Carrying Out STOM
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Translator: SFBaka
Editor: Thor’s Stone
The hulking body of a ship parted the sea.
It was the Cimon-class mobile assault base.
The mobile assault base just executed a STOM (Ship to Objective Maneuver).
The goal was to destroy the enemy’s Murder troops.
「AWACS Fox-1 is launching from Catapult 2!」
Tension ran inside the pilot house as it was contacted by the combat command center.
It was finally time for an actual combat operation.
An AWACS aircraft equipped with a large radome will scout ahead first.
Robert acknowledged the report. He stared fixedly at the monitor.
「Electronic-warfare aircraft is launching from Catapult 3!」
The command center continued announcing the sortieing aircraft.
The carrier-based aircraft launching system nicknamed the ‘Ouija Board’ was being operated by multiple Familiars and Therianthropes without missing a beat.
Kou, who was already inside Unit 5, stared at the aircraft that were launching out with a tense look on his face.
The ones that they were sending out were a recon aircraft, an electronic-warfare aircraft, and an air superiority fighter. It was the first major aircraft sortie in a world where aircraft had seemed to have disappeared from the battlefield due to the abundance of various highly effective anti-aircraft weapons.
Judging the safest altitude was also quite tricky. If they flew too high, they will be detected by a planetary defense satellite and will be quickly shot down.
As expected, the image sent back by the recon aircraft contained a group of Murders steadily advancing toward the Defense Dome.
They were mainly composed of Ant Worker-types, with some Soldier-types, and a few Commander-types. A Mantis-type was also confirmed to be present.
An Enyo was still far behind, looking like a mere dot in the background. The image was of the enemy’s vanguard troops.
「Enyo confirmed. All hands, to battle stations!」
Robert issued his command.
「No enemy air forces detected. Air superiority is secure. Go ahead.」
The transmission came from the fox-type Familiar piloting the AWACS craft designated as Fox-1.
「All units, prepare for deployment. Landing troops, get ready!」
「Helicopter Spot 1 to 8 will deploy simultaneously!」
The operators continuously confirmed and relayed Robert’s commands to the rest of the troops.
「Have the heavy attack aircrafts sortie next. Prepare elevators Number 5 to 6! 1 to 4 will launch the fighters. Be careful out there!」
It was finally Kou and the other’s turn. An A1 Thunderstorm loaded with Kou’s Unit 5 took its position on an elevator.
Another three crafts also got into position as well.
Only the part with the main flight deck located on the central hull of the Cimon-class was exposed above the water’s surface.
The elevators around the deck had eight helicopter spots. The deck was equipped with two elevators for large aircraft and four dedicated to regular-sized ones.
「After all the aircraft finish sortieing, have the landing troops get ready to deploy. We’ll hit those damn insects that only have the Defense Dome in their sights from the flank!」
Robert’s orders echoed within the ship.
In the hangar, Silhouettes, armored combat vehicles, and tanks took their places one after another.
A hovercraft-type Hangar Carrier will also sortie from the well deck of one of the ship’s two sub-hulls.
「The electronic-warfare aircraft will retreat back to the ship after confirming a wide-range indiscriminate jamming attack by enemy forces!」
「Understood. Have them retreat immediately. Have the recon aircraft come back as well.」
The enemies can launch indiscriminate signal-jamming attacks. They were unmanned murder machines whose main mission was slaughter. Their sensors can let them handle most jamming attacks as well.
In that case, there was no need to try and retaliate with a jamming attack of their own. So, Robert had the electronic warfare and recon aircraft turn back.
Meanwhile, combat transport aircraft equipped with tilt rotors took off one after another from the helicopter spots.
「Helicopter transport unit, sortie confirmed! Air combat unit, preparing for launch!」
Just as the operator announced, the unit with Kou and Unit 5 sortied first.
「Thunder-1, launching.」
「Electromagnetic Catapult 2, ready.」
Blue contacted the combat command center. The rail catapults can be used to launch out both large-sized and regular-sized machines.
A return transmission was quickly sent from the command center.
「Confirming course. Clear. Thunder-1, launch!」
In the 21st century, operating the flight deck of a carrier would have required dozens of personnel, but everything has been automated in the current era.
The aircraft got into position on the rail catapult.
The hold-back bar appeared, and Thunder-1 was primed for launch.
The electromagnetic catapult can launch machines at a speed of about 800 km/h. Thunder-1 was finally launched. It danced in the sky and accelerated further.
The scene was witnessed by Silhouettes out on the deck. Since this was their first-ever full-scale combat operation as the reborn Metal Iris, Silhouettes were sent out to the flight deck to ensure that no problems occurred.
Silhouettes occasionally passed through a maintenance passage called a catwalk.
The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th aircrafts launched out one after another in sequence.
They assembled into a combat formation and headed for the target point.
They spotted the combat transport helicopters that went ahead of them.
The helicopters had now switched to hovering and were positioned as near to the ground as possible without fully landing.
Cavalry tanks dropped to the ground from the helicopters one after another. They easily shrugged off the impact caused by landing and proceeded to run ahead on the rough terrain.
After completing their mission, the transport helicopters quickly fell back to return to the ship.
「Sorry to make you accompany me, Fuyuki-san! Are you ready to go?」
「I don’t mind at all!」
The Thunderstorm heavy attack aircrafts switched to low-altitude flight.
Silhouettes dropped one after another from within them. The other three machines that went with Unit 5 were new ash-gray-colored models.
They quickly approached the engagement range of the enemy vanguard.
The Thunderstorm unit rose up in the air again to provide close air support to the Silhouettes on the ground.
「This much power is really scary huh.」
Jenny muttered aloud as she looked at the scene displayed on the command center’s monitor.
「It’s probably one of the greatest military forces on the planet.」
「Yes. And even a force like this is still just about 20% of the total strength of this Cimon-class.」
「This easily illustrates the power held by our Hidden Boss eh?」
「Just how the heck did he manage to prepare this many prototype weapons and equipment?」
「We just recently handed over and sold new technology to the transferee-led companies too. And every single one of those new technologies was used in creating these prototypes like it’s nothing. It’s far too extravagant.」
「Well, let’s just treat it as increasing our strength and leave it at that. It’s a good thing anyway. We can’t let ourselves get cold feet after all this. We’ll be acquiring more and more people and weapons from here on out. We have to at least be able to easily take down an Enyo.」
「Right. It looks like we won’t have a turn this time around though.」
The current operation was an unexpected rescue request.
An Underground Force that happened to be on patrol had managed to spot the Enyo. And the direction it was heading was a small Defense Dome that housed many refugees from Fortress Area D516.
The administrator of the Dome issued a rescue request through the Mercenary Association, but no other Underground Force responded.
And so, after preparing enough forces for conducting an emergency deployment, Metal Iris rushed to their aid at the last minute.
The Aristides was left to guard the Silhouette Base with Barry at the helm, so it was still well defended.
The weapons loaded onto the Cimon-class were composed more of vehicles rather than Silhouettes.
「Kou-kun, we’re counting on you.」
Jenny’s words expressed her confidence in the young man.
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