3: Pale Horse

The enemy had changed course. They probably wanted their towed sonar array facing the de Danaan head-on to collect more acoustic data. Whatever the reason, it was clear that the enemy had noticed them.

“What’s the DEMON?” Tessa inquired.

“Just got it. Analyzing now...” They were closer now and the opponent was speeding up, so they should have sufficient acoustic data for an ID. The head sonar tech, Dejirani, would have the name of the enemy sub in moments. “Got it,” he reported. “It’s the Asheville.”

SSN-758 Asheville: according to the data they’d received the week before, its captain was Commander Hogan. She’d never met him, but he had a sterling record. He was a father of two, about to be moved to a desk job... But his life—which, thus far, had consisted of a well-loved military career, balancing love for his family with faithful service to his country—was about to suffer a setback.

The de Danaan’s sonar continued to search for other underwater sound sources. As expected, there were three others hiding nearby: four submarines in total. As far as surface ships went... Tessa estimated that there were probably two anti-submarine frigates on the surface, plus two anti-submarine helicopters above.

And it wasn’t just these conventional forces of the US Navy. There were also a few smaller signatures in the water. Likely five of them... Tessa knew these to be Leviathans.

“A fiery welcome, I suppose,” said Mardukas. “How shall we begin?”

“With a bang,” Tessa told him. “Load all tubes with torpedoes. Prioritize Mike-5, Mike-7, then the other underwater craft.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” said Mardukas, acknowledging the order. “Load tubes one through six. Target two at Mike-5, two at Mike-7, one each at Sierra-6 and Sierra-8.”

The fire control officer repeated the order, and the boat’s automatic loaders completed their work in twenty seconds. On top of that, Tessa had four anti-ship missiles, two anti-air missiles, and two anti-submarine torpedoes—eight in all—mounted into the central MVLS. In the meantime, she raised the submarine to periscope depth, just below the water’s surface.

She reanalyzed the data. The number of enemies was certain: when combined, the US Navy and Amalgam’s forces totaled thirteen units. One against thirteen...

Just fine, Tessa thought. “I’ll take you all on,” she said, and found a small smile appearing on her face. It was an expression she hadn’t worn in a long time; a feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time. Stirrings in her soul, which she hadn’t permitted herself in so long... I’ll show you all who you’re dealing with.

Tessa gave the order. “Flood all tubes.”

“Flooding all tubes, aye.”

“Open all tubes.”

“Opening all tubes, aye.”

Opening fourteen launch tubes while moving at such high speeds would create uncontrollable turbulence and increase their internal vibrations, as well as the noise they generated. Their location and tactics would be clear as day to all the enemies around them.

Indeed, their priority target, the Asheville, picked up speed and began escaping to the southwest. Their other targets also began to move frantically.

Too late, Tessa thought gleefully. “All torpedoes and missiles, fire simultaneously!”

“Aye, aye, ma’am. Fire all!”

All missiles and torpedoes fired from the Tuatha de Danaan. Normally you’d just fire one or two at a time and check for reactions, but Tessa had fired fourteen of them all at once. From the outside, it would have been a grand sight to see.

Six torpedoes, fired out of the bow launch tubes parallel to the water, immediately activated their motors. They sped up to seventy knots before dispersing. The eight missiles launched from the MVLS burst out of the sea into the air, engaged their rocket motors, and flew forward.

“All torpedoes and missiles operating properly. Closing all tube doors and draining now,” the fire control officer reported.

“Good,” said Tessa. “Load mobile mines into odd-numbered tubes and high-speed torpedoes into even-numbered ones.”

“Aye,” said Mardukas. “ADSLMMs in one, three, five. ADCAPs in two, four, six.”

“Maintain course and speed,” Tessa ordered. “Make your depth 250. Five degrees down bubble.”

“Aye, ma’am. Diving to 250. Five degrees down bubble.”

Now, what is the enemy doing? Tessa wondered. She checked the nautical chart displayed on the front screen. Concise numbers printed next to the arcs of the fired weapons displayed their heading and speed, as well as the various enemy units targeted.

The enemy was clearly caught off guard by the maneuver. The US Navy ships began to scatter—this much was expected—but so did the five Leviathans. The opponent they’d expected to run and hide had plowed right into the center of their formation and fired fourteen missiles into the sea and the air at once, after all; they must have wondered if they were mad. The de Danaan had instantaneously scrapped every countermeasure and plan they had prepared. They would have their hands full just dodging and fighting back.

And soon enough... with damage control.

“We have a hit from the Sea Sparrows,” came a report. The two anti-air missiles had hit their targets, the anti-submarine helicopters. These had been equipped with special anti-air warheads that used less powder and generated less shrapnel—the crew called them “slapshots”—so it probably wouldn’t blow them up completely or crash them hard into the sea.

“I hear a slight water impact,” said Dejirani. “Should be one chopper down. The other one seems to be just barely airborne.”

One helicopter down. The other was still flying but would be out of the fight. There might be dead or wounded among the crew, but Tessa couldn’t hold back any further against people trying to kill her... Even if they were her own countrymen.

From the de Danaan’s point of view, the most troublesome enemies were now disabled.

“Harpoons intercepted,” came another report.

The anti-ship missiles, known as AD Harpoons, were approaching the surface vessels, two aimed at each one. These were anti-submarine Frigates, so they didn’t have AEGIS, which should limit their anti-air defenses. Indeed, as hoped, their CIWS machine guns weren’t fully able to stop the incoming anti-ship missiles.

On the screen, the enemy ship symbol overlapped with the missile one.

“Hit,” came yet another. “Turtle One received the final signal. Analyzing hit locations: Mike-8’s is near the tail of the ship, near the waterline. Mike-11’s is also near the tail, near the waterline.”

AD Harpoons were almost entirely different from the classic Harpoon missiles. They detached their tip-mounted radar module upon reaching the final homing stage, then used the optical sensors mounted on the rear to “see” the enemy ship and target the designated location with the desired amount of force. They’d destroyed the area near the tail screw on both surface ships, rendering them dead in the water.

“MAGROC splashdown. Now homing in on Sierra-15 and Sierra-18.”

They’d launched the MAGROCs—which were vertically-fired torpedoes—at two of the five aquatic ASes, but Tessa didn’t anticipate any hits this time. They were too fast. She’d chosen the two in the most threatening positions just to try to limit their offensive capabilities.

As hoped, the two enemy Leviathans abandoned their ideal attack positions and entered evasive maneuvers. That would buy them time before the next attack.

Following the eight missiles, six torpedoes headed for various submarines.

“Asheville launched countermeasure,” Dejirani announced. The Asheville—the original submarine targeting them—had now entered evasive maneuvers and fired a sound-emitting countermeasure to try to hold the de Danaan’s torpedo off. But its efforts proved to be in vain as both torpedoes hit near its tail. These were also weakened warheads; they would either destroy the screw, or open a small hole in the hull—no more than that. But that was all they needed.

The other three subs were further away, so Tessa hadn’t been counting on them all hitting. But they temporarily disabled one and forced another to do an emergency blow. Including the Asheville, that meant three of the four US submarines were out of the fight.

But one still remained. This one hadn’t run away but actually came straight at them, accelerating at a diagonal to their path at an angle just outside of the torpedo’s pursuit range. It had successfully evaded while going on an offensive, streaking in from the de Danaan’s side.

“Impressive,” Mardukas said, appreciative of their skill and spirit.

“Do you have a name yet?” Tessa asked.

“No, almost... I have a match. It’s here. Ahh...” Dejirani said, his voice taking on a strange tone. “It’s them again. The Pasadena!”

Tessa quickly investigated. The data she’d received last week told her that the captain of the SSN-752 Pasadena was still Commander Killy Benjamin Sailor. “Sailor-san,” she groaned. “At a time like this...”

Tessa knew the captain of the Pasadena. She had happened to meet him entirely by coincidence at Christmas, a year and a bit ago. He would have simply known Tessa as a maid on the luxury liner they’d been aboard, of course... He surely never would have imagined that she was the captain of the Toy Box.

“Shall we engage?” Mardukas asked.

“We don’t have time,” said Tessa. “The Leviathans will be coming soon. Come right to 1-2-5. Flank speed.”

“Aye, ma’am. Come right to 1-2-5. Flank speed.”

They accelerated further, rushing the Pasadena’s starboard hull as if they were going to slam right into it. They didn’t have time to fire a torpedo into the Pasadena. Because soon—

“Con, sonar! Enemy torpedo detected, bearing 0-6-2! It came from Sierra-17!”

Here it was... coming from one of the Leviathans at the worst possible time. Tessa gave a quick order. “Target, Sierra-17! Fire torpedoes two and four!”

“Aye! Target, Sierra-17! Firing torpedoes two and four!”

The high-speed torpedoes streaked towards the Leviathans. At the same time, still plowing at full speed towards the Pasadena, they dropped their depth. Despite expecting to take a hit, Captain Sailor launched his own torpedoes without flinching, but the de Danaan was out of their homing range now. The Pasadena’s torpedoes rushed by a hundred meters above and to the left, while their own torpedoes streaked over the Pasadena and headed for the Leviathan beyond it. To liken it to a sword fight, Tessa had dodged the tip of Sailor’s slash, then stabbed at the assassin coming up behind him.

The Pasadena passed just over the de Danaan, close enough that they could almost hear Captain Sailor’s bellowing from a few dozen meters above.

“Enemy torpedo, distance six hundred! Five hundred! Our torpedo is nearing the enemy! Distance Two hundred! One hundred!” Their two torpedoes were nearing one of the Leviathans, which took evasive maneuvers.

“Distance fifty... Enemy hit!” There was an explosion. The shock wave rocked the de Danaan from several hundred meters away. They didn’t have time to confirm their achievement. They had to deal with the enemy torpedo heading right toward them first.

“Another enemy torpedo approaching! Distance, four hundred!”

Distance three hundred. Distance two hundred...

“Left full rudder! Maximum dive angle!”

“Aye!” The pilot turned the rudder sharply, banking it as far to the left as possible while slamming down the dive rudder. Though almost driven into a tailspin by the incredible turbulence, he kept the vessel skillfully under control and changed their course smoothly.

Distance one hundred fifty. Distance one hundred...

“All hands, prepare for impact!” Tessa shouted over the comm.

Distance fifty...

The enemy torpedo exploded.

Sousuke was almost to the hangar when he heard Tessa’s voice on the comm. Prepare for impact—

A few seconds later, he felt it as the lights went out. The wall to his right tilted toward Sousuke and sent him flying. The ceiling came crashing down next, and stopped short just before it hit him. In fact, the ship’s rocking had just bucked him so high that he’d almost hit the ceiling, but the situation was so chaotic that that was what it felt like. If Sousuke hadn’t been wearing his AS operator’s uniform, he might have broken a few ribs.

Immediately after slamming hard into the floor, he tried to pick himself up. It was still pitch black. Through his tinnitus, Sousuke could hear some kind of loud hissing; it sounded like a gas leak.

The emergency lamps were on. The path was lid up in red, and a pipe along the wall a few meters behind him was violently spraying some kind of mist.

“Ngh...” he groaned. What pipe was that again? he wondered. Is that water spraying out? It felt hot... He couldn’t be sure. Should he try to stop the leak? And if so, how? The ship’s internal systems were outside of Sousuke’s purview. He’d have liked to ask a nearby crewman, but they were on a skeleton crew right now, so there was nobody around to ask.

There was a phone ten steps away at the entrance to the hangar. The boat was still rocking. Sousuke tottered up to it and called the control room. After one ring, the damage control officer answered.

“Damage control here! Status?”

“Sagara here! I’m at—”

“I know the phone’s location! Status, now!”

Sousuke had been looking for a sign with the hall’s number, but immediately switched gears and gave his report. “No injuries! Five meters from the entrance to the hangar deck... I don’t know what it’s called, but there’s hot steam spurting out from some pipe! And—”

Before he could finish that statement, Sousuke heard a roar as water began gushing in from the wall beyond the pipe at issue, the spurt as wide as a human leg and with the force of a fire hose. The water collecting on the floor flooded toward him, and quickly reached his ankles.

“We’re taking on water from the portside wall!” he shouted into the phone. “It’s coming in hard...”

“Got it. Anyone else there?”

“Negative! It’s just me!” The water had now reached knee level, and was flowing into the hangar deck, too. Sousuke felt like it might drag him under.

“Retreat to the hangar immediately! I’ll close off that hallway!”

“Roger!” Before Sousuke could even respond, the watertight door began to close. He’d have liked to ask about the status of the battle, the extent of the damage, and if there were any wounded in other areas, but he didn’t have time; a door as thick as a bank vault’s was closing on him with terrifying speed.

Sousuke sloshed through the water, slipped through the gap in the watertight door and toppled into the hangar as the door closed behind him. The hangar itself seems dry, he noted. The space was as large as a school gymnasium. Normally it would have been packed full of ASes, transport helicopters, recon helicopters, and STOVL attack craft, but it was currently empty. All he saw was the Laevatein, one mid-sized transport helicopter, and various cargo containers and heavy machinery strewn about.

The maintenance crew and deck crew were no longer on board, and Sousuke didn’t see any other people present. Despite the epic battle around them and the tremendous rocking of the ship, there were no screams and cries to be heard. It was a bizarre sight.

The reverberations of battle echoed in the silence of the hangar.

Just then, a shipping container fell, landing right in front of Sousuke before sliding to starboard as the ship tilted again. If that had hit him straight on, he’d have been lucky to get off with a few broken bones. It was a good thing the cargo hold was uninhabited...

No, wait, he realized. It’s not uninhabited. There would be one person working here. “Lieutenant Sachs!” he shouted. Sousuke knew that he should be here putting the final touches on the Laevatein, but Sachs was nowhere to be seen.

“Lieutenant Sachs! Are you here?!” he shouted again, but received no reply.

Sousuke ran to the starboard side where the Laevatein was parked, still looking for Sachs. The fully loaded Laevatein, including its emergency deployment booster, was fixed in place in an AS’s traditional prostrate position, but the external generator unit that should have been next to it had toppled near its legs. It was the size of a large refrigerator, but was currently bent as if having fallen from a great height, and parts of its casing had come loose. There was also fresh blood on one corner of the unit.

“Dammit,” Sousuke cursed under his breath.

Something was lying beyond the crumpled generator unit. He probably hadn’t seen it before because the Laevatein’s leg was in the way. It was Sachs, in a puddle of blood, next to the dimly lit wall.

“Lieutenant!” Sousuke ran up to him. The man let out a soft groan as he grabbed his shoulders.

Sachs was still alive, but just barely. His chest had been crushed, and he was losing a lot of blood. The generator unit had gone flying after the explosion earlier, pinning him to the wall and stabbing him through with a protruding portion. A man with a less impressive build might have been killed instantly.

“Sa... gara?” Sachs said, in a weak voice Sousuke had never heard from him before. “I messed up. I couldn’t be arsed to tie down the generator... Ha ha... So much blood...” Blood trickled from his mouth and down his ample beard.

“Don’t look at it, and don’t talk,” Sousuke advised him. “I’ll call Captain Goldberry.” He ran up to a nearby phone and called Goldberry, the ship’s doctor. Despite apparently looking after injured men there, too, she responded that she’d be there right away. Sousuke ran back up to Sachs, took out the first aid kit he had on hand, and began examining the injury.

“I don’t think it’ll... do any good...” Sachs choked out.

“Don’t give up, Lieutenant.” Sousuke reached over to begin treating him, but Sachs knocked his hand away with surprising force.

“Just... listen! Sagara... the adjustments are... finished. But... because the external power source was severed... Al can’t boot up.”

“Lieutenant.” Sousuke treated him while he listened.

“The plug on the... right hip. Remove the broken attachment and reconnect it to the third cable in the locker,” Sachs told him urgently. “Use the socket next to it... to activate the... APU. Okay? Make sure to get it right...” What he was saying was very important, and Sousuke would have been left helpless without that explanation.

Meanwhile, Sousuke wiped at the massively bleeding wound with gauze. Within seconds he could make out the shape of the wound, but it was immediately covered with spilling blood again.

The blow probably pierced an artery close to Sachs’s heart, Sousuke realized. I won’t be able to stop the bleeding with what I have on hand. The puddle around Sachs gave him a rough idea of how much blood he’d already lost. Even taking his size into account, it seemed unreal that he was even still talking. Sousuke stuck him with an IV and gave him a saline drip, but he knew it was a losing battle.

Sousuke estimated that even if Goldberry got there within three minutes, in this chaos... Sachs wouldn’t make it. “The IME cable is still connected,” he said. “How much work have you done?”

“Don’t touch anything,” Sachs demanded. “Remove it... leave the rest to Al.”

“What about the SAL tank? Does it need depressurization?”

“Yeah. Be careful... when you take it out.”

Sousuke would have liked to be asking, “Are you in pain? Have you lost any feeling?” but he had to ask about his machine, instead.

“And... I increased the motion manager’s data bus. I haven’t tested if Al will boot up or not. If he doesn’t... disengage the amplifier line from the control panel,” Sachs advised him. “You’ll lose the XL-3, but the machine itself... should work.”

“Understood,” Sousuke told him succinctly. “I’ll do it.”

The moment his explanation was over, Sachs’s tense limbs went limp. “Sagara,” he choked out. “I... don’t blame anyone for this.”

“Yeah, you’re a good man,” Sousuke told him. “Everyone knows it, so you need to hang in there. Goldberry will be here soon.”

“I don’t want CPR from that old hag.”

“Don’t say that to her. She’ll—” Sousuke’s words cut off, because Sachs wasn’t listening anymore. His eyes remained slightly open, fixed on some point in the distance.

“Dammit!” Despite knowing that the effort was pointless, Sousuke tried to resuscitate him using a nearby defibrillator and CPR.

Goldberry arrived and looked Sachs over. She must have come running at full tilt, because she was out of breath, shoulders heaving. At last, the only words she said to Sousuke were, “He was a good man.”

Sousuke just clenched his teeth and screwed up his face, and didn’t curse any more than he’d already done. He wiped Sachs’s blood from his face and hands and allowed himself a deep sigh. “I’m going to prepare to sortie,” he said wearily. Then he stood up and went about activating the Laevatein, just as Sachs had instructed with his dying breath.

The ARX-8 Laevatein was fully stocked, with shotcannon, assault rifle, massive demolition gun, two Gatling cannons affixed to its hips... Then there was the lambda driver canceler known as the fairy wing, and the special emergency deployment booster known as the XL-3. There were also twelve Black Mamba anti-air missiles mounted in its main wings. With that whole arsenal hooked up, the Laevatein’s silhouette was so busy and bulky that, when seen from afar, it wouldn’t even look humanoid.

But even with this many weapons, Sousuke wondered if it would be enough; such was the difference in power between him and his enemies. Pulling out the spare external generator unit, Sousuke attached it to the socket in the machine’s hip. The generator unit activated, and he repeated the boot-up sequence from the external control panel.

“What did he... say in the end?” Goldberry asked from behind him. She was usually a very cheerful middle-aged woman, but there was no vigor in her voice now.

“That he didn’t want your CPR,” Sousuke told her.

“He was awful. An awful man.” While the doctor laughed through her tears, Sousuke continued his work.

He tried booting up Al. There was a long silence, and then the indicator lit up. Sachs had said he wasn’t sure if the Laevatein would boot up, but it had. The data bus amplifier seemed to be working just fine. Voice output wasn’t functioning yet, but the report appeared on the screen in clear text.

Connection confirmed. Checking status. APU engaged. Initiating all vetronics.

“He also said he didn’t blame anyone,” said Sousuke.

“Yeah. Actually... I feel the same way.”

“Towards the captain?”

“If she says it’s necessary,” Goldberry insisted, “then it’s necessary.”

Sousuke said nothing.

“You of all people need to have faith in her, Sousuke,” Goldberry chided.

He didn’t know how to respond. So instead, he removed the IME and various cables as he’d been instructed, adjusted the valves, unplugged plugs, closed the access panel and locked the armor back in. Sousuke punched in the code, and Al’s main power booted up. Now he could leave the rest to Al.

The cooling unit let out a low hum; the Laevatein was awakening.

Sousuke removed the strips of caution tape reading, “REMOVE BEFORE LAUNCH” that were affixed to the machine here and there, then climbed up to the back of the head.

He stuck his pistol and other equipment into the storage space under the cockpit hatch. There wasn’t much room, as it was just about the size of a travel bag, but Sousuke managed to shove an old rocket launcher into it. This was a compact disposable model called an M72 LAW, once used by the US Armed Forces. It wasn’t as powerful as the anti-tank weapons currently in service, but it had one thing going for it: it was compact and light enough to fit into an AS’s storage compartment. The tube could be carried around in shortened form, then telescoped into firing readiness when the time came to use it.

The hum of the palladium reactor’s activation echoed through the hangar, although the Laevatein’s prototype reactor was much less quiet than the almost silent reactors found in typical M9s. From atop the Laevatein’s back, Sousuke put on the familiar headgear before noticing Goldberry, who was packing up her medical instruments and getting ready to leave.

“I’m heading out,” she said. “About Sachs...”

“You tell her,” said Sousuke. The news shouldn’t come from his lips; this was something Goldberry should do.

“I will,” she promised. “Take care, Sousuke.”

“Roger.”

The screen was already on. The cockpit and master suit were those of the M9 he was so used to. Sousuke put his arms through, grabbing the levers and stepping hard on the pedals. He moved the cursor with his left thumb; the boot-up procedure was in progress, and the voice interface was already active.

“Al,” said Sousuke.

《Yes, Sarge?》 It was the familiar deep male voice. His machine’s AI, Al, was responding to him.

“Establish data link,” Sousuke told him. “Acquire vessel data from Dana.”

《Roger. Accessing C1 channel. Response from Dana. Priority C. Connection complete.》

A window opened in the corner of the screen displaying the de Danaan’s current combat status: it was still locked in combat. The de Danaan wasn’t about to go down that fast. Still, they’d taken losses to their stealth and speed. They’d lost any element of surprise they might have had and were now locked into a brutal brawl.

Meanwhile, they’d shaken off nearly all of the US Navy ships. The last of them, the USS Pasadena, still seemed to be in pursuit, but wouldn’t be able to catch the de Danaan in its current condition. They had already taken out two of Amalgam’s high-speed submarine craft, the Leviathans, as well. Another was being targeted by a mobile mine that Tessa had deployed in the water... There was a distant explosion: a hit. Tessa had finished off the third Leviathan.

But there were still a few Leviathans left, and they were entering combat positions. More high-speed torpedoes were on the way, a total of four. Tessa returned fire. After releasing a third torpedo, she entered evasive maneuvers immediately, dodging two torpedoes on a pulse-pounding course before accelerating forward to continue the battle. She really was a monster.

《Sarge, a question.》

“What is it?” Sousuke replied.

《Three o’clock, distance zero. There is a human-sized object I cannot identify. What is it?》 The covered, strapped-down corpse was visible in a corner of the image taken by the machine’s optical sensors.

“That’s Lieutenant Sachs’s body,” Sousuke explained.

《Lieutenant Edward Sachs, chief of maintenance, is KIA?》

“Affirmative.”

《Could you tell me the cause of death?》

“The ship took a hit, and the impact caused the external generator unit to lose balance and slam into him. He was so busy getting you booted up, he didn’t lock it down.”

Al didn’t respond right away, and there was a brief silence. But after a moment, he said, 《Understood. Thank you for the explanation.》

The activation procedure continued. The emergency deployment booster attached to the back—the XL-3 jury-rigged for the Laevatein—underwent its control tests. Most of them worked, which meant he could fly, but one error persisted. Sousuke reran the test.

They’d called it the “XL-3” but that was really an arbitrary name assigned to it by Sachs. It wasn’t a prototype unit created by an arms manufacturer, and never would be. Of course, they had done no flight tests, just computer simulations. Sousuke still didn’t know if it could really fly or not, and he was honestly shocked that Sachs’s hard work had even gotten the connections established in time.

Another error.

While Sousuke continued to retry the XL-3’s tests, he lifted the locks on all the joints. He stood the Laevatein up and guided it to the large elevator at the back of the hangar.

He felt another hard jolt as an enemy torpedo exploded at close range. The damage was mild, but the external EMFC array had been badly damaged. The de Danaan would lose more maneuverability.

Sousuke could be no help with the aquatic combat. Once the Laevatein reached the elevator, he locked it into a standby position and kept testing the XL-3, which continued to spit out errors. The sub-wings’ control line and supplemental circuits weren’t responding.

《Do you think it’s my fault?》 Al asked as he tried it again.

“It was a total kitbash,” Sousuke answered. “A few kinks are to be expected.”

《No, I mean Lieutenant Sachs.》

“What?”

《Earlier, you suggested that he was lax in his safety protocols because he was so eager to get me working.》

“Well...” Sousuke didn’t know what to say. Does Al feel responsible for Sachs’s death? he wondered. Even if Al knew how to interact with humans, he was still a machine. It was one thing for him to ask questions about things that would matter on the battlefield, but Sousuke didn’t understand the purpose of this one. “Why would you ask that?” he finally replied. “Is there something else he was supposed to get around to but didn’t?”

《No. I booted up successfully, so there was no role left for the maintenance crew. Lieutenant Sachs’s loss is only a minor diminishment to our battle capacity. There is nothing to worry about there.》

It was an extremely machine-like response. Sousuke felt a slight irritation and almost told him to shut up.

But before he could, Al said, 《But I feel a greater sense of loss somehow. Sachs has been tending to me since my Arbalest days. He knows my body better than anyone. He won’t run checks on me or talk to me ever again. This is a loss that exceeds mere strategic value.》

Is he sad? Sousuke wondered. Over Sachs’s death?

《In addition, I worry that my body’s lack of flexibility... my maintenance inefficiency has led to his death. That is what I mean when I say it’s my fault.》

The core unit that made up Al was special; Sousuke had heard that it was made from liquid metal particles that simulated a human nervous system. His technology was completely different from a normal M9’s AI. Yet Sousuke had up until now assumed that Al was just carefully mimicking human behavior. And so he’d interacted with him as though he were a beloved gun or car, without thinking more deeply about it.

But he couldn’t think that way anymore. Al felt responsible for Sachs’s death; this was far beyond the realm of just imitating emotion, wasn’t it? “It isn’t your fault. It was necessary, that’s all,” Sousuke told him, brushing off his own doubts about the matter. “And with his last words, Sachs said that he didn’t blame anyone.”

《This is valuable information for me.》

“Good. Now focus on work.”

《Roger.》 Al silently continued retrying the checks.

Sousuke suddenly remembered the memory chip in Kudan Mira’s letter. She’d written that she’d found it on the internet and for him to watch it if he had free time, but it probably wasn’t important information to the Laevatein or the mission. He wouldn’t have time to look it over now. He’d look it over after he got back.

If he ever got back...

“Uruz-7! Are you ready to deploy?!” the combat controller asked over the radio. The boat was oscillating violently, and he could hear the roar of compressed air forcibly expelling water from the ballast tank.

“Affirmative,” Sousuke replied. “On standby in Elevator Zero.”

“We’re doing an emergency blow,” the controller told him. “We’ll open the flight deck the minute we surface. After we launch you, we’ll submerge again and resume aquatic combat. Please handle the cleanup on the island as discussed.”

“Roger,” Sousuke replied succinctly. Then he checked the Laevatein’s status, only to find that the control line giving them errors still hadn’t resolved. He gave up and ended the tests. It was just an issue with a sub-system, after all; he’d just have to pray that the main system stayed untouched so that the error never came up.

The boat tilted hard upwards and let out a scream, streaking for the surface like a rocket. More machines and clutter rolled around the hangar deck. He was glad that Captain Goldberry had thought to fix Sachs’s body in place.

“I’m heading out now... Ed ‘Bruiser’ Sachs,” Sousuke said, switching his control mode to move his right leg lightly. The Laevatein’s right leg moved in time with it, going down to one knee to pay respects. At the same time, the elevator began to rise.

We don’t need sentimental words between us, thought Sousuke. This is enough. Isn’t that right, Lieutenant?

The elevator’s warning lamps began to spin, flashing and blaring with ear-splitting alarms. Sousuke felt one big tremor rock his machine, which suggested that the Tuatha de Danaan had burst from the surface. The Laevatein was nearly thrown out of the elevator from the force, but it just managed to keep its balance and ride out the shaking.

“Opening flight hatch! Uruz-7, to the catapult! ASAP!” said the combat control officer, barking out his orders. The elevator continued to rise until Sousuke and the Laevatein arrived on the flight deck. The massive hatch overhead split open, revealing the pre-dawn sky above; it was a mixture of dark purple and gray, and rain was pouring down. The wind wasn’t particularly strong, but Sousuke still couldn’t believe he was being launched out into a maelstrom like this with no rehearsal.

A large wave rocked the de Danaan. Aware that any submarine was at its most vulnerable when surfacing, Sousuke knew that he had to keep their time here as short as possible. The Laevatein proceeded from the elevator to the flight deck and swiftly fixed itself to the catapult, assuming a posture like a sprinter in a crouching start.

Connection complete, the screen soon read. Set XL-3 rocket motors to standby. Elongate flight control surfaces automatically. Flaps at maximum length.

《Launch preparations complete,》 said Al. 《Shall I transmit TLS?》

“Go on,” Sousuke told him.

《Transmitting.》

The combat control officer responded immediately. “Control to Uruz-7! TLS received! See you on the beach!” It was the typical phrase said before a mission launch began.

Alarms blared as the steam catapult and rocket motors roared to life simultaneously. Sousuke felt a blast of explosive acceleration, as though a massive invisible hand was shoving at him from behind as the tip of the flight deck sped closer and closer. The catapult released him automatically, casting his machine out over the ocean. But just as the Laevatein seemed about to crash into the black waves, it achieved lift and accelerated as it began to ascend.

In his rear-view monitor, he could see the de Danaan immediately closing its flight hatch to resubmerge. In the blink of an eye it was miles away, quickly rendered invisible behind the curtain of rain and mist.

As expected, the Laevatein was vibrating wildly, jerking in all directions so violently that Sousuke was amazed it was really flying. Am I crashing already? he wondered. No, he was still flying... The readings on his screen showed that despite the shaking, his speed was evening out. But even with wings, this was less like flying and more like being shot out of a cannon: the immense propulsion of the XL-3 was throwing this aerodynamically unstable “ground weapon” at Merida Island through brute force alone.

《Vehicle resembling a ship detected in our path,》 Al reported. 《Distance, 317. Bearing 0-8-6.》

“Classification?!” Sousuke found himself shouting over the powerful noise and vibrations.

《Unknown. Same signals detected at bearings 0-8-1 and 0-9-3.》

Sousuke knew that the sensors on an M9 or the Arbalest would have been able to give him more detail, but at this distance and in this state, it was frankly impressive that the Laevatein even got as far as “resembling a ship.” He was fully reliant on the XL-3’s inherent FLIR and navigation radar.

Three ships in my path... That can’t be right, thought Sousuke. The water would be shallow in that area, and all but the most experienced crews would avoid it for fear of running aground. For them to specifically stake out a place there meant—

“They’re not ships,” he realized. “They’re Behemoths!” Those massive ASes... The data they’d acquired suggested that they would still have three of them left.

《Something like active radar detected, a lock, possibly from anti-air missiles, 》 said Al. 《They’ve been fired. Four each. Twelve in total. Evasive maneuvers?》

“Not an option!” Sousuke yelled back. It was impossible to dodge modern anti-air missiles with simple evasive maneuvers—and he wasn’t piloting a fighter jet, anyway. A sharp turn would snap their wings off from the g-forces, or at best, they’d lose speed and plummet into the ocean. Of course, it went without saying that he didn’t have any electronic warfare equipment.

The twelve missiles approached.

Three seconds to contact—

●

Around the time that the Laevatein was picking up the Behemoths’ anti-air radar pings, alarms were also ringing out in the C-17 transport carrying Mao and the others.

“Missiles incoming,” the control room advised. “We’re trying to dodge. Brace for impact.”

“Anti-ECS missiles? For the love of...” Mao clicked her tongue from the cockpit of her M9, which was on standby in the plane’s cargo bay. The transport was ECS-enabled, which meant their enemies shouldn’t have been able to track their approach with normal radar... yet they were still getting ‘welcome fireworks’ as they approached the drop point. With electronic warfare systems and at this altitude, they should be able to avoid a direct hit even from anti-ECS missiles, but—

She felt a jolt, followed by the sound of an explosion. An enemy missile had climbed to ten thousand meters and exploded near the transport. Mao couldn’t tell their current status from the cockpit. She just had to trust in the pilot’s skill, and pray that the plane held out. “Did we take a direct hit?!” she called out.

“No, probably just a fragment!” replied the pilot. “There’s a fire in the second engine! Working to put it out now!”

The right-side jet engine was howling terribly with a piercing sound of turbines. The noise then quieted down; perhaps the pilot had turned the engine off. At the same time, though, the plane’s vibrations got worse. They were flying on one lung, with two ASes and 32 soldiers aboard. This wasn’t good.

“Enough, let’s just drop—” Mao tried.

“No, hold out a while longer. Just fifteen kilometers left. Can you make it?” Clouseau said to the pilot, cutting her off.

“Ben?!” she questioned.

“If we drop now, we’ll be too far from the target,” he reminded her. “We’d have to cross the mountain, and we don’t have time for that.”

“Geh...” Mao muttered. He was right; she’d just have to grit her teeth and leave it to them.

“Got it. Ah, we’ll hold out somehow, I’m sure! Just be ready to go at any time!” the pilot responded, and then relayed their situation to the two fighter jet escorts. These were Mithril’s last two FAV-8 super harriers, who’d rendezvoused with them mid-flight on the border with Pakistan. They’d already begun to return fire at the enemy site that had fired the anti-air missile, dropping precipitously to a dangerous altitude.

“Laguz-1, roger!” the super harrier’s pilot responded. “We’ll escort you as far as we can! We’ll get you to Point Echo however it—”

Another warning blared out: an anti-air missile was on the way. Their transport banked valiantly while broadcasting a hologram decoy to evade.

There was another explosion. This came from farther away than the last one, but their plane was still bombarded by shrapnel, and the world around her shook. If Mao hadn’t already been gritting her teeth, she probably would’ve bit her tongue, because the front part of the cargo bay was now on fire. She could hear Yang and the others, on standby in their drop gear, shouting.

Give me the fire extinguisher. Anybody injured?

Wu’s taken shrapnel! He’s unconscious! Someone see to him!

“Ngh...” Mao muttered helplessly. Her only option was to grip her M9’s control stick and read her machine’s status. No damage to the machine, she realized. Ready to drop at any time.

There were ten kilometers left to the drop point.

She thought, Hurry...

There was no stress worse than that felt by a paratrooper. The enemies could be attacking and there’d be nothing you could do. All the training you’d done, all the skills you’d acquired... You could fall to your death without ever getting a chance to use any of them.

“Laguz-2, I’ve destroyed two enemy anti-air SAM sites. As far as I can tell, there’s only one le—” A wave of static hissed out, and Laguz-2’s communications cut off.

“Laguz-1 here,” their escort reported. “Laguz-2 took a hit. I can see smoke. Laguz-2, can you hear me? Laguz-2, respond!”

Six kilometers left to the drop point.

Hurry!

“Laguz-2 went down near coordinates 21-82. No sign of parachute. I repeat. No sign of parachute!”

One of their FAV-8s was down, Mao realized, and they didn’t know if the pilot was alive or dead.

“Pilot to all drop units. Engine 1 output is dropping. We can’t maintain altitude. I repeat. We cannot maintain altitude!”

The fire in the cargo bay was getting worse. They were already in low pressure mode for the drop, so why was the fire still spreading? Three kilometers to the drop point, Mao thought urgently. Close enough!

“Ben!” she yelled.

“Right,” he agreed tersely. “Captain, we’re ready. Let us out.”

“Roger, Uruz-1,” the pilot told them. “Good luck.”

Mao was immediately assaulted by the howl of the wind and the engines when the rear cargo hatch opened. The blackness of night yawned outside of the hatch, and sporadic bursts of anti-air artillery fire illuminated both the night and the two M9s in red.

“Clear the rails! We’re going on ahead!” Clouseau, ignoring drop procedure, shouted over his external speakers. The M9 locks were released first. The alarm blared, and sparks went flying as Clouseau’s Falke slid down the guide rails and flew backwards out of the aircraft.

“Uruz-2, dropping!” yelled Mao, realizing that she had no time to follow procedure, either. As Clouseau’s machine disappeared outside the plane, Mao immediately released her own locks, and felt a heavy jolt as her machine lurched backwards. The walls on either side of her went rushing by, and in moments she was sucked out into the open air.

Mao could see the starry sky above and pitch-black ground below. She watched as the C-17 ahead of her, its right engine trailing a thin flame, moved off into the distance.

There was an explosion nearby. She didn’t know if it was from a missile or anti-air artillery, and her machine’s sensors couldn’t tell, either. The blast threw her M9 off balance and into a sharp spin. She couldn’t see the transport any more. She couldn’t tell which way was down.

Where’s Clouseau? Mao wondered. Did Yang and the others get out safely? Any damage to my machine? What’s my current altitude? She couldn’t read it with the screen shaking like this. Her machine was spinning so fast the sweat was almost flying off her in beads. Yes, my alignment... Got to fix my alignment...

Yes, you’ve done this many times before, she reminded herself. Stabilize your posture. Moving her limbs with all her might, Mao spread the M9’s arms and legs out wide. She could feel the strong wind pressure through the machine’s feedback system. She was moving right to left, so she pulled her right arm and leg in slightly, then extended just her left arm, in order to stop her machine’s chaotic spinning.

Her current altitude was fifteen hundred meters. She couldn’t open her parachute yet; to do so would only make her a target. So, for now, she checked her instruments and activated her ECS, switching her sensors to passive infrared to pick up a heat source in the cold mountain ridge below.

It was the anti-air cannon that took that last shot, she realized, and it’s still focused on me. It’s going to shoot again. Now—

Mao gasped, and swung her limbs to rotate her machine a few times, moving it to the left just as a tracer round burst in the sky where she’d been moments before. The proximity fuze had triggered, her ECS scrambling its aim. Unsteadily, she aimed her assault rifle below her and turned her master arm on.

She fired. Her fire control system adjusted her aim based on recoil. Mao’s 40mm shells rained down on the anti-air cannon far below, causing it to explode.

Altitude: five hundred meters. She couldn’t hold out any longer, and her drop speed slowed dramatically as she was forced to open her first parachute. Mao released the first parachute before deploying her second, and her descent slowed again. If there were any enemies remaining in the area, this would be her most vulnerable moment.

She released the parachute and went into free fall, speeding toward the surface of the pitch-black mountain before landing successfully. Shock absorbent steam jetted from the M9’s joints and Mao’s bones screamed in protest, sparks flying before her eyes as the shock ran through her. But this was how it always went. She gritted her teeth to endure it, and then drew her machine away swiftly in order to scan the area.

She couldn’t find Clouseau or her other allies. If they were alive, they should be nearby. She couldn’t make out the enemy units, either. No, that isn’t true, Mao realized after a moment. I can see my mission target.

The spot where she had landed was near the ridge of the gentle mountain slope. From there, she could see a towering mountain across a deep gorge. It was hunched there in the darkness, like a beast ready to pounce. That mountain was Ishkashim Base.

The entire mountain was her mission target. She had to make it to the entrance, which was halfway up the slope, infiltrate her way deep underground, and take back the launch control center.

“Fifty minutes left. Just fifty minutes...” She cast a glance at the clock in the corner of her screen and tried to let out a dry laugh. But what actually emerged sounded more like a cough.

●

Six anti-air missiles, fired by the three Behemoths, approached. With no way to dodge, release electronic countermeasures, or otherwise fight in midair, the Laevatein simply continued to streak through the sky.

I’ll just have to bust through, Sousuke decided, and gave Al his order: “Prepare both Zeloses.”

《Roger. Moving weapons C and D to firing position.》

The two 20mm Gatling guns mounted behind the Laevatein’s hips—i.e. the Zeloses—swiveled into place underneath its arms to jut out in the front. These were an optional armament the Laevatein had in common with the M9 series, weak but rapid-fire. They could spew out a hundred 20mm shots per second.

“All other usable weapons, too,” Sousuke decided. “The GEC-Bs, the Boxer-2s, the GAU-19s: move them all into firing position.”

Two Boxer-2 76mm shotcannons gripped in each hand; two GEC-B 40mm assault rifles held by each sub-arm; two GAU-19 12.7mm Gatling guns mounted on the head; there were eight guns in all, all of which now pointed forward. He’d use these to try to intercept the missiles. Something might still slip through, but then he’d just have to make it through with the lambda driver somehow.

“You handle the aiming and firing of the Zelos and GECs,” Sousuke told Al. “I’ll handle the hand and head guns.”

《Roger.》

“Don’t hold back on ammunition. On my signal, fire everything we have.”

《Right,》 agreed Al.

Firing weapons and moving the head and arms during high-speed flight wasn’t an easy task. It would create turbulence and destabilize them again. Yet the XL-3’s flight computer remained valiantly in control of its flight surfaces and held him steady.

The missiles approached as they reached the XL-3’s FLIR range. One second left. Distance: four thousand... three thousand... two thousand…

“Fire!” Sousuke ordered, and the guns, large and small, fired out all at once. In just three seconds, he’d unleashed twelve hundred shots of all sizes, and the surrounding sky—still steamy from the rain—suddenly flared a bright orange. The recoil caused him to abruptly lose altitude, and the engine almost stalled. But the XL-3’s sheer propulsion dominated the recoil and continued to push the Laevatein forward.

The wall of fire sprayed over the missiles. One took a hit. It was impossible to know which shot was responsible, but the missile itself went corkscrewing downward as it disintegrated. Sousuke took another to pieces just in front of him, then another, and then four more.

But that was all he managed to shoot down. He couldn’t avoid the rest.

《Five missiles remaining. Count 2... 1...》

“Hng...” he choked out. Focus, he reminded himself. Imagine.

The air ahead of him warped as the missiles exploded at close range to the Laevatein, causing its right side to buck upwards. The Laevatein’s lambda driver force field could just barely block the explosions and shrapnel from five missiles hitting it almost simultaneously. They were weak missiles meant for aircraft, so that stood to reason... but a set of slightly more powerful warheads might have sent him spiraling into the ocean.

“Damage report!” Sousuke demanded.

《Damage to XL-3’s left wing. First aileron lost. Slat actuator is also not responding.》

“And us?”

《No damage. Lambda driver is functioning normally.》

An AS was an extension of its operator, which meant that while Sousuke had been able to create an image of the Laevatein itself being protected, he hadn’t been able to imagine the same for its ‘wings.’ That was why he couldn’t protect the XL-3, even though it was his lifeline.

Damage to the left wing... He turned the Laevatein’s head to the left to see it for himself. The last quarter of the left wing had been torn to pieces, leaving him with periodic instances of nausea-inducing shaking. The machine’s alignment seemed about to pitch to the left at any moment, forcing the flight computer to stubbornly right it time and again. Yet the Laevatein kept flying. This jury-rigged booster was just as tough as its maker, “Bruiser” Sachs himself.

But it won’t hold out against another hit, Sousuke thought grimly. He withdrew all his weapons and returned the Boxer 2s to their hip hardpoints, as well. His now-empty hands were ready for their main weapon.

“Equip the demolition gun!” Sousuke ordered. “Gun-howitzer mode!”

《Sarge. Are you joking?》 Al replied, finding the order unbelievable.

The Laevatein’s main weapon was the incredible 165mm demolition gun. The massive cannon, longer than the machine was tall, had the power to take out a Behemoth in one shot. But it also had such powerful recoil that, even if he’d planted his legs on the ground, he would still go flying back. To fire it while airborne...

《It will tear us apart,》 Al predicted.

“I’ll handle the recoil. Hurry!”

《Roger.》 Al must have acknowledged there was no other way to keep the situation from getting out of hand, because he didn’t argue any further. Instead, one of the support arms reached for the demolition gun stored in the weapons station on the back of the Laevatein, just below the XL-3. He held the grip tightly in his right hand as the long barrel rotated and affixed itself right in front of his chest. He’d switched it to its long-range gun-howitzer mode.

Sousuke pointed the thick black barrel straight forward while still airborne. The confused flight computer clearly hadn’t expected him to do something like this during the course of an already compromised flight, and as a result, the oscillations had grown worse. Al tried to make up for it, adjusting the trim at a pace of thirty times per second. His engine output reached its upper limit, but the machine just managed to maintain its posture.

Sousuke used maximum magnification with his infrared sensors. Eighteen kilometers to the Behemoth straight ahead, he thought. He could just see it in his reticule. It grew larger and larger as he watched, and the minute he could make it out...

“Damn,” Sousuke cursed. The enemy was fighting back, and a massive gun—dozens of meters long, like a battleship’s main cannon—was pointed right at him. Its operator had probably judged the destructive power of the anti-air missiles insufficient.

There was no way Sousuke could do clever sniping tricks the way Kurz did. He just used instinct to correct the data given to him by the ballistics computer and took aim.

“Let’s do it!” he declared, focusing and imagining. How would the cannon he was carrying move as he fired? What kind of wind would rage around him at the moment of firing? Yes, I’ve fired it many times before, he told himself. I know its quirks.

He fired. There was a burst of flame in front of his eyes, and a creak went echoing throughout the Laevatein’s frame. The gun’s barrel trembled a bit, and his flight altitude dropped momentarily... But that was all, and he continued to soar.

《Success. The heat dissipation of the lambda driver is easy to manage while in flight.》

“Just track the shot already!” said Sousuke.

《I am.》

The shot, which had been launched from the demolition gun, traced a leisurely arc toward the Behemoth. Even a shell traveling at Mach 3 would take over fifteen seconds to hit a target fifteen kilometers away. Three seconds, two seconds, one second... In the maximum magnified image, Sousuke saw it hit the sea a few hundred meters behind the Behemoth and explode. He’d missed.

《Correcting. Next shot is loaded.》

“Good,” said Sousuke. He fired, once again compensating for recoil, and the 165mm shell flew straight ahead. The enemy fired back at him, as well. He saw a massive muzzle flash. A 300mm shell was incoming at a speed he couldn’t identify.

《Evasive—》

“Not happening,” Sousuke said, cutting him off. “Just pray it misses us!” From somewhere in the black sea below, a mass of overwhelming destructive power approached. The screen display showed it almost arriving.

Both shots hit at almost the exact same time.

Something flashed in a corner of the Laevatein’s vision. A moment later, the shock wave sent it shaking. It was the anti-air shot, exploding far behind him. A close shave indeed...

And his shot? It had hit its mark. A pillar of fire burst from the Behemoth’s chest, and it slowly began to topple backwards. Its arms, each the size of office buildings, stretched out toward the night sky as it dropped the cannon it was holding and sank into the sea.

《Hit,》 Al reported. 《Behemoth B destroyed.》

“Maintain maximum thrust,” Sousuke told him. “We’ll plow through the hole it left behind.”

Merida Island was in visible range now, and the remaining Behemoths on either side moved in while continuing to fire their anti-air machine cannons. At this altitude, distance, and heading, Sousuke managed to avoid them all by keeping the boosters at full power, and adjusting his altitude up and down.

He could see the silhouettes of helicopters in the skies above Merida Island now. The FLIR picked up one target after another.

《Six attack helicopters. They’re Mi-28 Havocs,》 said Al.

They were gaining altitude while approaching the coastline, and probably meant to focus fire on him when he landed. Not happening, Sousuke told himself. To Al, he said, “Pull out the Black Mambas. Fire all shots.”

《Ready,》 said Al, and the twelve short AAMs mounted on the XL-3’s wings all activated their infrared seekers. They locked on to all targets. Their targeting box flashed red and displayed the message “VALID LOCK.”

“Fire all!” Sousuke ordered.

《Roger.》

All twelve missiles fired at once. Their rocket motors lit up, sending twelve trails of fire blossoming out behind them as they streaked away at high speed.

The enemy must not have anticipated that Sousuke would have this kind of anti-air capacity, because the attack helicopters shot out infrared flares and dispersed. But it was too late; two missiles streaked after each of the six helicopters, and all of them hit.

A series of massive fireballs appeared in the sky over the island, and Sousuke reflected that if he hadn’t been in battle, he would’ve lost himself in the sight. Smoke rose up from all the attack helicopters as they crashed.

《All machines shot down,》 Al announced.

But the counterattack from the Merida Island anti-air guns and the Behemoths was fierce, catching them in a crossfire. Tracer bullets crossed paths around him. Sousuke defended with the lambda driver, but couldn’t block them all.

Sousuke let out a grunt as he felt a hit land; one of the enemy machine gun shots had hit his booster, and the outside of his right engine had caught fire. Its output fell, and it began to produce a strange sound and vibrate. The XL-3 was in bad shape, and it risked exploding mid-air. The blaring alarms were annoying. Al’s warnings were annoying, too.

Three thousand meters to Merida Island, thought Sousuke. Almost there. But if I detach the booster now, I’ll fall into the sea. Even if I use the emergency balloons to float, I’ll be torn to holes by the Behemoths...

Two thousand meters to a safe drop point.

The fire expanded. The right second engine burst into flame. The right wing was an inferno.

One thousand meters.

He took more hits, still to the right. A hole opened in the wing. His altitude dropped. His speed dropped. The flames spread to the Laevatein’s right shoulder...

Eight hundred meters left, but he couldn’t wait any longer.

“Cut us free!” Sousuke yelled.

There was no time to argue. Al immediately released the Laevatein’s lock bolts to release them from the XL-3, and the machine entered free fall. The burning XL-3 flew into the distance above them, went into a tailspin, and then exploded. The resulting fireball illuminated the Laevatein’s white armor in the dark.

Sousuke waited for as long as he could before releasing his first parachute. He felt a sudden brake in their descent and deployed his second parachute. Without waiting for a full drop in speed, he cut this one loose, and went back into free fall from an altitude of a hundred meters.

He could see the sandy beach. It was the west coast of Merida Island, where he’d coached Tessa in how to control an M9 a long time ago...

Two hundred meters off that beach, the Laevatein splashed down... No, it landed. The water was less than two meters deep here, only coming up to his AS’s shins. Kicking up a massive sea spray, Sousuke immediately knelt his machine down and turned his demolition gun to the northwest, straight at the black horizon. Maximum zoom again. One of the remaining Behemoths must have noticed him, and it could be seen six kilometers past the island. While slowly turning, it began to point all of its equipped firearms toward the beach.

“Too late,” Sousuke told it. He aimed and fired. He felt a powerful recoil, but he didn’t go flying backward this time as the demolition gun’s shot flew at the Behemoth and hit the target’s shoulder. The giant staggered as an explosion caused bits of its armor to fall.

Sousuke reloaded, adjusted his aim, and fired, planting his feet to restrain the recoil. This time, he hit the Behemoth in the head. It wasn’t hard to hit something that big from this distance, and the second Behemoth was soon down.

《Targeting signal detected. Lock-on from the Behemoth C... Incoming!》 warned Al.

The final Behemoth had attacked from the ocean to the southwest, firing not just its main cannon but all of its guns in a barrage from six kilometers away. Sousuke jumped several times to dodge the shots, and landed his machine on the rocks near the beach, which was full of anti-AS mines, after all. He’d practiced here so many times in the past, he could navigate even the rocks with his eyes closed.

A large number of shells and rockets rained down on the point where he’d landed before.

Don’t they know whose backyard this is? Sousuke wondered, reequipping the demolition gun. While enjoying the feeling of being back in his old stomping grounds, Sousuke turned to the final Behemoth and returned fire.

When his third shot took down the final Behemoth, he immediately turned around and raced into the jungle of Merida Island. “Entering phase two,” Sousuke announced. “Switch sensors to passive and GPL to idle. Let’s plant a few seeds.”

《Roger.》

Sousuke pulled out a simple decoy shaped like a drum canister from the grenade locker on his hip, threw it on the ground, and then immediately turned south. He had eight of these decoys in total. They all broadcast the same communication waves as the Laevatein, and were designed to put out an infrared signature with similar characteristics. They couldn’t mimic its appearance, but would be suitably effective in delaying the enemy.

The decoys were mounted with vibration sensors, so he could expect them to pick up enemy footsteps approaching. If he used that in combination with the jungle terrain, he could reduce the enemy’s chances of finding him to some degree, but that alone wasn’t enough. Sousuke needed an actively broadcasting encrypted signal to draw attention to the decoys.

But just one machine putting out a signal would seem too suspicious. Extended use of communications—which he’d be expected to keep limited—would just raise the enemy’s suspicions, especially Leonard and Kalinin. If he wasn’t careful, they might actually outmaneuver and corner him.

In that case...

“Al, cancel encryption on channel E2,” Sousuke ordered. “Get us broadcasting openly on all frequencies, and have the decoys do the same.”

《You want the enemy to hear your communications?》

“Make sure they do,” Sousuke instructed him. “This machine is a radio station, and I’m the DJ.”

The doubts and uncertainties that had been tormenting him before he deployed... What to say to Kaname, how to face the enemies waiting on Merida Island, the rightness of his actions...

What does she want? What do I want? I feel like this battle has made it all clear... who I am.

Leonard’s words, Mira’s letter... none of that gives me my answer. Because I’m not a preacher or a politician, or a counselor or a teacher.

Who am I, then?

That’s obvious. The battle is telling me.

I am a soldier.

[To be continued]