Battleship Albion (1)

Something had gone wrong.

It was the thought that entered Richard's mind, the captain of the First Battleship Squadron, as he watched flashes erupting over the sea.

The effective range of the Republic fleet's guns was in the low-to-mid teens of kilometers. He had thought a dreadnought's guns would have somewhat greater range, but...

"They're opening fire from 21,000 meters...?"

During the roughly thirty seconds it took the shells to land, all sorts of thoughts raced through Richard's mind.

Was it warning fire? Were they firing despite being out of range? To startle us? Or to tell us not to approach?

Were they wary of us drawing near because, even if our performance was far inferior, we had the numbers?

None of the answers made logical sense. There was simply no reason to fire the guns from well beyond their range. It would only waste shells without helping their aim in the slightest.

Then that meant the Imperial battleships really did have that kind of range...

No way...