But it was already too late.
Among the three cruisers, two managed to execute evasive maneuvers in time.
The "North Star"...
Due to a 0.3-second delay in fire control system interference feedback, its evasion was half a beat too slow.
That half-beat decided life and death.
Four energy beams shot from the Brown Bear Fleet's cannons, crossing four hundred thousand kilometers of void.
Three of them grazed the North Star's broadside, shields flashing violently but remaining intact.
The fourth struck the midsection of the hull with precision.
Not at the intended aiming point.
Based on the North Wind's actual movement trajectory, this shot should have missed.
But the Fire Fox Fleet's interference caused the North Wind's own fire control system to send incorrect evasion commands to the shipboard computer.
The computer "believed" it should turn 15 degrees left, but actually executed an 8-degree turn to the right.
Thus, the North Star "collided" with the death beam that should have passed it by.
Explosive flames bloomed outside the Iron Spine's observation window.
The North Star's four-kilometer-long hull snapped in half, blue-white light from the uncontrolled reactor gushing from the fracture, then...
A second, larger explosion.
The entire cruiser transformed into a rapidly expanding fireball, metal fragments scattering outward like torrential rain.
Deathly silence fell on the bridge.
The casualty list began scrolling: North Star, crew of three hundred twenty-seven, confirmed survivors... zero.
"They..." a young officer murmured.
"They made us kill ourselves..."
Not direct destruction, but induction.
Inducing your systems to err, inducing your ship to perform wrong maneuvers, inducing you to enable the enemy's precision through your own mistakes.
It doesn't directly take your life - it makes you an accomplice in your own death.
Zhao Rui stared at the expanding debris cloud, facial muscles twitching violently.
But he didn't roar or curse, only slowly turned to face the Gunnery Chief.
"Shut it off," his voice hoarse.
"Shut off all automatic fire control, trajectory prediction, motion compensation.
Switch targeting systems to the most primitive manual-optical-fixed lead mode."
The Gunnery Chief froze.
"But Commander, at 500,000 kilometers range, manual targeting hit rate won't exceed..."
"Then use quantity to compensate for quality," Zhao Rui interrupted, eyes bloodshot.
"Entire fleet, switch to saturation fire.
Don't target individual ships, aim at entire sectors of the enemy fleet formation.
Use firepower density to replace firing accuracy."
He paused, adding a final order.
"And all ships, switch evasion maneuvers to manual operation.
Stop trusting the course recommendations from computers."
The order was given.
The Uranus Fleet's remaining eleven starships began changing tactics.
Cannons no longer sought to lock single targets, instead commencing saturation barrages.
Missiles abandoned precision guidance for area saturation attacks.
Hit rates plummeted further to 40%, precision hit rate nearly zero.
But this time, the Brown Bear Fleet's advance finally began to slow.
When overwhelming firepower no longer aimed for "critical hits" but settled for "hitting the target," even the most precise electronic interference couldn't help a massive fleet completely evade all attacks.
An energy beam grazed the shields of the Brown Bear Fleet's flagship.
Two stray shots struck the broadside of an electronic warfare ship in the Fire Fox Fleet.
Three missiles detonated within the Imperial Fleet's formation. Though none scored direct hits, the shrapnel still caused shield readings on several destroyers to drop.
Crude, inefficient, wasteful of ammunition.
But effective.
Because the Imperial Fleet was forced to disperse its formation.
Forced to allocate more power to maintain shields.
Forced to decelerate for complex maneuvers to evade the unpredictable saturation fire.
Their advance speed dropped from 150,000 kilometers per second to 100,000, then to 70,000.
Time was being dragged out, bit by bit.
Zhao Rui watched the tactical screen where the red dots representing enemy forces finally began to slow, observed their own plummeting hit rate of 35%, and saw the mixture of grief and determination on every face on the bridge.
He knew this was merely trading ammunition for time, exchanging crew lives for distance.
But he also knew that before Yang Shao's main force arrived, this was the only thing they could do.
"All ships."
His voice echoed through the communication channel to every Federal starship still fighting.
"Maintain saturation fire. Accuracy isn't required—density is.
Make them pay for every kilometer they advance."
He gazed through the observation window where the Imperial Fleet was struggling forward through the dense but chaotic fire net.
Beyond that net of fire, the Seventh Jump Point hung silently in the void.
Like the only calm within the eye of a storm.
Just as the Uranus Fleet's saturation fire net began to thin and ammunition reserves neared depletion in this desperate hour—
From the other side of deep space, a massive fleet slowly emerged.
The entire fleet maintained a complete combat formation, like a metallic leviathan leaping from the abyss, instantly filling the entire space behind the Welles Fleet.
The Iron Fist Sub-Fleet's main force had arrived.
The flagship battleship Indomitable occupied the center, its hull gleaming with a cold gray sheen under the starlight.
Flanking it were twelve starships from the Neptune Fleet, thirteen from the Polaris Fleet, twelve from the Vega Fleet, and elite ships from the directly subordinate fleet.
In total, over forty-nine Federal main force starships completed battlefield deployment within mere seconds.
Instead of immediately opening fire, they rapidly deployed into a massive semi-encirclement arc, all weapons aimed at the rear formation of the Welles Fleet.
This was where the Poison Spider and Ranger Fleets were positioned—the most vulnerable part of the Imperial formation.
On the bridge of the Imperial Glory, sensor alarms nearly pierced eardrums.
"Large-scale Federal fleet detected rear!"
The operator's voice trembled with panic.
"Numbers... exceeding forty-nine ships!
It's the Iron Fist Sub-Fleet's main force!
They've appeared behind us!"
Wells spun around, eyes locked on the new cluster of blue dots appearing on the tactical screen.
The dots were as dense as stars on a summer night, and still rapidly deploying into formation.
A standard encirclement and annihilation formation.
"How is this possible..."
His voice trembled for the first time.
"How could they be this fast..."
"Didn't I lay down a smokescreen for them, luring them toward the Third and Ninth Jump Points?
Why are they all here?!"
"Commander!"
The adjutant's voice was equally panicked.
"We have interceptors ahead and pursuers behind, we're already..."
"Silence!"
Wells' roar cut off the adjutant's words.
The veteran took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
His gaze quickly shifted across the tactical screen to the front lines. The Uranus Fleet's defensive line was already faltering but still stubbornly blocking the path before the Seventh Jump Point.
To the rear, the main force of the Iron Fist Sub-Fleet was completing its encirclement.
To both flanks... lay deep space, but also certain doom. Once forced off the warp point course, there would be no second chance.