Great Power Heavy Industry: Rise

Chapter 432

2042 7 Month 24 Day.

After three days of sailing, the First Fleet successfully arrived at Pallas.

No trace of the rebels was found in the airspace of Pallas, which made Zhang Gan heave a sigh of relief, and he ordered the fleet to deploy defenses over Pallas.

He led the fleet commander to take a supply ship to personally understand the situation on Pallas.

Pallas is named after Pallas Athena (another name for Athena), the daughter of the main gods Zeus and Metis in Greek mythology.

There are other male deities named Pallas in Greek mythology, but early asteroids were generally named after goddesses.

At 560 km in diameter, Pallas is slightly larger than Vesta, but 10–30% less massive than Vesta.

Pallas may be the largest irregular celestial body in the solar system (that is, its own gravity cannot make the appearance smooth), but it facilitates the construction of military fortresses. It is the second largest military fortress in the asteroid belt except Ceres .

Pallas was originally a planet developed by the European and American Federation. The largest city on it is Pallas City, and Pallas Spaceport is also in this city.

Pallas City has a permanent population of nearly 50, accounting for half of the total population of Pallas. Pallas has a garrison of 5 people, mainly ground artillery units.

Zhang Gan met Nawaf, the chief executive of Pallas, and Domilik, the commander of the garrison, at the spaceport.

Although the two are Westerners, they both expressed firm support for the unity of the Human Federation and opposed the separatist forces of Jupiter and Saturn.

After the outbreak of the war in the solar system, the contradiction between the Eastern and Western civilizations that had been alleviated in human society has become intensified again.

Some people with ulterior motives posted news on the Internet to confuse concepts, calling this war a war between Eastern and Western civilizations, and justifying the Jupiter-Saturn separatists, which caused extremely bad effects in human society.

And many of the former European officials who served in the federation were in a state of panic, for fear that the Orientals would attack them.

Zhang Gan understands the feelings of the two, which is why he must go to Pallas City to meet them.

With the support of Pallas ground turrets, it would be much easier for the First Fleet to face the rebel fleet.

7 month 25 day.

The day after the First Fleet arrived at Pallas, Zhang Gan received news that Vesta had fallen.

The news was sent by the rebels, but the Federal Army lost contact with the Vesta Defense Force and confirmed the news from the side.

The Vesta Defense Force does not have the support of space battleships, and the enemy army has invaded the planet's ground again. It will be a matter of time before they lose their defense.

But the capture of such a huge asteroid within a week still shocked everyone.

Neither side announced casualties, but fighting on a planet without an atmosphere, one can imagine the outcome of the losing side.

This news finally made human society start to really pay attention to this war.

This is not a separatist terrorist attack, this is a real war.

Zhang Gan didn't have time to pay attention to various media's comments on the war. He organized fleet commanders and Pallas garrison officers to analyze the video data of the Vesta battle.

Because the battle happened very suddenly, and the communication was blocked by the rebel fleet in the later period, the information on the battlefield obtained by the Federation side was very limited.

From the data, everyone saw warships converted from civilian spaceships, space fighters imitated on the basis of the Bird of Paradise space fighters used by the Lunar Defense Force, and mecha fighters wearing similar black warrior mechs.

All the weapons and equipment are rough in appearance, like semi-finished products for rush work.

In all the video materials, there is nothing unusual about the rebel mecha units. They cooperate with warships, fighter planes, and drones to attack ground fortifications.

In the past few days, the unmanned reconnaissance aircraft sent by the First Fleet to Vesta suffered a lot, but they also roughly figured out the situation of the rebel space fleet entrenched in the airspace of Vesta.

They are composed of more than 60 large and medium-sized space battleships. There is not much difference in the functions of various warships. It is not so much a space fleet as a space fleet.

It can be seen from the appearance that these warships are all refitted from various types of spaceships and aerospace aircraft of the former European and American Federation, and there are no specially-built space warships at all.

If they have to say what advantages they have, they have six heavy-duty space battleships transformed from super Apollo-class spaceships, with a maximum load of 50 tons, which can carry more space fighters and mech troops.

This is also in line with the findings of the Federation's investigation of the situation of Jupiter and Saturn. During the European and American Federation period, Jupiter and Saturn were also prohibited from developing military industries, especially the construction of space warships could not be hidden at all.

The analysis of the intelligence of the rebels greatly increased the confidence of the commanders of the First Fleet headed by Zhang Qian. They agreed that they underestimated the rebels before the war, and overestimated the rebels when they were raided after the war.

In fact, although the strength of the rebel army is not vulnerable, it is also very limited, and it is absolutely impossible to be an opponent of the well-equipped federal fleet.

Zhang Qian and others believed that the First Fleet did not need to wait for the rebels to attack on Pallas, but should take the initiative to attack.

Before the rebels could recover Vesta's ground artillery position, attack Vesta, annihilate the main force of the rebels, and then send troops to Jupiter to attack the rebels' lair, ending the war as quickly as possible.

After the meeting, Zhang Gan issued the operational forecast for the Battle of Vesta and submitted it to the asteroid belt theater command on Ceres for approval.

After the asteroid belt theater command received the application, Meng Ye was the first to express his support. He couldn't wait to avenge the blood and blood of the federal officers and soldiers who died on Vesta.

After weighing the strengths of the two sides, Zheng Qingwu also believes that the chances of taking the initiative to attack Vesta are great, and the Federation urgently needs a victory to appease the hearts of the people.

But Wu Tie believes that this combat plan should be sent back to Earth for approval, because this plan completely deviates from the current strategic thinking formulated by the Federation that focuses on defense.

After some disputes, Zheng Qingwu explained Wu Tie with reasons such as refusing to give orders to the foreign emperor, and waiting for the high-level federal meeting to discuss that he would lose his chance.

In fact, Wu Tie also hoped for a quick battle. The human federation has fully shifted to a wartime state, which will have a great impact on the economic operation.

The asteroid belt theater command replied to the First Space Fleet on the same day, agreeing to their latest combat plan and letting them implement it at an appropriate time.

Asteroid Belt Defense Three asteroid military bastions currently near Vesta will provide fire support for their attack.

After Zhang Gan received the approval, his spirits were lifted, and he immediately started to formulate a detailed combat plan.

After a sand table deduction, the fleet staff determined that three days later, on July 7, when the three asteroids near Vesta moved to the closest position to Vesta, it would be the best time to launch an attack.

Two days later, on July 7, at 27 p.m. Pallas time.

The First Federal Space Fleet set off quietly from Pallas and headed straight for Vesta, 7 million kilometers away.

After 20 hours, the fleet will reach the space of Vesta and launch an attack on the rebel space fleet.

This will be the first space war in human history!
(End of this chapter)