novelraw Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Atla Colony Military Sector Gate No. 10.
Kwaaaaaaang!
The entrance leading to the hangar was reeling, unable to collect itself as guard posts and blast walls collapsed under a sudden, untimely assault amid successive roaring explosions.
“Block them! Block them!”
“B, but……!”
The ones guarding the hangar were the 504th Brigade under the 17th Fleet, which had taken over duties from the existing Atla Colony Defense Force.
Though they were returning fire from behind barricades against the sudden attack, every soldier’s face was filled with the same confusion, or perhaps doubt.
“……W, what kind of situation is this?”
“Uaaaaaah! You crazy bastards!”
Experiencing combat was nothing particularly special.
Even just the officers alone were from the generation that had lived through the Third Galactic War, and the same went for the sergeants and noncommissioned officers.
Even if it was not the Empire, in this vast galaxy, how many forces would there be that did not regard the Composite State as an enemy?
“Close the blast wall!”
“B, but 1st Platoon is still on the other side!”
“Abandon them! Don’t you get it? If we can’t close the wall, it’s over!”
But the situation now was different.
“Is there no order from the top? What kind of damn mess is this!”
“T, there’s no connection! Everything’s down!”
“What the hell is that supposed to—!”
The enemy was neither Imperial saboteurs nor monarchists intoxicated with the Empire’s feudal system.
The ones who struck them from behind were none other than the Rermal Planetary Defense Force, clad in brown uniforms.
Because of that, the soldiers of the 17th Fleet were so bewildered that, for a moment, they wondered if this was a dream.
Tadadadadang!
Their numbers were not small.
Two battalions with resolute expressions came charging in, clad in reinforced exoskeletons and Titan tactical enhancement suits.
And most importantly, at their forefront stood special-duty officers in black uniforms.
“I’m going to lose my mind!”
It was the moment the last hope—that this might be a minor disturbance or deviation—was extinguished.
No matter how strained relations had become, the unprecedented situation of attacking soldiers of the same Human Composite State, and those who had come to help them no less, had become reality.
‘Damn it.’
The captain on duty bit his lip hard as he tried to grasp the rapidly unfolding situation as calmly as possible, but the result was the worst possible.
‘Too fast. They’re too fast.’
Although the atmosphere inside the colony had been unsettled, it was not a wartime situation, so what stood on guard was merely a single battalion with few special-duty officers.
Even that force was dispersed, leaving only two companies present at the site.
There were a few special-duty officers stationed there as well, but they were far from sufficient to stop those charging in with unstoppable momentum.
“Support? When the hell is support coming?”
“T, that is…….”
“This damn…….”
After forcefully swallowing the curse that had risen to his throat, the captain shouted irritably.
“Contact every special-duty officer who can be reached right now—no, special-duty NCOs, support platoons, everyone! Get the word out! This is a coup!”
“Y, yes, sir!”
Kugugugung……!
Pueo-eong!
Even as sporadic explosions continued to resound, the captain opened the hip flask he had secretly hidden on his person, moistened his lips, and prayed.
……Please, let us buy some time.
When building a colony, military sectors were managed under the highest security rating.
In other words, their security was on a different level from that of ordinary structures.
Fearing the possibility that ships gathered in the hangar might be seized through internal colony terrorism, there were four blast walls finished with carbine alloy—the strongest metal available—and although their performance was not outstanding, machine guns and railguns equipped with AI were also prepared.
Because of that, even piercing a single blast wall with ordinary firepower was a difficult task.
The problem was that the enemy was the Rermal Planetary Defense Force, the very ones who had designed and garrisoned Atla Colony.
“Lu, what is the current progress?”
“In accordance with your will, all Defense Force officers who did not agree with the cause have been detained, and the Federal Army special-duty officers on the list are being eliminated, or lured to outer sectors far from the hangar.”
At Satra’s question, the adjutant called Lu briefly checked his watch and replied in a voice tinged with relief.
“Additionally, we have succeeded in seizing partial control of the colony sector management system. There should be no issue disabling the blast wall AI.”
It was a thoroughly satisfactory answer.
However, there was no complacency.
‘This is an opportunity gained because the battlefield is calmly tilted in our favor. The moment the Federal Army’s command structure is restored, everything ends.’
Even if they had cut off the head, including Lieutenant General Regchap, there would certainly be someone who could bring this situation under control.
The moment the confusion ended and order was reestablished would be the real crisis.
After nodding at Lu’s words, Satra slowly moved forward.
Wiiing, kki, kkigeek-.
As the adjutant had said, the machine guns and railguns that had been furiously swiveling their barrels upon emerging from long-shielded spaces lowered their heads as if nothing had happened.
However, as for the blast walls, they were forcibly locked, so the only option was to break through them directly.
“We will reach the point within ten minutes.”
All the sentries guarding the first blast wall had already been subdued, and all that remained was to break through these walls as quickly as possible.
“Hup—.”
In that instant, her violet pupils flashed.
The inner gears rotated in sync with her tempo, and soon the psionic energy became a single storm, loading itself onto the tip of her fist.
Kwaaaaaaang!
Immediately after, with a thunderous explosion, the first blast wall crumpled and was torn apart, and at once the Federal Army’s firepower that had been lying in wait stretched out toward her all at once.
“Uaaaaaah!”
Along with bullets fired from infantry portable small railguns, commonly called SSRs, several androids also launched ejection bombs mounted on their reinforced parts at her.
Tadadadadang!
Pueo-eong!
Gunfire rang out together with explosions.
However, knowing full well that ordinary firepower projection was meaningless against a special-duty officer of Triple Gear or higher, Federal Army special-duty officers surged forward immediately afterward.
‘We have to buy time!’
Considering the number of Defense Force special-duty officers reported before the blast wall closed, no matter how much advantage they might gain, dragging out time was the best course.
Having finished that calculation, the Federal Army special-duty officers all drew their respective special-duty armaments at once and poured everything toward the blast wall, each spinning their gears at maximum speed.
“Keheok!”
“Ggeuuuk!”
Some could not endure the momentary output and bled or clutched at their hearts, but the price was certain.
Kwadeudeudeuk!
The flames that were unleashed first swallowed her, who had pierced through the blast wall, and the lightning that poured down from the sky immediately after covered the rear.
Kwagwagwagwagwang!
Although it was an ability at the Double Gear level, the instantaneous firepower was overwhelming.
Concrete was shattered, the air vaporized for a moment, and the smashed blast wall was completely blown up into empty space.
Even if she had been a Triple Gear special-duty officer, she would not have been able to take it easily.
“Rachel!”
“Understood! Adolf!”
Immediately after, those holding jet-black special-duty armaments, greatswords, kicked off the ground and leaped to cut her down while she had yet to fully recover her body.
‘It hit!’
They projected their abilities to the point that the tips of their greatswords, the standard armament of special-duty officers, trembled.
Because of that, there was no doubt.
That they had cut her down.
But at that very moment.
“……Huh?”
Rachel. A low murmur of astonishment flowed from her lips.
Kwaak!
There was no sensation of flesh and bone that should have been cut; instead, a brutal pressure twisting around the back of her neck took its place.
“……Damn it.”
And at the whisper close to a sigh that came from not far away, Adolf’s voice, Rachel finally realized it.
Somehow, it seemed they had picked the wrong opponent.
Udeudeudeuk!
In an instant, Satra’s violet pupils flashed.
Like neon signs drawing lines, something followed her movements like a trailing tail, stretching long behind her.
Thud-.
In the blink of an eye, two Triple Gear special-duty officers were silenced.
“……C, crazy.”
Upon confirming that overwhelming force, the special-duty NCOs who had been watching the outcome while swallowing their breath in tension all lost their will to fight at once.
Ordinary people might not know.
But even if their growth had stopped at Dual Gear and they had been commissioned as NCOs, as fellow superhumans, they felt it clearly.
“……Quad Gear.”
That what stood before them was a Quad Gear–class special-duty officer, one that was treated in earnest as a ‘weapon’.
What followed was as obvious as fire.
The blast walls were shattered one after another, and at last, the Defense Force led by her reached the fourth blast wall, the final gateway leading to the hangar.
“…….”
The captain who remained as the officer of the watch gathered the remaining troops with a heavy heart and stood before it.
The moment the blast wall’s AI had been neutralized and it became certain that the wall could be destroyed, holding out inside had no meaning.
Of course, since all the troops had already been crushed at the earlier blast walls, what remained was only about a single squad’s worth, including those who had been handling administrative duties.
‘Of all times…….’
No, it was precisely because it was such a time that they had carried out the coup.
The day before, instructors from the Special Service Academy had arrived, and the soldiers who had struggled for a while sending a support fleet to the Rermal Planet’s forward base had been given large-scale leave.
In other words, a period when security was weaker than usual.
It was truly a dead end.
That was when it happened.
Standing at the forefront, Satra, who saw them lined up behind the barricade before the blast wall with expressionless eyes, spoke.
“Move aside.”
She did not bother to add anything after that, but anyone who was not a fool could easily grasp what the unspoken words were.
‘If you do not move, you die.’
The captain bit his lip hard and finally spat out the curse he had been holding back.
“……Fuck.”
Then he glanced at the subordinates standing beside him.
All of them were swallowing their breath and aiming their gun barrels, but even they could not fail to know that, being all ordinary people, there was nothing they could do even if they rushed at special-duty officers.
As proof, every single gun barrel was trembling.
Yes, even his own.
He did not want to die.
He could not die here.
“……We’ll open the way.”
That thought filled his mind in an instant, and soon, as if he had made up his mind, he dropped his pistol to the floor and raised both hands.
“C, Captain!”
“Shut up and listen to me! What can we even do on our own……!”
Surrendering to the coup forces.
The surrounding soldiers looked at the captain with ashen faces, but at his continued words, they began lowering their gun barrels one by one.
Everyone knew it deep down.
That it was already too late to stop it at their level.
“…….”
When the path was opened, the Defense Force led by Satra passed by them without a single word.
Reaching the blast wall, Satra let out only a short deep breath before driving her fist into the wall.
Kugugugugung!
Just like before, despite its massive size, the blast wall collapsed.
And at that moment, as she stepped beyond the collapsed blast wall, Satra turned her head and spoke to the pale-faced captain and his subordinate soldiers.
“Leave the hangar, and surrender after everything is over.”
That was the last advice she could give, and her final mercy.
Upon reaching the hangar, the Defense Force quickly seized the control room.
Immediately after, under the lead of the adjutant Lu, the internal data was manipulated. Soon, the three-dimensional optical equipment on the colony’s outer wall activated, and guiding light for the fleet burst forth in long streams.
“What about the external interception system?”
“We’ve lost contact with the battalion that headed to the main facility. Full seizure will be difficult, but they’re continuing to contest control. For the next five minutes, they won’t be able to project meaningful firepower.”
“Begin.”
At Satra’s order, Lu immediately took out a device and linked it with the control room’s AI, and soon a series of ships appeared on the holographic radar.
〔Identification failed : Error.〕
〔Identification failed : Error.〕
〔Identification failed : Error.〕
Well over ten vessels.
Identification failure codes appeared one after another, but they did not care.
Once they had come this far, there was no other path.
〔Gate open.〕
〔Guidance rail docking complete.〕
〔Blast wall shielding complete.〕
The control room’s AI, almost as soon as it was hacked, rapidly guided the ships into the hangar, and soon, with a heavy reverberation, a massive flagship settled into the hangar where they stood.
Wiiing-.
And as the Defense Force troops led by Satra reached the hangar, the ship that had completed all docking procedures opened its doors, and a line of soldiers stepped into the hangar, following behind an old man.
“Well now, things were handled more cleanly than I expected.”
The old man in a red uniform reminiscent of the era of the Second Galactic War flashed his distinctive piercing eyes and extended his hand to Satra.
“Brigadier of the Red Hand, Kim Cheol.”
“Captain Satra.”
However, unlike his face, his physique and hands were trained to the point that they did not seem like those of an old man.
The two clasped each other’s hands and began to broach the subject of what was to come.
……No, they were about to.
〔Alert, unidentified energy detected forming above the colony.〕
If not for the suddenly blaring alarm.
-Kyaaaaaaaaaaah!
And at that moment, a beast’s roar that resounded as if it would tear the colony apart.