2401. Death of Mal-Tuk (Part 1)
Just when Admiral Mar-Tooke was determined to attack Vakar Planet with all his strength, Lieutenant General Thrawn was also sitting on the bridge of his flagship, Chimaera, very calmly, looking at the holographic star map in front of him coldly.
"General, Mal-Tuk is just as you expected. Before the remaining forces of Bilbrin Planet are completely wiped out, the entire main fleet has been mobilized to Palanci Planet." Adjutant Vos-Parker said with reverence.
Thrawn smiled slightly, put down the wine glass in his hand, and said, "Mar-Tuk's judgment is actually not wrong. The main reason why our fleet cannot confront him head-on is that after two defeats, many warships are in very bad condition and are in urgent need of repair and maintenance. So he took advantage of this period to pursue us fiercely and did not give us time to rest. This is correct. And... he must also think that we are trading space for time."
Vos-Parker was stunned and asked, "Uh... General, isn't it?"
"We threw away Bilbrin Planet, a fortress that took hundreds of years to build. What we got in exchange was far more than time." Thrawn shook his head, "Mar-Tuk wants to enter Core Worlds, I will give it to him. If he wants a base to advance, I will give it to him. If he wants to control the movements of my main fleet, I will give it to him... But, want a decisive battle? Haha..."
Thrawn stood up, tapped twice on the holographic star map, shook his head and sighed, "No."
He turned around and said to Vos-Parker, "Instruct all ships to immediately start hyperspace navigation calculations to ensure that we can start hyperspace jump within 10 minutes."
"Yes!" Vos-Parker responded loudly with excitement, standing at attention and saluting.
10BBY, February 13, Galactic Standard Time At 8 o'clock in the evening, Admiral Mal-Tuk led the leading troops to leave the hyperspace channel and enter Watts Kall system.
He left more than 500 small and medium-sized warships and 50 Heavy Cruiser to defend Palanci Planet, and then the vanguard included 10 capital ships, 150 Heavy Cruiser and 1,700 small and medium-sized warships.
Densely packed warships appeared in the outer space of Vakar Planet with dense white flashes of light, making this planet with few people coming and going immediately become lively.
Without any hesitation, Admiral Mar-Tuk immediately ordered an attack! He was not going to give Imperial fleet any breathing space.
However, at this moment, Imperial fleet all gathered in the synchronous orbit of Vakar Planet, gradually widening the distance along with the revolution of the planet, and then after making a symbolic counterattack, they started their hyperspace engines and escaped!
Seeing Imperial fleet disappearing on the holographic star map, Admiral Mar-Tuk was furious. He punched the console and roared, "What are they doing! What are they doing!! Does this guy Thrawn know where he is going? There is an uninhabited planet after Vakar Planet. Is he eating dirt there?!?!"
"General, do you want to pursue?" T-series tactical robot asked from the side.
"Imperial fleet went to the unmanned galaxy, what is the purpose?" Mal-Tuk asked as the muscles on his face twitched twice.
"According to the simulation, the most likely scenario is to extend our supply line." T-series tactical robot answered immediately.
Mar-Tuk raised his voice and shouted angrily, "Our supply line has been extended, so will they have supplies?! We can transfer supplies from Palanci Planet, can they?"
"We need to consider the possibility of the Galactic Empire establishing a supply station in an unmanned galaxy." T-series tactical robot said.
Mar-Tuk's expression changed and he became thoughtful.
He suddenly found that although he was making great progress, he had fallen into a very embarrassing situation. It's true that he occupied Palanci Planet, but the problem is that Palanci Planet is located at a transportation hub and belongs to the center of multiple hyperspace channels. No matter where he plans to go, Palanci Planet cannot be avoided.
However, Palanci Planet is not a very suitable planet as an advance base.
First of all, the industrial production capacity of this planet is not developed, and most of the industries on the planet are financial. So during the war, can your financial industry make a part for my Star Destroyer or charge my Turbolaser cannon?
Therefore, the material reserves on Palanci Planet are not abundant, and the industrial production capacity is completely insufficient. It must rely on transportation from the rear.
Then, such a planet that is easy to attack and difficult to defend is located at a transportation hub. So what is the result? As a result, enemies coming from all directions may threaten this place!
Why does Galactic Empire set the defense line at Bilbrin Planet instead of Palanci Planet? It's not that they don't know that if they build a fortress at a transportation hub, the radiation range will be wider, but it's because this place is simply not suitable!
Therefore, now that Mal-Tuk has occupied Palanci Planet, he is indeed one step closer to the Core Worlds strategy he dreamed of, but Palanci Planet has become a burden to him instead.
It is very difficult to transport Kingdom of Dawn's rear supplies to Palanci Planet.
Bilbrin Planet's transportation is very inconvenient, and several secret hyperspace channels there have not yet been explored. Although Mal-Took has organized astronomers and hyperspace experts to seize the time to detect them, this will take time. Before that, they had to rely on a few known waterways with low traffic volume for logistical transportation.
Not to mention those nasty armed asteroids around Bilbrin Planet. Those self-operating armed asteroids. Although the part blocking the road has basically been destroyed, the armed asteroids in other places are still there, which invisibly compresses the activity space of Kingdom of Dawn transport fleet.
Finally, Bilbrin Planet itself also requires a large amount of material input, especially rebuilding the energy system on the planet, which requires a large amount of transportation equipment from the rear, as well as a large number of engineering robots.
So Bilbrin Planet became a choke point. The large amount of war materials prepared by Kingdom of Dawn were all stuck in the rear and could not be delivered by Dorin Planet and Malarian Alliance. The most fatal thing now is that even if it is delivered, it is not safe for the supplies to be concentrated on Palanci Planet. As mentioned above, this is a planet that is easy to attack and difficult to defend.
Mar-Tuke's face was uncertain. He didn't know the problem. He also understood that now was not the best time to attack Core Worlds, but the problem was... he didn't want to wait.
If we slowly control Bilbrin Planet step by step, rebuild the energy supply, explore the hyperspace channel, establish a material transfer station, and then attack to occupy Palanci Planet, and progress steadily, the situation will certainly be much better. But in this case, it will be at least half a year later.
His expression gradually became ferocious, he slammed the table and said loudly, "Continue to send out reconnaissance planes! Find me the location of Thrawn's main fleet!"
T-series tactical robot immediately replied, "The position of Empire main fleet has been determined. They have not hidden their movements. They have now arrived at System UX00144, which is 0.5 seconds away from our position."
"Continue to monitor! Detach a fleet, land and occupy Vakar Planet!" Mar-Tuk issued the order.
Under his command, Commerce Guild Fleet immediately detached a fleet consisting of 10 Heavy Cruiser and 200 Light Cruiser to cover the transport aircraft's landing on Vakar Planet.
Vakar Planet didn't put up much resistance, and Planet Governor Kaicheng surrendered almost immediately. However, in the face of Mal-Tuk's angry questioning, Planet Governor told him with great embarrassment that Imperial fleet destroyed almost all the factories on the planet when he left and took away all the strategic materials. Now Vakar Planet is almost just an agricultural planet.
Therefore, your fleet comes with food and drink, but does not include strategic materials such as explosive gas, rare metals, battleship parts, electronic components, Coaxium, Sublight fuel.
Even speaking, the spaceport on the planet has been destroyed a lot. Now there are only berths that can accommodate more than ten Light Cruiser, and other warships can only float in space.
In other words, there is no possibility for Mal-Tuk to dock the battleship at the space port for maintenance and supply. If he wants to supply, he has to rely on transport planes to move it bit by bit!
"Thrawn..." Mal-Tuk gritted his teeth. He was extremely angry. The other party's attitude of avoiding fighting made him feel stuck in his throat. Even though he was extremely uncomfortable and angry, he could not find any place to vent.
"Attack... attack..." Mal-Tuk muttered.
"General, is the above language a combat instruction?" T-series tactical robot asked from the side.
"Attack! I said! Attack! Assemble the fleet immediately and attack that unmanned system!" Mar-Tuk punched the console and roared loudly.
"Roger!" The tactical robot immediately sent combat instructions through the built-in communication device.
The huge fleet was dispatched immediately. The hyperspace channel from Vakar Planet to the unmanned galaxy UX00144 was very smooth. The main force of Commerce Guild Fleet was divided into two waves and arrived at its destination in the early morning of the next day.
Thrawn's fleet had already been ready, and after Commerce Guild Fleet arrived, he opened fire again. The two sides fought fiercely for more than three hours. Then, Imperial fleet started the hyperspace engine again and escaped again!!
This time, Mal-Tuk looked at the Thrawn's fleet command very carefully. Even he had to admit that the other party was able to command such a huge fleet including hundreds of capital ships and thousands of small and medium-sized warships. In the case of fierce exchanges, rely on cross cover to complete rapid turns, and quickly start the hyperspace engine to escape. Such macro judgment is simply an art!
But he didn't have time to express too much emotion now, because after Imperial fleet left, what was left behind was indeed an advanced base!
This advanced base is not large in scale. It is all space buildings, including storage facilities, energy facilities, simple docks, Hangar Platform, etc. Of course, when Thrawn left, he also emptied these things.
"General, according to the scans, bombs are placed in all these space buildings. As long as we get close, they will detonate." T-series tactical robot said.
"Thrawn..." The muscles on Mar-Tuk's face were twitching. He clenched his fists and said in a low voice, "Fire! Blow up these things for me!"
Under the bombardment of Minotaur-class Heavy Cruiser's Yamato Cannon, the huge space facility quickly exploded into countless fragments, blazing with fire. Mal-Tuke stood in front of the porthole, watching this tragic scene without saying a word. The firelight of the explosion reflected on his face, making his expression look a little ferocious.
"General, it has been confirmed that Imperial fleet has gone to the unmanned galaxy UK003413. Do you want to pursue it?" T-series tactical robot came over and asked.
"Pursue!! I want to see, Thrawn, how many forward bases you have established!" Mar-Tuk said fiercely.
"You have to understand one thing, Colonel Parker. The cost and man-hours required to build a Imperial-class Star Destroyer are equivalent to ten times that of such a simple military base." Thrawn stood in front of the holographic star map and said calmly.
The national music of Neimoidian is still echoing around. To be honest, from the perspective of humans and Chiss, this music can only be said to be very difficult to listen to, because Neimoidian has never been a race that is good at art.
But Thrawn listened tirelessly. He could hear many things from the music. Neimoidian's national characteristics, way of thinking, interest orientation, etc. are all contained in this piece of music.
Adjutant Vos-Parker followed Thrawn and said, "Yes, General, as per your request, I am reviewing war economics."
"Books are dead, but the battlefield is alive. What you need to do is how to make every piece of knowledge you learn flexibly, and then appear in your mind at the time it should appear and be used for you." Thrawn said, "You did well in the Imperial Naval Academy, so now you should look more at the battlefield and think more about how our enemies think about problems."
"Yes, General." Vos-Parker said.
"They can't ask Kuat Drive Yards to come up with more warships in a short time. But it's a piece of cake for them to complete hundreds of these modular space buildings in a short time and assemble them into simple forward bases. As for them, Imperial military also provides unlimited supply of supplies to the warehouse. "Thrawn said, "The advantages of the Empire's productivity are reflected in all aspects, not just in the production of warships."
"I understand. This is how we will drag Mar-Tuk's fleet to death." Vos-Parker said.
"You won't die if you delay." Thrawn shook his head, "Mar-Tuk's patience must have reached its limit, and he is about to change his tactics."
"Everything is as expected, General." Vos-Parker showed an adoring smile.
"Oh, so sometimes I feel that those of you who are engaged in military affairs are no different from those who are engaged in politics. They are all a bunch of old yin." Arden Lin, who was standing aside eating snacks and watching the show, said.
Thanks to Wishful Memory Flower Fate for tipping 1000 Qidian Coin!!
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Yesterday I celebrated my birthday early, and no surprise, I got drunk again. Get up in the morning and seize the time to make up for what you did yesterday.