Boom!
Flashes of fire erupted on the gunship.
"The enemy ship is firing, four cruiser missiles are being launched at us," Virus called out from his information window. Though not a professional starship alert officer, he was the first to detect the attack from the gunship.
"These guys, they really don't know gratitude," Modi fumed. Then he exclaimed, "But why would they prioritize launching cruiser missiles? Don't they know that this situation isn't suitable for missile attacks?"
In space warfare, each weapon had its unique function, suitable for different environments.
Laser weapons, as light-speed weapons, were highly accurate and had a long range but were relatively weak in power. They primarily served as defensive weapons rather than offensive ones, occasionally used for long-range attacks, mainly for harassment.
Missile weapons, as guided weapons, were powerful and could automatically track targets, but they could be intercepted midway. Therefore, once missiles were launched, they had to be used in large quantities, preferably in a chaotic battle where massive fleets clashed. In such situations where it was difficult to make effective judgments, missile attacks would have relatively good effects.
Turret weapons combined the advantages of the above two. They had high firepower, fast attack speeds, and no problems with being intercepted midway. However, the drawback was that once fired, they couldn't change direction midway. This meant that when the target was sufficiently far away, there was enough time to evade, so they were used as medium-range weapons.
The flight time of the transport ship wasn't too long, and it was still within the medium-range attack range of the gunship. In this situation, using turret attacks would be the most appropriate choice. But the other side chose missile attacks instead, and only four were fired at once. This was simply like delivering food to the door, so it's no wonder Modi was surprised.
This was a choice that only rookies would make—even their trajectories weren't separated.
"Because they are rookies," Reno replied. "Do you really think the Federation government would send a batch of starship soldiers to conduct experiments on bio-humans without any necessity? Francily, I'm already surprised that they even got the ship started."
The members of the Mutant Alliance might be powerful in ground warfare, but their ship-handling skills were noticeably lacking. They were probably learning as they went along, so it's no wonder they would make mistakes like launching four missiles.
"But regardless, at least they are operating a gunship, while we are only on a transport ship," Virus reminded loudly. "Moreover, those four missiles are still incoming. Can't we discuss after they hit us?"
"I'll use lasers to intercept," Modi said. Although the transport ship didn't have much firepower, it was still an armed transport ship, so it had some basic interception weapons.
"No," Reno said. "Don't use laser interception. Activate the energy defense shield and prepare for tactical evasion."
"Why?" Everyone was puzzled.
Tactical evasion was a common tactic used by starships when facing attacks they couldn't defend against, mainly used to evade long-distance lasers and turret weapons. Since these weapons couldn't change their trajectory, they could be easily avoided once detected in advance. It could also be used to evade slower weapons like missiles and torpedoes, but due to their automatic tracking capability, evading them was more difficult and required a high level of skill from the captain and the entire crew.
The level of Reno and his crew was naturally sufficient. The soldiers who participated in the operation to seize the Zero Target were all elite selected from various units. The problem was that everyone was now out of their comfort zones. If the Mutant Alliance didn't understand ship handling, the current situation of the Free Heart wasn't much better.
Except for Reno, who was firmly in the position of captain, everyone else was playing a temporary role. Under such circumstances, evading attacks was indeed not easy.
However, Reno didn't care and just said casually, "I just don't want to remind them that they are making mistakes."
Everyone suddenly realized.
If they shot down the four missiles now, it would only make the pursuing Mutant Alliance realize that missile attacks were ineffective, and they would surely choose to change their strategy. No matter which approach they took, the threat would only be greater than it was now.
"Understood!" Virus exclaimed, already swiftly manipulating the controls on the light brain. "Calculating speed, flying at one hundred and eighty knots, estimated to hit the target in one minute and twenty-three seconds."
"Reduce the ship's speed to thirty knots, maintain a steady forward pace, and enter evasion mode when within ten knots range," Reno issued orders calmly. Slowing down was to maintain a fixed rhythm with the incoming missiles, making calculations easier and reducing computational pressure. Only starship captains with rich battlefield experience would understand this practice. If there was a starship captain skilled in star warfare on the gunship, just seeing the slowdown would make them understand that they were facing a seasoned veteran.
However, the Mutant Alliance obviously didn't have such a person. Stephanie was a smart woman, but
intelligence couldn't replace expertise, and knowledge couldn't replace experience. Her limited ship knowledge learned on the spot might be enough to get the ship moving, but it was too difficult for her to judge the opponent's strength and response strategy from the subtle changes in details.
So she didn't realize what she was facing.
The four cruiser missiles rushed toward the transport ship as if entering an unmanned area, getting closer and closer.
Just as they were about to hit the transport ship, the transport ship suddenly made a rapid turn.
The maneuver was made when the missiles were extremely close to the target, to the extent that the cruisers couldn't even adjust, and just flew past the ship.
Nevertheless, one missile didn't manage to evade the transport ship in time; it collided with the energy shield, causing a burst of light to erupt from the shield on the transport ship.
"Well done!" the bio-humans on the gunship cheered together in victory. Although the transport ship wasn't destroyed, nor was it even damaged, only the energy shield on the transport ship had dropped slightly. It turned out that during the time they were waiting for the missiles to hit the target, they had gotten a bit closer to the Heaven Four.
"Fire another eight missiles," Francis shouted.
Stephanie furrowed her brows slightly. "I don't want to kill them, Francis. They're not enemies. I just don't want them to grab the sacred artifact."
"I know, don't worry. I only intend to severely damage it. We can rescue them on board afterward," Francis replied.
Facing eight cruiser missiles, the transport ship appeared somewhat frantic. It swayed left and right, and the ship even lit up with the glow of sniper rifles. Despite this, it still managed to evade most of the missiles in a very embarrassed manner, with only one grazing its tail, causing some minor vibrations.
The consecutive missile attacks were ineffective, finally making Stephanie a bit impatient. She shouted, "Is the ion energy cannon ready?"
"Ready!"
"Fire!" Stephanie shouted.
Despite Reno's continuous inducement, Stephanie still made the decision to activate the ion energy cannon. Unfortunately, she made another mistake this time. Before firing, the ion energy cannon would produce a huge condensation of light at the muzzle. So when using it, it's best to use flash bombs, spectrum masking, cluster missile attacks, or other methods to hide the muzzle.
But Stephanie didn't do any of that.
When the powerful energy flash of the ion energy cannon appeared, Reno already knew what would happen next.
He commanded the transport ship to make a slight outward shift while releasing twisted light waves to confuse the enemy ship's light sensor. This twisted light wave would present an unreal light wave on the sensor, which experienced alert officers could easily see through. It needed to be combined with other methods to ensure the success of the deception, but Reno didn't bother.
He was just playing around.
So when the ion energy cannon fired, the huge energy beam predictably grazed past the transport ship.
"Damn, it missed!" Belboga roared angrily.
They didn't even realize what the problem was.
"Let's stick to missile attacks; they can automatically track. Calculating angles, range, and the opponent's heading is a bit difficult for our people," Francis reminded Stephanie.
"Okay," Stephanie shrugged and ordered another missile launch.
Watching the gunship fire missiles again, Reno shook his head and chuckled. "They're really adorable."
"How many are we dodging this time?" Claire asked.
"Hmm, let's leave one," Reno took a sip of coffee delivered by the robot and said leisurely, "Let that one explode above the ship... I don't want the rocking to spill my coffee."