"Leader, that so-called Chinese Civilization actually agreed to our demands. But they insist that we stay on Planet Five. How ridiculous. Once we arrive, they'll learn how food ought to behave. And they actually dream of getting their hands on our space technology," Aguduo said slyly.
"Has the research department analyzed it? Are there any loopholes?"
"Leader, the research department's wisest elder, Gu Ya, examined it himself. He confirmed that there were no loopholes. Everything was perfectly reasonable."
"Hmph, that old fellow Gu Ya opposed me with all his might when I became leader. If a few tribal chiefs hadn't been on his side, he would have ended up in my mouth long ago. This is the perfect opportunity. If nothing goes wrong, fine. But if anything does, I certainly won't let him off."
"Understood, Leader. When the time comes, I'll catch him and bring him to your mouth for you to enjoy. Those other fellows who oppose you should become food too. They've never truly submitted to you."
"Aguduo, you're the most loyal of all. I won't treat you poorly. Keep up the good work. We're less than a light-year away. Keep sending messages to deceive them." The transport ship used for communications carried a large amount of quantum communications equipment. Some had been damaged during warp travel, but enough remained to maintain normal contact.
As messages went back and forth, both sides did their utmost to gather information on each other. Although the Sand Python Civilization was not particularly intelligent, it had nevertheless reached the middle stage of stellar-level civilization and had more than 1.2 million warships.
According to intelligence from precision satellites scattered through space, the Sand Python Civilization had no hidden fleet. Hu Yu analyzed the messages exchanged between the two sides and discerned the Sand Python Civilization's characteristics: it was a civilization that liked to win through frontal assaults. Hu Yu deliberately moved the fleets around Planets Three, Four, and Five back and forth, making them appear nervous. Meanwhile, the fleet hidden in the light of Tau Ceti lay in wait like a venomous snake, ready to wear down and hold back the Sand Python fleet as much as possible, buying an opportunity and time for the fleet assigned to the sneak attack.
The fleets taking the long way around to the rear of the Sand Python fleet had been using conventional engines and had now reached 0.3 times the speed of light. The two fleets had shut down their engines and were approaching the Sand Python fleet on inertia. Once the enemy's civilian ships separated from its warships, they would activate their warp engines and destroy the foundation of their civilization in one stroke.
Two years passed in silent waiting. At last, the Sand Python Civilization's main fleet of one million warships separated from the civilian ships and began accelerating toward Planet Five. Besides the million warships, there were several hundred large, oddly shaped spacecraft, presumably supply ships or support vessels. The Sand Python Civilization was now 0.1 light-years from Planet Five, and the speed of its warships had soared to a little over ten times the speed of light. It was unclear whether they were holding anything back, but even if they weren't, that speed already surpassed the Hunter-Killers' limit of six times the speed of light. In interstellar war, a forty percent advantage in speed could determine the outcome of a battle.
The Sand Python fleet would reach Planet Five in four days at most. The 200,000 Hunter-Killer warships at Planet Five were spaced more than ten thousand kilometers apart, loosely forming a wall of firepower. Countless space mines had also been deployed. Most had a yield equivalent to one thousand tons of TNT, but more than a hundred thousand giant high-yield mines were hidden among them. For one thing, there had not been enough time to manufacture a sufficient number of high-yield mines. Unlike simplified satellites, these could not be manufactured without restraint. For another, space mines were wasteful: if a hundred out of ten thousand deployed mines were triggered, that was already a good result. In the vastness of space, hitting a mine was not easy even without evasive maneuvers. Finally, the mixture of real and feigned threats would confuse the enemy and might produce unexpected results.
"Aguduo, I can't wait any longer." The leader licked his enormous mouth with a scarlet tongue.
"Leader, once we reach Planet Five, I'll personally take a squad and get you some fresh food to sample," Aguduo said ingratiatingly.
"Mm, good. Bring me a Star Herder to satisfy my craving first. I'm feeling a little hungry, and it'll still take a little while to reach Planet Five."
"Right away, Leader. I'll bring you the plumpest, most tender Star Herder immediately." Aguduo withdrew respectfully after speaking. The leader is happy today. Maybe he'll reward me with some fresh, living meat again. Eating frozen food every day is no fun at all, Aguduo thought happily.
Time passed bit by bit. It would have been a lie to say Hu Yu wasn't nervous. Without betraying his feelings, he wiped the nervous sweat from his forehead. They had to win this battle; defeat was not an option. Hu Yu had even prepared to sacrifice himself. The Deep Blue fleet had only gotten 0.6 light-years away, and the Sand Python fleet could easily pursue it. The Sand Python fleet was now faster than the Hunter-Killers, outnumbered his own fleet, and had larger warships. Hu Yu himself had no confidence in how he could win this battle.
But he would never give up before the final moment. That was a mindset Hu Yu had developed over the years. Having an absolute advantage did not guarantee victory. The history of warfare on Earth was full of examples of smaller forces defeating larger ones and the weak overcoming the strong. Giving up easily was not Hu Yu's style. If it had been, the leader would not have entrusted him with the heavy responsibility of commanding the fleet. Besides, the fleet still had a trump card. If there was no other choice at the critical moment, they could only use it.
Only twenty minutes remained before contact. The Sand Python Civilization's fleet was already visible through optical instruments. A fleet of over a million warships was undeniably awe-inspiring, but the Hunter-Killer fleet showed no signs of panic. It maintained a complete formation in the starry expanse, ready for the coming battle.
"Sand Python fleet, please immediately disengage from warp travel and use conventional engines to enter Planet Five." Even at the last moment, Hu Yu continued sending messages. The deception had to continue. In reality, all the fleet's attack systems had already been activated. As soon as the Sand Python fleet came within range, every gun would fire. There was no need to wait for the Sand Python fleet to strike first. In the interstellar era, talking about right and wrong was meaningless. Between civilizations, there was no right or wrong, only life and death.
"Haha, Leader, the stupid human civilization still thinks we really came to repair our ships and replenish our supplies." On the screen, Aguduo showed the leader the message. The leader had not accompanied the warships. As the noble leader, he would not risk taking part in battle. His flagship had remained in the middle of the civilian fleet, defended by 200,000 warships. Aguduo, meanwhile, commanded the front line and personally led a squad of ships tasked with capturing food-humans-for the leader as their first priority.
"Aguduo, can we attack yet? Whenever I think of fresh food, I feel hungry."
"Leader, in the time it takes to eat a meal, the food will enter attack range. It's ridiculous that they're still asking us to disengage from warp travel. We're about to attack."
"Aguduo, don't underestimate the enemy. If you lose, you know the consequences," the leader warned.
"I understand, Leader. We have an absolute advantage. We're about to shut down our warp engines and attack. Just wait patiently for the food to be delivered."
"Attack."
"Attack."
Almost simultaneously, Aguduo and Hu Yu gave the order to attack. The two sides were less than a million kilometers apart. Twenty thousand times ten Hunter-Killers roared, unleashing countless high-energy laser beams, invisible high-energy particle beams, and more than a million space cruise missiles at the Sand Python fleet.
The Sand Python fleet likewise launched millions of spherical objects. Each sphere was over five meters in diameter and traveled at extremely high speed. Besides the spherical weapons, they also fired several times as many laser beams as the humans. It seemed that stellar-level civilizations made much the same use of light.
When the spheres reached the battlefield at high speed, they silently split open, bathing the warships in an extremely powerful radiation. A nearby warship soon lost the ability to move, and contact was lost with the personnel inside as well. The intense radiation weakened at an extremely rapid rate, losing its destructive power beyond 5,000 kilometers.
As they launched their weapons, all the warships on both sides performed evasive maneuvers. But on a battlefield, ships did not aim and fire one-on-one. A ship might evade an attack from one direction only to run into a bomb coming from another. Ships in front and behind might also be too close together: the ship in front might spot danger and evade it, while the one behind had no time to react and was hit. Laser cannons in particular attacked in wave after wave, their fire traveling at great speed and filling almost the entire battlefield.
From laser cannon fire that took seconds to arrive to physical munitions that took minutes, several rounds of attacks left both sides with losses. The Hunter-Killers lost more than 20,000 ships. The Sand Python fleet was clearly superior to the human warships, losing only a few thousand. Although its fleet was densely packed and more likely to be hit, its enormous 800-meter warships were clearly more survivable than the 300-meter Hunter-Killers.
Thirty thousand Hunter-Killers and 80,000 J-90 fighters advanced to attack using the autonomous AI level-four risk mode. Explosions from various high-energy weapons disrupted space, making both sides unable to enter warp travel. They could only use conventional engines to maneuver their warships and attack, negating the Sand Python warships' warp advantage. The Hunter-Killers and J-90s had charged into the Sand Python fleet, and the two sides became locked in a close-quarters struggle, while 170,000 warships spread out around the perimeter and attacked from long range. The reckless attacks of the warships using autonomous AI mode did indeed cause a little confusion in the Sand Python fleet.
The Sand Python fleet did not dare attack indiscriminately for fear of hitting its own ships. After all, the density of the two sides' warships was on an entirely different level. Laser cannons in particular could not change direction once fired and might hit their own fleet.
The 30,000 Hunter-Killers paid no heed to any of that. They fired every weapon they had, regardless of whether they might hit their own side. Warship after warship was destroyed, turning into a ball of fire in the starry expanse before falling silent seconds later. Some were Sand Python People warships, but more were Hunter-Killers and J-90 fighters. Some Hunter-Killers and Sand Python warships also left the battlefield, flying toward outer space. These were ships that had been struck by high-energy particle beams. Their surfaces showed no damage, but their internal systems had collapsed and their personnel had been killed. Having lost control, the warships continued flying on inertia, eventually leaving the battlefield.
"Damn it, the humans were deceiving us!" Aguduo cursed. The humans, who were supposed to be food, had inflicted substantial losses on the powerful Sand Python fleet.
Aguduo soon adjusted the battle plan, however. Eight hundred thousand warships broke away from the deadlocked battlefield to pursue the 170,000 Hunter-Killers fighting as they retreated. The remaining 150,000 warships were assigned to surround and destroy the 30,000 Hunter-Killers. Indeed, after the chaotic attacks by the Hunter-Killers and J-90s controlled entirely by AI, combined with bombardment from various space mines, the Sand Python fleet had lost a full 50,000 ships, while 20,000 of the 30,000 Hunter-Killers were still fighting.
Hu Yu knew this tactic could not be repeated. His fleet had merely taken advantage of an opportunity. If the Sand Python fleet had not underestimated its enemy and rushed in, a mere 30,000 Hunter-Killers could not have accomplished much while surrounded by a million Sand Python warships.
Half an hour later, all 30,000 Hunter-Killers had been destroyed, and the 170,000 crewed Hunter-Killers had retreated two astronomical units. A total of 100,000 Hunter-Killers from the vicinity of Planets Three and Four were also closing in from both sides. Faced with the humans' encirclement tactic, the Sand Python fleet still did not adopt an effective combat formation. It simply divided its fleet into three groups to deal with the three groups of Hunter-Killers separately.
"Gravity bombs." Hu Yu gave the order.
More than a hundred thousand spherical gravity bombs were launched. Forcing their warp engines to activate, they approached the Sand Python warships. The Sand Python fleet realized something was wrong and immediately intercepted or evaded them, but some gravity bombs still broke through the defenses and entered the fleet. The spherical structure of the bombs did not change at all, yet the nearby Sand Python warships looked as though they had been crushed by an invisible, powerful hand. Some deformed, others broke apart, and one after another met their end. That was the effect of gravity bombs. No matter how tough the material, it could not defend against them.
The space over which the two fleets were spread was simply too vast, however. Warships like these could not maneuver freely without at least ten thousand kilometers between them. Moreover, the instability of space caused by the battle also made the gravity bombs' warp engines fail. In the end, only a little over 20,000 gravity bombs took effect.
Like the Sand Python Civilization's radiation spheres, gravity bombs also had a very limited range. In fact, their effective killing area was even smaller: within 200 kilometers, they could destroy a warship, but at 1,000 kilometers, they could only kill the personnel inside.
The gravity bombs were undoubtedly the most effective, however. Within their attack range, no defense was of any use. But they consumed the precious Chong Element extracted from the Insect Race's bodies back in the Earth era. Every bit used meant less remained, and the fleet would still have to rely on the Chong Element to manufacture warp engines for a long time to come. In the end, only one million bombs had been made, and 500,000 of those had been taken by the 40,000 Hunter-Killers assigned to the sneak attack.
Compared with gravity bombs, conventional bombs were far less effective. Without warp engines, they had even less chance of breaking through the defenses, and most were destroyed outright by laser cannons. Even when they hit Sand Python warships, they often failed to disable them. They were not as effective as laser cannons, which burned straight through armor and into the ships' interiors, causing tremendous damage. Conventional bombs were numerous, however, and on the battlefield they also helped obscure the enemy's vision and create confusion.