To buy time,
while fighting the garrison,
several Fierce Dragon interstellar warships forced their way through the enemy's blockade and came very close to the shipworks.
At this point the compartments on the interstellar warships' flanks all opened, revealing the sight inside.
Combat mechas could be seen hanging there, one after another; their frames had been modified to a certain degree, fitted with single-use rocket boosters that let them fly some distance in the space environment!
And these were the T3-series interstellar combat mechas built by the Fierce Dragon Kingdom: the Templars!
Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha
Type: interstellar combat mecha
Tech tier: T3
Frame armor strength: 200 units – 300 units
Star shield energy value: 1,000 units
Frame cruise speed: 30 star-knots
Frame maximum speed: 40 star-knots
Frame height: 20.8 meters
Mass: 688 tons
Crew posts: 1
Frame weapons: four fifty-two-barrel Gatling-type small beam autocannons, 100-cell small missiles, two Templar light-swords
"Fierce Dragon First Expeditionary Fleet, the whole Templar Corps is ready! Remember our mission: land on the shipworks. Wreck the T3 starships they're still building, plant explosives on the production lines, and wreck their production lines!"
In the cockpit of a T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha, a middle-aged man was roaring.
"Yes!"
In interstellar war, using interstellar combat mechas was a calling with an extremely high death rate.
But this weapon, if used properly, was an extremely cost-effective one too.
For an interstellar combat mecha was not large, and the demands of building it were not high either,
so there was no need to build it in the space environment.
Some factories on Dragon Star could take on the building.
Once built, they were shipped to a space elevator, carried by the space elevator up to the Dragon Palace Starport, and then assigned to the various fleets.
At the same time, training pilots to drive combat mechas was not hard either.
Often a few months of training was all it took to become a full mecha pilot.
The only bad thing, perhaps, was that the death rate was a little high.
But even so, for some who could not become starship crew, this was a fine path of advancement for them.
And the Fierce Dragon Kingdom's military department set rather loose requirements for mecha pilots, while the rewards for advancement were extremely high.
So long as one completed the requirements of a mission, even without killing any enemy or enemy unit in the course of the mission, it counted as one sortie.
If one could make kills in the fighting, one could get still higher rewards.
One sortie earned Fierce Dragon citizenship.
Two sorties, and one could choose to retire to a second-line combat post in the Fierce Dragon Kingdom, no longer driving an interstellar combat mecha in a fight to the death at the front.
Those on their third sortie could usually serve as squad leaders in their mecha units, and their families would get Fierce Dragon citizenship along with them.
And there were corresponding rewards of military rank as well.
It could be said that mecha pilots' survival rate was the lowest of all the service arms, but their speed of advancement was also the fastest of all the service arms.
What others might need several battles and over a year to achieve,
for a mecha pilot took only a single campaign.
"May your fortunes of war prosper, all of you! Those who live, when we're back on Dragon Star, the drinks are on me!" the commander of the First Mecha Corps said in the command channel.
Then squad after squad of mechas was flung out, and the rocket boosters fired,
carrying these T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mechas charging toward the distant shipworks.
Along the way, all the enemy's defensive ship guns took aim at them,
firing all out,
trying to destroy these small threats.
The T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mechas were all equipped with star shields, so some of the damage they could block entirely!
But if they were hit by attacks one after another, the star shields would still be used up.
By then these combat mechas would be nothing but moving targets.
Some interstellar combat mechas could be seen, one after another, exploding in flight into balls of fire.
To this, the other mecha pilots of the mecha corps paid no heed at all and pressed on.
It was something they had long since foreseen.
A mecha pilot driving a T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha watched as the shipworks drew closer and closer.
He raised his head and looked at the group photo hanging in one corner.
In it was his whole family, old and young.
It was a very large family: his grandfather and grandmother, his father and mother, his wife and his five children.
Besides them, his parents' brothers and sisters were all in this photo too.
From the clothing in the photo it could be seen that this family of his was very poor.
Some of the clothes on the adults were patched, and many of the clothes on the children did not fit.
He came from a remote mountain region of the Southern Continent.
Though, under Dragon Star's system now, the great majority of people's lives were getting better and better,
having no family wealth behind them and no special skills either,
his whole family, old and young, had basically scraped by just at the line of having enough to eat and wear, and that was after Dragon Star's system was established.
Before that, even getting enough to eat had been a problem for them.
So in the past he had in fact been a mercenary, working for a certain mercenary company, going wherever he was needed.
Only that way could he earn money.
Later the war ended, and the mercenary company was gone too.
Just when he was lost about the future, not knowing how to feed his family,
the Fierce Dragon Kingdom began recruiting soldiers.
He chose to join without a second thought; at the time he did not think much about it, only wanting to find a job with good pay.
It was a great pity that he was old, and of only middling talent, and could not become starship crew.
But because of the combat experience he had built up over many years, he could become one of the interstellar marines.
Later still, recruitment of mecha pilots began, and they of the interstellar marines had the chance to join first.
Many people shrank back.
For the survival rate of interstellar combat mechas was very low, and everyone was afraid of dying.
But he had chosen to join then, and was among the first batch of mecha pilots to join.
The reason was simple.
Between an interstellar marine and a mecha pilot of the same grade, the latter's pay was three times the former's.
And every kind of advancement came fast too.
He had spent a whole day back then studying the mecha pilots' system of rewards.
From then on, he knew what he was living for.
This was his first battle.
Even if he died,
because of this battle, his whole family, old and young, his direct kin, could all get a handsome death benefit, and his children had hope of receiving Fierce Dragon schooling.
These alone were enough for him to have struggled several lifetimes for out there.
If he could survive this campaign, and perform outstandingly,
he could have the chance of Fierce Dragon citizenship.
He wanted himself and his wife and children all to become Fierce Dragon citizens.
If his life before had been a home of nothing but four bare walls,
then now he meant to smash through those four bare walls with his own fists!
Boom!
A great crash.
The T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha he was driving landed successfully.
"Star shield energy remaining below 30%."
The mecha's system sounded the prompt.
The mecha pilot paid it no mind at all; at once he surveyed the battlefield around him, fixed his position and fixed the target he would attack.
It was a T3 interstellar warship in a dock, about to be completed!
Without a word, he drove the combat mecha charging over.
But at this point,
great numbers of mechanical dogs came pouring out of the shipworks, along with the shipworks' interstellar marine soldiers.
Four fifty-two-barrel Gatling-type small beam autocannons appeared on the shoulders of his T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha.
The four beam autocannons aimed at those mechanical dogs and interstellar marine soldiers and began firing nonstop!
The flames of explosions covered the view before him.
Suddenly a beam shot over.
Fortunately he reacted quickly and dodged it.
He looked over and saw a pop-up turret had appeared there.
It was the shipworks' defense program.
"Activate small missiles. Target fixed. Fire ten!" The mecha pilot entered the command without a word.
Small missile after small missile was flung out from the mecha.
Once flung out, these small missiles lit their tail flames and flew toward that pop-up turret.
There were quite a few automatic machine guns around that defense turret too, trying to intercept these small missiles.
Several of them were intercepted and exploded halfway.
But more of the small missiles hit around the target area.
Boom, boom, boom!
This turret position was cleared away.
Just as the mecha pilot let out a breath of relief,
a sound came from behind him.
"Look out!"
This was a voice from the comm channel.
The mecha pilot at once activated the little star shield energy he had left.
An axe came down on his star shield, on the point of shattering it.
The energy was falling at a rate visible to the naked eye.
It was a T3 combat mecha, the Dax Empire's.
And the T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha that had just warned him was not far off, locked in a melee with other combat mechas too.
"Sneak attack me?" The mecha pilot gave a cold laugh, spread his arms, and two Templar light-swords appeared.
The close-quarters fight began.
Half a minute later,
his two Templar light-swords ran through the head of the Dax T3 combat mecha.
"A feat of merit!" the mecha pilot exulted inwardly.
All these combat scenes were recorded by the black box in the mecha, and would be synced to the starships at the rear.
These were all his meritorious deeds.
"Not enough, this isn't enough yet!" By now the mecha pilot had gone red-eyed with killing.
He stared at the T3 starship that had been his original target.
If he could get close and plant explosives, and destroy this T3 starship,
then his merit would be all the greater.
Then he could get more places for Fierce Dragon citizenship!
A single real battle was a chance he had waited several years for.
Who knew when the next chance like this would come?
He could not afford to wait, and neither could his family!
"Kill!" This mecha pilot charged toward that T3 starship.
All around, the other T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mechas held the same thought.
As mecha pilots, not one of them clung to life or feared death; all had come to make their names and win merit.
Soon, after a round of fighting their way through,
the small missiles were all used up,
and the star shield energy was all spent.
This T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha at last reached this T3 starship still under construction.
He began planting explosives on the hull.
But after planting a few, he stopped.
Though he was not professional starship crew,
he knew very well too that blowing up a starship took a great many explosives.
The ones he had planted were all on the surface of the hull; the effect of the blast would be very limited.
Perhaps the Dax Empire could even repair it afterward.
That was not what he wanted.
If blowing it up from outside would not do, then of course the only way was to set off the explosives from inside.
With this thought, he cut a hole in the outer shell of this starship's hull and went straight in.
He passed through compartment after unfamiliar compartment.
Whether or not luck was smiling on him, he saw a huge power core.
"Remember, there are a few places on a starship most likely to explode: either the magazine or the starship's power core. If you can put explosives in those places, the effect is quite astonishing!"
An old hand aboard a starship had told him this.
He left all his bombs and set the time of the explosion.
He did not dare leave much time,
for he feared the enemy would find them and disarm the explosives.
With everything done, he sent an evacuation signal, centered on this spot, to every friendly combat unit around him.
This told them a large-scale explosion was about to happen here!
With all of this arranged, he began withdrawing at full speed.
Out of the starship, he kept running outward without stopping for breath.
Very soon!
A blast wave came from behind him.
Since he could hear no sound, he could only see the great glare of fire behind him.
He found cover in time and hid his frame.
And outside, this explosion caught quite a few of the Dax Empire's interstellar marine soldiers and mechanical dogs exposed in the open.
"That's one destroyed!" The mecha pilot let out a breath of relief and showed a trace of an excited smile.
The whole combat task he had completed surely counted as a great feat of merit.
It would turn his family's fortunes around, no question at all.
As for whether he could make it back alive, that no longer mattered.
He raised his head and looked at the battlefield in the starry sky.
The interstellar warships of the Fierce Dragon interstellar fleet were bearing down across the board, destroying those garrison forces worn out with defending.
That shining star-gate in the distance had its outer zone blocked by Fierce Dragon starships.
The Dax Empire reinforcement starships that came in support now and then had hardly any chance to show what they could do, and were beaten while completely suppressed.
And by now, the battle had lasted not even three hours!
Explosions began breaking out one after another all over the shipworks, fireballs appearing one after another.
Those thirty T3 interstellar warships about to come off the line into service would never see the day they came off the line into service.
They would be buried here forever!