Vol 5. Chapter 13: Unknown Approaches
“Something just popped up?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Ship Two Oceanus’s anti-air radar has picked it up.”
For the capture of Northend City, Gigantia and the Titan-Series were circling overhead.
Of that formation, the ship flying at the northernmost edge, Oceanus, had detected an approaching unidentified object.
“Commander Sis-ter, what do you think this is! Maybe it’s a dragon!”
“That’s not funny.”
The distance to the target was over 300 km. Its speed of movement exceeded 600 km/h. At this rate, they would make contact in no more than thirty minutes.
“Due to the high particle density in the atmosphere, optical observation from Oceanus is impossible. A reconnaissance satellite will pass overhead in ten minutes.”
“Commander Sis-ter, I’ll establish a tactical data link with the local Strategic AI!”
“Permission granted. Don’t forget the barrier.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am!!”
Compared to The Tree itself, Asahi at the Telek Port City base was physically closer to the site. The range for a real-time link was just barely within limits.
“Data received! Routing it to radar-information analysis! Ringo, sending now!”
“Receiving radar data. First-stage analysis results coming up.
Overall length between 80 and 120 m. Radar reflectivity appears to be relatively low.
It is likely a stealth configuration or made of radar-absorbent material.
Horizontal speed of movement, approximately 480 km/h. Accelerating.
Altitude, 1,400 m. Climbing.
If we combine travel distance and rate of climb, its speed exceeds 600 km/h.”
Ringo used The Core’s computational resources to rapidly analyze the data received via Asahi.
“Second-stage analysis results coming up.
Overall length 116 m. Speed of movement has exceeded 690 km/h and is still increasing.
Its direction of travel is projected to intersect with the Gigantia group’s patrol airspace.
At its current acceleration, it will breach the warning line in fifteen minutes.”
“Reconnaissance Satellite No.3 beginning altitude change! Reconnaissance Satellite No.1 is on its route!”
Normally, the reconnaissance ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) satellites in orbit were operated at higher altitudes to reduce the effects of atmospheric drag. However, when they needed high-resolution imagery, they would alter altitude and shift to a lower orbit.
Even so, they could not simply drop tens of kilometers in altitude at once. Doing so would place a load on the satellite and rapidly exhaust its fuel.
“Commander Ma’am. I will dispatch one escort-fighter unit to approach the target.”
“Okay.”
They decided to have a scrambled escort-fighter unit close in to a distance where Oceanus could perform optical observation.
Four fighters would form a unit, conducting reconnaissance while maintaining spacing that allowed them to cover one another.
“They can close to visual range in about five minutes.”
On the displayed radar screen, the annotation read Unknown. The distance between it and the formation centered on Gigantia was 330 km at present.
Gigantia and the Titan-Series were currently flying a circular patrol with a radius of about 30 km.
The ship flying at the outermost edge of that circle was Ship Two Oceanus, about 2 km out from Gigantia at the center.
Their present altitude was 8,000 m. They had begun to climb as soon as the unidentified object was detected.
When facing an enemy craft, the greater the difference in altitude in your favor, the more advantageous the engagement.
“We’re preparing the auxiliary engines for operation. I hope this doesn’t turn into an immediate combat deployment...”
“The auxiliaries have only been tested, right?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Because they are disposable, we have only tested them twice. They cleared the prescribed test items, but we have no record of using them for combat maneuvers.
We have only confirmed their load on the various parts of the airframe during use in simulations.
It would not be an exaggeration to call this a straight-to-live deployment.”
“Well, they should at least be able to run away. Let’s decide after we see the recon results.”
Even as they discussed their course of action, one of the blips peeled away from Gigantia’s close-in guard and was rapidly closing on the Unknown.
Today’s sky was thinly overcast and generally hazy. In terms of visibility, you would have to call it poor weather.
On a clear day, they would have been able to capture it on camera even from over 100 km away.
For now, they had to be grateful it at least wasn’t raining.
“Recon unit’s distance to unidentified object is under 5 km. It should be possible to start imaging any moment now.”
“Now then, will it be a demon or a snake!! I can’t wait!!”
“Asahi, can’t you at least pretend to feel some tension?”
Commander Sis-ter called Asahi out, but in terms of “sense of tension,” Commander Eve herself was no better. She too would be better off having a bit more of it.
“We’ve got it.”
Ringo reported, and the parsed imagery appeared on the screen.
That same video feed should also have been transmitted to Asahi.
“Leeeet’s see here...?”
Even so, for the moment there was only a dark blot at the center of the screen.
This was after combining the visible-light sensor data from all four fighters and then performing image processing; with the naked eye they would never have found it.
“Overlaying analysis results.”
Ringo further processed that footage.
She overlaid a wire-frame reconstruction of the unidentified object.
“...No way—no way, but...”
“Ah, ah, ah, ah, Commander Sis-ter!!”
The unidentified object Ringo had analyzed—rough as the wire-frame depiction was—
It was, unmistakably—
““A dragon!!””
◇◇◇◇
At almost the exact same moment Asahi at the Telek Port City base exploded with joy,
the four fighters had closed with the approaching unidentified object and were now set on a passing-encounter trajectory.
The distance between them was about 3 km.
The four fighters would split up vertically and horizontally, each of them passing by at a distance of roughly 1 km from the unidentified object.
The four altered their paths, adjusting their distance as they set up for the pass.
They would not all approach at once, but instead each craft would make contact at several-second intervals, one after another. This was a measure to avoid a situation where they all drew close at once and the entire unit was shot down in a single stroke.
The relative speed exceeded 1,700 km/h.
At a passing distance of 1 km, it was hard to imagine any particular risk.
However, after passing by they planned to execute a U-turn and close from the rear. Since their relative speed would then be almost zero, that phase would be significantly more dangerous.
The distance between them vanished in an instant, and the four fighters passed the unidentified object one after another.
Even at a separation of 1 km, The Tree-made cameras clearly captured the shape of that gigantic body.
Its somewhat elongated, lizard-like head bore two splendid horns, and around them grew numerous other horns of varying sizes. Supporting that massive head was a long, thick neck. From its shoulders, instead of arms, spread two enormous wings, and though its torso was somewhat thick, powerful hind legs extended to support its body, followed by a long tail.
And that entire body was covered in silver scales that occasionally caught and flashed back the sunlight.
From an aerodynamic standpoint, it should have been impossible for a body of this size to fly at the absurd speed of over 800 km/h.
What was more, its wings were merely spread; they did not look at all as though it were continuing to accelerate by flapping them.
How exactly was this provisional “dragon” obtaining its propulsion?
Why was it even flying toward Gigantia in the first place—and from where had it come?
After passing it, the four fighters executed U-turns and came chasing from behind. To make up for the speed they had briefly lost, they flew with their afterburners lit.
Of the four, one fighter overtook the dragon on its right side and moved ahead of it.
Since it had shown no conspicuous reaction thus far, they maneuvered into a position within its field of view in hopes of provoking some kind of action.
The remaining three took positions a bit to the rear, split to its left, right, and above.
And then, after several more seconds had passed like that—
The dragon roared.
There was no sound. According to the sensors, it was ultrasound, beyond the audible range.
A blast of high-pressure ultrasound crashed into the fighter flying in front of it.
The entire airframe was subjected to extreme vibration, and its moving parts began to screech out a cacophony. The effect on the jet engine’s turbine, spinning at high speed, was especially severe.
Abnormal vibration arose along the axis of rotation; the increased friction heated the bearings. Structural components that could no longer withstand the stress due to material changes blew apart, and the damaged turbine, driven by its own rotational speed, hurled fragments in all directions.
The out-of-control craft was blown backward, spinning in a corkscrew.