They had fewer fighters than usual, as the majority of them had been sent to assist with the ground battle. So they had only launched twelve ships. It was probably more than the Blue Knight and Hidden Leaves had, but they couldn’t afford to take it easy.
“Not bringing a slower carrier with us is making a big impact,” Dalize said.
“Well, we set out as quickly as we could,” the vice captain said with a nod.
“But nothing will come from complaining.” Dalize sighed. “The battle on the surface has already begun.”
It didn’t matter who the enemy was; that was something the Blue Knight had said in the past. And Dalize believed in those words, even if he was up against the Blue Knight himself. He had to fight so that he wouldn’t betray his allies on the ground.
“Have all fighters focus on the Blue Knight’s weak spot! The fleet will shoot down Hidden Leaves! Destroy that thing scurrying about the Blue Knight’s feet!” Dalize ordered.
The fighters had anti-ship missiles, and a swarm of those from close range was a threat even to the Blue Knight. Long-distance missiles would only get shot down by lasers, so they needed to be fired from next to the blind spot. The question was whether the fighters could survive long enough to get within range. Naturally, Hidden Leaves and the Imperial Army would send out their own craft to prevent that.
“Any more delays will be just what they want! Charge in without any concern!” Dalize ordered.
Time wasn’t on their side either. Though they had to buy time, a drawn-out fight would allow the gap in power to surface. Unfortunately, as Dalize was in command of a ragtag fleet, their skill didn’t compare to that of the Blue Knight and Hidden Leaves. Rather than allowing a blunder to ruin their chances in a long fight, it was safer to quickly finish the battle.
Kiriha predicted that the Liberation Army would fight in one of two ways: either by buying time or with an immediate showdown. They most likely wanted to draw things out, but there were circumstances that could push them to make the fight brief. Fighting while buying time was exceedingly difficult. The coordination of their forces was absolutely vital, and success depended on their skill. Assuming the Liberation Army had gathered all of the quick ships they could spare, they might find that difficult to achieve.
“So they’ve chosen a quick showdown,” Kiriha muttered. Even as the Liberation Army charged in, Kiriha remained calm, and she gave orders in a calm voice.
“Ruth, ask Hidden Leaves to send out their fighters.”
“Understood. What should the Blue Knight do?” Ruth asked.
Kiriha asked for the Hidden Leaves fighters, the kind that could be used in space, to be deployed. The Blue Knight naturally had such ships as well. Ruth wondered if it was unnecessary to launch them too.
“Considering the circumstances, we won’t need to deploy them now,” Kiriha said.
“I understand. I will ask only Hidden Leaves to send out their fighters,” Ruth confirmed.
Though her question wasn’t resolved, Ruth contacted Hidden Leaves. If Kiriha said it wasn’t necessary, Ruth had no reason to doubt her.
“Hidden Leaves has received the instruction and is launching its fighters.”
By the time Ruth made her report, Hidden Leaves had already begun launching the fighters. There were three of them in total. They smoothly deployed, speaking to their experience.
“Satomi Koutarou, could you steer as I say?” Kiriha asked.
“Sure thing. What should I do?” Koutarou replied with a nod.
“Good, first...”
From there, she gave Koutarou instructions. Nobody but her understood the reasons for them.
The Imperial Army launching fighters of their own was well within expectations. Captain Dalize had been sure they would respond in that fashion, though the number was unexpected.
“Only three? Are you sure?” he asked.
“Yes, there are only three fighters. All launched from Hidden Leaves,” the operator reported.
“What is the meaning of this? Does the Blue Knight not have any fighters loaded?” Dalize asked.
He had heard that the Blue Knight had left right after the launching ceremony, so it was possible that it wasn’t fully equipped. As proof, it still wasn’t equipped with Signaltin, which one could say was its symbol.
“Still, we don’t have the leeway to doubt it... All right, have our fighters shoot down those three first!”
Dalize quickly made a decision. It could be an Imperial ploy, but they would need to use their numbers to attack the Blue Knight while it was using an asteroid as a shield anyway. They needed to get the ship away from the shadow of the asteroid—a move it would have to make if surrounded.
“The fighters have entered combat with the enemy craft!” the operator reported.
“Have them continue! Our enemies are skilled, so make sure to put at least two fighters on each one!” Dalize instructed.
“Understood!”
The fighters engaged in combat. With the numerical advantage on their side, they forced the enemy to retreat, which meant they could continue advancing on the Blue Knight.
While observing the results on the hologram, relief washed over Dalize. I thought they were planning something, but it seems I was just worrying about nothing...
He had assumed there was some plan at work but had abandoned that idea when the fight had started without incident. Instead, he focused on the battle itself. The next problem was Hidden Leaves.
“How is the fleet doing?!” he asked.
“We are being thrown around by Hidden Leaves’s mobility but are managing to keep up,” the vice captain said.
“Push it away from the Blue Knight somehow! Make a path for the fighters!” Dalize ordered.
His ship was in the rear with the remaining five craft pursuing Hidden Leaves. The group was made up of battleships and destroyers. They were five against one but facing a Royalty-class battleship. The difference in strength wasn’t as big as the numbers might suggest. They couldn’t afford to let their guard down.
But at present, the biggest problem was Hidden Leaves’s anti-ship cannons. It was using those to intercept the fighters approaching the Blue Knight. However, the fighters’ numbers were gradually winning out, and the Liberation Army was gaining an advantage.
“What is the Blue Knight doing?!” Dalize asked.
“It is firing, but it appears it is bad at fighting at close range,” the operator answered.
“Good, then—” But before the captain could finish his sentence, the Blue Knight, which had only sporadically attacked them until then, made a strange move.
“The Blue Knight is firing its multimissile launchers!” the operator shouted.
“What?! That won’t be enough to take out the fighters or battleships! Have they lost their minds?!”
Dalize was confused. Forthorthe’s lasers were well-developed for interception, and the missiles had already been detected. Those missiles wouldn’t hit any ships. It would be a different story if multiple ships launched their own salvos at the same time, but when it was just the Blue Knight, it was meaningless.
“No, the enemy isn’t targeting us! They’re targeting the asteroid!” the operator announced.
“What?!”
The Blue Knight’s side had had yet another idea that surpassed Dalize’s imagination. The missiles ignored all the ships and headed for the asteroid.
Ships carried more than one type of missile, such as anti-ship and anti-surface missiles. They were changed depending on what they would be used for, making them fundamental to battle. As such, battleships carried not only lasers and beams, but also missiles as well as a weapon for when lasers and beams weren’t enough.
“Three, two, one...impact,” Ruth reported.
For some reason, there were no explosions right away. Instead, those came a short while after the impact. These were the special kind of missiles that Kiriha had instructed them to fire. A tremendous explosion and vibration were conveyed to the bridge by observation equipment that had been put on the asteroid ahead of time.
“It’s a success. Roughly a third of the asteroid has been destroyed,” Ruth stated.
“Indeed, good work,” Kiriha replied.
The Blue Knight had launched a type of missile known as “bunker busters.” They were made to destroy underground installations, so the warheads had been made sturdy and heavy. By accelerating them with boosters, the crew could make them fast enough to penetrate concrete and bedrock. Once buried deep down, they exploded. That was what Kiriha had used on the asteroid. As a result, a portion of it had been destroyed, but the problem was the whereabouts of the rocks that had been blasted away.
“Rock lumps are coming,” Clan announced. “Deploying distortion field.”
Of course, it wasn’t a problem for the Blue Knight. The ship had a sturdy distortion field befitting its large size, and it wasn’t difficult to repel the shattered asteroid chunks.