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.
Initiative Archival Network 