"If we fought them head-on, winning would be difficult."
"That's exactly why we came up with this plan to turn their strategy against them."
"...If only I knew anything about the occult. Then I'd have done everything in my power to talk the commander out of this. He's the heart of an entire army. How can he put himself in such danger?"
"Even if you did know, he wouldn't listen. He's the sort who'll humbly take advice, even apologize sincerely, and then go right ahead and do what he wanted anyway."
The conversation took place aboard the Fuxi, a dreadnought. The speakers were Yu Lian's chief of staff, Major General Mukhawa, and his loyal adjutant, Lieutenant Colonel Roscius.
By then, the three dreadnoughts led by the Fuxi, along with their heavy cruiser group, had engaged the Rust Fleet in a full-scale battle.
Though trapped in a dangerous sector by the Terrans' superior firepower, the enemy still showed remarkable fleet discipline. They arranged their lumbering guard ships into three echelons, rotating them in turn so that the shields of those MT ships always had time to recharge.
The arsenal ships hidden behind the defensive screen concentrated their fire on the largest targets—the dreadnoughts—whenever the formation rotated. They didn't expect their guns to inflict any decisive damage on the enemy. As long as they could deny the enemy an opening, that was a success.
Their tactics were working reasonably well. They were under tremendous pressure, and soldiers were dying every moment, yet there was no sign of the defensive line breaking.
Meanwhile, the carriers under the Rust Fleet had launched all their fighters. More than a thousand fighters, accompanied by twice as many unmanned interceptors, formed a tight net across the starfield. They engaged the Commonwealth fighters in one-on-one dogfights, giving not