Chapter 515: Ch

As for the people from the Terraforming Department, I contacted them, and they assured us that they will arrive here within forty-eight standard hours, along with the Tenth Defence Command."

"They will be taking over the territory we have gained from us and will be mainly responsible for building additional defensive structures and defending the gained territory for now." Ritik replied, tapping his fingers against the round table as he spoke.

"As for the other—" The two continued conversing with each other.

All the while, the Lance of the Void still remained in alert mode as high-priority commands were issued one after another.

From the rear of the Grand Fleet, beyond the defensive screen of perimeters, the over-hundred- and even two-hundred-kilometer-long supply motherships began moving.

Being support ships, they not only carried the necessary supplies for the whole fleet and the complete mission, but internally, they also contained industrial complex areas capable of carrying out all kinds of production missions.

Whether it was producing panels, supporting the repair of ships, or even churning out and completely manufacturing mechs and starfighters, all of it was possible.

As for materials, there were smelting factories within the motherships as well.

As they neared the most significant debris of the Republican ships, one large scavenging vessel after another was unloaded from their hangars.

They began their work immediately.

The Iron Vulture fired four magnetic harpoons, quickly arresting the shattered cruiser and preventing it from drifting away within a matter of seconds.

Its forward gantry arms quickly unfolded like mechanical claws.

From them, high-frequency plasma beams ignited, and they began slicing cleanly through the thick armor plating.

Within a few minutes, a giant chunk of the destroyed cruiser came free.

It was quickly hauled away by transportation ships toward the supply motherships, where it would be smelted down and reused for the production of defensive installations and other necessary equipment.

And with the combined efforts of dozens of Iron Vultures and Eaters, the battlecruiser was gone within a few dozen minutes.

Swarms of millions of autonomous Iron Vultures and Eaters, driven by a centralized super-intelligence, began working alongside even more logistical and transportation drones.

The salvaging drones, with the help of countless transportation bots, began dismantling one wreckage after another.

With their high-output plasma cutters, capable of slicing through even the densest reinforced armor made from Tier 3-grade alloys, they easily and methodically cut one ship after another into uniform structural slabs.

These were then hauled away by transportation bots.

As for the debris near the supply ships, it was hauled directly using tractor beams and thrown straight into the smelters of the supply motherships.

The scraps and shells of the Republican ships were quickly melted, cleansed of contaminants, and re-alloyed with hardened carbon compounds and other solutions that increased the density and capabilities of the refined materials by several significant percentages.

After that, they were quickly processed and directly cast into prefabricated modules for the defensive stations on the manufacturing lines.

Whether it was planetary cannons, planetary shields, space-based destroyer cannons, or replacement parts needed to repair the less-damaged Radiant Lunar Fortress, everything was being produced.

Nothing that could be salvaged was left to waste.

Everything was utilized wherever possible to rapidly form a real-time super-defensive grid around the entire Blue Moon Star System.

While on one side the salvaging operation was going on, Commander Ritik personally oversaw the tactical assessment of the three Lunar Fortresses—or, in terms of the Celestial Void Empire, miniature battle fortresses.

These three fortresses, which were once the property of the Blue Moon Republic and had even protected it, were massive battle fortresses created with an untellable amount of Tier 2- and Tier 3-class materials.

Named Dawn, Zenith, and Radiant, they had formed a powerful strategic anchor for the Republic and were among its main strategic weapons.

During the battle, concentrated attacks from his own fleet, along with the Grand Admiral's fleet and its main weapon attacks, had bypassed the heavy shields of Dawn and Zenith and severely damaged their internal systems, practically hollowing them out.

It was only by some fateful miracle that these two giants were still outwardly intact.

"How's the repair value of these two? That is, if they're even possible to repair. And what is the time frame?" Ritik asked the head of the assessment squad.

The two squad leaders looked at each other with hesitation.

Ritik frowned. "What are you both hesitating for? Tell me straight up. I won't eat you, okay? And don't waste my time."

The two rubbed their heads and spoke at the same time. "If you ask us, High Admiral, then yes, there is definitely repairable value. They could be repaired. But the repair time is quite high—upwards of a year, and perhaps even two."

Ritik frowned again. "Then there's no point if the repair time is this long. It would be better if we wait for the Industrial Wing to produce new ones and then deploy them here."

"Go have D51 deploy salvaging bots here and dismantle whatever is valuable in the form of materials only."

Saying that, he vanished from his position, leaving the two heads of the tactical assessment teams and their teams behind, along with a squad of Marines.

On the other side, at the Radiant Battle Planet, he appeared not too far from the assessment team there.

"Wha—?!" The team leader screamed upon seeing someone suddenly appear in front of him and quickly jumped backward.

Only to see that it was High Admiral Ritika.

He looked at her with a speechless expression that seemed to say, Am I that terrifying for you to scream like that and even back away…?

"Cough, cough." The team leader coughed awkwardly. "H-High Admiral. Greetings. Why are you here?"

Ritika jumped directly to the point.

"I want to know if the assessment has been completed. And if it has, is there any viability in repairing this thing? And what is the time frame?"

"Oh, that? You should have sent me a transmission directly, Admiral. I would have come to report to you face-to-face."

"Okay, enough with this nonsense. Tell me directly. Ritika had no mood to listen to nonsense and directly demanded an answer.

"Ahh…" The squad leader felt awkward all over, but he could only answer what he had been asked. "This fortress of the Republic was minimally damaged, Admiral, and its repair value is immense. If we go all out, it can be repaired within a month, or a little over three weeks."

"And we can even upgrade it to match our standards, though just barely."

"A month, huh?" Ritik said.

"Can it be any faster than this?" He looked at the squad leader and asked.

"It could be, but that would require the deployment of too many resources at once, High Admiral," the squad leader agreed and pointed out the obvious problem with doing so.

"It could massively delay other operations, which may not be productive. And this is something we shouldn't be hasty about either, High Admiral. It could lead to problems."

"Hmm… you're right about that." Ritik thought about it and accepted the point. "I was being hasty."

"Then proceed accordingly. I don't want any problems down the line. Use all the required resources, but don't overdo it either."

Ritik ordered.

"Ah, one more thing. Lock down the central reactors used by the Republicans immediately.

Install our own Stellar-Neutron Override Reactors, as well as our Quantum-Neural Overrides on their command networks for efficiency.

The second this is done by your team of engineers and engineering bots, we will deploy the other necessary equipment and supplies.

Since we are repairing this to such an extent, we might as well completely rebuild it. Come up with the plan. I'll give you two months to complete the project. You will be given all the necessary support."

"Okay, that's it. I'll be waiting for the reports." With that said and done, Ritik disappeared from his position just as he had appeared.

Meanwhile, standing on the Lance Super Star Destroyer, Mav watched as the progress of his whole fleet unfolded.

Across the tactical holosphere, the star system could be seen transforming visibly.

The wreckages that had once floated across the star system were also decreasing at a visible speed.

Even the mining operations had already begun across the dead celestial bodies and asteroids. Specialized mining ships were already extracting rare heavy metals needed to feed the ongoing construction.

"The salvage swarms are operating at one hundred and twelve percent of anticipated efficiency," Ritika reported, standing beside him.

"Within seventy-two hours, the first ring of thirty-six automated planetary defenses will be anchored into stationary orbit around Bright Moon Prime. Another forty-eight will be placed along the primary hyperspatial exit nodes that have been left open by us.

"And I have also completely secured and locked the special planets with three layers of shielding. I've even deployed a SUB battle group, entirely made up of battlecruisers, as well. Until something is decided, no one will be allowed to enter."