Chapter 2390: Initial Advance In the final days before the battle, Task Force Predator deliberately navigated to a region in Maynard Fields that was particularly dense with asteroids. Not only that, the surrounding asteroids were denser and contained higher metallic content than usual. Some of them even contained trace amounts of higher quality exotics, though not to the extent that some enterprising pirate group decided to settle in the area in order to mine this bounty. Regardless, the task force deliberately moved in the middle of this area and dared the Allidus Alliance fleet to enter into battle in this environment. To Ves' astonishment, the pirate armada accepted the invitation. With these harder and more durable asteroids blocking the path between the two sides, the Larkinsons hoped to gain some vital cover that would allow them to approach the pirates without coming under as much fire. Now, it seemed that this hope was slightly naive. Dense asteroids or not, the distant warships were firing their main batteries towards the coordinates of the Larkinsons without hesitation! No matter what asteroids blocked the Gravada Knarlax's line of sight, the incredible kinetic energy that propelled the main battery rounds forward domineeringly smashed or knocked many asteroids aside! "Sir, if this goes on for ten to fifteen minutes, the pirates will have succeeded in opening up a corridor between us and them! The asteroids providing us with cover won't last long under a sustained bombardment!" Ves resisted the urge to vomit. How many times could the pirate fire their main batteries? If it was several hundred times, then that was enough to temporarily free up an entire lane! Faced with the sight of numerous asteroids exploding or being cast aside like billiard balls, Major Verle quickly issued a set of orders from the Redfeather's command center. "Advance!" The Larkinson fleet surged forward, with specific ships flying in front of other ships. Most strikingly, the Penitent Sister combat carriers took the lead. Their significantly-reinforced bow armor pointed straight in the direction of the pirate armada and blasted forward as if they already knew they were heading to their doom. Their enormously-bolstered boosters and other additional propulsion systems did not engage just yet. This was not the time for these sacrificial ships to perform their suicidal charges. The more vulnerable carriers and support ships of the task force directly trailed behind the far more durable Penitent Sister vessels. Though their combat carriers weren't as modern and durable as the combat carriers fielded by the Hex Army, they were still proper second-class vessels with considerable defensive capabilities. The only unfortunate aspect about their defenses was that their hull plating were optimized to resist mech-grade weapons fire and attacks. The smaller the caliber, the more easily the armored Hexer vessels shrugged off the attacks. It was the opposite against more powerful attacks. Ves had studied the armor systems of the Penitent Sister combat carriers in passing and understood their weakness against warship-grade attacks. The developers of this armor system and the shipwrights that designed the combat carriers did not care about this weakness! In the modern galaxy, only aliens and the Big Two fielded armed warships. If any of their customers bumped into the former, then they had entered an area where they shouldn't have appeared. If the combat carriers somehow entered into a conflict against the Big Two's warships, then it was hopeless to defend against the firepower that humanity's overlords had at their disposal! None of the Hexers involved in constructing the combat carriers could have ever imagined that their commercial-grade ships would ever do battle against pirate-owned and pirate-developed warships! Ves frowned a bit. He knew that this oversight would come to bite the Larkinsons and the Penitent Sisters in the butt. Though the latter had done their best to patch over this inherent weakness by piling up a lot of armor at the bows of their vessels, the firepower the pirates were slinging around made him doubt whether it would help that much. As the Larkinson fleet advanced with the most durable warships in the vanguard, the pirates showed no signs of stopping their wasteful opening moves. Powerful kinetic or explosive rounds impacted asteroid after asteroid, causing the surrounding space to become a bit murkier due to all of the shards and fine dust spreading. Aside from blocking the optical sensors a bit, they didn't throw up too much interference. This was a shame, since the pirates possessed an unquestionable advantage in long-ranged firefights. "Sir, our forward scouts have succeeded in coming into visual range of the enemy fleet!" "Send me the visuals!" A new projection appeared on the side. Ves let out a shocked breath as he finally saw what he and his clan faced with his eyes. It was easy to diminish or detract the formidable nature of his enemies when they were still detected by their energy signatures. Mere symbols on a chart did not convey the power and ferocity of the pirate fleet as much as a simple projected image! The heavy cruiser in the center of the fleet was most definitely the pride and joy of the mighty Allidus Alliance. Among the dazzling amount of secondary gun batteries installed over her entire length, a large portion of her side proudly stamped the grand name of the vessel. The scout mech, an Inheritor mech, had ventured very far forward. The Vandal mech pilot was literally risking his life to transmit this vital footage back to the main fleet! More details quickly became apparent. Two of the three powerful main turrets with three monstrous gun barrels each were firing in a slow but constant staccato. All the while, the heavy cruiser slowly crept forward. Her huge thrusters and propulsion systems weren't firing at full blast. They merely pushed the enormous warship along as if it was merely a matter of time before her guns broke the Larkinson Clan! The escort warships couldn't be ignored either. Though far smaller and less assuming than the pirate flagship, their large and numerous energy weapon turrets all boasted Judgement Lasers or similar weapons. While they weren't very effective at blasting apart asteroids, their accuracy was incredibly high, so much so that the most forward Penitent Sister combat carriers already began to sustain some of the distant laser beam attacks! "The Penitent Sister ships are holding, but the enemy escort warships are beginning to concentrate their fire!" Though much of the distant laser fire wasted their firepower by striking the asteroids that covered up the line of sight to the Larkinson fleet, whenever the strikingly thick and energetic beams managed to thread the needle, the Penitent Sister combat carriers always suffered serious damage, far more than what a volley from an entire mech company could output! "Move forward! Don't let these attacks scare you. We have enough metal between us and the enemy to get into closer range. Once our mechs get close enough, we can finally start hitting back!" The sentiment sounded great, but as their ships came closer, the terror exerted by the powerful warship attacks continued to batter at the confidence of the Larkinsons. Some of the courage that Ves had bestowed onto his clansmen began to recede as the full import of their actions became evident. No one wanted to be struck by the Gravada Knarlax's main cannons! No one wanted to be vaporized from existence after getting struck by a Judgement Laser! 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺 Suddenly, one of the Gravada Knarlax's kinetic rounds had succeeded in threading through all of the asteroids and struck straight at the pointed nose of the Delica Pride! The Penitent Sister combat carrier immediately jerked as her entire hull moved as if a giant had punched her back! The ship fell into a brief uncontrolled spin! The thick layers of armor that reinforced her bow bore a deep and ugly rent that ruined a significant portion of her forward armor! "What is the state of the Delica Pride?!" "She's still operational! She has lost a considerable amount of hull integrity, and some of her forward compartments have been breached. There are no casualties and her core systems are still undamaged." "Good!" Much of the original crew of the Delicate Pride and other Hexer warships had already evacuated their vessels beforehand. Only skeleton crews remained, and most of them consisted of essential engineers and ship ratings that made sure their ships kept propelling in the direction of the enemy. The bow compartments of the combat carriers were completely deserted. Only bots entered these compartments if something crucial needed to be done. While this measure ensured that the loss of life was minimal, Ves still winced at the desecration of such a valuable ship. A few years ago, obtaining a second-class combat carrier had been an extravagant dream! Now, he could easily afford to obtain them, but that did not mean he was willing to accept their loss. Unfortunately, he had no choice! As Major Verle and every other military commander had made it clear to Ves, their task force was weaker than the pirate fleet. The only way to find an opportunity for victory was to buy the time to grasp them. In order to do so, the Larkinsons had to be willing to sacrifice their ships to secure this crucial time! So far, it was working, though the price became considerably more unbearable. As the range closed in, huge but silent weapon impacts began to scar the Penitent Sister carriers. The enemy pirates apparently noticed how well the combat carriers endured the attacks. Both the Gravada Knarlax and the escort warships began to concentrate their fire. The most heavily-damaged ship, the Delica Pride, degraded even faster as a combination of heavy kinetic rounds alongside a constant refrain of powerful laser beams continually hammered or melted the bow and armor. Soon enough, the enemy warships succeeded in chewing through the forward armor! The weapons fire that followed after this point dealt considerable damage to the interior of the Delica Pride. The internal compartments were less protected than the hull, thereby allowing the destructive warships to wreak havoc inside and destroy many essential systems!" "Evacuate the Delicate Pride! She has done her job and absorbed enough firepower to keep the Gravada Knarlax occupied for a time!" A small amount of escape pods launched from the dying combat carrier as successive long-ranged weapon attacks finally dug deep enough to hit something critical! "Careful! She's breaking apart!" As a final strike, one of the Gravada Knarlax's turrets fired all of its three huge guns in quick succession! The three enormous rounds rapidly punched the heavily-damaged combat carrier until she could no longer hold her structure together. The last volley managed to cleave the ship into several pieces! This pattern continued with the other Penitent Sister combat carriers. The pirates easily hit the large and obvious targets. Though the carriers employed at least some form of evasion, they were so large and cumbersome that these simple moves hardly offered any advantage. As the range between the two fleets started growing smaller, the accuracy of the warship batteries increased. Less asteroids were in the way, and the Gravad Knarlax's reckless volleys had already destroyed many of the rocks in the way. First one of the Penitent Sister combat carriers fell. Then another one. Then another. With each fallen ship, the wall between the formidable pirate guns and the Larkinson fighting assets gradually decreased. Yet all of it was worth it as the Larkinsons finally came close enough for their ranged mechs to start playing a meaningful role! "Target the enemy mechs! If that is not possible, then shoot at the enemy destroyers and frigates!" A lot of laser beams and a smaller amount of physical rounds began to sail from one end to the other end. A lot of pirate mechs were startled as some of their own ranks instantly succumbed after they were sniped by accurate fire from the Penitent Sister mechs! The pirates suddenly grew angry. Like a buzzing swarm of bees, over 8,000 loosely-organized pirate mechs began to stir!