19: Does this make sense?

Looking at the warships getting closer on the radar, Salman inwardly cursed his bad luck.

It seems today's battle is unavoidable!

What's wrong with these people?! Twenty destroyers to fight him?

Does he deserve that?

There's no other way.

Since they have to fight, they aren't pushovers either!

The “Lord of the Desert” he was on was, after all, an active “Boxer”-class destroyer of the Lakere Interstellar Empire.

Its 400-meter length was already considered large among mainstream destroyers.

He still had four other destroyers of the same class in his fleet.

Although in space warfare, “bigger is better” doesn't necessarily hold true,

after all, who knows if your enemy might pull out some ancient technology from a 30-meter-long small craft and instantly reduce you to dust?

Fortunately, he had a slight understanding of what the mainstream vessels of the Claude Military-Political Consortium looked like.

They were pretty much on par, even a bit worse in some areas.

So, when the ship's capabilities are similar,

bigger means more weapon platforms can be carried and there's better damage absorption capability.

What's more, they still had dozens of miscellaneous Frigates on their side!

In other words, they were not without the power to fight.

So, he chose to strike first—

“Hostile targets ahead,”

“Provisional targets numbered 1 and 2,”

“Concentrated strike!”

“Torpedoes for saturation bombardment!”

“Focus fire sequentially by designated number!”

————

“Enemy ships have locked onto our position!”

“Engaging.”

“Locking on.”

From the moment they were illuminated by the fire control radar, the cruising setting warships immediately entered combat status and began locking their weapon systems.

Ten unmanned general-purpose FG300s were intentionally deployed to block the front of the fleet.

During the brief formation change,

the clone crew's commands were precise and methodical.

This further confirmed Salman's suspicion:

These guys are from the Galaxy Defense Force.

After a brief few tens of seconds, dense torpedoes and shells pierced through the silent zone between the battlefields.

They trailed pale glows, like a giant net unfolding, pouncing on their prey.

In the blink of an eye—

The torpedoes flew closer, slamming into the silvery-white armor.

Their internal high-energy explosives reacted with oxidizers, erupting in dazzling flashes of fire.

The shells that followed, carrying immense kinetic energy, crashed into the bow, then were violently deflected or embedded into the hull.

There is no medium in space, so sound cannot propagate.

The coexistence of silence and commotion on the battlefield was full of incongruity.

It also pushed Salman and his crew's tension to the extreme.

——

“Counterattacking.”

“Fire!”

On the other side, cold reports echoed in the bridge, and the menacing turrets had completed their lock.

The muzzles of the FG300s roared, and a series of shells, trailing exhaust flames, flew out at high speed.

The charging device on the ruby disengaged standby, and the huge metallic projectile, accelerated to its limit on the rail, was violently flung out, the arcing electricity almost solidifying.

A rain of projectiles flew forward—

Salman was still repeatedly refreshing the radar to confirm the attack's effectiveness.

Meanwhile, Samir was confirming the status of each warship.

That last round of saturation strike, they poured nearly three-quarters of the entire fleet's torpedoes and missiles into it.

Even if the enemy wasn't completely wiped out, their morale should have plummeted, right?

Before his self-consolation was over, a huge alarm suddenly blared in the bridge.

“Enemy strike!”

“Hit!”

Followed by a violent tremor.

“Requesting support, requesting support!”

“The enemy has bracketed the flagship!”

“Areas B-2, A-1, A-2 are depressurized!”

Salman's fleet was caught off guard.

“How is this possible!”

“How can the enemy still organize a counterattack!”

Things had gone beyond expectations.

At this moment, the radar also refreshed. Samir leaned over to look, his expression as if he had seen a ghost.

“Confirmed kills... two ships?”

No?

Is this the result that saturation fire should achieve!?

That last round of torpedo bombardment would have peeled off a layer of paint from most regimes' active main Frigates and destroyers, okay?

Looking out the window again, their makeshift Frigates were like eggs hitting a stone; just a graze, and they were immediately scrapped.

One shell, trailing a golden electric arc, even penetrated one Frigate, then drilled through the front of another Frigate on the same course.

The trajectory of the shell connected the two destroyed warships.

Panic finally crept onto Salman's face.

The warships on both sides were completely not on the same level!

Finally realizing what he had provoked, he quickly grabbed the microphone and yelled with all his might:

“Retreat quickly!”

“We are no match!”

“The enemy's warships might all be Relics!”

...“Our Frigates have been destroyed.”

“Our Frigates have been destroyed.”

“Enemy has retreated.”

night lamp reported the battle.

To prevent any strange follow-up moves from the enemy, Xi Hai ordered the pursuing fleet to hold position and not pursue further.

Two FG300s were destroyed, and the remaining warships all had at least half of their structural integrity damaged.

Although, compared to the unknown fleet's casualties of over 30 ships,

he had achieved a very impressive battle damage ratio.

The opponent had even voluntarily retreated.

However, the unease in his heart deepened—

Is even the firepower of a smuggling fleet this fierce?

The slightest sense of security he had was now completely gone.

The construction plan for higher-tier ship classes must be put on the agenda, immediately! Right now!

He immediately opened the base that came with night lamp.

Because of the automatic upgrade he had enabled earlier, the base was now Level 4.

The port had space, the joint production line was idle, and resources were abundant.

destroyers... AC-721, forget it.

Choose CAS-066, four of them, build!

...Outside the asteroid belt, the “White Robe” organization's fleet, which had just escaped.

Actually, “White Robe” was just their nickname; their true organization name was “Saints.”

It was just because most of their members liked to wear large White Robes, which led to this nickname.

Looking at the radar, confirming there were no pursuers behind them, Salman cautiously directed the fleet into the shadow of the asteroid.

He began to tally the fleet's condition.

“Half the fleet is destroyed, and we didn't even get the torpedoes.”

Looking at the disheartening statistics, Salman barely managed not to just drop dead.

He looked at Samir, testing the waters, “What do we do now?”

“What do we do now?”

Samir looked bewildered.

“You're asking me?”

“You're the captain!”

“I'm just the first mate!”

Seeing his reaction, Salman knew there was no plan.

“Tomorrow's ceremony still needs to be completed.”

“We can only blow up the ships.”

“But that would be too obvious...”

“It'll be hard to get close.”

Samir also had a headache.

Returning to the organization this time, being demoted and investigated would be considered good!

How could they have encountered a fleet composed entirely of ancient warships!

Shouldn't era-leftover warships all be lying in vacuum drydocks, treasured like precious artifacts?

Moreover, the fleet just now was all cannon-firing destroyers, without any other ship types.

Isn't this squandering treasures!

Such a waste!

Not a single shield ship!

Have they even learned fleet composition?!

And,

shouldn't most of these pre-era relics be used as flagships?

A fleet entirely composed of relic-grade ships, even for the major powers, should be hidden away as a trump card, right?

How could they be used for smuggling!?

Damn it, the more he thought about it, the angrier he got!

Who did they run into, some kind of weirdo?

He pressed his throbbing temples, stretched his neck backward, and his peripheral vision caught the radar screen.

Wait a minute?

Did something just move?

He took another look... realizing something was wrong, he immediately shouted:

“On the radar!”

“A uniformly moving object is heading towards us!”