Air and Space-use Ballistic Panjandrum
「It’s done. Here we go, Kou-san!」
The Harmonia was finally completed. It only took a little over two hours. Unit Five was already stored inside the plane.
The Harmonia was more like a rocket with large wings attached to it rather than an airplane.
Kou was rather curious about the two large Baumkuchen-shaped radomes equipped to it.
「What are those Baumkuchen-shaped equipment?」
「They’re equipment that will be used to scope out the enemy’s strength!」
「Are they radars or something like that? Got it.」
Abel grasped the flight lever inside his MCS and announced the situation to Kou and the others within Astraea.
「Altitude is currently 100 km. We will briefly ascend to outer space and descend in one go once we reach the target coordinates. We will aim directly for Fortress Area P336. Now then, here we go! 3, 2, 1, 0. GO!」
Harmonia launched away from Astraea.
The Fortress Area’s shelter dome had already been opened to make way for its ascent.
Kou was feeling rather tense. He was currently inside Harmonia, piloting Unit 5.
He didn’t feel that much G force. It was all thanks to the shock mitigation function of the MCS.
Harmonia shot straight upward while leaving behind white contrails.
「We will reach Fortress Area P336 in 30 minutes.」
「Amazing……」
After 15 minutes of flight, Abel called out to Kou.
「I would like to take a small detour first. Would that be alright with you?」
「What are you going to do?」
「I will launch an attack on that space battleship. And for the record, I’ve already gotten Astraea’s approval.」
「How!?」
「Hahaha! Behold.」
The “radomes” detached from Harmonia and combined with other parts that were dropped. They ended up resembling a giant traditional Japanese spinning wheel.
「Panjandrum……!」
「That’s right. Ballistic Panjandrum. We’ll be using it to launch an attack on that space battleship from above. I suppose you can consider it an evolution of the space-use depth charge concept.」
「But is it really okay to use a panjandrum here?」
Even though Kou basically did the same thing previously, he still couldn’t help but retort.
「That panjandrum is basically a depth charge. So there’s nothing wrong with a spaceship releasing a depth charge, right?」
「Ah, I see!」
Aki, who was listening to the two’s conversation, couldn’t help but slap her forehead.
「Just why did those two end up banding together, Aki?」
「Well, it’s because Astraea……」
Rick inquired while shooting a gentle gaze at the suffering Aki. Aki, on the other hand, involuntarily ended up plugging her ears with her hands in frustration.
Within Harmonia, the two eccentrics continued to discuss operation plans.
「We will also drop missile containers. We will be performing a two-stage attack with ballistic missiles and ballistic panjandrums.」
「Two-stage attack……! You’re not allowing for any gaps. But was there really a need for that wheel shape?」
Of course, even someone like Kou still had doubts about the weapon’s form.
「That wheel-shaped part is actually equipped with a large number of openings for rocket thrusters. It’s an application of the Spinning Panjandrum concept. The rocket thrusters will allow for unpredictable evasive patterns until the weapon reaches its target.」
「Amazing. So this is the British way of panjandrum engineering……!」
Kou couldn’t help but gasp in awe.
Before long, a missile container was deployed, and a swarm of missiles was launched from it.
And then, the Ballistic Panjandrum began its descent.
「Let’s see how that Megareus is going to respond!」
「A large number of objects have been detected dropping from the sky! They appear to be ballistic missiles. Now commencing interception.」
A report was transmitted to the combat command post of the Megareus.
「How useless. Are they trying to measure our defensive capabilities by launching a saturation attack?」
Vasa displayed a suspicious expression.
If the enemy truly wanted to bring down a space battleship, then attacking in waves would be their most effective option.
However, they shouldn’t have enough forces to deploy in such a large scale.
「?! Giant projectile detected! The anti-air lasers can’t shoot it down!」
「What exactly is it?」
「I’ll put it up on-screen!」
What appeared was a gigantic spinning wheel-like object that was zigzagging unpleasantly in mid-air as it descended at high speed. The wheel part of the object was rotating at high speed while spewing jet flames intermittently from its surface.
「Unidentified projectile’s designation has been confirmed! Panjandrum! It’s a ballistic panjandrum!」
「A panjandrum launched from the air? Deploy maximum defensive countermeasures! Put the electromagnetic barrier up and intercept that thing with the main gun!」
Vasa gave out orders in an unusually panicked manner. Castor was worried that he might be suffering from trauma due to those panjandrums.
「What’s wrong, Vasa? Why are you using so much firepower to deal with something only that big? –Wait, does it contain an excited electron explosive charge!?」
Now, even Castor’s face paled. The ballistic missiles were nothing but bait. The main attack was the panjandrum.
「That’s right. To think they’d drop what’s supposed to be a land-use mobile explosive charge from the air. Those damned crazy bastards.」
「Calm down, Vasa-kun.」
Castor soothed the agitated Vasa. He decided to ignore his subordinate’s frustrated swearing.
「High-dimensional projection armor and electromagnetic armor? Its anti-air laser countermeasures are basically perfect.」
The defensive configuration of the panjandrum was the most effective against laser weapons. It could be said that this particular configuration was the main reason why laser weapons weren’t that widespread in the Nemesis system.
「It keeps zigzagging in random trajectories! We can’t get a lock on it!」
The operator exclaimed in panic. It was difficult to get a solid lock on the panjandrum that made use of the many rocket nozzles all over its body to zigzag randomly in mid-air.
「Why the heck did they even design it as a panjandrum in the first place?」
「But you have to admit that those trajectory-changing rocket jets blowing out of that wheel are pretty troublesome.」
Vasa glared at the screen with disgust, while Alberto gave a calm analysis.
「It’s really hard to get a solid aim, sir!」
「Use the main gun!」
「The panjandrum has broken through our wide-range electromagnetic barrier. We will try to intercept it with the main gun!」
The ballistic panjandrum which easily passed through even the electromagnetic barrier, was finally shot down 500 kilometers in the air. It was only a hair’s breadth away from hitting its target.
The power of the explosion greatly shook the hull of the spaceship which boasted a length of over 2 kilometers.
The resulting gigantic mushroom cloud was evidence of its destructive might.
「–Panjandrum, successfully shot down!」
The operator’s relieved voice echoed within the combat command post of the Megareus.
「What shall we do if the enemy decides to attack us with a wave of those excited electron explosive weapons?」
Castor muttered while sporting a bitter grin.
「We’ll just have the Megareus fly into the sky. It was merely a surprise attack after all.」
Vasa had finally regained his composure.
「They managed to intercept everything huh?」
Kou muttered in a low voice after seeing the aftermath of their attack.
「Such a thing was within my expectations. –Astraea, did you manage to get enough data?」
『I’ve indeed obtained valuable data. Splendid work, Abel.』
The people inside the Astraea’s combat command center as well as Kou were all surprised by Astraea’s words.
「What exactly is going on?」
「The Megareus is a relic from the Interplanetary War era. Even if the enemy force was able to repair it, there should be a limit to how much they’re able to do. If most of its components aren’t broken, then they can be used as is, but if a good number of them are, then the enemy force should be subject to the same technological bottlenecks that we also face. In other words, we have just confirmed that the enemy force does not have the technology to repair that ship’s charged particle cannon.」
『Allow me to supplement what Abel has said. If the ship had a functioning charged particle cannon, they would have used it to intercept our attack instead. The fact that their main gun is actually a railgun if proof that the ship’s charged particle cannon was destroyed in the past, and that they currently have no way of repairing or recreating one.』
Kou was satisfied with Astraea’s explanation. The AIs wouldn’t provide them with technology they didn’t sufficiently understand. That was an ironclad rule.
「The easiest way to target that erratic panjandrum is to destroy it in a single blow with a weapon sporting as large an attack radius as possible. With this, we have confirmed the enemy force’s maximum firepower capabilities.」
「You did all that only to confirm that info?」
「Indeed. What we need the most right now aren’t tactics but accurate data.」
Abel said with a grin.
『We have also confirmed that their laser batteries are unable to destroy a Silhouette in one shot based on their output. Their main gun is the biggest threat, but it cannot be fired repeatedly. I will share the detailed data we’ve obtained with the rest of Metal Iris later.』
「Thanks to Big Boss’s actions, the other side is now very wary of panjandrums. That’s why they decided to intercept the flying panjandrum we launched with their maximum firepower. Notoriety indeed beats anonymity.」
For some reason, Astraea and Abel seemed to have been getting along quite well.
The combination of a panjandrum and the excited electron explosive charge should have left a very strong impression on the Argoforce.
Kou thought that making that panjandrum was definitely a good call.
He was very impressed with the composed Abel.
「Kou, please wake up. Don’t fall into the dark side any further……」Aki begged.
「Yunlan is in Fortress Area P336. We have to plan countermeasures using that data as soon as possible.」Rick urged.
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