Chapter 551, Unknown Battle Group

Under the fierce firepower of the two battle barges, the three alliance battlecruisers were damaged again.

The opponent did not prioritize starting the engine and shield, but chose to concentrate on opening the firepower system first, completing the target lock and concentrated fire, which was very eager for quick success.

However, it was also effective.

Under the damage, Bai Qifan, as the fleet commander, realized that the situation was almost desperate.

Although the three battlecruisers started the engine and shield afterwards, the Flying Wing among them was seriously damaged in the previous attack.

And, this time, it was not lucky enough that the damage to the Flying Wing had a definite impact on the speed.

After the three battlecruisers started the engine, they began to run away. The two battle barges of the Fury Fleet chased them closely and fired fiercely before they were pulled away.

Of course, the three battlecruisers did not just run away without fighting back.

Didn’t you take the risk of opening the firepower and engine first, causing the shield to open slowly?

This is also a good time to counterattack.

The two battle barges were also hit hard by several shots.

However, the flagships of the two regiments were no worse than regular battleships in terms of armor. Even without shields, one ship was hit by one shot and the other was hit by two shots, but there was no particularly obvious situation.

And then, when the shield was opened, it was even more so.

This further proved that Bai Qifan's previous judgment was completely correct. Relying on three battle cruisers, there was no way to confront the enemy head-on.

But what was worse was that in the subsequent pursuit and escape, the Flying Wing, whose power was damaged by the Alliance, not only failed to solve the problem, but the power damage was getting worse and worse!

According to the report, in the previous shot, not only one power cabin was damaged, but also the area where several damage control technical teams were located was affected by the internal explosion, and the casualties were very serious.

The manpower that was not deployed in time made it impossible to control the loss of the ship in the first time, and even with the fierce operation of the subsequent ships, it became more and more spread everywhere.

In this situation, a very painful choice was placed in front of Bai Qifan: Should I give up the Flying Wing?

If the Furious Owl, which he personally boarded, and the Koroga next to it, went at full speed, they could get rid of the pursuit of the Furious Flame Fleet. But in that case, the increasingly damaged Flying Wing would be left behind and would surely die.

But if they continued to cover each other, the entire fleet, which was seriously slowed down, would probably be entangled by the two Space Marine battle barges all the way to the jump point, and there would be no way to get rid of them.

Before the jump point, it is estimated that they can barely stay at the limit of the enemy's range, so that the enemy's hit rate is generally not high. But when they reach the jump point, they have to enter the jump state and switch engines, that is the fatal moment.

If they can't get rid of the enemy, maybe all three warships will be destroyed together!

What to do?

Should they give up one and save the other two, or take the risk and go with all three?

Bai Qifan's anxiety made him feel a little numb.

But then, an unfamiliar communication request was received.

"Are you from the Alliance?"

A voice with a strange accent and a rather hoarse voice sounded in the center of the entire bridge as the signal was connected.

At the same time, in front of Bai Qifan, on a virtual screen, the speaker's 'face' appeared.

The reason for the quotation marks is that the other party was wearing a helmet and his face could not be seen; however, the helmet itself was very recognizable:

It was the helmet appearance of the Space Marine MK.8, the Skyhawk type power armor.

It's just that this set of paint is something Bai Qifan has never seen before.

The most and only Space Marine he has seen is naturally the Phoenix. There are 100 in each of his three battle cruisers.

And at this moment, the one that appeared in front of him, because only the head was exposed, he could not see the whole body paint, but only saw that it had a silver-gray helmet, and on the top of the helmet, there was a touch of blood red on the forehead.

The strange Space Marine and the emotionless and indifferent words made Bai Qifan a little nervous, and because of this special change, he also had some hope in his heart.

He admitted: "Yes, we are an alliance, may I ask..."

Before he could finish his question, the other party interrupted him and asked the next question: "Are the two traitors, the Fury and the New World Torch, chasing you?"

Hearing the word "traitor", Bai Qifan felt more at ease.

He replied: "Yes, may I ask..."

But this time, he still couldn't ask his question, and the other party silently cut off the communication.

Bai Qifan was confused, what was going on?

Now, he could roughly judge from the word "traitor" that this group of unknown space warriors who appeared inexplicably should be from his own camp.

But other than that, he didn't know anything.

Who are they? Where are they from? What is their purpose? How strong are they? Can they help him?

All unknown.

But the unknown has its advantages.

With the current situation of the fleet, any help is good.

Five minutes after the communication ended, the Astropathic Psychic sent a message: A fast fleet was detected, suddenly appearing on the side of the ships of both sides.

On these silver-gray painted ships, there was a large blood-red shark profile pattern.

They don’t have many ships, only eight; but there are almost no small boats. The leading one is really like a huge shark cruising in space, which should be a battle barge. The other seven are all strike cruisers of the Space Marines.

The Alliance also has some strike cruisers, which belong to the Phoenix Regiment sequence and are directly allocated to the regiment for use, but they must accept the joint leadership of the Alliance Navy, so Bai Qifan can recognize this kind of ship.

Strike cruisers are superior to Moon-class cruisers in terms of firepower and maneuverability. As a ship exclusively for Space Marines, they are also equipped with equipment that can only be neurally connected by genetically modified Space Marines.

Except that the thickness of the armor may be slightly worse than that of the Moon-class, the strike cruiser is almost superior to the Moon-class in all aspects.

And this fleet, the moment it appeared, had a clear goal: it was heading for the Fury Fleet behind.

Bai Qifan was overjoyed!

There is salvation!

But then, he fell into hesitation again.

Even so... can they win?

It’s really hard to say!

In this way, excluding small and medium-sized ships, if we only look at the main large ships, it is now four to two. Three of our own battlecruisers can fight against one battle barge, and the new group of unknown space warriors can exchange one for one with another.

From this point of view, the strength of both sides is roughly equal.

However, the number of the opponent's moon-class and strike cruisers is more than the number of unknown warships. There are also more than 30 destroyers and fast frigates.

In the confrontation, it is not only about the comparison between the main battleships, but also the strength of the entire fleet.

Our side is inferior.

Moreover, Bai Qifan did not forget that the enemy still has a battleship and a larger fleet, but because of the slow speed, they are chasing hard behind. But if the current battle lasts a little longer, and the two sides pull and pull, it may really be able to delay until the opponent's battleship arrives on the battlefield.

At that time, the battlefield situation will change instantly.

In this case, looking at the unknown warship rushing towards the enemy, can we... run away first?

In the communication just now, they neither reported their identities nor asked for any cooperation from the alliance fleet, right? Then it seems that it is no big deal for us to withdraw.

While this unknown war group is fighting with the enemy, I can lead my team to run away quickly, isn't it safe? Isn't it achieved his most desired goal of preserving three battle cruisers at the same time?

However, others helped, and I led my team to run away and betrayed my allies, which really embarrassed Bai Qifan.

Although it is common sense that a general should not be merciful. Cut off your wrist when you need to, not to mention that it is the wrist of the friendly army, not your own...

However, from the perspective of interests alone, it is not very appropriate to do so.

On the one hand, it is a matter of the reputation of the alliance;

On the other hand, if you sell this unidentified but seemingly friendly force, will the alliance ships be safe? If the Fury Fleet destroyed or repelled this unknown warband at a relatively low cost, it might have to continue to pursue them. Since the Flying Wing was already lame, it might still be caught up.

In addition, if they ran away, what if the unknown warband saw that the Alliance was so disloyal and stopped fighting?

Moreover, if it was a friendly force, they could have a fleet with a battle barge as the core, and a group of unknown number of space warriors to join their camp to fight against the Fury Fleet, which would be of great help in future battles.

If you help, you will gain, if you don't help, you will lose; helping is risky, and not helping is also risky.

After weighing the pros and cons, Bai Qifan eliminated his hesitation and made a decision:

Fuck him!

Of course, if you want to do it, you don't have to turn your head around and charge back, and fight hard.

You still have to be strategic.

Battlecruisers should still play to their own advantages. It is quite stupid to engage in a head-on battle with an enemy that is obviously stronger than them in frontal combat capability.

The three battlecruisers started maneuvers and gradually distanced themselves.

The Koroga protected the damaged Flying Wing and cruised together at the edge of the battlefield, pulling and firing at the extreme distance. As long as the enemy's target is not on them, they will suddenly close the distance and attack the enemy with stronger firepower, making it impossible to ignore their threat; but once the enemy's target turns to them, they will immediately move away, through mobility and avoiding the enemy's best range, in exchange for higher survivability.

This pulling and fighting style is a classic tactic developed from the characteristics of battlecruisers.

This tactic is also contemptuously called the "fly tactic" by naval theorists of the "decisive battle doctrine".

It doesn't sound good, but it has some image.

The fly tactic is not only used by battlecruisers. All ships or formations with insufficient frontal combat power but excellent maneuverability can adopt this tactic.

However, if the battlecruiser is a fly, then this fly is a bit big, and it bites people, but it is not as mild and harmless as flies and mosquitoes.

As for another alliance warship, the Angry Owl, which Bai Qifan personally commanded and served as the captain, broke away from the previous formation and stuck behind the gray fleet.

This is another use of the battlecruiser.

No matter what kind of ship it is, except for aircraft carriers, the closer the distance, the stronger the firepower it can exert.

After all, it takes time from the launch of firepower to the hit, and it is not an immediate result after firing, even for light spears.

The closer, the higher the accuracy of firepower lock, which also means less room for dodging.

Battlecruisers are relatively fragile and have inferior firepower, so how to play the firepower advantage?

Get closer.

But when you get closer, the space for maneuverability becomes smaller and the problem of fragility is magnified. What should you do?

Find a big brother who can carry it in front.

The best condition is of course to have a battleship in front, then the battlecruiser can steal output unscrupulously in the back and exert half the firepower of the battleship, but not be beaten; if not, find a bunch of frigates in front. Although the frigates will be lost, it is cheaper and better than letting the battlecruiser be beaten.

And now, Bai Qifan is going to do this.

He treated the battle barge of the Gray Fleet as his big brother.

He wanted to turn the Angry Owl into the opponent's 'shadow', accompanying its actions and increasing its firepower.

The Angry Owl would follow the Gray Fleet's battle barges wherever they targeted. In the coordinated operation, they would strive to reduce the enemy's numbers quickly.

In order to achieve better coordination, Bai Qifan tried to contact the Gray Fleet many times.

If both sides could keep communicating at all times, the coordination between them would definitely be better.

However, almost all his communication requests were rejected.

However, the Gray Fleet did not resist his arrival.

It was like: You can do whatever you want, just don't expect me to cooperate and don't get in my way.

Bai Qifan was a little helpless.

This unknown war group that suddenly appeared was really... unique.

However, he had no other choice.

Now, he had to do it because he was indebted to them, so he could only hold his nose and try his best to cooperate.

Do the best he could.

The Raging Owl followed the battle barges of the Gray Fleet and focused its firepower on the Triumphal Fire, the flagship of the Raging Flame Regiment.

In addition, the Koroga and the Winged, which were engaged in a tug-of-war in the distance, were also targeting the Triumphal Fire. Although, due to the problem of the fly tactics, their firepower was not concentrated and the hit rate was not high, but as two battlecruisers, they were definitely useful.

The Triumphal Fire must have tried its best to fight back.

Another flagship of the New World Torch, the Torchlight, was also fiercely attacking the flagship of the Gray Fleet. However, their firepower only lasted for a short while, and suddenly stopped halfway.

The movements of the entire ship became chaotic and slow, as if it was sick or drunk.

————

There is another chapter, which will probably be later.