Elinore’s choice was hard to say whether it was right or wrong, but the ion beam fired by the enemy this time was only about twenty meters away from the Corsica, which in space, could already be completely understood as a near-miss shot.
The high-heat energy indeed triggered the Corsica’s shield reaction, and the ion beam and shield formed a very intense energy entanglement, flickering with unpredictable light.
“Disperse formation! Each ship evade independently!” Elinore’s voice began to echo across all the warships.
“Raise the Flag of Honorable Deathmatch! No need to conceal our flagship status!” she then instructed the people on her own ship.
The communications officer could only say “Understood!” and began to operate.
The so-called “raising the flag” of course could not be literally raising a flag in space, but rather a special challenge signal, expressing to their own people and the enemy their determination to fight to the death, never retreating, never stopping until one side is annihilated.
All the warships began to disperse, expanding their formation into a vast space of 200,000 kilometers in radius, yet still continuing to advance. This was also the Commonwealth Fleet’s original tactical formation, just a more advanced tactic, which was still a bit difficult for the Thirteenth Fleet, most of whom were new recruits. This time, their tactical movements appeared somewhat stiff and sluggish.
However, the Corsica, as the flagship, suddenly accelerated, unexpectedly becoming the vanguard of the entire fleet.
In a space battle where ships faced the enemy bow-first, this was completely taking taunting to the extreme.
And indeed, the wide-area space broadcast from the Corsica was still looping that off-key, demonic song.
Any enemy ship with a normal mental state should be trembling with rage and crying by now, so, whether from psychological need or tactical significance, they would certainly prioritize focusing fire on the Corsica.
And so, in a very short time, the opposing side unleashed a barrage of fire, with more and more firepower being projected.
At that moment, Yu Lian felt as if he were in a storm of energy, and the Corsica, also considered a mighty warship, seemed to transform into a fragile willow leaf in the gale.
The tall and graceful Elinore stood on the bridge, awe-inspiring and inviolable, riding the wind and waves, seemingly unstoppable, a Valkyrie capable of cleaving through a thousand armies.
However, she should be missing Miss Annie Romanova at this moment, shouldn’t she? But that girl is currently serving as a helmsman on the true, legitimate flagship, the Mist Capital. After all, in this cosmic era of massive battleships and powerful cannons, finding the right position for an Aircraft Carrier to deploy its fighters is also a technical skill and requires excellent pilots.
As for the Corsica’s current captain, Lieutenant Colonel Rapone, he is not a piloting-type but a management-type captain, and the chief helmsman, Lieutenant Newport, is a meticulous, veteran ship pilot, also transferred from the Suspension Arm Fleet. His skills are very steady, and he is meticulous in his work, but he lacks the imaginative and intuitive flash of brilliance.
Yu Lian felt his body, confirming that the bones inserted into his internal organs had returned to their positions. The terrible sores on his internal organs had also largely healed, and the broken bones had also realigned, though they hadn’t fully mended yet.
Overall, although he was still injured, he definitely didn’t need to be taken off the front lines now.
He used spiritual energy to open the medical bay from the outside and jumped out, dripping wet.
“Senior… Sir, please give me piloting authority too!” Yu Lian said.
Elinore did not answer, only looked at Captain Rapone. This old seaman, who had been a merchant ship captain and had navigated through supernova storms, merely pondered for a moment before directly nodding.
Lieutenant Newport also said nothing. After all, it was unrealistic to completely entrust such a large warship to one person, and he was not the type to confront the “Moon People” and “Elite Bureaucrat Group” head-on.
Yu Lian walked to an empty operating station, inserted his hands into the steering wheel beneath the gloves, and subtly felt the sensation with each finger. He closed his eyes for a moment, adjusting his mental state, allowing his perception to spread out.
He was not a “Navigator,” unable to truly achieve a ship-person fusion, but he understood that many spiritual energy user techniques, theoretically used for direct combat, could be applied in fleet battles once modified.
This time, Yu Lian chose to apply “Reaction Prediction” here.
To put it more directly, since a spiritual energy user can predict from which angle an enemy will strike, and which spiritual energy user technique they will use at what second, then why can’t they predict when and where their own warship will be hit?
However, it sounds simple but is incredibly difficult to operate. This requires your perception range to be able to encompass the ship, your mental power to be sensitive enough, and also to have super strong spatial recognition and perception abilities.
To be honest, in this regard, no one is more professional than the Navigators of the Explore Star Ring. However, the spiritual energy users of the Explore Star Ring severely lack direct combat capabilities, and the possibility of them unlocking “Reaction Prediction” is simply too small.
Fortunately, although Yu Lian had never piloted an “Explore” in either of his lives, in his previous life, he was a “Wander,” which was yin to “Explore’s” yang, so he had still gained a good deal of experience in this area.
He almost closed his eyes, didn't look at the instruments, didn't look at the radar, and didn't observe with his naked eyes, then suddenly took the entire ship into a dive, which directly allowed them to dodge another ion beam from the enemy.
This time, the beam passed by the Corsica at a distance of 15 meters, once again triggering an energy reaction.
“Shields down to 62%!” The technician’s voice trembled, unsure whether he was scared by the power and pinpoint accuracy of the enemy’s main cannon, or by the narrow escape just now.
If Yu Lian hadn't performed that maneuver, the Corsica truly might have been shattered by a single blow.
Lieutenant Colonel Rapone and Lieutenant Newport couldn't help but look at the expressionless Yu Lian with eyes that seemed to be observing a visual marvel, and the latter even felt a chill as if snowflakes were falling.
“Continue forward! Main cannons begin powering up!” Elinore, with a radiant expression, swept her gaze over the composed Yu Lian, and continued to issue commands in a solemn voice: “Inform the Luoyang to prepare space-quake bombs for launch!”
All the space-quake bombs on the Corsica had already been used on the head of that utterly dead Myriad-Headed Demon Beast, but the Luoyang still had plenty.
At this moment, the 72 Gale missiles launched by the entire fleet had penetrated deep into the Asteroid Belt, exploding with a roar. They formed a series of light bands, as if illuminating half of space.
“Unable to confirm hit!”
“Enemy ship bombardment has ceased!”
Even if a hit couldn't be confirmed, the explosions of this series of Gale missiles had, to some extent, significantly impacted the firing range of that Imperial warship.
“Increase speed! Switch to third charge speed…”
Captain Rapone, without a word, immediately began the operation. The tail flames behind the Corsica had already transformed into a magnificent light trail, pushing the entire ship to quickly break away from the formation.
“Destroyer Fleet, prepare the second round of Gale missiles! They can be launched when necessary, no need to wait for my specific command!” Elinore continued to instruct.
At this moment, a gap suddenly appeared in the light band created by the opposing missiles, and then, only an orbital cannon shell was seen piercing through it, as if an arrow had pierced a shield.
The Imperial warship, after only half a minute of adjustment, began firing again.
Moreover, the accuracy was indeed not low, and it once again achieved a near-miss effect by grazing the Corsica.
Fortunately, Yu Lian dodged even faster this time, and the shell was further away, still causing no casualties. However, the shield power had already dropped to thirty-seven percent.
“…Tsk, are all Imperial orbital cannons this powerful?” Elinore gritted her teeth.
“This should be the main cannon of a battlecruisers!” Yu Lian said casually, “I estimate that the Empire might have used all their energy centers and conduction systems on that new ship. This means they can install more powerful main cannons on smaller vessels. On larger vessels, naturally, there would be more and denser main cannons!”
“…Is that your inference? Or a prophecy?” Autumn Mountain Yawata asked.
“…Of course, it’s an inference! Didn’t you see I had good reasons and sufficient logic?”
It seemed to be the case, but Autumn Mountain Yawata always felt something was off.
“Main cannons one and two are loaded!”
“Positron cannon charge reached 65%! Ready to fire at any time!”
“Luoyang reports, space-quake bombs are ready!”
“Very good, my lads, keep this rhythm! Soon, we’ll be able to kick those Imperial lords in the ass!” Elinore let out a hearty laugh.
These words were very pleasing to hear, and so the soldiers on board burst into laughter. Given the current level of the Thirteenth Fleet’s officers and soldiers, such words resonated with them. If she had told them something like “The people are awaiting our victory” or “Although the Commonwealth is vast, it has no retreat,” the effect probably wouldn’t have been as good.
In short, the composure of the command staff, combined with the Corsica’s graceful dance on the blade's edge just now, gradually melted away the crew’s panic like ice and snow.
Feifei pursed her lips and smiled, looking at Yu Lian, who was fully focused on operating the helm, feeling that a serious man was indeed the most handsome.
She was still operating the camera equipment, faithfully recording everything before her, just like the bravest, most composed, top war correspondents who would never leave the front lines under any circumstances.
The crew members on the bridge perhaps knew that everything they were doing today would be recorded by this beautiful reporter, becoming part of the “hero team” in future news reports. Each of them felt a burning passion in their hearts and gradually straightened their backs. The movements they had mastered during training were now executed even more perfectly.
Yu Lian, however, didn’t pay much attention to all of this. The enemy’s bombardment was becoming more and more frequent, and even he had to put all his attention on piloting.
However, even with his extraordinary performance, the performance of the opposing Imperial warship and the skill of its gunners were not fake, and they still inflicted a considerable degree of damage on the fleet.
The Corsica’s first hit occurred at 19:27. An orbital cannon shell finally pierced through her broadside, directly tearing open the side armor belt, and two anti-aircraft turrets were sheared off, immediately resulting in 4 fatalities.
These were the first casualties on both sides in this battle.
Immediately after, the enemy also launched a dense volley of missiles, engulfing the entire fleet in a web of fire.
All the warships did their best to deploy their anti-air defenses, but two Fletcher-class warships were still damaged. Fortunately, the damage was not severe, and they did not lose combat capability.
In any case, the Corsica continued to advance. As the MT of the entire fleet, she truly attracted the vast majority of the enemy’s firepower and opened the way for all her escort ships.
Allowing herself and her flagship to serve as the vanguard—this must be the consistent tactical style of Elinore, this crazy sister who rides the wind and breaks the waves.
Just as the fleet’s casualty report reached Elinore’s ears, her fleet finally brought the enemy within range of their main cannons.
“Ina! Fire!”
Before Elinore could loudly issue the command, Ina Silika, who had already been waiting impatiently, had pulled the main cannon trigger.