915. Western Reaches Campaign: Assault
Fourth Civilization 35 Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser actually had External Antimatter Propulsion Device disguised on the ship!!
When was it made? No one knows.
However, now, these Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser are rapidly flying towards outer space with the help of antimatter thrusters!
This incident shocked everyone in the Galactic Republic army!
Why do they do this? Don't you know that doing this is equivalent to directly abandoning your own ground troops? But looking at those External Antimatter Propulsion Device, this is their premeditated plan.
So, what exactly are they planning?!
However, it was already too late. No matter what Separatist fleet was planning now, they had no time to stop it!
What can be done to stop it?
In the atmospheric environment, especially the gravity of an A-class planet like Malastare is a very troublesome thing. Ordinary fighter jets must accelerate over long distances to reach the third cosmic speed and escape the gravity of the planet.
And now even if those 35 Dreadnought-class heavy cruisers have left, there are still more than 2,000 Tri-fighters in the atmosphere! Under such circumstances, do you still want to give up the fight, speed up to outer space, and make yourself a target?
This is especially true for the 10 Hunter Class temporary cruisers and 3 Acclamator-class assault ship that have entered the atmosphere. If these massive warships want to return to space, they also need to concentrate all their energy into their engines for acceleration.
All this takes time.
The 35 Separatists and Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser make up for this by installing external anti-matter thrusters.
They can just accelerate and leave the planet!
Obi-Wan-Kenobi, who was commanding operations on the ground battlefield, picked up the telescope and looked at Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser who were accelerating towards space. Suddenly something occurred to him and his face turned pale, "No! Their target has been Master Kaipu-Xie from the beginning!!"
The same person who thought of this was Master Kep-Xie himself.
She looked at the battlefield holographic projection with a solemn expression, "We have fallen into a trap! Separatists has already prepared anti-matter thrusters. On the surface, they are hunkering down in the atmosphere to delay, but in fact they are waiting for us to divide our forces and break into the atmosphere! Then they can use the anti-matter thrusters to return to space immediately, giving us a time lag!"
She suddenly looked back at the Intelligence Department door, "Now on Malastare, how many troops does Separatists have?"
The intelligence officer shook his head, "The intelligence on Malastare is in chaos. One moment they said that Separatists only had more than 50,000 troops, and the next they said that their total strength was more than one million. But according to our detection at a nearby outpost, a total of three Luukri-Hok-class battleships came here before and after. In other words, Separatists's ground troops should be between 300,000 and 500,000."
"But they just gave up this army? Exposed this ground force to the firepower of our warships? Why?" Cape Xie was still puzzled. "No matter what, prepare to fight! Raise the shields and adjust all weapons to combat frequencies!"
"Yes!"
As dozens of powerful Turbolaser cannons were fired directly from the direction of the planet, the few hits caused strong ripples on Hunter Class Battlecruiser's shield.
35 Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser broke away from the gravity of Malastare, and External Antimatter Propulsion Device also completed their mission. After an explosion, the connecting pendants were blown open, and the thrusters fell off the warships, becoming floating space junk.
At the same time, these 35 Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser were arranged in a bombardment formation like hungry wolves, and powerful artillery fire continued to pour towards Republic fleet.
At this time, Cape Xie and the other Republic fleet commanders discovered that the 35 Dreadnought-class heavy cruisers had actually been pre-arranged in a bombardment formation in the atmosphere! It's just that in ground combat, such a formation lacks three-dimensional depth and is not very visible on the surface.
But now, the 35 Dreadnought-class heavy cruisers do not need to adjust each other's positions at all, they just open fire.
At the same time, the 10 Hunter Class Battlecruisers in outer space have all launched their fighter jets, and now they can only engage in artillery battles with each other!
The fleets of Sefrans-Tann came well prepared. After dividing Republic fleet, they took the opportunity to launch a crazy attack.
Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser continued to rush forward against the firepower of Hunter Class to close the distance. Republic fleet was already advancing and was only 40,000 kilometers away from the planet. After Fourth Civilization's fleet rushed out, the two sides fell into a melee in a short time.
This situation is undoubtedly the favorite of the Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser, which was originally designed as a gunboat. Their shields are strong, and the Turbolaser gun fire range is wide and powerful. Although it is only 600 meters long, they do not have the huge Hangar Platform to accommodate more than 400 fighter jets!
The battle situation put Galactic Republic fleet into a desperate situation almost immediately!
"General! Skye, the shields of the battleship Tomorrow have been broken! The shields of the other four battleships have dropped to the 20% danger zone! We can't hold on for long!" Fleet Commander ran to Kep-Xie and shouted loudly.
"It will take 40 minutes for the battleship on board Malastare to recover the fighter jet and return to space!"
"The ARC-170 fighter formation has begun to rush into space, and Separatists Tri-fighter is stopping it! They are expected to arrive within 10 minutes!"
"General! We have to do something!"
Jedi Master Kip-Xie looked solemn, what else can he do now? Escape is impossible. There is no way to escape from the current situation. It was impossible to wait for reinforcements. By the time the reinforcements arrived, the 10 warships without fighter cover had already suffered heavy losses.
Not to mention how much damage would be caused by the enemy seizing the opportunity to force fighter jets and warships to break out of the atmosphere during combat!
She immediately made a decision, "Order all ships to rush into the atmosphere of Malastare immediately! Let all units in the atmosphere continue to maintain combat status and do not come for reinforcements!"
"But... breaking into the atmosphere in this case is also equivalent to exposing us to the firepower of separating the main battleships!" the staff officer said.
"So as soon as possible! I will personally fly a fighter jet to cover you!" Kep-Xie said.
"Yes!"
"General, Republic warship is rushing towards us instead." Among Fourth Civilization fleet's flagship Katana, the combat staff said to Sefrans-Tann who was sitting firmly on the main seat.
"Breaking into the planet's atmosphere is their only chance. However, this will expose their warships to our firepower. Instruct the fire team not to miss the opportunity. In addition..." Sefrans-Tann looked at Adi-Master Gallia on the side, "The other side will definitely have Jedi Knight taking off to cover it. Then, this is left to you."
"Why do you think... I would draw a sword against my former comrade-in-arms?" Adi-Gallia said coldly.
"Because you should understand that for Galactic Republic and Jedi Order, this is a dead end. Should you place your hope on Jedi Order, who is destined to be destroyed? Or should you place your hope on us who are fighting against fate? You make your own choice." Sefrans-Tann said coldly without moving.