10 T2 Black Rhino-class Interstellar Heavy Assault Frigates. One T2 Queen Bee-class Heavy Carrier. One T2 Lion King-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ship. This was the reinforcement the wolf-girl Baixue had been ordered to bring.
The wolf-girl Baixue was none other than the leadership candidate Charlotte had mentioned and recommended to Zhao Chen earlier — "Sister Bai."
Which was to say that Zhao Chen's Owl Dragon Fleet now had 13 warships in all: one T3 warship and 12 T2 warships. And what they faced was a Fire Salamander fleet that outnumbered them a hundredfold and more. From the sheer scale of the thing, likely no one would have staked a coin on the Owl Dragon Fleet.
T3 Arkham — Bridge
"Heh, heh, heh — and here I thought it was some grand array. A mere 13 warships? T2 warships, all of them, true. But over here I've got a full 300 T2 ships! How do you mean to fight me?" The Fire Salamander chieftain laughed in contempt.
When he'd first learned a fleet had come cutting in behind his own, his heart had given a lurch. Now, one look — was that black-masked man toying with him? He thought to throw down the gauntlet with this handful of ships? Without even weighing what he was worth.
"The Fourth Fleet and Eighth Fleet, see to those few T2 warships at the rear. The Seventh Fleet, together with my First Fleet, will take down that T3 warship!" The chieftain made his dispositions — deciding to press on both fronts and wipe out this fleet of unknown origin, this fleet that so overrated itself, right here.
T3 Blizzard — Bridge
Zhao Chen watched the holographic battlefield before him and marked the Fire Salamander fleet's dispositions.
"Everything all right on Baixue's end?" Zhao Chen asked Charlotte. Charlotte had handed full command of that rear fleet to Baixue.
Charlotte showed a rare smile. "Rest easy, Commander. A battle like this — Sister Bai can control it perfectly."
"Then let your performance begin." Zhao Chen propped his chin on one hand, as if awaiting a fine show to enjoy. Professional matters were best left to the professionals. Zhao Chen might himself be a cadet of the Captaincy department, but when it came to commanding warships in battle, Charlotte and the others were the more skilled.
Charlotte had already begun her dispositions. "Blizzard, raise speed to 210 star-knots and circle continuously around the outer edge of the enemy fleet's formation. Main-gun module and secondary-gun module, select your own targets and attack."
"Understood! Blizzard accelerating — current speed… 40 star-knots… 60… 80…" a crewwoman said.
Zhao Chen looked at the other side of the holographic battlefield. With the Fire Salamander fleet's dispositions, the battlefield had now split into two halves. On the other half, the Fire Salamander Fourth and Eighth Fleets had already begun assaulting Baixue's fleet from three directions, head-on. The wolf-girl Baixue's fleet held its battle formation.
Zhao Chen looked at the image captured by the deep-space telescope beside him: the T2 Lion King-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ship. This was the T2 Lion King's first appearance.
Originally, the reinforcement Baixue led could have arrived several days earlier. But once Lilith had grasped the situation with the Reef Star Region's Fire Salamander clan, she'd made a proposal: to delay the reinforcement's departure by a few days. The reason was that the first T2 Lion King had already gone into construction — its hull keel was laid. If, at this juncture, two T2 Iron Hammer-class Heavy Interstellar Industrial Ships were temporarily pulled off their own build schedules to join the T2 Lion King's construction, then, working around the clock, it could be finished ahead of time.
In the end, the T2 Lion King rolled off the line and entered service a full 20 days ahead of the original plan. And there hadn't even been time for a trial voyage — it had joined the reinforcement formation outright, completing half of its non-combat trials over the course of the journey. So it could be said that the battle now before them was the T2 Lion King's "combat trial run."
Zhao Chen looked at a screen beside him — the scene aboard the T2 Lion King's bridge, where the wolf-girl Baixue was. Since this was the T2 Lion King's first battle, she'd made this ship her own command ship, and flagship. By rights, in normal circumstances, the T2 Queen Bee-class Heavy Carrier should have been the flagship. This was a special arrangement.
The wolf-girl Baixue had already begun issuing detailed combat orders. "T2 Black Rhinos, into defensive posture, ready to intercept the enemy's fire. T2 Queen Bee, begin deploying interstellar drones; at the same time raise your star shield, and while screening yourself, take on the task of protecting the T2 Lion King. T2 Lion King — ready an attack of four volleys, 200 interstellar missiles in all!"
The close-in guns of all 10 T2 Black Rhinos turned toward a single direction, ready at any instant to intercept the enemy's fire. The T2 Queen Bee began deploying its drones. A swarm of interstellar drones — made up of T2 Killer Bee-class Medium Interstellar Drones and T2 Hornet-class Heavy Interstellar Drones — set off racing toward the enemy fleet.
At the same time, the 50-cell interstellar missile silo on the T2 Lion King's hull opened; cell after cell, the launch tubes were like the mouths of some abyssal cavern, chilling to the bone. Then the first volley — 50 T2 Lion King interstellar missiles — launched out, screaming toward the enemy fleet on trails of tail-fire.
The direction of these missiles' strike was the position of the Fire Salamander Eighth Fleet's flagship. The Eighth Fleet's flagship was a T2 Giant Bear-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship.
Eighth Fleet Flagship — Bridge
"Warning! Warning! Warning! A great quantity of incoming interstellar missiles detected!"
Hearing the ship's system alert, the Fire Salamander general's expression turned to shock. "Interstellar missiles? These people actually have a missile ship!"
He watched the 50 red points of light on the ship's radar racing in at high speed, closing on his fleet with terrifying swiftness. The power of interstellar missiles was no joke. At the same tech level, they ranked just below a heavy bow cannon and could rival a main gun — and their range was terrifying besides! Most important of all, they could deliver an area-wide fire strike, and had guidance capability! That was the terror of the weapon.
"Intercept! Intercept! Every ship, bring your close-in guns and your secondary guns to bear on the interception — bring down as many of these missiles as you possibly can!" the general hurriedly gave the order.
Every warship of the Fire Salamander Eighth Fleet locked its close-in guns and secondary guns onto the incoming missiles. Barrage after barrage of fire went up. Three interstellar missiles were destroyed in bursts. The rest began sweeping past the Eighth Fleet's formation. In the process, another seven missiles were intercepted. And now, they had closed on their target — the Fire Salamander Eighth Fleet's flagship, the T2 Giant Bear-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship!
The Eighth Fleet's Fire Salamander commander watched the 40 interstellar missiles bearing down in the display, his eyes full of terror!