Chapter 24 Determination to Die

I guess they've taken over the control room at Andre's Star Fortress. Still don't get it? Then look." Said the Commander-in-Chief pointing to the star map. 'Andre Star Fort is behind us on the left, the Star Bridge is in front of us on the left, and the Federation Grand Fleet is assembling between us and the Star Bridge, with the assembly point closer than our proximity to the Star Fort, which means that they aren't at all worried about the Star Fort suddenly turning on them. On the contrary, we were worried that Star Fort would suddenly turn its guns around and turn on us, so as we withdrew towards the Star Bridge, weren't they desperately trying to block it just to stall us waiting for Star Fort to blast us with its fortress guns?" 'Report! The enemy fleet formation is starting to change, the enemy and us are getting closer to each other is it revising the route of travel?" The Commander-in-Chief stared at the rapidly changing formation of the Federation fleet on the screen and suddenly laughed out loud and said, 'They even gave up the attacking tactics that they specialize in and made an iron barrel formation as well! There's no need to change the line of march! They'll be in the way no matter how we change it, they're determined to keep us here!" With that, he pressed up on the operation interface, giving a battle command. In the star field in front of the star bridge, the Federation's large fleet unfolded in a shuttle shape, like a hard and stubborn stone blocking the path of the Imperial large fleet's advance. The two fleets gradually entered each other's range, the cannon fire from the energy shells instantly lit up the entire star area, the Imperial fleet slowly advanced against the cannon fire, while the Federation was slowly retreating. The front of the Federation Grand Fleet's formation was constantly filled with injured warships that withdrew and retreated towards the rear, briefly correcting themselves before returning to the end of the line, with new warships constantly replenishing the front of the fleet from the rest of the shuttle formation. The destroyed and immobile ships were left in place to act as barriers to the enemy's advance. The Imperial Grand Fleet had actually adopted the same method of warfare, again the front was damaged and pulled back to repair and return to formation. But they were advancing, and the wreckage of both enemy and their own ships was such a hindrance that the Commander-in-Chief had to have the forward ships push through the wreckage in order to advance, which slowed them down considerably. In spite of this, the numerical superiority of the Imperial fleet manifested itself at this time. After thirty minutes of fighting, the ships of the federal fleet in front of the rotation slowly began to thin out, this is not good at frontal confrontation, they are gradually under the disadvantage of the number of decadence. Both sides know that this time is very important, the federal ships officers and men do not want to let the fleet escape back to the star bridge, they know that at this time can not let the tiger return to the mountain, desperately blocking. Imperial ships officers and men also did not want to be blocked by the other side, desperately pushing forward, they knew that this place should not be stayed for a long time, the control of the star fortress has been lost, I do not know when will be blown into atoms by the fortress guns. 'Still not well? It won't last long if we keep fighting like this." Edward was sweating nervously just watching the battle and asked Elina anxiously. 'Alright!" Elina, who was also anxious and sweating, jumped up excitedly. Edward said hurriedly, 'Fire the cannon!" 'It's being fired! Why is it so slow?" Elina hated to give the control panel a kick. At this moment, a fifty-kilometer-long gun port on the shell of Andre's Star Fortress was slowly opening up, leaking out a short, thick, square gun port, which shook twice, aiming at the left side of the Imperial Grand Fleet without a sound and shooting out that fifty-odd kilometer-wide laser beam. The imperial fleet was carrying out the commander-in-chief's order, pushing the wreckage forward slowly, suddenly a burst of blinding red light flashed, the entire front half of the fleet was instantly cut a dozens of kilometers wide mouth, the dozens of kilometers of the area of the warships in an instant was vaporized, and not even a single wreckage was left. The speed of the large fleet was slowed down by this blow, and began to slowly replenish the formation, the federal fleet saw this and quickly retreated, taking the opportunity to repair at the edge of the range, avoiding casualties and at the same time repairing the battleships, and waiting for the battlefield. Aboard the Hussar, Chief of General Staff Gigme was stunned by the power of the fortress cannon shot. He muttered, 'Two hundred battleships were damaged in this one strike..." 'It looks powerless." The Commander-in-Chief shook his head and said. As soon as he spoke, a mandatory communication broadcast popped up on the operations panel and began to speak, 'This is Star Fort Andre, currently under the complete control of the Free Federation! You have one minute to consider, if you do not surrender you will be completely destroyed." Gigme sighed and said, 'Commander-in-Chief, surrender." The Commander-in-Chief stared at the star map in contemplation and ignored Gigme's words, Gigme was about to speak again but was interrupted by a communication request, the Commander-in-Chief thought about it and chose to connect. 'Commander-in-Chief, this is Captain Alphonse of the Cruiser Tilapia, I advise against surrender." 'Reason." The Commander-in-Chief said slowly, value words as highly as gold. 'The Grand Fleet's current remaining ships are a third of the Star River Empire's total number of ships, if they fall into the hands of the Federation their forces will be uncontrollable, and a direct invasion of the Empire's hinterland across the star bridge is not out of the question. At that time, they will completely shift from a defensive posture to an offensive one, and the beacon of war will burn inside our Empire!" 'That's what I think, I accept your suggestion." The Commander-in-Chief said as he disconnected the communication and spoke to his communicator, 'Turn on the fleet-wide broadcast." The Commander-in-Chief weighed his words and slowly looked up at the officers on the bridge and said, 'This battle! I have seen your bravery, your tenacity, and your loyalty, and you are all worthy of the title of Imperial Warrior! However, we are already in a dead end. If we hand over the fleet to the barbarians of the Federation, then the fire of war will reach every corner of the Empire's hinterland, and our parents, wives, children, and lovers will be tormented by the fire of war for the rest of their lives. Therefore, even if we die in battle, we can't hand over our ships to those barbarians. I decide! Refuse to surrender! The order is hereby given that all units disperse and break out! I, the Hussar, will lead the charge! Brothers, either we'll meet you over the Star Bridge or we'll meet you over the Underworld Bridge!" The Commander-in-Chief looked at the small fleets scattered into dozens along their respective paths on the star map as they began to break out and said, 'Let's charge as well! Full speed ahead." After that, he turned to the orderly and said, 'Pour me a drink this time!" On the Gun Cavalry, Walter slowly shook his head as he looked at the scattered Imperial fleet and said, 'They're scattering to break out, it seems like they're determined to die here, Edward, attack." Edward on the other end of the communication was also overwhelmed with regret when he saw this scene and said, 'Alas, this can't be helped." He then signaled the technicians to control the weapons and start annihilating them one by one. This battle lasted for a whole day, those who refused to surrender the imperial fleet collectively turned into pieces, some swooped towards the star fortress, some flew towards the star bridge, and some even began to advance towards the depths of the Free Federation star field. Since the star fortress could not be moved, and the weapon systems were limited by range, those who retreated to the depths of the Federation could only be pursued by the Federation fleet itself. After all, there were still a small number of people who were unwilling to sacrifice their lives and chose to surrender, and these surrendered ships received them without encountering the slightest obstacle. Among them is Maso ship, Maso ship captain General Wallich even will be the empire star map, communication secret segment and a series of classified information also handed over, with the ship's other commanders were captured to give Wallich a suitable nickname - traitor. After completing a series of trivial tasks such as prisoner of war intake and survivor search, Edward returned to the private cabin assigned to him on Andre Star Fortress. As he stripped off his uniform and pondered, he always felt like he was forgetting something. Looking at the communicator thrown on the bed constantly flashing red light, he suddenly realized what he had forgotten, grabbed the clothes he had just taken off and put them on his body, opened the hatch and ran out but collided with Elina who came running to him. 'Hey why don't you answer your comms!" Elina's words carried a reproach. Edward covered his chin where he was hit and said, 'My brother is still waiting to be rescued, hurry up." Elina rubbed her head as she said, 'That's what I was looking for, hurry hurry hurry all ready." The two arrived at a nearby starport, a cruiser was fully loaded and ready to go, when the two ran the hatch opened and a man poked out shouting, 'Hurry up! That locator is running out of power! It's going to be a pain in the ass to get to it when it dies!" Edward pulled Elina and jumped onto the cruiser, and once he saw the person was none other than an acquaintance, Winchell, and said, 'What a coincidence." Winchell stretched out his hand, and the two of them hugged, 'I've been looking for you for half a day, why don't you answer the communication ah." 'That thing of mine doesn't work very well." Edward replied awkwardly. The three made their way to the bridge and settled into their seats as the cruiser slowly pulled away from the starport heading in one direction with one acceleration. Winchell said, 'I can't believe Andre's Star Fortress was really taken down, where did you come up with all these ideas?"