71. Engagement Behind A Star

In a brightly lit traditional Japanese room, covered in bamboo mats were Jinko, Hikari and Yoake sitting in a line in that exact order. Jinko and Yoake were sitting in a seiza while Hikari sat crossed-legged. They were all viewing a large display screen intently as if enjoying a theatre show or a movie. In front of them were cups of tea and snacks, though only Jinko could be seen eating and drinking them. On the display was the view of a large supercarrier being pelted by projectiles launched from the four-ship fleet containing the Dawning Star ships and the Crimson Blood ship, Sensenmann. The shields of the carrier held up against the shells from the main gun but were no match for the shield penetrating torpedoes fired from Sensenmann’s battleship. The sounds of Jinko’s big guns firing and the rumbling could be heard from inside the room.

“The Abigail E. Eternity. I haven’t seen her silhouette for more than twenty years. To think I will be seeing it again on this day,” Jinko said as gracefully she ate a piece of mochi with a toothpick.

“It’s rude to speak while eating Jinko-senpai…” Hikari retorted.“Ungraceful,” Yoake added.

“It seemed that the hero of Freedom United seemed to have increased in size since the last I saw her. Much more modernized at that. Just how much resources were put into that ship design?” Jinko continued, ignoring the remarks of her subordinates.

“Have you encountered her before, Jinko-senpai?”

“Once upon a time. I doubt she would remember me. It was a short encounter between two forces that immediately retreated. The ship was much smaller back then. This was back in the days where fighters were deployed in lesser amounts and considered weak against battleships, only meant for recon and support purposes. Who knew that all you needed were just more fighters to make up for the firepower.”

“I see…”

“I also distinctly remember that back then, this carrier had quite the number of support ships protecting her. Now, she just works alone?”

“Maybe this is just the result of being in a time of peace?”

“Still, I find it incomprehensible that a ship this valuable would be a lone wanderer.”

“Enemy has begun their counteroffensive. Detecting seven hundred fighters, splitting into two swarms. More is incoming,” Yoake said out, cutting off the discussion between Hikari and Jinko.

Outside, in the depths of space, the supercarrier could be seen manoeuvring, engaging its point defence systems and rapidly launching numerous fighters from its hangar bays. Fighters from all sizes and shapes appeared out of the carrier, from small fighters no bigger than 10 meters in size and larger fighter corvettes that could rival smaller sized destroyers. The bigger fighter corvettes moved to intercept the projectiles shot from the combined fleet while the smaller fighter ships moved towards Jinko and the others. Some of the ships deployed also formed a sphere around the Abigail E. Eternity, acting as a form of secondary shields and point defence systems.

“To think that this monstrous ship was hiding in a place like this. It was no wonder I couldn’t find her,” Hikari said, not bothered by the fact that the carrier had launched almost a thousand fighters towards her.

“One must be bold to be a hero,” Jinko replied.

“I argue that it is too bold.”

Hikari looked to her right, another display was there. On the display was the sight of a planet, almost a thousand times the size of the Abigail E. Eternity. It was a burning hot magma planet with no atmosphere. Behind the planet, one could see a blue coloured supergiant star hundreds of times, thousands, maybe millions of times bigger than the planet. It was the star named the Maw, one of the few that exist within the Lawless Maw Zone. Not only was the star huge, but it was rapidly expanding as well. Hikari estimated that at the current rate of expansion, the star would completely engulf the planet and eventually go supernova within the next few years.

All of the ships in the area were now within the shade of the planet, safe from the heat and radiation of the star— well, not really safe but at the very least, they weren't taking the full brunt of the star. However, if one were to exit the shade, there would be no doubt that the ship would be burned to a crisp. Technology may be advanced, but not so advanced to the point where it could withstand the extreme power of a supergiant star. The condition of the battlefield meant that there was only a limited amount of space to manoeuvre around.

“This is the last place I expected someone to be at…”

“And that is why you are fooled. I think I am starting to understand the kind of person this Abigail E. Eternity is.”

“I’m more impressed that Sensenmann knew that she would be here in the first place.”

“Unbalanced cosmos,an evil, crazy reaper chaseat the perfect prey,You are tracking for a ship. While the reaper chases after the ultimate prey. That is the difference between you two.”

“A difference in mindset, huh. I guess that makes sense. I’m looking for a place where a normal person would go, not a crazy one,”

“Indeed. Eighty-five points.”

“Such a madman. I’m having second thoughts about this battle, Jinko-senpai.”

“Weren’t you the one who wanted to do this in the first place?”

Hikari grunted while holding her head. “I know. But I didn’t know the legend of Freedom United would be this kind of foe!”

“Incoming fighters, activating point defence systems!” Yoake said, breaking Hikari’s and Jinko’s conversation again.

Hundreds of fighters make a beeline towards the fleet. The Dawning Star Fleet diverted their main guns and changed their munitions to better suit the situation. They then entered a clustered diamond formation with Jinko in the middle as she had the best point-defence capabilities. They were positioned in such a way that their combined anti-shipcraft defences overlapped with each other.

“As discussed with the reaper, we are to be the decoys. This battle will most likely end within the hour. Either by the death of Abigail E. Eternity, our deaths, or the escape of both parties via F.T.L.. Concentrate fire on the fighters and stay alive. That’s an order.”

“Roger!”“Understood.”

Jinko and Yoake replied. In the background, one could hear the sound of the human crews shouting the same words as the two living cores.

“Yoake,” Jinko called out.

“Yes, leader?”

“Survival is the priority. If you can’t keep up, then you have permission to exit the battlefield.”

“For a member of the fleet to leave the flagship is—

“That’s an order.”

“Understood,” Yoake nodded reluctantly.

Jinko nodded back before pointing her hands outwards before yelling out to all the crew of the fleet.

“Fire!”

And so all of the guns from the Dawning Star Fleet fired towards the swarm of drones. The storm of shells exploded within the proximity of the fighters and dispersed into large shrapnels that spread out to hit more fighters. If one were to view the battlefield from a movie theatre the attack would look like a cluster of fireworks in the shade of pink, yellow and purple. Due to the attack, lots of fighters were destroyed, but there wasn't nearly enough firepower to take care of all of them. The remaining fighters went past their gun’s line of defence and immediately surrounded the Dawning Star Fleets, dropping bombs, missiles and torpedoes onto them.

The skies around the three ships lit up like a blinking lightbulb with constant anti-spacecraft firing in order to shoot down more fighters. Their combined AS fire radius prevented the fighters from doing too much damage. That being said, damage was still being done to them. Unlike the battle with the Royal Navy ships, this damage wasn’t one that could be avoided with good manoeuvring.

During all of this, Sensenmann, the lone battleship in the entire battlefield, broke formation and charged towards the Abigail E. Eternity.  Sensenmann was quickly surrounded by fighters, all of them bombing the heck out of her. However, Sensenmann merely shrugged the attack while moving full speed ahead. Her sextupled guns never stopped shooting shield piercing rounds towards the carrier and her black shields never gave in to the countless bombs being dropped on it.

The next few minutes within the battlefield was filled with chaos as thousands of fighters swarmed the few ships in the area. Explosions were a common occurrence as both sides did their best to survive. Hundreds of fighters were destroyed but were soon replaced with brand new fighters from the Abigail E. Eternity. It was as if the supercarrier was a shipyard constantly producing new fighters to launch at her enemies.

“Hmm?”

It was then, during all of this confusion, that Jinko saw a fighter plane that wasn’t with a swarm. This single fighter movement pattern wasn't like the other fighters which felt like they were controlled by a simple A.I. Nay, its movement was as if it was observing the battlefield.

Jinko used her outer cameras to zoom in on this fighter and began identifying it. It had a red crimson motif with twelve fins—  six of which were shooting out blue flames while the other six-shot out red flames. It was the red chicken, Astral. The one ship that proved to be a threat to Jinko during the battle at Little Foot.

‘That fighter… Why is it here? Is it allied with the supercarrier?’ Jinko asked herself.

It was then that Jinko saw a hangar opened up from below the carrier. Exiting the ship was a familiar ship. A ship with blue lines and shaped like a shark— it was the blue core that Jinko had been searching for. Once it exited the carrier, the shark’s first movement was towards the red fighter.

“Target found,” Jinko said as she grinned at the appearance of the blue core.

“The blue core? Where?” Hikari asked.

“There,” Jinko said before pointing at the air. A display came out of the area she pointed. Within the display was the sight of a blue and black coloured ship moving towards the edge of the battlefield.

“So that’s the blue core. But it’s so far back. We will need to go through the carrier to get to that ship.”

“Don’t bother. I’ll deal with it.”

“Unadvise. Without combined anti-spacecraft defences, we will not be able to hold out until the end of the battle,” Yoake said in objection.

“Me? No. I’m not going anywhere.”

Hikari tilted her head. “Eh? But you said you are going…”

“The supercarrier is not the only ship here with a hangar bay,” Jinko said before closing her eyes.

The small hangar bay on Jinko’s ship opened and she launched six fighters. It was the best of the best of her stealth fighters filled to the brim with missiles that can disable other ships. Each one of the ships contained its own warp drives, capable of warping individually. They also came with the bulk of Jinko’s nanobots to assimilate things should it be required. The six ships then engaged their stealth systems before rushing towards the blue shark and the red chicken.

“Hikari, prepare the FTL inhibitor. Wait for my signal. Also, take care of this side for me. I need to concentrate.”

“Understood,” Hikari nodded, before going back to her own task, shooting down the swarm of fighters that surrounded her.