Book 12: Chapter 14: Banfield Territory Defense (9)
In front of the enemy fleet of 120,000 ships, the Banfield family fleet was calmly changing its formation.
The way they quickly responded to the enemy fleet's formation was truly an elite fleet.
As I watched from the bridge of the Argos, I listened to the voices of the soldiers.
"The enemy fleet, after dispersing, is forming a spherical formation."
"The fleets that can coordinate with each other have gathered together."
"They are going to surround us and hit us."
The difference in strength is one to four.
The actual pirate fleet that is four times the number of pirate fleet facing us looks solid in spite of its origin.
It is true that they were trained in the military.
"Four times the number of ships - that's good enough for us."
When I muttered my honest impression, my second-in-command, Elysia, who was standing next to me, only looked at me.
The attitude is one of dismay, but she seems to be somewhat resigned.
"Liam-sama, who has defeated large armies with a small army, should be able to spare this many men."
"Don't talk like a thorn in my side. I am your employer."
"If you can survive, I'll be in your good graces as much as I can. What you see before you is the elite that the Imperial Guard has prepared for you."
They are all former space pirates who have been educated and trained to the level of officers.
The weapons they are given are state-of-the-art.
The regular army led by the pirate fleet is probably using appraisals and mobile knights that are currently the mainstream of the imperial army.
The pirates, who are not so important, have been able to provide both numbers and quality.
From Elysia's point of view, this is not the same kind of pirate hunting we've been doing! she would say.
"I don't care. I'm going to win."
"Where do you get your confidence from?"
Looking at the monitor, a simplified battlefield situation is displayed. It showed the formation of the allies, the formation of the enemy, and other information.
Looking at it, I was reminded of the past.
"--You fulfilled your promise to Brian, didn't you?"
"Yes?"
I told the old story to Elysia, who wondered why the butler's name came up.
"Do you know the story of the disarmament when I took over the estate?"
I shake my head when I ask her about it, thinking that of course she knows.
"No, I don't know."
"--The army that had the lowest operating rate and was all about looking good was our private army. When we tried to secure a budget through disarmament, Brian objected, saying it was no good because we would be underestimated if our numbers were reduced."
When I explained it to her, Elysia looked convinced.
"I can understand the butler's way of thinking."
"I made a promise to Brian at that time. The first thing to do is to make sure that our family is not left out of the process. The 30,000 ships I am leading now, I just thought I had fulfilled my promise to Brian."
I was deep in thought when Elysia looked at me with narrowed eyes.
"What?"
"You can afford to talk about the old days in this situation, can't you?"
"I can afford it"
I answered her, but Elysia put her hands on her hips and let out a small sigh.
This woman, if she wasn't my second-in-command, I'd be executing her for disrespect.
Facing the Banfield family fleet, Cozmo crossed his arms and looked restlessly at the monitor.
He is bemused as he watches the simplified battlefield.
The beautiful women who had previously been allowed to stand around him had been moved back, and only his beautiful second-in-command was by his side.
So we are taking back the supply base against that bastard Banfield, huh?"
When he complained about having no choice but to fight Liam, his second-in-command asked him in a puzzled tone.
"We outnumber the enemy four to one, don't we?"
"He can brush off a few underdogs. I'm sure he's shown you his file, too."
Although a former space pirate, Kozmo is not incompetent.
If he had been incompetent, he would have been unable to endure the rigorous training and education of the Imperial Army and would have dropped out.
Besides, this was a man who had risen to the rank of general.
Because he had already had Liam's information in his head in advance, he agreed with Hampson's strategy of never fighting.
In fact, he was planning to run away even if asked to do so.
If ordered to fight, he would fight lightly and feign defeat.
Even if his reputation would suffer, he knew it was better than dying.
The adjutant looked at the simplified scale of his army and that of the enemy and was unconvinced.
"We outnumber them both in quality and in numbers."
"If it was good enough to win, then Goaz and Berkley weren't too far behind."
"--Those are some familiar names, aren't they?"
"Both of them have been pirates since I was a young man. Goaz was a pirate, but he was leading a fleet of tens of thousands. When I was young, I was determined to become a better pirate than Goaz."
It was a mixed feeling for Cozmo that his target had been defeated so spectacularly by Liam.
His second-in-command had a puzzled look on her face.
"The Berkleys are the barons of the empire, aside from Goaz."
Cozmo begins to talk about the Berkley family, which was crushed by Liam.
"Nobility or not, their very nature is that of space pirates. The Berkleys, who led hundreds of thousands of such vessels, were defeated by Liam. I swore when I was young that I would be a pirate big enough to compete with them."
The second-in-command let out a small sigh, as if she had had enough of talking about the old days.
"You're a fine man now, sir. You're as good as Goaz and as good as Berkley.
"--I guess. Well, so much for the old story. For the sake of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who has done an incompetent job of working for us, let's get on with retaking the supply base."
"What about the option of running away, sir?"
"Silly, fools! Try to escape here. The conquering army will be miserable, and we'll be executed for our responsibility. --We have no choice but to go on."
Determined, Cozmo put his pirate hat back on and pointed his right hand forward.
"Don't let your guard down just because they are few in number. They'll eat us alive!"
The conquering force moves out under Cozmo's command.
I get up from my seat and give the order to the enemy fleet that has begun to surround the Banfield's fleet.
"I'm going to take command because it's going to be fun, and we're going to hit them where they're the most vulnerable."
Since there is no need to go to the trouble of being surrounded, I let them target the fleet where the space pirates' pirate ships are gathered, which is obviously vulnerable.
The commander gives me a detailed instruction with my orders.
"Ha! All troops, target the space pirates."
The general staff members give detailed instructions to all the troops in response to the commander's order.
Normally, the job of an aristocrat like me is to sit back and do nothing.
It would be better for a nobleman like me not to talk about the work of the soldiers, but to smile broadly.
Nobles like me who talk out of turn are disliked by the soldiers.
But so what?
I have prepared this army.
I am the employer.
"Kill those space pirates who are a nuisance to me."
The Banfield family fleet charges at the weakest part of the enemy fleet.
Since both sides were facing each other and moving straight ahead, the front shone incessantly as long-range optical weapons were unleashed.
The optical weapons were blocked by the energy fields protecting the vessels, and they were glowing.
The chiefs of staff on the bridge were giving orders one after another.
"Shield ships forward!"
"We will immediately shift to a close-to-mid-range battle. Make preparations quickly."
"Mobile knight squadron, prepare to launch!"
The pirate ship approaching directly ahead was on a head-on collision course with Argos.
Elysia understood this, but even though she understood it, she turned her face away and let out a small scream.
"Hiiii!"
"--Break through."
The enemy, perhaps startled by Argos not evading, turns the rudder and the bow of the ship turns to the right.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't show your belly."
The bow of the Argos pierces the enemy's hull and tears it apart.
An explosion occurs, but the Argos is unshaken by the energy field blocking the explosion.
Argos, a lump of rare metal, cannot even be damaged at this level.
Then, a cannon in Argos takes aim at the enemy.
As it is, it fires an optical weapon.
A laser is also fired from the large lens that appeared as the armored plate slides out, piercing the pirate ship that was near Argos.
The energy field of the pirate ship was easily penetrated, and the part hit by the laser glowed red and dissolved.
Because of the passing attack, the spot where the laser hit was drawn like a line and exploded when it moved away from Argos.
"It is too fragile, too pitifully fragile. Was such a pirate ship really allowed to get out in front of my fleet?"
The situation is the same for everyone except Argos.
The pirate ships were being destroyed without being able to do anything, the fleet was colliding with each other, and we were the only ones in formation as we passed through.
The gathering of pirate ships had fizzled out, unable to maintain formation.
The Banfield fleet, now in assault formation, slipped out of the encirclement and set their sights on their next prey.
"Next up--the regular army."
Cozmo, who had seen the Banfield family fight, sat up from his seat.
"Are those guys insane?" They're going to suddenly charge in, even if it's against a lower-ranked opponent? The data and rumors are even more outrageous than I've seen."
Cozmo put his right hand on his face and laughed, even though his allies' fleet had been killed.
The Banfield fleet maintained its momentum and headed toward the regular fleet dispatched by Hampson.
The regular fleet was trying to set up a defensive formation in order to meet the Banfield's fleet that was charging toward them.
However, they seemed to be perplexed by the sudden change of formation.
The second-in-command, who was watching the situation, became slightly irritated.
"Useless bastards!"
The pirates, easily defeated by the Banfield family, are asking for help from Cozmo's fleet.
Cozmo ignored them and ordered his men to change formation.
"The fleet Hampson gave us is no good. Let's change formation and hit the Banfield family while we still can."
In response to Cozmo's order, the chiefs of staff issue new orders one after another.
The second-in-command looked impressed, as if she had anticipated Cozmo's thoughts.
"It's a pincer attack against the regular fleet. While they are holding out, it will be effective to strike at the enemy's rear."
She must have come up with the plan to pincer the rear of the Banfield family while their allies were holding out.
But Cozmo rejects her second-in-command's plan.
"No, we're going to bury all our allies."
"Huh?"
The adjutant was surprised and taken aback, but Cozmo felt a sense of urgency that he had never felt before in the Banfield family fleet.
"I've been nearly killed many times, but this time I have goosebumps. My gut is telling me that they are really dangerous. If we don't take on the challenge with the determination to cut ourselves, we won't be safe either."
The ones who will be taking the risk are the regular fleet, of which they know nothing, but the second-in-command was once a space pirate.
Trusting Cozmo's intuition, she nods her head.
"They're not so lucky to be dispatched."
Cozmo laughs at the deputy's convinced look.
"On the battlefield, it's the unlucky ones who are at fault."
The operator informs him that friendly and enemy fleets are now within striking distance of each other.
"The fleet is within striking distance of the enemy fleet, sir! --The enemy fleet is not stopping!"
However, the change of formation was not made in time, and the fleet was easily penetrated by the Banfield family fleet, which was in a conical formation.
Cozmo brings his right hand forward.
"Now is our chance! Kill the Banfields with all you got!"
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