Emma took a deep breath, trying to focus as she entered Atalante's cockpit.

"Show your worth... that's all that matters now."

She had been cold towards Melea's crew upon returning to the hangar.

She knew she had been harsh, and not everything she said was entirely true. But she had to say it.

"If you can't stand up here, the army will abandon Melea."

Melea's crew lacked enthusiasm, but Emma didn't dislike them. They had, after all, once desperately defended the Banfield family. She wanted to reach out to them, even though their spirits were broken.

"If you're used to fighting for injustice, I'll be stubborn."

Her expression turned serious. Emma opened a communication line to the bridge and appealed to the commander.

"This is Lieutenant Emma Rodman. Bridge, our ship is too far from our allies. Please advance Melea to the designated point."

As she spoke, she indicated the target airspace. The operator on the monitor was speechless.

After a brief pause, he finally realized what she said and yelled at her.

"Little missy, you're getting a bit too cocky. What do you mean by a mere Knight Lieutenant giving orders to the bridge?"

His voice was gravelly, but Emma replied without fear.

"The flagship's orders state that Melea's location should be further forward. I'm reporting a violation of orders."

"You're so high and mighty," the operator sneered.

Before he could yell again, the commander, a Colonel, took over.

"Lieutenant, Melea will remain in the rear."

"Why? Are you saying we should watch our allies struggle while we stay back?"

"That's right."

The commander showed no remorse.

"We've followed every unreasonable order in the past. Unlike you, Lieutenant, you don't know what real hell is."

The old army had seen hell. A battlefield that Emma couldn't even imagine.

But...

"I understand your reasoning, Commander, but I can't overlook a violation of orders. I'm taking temporary command of Melea... I will."

"What are you saying? You're a Lieutenant!"

Emma's statement was unacceptable in the army, but this was the Banfield family's army, which adopted the Imperial style.

"I can't ignore a commander breaking orders. Besides, Knights have the privilege of leading their unit regardless of rank depending on the situation."

As Emma asserted her privilege, the commander's face contorted.

"Do you think there's anyone on this ship who will listen to your orders? Absurd!"

"It's absurd on your end. When will you stop being so stubborn?"

"What?"

"The army rebuilt Melea and equipped it with new machines. Now it's your turn to respond to the army for providing you with the environment you wanted."

"A clueless child talking big. What we've been through in the past..."

"I'm talking about the present. If you're going to make excuses and run away, you should have left the army honourably."

Emma's straightforward question left the commander speechless.

He tried to cut the communication as if fleeing, but Emma gritted her teeth.

(Even if I attack alone, Melea's current situation won't change.)

Just as she thought this was the end, a communication came in from the flagship.

It was Heidi, Marie's second-in-command, appearing on the monitor.

"This is Commodore Heidi of the flagship. This is for Melea. Immediately place yourselves under the command of Lieutenant Emma Rodman. Also, Lieutenant, you can use Russell's boys as you see fit."

Emma was surprised to be given command of Russell's squad.

"I'm a Lieutenant, Commodore. I can't command Captain Russell's squad."

"Then, good news. Your rank will be temporarily promoted to Captain based on the situation. Your Knight rank will also be upgraded to A. Use them as you please, pilot of Atalante."

"That's... well, thank you."

This was a preferential treatment for Emma, but Heidi's intention was "If this fails, give up."

It was as if he was saying that if Emma couldn't achieve anything even with Russell's squad, she should give up on Melea.

Finally, Heidi gave Melea a warning.

"And, Colonel, I won't tolerate any further violations of orders. If you defy me again, be prepared for the entire crew to face execution."

As Heidi ended the communication, the commander slammed his fist on the armrest of his seat.

"These privileged Knights!"

After the communication with the commander ended, the operator grudgingly said,

"Tsk! You asked for it. We'll send you to your death!"

◇

The flagship of the Dahlia Mercenary Corps.

Sirena frowned as she looked at the number of Rebel fleets from the bridge.

"If it had been the expected number, we could have finished this more easily."

The Dahlia Mercenary Corps had five hundred ships participating in this battle.

The Rebels, including their allies, totaled two thousand.

It would be worrying if they were space pirates, but the Rebels were, after all, part of the regular army until recently.

The Dahlia Mercenary Corps was also a fleet trained by Sirena.

Even against the Banfield family's fleet, they had a good chance of winning.

Her second-in-command agreed with Sirena and consulted her on future plans.

"The enemy is persistent. They fight well against twice their number. Isn't their commander quite a skilled tactician?"

Sirena checked the enemy commander's information on her terminal.

It was information she had obtained from River.

"Marie Marian, Vice-Admiral... oh? She's registered as attending the Imperial University."

"University student? Even so, if she doesn't have a middle name, does that mean she's a Knight candidate?"

"A bit of a strange case, isn't she? Perhaps they forcefully recruited a talented Knight from abroad and made her an Imperial Knight."

"The nobles are quite forceful about everything. What should we do about this formidable opponent? If we continue like this, we'll suffer casualties even if we don't lose."

"Prepare my ship. If we destroy one of their precious super-large transport ships, it will throw their command into disarray."

Her second-in-command nodded and gave instructions to her subordinates.

"Prepare Sirena-sama's Gold Raccoon immediately!"

However, Sirena frowned, as she didn't like the ship's name.

"I told you to change the ship's name to Chimera."

"Huh? Oh, right. But with that appearance, Chimera is..."

"Just do it!"

"Y-yes! Prepare the Chimera, the commander's ship, immediately!"

◇

Melea, which had jumped into the battlefield, was met with enemy fire.

Various communications flooded Atalante's cockpit.

First, from the bridge.

"We're in a real mess thanks to you, Knight! Hey, is your defensive field alright?"

"Thanks to the repairs, it's stronger than before."

"Then get rid of those troublesome guys quickly!"

The bridge was trying to get rid of Emma and her crew by calling them troublesome.

Then, there was the noisy Russell Squad.

The cause was Charl.

"Why do we have to be under her command? Just because she got a temporary promotion, we have Captain Russell here!"

Youm also didn't understand.

"It's an order from above, but it doesn't make sense, does it? It reeks of connections."

Youm's idea wasn't entirely wrong.

But Russell, while dissatisfied, accepted the order.

"You guys, this is an order. When it's a direct order from Marie-sama, we knights have to swallow our complaints and carry it out."

However, Char and Youm didn't seem convinced.

"Captain, you're personally okay with this, right?"

"Of course, you'd be excited to be ordered by your idol. You probably want to show off and get praised, right?"

Ignoring his two subordinates, Russell spoke to Emma.

"So, Lieutenant... I mean, Captain Rodman, what are our objectives?"

Even though they bickered amongst themselves, Russell Squad was well-organized, making Emma envious.

"We're going to attack the enemy fleet to rescue the struggling units."

The allies who were being attacked couldn't move freely because they were protecting their target.

The enemy was closing the distance steadily, resulting in close-range combat, which was unusual for a fleet battle.

And there were mobile knights flying around.

The situation was intense, with fierce close-range combat in a narrow battlefield.

"I understand."

"Huh?"

Emma was surprised by Russell's straightforward acceptance.

It showed on her face.

Russell averted his gaze from Emma.

"Sure, I don't approve of you, but I won't disobey orders. If they put us under your command, I'll obey. However, if I judge that you lack the capacity to use us, I'll report it to the higher-ups."

The elite knight, who was a difficult teammate.

As Emma gained experience, she started to see him in a better light.

"Thank you. We're going out."

Atalante's hangar lock was released, and it was lifted by an arm and moved towards the electromagnetic catapult.

Russell's Nevan Customs followed suit.

The operator's voice came through.

"Ready to go."

"Atalante, we're going."

Atalante was launched from the catapult and ejected into space.

Then, it accelerated using its backpack booster.

It matched the speed of the Nevan Customs following behind and took a leading position in front of the three ships.

"We'll target the enemy ship directly!"

"Roger!" "Yes, sir!" "Time for work!"

Although the three had their own thoughts about Emma, they still obeyed the orders.

The four accelerating ships headed towards the enemy fleet that was pushing back their allies.

A dozen ships, centered around a five hundred-meter battleship.

Emma and the others plunged towards the battleship.

"We'll target the battleship first."

Atalante aimed its specialized multi-purpose beam rifle, but Youm fired first.

He had a large rifle and fired before Emma.

"Going for a big one right away, huh? You're reckless... I'll cover you."

He targeted the mobile knights deployed around the area.

Next, Charl jumped into the fray.

"Oh, man, I can't get any points unless it's against another knight..."

Charl's ship destroyed the enemy mobile knight, securing the entrance for them.

Russell shouted.

"Enemy ships around us are focusing fire on us. We can't stay here for long. We'll become a beehive."

Even with the Nevan type, they would be destroyed if they were hit by concentrated fire.

Emma realized that Russell was paying attention to the surrounding situation.

"I'll take care of it."

(This squad is more competent than I expected.)

Atalante accelerated and slammed into the enemy ship's defensive field.

Sparks flew, and an electric discharge occurred around the ship, but...

"There's no way Atalante will stop just because of this!"

Atalante's booster lit up as if it were spewing fire, breaking through the defensive field.

It then aimed its beam at the enemy ship's bridge and fired.

The blast, charged with Atalante's surplus energy, easily pierced through the bridge and... went straight through the other side of the ship.

The bridge exploded, causing a chain reaction within the ship.

The enemy ship retaliated with its anti-air optical weapons, but Atalante dodged them and moved away from the ship.

By then, the other three ships had reached Atalante's side.

Charl was surprised as she watched the enemy battleship explode.

"She actually blew a hole through it and sank the battleship."

Emma didn't feel a sense of elation from destroying the enemy battleship, but rather, a sense of discomfort.

"We're moving to the next target."

To save their allies, Atalante and Russell Squad headed towards their next target.