A week later, in orbit around Muli Star, a joint fleet completed its assembly.
More than 300 light frigates, patrol ships, and anti-ships were neatly arranged in the orbital airspace of the planet Muli. The largest ships in the fleet were medium-sized transport ships, which were positioned at the rear of the fleet because they did not have offensive capabilities.
This is a temporarily formed joint fleet, and the overall commander of the fleet is the commander of the Muli Star Garrison.
The space forces of Muli Star, Haige Star, and Anlin Star constituted the main force of this joint fleet, and more than 30 other small forces from the Chaotic Lands also sent their representatives.
A closer look at the composition of this fleet reveals that its members are all intricately connected to those who died in the 358th Regiment's logistics and equipment depot in Benghazi.
Soldiers from the 358th Regiment who fled Benghazi were intercepted, and information about what happened there was kept under control.
However, the fact that his own son had died there was enough to enrage the commander of the Muli Star Garrison. At this moment, he was standing on the bridge of the light frigate serving as the flagship. Through the large porthole, he could see more than 300 ships of various types arranged in a dense rectangular formation, with the distance between the two ships less than 1 kilometer. If this were on the planet's open sea, it would be equivalent to two ships sailing side by side.
The space environment of the Chaotic Lands is not suitable for large warships to navigate, and small warships do not have the ability to jump, which is why they can be arranged in such a dense formation. Such formations usually only appear during inspection ceremonies; otherwise, the exhaust flames generated by the warships would seriously affect the safety of the ships behind them.
Arranging more than 300 warships in a matrix less than 100 kilometers wide would create a strong visual impact, serving as a warning to Benghazi, 1 billion kilometers away.
The on-site footage had already been sent to Benghazi via deep space communication, and the Joint Fleet command had already obtained the intelligence. The Ryan Nation's space fleet stationed in Benghazi consisted of only one independent regiment.
Although the enemy has one cruiser and two frigates, one or two powerful ships are not enough to completely defend Benghazi against such a large combined fleet.
Using a cannon to kill a mosquito will always result in some fish escaping. As long as one transport ship breaks through into Benghazi airspace and drops landing troops, they are confident that they can plunge Ryan into a sea of fire in the only border city of the Chaos Lands.
Benghazi will be isolated and helpless in this chaotic place.
Of course, Benghazi has another option: hand over the brutal major commander of the 358th Regiment and open Benghazi's airspace so that ships from the Chaos Lands can navigate freely.
In fact, the latter reason is the real reason why all parties in the chaotic land actively dispatched their own warships.
The airspace leading from the Chaotic Lands to the Duchy of Ryan is bordered on one side by an asteroid belt, where ships navigate like ships on a vast ocean riddled with reefs, constantly in danger of capsizing.
On the other side are black holes invisible to the naked eye, as well as chaotic warp wormholes left over from ancient times. It is like a sea full of whirlpools, where ships will be sucked in and torn to pieces, or lost in the vast universe.
The only safe place is the airspace where Benghazi is located. If they don't go through here, the ships will have to travel tens of millions of kilometers in the outer airspace before they can successfully enter the Principality of Ryan.
However, Benghazi's strict airspace control and access regulations prevent many of the Chaos Lands' "unique resources" from entering the Principality of Laine. If Benghazi's airspace were opened to free navigation, it would become a true "golden route," which would naturally make the various factions in the Chaos Lands extremely envious.
For them, the attack on that brutal major was just a pretext; the real goal was to open up the airspace.
With a total of over three hundred warships and various auxiliary vessels, this represents the entire space force of Muli Star, Haige Star, Anlin Star, and the surrounding star system. No matter where it is placed in the Chaotic Land, it is a formidable force.
Today is the last day of the ultimatum. If Benghazi does not respond within 24 hours, the combined fleet will immediately fly to Benghazi and forcefully open the door to the golden shipping route.
Benghazi's response came sooner than they had expected.
Relying on a single independent regiment is indeed insufficient to defend Benghazi, therefore...
A circular area gradually appeared behind the satellite of Muli Star, like a black bubble rising in the dark night sky.
Then a round hole appeared in the center of the black bubble. The diameter of the hole expanded instantly, as if the bubble had burst in the air. A deep, dark void tunnel appeared behind it, and five bright silver dots emerged.
Five silver dots shot out of the tunnel, and the circular area quickly disappeared into the night sky, with stars taking its place.
A cruiser, two frigates, and three transport ships appeared behind the Muli Star satellite.
"Attention all personnel! Warship warp complete!"
"Energy shield deployed! Detection radar activated!"
"You little rascal, you almost crashed into a satellite!" The captain in the command seat kicked a young man in charge of fleet navigation at the front.
"Sister, the airspace available for jumps here is already very small. We're just thankful we arrived safely," the navigator said, rubbing her backside with a wronged expression.
"Everyone back to your fighting positions!"
"All catapult launch channels are open! Mech squadron, prepare for sortie!"
"Uh... um, big sister?" White Wolf, the pilot of the "Glory 13" heavy mech, said with a pained expression while waiting in the hangar passage, "That guy has already launched, should our team follow?"
On the cruiser's main screen, a small white dot was rapidly approaching the rectangular fleet outside the orbit of Muli Star. From the large screen, the tightly packed rectangular fleet looked like a piece of chocolate floating in space.
"Forget it, whatever, you guys go too!" the eldest sister said helplessly, while scoffing at the enemy fleet's dense formation. "Are they out of their minds? They dare to threaten Benghazi with this?"
"Prepare for artillery fire!"
How can an independent regiment defend such a large target as Benghazi?
The best defense is a good offense!
"Warning! An unidentified aircraft is rapidly approaching our fleet!"
The combined fleet of Muli Star consists of small ships, and the power of their shipborne radar is insufficient to detect cruisers hiding behind satellites.
"What is that?"
A small aircraft is not enough to threaten a combined fleet of more than 300 warships.
"Project the target image onto the big screen!"
Soon, a white mech with black stripes appeared on the command screen of the Muli Star Joint Fleet.
"Mecha?"
"Model matched, it's the 'Blue Winged Tiger' from Benghazi!"
"Stop it!"
"The target is too small and too fast to lock onto!"
The "Azure Winged White Tiger" darted like a nimble swallow among the beams of light from the warship's cannons.
Inside the spherical cockpit, Zhang Fan stared at the flagship in the center of the rectangular fleet and couldn't help but smile.
That's great, they're all gathered together now, saving me the trouble of searching for them one by one!
Once this is all done, I can finally go on vacation with peace of mind!
The "Azure Winged White Tiger" had approached the edge of the rectangular fleet. The auxiliary thrusters mounted on its back detached, the physical twin swords popped out, and the main thrusters were activated.
"Nerve pulsation!"
The engine power of the "Azure Wing White Tiger" increased to 100,000 RPM, and the converted liquid metal instantly flowed throughout the mecha's entire body. The liquid metal in the mecha and the blood in the pilot's body flowed in sync. At this moment, Zhang Fan could feel every small change in the mecha.
At this time, the "Azure Winged White Tiger" was his other body.
The "Azure Winged White Tiger," now with a red fuselage, left a trail of afterimages in space before diving into a rectangular formation of over three hundred warships.
Before the nearby warships could react, they were ripped open by the passing "Azure Winged White Tiger". Some warships hurriedly activated their energy shields, but this was meaningless in the face of the physical sword.
The exploding warship sent countless metal fragments flying. The surrounding warships were too close, and some of the metal fragments embedded themselves in the hull, even triggering localized explosions.
The explosions within the rectangular fleet intensified.
"Fire! Fire! Why aren't you firing?" The commander of the Muli Star garrison roared angrily from inside the command ship.
"Commander, our formation is too dense. Firing the cannons will damage friendly forces around us."
"Send out the entire fighter squadron!" the Muli Star garrison commander roared in exasperation. "The enemy only has one mech!"
The transport ships behind the rectangular fleet opened their hatches and began releasing the space fighters inside.
Space fighters swarmed into the fleet like bees.
However, the pilots of these space fighters soon discovered a troublesome problem.
The fleet was too close together, and the infrared missiles launched by the fighter jets could easily be "deviated" by the engines of the surrounding warships. Due to the close proximity of the warships, it was also easy to accidentally damage friendly ships when using machine guns.
To make matters worse, the space fighters fly in straight lines, making them less agile than mechs with leg thrusters. Moreover, in the dense formation of ships, the fighters dare not fly at full speed for fear of accidentally colliding with each other. As a result, they could only watch helplessly as the "Azure Winged White Tiger" charged left and right as if it were nothing, while they could only follow behind and stare blankly.
"The enemy only has one mech!" The commander of the Muli Star garrison inside the command ship was blinded by rage. "Fire!"
"But Commander..."
"I said fire! Didn't you hear me!" The commander of the Muli Star garrison glared fiercely at the gunners of the warship, his eyes bloodshot as if he wanted to devour them.
The gunner hunched his neck, tapped on the keyboard in front of him, and began adjusting the firing parameters of the warship's main guns.
After "Azure Wing White Tiger" slashed down a patrol ship, it activated its thrusters at full speed and dodged to the side. A huge laser energy cannon trajectory passed in front of it, destroying all the ships in a straight line.
"Holy crap! Is she furious?"
Zhang Fan looked at the flagship in the distance. Using the main cannon to shoot down a mech—it's amazing they even came up with that idea.
For mechs that are already close in, the main guns of the warship move too slowly. As long as you pay attention to the direction of the gun muzzle, it is impossible to be hit.
Zhang Fan abandoned his attempt to head straight for the flagship frigate and instead flew around it, causing it to fire its cannons indiscriminately.
The mechs missed, but the surrounding ships were in serious trouble. They all started their thrusters as if they had seen a ghost, trying to escape the airspace.
boom!
An even larger laser energy cannon pierced through the center of the rectangular fleet in the opposite direction, detonating a line of ships in a straight line.
"It's the Benghazi cruiser!"
The radar operator on the small frigate hurriedly reported to the commander.
The commander of the Muli Star Garrison stared blankly at the big screen.
The cruisers in the distance rushed in like giant beasts, while more than a dozen "Glory 13" heavy mechs had already entered the rectangular fleet and were ruthlessly reaping the ships.
Some ships tried to escape, but two other frigates painted with tiger head insignia flanked them from both sides, pressing down on the combined fleet's scattered formation like sheepdogs herding sheep.
"It's over, it's over."
The commander of the Muli Star garrison closed his eyes in anguish. He had made a grave mistake by gathering more than three hundred warships together.
If these three hundred warships were scattered throughout the chaotic lands, even if the entire space fleet of the Ryan Kingdom arrived, they would be able to bleed the enemy dry.
But the current combined fleet is like a dense school of fish gathered together in the ocean, allowing predators to devour this huge lump of flesh.
"Withdraw from the battle and return to Muli Star!"
Returning to Muli Star to organize ground operations might offer a glimmer of hope...
In the orbital airspace of Muli Star, a transport ship broke through the atmosphere and entered the airspace above the capital of Muli Star.
Inside the railings on both sides of the transport ship's engine room, a group of students looked ahead with a mixture of excitement and worry.
Hua Hua, the class monitor of Class 1, Grade 3, Training Camp F, Royal Military Command Academy of the Duchy of Ryan, also gripped the railing, her eyes filled with unease, yet she was trembling with excitement, feeling as if she were about to break the steel railing in two.
"Everyone!"
A Sacred Armor 77, positioned in front of the transport ship's catapult track, turned around and looked at its nine teammates behind it.
"This is the first time the academy's military has been deployed in actual combat. How about we set an example for the students around us?"
"Where the sword points! We will advance without hesitation!"
Nine "Sacred Armor 77" helicopters raised their swords to the sky.
"good!"
Clear!
The green light on the catapult track illuminated, the forward hatch opened, and air rushed in, rustling the young, spirited faces around the railing.
"Sabertooth Tiger Squad, Captain Nie Yun."
"Attack!"
The auxiliary landing thrusters on the back of the "Holy Armor 77" spewed out eerie blue flames as it soared into the sky...
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