Editing HEAVY OBJECT:Volume5 Chapter 5 (section)

===Part 4===

“The Ocean Substation must intercept any air-to-air missiles headed its way. First, fire air-to-air missiles at the parabolic antennae. While they are focused on intercepting them, raise your altitude and fire at the laser firing apparatus with your machineguns. That seems the best plan to me,” said the bodyguard.

“It scares me to do that without checking on the limits of its rapid-fire ability, but I suppose that is my only option.”

Mariydi made up her mind while further diminishing the number of enemy fighters that were still trying to attack her even while trailing lines of black smoke.

(The Objects are still showing no sign of taking action. I need to take out Athletica before they do.)

If they took action, they would take control of the battlefield in no time at all. That was just what happened with those giant weapons. Nothing gave Mariydi more relief than the fact that the trigger to that destruction had yet to be pulled.

“The impact of that laser can be a bit deceptive, but we still have the overall upper hand,” said the bodyguard. “We do not need to sink that ship. All that matters is the parabolic antennae and the firing apparatus. We just have to destroy one or the other of those delicate devices located on the deck. We already have a blade pressed against their throat. You just have to pull that blade to the side!”

“They have a blade to my throat too!!” shouted Mariydi as she turned the fighter’s nose back towards the Ocean Substation and raised the output of the jet engine.

Suddenly, a warning buzzer went off in the cockpit. It signified the fighter was being struck by radar waves used for missile targeting.

“Def…ense Alpha. From…southeast. Dist…ance…20…”

“…?”

Mariydi looked puzzled.

Something was wrong with the transmission. No, it was not just the transmission. She noticed some noise starting to run across the radar and it turned into a green sandstorm in no time at all. Finally, even the warning buzzer blaring inside the cockpit cut out. The rectangular containers displaying the locations of the enemy fighters in her goggles disappeared. Only the digital displays showing speed, altitude, direction, and a few other readings were left.

(What? Is this jamming? No. The radar and communications is one thing, but I’ve never heard of electromagnetic interference that could knock out all of my readings. What is going on!?)

Since she could not use the radar, Mariydi forcibly twisted just her neck around while strapped in so that she could see to the side and back.

And then her expression turned to one of shock.

The surface of the right main wing had begun to glow orange. The thin flap attached to the front was especially bad. The one on the back probably was too. She could not see them with the naked eye, but the glow had her concerned about the state of the air-to-air missiles attached below the main wings.

Mariydi stared blankly at the mysterious phenomenon for a bit, but then…

(Various sudden electromagnetic malfunctions and an unnatural rise in temperature on the right main wing. Don’t tell me…)

“Microwaves…? Ice Girl 1 to CT! I am being hit with microwaves from a horizontal direction!! I want confirmation for my guess. Give me some information! Do you see anything odd on your radar!?”

“Ksshh… Ksshhh… Ksssssshhhhh.”

“Shit!!”

Mariydi clicked her tongue and moved the control column. She could not guess how powerful the enemy’s weapon was. The paint on the wing or the oil on the flaps could set fire and cause further malfunctions. In the worst case, the materials of the fighter could fuse together. Mariydi guessed the enemy was targeting her from the right, so she made a hard turn in an attempt to escape the enemy’s microwaves.

But it was no use.

No matter how flashily she flew and even if it would have been enough to avoid a standard machinegun or air-to-air missile attack, some part of Mariydi’s Harpuiai continued to glow orange. The spot receiving the attack would change, but she could not evade the attack altogether.

(No, I am evading it. I am!! But the range of the microwaves is greater than I thought. Even if I’m avoiding being shot down by evading a direct hit from the brunt of the attack, the outer edges that spread out like the light of a flashlight are still hitting me!!)

Modern fighters were created to be used against Objects. Whether they could win or not was an entirely different issue.

When the enemy had anti-air lasers, you would be shot down by the first shot once the enemy got a lock.

And so fighters would use various types of jamming to hinder any locks and they would fly at high speed and low altitude so that terrain such as mountains and valleys would reflect the locking radar waves and so that dust and dirt in the air and mirages would keep the laser from hitting.

But there was no way to completely escape the electromagnetic waves themselves.

That was specifically why they used jamming and reflections to make sure they would be safe even when they did.

(If even that first stage of the electromagnetic waves hitting you causes damage, there’s nothing you can do! If I keep fighting under the existing laws of the sky, I will be worn down even without a direct hit!!)

The flaps and other parts that were especially susceptible to the heat would be rendered unusable after a certain point. If that happened, the fighter would no longer respond to the movements of the command column. And if the electromagnetic waves caused an error in the fuse of the air-to-air missiles attached below the main wings, they could detonate at any time.

If the accumulating damage caused her evasive actions to slow, more than just the spread out flashlight-like outer edges would hit. If the main brunt of the attack hit the fighter, it would be shot down.

(But I’ve figured some things out myself.)

Mariydi went over the information in her head while violently moving the command column around.

(Since I’m being hit by the microwaves from so many different directions, it can’t be coming from that slow Ocean Substation. Nor is it coming directly from the generator satellite. One of the fighters had a receiver unit attached!!)

It was not one of the fighters she had already seen.

If they had had this trick up their sleeve, they would have used it from the beginning.

It was coming from a fighter that had arrived on the battlefield later.

It was coming from a modified Harpuiai.

(Rocket Icarus. That ace I saw on the deck has arrived!!)

“Kssh…irl 1…”

She must have temporarily escaped the effects of the microwaves because the communications returned.

She heard the bodyguard’s voice.

“You are…unable to…deal with this situation…because…you are…thinking about it…in…technical terms. Do not…think about it…in terms of…micro…waves. Think of…a TV…signal. What situation…affects a…TV signal? If you…use that…you can deal with…these…micro…ksshhh…”

(I see.)

She was unable to stop the gradually accumulating damage, but Mariydi frantically tried to think of a way out of her situation.

When did a TV’s signal go bad?

When were the electromagnetic waves interfered with?

When terrain such as a mountain or valley reflected the signal.

When manmade structures such as buildings or tunnels reflected the signal.

When a more powerful signal interfered with the signal.

When differences in air temperature refracted the signal.

When impurities in the atmosphere from sandstorms and the like reflected the signal.

A list of answers filled Mariydi’s mind, but…

(Where the hell am I supposed to find any of those things in the middle of the ocean!? If only the terrain was more complicated!!)

She was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean where nothing existed to get in the way. It was a completely open space. There was no better environment for that microwave armament. There was no worse environment for Mariydi who had to evade it.

“Wait,” muttered Mariydi. “There is something. There is a piece of terrain I can use to avoid those microwaves!!”

As she put her ideas in order, Mariydi came to a quick decision. She made a large movement with the control column and sent her fighter shooting toward her destination.

Yes.

She was headed for Olympia Dome, that giant manmade island floating in the Atlantic Ocean.