Mass Driver Impact
–Silhouette Base Interior–
Currently, Matty and Abel were the only humans present within the facility.
Other than them, only Familiars manned the base. Since the number of personnel had increased, they had focused on assigning Familiars to the base instead of humans and sent the humans out onto the field. The Therianthropes were also sent out.
With the advent of the Epos and Quattro worker-type, the range of their duties had increased exponentially.
Many Therianthropes from the Interplanetary War era were still in cold cold sleep in the basement of the Silhouette Base’s underground arsenal.
Kou felt that it would be unreasonable to wake them just for the sake of participating in the war, and even if they were left to sleep, many other Therianthropes from all over the planet were already coming to Fortress Area P336 in order to get the chance to pilot a Quattro Silhouette.
Since they were currently in a state of war, those who regularly went to the Silhouette Base in order to conduct business such as Benshin had moved to Fortress Area P336 instead. The Silhouette Base was certainly suited for hunkering down during a siege, but they would basically end up being trapped within if a siege did happen.
Matty was currently in a corner of the control room.
He was conducting bricolage research.
The one assisting him in his research was a copy of Astraea.
He was currently challenging himself to develop a new Quattro Silhouette model.
『Strengthening the Quattro is quite a tough undertaking, isn’t it?』
「Yeah. Hmm, I see. The current candidates are the Japanese dwarf flying squirrel, Japanese giant flying squirrel, and bat, and I’m currently leaning toward the bat.」
『All of them are mammals capable of gliding or flying through the air despite not being birds.』
「That’s why I thought they would work. That “god” wasn’t spouting nonsense after all.」
『It’s Prometheus, so I believe some part of it was nonsense though.』
「You and Asia sure are hard on him.」
Matty found it hard to incorporate the opinions of the Therianthropes as well.
「The Kudan prototype I made wasn’t quite popular with them.」
Kudan was a Japanese yokai that Matty had learned about from Fuyuki. The latter was unexpectedly knowledgeable about all sorts of yokai.
Matty devised a prototype where the part that corresponded to an animal was the head instead of the body, but it was completely rejected by several Therianthropes. He was surrounded by them and was driven close to tears.
The only prototype machine he wasn’t allowed to make was the Kudan.
「Alright. Now, let’s try out a kangaroo yokai next! How about a bunyip? It would probably pack quite a punch……」
Matty began muttering to himself.
All of a sudden, the emergency alarm rang out.
「What’s wrong?」
『The Silhouette Base is being targeted. It’s a high-speed projectile fired via mass driver. It’s heading for us at a speed exceeding third cosmic velocity – 16.7 kilometers per second.』
Astraea’s copy terminal announced.
「What?! But why didn’t the defense net of Okeanos shoot it down?!」
『It seems like it’s being regarded as a re-supply container. Hence, it will not be intercepted. It’s too fast. Evacuation unnecessary. There is a high chance of instant death due to the impact that would be caused by the projectile, but this place is also the location that offers the highest chance of survival.』
「It’s that powerful?! But Abel-san’s still in the middle of a factory tour!」
『It’s a pity that we will not have the opportunity to say our final farewells.』
「Why are you talking like it’s someone else’s problem, Astraea?!」
『This Silhouette Base is not equipped with a mass catcher. Please brace for the shock.』
The warhead-shaped container fired from Planet Libya through the use of a mass driver boasted tremendous destructive power due to increased kinetic energy.
It was certain that the Silhouette Base would not get off lightly.
『Notice to main body. This terminal will now proceed to cut our connection.』
This was the last transmission sent from the Silhouette Base before the impact.
The Silhouette Base surprisingly ended up getting destroyed.
The projectiles fired by a mass driver from Planet Libya weren’t intercepted by the satellite defense net due to them being identified as supply containers.
There was a total of three projectiles fired from Planet Libya. The other two targeted the dummy Silhouette Bases that Metal Iris had prepared, and one managed to target the real Silhouette Base directly. They all managed to hit their intended targets.
This information left Asia and Astraea speechless.
『My copy within the Silhouette Base is still functioning, though barely. Most of the important data was sent to P336 and the orbital elevator management facility.』
『Contact with the Silhouette Base and the underground arsenal has been cut off. My terminal over there isn’t responding.』
『What’s going on? Even my remaining terminals can’t confirm the situation over there. What kind of technology did they use to pull something like this off……?』
『If even you can’t confirm it Asia, then there is no way I can either. The only saving grace is that the production facilities on P336 and R001 will not be affected by this incident.』
The high-ranking members of Metal Iris and Ulysses also held an emergency meeting due to what happened.
If the enemy was going to launch another all-out attack, now would be the perfect time due to the destruction of the Silhouette Base.
Alternatively, the Argoforce might choose to take the Silhouette Base for themselves.
At the very least, they had already managed to grasp its exact location.
However, strangely, the Argoforce did not make any moves even after a day had passed.
「Just how did this happen?」
Barry inquired to Asia. Even Astraea and Dike would not be able to provide adequate answers in this situation.
『I surmise that it’s due to Libya’s Super AI. Only she would have been able to accurately identify my location on Planet Asia. Then, she launched an attack under the guise of sending in re-supply containers. However……』
「However?」
『She has not reported the results of her attack to the Stones. Or even if she did, she might have told them the attack had failed. I don’t really know what her intentions are for doing so. Is it her final act of defiance? Does she have something else planned and was actually tricking the Stones? In any case, I still have no idea……』
「Is the extent of the damage the Silhouette Base took still unknown?」
『For now. It’s as if the Silhouette Base’s entire system has been hijacked. They can at most manufacture Murders over there. Aberration Arms would be impossible. That’s because the only humans present there were Matt and Abel.』
「The survival of those two is still unknown as well, right?」
『Yes. I don’t get it. Just what is Libya’s actual goal……?』
「Understood. Any area could become a battlefield at any moment. I’ll have the ships on standby for now so they can move out immediately on short notice.」
『That would be for the best. I’ll let you know if I find out anything new.』
Then, Asia got in touch with Kou who was currently inside Unit 5.
「Something like that happened……」
『Yes. And I still have one more report to make, Kou. Contact with the underground arsenal has also been cut off. Control of the facility has been taken over.』
「What?!」
『It was supposed to be under Astraea’s control. Normally, it would be impossible for anyone to take control of that facility apart from her.』
Okeanos should be the only being present on the planet who surpassed the Super AI Asia’s authority.
Something beyond imagination seemed to be happening over in the Silhouette Base.
「Don’t tell me Libya’s main incarnation came in person?」
『Normally, that would be impossible. If I could transfer myself in a storage medium small enough to fit within a supply container, then I would have already made copies and scattered them around by now.』
「That’s true……」
The data making up Super AIs was quite large. The Asia fragment trapped within the orbital elevator’s system needed a facility of its size in order to adequately contain her.
「Just what’s going on then?」
『I have no idea. The rest of the Silhouette Base aside, having the underground arsenal out of our control is quite dangerous. There is a need to re-take control of it as soon as possible.』
「Can we do it?」
『If the enemy doesn’t relinquish control of it…… retaking the system would probably take about 6 months at the earliest.』
「So, we would possibly be unable to use the production facilities in the underground arsenal for at least half a year.」
『Many of the Familiars and weapons were being manufactured at the underground arsenal. The Silhouette Base itself has some production facilities, but they pale in comparison to the underground arsenal’s.』
「Would there be a chance to re-take it if I infiltrated the facility?」
『That’s no good. It’s far too dangerous. Something there was able to wrestle control of the entire facility from me and Astraea, you know? We don’t know what would happen if you try to infiltrate the place. In any case, we still have no problems when it comes to weapons production. Just concentrate on fighting out there, Kou.』
「Got it.」
Kou let out a sigh. He was worried about the safety of Matty and Abel.
Kou’s inner feeling of frustration intensified.
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