Counterfeit Hero

The flash of cannons suddenly appeared! The main energy cannon of the North Star cruiser sprayed out two small and one large, three milky-white oval light clusters, mixed with over a dozen red beams from mixed cannons, cutting through the night sky and accurately hitting the starboard of that ragged cruiser.

The entire hull of the ragged cruiser, which was hastily turning its helm, was enveloped in the intense flash of an explosion.

After a brief moment of silence, a blinding white light burst out in the pitch-black universe... Fang Xiang closed her eyes, unable to bear watching further.

She knew that the ragged warship was finished. The firepower intensity of the North Star cruiser had always been its most prideful attribute. Among the old cruisers, few could withstand a full-force strike from the North Star.

Although the hull of this ragged warship, which had a peculiar ramming beak, had clearly been modified and reinforced, its sturdy structure did not mean its shell could withstand an energy cannon. Just like a bull could gore a Bullfighter to death, yet it did not mean its skin and muscles could block the sharp sword!

Perhaps the energy cannon triggered an internal detonation within the vessel, as a series of violent explosions followed the initial white flash.

The ragged cruiser disintegrated in the explosions.

Human body parts, twisted cannon barrels, various pieces of internal equipment, and fragments of armor were flung far away by the shockwave. The entire warship instantly broke into several pieces, with the big and small debris tumbling silently in all directions.

Watching the starry sky as the once brilliantly lit warship shattered into silent wreckage, the officers in the control room couldn’t help but feel somber.

They had a good feeling about this ragged fleet.

No matter what the true intentions of this fleet were, they helped the Valor Battleship at the most critical moment! The enemy’s enemy is a friend, at least for now, everyone was united against a common enemy.

Moreover, the officers also admired the unconventional tactics used by this fleet. Their ragged appearance and ferocious ramming tactics were all so novel and imaginative! Everyone was eager to meet the inventor of these crazy tactics, to see if he was a genius or a madman.

Who would have thought, the impending victory was lost due to the inexperience of the Ragged Fleet Commander and their momentary greed. If they had been willing to forego some of their gains at that time, without being so eager to annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop, they could have easily won a rout battle without any loss. What the pirate fleet could finally escape with would have been just that one cruiser, maybe one or two more destroyers or armed merchant ships.

Given the numerical ratio of one to four, such a victory would have been described as nothing but brilliant; everyone could find no other words.

Without the main cruiser, this fleet could only face a bitter defeat. At this point, the pirate fleet still had one intact cruiser and one destroyer; defeating the ragged fleet’s armed merchant ships and escort ships was only a matter of time.

In the battleship, everyone’s heart was exceedingly heavy. The atmosphere was so suffocatingly tense.

On the screen, the remaining warships of the ragged fleet, having finally completed their turn, were desperately firing as if they had gone mad. The fierce cannon fire continuously rained down on the left wing of the pirate fleet. The two outermost armed merchant ships and one escort ship were recklessly attacked and riddled with countless holes, with fragments flying everywhere.

The glow of the holographic screen became glaringly bright under the violent cannon fire, flickering in each person’s pupils.

No one could do anything, here, they could only watch helplessly.

The situation continued to evolve in a direction unfavorable to the ragged fleet as the pirate fleet’s cruiser and destroyer began another two-wing turn. They suppressed the ragged fleet with rotating turrets and broadside secondary guns while maneuvering left and right with their rudders.

The two-wing turn was a commonly used tactic for fleets under attack in space combat.

When a fleet is stalked by enemy ships from the flank or rear, maintaining a single cluster movement will result in a situation where the enemy follows closely behind and cannot be shaken off. The two-wing turn, resembling sheep’s horns, allows the fleet to escape the passive beating situation through coordination between the two parts.

The fleet splits into two parts, one to the left, and one to the right.

When the enemy splits into two parts to chase, the fleet on the right only needs to turn around to bite the tail of the enemy fleet chasing the left flank. At this point, the left flank can turn back to bite the tail of the enemy fleet chasing the right flank, turning the battle into a cycle of four connected segments.

Of course, this is just the most basic and simple conventional tactic. In the void where free navigation is possible, there are also three-way turns, multi-way turns, and derived from these, asymmetrical rotations, split and merge attacks, and other evasion tactics. The more routes there are, the higher the coordination requirements for the fleet.

When the two-wing maneuver of the pirate fleet’s cruiser and destroyer was unmistakably clear to everyone, many officers on the battleship could not help but shout.

”Counterclockwise maneuver, you idiots!”

”Left, left... stop firing! Madmen!”

The shouting soon subsided into silence.

In fact, everyone knew, not to mention the ragged fleet couldn’t hear them, but even if they could, these frenzied lunatics who were bloodthirsty would not listen. They disregarded their own safety and only focused on desperately attacking the armed merchant ships and escort ships in front of them.