Yu Lian naturally knew that the Empire's Dragonbreath series of orbital cannons had the longest range of any orbital main guns in the universe, aside from the Colossi. The Empire's elite gunners had always been confident in their marksmanship, too, even if that confidence was usually based on little more than mysticism.
One manifestation of that mysticism was that during fleet battles, unless they had a special tactical reason not to, the Imperial Space Fleet always chose to fire first—even beyond the effective range specified in naval battle regulations.
After all, ever since civilizations began keeping records in this era, the record for the longest-range main-gun hit had belonged to the Galactic Empire.
This time, the Imperial fleet had opened fire from one astronomical unit away. If they actually managed to hit anything, they would raise that record by at least three times. The fleet Yu Lian was leading home would inevitably become a footnote in the record books, nailed firmly to the pillar of shame.
The first salvo from the six opposing Flame Dragon-class battleships consisted of twelve shells. They sailed through the void between the fleets for nearly five minutes before passing the point in space where they would have hit, at staggered intervals and still a considerable distance from Yu Lian's fleet.
"There's enough room in that gap for half a dozen moons and a hundred Dragonfall Palaces," Yu Lian scoffed.
"...But considering the shells were fired from an astronomical unit away, they came pretty close," Rozers said. "We'll have to consider the possibility that the Empire has developed a new targeting system or improved its gunnery."
"It's also possible they have a Saint-level navigator or gunnery officer," Yu Lian said with a grin.
"We can't rule that out," Rozers said. "I don't know much about the