After receiving Vice Admiral Tanlian's orders, Jaeger Sobeck quickly rendezvoused with his squadron. They entered orbit near the system's seventh planet and headed toward the huge, blue-green gas giant in the distance.
The massive gas giant already had four moons. One was said to have potential for development into a habitable world, but although Earth had controlled the system for over half a century, it had never gotten around to developing it. All they had built on the moon of Sai 7-2 were a high-energy gas processing plant and an air-defense base.
However, when Admiral Sylvester was pouring resources into fortifying the Far Shore Line, they had also built an energy supply array, bunker barracks, and a semiautomated ammunition workshop on the moon.
They had also constructed two hangars in orbit around the seventh planet, complete with maintenance and launch platforms.
At that scale, it was less an auxiliary base than a small fortress.
The outpost was more than capable of supporting torpedo ships. Those ridiculous, yet terrifying little things could be hiding nearby, ready to burst out at a crucial moment and strike the Natural Crest at lightning speed. That would be a serious problem.
All right, even a space-bubble torpedo might not actually be able to sink the Natural Crest. But the grand old battleship, with its glorious legacy and illustrious reputation, had already been blown down to a bare shell. Another few torpedo blasts might not do much damage, but the humiliation would be complete.
More importantly, disturbing Her Highness while she performed her ritual would have grave consequences.
Under those circumstances, Jaeger Sobeck had received his orders: clear the area.
His fleet was a standard combat squadron. It had a battlecruiser as its flagship, and its current complement included one assault armored carrier, two fleet carriers,