"...Is it a trap?"
"...Well, I'm not sure. I wonder."
It had already been three hours since we received the encrypted transmission. Since then, we've abandoned our defensive positions twice and retreated further within the star system while our battleships and cruisers chipped away the enemy numbers little by little through suppressive fire, fully engaging in a battle of attrition.
Finally, we managed to lure the Vereverem Federation forces to the asteroid belt which was supposed to be the ambush point, but... it went a bit too smoothly. It was surprising that the Federation forces didn't hesitate to set up camp within the asteroid belt, just as we intended. They were acting far too careless as if they weren't wary of ambushes at all... though they should at least be on guard to an extent.
Even if this was really a trap and they were actually prepared to intercept us, they'd still suffer quite a bit of casualties in the process. Or rather, instead of a hit-and-run ambush, a straight-up melee seemed like it would be more effective. Why were these guys gathering up into such an impressively packed formation?
"What should we do, My Lord?"
"We'll go through with the ambush. Depending on the situation, it might be a good idea to stay put and suggest engaging in an all-out melee... The risk is high, but we'd pull off an upset if we succeed in beating down the Federation forces here."
However, I didn't have the right to command our forces, so if our allies started to back down, I'd be forced to pull back as well, or else Mimi and Kugi would probably complain. I suppose I can't be too reckless. Well, a competent Imperial Space Force pilot or commander would probably give the order to press the attack anyway after seeing such an opportunity.
Afterward, I shut the main generator down and waited for about ten minutes with only the minimum life support functions, passive sensors, and the main screen active using the power supplied by the capacitor. An artillery battle between the large-class ships of the Vereverem Federation forces and the Imperial Space Force had already commenced. It seemed that the enemy side also dispatched some carrier-based aircraft as a precaution, but there were far too few of them. For some reason, the Vereverem Federation Space Force didn't seem to have that many small-class combat ships or carrier-based fighters among their ranks.
Oh, a Vereverem Federation cruiser's shield and armor plating were penetrated by a shot, destroying it in a flashy manner. It was probably a shot from the EML of the Black Lotus. It seemed that an armor-piercing shell equipped with a shield neutralization warhead did the trick.
"Hiro-sama!"
"It's time huh? Right, let's do this."
Mimi was paying close attention to the readings of the passive sensors, and at her signal, I re-activated Krishna's generator, activated its weapon systems, and immediately began an assault on the Federation forces.
"I'm gonna go first."
What'll be my first target? Naturally, it's the large-class ships that could each serve as their fleet's flagship. While attacking the Vereverem Federation's small-class ships and carrier-based fighters with Krishna's four heavy-caliber laser cannons, I deployed the weapon bay on Krishna's lower hull and fired anti-ship reactive torpedoes at each of the enemy large-class ships.
I targeted all the large ships in my range because I wasn't sure which one was actually the flagship. Since I fired four torpedoes at once, I'd probably hit the jackpot as long as all of them didn't miss their marks.
Krishna fired out the four anti-ship reactive torpedoes, which accelerated to top speed quickly, and pierced the respective sides of four Vereverem Federation battleships, resulting in massive explosions.
"Did that do it!?"
"Nah, we won't be able to finish them off with one shot unless they're very unlucky. But they've probably lost most of their combat capabilities."
Their armor was blown right off and parts of their hulls disintegrated. The rest of their hulls suffered major cracks, and unless personnel were assigned to damage control quickly, they would probably get sunk completely before long. Naturally, there's little room for allocating manpower to damage control due to the ambush, and depending on the situation, further explosions might occur unless they deactivate their generators as soon as possible. It would be a bigger achievement if we managed to finish them off in one shot, but winning the overall battle was more important. Either way, Krishna's attacks were still the decisive blows, so the resulting rewards should still be quite substantial.
"What's next, My Lord?"
"Let's break through the enemy formations and destroy the large-class ship's main thrusters with our shot-cannons. Large-class ships are inherently slow as is. Once their main thrusters are down, they'd become even slower."
Basically, when operating as a fleet, the speed of the slowest ship becomes the speed of the entire fleet. When operating as a fleet, the group couldn't afford to leave the slower ships behind.
Hit-and-run attacks were pretty effective in slowing down an enemy fleet's advance, and in the case of mop-up battles, it would be easier for marines to perform boarding actions if the enemy ship's propulsion systems were neutralized. Either way, it was an effective move.
『Fight back! Shoot them down!』
『Our allies are too close!』
『Unit 104, please respond! Unit 104! Dammit! What about the other command units!?』
『Unit 203 and Unit 322 are both down. Our Unit 251 also has a problem with its life support systems and won't be able to last long.』
I listened in on the enemy's transmissions that Mimi managed to intercept. Hm? Command unit? That's an unfamiliar term.
『Attention, all Imperial Space Force Assault Fleet ships. Carry on with the attack. We'll strike the enemy forces down while they're still addled. Handle the ships smaller than corvettes appropriately and focus on the ships larger than destroyers. Crush their propulsion systems and your allies will do the rest.』
『Roger.』
The Assault Fleet's commander ordered us to press the attack, so we decided to cancel the hit-and-run tactic and aimed to neutralize the combat capabilities of the enemy large-class ships instead. The priority targets are the main thrusters of the large-class ships, and the small-class ships should be dealt with accordingly. Hm.
"Let's follow the commander's orders. We'll earn more merits while dealing with anti-starship fire and shooting down the small fry."
"Yes!"
"I'll leave the small-class ships to you, Elma. The Antlion is more suited to that instead of dealing with large-class ships, right?"
『Aye aye, sir. Leave your back to me.』
"I'm counting on you, partner."
While making sure not to leave the Antlion behind, we engaged the Vereverem Federation forces which were currently unable to mount an effective counterattack. Even the Krishna would be helpless if anti-starship fire came for it from all directions. However, due to the fact that they were so densely packed together, the enemy ships couldn't unleash a full anti-starship barrage due to the risk of friendly fire. And if they couldn't get a proper lock due to their chain of command falling into chaos, there would be nothing to fear. It's not like anti-starship fire that's unleashed at random would be able to hit me.
"Now then, where are the vitals?"
Utilizing the ability of the shot-cannons to penetrate and damage the hulls of ships at close range while ignoring shields and armor, we continued to plow holes into the ships of the Vereverem Federation forces. Since their generators were located deep within them, it was difficult to take down large-class ships with a single shot from a shot-cannon.
However, the capacitors that stored energy for supplying to a ship's systems such as the bridge and weapons, the shield generators that emitted energy shields, and the conduits that carried energy from the main generator to the capacitor and shield generators, were prime targets as well. Destroying these targets would greatly reduce a ship's combat abilities.
"We're gonna unload all the shot-cannon ammo on those guys. Let's go."
"Aye aye, sir!"
"Yes!"
After hearing Mimi and Kugi's cheerful replies, I made the Krishna accelerate.
"The remains of soldiers' impossible dreams huh?"
"Huh? What?"
I muttered to myself while gazing at the tragic-looking remains of the Vereverem Federation Space Force's ships, and sharp-eared Mimi heard and questioned me. I suppose she was simply curious.
"Oh, it's a poem written by a famous poet in my world."
"What does it actually mean?"
"Hmm. I believe the full poem was『Waves of Summer Grass: All that remains of soldiers' impossible dreams.』 There were once warriors who fought bravely, but now they have all died and have been forgotten, and there is nothing left but thickly growing grass. Well, something like that."
"...It's kinda lonely. Or rather, melancholic."
"Maybe that famous poet also felt the same when composing the poem. No idea if that was really the case though."
"Saying you have no idea certainly ruined the atmosphere, My Lord. I believe it's a wonderful poem that's capable of stirring one's emotions."
It was rare for Kugi to display a cheeky smile on her face. Well, the author was actually a haiku poet instead of a regular one though. Uh, but it's not like I was familiar with the distinction between a haiku poet and a regular one. The most I knew was that haiku was composed in a 5, 7, 5 pattern and included a seasonal reference. In the first place, I had no idea about what actually qualified as a seasonal word or reference. It was incomprehensible, right? Well, it was for me. I mean, how the heck do they determine if a word or phrase actually represents a certain season? It was kinda vague.
"My Lord, I've detected a life signature."
"It looks like someone got pretty lucky. Is it an escape pod?"
"No... It's something I've never seen before. It doesn't appear to be an escape pod."
Well, it's a bit late, but we achieved a complete victory. We successfully pulled off the ambush, and the enemy's chain of command completely collapsed with the first blow. The Imperial Space Force Assault Fleet that carried out the ambush decided not to go ahead with the hit-and-run tactic and pressed the attack instead, leaving the Vereverem forces in further chaos. The main force led by Captain Serena closed the distance by slightly detouring around the asteroid belt, got the enemy ships into range, and caused devastating damage. Ultimately, the casualty ratio was 1:10 in our favor, resulting in a great upset victory for our side.
And currently, we are looking for survivors who went overboard during the battle in the spirit of humanitarianism. The survivors who were still on the ship wreckages were the responsibility of the Imperial Space Force, while mercenaries like us were assigned to the ones outside along with the small-class Imperial ships and carrier-based fighters.
Well, there weren't that many people who could survive being thrown out of a starship. And even if they were wearing space suits, combat armor, power armor, and the like, explosions and similarly destructive impacts during the battle could damage their protective equipment, compromising their structural integrity and airtightness. That's why most of them rarely–if ever–survived.
Therefore, the survivor we found this time around could be said to be pretty lucky.
"...What the heck is that? A coffin?"
"It's cylindrical, so it's more like a canned good, isn't it?"
"I'll retrieve it now."
Kugi operated a recovery drone and retrieved the mysterious object. In any case, with this, we've secured at least one live prisoner. I do hope the life signs inside that uncomfortable-looking object belong to a human. It probably won't be some sort of biological weapon, right?