The shield ship Shiitake put a stop to our brief rest, and sent us into combat with a harsh difference in fighting power.
But of course, before that, I heard about fleet combat theory of the space age from Iris.
The idea is that a shield ship goes forward, while the capital ship attacks from behind it and corvettes and frigates destroy the attacks that come from the sides when combat ships launch stuff like torpedoes at the capital ship.
Looks like hammer and anvil tactics from the age of spear and bow haven’t gone out of style.
We’re playing the role of the capital ship, firing the large laser cannon turret from behind the shield ship.
“First, move behind the umbrella of Shiitake! Iris! Count how many combat ships both sides have! Vasilisa, deploy one filming drone! Suzuri, the shield doesn’t have to be at full power! Leave that to the Shiitake! Kori, make sure you don’t miss the Shiitake’s instructions! Saratha! Make sure you don’t miss approaching enemy ships!”
I move the ship to combat speed before they respond, like I’m sliding off the Shiitake’s torso.
Its length of one point five kilometers is like a grain to a ship’s speed, so I quickly reach the front.
From afar, it only looks like a circle, but now that I’m up close, I can see it’s uneven. It deploys medium ten to twenty meter laser turrets from the bumps, and deploys combat drones from the concave parts.
I don’t know how many lasers there are, nor can I imagine considering the Shiitake has a circumference of three kilometers.
Well then, since the Shiitake’s shield is a meter away from the hull, there should be no interference if we stay over ten meters away.
“We should fire from behind the turrets…”
“Master, there are sixty-one mercenary ships and a hundred twenty-four enemy ships. The giant ring structure Huang is deploying defensive drones, but its mechanical intelligence has stated it will stop at two hundred and forty. The Shiitake will deploy hundred and twenty.
Looking at it from numbers alone, they have twice the combat power. It depends on whether or not they deploy defensive drones.
“I have a transmission from the Shiitake! Everyone get behind the shield~! We are charging into the combat zone~!”
“The friendly readings on the radar are increasing, but won’t it be tough to repel the capital ship like this?”
“What about the fortress? What kind of fortress is it anyway?”
“A transmission from Huang! Thank you for the assistance, may you sleep well with a down duvet… What~?”
“Don’t ask me!”
The count’s fleet is in front of Huang. Five destroyers, one shield ship, eight frigates, and fourteen corvettes.
We’ve just come out at their side. Luckily, we’re in a crossfire position, and the enemy only has one shield ship to block attacks. And it’s a small five hundred meter one.
“Ninety kilometers away from the enemy! Four of their destroyers are coming this way!”
“Are they rushing because they feel the Huang’s defensive mechanisms are the only threat?”
“The giant ring structure Huang is firing its main cannon.”
Where are those defensive mechanisms anyway? I thought I’d see them on radar, but I don’t see anything.
“Master, do you see this? This fifty meter swelling is a large laser cannon like ours. See, it is shining.”
Iris enlarges the image on the monitor, and I do see it.
“Is that all?”
“According to the data that was sent, Huang has fixed defensive mechanisms at fifty thousand kilometer intervals in its outer wall. It also rotates approximately three million kilometers per day.”
“Are the defensive mechanisms not pointless when they are that large…”
“I think they wanna defend with the fleet. Can’t we borrow drones from the other defensive mechanisms?”
“Few are operational in the first place, but since the standby area is rotating rapidly, they appear to be deployed in a pattern. As you can see, the railgun is already gone and another turret is attacking.”
I can see external footage of railgun shots bouncing off their prized shield ship. Even at that size, railgun shots bounce like they’re nothing. Would it be able to withstand a shot of Tortilla Double?
“Genma! Fifty kilometers!”
“Start the battle!”
“Transmission! We’re in combat range! Everyone fight hard, it says~!”
We charge forward behind a protuberance of the Shiitake, and the first thing we do is bring the filming drone out from hiding to start scouting.
As the radar showed, four destroyers are coming this way. I haven’t seen the other ships yet, but surely the corvettes, frigates, and combat ships are around.
Wait, destroyers are charging forward! Won’t Huang start firing solid projectiles at them if they get away from the cover of the shield ship?
“Railgun is silent! They are running out of ammo~!”
“Give me a break, already!!?”
Anyway, I point the large laser cannon at the destroyers and fire continuously. I withdraw after each attack, and fire from another protuberance of the Shiitake, following combat theory.
The Shiitake also starts using its medium laser turrets… Firing randomly in all directions. Aren’t you supposed to focus on one spot?
“The radar is picking up multiple missiles and torpedoes! The Shiitake is intercepting them, but some might get through!”
“Is that why…!? It looks like it’s working, but… Are the defensive drones being deployed?”
As far as I can tell on the radar, the other mercenary ships are also using the Shiitake as a shield and firing. The defensive drones are gathering on its umbrella, not in the same place, but groups of thirty up, down, left, and right.
A big light that reminds me of the large laser cannon is fired from the front of the Shiitake, and it’s absorbed by a destroyer’s shield.
“<Thirty kilometers! Coming from the front!>”
“<They want to pass by the Shiitake and attack it from its ass!>”
“That’s the destroyer you’re talking about, right!?>”
That’s it, attacking from the front with torpedoes will only get blocked by the armor, so they need to target the sides or the engine in the back.
“Suzuri! Shield at full power!”
“Understood! Possible combat time is forty minutes!”
I fire the large laser cannon multiple times, but it shows no sign of scraping the destroyer’s shield.
I get a little flustered, and check if the torpedoes and smart missiles are loaded.
Mu, maybe it was too soon to join a war…
“<Ten kilometers. In the words of my lady, it is a carnival.>”
As we receive this transmission from the Shiitake, my vision goes white for a moment.
I wonder what happened, but then I see every missile launcher on the torso has been fired.
The propellant from the many missiles filled every direction with white.
“<Uoh! Whoever can fire missiles, do it!>”
“<Please go ahead miss missile! There’s a bonus in it for me if you hit a combat ship and it falls!>”
All mercenary ships and defensive drones start moving so they don’t get hit, and rush the approaching ships. I lay sideways and join in with smart missiles. It’s only four, but even that will make it harder for them to shoot them all down.
Most missiles are intercepted and explode before reaching their target, but I see some lights on the radar going out.
The destroyer is almost passing by me, and after checking that the shield capacity is still full, I move Tortilla Double back a little and get ready to fire torpedoes.
Thankfully, the target is coming here, so the rest is all up to feeling.
“<It’s comiiiing! Uooo!>”
“Torpedo time!!!>”
“<Fire together! But the one that takes it down wins!>”
“<Who’s counting!?>”
“Three, two, one, zero~~~!!”
Kori takes over the timing to fire, but I wish she’d stop!!
I also fire without thinking, but I see the mercenaries next to me and the Shiitake launching vertical torpedoes. And Kori has an all too nice smile on her face.
The ones fired from the Shiitake don’t hit the destroyer, and mine are also intercepted. But some do hit it, and cause an intense blast.
“Iris, mark the Shiitake’s missile launchers on the radar!”
“Understood.”
It’s chaos. Destroyers pass by above, below, left, and right of the Shiitake. The destroyer that was supposedly hit with torpedoes is a little gouged on the torso, but its main cannon keeps firing at the Shiitake like crazy.
We have to move to intercept, while scared of friendly fire against the Shiitake.
“These warships sure are great at damage control! Aim for the destroyer’s large turret! Everyone brace!”
There are more lights on the radar. That’s not gonna help at this point. I turn starboard, and fixate the turret as I fire at the destroyer.
“Genma! The enemy ship is deploying armors! They’re coming to board!”
“Vasilisa! Prepare magic!”
“Got it! I’ll blow’em away if they manage to stick to us!”
Shiitake is swarmed by ships and armor, and the only good news is that its shield is still doing well.
Shield ships are sturdy. If it wasn’t, I guess it wouldn’t come to defend a giant ring structure alone.
“By the way, won’t there be reinforcements? Like from the Federation of Star Systems?”
“Huang is not a part of the federation, so we are the reinforcements.”
Can you not say the line that’s fifteenth on the list of lines I want to say!?
Join my patreon to support me and read ahead.
