Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 862

Chapter 856: The Universe is Burning (Part 3)

Gu Hang personally led the Queen of Glory warship, along with a large number of the main vessels of the human fleet, forcefully approaching the planet’s orbit and fiercely bombarding the surface of Ankachi VIII. After creating a landing opportunity, the human landing operation immediately began.

The first batch of airborne drop pods were ejected from aircraft carriers and light carriers.

Unlike transport planes and transport ships, these metal cone-shaped airborne drop pods had a much smaller carrying capacity and were expensive to build. However, their greatest value lay in their superior penetration capabilities.

Their speed, anti-detection capabilities, and resistance to attack were superior, making them ideal for deploying the first batch of airborne troops.

Due to their critical mission of “beach landing” and their small carrying capacity, these troops were often the most elite.

As they passed through the atmosphere, these drop pods encountered fierce Ork anti-aircraft fire. Even after being swept by the preceding naval guns, a significant amount of anti-aircraft fire survived.

Over 15% of the drop pods disintegrated into fireballs before even landing.

And that was just the drop pods.

Had they been transport ships and planes, the intercepted force would have been significantly more vulnerable.

The landing force, having successfully broken through the interception, created a crater. Elite soldiers of the Honor Guard and Space Marines from various Chapters rushed out of the drop pods.

Under the command of the ground commander, these heavily armed warriors began to form a circular formation.

Wang Jun, acting captain of the 9th Company of the Phoenix Chapter, shouted into the communication channel.

The original plan was for the commander to be the 9th Company commander, not Wang Jun. However, during the airborne landing, the captain’s drop pod was destroyed. He, who had taken over as acting captain on the battlefield, held the highest position among those who had landed, and naturally assumed the role of commander.

Beneath the rising dust at the horizon, thirty Ork war machines, constructed from Zerg carapace and scrap metal, rumbled forward. As their treads rolled over the ground, the dust kicked up fused with acid, melting the ceramsite armor.

The Terminator squads of Phoenix’s 9th Company launched a counterattack on the right flank, their melta weapons melting through the frontline war machines. But more Green heavy trucks poured out of the breach, their roof-mounted rocket launchers blasting the rudimentary human fortifications to smithereens.

The ground battle was at a stalemate.

Although Wang Jun’s troops were elite, they were still too few in number.

The human forces had chosen their landing site with care. The drop pods landed with remarkable precision, targeting a large anti-aircraft fire position.

This area was of high importance, having previously been covered by naval fire. However, the heaviest artillery fire was intercepted, and the lighter artillery was insufficient to destroy the position.

The fortifications were not only strong but also protected by energy shields.

These energy shields are far more robust than those on starships.

No matter how large a starship is, it’s always limited in the amount of space left for weapons, crew, engines, armor, and a host of other essential facilities. It’s

a different story on the ground.

Furthermore, the Greenskins’ energy shields are a bit like “earth shields,” capable of housing warehouses and ample energy reserves, and even integrated energy stations that directly utilize geothermal and fusion energy sources to power the shields. They

‘re incredibly strong.

With both air defense and anti-orbital interception, and defensive energy shields, a simple orbital bombardment would be difficult to handle.

The original goal for the first group landing was to establish a position, then quickly advance towards it, defeat the defenders on the ground, and destroy the energy shield generator. Next, if they had the strength to do so, they could simply destroy the anti-aircraft positions. If they didn’t, they could simply retreat and leave it to orbital bombardment to attack the unshielded anti-aircraft positions.

But now, that seemed a bit difficult.

After personally participating in the battle, Wang Jun realized the formidable nature of these Orks.

Their individual strength was generally much greater than any he had ever fought. Even the lower-ranking Greenskins, when he crushed their heads, could feel their skulls were harder than those of other Orks.

If the ground forces hadn’t achieved a breakthrough immediately, subsequent breakthroughs would be difficult.

The Orks exploited their home field advantage to continuously mobilize reserves, while the humans relied on orbital bombardments, constantly intercepted by anti-aircraft fire, to support the front line, barely holding their ground.

However, on Gu Hang’s holographic tactical sandbox, the crimson area representing the Greenskins’ military strength was rapidly increasing. The greenskins were constantly deploying troops and generals to block the advance.

Despite temporarily failing to achieve the desired results in the ground battle, Gu Hang resolutely launched the second phase of the operation.

The main reason was that the battle in space had undergone some changes.

The previous fierce orbital bombardment had reduced the greenskins’ support from the surface to the planetary orbit.

More warships were released. Five hundred warships quickly closed the distance and reached low-Earth orbit.

Looking up from the surface of Ankachi, the number of human starships was even more numerous than the stars, so dense that it almost covered the entire sky!

Then, two more powerful orbital strikes descended. While

the ground-based anti-aircraft firepower failed to counteract the orbital bombardment, it certainly intercepted many of the orbital bombardments and even caused greater losses to human warships than expected. But weren’t these losses just losses? With the current strength of the human army, it was more than capable of withstanding the attack.

Furthermore, during this phase, a new batch of troops were released from aircraft carriers and light carriers.

There were more than a dozen Orbital Airborne Divisions.

Orbital Airborne Divisions could be considered special forces. They didn’t use drop pods, but rather transport ships, but this wasn’t a conventional method.

Light aircraft carriers, typically over twelve kilometers long, opened their ventral hatches and launched several transports loaded with airborne divisions to an altitude of approximately fifty thousand meters—entering Ankach VIII’s atmosphere.

At this distance, the transports, with their relatively weak armor and speed, would have a lifespan measured in seconds when exposed to anti-aircraft and anti-orbital fire. If they were to use transport ships to transport troops to the surface, more than half would likely be destroyed en route.

But since they were called airborne divisions, they wouldn’t use conventional transport methods.

The specially designed transports simultaneously opened dozens of massive hatches, including those on the belly and sides. Immediately, fully armed airborne divisions leaped from the transports!

Orbital airdrops are a new tactic developed by the Marines under the Alliance Navy.

————

There’s more to come.

(End of this chapter)