Chapter 337: The Target
“This is interesting. If that’s the case, it’s time for us to make a move as well—let them face reality,” Sarah Kerrigan said with a smirk as she observed the Rikens joke of a public referendum.
Suddenly, alarms blared across the Twin Star Defensive Zone. The Rikens scrambled into action, warship engines heating up and glowing red and blue, while land-based and orbital cannons began charging.
Under the watchful eyes of the Rikens, the Swarm’s Primordial forces steadily accelerated. However, just as they approached the range of the Riken energy cannons, the entire formation abruptly turned, bypassing the defensive line and heading toward the rear.
Panic swept through the Riken forces. The Swarm, breaking all conventions of fairness, had bypassed a head-on confrontation to flank them instead.
The three Riken fleets scrambled to launch in pursuit, but just as they mobilized, another 20,000 Primordial bodies launched from Planet Izumo. Simultaneously, additional land-based electromagnetic cannons emerged from Izumo’s moons, significantly increasing the Swarm’s firepower and pressuring Riken commanders into a strategic conundrum.
Pursuing the flankers meant risking their defensive line. With 3,000 warships redeployed, the remaining firepower might not hold against the Swarm forces still at Izumo. Even if the line held, the cost would be devastating.
Yet not pursuing the flankers would leave their homeworld and rear defenses vulnerable to encirclement or even destruction. If the homeworld fell, the troops stationed at the Twin Star Defensive Zone would face a similarly precarious situation.
This flanking maneuver was an almost unthinkable tactic in traditional interstellar warfare. Rival civilizations, typically close in technological capability and military strength, would risk being divided and conquered if they split their forces.
The Twin Star Defensive System spanned over ten million kilometers—a significant distance but not insurmountable in the vastness of space. Its design aligned with the Riken homeworld’s defense zone and the third planet, Cloud Return Planet, forming a coordinated line of mutual support.