The Battle Begins (Please Keep Reading and Bookmark!)

"Instinct's heavy particle cannon hit on its first shot!"

"Assessing damage to Lansford Port. Communications array 70% damaged!"

Even without his first officer's report, Marquis Ascania could see the distant flash of the explosion through the "panoramic window" before him.

Of course, a bridge encased in thick layers of composite armor had no real panoramic window.

What the marquis saw was a panoramic image assembled from the warship's many optical sensors.

At the very front of the fleet was a Dawn Goddess-class heavy cruiser that had just carried out the surgical strike.

It was using old-fashioned signal lights to boast to nearby allies that it had won the "jackpot."

A smile spread across Marquis Ascania's face. Everything was going according to plan.

"Not bad. A good start."

Though past fifty, he was still strong and agile. He sprang up from his command chair.

With a sharp shing, he drew the command saber at his waist and pointed it straight ahead.

"Pass the order. Entire fleet, deploy into bombardment formation!"

"Fourth and Fifth Cruiser-Destroyer Formations, break away and destroy the patrol fleet!"

"Eighth and Eleventh Destroyer-Escort Formations, advance at speed and intercept civilian vessels along the route!"

"Send scout craft to the designated area to deploy the second wave of Induction Beacons and guide the follow-on formations in!"

"Everyone, for the Empire! Victory in our first battle!"

Lansford Port, operations command center.

Thrown toward the ceiling by the violent jolt, Randall had luckily caught a handhold.

It kept him from flying around like the other loose objects.

When the shaking stopped, Randall floated back to his command station.

He drew a deep breath and, at this tense moment, showed a composure he had never managed in all his years of service.

"Everyone, stay calm and follow my orders!"

"Record this in the system! Universal Standard Time, August 17, New Calendar Year 588, 15:42. An Empire fleet has illegally entered Federation territory and opened fire on us!"

"Sound the alarm. Have every ship in the port that can move launch immediately."

"Remove the power limits on the port's fusion reactors! Lift firing restrictions on the port and space elevator's defensive weapons!"

"Activate the deflector field generators at full power!"

After issuing that string of orders, Randall paused.

His mind raced as he tried to work out whether he had missed anything.

Then a communications officer's panicked shout made him realize he had missed the most important thing.

"Officer Randall! They've breached our shortwave communications frequencies! The system has detected an electronic-warfare virus!"

Randall wanted to slap himself.

He had spent so long in the comfort of a military port that he had overlooked the potentially lethal threat of electronic warfare.

The Empire had already breached their shortwave frequencies.

Judging by the size of the enemy fleet, it had to have plenty of electronic-attack ships.

The port's control AI and antivirus programs alone could never withstand an attack on that scale.

To keep the enemy from completely contaminating Lansford Port's management system, he had to cut off the infected part.

"Pass my order. All port departments and ships are to shut down their shortwave communications modules and physically isolate them."

"Activate the backup quantum-encrypted communications channel. Keep all subsequent messages as brief as possible!"

He had little choice. Quantum-encrypted channels could carry nowhere near as much real-time data as conventional shortwave communications.

Even a slightly larger message would have to be sent in several parts.

Command efficiency across the fleet would plummet.

But it was still better than letting an enemy virus cripple the entire system.

Major Randall looked up at the main screen, which showed live feeds from the optical sensors.

Three enemy task forces had broken away from the main fleet and were racing toward Robert IV.

The rest of the Empire fleet was slowly spreading out, its ships turning their bows toward Lansford Port.

After all, a warship's most powerful weapon was its heavy particle cannon.

Mounted along the ship's central axis, it drew power directly from the fusion reactor.

Clearly, their aim was to destroy the Federation garrison fleet.

"Tell the warships in port to get out there unless they want to die trapped in their berths!"

Randall turned to the panicked faces throughout the command center and added:

"Once you've guided the warships out of port, everyone is to report to the evacuation platform and stand by."

"We'll survive this."

Feeling the vibration beneath his chair, Major Randall brought up feeds from several external cameras.

The automated defensive weapons stationed around the port and space elevator had opened fire.

Hatches opened across row after row of launch silos, and tactical nuclear warheads and plasma torpedoes shot out along electromagnetic launch rails.

They would follow routes set by the automatic counterattack system, swing around the Empire fleet's flank, and attack.

But those weapons still had to accelerate to several hundred kilometers per second and fly for minutes before reaching their attack positions.

The first weapons to have an effect were the high-energy lasers and charged-particle cannons, whose attacks traveled at or near light speed.

At a range of just over nine thousand kilometers, they could hit almost wherever they were aimed.

Needing virtually no targeting correction, they were the quickest part of the defense system to respond.

Crimson high-energy laser beams and blue charged-particle beams swept like a rain of light across the deploying Empire fleet.

On the main screen, Randall saw flashes erupting among the Empire ships.

But he knew they were probably just the visible effects of beams striking layered armor.

These two weapons struck with almost no delay, but their weakness was just as obvious.

Their energy dissipated rapidly.

At over nine thousand kilometers, enough energy had been lost that a warship's layered armor could easily conduct the heat from a laser strike to other areas.

What was more, the Empire ships in the optical feed had already spread the radiator panels along their sides.

Unlike the Federation's practical approach, the Star Dragon Empire had greater national strength and industrial capacity.

Its obsession with the appearance of military equipment bordered on the extreme.

The Empire had even shaped these radiator panels for looks, despite how easily they were damaged.

It had given them a pleasing name, too: "Angel Wings."

On the battlefield, when an Empire warship spread its "wings," it meant a heavy bombardment was about to begin.