Chapter 479 060478: Killing the ‘Shepherd Dog’

Chapter 479 06.0478: ‘Kill the Shepherd Dog’

Although the two Tau Empire destroyers were running around, they still became a thorn in Horatio’s eyes and a thorn in his flesh.

Their existence seriously slowed down the efficiency of the attack.

“Harvey, report the latest relative position of the enemy convoy monitored.”

“About 180,000 kilometers, estimated speed 10-14 void knots. Estimated arrival time, one to two Terra days. Captain, this is the most accurate judgment we can make based on the clues we have.”

“Continue monitoring, and when they are 50,000 kilometers away from us, send the Fury Interceptor to the direction of the signal source for reconnaissance.”

“Yes! Captain.”

16 Terra hours have passed since the attack was launched.

The first squadron’s destruction results - 6 ships.

Sitting on the command throne, Horatio licked his lips that were cracked by the cold air from the ventilation duct, and took a cup of rich black Reka coffee from his accountant.

"Thank you, Miss Yin." His tone was full of tiredness, as if it was contagious, making people feel sleepy and unable to help dozing off.

"Captain, do you really not need to add milk?"

"No, the bitter black Reka coffee is more refreshing."

The Reka coffee of the 41st millennium is essentially an industrial flavoring stimulant. It takes effect faster than naturally grown coffee beans, has a higher yield, and the supply is more in line with the current situation of the empire's population expansion.

This product relies on its cheapness, large quantity, and more powerful advantages, and eventually squeezed the living space of native coffee beans, making it disappear in most of the civilized world of mankind. Perhaps only some archaeologists or nobles in the top nest can still taste it as a luxury.

High-quality Reka coffee is composed of artificially extracted caffeine and taurine, spirulina, and steroid ginsenoside compounds.

In short, it is "technology and hard work", but it is not so harmful to the human body compared to real military stimulants.

But it is so strong that it can immediately make people's heart rate jump to 180 beats per second. The drinker will be very excited, but for people with heart disease, it is just like dancing near the line of life and death.

Because it is refreshing and hot, the Imperial Navy, which needs to work several shifts without interruption, has set up a chemical agent factory in the prison area to produce it in large quantities to supply the entire army.

The taste is just as Horatio said, this is not the kind of delicious hot drink in the previous life of Blue Star.

It tastes more bitter than the pure black coffee in his memory, and it also has an indescribable sour and strange taste.

But once you accept this taste like black coffee, it also has the addictiveness and dependence of coffee, and it is a must-have for people who need to maintain attention and vigorous energy for a long time.

After tasting it carefully, Horatio must admit that it tastes as stimulating as black coffee, or to put it bluntly, it is worse than drinking coffee concentrate.

The taste is sharp and sour, so anyone who has the conditions, whether it is an official of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, aristocrats, officers of any level, or even civilians, will try to add dairy products or various condiments to make the taste smooth and delicious. The difference is whether it is real milk or other synthetic substitutes.

If he is not the captain and the commander of the attack squadron, he will not touch this if he needs to command the battle on duty with high intensity.

Although he likes mellow coffee in Blue Star, he does not have the self-abuse habit of drinking Reka coffee here.

He took a sip of Reka coffee, looked at the merchant fleet that exploded from time to time in front of him, and kept paying attention to the progress of the attack on the destroyer on the other side.

The wolf pack changed its route. They pressed forward step by step, approached step by step, and drove the merchant fleet from the original route to the distant and cold void from the west side of the relative position.

The head wolf knew that he had to lead the wolf pack to hunt the sheep in the dark so as not to be shot to death by the shepherd.

But it happened that the shepherd had not come yet.

Now there are only two sheepdogs ruining his good deeds. As long as he can kill these two sheepdogs, it is not impossible for the wolf pack to kill all the sheep before the shepherd arrives.

Horatio put down the empty cup of Reka coffee, snorted coldly, and twisted his mouth.

The fleet has lost more than ten ships, and the remaining 60% of the merchant ships are huddled together for warmth and shrinking into the escort range of the destroyer.

The fewer the number of ships left, the easier it is for the destroyer to defend.

At the same time, the wolf pack's offensive will soon reach a stalemate bottleneck, and the attack efficiency will inevitably decrease.

However, what the sheepdogs don't know is that three more hungry wolves have joined the hunt.

Three attack ships from the third attack squadron of the first hunting brigade of the Gothic Fleet came from the direction of E-96 Epic 241.

Horatio still has the highest rank and reputation here, so these three attack ships commanded by the captain of the Gothic Fleet joined his command sequence without hesitation.

Of course, all this was done quietly, and the three new wolves had already circled behind the sheepdogs.

If they wanted to share the credit and fame of this hunting spectacle, they had to prove their usefulness.

Twenty-four Terra hours had passed since the attack was launched.

The First Attack Squadron briefly stopped free firing.

Just when the exhausted Tau captain thought the disaster was over, or at least temporarily stopped, every ship in the First Attack Squadron, as well as the three new attack ships that joined the hunt, fired a full salvo of torpedoes at the same time.

Without radio control, the captains can freely communicate tactics on the squadron channel.

They are bullying the two destroyers because they can't handle the fleeting encrypted signal sources from all directions.

The large number of communication signals detected frequently around them makes the captains of the Tau Empire feel terrified. This undisguised communication shows the confidence of the imperial warships in their absolute superiority, which plays a role in psychological warfare.

They know that they are surrounded by a group of small hunters, and these hunters, as the legend says, use powerful torpedoes to fight.

There is no margin for error. Once hit and lagging behind the cluster, unless you abandon the ship, you will be eaten alive.

At Horatio's command, as many as 32 torpedoes nearly 100 meters long headed towards different targets. The tail flames and the gasification cooling medium interweave into a shining dense net, which looks particularly spectacular.

"Maneuver to evade! Throw decoy bomb groups! Don't stop!" The captain of the Tau Empire shouted at the top of his lungs.

The density of the torpedo net exceeded the firepower limit of the close-in defense gun. The destroyer even had the phenomenon of overheating of the rotating close-in defense gun barrel, and had to carry out emergency cooling.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

A large row of torpedoes swept past the destroyer that was dodging urgently, and flew past the captain's desperate eyes, shooting towards the surviving merchant ships in the HX229 merchant fleet.

Suddenly, the captain found that two torpedoes turned a corner. They were hidden among the same kind that pretended to attack the merchant fleet, but they were actually controlled by humans, and the target was exactly this destroyer.

The destroyer evaded urgently, but the close-in defense gun was overheated and the energy supply was insufficient. The hull that could not perform super-maneuverable evasion was even more powerless.

It was like a sheepdog that was being walked by a pack of wolves and was exhausted.

"We tried our best. The contributions made by everyone in this battle are worthy of the Supreme Good Way."

Looking at the two torpedoes coming from the cross direction becoming larger and larger in the field of vision, the captain of the Titanium clan lowered his head in self-mockery.

Boom!

Under the cross-hit of two torpedoes, the destroyer was blown into insignificant powder and debris in the vast sea of ​​stars.

The crew of the other remaining destroyer was indignant when they saw this tragic scene.

"Let these enemies see how powerful we are! We must let them see our courage! Go! For the greater good!"

The remaining destroyer's engine super-powered maneuverability was once again fully charged. She gave up the "flock of sheep" that she was no longer able to protect, and rushed straight to the pack of wolves, trying to exchange her life for one life, even if she died.

"Brave, but useless." Horatio snorted coldly.

The Voss-type automatic light macro guns on the ridges of the five attack ships next to it turned their muzzles to point at the destroyer.

Bang bang bang bang!

The five light macro guns fired at the same time, and the crew on the destroyer's bridge were shocked by the flashes of several gun flames. The captain then realized that he was rushing towards a net.

If you swing your fist at Buzi, the only result is that you will be surrounded and attacked.

E-96 and E-99, together with the three newly arrived attack ships of the second attack squadron, pointed their bows at the destroyer that was rushing towards them and fired a round of concentrated fire.

The upper gun deck of the destroyer was instantly smashed to pieces by the adamantine shells, and one explosion after another exploded on the ship's surface.

Although the attack ship only had one light macro turret, it could not defeat the destroyer of the Tau Empire with its single-ship firepower.

But the five ships concentrated their fire, which was equivalent to nearly two scimitar-type escort ships focusing on the target, and the instantaneous amount of firepower projection was very terrifying.

In addition, the macro guns of the attack boats used automatic shell hoists. After only twenty seconds, the second round of artillery fire was fired again under the transmission of the automatic mechanical structure that was twitching and sparking.

The destroyer was hit off course by the fierce shells, and the twin light rail guns on the ship were also blown away.

The shepherd dog rushed towards the wolves with all his might, but was eventually bitten all over by the wolves.

The attack ship didn't even use torpedoes. Only three rounds of concentrated fire made it completely lose its combat capability. The only reason she was still moving forward was that her engine was disabled and the ship could only rely on the previous inertia.

"'Alpha Wolf' calls the wolves to kill as much as you can. Pay attention to the time. We don't have much time left to hunt. The enemy escort fleet will arrive in our surrounding airspace in 8-10 Terra hours.

Before that, our mission is to destroy all enemy merchant ships and the cargo materials inside as much as possible."