In war strategy room at frigate Toppo-01, Admiral Jarros kept taking a deep sigh. Previously, he decided that Sommer Island had to be seized as quickly as possible to minimize the damage. So he scrapped Duke Fogel’s plan to soften the defensive line on Sommer Island by launching continues salvo of footbow and trebuchet. From the first wave of attack, he directly sent the landing troops.

Unfortunately, his decision met with a catastrophic failure. The landing troop was wiped out to the last men. And now, even though the number of warships under his command was still quite huge, he knew for sure it would not be enough to conquer Sommer Island. He also couldn't put the whole fleet under the risk of getting wiped out without consulting it first with Prince Dellan.

And so, Admiral Jarros asked Prince Dellan to decide the next step he had to take. After waiting for three hours, finally one of the staff officers approached Admiral Jarros while holding a portable crystal communicator.

“Admiral, Prince Dellan wanted to talk with you in private.”

“I see."

The staff officer immediately handed over the crystal communicator before taking his leave. Wasting no time, Admiral Jarros then started the long-range conversation.

“Your Highness, Jarros is ready to receive your instruction.”

[Admiral, I had read the report you sent. For now, just launch a blockade on Sommer Island from a safety distance.]

“Your Highness, even if I able to launch a sea blockade, TF Amethyst's aerial asset is continued to land in Sommer Island. So far, our crystal sensor detected two flights had landed over there.”

[The point is that you don’t need to provoke them, but have to be ready to take decision action when the time is ripe.

They put a serious defensive measure in this small rocky island. It means they have something valuable there, and I want you to seize it no matter what the cost is.]

“As you wish, Your Highness.”

[Good.] After a moment of paused, Prince Dellan then continued, [Actually, my situation is also not too good. I lost around 300 Riders in span of two hours.]

In an instant a deep shocked was reflected on Admiral Jarros’ eyes, but he managed to suppress it. “Buriek’s Rider definitely used the same tactics like the one they used to defend Sommer Island."

[It seems so. Unfortunately, we have no survivor who can tell the details. But at least, I managed to pull the remaining Riders back before they were wiped out.]

"Your Highness is wise," replied Admiral Jarros in a tone full of flattery.

[For now, I have switched my priority from conducting heavy harassment into securing human shields. I predict the survivors of our harassment tactic will go into nearby fortress city after sunset. So I will send cavalry elements to intercept and capture them.

Once I have enough human shields, I will send some to you, along with Riders and landing troops. Then, you can continue your offensive.]

“Understood, Your Highness.”

[Good, keep sending me daily update then, even if there is no new development.]

“As you wish, Your Highness.”

Once the conversation ended, Admiral Jarros immediately smiled. Initially, he thought Prince Dellan would replace him, but it seemed he still had a chance to fix his failure.

‘As long as I have enough Riders, landing troops, and human shields, the defensive line on Sommer Island will crumble sooner or later,’ muttered Admiral Jarros as cold gleam reflected on his eyes.

---

At noon, Lt. Colonel Gillray went to one of ammunition depots in FRS Goblin. During the trip, he met Buriek's Sailor who had just finished harvesting arrows from second defensive line.

All Kingdom of Buriek's elite units had already adopted rapid-loading crossbow as primary weapon, but the regular and reserve units were still using footbow and longbow. Therefore the arrows would be very useful for them. Not to mention it was numbered more than 20.000 arrows.

'They are very casual even though this station is still on high-alert,' muttered Lt. Colonel Gillray as he parked his Humvee.

Then, as soon as he entered the ammunition depot, Lt. Colonel Gillray immediately saw some mechanics were using a pulley to install 16 Harpoons into four unit of Mk.141 Launching System. Wasting no time, he immediately approached Major Hannesson.

“Major, do we have any problem in deploying Harpoon?"

"Technically, we are good, but I have other concern, Sir."

"Well, I'm all ears."

Without delay Major Hannesson started explaining, “The Harpoons are already armed and packed in launcher canister. So we don’t need to assemble them. It makes our job easier, but it also makes each Hercules only able to carry eight Harpoons on each trip. Overall, it will need 72 hours before all Harpoons from Sandhur Region arrive in this station.

Not only lot of things could happen while the Harpoon being airlifting, but the number is also too few. So, instead of Harpoon, why don't we ask for additional ammo for our existing weapon systems? Considering that this morning they were very effective in defending this station."

In a calm tone Lt. Colonel Gillray replied, “I had sent that request to Castle Lagra. They agree and the next pair of Hercules will bring us spare parts and ammo for our Ripper and other toys. The amount will be enough to increase our capability in defending this station for the next ten days.”

"I see."

“At the same time, until Ashore Aegis Combat System in this station received their missiles, Harley Quinn had decided that all Harpoons will be stationed here."

“Understood, Sir.” After taking a breath full of relief Major Hannesson continued, “Now, about the launching procedure for the Harpoon. Before I explain it, may I know how deep you understand this issue, Sir?”

“Major, I have zero technical knowledge or experience on Harpoon,” Lt. Colonel Gillray replied honestly.

After nodding his head a few times Major Flyod started explaining, “Harpoon is actually a simple system. We can launch it from Hornet, Poseidon, small attack craft, land-based launcher, or Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.

The launching console need only one table, one operator, and small power supply. After setting the coordinate and the course to the target, operator can launch one Harpoon to the air.

However, it will need 22 second interval between each launch. And as Lagra Castle sent us 10 launching console, then our rate of fire will be 10 Harpoons every 22 seconds.”

“It's too low." Lt. Colonel Gillray pondered for a moment before continuing, "Can you connect the launching console to our Aegis and shorten the launching interval?"

“I already did.“ Major Hannesson calmly continued, “But Harpoon is not part of Aegis Combat System and it doesn’t have time-share radar illumination capability to enable engaging multiple targets in quick succession. It will still 22 second interval between each launch."

In an instant, Lt. Colonel Gillray frowned. As a former USAF officer, he had to pass Aegis Combat System’s course before becoming CO of FRS Goblin. So he knew that in a configuration of 96-cell Vertical Launcher, Aegis Combat System could send 12 missiles to 12 different targets in one go, even though the doctrine dictated that every high-level threat had to be intercepted by two missiles to increase the rate of success.

As for FRS Goblin which was equipped with 64-cell Vertical Launcher, it would be able to send eight missiles in one go towards four mid-size dragons that came from four different directions. However, in the Aegis Combat System's course he did not find any class that discussed Harpoon. Now, he knew the reason.

“Damn. No wonder Navy want to kick Harpoon out of Arleigh Burke-class destroyer.”

Major Hannesson nodded and said, “In Cold War, we need every single missile we have in disposal. That’s why Navy put Harpoon in first generation Arleigh Burke-class destroyer. However, once the Cold War end, Harpoon lost its main value, the huge number of stockpiles.

This is one of the reasons why XO can procure 800 Harpoons silently. Unfortunately, so far less than half of the number has arrived.”

“I see.” After taking a deep breath, Lt. Colonel Gillray then turned his gaze to Major Hannesson. “Major, I will bear it in my mind, 10 Harpoons every 22 seconds.”

“Yes, Sir.”

After some small talk, Lt. Colonel Gillray then returned to Command Center.

*****