Landeno, a close-in defense gunner aboard the Gray Fish, was on the verge of collapse.
The Gray Fish had originally been a retired Light Frigate. After its weapons were stripped, it was auctioned off to a Resource Recycling Company, then changed hands several times before falling into the possession of the Sirius Star Pirates.
This Light Frigate had undergone extensive modifications and possessed considerable combat capability. Aside from two main cannons and five secondary cannons, it was equipped with seventy-six close-in defense guns and a multi-tube Space Torpedo Launch System.
It was armed to the teeth.
Yet against the Seventh Rapid Response Fleet's two new High-speed Destroyers, the Gray Fish's firepower was utterly inadequate.
Even so, its close-in defense guns were quite effective at interception.
But despite the Weak AI-assisted targeting system, Landeno, who controlled two close-in defense guns, could do nothing against the mecha that had launched a surprise assault.
Without regard for the expenditure, he pushed the firing rate of the close-in defense guns to its maximum. Yet no matter how he aimed or locked on, he could not hit the SPB17 Phoenix within a hundred kilometers!
The pilot controlling that Phoenix seemed to possess the gift of foresight. He always evaded Landeno's concentrated barrages in advance, escaping by the narrowest margin every time without even a scratch to its surface.
Not only that, the enemy had already blown up two of the Gray Fish's mechas in succession.
"Die!"
Inside the turret, Landeno's eyes had gone red. His finger never left the trigger as he tried to use the densest barrage possible to shoot down this SPB17 Phoenix that had humiliated him.
But his madness brought about his own deadly calamity.
After blowing apart the second Star Pirate mecha, the Phoenix abruptly changed direction. The two engines mounted