『Yeeeehaaaaaaaaw!』
『I’m gonna smash ya’ll to biiiiiits!』
The pirates sounded like they were high on illegal substances as they screamed crazily and rushed straight toward the fleet. They came out of the asteroid field in great numbers— Err, well, not exactly. But there were still quite a few of them.
“Since our sensors didn’t catch them, were they waiting with their power generators down the entire time?”
“I suppose. They sound like a crazy mob right now, but that was still a pretty calculating move.”
“Maybe they’re just barely holding on to reason, and only got high enough to forget their fear? That’s pretty nasty.”
Even for pirates, isn’t it too much of a waste to throw away their lives like this? I’m sure there are various circumstances on the side of the pirates as well, but an attack like this was practically suicide. I wonder what kind of standing these guys held in the organization for them to be treated as sacrificial pawns like this.
『Attention all ships. Immediately intercept the enemy ships coming in from Sector 3. Small-class ships, be careful not to enter the line of fire of the medium and large-class ships.』
The moment Lt. Col. Serena’s transmission was over, the secondary guns of Restalias spat out fire, or rather, highly destructive beams, and started intercepting the pirate ships that came out of the asteroid field. The other large-class ships also began firing interception barrages.
“No matter how many times I see this stuff, it’s still damn amazing.”
“I definitely don’t want to try plunging headfirst into a barrage like this.”
The secondary guns of a large-class ship were basically the same caliber as the main guns of medium-class ships. In other words, even Krishna’s shield would be completely saturated after taking just a few hits. So what about pirate ships with abysmal defenses? It’s not that hard to imagine what would become of them.
“Nn, so unless it’s a perfect surprise attack, it really is no good.”
It seems like the pirates were trying to throw off the aims of the large-class ships by scattering chaff and flares, but this was simply trying to put out a raging inferno with a single bucket of water. I mean, sure, chaff and flares can be used to throw off the automatic aiming systems of starships by disrupting their sensors to some extent, but they can always aim manually. Chaff and flares are convenient, but not universally effective in each and every scenario.
“Yeah. Mimi, direct the active sensors opposite of where the large-class ships are firing at. Set it to maximum range.”
“Eh? U-Understood…… Huh?”
“So something’s really coming from over there huh. Prepare for combat, and send the observation data to Restalias to warn them.”
“A-Aye, aye, sir!”
It’s a common tactic. Basically, it’s like making a big swing with your right first to attract the attention of your opponent and landing the critical blow with your left fist, a weapon, or a kick. In this case, both the minefield and the earlier ambush from the asteroid field were merely used as decoys.
While listening to Mimi communicating with Restalias, I pointed Krishna in the direction of the suspicious readings and set the active sensors to maximum output.
“There’s something there alright.”
“Yup, definitely.”
An extremely cold object was steadily approaching the fleet. Probably, after accelerating at maximum speed, they activated the emergency cooling system to drastically lower the temperature of their starship, and let it approach the fleet exclusively through the use of inertia. It’s similar to the stunt I pulled off during the battle with the Vereverem Federation a while back. Yep. It was thermal stealth.
“I’ll leave the adjustment of the FCS to you.”
“Sure.”
Of course, Krishna also sported a thermal sensor among its equipped modules. It’s not impossible to lock onto a starship using thermal stealth by simply tweaking the fire control system settings a bit.
“Settings are A-OK. Target locked. Twelve bogeys approaching. No reaction on the IFF.”
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