A Thousand-Mile Rout (Part 2)
Galactic Empire Admiral Gideon Tarkin, Supreme Military Commander of the Imperial Twentieth Army, saw his flagship explode into countless fragments that scattered in every direction. The blast came so suddenly that not a single escape pod managed to launch.
In other words, more than 17,000 naval personnel of every rank aboard that Imperial II-class Star Destroyer, including its additional command and staff teams, were all killed!
Including Gideon Tarkin!
"Retreat immediately!" General Grievous gave the order without hesitation, paying no attention at all to Gideon Tarkin's flagship exploding behind him.
After a brief period of chaos, the Imperial fleet launched a frenzied counterattack.
Naval officers, enlisted personnel, and captains at every level realized a terrifying fact—Gideon Tarkin was dead! Their supreme commander was dead! And he had died right before their eyes!
There was no doubt that if they could not provide an explanation, everyone present would at minimum receive disciplinary action, while senior officers would certainly be sent straight to a court-martial!
But those Purifier aircraft carriers charged forward under overwhelming firepower, accelerating madly. Having already undergone long-range acceleration, the warships were now in a high-speed assault state. As they continued to accelerate, their sublight speed had reached one-thousandth the speed of light.
That meant they needed only two seconds to cross the Imperial fleet's hastily deployed formation, more than five hundred kilometers deep!
What was more, countless Purifier interceptor drones entered a frenzied protective mode. They not only attacked the Imperial warships, but when their carriers came under bombardment, they directly rammed the incoming fire to intercept it.
The fragments of countless interceptor drones bore witness to the brutality of the battle. Nearly every one of the ten Purifier aircraft carriers suffered severe damage, the interceptor drones were almost entirely lost, and more