"Golden Scarab No. 7, this is Star Sprite Supply Team 016. Our team has orders to resupply your ship under way. Beginning data link now."
Fifteen interstellar supply ships of different sizes surrounded Major General Winnie's Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought, like little fish around a big one.
Major General Winnie saw the video window before her too, and the head of the interstellar supply ships on the other side.
"This is Golden Scarab No. 7. Thank you for your work."
Then the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought No. 7 completed a data link with the fifteen interstellar supply ships around it.
That way, these sixteen interstellar warships could all keep to one steady speed.
Then openings and gates appeared one after another all over the hull of the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought.
And the fifteen interstellar supply ships of various models around it pressed in almost against the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought, extending linking modules of every kind from all over their hulls,
and joined up with the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought.
This was the most advanced interstellar supply fleet setup the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire had at present, made up of fifteen interstellar supply ships:
one T6 Star Sprite-class Heavy Interstellar Supply Ship, four T5 Ark-class Heavy Interstellar Supply Ships, and ten T4 Selene-class Heavy Interstellar Supply Ships.
Among interstellar supply ships, the more advanced and larger the ship, the stronger its all-round working capacity and the more supplies it carried,
but that did not mean it worked most efficiently.
For that took fitting together in every respect; only the best-suited mix could reach the best working capacity.
As now, for instance.
The Star Sprite-class Heavy Interstellar Supply Ship No. 16 · the bridge
"Report: every interstellar supply ship in the team has completed its working link with the target starship!"
Hearing her adjutant's report, the captain said at once, "Begin resupply at once. Resupply countdown, thirty minutes."
As she spoke, a thirty-minute countdown appeared before the captain.
The countdown appeared on the other interstellar supply ships and in every working department too.
At the same time, every kind of strategic supply could be seen flowing without pause through the linked modules into the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought.
The most important of them, naturally, were interstellar missiles!
Resupplying like this under way, without stopping, was extremely hard to do; without the utmost confidence in their handling, no one would dare try such a high-risk resupply.
But luckily, Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships were the finest interstellar warships there were, and that included these interstellar supply ships.
So it all went very smoothly.
These two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were getting their fighting power back as they sailed,
making sure they would be as near their best as possible before they reached the battlefield.
At the same time, the three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts left in the asteroid belt were taking on supplies from an interstellar supply fleet too.
Half an hour soon passed.
The two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were about to reach the star system's star gate.
"Resupply is complete; all docking modules beginning to detach." The commander of the supply fleet looked at Major General Winnie across the video window.
"Thank you for all your trouble," Major General Winnie said, saluting.
"It's what we're here for. We wish you every success." The commander of the supply fleet saluted, then ended the video call.
Major General Winnie looked at the interstellar war holo-table before her; not far ahead was the target of this operation, the star system's star gate.
"Five minutes until we enter combat range," the major-general captain of No. 13 said with a grave look.
"The details of the battle plan are as we discussed on the way. Any problems on your end?" Major General Winnie asked the major-general captain of No. 13.
The captain of No. 13 said seriously, "No problems at all on my end."
"Good. Then pass the word down: make ready for battle." Major General Winnie said it all in an even voice, as if what awaited them were not several thousand interstellar warships but an opponent not worth mentioning.
Very soon, the enemy fleet that had been only on the starship radar appeared in the video windows on the bridge.
The images taken by the deep-space telescope showed clearly before the officers of every department on the bridge.
The huge star-system star gate could be seen; by its shape it was probably only a medium T6.
Around it were some scattered defense works too, interstellar bunkers and the like.
Besides that, three thousand enemy interstellar warships had already formed a defensive position, facing the way the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were coming.
With only two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts, unless the two attacked from both ends of the star gate,
these few thousand garrison starships of the enemy's need only defend as things came.
The star gate garrison fleet commander · the flagship's bridge
"Report: the enemy's two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts are about to come within our combat range!" a subordinate reported to the fleet commander.
"It's only two quasi-T7-grade interstellar warships; what's the big deal? We have three thousand interstellar warships here!" the fleet commander said confidently.
The deputy captain beside him reminded him carefully, "My lord, we'd still better be careful and cautious. I hear that on the Troll Monarch's battlefield, the enemy pinned down ten thousand interstellar warships of our Troll Monarch's legion fleet with only ten Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts. Ten thousand of our elite fleet, with the Lord Sovereign's flagship, the Troll Monarch Interstellar Fortress Ship, right there. We're only a regular fleet; even if the enemy has only two… we'd still better be careful."
Hearing his deputy captain's rather fearful words, the garrison fleet commander smiled coldly. "I know all that. I don't deny these Owl Dragon-line quasi-T7-grade interstellar warships have some skill. But look at the actual situation: the enemy has only two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts, and they've hurried straight over without stopping right after the fighting over there. They can't be at full fighting strength. That raises our chances of winning a great deal. What's more, we have the star gate at our backs, and reinforcement fleets will keep coming in support. Our fighting power won't fall, but those two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts opposite will grow weaker the longer they fight."
As if something had occurred to him, the corners of the garrison fleet commander's mouth turned up slightly. "Tell me: if we score the first kill of this enemy quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship, what kind of reward will the Lord Sovereign give us?"
Hearing his superior say this, the deputy captain could not help being tempted too.
As the commander who scored the first kill of an enemy quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship, the honors would surely be generous.
Suddenly the deputy captain seemed to think of something.
He said in alarm, "Wait! The word we had before was that five Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were coming over from our Sovereign's side. But only two have turned up here. Then where are the other three?"
At his deputy captain's words, the garrison fleet commander knit his brows too.
He asked, "The word from the Lord Sovereign's side said five?"
"Absolutely certain: five. I remember it very clearly," the deputy captain said, nodding firmly.
Hearing his deputy captain, the garrison fleet commander knit his brows slightly, then said warily, "Send this news back to the Sovereign at once. Tell him only two enemy Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts have appeared here."
"Yes." The deputy captain at once told the communications officer to send this important news.
After all, there should have been five Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts, and only two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were here now.
So where had the other three Golden Scarabs gone?
These were no ordinary interstellar warships; they were quasi-T7-grade interstellar warships.
So where these three Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were now had to be confirmed as fast as possible.
If these three missing Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were carrying out some secret task, they might very well cause a huge change in the course of some battlefield!
"Report: our communications seem to be jammed. We can't reach the outside for now!" the head of the communications department said suddenly in surprise.
"What?" The head of the garrison fleet was greatly startled.
"My lord, it looks as if the enemy has some plan. Those three missing Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts must be up to something!" the deputy captain said with some worry.
"But now we can't get the intelligence out either," the garrison fleet commander said helplessly.
The deputy captain pointed toward the star gate. "We can't get it out from this position, but that doesn't mean we can't get it out through the star gate. We can send a few interstellar warships through the star gate to another star system first, then contact the Lord Sovereign from that star system and send this news over! It may lose half an hour all told. But it's the only way we have right now."
Hearing his subordinate, the garrison fleet commander nodded in agreement; it was the only workable way just then.
Whatever happened, this intelligence had to get out.
If later something serious came of his failing to send this intelligence out through his own oversight, the Lord Sovereign would surely make him pay dearly for it!
"Do it now! Arrange it now!" the garrison fleet commander ordered, somewhat anxiously.
Once the intelligence was passed on, there would still be excuses to be found.
But if it did not get out, he was truly finished.
Luckily this step went very smoothly; the Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships opposite had no means of jamming the star gate's use.
By now the garrison fleet commander had also taken back his earlier contempt, and said in a low voice, "Pass the word down: every part of the fleet must be wary and careful of the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts opposite. Fight mainly on the defense; without my order, no part of the interstellar fleet is to leave its fighting position on its own!"
"Yes." The deputy captain passed all these orders on.
And by now the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were coming closer and closer to the defense line they had laid.
And something peculiar was happening too.
"Report: the enemy's two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts are in a rather strange battle formation." The deputy captain pointed at the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts caught on the video screen, sailing nearer.
These two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were keeping almost pressed together, one above the other, like a sandwich cookie,
only without the filling in the middle.
For two interstellar warships to sail like this was beyond doubt against all convention, because the distance between the interstellar warships was nowhere near a proper sailing distance for battle.
That meant a risk of collision as they sailed.
Even if the helmsmen of the two starships held their speeds exactly and made sure the two interstellar warships were in no danger of colliding,
at such close quarters it was bound to hamper the use of some weapons on the sides the two interstellar warships pressed together.
The firing angles of some gun positions, for instance, would be blocked by it.
And so it was in fact: at least a fifth of the gun positions on the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts could not be used normally.
That meant these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts had lost a fifth of their firepower.[1]
But then something still more astonishing happened.
For these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts, as they sailed, were actually rotating at a steady rate!
"What… what are the captains of these two starships playing at!" Even the garrison fleet commander could not help standing up, staring at this in astonishment.
And very soon their staff officer had a guess.
"My lord, sailing and fighting so close together, the enemy's two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts seem to be hampering their own sailing and fighting. But in fact, for these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts, this way of fighting does more good than harm! First, the area the star shields cover: because the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts are so close together, a single Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought's star-shield force field can in fact just about cover both Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts. Besides that, there are the close-in weapons fitted to these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts. Think of it: the close-in weapons of two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts together; doesn't that mean their close-in defense is greatly increased too! By fifty percent over the original at least. Besides that, their hulls are so big that there's no way they could dodge our attacks anyway; they have only two ways of defending: either block the attacks directly with their star shields to protect their hulls, or intercept our attacks with their close-in weapons. So what we'd do by usual thinking in battle, spreading interstellar warships out evenly so that the enemy's area attacks can't catch them all, the enemy, with only two interstellar warships, has no need to think about at all!"
By now the garrison fleet commander had more or less understood the gist.
The staff officer paused, then went on, "As for why they sail rotating like this, my understanding is this: in this rotating state, every gun position on these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts gets a stretch of time to fire, and also a stretch of time to rest, on the faces where the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts block each other. So on the surface, the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts sitting so close looks as if it would hurt the interstellar warships' firepower. But in a way, it also gives these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts time to rest. After all, even on a quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship, those gun positions would surely overload if they kept up high-intensity saturation fire. And this way, like a Gatling-type autocannon, the barrels cool in turn, and fewer barrels overload and fail!"
Hearing this explanation, the garrison fleet commander understood it fully at last.
He knit his brows slightly and said, "Then do we have any way to counter this way of attacking?"
The staff officer shook his head helplessly, then explained, "In truth we all know the counter very well. When we studied fleet command, our teachers told us all: when we gather interstellar warships close together, very densely, we get more firepower and can cover the interstellar warships in the middle, true. But far more, they become the main target of the enemy's guns. And once the enemy has heavy saturation area fire, for a cluster of interstellar warships gathered together it's nothing less than utter ruin. So the counter is simple: answer at that one point with overwhelming firepower. But the problem now is that those two opposite are quasi-T7-grade interstellar warships. We can hardly threaten the enemy much with firepower. So the tactic of these two enemy Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts is very clever; without seeming to, it shrinks their own weaknesses and uses their own strengths. And without counterfire equal to these two enemy quasi-T7-grade interstellar warships, the only way left is to use the massed fire of our three thousand interstellar warships to keep attacking the enemy starships' star shields, and once we've used up these two enemy Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts' star shields, wreck the enemy starships' armor. Only then can we take these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts. In short, we can only strip this hedgehog opposite bit by bit: first the spines, then the armor, and last the body."
Having heard the staff officer out, it all came down to nothing much.
"All right, I get it. So we just attack by the book." The garrison fleet commander waved his hand somewhat impatiently, then said in a low voice, "That being so, pass on my order. Change the original line-abreast defensive formation to a half-moon defensive formation. Once the enemy's two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts come within our blanket of fire, every interstellar warship is to attack these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts at once. At any cost, slow down these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts' advance."
"Yes!" The deputy captain passed this order on at once.
"I just don't believe it. A mere two quasi-T7-grade interstellar warships, with these little tricks, can't possibly be a match for my three thousand interstellar warships here!" The garrison fleet commander folded his arms and snorted coldly.
Very soon the garrison fleet here had formed a half-moon defensive position facing the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts.
And on the other side, the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts showed not the least fear at facing three thousand interstellar warships.
They kept advancing at a steady speed.
And very soon, by the range of their quasi-T7-grade weapons, the two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were the first to bring the enemy's interstellar warships under their blanket of fire.
Major General Winnie looked at the enemy ships appearing inside the red dotted line on the interstellar war holo-table before her.
She gave the order without ceremony:
"Every firepower department in the fleet, everyone able to attack, except the interstellar missile department: find your own targets. Open fire!"
At Major General Winnie's order, the gun positions on the Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnought No. 7 could be seen aiming at the interstellar warships opposite and pouring out terrible barrages without pause.
These terrible attacks fell like golden rain on the enemy's defensive position.
Naturally, the captain of No. 13 beside her did the same.[2]
The two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts fanned out their fire at two angles, laying down truly terrible fire on the three thousand interstellar warships opposite.
After all, these two Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts were both quasi-T7-grade interstellar warships, and the weapon turrets fitted on them were naturally all quasi-T7 grade too.
And look at the three thousand interstellar warships opposite.
They were three thousand strong, true, but in the fleet's makeup they fell far short of the Troll Monarch's legion fleet the two had only just fought; that one had been a true elite main force.
The three thousand interstellar warships here counted only as a regular setup.
Never mind quasi-T7-grade interstellar warships:
they did not even have any T6-grade interstellar warships; their main-line interstellar warships were still T5-grade.
And the most numerous were T4-grade interstellar warships.