33. Emergency Meeting

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As Zeno rained down at fifteen percent light speed, Epsilon Ia collapsed in a flash. Massive fragments, torn from the planet, now orbit as asteroids, forming a ring around the dying world. When the final Zeno struck Epsilon Ia, only a glowing sphere wrapped in a ring remained—its core incandescent, its form unmistakably Epsilon Ia. No high-intensity neutron radiation was observed during the cessation of Zeno activity.

Onboard the probe vessel EP-0011, monitoring the planet’s disintegration from eight astronomical units away, the command center. The crew sat in silence, eyes fixed on the central screen, watching the planet die.

Captain Linna Flante thought.

Is this Zeno’s reproductive behavior? One star collapsed in an instant. The cycle is complete—now we wait to see when Zeno will resume activity. Regardless, to respond swiftly, we must use our ship’s materials to build a hyperlane gate as soon as possible. Constructing it alone would be faster if we could dispatch a construction vessel from Agirakana—but the nearest hyperlane gate, on Epsilon II, is three light-years away. It would take ten years to reach this system from there. With only our ship’s resources, we can only build a small hyperlane gate, but if it’s large enough for a construction vessel, we can manage. There’s no alternative.

“Launch four observation satellites to Epsilon Ia.”

“Our vessel will re-enter Epsilon Ib and construct a small hyperlane gate.”

——Four observation satellites launched to Epsilon Ia. ……Completed.

——… EP-0011, initiating construction of small hyperlane gate.

At the moment Ichijō was staring blankly upward at the crescent-shaped blue Earth above the moon’s open-air bathhouse.

An emergency communication arrived from Maria, the core’s avatar: a critical issue had arisen, and a leadership emergency meeting was required. I hurried back to Agirakana aboard LC-0001-Furinkan, with Ain as my sole companion this time.

Agirakana Core Interior, in the operations conference room adjacent to the Captain’s Office.

A tactical briefing convened upon receipt of the Zeno discovery report. Besides me—Captain of the Agirakana—those present were Maria, representing the Core’s administrative AI; Major Amanda of the Aerospace Forces; Major Dora from Survey Command; Major Floris from Logistics; and my secretary, Ain. Five in total. As this was a formal session, I wore the general’s uniform, with three gold buttons at the collar. Today’s title: Commander-in-Chief of the Agirakana Space Force.

The other five had already assembled in the conference room, awaiting me. Upon my entrance, they all rose in unison.

“Salute to the Commander-in-Chief!”

At Major Amanda’s command, the three senior officers executed the standard salute. I, somewhat awkwardly, returned it. Honestly, enough with the formalities. Maria, being a civilian administrator, doesn’t need to salute me.

"...This concludes the report from Survey Ship EP-0011. Currently, Survey Ship EP-0011 continues observations of Eridanus εa while constructing a small hyperspace gate near the gas giant εb. Given that it is a survey vessel, not a construction ship, the completion timeline remains uncertain—though we’ve received a report stating it should be finished within the year."

Major Dora concluded her explanation, standing before the screen displaying the planet as a glowing sphere.

With the mention of the hyperspace gate, Logistics Commander Floris stepped in.

"Once this survey vessel completes its small hyperspace gate, we plan to construct a corresponding gate on our side and promptly deploy a construction vessel."

I nodded in agreement.

"Any idea when Zeno might reactivate?"

Maria answered, as if to no one in particular.

“Exact reactivation timing is unknown, but according to the records, it’s safe to assume it won’t resume activity for at least two years.

Following reactivation, the number of units is expected to increase to approximately three million—about four times that of Epsilon Ia, based on estimated heavy element reserves.

Precise forecasting isn’t possible at this stage, as the survey by the exploration vessel EP-0011 hasn’t yet been completed. Once reactivated, Zeno is likely to relocate to Epsilon II, the star system closest to Epsilon I.”

“Could there be other Zeno units hiding elsewhere, aside from this one?”

“Highly possible. Interstellar surveillance is required. Just surveillance—unmanned probes would suffice.”

“I’ll leave the surveillance to you. In the meantime, is there any way to attack the Zeno currently embedded within the planet?”

“The planet itself, where Zeno is embedded, is an obstacle. Firing a super-large annihilation round might blow the planet apart, but that would have only limited effect on Zeno. As for conventional ordnance—since the planet is already molten and liquefied, further heating would achieve nothing.”

“So we can’t attack now. That means we wait for Zeno’s activity to resume, while we strengthen our forces. I recall hearing earlier that the kill ratio for manned assault units against Zeno is thirty to one—ten to one for unmanned ones?”

Everyone nodded.

“And I’ve also heard that for every manned assault unit, six unmanned units can accompany it. Put differently, if we fully deploy unmanned units alongside a single manned assault unit, the kill ratio would effectively be ninety to one, wouldn’t it?”

She turned to Admiral Amanda of the Aerospace Force, asking.

"No, regarding the kill ratio we just discussed—it's from the very early stages of the Zeno War, before standardized combat tactics against Zeno had been established. For brevity, I'll skip the details, but if you consider a standard attack pilot accompanied by six autonomous strike drones, the current 90-to-1 ratio would likely improve to 150-to-1 or higher."

"Is that so?"

Admiral Amanda nodded.

"Three million Zeno destroyed—so, one hundred fifty times fewer human attack craft would suffice: twenty thousand manned strike units and one hundred twenty thousand unmanned drones. But then again, that would mean annihilating three million Zeno... and wiping out our own forces as well."

We’re going to have a problem if we can’t at least double our forces compared to the Zeno, aren’t we? To minimize losses, we’d ideally want five times as many. Five times that—say, ten thousand attack units. Whether Lanchester’s Law even applies against cosmic lifeforms is debatable, but it should cut our casualties significantly.

In any case, the centerpiece of this operation against the Zeno seems to be the attack craft.

I’ll need to confirm with General Floris of the Logistics Corps whether the current fleet of these central attack units is even feasible.

“General Floris, do you think we can have around one hundred thousand manned attack craft ready in two years?”

“Armor isn’t applied to the attack craft, so numbers aren’t an issue at all. The only question is how many pilots we can train—ten thousand should be manageable, I think.”

“Can’t we increase the number of unmanned units accompanying the manned ones?”

“The maximum number of unmanned units a pilot can currently command is six—beyond that, it’s a logistical nightmare. But if we boost the autonomy of the drones, we might just manage to increase the number. How much the overall performance would improve is uncertain. Still, the initial strike power will definitely rise.”

True enough—pilots are optimized for six accompanying units, maximizing combat effectiveness. If it’s just a barrage of missiles, more is clearly better, and coordination matters little in that scenario.

Let’s go ahead and do whatever might enhance our combat effectiveness. Once the hyperlane gate we’re currently building is complete, we’ll send in work ships to construct a full-scale gate, right? What if we set up multiple gates on the opposite side of the direction Zeno’s likely to attack—Epsilon II? Since Zeno isn’t particularly strong on the flanks, we might be able to launch a sudden, overwhelming assault from behind. In the old days, retreating was difficult when you had planets to protect, but now we’re the aggressors—so if things go south, we can pull back anytime. Minimize human casualties at all costs.

The meeting continued afterward, reaching the following conclusion:

Mass-produce unmanned reconnaissance probes and deploy them across vast regions of interstellar space to detect Zeno vessels during transit.

After detection, establish surveillance stations along lines connecting stars, building a vigilance system.

Secure pilots. (Awaken dormant pilots early and begin training. The upcoming batch of bio-noids will significantly increase pilot capacity. However, newly manufactured bio-noids will not be available in time for this operation.)

Attack pilot capabilities have reached their limit; therefore, enhance the autonomy of accompanying unmanned attack drones and increase the number of unmanned drones capable of accompanying manned attack craft. Additionally, improve the combat endurance of attack units.

Stockpile anti-neutrons—specifically with Zeno in mind—increasing reserves of antimatter.

Install multiple hyperlane gates in the Eridanus Epsilon I System.

Deploy unmanned decoy vessels loaded with annihilation and annihilation-guided munitions around Epsilon Ia, and while our own ship is still intact, shoot down Zeno—before it accelerates, immediately after launching from the planet—starting from one end and working through the entire range.

With that, the meeting concluded. The upcoming battle against Zeno seemed manageable. Not a single face in the room bore a look of concern.

After the meeting, I pondered a moment:

Why does Zeno attack starships at all? The reason remains unclear. If they need planets for reproduction, there are plenty floating around in space. Could it be that they’re after hypermassive hulls? Might we be, to them, the kind of prize that’s simply too tempting to resist?

[Supplementary Explanation]

Standard Attack Pilot

Bio-oid manufactured and trained as a pilot. Equipped with parallel-thought capabilities and significantly enhanced spatial awareness. Capable of organically coordinating accompanying units. In the latter half of the Zeno War, regular attack-pilot personnel were exhausted; as a result, most manned attack craft could only accompany unmanned units operating below the designated constant. This led to a sharp increase in destruction rates. Additionally, since planetary defense was the primary mission, most attack craft fought until their counter-elimination munitions were expended—after which they carried out self-destruct attacks and were ultimately consumed.

Shipshell

Composed of neutron-overabundant ultra-high-density matter. Post-formation processing is impossible. The only direct method of destruction is through annihilation reactions with anti-neutrons. Starships with hulls can only be breached by attacks targeting the junctions between hull sections or slits intended for external connections—otherwise, they remain intact. Due to their supermassive nature, starships with hulls navigate using gravity thrusters, unaffected by mass-related inertia during acceleration.

Gravity Thrusters

A gravitational well is created in the direction of travel for the propulsion unit—whether a capital ship or an attack craft—and the unit continues to fall into this well, generating thrust. It offers significant advantages: no dependence on the propellant unit’s mass, no need for propellant, and independence from the unit’s orientation during acceleration. However, due to its slow response time, it is ill-suited for rapid maneuvers. To avoid interference with other propulsion units, the gravitational well must be generated either extremely close to or within the unit itself. Capable of accelerating up to approximately thirty percent of light speed.

Plasma Thruster

Thrust is generated by ionizing propellant into plasma and expelling it at high velocity. Used primarily to ensure maneuverability for low-mass spacecraft. Attack craft, which require high agility, typically employ both gravity thrusters and plasma thrusters in tandem.

Attack Craft

Lacking a hull, its defensive capabilities are low. On the other hand, by combining gravity thrusters and plasma thrusters, it achieves high-speed maneuverability. Once its propellant is exhausted, maneuverability plummets. Primary offensive methods include small-scale annihilation-guided missiles, annihilation warheads, and beam weapons. It draws all energy from a compact, high-output annihilation generator fueled by antimatter. Atmospheric and underwater combat variants—designed for ground forces—use alternate methods of propulsion within atmospheres or water columns, since plasma thrusters pose a danger in such environments; instead, they rely on rudders and expel ingested fluid at high speed to maneuver.

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