Chapter 71: Assault Amid the Asteroids

In the empty void ahead of the asteroid, 34 warships formed a perfect ring, each equally spaced from the next.

Every ship dragged behind it three nano-cables, anchoring them securely to the asteroid.

Their engines flared to full power, pushing for maximum acceleration.

But the asteroid was colossal—so large that even with all 34 ships pulling together, they gained speed at a crawl.

At this rate, it’d take nearly an hour to reach their target velocity.

Still, Shivana didn’t seem concerned.

Even if it took a whole hour, they’d still end up just outside the absolute surveillance range of the human outpost by then.

And after that, even if the humans realized what was happening, they’d have no time to stop her.

This time, victory’s mine!

On the bridge, Shivana clenched her right fist, holding in her excitement.

If not for the Klein’s bones growing along the outside, covering their faces completely,

it’d be easy to spot the rush of elation in her eyes.

But that thrill lasted barely ten minutes after the maneuver had begun before—

“Lady Shivana! Enemy fleet detected! Human warships at 0.17 light-seconds off our starboard. Thirty ships in total.”

“It’s—that fleet! The one that defeated Lord Tak! They’re here among them!”

“We’re detecting strong energy spikes across their formation—they’re… they’re about to open fire!”

The bridge fell suddenly silent.

In everyone’s heart, the same thought rang out—

Seriously? That fleet again?

0.17 light-seconds—about fifty thousand kilometers.

Perfect distance for a destroyer’s ion cannon, and the two light cruisers’ heavy ion cannons had a range of eighty thousand kilometers. Well within reach.

The next moment—

Over two hundred ion beams ripped through space in an instant.

Most hit their mark dead on. With the enemy’s flanks exposed and Shivana’s fleet completely unprepared,

that opening salvo wiped out five small ships and crippled dozens more.

“Quick! All ships, cut loose the tow cables! Get around to the far side of the asteroid at top speed—evade their energy barrage!”

Shivana snapped out of her shock, barking the order.

Shaken by her shout, the rest of the crew jolted back to focus and scrambled into action.

Seconds later, nano-cables severed one after another as every warship regained its mobility.

But just because they were free didn’t mean they could slip behind the asteroid in the blink of an eye. This—

would take time!

The destroyers in the Fourth Sub-Fleet and the light cruiser ion cannons needed a long recharge, but not the Zhulong. Seven seconds later—

All 168 of the secondary guns fired again, sending another 168 ion bolts screaming across space.

That wave demolished three more small ships. Shivana’s warfleet dropped to just 26 vessels, a dozen of them already damaged.

Things were looking grim.

She ran a quick calculation—if they wanted to reach the far side of the asteroid belt, they’d need to withstand at least eight more volleys.

No, if we just tough it out like this, we’ll never make it.

The entire fleet would be obliterated before we reached cover.

“Relay my orders—all ships, jettison your assault corvettes. Now!”

“Jettison them?”

“Yes. There’s no time to get the soldiers on board. Dump the assault corvettes as barriers—let them soak up the human attacks and buy us time!”

“Yes, Lady Shivana!”

Shivana’s fleet, especially the mediums and heavy vessels, carried swarms of assault corvettes.

They’re small—medium ships usually haul about a hundred, heavies at least three hundred.

By now, the distance between the fleets had shrunk even more—down to less than 0.15 light-seconds.

If they could actually launch every corvette in the fleet, they might’ve flipped the tides in a heartbeat.

But like Shivana said: normally you’d gather the soldiers, board them onto the corvettes, move them to the launch bay, and fire.

Any idea how long that would take?

Way too much.

By the time the corvettes were prepped and ready—

the entire fleet would have been pounded into scrap!

So forget loading soldiers. Just launch those corvettes now. Let them buy us precious seconds between us and the human guns.

That was the best move she could come up with right now.

In the next instant, hatches on the Klein warships slowly opened up along their bellies.

Corvettes poured out, one after another, like dumplings dropped into boiling water.

Of course, they’d calculated the angles ahead of time—making sure every last one drifted into the perfect blocking position.

——

Fourth Sub-Fleet flagship.

Bridge of the Zhulong.

“Reporting in. Klein forces are flooding space with corvettes—strangely, no life signatures detected inside and no propulsion. Looks like they’re just dumping them out there.”

“Ignore them. That’s just the Klein trying to block our shots. Relay across the fleet—raise our elevation by forty degrees, combat speed three. We’ll bypass the corvette screen and line up new attack vectors!”

“Understood!”

Lin Yu had no intention of wasting time on corvettes.

Those things were built tough—everyone knew that by now.

Trying to blast through with gunfire alone…

They’d need who knows how many volleys to punch a clear hole for shooting.

Rather than waste energy, a new angle would let them skip the entire corvette wall.

Sure, it’d burn through more time.

But they could still squeeze off another two or three blasts before the enemy vanished behind the asteroid.

Everything unfolded exactly as Lin Yu predicted.

Repositioning to skirt the corvettes cost them valuable seconds.

But before Shivana’s fleet could fully slip behind the asteroid, they managed to unleash three more punishing volleys.

The damage was devastating.

Sixteen enemy small ships were annihilated. One medium ship was crippled, its systems and weapons dead.

Lin Yu didn’t bother finishing it off.

The crippled ship had nowhere to run—it’d be easy to tow it back after the fight.

A mostly intact Klein medium ship could be a goldmine for the Federation’s research teams.

Besides, crew on a medium ship usually had higher status and deeper knowledge.

Capturing them would yield fresh intel.

But that could wait.

Right now Lin Yu’s target was Shivana’s battered survivors—the last seventeen warships, nearly all limping.

For the next stage, Lin Yu would take command himself.

He could, if he wanted.

But up close, both fleets would take serious hits.

No need to risk his own forces.

“Where’s the First Sub-Fleet?”

After a brief pause, he spoke up with the question.