Rebirth of the Super Battleship-Chapter 45: Decoy Ships

When it came to the combat capability of individual ships of the same tonnage, Xiao Yu’s ships couldn’t match those of the enemy. However, under Xiao Yu’s unparalleled control and excellent team coordination, this disparity was significantly reduced. As a result, even with the enemy’s superior firepower and primitive energy weapons, their victory in this war was no more than a pyrrhic one.

Technically speaking, even laser cannons fell under the broad category of energy weapons. However, the enemy’s energy weapons had surpassed laser technology, becoming true energy weapons in every sense.

It was widely known that photons had no rest mass, allowing them to reach the speed of light. But their lack of mass also severely limited their destructive power. Laser cannons relied on high-temperature burns for damage, making them suitable for precision strikes but ineffective against large-scale targets.

Xiao Yu speculated that the alien civilization’s energy weapons didn’t use pure energy beams like lasers. Instead, they appeared to employ a special material with an extremely small mass, capable of carrying large amounts of unstable energy. Due to its minuscule mass, this material could be accelerated to speeds as high as 90,000 kilometers per second. Coupled with its energy payload, it boasted immense destructive power.

In the current warfare context, this type of energy weapon was undoubtedly the most effective and formidable. Kinetic weapons, laser cannons, and even nuclear missiles could be mitigated by sturdy armor. But energy weapons, in the absence of shield technology, were practically impossible to defend against.

From the fact that only the largest flagship was equipped with energy weapons, Xiao Yu concluded that this technology was still in its early research stage. Otherwise, the enemy would have equipped all their ships with it. If that were the case, Xiao Yu would have had no choice but to await destruction.

The devastating power of the prototype energy weapon cemented Xiao Yu’s resolve to destroy the enemy flagship. He was even willing to sacrifice one of his County-Class ships if that’s what it took.

“How can I snipe the enemy flagship, surrounded as it is by heavy protection, when my forces are at a disadvantage?” Xiao Yu pondered, directing the central computer to perform extensive simulations.

“The only feasible method is to concentrate superior firepower in a specific region and annihilate it. But how can I create localized superiority in firepower when my overall firepower is weaker? Sigh, this is frustrating,” Xiao Yu muttered, continuing his calculations.

Three days later.

“Maybe this approach is worth a try,” Xiao Yu thought as he began preparing.

Repairing the damaged ships took Xiao Yu ten days. During this time, he didn’t just repair his fleet; he also undertook another task.

That task was the creation of a large number of decoy ships. These so-called decoy ships were essentially hollow shells equipped with only basic control and propulsion modules. They resembled Village-Class ships in appearance but had no combat capabilities, carried no ammunition, and had almost no defensive strength—just one bullet could pierce them.

Xiao Yu built over a hundred of these decoy ships. Since they were merely empty shells, their construction consumed minimal resources. In fact, if not for storage limitations, Xiao Yu would have built a thousand of them.

With preparations complete, Xiao Yu loaded all the decoy ships onto The Voyager, gathered his fleet, and resumed his advance toward the alien planet.

“It’s time to begin the second battle,” Xiao Yu thought. “The flagship sniping plan will commence now.”

Xiao Yu’s movements were quickly met with a response. Hundreds of enemy ships launched from either the planet or the orbital shipyards, heading straight for him.

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At a range of several hundred thousand kilometers, The Solar and The Voyager—laden with decoy ships—stayed behind with 170 Village- and Town-Class ships, forming the rear guard. The remaining 400 ships were sent into battle.

The enemy deployed around 260 ships, including their flagship and a vessel comparable to Xiao Yu’s County-Class ships. Xiao Yu guessed the third major ship was left behind to defend their planet.

This development gave Xiao Yu a twinge of unease. However, the plan had progressed too far to abandon now.

As before, Xiao Yu deployed giant flash grenades, high-speed bullets, micro-missiles, and micro-satellites, weaving a net across the battlefield.

This time, however, the enemy seemed more prepared. The bullet storm and micro-missiles inflicted relatively minor damage, destroying only twenty enemy ships. Xiao Yu lost six Village-Class ships in the first exchange.

Both sides quickly became entangled in close combat. Intense explosions erupted continuously in the void, each fiery blossom marking the complete destruction of a ship.

On Xiao Yu’s side, the largest ship was The Tianyuan. The enemy’s flagship, equipped with its prototype energy weapon, was far superior in both size and firepower.

The enemy flagship dominated the battlefield, its energy cannon destroying a Village-Class ship with nearly every shot. Fortunately, the weapon required a long recharge time between shots, allowing Xiao Yu’s fleet to avoid a complete collapse.

Xiao Yu silently observed everything, carefully calculating the time.

“It’s about time. Begin the flagship sniping plan,” he ordered.

Immediately, over a hundred ships separated from the escort fleet. Led by The Voyager, this group formed a formation and began moving in a different direction—toward the alien planet.

That’s right, Xiao Yu was employing a strategy from ancient Chinese military tactics: encircle Wei to save Zhao.

By splitting off part of his fleet to attack the enemy planet, Xiao Yu’s escort ships were reduced to about fifty. If the enemy launched a surprise attack at this moment with just one County-Class ship and a hundred smaller ships, there was an 80% chance they could destroy Xiao Yu.

But Xiao Yu wouldn’t take such a risk without reason. The thousands of micro-satellites scattered in space provided him with ample early-warning capabilities. If something unexpected occurred, Xiao Yu would be able to respond in time.

Xiao Yu was well aware that his movements were being closely monitored by the enemy. In fact, that was exactly what he wanted. If the enemy ignored him, his plan wouldn’t work.

The alien planet was about five million kilometers away. At the fleet’s current speed, it would take just over three hours to reach the destination. However, at that distance, communication delays with the fleet would reach an agonizing ten seconds or more. In other words, even if the ships arrived, they would essentially be powerless in battle due to the delay. The enemy would easily destroy them.

But Xiao Yu’s intention wasn’t to engage in battle, so their lack of combat capability was irrelevant.

Xiao Yu had done extensive calculations regarding the enemy civilization’s space combat capabilities.

Firstly, at the beginning of the conflict, the enemy had avoided space battles and instead relied on their planetary defenses to fight Xiao Yu.

Secondly, when Xiao Yu forced them into space combat, they deployed over 500 ships. As the battle reached a stalemate, no reinforcements were sent.

What did this mean?

Xiao Yu deduced that these 500 ships likely constituted the majority—80% to 90%—of the enemy’s space forces.

In other words, there were probably fewer than 100 ships left on the enemy planet to defend against Xiao Yu’s fleet, supplemented only by orbital weaponry.

Moreover, this battle would take place in near-planetary orbit. Xiao Yu still had nuclear weapons and some additional surprises prepared for them.

The principle of striking where the enemy must defend was at the core of Xiao Yu’s strategy. Once Xiao Yu revealed his surprise, he was certain the enemy would pull forces from the main battlefield to reinforce their planet.

How much would they pull back? Based on his calculations, Xiao Yu believed they would send the County-Class ship and some smaller ships, leaving the flagship on the main battlefield. This would allow them to maintain their advantage on the frontlines while also responding adequately to Xiao Yu’s strike force.

This was the most logical and safest strategy. They had no reason to choose otherwise.

“I hope everything goes as I’ve calculated,” Xiao Yu thought, tensely watching for the enemy’s reaction.

As the interstellar fleet advanced toward the alien planet, there was no immediate response from the enemy ships on the main battlefield.

An hour passed. On the frontlines, the battle had reached a fever pitch.

“Hmph, they must think that the County-Class ship left behind on their planet, along with the orbital weapons, will be enough to hold off my fleet… If that’s the case, let’s give them a surprise.”

Xiao Yu issued a command. Following his order, the hangar doors of The Voyager opened, and one by one, Village-Class ships emerged—over 100 in total.

They were decoys. They had no combat capability. But the enemy didn’t know that!

Xiao Yu was curious to see their reaction upon discovering that his fleet had suddenly gained over a hundred additional ships, boosting its strength to 200 ships.

Based on Xiao Yu’s prior performance, a fleet of over 200 ships would be more than enough to dominate the remaining 100 enemy ships, especially since their flagship and energy cannon were absent. This was their home territory, so a retreat to reinforce it was inevitable.

On the main battlefield, Xiao Yu noticed that several enemy ships began making mistakes, allowing him to take advantage and destroy five of them.

“Shocked, aren’t you? Confused, aren’t you? Then hurry up and retreat, you fools!” Xiao Yu muttered, half-laughing, half-frustrated at their hesitation.