Episode 34 – Quantity

We’ll just hit the asteroid.

It’s as simple as it sounds, but it’s not as easy to move as it sounds.

It takes a lot of power to move a large object.

“Maybe it’s an anti-matter booster. ……”

Settsu predicted.

Ordinary spacecraft use electricity to inject propellant. Antimatter is precious. It has to be manufactured in the vicinity of a star, and transported over a long period of time due to the star’s sluggish warp hindrance, and if there is a careless mistake, the ship or the spaceport will blow up.

For this reason, antimatter is not normally used to propel spacecraft. Even the amount produced is limited.

“How dare you do that to ……”

30 asteroids.

I wonder how much antimatter they are consuming.

Only a superpower would be able to conduct such a mass operation.

“Sir, how do we handle this?”
“What are our options?”
“Honestly, we have no choice. We have no choice but to try to avoid each asteroid by predicting its trajectory change and try to change or destroy the ones that are difficult to avoid.”
“Can you destroy it?”
“Just enough to break something small.”
“All right. Let’s do it that way. I’ll leave the details to Mitsuki.”

How the 30 asteroids would move, and how the fortress should move against them, such calculations should be left to Mitsuki.

“Understood”

Keep the response short.

According to Mitsuki’s calculations, the fortress began to take evasive action. It changed its orbit and tried to avoid colliding with the asteroid.

The asteroid did not change its orbit in response to the movement of the fortress.

“It’s like they’ve already decided how it’s going to work.”
“I’m afraid so, sir, there are three things that are difficult to avoid. Permission to attack.”
“Of course. You may use all means at your disposal.”
“Copy that. We’ll use anti-matter rounds.”

Inside the fortress, some of the stored antimatter is transported and injected into the warhead part of the elongated missile.

It’s not combat gear.

The reason was that if used in battle, the fortress would be severely damaged just by the enemy’s beam attack when fired. The equipment was designed to deal with flying asteroids and other celestial bodies, in other words, for situations like the current one.

“Antimatter injection complete. Loading launch tubes. Loading complete. Firing tube open. We’re firing.”

Five missiles flew into the air, blowing flames.

The missile flew just as Mitsuki had set it to, pierced the surface of the asteroid, and exploded.

The injected antimatter turned all of its mass into energy, taking the same amount of normal matter with it on its way.

The heat rays scorched the asteroid, and the impact ran through the rock and ice that built it up.

Of the three asteroids hit by the anti-matter bomb, the smallest one changed its trajectory on impact. The second one cracked and broke into three pieces. The last one did not change its trajectory significantly and continued to fly.

“The three shattered objects are targets 1A, 1B, and 1C, and the intact ones are target 2. We will launch the second attack.”

Five missiles were fired again.

The Federation fleet began firing on the missiles.

It was farther than the effective distance. It would be fortunate if they could hit it and do something about it.

One of the beams struck the missile.

However, since the beam was greatly attenuated, the missile only slightly altered its trajectory and continued to fly.

The fireball exploded again.

Targets 1A, 1B, and 1C were broken into even smaller pieces. Target 2 was now split into two pieces.

“Targets 2A and 2B, 2B has deviated from the fortress collision trajectory. Target 2A is the only remaining target. We will launch the third attack.”

Setsuko continued to watch the situation without interrupting. He left it completely up to Mitsuki to decide how to move the fortress.

It was for the best, I thought.

“Commence bombardment of the shattered 1A through 1C. Main turret group energy charge complete. Fire at will.”

The debris was bombarded by the main guns. The debris was further broken into small pieces and vaporized, but the number of pieces was too large.

In between the bombardment, a third missile attack was launched.

The missile shattered target 2A this time.

“Commence firing by sub turret group.”

Fires were carefully focused on the shrapnel.

“We have a final damage estimate, sir. Debris impact is expected to cause damage to one side of the fortress. Damage is expected to extend up to the fifth layer of the outer armor plate. Damage to the shield generator and turret is also expected, reducing the combat capability on one side of the damage to fifty percent.”
“That’s gotta hurt.”
“Yes. However, there will be no damage to the fortress structure. I believe that one side on the other side will be sufficient to deal with the enemy fleet.”
“All right. Then quickly turn the safe side to the enemy fleet.”
“Copy that. I’ll start the rotation.”

The fortress began to slowly rotate on its own axis.

There was a constant bombardment of debris. The larger fragments were targeted first, and the smaller fragments were shredded so as not to cause too much damage.

There were several rounds of artillery fire.

“We’re about to collide. Brace for impact.”

Settsu gripped the armrest of the commander’s seat firmly.

A countdown was given on the monitor.

Five, four, three, two, one, zero.

As soon as the number reached zero, the debris began to crash into the fortress. The shockwave traveled through the interior of the fortress and shook the commander’s office.

The vibration lasted for about ten seconds.

“Any damage?

Settsu asked as soon as the vibrations subsided.

“It’s within expectations. Damage reduced to 53% of combat capacity on one side. There’s also been a lot of damage to the armor.”

It’s a good thing it wasn’t more than I expected.

The details of the damage were displayed on the monitor. There were a good number of disabled turrets and shield generators.

The damage to the shield generator would be significant. It was best not to take the 53% figure at face value.

“We have ten minutes until the end of the half-turn.
“We’ll make it.”

One side of the damage can be done on the back side before the gun battle begins.

This won’t be a big problem. It’s time to fight back.