Chapter 23: The Battle for the Alliance Capital Planet

With a blinding flash of light, a transport ship appeared in the midst of the Alliance fleet. The numerous Alliance warships, already prepared, unleashed their weapons upon the transport ship. Floating space mines also accelerated toward the center.

The Alliance high command was shocked to find that only a single transport ship had arrived! But it was too late to stop the weapons that had already been fired. The minefield, which had taken three days to prepare, was completely wasted on this one transport ship. The Alliance leaders were deeply frustrated.

At that moment, an urgent communication came through: "Commander! We've just confirmed that three days ago, the space stations around the capital star system lost contact! The intelligence we received may have been falsified! The enemy could emerge from hyperspace from any of those three star systems at any moment!"

"Damn it! We've been tricked! All ships, turn around and return to the capital for defense!" roared the Alliance fleet commander.

The massive fleet slowly turned around, engines roaring to life as they prepared to return to the capital's orbit.

Just then, the area where the transport ship had been destroyed flickered with electricity once more. The Imperial fleet emerged from the former minefield and opened fire on the unprepared Alliance ships. Caught off guard, the Alliance fleet could only slowly decelerate and attempt to turn around.

But the Imperial fleet gave them no chance to regroup. They fired all their missiles in one volley! (Thanks to quantum transmission printing technology, missiles could be produced endlessly.) Leading the charge were devastating energy beams.

The Alliance's outer corvette were continuously destroyed by the beams, exposing the ships behind them. As the beams subsided, a swarm of missiles surged into the Alliance fleet!

This wave of missiles wasn't aimed at destroying the enemy ships but at disabling their weapons, maximizing the protection of the Imperial fleet's limited numbers.

After a series of blinding flashes, 99% of the Alliance fleet was severely damaged. Not a single ship remained unscathed, and most of their weapons were destroyed, drastically reducing their ability to fight back.

The Imperial corvette swiftly cut through the enemy fleet, their close-range defense systems mercilessly pounding the exposed weapons of the Alliance ships. This tactic prevented the Alliance fleet from regrouping and firing in unison. The corvette maneuverability caused chaos, forcing the Alliance ships to hold their fire for fear of hitting their own.

After sowing chaos, the corvette did not linger. They quickly broke through the other side of the Alliance fleet, clearing the way for the Imperial destroyers to unleash another volley.

The Alliance fleet, which had been preparing to pursue the corvette's, was instantly overwhelmed by the incoming beams. Hundreds of massive energy beams tore through the already battered ships. In just a few moments, the Alliance fleet lost nearly half its ships.

The Imperial fleet, meanwhile, had only lost a little over twenty light cruisers, most of which were accidentally destroyed by collisions with Alliance destroyers during the chaos.

Looking at what remained of his fleet, the Alliance commander was on the verge of tears.

"Hold on! Our reinforcements will arrive soon!"

Several light-years away, a fleet was rushing toward the capital at breakneck speed. Even farther away, another fleet of similar size was also advancing toward the capital.

These two fleets were the Alliance's First and Second Fleets, which had been sent to deal with the Imperial harassment fleet. Originally, they had planned to combine forces to eliminate the harassment fleet. However, the Imperial harassment fleet's constant attacks on space stations, their hit-and-run tactics, and their occasional nuclear strikes on planets had forced the Alliance to split their forces. One fleet was tasked with hunting down the harassment fleet, while the other was sent to reinforce the capital.

But they never expected that what was supposed to be a defensive ambush at the capital had turned into a sneak attack by the Empire. Even more frustrating was the Empire's shameless tactics of disabling weapons and disrupting formations, which caused the Alliance's Third Fleet to collapse in less than half a day!

Their reinforcements couldn't join the battle in time.

Reluctantly, they abandoned their mission to eliminate the harassment fleet and rushed back to defend the capital. To make matters worse, the Imperial Emperor had issued a statement to the entire Alliance, claiming that their target was only the founding nations of the Alliance. He declared that they would leave after attacking the capital and would not linger, but warned that any nation sending reinforcements would also be attacked.

This statement instantly deterred the already virus-weakened member nations from sending aid. They chose to sit back and watch, waiting to see if they could benefit from the Empire and the Alliance exhausting each other. After all, although the joint fleet had been funded by them, its actual control lay with the founding nations. Losing it wouldn't hurt them too much.

Back at the capital battlefield...

After another round of disruptive maneuvers and concentrated fire, the few remaining Alliance destroyers, still waiting in vain for reinforcements, had no choice but to surrender to the Empire.

By the time the Imperial marines had taken control of the surrendered ships, the Alliance reinforcements finally arrived.

Small flashes of light began to appear where the Imperial fleet had originally emerged.

Unbeknownst to the Alliance reinforcements, the Imperial fleet, aware of the pursuing forces, had quietly deployed a simple minefield using transport ships while engaging the Alliance's Third Fleet.

With a blinding flash, the Alliance reinforcements emerged from hyperspace.

As soon as they appeared, the surrounding mines rushed toward the Alliance fleet. The Alliance had not expected an ambush! After all, the Third Fleet had just engaged the Imperial fleet less than a day ago. How could the enemy have set up a minefield so quickly?

Caught completely off guard, the Alliance reinforcements were devastated by the minefield, with a large number of ships destroyed.

Meanwhile, the Imperial fleet had already completed its turn and was now advancing toward the Alliance reinforcements.

"All ships, form a V-shaped dispersal and encircle the Imperial fleet! This battle is not about destroying the enemy but about self-preservation. Delay them until our second wave of reinforcements arrives!" The Alliance commander remained calm despite the minor losses.

Meanwhile, on the bridge of the Imperial flagship...

Li Mingze frowned. "Their highly mobile, dispersed formation makes it difficult for us to achieve a quick victory. We need to provoke them into a decisive battle and use our current numerical advantage to eliminate this fleet. If their fleets combine, our numerical advantage will disappear, and even with our shield technology, we'll suffer heavy losses."

"There's only one way! All ships, full reverse thrust toward the enemy formation. Target their capital planet!" If they won't fight, we'll force them to by pretending to bombard their capital!

"As you command, Your Majesty!"

All Imperial ships adjusted their main engines to minimum power, while the forward deceleration engines emitted a faint blue glow, propelling the fleet toward the Alliance capital.