Galaxy Domination Guide-Chapter 712 - 698 Harassing Surprises

36 Iridium Star Warships emerged from the spacetime corridor, a navigation technology acquired and further modified by the Iridium Star people after defeating their age-old enemies, the Spiral Mosquitoes. This technology was then widely installed on every Iridium Star Warship.

Under normal circumstances, Iridium Star Warships can utilize critical curve speed, allowing them to quickly and flexibly reach any destination except for some closed-off areas of space. However, critical curve speed has its own issues, such as being susceptible to disruption by enemy anti-warp disruption devices and also making them more likely to be detected early by enemies. From the Iridium Star people’s own experience, upon detecting an approaching enemy at warp, they would immediately prepare for battle, and by the time the enemy arrived, they would be faced with a fully armed fleet ready for combat, leaving them with little chance of success.

Compared to that, corridor technology cannot be interrupted and is almost impossible to predict. The drawback is that it is not possible to fly anywhere at will; the fleet can only travel in a directed manner when there is an established corridor. If the enemy knows where the exit of the corridor is and mounts a focused defense, it could pose a significant problem.

However, in the scenario where the rapid response squadron of the Nuoye faction attacks the enemy’s rear supply lines, even if the Galactic Empire’s Su Shuang Corps wants to implement a focused defense of the spacetime corridor, they can’t. Because in the Great Star Zone of Musca Arm-5, and even along the logistical supply routes, there are many corridor nodes. Su Shuang could choose to split his forces, but if faced with a major invasion, Su Shuang would be at a disadvantage.

In fact, the tactics of harassing the supply lines set by Bai Zhongqi had already proven effective. Su Shuang was somewhat at his wits’ end as he had not grasped that the Iridium Star had spacetime corridor navigation technology, and the Snow Dragon Alliance also lacked complete information about the spacetime corridor nodes. Thus, a massive amount of astronomical route mapping had to be carried out bit by bit. Bai Zhongqi had caught him off guard, knocking out two of his supply fleets in succession and causing a large batch of energy components to be undelivered, putting Su Shuang’s fleet in jeopardy fighting capability-wise.

This surprise attack by the rapid response squadron was already the third raid, and it took place at a different location from the previous two.

Upon exiting the corridor, Kang Xiong immediately opened the display on his command terminal. In the highly interactive Iridium Star Empire Army, officers had the authority to observe and understand everything happening on the battlefield, thus aiding them in making their own decisions and fighting.

The captain’s instructions came swiftly, "The enemy supply fleet should have already noticed our spacetime corridor signature by now. Fight quickly and decisively, prioritize attacking the supply ships, ignore the escort vessels."

This meticulously planned attack was the result of extensive reconnaissance by the Iridium Star people to obtain the routes of the Su Shuang Corps’ supply fleet, timing and positioning the assault effectively. Once the rapid response squadron leaped out, they were immediately able to intercept the enemy, not allowing a delay of more than a minute or a second.

Kang Xiong saw the enemy’s supply fleet through the camera lens—twenty transport ships, but escorted by over fifty vessels, primarily more cost-effective escort ships, as these types of vessels are typically assigned such tasks. For actual space warfare, main battle ships and cruisers are more suited.

This was also the reason why the United Iridium Star Empire had actually greatly reduced the scale of starships below the escort ship level, instead focusing on constructing main battle ships and cruisers. Destroyers, serving as semi-supportive roles and for planetary bombardment duties, were still being produced in small batches, but escort ships were essentially no longer built unless there were escort missions.

The capability to maximize the size of warships was mainly because Iridium Star had such resources and technological capabilities, otherwise ordinary civilizations would still prefer smaller, multi-purpose escort ships.

Over ten firepower cruisers immediately bombarded the Galactic Empire’s supply ships upon encounter. In the highly advanced technological era, even cruisers of Iridium Star had to be fitted with at least two Incandescence Cannons for show, these formidable and powerful main guns instantly caused a few of the supply ships’ shields to fluctuate greatly, appearing as if they wouldn’t hold much longer.

Kang Xiong felt a sigh of relief within, feeling that victory would be theirs today. He maneuvered the data on his holographic screen and glanced at Savannah’s situation. Even though this brave female mechanic was in her first battle, her performance was exceptionally outstanding as she led a swarm of drones continuously weaving through the enemy ships’ anti-air barrage, and guided the bombers for large-scale bombing.

But just then, Savannah suddenly contacted Kang Xiong.

"Lieutenant Kang Xiong, Lieutenant Kang Xiong, can you hear me?"

"I’m here, Ensign Savannah, go ahead."

Savannah said with a very serious tone, "Did you notice, the cargo ship that just exploded, the material mass reading after the explosion was too low. This cargo ship had hardly any material on board, indicating it was empty."

Kang Xiong was startled, "How could it be empty? This is clearly a supply line of the enemy that we had identified."

"I don’t know, but this definitely isn’t a good thing," Savannah remained composed as she maneuvered the starfighter and attacked those ships.

Just as Kang Xiong was doubting what exactly was happening, suddenly a sergeant beside him shouted, "Look, what is that thing?"

Kang Xiong quickly looked at the holographic screen on the terminal, and suddenly saw, on the Galactic Empire escort ship which was enduring the ferocious firepower of the Iridium Star, a large mass of luminescent gel, flowing over the hull like a living organism.

"Those warships, are they trying to fuse?" Kang Xiong couldn’t believe it.

The Iridium Star warship had begun by fiercely attacking those cargo ships, with only a small amount of firepower botheringly taking care of the escort ships. But, these group of escort ships also seemed not very committed to the battle today.

When the quick reaction force had almost completely destroyed the cargo ships, they unexpectedly found that the battle-reluctant Galactic Empire escort ships, seemed to have emitted a layer of glue, sticking to each other.

The captain of the Innocence immediately ordered, "Air Fleet, strike those enemy ships rapidly. Whatever they are trying to do, we cannot let them succeed."

Large groups of Iridium Starfighters, equipped with various sharp weapons, bombed towards the enemy, but at this moment, the shields of the originally overwhelmed escort ships seemed to have become much stronger.

Kang Xiong’s expression grew stern, "Is it shield sharing technology?"

Yongjin, responsible for the main cannon firepower and the starship’s defense systems, spoke at this moment, "It’s not something like a shield array, because these warships have essentially become one starship now; their shield systems are physically connected."