Interstellar Age

It was not long after Erich had taunted Ryu that the ship came out of quantum, where it found itself placed within the center of the 13th Fleet's formation, surrounded by all the other vessels which were designed to protect it.

Naturally, since they had come out of quantum, the alarms were ringing across the ship, along with an automated message which told the crew to enter their battle stations. As a result, Erich placed his helmet over his head, and sealed it against his flight suit's collar, before rushing towards the flight deck, where he saw that his air group was already launching their fighters and bombers into space.

By now Erich was well experienced with the procedure of taking off from the carrier, and thus he jumped into his cockpit, and sealed the hatch behind him, before powering on the vehicle, and igniting the engines.

The bolt interceptor roared to life as Erich aligned himself with the carrier's launching bay, where the fighter was catapulted into space at breakneck speeds. After exiting the carrier, Erich went full throttle as he got on his comms and gave out his warnings to the crew.

"Remember the mission, if I catch any of you idiots wondering off and doing god know's what I will give you a fucking demerit!"

Naturally, none of the fighter pilots wanted to get a demerit during their first deployment, and because of this, they all stayed in line with the mission, where they escorted the heavy bombers through hell in an attempt to reach the Lutharian carriers.

While Erich and his pilots were heading towards the enemy capital ships. The Oni pilots were also dispatched to support them. It quickly became clear that Germanic military technology was superior to their foes, because the enemy was blasted out of the sky with ease.

And while the two factions waged war in space with their air groups, the capital ships had begun to make their attacks. Like planned, the German battleships, which dwarfed the Lutharian carriers, opened fire with their most powerful weapons on the enemy ships.

It took perhaps five shots for the first Lutharian Carrier to lose partial power to its shields. Something which allowed the heavy bombers to get to work. Meanwhile, Erich effortlessly gunned down an enemy fighter before locking onto his next target, where he fired his missiles towards them.

The missiles were undeterred by the countermeasures which were deployed to halt their advance, as Erich used his cyberkinesis to ensure that their flight path was straight towards the target. A small explosion occurred directly in front of Erich's ship as he flew through the debris of his latest kill.

The man's skill with the fighter was something that few of these recruits were capable of matching, and many of them gazed in awe at their commander as he outperformed them with relative ease. Eventually, the heavy bombers got close enough to the enemy capital ship, which by now had lost all power to its shields. And was quickly falling apart from the repeated blasts of the Germanic battleships.

Erich gave a command to the bombers who he was escorting, ordering them to launch their torpedos, as he took the brunt of the Lutharian carrier's point defense systems.

"Open fire!'

The bombers each launched three torpedos in the span of as many seconds, and while these were not the legendary world killer torpedos, which had managed to turn the tides of war for the Germanic Star-Empire during their war with Terminus. They were still exceptionally powerful, and manage to be the final nail in the coffin for the hostile carrier. Which upon the torpedos' detonations, the ship blew up entirely.

Erich had a stoic expression on his face as he commanded his Air Group to circle back to the next target, which was already receiving the vicious onslaught of the Germanic battleships. Who would not rest until every hostile ship was destroyed.

And while the Germanic firepower was completely overwhelming to the Lutharian Navy, their own firepower was completely lacking, and failed to cause any significant damage to the shields of the Germanic Fleet's larger ships.

Though a few Corvettes were forced to withdraw from the front lines due to suffering heavy damage at the hands of the Lutharian Fleet, they could easily be repaired, and the losses to personnel were minimal, to say the least.

Thus, Erich and his pilots skillfully maneuvered through another wave of hostile fighters as they made their way to the next Lutharian capital ship.

---

While Erich and his pilots were fighting a battle within disputed space between the Great Oni Empire and the Lutharian Ascendency. Yumi was in the act of forcing her great niece to watch the livestream, which Erich's helmet cam displayed to the Galaxy at large.

For the sake of this battle, the GSE had given permission to their soldiers to stream it to the wider galaxy, as a way to remind them all that the Germanic Star-Empire may have suffered horrific losses, but they were not broken, and they were certainly not defeated.

And while Yumi watched the scene with a smirk on her face, while drinking from a bottle of sake, Ayumi was amazed at how quickly the Germanic Fleet was able to vaporize their enemies. Not only that, but the size distance between the Germanic ships and those of the Great Oni Navy was quite vast. She could not believe that such an upstart of a civilization was so quickly able to field such monumental weapons of war.

Of course compared to the fleets of those Galactic Powers, and Tier III sub-galactic powers, the Germanic Star-Empire's Armada was but child's play, but Ayumi was not well versed enough in galactic politics to understand this, and thus she simply watched with awe as the battle unfolded. By the time Erich had scored his 37th kill, the girl could not but help exclaim in shock.

"Aunt Yumi, how many enemy fighters has this man shot down by now? It has to be at least two dozen!"

Yumi did not hear her great niece's question, instead she was focused intently on the screen which displayed Erich's exceptional ability to both perform as a combat pilot, and command his Air Group, which remarkably had so far not suffered a single casualty.

The Oni beauty licked her lips as she wore a sultry smile on her face all while speaking her mind without even realizing it.

"I never knew he was so gifted.... A pity he did not come back with me. He would have made a great instructor to our future pilots."

Ayumi did not understand what her aunt meant by this, and perked her brows as she asked one simple question, as if checking to see if Yumi was alright.

"Aunt Yumi?"

These words had finally snapped Yumi out of her daze, as she quickly wore a smile which concealed the lust in her eyes, before assuring her great niece that everything was alright.

"Sorry, Ayumi, I blanked out there for a second. What were you asking me?"

Ayumi shifted her gaze back to the holographic projection which displayed the ongoing battle, and the communications which Erich was engaging in. She then looked back at her aunt and posed a question she probably shouldn't have.

"Aunt Yumi, do you know this pilot?"

Yumi smiled and nodded her head, with a bit of pride on her face as she admitted to knowing Erich to her great niece.

"Indeed, I do. I met him on one of my trips to the Germanic Star-Empire. Curious young man, it's a shame he has had to endure such hardships in his young life. But I am sure the future has something great in store for him. It would be a pity if he had to suffer so much, and was never able to move past it."

Ayumi did not know just what hardships Erich had been through, but she could tell by the words that her great aunt had spoken, that she appeared to be quite familiar with the man, if not outright friendly, and thus she was quick to ask the next question on her mind.

"Is he a friend of yours?"

Yumi gazed upon the screen as Erich scored his next kill and thought about this question deeply. In the end, she sighed and shook her head before revealing her thoughts on the matter.

"I wouldn't say we are friends per se, but we are on fairly good terms. And I know a great deal about the young man. At the very least, I will be watching his military career with a close eye. After all, in the Germanic Star-Empire the quickest way to climb the political ladder is through exemplary military service, and it would appear that his quite gifted in the areas of combat, and command.

Anyway, as you can see, this battle will be settled soon. Honestly, if you ask me, the Germanic Star-Empire should have just sent us a single carrier strike group in support. Because sending an entire fleet has turned out to be a bit of overkill, don't you think?"

Ayumi watched as another Lutharian capital ship was blasted apart by a combination of the Germanic Fleet and its attached air groups. Like her great aunt had said, it would not be long before the battle was over. If anything, the Lutharians would flee before their entire fleet was destroyed, which would make it even shorter. Thus, she simply nodded her head in silence as she agreed with Yumi, while wondering about what her relationship was with the man on the screen.

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