Surrounded

After reaching a basic consensus, the Coalition Army in the LKDW262 star system quickly organized a defense, but it was somewhat too late.

The surging Swarm has destroyed the three rings of orbital defense systems. These relatively outdated, weak, and immobile solid-state defense facilities were picked off and destroyed one by one by the Ancient Class.

The outermost Meto colony has also fallen, and the Meto Race within it have lost contact and their fate is unknown.

With no other option, tens of millions of warships from various races concentrated in the outer orbit of the Life Star LKDW262, attempting to make a final stand by relying on the strongest orbital defense system here.

Have you received any feedback on the request for help?

"Sir, we've received word from the front. General Defek reports that the situation is critical; troops are entangled and unable to break away for the time being. However, he has still managed to detach the Meto Race fleet to return and provide reinforcements."

The commander nodded. The situation at the front was being reported in real time, and it was indeed as Defek had said; they were finding it difficult to extricate themselves. Getting the Meto fleet back was probably the best they could do, and there was really nothing more to ask for.

However, the warp drive technology of the Meto fleet was obtained on credit, and they only acquired the most basic technology. Although the front-line battlefield was only 0.2 light-years away from LKDW262, it would still take them at least two to three months to get back.

Moreover, given their combat capabilities, even if they return, it's questionable how much of a role they can play, and it's not worth having high expectations.

"What about other directions?"

The liaison officer shook his head.

"Sigh..." the commander sighed inwardly.

The current situation is dire. The nearest city, LKDW263, is struggling to survive, and the allied civilization bordering the Meto Race has already sent a large number of troops to support them. Even if they still have troops, they probably wouldn't dare to send them out, since if the Meto falls, they'll be next. Naturally, they need to preserve some troops to deal with the situation, even if it's not very effective.

The commander can only hope for help from the powerful civilizations in the middle and inner circles. Their warships are technologically advanced and have been operating for two or three decades. However, without their communication codes, the Mutual Aid Association has no way of contacting them while they are in warp drive.

Therefore, only their own people probably know where these guys have gone.

Perhaps rescue will arrive in the next second, or perhaps they will never arrive until LKDW262 is destroyed, filling the commander with both anticipation and despair.

The Zerg ignored the outsiders' musings and continued carrying out their mission according to plan. The Ancient Class carefully and cautiously cleared every corner they passed, without changing their approach regardless of the strength of their opponents.

Soon, the various Ancient Class clusters converged 5,000 kilometers away from Life Star. Opposite them were densely packed Coalition Army fleets and fortified facilities.

The cold, steel structures stood silently, exuding a chilling atmosphere. Lights, indicator lights, and warning lights flickered on and off, and small vessels occasionally darted through them.

Engineering Robot and alien engineers in protective suits are busily checking the operation of various equipment, maintaining or replacing worn-out parts, preparing for the upcoming great battle.

The Zerg also temporarily halted their advance, their combat units, even more densely packed than the Coalition Army, floating in the void. Their long tentacles swayed unconsciously, their bio-lamp lights lighting up one by one, then extinguishing in turn, creating a beautiful spectacle.

"What a beautiful species!" Among the aliens, exclaimed from time to time, their feelings complicated. Beautiful things often resonate with intelligent beings, but the beauty of the Zerg was something these aliens could not bear.

The battle began shortly thereafter. The Zerg had around 50 million large combat units, while the Coalition Army had over 20 million warships. With all their fortified facilities, the total number of combat units capable of firing was only 30 million.

The overwhelming numerical disparity, coupled with a technological disadvantage, put the Coalition Army at a disadvantage from the very beginning of the battle.

The Ancient Class Ones withstood the Coalition Army fire, firing as they charged towards the enemy. This kind of attack on cornered and desperate defenders was exactly what the Zerg preferred.

Because everyone's ranged weapons have similar range and power, and the Zerg's are even slightly stronger, the Zerg are not intimidated at all, even in a long-range duel.

However, the Zerg are stronger in close combat, and the Coalition Army, preoccupied with defending key targets, had no room to maneuver. This gave the Zerg opportunities for close combat, and once the Coalition Army were caught in close Zerg, they were mercilessly slaughtered.

In reality, this is indeed how wars unfold. Fortified facilities, due to their poor mobility, are targeted and destroyed one by one under concentrated fire.

The exploding debris shot out in all directions, and the Coalition Army, whose formation was relatively dense, were even thrown into disarray by the friendly wreckage.

The remaining Coalition Army warships lacked sufficient firepower to stop the Zerg from approaching, and could only watch helplessly as they grew larger and larger in their field of vision...

That's not all. After getting close enough, the Ancient Class released a large number of Mature Form and Larval Form from its body, and this place had already entered the combat radius of these little guys.

Don't let their small size fool you; the smallest Larval Form are less than ten meters long. Even for a behemoth like Wheeler's disc flagship, which is over five thousand meters long, being approached by these Larval Form is a major headache. Let alone these warships that are only about two thousand meters long.

The already somewhat disadvantaged Coalition Army found its disadvantage further amplified after the emergence of Mature Form and Larval Form.

The Coalition Army warships' long-range firepower mainly consists of main guns and secondary guns. The main guns require more energy and have a slower rate of fire, but they are extremely powerful and have a long range, effectively damaging all Zerg units. The secondary guns require less energy and have a faster rate of fire, but their power is somewhat less. Although the secondary guns have limited effectiveness against Ancient Class ships, they are effective at eliminating small Zerg combat units.

However, their energy generation devices produce limited energy per unit time, which is insufficient to power the main and secondary guns at full power. Therefore, how to allocate them rationally has become a problem.

However, no matter what the Coalition Army chose, it didn't have much effect. Prioritizing the supply of main cannons couldn't stop the Zerg's small and medium-sized units from being cautious. Prioritizing the supply of secondary cannons was even worse. First, it couldn't stop the approach of the Ancient Class, and second, the number of Mature Form and Larval Form was far greater than that of the Ancient Class.

Unless the secondary guns can reach the rate of fire of Close-In Weapon System, and are absolutely accurate with every shot, there is only a tiny chance they can buy some time. But even the Epoch Clan cannot achieve that.

After the fortifications were completed, the Coalition Army warships began to suffer casualties, and their speed increased, causing the disadvantage to snowball.