On May 19, 918, Major Jiang Ziyue of the New Roman Imperial Army led the Ninth Task Force to launch two rounds of rapid counterattacks against the Bundeswehr tracking fleet, which had captured the interstellar planet "Yi".

Although the Imperial cruiser formation, which was inferior in strength and firepower, managed to inflict heavy damage and damage on two Federation battleships, it still did not achieve the desired results. Moreover, the Federation Army reacted quickly and arranged a spherical formation, which made the Imperial Army even more unable to start.

At about four o'clock on May 20, the imperial army launched a counterattack again, and Jiang Ziyue used a new way to create a "space storm".

At a distance of one astronomical unit, the spherical array of the Federation fleet is simultaneously triggered by superluminal fluctuations from multiple angles, causing them to collide with each other in the spherical array of the Federation fleet, forming a "space storm" in a state of radiant motion, successfully forcibly bringing most of the Federation warships into the superluminal speed and throwing them into distant space hundreds or even thousands of astronomical units away.

Even though Lieutenant Commander Gunther Oswald, Chief of Staff of the Federation Tracking Fleet, considered the possibility of the opponent recreating the "Space Storm" and increased the distance between the ships, the Federation's spherical ship formation was still strongly affected by the Imperial Army's new form of "Space Storm".

In just ten seconds or so, the spherical array of more than one hundred and twenty Federation warships left only more than twenty out-of-control battleships remaining in the original airspace.

Facing the enemy, who was already inferior in numbers and was still in deep control and chaos, Jiang Ziyue ordered in a loud voice: "Concentrate firepower and attack the enemy battleship!" ”

Thirty-one cruisers divided into two groups and launched a bombardment on the two Federation battleships that had not yet been swept away by the "space storm".

This time, the Imperial cruiser was no longer in such a hurry as the previous two times, and had to make a sneak attack in front of a strong enemy. Instead, calmly launch a precise strike against the out-of-control Federation battleships at a distance of 300,000 kilometers.

The federal officers and soldiers simply did not have time to react. Many people are concentrating on maneuvering the various jets of the attitude control system in an attempt to quickly stabilize the ship's attitude. However, the powerful tidal force of the "space storm" has made warships with huge mass, especially battleships with a mass of nearly one million tons and several kilometers long, particularly coherent, and even under the highly intelligent computer-aided control, they still cannot stop rolling and stabilize their attitude in a short period of time.

While the Federation warships were still flying around in space like headless flies, the Imperial Cruiser formation sent out hundreds of high-energy particle beams and laser beams, smashing them hard, stirring up brilliant light on the electromagnetic shield and ceramic alloy armor.

In particular, the anti-hydrogen particle beam fired by the "Akuberi cannon" made the out-of-control Federation battleship even worse. The annihilation of anti-hydrogen particles with ordinary matter and ordinary particles causes the space around the hit battleship to distort and fluctuate frequently and intensively, accelerating and increasing the rolling and jitter state of the Federation battleship.

The converging light shrouded the Federation's battleships like the light from heaven.

The battleship "John Paul Jones", which had been wounded earlier, was devastated and incapacitated. Fifteen Imperial cruisers poured more than twenty salvos at it in a minute, beating it to scrap metal.

But from the beginning to the end, this new battleship, which had more than 400 various directional energy weapons and electromagnetic cannons at the factory, did not fire a single shot. More than 1,100 years ago, General John Paul Jones famously said, "I have not yet fought!" "Correspondingly.

Another Federation battleship, the USS John Jericho, finally stabilized its position after ten volleys of fire, stopped rolling, and successfully launched a counterattack, destroying the two Imperial cruisers in one fell swoop. However, by this time, the John Jericho's electromagnetic shield had failed, and the Imperial cruiser's powerful fire pierced through its ceramic alloy armor, swept through the ship's interior, and eventually destroyed it.

When the battleships were besieged, the cruisers of the Federation did not enter the battle in time. Like the battleships, they were severely affected by the "space storm" and were caught in violent rolling and shaking.

Some of the Union soldiers managed to stabilize their cruisers, and the Imperial cruiser formations had already completed the siege of the battleships, turning their guns to fire dense fire.

The Imperial cruiser formation, which already had absolute superiority in strength and firepower, unceremoniously demonstrated its efficient and precise lethality to its opponents.

In the dense crossfire, one after another the Federation cruisers were knocked out of order, their electromagnetic shields failed, their ceramic armor cracked, their hulls damaged, and their personnel killed.

Almost an hour later, the battle ended. The twenty-three cruisers and two battleships of the Perseus Federation tracking fleet were reduced to scrap metal and debris, floating in the space around the interstellar planet Yi.

The cost paid by the Ninth Task Force of the New Roman Empire was the destruction of five cruisers, three of which were heavily damaged, and the loss of combat effectiveness and the ability to fly faster than light. And almost all the cruisers ran out of metal hydrogen reserves for particle cannons and ammunition for kinetic weapons.

In general, the Imperial Army achieved considerable victories. They used the space fluctuations excited by the distance to trigger the "space storm", completely disrupting the enemy's almost perfect spherical array, forcibly bringing most of the enemy ships into the speed of light and throwing them into the distance, reversing the balance of power and seizing the opportunity to annihilate the enemy's remaining forces.

In the face of the near-"complete victory", the officers and men of the Ninth Task Force of the New Roman Empire shouted loudly in the radio communication circuit: "VENI, VIDI, VICI."

But Jiang Ziyue did not bask in the joy of victory. As a wise commander, he immediately realized that the current victory was only temporary.

An hour has passed since the second "Space Storm" was launched, and some of the Federation warships thrown into the depths of space by the "Space Storm" must have recovered and are on their way back. By this time the Imperial cruisers had almost run out of ammunition, and the officers and men were already quite tired after a series of battles, and it was quite disadvantageous to continue the battle.

Moreover, he also kept in mind another important purpose of leading the army back.

So, Jiang Ziyue quickly issued instructions: "The hospital ship 'Fleming' will stay to rescue the survivors, and the flagship will stay to receive the landing members of the scientific expedition team." All the other ships returned to the forward point, seizing the time to rest and resupply, and preparing to meet the enemy's counterattack. ”

"Sir, does the enemy dare to come back?" A captain asked arrogantly in the communication system.

"If I were the enemy's commander, I would kill us at once, and kill us while we were exhausted." Jiang Ziyue said calmly, "Immediately withdraw to the forward point according to my order, and move quickly." ”

At the urging of the commander, the victorious Imperial cruisers turned their bows one after another, entered the speed of light, and returned to the point of advance more than fifteen hundred astronomical units away. There, the ten supply ships that had returned in advance and the four research ships that had been waiting there for a long time were ready to be resupplyed, waiting for the arrival of these hungry companions.

Covered in snow and painted with red crystals, the USS Alexander Fleming flew into the devastation of the battlefield and sent several planes to venture close to the wrecked ships in search of the survivors and the bodies of the dead.

In accordance with the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked of Interstellar Armed Forces (i.e., the Sixth Geneva Convention of 2649) and the humanitarian tradition of interstellar warfare, hospital ships in armies are obliged to rescue survivors and disabled personnel of warships damaged by both sides after the battle, while belligerents are not allowed to use force against hospital ships and prevent their rescue operations.

During the war between the Empire and the Federation, the hospital ships of both sides will be deployed on a large scale after each battle to actively search for their own and the opponent's survivors. Not only out of international conventions and humanitarianism, but also out of political considerations. Because the enemy personnel who fall into their hospital ships are captured personnel, they enjoy the protection of international conventions, and at the same time, they will also become bargaining chips in political negotiations outside the war. Therefore, both sides attach great importance to the role of hospital ships, and basically after a small scale battle, they will dispatch hospital ships.

However, unlike the Federation, the Empire's hospital ships also have a major mission, which is to search for the remains or relics of their own war dead. Therefore, the empire's hospital ships were larger, so that there was more space for morgues to store the remains of the dead.

The bodies or relics of the war dead will be reported to the Martyrs' Committee directly under the Senate, which will identify them, and then assign the Valkyrie coffin spacecraft to transport the remains of the soldiers who have been posthumously scarred as "martyrs" or their relics, and transport these fallen soldiers or their relics to the planet where they are located, where they are buried, or enshrined in the military cemetery on the planet - the Imperial "Valhallaof of SenatusPopulusque Romanus, The Senate and the Valhalla of the Roman people, referred to as the Imperial "Valhalla").

The corpses brought back from the battlefield are basically the remains of martyrs, and if some do not meet the conditions of martyrs, they will be transported back to the office of the war dead in the Imperial Privy Council by the civilian coffin ship "Charon".

The more than 1,000-meter-long, streamlined hospital ship "Alexander Fleming" is like an angel in white in the battlefield space full of death, bringing a glimmer of hope to those who are still struggling on the line of death.

In space combat, being wounded often has the same meaning as being killed in action. Because a soldier is injured in battle, his spacesuit is usually damaged, and the suit's life-support system is unable to sustain his fragile life. Therefore, after the Starfleet decisive battle, the members of the destroyed battleship often die in formation, and the survival rate is quite low.

When humans were still fighting each other in the Earth's atmosphere, the number of military injuries was often many times that of the number of killed in action. But when humans extended the intraspecific struggle to the vast universe, the number of casualties was in turn much higher than the number of wounded. As a result, those who survive being injured in a space battle are often considered lucky.

Whether it is the Imperial Army or the Bundeswehr, servicemen who have been wounded in space operations will usually no longer be sent into space for combat missions. First, their rest condition is probably not suitable for high-intensity combat, and second, they have already flown in heaven, fully fulfilling the loyalty and duty of a soldier to the motherland.

Looking at the medical ship "Alexander Fleming", which was busy working in stereoscopic imaging, Jiang Ziyue felt a complex emotion in his heart.

Inside those broken battleships, there should be floating bursting corpses of soldiers. Like themselves, they have parents, and even spouses and children, but they died tragically in the deep space beyond the desolate Immortal Spiral Arm, and it is likely that they will forever surround the dead and silent "Yi" planet in front of them for tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of years.

Jiang Ziyue felt that his hands were covered with blood, but he didn't feel too heavy and guilty.

The rules of human survival are very peculiar, killing people in peacetime is a crime, and killing people in wartime often becomes a hero. So, even though he was quite complicated now, he still looked at the battlefield of death and ruin in front of him with some peace of mind.

"Sir, communication with the ground has been connected." Sergeant Communications Sergeant Abighij Cumanfur reports.

The stereoscopic image of Chen Weiyin, who was wearing a space suit, immediately appeared on the bridge of the "Siegfried".

"It's time to go, Miss Chen." Because of the complex emotions in his heart, Jiang Ziyue's tone also became complicated, some angry, some helpless, and some concerned.

To a large extent, he led his army to fight back regardless of the danger and launched a battle in every possible way, because of this woman who once made his heart pound. Judging from this standpoint alone, the officers and soldiers who died in the Federation Fleet and the Imperial Cruiser Formation were finally because of this woman, a woman who was unforgettable to the "genius of war" Jiang Ziyue.

Chen Weiyin's beauty and lethality may not be comparable to Helen in the Trojan War and Xi Shi in Wu Yue's struggle for hegemony, but it can definitely become the "red face and trouble" of the officers and soldiers who died in this battle. If it weren't for her previous impulsiveness and willfulness, Jiang Ziyue's determination to command the fleet to kill back the carbine might not have been so firm.

Chen Weiyin didn't know much about the battle between the Imperial Army and the Bundeswehr overhead, and she didn't know that she was responsible for the deaths of thousands of soldiers - although it was unfair to put the blame for the battle on her.

Instead, she eagerly asked, "Is Professor Bernstein online?" ”

"You immediately lead all your team members and evacuate this planet!" Jiang Ziyue gave a serious order, "This is an order, Dr. Chen, please execute it immediately." ”

Chen Weiyin, who is not a soldier, still maintains the usual style of a scientist, focusing on his work, saying: "Please tell Professor Bernstein that there was a lot of water on this planet, but it suddenly disappeared......"

"Dr. Chen." Jiang Ziyue interrupted the other party loudly, "You can stay there alone to conduct research, but the others must evacuate immediately!" For your sake, I have lost the lives of more than a hundred of my comrades. If you still want to put your willfulness above the interests of the Senate and the people of Rome, I will immediately send someone to arrest you! ”

Jiang Ziyue shouted angrily. Many years ago, he was always helpless against Chen Weiyin, who was still his girlfriend, and this wayward girl cast a layer of frustration on his once quite romantic love.

Today I said that if I want to go shopping, no matter how windy or rainy, I must go.

Say you won't see each other tomorrow, and you won't see each other until the sun rises the next day......

Now, he still didn't have a good way to deal with this woman, so he loved and hated it, and had to rely on loud yelling to intimidate her.

"Yes, yes, Lord Major." Chen Weiyin replied angrily, not that she was intimidated by Jiang Ziyue, but because in the public communication system, she had to maintain the reserve that a single woman should have.

Jiang Ziyue angrily cut off the communication, and then issued an order to his subordinates: "Abighiji, inform the 'Fleming' to pick up the landing team members and pay attention to their disinfection." Joseph, go back to the point of advance at once, and you take over the bridge. ”

After saying that, he immediately lifted the safety buckle on the seat, buckled the self-propelled lever, and quickly left the bridge. Maybe it's out of dissatisfaction with Chen's behavior, or maybe there's another reason. I'm afraid even he can't tell.

However, Jiang Ziyue is still quite clear about one thing, after Chen Weiyin and the members of the scientific expedition team who landed returned, he no longer had psychological and operational fetters. Task Force 9 can stay away from the enemy without any worries in the face of an enemy who is still in the upper hand.

The battle just now shows that as long as it is properly applied, it is still possible to create suitable conditions to reverse the situation in the comparative situation of forces and form a local advantage. Moreover, the successive successes of their own side must have made the enemy officers and men angry, and now that they still have the overall advantage, they must be anxious to seek revenge on the Imperial fleet.

Impulse is the devil, and under impulse, it is often a faint trick.

Jiang Ziyue, who returned to the captain's room, was thinking about the next strategy at high speed.

After seeing his boss leave, the new navigator, Lieutenant Benjamin Alfrec, said in the communication system on the bridge: "It seems that the chief has no means to deal with women." ”

"Don't you know? Dr. Chan is his ex-girlfriend. Sergeant Tang Xingyun, who knows Jiang Ziyue's situation better, explained, "In the face of an old lover, there will be a little pimple in my heart. ”

"No, old lovers are still like this, which means that he really has no talent for dealing with women." Benjamin Alflake sighed.

"I heard that in the bar of the Olympus, the chief wanted to kiss Dr. Chen, but Dr. Chen did not accept it." Abiji Kumanfur also provided an update on the chief's love life.

"So, Dr. Chen doesn't plan to rekindle his old relationship with the chief." Even the non-talkative Ralph Turk joins the gossip about the chief.

"No wonder he's angry." Alfryk seemed to have an idea.

"As far as I know, their love was not deep enough to break out in large-scale hand-to-hand combat." Tang Xingyun continued to be overwhelmed.

"Large-scale hand-to-hand combat?" Jerry Morris asked.

Although he was a damage control sergeant of the "Siegfried" and belonged to a professional and technical sergeant, because he was still young, only 19 years old, he did not know much about the "professional combat terminology" proposed by Tang Xingyun.

"That said, our Dr. Chan did not take away our chief's precious virginity." Tang Xingyun said with a smile.

"No way." Alflake immediately questioned, "In my eyes, although Dr. Chen's appearance is not enough to sink into the fish, but for a normal man, she is still extremely lethal. ”

"I found out last year when I was a guest at the governor's house and overheard a conversation between his parents, Mr. and Mrs. von Dorniersmark." Tang Xingyun explained the intelligence source.

"Don, you really have the potential of the paparazzi." Sergeant Kumanfur praised.

"Hehe, I got the qualification of the Imperial Journalists Association before I joined the army." Tang Xingyun said proudly.

"Then again, the absence of hand-to-hand combat doesn't mean anything, and doing that kind of thing doesn't necessarily have to be large-scale hand-to-hand combat, sometimes just a small area of physical contact is all it takes. Sometimes, due to the distribution of space materials and the time of combat, it is necessary to move in and out quickly, and to solve the problem quickly. Benjamin Alfreck dismantles tactics against women in a rather experienced tone.

"Looks like you're a veteran." As if a master meets a master, Tang Xingyun said excitedly.

"Where, it's not me to brag that the contemptible people have more than a dozen lovers on the planet 'Iserlon'." Alfryk had shown some timidity in previous battles, but was quite arrogant in this regard.

Everyone immediately understood which women were referred to by the so-called more than a dozen lovers. So Kumanfur said, "Those are not your lovers, they should be lovers of money." ”

"You're right. But I'm doing my duty for money, and by the way, contributing to the Empire's gross national product. Alfreck didn't care about someone commenting on his lovers, but defended his amorous life in a solemn tone.

"Come on, that kind of output value can only be regarded as illegal gains." Cumanver retorted.

"When, we'll also take the chief to meet those lovers of yours to see if the chief's sexual orientation is a little different." Tang Xingyun pushed the topic to a more sensitive bottom line.

"It's a good idea." Abhiji Kumanfel immediately agreed.

"Shall we go together?" Ralph Turk couldn't resist the temptation.

"And take Jerry with him, and let him see the hand-to-hand combat with real knives and guns." Alflake said generously.

Captain Joseph Dietrich, the first mate, who had not been involved in the gossip meetings of his lascivious men, felt that there was no need for everyone to talk about it any longer, and deliberately coughed a few times in the communication system of the bridge, and then said solemnly: "Can't everyone except women think about the task given to us by the commander?" ”

At this moment, everyone immediately put away their relaxed attitude, and according to Jiang Ziyue's previous explanation, notified the medical ship to pick up the scientific expedition team that had landed, and turned the course of the "Siegfried" and entered the speed of light.

It was only then that Dietrich broke an even more shocking news to his subordinates: "Speaking of chiefs, I heard that the captain of the 'Nezha', Captain Lota Staudert, is also chasing him. ”

"God, if it's good, it's a perfect match!" Cumanver exclaimed.

"Haha, bald head plus bald head equals a lot of small bald heads." Tang Xingyun said happily.

"We're all bald, too, and our hair can grow." Jerry Morris's interjection was rather uninteresting.

"Don't you know? Captain Stoddt is the younger sister of the Captain, and when she graduated, she vowed to be the best captain in the Imperial Army, so she shaved her hair with laser hair removal technology, and she would no longer grow hair on her head. Tang Xingyun explained to Jerry Morris.

Lieutenant Alflake said in a lewd tone: "The bald woman has a special beauty, but I want to know if the captain has also used a laser to remove his hair?" ”

"Lieutenant Alfryck, pay attention to who you're talking about!" The stern Dietrich reminded the lascivious navigator loudly, "Listen to me, and don't say that I told you about Captain Stoddt and his chief." ”

"Understood, sir." The subordinate replied seriously, as if he was ready to guard a state secret.

When the warships of the Federation tracking fleet swept away by the "Space Storm" returned to the "Yi" star field, they found that they had already destroyed more than 20 warships by their weak opponents.

If on May 18, the Empire's Task Force 9 successfully disrupted the Federation fleet and escaped from Ascension under extremely passive circumstances, which was a great humiliation to Commodore Nicholas Wolfensohn, then this time, not only did it lose its reputation, but it also really hurt.

Due to the fact that the Federal Fleet had little psychological and operational preparation when the Imperial Army launched the second "Space Storm", Commodore Wolfensohn and his chief of staff, Lieutenant Commander Gunther Oswald, were both thrown into the bulkhead of the tactical command center because the flagship "Nimitz" was suddenly forced into faster than light by violent space fluctuations.

The hapless brigadier general also broke his head. Therefore, in the eyes of the brigadier, von Jiang Ziyue and his Imperial Army task force not only insulted his reputation and personality twice from beginning to end, but also beat him to the bitterness!

After the Bundeswehr had collected the bodies and relics of their comrades on the battlefield, the Bulletin ship passed on the reconnaissance ship's report that the Imperial Task Force had been spotted 1,500 astronomical units away.

The reappearance of the enemy, the shame of defeat, and the pain of being wounded suddenly intertwined, pushed Wolfensohn's emotions to the top, and roared angrily: "Leave the logistics ships, and all the warships will be killed with me!" I must slaughter that Feng Jiang Ziyue with my own hands! ”

Originally, the situation was very good and had an absolute advantage, but he never expected that the weak enemy would be repeatedly defeated. Faced with such an embarrassing reality, any commander could fall into a rage. At present, the position of the enemy is exposed, and the desire for revenge has soared to the extreme.

Gunther Oswald was also filled with anger and hatred for his enemies, but he did not let his emotions cloud his mind. So he advised his superiors: "Sir, the enemy is at a disadvantage, and if he succeeds, he will definitely take it as soon as he sees it, and stay away from us as much as possible." Now I haven't run away, I'm afraid there will be trickery in this. ”

"Gunther, we've been severely humiliated twice, don't you think that's enough?" Wolfensohn exclaimed dissatisfiedly, "Your spherical formation has just fallen into the hands of the enemy, and we have suffered heavy losses. ”

At this point, Lieutenant Colonel Oswald could only say nothing. The boss has put the blame for Fang Cai's failure on himself. Of course, as the chief of staff and the mastermind and executor who came up with the spherical formation, he must be responsible, but not all.

"We must take the initiative and use superior forces to pin the enemy!" Nicholas Wolfens clenched his fists as he spoke, "Gunther, give the order, leave ten cruisers and all the logistics ships, and the other warships will kill me immediately." ”

"Sir, please send four more battleships to protect the logistics fleet." Gunther Oswald pleaded, "I fear that the enemy will take advantage of the opportunity to attack our logistics forces. ”

"No, Gunther. The enemy does not even have enough forces to parry us head-on. All battleships capable of going faster-than-light were put into pursuit. Wolfensohn has shown himself to be self-defeating, and those who are hurt often use their will rather than reason to guide their actions.

"But ......"

Gunther Oswald was about to continue his persuasion when Wolfensohn interrupted: "While you and I are talking, the enemy may have slipped away." Gunther, hurry up, your chance to wash away the shame on you and me has arrived. ”

Oswald had no choice but to do what his superiors wanted.

At about 10 o'clock on the 20th, 55 warships of the Federation tracking fleet entered the speed of light and pounced on the space where the enemy was found 1,500 astronomical units away. Although its size has shrunk a lot from when it first arrived, nearly half of the ships are still battleships with strong firepower, so the Federation still has an absolute advantage in strength and firepower.