Counterfeit Hero

With a loud ”bang,” the enraged Brenridge kicked over a chair. Seeing his anger, Maeda Youta quickly gestured for his aide to switch to the control room scene of the Battleship Cardov.

Brenridge, like a trapped beast, paced back and forth on the command deck. He couldn’t remember how many times he had seen the same scene. The Oborai, Princess Daisi, Sunset Glow, Admiral Cardov... The same situation was happening at every corner, in every view on the battlefield!

In just over ten minutes, the A1 Fleet had already lost fourteen warships, including two battleships!

Now, in the diagonal front of the Suss Battleship Main Formation, two clusters of Chuckna Battleships were charging like lightning! The Suss Battleship Main Formation had almost turned its helm for 1500 marks but still couldn’t stop their advance. The main guns fired in volleys, but they either evaded the Chuckna warships or escaped the attack angle; when we finally managed to lock onto them, the outer circle of the Suss Cruiser and Destroyer swarm blocked the shot...

The most frustrating part was these Chuckna cruisers and destroyers divided into more than a dozen different-sized clusters, with two battleships mixed in!

Brenridge clutched the railing of the command deck tightly, his mind turned dizzy—these guys are like a group of cunning foxes. They always find a way to scatter the A1 Fleet’s cruiser and destroyer clusters; they always find a way to roam freely in the ever-changing battlefield center; they always find a way to launch stealth attacks mysteriously; they always find a way to fight and escape unharmed!

He never imagined that since the dispersion of the Chuckna Battleship Main Formation and the retreat of the Suss aircraft carrier, the situation would be described as plummeting. In just ten minutes, the Chuckna Fleet, with a full-scale attack, dealt the Suss Fleet a crushing defeat of fourteen to zero!

Initially, the Suss Fleet faced the bold and powerful assault of the Chuckna Fleet and could barely hold on. Though the Chuckna people were desperate, their warships more advanced, they had suffered heavy losses before the battle. No matter how formidable their combat power, they couldn’t collapse the A1 Fleet in a short time.

Therefore, when he saw the Chuckna trying to use the pick and roll tactics to escape the dilemma of being caught between the front and rear, he immediately ordered the mothership’s retreat—the A1 Fleet now needed to try to squeeze the Chuckna Fleet into a position convenient for the A2 Fleet to launch an attack.

As the aircraft carrier retreated, the Suss Space Fighters naturally withdrew from the central battlefield’s massacre. Unexpectedly, precisely this order broke the previously stalemated situation.

The first thing that shocked Brenridge was a battle in the D16 space.

In that short battle, three Suss cruisers on the main formation’s flank as escort formations faced six waves of attacks from Chuckna warship clusters—six waves of attacks, completed by six different clusters, and within three minutes, the surrounded three cruisers turned into wreakage. When the last cruiser exploded, that space was already empty, and the attacking Chuckna warship clusters had long vanished without a trace!

At that time, Brenridge’s mind went blank, unable to conceive what kind of meticulous plan and seamless cooperation was required to execute such a rapid alternating attack.

From that moment on, the Chuckna cruiser and destroyer clusters seemed to have transformed into a completely different team.

They divided into ten different-sized formations, orbiting back and forth within the Suss Fleet. Some were responsible for enticing the enemy, while others took charge of the attack. Their movements were swift, their cooperation maddeningly seamless, and the choices of flight paths and speed were astoundingly precise. They never lingered in battle, always retreating quickly after a round of bombardment. Naturally, some provided cover for them or launched a second round of assault.

They changed their previous bold and powerful tactical style, becoming as sly as little fish by the side of a pond. Every time your hand reached out to close your fingers, they had already flicked their tails and darted out of your grasp.

”This isn’t Zhang Pengcheng commanding!” Brenridge bit his lip and clenched the railing tightly, his knuckles pale from exertion. Although he looked at the massive control room below, his gaze was unfocused. A sense of dangerous foreboding grew within him: ”The command must have changed to someone else, someone even more skilled than Zhang Pengcheng! It must be!”

”Who could it be?” Staring blankly at the central control panel screen, Maeda Youta was drenched in sweat. This tactic, he hadn’t even imagined, much less seen!

Judging from several battles, to claim that the coordinated attacks among the opposing warship clusters were all coincidences—the result of the individual clusters’ own coordination—even a fool wouldn’t believe it! The opposing commander’s skills weren’t just extremely adept; their control over tactical implementation and tactical linkage was also exceedingly meticulous and thorough, impeccably flawless! The overall command displayed a masterful ability to consolidate and deadly precision like an unsheathed knife!

Commanding a smaller battle is one thing, but the opponent managed to simultaneously control more than ten warship clusters for coordinated cross-collaboration combat! This level of skill demands immense simulation capabilities, vast experience, and the capacity to process vast amounts of intelligence simultaneously!

Maeda Youta didn’t know it was the result of collaboration between two people. In his mind, only one thought was flashing repeatedly: ”Am I facing a Great General?!”

It had to be a Great General! Just a hundred average commanders, even genius young commanders, couldn’t produce such results! In combat command, one plus one absolutely doesn’t equal two; sometimes it’s even less than two due to differing ideas and opinions.

”General!”, the voice of the Operations Coordinator resounded in the communication channel: ”Our first, fourth Fighter Wings have already approached the enemy battlefleet’s left-wing cluster, and the second, third Wings have approached the enemy battlefleet’s right-wing cluster. The attack coordination is complete, ready to launch an assault!”

”Have you discovered any fighter escort for the enemy battlefleet clusters?” Maeda Youta asked.

”No!”

”General, six enemy fighter wings appeared in the A16 space, less than two thousand kilometers from the battlefield center, turning into the G12 channel, likely heading towards the Central Battlefield!”

”Initiate attack; at least hold up their battlefleet clusters!” Maeda Youta ordered.

”Wait!” Brenridge suddenly raised his head, stopped Maeda Youta’s orders, and shouted loudly: ”Order the Fighter Wings to turn back immediately. Deploy all fighters from the mothership, call off the battleship main formation from suppressing enemy battleships’ fire, and immediately have everyone return to circular distribution in the S21 space! Prepare to meet the enemy!”

”Meet the enemy?” Maeda Youta looked at Brenridge in shock.

Brenridge’s complexion alternated between blue and white as he explained: ”This is a dual-tactic plan. Besides flanking maneuvers, they’re........”

Reaching this point, Brenridge was gritting his teeth, eyes fierce: ”......trying to capture our aircraft carrier!”

”Capture our aircraft carrier?” Maeda Youta quickly switched the battlefield situation map, rotating the three-dimensional interstellar map around and around, finally hesitantly pointing to the newly marked Chuckna Fighter Formation moving towards the battlefield center in the G12 channel on the map: ”Do you mean them...”

”Yes!” Brenridge replied decisively: ”Starting with flanking maneuvers, using cruiser and destroyer clusters’ slaughter tactics to hold up our warships, using battleship clusters’ flanking movements to attract our fighters, then exploiting the distance between our aircraft carrier, battleship main formation, and other warship clusters to launch piercing strikes with six fighter wings! Wow! Impressive!”

Listening to Brenridge’s analysis, Maeda Youta carefully observed the three-dimensional situation map. As he watched, his expression changed, subconsciously gasping, urgently said: ”Sir, what should we do now...”

”As long as our fighter wings haven’t launched the offensive, there’s still time!” Brenridge quickly moved to sit in his command chair, skillfully pressing his thumbs against his knuckles, making a crisp sound: ”No matter who the opponent is, since I’ve seen through them, they’d better be ready to pay the price!”

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.This chapter is four thousand words, making up one thousand of the missing three thousand words I owed. Tomorrow I’m taking my wife and kids to see my elderly mother, likely won’t update during the day, still owe three thousand words, a total of four thousand words. If writing goes smoothly, I’ll catch up; if not... I’ll keep owing them. Bite me if you want.

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(To be continued. For more details on upcoming events, please visit www.qidian.com, supporting the author and enjoying legitimate reading!)