I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship, so I Became a Space Mercenary - Chapter 433.1
Organizing the Situation and Presenting a Strategy
The fact that I was sent here by the freaking emperor must mean something other than just for his amusement. He wouldn’t do something like this just for fun. Nor would he think of it as a joke.
But there were so many places from where our targets could enter and leave the star systems they were operating in. It was basically impossible to blockade them with a single independent fleet. This fleet also had battleships, cruisers, and other slow-moving vessels, making it difficult for it to pursue targets that required speed to capture.
For reference, there have been several unfortunate incidents. There was also a case in which they found a suspicious fleet sailing at super-light speed, but they could not even catch up with it and attempt to launch an interdict because the other fleet was simply faster than the independent fleet.
“As expected, the battleships and cruisers are slowing the fleet down.”
“If you say something too mean, I’ll cry. Is that okay? I’m going to cry out loud.”
“What kind of threats are you making? For now, listen to the strategy I’ve devised for you.”
“Just so you know, I am a colonel in the Imperial Space Force, and I have the military knowledge at the strategic and tactical level that is appropriate for that, and I have been educated accordingly…?”
Colonel Serena shot me a glare. Her second-in-command, who was standing behind her, was also giving me a curious look. That’s right. They were military professionals, intellectuals who had risen to the rank of colonel and deputy colonel. How could a mercenary who had not studied at the academy teach them about strategy? It was a reasonable question.
“That military knowledge and education is a common practice, a set of rules, and it limits the freedom of thought. You should think more flexibly when dealing with things like this.”
“Then, let’s hear what you have to say about your strategy.”
“I mean. If you can’t chase them with the whole fleet, can’t you just split your forces and build specialized squadrons to corner them? That way you don’t have to deal with the net, and maybe create a pseudo choke point, right?”
“…I see? But that’s… well…?”
Colonel Serena heard my words and put her hand over her mouth in contemplation. Her bio-enhanced brain must be spinning at super-speed.
In other words, the answer was simple. The problem was twofold: the range in which the enemy could move freely was too wide, and their speed was too fast. So, the trick would be to divide the slower battleships and cruisers into smaller groups and place them at the entrance of hyperlanes to block any ships from using the hyperlanes while at the same time sending faster ships into the hyperlane to prevent these self-proclaimed space pirates from moving on to other star systems. That alone could greatly limit their range of action.
It takes much more time to activate a hyperdrive than to turn it off, so after the self-proclaimed space pirates warp out from a hyperlane entry point at superluminal speed sailing from within a star system, they could activate their hyperdrive scanners and destroy any ship they detect with a battleship or cruiser before they could escape into the hyperlane.
Conversely, the ship that was coming out of a hyperlane could be scanned by force and if they reject or block the scan, then the fleet guarding the hyperlane could simply blast those ships immediately.
No small or medium-sized ship could survive the main cannon fire of an imperial battleship or cruiser. In fact, even Krishna will be trapped if an imperial battleship or cruiser awaits her when she leaves the hyperlane. Without shielding or the ability to close the distance immediately, there would be no way to escape their main cannon’s fire.
If the ship was hit by a volley of shots, at the very least its shields would be destroyed by a single blow. Once its shields were down completely, it would not be able to activate its superluminal drive to escape. If the ship forcefully did so despite not having shields, its safety within the subspace would be compromised and any damage they received would be catastrophic.
“Um, the split deployment of fleet forces would be against the combat doctrine of the Imperial Space Force, you know…?”
“Then your fleet will be useless against these space pirates. Throw that doctrine stuff away. That combat doctrine is designed for direct fight between two interstellar forces such as the Empire and the Federation, right? What we are dealing with is a small force that, by military operational standards, can be dealt with by a single frigate and two corvettes.”
The Deputy Colonel raised one hand in a small gesture as if asking me to comment, but I brushed it off. We usually distinguish between small, medium, large, and mother ships, but by military standards, anything below medium size would be considered a corvette, and a small mother ship or a large ship would be considered a frigate or destroyer. Both would be the smallest when it came to military vessels, or at least one size above that. Some of the smaller vessels would no longer be considered military vessels, but rather shipboard fighters.
Well, that was not the point. The problem was that even Colonel Serena was dragged down by their combat doctrine and never came up with the idea of operating with a smaller fleet strength.
Well, their battle strategy was understandable from a military view. After all, in this world, military-to-military combat meant a match between the number of ships, how thick their shields and armor were, and how powerful their guns were.
Laser Cannons have a long range, especially in space, and they could hit almost a hundred times in a single shot. Unless there was a huge difference in the power of the weapon itself or the performance of the shields and armor, that was why the group with the most fighters would basically win. In this case, it should come as no surprise that the dispersal of forces would be prohibited in terms of fleet operation or combat doctrine. The fewer the number of ships in a fleet, the more likely they were to be destroyed individually.
“I understand what you are thinking, and it is indeed a little scary to distribute forces in a region so close to the front line. This plan is not impossible to execute, and it will be effective when we consider who our targets are. And then we can use our destroyers and smaller ships to scour the star system and eventually narrow the net and drive those pirates out, right?” (Serena)
“Yes, that’s right. And If we manage to capture some of them, we will probably get some critical information at some point, and if that happens, we can crush their command ships as soon as possible.” (Hiro)
If we pulled out the data storage from a destroyed ship and analyzed it, or captured and interrogated the self-proclaimed space pirates, we would eventually find out where the people who were commanding the self-proclaimed space pirates were hiding. If we could destroy them, we would surely be able to end the organized logistical disturbance. We may find something more troublesome, though.
“Now we just need to choose where to put the target area. Even if we set up a network, it’s no good if there is no prey inside. You’re probably better at analyzing information such as the space areas they’ve been encountered in, the space areas that have been damaged, and the locations of missing merchant vessels… right?”
“That’s right. After finishing that, I’ll ask you to work with me.”
“As you wish. I’m used to chasing after people, but not in the same way you do it.”
However, I was also told that they were well-equipped this time around, so I should be careful not to let my guard down too much. Well, with Elma’s Antlion, there would be no problem chasing after the enemy while the slower Black Lotus and Colonel Serena’s independent fleet could slowly make their way to the scene. I need to have a constructive meeting with Elma and Mei about that when I get back to the Black Lotus.
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Also check out my other novels: A Demon Lord’s Tale: Dungeons, Monster Girls, and Heartwarming Bliss, Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, and Reincarnated into a Game As the Hero’s Friend