A Minor Victory

The Second Sub-Fleet of the Interstellar Transaction Market lost more than three thousand ships to humans in a single encounter, but compared to that enormous number, it was just a drop in the ocean.

But this was just the beginning. The battle area grew larger as the two fleets continued to approach each other, and casualties increased accordingly.

The advantages of Nanotechnology are evident to humans in combat, and the Interstellar Transaction Market has naturally seen them as well. That's why they really didn't expect humans to dare to engage in close combat with them.

They had assumed that the human warships would, as before, change formation and engage in long-range firefights after entering a distance of about twenty light-seconds. It was this very assumption that caused them to become somewhat disoriented when faced with the human fleet's relentless charge.

So much so that before the vanguard warships could even react, they were decimated by the human warships.

Well, it wasn't a chaotic scene of soldiers and horses falling; the reality was a silent exchange of fire between the two sides. This could be seen from the perspective of detectors that had been launched in advance and distributed throughout or around the battlefield.

After the two fleets entered each other's effective firing range in space, the Laser Energy Cannon of the warships roared, and invisible lasers shot toward their respective targets at unpredictable speeds.

If special effects were used to show the traces of these Laser Energy Cannons, the current scene would resemble the imagery of two fleets clashing in a battle of light beams, as imagined in the Stellaris game.

As time went on, the warships of both sides finally closed to a distance where the Electromagnetic Railgun could easily hit them, and the battlefield situation changed once again.

One after another, Electromagnetic Railgun shells carrying Super Micro Nanobots were fired from the huge cannons, traversing the void of space and heading towards their respective target warships.

Electromagnetic Railgun are kinetic energy weapons. In the face of such weapons, neither Magnetic Shield nor Polarization Shield are able to stop them in the slightest.

Thus, the battlefield finally entered a heated phase.

"Alert! Railgun shells detected. Quantity: 6,629,785! Distance: 185,000 km, 197,000 km, 149,000 km. Corresponding coordinates: XXXX/YYY/ZZZZ"

"Close-In Weapon System is ready. Automatic radar lock-on procedure activated. 45th warship group, prepare to intercept. 596th warship group, interception procedure is complete."

"Feedback: Our fleet's first and fourth rounds of Electromagnetic Railgun free firing, totaling 5.8 million railgun shells, successfully hit 0.1% of the targets, all of which achieved armor penetration."

"Alert! Ship 198's armor is damaged! Warning! Ship 156's armor is damaged! Ship 779's armor is damaged. Defense mechanisms activated! Damaged target location identified, nano-repair system activated!"

"Nanomite Repair Robot swarm has arrived at the marked location. Alert! The Nanomite Repair Robot is experiencing trauma! A request for reinforcements has been sent to control center!"

"Request approved!"

"Adding supplies!"

"Warning! Armor alloy decomposition detected. Activating the second nanometer repair channel!"

"Nano-repair in progress!"

"Under repair!"

"Repair complete!"

"System notification: This nano-repair has consumed 77% of the inventory. The replenishment process for the ship's Nanomite Repair Robot has been initiated!"

As progress was made, the contest between Nanotechnology officially began. Just like the first encounter, humanity's Alloy No. 2 Armor was once again disintegrated by the opponent's Super Micro Nanobots. However, this metal alloy lived up to its reputation for strength. The Super Micro Nanobots in the Interstellar Transaction Market could disintegrate it, but the process was more than a hundred times slower than the disintegration of conventional metals.

During its decomposition process, it also encountered a counterattack from human-made micro -Nanobots.

In the clash at the micro-technical level, the Interstellar Transaction Market clearly had the upper hand, but the armor technology of human warships was far superior, to the point that the Interstellar Transaction Market side did not have a single Electromagnetic Railgun capable of breaking through the Close-In Weapon System's defenses and penetrating the armor.

In other words, the Nanobots in the Electromagnetic Railgun that hit the human warship need to start by gnawing at the warship's surface armor, which gives the human's Nanomite Repair Robot time to react.

Although the damaged warships eventually showed signs of battle damage, at least they weren't wiped out in one fell swoop.

It can be said that due to the existence of the powerful armor, as long as the human warship is not simultaneously hit by Electromagnetic Railgun with dozens or hundreds of Nanobots warheads, or the warship itself does not run out of Nanomite Repair Robot, it can eventually destroy the Nanobots attached to the surface of the warship.

The formidable performance of Alloy No. 2 Armor once again shocked the Interstellar Transaction Market. They never imagined that this metal alloy could not only withstand the ravages of countless Laser Energy Cannons, but also possess such strong impact resistance and resilience against the decomposition of Nanobots.

In fact, when the performance specifications of Alloy No. 2 were first obtained, many high-ranking officials in the Interstellar Transaction Market were not very convinced. Even most of their scientists exclaimed that it was impossible for Level 3 Civilization to have the capability to manufacture an alloy with such performance.

However, this close-quarters combat proved to them that humanity's 2x alloy technology was indeed that powerful.

Conversely, when faced with the Electromagnetic Railgun powered by human micro- Nanobots, the warships of the Interstellar Transaction Market appeared utterly inferior.

Their armor was almost always easily penetrated by human Electromagnetic Railgun, unless the angle of attack was too large. Then the warship whose armor was penetrated faced the internal disintegration of human micro- Nanobots.

Of course, this interior is not the actual Warship Core, but rather the space between the Outer Armor and inner armor layers.

The warships on the Interstellar Transaction Market also adopted a multi-layered armor layout. This layout can effectively defend against the Electromagnetic Railgun of the hydrogen bomb warhead, preventing the secondary explosion warhead from detonating the warship's core at once.

Similarly, this type of armor is also very effective in preventing Nano Weapon. However, it is ultimately inner armor, and given enough time, human Nano Weapon can break it down, creating a large hole, and then penetrate the warship's inner layers to disrupt its electrical circuits, causing various wiring malfunctions.

Those warships that suddenly come to a standstill during combat are the result of Nano Weapon.

The intense battle caused casualties to rise sharply. It should be noted that the close-quarters combat between the two sides was not just a contest at the nanoscale; laser Energy Weapon were also used in close combat.

The invisible, crisscrossing beams of light illuminated each enemy and friendly warship, creating a Light Screen reminiscent of two groups of fireflies intertwining in the night sky.

The Polarization Shield, lower than the beams of the laser Energy Weapon, illuminated the starry sky where the two sides clashed. Of course, the final, brilliant bursts of light from the exploding warships also contributed to illuminating the battlefield.

Without slowing down, the human warships were already at 34% of the speed of light when engaging the enemy fleet, and this speed continued to increase over time. At this speed, facing an oncoming fleet, the engagement didn't last very long.

When the human Lyra fleet successfully penetrated the Interstellar Transaction Market's fleet, the other two enemy fleets hadn't even had time to regroup, so the three-pronged attack tactic collapsed on its own.

This clash, resembling a charge between two cavalry forces, resulted in the loss of 567,377 warships for the Lyra fleet.

As for the Interstellar Transaction Market, the losses were even more severe, with the number of warships in their fleet decreasing sharply from four million to one million one hundred and eighty-seven.

This round of combat shows that to destroy one human warship, the Interstellar Transaction Market needs to sacrifice 5.1 warships.

Given the limitations of Nanotechnology, the human fleet's success in close combat was not solely due to the formidable Alloy No. 2 Armor, but also to the coordinated control provided by Strong Artificial Intelligence and the opportunities offered by the Interstellar Transaction Market itself.