LightReader

Chapter 25 - 25

God, someone save us!"

The Moon, as the starting point of the Earth-Moon system, has always been an important port for Earth's external communication. Here, you can see minerals produced on Vesta and high-yield crops from Mercury farms.

Transport fleets come and go, departing from here loaded with finished goods processed on Earth, and then returning to Earth laden with cargo. In addition, several aerospace tourism companies also host tourists here with their cruise ships. If it weren't for the dense array of warships in the sky, this place would surely be beautiful.

But there was no 'if'. After the failed plan to attack Earth, the Martian Eighth Fleet quickly adjusted its strategy. Since a quick victory was impossible, they would starve Earth! To achieve this plan, the Martian fleet had to take the Moon.

In fact, if this task had been given to the Olympus Mons, it would have been a matter of minutes. Its railgun, when fired at full power, could produce extremely terrifying consequences. A few seconds of firing could destroy solid fortresses, and sustained firing could even push asteroids out of orbit. So, this port on the Moon, for the Olympus Mons, could have been completely dealt with in just a few minutes of continuous firing.

But due to the impact of the Retribution, the Olympus Mons had emergency-jumped to some unknown corner, so the heavy responsibility of capturing the port fell on the shoulders of the remnants of the Eighth Fleet's vanguard and its reserves.

"Faster, faster, go, go, go!" The Martian warships, taking advantage of the Moon's lack of heavy anti-air firepower, directly ignored the opponent's ineffective anti-air fire and dropped their assault troops. The UNSA forces on the Moon only had less than a few thousand coast guards and a small number of patrol boats, completely unable to stop the wolf-like Martian colonial army.

Two squadrons of Jackal fighters, taking off at great risk, desperately launched an assault against enemies more than ten times their number, but the outcome was tragic. These coast guard units only managed to damage one enemy aircraft, while they themselves were all turned into cosmic dust.

"A mantis trying to stop a chariot!" Fisher could only express regret for these brave soldiers, but it was just regret.

"Colonel, the airspace is clear. Your marines can continue to advance!"

"Thank you very much, Commander Fisher!" The speaker was the marine commander. Just now, his soldiers were frantically suppressed in a crater by a patrol boat that had luckily taken off. At a critical moment, it was Fisher who used a .50 cal to rake the upper anti-aircraft turret of that patrol boat, which finally freed the ground troops.

The grateful commander said that after the battle, he would definitely praise Fisher to his superiors. Mars was in dire need of talent like him.

Fisher naturally went along with it. As far as he knew, high-ranking Martian officers had great authority, allowing them free access to various classified laboratories. Most importantly, only by getting promoted could he be granted an audience with Salen Kotch, which would give him a chance to tamper with him.

Fisher had coveted the Olympus Mons for a long time. Both its robotic troops and internal equipment were top-tier in Martian gear. However, the air squadron only had activity permissions in a few limited locations. In places like the engine room or reactor, he would be stopped by fully armed robot soldiers before he even got there. There would also be dark, gaping sentry guns nearby, making it useless even if he turned all the air squadron commanders into his own people.

On the battlefield, thanks to powerful fire support and numerous cannon fodder robot troops, half of the Moon's spaceport quickly fell. The terminal building was breached. Because there was no direct order from Salen Kotch, both the robots and the Martian marines were busy pursuing the retreating coast guard, and many of the trembling civilians survived as a result. Fisher also jumped out of his aircraft, requested some robots from the marines, entered the spaceport, and, with a mix of shouts and curses, herded the civilians into a relatively safe warehouse.

Besides acquiring a large number of fallen soldiers' souls again, turning them into kindling, Fisher found that due to his actions, the gratitude of those anxious civilians also caused a slight change in his Star Beacon.

Specks of golden starlight slowly melted into his body. Fisher raised his hand and realized that it seemed his psionic power had perhaps upgraded. However, he didn't have much time to properly study it now.

"Sir, sir?" Seeing Fisher in a daze, a marine sergeant tentatively called out to him twice.

"What is it, Sergeant!" Fisher coughed and asked, feigning seriousness.

"Nothing, I just felt you seemed even more radiant!" The marine sergeant offered a small compliment.

"Good, very insightful. I will recommend to your commanding officer that you be promoted to sergeant!" Fisher patted the other's shoulder and walked out of the room first.

"But I'm already a staff sergeant!" The marine sergeant looked conflicted.

After settling the civilians, Fisher ordered the marines to weld the doors shut and also instructed the robots to move a pile of sundries to block the doors. Then he returned to his aircraft. According to the plot, the Retribution, after emergency repairs, would soon arrive at the Moon at light speed to provide support.

Although he really wanted to meet the brave and fearless Captain Reyes, Fisher still gave up the opportunity. He returned to a Martian aircraft carrier under the guise of resupply.

Facts proved Fisher's choice was correct. Just a few minutes after he landed, the Retribution, accompanied by the sole surviving destroyer, the Tigris, arrived.

Upon entering the battlefield, the Retribution first deployed its embarked marines. With the furious advance of the Moon's assault vehicles, the outer defensive line of the Martian colonial army was directly torn open.

Subsequently, the Retribution, relying on its elite Jackal squadron and the coast guard Jackals that took off from the Moon, launched a coordinated attack from within and without, breaking through the Martian defenses. The Martian pilots, who had suffered heavy damage during the previous Earth raid, were forced into another bitter battle. However, under the opponent's surprise attack and home-field advantage, they were defeated again, losing nearly a hundred, including ten fallen aces.

The fierce battle conditions became unbearable for the Martian fleet. Although most of their warships remained, without fighter escort, they were like a piece of fat meat in the eyes of the enemy fighters, ready for anyone to take a bite.

After several hours of fierce fighting, the Martian fleet once again enacted a scenario of eliminating eight thousand enemies and making a victorious retreat.

The Martians, who had twice bumped their heads in successive raids, wailed in despair. However, Fisher was very happy, because of his previous achievements and the heavy losses of the Olympus Mons pilots, his wish had come true. Salen Kotch needed to boost the morale of his subordinates and reorganize them to deal with their biggest current enemy — the Earth carrier Retribution!

More Chapters