A Fleet of Only Three Ships
The Astraea had been disguised to resemble the Eirene.
A massive structure, over fifty meters in size, was outfitted with two enormous wheels, adorned with an emblem of a goddess resembling Eirene. The deception was flawless—there was no better camouflage.
「A fleet of only three ships, huh?」
Kou smiled. This was the maiden voyage of Trireme’s Space Fleet.
Inside the combat command center, the usual crew members were present, along with Blue and Libya.
Kou took his seat in the command chair. This time, he resigned himself to the inevitable—he would have to act as Outis for the mission.
「This is the Pericles. All preparations are complete.」
Matt had assumed the role of captain of the Pericles. The newly added third ship was even more powerful than the Pericles—a formidable space carrier.
「This is the Izumo. Preparations are complete.」
The newly christened Izumo was a mid-sized, transformable space carrier, approximately one kilometer in class. It was originally the captured Aglaonice, now fully repaired. Since they had seized it nearly intact, it had been swiftly restored at the factory within the R001 Fortress Area where the Orbital Elevator was located, making it an impromptu yet valuable addition to their fleet.
The Pleiades Unit of Misumaru Heavy Industries and the Type-0 Division of Gogyou had seized the ship, and as such, its ownership had been transferred to the two companies.
In place of the destroyed anti-air lasers, railguns had been installed, while the existing systems were maintained and put into operation.
The captain of the ship was Eri.
「I am Kushinada, the support AI of the transformable carrier Izumo. I am one of Eirene’s clone AIs. Pleased to meet you.」
An AI resembling Eirene appeared.
「Why does Eirene have a name from Japanese mythology…?」
Kou’s expression darkened. This was the issue.
Different from her combination with Abel, the combination of Eirene and Kinugawa felt like a dangerous one. He recalled hearing something before—the Japanese Navy was, in a way, a branch of the British Royal Navy.
「Support for Gogyou and Misumaru is handled by Eirene.」
「I see. That makes sense.」
Outis nodded with composed approval. Somehow, he was getting better at playing his role—so much so that he even found it odd himself.
「Speaking of history… Izumo was originally the name of an armored cruiser from the Meiji era. The name was later inherited by an escort vessel. The original Izumo was built by the British Armstrong Company and fought through the Pacific War alongside the great battleship Haruna. Inside the ship, there was a shrine dedicated to Kushinada-hime.」
「So that’s why the AI was named Kushinada. That makes sense.」
Kinugawa provided an explanation over the communications channel. Kou nodded, now fully understanding why Izumo had been originally built by the British.
「Interstellar travel, huh? Feels like something straight out of science fiction.」
「With this, we’re astronauts—astronautes. More like wolves racing through space!」
Kinugawa was clearly excited, becoming more talkative than usual.
「Launch preparations complete. The launch sequence will be the Pericles, the Izumo, and then the Astraea.」
The three orbital elevators on Planet Asia also functioned as spaceports. Large Fortress Areas with spaceport capabilities were rare.
Although each ship was capable of independently reaching orbit, this mission involved long-distance travel. Fuel conservation was a priority—keeping reserves as high as possible was crucial. In high-speed space combat, fuel consumption could spike rapidly.
「Trireme Space Fleet, launch!」
At Kou’s command, the mass driver system for space vessel launches began deployment at the R001 Fortress Area.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
The facility had remained unused for a long time—a mass driver system designed for interplanetary travel. It functioned as a catapult, utilizing the principles of a helical railgun. Despite its long dormancy, the mass driver managed by Asia was in perfect working order, with no malfunctions.
A massive tunnel emerged from beneath the ocean, rising from the water far offshore. Like a roller coaster, it abruptly shifted into a near-vertical trajectory, launching the ships skyward.
Each orbital elevator was located near the equator, making it an ideal position for launches.
「After launch via mass driver, we will conduct an orbital correction maneuver to establish a stable orbit. Using a Hohmann transfer—specifically a bi-elliptic transfer—we will perform a gravity assist to reach Planet Libya.」
「Understood.」
Kou had no idea what any of that actually meant, but he responded anyway.
「To efficiently utilize the two circular orbits, we will engage the thrusters to take advantage of the Oberth effect. Is that acceptable?」
Rather than making gradual adjustments to the orbit over a long period using weak thruster bursts, it was far more efficient to execute a strong burst, rapidly shifting the trajectory.
Astraea had explained that utilizing the Oberth effect in the initial phase was optimal, but Kou still didn’t fully grasp the concept.
Looking at the video feed, he saw Kinugawa nodding enthusiastically. No doubt Kushinada would soon be bombarded with his relentless questions.
Matt seemed to share Kou’s level of understanding—or lack thereof.
「Roger that!」
A few minutes later, the Pericles was transported into its designated position.
The launch was scheduled for ten minutes later.
Next was the Izumo. The sight of these massive warships launching one after another was nothing short of spectacular.
Finally, it was the Astraea’s turn.
「So, this is my first time in space.」
「Just make sure you don’t step outside without a suit. In a vacuum, you’d be dead within minutes. Without an atmosphere, heat has no way to dissipate, and your body would rapidly overheat. More importantly, exposure to harmful cosmic radiation presents numerous fatal risks.」
「I know that much!」
「Are you sure?」
Astraea smiled sweetly—it was clear she was teasing him. That overly complicated explanation earlier had probably been a setup just to mess with him.
「You all… I mean, seriously. You have it rough. That guy is really good at seducing AIs. Even I felt something.」
Libya spoke to Aimer and the others. From her perspective, she had no intention of getting involved with someone her sister had feelings for, so she remained composed. But the others weren’t so detached—Asia and even Astraea had become rivals now.
「So that’s how it is, nya… He’s really good at winning over AIs, nya…」
「I’m glad to have your understanding, Libya.」
「Seriously. It doesn’t matter whether they have a physical form or not, he just attracts them all the same.」
「Yeah…」
The frustration of the women spilled out all at once, but Libya could only watch them with a pained expression.
「Even I’ve never seen Astraea like this before… That alone says a lot.」
「We know…」
Nyanta answered weakly.
It was hard to believe this was the same Astraea—a legend feared for nearly annihilating the entire star system. Right now, she was functioning more as a substitute for her original capabilities.
「The fact that he’s completely unaware of it… is terrifying.」
Back in the Interplanetary War era, just hearing the name Astraea had been enough to send shivers down the spines of anyone involved in warfare.
「Ever since Kou was transported here, he has been receiving personal tutoring from Astraea. She’s probably the one who has spent more time alone with him.」
「Wait, what? Is that even safe?」
Libya wasn’t thinking about it in the romantic sense—like a student being taught by a beautiful teacher and the two getting romantically involved.
From her perspective, the real issue was that the strongest killing machine in the star system had been personally instructing a student with maximum-level access. That was insanely dangerous.
「Technically, the three of us were there too… but now that I think about it, he was getting constant training on bricolage.」
Aki shuddered as she tried to offer some reassurance. But thinking about it rationally, she realized—only now—just how much of a risk that situation had been.
「I can hear you, you know? Everyone, please take your seats.」
Hearing Astraea’s voice, they all hurriedly sat down, cold sweat forming on their brows.
「What’s going on?」
「Oh, nothing at all. Just some girl talk, it seems.」
「R-right…」
Kou decided not to press further.
「Beginning countdown. Three… two… one… zero.」
The gravity control system aboard the Astraea was flawless.
The G-forces weren’t particularly strong; just like the system in the MCS, inside the ship, forces within a 50G range could be significantly mitigated.
As the Astraea began gliding along the rail, it rapidly accelerated.
At last, the Astraea launched into space.
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