First of all, this was the first battle the two of them had fought as captains of Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts. To lose two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts in their first battle, with every soldier aboard "killed",
would beyond doubt be a very serious failure of command.
Even if the Owl Dragon Emperor might not punish them, out of regard for what others thought he could surely not let them stay in these posts; he would move them to other combat posts.
After all, once the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought came out, who knew how many captains had their eyes on this interstellar warship.
Never mind major generals like them willing to give up the chance to command a legion fleet; even Imperial lieutenant generals would give up the authority in their hands just to captain such a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship.
And mind you, there were not many quasi-T7 Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts in service in the whole Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire.
She knew there were more than just five,
but surely not many more.
It was a case of many monks and little porridge.
So if they failed, to say nothing of anything else, the post of Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought captain alone would never be theirs again.
They might even be sent off to the "cold palace" in future, with no more chance of promotion.
Mu Baiqing was staking her own future on this one chance!
"We'll succeed for sure," Captain Huo Feifei said firmly.
…………
"Report: the two enemy interstellar stealth bomber forces that drove into the center of our fleet's position are retreating!"
"Report: the two enemy Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts fighting us show no intention of retreating. Instead, they're closing the fighting distance with our ship! The range between our two sides' interstellar warships is already far closer than the normal range for two interstellar warships fighting each other. And they're still closing!"
So his subordinates reported the state of the fighting to the Drought-Fiend Sovereign in detail.
The Drought-Fiend Sovereign gave a cold laugh when he heard that the two interstellar stealth bomber fleets were withdrawing.
And when he heard that the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were still fighting them,
the Drought-Fiend Sovereign sprang up in a towering rage. "Those two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts really don't think anything of us at all. In a situation like this, they actually still want to fight on against us? Good! Good! Good! Then let these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts come here and never go back. Pass on my order: at any cost, destroy these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts here. They dare look down on us? I'll make them pay for it!"
The Drought-Fiend Sovereign's pride would not let him be looked down on by any enemy; any opponent who dared look down on him would surely pay for it!
"Yes!"
At this moment, the fighting around the Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer grew fiercer and fiercer.
Both sides' guns, and every kind of weapon on their starships, kept firing at each other's hulls!
Above all as these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts came closer and closer to the Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer!
The intensity of the exchange kept rising too, because as the gap between the two sides' interstellar warships shrank,
there was hardly any need for time to aim.
Those using interstellar shells simply loaded and fired; those using energy shells simply recharged, and fired the moment the charge was full.
The soldiers in the departments working these weapons had no time even to watch what their shots did; they just kept going through the routine.
For at such a short fighting range between the two sides' interstellar warships, there was no need at all for anything so extra as aiming.
They only had to keep firing! Keep firing!
All they were after was how to fire in the shortest time!
The soldiers working the gun turrets in both sides' starships were red in the face, their eyes wide with fury,
as if at this moment they too could see the soldiers loading shells on the other side.
Both sides were holding on with gritted teeth.
The Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought No. 2 · the bridge
At this moment several departments on the bridge in charge of hull defense were sounding alarm after alarm.
And before Huo Feifei, what had been the star-shield energy display had now become the whole outline frame of the interstellar warship's hull.
On this picture one could see clearly which part of the starship's armor was under attack, and what state the hull armor was in now.
It was clear at a glance.
At this point there were over a hundred places on it, large and small, under attack.
When need be, these places under attack could even be enlarged,
to look closely at how they had been hit.
And they could also be observed from the angle of the images taken by the camera equipment carried alongside.
This way of observing let the department in charge of watching the starship's hull know the interstellar warship's damage in detail, accurately and as it happened, and report it to their superiors.
This part of the work might look of little use, but knowing one's own interstellar warship well was also a means of winning in battle.
The work of no department was to be taken lightly.
At the same time,
the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought's close-in defense system was now in a state of saturation defensive fire, for this was the last line of defense this interstellar warship had left.
And the enemy's attacks were aimed at these positions on purpose, too.
For once these close-in guns were all destroyed, this Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought would lose its close-in defense entirely.
Watching her own starship under attack, no trace of worry could be seen on Captain Huo Feifei's face,
as if the interstellar warship she saw under attack were not her own interstellar warship at all.
For this was something that could not be changed now, and worrying about it would do no good.
Had she been one to worry about such things, Huo Feifei would not have been in this post, and would not have asked to carry out this combat task.
Both she and the captain of the other Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought had been ready for this long before!
"How many interstellar missiles do we have left?" Captain Huo Feifei asked, steady and calm.
"Eight hundred-odd left," the deputy captain answered at once after bringing up the data.
"Fire them all, at every close-in gun turret on the Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer opposite. Try to destroy seventy percent of the Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer's defensive fire in this one round," Huo Feifei said seriously, "so that our interstellar drones can attack the enemy ship without a worry. From here on, every one of our attack positions that can reach the target starship is to fire on this Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer. And have our heavy interstellar marines make ready for a boarding action. We'll bring out everything we have and destroy this Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer in front of us in the shortest possible time! The enemy may think we mean to trade two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts for this Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer. But mind you, our Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts are far more important than this enemy Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer. Two for one? As if they were worth it!"
In those last words, the scorn in Captain Huo Feifei's voice could be heard plainly.
"Understood," the deputy captain answered, and went at once to give the orders.
Then the missile silos on this Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought opened one by one, showing the interstellar missiles that had long been ready inside.
Then, as the operators set them off, these interstellar missiles were fired one after another and flew toward their targets, trailing flame.
They were only a few hundred interstellar missiles, still a far cry from the meteor-shower attacks of an interstellar missile ship fleet.
But at such close range,
with all these interstellar missiles landing on the gun positions of the Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer opposite, they were still very effective.
The Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought No. 5 across from them did the same, and fired off every interstellar missile it still had at once.
Under such a terrible attack,
nearly every gun position on the hull of the Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer was hit.
From an onlooker's point of view, several hundred interstellar missiles could be seen maneuvering all around this Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer, flying to the places they meant to hit,
then exploding at their targets in balls of fire.
So for a time a great many fireballs appeared on the Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer's hull.
Prepared for it as he had been, so fierce an attack still frightened the Drought-Fiend Sovereign; even on the bridge the terrible shaking could be felt.
Luckily, this was a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship.
Its hull armor was thick enough, and beneath the hull armor were many compartments that could take on part of the work of defense.
These attacks alone could not destroy such a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship outright.
Never mind these attacks:
even a T6-grade interstellar battleship attacking with its strongest prow main gun could only damage the hull armor, and could not destroy this quasi-T7 Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer at a single blow.
That was the strength of a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship!
Captain Huo Feifei naturally knew this too, so she had never thought of taking this Drought-Fiend Ghost-King-class Heavy Strategic Interstellar Multirole Destroyer with one round of interstellar missiles alone.