The Sneering Higher-ups
「What kind of abilities does a real panjandrum have?」
Aimer, a child who can read the atmosphere, quickly asked Abel.
She knew that if she didn’t do so, everyone would remain frozen still due to Abel and George’s antics.
Abel displayed a wide grin as if anticipating such a question.
「You are familiar with cruise missiles, aren’t you?」
「Yes. It’s a type of guided missile, right?」
「That’s right. There are many methods for guiding missiles to attack targets, and a cruise missile is of the autonomous type. Unlike a ballistic missile, it doesn’t require being launched on a high-altitude ballistic trajectory. It can adjust its speed, circumvent buildings and other obstacles if needed, fly low, and destroy targets deep within enemy lines.」
「Don’t tell me the next panjandrums are……」
「That’s right! I call them Cruise Panjandrums!」
The Cruise Panjandrums were launched.
The Argonauts, who were in full alert, deployed their modified vehicles to deal with them.
「In other words, is the Cruise Panjandrum a self-propelled explosive charge that’s able to bypass obstacles such as buildings and APWs in order to deal with their targets directly?」
「Bypassing buildings? Of. Course. Not!」
Aimer was creeped out by Abel’s eerie-looking smile.
Then, the panjandrums displayed on the screen began running vertically up the walls of buildings.
A Silhouette was attacking enemy planes on top of a building with a high-output sniper railgun. It was a part of a mercenary squad.
It was mainly targeting the Boons and Type-0s. Its main role was to shoot down enemy aircraft, but it also provided fire support to the troops on the ground.
A partner Silhouette was also on the building roof. They were carried up via transport planes.
「Hey, something’s coming from below!」
His partner issued a warning.
「Below?」
The sniper Silhouette pilot looked down. Normally, he should only have seen the distant ground and Silhouettes that appeared as tiny specks.
But he saw something different.
A gigantic spinning wheel-shaped object was climbing up the wall of the building they were located at with tremendous momentum.
He could even clearly see rocket plumes. It was one of those self-propelled explosive charges they were told about.
However, they were never told that the damned things could actually scale buildings!
「W-What the–?!」
The pilot screamed in distress, but it was already too late. He hurriedly made his machine retreat backward.
The panjandrum reached the top of the building and bounced upward due to the momentum of the rockets.
The pilot was stunned silly.
The panjandrum landed on the spot where the sniper Silhouette was located earlier.
Its rockets had stopped firing for a few moments, but they quickly activated again.
「Oh shi–!」
The sniper Silhouette ended up getting knocked away.
It fell from a height of 300 meters aboveground.
It was already too late when the pilot tried to do something.
In the distance, the Silhouette’s partner machine was also knocked off the roof in a similar manner.
Most of the Cruise Panjandrums managed to reach their target without getting shot down.
It was an ammunition depot.
Ammunition was stockpiled within the Silhouette-sized outer walls of a warehouse.
Two Silhouettes were assigned at the gate as guards.
Inside the facility, ammunition crates were packed one after another on large transport trucks to supply the Argoforce troops who were fighting outside the Fortress Area.
The railguns didn’t require gunpowder, but the light-gas guns needed to be injected with hydrogen gas. The latter’s advantage was the standardization of its ammo’s warheads.
The crisis came while the workers were in the middle of loading work.
Gigantic spinning wheels game flying in from the roofs of buildings in the distance.
The worker Silhouette pilots ended up in a panic.
The panjandrums ignored them and entered the inner gate one after another.
「Shoot them down!」
「It’s no good. We can’t predict which building they’d scale next, and they’re deceptively fast!」
They were nothing more than giant wheels equipped with rocket boosters. Of course, they were fast.
A group of panjandrums flew from building to building, moving in seemingly random directions. Unfortunately, since they came in the middle of wartime resupplying work, the warehouse alarm was delayed.
Five Silhouettes stood in the way of a Cruise Panjandrum that was about to make it into the interior of the facility.
They lined up as if they were forming a scrum in order to stop the panjandrum.
However, two more panjandrums arrived soon after, making the Silhouettes face a total of three.
Before long, they reached their limits.
「Eei. Hurry up and deal with them!」
「A work vehicle is on the way. It’ll get here soon!」
But then, even more panjandrums arrived.
「It’s no good! There are now six of them!」
「It’s gonna be really bad if all of them explode at the same time!」
「Don’t let them through no matter what! Push them back!」
As if making fun of their efforts and resolve, the newly arrived Cruise Panjandrums leaped right over them and continued heading for their target.
「Geh!」
The Armadillo pilots completely gave up the moment the three additional panjandrums managed to reach the warehouse.
The sky was lit up.
「Explosions are fun, aren’t they?」
Abel displayed a truly delighted expression as he watched the live video feed taken by Boons.
A bright light was emitted from within the Cruise Panjandrums right in front of the warehouse shutter. Moments after, a crimson conflagration quickly engulfed everything within its reach.
The crew members inside the Astraea were monitoring the movements of the Cruise Panjandrum.
They watched as the panjandrums dashed from building to building while occasionally knocking off sniper Silhouettes along the way, and headed to their target destination.
「It’s true that those APWs wouldn’t be able to deal with something like that.」
Aki commented with a vacant gaze. She didn’t anticipate that the panjandrums would actually be able to scale buildings. And you couldn’t predict exactly which building they’d leap toward next as well.
The Silhouettes that fell from great heights met truly tragic ends.
Before long, a huge flame pillar rose to the air. Afterward, a mushroom cloud was formed. However, it was not atomic in nature.
「It looks like they managed to successfully detonate the stored ammunition as well. A Fortress Area shelter is one thing, but the walls of a warehouse won’t be able to defend against the panjandrum’s explosions.」
A huge flame pillar rose up once more.
「This is the Gracious Queen. We’ve confirmed the explosion of the fuel storehouse.」
A transmission came from Admiral George. He sounded quite pleased.
The operation which combined the high-precision map provided by the Boons with the Cruise Panjandrums was a resounding success.
「There’s no point in resupplying if they can’t bring the supplies out right away after all. The fact that they didn’t actually place the Fortress Area interior on lockdown worked in our favor.」
「This will no doubt have an effect on the enemy’s logistics.」
Eri remarked expressionlessly. She really didn’t want to think too deeply about what transpired.
「The panjandrum has accomplished a wonderful revival here in the Nemesis system. High-dimensional projection armor and metallic hydrogen. Durability that missiles can’t even begin to match. A missile can just load a couple of tons of explosives at most. And if it isn’t supplied with Whis, it can’t deal with plasma barriers. The panjandrum makes up for those weaknesses.」
Abel declared while sporting a gentle smile.
「Hey, Astraea. Why weren’t they able to shoot those down?」
『It’s hard to get a lock on them because of their erratic changes of pace. In addition, not only are they equipped with high-dimensional projection armor, but electromagnetic armor as well. If one wants to utilize Silhouettes to stop them, they would have to unleash a concentrated attack with large rocket launchers.』
Astraea explained in a deadpan tone. She didn’t even want to refer to the panjandrums with the proper term for them.
「Abel-san, We might have overcome their countermeasures this time, but what about the next time?」
「Of course, the more the enemy gets to know my creation’s characteristics, the more countermeasures they’d be able to come up with. However, what’s important is that they’re proving quite effective right now.」
「Indeed. And now that we’ve dealt a blow to the enemy’s logistics network, it’s time to play our next hand.」
George waved his hand and ordered to employ the next tactic.
「What’s your next hand?」
Aimer inquired.
「Tactics should be devoid of any underhanded schemes. We will go ahead with the mass deployment of Silhouettes centered around heavy tanks coupled with air support. We will now carry out the landing operation! We will support the troops with naval bombardment. Let’s begin, Gogyou chaps and chapettes!」
「Alright! It’s finally time to break free from this nightmare!」
The landing crafts that unloaded the panjandrums returned to the Gracious Queen earlier, loaded heavy tanks, and were now heading for the coast once more.
The Jun’you of Gogyou Heavy Industries also started preparing to conduct the landing operation.
『Do you really have the right to say something like that, BAS?』
Astraea muttered in a chilly tone.
You really couldn’t tell which side was actually the villainous one.
「You should have told them off right from the start……」
Aimer inwardly thought that Aki’s exhausted voice was simply her imagination. Probably.
「Kou, hurry and come back soon. For Astraea and Aki’s sakes.」
Aimer muttered as if in prayer.
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