Destroy the Enemy’s Giant Weapon in Geosynchronous Orbit!
「This is the Aristides. Catapult preparations complete.」
The elevation angle of the rail catapult was shallow.
It was as if it meant to launch its payload onto the horizon.
「Launch!」
A large amount of power meant to launch the Aristides away was infused into the rail catapult, ejecting the ship’s huge frame into the air.
「We’ll get in contact with the enemy in a few minutes. I’m counting on you, everyone.」
The crew members concentrated on the command center’s main screen.
Robert was seated on the captain’s seat and started intently at the screen as well.
Before long, they finally got a good look at the enemy. Its eerie compound sensor “eyes” were clearly staring back at them as well.
「Enemy confirmed! It’s the Eris! Its speed is estimated to be less than Mach 2!」
「That’s about the same as ours. Prepare the main guns!」
Two railguns proceeded to jut out of each side of the Aristides.
「Fire!」
They didn’t have much time. They’ve already confirmed that the enemy machine didn’t have any ranged attacks that could reach them at the current distance.
The large-caliber railguns of the Aristides scored hits, but they didn’t managed to pierce the armor of the giant Murder.
「Entering point-blank range! One minute to contact!」
「Ready the anti-air barrage. Prepare to initiate the Anti-Eris tactics as planned.」
「Roger!」
The image of the Eris gradually grew larger on the main screen. The Aristides and it would pass by each other within moments.
「The enemy has taken evasive action! It went around to the starboard! It’s latched on to our hull!」
The Eris took advantage of its huge body and speed to cling to the starboard side of the Aristides.
「It took the bait!」
Robert unrestrainedly guffawed. He displayed a smile that was sure of victory.
The Eris had latched onto the ship’s hull, and it quickly prepared its stinger. It swung its stinger in one fell swoop, intending to punch a hole in the bottom of the ship.
「Prepare to drop anchor! Now!」
The anchor of the Aristides launched out from the hatch on its starboard side and headed straight for the Eris.
It was a great stroke of luck that the Eris chose to latch onto the ship’s hull. The anchor instantly wrapped around the giant frame of the Eris. It acted flustered as its movements ended up getting sealed.
Even if it thrashed about, it was already completely caught by the Aristides and was dragged away by it. There was no way for the Eris that had its movements sealed could go against the Aristides that was steadily accelerating.
「Hah! It’s an aerial battle between a giant hornet and a spaceship. It’s obvious that it would aim for the bottom of the ship from the side! Even I would do the same if I were in its place!」
It was as Robert had predicted. Where would an enemy aim for when engaging the Aristides in mid-air?
Definitely not the well-armored and armed deck, that’s for sure. The sides and bottom of the ship were obvious targets.
The rampaging Eris opened its “mouth” and prepared to fire its laser cannon.
「Now! Anti-ship missile, fire!」
A missile silo for space combat opened from the bottom of the ship, and an anti-ship missile launched out from it, directly hitting the open maw of the Eris.
Its sensitive optics, along with the entirety of the Eris’ compound “eyes” were destroyed.
The Eris was completely entangled by the Aristides.
The more it thrashed about, the more the anchor wrapped and dug into its gigantic frame.
「We’ll show you, alright. We’ll show you bastards exactly how a combat spaceship fights! I know what my ship is capable of more than anyone else! Fire the portside anchor as well! Wrap the damn bug up!」
「Aye, Captain!」
The portside anchor of the Aristides also shot out and wrapped around the Eris. The anchor chains were made completely out of tantalum which sported the flexibility of superelastic alloy coupled with excellent toughness. Hence, it wouldn’t be easy for the Eris to break out of their hold.
「Aristides! Maximum bow elevation! Shifting to atmospheric escape mode! We’re gonna head straight into space!」
「Anchor launcher heat resistance equipment deployment complete nyaa. We can head out with the Eris suspended down there without any problems!」
A calico cat Familiar reported.
The Therianthrope girl followed up.
The bow of the Aristides pointed straight to the sky as it continued to ascend.
Gigantic rocket boosters on the ship’s rear roared to life and spewed fire.
「The rocket booster has been ignited! Jet propulsion initiated! Primary acceleration time is 1500 seconds! Even with the Eris captured, we’ll go at a speed of Mach 25. We’re entering primary escape velocity!」
「Brace for impact!」
In order to break away from Planet Asia’s gravity, Aristides accelerated to its maximum speed. The shock suffered by the combat command center was mitigated to a certain extent through the gravitational interference effect of Whis, but it wasn’t enough to completely negate it.
The Aristides dragged the Eris into space as its internals suffered slight vibrations.
The Aristides broke through the stratosphere, mesosphere, and the thermosphere in quick succession.
They had reached a distance of more than a hundred kilometers from the planet’s surface in less than ten minutes. They finally broke free of Planet Asia’s gravity and reached outer space.
The speed of the Aristides had already exceeded Mach 35. It had reached secondary escape velocity.
It finally plunged into the sea of stars; the vast vacuum of space.
Outer space, which Robert had seen for the first time, was brighter and clearer than he expected.
『We’ve reached outer space. All crew, please do not leave your posts while gravity is being adjusted.』
Libra 1 made an announcement through the ship’s intercom.
「We’ve broken through the thermosphere! We’ll continue to accelerate as planned!」
「Alright! We’ll drag the Eris into geosynchronous orbit just like this, Libra 1! Notify Okeanos. From here on out, we’ll be engaging the Murder in space combat. Request permission.」
『Permission requested. Permission confirmed. There is no problem with anti-Murder combat in outer space.』
Outer space battles between humans were strictly prohibited.
It was a pact that was birthed due to the sense of reluctance against humanity to continue drifting aimlessly in space forever.
Murders were completely autonomous weapons. Hence, engaging them in space did not violent the agreement.
The Aristides finally reached the exosphere, and directly below it was Planet Asia. The orbital elevator that extended out from the planet’s surface could also be clearly seen.
The artificial sun was in the 2 o’clock direction of the ship’s present course. It was also suspended in geosynchronous orbit.
The Aristides, which vertically climbed straight into space, headed for geosynchronous orbit without slowing down.
The operator confirmed the ship’s current altitude and reported it.
「This is actually my first time. So, this is outer space huh?」
Robert muttered under his breath while suppressing his excitement.
They were about to engage in an unprecedented space battle after all. Of course, he’d get pumped up.
『Entering into extended cruise. We will shorten the arrival time by continuously using the rocket boosters.』
A notification from Libra resounded within the ship.
The Eris was still wildly thrashing about. However, it didn’t seem to be accustomed to the vacuum of space.
「We will head directly for geostationary orbit. Reigniting rocket boosters. Activating side-thrusters and attitude thrusters. Beginning course adjustment!」
「Roger that. Like I told you guys earlier, stay alert and don’t let your guards down!」
And so, the Aristides finally reached the geostationary orbit of Planet Asia.
It continued to push forward to its main target destination’s coordinates.
Time gradually passed by.
Finally, a report came from Libra 1 two hours after the Aristides left the surface of the planet.
『We are now at an altitude of 40,000 kilometers from the planet’s surface. We have reached the target coordinates. Initializing combat preparations.』
Earth’s geosynchronous orbit was located 36,000 kilometers from its surface. Planet Asia was actually a super-Earth. Hence, its geosynchronous orbit was 40,000 kilometers above its surface.
Using 21st-century Earth’s technology, it would have taken six hours to reach this point.
Robert was astonished at how fast it had taken them to reach their target destination.
「Target coordinates reached. As planned, we’ll now proceed to destroy the enemy giant weapon in geosynchronous orbit!」
Robert gave out a prompt command.
「Switching from extended cruise to space combat!」
「This is it. Turn the ship! Ready the assault landing equipment! Prepare to fire the ground anchor!」
「Aye, Captain!」
The Aristides which still held the Eris captive turned her hull so that its bow was positioned for reentry.
「Fire the ground anchor!」
Ground anchor. It was a piece of equipment that was used for forcibly landing on asteroids or other planets that was installed in the interplanetary spaceship Aristides.
This large anchor was modified into a weapon that’s able to pierce through a target’s armor by firing it through the use of a railgun.
A gun barrel appeared from the bottom of the ship and fired.
The anchor that was launched wasn’t a stockless-type but a harpoon-type instead.
It accurately pierced the chest of the Eris that was unable to move freely and went all the way through its back. The tip of the harpoon unfolded and secured itself as an anchor should, preventing itself from being pulled out.
It had pierced through the Eris’ reactor, and the giant Murder seemingly halted all movement.
「We did it! Let’s close in and retrieve the A-Carbuncle.」
「Wait! Something’s not right. Mm. It’s probably feigning “death”. Damn crafty fella.」
Everyone inside the combat command center turned their eyes toward the monitor that was displaying the Eris.
At a glance, it completely looked like a chained-up hunk of metal floating in space.
「That thing’s the basis of all Murders guys. I’m pretty sure it should have some spare batteries equipped.」
「Come to think of it……」
「Libra 1, we’re gonna move to the coordinates I specified next.」
『Understood, Captain.』
The Aristides used its side and attitude thrusters to move to the coordinates specified by Robert.
It advanced through the vacuum of space while making minor adjustments to its course.
「Prepare for bombardment! Our missiles can be used in space, right?」
「Yes! They’re all equipped with oxidizing agent!」
A cat-type Familiar raised its paw and answered Robert’s question. An oxidizing agent was necessary for fuel combustion in outer space.
「Okay. Then let’s pound that bastard with as many missiles as we can afford. Prepare the main guns as well. Cut the anchors off as soon as the bombardment hits the target!」
「Aye, aye, Captain!」
The cat-type Familiars replied simultaneously and started bombardment preparations.
「Launch missiles!」
「The anchors have been detached from the hull!」
The moment the anchors got released, the highly damaged eyes of the Eris crackled to life once more as it began to struggle.
As Robert surmised, it was still active even though its reactor got critically damaged.
It soon freed itself from the chains wrapping it up, but the missiles fired from the Aristides’ silos landed one after another, and it hurtled back in the direction of Planet Asia due to the force of the explosions.
「Main guns, fire!」
The main railguns of the Aristides fired at maximum power. However, the target’s armor was reinforced by Whis generated by a top-quality A-Carbuncle after all. Hence, the railgun shells were unable to penetrate the Eris’ armor.
Instead, it accelerated and was pushed toward Planet Asia even further.
If it continued to fall back toward the planet at the current rate, it wouldn’t burn up during reentry. Rather, it would successfully break through the atmosphere and return to the surface one more.
The Eris judged that rather than focusing on taking on the Aristides, it would be better for it to fall down back onto the surface and attack Fortress Area P336 as it originally intended.
Robert snorted in disdain. He had already foreseen the intentions of the enemy.
「Did you really think we’d allow you to return back to the surface? Why did you think we went to the trouble of bringing you all the way to geosynchronous orbit? We could have just dealt with you on the satellite orbit of Planet Nemesis.」
The Eris made a fatal miscalculation. Since its head was practically destroyed, it now lacked sensors that would allow it to see what was directly behind it.
「Burn to nothingness.」
Robert spat those words toward the Eris.
Directly behind the Eris was an artificial sun that was placed in the geostationary orbit of Planet Asia.
Its core temperature was 100 million degrees. It was a miniature sun with a surface temperature exceeding 5000 degrees.
The moment the Eris realized its plight, it struggled desperately. However, it was already too late.
With its wings still flapping futilely, the Eris was swallowed up by the artificial sun, and it gradually melted and exploded the moment its power completely failed.
「This is the Aristides. To all Metal Iris troops. The Eris has been successfully destroyed.」
Robert’s report was immediately sent to the troops on the surface.
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