“They were tightening their defense now, and becoming more compact.”
Onboard the River-class Elbe, Captain Rainer of Cignus watched the horizon. His ship, once a simple escort, had been refitted with twin rail launchers on the old gun deck — the SD-1NA, or Sea-Dragon-1 Naval Adapted. Its purpose was clear — intercept enemy missiles before they could reach the outdated World War II-era vessels of Sanctium.
“It’s a very precarious situation,” the captain said quietly, eyes fixed on the scope. “We’re only thirty-five kilometers from the Yugoslav fleet — and about fifty from shore.”
“Captain, three contacts detected — anti-ship missiles inbound!” one of his officers reported, raising a hand. “We got a lock!”
“Fire!” the captain barked.
Flames burst from the launchers as two seeker missiles screamed off the Elbe’s deck. Across the formation, seven more River-class ships joined in, creating an overlapping curtain of interceptors to ensure none of the Yugoslav missiles slipped through. The sky lit up — explosions and shockwaves rippled across the water. Some interceptors collided directly with incoming missiles, others detonated nearby, setting off chain explosions in the air. When the flashes cleared, every hostile missile was gone.
“Immediately reload the launchers,” the captain ordered.
The crew moved fast. Cranes swung into place, lowering fresh missiles onto the rails still hot from the last launch. Technicians checked connections, locked clamps, and linked guidance lines to the targeting computer. Within three minutes, both rails were armed again. The launcher swiveled and elevated, sensors wheezing.
“It’s green, Captain,” the deck officer called out.
The captain gave a short nod. “Good. Hold for the next wave.”
Then came the next call — sharp, urgent. “Enemy aircraft inbound!”
“Have Sanctium’s high-angle guns take care of them,” the captain replied. “We don’t have the luxury to waste our interceptors on planes.”
The signal went out. Sanctium’s fleet came alive with noise and flame. Old twin-mounts and automatic guns spat fire into the sky — VT-fuse shells bursting above in white flashes. The incoming Jastrebs began evasive maneuvers, climbing and twisting to avoid the dense flak. But before pulling out, they loosed their bombs in high-speed toss bombing, hoping to extend their range without flying into the heaviest barrage.
Columns of spray rose around the ships as bombs hit the sea wide and short. None struck. The fleet held its defense fine — smoke trailing over the water, the sound of guns echoing across the gray horizon.
“I really love the smell of desperation,” Rainer uttered with a grin. As much as Yugoslavia wanted to sink the fleet bombarding their cities and coastal settlements, they were seriously lacking anti-ship missiles in meaningful numbers to threaten the inbound fleet of Sanctium. Covered by the fleet of Cignus, any subsonic anti-ship missiles could be easily intercepted. Most of Yugoslavia’s aerial assets didn’t even have air-launched anti-ship weapons — they had to rely on bombs or rockets, both of which required getting dangerously close to use.
They hardly had any training and never anticipated, back on Earth, that they would need to fight an anti-ship campaign. When they still had Osa boats and submarines as deterrents, they had some balance — but now, after being transferred to another world, Yugoslavia found itself in an awful situation it could not cope with.
The report came through the radio, clear but tense.
“Sanctium Fleet to Cignus — we have the enemy ships in range in seven minutes. Our battleship guns can hit them soon.”
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Very Wrong Reincarnation: Isekai with Game Nation
AdventureA college student with the name of Oliver was reincarnated in another world together with the nation he formerly created in a game that he abandoned a long time ago and needed to survive in, the war-torn and barbaric world of Pandora, which is 4.7 t...
