The T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser, bow shield thrust forward, bore the brunt of the Fire Salamander Seventh Fleet's fire and charged straight in — relying wholly on main guns, secondary guns, and interstellar drones to tear open the enemy standing in its path. This tactic Charlotte knew as well as anything; not long before, she'd used the very same tactic right here to destroy a T3 Arkham-class Medium Interstellar Battleship. And this time, the ship she meant to decapitate was a mere T2 Giant Bear-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship.
"Report! The enemy Fire Salamander First Fleet is coming to support from the flank; the enemy flagship, the T3 Arkham, has locked its main gun on us!" a crewwoman reported.
Charlotte watched the ship's radar, and now gave an order no one had expected.
"Shift the star shield's position — move it to the ship's right side."
Understand: at this moment the Fire Salamander Seventh Fleet's fire was falling entirely upon the T3 Blizzard's frontal shield; to pull the shield away now meant relying on the frontal hull armor to bear that fire! But Zhao Chen said nothing to stop her, only watching Charlotte give the order with a faint smile. He'd seen her intent.
The little popguns of the Seventh Fleet's T1 warships weren't worth discussing — against the T3 Blizzard's hull armor they were no more than a scratch. The T2 warships' fire posed a threat, but all of it together was less of a threat than that lone T3 Arkham next door. Add the frontal battlefield's cover — the Blizzard drones, the main guns, secondary guns, close-in guns, interstellar missiles — and there was no great threat there. But to take the T3 Arkham's cluster-laser main gun head-on with bare hull armor — that was another matter. It wouldn't fell the ship in one shot, no, but it would do the hull enormous harm, and would certainly affect the fighting to come. So Charlotte's arrangement was the best one. And Zhao Chen liked an arrangement like this.
Aren't you the mighty one? Don't you have more ships than I do? Well, right in front of you now, I'm going to gut your fleet's flagship — and what can you do about it?
Zhao Chen could already picture the face the Fire Salamander chieftain would make — like he'd swallowed dung. He relished exactly this feeling: making another grind his teeth in hatred while utterly unable to do a thing about it.
Soon the star-shield system made its adjustment, appearing now on the T3 Blizzard's right side. Barely a few tens of seconds later, a cluster-laser followed hard behind, slamming into the shield. That was the T3 Arkham, come to support. At the same time, with the frontal hull armor stripped of protection, the alerts of the hull taking fire sounded without cease on the bridge; one could even faintly feel the shaking of it up on the bridge.
"Report — the enemy Fire Salamander Seventh Fleet's flagship is locked!" a crewwoman cried.
"Fire!" Charlotte gave the order at once.
The Blizzard-class heavy cluster-laser bow cannon, long readied, once more displayed its majesty. A blue cluster-laser shredded every Fire Salamander ship standing in its path — and these, mind you, were T2 warships, with hull armor but no star shield! And that flagship was only a T2 Giant Bear-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship!
In the end, the answer was plain to see. The T3 Blizzard, warding off the flanking T3 Arkham's cluster-laser with one hand, used its own cluster-laser with the other to tear the T2 Giant Bear's hull apart.
On his own bridge, the Fire Salamander chieftain roared in fury — he bellowed, he raged, he came apart. Right in front of him, before 500-odd warships, the flagship of one of his own fleets destroyed! And stop it he could not. The sense of humiliation was as if someone had toyed with his lizard mistress right before his eyes.
"Surround it for me! I'll tear it to shreds! And if we can take that man alive, I'll see to it he tastes the most agonizing punishment my Fire Salamander clan can give!" The chieftain's eyes were bloodshot as he pointed in fury at the warship in the display.
Surround it?
The adjutant beside him relayed his chieftain's order, but in his heart he knew perfectly well: relying on a pack of cannon-fodder T1 warships, plus 100-odd T2 warships, to intercept a T3 warship whose speed could rocket to 210 star-knots? If the enemy truly wished to leave, they simply couldn't stop it. But the chieftain was consumed by rage now, and would likely hear nothing said to him. Say more and it would be no use.
And the way things unfolded next was exactly as that Fire Salamander adjutant had foreseen. That T3 warship, though it took a great many hits, relied on its shield to ward off the T3 Arkham's cluster-laser, and soon broke clear of the two fleets' encircling ring. This was the vast gap wrought by the generational difference between warship tiers. It was also why only a T3 warship could be called a military-grade warship.
Having broken out, the T3 Blizzard didn't stay tangled with the Fire Salamander First and Seventh Fleets behind it; instead it kept accelerating, racing off toward the other battlefield!
"This is bad!" The chieftain sensed something was wrong. Having carried out one decapitation, this T3 warship now meant to speed to the relief of the other battlefield — to join the ships there in the encircling annihilation of his already badly mauled Fire Salamander Fourth and Eighth Fleets.
"Support them! Get support over there, fast!" The chieftain leapt in a thundering rage; this was perhaps the greatest swing of feeling he'd known in a battle these last several years. He felt his heart bleeding. Never had he imagined that this battle he'd looked down on entirely might now, very possibly, cost his Fire Salamander clan half its life!
T3 Blizzard — Bridge
"Current speed, 200 star-knots."
"Star-shield energy at 45%."
"Overall hull-armor strength at 85%; frontal hull-armor strength at 77%; in part of the frontal section, hull-armor strength at 57%."
"Ship munitions at 37%; interstellar missiles all expended; ship energy at 37%; 39 Blizzard-class interstellar drones remaining."
Hearing these reports one by one, Charlotte at once made her next dispositions. "Interstellar drones, return to the hangar for a round of resupply, and ready to commit to battle again. Shift the star shield to the frontal bow position; prepare for slashing runs through the enemy fleet."
Having settled the T3 Blizzard's task, Charlotte turned to the video window kept open in real time beside her — the wolf-girl Baixue on the other end. "Baixue, as the situation on your end allows, send the T2 Black Rhino-class Interstellar Heavy Assault Frigates to join us in slashing runs through the enemy fleet!"
The wolf-girl Baixue said with confidence, "No problem at all on our side — all 10 T2 Black Rhinos can sortie!"