Counterfeit Hero

”Liars, a bunch of liars!”

”Shameless! Absolutely shameless!”

”Not just shameless, utterly despicable and extremely wicked!”

”These bastards! I just want to beat them all up, never seen anyone so hateful!”

”What kind of people are they!”

Inside the battleship, there was nothing but a cacophony of denunciations.

The officers and soldiers of the Saleria Longbow Fleet who had been deceived were all furious, cursing aloud. When they thought of themselves standing here solemnly and with tears in their eyes, while the others were having a blast playing pranks, they were filled with murderous intent.

After a long time of cursing, the conversation inevitably turned to that ragged cruiser.

”What do you guys think, what kind of thing is that cruiser, we clearly saw it explode and disintegrate, and the martyrdom, the bodies, those fragments... were all fake?” A repairman wiped his greasy hands with a dirty rag, clicking his tongue.

”Eye-opening indeed, who has ever seen such warfare, never even heard of it.” A gunner stood on tiptoes at the door, his eyes staring blankly at the virtual screen in the corridor over the heads of the packed crowd.

”Hey, who do you think designed this kind of warship? That designer is a real genius!” An excited loud voice rang out from the crowd in the corridor.

”If our Longbow Fleet could build two of these in the Free World, what jump point couldn’t we pass through?” Another voice, also loud and clear, had a tone that made one easily picture its owner as tall and robust.

”It’s just a split ship, it can only take advantage once. Once people know its secret, what’s the use of it?” A lieutenant standing closest to the virtual screen turned his face around and shook his head, ”Compared to our Longbow Heavy Cruiser, this thing is far inferior.”

”Exactly, exactly!” A soldier standing next to the lieutenant nodded vigorously, boosting their own morale while belittling others, ”This split ship technology doesn’t seem to be difficult.”

”Not difficult? You don’t know shit!” An derisive voice silenced all the excited discussions. The noisy corridor immediately fell quiet.

The repairman in the parts bay threw down his rag, pushed past the gunner at the door, squeezed into the crowd, and laughed, ”When it comes to experts, it’s our old head of the Repair Department. Lieutenant Colonel, you explain to everyone.”

”Yes, yes...” the officers and soldiers surrounded a middle-aged officer in his fifties, urging in unison, ”Commander Benter, you’re the expert here, tell us.”

Benter knocked the head of the soldier who had said it wasn’t too difficult, scolding, ”If you don’t understand, don’t talk nonsense. Not difficult? You try building one! Don’t mention you, even our Saleria shipyard couldn’t build one like this!”

”Really?”

”That impressive?”

Amid the chaotic discussions, Commander Benter coldly sneered, ”Talking about split ships, that’s not complicated. Just take those catamarans, add a decoupling mechanism in the middle, and you can split them whenever you want. But can such things go to battle?”

Lighting a cigarette, Benter pointed at the warships on the screen and continued, ”Don’t be fooled by the shabby looks of this warship; it’s actually a treasure. Let me put it this way, back when it didn’t split, could any of you tell it was a multi-body ship?”

The officers and soldiers looked at each other and all shook their heads. To be honest, from beginning to end, they all thought it was scrap iron coming out of a wrecking yard!

”At the start of the battle, wasn’t its speed faster than the Longbow?... And let me ask, would the Longbow dare charge in like that?” Benter glanced around at the silent, embarrassed crowd before continuing, ”We can’t look at it as a split ship, we have to look at how it performs when it forms a whole. Being able to form a cruiser from multiple warships is no simple feat. Can we combine our cruisers to form a battleship? Nonsense!

I’ve been a client representative at the shipyard for so many years, monitoring the construction of plenty of warships! Internal structure, engine system, weapon system, living quarters, energy shield... All these have to combine into one when merged and split into six when apart. This involves so many technologies that you guys can’t even imagine.

The most important part is, you still don’t get it. This warship is the core of their new space battle tactics. We’ve been in service for many years and fought many battles, but who ever thought a battle could be fought this way? Just this new tactic makes the value of this ship dozens of times higher than our Longbow!”

Benter’s words sparked a buzz of discussions, there were both supporters and stubborn dissenters.

Benter sighed deeply and slowly said, ”If back then, our Longbow Fleet had such technology and tactics, General Tolstoy might have...”

As he spoke, Benter’s eyes turned red.

All the arguments stopped, the corridor fell into a dead silence.

**************************************************

After seeing the Ragged Fleet achieve a complete victory with such an extremely unconventional tactic, Fang Xiang knew that this round, there was little hope for him.

That mysterious opponent had calculated everything. Fang Xiang didn’t naively think that such a person would let the Valor Battleship take over the pirate base. Regardless of whether they were enemies or friends, the opposing fleet’s commander would never let the Saleria Fleet seize the initiative.