Upon either flank of the T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought's vast hull, great gates came slowly down, revealing one recessed opening after another.
Which to the enemy's eyes was most puzzling.
Could this T5 interstellar warship of the enemy's have some further trick besides?
Very soon their puzzlement was resolved.
They saw the bows of several interstellar warships sailing slowly out; and nothing was more conspicuous than those black-and-red lances upon the bows.
"This… what is this?" The Red Demon Fourth Legion commander watched the sight in astonishment, looking at the 10 interstellar warships of the same model emerging one after another from within that T5 interstellar warship's hull.
But this model of interstellar warship had never appeared before now among the enemy's legion fleets.
Nor could it be found by searching the intelligence database.
This was an interstellar warship of the enemy's Owl Dragon Legion that had never appeared before.
"By the hull it would seem to be an interstellar destroyer; though this hull's size is several times greater than a regular T4-grade interstellar destroyer. Can this be a T5-grade interstellar destroyer of the enemy's?" the adjutant muttered in a low voice beside him.
A T5 interstellar destroyer?
At the thought of such a possibility.
This Red Demon Fourth Legion commander gulped; the fighting power of this Owl Dragon Legion's interstellar warships he had already seen upon the frontal field.
Which left him unwilling now to take any interstellar warship out of the other side's hands lightly.
Still more one that was a T5 interstellar warship.
But his pride as a demon commander would not allow him to show any look of fear, and he said with a show of composure, "How should it be a T5 interstellar destroyer… And… and even were it a T5 interstellar destroyer, what of it? Against these 10 T5 interstellar destroyers, we… we upon our side have several thousand T4 interstellar warships. And two T5 Blades of Terror; the enemy is nothing whatever to fear. Order the fleet to press the attack at full speed still, and destroy every enemy ship ahead in the least possible time!"
The order was handed down.
And these T4 demon interstellar warships did as it said.
But the way things developed went beyond anything they had imagined.
Those 10 unidentified T5 interstellar destroyers quickened their pace by degrees, drew clear of the star-shield range of that colossus of a T5 interstellar warship, and came driving straight at them.
At the first instant, they all thought the other side must be mad.
Ten interstellar destroyers — even were they 10 T5 interstellar destroyers, do you dare charge a fleet of several thousand T4 interstellar warships?
Do you truly take yourselves for interstellar warships that neither die nor perish?
But when the two came together in earnest, the Demon Race's generals discovered how greatly they had erred.
First, the two sides' interstellar warships closed swiftly.
By the look of it these 10 T5 interstellar destroyers had no means of long-range attack, so it was only at medium and short range that they opened their attack.
And the strength of that attack was exceedingly terrible.
100 heavy medium-and-short-range rapid-fire pulse cannon fired without cease, and could often hold down the fire of several dozen T4 interstellar warships at once.
And facing the demon interstellar warships' attacks, these 10 T5 interstellar destroyers were fitted with a very strong defense besides — not a star shield, but 300 fully automatic medium electromagnetic close-in guns, whose interception rate was exceedingly high!
And as these 10 interstellar destroyers came nearer and nearer, this brought the Demon Race interstellar fleet up against a thorny problem.
For the enemy's interstellar warships were now very close to their own ships charging in front, so that to attack at this time might well strike their own vessels by mistake; and there was besides the case of their own ships blocking the paths of fire.
But at this point that Red Demon Fourth Legion commander had still not grasped where the terror of these 10 T5 interstellar destroyers lay.
Until those 10 T5 interstellar destroyers rammed, bodily and outright, into the star shields of their interstellar warships.
Using those dark-red lances set upon their bows.
At the outset the Demon Race's generals — even the demon captains who were struck — did not grasp the gravity of the thing.
They thought merely that the enemy should use a ship-ramming tactic so backward and antique as this was simply laughable.
Until they saw the star-shield energy values falling at an astonishing rate, and felt that something was wrong.
Within the space of a few seconds only, a T4 interstellar warship's star-shield energy was drained empty.
So much so that these demon captains doubted despite themselves whether their own interstellar warship's system for monitoring star-shield energy had gone faulty.
But watching the star shields disperse, they realized this was assuredly no accident.
And thereafter, the enemy's T5 interstellar destroyers, until now held outside the star shields, put on their full acceleration and drove those rams straight through their hull armor.
Before they could make any response.
The fleet-wide alarm sounded.
"High-intensity electromagnetic field detected — evacuate at once, evacuate at once!"
The alarm had not sounded a dozen-odd seconds before every starship system aboard this interstellar warship was crippled entire, and no few crew even died on the spot.
Thereafter the hull was torn and pierced through, and the hull broke in two.
And the T5 interstellar destroyer that had done all this drove straight on toward its next target, for all the world as though nothing whatever had happened.
And this sort of thing went on being played out again and again.
That Red Demon Fourth Legion commander was as frantic as an ant upon a hot pan, and yet had no way whatever to stop it.
For even should this T5 Blade-of-Terror-class Medium Interstellar Battlecruiser of his find a chance to attack one of these T5 interstellar destroyers, it could not bring a single one down in any short time!
It was hard to believe — how did a hull of no great size support so vast a store of star-shield energy?
This was the riddle turning in their minds at this hour.
——————
"By the look of it, the T5 Chaos-Knight-class Heavy Assault Interstellar Destroyer's first battle goes very smoothly." Zhao Chen sat upon the sofa, enjoying the sight with a smile.
It had to be said that though a ram feels a most backward means of attack, upon the field it is the most economical of all; set against the terrible consumption of those several classes of interstellar missile ship, this was simply the economy model!
By way of the "Chaos War-Lance," it drew off an enemy starship's star-shield energy at speed, which could be used both for an electromagnetic discharge attack and to replenish its own star shield.
To let this fellow into close quarters was enough to make one's scalp crawl.
These 10 T5 Chaos-Knight-class Heavy Assault Interstellar Destroyers were likewise one of the cards in reserve that let Zhao Chen dare to set this T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought here single-handed.
The number of 10 had been rushed out under arrangements and optimizations that Zhao Chen worked at day and night together with Annie and the other chief engineers.
Because the hulls were not very large, before this campaign Xue Xiaoxiao had a sudden notion: might these "little fellows" be loaded into her own T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought's docks?
The T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought's docks can, in theory, hold 300 T4-grade interstellar destroyers or interstellar escorts.
But!
These docks are intelligent modules, and can be reassembled like so many building blocks, only that the effect falls short of the original arrangement.
But for the campaign at hand, it suited exceedingly well.
At the last, the attempt being made and going smoothly.
Xue Xiaoxiao's T5 Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought happily took on 10 T5 Chaos-Knight-class Heavy Assault Interstellar Destroyers.
And so came about this dazzling showing in the present campaign!