Rear-facing machine guns?! Why?!
「Kou, reinforcements from Albion are arriving one after another…」
「Why does your voice sound so tired? They’re our allies, right?」
「Without a doubt. There’s no way the enemy would be using something like that.」
「What’s coming next?」
When the self-propelled mine ‘Jellied Eel’ was running along the rails, Kou felt a slight shock.
Is something even weirder than that going to come? He wondered.
「You’d better see it with your own eyes.」
Aimer averted her gaze softly. She didn’t seem to want to say.
The footage was transferred.
From afar, a high-pitched whistle, similar to the sound of screeching metal, could be heard.
It had a nostalgic ring to it, stirring a sense of homesickness from somewhere deep within Kou.
「Huh? A steam whistle?」
A pitch-black mass was racing along the broken rails.
「Yes. A steam locomotive.」
The emblem of the goddess Britannia shone brightly as two steam locomotives ran side by side.
It was a surreal sight, something that didn’t seem fitting in a battle where space battleships traded blows.
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「Hey, seriously? A steam locomotive? The enemy has aircraft carriers flying in the sky, and we are fielding this?」
「It uses a hybrid propulsion system of steam power and a reactor. With that, it can still run even without electricity. It’s also useful for transporting things in bulk. Though, why they are using a steam power engine instead of other more common engines… is a mystery.」
The construction engineering corps had many former railway workers. A murmur spread through the group.
Tetsuya, the head of the railway network, and Yuma, the frontline commander, both stood up.
「It looks like they’re coming to deliver supplies. Let’s get the silhouettes ready.」
「Roger that.」
The freight cars pulled by the arriving locomotives were loaded with supplies like ammunition.
「We’ve brought supplies! We are just the first party, behind us are the combat forces, they should arrive soon, fifty Albion Mark I tanks are moving along the tracks as rail trucks.」
A cat-shaped Familia reported as it disembarked.
「Hold on a minute. Is that really a steam locomotive?」
「Yes. It’s an external combustion engine that uses advanced steam technology with a high-level steam power system. While it can also operate on a reactor, it’s designed to maintain logistics in situations where the power packs are destroyed. In such cases, it primarily runs on biofuel, but in emergencies, it can use diesel or coal.」
Even in the 21st century, research on steam engines continued, primarily focused on improving energy efficiency and developing low-carbon, zero-emission technologies. There were also innovations like automatic boilers that allowed for unmanned operation. This steam locomotive incorporated these advanced technologies.
「Steam, huh… not even diesel.」
Steam engines are inefficient due to the extra step of generating steam.
Using an internal combustion engine would be more energy-efficient, and Tetsuya, knowing the history of steam locomotives’ decline, couldn’t help but be impressed.
「I heard they chose a steam locomotive over a diesel one because it was easier to build.」
「The Development Engineer who made this was definitely British.」
Countries like the UK, the US, and Switzerland continued experimenting with steam and diesel engines well into the 21st century. Despite the challenges in making them practical due to efficiency, research persisted.
「This steam engine is state-of-the-art. It uses flameless ceramic heat cells, which allow it to produce steam through smokeless combustion. There’s actually no smoke; the smoke and the steam whistle are just for show. It seems the developer wanted to create the right atmosphere as well.」
「That Development Engineer definitely knows their craft. The atmosphere is important.」
「It also has a device to extract water from the air. Marujin mentioned that the fuel efficiency isn’t great, but they built it to be ready for non-electrified sections of track in case of emergencies.」
「This is an eye-opener to us who have relied on A-Carbuncle’s Whis for everything up until now.」
Tetsuya was reflecting. He should have suggested to the Big Boss that they prepare something for when the power is down or for non-electrified routes.
「We’ll be boarding fighter jets now, so we’re leaving this locomotive in your hands.」
「Wait! Are you sure about that?」
「Of course! You all know better than anyone what needs to be transported and where during the battle. We trust the railway division of the construction corps to handle it with confidence.」
「Thanks!」
Yuma turned to the cat-shaped Familia that had disembarked and asked:
「Hey, can I ask you something? Will more reinforcements keep coming?」
「Of course! Look up at the sky.」
A formation of oddly-shaped fighter planes was flying toward them.
「This is reassuring.」
「Also another wave should be running furiously toward us, so they should arrive at any moment now.」
「Running furiously?」
「Yes, the best surprise strike is the one that comes from an unpredictable source. Oh, but that’s a secret! Well, I’ll leave it at that!」
The base was supposed to be gone.
Where the fighters had come from or what was charging at them in fury? Yuuma’s surprise wouldn’t abate soon.
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The unit of the Argo Force which was maintaining air superiority, was centered around the transformable Silhouette Arular. Suddenly the Arulars were attacked by a swarm of fighter planes from an entirely unexpected direction. At first glance, they looked like ordinary single-engine fighters.
「Where did they come from?!」
「They ignored us and flew straight ahead. Let’s circle around and shoot them down with missiles.」
The Arular was a highly maneuverable silhouette.
They quickly got behind the mysterious fighter squadron and were about to pull the trigger when—
「Whoa!」
Two Gatling gun pods were mounted on the rear of the enemy planes. They fired simultaneously, turning the pursuing planes into sieves.
「Rear-facing machine guns?! Why?!」
The pilot’s voice rose in shock. Even those who survived the initial attack screamed in frustration as they plummeted to the ground.
On either side of the tail section, in an impossible location, were two large-caliber Gatling guns.
As the enemy planes performed barrel rolls to evade, they unleashed a barrage of fire, rapidly stripping away the armor of the Arulars.
Another Arular that tried to flank the strange fighters from behind f was also shredded by the rear-facing guns.
It was a baffling weapon system, mounted in a position that clearly wasn’t meant for forward-facing attacks.
「Albert-sama! We’ve encountered fighters armed with two large-caliber rear-facing machine guns! We can’t get close!」
「Rear-facing machine guns, you say? There was once a British fighter that only had guns facing the rear. Get in front of them! They shouldn’t be able to shoot forward!」
Albert was well-versed in Earth-era weaponry. The situation reminded him of a peculiar, infamous fighter plane from history that only had rear-facing guns, and he gave his orders accordingly.
「Understood!」
The Arular squadron activated their afterburners and made a wide turn, bringing the enemy fighters directly in front of them.
While this exposed them to some danger, the enemy shouldn’t be able to shoot forward. If they could just get in front, they would be able to finish the job with missiles and machine guns.
「Huh? Why?」
It wasn’t the Arular pilots who were surprised, but the Familia piloting the strange fighters.
The enemy planes made a wide turn and weren’t even firing missiles. They were completely exposed.
These fighters were called Burn Owls, a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft based on the variable Silhouette Buzzard. They were equipped with heavy rear-facing Gatling guns, designed with the unconventional idea of using the recoil to assist with acceleration.
Of course, the acceleration effect was minimal, but it made the plane’s flight unstable, which helped it evade enemy attacks.
The rear-mounted cannons were originally intended for ground attacks, designed to strike Silhouettes or tanks on the surface.
「Fire!」
Before the Familias could be completely surrounded, they decided to strike.
They fired the small-caliber railguns and anti-air missiles loaded on the Burn Owls’ weapon bays, obviously, their targets were the enemies directly in front of them.
The Arulars hit squarely from the front, were shot down one after another.
「Why did those people bother to make a wide turn and come straight at us?」
「Did they really think we didn’t have weapons mounted on the front?」
「That’s ridiculous. I don’t understand how humans think.」
The Familias found themselves perplexed by the situation in a different way.
That confusion continued to plague the Argo Force as well. Albert received another communication.
「Enemy fighters! We’ve received a report that they have forward-facing weapons!」
「What?! That’s impossible!」
He was shocked. The idea that a fighter with rear-facing machine guns would also have front-mounted weapons had never crossed his mind.
「Albert-sama.」
「What is it?」
「Is it really so surprising that the enemy fighters have forward-facing weapons?」
「…」
Albert thought for a moment, then covered his face with his right hand while waving with his left.
「I might be a little tired. Just tell them to fight as usual.」
「Understood.」
With a heavy sigh, he muttered to himself.
「Relying on precedent is a mistake. But why does such a precedent even exist in history? This isn’t my fault!」
He continued grumbling about the absurdity of a real-life, illogical fighter plane. Even though he knew it was pointless, he couldn’t stop complaining.
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
「The Albion fighter unit, callsign Burn Owl, has reached the airspace and begun providing support.」
「That’s great! But where did they come from?」
Kou wondered at the report from Asia’s Aimer.
The catapults of the Silhouette Base were currently hidden, and there were no signs of them being used.
「I’ve confirmed it. They came from an unnamed improvised base, which is currently out of operation.」
「That dummy base! I remember now. That’s where we launched the Thunderstorm from.」
It was the place where they first operated the metallic hydrogen-powered heavy vertical takeoff and landing attack aircraft, Thunderstorm, piloted by Blue.
During the attack on P336 Fortress Area, it had also served as a frontline base.
The dummy base, which hadn’t been in use since the direct route to the P336 fortress area was established, was still intact. Though dormant, the runways and underground passageways connected to shelters remained operational.
It was maintained at minimal cost by a single A-Spinel reactor, and it was directly connected to the Silhouette base, making it a useful outpost in this situation.
「They’re shooting down enemies who are chasing them with rear-facing machine guns…」
「Rear-facing machine guns? Why would they have guns pointed backward?」
「Don’t ask me. I don’t know.」
Asia’s Aimer’s protest was understandable. Only the person who designed it would know the reason.
The footage showed enemy planes that had gotten directly behind the Burn Owls being shredded by the dual large-caliber machine guns. Even though the Arulars were heavily armored for fighter-type silhouettes, they couldn’t withstand such assault.
「At the same time, a swarm of Panjandrums is rushing out from that location.」
「Why?」
Kou could only respond with, ‘Why?’ It was a situation he didn’t want to think too deeply about.
「Stop asking me. Target identification complete. These are the transcontinental self-propelled mines, codename Melos. They’re designed for short-term blitz operations with P-MAX from the start.」
「So they’re already in a frenzy?」
「They’re making a wide detour around the P336 Fortress Area in a counterclockwise direction, rolling at high speed in large numbers.」
「Counterclockwise means they plan to make a wide sweep from the north and hit the rear of the enemy landing forces in the south.」
With transcontinental Panjandrums like the Melos, precision attacks weren’t an option.
Once they arrived at their target, they would just roll around randomly.
「It’s not an efficient attack, but it’ll buy us time. That’s probably the goal.」
The Stones’ landing troops would have to deal with them, or the damage would spread. The Melos, with their electromagnetic armor, were not easily destroyed, and when they took a certain amount of damage, they exploded violently.
Certainly, while it may be difficult to deal significant damage to the enemy, the enemy soldiers would have no choice but to respond to these dangerous self-propelled mines.
The Argo Force’s countermeasure for the Panjandrum was to capture them with a net and trigger an explosion.
Many of them bounced around unpredictably, so stopping their movement was their top priority. This method was devised after many bitter experiences.
The anti-Panjandrum weapon was typically a vehicle-based system, but the Argo Force didn’t have one prepared.
「Even though its structure is simple, there’s only one person who could build something like the Melos.」
「Yeah, I’m thinking the same person.」
「Marujin. The tactical genius with a SAN value of zero, right? I’m sure that nickname didn’t come from him, though it fits perfectly.」
「He’s a hermit, Hermit. He’s also a prophet and strategist because he predicted Britain’s victory.」
「I’d be terrified if there were two engineers like him…」
That was all Kou could say. He felt a slight, awkward warmth from behind him, but it was probably just his imagination.
Asia’s Aimer, looking from behind him, kindly refrained from pointing out that a person who had most of the qualities they were talking about was right in front of her.
AN:
Regarding SL (steam locomotives), it seems there are still people out there working hard on the next-generation SLs, although they’re facing financial difficulties.
It seems commercialization remains challenging, no matter how efficient the technology becomes.
As for rear-facing machine guns, the idea that machine guns are unnecessary in aerial combat seems to surface periodically.
I’ve always wanted to introduce a fighter jet like this. I imagine this is what a fighter of the future might look like.
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