Galactic Empire in New World

Part 8 Chapter 13

Somewhere in the sea
100 km from the city of Alcor
Gra Valkas, 42nd Fleet.
5.45 am.

The Gra Valkas 42nd Fleet was a temporary fleet that was a group of Gra Valkas ships ordered to head to Ragna in order to attack Laifor. The fleet consisted of 3 Pegasus-class heavy carriers, 1 Orion-class battleship, and 8 destroyers. They had already received news of Gavalka's 33rd Fleet's defeat. Therefore, they made their way south as quickly as possible in order to ambush the Mu Empire ships. Since they learned of the 33rd Fleet's attack, they immediately prepared their planes for a counterattack. But it took time to prepare the planes from a state of absolutely no preparation for battle. For almost an hour, they were busy checking, arming, and refueling all the aircraft on the three aircraft carriers. Since the location of the enemy ships was unknown, they would fly reconnaissance aircraft first, followed by all the attack aircraft they had.

Currently, the fighter planes used as scouts are on deck for final preparations before departure. In another 15 minutes, they would depart, and only then would the attack aircraft be brought onto the carrier deck for final preparations.

Commodore Aburgail commanded the Orion-class battleship 'Phnol', the flagship of the Gra Valkas 42nd Fleet. He was currently waiting impatiently for the aircraft of the carriers under his command to fly. He wanted to strike immediately before the enemy could attack his fleet.

"How long until those scout aircraft can be flown?" asked Commodore Aburgail impatiently.

"About 30 minutes, commodore," said the captain of the 'Phnol'.

"Too long. After that, prioritize flying the fighter used as CAP before we fly our attack aircraft." Commodore Aburgail ordered.

"But we have already positioned our attack planes to fly ahead of the other planes." The XO of 'Phnol' said.

"Change the departure schedule immediately, I have a bad feeling that the enemy will attack us soon." Commodore Aburgail said.

"We need 20 minutes to reposition our planes, commodore." The XO said it again.

"That's okay, those reconnaissance planes still need relatively the same amount of time to fly anyway." Commodore Aburgail said.

"Alright, commodore." The XO said this while giving orders to the communications staff to relay the order to the three carriers in the fleet.

But less than 10 minutes later, a voice from another part of 'Phnol' emerged suddenly from the speaking tube.

"This is radar, we detected an aircraft at the end of radar detection capability, about 60 km out. Altitude 1000 meters, bearing 009, speed and number unknown." The radar officer said this over the speaking tube.

"Report immediately when the speed and number of aircraft are known!" ordered the captain of the 'Phnol' through the speaking tube connected to the radar room.

"Yes, sir." The radar officer replied.

"Order those scout planes to take off immediately, use them as CAPs." Commodore Aburgail ordered. "All hands go to battlestation!"

"Yes, commodore," the XO said.

The battlestation alarm sounded throughout the Gra Valkas ships.

"Also order our destroyers to be in front of the battleships and carriers!" Commodore Aburgail ordered again.

"Yes, sir." The XO replied once again while giving orders to the other crew members.

With great efficiency, all of Commodore Aburgail's orders were carried out. The fighter planes that were going to be used as scouts immediately started their engines, and the pilots were called from the pilot's ready room to board the planes immediately. Despite the expeditious start, the planes took about 10 minutes to take off.