Chapter 83: Assault on Europa: Firepower Unleashed

Don’t be fooled by how the Vanguard Fleet lost less than 300 ships in total.

In reality, Tumelo was taking it pretty hard.

Before this battle began, the Klein had 877 main warships, 1,256 of the newer, downgraded models, and around 5,000 assault corvettes.

But as the vanguard facing the Federation Fleet head-on, all 500 ships in Tumelo’s fleet were main warships—not the downgraded ones.

So, even though Tumelo’s side called this the main fleet, they actually had less than 400 main warships left. The rest of the 1,256 were all just those downgraded models.

Losing nearly 300 main warships at once? Tumelo would have to be heartless not to feel the pain.

Still, he quickly consoled himself.

Trading fewer than 300 main warships for control of the entire Asteroid Belt…

Maybe…

It wasn’t such a bad deal after all?

And now, with no Asteroid Belt standing in their way, the main fleet could charge straight for Mars.

Thinking about it like this, his mood actually got a bit better.

As for Loxi…

At first, Tumelo wanted him dead more than anything.

But then he realized—with the way things stood, Loxi was the only competent major fleet commander he had left.

His daughter had once seemed a promising pick. Tumelo had really considered letting her command—after she made a name for herself with a few hard-won victories in the Asteroid Belt, she might’ve become the Klein’s first-ever female high-ranking officer.

Unfortunately…

She won just one battle—then lost the next.

And to this day, nobody knows if she’s even alive.

If he’d known things would turn out like this, Tumelo wouldn’t have let Alum take his own life back then. He really should’ve stopped him.

At least then he wouldn’t be so short on capable people now.

Sigh…

Tumelo let out a long, quiet sigh.

“Order the entire fleet to advance. Mars is our next target!”

“Yes, Patriarch!”

Although the Klein fleet had set course for Mars,

given the distance between Mars and the Klein, even if the Federation Fleet didn’t try any interceptions, it would still take at least eight days to reach their target.

Meanwhile…

The Fifth Fleet had already left the Asteroid Belt—actually, they’d pulled out even earlier than the Klein.

And they were headed for Jupiter as well.

No—technically, their destination was one of Jupiter’s four remaining moons: Europa…

Europa!

——

Four days later.

Jupiter.

Excluding the Third Squadron and the two lost frigates along the way, the Fifth Fleet now had 146 warships approaching Jupiter.

And their actual target, Europa, was still on the other side of Jupiter. Based on calculations, though, it would swing into a position where it could be observed by the fleet in about twenty minutes.

At that moment, the entire fleet raised its alert level to the maximum and began using Jupiter’s orbit for a gravity assist to accelerate, hoping to cut down reaction time for the Klein as soon as they were spotted.

The use of gravity slingshots…

Even in Federation Year 202, they were far from obsolete.

“Current fleet speed is 288 kilometers per second. Europa will be visible in 21 minutes. Projected maximum fleet speed: 332 kilometers per second.”

“The Qiongxiao ordered us to target all Klein warships in Europa’s orbit and the spaceport region. There may be newly built, already-manned ships there.”

“When we arrive, that zone will be right within the Zhulong’s firing range!”

Lin Yu listened to the report on the bridge and nodded.

The Zhulong’s main gun had a whopping range of six light-seconds, with secondary guns reaching nearly 1.7 light-seconds—that’s 1.8 million kilometers and 500,000 kilometers, respectively.

Europa, now just coming around from Jupiter’s far side, was already inside both the Zhulong’s main and secondary gun range. In fact, of the entire Fifth Fleet, only the Zhulong could hit targets with energy weapons at this distance.

As for the other ships, they could try with railguns, but the range was too long—projectile travel time would drag on forever.

The moment the Fifth Fleet spotted Europa, the Klein based there would spot them too.

Railguns couldn’t wipe out the enemy before they had time to react.

So, naturally, the job landed on the Zhulong.

Time…

kept ticking down.

Inside the Zhulong, the projected countdown display ticked closer to zero.

“Ten seconds until Europa enters our observable region.”

“Get ready. As soon as Europa’s visible, scan for all warships in the shipyard and docks, then lock them immediately!”

“Yes, Colonel!” x2

Both the radar and weapons officers answered at once.

The countdown was now down to its final three seconds.

Three…

Two…

One…

The next instant, a massive red signal pulsed onto the bridge’s 3D tactical display.

Right beside it, the tags for Europa were clear as day.

“Scanning now…”

“Scan complete. There are 27 warships in the spaceport, 78 more under construction on the production line, and a presumed civilian migration fleet of 3,048 vessels. No defense installations detected!”

“All targets are marked!”

The radar officer shouted out his report.

Less than ten seconds later,

the weapons officer finished his work.

“Report: all targets locked!”

“Prioritize the fully operational warships, then those on the production lines. Fire!”

“Yes sir, firing!”

All four main guns and 168 secondary turrets unleashed their full barrage.

Every blast was aimed at those Klein warships parked out in the open at Europa’s exposed spaceport.

Within one second, every shot found its mark.

After all, they were huge stationary targets.

If Meng Fei could miss those, he wouldn’t have the face to call himself a gunner.

The first volley: all 27 Klein warships took at least six heavy ion beams each, fired from Zhulong’s massive cannons.

What’s more, because of the angle, every strike punched through their hulls from the side.

Each ship ended up with what looked like giant holes blown right through.

The only headache now was figuring out if the Klein ships had been completely destroyed.

Their tech made them notoriously hard to trigger a core detonation.

In battle you could at least tell by whether they stopped moving altogether.

But ships already sitting lifeless on the docks like these…

Well, no big deal!

Just hit them a few more times…

There were still about twenty minutes left before the fleet reached Europa anyway.

And during that time…

There weren’t any other pressing targets.

As for the ships still on the production lines, those could wait another couple rounds.

So then…

Second volley. Third volley. Fourth…

It wasn’t until the fifth round, when all 27 Klein warships looked like overgrown honeycombs, that Meng Fei finally felt satisfied.

He turned his gaze to the 78 ships still being built on the assembly lines.

And launched a new round of attacks.