T3 Gargoyle-class Medium Interstellar Frigate — Bridge.
The Gebo clan chief was aboard this ship — his command vessel. The Gebo clan was the weakest of these several powers, so they could only use a rather cheap, but durable and cost-effective, interstellar frigate as their flagship. But he'd never imagined that this time a T2 battleship would fix on him as its target. His Gebo clan might always have been the sort others bullied — but that didn't mean one paltry T2 battleship could bully him too, surely?
"Rapid-fire guns ready — a mere T2 warship, and it means to bully my T3 warship! Do they really think we Gebo clan have no temper!" The Gebo clan chief gave a cold snort. The several rapid-fire guns of his T3 Gargoyle trained on that T2 battleship.
But what he hadn't expected was that a main gun revealed itself at the enemy's bow! At the sight of that gun's caliber, the Gebo clan chief was stunned. It was plainly a railgun of nearly 2000mm caliber! Ordinarily, even a T3-grade destroyer mounted a main gun of only about this class. And now a main gun like this appeared, of all places, on a T2 battleship! It was simply unbelievable. The Gebo clan chief had a rather bad feeling.
"Warning! A group of interstellar drones is closing on our ship!"
The sudden alarm gave the Gebo clan chief a fright. Looking closely, he saw 20 or 30 interstellar drones racing toward his ship. "Strange? Where are our own drones?" the chief said, puzzled. If he remembered right, their fleet had two T2 carriers.
"Chief, both our T2 carriers have lost combat capability," the adjutant beside him said, opening a feed.
The Gebo clan chief looked closely, and discovered in dismay that the two T2 carriers had become vast, fire-belching wrecks — whole ships like ruins bombarded countless times over.
"This…" The Gebo clan chief was left speechless.
"Never mind — use our close-in guns to intercept those drones first! It's only a few dozen; how big a wave can they raise?" The chief had no mind now for these little flyers. But the very next second, his words were thrown back in his face.
Those dozens of drones dove at the T3 Gargoyle; at the very front were T2 Killer Bee-class Medium Interstellar Drones, screening the five T2 Hornet-class Heavy Interstellar Drones behind. As several T2 Killer Bees were hit and became fireballs, the T2 Hornet-class Heavy Interstellar Drones entered attack range too. They began releasing their interstellar bombs. These bombs fell not on the T3 Gargoyle's hull, but on its star shield.
"Warning! Star shield under attack — star-shield energy at 34%."
The Gebo clan chief got a fright — those few dozen interstellar bombs had dropped his shield energy by at least 30 points. As for the rest of what had been spent, that was from being caught earlier in the attacks of the T3 Phantom Assassin-class Light Interstellar Stealth Bomber and the T3 Blizzard-class Light Interstellar Battlecruiser.
"These accursed flies!" the Gebo clan chief railed. But those "flies," having dropped their bombs, turned back to resupply; he could only glare after them, helpless.
"Chief, that T2 battleship has entered our firing range!" the adjutant reminded him.
"Then fire on that T2 battleship that overreaches itself!" the Gebo clan chief said in indignation. Let your drones get away — then I'll deal with this T2 warship of yours.
"Yes!"
The medium rapid-fire guns the T3 Gargoyle mounted now opened up. But these attacks, landing on the enemy's T2 battleship, weren't very effective. They left only smallish craters, one after another, on the T2 battleship's frontal armor.
"That hull armor…" The Gebo clan chief was stunned, not knowing whether to say the enemy's armor was too strong or his rapid-fire guns too weak. Rapid-fire guns were among the lowest in power of the various ship main guns, but the fastest in rate of fire; generally frigates and cruisers mounted them, relying on that high rate of fire to intercept or attack enemy ships.
"Still, no matter — a while longer. Sooner or later I'll pound this T2 battleship into scrap iron!" the Gebo clan chief muttered, consoling himself.
T2 Snow Mastiff-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship — Bridge.
"Warning! Frontal hull armor under attack — frontal hull armor strength at 75%…"
Seated in the captain's chair, Shen Bing fixed her eyes on that T3 Gargoyle opposite. That's right — she was the captain of this T2 Snow Mastiff. After joining Zhao Chen's Owl Dragon Fleet, she'd assumed she'd serve as a bridge-department crew member, an adjutant at the most. She'd never dreamed Zhao Chen would hand her this T2 Snow Mastiff outright. It had given her a real fright at the time. And when she'd come to know the T2 Snow Mastiff's performance and loadout, she was astonished further still. This firepower — was this really only a T2-grade battleship? More likely it was a T3 destroyer wearing a T2 battleship's shell — even, one might say, a T3 battleship! It had no star shield, true, but its hull armor was the strongest she'd seen, second only to the T2 Black Rhino-class Interstellar Heavy Assault Frigate. And as for that 1800mm-caliber railgun main gun — that was unheard of among T2 warships! Blizzard Zero's 1200mm main gun had already astonished no few people; and this was 1800mm! Were the instructors and cadets of Northstar Starship Military Academy to see it, there was no telling how they'd marvel.
But since Zhao Chen had entrusted her with so weighty a charge, Shen Bing's pride wouldn't allow her to fail that trust by even a hair. Before this battle began, she'd studied this T2 Snow Mastiff, and the warships the enemy fleet might field. In a few short days, she'd come to know every warship in active service in the Reef Star Region. She had neither Charlotte's rich combat experience nor Zhao Wan'er's genius. A commoner, the flower of her class — like the slow bird that starts early, she'd make up in effort what she lacked in talent! In the end, having seen the enemy fleet before her, and known the strategic plan Zhao Chen had laid out, she'd settled on the keynote of her own battle plan: destroy at least one T3 Gargoyle!
That's right — long before the battle, she'd set herself the goal of destroying one T3 Gargoyle. And now, the target was right before her. The T2 Queen Bee-class Heavy Carrier had, at her request, delivered a round of bombing on the enemy ship's shield; though it hadn't destroyed the shield outright, that was within her plan.
"By now the T3 Gargoyle-class Medium Interstellar Frigate's shield energy should be under 35%, by my estimate," Shen Bing murmured. As for the attacks her own hull was suffering just now, she wasn't the least bit alarmed. She knew that for the T3 Gargoyle's rapid-fire guns to breach the T2 Snow Mastiff's hull armor would take at least a sustained five minutes of attack. Five minutes… was time enough for her to take this T3 frigate.
"Six pulse-laser secondary guns, fire now! In 20 seconds, the Snow Mastiff railgun main gun fires!" Shen Bing gave the firing order, calm and composed!