The BI13 squadron.
The ships maintained their position trailing the Winunder fleet. After the engagement with the BI138 ship, the Winunder fleet had significantly increased its rear defense measures and surveillance frequency; they were being closely monitored.
The BI13 squadron made no further aggressive moves, as Luna had not yet issued subsequent directives. They certainly would not charge in suicidally like Tourmaline.
This trailing action persisted for 30 years.
From their current vantage point, the Bmen star could already be perceived; it had become the brightest star in the entire sky, though it remained distant.
At this juncture, Luna's orders finally arrived, delivered with characteristic leisure.
"All ships enter evasion state."
As the command was given, the formerly semi-transparent ships instantly vanished from the cosmos.
All warships belonging to the BI13 squadron had already decelerated to 70,000 kilometers per second; they were simply unable to maintain pace with the Winunder fleet.
Therefore, their mission was singular: deception.
Before entering evasion, these vessels altered their primary flight paths. They dispersed and flew in divergent directions, with a pre-set operational duration of 10 years.
...
10 years later.
Each ship materialized at its assigned coordination point, launched several rounds of targeted attacks toward the Winunder fleet, and then re-entered evasion state before converging.
These specific positions were not chosen randomly.
The ships proceeded in an orderly fashion, generally following the same trajectory, although their precise spatial coordinates deviated. The initially unified fleet would scatter across several distinct sectors.
At these multiple locations, each vessel would execute an attack utilizing seven distinct methodologies, differentiated by their emission speeds.
Or, more accurately, the same type of attack, but featuring different emitted particles.
Photons, naturally, travel at the speed of light, whereas neutrons travel at 0.3c, or 30% the speed of light.
Suppose a neutron weapon is discharged at a specific point in the third year, and a photon weapon is discharged at the identical point in the tenth year. Both weapons would then arrive at that designated point simultaneously. To an observer situated at that convergence point, both weapons would appear to have been fired at the same moment.
Of course, the fundamental prerequisite is that the observer at that location fails to detect the difference between the two weapon types.
How can the opponent be kept unaware?
It would certainly be impossible to utilize elementary particles like photons and neutrons, knowledge of which is common even among elementary school students. Instead, specialized artificial particles must be employed.
The velocity of these artificial particles needs to be precisely measured and then calculated, adding another layer of complexity and increasing the potential for deception.
The speed of these artificial particles can be tightly controlled to a fairly precise degree; a 10% deviation is often sufficient, and pushing this to the extreme—even below 5%—makes enemy judgment significantly harder.
This offensive methodology is termed the "delayed simultaneous arrival" tactic. It is not conventional, as very few battlefields necessitate its intricate application.
Luna ordered the BI13 squadron to leverage this attack, calculating the arrival time of all artificial particles at the Winunder fleet to be precisely 8 years later.
Adding the initial 30 years of trailing, 10 years for evasive maneuvering, and then 8 years for weapon flight time, totals exactly 48 years—coinciding precisely with the anticipated arrival of the main fleet.
...
"Truly a brilliant tactic."
"Perfect timing. The enemy won't even have time to react. When they face a massive external barrage, their initial assumption will be that the aggressor is still far away."
"And at that moment, the fleet, having closed the distance while in evasion state, must be positioned to utterly catch them unaware."
The newly appointed secretary was one of only two personnel who fully grasped the scope of Luna's plan.
Once he compiled the entirety of Luna's directives, he understood her ultimate objective.
This astounding capacity for battlefield orchestration was simply awe-inspiring.
Few individuals could conceive of such comprehensive planning.
Especially not in such a brief period.
Interplanetary battlefields, although often spanning decades or even centuries in duration, appear to offer abundant maneuvering time.
But in reality, as the distance between fleets decreases, the available space and temporal margin for fleet adjustments rapidly diminish.
The Archon Commander constantly requires modifying and adjusting orders, which is actually a massive challenge—in some aspects, even more difficult than the tactical deployments of the ground warfare eras.
As the secretary grasped this reality, Luna's order resonated across the entire fleet.
"All ships enter evasion state, proceed to the designated target. Codename: Annihilation!"
"Attention, the instant we disengage stealth, we will immediately engage the enemy. All personnel, prepare for combat!"
"Countdown initiated. Final 10 minutes for preparation!"
Following the 10-minute countdown.
All ships and warships stealthily moved toward the enemy coordinates.
The core of Luna's strategy wasn't merely to mislead the enemy; it was also to secure crucial time for her own forces.
The enemy fleet's movements were serpentine and irregular; they were intentionally maneuvering to avoid potential ambushes from evasion-specialized vessels.
This reality could not be altered.
Once evasion-type ships completed their pass, they would inevitably become spatially separated from the enemy fleet. At that point, they would require adequate time to re-establish contact and coordinate.
Therefore, this diversion was monumentally important.
After entering evasion state, no one within the fleet knew precisely what would transpire next. Everyone surrendered their independent decision-making; all actions must adhere strictly to protocol.
If the enemy genuinely anticipated their vector, then their arrival near the enemy lines would be the moment of their absolute destruction.
This was an immense gamble.
But then, when is war anything other than a gamble?
If war always dictated the victor and the vanquished beforehand, why would the losing side needlessly prolong conflict and increase casualties by continuing to fight?
...
The opposing force.
The Winunder fleet.
They maintained their steady advance.
At this stage of the operation, the closer they drew to Bmen, the safer they ironically became. Yet, they were still continuing to decelerate. Greater intrinsic safety for themselves implied a greater risk taken by the enemy, suggesting the opponent would not engage recklessly.
They were operating within a contradictory state of tension.
Previously, Duming possessed immense confidence, certain he could manage the entirety of the situation.
But Tourmaline's unexpected ambush instantly shattered that confidence, preventing even focused cultivation from restoring his mental equilibrium.
For decades, he had no option but to frantically immerse himself in tactical analysis, constantly attempting to deduce the enemy's ultimate intended action.
"We are now too close to Bmen. Bmen has already deployed reinforcements."
"In just five more years, we will reach the absolute safest point."
"Do you truly believe Luna will refrain from attacking?"
Duming posed the question to Binom.
Binom possessed superior analytical capacity compared to Duming. Initially, Duming was dismissive, confident in his own judgment, but now he found himself utterly indecisive.
Binom replied, "If Luna chooses not to strike, then those trailing vessels will not simply vanish."
"They must be preparing some large-scale maneuver."
"But we have zero actionable intelligence. This is the most frustrating aspect of interstellar warfare."
Binom was also reaching a state of mental and physical exhaustion.
He had conceptualized countless scenarios, but he remained fearful that the true answer resided outside the entire spectrum of possibilities he had already cataloged. Yet, he genuinely could not formulate any further logical hypotheses.
The direct engagement phase of interstellar warfare was largely mindless: simply exchange fire across light-years.
However, once strategic scheming became involved, the complexity became infinite.
Every alteration could precipitate dozens or hundreds of viable outcomes. When the timeline extended far enough, the potential solutions multiplied into tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands.
Without an immensely powerful processing capacity, sustaining this level of calculation was impossible. The main computer might propose one optimal answer, but the enemy was not obligated to follow that singular path.
Therefore, thorough study of every conceivable operational path was necessary to effectively counter the opponent.
This underscored why the Archon Commander was the most critical asset on the interstellar battlefield; there was an immense scope of duties he needed to manage.
On the Star Nation side, both Duming and Binom were renowned generals, battle-hardened and consistently victorious. Otherwise, they would never have been entrusted with such decisive strategic command.
But the terrifying reality of warfare is that even the most capable individuals are granted only one opportunity to fail.
"I also have a strong premonition; the enemy will launch their assault soon."
"Be fully prepared. They will definitely manifest near our current location. We must be ready for immediate action."
Ships and warships could not maintain maximal defensive posture indefinitely; doing so would consume an exorbitant amount of energy, especially considering the waiting period could stretch across several years.
Therefore, precise timing for the engagement was crucial, constrained to a window of, at most, a few months.
Binom decided to commit to the gamble.
"Defense protocols will be active during months three, six, nine, and twelve. That should provide sufficient strategic margin," he declared.
Even so, energy consumption would be enormous, but Duming agreed with Binom's decision.
The entire fleet now entered a state of high tension.
When would the enemy arrive? In what manner? What began as a seemingly certain victory had, due to Tourmaline's ambush decades ago, seen their confidence gradually erode. Now, the entire fleet was starting to feel nervous.
Some advocated for slightly dispersing the formation, arguing it would make dealing with the enemy easier than maintaining a tight cluster.
But Duming would certainly not consent to that.
Dispersing the fleet introduced more complications. How far apart should they spread? If they exceeded 1 AU, the light propagation time would require 8 minutes. While they certainly wouldn't be completely annihilated, dispersal would grant the enemy significantly more maneuvering space.
After all, if information was transmitted and then an attack executed, the total delay would amount to 16 minutes—and that was the bare minimum, not accounting for crucial decision-making time. An 16-minute window was enough for the enemy to re-engage evasion state. After striking, the enemy could brazenly withdraw. This outcome was even more unacceptable.
If they remained closer than 1 AU apart—say, only tens of millions of kilometers—it would be strategically wiser to cluster even more tightly. This was because transmission delays due to distance would still exist, leaving insufficient time for the entire fleet to execute a coordinated response.
This was due to the fact that their fleet was not exclusively composed of Tachyon-communicating warships. Many ships receiving information would still be restricted to light-speed communication.
Time, therefore, remained the ultimate weapon.
...
Seven months later.
A laser beam sliced through a gap in the formation. The energy signature it left behind was astonishing. Before anyone aboard the fleet could fully react, subsequent attacks followed in quick succession.
"Attack detected at an incorrect location!"
"Prepare for immediate counterattack!"
The tense soldiers initially assumed the enemy had once again manifested within their immediate vicinity.
At that very moment, one unlucky vessel was directly pierced by an energy beam, intensifying their sense of urgency.
All soldiers hunkered down to prepare their defenses. After more than ten minutes, when everything was set, the bombardment ceased as if a pause button had been pressed. Only then did the personnel realize the truth: the enemy hadn't arrived; the attack originated from an extreme distance.
The main force of the barrage had been focused on the mispositioned section of the fleet. That specific ship was truly unfortunate, not a deliberate target selected by the enemy.
Duming was utterly stunned by the attack's timing. He had just finished coordinating defensive readiness when the assault concluded.
By the time he reached the command room, everyone had already compiled the necessary data for him, and Binom was already analyzing the readouts.
He glanced at the analysis.
"It appears to be a feint. The attack originated 4 light-years away. The firing position was slightly inaccurate, but generally, it came from behind us. The estimated number of attacking ships is around 2000. The enemy is dispersed!"
"It seems they no longer intend to intercept us directly. This is purely a retaliatory strike."
At that moment, a soldier approached him, reporting: "Report, sir. One warship was pierced. The rest are stable. The enemy was misled by our projection data error."
Duming nodded, and Binom echoed his leader's sentiments.
"No, if this were a true retaliatory attack, their bombardment wouldn't have concentrated at this particular spot. They would have utilized at least 10,000 ships, or more."
"I suspect that at this position, with only 2000 ships deployed, if Luna hadn't initially committed only 2000-3000 vessels, this scattering might be a form of deception."
"Why deceive? Perhaps the enemy's main force has already positioned itself around us, preparing a decisive assault."
Binom's conjecture startled Duming.
He quickly instructed the reporting soldier: "Relay this to all ships: Do not let your guard down. Maintain defensive barriers and weapons at maximum standby."
While misdirection could counter long-range light detection methods, at close range, they would still be vulnerable to gravitational and other proximity detection systems.
Binom's hypothesis was not without solid reasoning. In fact, it seemed highly plausible.
Exactly 10 hours after the order was issued.
The second wave of attacks arrived.
This assault featured a much higher frequency and greater number of impacts than the previous one. Fortunately, all ships and warships were already on alert; otherwise, they would have certainly lost at least 10 more vessels.
"Based on calculations, this attack originated from the (-83.2, -34.3) sector. The estimated number of attacking ships exceeds 5000."
Duming glanced at the previous attack coordinates, (-80.1, -31.6). This was their standard coordinate system, centered on the flagship or fleet center. Forward directions were positive; the horizontal and vertical angles spanning 180° were divided into 32,400 sectors. Each sector could be further subdivided into 10 sub-sectors, totaling 3.24 million sub-sectors in total for one hemisphere.
The rearward positions were negative, mirroring the front, also encompassing 3.24 million sub-sectors.
(-83.2, -34.3) indicated a rearward angle of 83.2 degrees from left to right, and 34.3 degrees from top to bottom, roughly corresponding to an area slightly above and behind their current orientation.
The two attack positions were separated by 0.245 light-years, meaning they could essentially be attributed to the same originating fleet.
"The attacks were separated by 10 hours. The first one must have been a mere harassment attack."
"The enemy likely gambled that the initial attack would cause us to relax our vigilance, allowing the stronger second attack to inflict meaningful casualties, which is a rather straightforward ploy."
Duming breathed a sigh of relief upon interpreting the data this way.
Based on his prior knowledge, the Supernova Technology Corporation did not possess an abundance of evasion-type ships.
The confirmed enemy vessel count at this point was at least 7000. Even if the enemy planned an ambush, the number of participating ships would logically be quite low.
"The situation should be clearer now. This is just the enemy displaying impotent rage."
"Perhaps the previous ambush was truly an accident. That single event disrupted their entire strategy. I considered before: if the enemy possessed true capability, why deploy only one ship, instead of 10 or more? Our losses would have been significantly heavier."
Was that truly the case? Binom internally questioned this conclusion.
He constantly felt an underlying dissonance.
But he genuinely could not pinpoint the flaw.
The enemy couldn't possibly field a potent fighting force if they had 7000 ships already deployed in their rear flank.
However, the destructive power displayed by that single BI138 ship in the prior engagement remained vividly etched in his memory.
"Perhaps the enemy is simply aiming to extract a major concession?"
"5000 ships still pose a massive threat to our immediate defense integrity. Only by weakening our combat effectiveness now can they gain an advantage later."
"Maintain absolute vigilance!"
Nevertheless, 7 hours later, another assault arrived.
This latest attack was far more intense, compelling the fleet to deploy specific countermeasures solely to repel the barrage.
Watching the ripples constantly bloom across the defensive shields, Duming turned to Binom and remarked, "Undoubtedly, the enemy has truly conceded."
"The 'Boy Who Cried Wolf' narrative is too cliché. They assume that by continuously escalating three attacks, they can inflict some measurable damage upon us."
"Haha, is this the legendary Luna they speak of? Perhaps we all placed too much emphasis on her reputation. She never made a direct move during the Rusty Expansion Campaign. In reality, she appears to be merely a competent merchant, not a formidable Archon Commander."
"As the saying goes, different professions inhabit different peaks. Once Bmen is firmly under our control, she'll be flustered and helpless."
"That previous vessel alone proves the situation; some even disregarded her orders."
This indeed formed a logically sound, self-contained justification.
Even Binom was somewhat swayed by this reasoning at this point.
But he still insisted, "First, let's confirm the precise origin of this attack."
Two hours later, the intelligence arrived.
(-80.3, -34.9)
This was the third launch location. Based on the fluctuation intensity of this attack, the number of ships stationed there would be no less than 10,000.
The total combined estimated count had already reached 17,000, and this was a conservative figure.
Assuming the enemy's total warship complement was 20,000, then indeed, the conflict was likely over for them. 5,000 ships could still inflict substantial losses, but if the number was under 5,000, and they launched an ambush while our fleet was already on high alert, the opponent couldn't achieve the desired strategic effect.
Unless that Luna was completely irrational, she certainly wouldn't strike again.
Binom conducted one final calculation.
The shortest distance between two points within their fleet formation was 0.23 light-years. The enemy ships were traveling at 100,000 km per second. To traverse this 0.23 light-years would require 8.4 months.
However, the time differential between the attacks was only 17 hours, meaning the fleet that launched the first attack couldn't possibly have traversed the distance to the third launch point within that timeframe.
"They wouldn't give up."
"There is no logical reason!"
Binom remained focused on calculating, recalculating, and calculating once more.
Beside him, Duming remained composed and stated, "Officer Binom, there's no need to be solely confined to one area of the battlefield. Even if we secure Bmen, that is merely the commencement of our larger offensive. Perhaps the enemy has already positioned assets deeper within, and this entire engagement is merely designed to make us underestimate their true strength."
"The loss of Bmen is a crucial turning point. Who knows, perhaps they have already set their sights on the next strategic objective."
"Relax, Bmen is already within our grasp. I will personally treat you to the finest cuisine on Bmen then."
Binom questioned, "What if Bmen is lost?"
Duming smiled: "Impossible. Bmen wasn't just captured now; we have maintained operational control there for nearly a millennium. Even if Luna targets Bmen now, it would take a significant duration for her to mount a serious threat. Rest assured!"
Binom was half-convinced, but for the moment, he could only proceed based on Duming's established framework. He couldn't formulate any other feasible hypotheses.
He factored the subsequent battlefield variables into his calculations, and indeed, more possibilities began to emerge.
Binom felt a surge of relief.
He dove into a new round of complex calculations.
Duming shook his head upon observing Binom's renewed intensity, then quietly departed.
He had been excessively tense during this critical period, and it was time for him to unwind slightly.
Before resting, he transmitted a general order to the entire fleet: "Maintain targeted defense against any enemy incursions from the rear sectors. All other vessels are to enter reorganization status. We are approaching Bmen, and we must utilize this transit time for thorough resupply."
"Everyone has fought commendably. Bmen also boasts ample recreational facilities. All entertainment expenses will be covered!"
An officer inquired, "What about the misdirection equipment?"
Duming replied without hesitation: "Deactivate it. It is no longer necessary!"
Following his command, the entire fleet visibly relaxed.
Only Binom continued his relentless calculations.
"After securing Bmen, we can utilize it as a springboard toward Lantis, Ninya, and Saada, effectively controlling the entire Blue Maple sector, securing virtually half of the Rusty Star Nation."
"If they intend to launch a counterattack, where exactly could they exploit a weakness?"
"Is it the Domania Passage? Is it the J-shaped Stellar Stream? Or perhaps the Biap Void Fissure?"
The Domania Passage is the most critical conduit within the Rusty Star Nation, connecting over 51 star systems. The entire passage is outfitted with numerous rest areas and acceleration rings.
The J-shaped Stellar Stream is a highly dense region composed of small celestial bodies, numbering in the hundreds of millions. These are not naturally formed but are residual mineral waste.
Originally, a red dwarf star system resided nearby. After the star's energy was entirely plundered, the remaining rocky planets and the stellar core were continuously exploited. Heavy elements were collected, and low-value ores were discarded.
After all, interstellar transport incurs significant logistical costs, and the profit margins from transporting such low-value ores were too slim, often resulting in net losses.
The Biap Void Fissure is a narrow, elongated, inherently unstable region of spacetime. Its width measures 24 light-years, while its length extends to 138 light-years. It slices through the Rusty Star Nation, giving its territory a shape resembling a donut.
All three of these areas could potentially serve as strategic ambush points.
Binom highlighted these as critical sectors.
However, when Binom isolated each area for individual calculation, he found that the ultimate outcome remained their victory.
A very important variable in this equation was the virus.
The longer the engagement dragged on, the greater the Flaorse Corporation's advantage became. The microbial invasion would be relentless; data corrupted or destroyed would be exceptionally difficult to fully recover.
In reality, their entire campaign only needed to be prolonged; the Rusty Star Nation lacked the necessary resilience to sustain a prolonged conflict.
Finally, he understood the linchpin: Did Luna know they had already secured Jimin Corporation? If she knew, then Luna would undoubtedly launch a decisive, fatal blow before they could reach Bmen.
"But how exactly should she execute that?"
"Even if we arrive at Bmen with only half our fleet remaining, this campaign will still be a decisive victory for us."
"Doesn't Luna comprehend this point?"
"Assuming she fails to see it, that's certainly for the best. But what if she has seen it?"
"If the previous three attacks were indeed stratagems of deception, how did she manage the execution?"
Many questions could only be answered after more intricate calculations.
Duming's current conjectures were, ultimately, just conjectures. Binom felt a sting of shame for having actually trusted his superior's nonsense; he was a fanatic for calculation, and he needed to find a verifiable answer.
Just then, a researcher in the command room was handing a document to an officer.
"We've analyzed the debris from the ship that ambushed us earlier. It is truly astonishing."
"Although we still cannot determine its exact composition or operating mechanism, we know that the material can evade all four fundamental forces. This level of technology... I can hardly believe it has surfaced within our human Civilization."
"Perhaps we are simply too distant from the core Federation Civilization, causing us to be entirely unaware of their cutting-edge developments."
"If we could acquire this technology, forget the Rusty Star Nation; even achieving the power level of a Twenty-Eight Nations Covenant star nation wouldn't be impossible. I mean, a star nation capable of resisting one of the Twenty-Eight Nations Covenant factions. That would effectively be a second Federation."
His eyes gleamed with fanaticism.
Upon hearing this, Binom was also extremely surprised. He intended to obtain the data for review but instantly froze; he felt he had just grasped some vital piece of information.
But what exactly was it?
He came up completely empty.
Until the researcher stated the second major discovery.
"One point I cannot reconcile is that the enemy's attacks were exclusively artificial particles. The energetic output of these artificial particles isn't even as potent as photons. After all, we can generate incredibly high-energy photons, while those artificial particles don't appear to be that advanced."
"The enemy might be constrained by the operational limits of their evasion-type ships and thus has been forced to compromise something. After all, very few high-tech devices can successfully evade all four fundamental forces while being actively deployed."
His first sentence was an almost accidental observation.
But it caused Binom to tremble throughout his entire frame.
"That's it!"
"That's precisely it!"
"You, tell me, were the artificial particles from the first, second, and third attacks of the exact same type?"
Binom stared intensely at the researcher.
The researcher was confused about what was happening but instinctively sensed Binom's mounting panic.
He replied, "Initially, we assumed they were all identical, but careful study revealed slight variances, differences down to the thousandths place. I simply attributed it to batch variations in ship manufacturing."
The researcher clearly still didn't grasp the implications.
But Binom instantly understood.
"No, that's incorrect."
"These variations in the artificial particles are deliberate. They affect the precise travel speed of those artificial particles."
The researcher was startled by Binom's assertion.
"You noticed that divergence! Indeed, they possess different velocities, and the difference is non-trivial. It's only detectable after successfully capturing the particles. I assumed this variation was also why there were delays between the three attacks."
The researcher sounded smug about his own deduction.
But Binom directly challenged him: "Why? Why did you withhold this crucial information until now?"
"Do you comprehend the significance of this data?"
"This is it! They exploited time to deceive us!"
"Notify all vessels! Enter maximum alert status! The enemy is arriving!"
"What about the misdirection technology? Is the misdirection technology deployed?"
Binom inquired urgently. Although the misdirection technology was only visual deception, it could have bought them valuable time for reconnaissance.
However, the soldier beside him stated, "Commander Duming already deactivated the misdirection equipment quite some time ago. He claimed we only needed to wait for the Bmen reinforcement fleet to arrive, and there was no need to expend further energy..."
As the soldier spoke, Binom saw on the massive screen in the command room that various types of ships within their own fleet were transitioning from transparent to opaque.
They were widely scattered, both internally within the formation and externally in the surrounding space.
"Bastards! They are here!"
At this moment, Binom felt an overwhelming urge to eliminate Duming. The misdirection technology could have purchased them at least ten more minutes. In a close-quarters engagement like this, ten minutes translated directly into avoiding catastrophic damage.
Watching the ships materialize one by one, his heart instantly turned to ash.
There were far too many ships—at least over ten thousand.
And what state was their own fleet in now?
All their focus had been directed toward the rear, positioning themselves defensively. Not a single ship or warship was prepped for immediate offensive action.
...
On the opposing side.
Binom's intense internal questioning had actually spanned a considerable duration—roughly twelve hours.
Duming had already settled into a meditative state, gradually allowing himself to achieve tranquility. He visualized himself as a giant beast soaring higher and higher, able to see the boundless earth spread out below.
His speed increased, yet the earth appeared endless. He flew upward, further and further, but looking down, the landscape remained vast beneath his eyes.
This sense of overwhelming scale made him feel solitary, yet simultaneously peaceful.
Just as he was about to descend into a deeper meditative trance, an alarm suddenly blared across the bridge.
He instantly snapped his eyes wide open.
"What is happening?"
He queried the main computer.
[We are under attack. Please immediately…]
Before the voice could finish its transmission, Duming felt the entire warship shudder violently.
He accessed the console screen and looked outside.
He saw an enemy vessel positioned immediately adjacent to them. How eerily familiar this scene felt.
The ship now maneuvered, and directly in front of it, an energy ring materialized. The massive energy ring was initially very large, then contracted sharply to a small sphere, before activating.
And it was aimed directly at the warship where Duming was stationed.
He didn't even have time to register the threat before the energy beam arrived. That beam, which appeared as small as a grain of rice from afar, blasted a breach over a thousand meters in diameter right through the warship's hull.
Duming was precisely within that rupture. He perished without ever knowing the nature of the attack.
Binom, at this moment, received the official report regarding Duming's demise from the main computer. He struggled to process the news for a moment.
Just like that, effortlessly.
But this was not the time for grief.
He resolved to counterattack, to resist!
"Order all shield-active vessels to converge here, protect the flagship, allowing us time to cycle up the weapon systems."
Binom drastically reduced the flagship's speed.
The shield-equipped warships were already close, separated by only a few hundred thousand kilometers. The vessels responding from the rear caught up in mere seconds; they rapidly enveloped the flagship from all sides.
Only then did Binom allow himself a brief sigh of relief, knowing he wouldn't suffer the same fate as Duming.
The weapon systems began their final activation sequence.
At that instant, the flagship's hangar bays fully deployed, and all 50,000 accompanying fighters launched, vectoring toward the enemy vessels.
These fighters were all loaded with micro-weaponry and electronic jamming countermeasures.
"Disperse! Energy jamming activated! Local network disruption initiated!"
As fighters evolved, they developed unique battlefield niches.
Their jamming capability was exceptionally potent, achieved by actively disrupting electromagnetic wave propagation.
While inside a shielded ship, interference might be minimal, but in the open space outside the hull, communication became utterly impossible.
Inter-ship communication collapsed, which had a devastating impact on any complex fleet maneuver.
However, they were engaging a fleet that had been preparing for this ambush for over a decade.
How could Luna possibly overlook these factors?
Aboard the Ghost warship.
The secretary reported under immense duress: "The enemy has deployed energy jamming. Communications are severed. If connectivity is not restored, we will sustain unacceptable losses."
"Currently, 40 of our ships have already been destroyed by friendly fire. This is a recurring issue."
This was a common pitfall.
The density of ships and warships was too extreme. If every vessel possessed real-time communication links, then regardless of whether it was the main computer or a DataNode, targeting non-combatants or calculating safe zones could be done instantaneously.
In fact, if they had a central computer online, it could manage the complexity computationally.
But the evasion-type ships and warships were all equipped only with DataNodes, and outdated DataNodes at that. DataNodes lacked the computational capacity for such rapid, large-scale tactical calculations.
One must remember that at this critical moment, all these vessels were not moving at a few meters per second, but speeds exceeding ten thousand kilometers per second. These ships could circumnavigate Earth twice per second within the confined battle zone.
The initial battlefield diameter was 1 million kilometers. It had expanded slightly, maybe to 1.5 or 2 million kilometers, but it was still catastrophically small.
In less than half a minute, these vessels could cross the entire engagement area, crossing paths thousands of times.
This was akin to thousands upon thousands of fleas jumping back and forth within a 1,000 cubic meter enclosure, their leaping prowess enhanced so that each jump covered a full meter.
"No need. Continue the assault. Do not worry about friendly losses."
"Our total numbers are ultimately insufficient against the enemy. Even if we sacrifice 400 vessels, as long as we eliminate 4,000 of theirs, the exchange will be worthwhile."
"Your current focus must solely be on how many enemy ships you manage to destroy."
The secretary looked out into the cosmos and realized that all ships had maintained their offensive posture. He instantly understood that Luna had already issued clear contingency orders.
He immediately fell silent.
He could only hope they achieved victory; otherwise, escaping their own chaotic fleet might prove impossible.
But how significant was that hope?
The enemy possessed 200,000 ships plus over 5,000 dedicated warships.
This kind of relentless assault was simply overwhelming.