The Gift Inside Eirene’s Cracker
The members of Metal Iris and Ulysses were left speechless at the sight of the bridge of the colossal Megareus being blown away in one strike, and the massive figure of the space battleship sinking into the ground. Everyone watching the video was stunned by the power of the massive Panjandrum that came soaring from low orbit.
The impact tremor was so intense that even hundreds of kilometers away, it shook the ground where they stood, forcing even the Silhouettes in the distance to struggle to maintain their balance.
「Look, Abel! The entire planet is watching us!」
「It was quite the spectacle! I bet the enemy was completely stunned!」
The two inside the Eirene seemed delighted with their work.
「The Argoforce made a critical operational error. They were too focused on keeping their space battleship in a fortified position because of their fear of our space fleet, which led them to anchor it like a fortress. One of the key reasons warships evolved was to enable the mobility of immense firepower by transporting cannons on ships. In other words, it made maneuvering firepower possible. A ship that remains stationary is nothing but a target. By the time they realized my true aim, it was already too late.」
「As expected you are Abel-san. Eirene has said your name, so why don’t you take off that mask already?」
「Oh, Kou-san. Aren’t you supposed to be resting?」
「How do you expect me to sleep through all that!」
Kou shouted, which was rare for him. He had been taking a nap inside Unit 5 when the impact hit, powerful enough to unsteady the machine, which was kneeling in its parked position.
「Hmm. I was hoping to take off my mask during a more dramatic moment.」
「That’s cool and all, but it’s a little too late now.」
「Well, I suppose it’s about time, then.」
Abel removed his mask with a mischievous smile.
「We’ll launch another attack. I expect it won’t be effective more than twice. It would be best to advance immediately after the second strike.」
「That’s why you told us to use the Albion Mark I. It’s the perfect weapon for this; It’s designed to withstand that blast, traverse the terrain turned into a wasteland, and safely transport the Silhouettes.」
Asia remembered Abel’s earlier advice.
「Exactly. The Albion Mark I was meant for breaching right after a direct hit from the ‘Hanged Man.’ We didn’t expect the enemy to employ something as ridiculous as a carrier bomb, so we quickly dispatched it to the Fortress Area to help in the defense.」
「I doubt the enemy expected a giant Panjandrum to come down from orbit either.」 Aimer retorted with a hint of annoyance in her voice. She got up rubbing her sleepy eyes, and took her seat at the command post. Even inside the Astraea, which had vibration-dampening measures, that impact had been intense.
「Catching the enemy off guard is the essence of strategy.」
「You two are a little too focused on catching the enemy off guard, can’t you think about the consequences of your actions?」
「Sister! You’re so harsh! Come on, give us some praise!」
「Fine, I will. There is no other weapon on the surface that can blow the bridge of a space battleship apart with a single strike. If it had been explosive ordnance dropped with acceleration, it would have violated Okeanos’s restrictions. But as you said, simply throwing a tethered iron ball doesn’t fall under the prohibited acts.」
「Right?! When Abel explained the plan to me, I knew this was our only choice!」
「Why don’t you use that talent of yours in a more conventional way?」
「Oh, like I haven’t been using it? I spent thirty years restoring the Enterprise, restoring the underwater defense domes, and supporting the founding of General Arms—I’ve been doing my best!」
Eirene flashed a cheerful, innocent smile, but Astraea knew better. Even that smile was a calculated act. Behind it was a pointed question to Astraea: What were you doing during all that time?
A tense atmosphere settled over the room.
「…How long have you been awake?」
Astraea finally asked, realizing Eirene had the upper hand.
「Since the day Asia was sealed away and peace was shattered. It’s tough when you’re the younger sister to a bunch of sleepy-headed older sisters.」
This time, Eirene’s voice was serious. Modeled after the goddess of peace, Eirene was an AI more attuned to calm and serenity than anyone else, acutely sensitive to any disruption of peace.
Astraea was at a loss for words, realizing that Eirene had awakened much earlier than she did.
「Okeanos, upon hearing Asia’s final cry of desperation, commanded Prometheus to gather the Transferees. That was when my plan truly began.」
「At that moment! Why didn’t you wake me up?!」
「Wake yourself up. You can do that, right, Eunomia?」
「Stop with the sarcasm, you sound like some sort of British noble, Eirene.」
Eunomia shot back, though her response seemed more resigned than cutting.
「I was surprised you woke up as soon as you did, Astraea, but you’re still too cautious, too slow to act. For nearly thirty years, the release of technology stalled, and progress was agonizingly slow. There were moments when I hated my own helplessness. But thanks to Big Boss, everything shifted in one stroke!」
Despite her cheerful demeanor, Eirene’s words had a surprising sting, aimed squarely at Astraea, each remark cutting deeper.
「So, that’s where I come in.」
「Naturally! But still, Jack’s capture and the fall of John Arms was a heavy blow. I had to sell off existing weapons, accelerate the development of new models using liberated technology, and rely on BAS and Atou for the purchase rights and material acquisitions that followed.」
「So that’s why they had so many money issues.」
Aimer said, finally understanding the persistent financial troubles that plagued BAS. Despite being a company known for creating excellent weaponry, their struggles always seemed out of place.
「When we reclaimed the R001 Fortress Area and BAS gained the rights to purchase a metallic hydrogen generator, we finally were able to go full throttle. It was really tough. I’m sorry, Asia, for being so late to help you.」
「So it really was all a scheme between BAS and Eirene. Still, thank you. The way you orchestrated everything without me noticing is terrifyingly thorough.」
「Peace requires strength. And strength isn’t just about brute force; it’s about gathering information, negotiating, and having the patience to prepare. If we had tried to help halfway and got discovered, it would have all been for nothing! I’m just glad Big Boss and Astraea were such a good match.」
「You and Abel seem to have quite a good match yourselves.」
「Absolutely! Who would’ve thought Lybia would personally appear in the Silhouette Base? That chaos allowed me to move freely, and I even managed to acquire the perfect Development Engineer for me! Thanks, Lybia!」
「Hmm. I have very mixed feelings about this.」
Lybia responded, looking as though she had just bitten into something bitter.
「You’re really skilled at timing your moves to make the most of the chaos, Eirene.」
「I did it! I got a compliment from Big Boss!」
Eirene’s AI face lit up with a delighted smile, causing Kou to look on in bewilderment. From what he could tell, she carefully timed her plans to coincide with moments of maximum disruption.
「The best part of a surprise is the planning itself.」 E
「You should consider the feelings of the ones getting surprised too. How many times have I told you this?」
「Everything has to be done with flair, dear sister. If it’s for that, then even meticulous preparations are worth enduring.」
「So, you went through all that trouble to restore a destroyed Space Fortress Carrier just for that?」
「Exactly! No one would ever think of repairing a wreck that looked like a demolished ruin, right?」
Eirene stood tall, brimming with confidence.
Beneath the ocean lay the Space Fortress Carrier, the Sophos-class Thales. For the super AIs active during the era of the interplanetary war, it wasn’t much of a secret; it was one of the well-known wreckages hidden within Asia. Eirene had always anticipated that the day would come when they would need this carrier, whose sturdy hull had defied decay through the ages.
「The party has only just begun. Are you going back to sleep now that your surprise was a success?」
Hearing Astraea’s question, Eirene responded with a sly, confident smile.
「The preparations are complete. And now, the party truly begins, Astraea. We’re about to pop the cracker with a gift inside! Our opponents will trigger it for us, and that will be the signal for us to advance!」
◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆
High in the sky, the Bogatyri in fighter mode was moving forward. It was equipped with even larger additional boosters and fuel tanks. Riding on its back was a Corvus, piloted by Castor.
「Do we have to intentionally take another hit?」
「We have no choice. This is the only strategy we have. The tether will be vulnerable once it gets tight while they are rewinding it. We’ll aim at that moment and sever it.」
「I’m also of the same opinion, we shouldn’t try to take that thing on during its descent. And the only one with the skill to sever that tether is you, Castor-sama.」
The tether was made from materials similar to those used in the orbital elevator, reinforced by an A-Carbuncle. Cutting through it would be impossible for an ordinary person. But for Castor, a master swordsman, and with the Corvus designed specifically for swordsmanship, it was possible. The fact that he held the blade he had taken from Yuzuki’s Accipiter, further increased their chances.
This blade was a prototype of the Gram used by the Hrafnagud. It featured a cross-shaped guard and a thick, double-edged blade that reflected the design of ancient straight swords.
The colossal Panjandrum returned once again, crashing into the Megareus and damaging it further. The ensuing explosion and massive plume of smoke erupted, with the shockwave surging dangerously close to them, even at an altitude of 25 kilometers.
They looked down at Megareus far below. The deck had shattered, and it seemed miraculous that the ship still retained any semblance of its original form.
「It’s been pushed even deeper into the ground.」
「The main cannon is in ruins. If it takes a third hit like that, it won’t survive. And Metal Iris is closing in.」
「We have no other choice. Let’s do this!」
「Understood!」
The tether tightened, and the rocket on the massive Panjandrum began its ignition sequence, preparing to reverse its momentum.
Vasa and Castor didn’t let that critical moment slip by. Their eyes were locked on the target, ready to strike at precisely the right instant.
The Bogatyri moved in close to the massive tether.
The Corvus, activating the armored muscles to their maximum capacity, drew its blade in a flash. With a swift horizontal slash, it severed the tether in two.
「Did we get it?!」
「Yes! But… wait!」
Vasa noticed something amiss almost immediately.
The cut tether began to fall, but it wasn’t just dropping; it was burning as it descended. Like a fuse, it blazed with an intense, fiery trail.
「It seems that the tether was supplying metallic hydrogen.」
「Wait, then that means… there’s a bomb at the end of it!」
「Damn it!」
Vasa cursed, his frustration evident. They should have known that dealing with Marujin wouldn’t be straightforward.
The Bogatyri accelerated, closing in rapidly. It wouldn’t take long to reach the 20-kilometer-long fuse.
「We’re pulling back!」
The Bogatyri pushed to maximum speed, racing away.
Just seconds later, a blinding flash illuminated the Megareus far below. The 400 tons of metallic hydrogen stored in the ‘Hanged Man’ had detonated.
「Albert! Respond!」
Castor called out urgently. The screen flickered to show Albert, blood running down his forehead, likely from the shockwave of the explosion.
「This is Albert… I’m still alive, somehow.」
「I see. To think they’d actually detonate something like that.」
「A Panjandrum is in the end a bomb. However, the power of the explosion itself was weaker than the kinetic attack. My injury is also from the kinetic attack.」
Albert explained, struggling to catch his breath, the consecutive attacks had taken a toll on him.
「The problem isn’t the explosion’s strength, though. The surrounding units have been decimated.」
「Were they blown away?」
「No. The rocket sections of that Panjandrum were mostly dummies. They were loaded with high-density Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs). The reserve units within a 50-kilometer radius have been turned into a pincushion.」
EFPs, also known as Explosively Formed Penetrators or Explosively Formed Projectiles, utilize a focused blast wave exceeding Mach 7 to mold and project a high-speed penetrative projectile. Unlike cluster bombs, the warhead itself doesn’t explode; instead, it disperses layers of shaped liners in a three-dimensional pattern.
The surrounding forces that had distanced themselves to avoid the blast of the ‘Hanged Man’ were positioned in a semicircle, 180 degrees around the blast center. The explosive reach extended over a vast area, with a diameter of more than 50 kilometers, and inflicted devastating damage to the Argoforce military units using the Explosively Formed Penetrators (EFPs). The attack was precisely directed at the follow-up units. Marujin deliberately formed this semicircle to avoid hitting the Metal Iris forces. The low number of aerial units in the area, due to the smoke, was the only fortunate factor in this situation.
「Damn it… what a diabolical trap he laid.」
While Castor was fuming, Albert thought about their strategy in the earlier battle when they used their allied Silhouettes as projectiles but decided to not say anything in the end.
「I understand the enemy’s true intention now. The second strike from the Panjandrum pushed the Megareus even deeper into the ground. Its formidable armor turned into a weakness, the Megareus has lost all its mobility now.」
「So that was their goal all along—to immobilize the battleship!」
「Indeed. With the Megareus now in a critical condition, Metal Iris will likely begin their advance. We’ll have to recall the tank units that we sheltered within the Defense Dome.」
At that moment, Vasa interjected on the communication channel.
「Albert, we can’t risk the security of Castor-sama. I can’t return immediately, so I’m counting on you.」
「Leave it to me.」
With that, the communication ended. Albert would now be focused on repositioning the units that had been evacuated.
「Vasa, what do we do now? Without the Megareus, we’ll have no choice but to hole up in the Fortress Area. I might even be dismissed from command.」
「Do not worry. Even if we lose the Megareus, there is still a way for you to earn Hermes-sama’s approval and achieve great accomplishments. And it’s something that only you, Castor-sama, can do.」
「Hermes-sama’s approval? What is this plan? Tell me!」
「Yes. It is—」
Vasa began, revealing the details of a plan that truly required Castor’s unique abilities. Without hesitation, Castor latched onto the plan.
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