Outbreak of War

Two fleets of Mars-Camino appeared.

The first was a fleet of 500 ships that had been tracking the Black Silver Glory from the beginning. This fleet consisted of a horizontal formation of warships, with frigates above and below them. This is the basic formation of fleet warfare.

Of them, the frigates had come to interstellar warp as soon as they saw the interstellar warp of the . Because of this, the originally disparate lines of ships were scattered beyond recognition, and it took quite a while for them to reunite.

The way they got together was not very well defined, and Keuk described them as “like a bunch of infants.”

Then the battle group ships came through interstellar warp, and it took some time for them to meet up with the battle group ships. Therefore, the Mars-Camino fleet could only watch with their fingers as the entered the fortress.

Then the battle group ships came through interstellar warp, and it took some time for them to meet up with the battle group ships. Therefore, the Mars-Camino fleet could only watch with their fingers as the Black Silver Glory entered the fortress.

The other fleet was 200 ships that had warped into the system just before Settsu and the others entered the fortress. This one had a battle cruiser and a frigate that warped out at the same time, and their formation was not disrupted in any significant way.

The crew of the Black and Silver Glory declared a rest as soon as they entered the fortress.

“Well, our work here is done! Settsu, buy us all a drink for going out there and saving the day.”
“Is it over?”
“That’s right. We don’t have a taste for suicide, so it’s up to this fortress to do the rest.”

Settsu couldn’t say that he had been so reckless.

“I understand. But the drinking is only after we’ve dealt with that fleet.”
“I can live with that.”

Soon after entering the fortress, Settsu was in the fortress commander’s office. As a matter of course, Kitty and Keuk were following him.

“Let’s see how you cook that fleet, Botchan.”

That’s what they said.

“Mitski, what’s the status of the fortress?”

After changing into his commander’s uniform, Settsu sat down in the commander’s seat.

The monitor in front of them showed a map of the surrounding area and real-time optical observations of the Mars-Camino fleet.

“Main and secondary cannons are 40% and 50% repaired, respectively. Defensive shields can be deployed at 70%. We have a 98% chance of winning if we engage the enemy fleet.”
“What about the other two percent?”
“If we aggregate all such minute possibilities, such as the enemy fleet being built with technology that exceeds that of the Earth Federation Forces, or an accident occurring to the fortress during the engagement, we arrive at 2%.”
“I see. Overwhelming, I see. Request a dialogue with the commander of the enemy fleet.”
“Understood”

Mitsuki made an offer to Starfleet for a call, which was immediately accepted.

“I’ll connect you.”

The image of the fleet commander appeared on the front monitor. He was a large man.

“I am Sirota de Nalle, Commander of the Second Fleet of the Kingdom of Mars-Camino.”
“I’m Seer Azna, commander of the Varaskirv Fortress.”
“Are you sure you’re not Sett-Vaile?”

It was a disgusting way of asking, with a hint that he knew what he was doing.

“He told me that I look a lot like him. It’s annoying to be misunderstood, isn’t it?”
“Hmm. So you’re just going to surrender?”
“Surrender?”
“Our fleet is already preparing for battle, and it looks like the Vetian fleet is coming too, but he doesn’t have the guts to trigger a civil war. He won’t fight with us, and he won’t help us.”

The arrogant tone of voice bothered Settsu.

But thanks to them, we now know that the other fleet that has appeared in the system is Admiral Vetsia’s first fleet. No wonder they’re going their separate ways.

“It’s no use crawling into the cave of such an asteroid. If you don’t want to be flushed out of there and caught naked, I suggest you just surrender.”

Settsu gasped.

Is it an irony that the asteroid is a hole in the ground? Or does he really not know what he’s talking about? I wonder why this admiral is so confident.

“The five hundred elite ships of the Royal Army of Mars-Camino will commence operations in thirty minutes from now, and I will accept your surrender up to ten minutes before.”

I don’t know how he took Setsueto’s lack of response, but Admiral de Nalle kept saying what he wanted to say.

Settsu clapped slowly.

Admiral de Nalle was puzzled.

“Thank you for your kind words. I was going to give you a warning to withdraw as a courtesy, but since you don’t seem to intend to, I’ll stop. That’s enough.”

Settsu said.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about this case. It seems that life has a tendency to go from bad to worse if we don’t take an active role in it. So I’m thinking of taking an active role in life. I’m done relying on someone else for my future.”

Setsueto looked Admiral de Nalle in the eye. Admiral de Nart has a look on his face that says, “What are you talking about?”

Well, I guess so. I don’t care.

Settsu was only going to say what he wanted to say.

“In order to do so, I will first reveal to you the extent of my capabilities, and you can begin your mission now, not in half an hour. My fortress is prepared to crush your entire fleet and reduce it to a speck of dust floating in space. It will make you feel a little more graceful.”
“You said it, kid. Don’t you regret it!”

Admiral de Nalle became angry and the transmission was cut off.

Kitty clapped her hands.

“That was a pretty good way to start a fight.”
“It’s just barely passable. I think you should have used your aristocratic origins to your advantage and sold it in a more seductive manner.”

These two are drinking coffee and watching on the sidelines.

“Now, how’s that lead teacher coming along?”
“From his confidence and the current state of the formation, I think it’s fair and square.”
“Ignorance is a sin.”

Keuk murmured sincerely. Knowing the fighting strength of the fortress, it was easy to see that fighting it head on was a fool’s errand.

What is about to happen is not a battle, but an overrun.

“I’m the one who instigated the crime.”
“They’re not going to believe you if you tell them the truth. They don’t know they’re nothing but praying mantis.”

Unusually, Keuk comforted me.

The fleet started to move.

Just as Setsuto had predicted, the battleships and frigates were moving forward at speed in a fair and square manner.

“If we maintain our current acceleration, we’ll be in range of the main guns in ten minutes.”

Mitsuki told me.

“All right. What about the warp jammer?”
“Anytime.”
“Warp jammers, then.”

Warp jammers are a type of beam cannon, but they are used more for the purpose of inhibiting warp than destroying it. The beam causes the energy situation in space to fluctuate constantly, making it impossible to warp. Because they are not designed for destruction, they have a long effective range.

The fortress’ warp jammers sighted the enemy fleet and fired an invisible beam. A status diagram on the monitor showed that the ship was in warp jammer.

“Warp jammer good.”
“As soon as the enemy fleet is in range of our main guns, we will fire them all at once with our main guns that we can sight. We’ll hit the battle line ships first.”
“Copy that. We’re getting ready.”

In a spherical fortress, only about half of the guns can be aimed at the enemy in one direction. Of the 1,200 main guns, 480 have been repaired. Half of that is 240 guns.

The 240 main guns took aim at the enemy.

The fleet advances unguarded. They think they are still too far away for the beam to reach them.

“Two minutes to range. Commencing main turret group energy charge.”

Neither Kitty nor Keuk made any teasing at this point. Only Mitsuki’s voice announcing the status of the fortress preparations flowed through the air.

“Energy loading complete. We have 30 seconds until the front line of enemy warships are in range.”

Settsu stared at the monitor.

The number of crew members on each of the battle cruisers is approximately 300. A single salvo should sink quite a few of the battle cruisers.

Originally, Settsu thought that he might participate in the war as an Imperial nobleman in the future. Even if the form was different, once he crossed the line, he no longer felt any hesitation.

“We’re in range, ten seconds, five seconds.”

The countdown goes on.

“Four, three, two, one, we’re in range. Main guns are firing.”

The 240 main cannons spit out a torrent of energy in unison. The beam pierced the space towards the aligned lines of battle ships.

Nine beams were concentrated against each ship in the battle line.

The Gungnir, the main turret group of the fortress, concentrated its beams with a precision befitting its namesake, the “divine spear of inevitable victory” in the mythology that was once handed down on Earth.

The battlecruiser’s defensive shields could not hold out for more than two seconds under the excessive concentration of beams.

The defensive shields disappear and the beam hits the ship.

One of the ships was burned through the center of its hull, splitting it in two. Another ship was hit by an antimatter reactor and exploded due to the annihilation of the antimatter stored in it.

Many of the ships had the same end result, with some differences in the circumstances.

The energy storm is clearing.

“Electronic warfare commencing.”

Settsu ordered the fortress to begin jamming communications. Due to the high-powered radio interference, the Mars-Camino fleet was unable to communicate with other ships and was unable to assess the damage.

“What’s going on?”

Admiral de Nard, who saw the flash of the fortress’ main guns firing, asked his subordinates to report, but no status report came in to the fleet command center.

This is for radio interference.

“I don’t know, sir! It’s a powerful signal jammer!”
“I don’t care if you don’t know! Use whatever means are available to you!”
“Optical observations indicate that there was a beam attack!”
“Idiot. At this distance? What’s the extent of the damage?”
“Many explosions! Details unknown!”

The command center had been knocked into the depths of confusion in an instant.

In the meantime, the fleet continued to move forward as previously ordered. If each ship decided to change its course on its own, it could result in a collision. Each ship was not allowed to move without orders.

“I have a second shot!”

Once again, the fortress’ main guns opened fire. A scream went up in the fleet command center.