As the former overlords of the galaxy, the Space Necron Fleet was not an easy foe to deal with.
Although Alex had indeed defeated the Necron Tomb Technician's fleet in the previous battle, that victory was not easily won.
If the reinforcements hadn't arrived in time, while the Rostov II wouldn't have fallen, it would certainly have been a very tough fight.
Among other things, the Ecclesiarchy's armed merchant ship at that time would most likely have sunk there.
This time, facing the Space Necron Fleet, with their numbers temporarily at a disadvantage, the best option was actually to stall for time.
After all, there were still two Moon-class ships in the Starport that could join the battle. At that point, their side would have six strike cruisers and two light cruisers, while the enemy would have three strike cruisers and five light cruisers. While this might not be an overwhelming advantage, it was still an advantage.
Moreover, this wouldn't delay things for long; the Starport's Void Shield could easily buy enough time.
But Alex didn't intend to do that.
On one hand, being blockaded and not daring to charge out would severely impact morale. On the other hand, he was afraid these Necrons would split their forces, using a portion of their warships to tie him down, and then another portion to destroy the Orbital Ring or conduct orbital bombardment on the planet below.
If the Space Necron Fleet split its forces, and the Imperial Fleet was trapped in the Starport, unable to break through the enemy's blockade for a while, it was highly likely to lead to a collapse of the battle.
After all, for Alex, a little damage to a warship was not a big problem; there were repair shipyards, and as long as it wasn't sunk, it could be repaired.
But if the Necrons dismantled the Orbital Ring or caused heavy damage to the city, his losses would be significant.
And Alex had another concern: was the Necron fleet really just these eight warships?
Mai Mai and his team had investigated, and there was a Necron Dynasty sleeping in this Sub-Sector. Who knew how large the scale of this Necron Dynasty's fleet actually was?
So Alex unhesitatingly led his fleet to charge towards the Necrons.
Because the distance between the two sides was already quite close, almost at direct close-quarters combat range, both sides immediately opened fire with full power.
Imperial warships were generally equipped with Macro cannons and lance arrays. Aside from the Nova Cannon on Donia's Forge World ship, there were no special weapons.
However, the fact that the Imperium had conquered the galaxy for ten thousand years relying on Macro cannons and lances was enough to prove the reliability of these two weapons, inherited from humanity's most glorious era.
Macro cannons could be said to be quite primitive in terms of technology. In fact, for various reasons, they were even manually loaded on Imperial warships.
But this ancient weapon, which could be traced back forty thousand years, could still exert its power as the king of war, smashing shells comparable to an super-heavy tank directly into enemy ships.
The pure kinetic and mass impact brought about pure destructive power.
What's more, Macro cannon shells were not just large iron lumps; their warheads also had powerful destructive effects.
Even though Necron warships were composed of living metal, and Necrons were not without Void Shield technology, they still sustained damage from Macro cannon shells.
Originally, with the flexibility of Necron warships, they wouldn't have been so easily damaged.
In 998.M41, five Shroud-class light cruisers attacked the Adeptus Mechanicus facilities on the Mars Forge World, with several successfully landing on Mars.
Before this, the Imperium had encountered Shroud-class ships many times but had never managed to destroy them. Each time, the Shroud-class ships were able to withdraw from the battlefield unscathed, demonstrating their exceptional maneuverability.
The Imperium also had no ships with enough firepower to intercept the Shroud-class.
But when the Shroud-class abandoned their advantage in maneuverability to engage in an assault, their shortcomings became apparent.
However, the Space Necron Fleet was not simply a target for Imperial warships. Their equipped lightning arcs and Gauss particle whips also caused some losses to the Imperial warships. The Void Shields of two warships were overloaded in the first round of engagement, forcing them to rely on the warships' inherent defenses to withstand the attacks.
Fortunately, the Imperium also had the Starport as backup. The Starport's artillery finally began to roar after the fleet left port to engage the enemy, cooperating with the fleet to strike the Space Necron Fleet.
After several rounds of engagement, one Shroud-class Necron ship was sunk, while two Imperial light cruisers withdrew from the battle.
However, at this point, the two Moon-class ships in the Starport had finally completed all preparations and joined the battle, seizing the opportunity to damage a Necron Scythe Class with a volley of torpedoes.
As the six light cruisers unleashed their full firepower, the Space Necron Fleet gradually began to falter.
Just as Alex thought this battle would end in an Imperial victory, he suddenly received news that Necron armies had appeared on the planet's surface, and the Necron mechanical army had once again launched an attack on Rostov City.
"By the Emperor's arsehole, do these skeletons have a portal and an army on the planet too?" Alex cursed, but at this moment, it was impossible for him to disengage and support the battle on the planet's surface.
He could only have Gutierrez, who had already withdrawn from the battle, teleport back to the planet's surface with his Kill Team, leading Titus Squad to assist the Blood Angels' Death Company in the ground battle.
At the same time, Donia also prepared to directly descend her Forge World ship into the planetary atmosphere with her Adeptus Militarus to provide ground support.
Her Forge World ship was a modified light cruiser, and descending into the atmosphere was not impossible, but it would be extremely demanding, requiring very high performance from the warship itself, as well as high skill from the pilot.
One careless mistake could cause the warship to crash directly onto the ground, never to return to space.
This also made Alex regretful. If Mephisto hadn't been in a hurry to send the purchased sanctus wine back to Baal, having an additional strike cruiser right now would have made this battle much easier.
But it didn't matter now. Gutierrez's and Donia's ships had already withdrawn from the battle, and they couldn't rejoin the fight for a while, so he might as well let them support the ground operation.
Alex originally thought this would be enough. Even if the battle on the planet's surface couldn't be decided immediately, it should be able to hold out until the space battle in orbit was decided. Then, he could simply repeat the orbital bombardment from last time, which would be enough to solve most of the problems.
Although the subsequent impact of orbital bombardment would create another piece of uncultivable land on the planet's surface, for Rostov, a desertified planet, this was truly not a big deal.
However, just as Alex was having the Black Ship switch to a new Void Shield generator and turn its bow, preparing for another charge, Gutierrez, who had already descended to the surface, suddenly sent a communication: "Hey! Alex, we can't handle it! Those skeletons pulled out the Magnificent Stone!"
"Huh? What is it?" Alex was confused. What did you say the skeletons pulled out?
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