The Final Struggle (2)
The Galactic Empire fleet under Thrawn's command and the Fourth Empire under Ander Viking's command engaged in an unimaginably brutal battle.
Both sides had reasons they could not retreat—Thrawn needed to seize this final opportunity to inflict the greatest possible damage on the Fourth Empire's mobile fleet. Only then could the Galactic Empire preserve its last spark.
He had never believed that a superweapon like the Death Star could determine the outcome of a war. The Death Star was certainly powerful, but it was too unwieldy, with resources too heavily concentrated. A strategy that amounted to gathering all one's strength at a single point rarely ended well.
Ander Viking, meanwhile, was doing everything he could to salvage this battlefield, which had already nearly collapsed.
Even though Tang Xiao had retained his last shred of reason and ended the coronation ceremony as quickly as possible, the best opportunity to retreat had already been lost. The Fourth Empire fleet now had to face the Death Star's firepower head-on!
But by his judgment, while the Death Star was deadly, it was simply impossible to destroy it in a short time. The optimal solution was not to fire futilely at the Death Star like Matt Hona, but to endure its bombardment, crush the Galactic Empire fleet, and create an opportunity to retreat.
This time, the two sides erupted into a direct, face-to-face exchange of fire.
Even though Thrawn's fleet formation was incomplete and many warships—including three Super Star Destroyers—were still within Coruscant's atmosphere, he launched the attack without hesitation.
His choice was similar to Ander Viking's. He too abandoned the enemy's strongest point, ordering his forces to ignore the Kultorask-class dictator and concentrate their fire on the Fourth Empire's other warships.
In Thrawn's view, his current firepower could not destroy