Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 100-101 - Mobile! (Fourth Update)
The internal structure of the "Cramprinz" is completely different from that of modern warships, and it follows the ancient Theonis design concept.

The entire warship, including the core bridge, has no transparent steel viewing windows.

Deep inside the driver's cab, there is a world of holographic projectors, drawing boards, external camera feeds, and displays from faster-than-light sensors.

These devices hummed continuously, their screens flickered incessantly, and a deluge of information flooded in like a tidal wave.

Diedrich stood in the center, painstakingly piecing together the constantly updated data streams into a clear battlefield picture in his mind.

His brows were furrowed, his gaze fixed on the insignia representing the enemy's main force.

The Republic fleet is leaping out of hyperspace in groups of hundreds at a time, clearly arriving in batches as battle groups.

This choice is a strategy made based entirely on the actual situation.

While sacrificing the element of surprise, this allowed the fleet to deploy more systematically. More importantly, the subsequent warships that warped over time would be obscured by the massive energy disturbances created by the vanguard, interfering with the separatists' scanners and making it difficult for them to accurately determine the number of ships arriving later.

Diedrich immediately recognized that this was a very standard tactic.

They do it themselves all the time.

At this moment, the battle formation, cobbled together by the combined defense fleet and other Confederate forces, stood ready for battle.

Approximately two thousand warships were arranged in a tight five-layered formation, a crude imitation of the structure of water molecules.

Or rather, it lacks the robustness that a truly solid defense system should possess, rather than the robust covalent network structure of graphite that a combat formation should emulate.

One embarrassing fact for Diedrich was that the combined defensive fleet's warships were clearly the weakest link in this defensive line.

To compensate for the lack of experience and technology, Commander Carly Trilm proposed a compromise.

These relatively unfamiliar warships were dispersed and assigned to experienced Confederate combat squadrons.

This has two advantages.

First, we must avoid being targeted by the Republic for a concentrated breakthrough on this obvious "weak point".

Secondly, this mixed formation itself is more in line with the true purpose of their special formation at this moment.

This purpose is truly unbelievable.

All this was done to conceal a super "cannon" unlike anything ever seen in the Milky Way.

Three giant Field Safe Container Ships (FSCVs) are silently weaving through the gaps at the edge of the fleet formation.

Every so often, they release one of the thirty huge containers.

Small tugboats that had been waiting for a long time immediately stepped forward and carefully guided these behemoths.

Each container, half a kilometer in diameter, is crammed with fragments of asteroids scavenged from all over the Kolumex system, ranging in number from one hundred to over a thousand.

One of the containers contained a large item known as "Victoria Louise".

This is an asteroid with a volume of 47 million cubic meters and a mass of over 140 million tons.

In order to squeeze it into the shipping container, the engineers went to great lengths to roughly shape it into a sphere.

Diedrich had to admit that the Ondrun man who came up with the idea was indeed a genius.

Bold, crazy, and astonishing.

Putting aside the infamous history of that jungle planet, the fact that their greatest enemy is their own satellite is enough to prove their unique expertise in the field of "unconventional warfare".

Perhaps only someone who has spent their entire life battling the "Devil's Moon" would think of using asteroids as cannonballs.

Diedrich sighed inwardly.

The Republic's progress was made with unusual caution.

Diedrich studied the records of the Battle of Centares in depth and noticed a huge change in the behavior of the opposing commander.

Now, the main forces of both fleets have almost been exposed.

At least that's how it looks on the surface.

Caution has become the dominant strategy at present.

"We expect to reach interception range in half an hour, and the time is rapidly decreasing!" a tense shout came from the communications unit. "The enemy's acceleration is increasing dramatically!"

Diedrich leaned slightly forward, his elbow resting on the edge of a control panel, his fingers hovering in the air to avoid accidentally touching the dense array of instruments below.

His gaze swept across a scanning screen under an acrylic shield and saw the Kolmex-based battleship "Hexenconig" anxiously trying to overtake a much smaller Allied frigate.

That powerful warship was like an untamed wild horse, eager to rush to the battlefield and prove itself.

Khabarovsk II!

Diedrich quickly confirmed the name of the brave frigate in the ship roster.

Despite being only two hundred meters long, it stood firmly in front of the one-kilometer-long "Hexenconig," attempting to force it to calm down.

Diedrich gritted his teeth; his almost reckless courage was truly moving.

He silently made a mental note that he would definitely commend this frigate after the war.

On the other side of the battle map, the Republic's offensive formation gradually became clear.

The surging battleship cluster began to expand outward, splitting into three standard attack formations.

In the center was the "Longspear Fleet" of five hundred warships, flanked by the "Iron Blade Fleet" and the "White Breastplate Fleet," each with approximately one thousand ships. All of this perfectly confirmed Hathor's earlier battle analysis report.

"What is the effective range of our 'shells'?" Diederich raised his voice and asked, "How many are there?"

His first mate quickly replied, "Including 'Victoria Louise,' we have a total of ninety 'shells.' Excluding her, that leaves eighty-nine... Theoretically, the test firing range can reach ten million kilometers, but the truly effective strike range is probably only half that, around five million kilometers."

The rear admiral nodded slowly.

Eighty-nine precious "shells" mean that each one is extremely valuable.

Moreover, the force responsible for propelling these containers was a hastily assembled mixed fleet.

The requisitioned cargo ships, bulk carriers, and some dreadnoughts and battleships.

This means that the propulsion parameters and performance of each container are different, making it full of variables.

Diedrich glanced at the integrated timer, his mind racing to calculate the time required to issue the order and for the fleet to adjust to its final attack position.

Given the Republic fleet's ever-increasing acceleration, there is probably less than a ten-minute window of opportunity.

He used this brief break to check the communication status updates sent by Admiral Tony of the Confederate First Fleet and Admiral Trench of the Fourth Fleet.

He prayed silently that they would keep their promise, though such prayers seemed so powerless in the midst of a brutal war.

If they can't get there in time...

The plan is to rely on the planetary defense turrets of Kolumex to hold out for at least half a local day, waiting for the turrets to complete their final adjustments and recharge.

If even this can't be done...

Then the planet Kolumex itself will become the final battleground.

This planet is as wealthy as Laxus II and is the core hub of the Peremian trade routes. Its surface is dotted with bustling towns and cities, and it is home to billions of people.

At this moment, the landing site on the planet is being reinforced, civilians are being urgently conscripted, and the military is also assembling.

They will never surrender easily.

But deep down, he desperately hoped that the war would never reach the planet's surface.

"'Crying Sun' order! Adopt the Hydra formation! Execute immediately!" The communications officer ripped off his headset, practically jumping up, his gaze anxiously sweeping across the bridge before finally settling on Diedrich.

"Flanking propulsion platform!" Diedrich said without hesitation, his voice firm and decisive. "Execute the maneuver command package immediately! Quickly!"

The massive hull of the "Crumplinz" emitted a deep rumble, and its mirrored armor plating trembled slightly, like the breathing of a giant beast.

The warship maneuvered nimbly upwards, its thruster nozzles spewing out blue exhaust plumes to adjust its attitude.

Diedrich carefully controlled the thrust, trying to avoid colliding with friendly ships above while also not blocking the path of ships below.

He stared intently at the ticking seconds on the timer, a bead of sweat silently sliding down his forehead.

Every second of delay in the fleet's repositioning gave the Republic's fleet one more second to discover those hidden dangers.

Those asteroid containers, suspended in the array, without their own thrusters, and almost "invisible" thanks to the massive signal coverage of the fleet.

Time is life, and they must race against the clock.

When the Confederate fleet finally completed its maneuver and the upper and lower decks of warships formed two parallel battle lines, the tugboats that had been prepared beforehand immediately moved like nimble fingers.

They pushed the huge 'containers' to their designated launch positions before the fleet could completely clear the firing channels.

Diedrich recalled the heated debate that had taken place at the previous tactical meeting.

Is the "shell" to be deployed behind the main battle line and fired to buy time?

Or should we launch them from the front lines to completely eliminate the possibility of accidentally hitting friendly ships?
Hit by tens of thousands of hurtling asteroids?

This risk is indisputable and must be eliminated.

Four hundred requisitioned civilian merchant ships and one hundred and forty Confederate battleships followed closely behind.

After the tugboats steadily moored the containers at the launch site, these massive ships quickly formed a cylindrical formation of ninety-three ships in groups of three, precisely surrounding each container.

The huge container was slowly brought into the center of the formation, just like an ancient cannonball being steadily encased in the barrel of a smoothbore cannon.

"distance?"

Diedrich's voice lowered, his gaze fixed on the surveillance footage transmitted by the holographic camera, so focused that he seemed to forget to breathe.

This is an almost pathological focus, mixed with fear and anticipation of the unknown outcome.

Will these "artillery pieces" destroy the enemy in one fell swoop, or will they bring about a catastrophic backlash?

When he thought about the terrible consequences of the backlash, his focus was instantly replaced by a strong sense of tension.

There was a reason why only a minimum number of core crew members were retained on those requisitioned merchant ships.

"Ten million kilometers... nine million eight hundred thousand... nine million six hundred thousand... getting closer and closer!"

The first energy pulse has already surged forth like a silent tide...

Those were six two-kilometer-class battleships responsible for testing the firing, which activated all of their tractor beam launchers.

The force field constraint on the target container was instantly released!
At the same time, the sensor screens of the "Crumplinz" were completely overwhelmed by a sudden burst of intense radiation interference, turning into a blinding display of static...

(End of this chapter)