A champagne bottle arced gracefully and smashed into the bow of a massive battleship

Amid the cheers of the people, the just-built fast space carrier, with the powerful thrust of several of its own ion engines, slowly sailed away from the Newport News Super Shipyard No. 1 dock and into the dark and icy space, this is the fourth of the Raider-class fast space carriers, the Sweeper, the board number SC-5, +: should be the fifth, but the evacuation preparations of the Siberian system have caused some unnecessary confusion and delays, So much so that she was put into service a few days later than her sister of the same type, the Victor (SC-6) fast space carrier, which was built at the same time at the Haikou shipyard.

The carrier-based aircraft group equipped for this space carrier was lined up in a neat formation, and the military parade swept at low speed on both sides of the bridge of this mothership, and outside the No. 2 satellite, her scheduled escort ships simultaneously launched a large number of flashbangs of various colors, reflecting the star fields near the No. 2 satellite in colorful colors, just like a grand fireworks showAlthough the situation is very tense now, a brief departure ceremony is still necessary.

"This scene feels so familiar, and the Archangel left Newport News like this." Yao Feilun sighed with emotion, the Fifth Independent Mobile Fleet was still in charge of defense in the Siberian galaxy, and at this moment, a group of people were gathering on the bridge of the Archangel and watching the departure from a distance through the large screen in front of them.

"It's finally done, and I thought she'd put it off until the last minute. It can only be completed by towing it to the orbit of the Imperial Army when it arrives at Satellite 2. Schneier was a bit picky.

"It's already good, the last time we came back, we said that it was expected to take three months to complete, but now it's only more than two months, and building a space carrier is not building blocks, and the retreat preparations of the Siberian galaxy have a considerable impact on the construction progress, if it weren't for everyone's desperate efforts, working overtime 24 hours a day. I think it's going to have to take more than half a year. Risen disagreed with his friend.

"Anyway. After all, it's time to get out. Before the Imperial Army launches an attack on the Siberian system. ”

"Yes, fortunately, otherwise, when the Imperial Army came, this guy was still in the dockyard, so he would have to abandon it, and now it's time for the Imperial Army to come again. We have another fleet available. Schneier asked his friend, "Risson, you have high authority and access to a lot of confidential information, tell me, when will the Imperial Army attack?" ”

"I don't know." Risen shook his head, "I'm not the commander of the Imperial Army, so I don't know when they're scheduled to attack." I still hope. They don't come to the best. ”

Of course, this hope is very slim, he thought for a moment, and added affirmatively. "However, according to the situation in all aspects, it will be very soon, the Imperial Army has been quiet for a while now, and there have been many fewer reconnaissance and patrol operations, anyway, I don't think this is a good sign, I think this is often a precursor to a storm, although the specific time is not clear, I estimate that it should not be more than a week or two."

"No, how fast?" Major Thule said puzzledly, "Didn't you say last time that it would take at least three months for the Imperial Army to complete its preparations?" ”

"It's normal." Sonia calmly analyzed, "The speed of the Imperial army's build-up is much faster than we originally thought, not only the warships transferred back from the Federation front, but also many supply ships and support ships, in addition to the Imperial requisitioned some civilian ships, these auxiliary ships have played a great role in helping the Imperial Army to complete the preparation for the attack as soon as possible, and this was not taken into account when it was estimated that it would take at least three months of preparation time last time." ”

"Later, after learning through internal intelligence that the empire was mobilizing logistics ships everywhere, we realized this omission, as far as I know, the headquarters also considered sending our fleet and the seventh fleet to quietly penetrate into the rear of the empire to destroy the enemy's efforts, but first, it was too late in time, and when we completed preparations to enter the rear control area of the empire, it is estimated that the imperial army has almost completed the preparation for the attack, and second, after the imperial army shrinks the defense line and transfers the fleet back from the federal front, The lack of mobile forces has been greatly alleviated, and the control of the rear star field has also been tighter, and the two lone armies have gone deep into the Empire-controlled area, taking great risks, but they may not be very effective, so they gave up and instead urged all units to prepare for the invasion of the Imperial Army, and the construction speed of the Sweeper was suddenly accelerated. Yao added a few words and explained further.

"No wonder, I'll just say, why the evacuation of Newport News that was originally arranged was stopped, and all the resources and manpower were put into the crazy construction, it turned out to be like this, it's a race against time."

"Of course, the hull, which has been built for the most part and is eighty or ninety percent complete, will not arrive if the Imperial Army arrives

, That's really embarrassing, although you can use a space tug to tow away the towing speed together, it will drag down the entire evacuation fleet, don't forget that the Archangel was towed to the Siberian galaxy for two months, under the pursuit of the Imperial fleet, if you don't get it right, the entire fleet will lose it, but it's a pity to abandon it, the alliance only has a few space carriers, and the timely completion can not only reduce a drag, but also add a boost to our next anti-clearance operation, why not? Risen said.

"It's true, it's not dragging, it's not throwing, but fortunately, it's completed in time, and this problem is not a problem, hehehe" His friend suddenly didn't know what to think, and laughed very obscenely.

"Laughing at what? Look at the look on your face."

"Nothing," Schneier said with a smile, "I just thought about what Admiral Alfred and his Ninth Fleet would do if the Sweeper wasn't finished in time?" ”

The people around Poof, who couldn't help but laugh, even Sonia, who had always been more serious, thought it was a little funny: the Ninth Fleet had the Sweeper as the core of the fleet, and the fleet had not yet been officially established, and the mothership was gone, so what should be done with the escort ships and carrier-based aircraft arranged in advance? General Alfred, who had just taken office, must have had an ugly face

Just as they were about to start making their guesses, Lieutenant Edita's voice interrupted them at an inopportune time.

"Captain, there's your communication, from headquarters."

"Displayed on the screen." Yao nodded, and the others also stopped discussing, and the discussion on the bridge stopped for a while.

On the big screen in front of them, the lively scene of the launching ceremony disappeared, and a young Confederate officer appeared in the center of the screen, everyone knew that this was Lady Almeda's aide-de-camp, Lieutenant Wynddy, who had led the way when they had last accepted the award.

"Hello, Captain Yao, long time no see." He glanced around, "Lieutenant Colonel Nigaul is also there, that's great." ”

"Lieutenant, it's a pleasure to meet you. Mrs. Elmeida is okay. The girl said politely.

"Thank you for your concern, ma'am," the lieutenant shook his head, "and not so well. ”

"What's going on?"

"I'm sure you're also watching the launching ceremony, and Madame is glad that another space carrier has been built; However, the news just received made Mrs. unhappy. ”

"Just got the message?"

"Yes, the unmanned monitors deployed in front sent back a message, and the Empire's invasion has begun."

"Started? So fast? How many troops is the Imperial Invasion Fleet? Which star field to start with? Where is the progress so far? Has the intelligence been verified? The girl couldn't help but glance at Risson, they were still discussing this issue just now, she also remembered that Risen said that the invasion was very fast, and in just one or two weeks, Risen was estimated to be faster than the Alliance Headquarters expected, but she didn't expect the empire to move faster than Rysson expected.

"The intelligence is being verified, but it shouldn't be wrong, because almost at the same time, we received reports from three different monitoring stations, the invasion of the empire is currently found to be starting from the XY-domain, the XY-442 star field, and the Kunlun galaxy, if it can only be a false alarm, it will not happen to receive three invasion alarms almost at the same time, that can only mean that this is a coordinated invasion operation, the current invasion force is not yet, but it should be large, from the current back to the image, The Empire's space carriers and a large number of Super Banshee starfighters can be clearly seen. Lady Elmeda intends to convene a military meeting at Planet Four Alliance headquarters at eleven o'clock, asking for you and Lieutenant Colonel Nigaul to attend, and I'm sure there will be more reports on the progress of the Imperial fleet before you arrive. ”

"Eleven?" "I understand that Lieutenant Colonel Nigaul and I will be on time," the girl said. ”

"Hmm." Lieutenant Wynddy nodded, looking at Risen expectantly, "It's up to you to get through this time, Captain, Lieutenant Commander." ”

"Wynddy, over."

The communication was turned off, and the people on the bridge looked at me, I looked at you, looking at each other, although the invasion of the Imperial Army was expected for a long time, but when the invasion of the enemy army really came, they still felt a heavy pressure and indescribable tension.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the Sweeper Fast Space Carrier has finally set sail, which is a testament to the wisdom and luck of the Alliance's previous decision to halt the superyard's evacuation preparations and build the Sweeper space carrier in full force, and if this decision had been made a little later, it would have been too late.