The artillery duel soon began in earnest!
The heavy artillery chs holed up inside the many bunkers placed on the hulls of hundreds of carriers all let loose their heaviest armants!
The space between the two fleets lit up with a combination of searing beams and heavy projectiles!
The Destiny Hamr artillery chs securely ensconced on the Forward Montum silently roared to life! Their gauss cannons did not fire rapidly, but every hit inflicted telling blows to every vessel they struck!
If the elite Fridayman heavy chs managed to land a direct hit on one of the lighter chs of the expeditionary fleet, then the latter would certainly be taken out of the fight!
Even though the defenders had not exposed many of their chs, the Larkinsons assigned to pilot the budget second-class chs were already shaking in their seats.
The oppression exerted by the Destiny Hamrs
was wholly disproportionate to their numbers. Now that they had begun to fire their main cannons, their destructive capacity was beginning to hurt the starships they targeted for real. Hull plating cracked, compartnts beca exposed to space and all manner of surface components were being swept at an alarming rate.
The Vanguard Group's premier heavy artillery ch regint fully deserved its stellar reputation!
Ves was already starting to regret his decision to commit the Larkinson Clan to fighting against the Fridayman elite ch troops.
He underestimated the extent in which the Coalition partners invested heavily in these units. By combining superb chs, exceptionally-trained ch pilots and well-developed martial traditions, the Fridayn produced an all-round end product that was able to compete against the best of what the surrounding Star Sectors had to offer!
If not for their relatively limited numbers, Ves would have ordered his clan to forget about the fight and abandon the entire fleet except for the Spirit of Bentheim!
There was no way the Larkinson at its height could defeat the Destiny Hamrs if they brought their entire ch regint! Just 80 of their chs were already chipping away at the morale boost that Ves had managed to instill in his n with his speech.
The worst part of all of this was that the Destiny Hamrs weren't even the scariest elites the enemy strike force had in store!
Through direct and indirect observation, the sensor and intelligence personnel slowly identified additional Fridayman elites among the incoming fleet.
The Auralis not only carried a detachnt of Bloody Herons, but also hosted the 1002nd Holvein Grenadiers!
The Holvein Grenadiers was a renowned elite ch regint with an all-round orientation. They fielded many different ch types, allowing them to utilize combined arms to achieve great synergies.
As their na suggested, the Holvein Grenadier chs were also known for carrying a plethora of grenades.
It didn't matter whether they were swordsman chs, space knights, rifleman chs or auxiliary chs. As long as they wore the colors of the Holvein Grenadiers, they definitely carried at least a couple of expensive grenades with varied effects!
This made them a nightmare to fight against in close range. Whenever the Grenadiers wanted to unleash a surprise, they whipped out a grenade and expertly threw them in a way that dealt the most damage to their opponents!
The grenades couldn't easily be guarded against. Even if their exterior shells all looked exactly the sa, they possessed many possible effects. So of them possessed plain high explosive payloads. Others unleash a shower of plasma. A rare few detonated an intense EMP blast.
While these potent grenades may cost as much as a ch, the Gauge Dynasty continually supplied the Holvein Grenadiers with replacents. This had turned all of their ch pilots into explosion artists!
Anyti the Hex Army encountered the Holvein Grenadiers in battle, the normally-aggressive Hexers instantly suspended all of their plans to push forward. They would rather fight the Grenadiers at range than fight up close!
There was more. The Konsu Clan contributed their elites as well. Hundreds of swordsman chs trailing close behind the Amagi. The Glory Seekers eventually identified them as the 125th Silent Swords!
This was yet another trump card of the Friday Coalition!
Every ch pilot of the Silent Sword took on a vow of silence. While that did not preclude them from communicating with friendlies in other ways, they rarely did so. Whenever they fought on the battlefield, they relied on their impeccable teamwork and strong battle sense to coordinate with each other and advance in unison.
They were almost just as coordinated as the Bloody Herons, but without relying on any technological solutions such as neural networks!
Due to their extre diligence and discipline, the Silent Swords weren't only so of the best swordsman ch pilots of the Friday Coalition. They also cultivated minds of steel. The elite Konsu clansn were so exceptional in this aspect that they were effectively immune against any suppressive glows!
"The Glory Seekers estimate that the Amagi is carrying up to 400 Silent Sword chs. That's 8 ch companies, sir." Major Verle's projection spoke to Ves on the bridge of the Spirit of Bentheim. "The Silent Swords are the shock troops of the Fridayman strike force. The enemy will likely hold them back until our chs are tired and exhausted from fighting the other elite chs. Once the enemy commander judges that we have exhausted most of our strength, the fresh and fully-prepared Silent Sword chs will likely swoop in and roll us up with unstoppable montum!"
While the Fridayn might not necessarily employ the Silent Swords in this manner, it was what the Larkinson Clan would do if it was in the place of the enemy.
The Silent Swords were fad for their combat prowess up close, but possessed obvious shortcomings at range. At this stage of the battle, it did not make sense for them to enter the stage.
In fact, the Larkinsons also intended to keep Venerable Dise and the Swordmaidens in reserve for the sa reason. The only difference was that there were a lot less of them! Too little ti had passed for the Swordmaidens to train up additional ch pilots, so they were only capable of fielding a single ch company at this ti.
The huge number disparity depressed Ves. If the Swordmaidens were able to field ten tis as much chs, then he wouldn't be so concerned about the Silent Swords!
As Ves and the other leaders worried about how to fight against the different Fridayn elites, the soldiers did not think so much.
The ranged ch pilots were all focused on shooting at the approaching threats!
The Transcendent Punishers debuted in battle for the first ti. Every bunker on a Larkinson ship featured the purpose-built artillery chs. Their six thick legs sank deep into the slots of the bunkers. Anchoring the chs not only brought exceptional stability, but also enabled much more efficient heat transfer.
Four out of six of their heavy cannons fired on a continuous basis. Their positron cannons fired incredibly powerful beams that stripped the layers of anything they struck. Their Xcordon gauss cannons imdiately cracked and breached the damaged layers if they managed to land their shots on target!
Taon lin concentrated fully on his duel against the Destiny Hamrs. The higher had commanded the Transcendent Punishers to focus most of their firepower against the bunkers of the Forward Montum.
It wasn't easy. The Fridayman deep strike carrier may be the weakest capital ship on the battlefield, but her acceleration and agility made it very difficult to achieve consistent hits on a single point along her hull!
The Vanguard Group had cheaped out when it ca to cladding the Forward Montum with armor, but the shipbuilders did not neglect her bunkers. Every shell protecting the Destiny Hamrs against external attacks was extra thick!
Fortunately, the Transcendent Punishers were just as secure, if not more.
A volley of heavy gauss rounds impacted the energy shield erected before the group of bunkers that held the Prophet's Fist along with several other Transcendent Punishers!
The energy shields only blocked the initial shots before disappearing, allowing subsequent shots to impact the upper layers of the bunkers!
The bunkers held, if only for now. Despite the lack of thunderous sounds, Taon could practically feel the vibrations as a pair of kinetic rounds slamd onto the protective roof above the Prophet's Fist!
The ch would have been okay even if the bunker succumbed to the attacks. Heavy chs weren't big and expensive for nothing!
Regardless, Taon couldn't help but regard the Destiny Hamrs as his greatest foes. Out of all of the enemy ranged chs, he instinctively felt he needed to annihilate the enemy artillery chs before he was free to bring his guns to bear against other targets.
The Destiny Hamrs evidently felt the sa way because they had concentrated more and more of their fire onto the bunkers of the expeditionary fleet!
After pouring their fire onto the Spirit of Bentheim for a while, the Destiny Hamrs eventually directed their fire elsewhere.
This was not because it was impossible for them to inflict aningful damage against the bunker chs aboard the factory ship. The enemy artillery chs succeeded in breaching a couple of bunkers.
The problem was their progress was too slow!
The shield generators that constantly ca online for a few monts mitigated a substantial portion of incoming fire. This weakened any attacks directed against the flagship of the Larkinson Clan.
The shield generator operators expertly activated and deactivated the energy shields in order to manage the stress onto their devices. The shields worked wonderfully against lighter attacks but could not bear the burden of blocking too many heavy attacks.
Each ti a shield generator ca under a heavy burden, they rapidly heated up. So of their subcomponents also reached their limits. If the shield generator kept blocking more and more damage, they might fizzle out and forcibly enter an ergency cooldown cycle!
Skilled operators and engineers were capable of overriding this necessary cycle if they needed to. The shield generators would then be forced to erect wobbly, unstable energy shields that could still play a critical role at the right ti.
This was very dangerous, though! Aside from risking breakdowns and explosions, overloading the shield generators also reduced their lifespans at decades at a ti.
The Larkinsons obviously couldn't care about that at this ti. The heavy-duty shield generators cost as much as hundreds of chs, but they were ultimately machines in the end.
If their operators had to push them to their breaking points in order to lighten the burden on the Transcendent Punishers, then so be it. Lives could not be rebuilt as easily as machines!
Through the pure and sacred glow of the Prophet's Fist, Taon felt his purpose. Even without the ch's special ability, he still had Prophet Ylvaine by his side. The passive glow already expanded his awareness, allowing him to identify the best and most threatening targets he should train his guns on. His accuracy slowly increased as he beca more in tune with his artillery ch!
Not every Ylvainan ch pilot was able to reach this elevated state of mind. Their closeness to their chs might not be as good or they might be unaccustod to piloting artillery chs.
Another reason why the Transcendent Punishers weren't able to perform at their best was because of the pumling they received!
After the Destiny Hamrs learned that the Spirit of Bentheim was too well-protected to succumb to their attacks, the enemy artillery chs trained all of their firepower on the bunkers of the combat carriers instead!
Devoid of shields and boasting thinner layers of armor, the incoming rounds and positron beams made quick work on the bunkers. The accuracy of the Destiny Hamr ch pilots were so high that not even rotating chs stopped them from concentrating their fire onto individual bunkers!
The first Transcendent Punishers had already fallen when their bunkers collapsed and lots of heavy attacks slamd into their fras!
"This can't go on!" Taon scread.
The higher ups agreed. Soon enough, the Ylvainan ch pilots finally received the order that they had been waiting for. They received orders to activate the greatest function of their new machines!
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