Chapter 113 Retreat
"It's over..."
In the central control survival cabin of the "Zhan-Star" destroyer, Rex's expression was very ugly.
He never expected that the "Warhammer" fleet would dare to ambush in the asteroid belt.
That's an asteroid belt. Even with a shield, the ship will be destroyed and people will die if you are not careful.
No one will ambush the enemy in such a dangerous place.
Because this is a choice of killing one thousand enemies and injuring eight hundred of yourself.
Is it worth it?
Of course not.
He never thought that the strength of the opponent's warships could ignore the threat of asteroids.
In order to go to a habitable planet, he deliberately found a group of asteroids that were not very large.
But he didn't expect that it would be exactly what the enemy wanted.
If it was a more dangerous asteroid belt, would the "Warhammer" force still choose to ambush in the asteroid belt?
"The drone group has lost 60%. Fleet commander, withdraw the drones."
"No, without the drones, they will catch up."
"The enemy has only seven warships. We have been dispersed. The longer the time, the fewer targets they can chase. Fighting in the asteroid group, the loss of "Elf" drones is too great. We must preserve our manpower."
"There are no seven ships left. Only five warships are still moving at high speed. The speed of the other two warships is relatively slow. It should be that the power system was destroyed by the drone group. We are already dispersed enough. There is no need to continue to lose "Elf" drones."
In the data stream, Rex browsed the data sent back by the drone.
He was analyzing the situation on the battlefield.
The "Free Democratic Federation" took the drone route and fought the enemy with numbers.
Suitable for fighting in the empty universe, besieging the enemy like a pack of wolves.
The opponent chose to ambush in the asteroid group, one is to conceal itself, take the enemy by surprise, and exert its powerful close combat ability.
The second factor is probably related to the drone.
The "Warhammer" forces knew very well that dense asteroids would have a great impact on drone swarms.
This was indeed the case. In the first wave of attacks, enemy warships attacked asteroids.
Asteroid fragments instantly destroyed hundreds of "Elf" drones.
In the subsequent battles, 40% of the lost "Elf" drones were destroyed by colliding with asteroid fragments.
However...
If the battle took place in the empty universe, would the victorious party really belong to the "Free Democratic Federation"?
Rex doubted this very much.
For the first time, he doubted the drone route of the "Free Democratic Federation".
Drones are very useful, but they have too many limitations.
"All ships, listen to the order, immediately withdraw the drone swarm and evacuate to the border star field of the S-01919 star system."
In the end, Rex still issued an order to withdraw the drone swarm.
He knew that at this moment, it was no longer necessary to let the drone swarm entangle the opponent's fleet.
With Rex's order, in the asteroid swarm on the other side.
The drone swarms that were swooping around the "Firestorm" escort ship like flies suddenly turned and left.
They gave up attacking the enemy ships and flew into the depths of the asteroid belt in groups.
"Wang, are you still going to chase?"
There were two enemy warships in front, shuttling through the asteroid belt.
They dodged left and right, and the tail engines spewed out dazzling blue-white tail flames.
From time to time, they would hit asteroids, causing the shield to flash.
It was doubtful whether the opponent would be destroyed by the asteroid if they continued to chase.
After thinking about it, Li Meng said: "Don't chase, the fleet retreats, send all the Fury-class interceptors to follow them and find their assembly point."
The opponent's fleet has been dispersed, and there is no point in chasing them.
The imperial warships are not able to completely ignore the threat of asteroids.
The energy of the shield is limited, and the impact of asteroids will also cause certain damage to the hull.
It is not a rational thing to sail at high speed in an asteroid belt.
Following Li Meng's order, the speed of the imperial warships on all sides of the asteroid group slowed down.
The dazzling tail flame of the tail thruster gradually weakened, and the reverse thrust engine at the bow started, spewing out a long white tail flame.
With the withdrawal of both sides, the battle was declared over.
In the silent asteroid group, patches of blank areas can be seen.
And in the blank areas, a large number of metal debris are floating.
There are "Earth Elf" drones and warship wreckage.
You can also see corpses floating in the dark universe, struggling.
War is never friendly, and in war, life has become the cheapest thing.
The harbor gates on both sides of the warship were opened one after another.
One after another, Fury-class interceptors flew out and rushed into the depths of the asteroid group.
"Fleet commander, they gave up the pursuit, we are safe..."
As the Imperial warships withdrew, the captains of the fleeing "Free Democratic Federation" breathed a sigh of relief.
When a giant ship approaches from behind, the feeling is too terrifying.
It's like a mountain pressing down, making people breathless.
Although they are immortal, they will still experience the pain of death firsthand.
"Retreat to the border assembly area and pay attention to the tail. Our actions have been seen by the other side in the past few months. Otherwise, the other side would not be able to ambush on both sides of the safe route. We must not let the other side find our assembly point."
"We should be targeted by the other side's small aircraft. Spread the drone out to disrupt the other side's sight."
"We are at least one day's flight away from the border assembly area. Don't go in a straight line. Go around and return to the assembly area."
"Just do it in your own way. It's always right to be careful."
Listening to the voices of the captains in the communication channel, Rex remained silent.
He knew very well that this failure would be the greatest shame of his life.
Was he too careless?
No, he was already cautious enough.
Otherwise, he would not have waited for more than a month, waiting for the logistics fleet and the support fleet to arrive before heading to the habitable planet.
He had thought of all kinds of situations, but he did not expect that the other party would ambush in the dangerous asteroids.
Where did he go wrong?
How could Rex not know where he went wrong?
If he did not know before, he knew it now.
He was wrong in that he did not understand the enemy's technology template and the enemy's warships.
Looking at the friendly beacon on the tactical map, Rex's heart sank.
The loss was too great. In this battle, the fleet lost two-fifths.
Nearly half of the ships were buried in the asteroids.
Only 27 "Tristan-class" frigates and 13 "Argus-class" destroyers were left.
Seven-tenths of the "Earth Elf" drones were lost.
More than 1,000 drones, more than 700 of which were lost in less than an hour of fighting.
No less than 300 were destroyed by asteroids.
Although the enemy's two giant ships were paralyzed, they were only paralyzed and not destroyed.