273: Chapter 271 Why do we keep getting bombed?

At this moment, the Imperial Navy was in a very awkward position.

"Boom!"

Another loud explosion echoed in Roy's ears.

Anyone who had been to space knew that without a medium, sound could not travel.

In other words, the fact that he heard this explosion meant his Warship had taken another direct hit from—no, a volley of—plasma bolts.

"Report, sir! Sector C has been hit! External armor melt-through has reached 75%!!!"

Before the echoes of the explosion had even faded, a member of the damage control monitoring team reported the damage loudly. Roy nodded with a heavy expression and turned to the defense system console, asking:

"How much longer until the Shield system can reboot?"

After checking the equipment status, several staff members at the console replied with regretful expressions:

"Report, sir! It's not possible yet."

"Too many secondary reactors have melted down. Forget the Shield system; if we don't divert power from the main propulsion system's void energy fission device right now, we won't even be able to maintain the active defense and life support systems."

"Furthermore, the Shield's cooling system is severely damaged, and the recovery time is unknown. However, the damage control team is currently putting in their full effort to repair it."

"Full effort? What the hell do you mean by full effort?"

Hearing the phrase 'full effort,' Roy immediately lashed out at them.

"Full effort? What did you guarantee three hours ago? That the Shield system would reboot within thirty minutes! How long has it been now? Three hours!"

"Tell me! What exactly is the damage control department doing? Is it that hard to replace the cores of the secondary reactors? Is it that hard to repair a cooling system!!!"

"Answer me! What have you been doing for the last three hours!!!"

For three hours, his beloved ship had been using its external armor to tank a relentless bombardment from a Swarm of bugs.

One had to realize that the armor plating on a relic Warship like this was a non-renewable resource—once it was gone, it was gone!

Following Roy's roar, the atmosphere on the Bridge turned even more somber. The officers looked at one another in silence.

Finally, the Head of Damage Control looked around, and seeing that no one else was going to speak, he reluctantly stepped forward and answered:

"Uh... Sir, please don't be angry. The thirty-minute estimate was a faulty deduction based on past experience."

"The severity of the damage is far worse than we anticipated."

"The information the Bridge received was that the reactors melted down, but when the damage control crew inspected them on-site, they found that at least half of them had suffered sympathetic detonations."

"..."

Roy was silent for a moment before speaking:

"Is there a difference?"

"Yes. One just has a burnt-through inner wall and can be repaired. The other..."

"I'm not asking about that kind of difference, damn it."

The Head of Damage Control immediately shut his mouth.

"I am ordering you now: have the Shield system ready to reboot within thirty minutes. Understood?"

"Sir, that's too difficult..."

"That is an order!"

"Boom!!!!"

Just as Roy finished saying "That is an order," another loud explosion occurred. This time, it was accompanied by the teeth-grinding sound of twisting metal and a palpable shudder beneath their feet.

The Head of Damage Control flinched, immediately snapped to attention, shouted "Yes, sir!" and ran back to his station.

Immediately, the damage report rang out again:

"Report! Sector D's connection zone has been hit! External armor melt-through! Localized minor correctable deformation in the core tube!"

"Breach in Sector D's airlock! Foreign object intrusion alarm! More bugs have crawled inside!"

Listening to the frustrating report, Roy cursed under his breath, "Dammit!" He then immediately opened the microphone, connected to the command channel, and barked orders:

"Seal the damaged airlock! Deploy additional Marines to Sector D! Just in case!"

Taking a breath, Roy slowly sat back down in his captain's command chair.

He pinched the Bridge of his nose and massaged his temples until he finally calmed down.

Looking at the small black things flying around outside the window, only one thought remained in his mind:

Which damn high-ranking official at the Military Department's general meeting concluded that 'the void arthropod population in Cetus V66.66 is under complete Imperial control and no accidents will occur'?

Then how the hell did these bugs get out!

No one could answer him. Only the bursts of fire lighting up outside the window told him that the conclusion was an absolute joke.

And he, along with his fleet, was a joke that had been lied to from beginning to end—

The flagship beneath Roy's feet was, regardless of its state, a relic Warship left over from the Third Epoch.

Compared to the battered but non-fatal condition of the relic Warship, the other ships in the Imperial Navy fleet were truly suffering.

Small Warships like frigates and destroyers had basically been reduced to scrap under the bombardment of plasma globs from Shelling Bugs and large groups of small bugs acting as living torpedoes.

Slightly larger cruisers, battlecruisers, and even Battleships were mostly just struggling to survive.

While the Imperial fleet's numbers continued to dwindle, those bugs were still pouring out from nowhere in an endless, overwhelming tide.

And that wasn't even the most terrifying part—

The scariest thing was that Roy could see standard Imperial Navy textbook tactics being used by those bugs: encirclement and division, large-scale fire coverage, and massed assaults!

"We can't go on like this..."

Watching the status lights of ship after ship go dark, Roy clenched his fists. He looked at the Head of Damage Control shouting for more manpower and then at the ship's health monitor, which had already turned yellow. He steeled his heart.

They had to break through!

They must break through!

If they didn't, they would die!

Although he didn't know why those bugs could use such standard Imperial Navy textbook tactics, he knew that if they really followed the book, their next step would definitely be to close the encirclement and focus their fire on the flagship—

By then, it would truly be over.

Without any hesitation, he immediately stood up:

"Chief of Staff, summarize the current status of the fleet. How many ships are still combat-capable and can join the formation within five minutes?"

"The Swarm's next move will likely be a pincer attack from behind!"

"We must break out!"

"Move, move, move!"

...

(No more tonight, more tomorrow)