CH 31

Battle of Leboir [1]

“Fumu, all according to plan so far huh.”

Diaroze looks at the topographic map of Leboir Alpha as she plays with her whip. Currently, the Noredian fleets are in the high orbit of Leboir Alpha. There is not even a shadow of their enemy so far but it is clear that the Calencian is hiding their forces on the surface of the planet.

“Your Highness, what do you think of this?”

“What do I think? Isn’t that obvious, the enemies are inferior to us both in terms of quantity and quality. The only strategy they can afford right now is guerilla warfare.”

With her arms crossed, Diaroze answered her subordinate with a stern expression as though to ask why her subordinate raised such a stupid question.

“If that is how they are going to play it then our course of action is already decided. Crush them head-on, do not give them any chance to gain the initiative. We are going to thoroughly destroy whatever it is they are planning.”

Saying so, she pointed at Leboir Alpha depicted on the main monitor with her whip.

“Advance my ship forward. Have the other ships standby in the rear, tell them to be ready to move at my command.”

“Do you plan to make yourself a decoy, Your Highness!?”

The flagship [Odelvansen] is a large battleship belonging to the Noredian imperial family. It is a very noticeable ship since it is painted in black and gold, unlike the other Noredian ships which are painted in red. To lead the charge with such a prominent ship would be like asking the enemy to focus fire on them.

“Of course. The bigger the prey, the bigger the bait has to be. Their plan is to hide and earn as much time as possible right? It would be beyond foolish to search each and every rock on this planet one by one to find them!”

From orbit, It’s impossible to find the well-disguised Calencian fleets. Normally, they would have no other choice but to descend their fleet and search the planet from up close.

However, in this era, the basic of surface-orbit warfare is that the higher you are the more disadvantageous you will be. The reason being that you would have nowhere to hide and the enemy would be able to spot you easily. That’s why in such a surface-orbit battle, the invading force must descend close to the surface. Still, with the risk of collision with the surface, the ship’s speed must be greatly reduced, making them vulnerable to artillery fire.

“Besides, it doesn’t matter even if this ship gets hit by their artillery. This [Odelvansen] is equipped with special armor plates, you know? Obviously, I’m going to use it.”

“M, my apology, ma’am!”

Intimidated by Diaroze, the subordinate scarily apologized. Her voice was very beautiful but it also held the violent tone that made it sound like the listener could be struck by her whip at any time. To put it more directly, her voice was one that does not allow her subordinates to defy her.

“If you understand that already then hurry up and get us close to the surface! A stray dog is even more valuable than soldiers who can’t even obey their orders alright!”

“Yes, ma’am! Rudder as is, reverse thrust 30 seconds burn!”

“Rudder as is, reverse thrust 30 seconds burn.”

The helmsman repeated the command of the captain and every thruster of the [Odelvansen] fired reverse thrust to decelerate. The surrounding ships started to withdraw behind as the [Odelvansen] slowed down to surface speed. Just like that, they slowly descend and the Leboir Alpha underneath appears to gradually grow larger.

“Arriving at Leboir Alpha’s periapsis, Altitude 30,000 feet. We are estimated to be within the enemy artillery range now, ma’am.”

(TLN: Periapsis = the point in an orbit of X that is closest to X’s body)

“Decelerate. Maintain altitude at 30,000. Load the main cannons with HE rounds.”

(TLN: HE = High-Explosive)

The main thrusters of the [Odelvansen] emit a faint jet flame and immediately turn silent. Since Leboir Alpha’s gravity is very weak, only a minimal amount of thrust is required to accelerate or decelerate on this planet.

“Now then. The rest is just waiting for them to bite the bait. Fortunately—–it appears that they do hate me quite a bit. The impatient mongrels will probably show themselves soon. Kukuku……..”

Diaroze said with a fearless smile. Then after a short moment, her prediction was proven to be correct.

“Extreme heat signal detected. Incoming enemy fire!”

After 10 minutes of waiting, the operator in charge of enemy detection shouted in a tense voice. And faster than the captain could issue the evasive command a green beam hit the hull of the [Odelvansen].

However, the beam could not penetrate the [Odelvansen]’s armor and only its paint was burned. The ship displays its great defensive capability that is worthy of Diaroze’s trust.

“Alright! Find out the point of origin!”

Since they were deploying their sensors at full power as they were intending to act as a decoy from the beginning, they immediately found out where the enemy’s shot originated from.

A telephoto image captured by the ship’s optical camera is being displayed on the monitor. The image depicts several strikers equipped with a huge artillery unit that is even taller than the strikers. Its muzzle is aiming at the [Odelvansen].

“Tsk, just the mobile artillery units huh. Whatever, they should not be that far apart from each other….. Notify all ships to descend on this location! The [Odelvansen] will return fire! We will land once we are done providing covering fire for the other ships.”

“Yes, ma’am. Main cannons, take aim!”

With the altitude control thrusters fired, the giant hull of the [Odelvansen] turns at a speed that doesn’t match its size. The muzzles of the 4 triple-turret-composite guns turn toward the location of the enemy artillery strikers.

“Aiming completed.”

“All guns! Open fire!”

Following the captain’s command, all main cannons fired at once. What they fired were not beams but physical shells. In this era, all battleships are equipped with composite guns which function as both blaster and linear guns.

And for the convenience of resupplying the ammunition for these guns, it is customary that the blaster output and the shell caliber of the composite gun are the same. In the case of the [Odelvansen], its main cannons can fire 50Mw blaster beams. In other words, they were also built to fire 50cm shells.

“Fumu, crushing the enemy is pleasant as always.”

Naturally, the Calencian strikers which received a salvo from the [Odelvansen] disappeared without a trace. The location they were at is now reduced to a large crater.

“But this is not enough. Entertain me more, Calencia army.”

Said Diaroze with a cruel smile.