After taking off from the satellite where the spaceport was located, the “Glory of Black and Silver” escaped from the satellite’s warp blockage zone at maximum acceleration and made a short warp.
The armada of the Kingdom of Mars-Camino had already departed from the fleet base on the satellite orbit of the planet Calico, and had begun to pursue the Glory of the Black Silver.
From what I’ve observed from the Glory of the Black and Silver, there are 500 ships in total. Of these, 400 are slow warships, so they are useless in tracking the Black Silver Glory. In effect, 100 frigates are chasing us.
“A fleet of frigates without dragoons is like a flock of chickens.”
Kitty has plenty of room.
” They can’t keep up with us flying.”
The fleet warped in pursuit of the “Glory of Black and Silver”. The formation was in disarray, but they began to accelerate before they had time to get into line.
The acceleration capability is slightly higher on the Black Silver Glory.
If the fleet stayed in formation, the Glory of the Black and Silver would continue to accelerate in the meantime, eventually creating a large speed difference. In order to prevent the difference from becoming too large, the fleet had to start accelerating immediately.
The Glory of Black and Silver repeated its routine of accelerating for a while, warping a short distance, and then accelerating again.
It uses the planet’s warp blockade to escape. As soon as they warp out, they rush in to skirt the hindrance zone, and as soon as they are out of the hindrance zone in a short time, they warp a short distance again.
The pursuing fleet was scattered far and wide, its ranks breaking apart with each warp.
“You’re an amateur.”
Keuk, who had been watching the chase, murmured.
They do not have the know-how to track a pirate ship of equal or greater performance.
If this were the Imperial Fleet, they would have to be more skillful to escape. The Black and Silver Glory only needed to follow the escape theories of fast ships to escape.
“You’d think they’d do a better job with a schoolgirl in charge.”
Settsu stared at the way the Glory of the Black and Silver escaped and the way the fleet chased after it.
“Here’s the problem, Botchan. How do you think we should chase this fleeing us with that fleet?”
Keuk, who had a lot of time on his hands, asked.
“I think it would be better to warp out a little to the side so as not to enter the impediment zone, instead of simply warping out behind the Black Silver Glory.”
“What’s on your mind?”
“Depending on the orbital calculations, we should be able to fire on it for a short time before it leaves the impediment zone.”
“40 points.”
The evaluation was harsh.
“No?”
“Not at this stage. It might be possible to attack for a moment or so, so there’s a chance. But if the situation gets to this point, even the Count’s dragoon won’t be able to do anything about it. That move had to be done within the first few warps.”
“I see.”
“Well, I’m sure they’ll come up with something like that soon, so I’ll show them how to deal with it.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Once again, the “Glory of the Black and Silver” warped out. This time, the warp-out point was the fifth planet, in the vicinity of a giant gas giant. The rings made of fine dust were beautiful.
“Warp out signs confirmed. Keuk, that’s exactly what I was talking about.”
The warp-out point of the fleet was displayed on the front monitor. While the Glory of the Black and Silver was diagonally entering the impediment zone of the fifth planet, the fleet was warping out diagonally in front of it.
The fleet immediately changed its trajectory and began to move so that its orbit intersected with that of the Black Silver Glory.
“Okay, then it’s time for some acrobatics. Deniers, it’s a gravity maneuver swing-by.”
Gravity maneuver swing-by. It is a method of changing the direction and speed of a spacecraft using the gravity of a planet.
“I love you.”
“What about the gravity maneuver swing-by calculations?”
Mitsuki was currently in charge of calculating the orbit of the Glory of Black Silver.
The arithmetic device in Mitsuki’s head was more powerful than the computer on the Silver Glory. In order to get faster calculation results, she was performing calculations on behalf of the computer.
“What? Calculations?”
The bridge was buzzing.
“No way, you’ve been doing all this without doing the math?”
Mitsuki was surprised.
“It’s all intuition and experience. No one knows how to calculate it.”
Mitsuki could only exclaim.
“I’ll calculate it at ……. Do you have a desired final trajectory?”
“You got it. I’m all about speed.”
“Very well, sir. One moment, please.”
Mitsuki thought for a few seconds.
“This will do, please. After interstellar warp, another gravitational maneuver swing-by in that system and deceleration by the planet’s atmosphere will allow us to quickly enter the fortress.”
Mitsuki operated the device at hand and displayed the orbit change numbers on the monitor.
“I’m with you.”
Following Mitsuki’s instructions, Denias took control of the ship.
The Glory of Black and Silver moves inward in its orbit, closer to the planet.
“Can you really make a plan like ……?”
Keuk murmured, looking at the plans on the monitor.
“I’ve completed the necessary calculations. It’s not 100% accurate because it contains some guesswork, but I think we can handle it with some modifications.”
“For the first time, I thought you were scary.”
Even though the Glory of the Black and Silver changed its orbit, the fleet did not. If it approached the planet at a deeper angle, it might crash straight into it.
“Well, you’ve learned your lesson. If you have a planet, you can change its orbit like this even if it’s ahead of you, so you can’t be ahead of it.”
“I see.”
“If it’s a serious Imperial fleet, they’ll chase you with dragoons, close the distance, and then send the frigates ahead of you to do a gravitational maneuvering swing-by, and then warp the battle fleet out of the way. It’s a terrible way to attack. If you do this when you’re not yet up to speed, you’re going to get hit by a salvo of battleships, so it’s pretty tough.”
“Isn’t the fleet going to do a gravity maneuver swing-by?”
“If there are that many of them scattered around, they’ll all end up going in the wrong direction and at the wrong speed. Then it can’t be called a fleet. So they can’t do it.”
“I see.”
“I could do a gravitational maneuver swing-by while keeping the fleet unified, though.”
“Mitsuki, what do you want to do, put us in a state of fear?”
“However, in the current situation, with my own computing power, I will run out of time. Please rest assured.”
“Where the hell am I supposed to feel safe?”
Keuk blurted out, looking unconvinced.
The Glory of the Black and Silver performed a gravitational maneuver swing-by on the fifth planet without being attacked by the fleet, simultaneously accelerating and changing direction. During the gravitational maneuver swing-by, the main thrusters were sprayed to gain further acceleration, and the Glory of Black Silver left the fleet completely behind.
After exiting the warp hindrance zone of the fifth planet, the Black and Silver Glory executed an interstellar warp.
Our destination is the neighboring Ossicle system. There, you will find the Vara Skirv fortress in covert stealth mode.
The “Glory of Black and Silver” took a trajectory just as Mitsuki had calculated and entered the “Vara Skirv” fortress.
The people on the Bridge of the Black and Silver Glory had been looking at Mitsuki as if to say, “I’m sure she’ s great about the fortress, but she’s not very friendly.