Chapter 23 Gaining Time

Edward signaled that he couldn't hear clearly, then he pointed to a notch on the arm of his battle suit, and then to the headset in his ear. Elina understood and removed the headset from her battle suit and put it on, saying again, 'Don't you dare leave me alone!" 'Good! I'll take you with me when I go to the bathroom from now on!" He said, grabbing Elina's hand next to him that was holding the seat, and as if in response, she clasped his hand. Andre's area that had been hit by the Menil Star was like purgatory. The black composite armor at the gap rolled outward as if it were a burst pustule, and the bottomless pit inside whistled and gushed out the air to form a strong gale, with sparks and electricity flashing into a ball in the pit and explosions coming out from time to time. The troop carrier landed carefully on the edge against the gusty winds, and the crew jumped off the troop carrier and stood guard around the perimeter, waiting for the commander's orders. 'Commander Winter, I have landed with five thousand marines, what is your status?" Edward asked. 'We are being held up by a strong enemy blockade in front of the general control room and are pinned down here unable to move." Lt. Col. Winter said. 'I'll lead the marines to go around the flank, you guys hold on." Edward said, marking the route of travel and combat orders on the combat map, through the internet connection all the marines present received his combat map and they began to move in orderly groups in several directions. Edward ordered several squads to protect the technicians as they slowly advanced towards the main control room, while he himself sprinted out at a fast pace towards the high point he had already selected. Edward, who was crouched at the high point, received successive messages from each squad's position and then ventured out to check the situation of the battlefield. Only to see that the huge corridor hall was littered with corpses, and the Imperial soldiers had even built barricades with the corpses of their fellow soldiers to block the Special Forces' attack. The sound of firing came out of the windows of those buildings from time to time, and the dozens of portable warp cannons in the back fired warp energy rounds one after another regardless of the damage, pressurizing the special operations personnel from advancing. 'Marines, send a few good shots to find the high ground, there are many snipers on their flanks, as you advance prioritize killing those soldiers operating the warp guns, everyone wait for my order." Edward went on to say, 'Special operations team you guys watch the other side in a moment as soon as the warp cannons cease fire then rush over, make sure to press the enemy back to buy time for our demolition team, don't worry about the snipers I'll take care of them." Edward took a few deep breaths and raised his electromagnetic rifle, he knew that this was not the time to hesitate, every minute of procrastination was one more minute that the techs at Andre's Star Fortress were likely to clean the system of the caterpillar virus. 'Attack!" Edward slowly spat out two words. The marines on the flanks were the first to strike, and the Imperial defenders flanked by the surprise attack were directly dumbfounded. A large number of Imperial soldiers were hit and fell down like cut wheat, at the same time those Imperial snipers who were ambushed in the buildings around the corridor began to start blocking the Marines. But before they could make a few attacks they were overwhelmed by the Marine shooters on the rear high points and were unable to return fire. At the same time, the remaining Special Forces members jumped out of their bunkers and ran towards the Imperial defenders across the corridor hall with their energy shields up. Without the suppression of the warp guns, they rushed towards the enemy like tigers, and the bullets from the electromagnetic rifles bounced off the energy shields. At this time, the snipers behind the windows started their shooting, those high kinetic energy electromagnetic bullets easily pierced through the energy shield and hit the body of the special forces team members, splattering a splash of blood. 'Brothers, we won't let you bleed for nothing." Edward said calmly, then he pulled the trigger to shoot the opposing snipers one by one. Those windows were shattered almost at the same time, and the Imperial snipers instantly fell silent. Edward stared intently at one of the windows and muttered, 'Come out, son of a bitch, I know you're still there." Seeing that the Troopers were about to rush to their dead center of fire, the Imperial sniper eventually settled down and tried to shoot sideways, and in the next moment, an electromagnetic bullet with shattered glass was shot into his head. After making sure that the snipers had all been taken care of, Edward switched places and started firing on point. After changing the magazine for who knows how many times, he realized that all the imperial defenders in this direction had already hidden behind the bunkers and didn't dare to venture out, the corpses lying all over the floor in that wide corridor hall signaled the terrifying strength of the man with the title of Sand Devil. At the same time, the marines attacking the flanks had also forced the remaining defenders back to the back of the bunker, and after they retreated, they had no intention to fight, and huddled behind the bunker, not coming out again. With a loud bang, the door of the general control room was finally blown open, the special operators of the demolition team rushed into the general control room and shouted inside: 'Everyone leave the instruments and equipment, stand against the wall with your hands on your head!" The busy and sweaty technicians in the general control room continued to operate something on the control panel despite the dissuasion, trying to free the Star Fortress from the control of the virus and turn on the self-defense counterattack system on the Star Fortress. The guards and officers also put life at risk, desperately launching attacks towards the special operations personnel who broke in, and even some Imperial soldiers directly blocked in front of the technicians with their bare hands, trying to use their flesh and blood to fight for them for a little time. However, they were no match for the special operations personnel who were active on the front line of the battlefield every day, and after a burst of gunfire, all the resisting imperial soldiers fell into a pool of blood. Those technicians who were still continuing to crack looked at their colleagues lying on the ground and also realized that the tide had turned, and raised their hands to surrender. After getting the news that the purge was complete, Elina and a bunch of other Federation technicians fishtailed into the room and pushed aside the fallen bodies on the operator's seat, ignoring the blood stains they sat on it and started to seize the controls. Edward also ran in, the defenders outside had already been fully suppressed by the marines and special forces, he didn't care to get involved in the rest of the sweep, he ran to Elina's side and asked, 'How's it going? How long is it going to take?" 'I've only just sat down, do you think the security system at Star Fortress is a six digit PIN on your bank card? You shut your mouth there's progress I'll call you." Elina said no longer paying attention to Edward who was scratching his head in anxiety and began to work on the operating board. He also ignored the blood all over the floor and sat on his butt on the floor, opening the star chart and looking at it, in the star chart, the hedgehog-like mass of starship barriers was still moving, not fast but still slowly accelerating, he looked at the enemy's line of travel and suddenly figured it out. He cried out in alarm, 'Not good! Going to let them escape." Picking up the comm, he shouted to Walter in a hurry, 'General! They want to withdraw to the star bridge, once they succeed their remaining fleet will blockade the star bridge at the other end. If we let them withdraw back then the strategic significance of capturing Andre Star Fortress will be completely gone!" Walter froze, then said, 'But we've done everything we can, we've already reached the maximum firepower we can put out, we have no other power we can use, what about your side? Did you take the weapons control yet?" 'Progress in taking down the Star Fortress weapon controls cannot be estimated, please General take special measures to prevent the enemy from returning to the Star Bridge if necessary." Edward said shaking his head. 'Special means? You mean?" Walter asked incredulously. He replied, 'The energy shield can only withstand energy weapons, allowing the battleship to ram straight through, even if it is destroyed it can still leave wreckage in the enemy's line of travel to impede their progress, it can force them to slow down or turn around. This is a last ditch stalling solution, please buy us time." 'I will do so if necessary, please make sure the sacrifices of the Federation generals have the meaning they deserve!" Walter finished and disconnected the communication. Aboard the Hussar Gigme's Chief of General Staff paced the bridge uneasily, the lost Andre Starfort making him jittery. 'Gigme, sit down sit down, don't be impatient." Commander-in-Chief Mark said as he beckoned. He walked over to the Commander-in-Chief's side and sat down, asking, 'Lord Commander-in-Chief, aren't you anxious at all?" 'Is being in a hurry useful?" The Commander-in-Chief gave him a blank look and continued, 'At this rate, we'll arrive at Starbridge in less than an hour." 'I'm talking about Andre Star Fortress, aren't you worried about them?" Gigme asked. 'Hey, Gigme, does worrying help? Can you fly over there and help them or what?" He was dumbfounded by the question, and the Commander-in-Chief patted him on the shoulder as a sign of comfort and said, 'Young man, we do the best we can." 'Report! The Free Federation fleet is suddenly massing in front of us, is the line of travel being revised?" 'This one is the death knell of Star Fort Andre, Gigme." The Commander-in-Chief said faintly. Looking at him with a puzzled look on his face the Commander-in-Chief explained, 'The fact that they're cutting off our path in this way means they're buying time to seize control of the weapon.