Chapter 122: Splitting.
Chapter 122: Splitting.
Io Federation, Circe Star System.
Around 20 days ago, Queen Alfie issued a retreat order to all residents of Circe.
The already small population of Circe was evacuated within 10 days, and now Circe is silent. Not a single ship could be seen in space.
At this time, a large number of white warships started to come out one after another in the Star Path from the direction of Sierra.
"To the ships that have already come out, immediately go to the designated area and build a defense line according to the plan. Move quickly!"
In the comms channel, Joanna's voice sounded to the bridge of every warship. Her voice contained urgency, after all, Viles' Legion was only about half an hour away from them.
Half an hour later, as Joanna's Fifth Legion had just finished setting up half of the defensive line, Viles Legion's warships had already appeared in Circe through the Star Path.
The good thing was that only more than 2,000 warships could come out in each wave. It allowed Joanna to continue setting up the defense line while attacking.
"Everyone, Viles' Legion has already arrived at Circe. Block the exit of the Star Path!"
Joanna commanded the legion's defense while activating the virtual comms and said to the others.
"Commander Joanna, as expected, we will definitely not be able to make it to Circe. We currently need 4 more days to arrive. You follow the original plan, use the early defensive advantage to eliminate a portion of the enemy before continuing to retreat!"
Liang Xingchen said to Joanna.
"I understand, I will retreat towards Ferrum after our defensive advantage is lost!" Joanna nodded.
"According to the time, Commander Elena should still have 6 days to reach Circe. At that time, we will meet up with Commander Elena. We'll then determine the final plan of the battle according to the movement of Viles."
"Yes!"
On the defense line, the battle between the two sides was still fierce. Viles' Legion had currently gathered over 10,000 warships at the exit of the Star Path, while Joanna's Fifth Legion had also finished setting up the entire defense line and was at full firepower.
The space was constantly flashing with various colors. Each beam of light and projectile was full of destructive power.
At this moment, Viles' Legion has lost 15,000 warships while Joanna only lost 3,000 warships by relying on the defense line plus the advantage of having more warships present.
Half an hour later, at the cost of 60,000 warships, Viles had managed to set up a formation of 80,000 warships outside the Star Path's exit. Joanna's Fifth Legion's defensive advantage was also shrinking at a very fast pace.
The current situation was that Viles' Legion lost 60,000 warships while Joanna's Fifth Legion lost 18,000 warships.
Seeing that they were losing the defensive advantage, Joanna knew that the time was up.
If the fight continued, the losses on her side would spike exponentially.
"I order the legion to start evacuating as planned. Destination is the Star Path in the direction of Ferrum!"
With Joanna's order, the legion began to disengage.
15 minutes later, Joanna's Fifth Legion, with the advantage of speed, left the Viles' Legion behind. They headed towards the Ferrum's Star Path at a high speed!
When Viles sailed out of the Star Path along with the middle part of the legion, he saw the scene of Joanna withdrawing.
As he expected, the other side was indeed trying to use their defensive advantage and gradually destroy them. The only question left was would the humans participate in the battle?
If humans do not participate, then Viles' was confident that he'll take the advantage eventually, but if humans participated, then the result was hard to say.
Anyways, whether the humans were participating in the war or not would be revealed once he reached the next Star System. There was no point in thinking too much right now.
Viles' did not lead the legion to go after Joanna immediately, after all, there was little point in going after her. It would only repeat the process in Sierra and Circe.
Viles opened the star map, looked at the location of Circe and pondered.
There were four Star Paths in Circe, one of which was Sierra's Star Path that he had used to come here. The second one was Ferrum's Star Path where the Io Federation had just retreated. Finally, the remaining two Star Paths were connected to Luncer and Poole.
Viles' would only have a chance of winning if he follows his previous plan. In the end, even if only one tenth of the people escaped, the Ochs Empire would one day be rebuilt.
"Inform the legion that when the follow-up fleet arrives, immediately start the Ignition Plan!"
"Yes!"
Viles' Ignition Plan was something he designed when he was in Sierra. The core of the whole plan was to split the legion until they crossed the entire territory of the Io Federation.
According to the plan, for every Star System Viles' Legion reached, the legion would be split evenly according to the number of Star Paths, and then each would enter a Star Path and split again afterwards!
Through this method, then maybe there would be a small number of people who would eventually manage to escape.
After all, Viles was not sure whether the humans would participate in the war, and he was not sure where the humans' strength stood.
A day later, 360,000 warships and a large number of transport ships and industrial ships arrived. These were the last of Viles' troops.
After dividing the supplies, Viles split the legion into two and headed for the Star Paths of Luncer and Poole respectively.
Likewise, the transport ships and industrial ships were also divided into two parts and started to move with the two fleets respectively.
A few days later, under the leadership of Liang Xingchen, the three fleets of the Second Legion and the ten Sub-fleets under the command of Li Cangdou arrived in Circe, totaling 70,000 warships.
Then after waiting for 2 days in Circe, Elena's 20,000 warships finally arrived as well and successfully met up with Liang Xingchen.
"Military Commander Liang Xingchen, according to our intelligence, Viles' Legion had split into two, going towards Luncer and Poole. Their arrival time should be 24-25 days later."
In the virtual comms, Elena said to Liang Xingchen.
As for where the information came from, it was captured by the Io Federation's monitoring devices in Circe. Viles, who already had a lot to consider, could miss this point being possible.
When Elena arrived at Circe, she received the information provided by these surviving surveillance devices and learned of the movements of Viles' Legion.
"Okay, any idea which way Viles himself is?"
"I apologize to the commander but there is no way to know about that. The surveillance devices can't confirm too detailed information!"
"I understand, then let's distribute the tasks. Commander Elena, you go to Luncer with Sophia and Li Cangdou, Jiang Hai and I will go to Poole!"
"Yes!"