Counterfeit Hero

”Claudia!”

Douglas looked at the virtual screen in pain.

The 19A1 Fleet, it’s over!

From the start of the first phase of combat, this fleet has been tasked with the most daunting missions. When other fleets were maneuvering to outflank, it was them who blocked the fierce and powerful enemy head-on. When other fleets retreated, it was also them who held up the enemy’s main forces at the final moment.

Douglas didn’t want to use the 19A1 Fleet that way. Even if every soldier in this fleet were made of iron, they couldn’t withstand it. Moreover, Claudia’s ”Mermaid”, was part of the First Fleet.

But he had no choice but to assign the toughest tasks to this fleet time and again.

Who ranked them first in the Nineteen Group Fleet, who deemed them the most reliable, the most reassuring combat force! Without them, how could they withstand the attacks from the Hanfrey Fleet?!

Previously, two-thirds of the 19A1 Fleet’s battleships have permanently remained on the route from the First Battle Zone to here. And now, the remaining third has been cut off by the rapidly encircling Hanfrey Fleet.

In that asteroid belt, which was nearly transparent at a glance, there were no more comrades. A dozen remaining battleships were shrinking into a circular defensive formation, struggling to hold on. Countless Energy Cannons were hitting their energy shields. Countless fighters were tearing at their formation.

The rest of the Nineteen Group Fleet’s battleships could only watch from afar.

”General Douglas!” Chief of Staff Pang Mingjian’s lips trembled slightly. He was aware of Claudia and Douglas’s relationship and didn’t want to disturb him at this time, but...

”Do we... need to order the fleet to turn?!”

It was a cruel question. Pang Mingjian himself felt his question was somewhat redundant. Now, the fleet had finally escaped Hanfrey Fleet’s pursuit under the cover of the 19A1 Fleet. They should maintain the course, utilizing the bit of time and space gained by the 19A1 Fleet to use the Jump Channel to leave here. Instead of following that damned Fatty’s plan to turn the fleet and attack the Hanfrey Fleet!

”Turn...” Douglas murmured the word listlessly, his lips bruised, eyes filled with red strands.

Until now, he couldn’t see any ambush the Fatty might have laid in that asteroid belt he had placed much hope in! Not only in the belt, but also in the surrounding area with a diameter of two hundred thousand kilometers, there was none!

Initially, he might have been half-convinced, but now, he had completely lost hope.

Could there possibly be a Jump Channel here that no one knows about? Could that Fatty lead a fleet at jump speed to directly crash into the asteroid belt and attack Hanfrey’s flagship?! Apart from watching the 19A1 Fleet perish, apart from leading the remaining battleships away from this route and abandoning the Longbow Star System, what choice do I have?!

Retreating to the vicinity of the ”Athena” aircraft carrier, the Feiyang Battleships slowly gathered, automatically forming a rallying formation.

On every battleship, except for the navigator’s data check and navigation commands, there was no other sound. The Feiyang Soldiers, like their commanders, looked sorrowfully at that dazzling expanse of space, slowly removing their hats.

That light is the light of death, it is the comrades left behind, using their lives to play the last battle song.

After fighting for more than a hundred hours, giving all their strength, they still lost in the end! Such an ending was unbearable for everyone.

The loneliness endured during the two-month long lurking, the sweat from rigorous training, all became futile. The nearly flawless raid on Blue Stone Star ultimately failed to achieve the strategic objective! The time left for the Nineteen Group Fleet was too short, they couldn’t even manage to properly take control of the Longbow Star System, not to mention completing supply and repair.

Everyone exerted their utmost effort. Every minute and second of those over one hundred hours was spent in fierce combat.

Interception, strangulation, division, counter-charge, ambush, raid, encirclement, counter-encirclement... Those who have not personally experienced it cannot imagine how brutal the combat was in those one hundred plus hours. Each crew member on duty during the rounds of battle was soaked in sweat when leaving their posts, even in the shadow of death, even under countless Energy Cannon attacks. Exhausted, they could collapse on their beds, losing consciousness.

But this time, Lady Luck didn’t favor Feiyang. She supplanted a perfect raid with an uneven battle occurring at the wrong time and place.

Everything was destined the moment Hanfrey Fleet arrived.

On the long-range viewer screen, yet another white flash appeared suddenly and brightly. This dazzling light mass engulfed all surrounding battleships’ figures, expanding outwards in all directions. Finally, after leaving a ray of light for the distant asteroid, it contracted and disappeared — that was the ”Jacob” Battleship. It was a ten-year service ship, having participated in many regional conflicts and it was a celebrated veteran ship.

And now, it disappeared forever.

Sorrow permeated the fleet. The dim light fell on the warriors gathered in corridors and cabins, casting ghostly shadows.