Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
As a first-tier colony planet, Planet Golden Gate has a large garrison. Since the Long Arc Tragedy, the planet's alert level has been raised to war level, with the garrison fleet circling Planet Golden Gate and patrolling its surroundings.
According to the security guidelines, the Reconnaissance range has four layers. The outermost layer consists of energy fluctuation detection buoys, while the second layer consists of sentry ships patrolling in the distance. These two outer perimeter lines are far from Planet Golden Gate, allowing time for the main force to react in the event of an enemy attack.
The D-3018 patrol ship slowly patrolled the perimeter. Members of the gravity radar monitoring team stared intently at the screen, analyzing and processing buoy data for the area. Occasionally, a normal spacecraft would pass by the buoy, adding to the monitoring team's workload. Even the slightest disturbance would trigger the sensitive nerves of the monitoring personnel.
Monitoring work is tedious, so a shift system is adopted. Even so, the repetitive and mechanical work still makes the entire monitoring team lose their enthusiasm. Moreover, the manual stipulates that during high alert levels, on-duty personnel are not allowed to chat with each other.
The room fell silent, save for the hum of typing and the whirring of the whiteboard and system processing data.
A monitoring worker was processing buoy reports in a daze when suddenly a set of data marked as high-risk in deep red magnified on his screen, accompanied by a piercing alarm. The worker was startled and nearly fell off his chair.
"Alert! Anomaly data! Buoy Cr-20849 has detected large-scale spatial fluctuations!"
"Warning! Buoy Cr-20849 has lost link!"
The entire monitoring team's attention was instantly drawn to it. The monitoring personnel scrambled to open the gravity radar interface and check the last few detection images automatically sent by the buoy before it lost contact.
At the edge of the radar screen, countless points of light appeared, each representing the energy reaction of a spaceship. They were so densely packed that they formed a halo, making it impossible to tell how many warships had appeared at a glance.
This massive fleet was heading in their direction!
The entire monitoring team's expressions changed drastically.
The monitoring personnel were completely stunned; their hands and feet were ice-cold, their lips were trembling, and they were almost paralyzed with fear.
"Enemy! Enemy attack!!"
"Report this immediately!"
"Get out of this area quickly!"
Just then, from beyond sight, a thick beam of light traversed a vast distance and accurately struck the D-3018 sentry ship. This was the main gun of the DarkStar mothership, with extremely high range and power, and it used a single high-energy reactor as ammunition.
The shield was pierced directly, the beam struck the sentry ship, the light shone from the inside out and expanded and exploded, the sentry ship disintegrated and became floating debris in space.
Soon, a massive fleet appeared, marching majestically past the wreckage of the sentry ship. The enormous DarkStar mothership was surrounded by the fleet and moved slowly forward. All around were thousands of DarkStar warships of various types, like an ant colony protecting its queen. The DarkStar mothership itself was a mobile base.
The same scene unfolded in four other directions.
DarkStar has deployed five motherships to attack Planet Golden Gate!
"The Goddora's Reconnaissance range is quite good. By the time we arrived at Planet Golden Gate, the garrison had already reacted and assembled their defensive formation. It's a pity we couldn't launch a successful surprise attack." In the command room of one of the DarkStar motherships, Degulish looked at the radar screen and said slowly.
However, this time, he didn't expect a successful surprise attack. Goddora was prepared and it wouldn't be that easy. Besides, with half of the organization's forces deployed, it made no difference whether it was a surprise attack or not.
Before long, the Planet Golden Gate came into view in the distance. At the same time, four other DarkStar motherships also appeared in other locations around the Planet Golden Gate. Meanwhile, the Golden Gate garrison of Goddora completely withdrew its lines and deployed dozens of golden Vichy Magic Energy Shield to protect the Planet Golden Gate. The number of garrison troops was only one-quarter or one-fifth of the DarkStar fleet, as if they were surrounded by a pack of wolves.
Five motherships, from five directions, DarkStar surrounded Planet Golden Gate.
Each mothership has a commander, while the overall commander of the combat operation is Degulish.
"Fire!" Degulish raised his hand and gave the order directly, without wasting time communicating or shouting with the Goddora.
Battle breaks out!
The vacuum of space was silent, but countless particle beams, missile launchers, and high-energy rays burst forth with dazzling light, converging from all directions. The attacks were relentless, one wave after another, achieving complete fire coverage. Endless explosions erupted within the Goddora fleet in the outer space of Planet Golden Gate.
Dozens of magical energy shields trembled incessantly, rippling constantly, as if they were about to shatter at any moment.
The Goddora fleet adopted a completely defensive posture, maintaining the shield and struggling to hold on.
Degulish scoffed, "Trying to buy time and wait for reinforcements? Dream on."
DarkStar's move was well-prepared. Before the operation, its intelligence network focused on the garrison situation. Although Planet Golden Gate was a first-tier colony with a large regular garrison, it was no match for the forces dispatched by DarkStar. The sheer number of troops was overwhelming, and the performance of the Goddora warships was not significantly different from theirs.
On the other hand, DarkStar also monitored the movements of Goddora's other fleets, which did not take any unusual actions and remained largely stationed in their own garrisons. Therefore, even if Goddora's forces wanted to support Planet Golden Gate through the Juberly Hub stargate, it would take them some time to travel there. DarkStar had calculated the firepower comparison and determined that the attacking force was capable of defeating Planet Golden Gate's garrison before reinforcements arrived.
"Keep fighting, don't stop." Degulish's face was grim.
With superior numbers, he had no intention of engaging in boarding action; he only needed to crush everything with overwhelming firepower. The goal of this attack on Planet Golden Gate was not massacre, but to bombard Planet Golden Gate with artillery fire, flatten the surface, destroy all facilities, and completely destroy this colony.
Meanwhile, chaos erupted on the surface of Planet Golden Gate due to the attack. Countless people rushed to the docks, scrambling to escape on spaceships. However, the military forces stationed at all the docks received orders from their superiors to seal off the docks and strictly prohibit any civilian spaceships from taking off.
This move immediately ignited public anger and panic, leading to arguments and even bloodshed at the docks with the military. The scene was chaotic, with everyone trying to escape the planet, but all were stopped by the military.
Why can't we escape?!
"There's a war going on outside. Do you want us to die with you?!"
"I have the freedom to leave this planet!!"
The guards stationed at the dock remained unmoved, their faces serious. To be honest, they were also afraid that the garrison fleet would be defeated by DarkStar and the Book, and that they themselves would suffer annihilation. However, they had been trained to suppress their fear in times of crisis and strictly follow orders.
The orders from above forbade any Planet Golden Gate residents from leaving port in their spaceships at this time. Firstly, the outside artillery fire was fierce; civilian spaceships would be destroyed once they were out of the shield's protection. Secondly, civilian spaceships would disrupt the battle; if they collided with the Goddora fleet, it could trigger a chain reaction, causing the situation to collapse instantly. Moreover, there was the possibility that DarkStar spies had infiltrated the civilian population, intending to undermine their defenses from within. Therefore, while prohibiting Planet Golden Gate residents from escaping was excessive, the garrison decided to mitigate the risk and only allow the civilians to break out when the defensive line was on the verge of collapse.
Unable to break through the army's blockade, many people collapsed to the ground, their faces ashen, fear creeping across their cheeks, deeply regretting not having left the colony earlier like the others and drifted in space to avoid the storm.
The local interstellar news station on Planet Golden Gate used its observation equipment to broadcast the battle in outer space live, sending the broadcasts to the world and even the entire galaxy. The announcer trembled, suppressing his fear, and stammered as he delivered the report.
Local news quickly spread throughout the interstellar space, with many interstellar channels simultaneously broadcasting the battle on Planet Golden Gate. Following the Long Arc disaster, DarkStar extended its clutches to the next planet, drawing the attention of countless forces once again to the Shattered Star Ring.
Just two days ago Goddora was loudly proclaiming the effectiveness of its efforts to control the Mutation Disaster. However, this attack has been a major blow, bringing a new wave of panic to Goddora.
The battle in outer space is raging. The garrison on Planet Golden Gate has lost nearly two hundred warships and more than ten Vichy Magic Energy Shield. It seems that they are on the verge of a major defeat at any moment. Some attacks have already penetrated the gaps between the shields and exploded mushroom clouds on the surface of Planet Golden Gate.
Many surface cities have deployed their zenith shields, so they haven't suffered any actual damage yet. However, once the outer space fleet collapses, the city shields won't last long either. Rows of ground-to-air railguns have emerged from the ground, aimed at the sky, and missile silos have been activated and are ready for action, creating a tense and deadly atmosphere.
If DarkStar were to enter the atmosphere, Planet Golden Gate would have no choice but to launch this final counterattack. However, it is conceivable that even its garrison fleet would be defeated, rendering these defensive measures ineffective against DarkStar.
"Increase the firepower, they can't hold on much longer." Degulish observed the battle, a cold smile curving his lips, his killing intent palpable.
Just then, the mothership's intelligent system suddenly emitted a buzzing alarm.
"Warning! A large-scale unidentified energy reactive entity is rapidly approaching! Quantity unknown!"
Before Degulish could react, a series of warp beams appeared at the edge of the Planet Golden Gate battlefield, coming from the direction of the Juberly Hub. They approached and stopped, and warships of various styles arrived one after another, forming a huge combined fleet. They were clearly not there to help DarkStar.
The armor of these warships was painted with insignia, with more than a dozen different designs, indicating their identity.
"The Sky Ring Alliance, the Purple Gold Legion, the Blade Legion, the Triumph Battle Group... they are all super-large mercenary groups from several nearby star systems!"
Degulish's eyes widened in astonishment.
Wait, why did these mercenaries suddenly appear?! Where did they come from?!
Not only him, but many other leaders of other forces watching the live broadcast of the battle perked up, sat up straight, and their expressions became playful.
Goddora had planned this all along?!
On the flagship of the Sky Ring Alliance, Sky Ring Alliance leader Gurega ended his call with the director of the Goddora War Bureau, turned to look at the battlefield of Planet Golden Gate amidst the clashing of artillery fire, stroked his steel-needle-like beard, and chuckled.
"Ha, Black Star really did introduce us to a big job."