Mobile Fortress Ship, Transform!
While Fortress Area P336 was in the middle of intercepting the enemy, another force was converging to destroy the currently-downed Cimon.
Rick, who was fighting on the front lines, got his machine damaged, so he was forced to retreat.
「Rick, I’m glad you’re safe.」
Barry was relieved. He couldn’t afford to have Rick out of commission right now.
「What’s to be glad about? The front line is collapsing. Their numbers are just overwhelming!」
The Argoforce had deployed their tank corps, rear corps, Silhouette corps, air corps, and Arachne-type Aberration Arms to press the attack.
「They even have new types of mobile artillery. To think they actually made reverse-jointed walker tanks.」
「Tanks usually have lower profiles, but they went in the opposite direction and made them taller instead. Those things are probably the dinosaur-types that Asia was afraid of, or maybe they’re actually ostrich-types.」
「Ostrich-type huh? If it were me, I’d make a dinosaur-type.」
「Yeah. They’d be useable as long as there are parts that correspond to the arms. I suppose we can call them Theropod-type Aberration Arms.」
「They have useable arms?」
「They look like they can only be used for holding stuff, but they seem to be useable. However, their armor’s pretty weak. They should have prioritized ease of mass production when designing those things. But there sure are a lot of them.」
The Cimon’s forces had their hands full dealing with the new weapons fielded by the enemy.
「With this many forces– They’re aiming to take back the orbital elevator immediately after taking out the Cimon huh?」
「That’s most likely what they’re planning. Well, I must say that they appear to be taking us very seriously since they deployed this many troops just to take us down.」
「It would have been better if they didn’t take us that seriously though. In fact, I would have liked them to underestimate us instead.」
As Barry let out a sigh, the ship’s operator frantically called out.
「Commander! Jenny-san has–!」
Jenny sortied out to participate in the air defense. Her impressive combat feats effectively gained the attention of the enemy forces.
Her machine was targeted by lots of guided missiles and eventually got surrounded.
The missiles exploded all at once, but the Tachycineta managed to survive the attack. However, it was significantly damaged.
「Jenny! Hurry and fall back!」
Barry tried his best to appear calm as he ordered Jenny to retreat.
Jenny made it back to the Cimon with the support of the other Tachycineta and the Star Soldiers.
Barry sighed and proceeded to lecture Jenny, who had just returned to the combat command center.
「You’re too prominent out there. Don’t ever forget that you’re the captain of our Underground Force, Jenny.」
「Sorry.」
Jenny stuck her tongue out and apologized. She already expected to get nagged at anyway.
「Trooper-2 has made a report. They’ve informed us that the right defensive line will be moved further back.」
The Nereid operator Ruth relayed a report to those in the room.
「It would be hard to send us reinforcements from R001. And even if we want to retreat, the ship can’t even float right now.」
Barry let out an uneasy chuckle as he broke into a cold sweat.
「A soldier from the past once said this: “My center is giving way, my right is in retreat; situation excellent. I shall attack!” It perfectly describes this situation, eh?」
「Even if we want to launch a counterattack, the Cimon is still incapacitated. What do you propose we should do?」
「Dike, is transformation possible?」
『Repair has progressed to 55% completion. This ship still cannot move from here, but transformation is possible.』
「What do you guys mean by transformation?!」
Jenny wasn’t aware of the ship being capable of transforming.
「The Cimon is a mobile fortress ship. It has the ability to function as a combat base as well. –But I was also informed of it just earlier though!」
『Because Cimon’s role as a ship was far more important, there was no particular need of explaining its other function previously.』
「Such important information was actually held back…… As expected of Astraea’s sister AI.」
『That is an unfair evaluation.』
Dike protested.
「Anyway, I’m looking forward to it.」
Jenny decided to just go with the flow.
「Mobile fortress ship, transform! This ship will now transition to combat base mode.」
Following Barry’s order, Dike immediately made an on-board announcement.
『Notice to all crew members. This ship will now proceed to transform into its combat base mode. All Familiars, proceed to your posts.』
The trimaran ship Cimon deployed its outrigger hulls further apart to the sides, and its ballast receded in order to lower its height.
A defensive wall rose out, enlarging the deck.
Then, missile silos made their appearance. A large radar module also appeared and immediately began collecting information from the surrounding airspace and coordinating with the patrol aircraft.
Slopes that would allow vehicles and Silhouettes to quickly enter and exit the Cimon jutted out from its left and right side. There were three for each side, for a total of six slopes.
「A military fortification huh?」
「So, this is why this thing is called a mobile fortress ship.」
Rick and Jenny were stunned be the ship’s transformation.
「That’s right. It’s basically a mobile bridgehead. A mobile forward operating base. This is the assault-type mobile fortress ship Cimon that Asia prepared especially for Kou. It’s highly compatible with Astraea as well.」
『The Hora-class ships, Astraea included, were built primarily to serve as the weapons control and supervision AI Astraea’s physical terminals. They originally belonged to a classification different from the Cimon though.』
「But Astraea isn’t here. That’s why we’re counting on you, Dike.」
『Please leave it to me.』
Barry operated his terminal to proceed to the next step.
「There’s also a possibility of reinforcements from other transferee companies arriving. BAS also seems to have launched an attack to support us, but we haven’t heard from them yet.」
「How worrisome……」
Rick was worried about their allies who were coming over to reinforce them.
「The transformation into combat base form is complete. Its anti-aircraft capabilities have been comprehensively enhanced. We will make full use of our resupply and support capabilities to hold the enemy forces here. I’m leaving command of the troops to you, Rick. You’ll serve as my second-in-command while Jenny rests.」
「Understood. This form makes it easier to command our ground forces. I’ll do my best until Jenny returns to the field.」
「Hold on. What are you planning to do yourself, Barry?!」
「Me? I’m needed more in the field right now instead of staying back here as a commander. So, I’m heading out too. And I don’t wanna hear about a commanding officer not heading off into battle from someone like you, Captain Jenny.」
Jenny, who was essentially the captain of Metal Iris, couldn’t refute Barry’s words.
「What machine are you gonna use?」
「Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. We have our Big Boss’s reserve machine onboard, right? The Lanius C is a high-performance model. And I’m sure Kou won’t raise any complaint even if I pilot it.」
Barry let out a hearty laugh. He was finally heading into the battlefield personally after a long time acting as a commander. He definitely felt that fighting on the front lines suited him better.
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