2423. The disappearing fleet
"Where is First Fleet? Why is there nothing here!!" Sefrans-Tann suddenly felt something was wrong, and what was even more disturbing was that Thrawn's fleet was nowhere to be seen!!
First Fleet had set off a few hours ago. Ithor System is about 6 parsecs and tens of light years away from the Palin-Minor galaxy. If you go through the hyperspace channel, it will take less than an hour to arrive.
Thrawn's fleet was still at Ithor Planet about 6 hours ago. After that, the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft deployed by Tann was destroyed. But now that Thrawn has arrived here, he won't leave even if he wants to come.
So... where did these two fleets go?
Could it be that Thrawn really saw through his plan and ran away regardless of the dangerous situation on the Palin-Minor planet? If this is really the case, it is impossible for Dunn-Vesex to let him go. And even with the support of Palpatine, what he wants to see is the value that Thrawn can show. Once Thrawn really escapes without a fight, it will be equivalent to a slap in the face of Palpatine!
If this is really the case, it is equivalent to committing suicide!
And the most critical question now is, where is First Fleet?
"Interdictor? Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk..." General Trench's voice also became solemn.
Sefrans-Tann frowned, "Impossible! If Interdictor is set, First Fleet will be able to detect it before starting the hyperspace jump. Interdictor If the number of E is not enough, the intelligent system of the hyperspace engine can directly bypass Thrawn. It will definitely be too late to deploy Interdictor on a large scale!"
"This is the only possibility, tsk tsk tsk tsk. First Fleet definitely did not reach Ithor System. They were definitely intercepted halfway." General Trench said with great certainty.
"A distance of tens of light-years, should we use the Sublight engine to find it?" Sefrans-Tann also felt that it was extremely difficult. "If it is really intercepted, First Fleet's situation is very dangerous!"
But General Trench had already arrived at the Navigation Department's position, tapped the navigator's shoulder with his pointer, and said, "Do it again, hyperspace jump navigation, tsk tsk tsk tsk..."
"Are we going back to the planet Palin Minor? General." The navigator was a very capable female soldier with short hair. She turned around and asked.
General Trench shook his head and said, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk... do as I say, enter the parameters - fleet size, enlarge it five times."
"Understood." The navigator immediately entered new data into the hyperspace navigation system, and the navigation computer immediately began to calculate rapidly.
At the same time, Sefrans-Tann also issued an order to dispatch a team of reconnaissance aircraft to continue moving forward to investigate Kinasar Planet. She needs to confirm whether Thrawn has really escaped, but judging from the current situation, this chance is very slim.
Soon, the navigation computer also figured out the navigation route of the hyperspace channel. The navigator quickly said, "General, the results are out! This... is a bit..."
She frowned, feeling that this route seemed a little different from what she remembered, but she couldn't tell.
The route of the hyperspace channel is related to the stars along the way, so as the stars rotate, the channel will also change accordingly, so each hyperspace jump requires separate navigation calculations.
"Using the normal fleet size, calculate again. Compare. Tsk tsk tsk tsk..." General Trench's eight eyes were fixed on the screen. Although his face was covered with fur and he couldn't see any expression, his gaze was extremely sharp at the moment.
"Yes!" The navigator entered the data again for calculation.
Because it has just been calculated once, the result this time comes out very quickly. When the navigation route appeared this time, the navigator exclaimed, pointed to a place and said loudly, "That's right! It's right here! I just thought the route in this place was a bit weird!!"
General Trench squinted his eyes. His many years of military experience allowed him to see this subtle difference. He suddenly tapped the screen with his pointer and said, "This is it! Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk."
"What is here?" Sefrans-Tann came over and looked at the screen.
"A gravitational source." The navigator immediately replied, "This gravitational source is very small. If you cannot reach a certain fleet size, you don't even need to go around it. Just now General Trench asked me to enlarge the fleet size, because the larger the fleet is, the greater the impact it will receive from this type of gravitational source."
She continued, "But according to the star map, there should not be any stars in this place. Unless a very large comet suddenly passes by, it cannot be explained."
"Can you locate it?" Sefrans-Tann asked.
"It can be positioned. But... if you want to jump here, there may be problems... because according to the hyperspace navigation system, this place is a dangerous area. You cannot go directly and can only escape from hyperspace at a certain distance." The navigator said, "I mean, this problem has little to do with us."
"What did you say?" Sefrans-Tann frowned.
"Emissary can just force its way through, but other warships cannot." The navigator said.
Sefrans-Tann immediately said, "No problem! Let us attack directly! Then deploy the fleet navigation beacon and guide other warships over!"
"This is possible and risky. Tsk tsk tsk tsk..." General Trench shook his head.
"I can't let First Fleet disappear without any reason! 50 battleships, more than 400 Light Cruiser, including 5 Divinity-class battleship. If we lose such strength, the next battle will be extremely difficult!" Sefrans-Tann said.
"Then let's get started." General Trench nodded.
"I'll start calculating immediately!" said the navigator.
Sefrans-Tann suddenly thought of something and said immediately, "Notify Third Sub-fleet immediately! Stop the action and stay on the Palin-Minor planet! Quick!"
General Trench also shook up, and he immediately thought of the problem, "Notify immediately! And Fourth Sub-fleet! Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk..."
However, it was a step too late, and Third Sub-fleet failed to contact him. Commander from Fourth Sub-fleet sent a message saying that Third Sub-fleet had set off to jump into hyperspace half an hour ago.
Sefrans-Tann's expression was a little ugly, and she said in a deep voice, "Let the remaining fourth, fifth, and Sixth Sub-fleet immediately change to a defensive formation and defend in place!"
"Roger!" T-series tactical robot immediately sent the command.