Vol 5. Chapter 14: Permission for Active Attack
“What just happened?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. It appears to have been some kind of long-range attack without live ammunition.
Abnormal vibration across the entire airframe and a heating phenomenon were confirmed. It was likely a powerful sonic-wave attack.”
Of the fighters shadowing the approaching provisional dragon, one had been lost.
The remaining three were on a slant to its rear, and thus did not become targets.
“Whether it has a clearly defined intent to attack is unknown, but I judge that it can become a threat to Paraiso’s forces.
The local Strategic AI has updated its classification of the target threat-creature.
Threat rating: A.
There is a possibility of serious damage occurring to The Tree’s attached unit groups.”
The Strategic AI embarked aboard Gigantia shifted its operational guideline from a passive defensive posture to an active-elimination posture.
However, the opponent was a gigantic living creature, moving at high speed through the sky.
Gigantia, which was poor at aerial maneuvering, took a withdrawal trajectory; of the three escort ships, Ship One Titan and Ship Two Oceanus altered course to intercept, while Ship Three Coeus continued to guard Gigantia.
“Titan and Oceanus have begun their turns. They will intercept head-on. The difference in altitude is projected to be within 1,000 m. All weapons, ready for attack.”
“Mm. In this weather, not being able to use the laser cannons really hurts.”
“With maser cannons, while there will be some attenuation, their use is possible.”
A maser is a microwave beam with its phase aligned. The principle is the same as a laser; the main difference is that it uses microwaves instead of light.
Because the maser’s oscillation assemblies became large, a disadvantage was that the cannon itself inevitably became big as well.
For that reason, at present, maser cannons were adopted only as fixed armaments at bases, or mounted aboard Gigantia and the Titan-Series.
“If we have a line of fire, we can carry out a pre-emptive attack with maser cannons.
However, due to the high level of particulate matter in the atmosphere, attenuation is extremely severe. We will not be able to attack until it comes within 50 km.”
“It’s still 200 km out. For now, let’s call this one ‘Wyvern.’ It doesn’t have four legs.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Registering species name as ‘Wyvern.’
The Wyvern appears to be continuing its climb while aiming for the projected paths of Titan and Oceanus.”
A wyvern was one type of dragon, referring to those whose forelimbs had become wings.
She knew that very well—after all, she was at that age where such things really mattered!
“What’s the projected time to contact?”
“Approximately three minutes until it’s within the 100 km perimeter. Approximately five minutes until the 50 km perimeter.
Reconnaissance Satellite No.1 will be passing overhead right around then. Reconnaissance Satellite No.3 will be in thirteen minutes.
We should be able to collect detailed contact information.
It is unfortunate that the state of the atmosphere is not very good.”
Today’s weather was thinly overcast; the distance was veiled in a pale yellow smog, making observation almost impossible.
It was assumed that fine dust kicked up by the wind was hanging in the air.
There were regional variations in density, and in the tens of kilometers around the United Kingdom of Aphrasia’s royal capital and Northend City there had been almost no effect, so it had not interfered with the occupation operations at all.
“Never thought something this big would show up—and come to us, at that.”
“Commander Sis-ter, I really don’t think it just showed up out of nowhere! I think we must have done something to provoke that Wyvern!”
At Asahi’s suggestion, Eve nodded in agreement.
To simply decide that the Wyvern had just “happened” to appear today would be far too much of a thought-terminating line.
The fact was, it was clearly flying with Titan and Oceanus as its target.
It was reasonable to assume that it had somehow perceived their presence and was flying toward them.
“But in this atmospheric state, it can’t be line of sight. Even if it heard something, we didn’t exactly set off any huge explosions.”
“Sound waves traveling through the atmosphere do attenuate. The engine noise of the Gigantia group is quite loud, but even so, it is hard to imagine it carrying over 50 km.”
“It was detected at a distance of over 300 km! I think we have to assume it came from much farther away!”
Could there be a technique that allowed it to perceive the Gigantia group’s presence at that much separation?
Well, of course, in terms of technology, it was possible.
No civilization using electromagnetic waves actively had yet been confirmed, so neither Gigantia nor the Titans—nor any of the aircraft The Tree was currently operating—had been designed with stealth in mind.
If Ringo went all-out on the design, she could certainly operate a formation with perfect stealth characteristics. However, in that case it would also become invisible to them, greatly reducing operational freedom.
And rather than half-heartedly incorporating stealth characteristics, it was cheaper in terms of unnecessary cost simply to leave the concept out of the design philosophy entirely.
“The most likely factor is the radar waves emitted by the Gigantia group. Since we basically use active radar, electromagnetically speaking, we stand out a great deal.”
“There is also the possibility of some magic-fantasy-style detection method! Though it’s probably a waste of time to think too hard about that one!”
While they were talking, the distance between the Wyvern and Titan/Oceanus dropped below 100 km.
In just a few more minutes, it would be within effective range of various weapons.
“Titan and Oceanus are changing course. They’re splitting to left and right.”
The two giants altered their trajectories. There was no need for both of /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ them to charge straight in together. Since the opponent was a single target, it was easier to attack from both sides.
“The Wyvern is changing course as well. It’s heading for Titan!”
And the Wyvern’s behavior clearly shifted. There was no doubt it was aiming for Titan.
“Proposal from Titan’s Strategic AI: temporary cessation of radar transmission.”
“Okay. We’ll have to turn them back on before we actually start attacking anyway. Shut Oceanus’s down too.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am.”
“Titan and Oceanus have ceased transmission!”
The two ships halted their active-radar transmissions.
This meant that the two vessels which had been extremely conspicuous electromagnetically had now gone silent.
Furthermore, by judgment of the Strategic AI, Gigantia, Coeus, and all other aircraft shut down their active-radar transmissions as well.
If radar waves were being emitted from other sources, reflections would occur. And with passive radar, as long as there was reflected energy, detection would be possible to some degree. They were eliminating that possibility.
“Confirmed: radar transmissions across all bands have ceased.”
“Now then, let’s see if we get a reaction...”
If that Wyvern was acting with active radar as its landmark, then this should provoke some kind of reaction.
However, this approach was dangerous for The Tree’s side as well. For aircraft, not being able to use radar was tantamount to flying blind.
The only saving grace was that reconnaissance satellites were passing overhead.
“Report from the fighters observing from behind. Slight changes detected in the Wyvern’s flight path.”
“Is it panicking!?”
“Asahi, calm down.”
And then, with that simmering tension, about a minute crawled by.
“Passive radar has a contact. Direction matches the Wyvern.”
“Commander Sis-ter, the fighters have received the Wyvern’s radar waves!!”
And the Wyvern began to move.
“Detecting pulsed microwaves. Frequency is not stable. It appears to be randomly shifting between 5 GHz and 15 GHz.”
“Wait, that Wyvern has active radar?”
At this unforeseen development, Commander Eve stared up at the monitor, dumbfounded.
“Commander Sis-ter, amazing, this is amazing! A living body with active radar! Which means this kid can see radar waves with its bare body! That doesn’t make any sense at all!!”
Asahi, too, was beside herself with excitement. This Wyvern she had thought to be a magic-fantasy creature had suddenly started emitting radio waves.
“What are the chances that thing is some kind of aircraft?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. We predict them to be low. However, we must consider the possibility of an aircraft being piloted or controlled by a creature that does not possess strategic thinking.
Charging straight at radar waves, and what appears to be behavior of hastily initiating radar transmission because it had no landmark—
These actions seem exceedingly clumsy.”
“Agreed. It doesn’t feel... civilized.”
And then—
“Lift the restriction on radar usage. Permission for active attack.”
““Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am!!””