Among the many hull types, the two great overlords at any one technical grade are beyond doubt the interstellar battleship and the carrier starship.
But the place of the two upon a battlefield is wholly unlike.
The interstellar battleship's advantage lies in its power to overawe on the frontal field; on the strength of powerful ship's weapon modules it deals the enemy the fiercest attack there is, and destroys at a stroke the enemy's flagship and principal warships.
And which of the two is the stronger — interstellar battleship or carrier starship — has always been argued over.
In the ages of T1 and T2 technology, the interstellar battleship held the advantage of that argument throughout.
And once the T3 age came, the appearance of star-shield technology gave the carrier starship some standing; but set beside the interstellar battleship the gap was still wide.
For a carrier's own defensive power falls short, and as often as not it wants a whole fleet fitted out to go anywhere, so that the cost of running and maintaining it is no small thing; taken all together, its value for money does not match a battleship's.
Whereas the interstellar battleship is another matter: at need it can even charge single-handed — one ship and a fleet in itself!
And that state of things held until the age of T4 technology, when the carrier starship's supporters saw their chance at last.
Which was the appearance of the all-around star-shield!
In the conception of the carrier starship, having an all-around shield gave the carrier, first of all, a certain power of guarding itself.
And at the same time the rise in the carrier's performance on every front meant a carrier could load a greater number of interstellar fighters and interstellar drones.
And the most important reason of all was, naturally, the advance in the technology of interstellar drones and fighters themselves!
With T4-grade interstellar drones, once the number reaches a certain point, a change in kind takes place.
And at this hour, that change in kind was taking place before the eyes of the Sacred Lancer Legion's 900 warships.
At the sight of near 300,000 drones coming down on them in a screaming black mass—
what the Sacred Lancer Legion's three fleets thought of first was, with one accord, withdraw!
Their self-satisfied Fifth Fleet commander included.
Happily, at the Tenth Fleet commander's reminder, this Fifth Fleet commander steadied himself.
At the same technical grade, T4 interstellar drones and fighters, being smaller in bulk, have the greater agility.
They could quite easily run down these 900 warships of theirs.
Rather than engage the enemy in such a case—
to open out a formation and then fight the enemy's craft was the wiser choice.
So the commanders of the Sacred Lancer Legion's three fleets at once ordered a defensive formation opened out, and made ready to meet them.
And the Fifth Fleet commander did not forget to send a call for aid to their Sacred Lancer Legion commander in good time.
"Gulp…" The Fifth Fleet commander looked at the drone swarm in the picture, about to come within attack range, and he was shaking from head to foot.
"So long as… so long as we hold out through this drone swarm's first round of attack, then once the ammunition they carry is spent and they turn for home— we can withdraw from the field quickly. Is that so?" The Fifth Fleet commander looked to the Tenth Fleet commander, hoping to have a promise of it from him.
"It is so," the Tenth Fleet commander said, setting his teeth.
It was perhaps the greatest lie he had told in all his life.
But he understood that to keep the three fleets whole, this highest command of theirs had to be held firm in his conviction.
If the whole fleet truly withdrew now, they would be washed in blood without fail.
All that could be done now was to pray that the commander might come to their relief quickly.
Over on the other side, that T4 Tyrant-class Heavy Interstellar Missile-Battlecruiser and the two T4 Vermilion Bird-class Medium Interstellar Cruisers, having passed through the wreckage of the Qian fleet—
slowed sharply above that Qian family slave planet.
These three warships did not choose to enter the planet's near orbit; for they were in an hour of engagement now, not the earlier case of an enemy with no power of resistance at all.
For a warship to go inside a planet still carried some risk.
"My lady captain, the fighting to come is in your hands." Chu Xuan looked at the captain in earnest.
The captain nodded, and gave Chu Xuan a military salute. "Let Secretary-Officer Chu rest easy. And do you have a care for your own safety; if you need anything at all, contact us directly."
"Very well." Chu Xuan turned and walked out of the bridge at a quick step.
Half a minute later, Chu Xuan's figure appeared in a hangar, and within that hangar were berthed interstellar combat mecha, rank upon rank.
Every one of them a T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha!
Chu Xuan's own dress had changed from her uniform into one of those close-fitting mecha combat suits; she ran at a quick step to her own T3 Templar, was carried up by a hovering platform, and then climbed down into the cockpit.
The hatch closed, and the instruments about her lit one after another.
"Every mecha squad report your state," Chu Xuan ordered.
"Templar Squad No.01 fully equipped, ready to sortie at any time."
"Templar Squad No.02 fully equipped, ready to sortie at any time."
……
"Every mecha squad on this hangar channel is provisionally formed as the Savior Mecha Squadron, with myself, Chu Xuan, as squadron commander. Panther-Girl as deputy squadron commander. Is that clearly understood?" Chu Xuan said in earnest.
"Understood."
Every mecha squad leader said it with one voice.
"Open the No.07 mecha hangar launch hatches. Begin launching mecha," Chu Xuan ordered.
And then, beneath every mecha position in that hangar, a 'tunnel' appeared, and every mecha began to drop away fast.
And after a brief darkness, the starry sky appeared before them.
And then a planet appeared within their view — the target of this operation of theirs.
Upon it were a great many 'slaves' from the Chu River Star Region.
Several hundred T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha began to fall fast, like meteors.
And at the same time, the captains of the three T4 warships gave the order to attack.
"Orbital strike upon the military installations at the surface coordinates given!"
The three T4 warships sighted a number of gun-muzzles upon the planet, and then attack after attack overtook the mecha just launched, reached the surface first, and struck those armed units and military installations upon it.
This was covering fire for this batch of airborne mecha.
"Distance to ground 1,000 kilometers, rate of descent…"
Chu Xuan listened to the prompts at her ear without a change of expression.
"Distance to ground 500 kilometers, rate of descent…"
"Distance to ground 300 kilometers, rate of descent…"
"Distance to ground 100 kilometers, rate of descent…"
"Distance to ground 50 kilometers, rate of descent…"
The people on the ground — whether the administrative staff the Qian family had placed there, or those slaves from the Chu River Star Region — could all, on looking up, see meteors coming through the cloud layer, one after another, rushing down upon them!
The scene of it was like the world's last day.
"Distance to ground 10 kilometers. Please engage deceleration apparatus and prepare to land!"
Hearing the mechanical prompt, Chu Xuan gave her order with it. "Engage deceleration, prepare to land, and stand ready to fight!"
T3 Templar-class Medium Interstellar Combat Mecha, one after another, engaged the deceleration equipment they carried, and the frames that had been dropping at high speed began to slow.
And came to rest at last, steady, upon the ground.
For all that, great clouds of dust went up, and a sound came from the ground like an earthquake.
Chu Xuan lowered her head and looked at the enemy combat units her frame's radar system had scanned out.
And gave her order, cold as ice. "The Savior Mecha Squadron begins its action. Destroy every visible Qian family combat installation; and any combat unit that dares resist — no need to report it. Destroy it outright."