Of course, it must be admitted that although Odgar was so enraged by the demonic singing that he wished he could fill the singer's belly with a ton of antimatter, then tie him to a space torpedo and blast him directly into a black hole, he still tried his best to remain calm.
He merely urged, "Quickly prepare the space torpedoes," and made no further special reaction.
However, below him, almost all the officers and technical officers in important positions also clenched their fists. They were all Empire, and many were even connected to Odgar's family. They could not possibly be indifferent to the mockery they had just heard.
The Bakerville Birdmen, seeing the Empire's reaction, naturally began to flap their wings.
"Woo-gah!" The Birdmen let out a mournful cry, like a cuckoo weeping blood, causing the nearby Empire to look sideways.
"You Birdmen, your feelings are deeper than mine and the Commander's! Truly filial... truly a song of loyalty!"
"Being a dog of the Empire is the greatest happiness! Unlike those Earthlings who run around, not even knowing who their master is?"
When the master is insulted, the dogs are often the most furious. The Empire felt this seemed quite reasonable.
In short, this heavy cruiser thus fell into an overly irrational environment.
The Earthling fleet's mockery continued. The person singing must have stopped, but it was clearly a recording on a loop.
The demonic singing continued to torment the ears of the Imperial Army crew, and the fervent environment was injected with more torment, anger, and murderous intent.
"Commander!" The gunnery chief's voice came again, even with a clear hint of urgency.
Odgar still did not react, but was intently focused on the direction of the Commonwealth Fleet's advance. Just when everyone thought the new Commander was going to endure it, he suddenly turned his head and gestured to Lainong behind him.
"Main cannon on track 3, target enemy ship number one, fire!"
Odgar never intended to endure it from the start, nor did he intend to initiate the customary challenge signal for a glorious knightly duel. Instead, he planned to wait for the enemy to enter his range before shelling.
Since it was a sneak attack, it had to be successful.
However, the kinetic main cannon carried by the Type 24 was battlecruisers-class, with a very long range. He did not want to be discovered immediately, so he had been hiding in the Asteroid Belt, ensuring quiet and maintaining a distance of over 300,000 kilometers.
A bombardment at this distance would give the opponent ample room to evade.
Unless it was a true major fleet engagement, where fortress-like behemoths formed a formation and gradually approached, projecting the most lethal weapons at each other from super-long range, while also enduring attacks of the same caliber. Their own warships and their companions rubbed shoulders, unable to make significant evasive maneuvers. To ensure the integrity of the battle formation, they had to, and could only, use it.
Of course, if the Commonwealth crew were all fools, it might actually be possible to achieve a hit. According to Imperial Army regulations, in such an encounter, if an orbital main cannon hit an enemy ship beyond 200,000 kilometers, the captain, gunnery chief, and gunner could all receive medals.
It should be known that as long as it doesn't hit an obstacle during its advance, the theoretical range of an orbital cannon is infinite, so any kind of miracle is possible. And these miracles have indeed motivated generations of Imperial Navy officers and soldiers.
So far, the longest-range orbital cannon hit in galactic history occurred during the Third Galactic War more than thirty years ago. The Imperial Dreadnought 'General Mogul's' orbital main cannon hit an enemy ship eight million kilometers away, creating a hit record unprecedented and almost unparalleled.
This indeed involved a great deal of luck, but it was also a sufficiently brilliant record.
Odgar was genuinely looking forward to creating a record himself. However, it was clearly impossible, at least for now.
The Type 24 cruiser adjusted its muzzle, decisively launched the shell into the kinetic orbit, and it flew towards the distant Commonwealth Fleet.
In just two or three seconds, the shell, which had entered near-light speed, traversed hundreds of thousands of kilometers.
Odgar was a little disappointed. This bombardment indeed did not hit any enemy ships, but it caused that loosely arrayed small fleet to quickly disperse.
By this time, it would be unrealistic for the Commonwealth Fleet not to have discovered the enemy. They redeployed their formation and rushed towards the Asteroid Belt, which was the direction of the Type 24.
This moment was 18:47 on November 12th.
The first direct battle between the Empire and the Commonwealth, after thirty-five years, had officially begun!
...Strike through the above. This was just a border skirmish, neither side knew who the other was!
"Yes, we are just pursuing the Lumina Rebels and the masterminds behind The Myriad Souls Heresy! It has nothing to do with the Empire, do you all understand?" Commodore Markov, stationed on Mist Capital 14, began his final pre-battle communication with everyone.
Understand, understand, of course, they understood. As for how to settle accounts after the battle, only those who knew would know, and those who didn't wouldn't understand even if told.
The orbital shell flew Past the outermost assault ship of the fleet, passing through space dust about five hundred meters away, and instantly disappeared.
In space, still at a super-long distance of over 300,000 kilometers, for the first deterrent shot to achieve such a hit was already quite good. Objectively, it also demonstrated the skill of the Imperial Army gunners.
If the Commonwealth Fleet had continued along its original cruising trajectory, the next shell would most likely have hit.
However, the Commonwealth Fleet seemed to have been prepared, and their already somewhat loose formation began to spread out once more.
The warships were still advancing, but they had already begun their second grouping. The Corsica, at the forefront of the formation, directly scattered a large number of jamming flares into space, instantly forming a radar-invisible barrier in front of the entire fleet.
From beginning to end, from the fleet's second grouping to the deployment of the jamming barrier, the entire set of tactical maneuvers was exceptionally refined. Of course, this was not because the newly formed Thirteenth Fleet possessed such strength, but because they had clearly made thorough preparations beforehand.
In this way, the Imperial Army warships hidden in the Asteroid Belt would have to aim by eye to fire again.
300,000 kilometers, equivalent to the distance from Earth to the Moon. Of course, such marksmen are not non-existent, for example, Ina and the like; this girl should be fine after growing three or four more rings.
However, Yu Lian bet that there were none on the opponent's ship, otherwise the first shell just now should have hit.
Moreover, although orbital shells theoretically have infinite range, for such long-range bombardments, everyone still prefers the instantaneous light spear cannons!
When will the Skybow-type light spear cannon, which should currently be in the discussion phase at the Alliance Military Engineering Institute, be developed? That thing is a true superweapon that can pierce through a star system! Paired with a gunner like Ina, it would be even better!
The sharpshooter lady seemed to feel a certain intense gaze, shivered in her main gunner's seat, and then turned to look at the bridge.
Yu Lian, who was still only showing his head from the medical bay, sat upright, facing the holographic projection sent by Commodore Markov with a respectful gaze.
"Then, according to the original plan, I hand over the command authority to you, Colonel Bonaparte," the Old General said.
"Commander, I..." Elinore was naturally very pleased, but at least she should show some humility on the surface.
"Don't worry about it, this was agreed upon beforehand. Besides, I don't really have experience commanding an entire fleet."
This statement is highly debatable. Elinore's experience of fighting pirates with three or four small boats wasn't very convincing, was it?
“At least, you’ve fought many simulated battles in this area, Commander. As for me, an old technician who started as a fighter mechanic, I’ve never even seen a simulated tactical cabin,” he said, then sobered his smile. “Just treat me as an ordinary Aircraft Carrier captain.”
Eleanor, who was never pretentious or affected, no longer declined and nodded slightly.
After the Commander’s communication was cut off, the communication channel for the highest command authority was immediately opened to the Corsica.
“Then, according to the original plan, the entire fleet will deploy in B formation!”
Yu Lian glanced at Yahata, secretly giving him a thumbs up. This guy, based on limited information (though all of it was provided by Yu Lian), had temporarily re-completed the fleet organization work, and done so almost perfectly. From this perspective, this guy was not only suitable for staff work but also capable of serving as a deputy for a large fleet.
Sending this dark-bellied glasses-wearing guy to Eleanor as a helper was truly the most perfect personnel arrangement!
The Commonwealth Fleet not only deployed in a dispersed formation but also began to split its forces.
Two Ranger-class cruisers... no, armed merchant ships, the Corsica where Eleanor was, and Luoyang 17, captained by Lieutenant Colonel Kong Qingyu, along with 6 destroyers, formed Group A, commanded by Eleanor. They continued to advance directly towards the direction of the Imperial warship’s bombardment.
The modifications to the Corsica and Luoyang were mainly in firepower and protection, entirely in line with the most orthodox enhancements for combat vessels.
On the other side, Mist Capital 14, which could almost be considered a light Aircraft Carrier, and Venice 57, which was practically a troop transport, led all the assault ships in an enemy-front maneuver, heading directly towards the crystal-clear, jewel-like Asteroid Belt.
This flanking B Fleet was personally led by Commander Marklov.
Such flanking guerrilla work was often handled by the deputy officers in the fleet command. However, for the Old General, professional matters should be handled by professionals. He had only ever been an armored Aircraft Carrier captain at most, and while he had some experience with the application of small vessels, he had no confidence in actual fleet cannon battles. It was better to leave it to the “Moon People” ace students who had at least received professional training.
However, to be honest, it was precisely these “non-professional” ordinary officers with no academic qualifications who were more likely to have such magnanimity. True elite bureaucrats, on the other hand, often regarded academic qualifications as ability.
Because they had to conduct a large-scale flanking maneuver, the B Fleet led by the Commodore quickly entered a sub-light speed cruising state. The last thing visible to the naked eye were beautiful streaks of light, tracing bright trajectories in the void.
As for Fleet A, commanded by Eleanor, it maintained a steady, orderly rhythm, slowly approaching the enemy.
“If Marquis Odgar has studied basic military knowledge, he should be able to guess what we intend to do!” Eleanor said.
Yes, assault ships and Aircraft Carriers entering the Asteroid Belt, in essence, meant relying on their agile size and the cover of the asteroids to minimize the giant ship’s firepower advantage and drag the battle into a messy boarding action.
“Likewise, we all know what he will choose,” Feifei smiled.
“There’s no helping it. The Imperial Royal Knight Academy and Royal Navy Academy use the same textbooks as us now.”
Except for a certain glasses-wearing poker face who continued to maintain his persona, the “Moon People” Present couldn’t help but laugh. As for the academic underachievers Present who couldn’t attend military academies, while they felt mocked, they were at least not as nervous as before.
Suddenly, although the bridge wasn’t filled with cheerful air, it was at least much more relaxed.
This was understandable. The predecessor of the Commonwealth’s Central Defense University was originally a regular academy established by the Empire in the Solar System to train Earth People Imperial Army officers. Naturally, it used the same textbooks as the Empire.
Even now, military etiquette, posture, and goose-stepping are all Imperial style, but to signify a break with the Empire, the uniforms and rank insignia are all Alliance style. As a result, the Commonwealth Army, touted as the third largest military force in the galaxy, truly appears quite fractured in its morale.
Back to the main topic, since Marquis Odgar was an elite both in letters and martial arts, he should naturally understand that although his side was a heavy cruiser, it was only one ship after all, and engaging in a messy battle would be more trouble than it was worth. If he was smart and decisive enough, he should ignore the flanking B Fleet and defeat Eleanor’s side as quickly as possible.
“So, logically, he shouldn’t continue to hide in the Asteroid Belt, as that would somewhat affect his firing angle and weaken his firepower,” Autumn Mountain Yawata said.
“But then, he won’t be able to annihilate us,” Yu Lian said.
Yes, once engaged in a relatively open space, while the Imperial Clear Sky-class could unleash its superior firepower without restraint, it would also give the Commonwealth ships too much room to escape. Perhaps, as long as these two main patrol censors were sunk or even heavily damaged, the remaining destroyers would make the best choice.
“...So, does that Marquis Odgar really have such a big appetite?” Yahata asked another question. He wasn’t doubting, but confirming.
“If I had as many trump cards as him, I’d also have such a big appetite. Besides, I’ve provoked him to this extent just now. If he doesn’t take the bait, the Marquis Odgar’s position won’t be easy to hold. These old sword-bearing nobles, while full of martial virtue, have too much to bear and can never truly be free!”
“So, you actually know so much about the Odgar Marquis family’s dirty laundry?” Autumn Mountain Yawata continued to ask.
“Because they are, after all, a famous Imperial family, and we’ve killed quite a few of them. They’ve always been pioneers in anti-Earth sentiment! So I’ve decided to kill a few more! Kill all those with inheritance rights, and it would be best if the Imperial College of Arms directly removed this family from the rolls!” Yu Lian grinned, revealing a murderous smile.
Eleanor and Feifei couldn't help but quickly exchange glances, but neither of them understood why Yu Lian suddenly had such a murderous aura.
The only one whose expression remained unchanged was Autumn Mountain Yawata, who seemed to be unable to read the room: “And you can even compose doggerel in Imperial court language now?”
Are you Yahata’s Three Thousand Naughty Questions? So many trivial matters? “As an excellent general, one must also master the highest level of provocation! So everyone must strive to improve their knowledge!”
“...In the future, unless absolutely necessary, don’t do such things. It’s too undignified,” Eleanor, who understood Imperial court language, said. “It doesn’t look like a glorious Commonwealth officer at all, more like a pirate with no bottom line.”
Her tone wasn’t like a command; it was more like a wise and virtuous wife gently advising her loved one not to swear. Observers of the Great Universe should all understand this feeling, right?
Oh, right, most observers of the Great Universe don’t have wives.
“The key is that it doesn’t sound good, and the lyrics don’t even rhyme,” Feifei, who also understood Imperial Commonwealth language, smiled, pursing her lips. “How about next time, you let Xiao Qing help you polish it, and preferably let Serena teach you basic pronunciation techniques?”
“Xiao Qing? Serena?” Eleanor squinted, seemingly discovering some very important information.
Fortunately, at this moment, the interference barrier that had just been erected also lost its effect. Fleet A advanced another hundred thousand kilometers towards the enemy’s position, and the high-energy reaction alarm sounded again on the bridge.
“It’s... an ion energy cannon!”
“Enemy ship position captured!” the reconnaissance technical officer’s voice rang out on the bridge.
“No need to evade! Maintain attack formation!” Eleanor quickly switched her attention to the battlefield and began issuing the next command: “Return fire! All fleet, first round of Storm Missiles, launch!”
