APW (Anti Panjandrum Weapon)
「Of all things, why did he have to go out of his way to make two types of panjandrum……?」
Aki’s resentful voice echoed inside Astraea’s combat command center.
Hovercraft-type landing craft launched from the Gracious Queen one after another. There were about 40 of them.
Each landing craft carried four Silhouettes and two 10-meter tall panjandrums.
「The panjandrum was originally developed for attacking enemy fortresses, and were designed with being loaded on landing crafts in mind. We can say that now is the perfect time for them to do what they do best.」
Eri expressed her doubts to the gleeful Abel.
「Abel-san, can I ask you a question?」
「Go right ahead, Eri-san!」
「Why use self-propelled explosive charges anyway? In terms of accuracy, wouldn’t it be cheaper to launch a large missile that goes at Mach 10 or higher? And if you really wanna double down on cutting costs, then you could just stuff unmanned trucks with explosives.」
「Tsk!」
「Huh?」
Eri felt pressure accompanying Abel’s inadvertent tongue click.
Abel’s expression quickly turned back into a smiling one. He then readily answered Eri’s question in his usual cheery tone.
「Excuse me. I merely got heartburn from the trifle I had for desert earlier. Now then, let’s start with the missile. In addition to the warhead, it’s necessary to load it with propellant as well. Furthermore, it’s also necessary to equip it with high-dimensional projection armor and a reactor to power it. Those alone would require the missile to be at least 10 meters long and 3 meters in diameter. It’s a size that’s unrealistic for a missile.」
「Certainly.」
「And regarding the truck proposal, a panjandrum is ultimately a one-off disposable weapon. Meanwhile, a truck is a vehicle composed of more than 30,000 individual parts. Considering that, it’s apparent that a truck would actually cost more. In comparison, a panjandrum would, at best, only require about a thousand parts.」
「I see. So that’s it.」
「Do you understand now?」
A lot of what Abel spouted were actually lies.
Well, he was mostly telling the truth when it comes to the missile matter, but trucks could readily be mass-produced for cheap without factoring in an MCS even if the number of parts were reduced. They were actually cheaper all in all compared to panjandrums.
Also, a panjandrum was manufactured using nano-ceramics. It’s cheaper to create a mass production line of unmanned trucks compared to making the significantly larger panjandrums.
Ultimately, the most important point was to use panjandrums.
Captain Eri was inwardly convinced this was the case. Aki stared silently with a vacant gaze at Abel’s image on the comm window.
Aimer interjected to change the awkward atmosphere.
「You sure have designed a wide variety of weapons, Abel-san.」
「My job is to design experimental weapons that can meet the ever-changing needs of modern warfare. The panjandrums I made were designed to meet those needs as well.」
Abel put up an image on screen.
Displayed on it was a panjandrum that was actually cone-shaped.
「This is?」
「You have a Japanese acquaintance, correct, Admiral Aimer? It’s a spinning top. There was a Japanese hobby toy called Bey-something, I believe. I took that as an inspiration.」
「I know that reference!」
Aimer also immersed herself in Japanese culture whenever she had the time, just like the Therianthropes.
「The pseudo-field data is set into the shape of a mortar, and the panjandrum is shaped like a spinning top. It’s then sent to its target in an irregular trajectory. Hence, I call it the Spinning Panjandrum. This is the first model of my panjandrum series. We brought over twenty of them.」
「Spinning Panjandrum!」
Aimer didn’t really get the point, but she still thought it was cool.
「Based on the aerial photos from earlier, I’ve pinpointed a spot that seems to be a supply storehouse and bunker. We’re going to send these straight to that spot.」
Following Abel’s command, Silhouettes launched the Spinning Panjandrums simultaneously.
Twenty Spinning Panjandrums fired up their rockets, bumped into each other, flew off in different trajectories in a chaotic manner, and started independently advancing toward their target.
「Panjandrums are approaching! It’s just as Castor-sama predicted!」
「Hurry and bring that thing over!」
The Argonauts seem to have prepared a countermeasure against the panjandrums.
「The net! Bring the net so we can stop those things in their tracks!」
「There’s also a work vehicle modified to deal with those, right?」
In anticipation of a panjandrum attack, some countermeasure weapons were developed. They were a net that spans an entire road and a work vehicle that was basically a modified tank.
「The net caught one! It should have a safety device equipped. Shoot it down now!」
「Are you sure, sir?」
「You know just how much explosive payload this thing is carrying, right? It would be a disaster if it went off while inside a ship. Fire!」
「Understood!」
The Armadillos fired their rocket launchers.
A large amount of metallic hydrogen caused deflagration.
Apparently, Abel didn’t equip his panjandrums with safety devices after all.
The surrounding area got engulfed in a powerful explosion. Thanks to their high-dimensional projection armor, many Silhouettes didn’t suffer critical damage, but those closest to the explosion still ended up partially destroyed.
「This is bad! They don’t have safety devices! The enemies are damn crazy!」
「It’s no good! We have to send out the work vehicles after all!」
「Catch them with the nets! Then snipe them from the top of a building!」
The Argoforce forces took action and brought down the panjandrums one after another.
「Astraea, do they really not have safety devices installed?」
Aimer inquired as she watched the Argoforce units getting blown away.
『They should be designed with the smallest effective range in mind. Probably.』
「Probably?」
『I didn’t have the strength of will to confirm such a thing. Those are self-propelled explosive charges using rocket propulsion. They aren’t missiles, so perhaps they really weren’t furnished with safety devices.』
「Scary……」
A report came in through the Ulysses’ shared comm line.
「The Spinning Panjandrums are being brought down one after another!」
A tense voice rang out through the comms.
「They used nets huh? Well, they’re advancing on narrow passageways, so I suppose nets are enough to get in their way.」
Eri remarked coldly.
The Gracious Queen was watching live footage of the Spinning Panjandrums being brought down that was sent by the Boons. George showed a particularly animated reaction.
That’s due to the appearance of unfamiliar work vehicles.
「Mrgh. Those are APWs. Damned Argonauts. That’s cheating!」
「What’s an APW?」
「It’s short for Anti-Panjandrum Weapon. Damned Argonauts. It looks like they noticed the threat of the panjandrums.」
George ground his teeth in frustration.
『They suffered a lot of setbacks thanks to a certain someone after all. It’s reasonable that they have come up with some countermeasures.』
「If we take those into account, will we be able to come up with a viable strategy?」
『Aimer, please don’t go any further.』
A panjandrum advancing on a road was caught by a modified tank.
It was caught by a vehicle that was equipped with a gigantic wall-like scissor claw-type dozer.
The modified tank tried to stop the panjandrum in its tracks, but it still continued pushing ahead. Killing its momentum forcefully seemed impossible.
Then, a Silhouette hiding nearby fired a shoulder-fired rocket launcher and destroyed the panjandrum. The resulting explosion was mostly blocked by the dozer that acted as a shield.
「Kuh. To think they’d deal with the deflagration in such a way!」
「No matter how you look at it, that’s just a modified tank that got equipped with a scissor-shaped crusher, right?」
「It’s just a regular heavy-duty vehicle.」
Aki and Aimer couldn’t help but point out.
「That’s an Anti-Panjandrum Weapon? It only seems like they’re getting quite desperate though.」
「I believe it’s mainly a psychological thing.」
「It would be a mess if something like that falls over. Right?」
Aki and Aimer kept unleashing sharp retorts. They totally ignored George.
「It’s no good, Admiral George. All the Spinning Panjandrums have been destroyed!」
「What!」
「It shouldn’t be a surprise. They are self-propelled explosive charges after all. They just simply advance on the ground on their own, so it’s relatively easy to come up with workable countermeasures.」
George was seriously shocked by Abel’s report, but Eri coldly analyzed the situation regardless.
A giant self-propelled explosive charge can also be considered a giant target. There were many ways to handle it.
「However, we won’t lose. Do you think we no longer have any more cards to play? Think again!」
George dramatically declared.
「Isn’t that right, Abel?」
「Indeed. We have panjandrums that can overcome those countermeasures of theirs. They won’t lose to the likes of those APWs.」
Abel replied confidently.
「Now is the time to prove the true worth of panjandrums! Will they be able to withstand the fierce attack of 60 such weapons, I wonder?」
Apart from George, everyone else’s expressions clouded over.
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