At first, it was just a tiny white dot. But just like the universe emerged from the explosion of a singularity, that tiny dot expanded to tens of kilometers in an instant.
It is the super crystal called Feima.
She is like a piece of finely polished mica, smooth as a mirror. Beneath the smooth surface, one can see the beautiful and complex internal structure, like the most perfect gem on a pendant, sparkling in the light.
Feima was leaving the subspace through the Galactic Alliance's stargate and invading this region of space. Her surface was radiant with a layer of light several kilometers thick, and any laser weapon attempting to attack her would quickly dissipate upon contact with this layer of light.
"Old Chang, listen to me." Nolan estimated the total length of Feima. "Skip the energy return and close the star gate directly."
Chang Renfei was stunned when he heard this.
“It’ll explode.”
"I say skip the energy return and just close the door."
“It’s going to explode!”
"You're in command, and I'm in command. This is our only chance to severely damage that thing." Nolan didn't waste any time talking to him. "Organize the refugees to prepare for evacuation."
"Yeah, okay." Seeing this, Lao Chang didn't say anything else. He just stretched out his tentacles and pulled his apprentice Xia Shengli out of the maintenance cabin, yelling at him.
"What are you looking at? Go get me the flying line."
Xia Shengli nodded like a chick pecking at rice, and ran out in a flash.
"Hehe." Seeing his apprentice running away, Lao Chang put on a flattering expression and laughed at Nolan, "Well, let's discuss it and leave a hole for me."
Nolan rolled his eyes. "The seats are very tight. I'm afraid an old guy like us won't get a turn."
"If I say I can squeeze out two, can you give me one?"
"Ah, okay, okay."
Nolan waved his hand impatiently to indicate his agreement.
Feima's head had completely left the Stargate. Her front section appeared to be a slightly flattened hemisphere with a cross-sectional diameter of over 100 kilometers.
As she continued to advance towards this universe, the rapidly increasing gravity irreversibly affected the surrounding Crystal Storm ships. Their posture began to sway, like a small boat drifting in the ocean.
Even the Galactic Alliance fleet was affected to a certain extent, and the spaceships increased their engine power to stabilize their posture.
After a brief period of confusion, the Galactic Alliance fleet was the first to recover. Seizing the moment when the crystal storm was still adjusting to the changes in gravity, they concentrated their firepower and began attacking Feima.
But Feima herself seemed unaffected by gravity, the radiance on her surface even more dazzling than before. Besides energy attacks, physical ammunition also encountered a strange resistance when it landed on her. These shells were like colliding head-on with a layer of non-Newtonian fluid. The faster the projectile, the greater the resistance from the radiance.
After being decelerated by the light for several kilometers, the projectile's kinetic energy was almost gone by the time it actually impacted the Feima's hull. The remaining kinetic energy of armor-piercing rounds was simply insufficient to effectively inflict damage, and high-explosive ammunition was completely useless against heavily armored targets.
The barrage of fire lasted for 30 seconds. During this time, all artillery pieces unleashed an unreserved assault on the massive crystal. But aside from the powerful Stargate cannon, no other weaponry could leave even the slightest mark on Feima's surface.
Thirty seconds later, seeing the attack was ineffective, the fleet's firepower shifted back to the small ships. There was no other way; these crystals had fully adapted to the changes in gravity. If they were not further reduced, these ships would pose a fatal threat to the Galactic Fleet.
In this chaotic battle, Bai Yi's fleet wasn't very useful. His ships couldn't compare to the other veteran border defenders in terms of quantity or quality. All he could do was launch diversionary attacks from a distance, relying on his jump daggers to draw as much fire as possible.
But even so, his fleet suffered a devastating blow.
All the cruisers had been lost, and he was now only able to control a few destroyers and frigates. These ships no longer fired at the enemy, and their work was shifted to rescuing the crew of the crashed spacecraft.
The wreckage of the previously attacked police and 12th Squadron ships was still floating in space. Although some of them had launched a certain number of escape pods, a considerable number of crew members were still trapped in the wreckage.
In order to rescue these crew members, Bai Yi specially recruited construction units from the Star Gate Gnarl. When facing these construction units, the Crystal Storm showed a high level of intelligence. They did not actively attack these unarmed civilian units, and even took the initiative to avoid them when they met.
But this didn't mean they had no hostility towards non-military units, as evidenced by the destroyed escape pods. Bai Yi's initial guess was that the crystals mistook the constructs for part of the stargate. To ensure the smooth deployment of their fleet, they wouldn't attack targets they believed to be part of the stargate.
Rescue operations are always a delicate task in any era. The wreckage of spacecraft that has been bombarded by lasers is extremely dangerous and can explode at any time.
Although it was not difficult for the builders to dissect the twisted alloy structures, the situation inside the wreckage was unknown, so they had to be careful to avoid airtight areas where people might be, and they had to be wary of leaks of toxic substances. More importantly, some spacecraft had their reactors still working after being destroyed.
Since the main control system may have been damaged, these working reactors were like a bomb ready to explode at any time. Although the loss of a few buildings was not serious, if an explosion occurred, the people trapped in the wreckage would be almost impossible to survive.
The rescue work was progressing with difficulty. Since the ship was not designed to carry more people, after finding the trapped people, they had to transfer them to Bai Yi's spaceship through various means.
This process is undoubtedly the most dangerous part of the rescue operation. While the crystal storms won't attack the construction site, they will attack the ship responsible for retrieving the crew. Throughout this process, the rescued crew members will be completely exposed to space, protected only by the thin layers of fabric in their emergency space suits.
The defensive power of these fibers is no match for the spacecraft's armor. Not to mention being directly hit by artillery fire, even slightly faster space debris can cut through it.
Bai Yi's solution was to have the builders go deep into the enemy camp, dig out the trapped personnel from the wreckage, have them wear life jackets, and then have them all exit the cabin and secure them to the hull of a builder with safety ropes.
Nine construction units are used as a mobile unit, with the manned one in the middle and the other eight in a sphere that wraps around the middle one. The outer construction units are used as meat shields to resist the flying debris on the battlefield.
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