Chapter 165: Dandelion Project_1

Space battleships are generally very difficult to completely destroy, and even for a decoy posing as the "Emperor"-class, the "Authority"-class is also hard to fully annihilate, despite the "Authority" class being an obsolete second-and-half generation battleship.

Many people may have a misconception about space battleships, thinking that they are like submarines which, once the hull is breached, the ship isn't far from total destruction.

In many films, once the battleship's hull is damaged, crew and items are thrown into space through the breach, and there might even be a chain reaction that leads to the complete destruction of the ship.

This is actually the most unreasonable assumption; damage to the exterior shell of a battleship does not necessarily mean grave danger to the ship.

If the power section or weapons firing section of a battleship is damaged, the ship will indeed be destroyed or even explode violently, but attacks on other parts don't have such a significant impact.

Our misconception lies in the belief that the entire interior of the ship is a living quarters, but in fact, the living quarters of the ship's commanding officers are only a very small part of the ship. This area is also multi-layer isolated, so even if the living quarters are attacked, they can still use a temporary life support system.

For the rest of the battleship, the internal and external pressure differences are actually the same; one might say it is a vacuum environment with no pressure difference.

When personnel need to work, they can do so in light spacesuits, which is the most economical method. Designing the entire ship like a submarine is actually the biggest waste.

During battle, all personnel usually enter into the safety capsule chambers and are immersed in deep-sea acceleration fluid, while repair work on the ship is primarily performed by robots.

If modern weapons weren't so powerful, a space battleship could take routine gunfire without moving, and even after peeling it like an onion for several days, it might still not be destroyed.

Therefore, the second-and-half generation "Authority"-class battleship, after the first wave of attacks from the Thunderstrike Fleet, had only its disguise shell destroyed. With the disguise scattered, the true form of the "Authority"-class battleship was revealed.

In the blink of an eye, the Thunderstrike Fleet realized it was deceived, but it was already too late to turn back. The First Fleet had no choice but to resort to a suicidal "charge" at the "Authority"-class.

If they chose to fly past the "Authority"-class and break through in another direction, with only 16 ships they couldn't possibly block all escape routes; after all, the circumference of the Moon is about 10,000 kilometers, and they could attack from any direction, skimming tangentially across the lunar surface to hit the Moon's far side.

But doing so would expose them to the "Authority"-class's secondary guns, and it would also leave the second squadron vulnerable to the "Authority"-class's main guns.

The defense of the Thunderstrike Fleet couldn't even withstand the secondary guns of the second-and-half generation battleships, let alone conduct a suicide "charge" at the target, which was part of the plan all along.

In the flurry of battle messages, the unexpected turn was that the "Authority"-class's main guns did not target the first squadron of the Thunderstrike Fleet but the second squadron, displaying a blatant disregard for the first.

Under the barrage of the "Authority"-class's main guns, the ships of the second squadron were pierced, even detonating violently, leaving only one survivor out of the 16 Thunderstrike ships.

And when the first squadron of the Thunderstrike Fleet drew near the "Authority"-class, an unexpected event occurred; it seemed as if the "Authority"-class had self-destructed.

This turn of events stunned the Thunderstrike Fleet, and even the first squadron forgot to "self-destruct" in their attack, but the ensuing incidents terrified the remaining Thunderstrike ships.

As the first squadron passed through the wreckage of the "Authority"-class battleship, a few sparks flashed, and they silently moved on.

Then, the third squadron also passed by the remains of the "Authority"-class battleship, a few sparks flashed, and they, too, silently moved on.

The entire battlefield fell into silence, with that defensive zone becoming a silent land of death.

The fourth squadron realized the severity of the situation and made a rapid course change, planning to use another route to cut across the lunar surface and approach the far side of the Moon. But they met the same fate, a few sparks flashed, and they silently passed by.

The fifth squadron changed to an even more distant route, but they ended up just like the fourth squadron.

As the situation grew more bizarre, the sixth squadron prepared to abandon the mission, sweeping by far from the Moon.

Because the "Authority"-class battleship was positioned right on the dividing line between the near and far side of the Moon, the further away from this line, the further away from the Moon. Given the high speed flight of the Thunderstrike ships, it was difficult to change direction and the likelihood of attacking the military bases on the far side of the Moon diminished all the more.

Although most of the residents on the Moon lived beneath the lunar surface, many military bases were located on the surface of the far side of the Moon. More importantly, the real spaceport of the Moon Base was at the L2 Lagrange point behind the Moon.

It had been only 90 seconds since the First Fleet's eerie departure, and the crew inside the Sixth Fleet's ship were drenched in sweat within the deep-sea acceleration fluid. They had almost turned the stern of the battleship perpendicular to the direction of advance, using this to distance themselves from the area.

Fortunately, doom had not descended upon them; although they survived, what awaited them was the inability to decelerate, for the energy had already been exhausted.

They could only board the small escape pods, launch them backward, and hope to be rescued by people from the Moon Base after deceleration.

Not just the Sixth Fleet, but the remaining four fleets were all doing the same. At this moment, the Earth Alliance's Thunderstrike plan had been declared a complete failure.

...

The battlefield's surveillance footage was transmitted to the Earth Alliance's Combat Command Hall, and in an instant, everyone in the hall showed expressions of disbelief, their astonishment evident.

Ye Chen knew they were now powerless to change the outcome, and he had also seen the tactics employed by the Moon Base. He sighed,

"We were negligent. Such a simple method, and we failed to realize it. Besides, they have already used this attack method twice."

Though helplessness was there, there was no regret.

Military Advisory Group: "Commander, do you understand their attack method now?"

Ye Chen: "Flying Blade!"

With these two simple words, all the doubts of those present were resolved.

At this time, everyone also noticed that the hull of the Authority-class Warship had not been destroyed but rather seemed to have self-destructed.

The "wreckage" of the self-destructed warship, carrying the blade strands, flew rapidly until the length of the blades reached its limit.

A clearer image came through, and people noticed that behind the "wreckage" there were rocket propulsion devices, indicating that this had been a premeditated death trap all along.

Many blade strands were attached to the spine of the self-destructed warship, with one end attached to the warship's "wreckage." These strands could stretch up to nearly 8 kilometers, resembling the stalk of a dandelion from afar.

Additionally, as the warships orbited the Moon, their sterns were followed by several small spacecraft, something that the Earth Alliance had overlooked.

Now, it was apparent that these were dragging invisible blade belts, which in turn were towing several small spacecraft, for a length of about 100 kilometers.

The circumference of the Moon is about 10,000 kilometers, and the nanoblade belts formed by the 16 warships, flying along the dividing line between the near and far side of the Moon, created a deadly interception zone.

The interception zone, akin to a dandelion stalk, together with the "wreckage" of the warships resembling dandelion fluff, formed a "Death Dandelion."

Indeed, this was the Moon Base's "Dandelion Plan," designed by Xiang Gaofeng, which used the "Dandelion" to blockade the Thunderstrike Fleet's assault route.

In fact, if the "Dandelion" Plan hadn't obtained sufficient results, there was still the "Passive Slope" Plan to pick up where the former left off.

It was a simple plan, even one that had been used many times in history, yet it was unexpectedly effective, and the most devastating strikes are those that come as a surprise.

At that moment, it seemed to prove Ye Chen's conclusion, the First Fleet's warship had been divided into three parts, which were now separating from each other, leaving even fragments in a neat fashion.

With only 16 Second-and-a-Half Generation Battleships that were 40 years old, the Moon Base had managed to defeat 160 state-of-the-art Thunderstrike warships built at great expense by the Earth Alliance. When it came to cost, the exchange ratio wasn't 10 to 1 but rather 20 to 1.

The cost of a Second-and-a-Half Generation Battleship didn't even amount to half of that of a Thunderstrike warship, and if one considered the recycling of the decommissioned Second-and-a-Half Generation Battleships, the ratio might even be 200 to 1.

No one had anticipated that their once full-of-confidence assault plan would run into a deadly "Dandelion," their do-or-die attack strategy concluding before it could even begin.