Him and their stars.

Chapter 1722: The Wandering Victory
Marshal Farrell is indeed an outstanding military strategist with both imagination and execution ability, and his vision is destined to look to the future and gaze at the stars.

But he certainly didn't know that just "behind" him, on the New World Highway, in a branch galaxy, a small-scale battle was also going on.

Continuous beams of light passed through the void and sank into the belly of the Anmons transport ship. The explosion came out from the ship's fat belly, tearing through the armor, and the flames and shock waves began to spread. Although no sound could be heard, it was still like the call of the devil.

The ship was almost there. Colonel Horatio Wayne made his judgment and immediately ordered: "The entire fleet stops firing."

"Start slowing down, reorganizing, and preparing to evacuate."

"The landing force begins searching and collecting valuable targets. You only have thirty minutes."

"Pilot, determine the direction of the channel."

"Observation team, determine if there are any survivors."

"Damage control team, I want a damage report in fifteen minutes."

His deputy, Lieutenant Colonel Michel Kent, passed on this orderly series of orders and made further supplements.

A group of capable crew members were busy at their respective posts. The scene was still busy, but it seemed orderly. Soon, the Earth warships that were participating in the hunt stopped firing.

The gorgeous ion beam dissipated, but the continuous explosions inside the fat Anmons transport ship never stopped. The huge hull was torn apart by the shock waves from the inside and outside, and was completely broken into two. Thousands of crew members were killed in an instant, and millions of tons of supplies were immediately turned into part of the space garbage.

However, considering that the hull was completely destroyed, there must be survivors and supplies left behind.

As for her two escort destroyers, they were sunk on the spot in an unethical sneak attack half an hour earlier.

Therefore, the hunters who caused this tragedy, a small fleet consisting of a Xiaguang-class heavy cruiser Victory, a light cruiser and two destroyers, had already enthusiastically eliminated the landing troops and robots and began an orderly battlefield cleanup.

Their movements were so skillful that they didn't seem like well-trained soldiers, but more like well-trained pirates.

Of course, this behavior is actually very reasonable.

After all, these crew members were all members of the Yang Fleet, and they had been playing hide-and-seek with the Imperial Fleet for a year in the vast sea of ​​stars in the Dawn Star Region. Regardless of other skills, the hit-and-run stealth guerrilla skills were naturally maxed out. This was no longer subject to the commander's will.

In addition, Horatio Wayne, who was supposed to be a brave general who never retreated, did not think there was any problem. He seemed to be in the form of a "guerrilla war" from the inside out.

If someone who knew his other side appeared here, he would definitely be very moved.

Anyway, in another timeline, Colonel Horatio Wayne, who particularly liked to confront the enemy, was on the bridge of his loyal Victory, complacently calculating his own achievements.

If the results of this hunt were included, the enemy ships he sank along the way would have exceeded the total tonnage of his fleet. If he was leading a harassment fleet for the purpose of disrupting trade, the results would be brilliant. Even if he was blocked and completely destroyed by the enemy now, it would be considered a complete success.

However, considering that his mission was to conduct reconnaissance behind enemy lines and lure the enemy, his sense of accomplishment was somewhat discounted.

"I don't know if Commander Yang has received my message." Wayne thought.

This is the case in the New World. Without the immediate effect of the source wave, the communication of gravitational waves also needs the transfer of beacon towers to maintain smooth and uniform delivery. But once the war comes, the gravitational wave beacon towers are always the targets of the enemy. These small space facilities are indeed small targets. Throwing them into the starry sky is like throwing sand into the sea.

However, it cannot be concealed that this "sand" can relay signals, and the sense of existence will be very different.

The only thing to be thankful for was that the Yang Fleet had a small-sized source-mass wave terminal, which was probably the only source-mass wave terminal in the New World. Therefore, even though they were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of manpower, they still had the advantage in intelligence and communication.

"He will get it, it's just a matter of time," Michelle Kent told him.

This man played a key role in the construction of the base in Watheim, but now he is aboard Wayne's Victory. His role is like a brick in the New World war zone, and he will be moved wherever is important.

Four months ago, when Horatio Wayne led the fleet out from the "Tower of Babel", he never imagined that he would stumble away from the Dawn Nebula and all the way to the New World Highway.

He had successfully acted as bait in the previous operation to encircle and suppress the Mettig fleet. Although the battle was not ultimately successful, the entire fleet had successfully gained confidence, and the morale of everyone was now very high.

Afterwards, after consulting Yang Xiyi, Wayne rested in the secret base on the planet Watheim and obtained a batch of supplies from his old comrade and classmate Michel Kent.

Of course, they were just some energy packs and ammunition hand-rolled from the workshop, as well as a small amount of compressed food made from underground moss, mushrooms, and earthworms. Not very formal, but at least it was better than nothing.

In short, under the command of Major General Orwell and Lieutenant Colonel Kent, the construction of the secret base in Wattheim has begun to bear fruit. There are even newborns among the refugees who followed Yang's fleet everywhere.

Such good news naturally made him feel more energetic, so he said to Kent: "Now that we are on track, let's set out on a new journey together. My Victory is in need of a chief of staff."

He paused for a moment and continued, "Yu Lian always says that compared to being a general, you are more suitable to be the prime minister, but I just don't believe it. We Lionhearts should always walk from one fire to another."

"I'm not a warmonger like you, Horatio. Besides, Yu Lian never said that I'm suitable to be the Prime Minister. How can such a thing be decided by the emperor?" Kent said helplessly: "He just said that construction is more difficult than destruction, and it is more challenging. In the era of strife, I am definitely not as good as you. But in the era of construction, my patience may have more room to play."

"He certainly didn't say it so politely, but what he said does make sense." Wayne said unhappily, "I can see that. There are even farms and factories in the underground caves of the planet Watheim. If Yu Lian came here, I would at least give you a Sapphire Pioneer Medal."

Kent said modestly, "It's not that exaggerated. Wattheim is still a farmland with livestock, but robots are used to represent cattle, and the factory is just a handicraft... Wait, he is qualified to give out medals?"

"If this war is over, maybe there will be one."

"..."

"I was mocking him, can't you see that?"

"...I hope you're joking. But if you can make such a joke as if it's nothing, Horatio, you must have accepted your fate, right?"

Before the red-haired warrior could react and get furious, Kent smiled and said, "So, as you can see, although the base is on the right track, it still needs the next step of construction planning. We need to explore more caves on the planet and build more settlements."

"Yes, yes. If you keep going like this, you will become a qualified caveman chief."

Although he said so, Michel Kent did not really reject him. He always found it difficult to reject all requests from this stubborn red-haired boy, and it had been like this since kindergarten.

So, after finally farming for half a year and living a peaceful life, Lieutenant Colonel Kent left the next round of management of the base to Major General Orwell, and boarded the Victory with great interest.

After all, it was a rare new ship added to Yang's fleet after a year, and he was actually quite interested in this copycat Clear Sky-class cruiser. The Wayne fleet, which had been strengthened and replenished, was ready to continue its next move - in fact, Wayne's main job was still the captain of the Victory. However, this small fleet with only four or five large and small ships and no large battleships was often "temporarily commanded" by the captain with the highest military rank.

It seems reasonable to round it off and call it the Wayne Fleet.

They were going to investigate the Ring of Miracles or Yaochi. The most important thing was to ensure the location and status of the Vulcan Airan, which was a task assigned by Yang Xiyi himself.

However, as Horatio Vane said, the members of the Lionheart Society always have to go from one fire to another.

Wayne's small fleet was discovered by a passing Imperial fleet when it arrived at a branch star system where transportation was unimportant and there were no habitable planets. It was three jumps away from the Ring of Miracles.

The leader of the team was Vice Admiral Valeris, an old friend of the Yang Fleet. He was a noble general from the Duke of Valeris's family and a typical Tirilo military noble who had received rigorous military training since childhood.

The typical portrait of this kind of people is a steel sculpture composed of seriousness, fortitude, coldness and stubbornness. They often have the courage tempered by thousands of times and the firm execution ability of a stubborn mind.

During the year-long hide-and-seek operation, Lieutenant General Valeris was tricked by Yang Xiyi several times, and lost a lot of troops. Even the old flagship that had accompanied him for more than ten years was seriously injured and was returning to the country for overhaul. For an old-school commander, this is as humiliating as a minotaur, right?
He has now completely fallen into the Earth PTSD state, and will fall into a manic state as soon as he finds any trace of the enemy.

Faced with the Earthlings' small fleet, Vice Admiral Valeris's three battlecruisers, two aircraft carriers, and more than a dozen cruisers of various types all showed signs of pursuing them to the end of the universe.

He even called on his friends to send out wide-area gravitational wave broadcasts to the surrounding areas, requesting nearby imperial fleets to join in the hunt.

Fortunately, this was not in the Milky Way after all, and even the most powerful gravitational wave communication had a delay. Although the nearby Imperial fleets received the news and swarmed over, there was a time lag in their actions, and there was always room for a breakthrough.

Before the huge fishing net was completely tightened, Horatio Wayne, the slippery big fish, had already calculated the largest mesh of the net and dived right out.

However, compared to Yang Xiyi, who seemed to have an omniscient eye, Wayne still had a slight gap in terms of judgment and foresight in combat maneuvers.

In the DL275 system, he encountered a certain Anmons fleet. At this time, Wayne acted decisively and showed his bravery. He ordered the entire fleet to move forward at full speed and rushed towards the enemy fleet that had not yet reacted.

In the shortest time possible, the Earth fleet entered a fierce charge state and began firing thousands of cannons before both sides entered effective firing range.

The flagship of the Anmons, a monkey version of the Imperial Brave-class cruiser, was severely damaged on the spot, and the remaining warships were immediately disoriented and routed.

Horatio Wayne led the warships to complete a frontal breakthrough, left the galaxy in a swagger, and began to consider whether to move towards the Tower of Babel or Watheim.

However, when he was about to get carried away, Michel Kent reminded him that since the Imperial Fleet was swarming in, there must be a considerable enemy fleet gathered. A small fleet of four warships on his side could surprise and defeat an enemy of the same size, but if the enemy had four or five times the force of his own and was well prepared, he would never be able to gain any advantage.

"So, the way back home is blocked?" Wayne was not willing to accept it.

"There is no doubt about it, it's cut off." Kent was very sure.

At this time, he showed a calmer and more composed mentality than Horatio Wayne: "Move in the direction of Orodia. As for whether to go to Dawn Pass or to the Devil's Eye via the Queen Bu System, we will act according to circumstances."

Although the subsequent development of the matter seemed different from what everyone expected, most people said they could accept it. After all, dancing under the nose of the enemy's superior fleet, it was inevitable that they would be caught. In fact, before setting off, most people had also realized it.

Kent told everyone, "On an optimistic note, our mission to lure the enemy was actually quite successful. The Imperial fleets from thousands of light years away have come to encircle and destroy our few defeated soldiers. That should still create some combat opportunities for Commander Yang and Commander Bonaparte."

It didn't matter what the opportunity was. He had no doubt about his superiors' ability to act on opportunities.

Horatio Wayne and his men felt comforted by their success, and their morale naturally rose.

Kent continued, "Even if we take a step back, we can use this to prove that the Vulcan Airan and Marshal Farrell should have left the Ring of Miracles."

"Oh, how can you see this?"

Kent opened the star map and drew out the routes of his own side's movements over the past few days, as well as the enemy's movements that the reconnaissance sensors could capture - of course, it was only a small part of the enemy's movements, but it was enough to explain a lot of problems.

"You see, in the past, a fleet of this size would never have appeared alone. Although their encirclement and suppression was fierce, it still lacked a sense of hierarchy. It was more like a joint action of the same level that was negotiated and compromised, but lacked unified dispatch and command. This gave us an opportunity to take advantage of."

He continued to calculate, “Lieutenant General Valeris has a high prestige and rank, but he is on the same level as Rear Admiral Mettig and other squadron commanders.”

Wayne thought this made sense.

Then, Kent said in a tone that was almost certain: "Marshal Farrell left in a hurry. I guess the person in charge of the Dawn Star Region war zone hasn't even taken office yet."

Wayne still didn't think there was anything wrong here, and thought: "So, what are they in such a hurry for?"

"This is what we need to verify. Our mission is reconnaissance and induction. We have completed half of it. Now we should do the other half." said Michelle Kent.

Even if there were no mission factors, everyone's way back to the Tower of Babel was blocked, so of course they had to give up their fantasies and move forward.

As a result, the entire Wayne fleet quickly reached a consensus.

As they approached the Onotia star system, the number of engineering ships and transport ships gradually increased. This confirmed that the Empire was really building a large-scale project on this planet, treating it as an important military base, or even operating it as a homeland.

"Tsk, this planet...it was obviously us who came here first, and we were the first to start construction." Wayne said.

"It was built by Major General Orwell, Hachiman and I. We don't care about it now, so why are you so indignant here?" Michelle Kent said with a smile: "However, if even Onotia has invested such development power, what about Dawn Pass, which has a more important geographical location?"

Wayne's eyes lit up: "Is it possible that the Empire wants to rebuild the Unity Fortress?"

Without waiting for his friend to respond, he continued, "That galaxy must be a very busy one right now. Now that we are here, if we don't bother them, wouldn't it be a waste of all the trouble?"

"This……"

"Don't worry. That galaxy has the densest ice asteroid belt we've ever seen, and it's also full of battlefield relics left over from the Battle of Judgment. There's still a lot of space that can be used." Wayne showed a confident expression. "What's more, if the Empire really wants to rebuild the Unity Fortress, it will definitely prioritize the safety of the construction site. They probably won't be too concerned about our small fleet."

Thus, this squadron, composed of small and medium-sized warships, which could at most be used to fight pirates, swaggered into the largest pass galaxy in the entire Dawn star field.

This is the Community's fleet, which has returned to the galaxy where it once fought and lived after nearly a year.