102 Lord's Compilation 14: Earthling Recovery 2
[Hey, Baron Blythe. This is Prince Akira, sixth son. I'm currently overseeing the Sol system—the star system that's Earth's home. You've got Earthlings over there, right?
Thanks for protecting the Earthling refugees. But that was actually an abduction by a disowned prince.
I'm grateful to you, Baron Blythe, for protecting them. Still, since they were taken by crime, we need them back.
Cool. Reply, please. If I don’t hear back, I’m coming to get them myself. Prince Akira, sixth son.]
No formal document format was used for the letter from prince to baron.
I prepared a proper, respectful tone—except the prince didn’t need to humble himself before the baron, so it ended up like this.
[Dear Baron—useless long-winded greeting—useless long-winded pleasantries—
A lengthy report on the dispute with the Prince—the lengthy report on the kidnapping investigation—
Given all this, I kindly request that you, Lord Baron of the Braiby System, where you now hold dominion as System Lord, return the Earthling under your protection—please see to this at your earliest convenience—
Another pointless, lengthy greeting—another pointless, lengthy apology for the sudden letter—another pointless, lengthy farewell—Respectfully, Date, Sixth Prince Akira, to His Highness Tenth Prince Kein.]
A similarly lengthy letter of inquiry was sent via dimensional comm—what passes for a fax in these parts—to the Tenth Prince, the System Lord.
Must be delivered by hand on paper.
Not a prank, you know. It’s just proper etiquette toward an imperial prince.
Calling it pointless? I—uh, I don’t know what you’re talking about.
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Two avatars gathered in a private area of the cybernetic space.
“Your Highness, what should I do?”
“There’s nothing to do. Earthlings have long been sold into slavery. No point in trying to reclaim them.”
“Then we have no choice but to cut ties?”
“I don’t know. You figure it out.”
“B-But… that’s…”
“That’s right. He’s not going to stay silent. Lure him to the Briby system, eliminate Akira, and that’s the end of it.”
“How…?”
“Once he arrives at the Briby system, ambush him just before the Dimensional Jump Gate. Concentrate fire on his Personal Ship.”
“Lure him in under false pretenses… then strike?”
Make sure he gets angry enough to come out himself. He’s said to be easy to fool. Kill him.
To the others, it seemed like their trick had worked perfectly. But these two were clearly untrained in combat.
The prince, at least, was still a step ahead.
From Akira’s perspective, fighting that prince… these guys were—
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A reply came from Baron Briby.
They’d protected the humans, but all had been taken to another star system.
No details about where, or who, had been taken.
No list of the humans they’d supposedly protected.
Not even a reaction from Prince Ten.
This is a clear sign. Enemy status confirmed.
“Shall we pay a little visit, then?”
Of course, the official pretext is "thank you for protecting the Terrans."
The so-called battleship diplomacy: "And just where did you send the Terrans?" A show of force.
If they still refuse... we’re prepared to go to war.
Back down now, and those four thousand Terrans won’t come back.
Looks like we’ll have to send out our main strength—the factory flagship and its attached fleet.
Sending a dimensional transmission of the Sixth Prince’s visit from the sub-space side of the Briby Gate.
Normally, this would be granted instantly. But we’re being made to wait.
Just this delay alone would be grounds for high treason—but do they even understand that?
Finally, permission to enter the star system is granted. The fleet breaches the Briby System.
"Outrageous disrespect toward the Sixth Prince’s visit!"
A protest roars from the flagship of the Sixth Prince’s escort fleet, now inside the Briby System.
At the same time, the Briby Baron Fleet opens fire—dummy ships and drones are destroyed.
“This is totally out of line, right?”
“Ambush. No matter where you bring it up, it’s a war justification.”
“I’ve uploaded the records to the Imperial Network. Even if war breaks out, nobody can complain.”
In truth, the Sixth Prince’s Escort Fleet was remotely操控ing the dummy ships via the Tactical Weapon Integration Control System.
Well, I’m utterly speechless. Thank you for the masterclass in utterly contemptible tactics.
Even General Kanzawa, the Earth Forces Commander, is dumbfounded.
And even Ayame, the advisor we brought in, gives it her stamp of approval—combat rules have been met.
“Then, factory mothership dimensional jump—warp. Target: enemy fleet’s port flank. All ships, annihilate.”
Deploying the Bribe Baron's fleet of three thousand ships along the starboard flank of the Bribe Baron’s Dimensional Jump Gate (Gate), initiate the factory mothership’s dimensional jump (warp).
Immediately upon warp-out, launch fifty thousand shipboard drones and twenty thousand plus one thousand Earth Fleet vessels in emergency deployment.
Let the Bribe Baron’s fleet of three thousand deal with the fifty thousand drones.
I’ll take the Earth Fleet of twenty thousand and the newly built elite fleet of one thousand to seize control of the station-class fortress ship.
But first—something important.
“This is the Earth Fleet. If any Earth people are being deceived into fighting, pull out of the line.
We’ve come to free you. There’s no reason to follow them anymore.”
If Earth people are unknowingly caught in the Bribe Baron’s fleet, they’ll get caught in the crossfire. That much we have to avoid.
Next—eliminate the greatest threat.
"First, take out the greatest threat—the Fortress Cannon. We’re using the new weapon."
I standby the new weapon—antimatter particle cannon—on my Personal Ship.
Extract antimatter from the annihilation reactor, lock it in a case shielded by an inward-facing Stasis Field.
Transport the case containing antimatter to the turret, then set it directly into the antimatter particle cannon’s chamber.
Release the antimatter from the case. Accelerate it with the particle accelerator.
The interior of the accelerator is also protected by an inward-facing Stasis Field.
The antimatter’s velocity approaches the threshold of breaking through the Stasis Field.
At the same instant, release the chamber. Fire the antimatter beam at the target.
The target: the Fortress Cannon mounted on the fortress ship.
A thin beam of light streaks toward the cannon’s muzzle.
The instant it seemed to have hit, antimatter reacted with matter—annihilation flared, releasing vast energy.
Where the blast cleared, only wreckage remained—Fortress Cannon utterly destroyed, beyond firing range.
“Whoa. Even worse than G-Bullets. Good. Open comms.”
‘We’ve taken out the last hope—the Fortress Cannon. Should we hit the Fortress Ship with a few more rounds?’
The Fortress Ship surrendered. Gave up its control key.
The Baron’s Bribee Fleet had already been wiped out—five hundred thousand unmanned vessels, gone.
“Wait—our elite fleet didn’t even get to fire!”
Now, time for the big one.
Current specs for this 'AKIRA(あきら)'
Ship Type: Fleet Command Ship (Flagship)
Ship Length: 250m High-Speed Cruiser Type +α Two Arms Dimensional Storage Vault S-Type (Personal Escort Vessel: 1,000 Stealth Ships: 1, Aircraft ‘Fannel’: 1, External Reactor, External Armament, External Brain, Multiple Spare Parts)
Main Engine: Annihilation Reactor G-Type (+ External Reactor, Annihilation D-Type) High-Speed Propulsion Unit C-Type (+ Dimensional Jump Drive)
Armament: Main Gun: Long Barrel 5cm Railgun, Single Mount, 3 Units, 3 Guns Standard Ammo: 3,675 (Remaining) / ∞ (Max) Special Ammo (G-Bullet): 643 (Remaining) / ∞ (Max) Special Ammo (Erosion Bullet): 1,734 (Remaining) / ∞ (Max) Special Ammo (Leap Bullet): 528 (Remaining) / ∞ (Max)
Antimatter Particle Cannon: 1 Unit, 1 Gun
(External Armament: Long Barrel 40cm Railgun Single Mount 1 Unit 1 Gun, Standard Ammo 164 (Remaining) / ∞ (Max), Special Ammo (Leap Bullet) 38 (Remaining) / ∞ (Max), Others)
Secondary Gun 30cm Particle Beam Cannon Single Mount 1 Unit 1 Gun
20cm Particle Beam Cannon Single Mount 1 Unit 1 Gun
Anti-Space Cannon 10cm Laser Single Mount 4 Units 4 Guns
Missile Launcher Pod D-Type Standard 2 Units 2 Guns, Max Ammo 4×2, Missile Remaining 8
(Aircraft-Use Missile D-Type Standard 2 Units ×1, Max Ammo 4×2×1, Missile Remaining 8)
Defense Beam-Resistant Coating Multi-Layered Special Steel Armor Plate
Beam Canceller (Anti-Beam Barrier)
Beam-Resistant Shield E-Type 1
Stasis Field (Anti-Physical Barrier) C-Type
Dimensional Field Generator
Electronic Equipment Anti-Ship Radar S-Type Wide-Area Communication Device S-Type Tactical Weapon Integration Control System S-Type Sub-Computer C-Type (External Computer A-Type)
Empty Energy Slot 5
Status Good
Equipped with one unit of the new weapon: the antimatter particle cannon.
The Dimensional Storage Vault always carries a ready-to-deploy elite fleet (unmanned ships).
Three months since I started posting on R15.
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