secondshipgirlsquadron:
fleet-admiral-red:
secondshipgirlsquadron:
fleet-admiral-red:
secondshipgirlsquadron:
Tempest was among one of the first to speak up.
“Does that mean we’ll be turning off the gravity as well?” She asked excitedly. Now that her worries had been laid to rest, she could look forward to her holographic excursion.
Aegis nodded. “Indeed, in a manner of speaking. The holodeck can simulate zero-G conditions. Anyway, let’s get this ball rolling, shall we?”
With a snap of her fingers and a simultaneous triggering of the holographic omni-tool around her wrist, the environment around the assembled shipgirls transformed into a virtually indistinguishable replica of open space, with a random sun-lit planet off in the distance.
Most of the new shipgirls were caught by surprise, quite a few giggling at the familiar feeling of zero-gravity. The seniors, a mix of cruisers and dreadnoughts, had already manifested their rigging, cradling the gleaming double-barreled or triple-barreled rifles that represented their main spinal guns.
Those who saw Aegis deploy her own rigging were treated to an awe-inspiring sight. The Titan’s rigging was colossal compared to the young woman who wore it, befitting of her nature as a Titan.
And her primary weapon was easily one of the largest rifles ever seen, with five large barrels.
“Alright! Everyone who hasn’t already, do your best to bring your rigging out. Once that’s done, have your AIs sync up. We’ll form a temporary battle network.”
Aegis directed a brief smile at Tempest, knowing the carrier was more than able to do these. The video logs she’d seen of her combat test were impressive.
Despite her short time as a human, Tempest had no issues in manifesting her rig. She did feel a little jealous of the other girls and their rifles, when all she had was a crossbow and her backpack, even if it was loaded to the brim with fighter-bolts and drones.
She looked around at the other girls. Unless she was mistaken, she had yet to see another carrier here. Perhaps there was another among the Threes that had yet to deploy their rigs, but until they all had, she wouldn’t know for sure.
Tempest then stared at Aegis and her rigging in awe. She almost wished she could be a Titan for a chance to wear such a thing, even though that would be impossible.
Meanwhile, Adrianna began connecting to the AIs of those around her, integrating wholly into the network.
Once the battle network was fully formed up, Aegis glanced around again, putting her attention on the newer Threes as they manifested their rigging bunch by bunch.
Most were cruisers, a dignified-looking few were dreadnoughts, and there were even two carrier shipgirls. The two carriers steadily maneuvered over to Tempest, waving as they noticed their rigging was similar to hers.
Like her, they also wielded repeating crossbows. Their secondary Relay Guns were out now, sweeping idly for targets.
Aegis’s voice sounded again. “Now, first things first. Whether as primary or secondary armament, your Relay Guns are hyperluminal mass drivers that fire kinetic impactors. And any kinetic projectile follows Newton’s Laws of Motion.”
“If you fire your Relay Gun into open space, it’s projectile will continue on its path until it hits something. At the velocities that even secondary guns can generate at their full power, a single shot can and will have enough kinetic energy to inflict catastrophic damage to planetary surfaces. The same sort of impact to most if not all known starships is enough to be an instant kill.”
Aegis paused, letting that information sink in. She couldn’t understate how absurdly lethal a Relay Gun was, and by extension how much power any of them wielded.
She gave the other two carriers a friendly wave, but introductions would come later. For now, she was keenly listening to Aegis’ lecture.
Thinking back, she couldn’t remember ever firing her own Relay Gun throughout her service life other than in exercises, and after the speech, she was somewhat thankful for that. Why the GDI would equip so many ships with a weapon that powerful was beyond her, it’s not like they often went around blowing up planets.
Fortunately, Aegis would explain that and more next.
“Now, two factors to consider are range and power. The further away you are, the more power you need for each shot. For any significant engagement, standard doctrine calls for what is known as the alpha strike.”
A display appeared for all to see, blue representations showing Initiative ships and a distance away, similar red icons showing random hostiles.
“The alpha strike is usually performed from extreme ranges of anywhere between 2 to 500 AU from the targets and requires two things. First, target identification. This is where our long-range sensors come in, acting akin to a sniper’s scope or a rangefinder.”
On the display, a narrow cone streaked from the GDI ships to the hostiles.
“These sensor readings are them used to form a firing solution on key targets, which is the second part of an alpha strike. Of course, any scout or stealth recon drones on site will help calculate a firing solution much faster, at the possible cost of losing the element of surprise.”
On the display, brief lances of light from the GDI ships simulated a coordinated volley, eliminating several hostile ships instantly.
“With the FTL velocities achievable by our Relay Guns, there’s effectively zero lag time between firing and impact. So feel free to point and shoot, but only once a firing solution is ready.”
With a small wave of the hand, Aegis dismissed the display. “And with regards to firing solutions, any alpha strike requires perfect accuracy. To aid in that, that is where our partnered AIs come in as part of a battle network. It is mainly their job, but also ours, to crunch the numbers for these solutions.”
Lumi raised her hand, and Aegis nodded for her to go ahead and speak. “What about standard range engagements? I know this lesson is about the use of our Relay Guns, but we have our other weapons as well.”
Initiative Archival Network 