“Target airspace secured. No hostile forces in the vicinity.”
“Area cleared. Cargo planes advancing.”
“Advancing surveillance area. Large microwave power supply drones advancing.”
Reconnaissance planes are sent ahead to confirm the safety of the target area. Cargo planes fly in the safe airspace behind them.
At the same time, power supply drones stationed approximately 400km behind and 20km above are moved forward, extending the microwave power supply area.
Large power supply drones are primarily responsible for relaying high-power microwaves and have limited ability to supply power to individual devices.
They are mainly intended to supply power to the microwave power supply devices deployed at the front lines.
Currently, they are being used to supply power to eight reconnaissance planes from a distance.
“Cargo planes are scheduled to arrive at the drop zone in 13 minutes. Reconnaissance planes D, E, and F are being assigned to ultra-low-altitude reconnaissance.”
“Utsugi, reconnaissance plane control received. Commencing reconnaissance flight.”
“Akane to Erika, control of the descent unit is being transferred.”
“Erika, unit control received. Initiating forced descent sequence.”
In this operation ＜Give me oil.＞, almost all operational progress is being carried out by Akane, Ichigo, Utsugi, Erika, and Olive. ＜Ringo＞ is an observer, and Commander (Eve) is a spectator.
“I don’t like this ‘spectator’ role…”
“Yes, Ma’am. Unfortunately, changes are not possible.”
“Why!?”
Akane is currently controlling the aircraft unit. She scans the airspace with advance reconnaissance planes and advances cargo planes and direct escort planes in a secured state.
At the same time, she also operates microwave power supply drones, moving the power supply range.
Ichigo is in charge of overall control, giving instructions to the other four and making detailed adjustments.
Utsugi and Erika are scheduled to directly operate the invasion unit and are currently mostly on standby. Upon arrival at the landing site, they will conduct an airborne descent of the unit.
Olive is in charge of operating the work vessel and escort ship, as well as adjusting the production facilities at Fortress Two and ＜The Tree＞. She is manufacturing equipment for the invasion.
＜Ringo＞ checks the judgments and actions of the Five Sisters and provides advice as needed.
However, she basically refrains from interfering unless there is a critical problem, maintaining a watchful stance.
Commander (Eve) doesn’t have anything in particular to do, so she was watching them. It’s no wonder ＜Ringo＞ displays the role of spectator.
＜Ringo＞ is considerate enough to isolate her so as not to distract the sisters, so she can only actually spectate.
“Cargo plane group has reached the scheduled airspace.”
“Commencing airborne descent.”
The rear hatch of the cargo plane opened wide. From there, multi-legged tanks were ejected one after another.
Released from the aircraft by electromagnetic rails, they immediately ignite their rocket motors, accelerating their descent and flying towards the target point.
“Release of suppression multi-legged tanks complete. Cargo plane Group A is disengaging.”
“Cargo plane Group B is circling and waiting in the rear.”
“Ultra-low-altitude reconnaissance, scanning of the target area complete. No threatening problems were discovered.”
“Roger. Airborne unit will land as planned.”
The airborne unit accelerated with rocket motors and plunged into the scheduled point. Switching to reverse thrust, they landed on the ground one after another.
Purging the rocket motors that had completed their role, they immediately began to dash.
“All units have completed landing. Suppression operations have commenced.”
“Data link normal. Commencing collection of surrounding information.”
“Data analysis has commenced. No hostile entities have been confirmed in the vicinity.”
“Securing the prescribed range is complete.”
“Confirmation of securing complete. Commencing deployment of heavy machinery from cargo plane Group B.”
“Cargo plane Group C will reach the airspace in 3 minutes. Will commence material drop upon arrival.”
The tactical map is rapidly updating information.
The strategic AI on-site analyzes and displays environmental data transmitted from multi-legged tanks and accompanying reconnaissance-specialized aircraft in real time.
The gray, uninvestigated area is rapidly updated to yellow, indicating that it has been explored, and the information-gathering piles driven in further repaint it to green, indicating that it has been scouted.
Finally, the area determined to be problem-free by ＜The Core＞ of ＜The Tree＞ was changed to blue as a secured area.
“It’s progressing smoothly.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Originally, this is an undeveloped land with no hostile forces in the surrounding area. No threatening biological groups have been confirmed by aerial reconnaissance. It will be completed without any problems.”
“When will the work vessel arrive?”
“Approximately 29 hours from now. By then, the construction of the observation tower will be completed as planned. It will be a long haul, so we will switch to shifts in a few hours.”
“Shift work…”
“Yes, Ma’am. The continuous awakened operating time of the Brain Unit is also about 50 hours at the longest. This operation is expected to continue for several months, so we plan to incorporate a shift routine as soon as possible unless there are any major problems.”
“I see. Well, that’s true. Those girls are like living beings unlike ＜Ringo＞, so it can’t be helped.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Strictly speaking, even the Brain Unit of ＜The Core＞ always has a routine in which a portion is put to sleep, so they are getting rest.”
“Come to think of it, I remember reading about that setting…”
The Brain Unit of the Supercomputer is said to have about a quarter of the entire unit constantly in a dormant state in order to achieve 24-hour operation.
Therefore, it is explained that the actual ability is about three-quarters of the number of constituent units.
Well, since the number of units itself is very large, it’s like an error.
“Ma’am, please don’t overdo it and go to bed as usual.”
“Yes, yes. You’ll wake me up if there’s a problem, right?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Also, since we will be switching to shifts, the sisters’ bedtime will be irregular. Please don’t worry about that either, and please do as usual, Ma’am.”
Until now, they had always slept together, but she was deeply moved by the thought that the Five Sisters would also be sleeping alone.
She was worried about whether they would be able to sleep properly.
She was completely in parent mode.
“In the worst case, we will use the forced sleep function, so please don’t worry.”
“Ah, I see…”
Her thoughts were completely read. She scratched her cheek awkwardly and then sat back in her chair.
“Alright. Then let’s watch over the operation for a little longer…”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
The coast chosen as the landing point is located at the left end of a huge estuary that is 500km east to west.
This large river is used for trade by the Forest Country (Lebresta), but there is little traffic to begin with, and the complex currents are divided by numerous islands, so it is completely hidden from the main waterways.
The water is also shallow, so seabed excavation is planned after the work vessel arrives. Conversely, because it is such a place, there is no chance that a ship from another country will stray into it.
Because it is on the Telek Port City side, there was a slight possibility if trade continued, but it is now completely cut off, and the city itself is under the control of ＜The Tree＞, so there was no need to worry about it.
“Commencing analysis of underground data.”
“Loading of acoustic data complete. Real-time link with each information-gathering pile successful.”
“Geological information analysis complete. Expanding the exploration range and commencing the search for construction sites.”
Using data collected from various locations, a sound wave survey of construction candidate sites is conducted.
According to ＜Ringo＞’s estimates, it is possible to collect geological information up to several tens of meters underground with an accuracy of over 90%.
The tower to be constructed this time will combine surveillance and microwave relay functions and will be of a reasonable height. The basic structure will be made of steel frames, and no cellulose that degrades in ultraviolet light will be used.
Because of the extreme desert environment, it is necessary to make the structure as maintenance-free as possible.
“Narrowing down of target points complete. Because a location where solid bedrock is exposed has been determined, we will construct the observation tower at this location.”
“The analysis AI has determined the probability to be A-class. We judge that there is no problem.”
“Roger. Commencing construction sequence.”
Once the construction site was determined, the multi-legged heavy machines began to move. They excavated the bedrock, drove in foundation piles to secure the base, and assembled the tower in an instant while welding the steel frames.
“Small multi-legged machines are useful for assembling these kinds of structures.”
“That’s right. Hmm, it’s like a swarm of spiderlings building a tower…”
The sight of small multi-legged machines swarming and constructing was, to put it mildly, a nightmarish sight.