On January 7, 4024 A.D., the garrison position of a large number of inhabited space stations in the ring of the Saturn system, including the rapid response fleet, a total of 15 battleships, 2 space carriers, 1 Marine mothership, 57 cruisers and 77 destroyers, plus the marines and the shipborne infantry on each starship, a total of more than 35,000 interstellar infantry, 15,000 starship generals, and a total of 50,000 officers and soldiers arrived at the preset defensive position.

Since the intelligence of the reconnaissance detachment arrived, according to the assignment of the headquarters, the Saturn side ship group set off urgently, and by about 6 o'clock on January 7, the officers and men, although exhausted, had succeeded in establishing the defensive line before the Brandites attacked.

The Saturn system is under the control of the Provisional Government and is a source of vital minerals and food resources. In the Saturn system, close to the strongest point of the magnetic field and gravity of Enceladus and Jupiter, is the place where the biological farm space station gathers, 50 million people's food and non-staple food are all produced here, and from Enceladus to Titan, each satellite can find the necessary mineral resources of interstellar countries, among which Titan not only has rich mineral resources and the volume and gravity are comparable to the moon, but also because it has a dense atmosphere and methane, ice and other important living environments, Therefore, Titan has become the capital of mankind in the Saturn system, and it is the political and economic center of the Saturn system or Saturn's colonies.

Since the Provisional Government had just been formed, it took time for a large number of people to adjust to the new environment, so the focus of this defense was on the 200 space station groups behind our line and the number of 20 million people in them. Of course, the mining facilities scattered on the various satellites, as well as the important facilities on Titan, should also be protected, but instead of directly sending troops to garrison them, patrol groups will cruise around to attack the enemy fleets that try to land on the latter's bombing, so as to achieve the purpose of protecting the important facilities of each part.

Standing in front of the electronic sand table of the Wanwang, listening to Wei Leili's introduction to the headquarters' defense plan for the Saturn system and the enemy's attack strategy, my mind was not in the content of the introduction, but quickly focused on Titan, which was covered by the dense atmosphere of the earthy yellow color on the electronic sand table. Teresa and her children of Mars, most of them gathered there. Titan is the greatest result of the efforts of Teresa and the children of Mars since the establishment of the provisional government, if there is no interference from the outside world, the children of Mars will become the de facto master of Titan in the future, although the relationship between the number of people, the children of Mars cannot monopolize the collection of all mineral resources in the Saturn system, but under the influence of Teresa's efforts and my personal influence, the children of Mars did obtain the mining rights of some rich ore veins in the Saturn system and helium ore with a strategic position on Titan.

When the news of the massive attack came, Teresa left Ganymede with only one sentence: "I want to stay with my brothers." For this spicy and very responsible woman, such a move is very much in line with her characteristics, and I have no intention of interfering with her actions, but at such a special time, she is going to Titan, which is very likely to be affected by the war, and I have to worry about her safety and the safety of the children of Mars.

“...... In this way, it is expected that the primary targets of the biochemical fleet will be defense facilities, spaceports, and resident fleets, and they should have no time to take care of other aspects. Therefore, in order to ensure the safety of various mining areas and even Titan, it is necessary to remind the personnel left behind not to stimulate the biochemical fleet, so that at least they can avoid being affected by the war. ”

At this point Verelli paused and looked at me, as if seeking my advice. It's a pity that I wasn't listening to his report at all, and I couldn't help but blush at this time.

"Maxim, what is your opinion?"

Proxima Centauri's descendant was still depressed, and when he looked at Verelli, I always felt that he was actually looking at the extra star on the other party's epaulettes.

"Ahem...... Such a defensive configuration is invulnerable against ordinary opponents, and even against the fleet attacks of the Proxima Centauri Empire, but when the opponent is a Pole, whether it can still be effective is very variable. Although the Empire did not clash with the Planters head-on, in fact the Poles were allies when I left the Empire. Still, I've learned about the horrors of Brand's biochemical fleet from other sources. In particular, they are known for their broadside combat power and the sheer size of their fleets, which are said to be far larger than the average person thinks. ”

While studying the defensive layout of the Saturn system, I imagined in my mind the picture of the battle I was about to face in combination with Maxim's description.

"The attack of the swarming Berlanders!"

I was talking to myself, leaning forward and actually leaning myself against the edge of the electronic sandbox. When I noticed that everyone around me was looking at me, I realized that I had unintentionally revealed what was in my heart again.

In fact, the Fighting Subhumans of the Brands are an extremely terrifying existence in battle, they are not only infinitely powerful, tenacious, but also intelligent, belligerent and very agile, and it can be said that every Combat Subhuman is an extremely qualified super soldier. Such enemies, like the few encountered in the Ganymede government building, can wreak havoc in very small numbers, and once the enemies are swarming in person, the imagination alone can feel creepy.

Feeling the embarrassment of the atmosphere, I coughed and pulled the surrounding detachment cadres back to reality from their bad reverie. I now feel more and more that the career of a commander is simply synonymous with loneliness, and any negligence to leak my heart to the outside world may bring unpredictable consequences. Just like now, the cadres of the detachment, influenced by my words, fell into the imagination of the attack of the Branders, and the result was that everyone's face was ugly.

If this kind of thing will affect morale, it is better to say less in the future. When I looked up at Wei Leili, I could only shrug my shoulders helplessly as I read the admonition in his eyes.

The pressure on my shoulders has become heavier.

"We fought with the Branders in the early stage, it seems that their number is not very large, although the combat subhumans are indeed difficult to entangle, but when the battlefield is placed in space, their starships do not have too many bright spots, defense, mobility ability, firepower are not very good, only self-healing ability and mobility agility are OK, this kind of opponent I think as long as you pay attention not to be close, it should not be difficult to deal with."

Kiana's reconnaissance team joined us two hours ago. She is now awarded the rank of major and also has the right to attend military meetings at the detachment level. Wearing a close-fitting combat uniform, Kiana, who is hiding in front of the electronic sand table with a graceful posture, can be described as a beautiful landscape. On the bridge of the Wanwang, regardless of the eyes of the male and female officers and men, they were always attracted by her from time to time.

"Unfortunately, I am more skeptical of the status of the Berlander fleet that I encountered earlier. Although we have always positioned it as the main fleet, and see that its combat effectiveness is not weaker than the general concept of the main force, but looking at the huge fleet that attacked this time, they actually have the strength to attack three planetary systems at the same time, compared to this scale, what did we find and defeat in the first place? Perhaps the so-called main fleet that we once faced with the Brandites could only be called a detachment or detachment. ”

Kiana approached the sand table and leaned down to operate the electronic sand table to project the battle sky map of the five theaters of war, including the Jupiter system, the asteroid system, the Saturn system, the Neptune system, and the Kuiper Belt system, in a more macroscopic form. In the face of the formation of the reconnaissance fleet, the dense display of the enemy ship group marked with small red arrows, and the display of our defense ship group and defense strongholds marked in blue, the people on the scene invariably chose to sigh.

"Can't we just use a mobile defensive strategy? In the case of insufficient troops, if there are conditions, it is the best tactical choice. The reconnaissance detachment used powerful mobile raiding tactics to check the reality of the enemy fleet many times, although it also found blocking, and the biochemical fleet also sent small and agile tactical units to intercept us, but they ultimately failed to succeed, and the losses of the reconnaissance detachment were very slight compared to the information we obtained. Can these be used as a reference for tactical choices? ”

Kiana skillfully manipulated the electronic sand table and simulated the tactical options of the reconnaissance detachment on the situation map in a macroscopic way. It can be seen that extremely small blue arrows shuttle back and forth in large groups of red arrow ships, whenever there are red arrows or want to intercept or choose to separate smaller arrows to tremble, the starships of the reconnaissance detachment always avoid frontal combat, and stick to the enemy in a way such as sweeping and detouring, knowing that after obtaining enough information, they will calmly retreat. The whole process went smoothly, playing with the clumsy ships that were numerous, though numerous.

Seeing such a situation, although I know that the choice of reconnaissance ship groups may not be able to be used in defensive battles due to different environmental conditions and other factors, at least in the face of absolute combat power, we are no longer helpless to be slaughtered by others, our mood has changed, and our thinking has become clearer.

I glanced appreciatively at the beautiful silver-haired woman, and even thought she was a better fit for the role of commander than I was.

"This tactical option is feasible in mobile warfare, and in the conditions of defensive warfare, it can also be used as the main means of disturbing the enemy. But we now have a fleet of space stations that are difficult to move, and a large number of fixed facilities to defend, and the people of Brande must know what kind of blow it will take to destroy these resources and kill the people of the space station group, so they can completely ignore the slippery mobile ship group and focus on the fixed facilities and space stations. With the absolute superiority of the battle subhumans, if all the fixed facilities are eliminated, our mobile ship group will naturally lose its supply base and mess up its position. ”

Wei Leili pointed out that the situation he was facing now did not apply to a mobile raid, and silence was restored to the scene again.

"Since the big liar lieutenant colonel came to the front from the headquarters, he will definitely not come empty-handed, I want to know your tracking solution."

Jasmine and Harding were also on the list, and the pair of treasures had been serving in the Scout Squadron since they left the detachment, and this time they took advantage of Kiana's turn to follow them.

Jasmine's words ripped the wet-suited atmosphere around the electronic sandbox, and after causing a chuckle and a wry smile of helplessness from our supreme brain, Lieutenant Colonel Verelli, everyone focused their eyes on Verreli.

"Well, I didn't expect Captain Jasmine to still have such a poisonous tongue. I did come with a plan. In fact, this is also a targeted plan customized by the military department for the characteristics of the Frankland fleet. In fact, for the sake of secrecy, I have not yet had the right to explain this set of targeted tactical plans to you during the assembly of the ship group, but now there is no obstacle, please Miss Kiana follow the method I transmitted in the tactical C3 loop, and send a self-inspection order to the cruiser group under your jurisdiction, and you will know the result soon. ”

Under the curious gaze of everyone, Kiana gave a self-inspection order to the 16 cruisers controlled by the starship core sisters under her command. As the order was given, the silver-haired girl seemed to stand still in a daze, and I only waited for her to observe the results of the self-test in the tactical network, and it took a certain amount of time to return to normal.

"You're still the same, you still like to sell guanzi so much, this kind of thing will not be long in coming, why do you want to go around in a big circle?"

As a major, Maxim is very dissatisfied with Verelli's sneaking away, whether it is communication or discussion, he always shows his dissatisfaction, and I am also a headache for the competition between the two, in fact, they both have their own advantages, Verrell is better at resourcefulness and strategy and tactics, and Maxim's strength lies in internal affairs and sensitivity to politics. However, the two seem to be very dissatisfied with each other's advantages, and often express their opinions in the excellent areas of others, and the result is often self-inflicted, so I can see that the so-called saying that no one is perfect is correct, even if they are as smart as two people, they can't do everything.

"But I have heard a piece of news, whether it is true or not, that there are people within the Provisional Government who want to negotiate with the Billers, and it is said that several drafts of the negotiation plan have been prepared and are being submitted to Clark for consideration. I wonder if we need to look at the impact of negotiation tactics on the situation, and how are we going to work together once we have to negotiate? ”

Zach then tossed out the rumors he had recently heard in the headquarters. He's already discussed this news with me, and neither of us has much experience with it, so now Zach has chosen this time to tell the information, probably for the purpose of easing the atmosphere.

"Oh, if we're going to negotiate, we really need to change our strategy."

It seemed that it was the first time he had heard of it, and he was immediately in a state of contemplation after being surprised.

I know that this young man is not good at relationships and flattery, and his character will be excluded in an agency like the military department, but I didn't expect that he didn't even know the rumors that Zach could come into contact with, which shows how bad his interpersonal relationships are.

"I've also thought about negotiation strategies. However, it is too early to establish negotiating principles and the like. The so-called negotiation must be established when the two sides are equal, or at least the weaker side has a bargaining chip, as the current disparity between the enemy and our forces, as long as the other side is not a fool or wants to delay time, it will definitely not agree to the negotiation, I estimate that if you want to promote the peace talks, you will have to fight at least a few battles, and let the Branders suffer before they can really pull them down to the negotiating table. ”

Compared with Verelli, who was more concerned with the battlefield, Maxim's reaction and wisdom in this regard were much better than the former. With little to no thought, he was able to talk about negotiation tactics as if he had prepared for them.

My thought is that Maxim must have thought about the possibility of negotiations, but he thought that there must be a fight before the possibility of talks, so he never raised it.

Immediately, we discussed the possibility of negotiation around the electronic sandbox, and the possibility that the fleet would need to fight for bargaining chips for peace talks in the future. As Maxim predicted, there are too many unknown factors to predict, and only after the first fight can further consideration or inference.

"Oh my God! What are they...... Is that what the command meant?! It's incredible, I really didn't expect you to do this, what if the long-range strike capabilities of the Branders exceed expectations? Or maybe they don't engage in broadside battles? ”

Kiana finally came to her senses from the tactical network, but her reaction was so fierce that everyone, including me, looked puzzled and confused.

What exactly did she see from the self-examination? Is the Command's approach to dealing with the Berland fleet really so surprising?