Gloucester's roar echoed throughout the entire bridge.
At that time …
No one could answer his question.
"What's wrong? Why aren't you talking?"
"Commander Gloucester, we didn't detect any opening of the black cavity channel. The fleet stationed at the ocean channel didn't detect any abnormalities either. It's as if … as if these fleets appeared out of thin air!"
After Gloucester's repeated questioning, someone finally spoke up.
However, in Gloucester's opinion, it was as good as not saying anything. It was meaningless!
"Report!"
"Speak!"
At this moment, an officer in the bridge suddenly stood up and reported.
"We received three reports. The content is that the existence of the black cavity channel has been observed. However, after we checked the coordinates in the report, we found nothing!"
"Hmm?"
This question was worth investigating.
The soldiers said that they saw it, but they didn't detect anything.
So, was the soldier lying, or was there something wrong with their equipment?
Gloucester was more inclined to the second possibility. After all, this was not a report from a single fleet, but from three different superstar clusters. The possibility of them lying at the same time was too small.
However, if this was the truth, did it mean that the Federation had mastered a new black cavity channel technology that the dynasty couldn't detect?
This would explain why they had been ambushed in almost all the war zones, but they didn't know where the enemy came from.
However … this was a little tricky!
"Order the reporting fleet to conduct another round of observation and send the images they have observed to me!"
"Yes, Commander!"
Soon, in less than a minute, the three fleets from different theaters of operations had transmitted the real-time images they observed. When these images were played in the bridge, it was clear that the fleet was in a daze.
As expected …
The images were of the black cavity channel!
"Let the technical team analyze the three coordinates again and see if they can find anything!"
"Yes, Commander!"
After the order was given, Gloucester waited quietly. At the same time, he hoped that it was just a technical error and that the Federation had mastered a new black cavity channel technology.
However, it was obvious that his hopes were destined to be dashed.
"Commander, the technical team has used many detection methods, but they can't find any signs of the black cavity channel opening at the three coordinates!"
"Inform the frontline to leave the affiliated civilization fleet behind to cover the retreat. The dynasty fleet must withdraw from the battlefield immediately!"
"Commander, this …"
"Carry it out immediately. Any later, and even the imperial fleet will be wiped out there!"
"Yes, Commander!"
Gloucester didn't want to give such an order, but he had no choice.
Putting aside the fact that the Empire's regular fleets needed energy, the Ardent Sun Fleet needed it even more.
It could even be said that the energy consumption of the Scorching Sun fleet was even greater than that of a regular fleet.
The most important thing was that the Black Cavity Armor was different from a shield. It consumed the Black Cavity Particles to block attacks.
Therefore, if the black cavity particles in the armor were used up too much, they would have to be pushed to the rear for refilling. This was something that even the Federation's black-armored battleships could not avoid.
The only difference was that the Black Cavity Plate Armor of the Burning Sun Fleet was only a prototype. In terms of hardness and particle density, it was several dimensions worse than that of the Black Armor Fleet.
If the Federation's black-armored battleships could withstand ten thousand standard attacks of a super civilization, then the Empire's Scorching Sun Fleet could only withstand a thousand attacks, or even less.
Although the Scorching Sun Fleet had been in the limelight in the previous battle, they had to retreat to the rear after every high-intensity battle to replenish the Black Cavity Plate Armor's particles. Their ability to continue fighting was almost at its limit.
Therefore, if the Scorching Sun Fleet continued to stay at the frontline, they might be able to suppress the Alliance's fleets for a short period of time, but in the long run, they would definitely be slaughtered by the Alliance.
As for the Empire's regular fleets, without the cooperation of the Scorching Sun Fleet and with their morale in chaos, the outcome wouldn't be any better if they continued to fight the Alliance.
The only solution now was to withdraw the fleet and stabilize the situation at the rear. Although they had suffered heavy losses, they still had twenty to thirty percent of their supplies, right?
With these supplies, it wouldn't be a problem for them to maintain a high-intensity battle for another month or so. As long as the situation stabilized, Gloucester would be able to mobilize resources from the surrounding affiliated civilizations to replenish the losses.
However, if they lost even this twenty to thirty percent, the entire Empire army would be wiped out.
Therefore, all the fleets of the affiliated civilizations were once again used as cannon fodder and thrown to the frontline to buy time for the Empire's fleet to retreat.
"Commander Gloucester, the order has been issued!"
"Very good. Send a message to the mainland and explain the situation and request for reinforcements. At the same time, send orders to all the neighboring affiliated civilizations to move immediately and send supplies to the frontline through the cosmic currents!"
"Commander, the situation is critical now. Why don't we use the black cavity channel to allow the affiliated civilizations to send supplies? If we use the cosmic currents, it will take an entire month!"
After Gloucester gave the order, the adjutant beside him asked in confusion.
"Don't you know that the Alliance has the technology to destroy our black cavity channel at any location?"
"Under such circumstances, if you were the Alliance, after discovering that we had opened the black cavity channel to connect to the affiliated civilizations, would you take action?"
Gloucester looked at his adjutant with disappointment and asked.
The reason was simple. Since the Alliance's goal was to destroy the Empire's logistics, they definitely wouldn't give the Empire the chance to build a channel to send supplies.
Yes, the Empire did have a large number of dark energy crystals, but that was on the mainland. The frontline only had about a thousand crystals in reserve.
Therefore, if they really wanted to compete with the Alliance in the consumption of dark energy crystals, they would have to do it on the mainland and not on the frontline.
This was also why Gloucester didn't just ask the neighboring affiliated civilizations to immediately send supplies through the cosmic currents, he also reported the situation to the mainland and requested reinforcements.
"Commander, I didn't think it through!"
After realizing his mistake, the adjutant immediately apologized.
"Alright, go and make the arrangements now. Other than the area where the battle is taking place, arrange for warships to monitor the rest of the area. Since the Alliance's new technology makes it impossible for us to detect the opening of the black passage, we can only use the most primitive method, which is to monitor the situation through observation!"
"This kind of situation can't happen again!"
Gloucester said to his adjutant sternly.
"Yes, Commander!"