Chapter 62: The Ironfang Attack (Finale)

62. The Iron Tooth Attack (Conclusion)

[Calculation complete. The Hammerhead-class cruiser has four engine exhaust ports: the left and right steering ports, the central main port, and the upper auxiliary port. You need to fire a proton torpedo into the upper auxiliary port at an angle of 10 to 15 degrees, which will allow the torpedo to detonate twenty meters away from the main engine. The blast-resistant bulkhead will isolate the force of the explosion, preventing a chain reaction in the engine, but the electromagnetic waves generated by the proton cloud will cause the engine to completely lose power.]

"Understood, I'll try it," Darth Tenebrous responded slowly.

Over there, more than sixty Blade-class fighters were still doing their utmost to attack the cruiser. However, their Gemini missiles were already depleted, and the firepower of their onboard infrared laser cannons was truly limited, amounting to little more than a token effort.

The two remaining Hammer-class corvettes had now become the backbone of the attack, and their equipped plasma bombs inflicted extremely high damage against shields. This weapon, originally designed for bombers in *Homeworld* primarily to deal with large capital ships, was now mounted on corvettes, yielding even more pronounced results.

Simultaneously, however, these two corvettes had become the primary targets of the cruiser *Iron Tooth*, forcing them to constantly execute evasive maneuvers, leaving almost no opportunity to close in and unleash heavy firepower.

Even so, under the continuous assault, the shields of the cruiser *Iron Tooth* were on the verge of collapse.

Tarkin piloted the YT-1000 Cavalry ship, rapidly cutting into the battlefield. No sooner had they entered firing range than the T-850 operated the ship's turret, unleashing a rapid volley of fire directly at the cruiser.

The *Iron Tooth* immediately diverted one of its secondary turrets to fire upon the Cavalry, but Darth Tenebrous was now completely in the zone; a mere twin-linked turbolaser turret posed no threat to him whatsoever.

Yet the most critical issue right now was the shields!

If the cruiser's shields could not be breached, even if a proton torpedo were launched, it would detonate upon contact with the deflector shield, and the force of the explosion would be dispersed across the entire shield, rendering it virtually harmless!

Darth Tenebrous maneuvered the ship around to the rear of the cruiser, constantly adjusting his heading. However, the insertion vector calculated by the master computer was exceedingly demanding, and coupled with the cruiser's continuous evasive turns, he missed alignment several times.

Furthermore, the gunners aboard the cruiser presumably recognized that Darth Tenebrous was up to no good, causing yet another secondary turret to swing around and fire toward the rear at Darth Tenebrous's position. That spot happened to be squarely within the secondary turret's firing arc!

Time ticked away second by second; the shields of the *Iron Tooth* still held, and Darth Tenebrous remained unable to reach the optimal firing position.

Continuously using his Force perception to adjust his course while simultaneously dividing his attention to keep a laser-focus on the elevation of the cruiser's secondary turrets to dodge incoming fire in advance, Darth Tenebrous was now drenched in cold sweat.

Suddenly, he felt a jolt in his heart—the sensation of impending crisis! Subconsciously, he jerked the ship into a sharp bank, but he was still a fraction of a second too late!

A turbolaser bolt flashed through the void, striking the Cavalry dead on! Even as a mere secondary weapon of a capital ship, its firepower was immense, shattering the Cavalry's shields with a single hit. The violent blast even inflicted severe structural damage to the Cavalry's hull.

"Two minutes left, Administrator! Your ship can't take another hit now! Fall back!" Qi Jian's urgent voice came through the communicator.

"No!! The Fourth Republic never has soldiers who flinch in the face of battle!!" Another voice suddenly blared through the communicator, and immediately afterward, the two Hammer-class corvettes surged forward with a burst of accelerated speed, hurtling straight toward the cruiser *Iron Tooth*!

"Judith, input the calculation results into the fire control radar, and assist me with course corrections at any time. T-850, once we are in range, operate the turret to concentrate fire on the cruiser. Their shields can't hold out much longer. I need to completely shatter their deflector shields within three minutes!"

"Understood."

"Affirmative, Administrator."

The cruiser *Iron Tooth* was still desperately attempting to flee, having widened the distance between itself and the mother ship to over four hundred kilometers. Once the distance exceeded five, seven, zero kilometers, it would break free of the mother ship's gravity well and be able to initiate a hyperspace jump.

The two Hammer-class corvettes simultaneously abandoned all evasive maneuvers, their pilots roaring as they drove their ships straight at the cruiser. At the same time, their plasma bomb launchers fired continuously, dozens of pale blue energy spheres instantly detonating across the shields of the cruiser *Iron Tooth*!

Almost simultaneously, the firepower from the *Iron Tooth* struck one of the corvettes. That corvette was instantly swallowed by the explosion, blasted into countless scattering fragments within mere seconds.

Yet at that exact moment, the faint luminous barrier surrounding the *Iron Tooth* flickered and vanished completely!

The shields were broken!!

Darth Tenebrous's gaze hardened as he once again braved the cruiser's barrage to re-enter the firing position! The cruiser's secondary guns fired relentlessly at him, but Darth Tenebrous had thrown caution entirely to the wind. He concentrated his full awareness into perception; every shot from the secondary turrets was anticipated by his foresight, allowing him to evade ahead of time with every single stroke!

"One minute left!" Inside the mother ship's command center, both Qi Jian and Karlson Wharton stared with gritted teeth at the combat situation displayed on the holographic projection. Veins bulged on their foreheads, fists clenched so tightly that their nails dug deep into their flesh. "Launch the Auro-class freighter immediately!!"

At that precise moment, a violent internal explosion erupted within the cruiser *Iron Tooth*! Several compartments near the warship's engine section were instantly consumed by the blasts, the outer armor blown open. Vast tongues of flame vanished the instant they met the vacuum of space, leaving only the expanding shockwaves of the explosions to ripple outward.

Meanwhile, because the engines had been caught in the blast, the cruiser's speed dropped precipitously!

"Thirty seconds left!!"

In the mother ship's hangar, the YV-865 Auro-class freighter, carrying two T-850s and seventy fully armed marines, immediately launched, roaring out of the hangar and flying straight toward the cruiser *Iron Tooth*.

"Now!!" Darth Tenebrous's eyes were bloodshot. He shoved the control stick forward with all his might, accurately sliding into the firing position this time. "Fire!!!!"

...

..................

Darth Tenebrous opened his eyes to find himself lying in the medical bay. Floating around him were all sorts of bottles and jars, potted plants, medical equipment, and similar objects.

"This is..." Darth Tenebrous groaned.

"Are you awake, Administrator? Well, I take it you've recovered, so perhaps you could put these things down now? You know I've been staring at the pothos plant above my head for half an hour, terrified of when it might drop right onto my skull," Punt's voice came from the side.

Darth Tenebrous was startled. Seeing that the objects were about to plummet, he hastily exercised the Force to regain control over them—especially the potted pothos floating right above Punt's head, which was now a mere five centimeters away from his skull.