Text: Two Hundred and Seven, the Missing Imperial Fleet

An Allied space shuttle left Planet Four in the Siberian system, rising higher and higher, and speeding towards the dark depths of space, where a giant ship was waiting for its return.

Since the fleet had been notified in advance on the way home, as soon as Yao and Ruissen left the space shuttle, they saw a large group of people who came to greet them, and without too much noise and clichés, they walked directly to the conference room on the ship......

"Something went wrong, a serious problem." At the internal military meeting of the Fifth Independent Mobile Fleet, facing the captains, wing leaders, squadron leaders, and commando leaders of an entire cabin, as well as the heads of various departments, Fei Lun and Ruisen, who had just returned from attending the military meeting held on the fourth planet, had solemn, grim faces, and a trace of worry.

Looking at the confused and puzzled expressions of everyone in the audience, Yao immediately explained, "I think everyone already knows that at present, in three directions, the XY-561 star field galaxy, the invasion of the imperial fleet has been discovered, which has long been expected by us, and the staff department has also made a response plan for the imperial invasion before, so it is not worth making a fuss, but near the end of the meeting, we received an urgent information from the agents lurking inside the empire, and the intelligence stated, The Empire's attack fleet on the Siberian system is divided into four task forces......"

"Four fleets?" This sentence broke the silence of the conference room, and there was an immediate commotion in the crowd. People whispered to each other and talked a lot.

If there is no mistake in the intelligence, it is indeed four imperial invasion fleets, but the alliance's widely distributed monitoring system has only found three, four minus three equals one, this is an arithmetic problem that can be done by first-year elementary school students, and it is impossible for anyone here to miscalculate such a simple arithmetic addition and subtraction, so where is the fourth imperial fleet?

"That's right. You're right. And what about the fourth Imperial fleet? There's no way they're going to disappear into thin air, are they? Since it hasn't gone away? So where is it now? Yao hit the nail on the head with this poignant question.

"This ...... Could it be that our intelligence system is at fault? There are actually only three Imperial invasion fleets? Captain Turner guessed.

"It's possible. But it's unlikely," Major Tule, who came from the intelligence department, immediately shook his head and denied, "such important information has been transmitted urgently, and although the possibility of a mistake is not impossible, I prefer to believe that our monitoring system did not detect this fourth imperial invasion fleet." ”

"However, we have placed new types of unmanned cameras at each of the demarcation points with the Empire's controlled star fields, and we have found the evidence of three Imperial invasion fleets one after another. Our unmanned monitors are working well, if there is a fourth Imperial invasion fleet, it is unlikely that they will escape our surveillance network, even if they can evade one or two monitors once in a while, it is impossible to evade all the monitors we have planted, we should be able to receive a fourth intrusion alert, but there is no ...... right now"

"It's not impossible, I remember. This fleet has quietly entered the Empire's control star field many times. And completely un.......detected by the numerous unmanned monitors laid by the Empire," retorted one squadron leader unconvinced.

"That's thanks to the incompleteness of the imperial monitoring network, our army's familiarity with the environment, and Lieutenant Colonel Yao's superb command ability." Major Wilson glanced at the girl sitting above, "We know many secret routes and space jump points that the Empire doesn't know, but it's the same way. The Empire has been in this cluster for years, and it's no surprise that they also have some secret routes and jump points that we don't know about. ”

"However, the map of the Imperial system we captured does not show ......"

"It's all said to be a secret, how can it be represented on the public star map?"

"Could it be that the Empire has some other way to preemptively destroy our unmanned monitors? So you can't send the alert back? ”

"If that's the case, why are the other three Imperial fleets so easily spotted by us? Wouldn't it be better if all four fleets were raiding Siberia without us detecting it? ”

"Quiet, everyone, stop guessing." Risen couldn't help but interrupt people's arguments, "We can't say exactly what kind of situation it is now, either there is a hole in our monitoring system, or there is a mistake in our intelligence system, but these are not our concerns at the moment, the headache should be our intelligence department, they are trying their best to find the problem, and we, should think about what to do now." ”

"What are the current plans of the Alliance Headquarters?" Sonia asked calmly.

"The headquarters is verifying the relevant information, and is currently asking our agents within the empire through special channels to confirm the accuracy of the information, but it will take some time, and at the same time, what is more important than verifying the accuracy of this information is to find out if there is a fourth imperial invasion fleet, the general staff, that we have not discovered

The location of the three imperial invasion fleets that have been discovered so far, the invasion orientation of the four fleets has been tried, and the various military units, bases, and space stations in front have strengthened and expanded the reconnaissance and patrol of their respective areas of responsibility, especially the various star fields leading to the Siberian galaxy, which are the focus of monitoring, and as you know, some time ago, for the construction of the space carrier Sweeper, the evacuation preparations for the Newport News Super Shipyard were stopped, and Mrs. Almeida and many institutions in the Alliance headquarters were not evacuated, The full evacuation work has just begun, except for the fleet that is still in the Siberian galaxy for defense, the other fleets are in other star fields, and the Ninth Fleet has just been formed, at this time, if an Imperial fleet suddenly intrudes into the system without us noticing, the consequences will be unimaginable. Yao replied.

"In fact, all of this work, in the final analysis, is one goal, to complete the comprehensive evacuation from the Siberian system, we must rush to evacuate as many personnel, materials, equipment, ships, etc. as possible from this system before the arrival of the Imperial fleet, for this reason, we need time, and the other fleets have been ordered to use the characteristics of the core of the fleet, the fast space carrier, to carry out non-stop harassment and attack on the Imperial invasion fleet, trying to slow down and delay the speed of the Imperial fleet, and contain the enemy, Delay their arrival in the Siberian system, the later the enemy fleet arrives in Siberia, the more we will be able to evacuate the system with more supplies and equipment. Risen added.

"Well, Fei Ren...... And what about our fleet? What are the assignments? Do you also participate in the harassment crackdown? Hua Yun asked with a stammer, his words to the hearts of most people, the Fifth Fleet has been defending and recuperating in the Siberian galaxy for several months since the attack on the Pearl Harbor base.

"No," the girl, of course, understood what most people were expecting, and she just smiled, "We continue to carry out defensive missions in the Siberian system and cover the evacuation of the Alliance headquarters and the Newport News Superyard. ”

"Why? Wouldn't it be nice to leave these tasks to the Ninth and Fourth Fleets? They have just been formed, and there are many new pilots, so it is time to start with the simple and easy tasks of defense and cover evacuation, and the problem of fighting the Imperial fleet is still left to us experienced veterans. The war maniac vented his grumbling with dissatisfaction.

"Simple? Relaxed? Sonia's voice was not loud, but there was a strong question in her flat voice, "Simple and easy is only for the situation in the previous stage, if the fourth invasion fleet of the empire really exists and breaks into the Siberian galaxy without us being able to detect it in time, just with the Archangel a space carrier, in a situation of surprise, facing an enemy that may be several times our size, do you still think it is simple and easy?" ”

"Hmm...... Uh......" Hua Yunlong squeaked twice and reluctantly said, "We shouldn't even be able to find such a huge enemy fleet." ”

"No, Yunlong, the statement 'should not' is problematic in itself, with a lot of uncertainty and luck." Yao shook his head, "The defense and cover mission is not very inconspicuous at first glance, but when you think of the consequences you will have to bear if the mission fails, you won't think it's very simple, although the Ninth Fleet with the Sweeper as the core and the Fourth Fleet with the Victor as the core have just been formed, but General Alfred, who led the unified operation of these two fleets, was originally the air captain of the Seventh Fleet, and he has rich experience in this kind of operation, and he knows how to use the rapidity of our space carrier to attack and contain the Imperial fleet, in this kind of operation." , they can choose where and when to launch attacks and harassment, even if they can't fight, the situation is unfavorable, they can also retreat, they can withstand defeat. But this task of defense and cover is different, in case of encountering the Imperial fleet, we will bear the brunt of the brunt, this is a tough battle, we cannot afford to lose, and it is impossible to retreat before the other ships evacuate, once we fail to complete the task, the headquarters of the Resistance Alliance, Lady Elmeda, as well as many transport ships, large cargo ships and a large number of supplies and equipment on board, will be destroyed in one fell swoop, such a heavy burden and pressure, for the young novices of the two newly formed fleets, it is really too reluctant. And the headquarters entrusted us with this task, which is also a trust in our fleet, after all, the Archangel is the most powerful space carrier in the alliance. ”

"Or do you have a point, so what are we going to do now?"

"It is not our duty to find out the accuracy of the intelligence and find out as soon as possible whether there is a fourth Imperial invasion fleet, our duty is to ensure the safety of the retreat, although the Imperial fleet may not come suddenly, but we still have to be prepared, just in case, from now on, except for the shift personnel, all personnel are in place, remain vigilant, this fleet will enter a twenty-four hour continuous yellow alert state." Yao stood up and said loudly and categorically