After we touch down on Pentoul II, the hexarappids move out, so the mission to kill them is underway.
But apparently firing wildly right from the start isn’t very good, so we’re back in the sky, hovering to maintain altitude while Iris basically duck hunts. Honestly, I’m bored.
I thought my attack would shave off a bunch of them, but more of them keep coming. Is it my fault?
“If those were all of them, they wouldn’t need to call mercenaries.”
“I guess so. This planet should at least have a destroyer, right?”
“Yeah, apparently it got damaged a lot in a fight against a space pirate fleet, and got sent back to the mainland. I saw it on a news feed.”
No way…
“Pentoul I is on the other side of the star. It would appear that the maintenance port and shipyard are there.”
“Ah… And this happened while it’s undergoing repairs…”
“Or they wouldn’t have called mercenaries~. Using their own army is cheaper and better for morale~.”
“Pentoul Prime announced they were having corvette class sized shipyards and hangars orbit Pentoul II in preparation for this.”
I guess they would, but a space pirate fleet? Why did they come here?
“Are they after the star shield? They could build a station with that, and prevent atmosphere from escaping.”
“I knew about those things, but are they really that good?”
“It depends~. There are types that cover a whole planet~! And they can terraform it while it protects them!”
“In such cases, they might even shift its orbit. It is rare for planets to be in a habitable zone in the first place.”
“I can’t imagine the scale or how much that costs. Even with mechanical intelligence, how many days does it take to calculate?”
I look at Iris, and she holds up one finger. One day?
“You should assume it would take one mechanical intelligence one year. Of course, we do not sleep or rest.”
“That’s a big cost… Actually, I guess if you can set up a planet, you’ll make it back in a few centuries.”
“If the planet’s fit for people to live in, an economic sphere that can feed billions can be set up. Even if it’s done in secret, that alone is enough to make it worth it.”
That’s crazy. I guess they’ll work in primary industries like farming, mining, and forestry, but they want to eventually build stuff like an orbital elevator and destroyer shipyards.
Forestry, wood, trees?
“Hn? The armors are starting to fire.”
About one kilometer away from the biological weapons, lasers of vivid colors like blue and red paint lines towards them. I guess they don’t have rocket punch or anything like that.
Also, they’re starting to mark targets, and the biological weapons have a red outline that’s easy to spot.
“<Shoot shoot shoot!!!>”
“<There’s no running away now!! For us!!!>”
“<Dammit! I got duped by the high salary and food!!!>”
“<That chocolate cake was really tasty, but was it my last meal?>”
“<Don’t come this way!!!!>”
“<Damn you! If I survive, I want a synthetic beer with my dinner tonight!>”
“<Now’s not the time!>”
“<I wanna kill that Mercenary Guild employee!!!>”
“<Stop screwin’ around!! if you point your weapon here, I’m burn you with a triple plasma cannon blast!!>”
“<Point that at the hexarappids!!!!>”
“Looks like morale is high there…”
“They’re desperate.”
“It is quite the different environment…”
“Ah… I want chocolate cake too~.”
“I will prepare it for lunch.”
I look down with my eyes half closed, and feel something odd about the hexarappids. I turn the ship right, and fire up the plasma engine a bit.
“Master! It was… An anti-air attack. Why did you dodge?”
“I just moved because I thought I saw something. So an anti-air attack. Isn’t it too slow if I can dodge after seeing it?”
Looking at it more closely, the brownish red things are shooting at the sky. Current altitude twenty meters, and what’s being fired is… Rocks? I go up a bit, and fly slowly in a circle above the hexarappids. Meanwhile, Iris shoots down with the defensive lasers.
“Do hexarappids even have anti-air attacks?”
“Not that I saw when I was looking into them…”
“Ah~! A rock hit the armors~!”
“Are they perhaps starting to use long range attacks?”
“Some were hit and blown back. Judging by the size difference, it’s about fifty meters in diameter, but those natural rocks are a threat to the armors.”
That rock was the first, as the brownish red things start throwing things at the sky. They won’t hit spaceships flying high, but they’re a threat to the armors at the end of their journey… So the other combat ships start to take slow evasive maneuvers like me.
“Can we shoot those rocks down?”
“It’s possible… But I think it’d be better to cut them at the source.”
“<This is Birdwatcher! Combat ships, don’t just start moving around! Hit them! Your shields can repel something like that!>”
Ah, I guess that’s true. I whisper, and everyone looks at me exasperated.
“That’s true actually. I just moved because I didn’t want a physical projectile piercing the shield.”
“What do you mean… Shields repel debris, as you are aware.”
“Yeah, I completely forgot.”
I give that silly answer, as the silent aerial mercenary communication channel gets noisy again.
“<There are ones starting to throw rocks from the back of the swarm! Designated ships, clean them up!>”
“<What a pain!>”
“<Birdwatcher! Any word on the queen!?>”
“<Shut up, I’m looking from up here! She’s probably underground! We’re not getting’ anywhere unless the armors can charge ahead and build a sensor!>”
“<But you at least found a nest, right!?>”
“<I’ve been looking for them coming out of a nest, but nothing! Nevermind us, attack from above and support the armors!>”
We weren’t designated, so we’re still shooting ants. We did a nice sweep at the start, but we’re not making progress.
▽▽▽
Rocks hit the shield here and there, but they’re not causing problems. This destroyer class shield is no joke.
But there are still rock throwers, even though they started doing it fifteen minutes ago. There are many of them, and the rocks are reaching the armors, so while there haven’t been any casualties, I’m seeing machines being thrown back.
“<All units! We finally found the position from which the hexarappids are sprouting!>”
“<Finally! Are you having everyone charge in!?>”
“<Then who’d support the armors!? I’ll designate ships, so attack!>”
Sadly, we’re not one of them. I guess I’m paying the price for that initial bombing.
I see five small combat ships moving out… I’m pretty sure one of them is loaded with unguided bombs for ground combat. The other four probably have that sort of armament too.
I lose sight of them eventually, and hover while looking at the radar here and there and taking evasive maneuvers. And I see the five ships disappearing from the radar.
“Ah? Saratha! Is there a problem with the radar!?”
“Eh? What do you mean? It’s all good!”
“The five ships heading to the spawn point disappeared!”
Birdwatcher isn’t saying anything, so should I? No, let’s fire up the shield generator.
“Kori, confirm with Birdwatcher if there’s a problem with the five ships heading to the spawn point! Shield generator at eighty percent output, Suzuri! Check the generator and how much puny is left!”
“The generator is running at ninety percent, and the container is holding at one hundred puny.”
I should probably look into expanding the power generation.
“This is Tortilla Double. Birdwatcher, it looks like the five ships heading towards the spawn point disappeared~. Is there a problem~?”
“<All ships, evasive maneuvers!!! There was a destroyer buried in the hexarappid spawn point! And it’s shooting a large turret! The five ships disappeared…>”
There’s a light, and the shield flickers… We’re being hit!? Dammit! This speed of light…!
“Shield down to ninety percent! Replenishing puny!”
“Marking the direction where it came from!”
“This really is a destroyer class shield. Deploying chaff.”
“Why!? On a planet!! A destroyer!! Buried!! Evasive maneuvers!! Hang on!! Dammit!!”
“Wawah! Wah~!!”
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“Stop screwin’ around!! if you point your weapon here, I’m burn you with a triple plasma cannon blast!!>” -> “<Stop screwin’ around!! if you point your weapon here, I’m burn you with a triple plasma cannon blast!!>”
“Birdwatcher! Any word on the queen!?>” -> “<Birdwatcher! Any word on the queen!?>”
“All ships, evasive maneuvers!!! There was a destroyer buried in the hexarappid spawn point! And it’s shooting a large turret! The five ships disappeared…>” -> “<All ships, evasive maneuvers!!! There was a destroyer buried in the hexarappid spawn point! And it’s shooting a large turret! The five ships disappeared…>”
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