Chapter 1267: Reinforcements to
In that instant, the 18th squad felt as if they were being roasted on lava.
And it is slowly falling into the lava; it's only a matter of time before it's shattered to pieces.
But Zhao Chen had no other choice at the moment.
The only thing we can do is try our best to use our command abilities to increase our own team's cooperative combat effectiveness.
The rest is up to fate.
"team leader!
More than half of our Starfighters have run out of Starshield energy.
The remaining half of the Starfighter's shield energy is only 30% on average!
"Each starfighter has less than three star missiles left on average," Deputy Captain Li reported anxiously.
Zhao Chen was silent for a moment, then said calmly, "Continue the fight."
Deputy Captain Li was well aware that no matter how strong the captain was, he couldn't change the situation at this point.
We can only wait.
"Report: A large number of enemy interstellar fighters have appeared on the left flank of the battlefield."
It is about to threaten our aircraft!
"Report: Enemy starfighters have also appeared on the right flank of the battlefield."
Our starfighters, positioned at the edge of the battlefield, have been attacked.
Zhao Chen remained silent while listening to the words coming from the command channel.
Is it really over...?
If Zhao Chen were a commander, perhaps he would have many solutions.
But now, he's just a sergeant, a little higher than a low-ranking soldier.
Commanding hundreds of interstellar fighters, if dropped into this battlefield, would only create a ripple.
After the splash, there were no further effects except for the dissipating ripples.
"Xiao Zhao, hang in there! I'm here for you, brother!"
Suddenly, a familiar voice came through the communication channel.
Zhao Chen's lips curled up slightly.
"Brother Zhang, if you had come any later..."
Then I won't see my brother anymore.
The visitor was none other than Lieutenant Zhang, who had been taking care of Zhao Chen.
"Hahaha. There's nothing I can do, I don't have your amazing skills."
They broke out of the asteroid belt and reached the enemy ship's position in less than five minutes.
The general also publicly commended you and your squad.
After this battle, you'll probably be promoted to lieutenant colonel.
When I see you then, I'll have to call you "Commander."
Listen to what Lieutenant Zhang said.
Zhao Chen said, "Let's stop talking nonsense. If we keep talking, I'm really done for."
"Alright. Second squad, kill them all!"
"Don't just let the brothers of the 18th squad steal the show!"
Listening to the words in the communication, Zhao Chen looked at the fighter jet's radar.
You can see a large number of friendly starfighters charging out on the fighter radar.
The number wasn't just Lieutenant Zhang's second squadron; there were other flight squadrons as well.
One hundred...three hundred...five hundred...one thousand...
Zhao Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At that moment, a video window popped up in front of Zhao Chen.
I originally thought it was just my superior talking to me.
But to his surprise, the person in front of him was the general who had once guided him to become a starfighter pilot.
"Greetings, General!"
"Zhao Chen, you did a great job this time."
This saved us time in our offensive and greatly reduced our casualties.
"Now you and your squad can remain where you are, or choose an opportune time to retreat to the temporary rear base for rest and resupply," the general said approvingly.
"Thank you, General!" Zhao Chen said solemnly.
Actually, more than the reward, what he wanted most was for his squad to withdraw from the battle.
"have a good rest.
"After the war, I will personally summon you." After the general finished speaking, the video window closed.
At this moment, Zhao Chen immediately gave orders to his squad.
"All members of the 18th Squad, listen to my command: withdraw from all current combat and assemble at location XX/XX/XX."
"Find an opportunity to retreat to the temporary rear base," Zhao Chen ordered.
"yes!"
They heard that it was permissible to remove it.
The remaining starfighter pilots of the 18th squad breathed a sigh of relief.
"Old Li, calculate the current status of our squadron's starships."
"Give me a detailed summary." Zhao Chen instructed his deputy captain.
"Okay," Deputy Captain Li replied.
Zhao Chen looked at the list of the eighteenth squad in front of him.
The original list of nearly 400 people has now been reduced to two-thirds.
Only a little over one hundred survivors remain.
Among them were some names that Zhao Chen recognized.
They had eaten with me, I had personally guided them during training, and a few of them had told me about their families and invited me to visit their hometowns when I had time.
Or she could show him a picture of her daughter, and Zhao Chen could still vividly recall that radiant smile.
Some of them are even under eighteen years old.
Zhao Chen remained expressionless as he scanned the list.
War always results in casualties.
This is perfectly normal, except that the Falcon Legion is very fortunate to have Zhao Chen, a leader who has mastered advanced technology.
Zhao Chen didn't have many other emotions; he simply remembered the names of his comrades who had fought alongside him.
From their voluntary enlistment to their piloting of starfighters into battle.
That's how they ended up.
"Captain, I have completed my investigation of our team's situation."
The team currently has 139 members remaining.
Thirteen of them were severely damaged and their return to base may be affected.
Thirty-nine aircraft sustained minor damage.
"The remaining starfighters are mostly in the situation of having exhausted their Star Shield energy and depleted their ammunition," Vice Captain Li explained to Zhao Chen after quickly finishing his work.
"Give me the list of those starfighters that were severely damaged."
"Afterwards, I will find a way to arrange for them to return on other safe aircraft," Zhao Chen said.
"Ah...this...won't it be a bit difficult?" Deputy Captain Li said with some concern.
For them, a human life is not worth as much as a returning starship.
Even if it is severely damaged, its value is still far greater than that of a single soldier.
Even if he is a starfighter pilot!
Of course, some high-ranking military officers receive special treatment.
"Leave this to me."
"You just need to make the arrangements," Zhao Chen said seriously.
He believed that with his current achievements, arranging for these dozen or so people would not be a problem.
At worst, I'll just exchange my military rank for it!
His soldiers were willing to die on the battlefield, willing to die in battle.
But it is absolutely impossible to risk losing the chance to survive just because of an inanimate object.
Zhao Chen looked at the current battlefield situation.
Because of the breakthrough that Zhao Chen created.
Tens of thousands of interstellar fighters have stormed into this enemy ship position.
Engaging with enemy starfighters and starships, countless starfighters and star drones swarmed and fought each other on this meat grinder-like battlefield.
At this moment, Zhao Chen also saw the objective of this mission.
It was an industrial base.
It consists of industrial planets, which are like factories, and there are also many auxiliary interstellar warships traveling between them.
This area has become an interstellar industrial cluster!
The range is extremely large!
It is believed to be of vital importance to the enemy's cosmic forces.
If we can take this place, it will greatly help the situation on the front lines.
However, what happened next was basically no longer Zhao Chen's concern.
Five hours passed in the blink of an eye.
Of the original two thousand interstellar warships in this area, only one-tenth remain, leaving behind patches of starship wreckage, as well as a large number of interstellar fighter wreckage.
These Covenant starfighter swarms have begun attacking enemy industrial planets.
That's when those interstellar bombers made their appearance.
As they approach the near-Earth orbit of those interstellar industrial planets, they will drop bombs one by one.
That power is quite terrifying.
Even from a great distance, Zhao Chen could see the fireballs emerging from the surfaces of those planets.
During this process, the interstellar fighters also need to be resupplyed.
After all, in such a long battle, the spaceplanes' ammunition and energy reserves would be far from sufficient.
There are no aircraft carriers or starships here to resupply them.
However, there were already prepared interstellar supply transport aircraft.
This is an extremely large interstellar fighter, dozens of times larger than Zhao Chen's T5 interstellar fighter.
But it's not as large as a starship.
Therefore, they were able to traverse the previous super asteroid belt and successfully reach this place.
Upon arrival, they hovered in a safe area and established a temporary supply base.
Those interstellar fighters that have run out of ammunition and supplies will return here to resupply.
There are even some interstellar unmanned repair robots that will appear to perform some simple repairs on the interstellar fighters.
Zhao Chen's 18th squad was among the first to receive this treatment.
Although Zhao Chen's 18th squad had received personal instructions from the general that they did not need to participate in the upcoming offensive mission.
But the resupply of the starfighters still needs to be completed; who knows what will happen next?
After all, Zhao Chen's 18th Squad's next mission is to protect this temporary base, and they also need sufficient weapons and ammunition to deal with any possible events.
——————
The general sat in the cockpit, looking at the interstellar battlefield sandbox in front of him.
He nodded in satisfaction: "Very good."
At this rate, it will take less than an hour.
We can then destroy this industrial base in front of us.
According to our previous intelligence, this interstellar industrial base is one of the most important industrial bases in the enemy's universe.
The total production capacity can reach 20% of that of the other universe.
Furthermore, it was very close to the battlefield where our two armies were fighting, and it also played a significant role in battlefield support.
If we can destroy this place, we will gain a significant advantage on the battlefield.
Moreover, thanks to the performance of the 18th squadron, our starfighter losses were reduced by at least 30% compared to expectations!
"This Zhao Chen is indeed a talented person."
"Congratulations, General, on discovering another promising talent for the Star Alliance."
"Yes, if the leader knew about this kind of talent..."
I'm sure the leader will reward you!
He listened to the flattering words of his subordinates.
This reminded the general of that leader.
But his face didn't show any respect or admiration; instead, it was cold indifference.
"There's no need for that person's reward."
I did it all for Star Alliance.
This attempt at flattery seems to have backfired.
These subordinates dared not utter another word.
Just then, an urgent message arrived, and a pop-up window appeared!
"General, something terrible has happened!"
Something terrible has happened.
We originally expected the enemy fleet to arrive a little later to provide support.
We arrived ahead of schedule.
They have already entered this area and are expected to join the battle on the flanks within ten minutes.
There are nearly 30,000 interstellar warships!
The sudden news shattered the previously beautiful situation.
If he weren't sitting in the cockpit right now, this general would probably be startled awake!
"Thirty thousand interstellar warships?"
How could it be so fast!
"According to the intelligence we received earlier, we should have had enough time to evacuate!" The general frowned.
"This...this is unexpected...the enemy just happened to change the original sailing plan of this fleet."
"Because we're closer here, we arrived ahead of time after receiving the distress call," the subordinate said.
"grown ups!
We simply cannot handle those 30,000 interstellar warships.
"Or... let's retreat now!"
"yes.
If we were to deploy these 30,000 interstellar warships into the battle, our interstellar fighters would likely suffer heavy losses.
If they were to directly infiltrate and cut off our retreat, we could be completely annihilated.
"We have already destroyed quite a few industrial planets, so... we can consider our mission accomplished."
"Shut up!"
Hearing these words of cowardice from his subordinates.
The general roared, "Is this what you call completing the mission?"
The enemy's industrial base has not been completely destroyed. If it cannot be completely destroyed, the enemy can use the local industrial base to repair other industrial facilities.
It can be restored to about 70-80% in a short period of time.
Wouldn't all our battle plans have been for nothing?
This is our only chance.
The enemy won't give us a second chance like this!
Everyone fell silent upon hearing the general's words.
Although they knew in their hearts that this was indeed the case.
But faced with 30,000 interstellar warships, they truly felt powerless.
At that moment, someone spoke up.
“My lord, I have a suggestion.” A gloomy voice rang out.
"Speak!" The general immediately looked at the man.
He was a staff officer and also a former starfighter pilot.
At this time, any suggestions he received were like lifelines to him.
"This industrial base must be destroyed."
"Once the arrow is released, there's no turning back. How can we return easily without completing the mission!" the staff officer said.
Those who witnessed this were quite surprised.
They all knew this person; he was incredibly timid in normal times. He had transitioned from a starfighter pilot to a staff officer at a young age and had never been on the front lines since.
But he often boasts about his heroic exploits when he piloted a starfighter back in the day.
Why are you acting like a hero now!
"So in order to complete our combat plan..."
That would require holding back those 30,000 interstellar warships.
Therefore, I suggest sending a team to intercept those 30,000 interstellar warships.
"Buy us some time, even just half an hour!" the staff officer said.
Everyone else looked at him as if he were a fool.
Intercepting 30,000 interstellar warships, and it still takes more than half an hour?
"It's a good plan."
"Are you willing to carry out this mission?" The general frowned slightly, but after thinking it over, he realized it was the only way.
The staff officer shook his head repeatedly, saying with shame, "I am getting old and no longer have the ability I used to have."
However, I believe that Zhao Chen from the 18th squad has the ability.
I recommend this person to carry out the task!