CH 250

The Empress enters the battle

“So it ends up like this after all huh…..”

That was what the Empress said as soon as she received the report of the Angel fleet’s routing. A Vuld army normally became terribly vulnerable with the loss of its commander so she had predicted that it would come to this when she heard that Duchess Angel was defeated.

“Pathetic fools. Well, it’s good that they lost so brilliantly. It saved me the trouble of purging those lazy parasites myself.”

The Empress plays with her fan while saying so. She meant what she said. She may have looked displeased whenever she received the report of her subordinates’ failure but when they went and got themselves defeated that badly, it brought a smile to her face. Still, her heart was still boiling like magma.

“Once this battle is over, we need to have a nationwide reorganizing of aristocrats. There are already too many of those commoner filths. I have no use for incompetent aristocrats. Purging the country clean of these garbages would be more beneficial….”

The Empress slammed her fan shut. Incompetent allies are more of a threat than competent enemies. It was her personal principle to purge such a threat quickly and thoroughly.

“First would be the remnants of the Angel fleet. They have sullied the Empire’s name. Purging their entire houses wouldn’t be enough as a punishment……..”

“Reporting! The enemy’s main force is retreating, Your Majesty!”

“What!?”

The Empress’s cruel train of thoughts was stopped by the frantic voice of the enemy search operator. With a blue vein on her forehead almost popped, the Empress asked her to elaborate.

“How far apart are we?”

“12,0000, Your Majesty.”

“Impossible, we have the state-of-the-art active stealth equipment. Under this much jamming, it should be impossible for them to detect us from that far. But………”

Deceiving the radar of the Calencian outdated ships is a piece of cake while their advanced ships like the [Odervansen] and [Prussia] were originally built by Nored. A way to trick their radar in case of a rebellion has already been considered when they were built and is actively being used right now.

“Our search radar and quantum sonar did not pick any strange signal. It is highly unlikely that they have detected us through conventional means, Your Majesty…….”

“But their movement is still too strange. They have won against such a large fleet, why give up the chance to pursue such fleeing enemies and earn accomplishment for themselves……?”

To be safe, the Empress had her fleet waiting at a safe distance until earlier. This is to launch a counterattack at the most opportune time which is the moment when the Calencians start pursuing the Angel fleet. The fact that her enemy has given up on such a good opportunity confused her.

“Perhaps they have already exhausted their ammunition? Their fleet had been fighting multiple consecutive battles. Maybe they do not have enough ammunition to extend themselves, Your Majesty?”

One of the staff members suggested a possibility. And to some extent, it does make sense. The Calencian main fleet should be almost out of their ammunition. That much is clear given how long they have been fighting on the front line.

“That makes sense……..and if that’s true then we have no need to go out of our way to flank them. A direct assault would easily be enough to defeat them huh.”

The Empress said with a grin. If she can hit the Calencians while their ammunition is exhausted and can’t put up a fight then it would be a nice feeling for her.

“What is their course? Are they planning to run to another system or……..”

“From the projection………they are retreating backward, Your Majesty. I believe they are heading to the planet Galea-E.

“So the insects prefer their burrow huh. Good, this will be easier to clean up.”

If the Calencians turn tail and escape then it’s possible that their fast-moving ships might be able to get away. The fact that they chose to fight on a planet that has no escape route is pleasant to her ears. After all, if she can annihilate the Calencian fleet here, she will be able to do pretty much whatever she wants with their country afterward.

“Perhaps the enemy is planning to have their last stand there? In that case, I believe that it would be dangerous for us to rush at Galea-E blind, Your Majesty.”

“No…..Rather, they might be aiming to exploit such hesitations. If Galea-E was that fortified in the first place then they would have no need to come out to face us in space……….”

A space battle is one without cover. It’s a place where you face your enemy head-on. There is little room to rely on defense equipment or strategy. That’s why the side with fewer numbers will be always at a disadvantage.

Nevertheless, the Calencians came out to fight her army in outer space. This information gives credit to the conjecture that her enemy can not sufficiently defend themselves on Galea-E. That or there’s a reason the Calencians do not want to fight on the surface of Galea-E.

“At best, the planet’s defensive equipment would be artillery…..more or less a fortress gun size. If that’s the case then we should have no problem taking them on from the front. Giving the enemy time to prepare would be unwise. It would make the ammunition that the Angel fleet managed to exhaust go to waste huh?”

The Empress said in a sarcastic tone. Some of her staff followed with an evil sneer. However, the enemy search operator’s nervous voice echoed on the bridge again.

“Please wait! Enemy signals…there are striker signals approaching our fleet, Your Majesty.”

“Strikers? How many?”

“Three……no, there are more than a dozen following behind them. Judging from the speed, the three in front are probably Zenith-type.”

“ They are probably aiming for my head huh. But what do they think they can do with that number? Kuku, foolish Calencians…….it seems they are quite cornered huh.”

The number of enemies was too small and the Empress involuntarily broke into a smile.

TLN: 250, only 50 more……….well, at this speed it would be in 10 weeks tho lol