The 2nd Recon Fleet, composed of Major Serena’s Independent Anti-Pirate Mobile Fleet and a mercenary mixed fleet, left the Izrooks system along with the other recon fleets and plunged into the frontier region.
The first place we scouted was the Pax system, which was directly adjacent to the Izrooks system. The four recon fleets split up to investigate the entire Pax system, and before long, we managed to confirm that there were no crystal lifeforms in it.
There were a total of three hyperlane nodes in the Pax system, including the one leading to the Izrooks system. The recon fleets then split into two pairs and headed for each of the two other nodes to further investigate.
“It’s more convenient to have two fleets working in concert in order to deal with unexpected situations.”
“I think so too. It would be ideal to have one fleet act as a vanguard and scout in order to confirm the situation on the other side before the other fleet exits the hyperlane.”
“That’s right. The other fleet can secure a path of retreat just in case things go south. The two fleets can take turns acting as the vanguard.”
“Let’s go with that arrangement then.”
The discussion between the commander of the 1st Recon Fleet and the 2nd Recon Fleet helmed by Major Serena went as such, and the two fleets proceeded with the investigation of the frontier while exercising maximum caution.
And so, it’s been a total of 36 hours since we departed from the Izrooks system.
“Our forces in Sector C are losing ground! They’re requesting reinforcements!”
“Tell May to provide cover fire from here. And tell our friendlies to hold out as best they can for the meantime.”
“Yes!”
We closed in on the crystal lifeform swarm and destroyed the ones blocking our way with shotgun cannon volleys. The fragments of the destroyed crystal lifeforms kept hitting Krishna’s shield and got repelled away by it.
“See! I told you guys it would turn out like this in the end!”
“It’s been more than 24 hours since you said it. It’s a total coincidence, okay!”
It’s been 36 hours since we left the Izrooks system. We were already four systems away from Izrooks, in the Gagaol system, and there the 2nd Recon fleet encountered a swarm of crystal lifeforms and immediately engaged them in battle. It seems they set up an ambush near the exit point of the hyperlane node.
The vanguard fleet immediately sent out a reinforcement request via hyperspace comms to us, who were standing by on the Riximus system adjacent to Gagaul. Fortunately, it would only take a span of approximately 15 minutes in order to reach the Gagaul system from Riximus, so the vanguard fleet should be fine as long as they held their ground for a short while.
As for what I and my crew were doing at this point, we were currently serving as bait to pull the crystal lifeforms away from the large ships composed of the cruisers, battleship, and Black Lotus, and plunged directly into the swarm.
The crystal lifeforms instinctively attacked whichever prey was closest to them after all. It’s fairly easy to lead them on by destroying a number of them with shot cannon and laser cannon fire while constantly moving around the battlefield. We’ve already destroyed quite a number of them while passing by even more crystal lifeforms to pull them away as well.
“Hey, the number of crystal lifeforms chasing after us has already turned really crazy you know!?”
“It’s okay. This much is no problem at all.”
The number of crystal lifeforms currently chasing after us was far fewer than what we faced when we first arrived at the Izrooks system, however, our current forces were also far fewer than what we had back then as well. There’s a danger of our cruisers and battleships taking quite some damage if the battle devolves into a melee. And so, we needed to do all we could in order to prevent that situation from happening.
I switched the attitude controls from auto to manual and reversed the ship to face the chasing crystal lifeforms while preserving our momentum.
“Ora ora ora ora!”
I then let loose with Krishna’s two shotgun cannons and four heavy laser cannons to destroy the chasing enemies. Since the chasing enemies were packed so closely together, there wasn’t even a need to aim precisely. You’d be able to hit something even if you just fired your weapons haphazardly.
“H-Hiro-sama! I-In front! No, behind us!? The crystal lifeforms are–!?”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
I used the attitude control thrusters to maneuver the ship in order to dodge the crystal lifeforms charging after us from multiple angles while continuing to bombard the ones we led away. I could easily tell the positions of the enemies by paying attention to the radar, so it’s a piece of cake for me to avoid their attacks as long as I concentrate.
Eh? Don’t I also need to pay attention to the front at the same time, you ask? I’m bombarding the enemies out front to oblivion anyway, so I didn’t need to especially pay attention to them. It’ll be fine as long as I have them in the corner of my eye.
“……”
“……”
“……Uh, captain. What the heck is that?”
“……What do you mean, Lieutenant?”
Robbitson and I were stunned speechless as we witnessed ‘that’ ship’s crazy maneuvers.
I was already floored when his ship plunged straight into the swarm of crystal lifeforms and drew them away, but he did something even more absurd by actively counterattacking the swarm chasing after him while on the run. He was right in the middle of the swarm too.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login