“Who would’ve thought it would turn into this so fast...”
“How is it, Commander Ma’am?”
As Commander Eve stood there, blankly looking down at it, <Ringo> introduced it with a proud air.
“Sea-going aircraft carrier, <Naglfar>. Maximum embarked aircraft: 180. I worked hard.”
“It’s unbelievable...”
From the specs alone, it could apparently pack in 180 carrier-based aircraft with an overall length of about 18 meters. On top of that, it could carry a decent number of rotorcraft and multi-legged tanks as well.
That loadout was only possible because, as an unmanned warship, every piece of equipment had been optimized for unmanned operation.
“Flagship: battleship <Hringhorni>. Two Panas-class cruisers, four Nigra-class cruisers, six Hedgehog-class destroyers, and four Armadillo-class destroyers. Those are the ships assigned to <The Tree> Oceanic First Fleet.”
“I know... We burned through all the stockpiled resources in one go. Combat ships really are on a whole different scale for construction materials...”
Most of the resources <The Tree> had been producing had been poured primarily into the battleship and the carrier. Of course, enough resources had also been allocated to mining equipment, so recovery in a short period was possible.
“All of them are newly built ships, and we also incorporated new-model cruisers and destroyers. We need a sufficient testing period in order to proceed with additional construction going forward.”
“Haaah... If we’d had this, wouldn’t trade have been a lot easier...”
Eve let out a big sigh, remembering all the trouble up to now. Not that she had personally suffered all that ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) much.
If this kind of massive fleet had sailed straight to the Kingdom of Lepuitari, it could have forced a full surrender without any annoying negotiations at all.
Not that she would do it.
“Will you make use of it in future diplomatic activity?”
“Hard to say. It depends on the other side’s level of civilization, and if we provoke them too much and they form some huge coalition, that would be a headache.”
Overwhelming force made the other side shrink back. If handled poorly, it could even push the other side into uniting. If gunboat diplomacy was played without care, the relationship would end up grotesquely twisted. Based on experience so far, Eve judged it that way.
Showing just the right amount of strength was the most effective approach.
“Well, for now, let’s celebrate having the fleet assembled. You’ll show us fleet maneuvers later too, right?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. We will also conduct a fleet review, and we will carry out open-ocean operations as part of training. In practice, factors such as vibration while underway are difficult to reproduce accurately even in simulation, so there is no substitute for real-world trials.”
At <Ringo>’s words, Eve nodded. Making every detail clear through simulation was not realistically possible. Even if it was possible in terms of compute, the results would not be correct unless every condition matched the real world.
On that front, <Ringo> was good at trimming information, comparing computed results with test results, and defining lightweight simulation functions. Even so, it would not be a scale a single human could understand.
“Alright. Then today is just a tour. If we’ve got time, let’s call everyone too. We’ll be using this fleet for all sorts of things going forward.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. I will prepare tea.”
◇◇◇◇
Everyone gathered in the observation room of the fortress <The Tree>, clustered around the round table and chatting noisily.
“Come to think of it, it’s been a while since we all got together and did something like this.”
“It has become rare to gather during the day. Most of the time, everyone is doing something else.”
Akane answered Eve’s idle remark.
Eve thought back over the recent situation, and it rang true.
Eve was often drafting policy together with <Ringo>, and each of the sisters was linked with strategic AIs and tactical AIs in various regions—each one a child offshoot—collecting information, so opportunities to sit face-to-face and work together had dropped sharply.
They still all piled into Eve’s bed at night as usual, but that was the usual, so it didn’t count.
“Well, today’s the unveiling of <The Tree>’s official fleet. Let’s all take it slow and watch together.”
“Yeees.”
Right now, everyone was gathered on <The Tree>’s observation deck. The sea surface was about 50 meters below. It was an all-weather deck with floor-to-ceiling glass, designed so that, except for directly behind, everyone could see the outside scenery—including beneath their feet.
Even so, at that height, it was impossible to make out fleet details with the naked eye. Moving the fleet close enough to see clearly would be dangerous.
“This is footage from drones deployed overhead.”
<Ringo> displayed a bird’s-eye view of the fleet underway.
At the moment, the Oceanic First Fleet was in a circular formation, running at high speed.
Battleship <Hringhorni>, and behind it, carrier <Naglfar>. Arranged to surround those two were the Panas-class cruisers and Nigra-class cruisers, and surrounding them in turn were the Hedgehog-class destroyers and Armadillo-class destroyers, forming the outer ring.
“What a beautiful circular formation!”
Eve was practically bouncing in excitement at the footage. <Ringo> looked thoroughly satisfied as well.
<Hringhorni> and <Naglfar> primarily used water-jet propulsion. With multiple discharge ports below the waterline, both ships could adjust water flow so that maximum acceleration was always available.
So despite their enormous size, they could reach impressive speed.
They were already over 70 kilometers per hour.
“<Ringo>. It looks like you can accelerate more—are you doing it today?”
Olive, who had been reading through the performance data, asked <Ringo>. Lately, Olive had been working with Asahi designing a land battleship, so it seemed she hadn’t kept up with surface-ship specs.
“Yes. That is the plan. Cruising appears to be fine for now, so next we will test high-speed running mode.”
Both <Hringhorni> and <Naglfar> carried fusion reactors, converting the immense electrical energy produced into thrust via plasma-jet turbines.
By running those at full power, they could deliver terrifying acceleration.
“Circular formation, disengage. All ships, withdraw to assigned positions.”
However, because of the nature of water jets, full-power operation meant blasting an enormous water flow behind the nozzles. Especially at full power, the discharge prioritized output over efficiency, which made it difficult to hold formation.
Put simply, the disturbed flow meant ships behind could no longer maintain speed.
“Engine output is increasing.”
White wakes formed behind <Hringhorni> and <Naglfar> as the two ships lined up side by side. At the same time, their speed climbed steadily higher.
“Passing 80 kilometers per hour, acceleration continuing. All sensor readings normal. Structural deformation values are within expected range.”
The giant ships accelerated, surpassing the top speed of the slightly older Hedgehog-class with room to spare.
“The Hedgehog-class will need a high-speed refit, or replacement.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. High-speed running is performing as expected. Going forward, we plan to refit and replace the other ships using this speed as the baseline.”
There was margin in the hull structure, and it could carry large amounts of deuterium fuel. Since it could sustain top speed for long periods, the entire fleet needed to be reworked around that capability.
Fortunately, because microwave power supply allowed the propulsion energy to be self-provided, it could be supplied in effectively unlimited amounts.
It could be operated as a high-speed strike fleet.
“Finally, we will conduct full deployment of embarked aircraft from aircraft carrier <Naglfar>.”
For stable running, <Naglfar> reduced speed somewhat, and the deck unfolded, revealing four electromagnetic catapults.
“Oh—carrier aircraft!”
“Continuous launches! My blood’s up!”
Utsugi and Erika, who excelled at command-and-control of automated machine groups, started cheering at the sight. In fact, the tactical AIs used to control the carrier aircraft were U-class and E-class built on their neural patterns.
On the monitor the two were leaning into, carrier aircraft were being fired off the catapults one after another. About one launch every three seconds, it seemed. With four launch lines, deploying 180 aircraft would take 135 seconds—just over two minutes.
Eve knew the catalog specs, but seeing it in reality made it feel absurdly fast. It was only possible because no living humans were aboard.
Around <Naglfar>, coolant that had evaporated and then recondensed made the air turn pure white, as if a smoke screen had been laid.
“Carrier aircraft: 180. Deployment complete with normal status. No particular issues were observed. Heat dissipation is operating normally.”
“Mmm... It’s overwhelming...”
Deploying 180 fighters in just a few minutes. With that kind of force, even if wyverns attacked like they had before, it could shoot them down without trouble.
Of course, that was exactly what the force planning had been built around, so it was only natural.
