As it turned out, Gezrin could provide much more than just coordinates for the new fleet.
He provided Andrew with the codes, allowing him to tap into the sensor readings of the Pelozi fleet.
The situation was not that great on the other side of the portal, as the Kinokians poured everything into defense, and the Pelozi fleet had to pay a staggering price for keeping their foothold, losing most of the ships they sent through the portal in a short time.
This was also the main reason that the Pelozi high command accepted the Lantean Empire's help, as even a short distraction of the enemy forces could potentially tip the scales in their favor.
-Well, Aelita, it seems that your own secret project will be tested today as well.
Andrew said, after taking a look at the battlefield.
-How did you know?
The Cherin asked, no less surprised than Nairin a while ago.
She was planning to surprise him with this project when it was time for them to take part in an invasion or if they were going to attack anyone through the jumpgate.
-Oh, come on.
The emperor shook his head.
-Like I would not notice a bunch of wrecks being transported to the Cerberus system, or that it now had four tier five shipyards, and the biggest ones available at that.
Not to mention that Cerberus herself is quite a chatty AI, once you get to know her better.
He explained.
-Alright, so what's your secret project, teacher?
Nairine asked curiously.
Aelita sighed and proceeded to explain, as it was only fair, since her student had to explain her own project.
-Is it ready to be deployed?
The Pelozi admiral asked in shock.
He had never heard of empresses from any star nation having their own secret projects, especially ones that had the potential to change the way warfare was conducted across the battleverse.
If both these projects worked as intended, the Lantean empire could attack anyone anywhere and be almost certain of at least establishing a foothold, while inflicting heavy losses on the enemy forces.
-It is, though it is not at 100%, it should still work.
The empress answered with confidence.
-Great, bring it here, and we will deploy it before sending the fleet.
Andrew said.
-It's already on its way.
I predicted you would want to use it the moment I heard you knew about it.
Aelita answered.
-Good, we will begin the operation when it arrives, and General Taylor gathers his forces.
The emperor decided.
In the end, it took more than six hours to prepare everything, but they were finally ready.
Aelita's secret project arrived in the form of thirty heavy cruiser-class ships and one destroyer class, all of which were heavily modified.
Her plan entailed making a hundred of these vessels, but they didn't have the time to complete them.
-Coordinates are laid in; we can begin whenever you want.
Lanarine reported.
-The jump gate is charged and ready.
Aelita also reported.
-The fleet is ready and waiting.
General Taylor said over the comms.
-Begin the operation.
Andrew ordered.
A few seconds later, the gate was activated, and a portal started to form.
-The enemy detected the portal formation.
Admiral Gezrin said as he watched the battlefield on a separate console.
-Begin breaching operations.
Andrew ordered the moment the portal stabilized.
At this command, the destroyer-class ship opened up like a clam on top and bottom, before it fired hundreds of drones at the portal, before moving aside to get out of the heavy cruiser-class ship's way.
These ships also opened up, but on both sides, and waited.
The drones that went into the portal shortly emerged on the other side, only to be greeted by the Kinokian defense fleet and decimated.
However, there were too many of them, and they were too small for the enemy forces to eliminate all of them in a short time, which was the Idea all along.
-We have target solutions and sensor data.
The portal is exactly where we wanted it to be, and the enemy sent some forces to defend it, as we predicted.
Lan reported.
-Good, break through their defenses and send in the fleet.
The emperor ordered.
At his command, all thirty heavy cruisers launched their payloads, which turned out to be hundreds of Shield-ignoring torpedoes.
What's more, the first salvo was not the last one, as soon there was a second and a third followed, before the ships ran out and moved aside to make way for General Taylor's fleet.
Each salvo consisted of three thousand torpedoes, as each ship could launch a hundred of them at once.
The weapons emerged in waves on the other side, and with the drones' data, they began to find their targets, decimating the Kinokian defense line despite losing over 80% of their first salvo to enemy fire.
The remaining twenty percent slammed into the enemy ships, heavily damaging or outright destroying them, before the second salvo arrived.
This salvo lost only 40% of its number to the Kinokian ships, and the rest literally tore the enemy ships apart, annihilating the defense line in a matter of minutes.
Seeing this, the Kinokians sent more ships to hold the line, but before they could even arrive, the third wave of torpedoes rushed from the portal, and the few remaining drones set their targeting systems at the reinforcements.
With the longest distance to travel, the third wave suffered over 70% losses, but the remaining torpedoes were more than enough to decimate the Kinokian vessels.
With their reinforcements either destroyed or in chaos, the funganoids were forced to redirect some of their forcess from the Pelozi front, to keep the new portal bottled up.
Unfortunately for them, it was already too late.
Right after the third salvo was launched and the heavy cruisers moved away, General Taylor rushed through the portal with his whole fleet, counting over three thousand ships, and seven thousand drone fighters of all types, as Andrew decided to send the system's defense fighters along with the fleet to boost the first attack strength.
As soon as the first ships were out of the portal, they launched their own torpedoes and all the escort fighters they had, targeting the incoming enemy forces, as well as the ones keeping the Pelozi fleet at bay.
The effect was devastating, as blow after blow fell on the Kinokian fleet, destroying or disabling their ships by the dozens.
Not that they cared when they had hundreds of thousands of ships in the system, as well as two space stations with their armaments to defend them.
However, the sheer devastation brought by only a few hundred Lantean vessels shocked even them.
Not to mention that there were still more ships incoming through the portal, and the worst of all were the ten cargo ships that appeared as soon as the Imperial forces established a foothold.
These ten ships deployed over two hundred of the newest defense satellites, which immediately got to work, tearing the Kinokian ships apart.
Within two hours, the whole fleet was on the other side of the portal and doing what it could to decimate the enemy.
However, the main goal of this operation was not the destruction of the Kinokian fleet, as a fleet of barely above three thousand couldn't defeat a fleet of hundreds of thousands.
Its main goal was to distract the enemy and divide their forces, while inflicting maximum damage.