In Short… an Aviation Battleship

 

「It was a failure. The performance gap became so vast that it was difficult to even measure. In space, the outcomes of fleet battles were heavily determined by leadership and individual capability. This led to the emergence of factions led by a handful of geniuses across all sides. The original concept behind the Stones arose from this very cause.」

「And that’s when the issue of soul regression in space emerged.」

Prometheus voiced a term no one had expected.

「Soul regression in space? You mean that treaty banning combat between humans in outer space?」

「Yes, that one. The treaty, established by Sophia, forbade warfare between humans in space. Sophia had concluded that death in space posed a high risk of soul loss. It was discovered that souls return to their origin—planetary energy—through a regenerative cycle. But the treaty also accelerated the downfall of the Nemesis System.」

「Because planets became the battlefields instead.」

Libya muttered bitterly.

「So, they had to develop ground-based weaponry?」

「Colossal space warships were little more than targets on the surface, and their actions were highly restricted. Lasers and charged particle cannons also degraded in atmosphere. Even so, their armor, firepower, and the mobility to descend from orbit had immense strategic value.」

Astraea opened a vast array of Silhouette schematics all at once.

「Having learned how drastically humans could change depending on their environment, I next attempted to balance forces through the quality and quantity of weapons. I reduced the supply of space warships and began distributing differentiated Silhouettes to each faction.」

She projected old blueprints—her own past work.

「Angel series to all factions. Constellation series and Great Mystery series to the forces of Asia and Libya. Iggdrassil series, Tenbu Deva series, Myouou Ashura series, and Grimoire series to Europa. I categorized them by lineage and supplied each accordingly. These are what we now call Antique Silhouettes.」

「Europa’s always got the scary ones, huh.」

「It was the planet favored by Zeus. I’ve heard even the Heroic series, a type of Another Level Silhouettes were widely deployed there. Of course, these factions weren’t limited to Silhouettes alone. They had warships, tanks, and Murder units as well.」

「So… the Stones. What led to them receiving Murder as well?」

Kinukawa asked without hesitation. The fact that the Stones were given Murder units to maintain balance was known. But why—that remained unclear to many.

「The Stones were a new faction that claimed to pursue absolute equality and a return to Earth. But they had far too few actual humans. Despite vast resources and firepower, they lacked the personnel to make use of them. There were also synthetic humans—different from the current Hemitheos—but they couldn’t use the MCS. So, I provided them with a giant weapon: the Eris. And from her, they mass-produced Murders. With these, the Stones created the Keres.」

「So you couldn’t ignore them in the balance of power?」

「Precisely. Even if they were few in number, I accepted the Kaleidolithos as former humans. They had far too few infantry. Even with Murder units, they should’ve been swiftly subdued and vanished from the stage of history. But that assumption was wrong. They used their immense funds to create an asteroid base, put the Murder units into stasis, and disappeared during the interplanetary war.」

「So in the historical record, they were little more than a fleeting upstart faction.」

「That’s right. What they didn’t expect was the extent of Sophia’s technology lockdown. The Hemitheos System, born after the suppression of Planet Libya and Planet Asia, was a workaround—likely Hermes’ doing.」

「It was Hermes.」

Prometheus muttered sourly.

「If Prometheus says so, then it must be true.」

「And the Stones, hoping all factions would mutually destroy each other, preserved their weapons. The Murders. The space warships. And now, we must confront them.」

To Arima’s words, Astraea nodded somberly.

「Let’s talk about the factions other than the Stones during the interplanetary war. Despite having ample planetary resources, the major powers fought for supremacy. Their stated reasons varied, but in truth, it was about monopolizing technology and securing their own prosperity. With reduced ship supply, even the mere existence of space warships became a casus belli. Still, I continued supplying new weapons to the weaker factions whenever the balance tipped.」

「Wouldn’t that create an endless cycle?」

Marujin asked.

「To counter that, I switched to a policy of lowering quality and increasing quantity. High-performance craft and ships were limited in number and distributed to each faction, which only deepened the conflict.」

「People who should never have set foot on a battlefield were forced into war, and Therianthropes who couldn’t pilot Silhouettes were deemed unfit lifeforms.」

Asia stated emotionlessly. A grim truth—already past, but no less real.

「Indeed. Humanity was expanding mass production in ways even I didn’t know. Surplus weapons spawned new factions, which led to further wars. I committed a terrible folly. Conflict only escalated—eventually awakening Typhon. Though Sophia acknowledged warfare as part of human nature, she chose to freeze humanity again… and destroy herself. I made the same choice.」

「When they revived me, humanity was terrified. After all, I was Typhon—the Destroyer—and I didn’t have a designated enemy. I began attacking all military forces indiscriminately. In the face of annihilation, all the factions across the Nemesis System finally united… against me. A common enemy brings unity. That law held true for humans even after leaving Earth.」

Arima gave a rueful smile. Now, that common enemy was Hermes.

◆ ◆ ◆ ◆ ◆

「The weapons doctrine at the end of the interplanetary war resembled our current one. As combat moved to planetary surfaces, the weapons evolved too. Silhouettes adapted to both terrestrial and space warfare. Ships were remodeled for naval and submarine operations. The remains of countless space warships on planetary surfaces are proof of that. In space, they could retreat before destruction. But on the ground—capture and annihilation became the norm.」

「So warfare began to resemble Earth conflicts.」

「The Aristides-class being considered a small vessel can give you an idea of how individual ship strength and increased carrying capacity were prioritized. The key to victory was the ability to field a variety of weapons for both space and ground battles. This was also the tactic used by the Stones when they launched their invasion of Planet Asia. Fleets of warships deployed waves of Keres from orbit; sometimes they even dropped colossal Murder units directly.」

「It was the same on Planet Libya, too. It happened in a flash. We only had Worker Silhouettes designed for maintenance, which left us with no means to counter the invasion.』

「The plans for the space battleship revival must take this shift in use-case into account. For example, the current Megareus is equipped with a railgun, this wasn’t part of its original equipment—surely the doing of a Hemitheos making use of the body of a B-rank Development Engineer.」

Astraea displayed the Megareus schematics once more.

「The space warships I designed—along with the Antique Silhouettes—were built with space combat in mind. They featured omnidirectional armor and prioritized firepower and endurance. Optical weapons were favored over physical ammunition due to space constraints and explosion risk.」

「Ammo and fuel. In space, where resupply is difficult, every inch of space counts.」

「Exactly. Even on a planet, easier resupply is preferable. Portable laser and particle cannons have more firepower than solid ammo. There’s little reason to choose supply-dependent weapons—perhaps only railguns for ground use. As Prometheus noted earlier, I may have over-optimized the system.」

Kou lowered his gaze. He remembered when Nyanta and Aki told him they were deemed unnecessary when they were born. Their pain must have been far deeper than he had imagined.

「Now, the main topic. The reconstruction and repurposing of the Megareus. We need to pursue the best possible design for the environment of Planet Asia. The following design is the current Megareus after receiving the Stones’ modifications.」

A new set of blueprints floated into view.

They included all remodeling points, weapon swaps, and lost functions. Astraea had already begun analysis of the Megareus after they received it as part of the reparations.

「A space battleship nearly two kilometers long. Internal maintenance requires Silhouettes. If they added a railgun, it likely came at the cost of Silhouette bays. After all, these ships often doubled as Silhouette carriers.」

「It also had anti-air lasers.」

「Output was low compared to Interplanetary War Era standards—around 5 MJ. We confirmed this from the response to Marujin’s ballistic Panjandrum.」

Astraea referenced the data in response to Kinukawa. Abel had deployed the ballistic Panjandrums while transporting Kou to test the Megareus’s capabilities.

「Back on Earth, the rise of aircraft carriers rendered battleships obsolete. Carrier groups became the key to naval dominance. The U.S. Navy’s carrier strike groups were seen as powerful enough to destroy nations. Later, lighter carriers and amphibious assault ships became the norm. That era of unipolar superpowers ended due to rising costs and increased regional conflicts.」

The Transferees in the meeting nodded—they had lived on Earth when these changes in doctrine were made.

「So how should we use the Megareus now? The plan prepared by Gogyou Heavy Industries considered using them as battleships. I believe that is the right direction. Current Silhouette firepower is insufficient to destroy a space warship. That sets our era apart from the 22nd-century Earth.」

The two engineers from Gogyou and Kinukawa nodded. Aircraft launched from carriers were specialized in agility and firepower; the battleships of their time were unable to respond to them effectively. Space warships were much sturdier and equipped with laser armaments so Silhouettes couldn’t fill the same role.

「Even if we keep the Megareus as a battleship, it’s better if it’s paired with escorts similar to those of a carrier strike group: escort vessels for anti-air, anti-ground, anti-surface, and anti-submarine roles, with the Megareus at the core. The problem now is that these escorts will only be powered by A-Spinels, so their durability will be limited.」

「Similar to how the Astraea was operated during the Asia War, then?」

Kinukawa confirmed. Astraea nodded.

「Given the current circumstances on Planet Asia, the most efficient role for a battleship is as the command center of a carrier strike group. It must carry firepower and serve as the vital communication and information hub. In your time, this role would’ve been served by an amphibious assault ship.」

Astraea checked for any objections—there were none.

「The Megareus is a two-kilometer-class vessel. As stated before, it also functions as a Silhouette carrier. It’s built to operate in any kind of environment, even on planetary surfaces. And so—I propose a new option for you all.」

She conjured new schematics.

「We should remodel it into a ship that functions in space—but offers new possibilities on land. In short… an aviation battleship.」

That one phrase sent a ripple through the Transferees.

Questions. Doubts. Even dismay.