Chapter 19, Form of Manifestation
& Zero gravity physical direct combat loop
& Avoid permanent damage to humans and terrain: total
& Loop activated, backstage proceeding in progress
John Carver repositioned himself in the zero gravity training room, vaulting off a movable platform with his weapon - an aluminum pipe visually modded to look like a Kabizashi, a luminescent paint brush tied to its tip. The SD702 pilot squad sparred with Nagate leading the human team, while one lucky member among them played the Gauna role beside Shizuka; since Guardian piloting required a proper mindset of seeing the giant humanoid weapon as an extension of the pilot's own human body, Nagate came up with the suggestion of a 1/10 sized opposing force before more Guardian frames would be ready to deploy.
Eventually, when the universes become connected with stability, Earthgov's Guardian pilots would be prepared lend a hand to their Sidonian counterparts right away.
"Come on, use your eye cannon!" This round, it was Gabe playing for the Gauna team, wearing an embarrassingly pink space RIG, a nightstick in each hand simulating Benisuzume's swords. He swatted at Zoe who took up Carver's incoming direction, then boosted himself away from the aiming laser of her EG-86 SMG. It was only loaded with chalk rounds, but they were good for plastering his visor.
"We should protect the motion capture recording equipment." His blood-colored partner replied, "Energy is expensive, too..."
"Make some tentacles, they aren't playing fair! ...Shit, Nagate!"
Shizuka propelled herself into an interception course, dived under Nagate, then reached up to smack at his fake Kabizashi. She used a pair of nightsticks, too, electric crowd control tips activated for extra challenge to the human team. The shock and buzz of electricity made him lose his grip - and then he detached the paintbrush tip, and kicked the long handle away to block her off from following him.
He threw the tip at Gabe, a straight line in zero gravity and minimal air resistance - it hit him right on the helmet's chin, spraying him with glowing blue paint.
"7 to 15! Team humans win another round!" Alissa Vincent, the USG Ishimura security department's former chief, announced like a sportscaster, "Space monsters having a 3-day long losing streak by now. Next time you better trade your partner with Nagate if you want to win, Shizuka!"
Next to her, the ship's crew cheered and Mike blew an airhorn obnoxiously; he was sent here for his own safety after the video he pulled from his eyeballs became viral, and Alissa for making sure he doesn't leak anything further.
When the Ravager finally reaches Aegis VII, these two would join the ground team as extra manpower. The pilots' four gunships will cover their dropship, meanwhile the Type 17E conducts its gravity-adjusted systems testing. The main mission was to salvage data from the colony's computer network, and observe what happened to the reanimated biomass when the Marker was long destroyed up in space.
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On Sidonia, the ship's authority figures held an emergency meeting to discuss the sudden and bizarre challenge sent by the Gauna hive.
"The inter-universal scouting mission still needs to happen." Yuhata made her presentation, "Here are my calculations concerning its net gains for our immediate survivability. Though we will reduce its mass and electronics load, complete the same tasks in a shorter timeframe."
The Captain nodded: "We're pulling off Tsuruuchi Koichi and Kasuga Ryouhei off the mission? Okay, let them join the high velocity target training course. Sasaki, how is the system integration of Toha's Gravitational Celestial Body Scanners?"
"They are all functional. Once they're on the other side, the Guardians can deploy one scanner to draw a 3D relative map of the surroundings. Deploy all four of them into a tetrahedron, triangulation will plot an absolute map and eventually find... Earth."
"Good, Though, as the Captain, my plan has a low priority for finding Earth, Tsugumori or whichever system the Foreigners came from. We only need the nearest habitable planet, and the entire Sidonia should be ready to Shockpoint as soon as possible."
Yuhata hid her frown when hearing the name of Nagate's Guardian. She flipped over a page on the hologram, and returned to topic: "The Shockpoint drive needs energy from active Hyggs reactors to make this jump, so we have to be ready for any probing attack. It could even involve the Intelligent Gauna designated Vampire Moth, Kyuketsuga. Mr. Kunato has some proposals for countering these threats using reverse engineered technology, and I'll hand over to him show."
Kunato waved at her and walked to the center of the meeting room, conjuring holograms of his own: Machinery diagrams, 3D models, sketches of Guardians armed with imposing new weaponry.
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"Thank you, Vice Commander. The gravitational developments from our counterparts are phenomenal, from the singularity cores to the personal stasis modules used by the average space engineer. My company has chosen a few readily available applications that could work against our most pressing Kyuketsuga threat best." He picked up her insect-based code name for the intelligent high velocity Gauna, "I present to you the Gravity Net, and the Directional Contact Hammer."
"I've seen demonstrations of the Foreigners' stasis device." The Captain was far from instantly impressed by the shield-like device attached to a 3D model of the Tsugumori, "The speed of its spherical stasis field leaves a lot of room for improvement, is your plan to increase the projection diameter or rate-of-fire?"
"We, the team at Kunato labs, have a different approach. A singular Kyuketsuga has an equal or even higher linear speed than Benisuzume - that is three times as fast as a regular Type 18 - while all four combined would rival the Hayakaze armored booster, impressive considering the effort spent by Toha."
"Thanks." Toha Heavy Industry's chief engineer Sasaki shrugged, and pointed at the hologram, "Hmm, I see where you're going with your net idea."
"Layers and layers of artificial gravity, the further a layer is projected, we tone down its intensity in exchange for a wider diameter. We can maintain a passive stasis effect between all the layers, and even amplify it using the gravity wells. As Kyuketsuga enters the effective range, it will be pulled towards the source of the net, and each layer drains its kinetic energy while limiting it from reaching escape velocity."
"To me it looks like a funnel, though. Sorry, it's a good concept, keep going."
"The Guardian operating this device would be largely immobile, unfortunately, since we see too big a risk to mount it on a hull turret. Ideally, we'll use the net to trap Kyuketsuga in Planet 9's atmosphere, then attack it on more equal terms. Our Guardians or Tsumugi will deploy the second new weapon, Directional Contact Hammer."
On the floating window was a massive two-handed hammer designed for Guardian use; its strike face shaped like a meat tenderizer contained an artificial gravity generator, and on its back was a cutting blade made of artificial Kabi.
"This merges technology from Foreigners with the existing single-use explosive compression device on our Anti-Planet Guided Missile. Theoretically, the directional gravity on impacting Ena would resonate within and blow open all matter surrounding the Gauna core. The effect on a core itself remains to be seen, but we can fast track to field testing if..."
"I don't see your schematics using Ena to grow either of them." Sasaki observed, "You need support from Toha, don't you? I can speak for the board, but only if it is a fair 50/50 collaboration."
Kunato turned to the Captain: "I fully intend to make the development and construction of these two devices transparent with our partners. You can print your trademark on them too, but the problem is... We will need to strip another Foreigner ship for essential components. The alternative is to pull parts from reverse engineering, setting back more critical progress."
"That means we won't have an operable Shockpoint ship for a while if the one testing across the border runs into difficulties." Yuhata objected, "If the experiment team returns before Kyuketsuga, we should have the second ship on hand for further scouting,"
"Well, previously their universe has no Gauna, but now, it has one. Let this idea boil in Ochiai's cauldron, but if Benisuzume still exists over there and grew into a SMUS... We need to be ready."
Yuhata took a few seconds to think about a moon-sized Gauna evolved from that diabolical entity; it must be red, fast, and angry. At its center a skeletal cage locking Nagate inside, forcing him to listen to Hoshijiro's giggling forever. What was the last detail? How did Kunato even have the testicles to suggest such a thing. If he will ever get eaten by Kyuketsuga, she hope the thing chews its food carefully.
The Captain visibly weighed her thoughts, too, and turned to her secretary after a moment: "The Foreigners would feel even less comfortable... Ochiai, talk to the civilian government, keep them pacified."
"Understood." Come to think of it, why did that man's family keep the literal devil's surname when they're cloned to inherit some other unlucky bastard descending from another Ochiai?
"Kunato, you will have your drive. Make the most use out of it."
"My gratitude is immense, Captain. Though, I have some more to ask from my colleagues."
"Yes, the second new batch of Honokas are approaching the end of their training," Dr. Shinatose Yure sighed and interrupted, "No, we don't have anyone to spare for your voluntary assimilation experiment. Not even a zygote."
There were more than one request to have a Honoka directly contact Tsumugi's core, or a non-sentient hybrid core, to study the formation of humanoid Ena. This was uncomfortably close to the urban legends of Ochiai feeding people to Gauna cores, then reconstructing their Ena-ified organs to make Hybrids.
"Thanks for saving all of us time, then. What I really need is also from Miss Sasaki: One Guardian skeleton suitable to equipt the new weapons. I can speak for my engineers that our Type 18 is falling obsolete, and they aren't confident with the Type 19 either."
"You're taking more than your share of Megastructure?" Sasaki asked bluntly.
"Let's set our priorities straight: Kunato Developments will scale down some of our own Guardian production to focus on the Gravity Net. We'll adjust production to guarantee your share, but we would like to cover the fees for another Guardian comparable to the High-Cost Test Model. After all, the most important things always deserve a backup."
"Now I see." She laughed,"You're tying our business interests and survival prospects together! Truly the kind of smart young guy my parents warned me about long ago."
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The Ravager struggled to turn its crash towards Aegis VII's surface into a controlled slow descent. Retro nozzles sputtered, gravity generators on its underside all strained and sparked to level the hull.
"Commander! Miss Shiraki! Please let me launch in the Type 17S!" Holding onto a handrail that shuddered from quaking hull vibration, Nagate connected his helmet to the ship's intercom and shouted, "That Hive Mind is becoming a Gauna, we still have Kabi in the hangar!"
"FCO, keep firing missiles..." Fabrik picked up the call, "Dr. Stross, activate protein lab emergency purge. Don't let testtubes grow into a Necromorph pig! Okay, Nagate, come again?"
"Commander, I said we need to activate the Type 17S, Black Moon!"
Since the Tsugumori's predecessor was the White Moon, Shiratsuki, Earthgov's engineers naturally named the copy made with darker metals Black Moon. It was very different visually from the original, even discounting the color; thruster modules were all replaced with non-Hyggs equivalents of similar output. Some such as the shin-mounted ones were the model used by the gunships, while others were taken from ships in the same space boneyard as the Ravager. The iconic Hyggs cannon on the Guardian's head was substituted by a laser cutter, essentially a massive version of a Line Gun blade.
Meanwhile the repaired Tsugumori was further codenamed Ginseigo or Silver Comet by Miss Shiraki, although nobody else used the name. Nobody has been fully briefed on why she was qualified to be simultaneously both the ship's chief of deck department and its air wing engineer either, not even Fabrik himself.
"Challenge accepted, my friend!" The young woman with light violet hair answered just in time, "Pit crew receiving command, automated constructors will assemble the Kabizashi. Now, you get ready to fly it, I'll have it fueled up once we're below the kaiju's firing line."
WHIRRRL. KLANG!
Machinery started to move the Tsugumori's chest Kabi blade out from storage, along with a replica Kabizashi handle. Mechanics and launch operators waved at him, making a way while pointing out dangers in the activated hangar system.
"Kaiju?" Nagate began racing through the heartless robotic arms, as if reliving his rice-stealing routine inside the automated grain processing factory back on Sidonia, "I'll stay alive and strap in."
"A word like Gauna. Okay, Kurotsuki has only 8 minutes of rocket fuel at full thrust. Make Benisuzume proud, won't you?"