023 Rookie Training 9 Final Exercise 2

It’s short.

The term "gravity anomaly field" and "stasis field" ended up being identical in character count, so I changed the former to "gravity field anomaly zone."

Special field = special zone.

Three enemy ships approaching. Class unknown.

They’re coming in a triangle formation, trying to slip past our left flank.

Call the front ship the lead, the second one behind and to the right, the third one behind and to the left.

□③▼□▼②□

□□□▼①□□

The left arm shields of the lead and second ships are positioned well, covering their hulls.

"Ayame, Forest, Akira—advance and use railguns to suppress."

Ooi’s command comes through.

We fire railguns at the port side of the lead and second ships—but due to the gravity field anomaly, we miss.

Adjust and fire. The shot hits the shield of enemy flagship one, glances off, but chips away at its durability.

When the distance closes, the enemy ship starts firing its railgun.

Enemy fire bends from gravitational anomalies.

We keep firing the railgun, and the enemy flagship’s shield finally cracks under the strain.

"Assault squad, all ships, launch missiles!"

The missile launches on Ooi's command.

Six shots total—four from me, two from Forest.

Easily intercepted by the lasers from three enemy ships.

"Ayame!"

Ooi’s roar echoed.

There's nothing I can do! My ship's built for speed—no missiles to speak of!

Total command failure, really.

"Damn it! I'll show you a proper example!"

Missiles launch from the Ooi-class vessel.

Ten, twenty, thirty, forty—firing!

Enemy flagship one sinks under saturation fire. Enemy flagship two follows suit.

The fireball from the missile explosion engulfs the void.

Through that fireball, enemy flagship three charges in.

(Hmm? What the—?)

Something transparent seemed to pass through, briefly. No radar contact—but it’s nagging at me.

“Enemy four might be here! Stay alert!”

“Akira, don’t interfere with my command! Intercept enemy three!”

Ooi yells. It grates, but he’s the commander—so I shut up.

Not that I’m caught off guard, but by the time I notice, enemy three’s already slipped past our left flank.

I line up a Particle Beam Cannon shot—too bad Ooi’s ship’s blocking the firing arc.

Enemy three closes in on Ooi’s vessel.

Ooi can only fire lasers in defense.

It’s a pushover.

(That’s a missile-focused ship—no beam cannon mounted at all. Big talk, huh. So that’s your whole act?)

Our four-ship defensive line has been breached.

Quick turn, chasing enemy ship three.

"Forest, can't get a lock—move it!"

Kirii fires at enemy ship three, furious.

Hit the shield—round deflects, strikes the Forest.

Lucky we had a Stasis Field; the round bounced harmlessly.

Forest scrambles away in panic.

Ayame and I flank enemy ship three, pouring Particle Beam Cannon fire into it.

Restricted in course, it’s now walking straight into the sniper’s garden.

Railguns hammer it again and again—shield shatters, Stasis Field drops, armor finally breaches. Enemy ship three is destroyed.

"Good, defensive combat over," Ooi says.

'Naive!'

At the same moment, enemy ship four, its shield field just now deactivated, reaches the far side of our defensive line—right on Commander Shiina’s command.

“The enemy isn’t here to destroy us. Their goal is to push deep into our lines, gather intelligence, and relay it back.

They’ll sacrifice allies to get ahead. Remember that—don’t forget it.”

Our defense failed.

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