisive battle with Gu Hang’s main fleet while carrying a vast cargo of biomass.

They began to change course, attempting to avoid a collision with Gu Hang.

However, it was too late.

The Hive Fleet was not invincible. Despite their sheer numbers, their biomass-laden transport ships were no match for their speed.

They knew this, but they had to resort to delaying maneuvers.

The fleet drawn from the Dantao campaign had already moved north to join them.

The best outcome was that the southbound Hive Fleet could circle the Alliance’s main force in the northern part of the Empress Star Region, circling each other for a month, long enough for the two forces to reunite.

While that wasn’t guaranteed victory, it was still preferable to fighting the Alliance’s main fleet separately.

However, the southbound Hive Fleet ultimately failed to reunite with its northern support force. On the fifty-third day after the Battle of Dantao, they were captured by Gu Hang on Mud Dragon Star.

…

Fighting a large-scale naval battle with the Void Zerg was a unique experience for Ye Lishia.

Zerg ships are categorized by size into large, medium, and small. They certainly wouldn’t use “battleship,” “cruiser,” or “frigate,” but that didn’t stop humans from using familiar nomenclature for their enemies.

Therefore, the most threatening element of this southbound Hive Fleet was the nine “biological battleships.”

These nine massive vessels, roughly the equivalent of nine human battleships and battlecruisers, are a formidable force.

Earlier, the Alliance fleet had to assemble fully to counter them. Dividing them would have made victory difficult.

Furthermore, Gu Hang would have had to use his psychic powers.

But now, that wasn’t necessary.

Ye Lishia alone commanded three battleships. The Iron Horse, a Retribution-class battleship, was captured, while the Mengyang, the Alliance’s first domestically produced battleship, finally reached the front lines after years of construction.

They were named after the capital of the Menghe Star Region to emphasize the importance of unity.

Besides the two Retribution-class ships, there was another battleship, the Golden Gate, and an Emperor-class battleship—also captured trophies.

Furthermore, there were two Zhuge-class aircraft carriers, the Eagle Horse and the Proud Fang. The former was also an old ship, while the latter was the second carrier built by the Alliance, sent to the front lines alongside the Meng Yang.

That made five massive ships.

Furthermore, there were two Holy Grail-class battlecruisers and five Dragon Serpent-class battlecruisers.

Of these seven battlecruisers, four were also sent to the front lines immediately after completion, arriving alongside the Meng Yang.

With twelve massive ships in total, Ye Lishia’s fleet was more than enough to gain an advantage over the Hive Fleet before her.

The battle scenes were quite extraordinary.

By now, Ye Lishia was a veteran—all of them leading the Alliance fleet.

From the Iron Teeth War against the Greenskins, to the subsequent confrontation with the Fury, to the subsequent battles against the Ironclad Rebellion and the Alfonzo Mechanicus… whether human or Greenskin Ork ships, they were all made of iron and hollow. Besides armor and hull strength, energy shields or void shields were also crucial.

However, the Zerg’s biological ships lacked void shields or energy shields.

But that didn’t mean they were easy to defeat.

Their outer chitin armor far surpassed steel in thickness, hardness, and toughness. The interior of the biological ships was more solid than the hollow interior of human, Greenskin, or most alien ships. Several heavy artillery shells, seemingly successful, but often fatal to human ships, created remarkably small holes in the biological ships’ armor. Amidst the splattering of blood and flesh, a closer look at the observation panel revealed the wounds wriggling and shrinking, quickly stabilizing the bleeding.

It looked less like a ship and more like a powerful organism the size of a starship—and indeed it was.

However, Ye Lisia still felt that, relatively speaking, it was easier to defeat Zerg bio-ships with ships of the same tier.

It wasn’t that the enemy was weak, but rather that it was easier.

No need to rack one’s brains to figure out how to break through the void shield; just a ‘fist-to-flesh’ attack would do the trick.

Especially when one’s own fleet was superior to the enemy’s, they could maintain their formation, handle the swarming Zerg attempting to board the ships, and then, shell by shell, destroy the bio-ships one by one.

It was that simple: if you had enough strength, you would win, no need for any fancy moves.

However, Ye Lisia had her concerns.

“Has Commander Gu given any comment yet?” she asked her adjutant.

“Not yet.”

Ye Lisia bit her lip, but could only say, “Let me know as soon as you have any news.”

“Understood.”

Returning her gaze to the battlefield, where things were going relatively smoothly, she knew that the key to victory lay with Gu Hang.

Her husband, her commander, was engaged in a fierce battle in the psychic realm.

The enemy ships appeared to contain four neurozoa known as ‘Cerebrate Tyrants,’ possessing psychic power comparable to that of a human at the Alpha level.

————

Fixing the update I promised last night…

(End of this chapter)