Abandon Ship

At this moment, the Duoqi Fleet had completed its turn and the Repulsion Field at the bow was activated. Simultaneously, the main thrusters at the stern increased their power, ejecting energy streams hundreds of meters high, and the fleet began to accelerate.

By the time the Swarm's Electromagnetic Cannon are fully recharged, the fleet may have already moved out of their effective attack range.

You could say that fate is unpredictable.

The Drone swarm and wreckage served as perfect shields, but a few Electromagnetic Projectile still managed to break through the obstacles and hit the Duoqi warship, although they may not have been the targets they were initially intended to hit.

Dialo's flagship was at the forefront of the initial charge, but now, in the retreat, it was naturally at the back of the column. An Electromagnetic Projectile, having collided with multiple targets during its flight, had long since deviated from its trajectory.

Unfortunately, the Electromagnetic Projectile struck the protection of the left-side main thruster of the Dialo flagship at a very unusual angle, causing some damage to the nozzle.

Actually, this could have been easily repaired, but at that moment the engine was increasing its power, and the rapidly ejected energy flow increased the damage to the nozzle, triggering a series of chain reactions.

Finally, the entire left thruster was destroyed. The explosion affected not only dozens of compartments and several auxiliary thrusters on the left side, but also the central main thruster, causing some wiring faults. Although it did not explode, the power could not be increased and it eventually shut down.

The remaining right-side main thruster was still running at full power, and the sudden movement caused the Dialo flagship to tilt at Big Horn.

The shockwave from the explosion knocked Dialo and Aslite to the ground. As they struggled to their feet, still shaken, they received the bad news.

"Damn it!" Dialo cursed, "What's the situation?"

"Your Highness, the left main thruster is completely destroyed, and it's almost impossible for us to repair it ourselves using only the equipment we brought. The central main thruster is mainly experiencing a wiring problem, but repairs require the warship to remain stationary with its engines shut down. In addition, several secondary thrusters have been damaged to varying degrees." After a moment, Aslite replied, having compiled the information.

How long is it expected to take?

"It is estimated that... it is estimated that it will take two days..."

"Heh." Dialo chuckled self-deprecatingly. After two volleys of Electromagnetic Cannon fire from the Swarm, only a dozen or so warships were seriously damaged, including his flagship. He was truly annoyed. "Do we even have a chance to escape using only the right main thruster?"

"It's difficult. If the rest of the stern were intact, we could still keep up with the fleet with just the main side thruster. But now the entire port side of the stern has been damaged, and the main structure of the warship is somewhat damaged. If we force the main starboard thruster to operate at full power, it could cause a bad chain reaction..." Aslite said with some difficulty, looking at Dialo's frightened expression.

"Huff... huff... huff..." Dialo took a few deep breaths. "Abandon ship! Everyone, immediately transfer to the Doria!"

Dialo is very decisive, but he has no choice but to be.

Having just received the order to disembark freely, the other warships, after adjusting their course and replanning their routes, didn't linger at all and immediately sped off into the distance.

Even if a warship discovers that the flagship is damaged, it can only proceed according to the previous plan because it has not received new orders.

Dialo could modify the orders to leave the entire fleet behind to provide cover for him, but in that case, the entire fleet would have to endure countless more rounds of shelling in order to accommodate the flagship's speed.

Moreover, even if they escape the effective range of the Zerg Electromagnetic Cannon, the Zerg reinforcements should have arrived by then. Even if they haven't, catching up with them shouldn't be a big problem. Once they get entangled, they will only be worn down by the endless swarms of Zerg.

Rather than that, he might as well reveal his identity directly. He felt that once he did, the Zerg were, they would have to think twice before acting. What he represented was Zerg could not afford to do.

But if that happens, after suffering a crushing defeat and being forced to reveal his identity, his innate power will be weakened in subsequent interactions. At that point, he will not only lose face among the Zerg, but will also become a laughingstock of the entire the Alliance, and even the Duoqi Race will be implicated.

After all, in the history of the Alliance, there has never been a case where an old power was brutally beaten when it tried to accept a "new partner".

Therefore, Dialo was extremely unwilling to accept this outcome, and he would not choose this path until the very last moment.

Actually, you can't blame him. If it were a normal "newcomer," like the Riken Race, their three fleets and so-called Binary Star Defense Line would have been completely wiped out in the first round of "Flaming Red Lips" attacks.

Afterwards, without the protection of mobile forces, the fixed defensive facilities on the Mother Planet could be eliminated without even needing to waste "Flaming Red Lips." They could simply use superior energy weapons, create distance, and spend a little time to clear them out.

Once the Riken Race is completely unprotected, he'll have them at his mercy. Unfortunately for him, he ran into the Swarm, an overpowered creature.

Therefore, he had no choice but to decisively order the ship to be abandoned.

The two frigates, the Doria and the Qishaya, had suffered some damage earlier while shielding the flagship from gunfire; even the Reactive Armor on the starboard bow was still intact, and smoke occasionally billowed from the enclosed cabins. The Doria, on the other hand, was undamaged. Since they were going to relocate, they would naturally choose a safer option.

The transfer process went smoothly; the Swarm's Electromagnetic Cannon was still charging, and the Laser Overseer didn't have such a long attack radius, so nothing could threaten the transfer.

Dialo, with Aslite under the protection of the Guard Team, flew from the flagship to the Doria in a dedicated small vehicle in just half a minute.

At the same time, the artificial intelligence on the flagship had completed its transfer and taken over the authority of the Doria.

The fleet commander abandoning his ship is a situation that mature civilizations and fleets have contingency plans for, so everything appears orderly and without any chaos.

After Dialo completed the transfer, various vehicles continuously flew out from the various hatches of the flagship and entered the cabins of the surrounding warships. In just over ten minutes, a total of Duoqi crew members were transferred, during which time they also endured a round of bombardment from the Swarm.

Fortunately, the nuclear explosion had rendered most of the Swarm's reconnaissance capabilities ineffective, so they failed to discover that the Duoqi Fleet had only a dozen or so warships remaining stationary. They had simply taken a precaution based on their previous experience.

This resulted in over 99% of the projectiles hitting nothing, and the few that hit correctly were hampered by debris and Drone, achieving little to no result.

Finally, the warships set sail, and the remaining warships accelerated away from the battlefield, while the abandoned flagship exploded into a fireball behind them.