Sealing the Charged Particle Cannon

 


「The Ate is heading straight for Astraea. We’ll chase after it.」

「It’s going at an incredible speed.」

「It’s like a ground effect vehicle.  It’s gliding on the sea surface using the ground effect principle.」

The three Development Engineers analyzed the Ate.

Detailed data about it was also available to them. They had already fully analyzed it and had a battle plan ready.

「It’s going at a speed of about 500 km/h huh. If that’s the case, then we can catch up with no problem.」

The Pericles rose in altitude and flew in the air.  Its ballast tanks were filled with seawater, which was the source of its metallic hydrogen.

Its rocket boosters spewed fire, and it started advancing at high speed.

「Matt, can you hear me? This is Astraea. We’ll be launching attack aircraft that will serve as diversions.」

The transmission came from Aki. She was on good terms with Jialing and Matty. She had also met with Harald several times before.

「Roger! We’ll be counting on you!」

Edge Swifts sporting anti-ship loadouts started launching from Astraea.

Because it had considerable carrying capacity, Astraea can also conduct air-to-surface attacks.

Like swallows flying low, the Edge Swifts sped forward just a few meters above the surface of the sea.  They wouldn’t be able to reach their maximum speed in this way, but they were still able to fully display their maneuverability.

The Ate had not yet noticed the Pericles.

Disregarding the anti-ship attacks of the Edge Swifts, it still headed straight for Astraea.

「I’m fine with getting close and giving it a wallop, but what will we do about that thing’s charged particle cannons?」

「It’s fine, Jialing. It’s already a mistake to use such things in the atmosphere. If we’re on the surface of the sea, there are many methods we can use to deal with them.」

Harald answered Jialing’s question.

Matty nodded as well.  It seems that they have already considered several countermeasures.

The Ate’s myriad sensors finally managed to pick up the Pericles.

It performed a big turn and approached the Pericles while preparing to fire the charged particle cannons on its claws.

「The thing that poses the most danger to us is getting hit with that thing’s gigantic armor muscles – in other words, its tail.」

「The Astraea’s Edge Swifts are falling back! They practically didn’t manage to do much damage.」

「Yeah. It’s about time. All hands, brace for impact!」

The Therianthropes, humans, and Familiars inside the ship moved to brace themselves in a hurry after hearing Matty’s command.

The quality of the personnel seemed to be quite high.

「Switch the bulbous bow into ram mode. Pericles, full speed ahead! Put up an anti-aircraft laser barrage! Our target is the sea surface! Restrain the Ate’s movements with missiles!」

After hearing Matty’s commands, Jialing questioned the two other Development Engineers.

「The sea surface?」

「We’re gonna generate steam.  A charged particle cannon is basically a water gun that launches out charged particles at high speed.  If fired in an atmosphere, it can only fire particles with the momentum of a water spray. It would be practically impossible for it to extend its range in the middle of an area filled with steam.」

「It’s not a neutral particle beam cannon after all.  That’s a weapon used in the Interplanetary War era. When it was designed and built, operating on the sea surface wasn’t actually considered much. It would be difficult for it to deal damage to the armor of Pericles once its particle beam gets attenuated.」

Jialing was still not convinced by the two’s explanations.

「Is it really a weapon that can be dealt with something like that? I mean, can’t that thing fire its charged particle cannons as much as it wants as long as it has access to plenty of seawater?」

「Yes. It can also use seawater as a coolant and generate metallic hydrogen with it, but it’s also its biggest weakness.」

「Under normal circumstances, firing a charged particle cannon is already like firing a water gun underwater.   Hence, you can expect further attenuation by adding steam into the mix.」

A large amount of seawater spewed around the Ate.

The cannon’s range was about 20 kilometers. However, the charged particle beam probably wouldn’t be able to maintain itself at the 10-kilometer mark.

「Once we get close, put up a plasma barrier with reduced output intermittently.  Make sure to check if any friendly units are nearby.」

Pericles began to intermittently emit a plasma barrier through its electromagnetic armor.

Steam was generated each time the barrier went up, and the area became covered in thick clouds of it.

As expected, the Ate became unable to use its charge particle cannons and seemingly displayed irritation.

When it finally managed to fire them, they couldn’t damage the armor of the Pericles at all.

「Fog? Is it really that simple to counter those weapons?」

「Normally, steam evaporates quickly.  However, we can put up a near-infinite barrier of steam using the seawater.  That thing’s a weapon meant for space, so its design hadn’t accounted for this method.」

「I can only see it as a defective weapon now.」

「The power of a charged particle cannon is ten times that of a railgun of the same caliber. The larger the caliber, the greater the power.」

「Geh. And we’re going to slam right into that?!」

Jialing had always thought it was the case.  She now confirmed that Matty can also act as recklessly as Kou.

The Pericles landed smoothly on the surface of the sea.

「Landing successful! Libra 2, damage report!」

『Please rest assured. We have taken no damage.』

Libra 2, the control AI of the Pericles, answered Matty.

The Pericles advanced toward the Ate until the edge of the latter’s attack range and suddenly dove underwater.

The Ate became confused.  That’s because it thought the enemy would charge straight at it.  It was also capable of diving underwater.

When it checked its sensors, it didn’t look like the enemy ship had dived too deeply.

But the Pericles suddenly rose to the surface in one go.  Then, it launched itself upward like a rocket.

「Kyaaa!」

Jialing couldn’t help but scream due to the sudden violent shock.  Harald found it interesting and chuckled in amusement.

A large amount of seawater splashed upward.  The Pericles generated a huge splash of water that was over 400 meters.

It adjusted the bearing of its hull in mid-air, turned its large boosters on at maximum output, and accelerated.  It charged straight for the Ate’s back as if falling from the sky.  The Ate’s tail wouldn’t be able to reach the Pericles in its current position.

The Ate aimed at the Pericles up in the sky with the charged particle cannons equipped on its scissor-like claws, but they hadn’t been charged yet.

Its anti-aircraft lasers did no damage to the armor of Pericles.

「Here we go, everyone! Bulbous bow, ram mode!」

Making use of the potential energy generated through the planet’s gravity, the ram of the Pericles pierced the back of the Ate. However, it was unable to destroy the Ate in a single blow.

The large rocket boosters at the stern of the Pericles spewed fire, and it forcibly pushed the Ate underwater.

「Commencing dive. Depth at 50…… 100…… 500…… 1000…… We’re here! Deep One, it’s all yours!」

The Ate, which was basically a giant mechanical mantis shrimp, was also able to navigate the deep sea.  However, since its reactor was damaged by the earlier ramming attack of the Pericles, it couldn’t move as it pleased.

Every time it reached a certain depth, its perforated armor creaked from the increasing pressure.   Its internal structure began to be flooded and take damage from the water pressure.

It had been brought to the sea’s depths.  There, the Deep One submarine unit belonging to the Silhouette Base was waiting.

Once the Pericles reached a certain depth, it had stopped pushing the Ate downward.

The Deep One unit made its move.

Ate took a concentrated attack of torpedoes on its damaged back.  The Pericles also launched torpedoes of its own.

Eventually, the Ate’s reactor stopped, and it sank quietly toward the seabed.


The three ships Astraea, Cimon, and Pericles had finally gathered together.

The weapons loaded on all three ships were top class.

「I wanna join them too.」

Robert groaned.  He was on stand-by on Fortress Area P336 the entire time.   He couldn’t help but feel a little left out.

However, it was currently difficult for him to leave the task of standing by to Barry.  And Robert’s words weren’t really serious in the first place.

「We have few aerial units on our end.  We are mostly carrying Silhouette units.」

Matty gave a report to Barry.

「Kurt Maschinenbau’s Badb Catha unit, the remodeled Wurger unit, and my Quattro unit will serve as our main forces.」

「We’ll be facing off with lots of Giant Murders from here on out. The assistance of your elite troops will be greatly helpful.」

The Kurt Maschinenbau survivors were mostly young people.   Perhaps too young.

In addition to reviving their company, many also decided to become pilots.  In order to protect what they wanted to protect this time around.

Now, they’ve grown to master piloting the Badb Cathas.  They never forgot the sacrifices of their colleagues on Fortress Area D516.

「The troublesome thing is the enemy’s overestimation of us.  All the Giant Murders and Keres they sent after us are equipped with high-dimensional projection armor.  Any additional forces are greatly appreciated.」

「Aerial combat is currently sealed. It was hard for us when we couldn’t make it in time for the aerial battle yesterday, but it looks like it’s quite fortunate that we’ve organized weapons that can be used in ground warfare.」

The Gallop was a manufacturing company dedicated to making Quattro Silhouettes, and Therianthropes from all over the world were constantly rushing to apply to the company.

The Quattro was a very capable ground combat unit and also possessed high mobility.

「That’s encouraging. The Ate that was attacking from the mountain range was defeated by our combat engineer and railway units.   We’ve kept pushing ourselves in order to come this far, but we should be able to make it with our current strength.」

The march of the Ate and Giant Murders was reminiscent of a kaijuu movie.

「We will now commence the giant weapon subjugation operation.  Pericles corps, please hurry and join the rest of the troops on the front line.」

「Roger! Jialing, give the orders.」

「Yes!」

Matt responded to Barry and had Jialing relay his instructions to the rest of the Pericles’ crew.

Kou was waiting for them on the battlefield.

They came here in order to help their dear friend after all.

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