Shatter their formation in battle. Second Phase: Break the Formation.
Under absolute magical concealment, the fleet lay anchored in utter silence in the waters west of the channel's midpoint. Shadowy hulls loomed one after another, almost melding with the darkness itself. Only the faint signal lights atop the masts blinked on and off, like the steady heartbeat of sleeping beasts—once, then again—making the heavy night seem all the lonelier.
The battleship's bridge was dimly lit. The overhead lights had not been fully switched on; only the instrument panels and map table gave off a faint glow, casting the nearby faces into shifting light and shadow. Lynn stood before the enormous panoramic sand table of the channel, both hands braced against its edge as he leaned forward slightly, reviewing the attack sequence one last time. Hundreds of miniature models representing the first wave of attack formations were packed densely across the sand table, their bows all pointed toward the opposite shore, where five critical beachheads had been marked in glaring red.
The attack Lynn intended to launch would begin on a clear morning, in broad daylight. Visibility would be good. Aircraft could take off from the carriers and spot their targets directly, while artillery could accurately bombard the beachhead positions and inland bunkers. There would be no need to rely on magical illumination as in a night battle, nor would they need to worry about fog sending the landing craft off course.
Their air power had been pinned down and beaten through the previous rounds of fighting, suffering devastating losses. Air superiority was not in their hands, so the cover they could provide above the landing troops as they stormed the beaches would be limited.
Which meant they needed to be wary of those Hero Units.
The Hero Units of the