Having entered the atmosphere, the Lemea continued its low-altitude flight, pushing forward towards the enemy plant.

Considering the possibility of being intercepted if they descended directly from above the enemy plant, they opted for a ground-level assault.

However, the enemy had also noticed.

Using hidden surveillance satellites and ground-based monitoring devices, they quickly detected the Lemea's approach and deployed their interception facilities.

On the Lemea's bridge, discontent was erupting towards Claudia, who had devised this reckless plan.

"Calling a simple charge a 'strategy'!"

As the commander said this while seated, an operator reported in a voice like a scream.

"The enemy plant has completed its interception preparations!"

"I figured as much. If we had descended from directly above, we'd have been turned into a beehive."

If they had tried to descend directly from outside the atmosphere, they would have been intercepted and sunk.

The operator's eyes were welling up with tears.

"Shouldn't we just attack from the sky and destroy it?!"

The chastised commander pulled his hat down low, obscuring his vision.

His posture screamed that he didn't want to see anything anymore.

"How should I know! What 'elite'? They're just a bunch of idiots."

Then, after a faint feedback sound on the bridge, the voice of Claudia, now the commander of the Jäger unit, echoed.

"'Jäger unit, all machines, launch.'"

The operator's eyes widened.

"You want us to open the hatches and launch the mobile knights while traveling at this speed?!"

The commander took off his hat and told Claudia that the Lemea's unit could not be deployed.

"It's suicide. I can't send my men out!"

"'I never counted you among our numbers from the start. Your only job is to transport us to the enemy plant.'"

Treated as non-combatants, the commander gritted his teeth.

Then, he gave an order to his subordinates.

"Open the hatches for them. --I'm not responsible for what happens."

◇

As the Lemea's hatches opened, one Nevan after another launched from within.

Tossed into the air, the Nevans ignited the boosters of their add-on packs, designed for gravity, and accelerated.

They looked just like mobile knights attached to the tips of missiles.

Inside the cockpit, Claudia's body sank slightly into her seat.

"So even a Nevan can't withstand this acceleration."

Up to a certain level of acceleration, the cockpit completely protects the pilot.

The Nevans, generating acceleration that surpassed the cockpit's capabilities, overtook the Lemea and headed for the enemy plant.

The deployed interception systems activated, and as numerous gun turrets appeared, the Nevans began their attack with the rifles in their hands.

Several turrets were crushed by the optical weapons.

Reports from her subordinates continued to stream into Claudia's cockpit.

"'Elimination of interception systems obstructing the mothership is complete.'"

"'Enemy plant sighted.'"

"'Looks like they intend to intercept us.'"

It seemed the enemy plant intended to face the rapidly approaching Nevans with all the equipment it had.

The corners of Claudia's mouth turned up.

"Not enough to take us on. Purge boosters."

Claudia's Nevan jettisoned the boosters from its backpack.

Her subordinates' units did the same, and the boosters alone headed towards the enemy plant.

Taking direct hits from the intercepting optical weapons, the boosters exploded.

Claudia's Nevan spread the wings on its backpack and accelerated.

The Nevans, capable of flight even within the atmosphere, aimed for the enemy plant at an even lower altitude.

Thousands of lasers were being fired from the optical weapon turrets installed at the enemy plant.

They couldn't dodge them all, but taking the hits posed no problem for the Nevan's armor.

The surface heated up and turned red, but it quickly returned to its original color.

It had been specially treated for optical weapons, so as long as they didn't stand still and take continuous fire, it wasn't an issue.

"You guys, we've got a welcoming party."

The enemy, having judged their turrets to be useless, launched their mobile knights for space pirates equipped with physical ammunition weapons—the Zokes.

In their hands, they held machine guns and large rifles, firing at the Nevans.

Gunfire rained down on them, but Claudia and her team dodged it and reached the enemy plant.

Claudia's Nevan delivered a kick to one of the Zokes, destroying its head.

Without mercy, she aimed her rifle at the cockpit of the fallen Zoke and fired a beam to finish it off.

"--Kill all the pirates."

In response to Claudia's cold voice, her subordinates answered with a "Yeah!" and began attacking their surroundings.

They mercilessly attacked and destroyed enemy units, and one by one, they demolished the turrets installed on the plant.

◇

One of the pirates climbed into the cockpit of a Zoke, one of their products.

It was a pre-shipment unit, still covered in plastic-like sheets, but it had been commandeered to fight the invading enemy.

"Damn it. Damn it!"

The still-young pirate had joined the organization, determined to make a name for himself in this world.

He'd only been a pirate for a few years and was still doing menial work.

He wanted to one day ride a pirate ship and be in a position to lead his own men.

He held such a dream.

But now, that young pirate was trembling inside his cockpit.

The plant he was assigned to was an important source of income for the organization.

Just being assigned here was like being judged as having potential.

At first glance, it was just a factory, but in an emergency, it was a proud base that transformed into a fortress with hidden turrets.

But now, black smoke was rising from several places in that very base.

The young pirate piloting the Zoke armed with a Gatling gun had been told who the enemy rampaging through their plant was.

As he advanced through a passage formed by a gap in the factory equipment, he prayed he wouldn't run into the enemy.

"I'm going to rise up in the organization. Encountering those devils in a place like this is no joke. I'm a man destined for bigger things."

He was trembling, his teeth chattering.

Should I just run away?

Somehow suppressing that feeling, he headed to the designated point as ordered.

As he passed a corner, he saw an allied Zoke's cockpit being burned through by a gray unit's laser blade.

"Hk!"

The enemy unit noticed him.

But then, two Zokes piloted by veterans jumped over a building, coming as reinforcements.

The veteran shouted instructions at the young pirate.

"'Don't just stand there! You'll be killed!'"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

He readied his Gatling gun.

But, hesitant to pull the trigger because his allies were in the way, he watched as the Nevan his allies had attacked swung its laser blade.

One of the allied units had both its arms severed and was kicked away.

The other unit attacked with its machine gun, but the enemy's armor deflected the bullets.

The enemy unit smashed the allied unit's cockpit with the shield in its left hand.

Armor, and power.

The enemy unit's single blow, overwhelming the Zoke in every aspect, had crushed the allied unit's cockpit.

In a mere instant, two of his allies had been taken down.

"Ah--Aaaah!!"

Terrified, he reflexively pulled the trigger on the control stick, and the Zoke's Gatling gun roared to life.

The bullets pierced the surrounding buildings, but he didn't have the luxury to care.

After all, his opponent was a Nevan.

The next-generation mass-produced unit that the Banfield family was officially deploying was on a completely different level of performance from the Zoke the young pirate was piloting.

Moreover, the quality of the pilots was also different.

"I'll defeat you and become a hero! You devils of Banfield!"

The young pirate screamed in his cockpit, crying and wetting himself.

But the horned Nevan in front of him leaped up, fired its boosters, and closed in rapidly.

The Nevan reached the Zoke before he could even lift the Gatling gun.

The Nevan's face drew close to the Zoke's camera, filling the monitor screen.

"Gah!?"

The cockpit was rocked by a violent impact.

He must have been knocked down.

He moved the control stick, but the Zoke didn't respond at all.

"Damn it! They gave me a lemon!"

He lamented that the Zoke he was given was defective.

But a voice came through, denying it.

The Nevan that had stood up was holding the Zoke's arm in its right hand.

It crushed the arm, then had its now-free hand grip a laser blade.

"'It's not the machine's fault, it's a matter of the pilot's skill. Now then--'"

As the Nevan mercilessly prepared to thrust its laser blade into the cockpit, the young pirate pleaded desperately.

"Wait! I-I'll surrender! I won't resist. I promise!"

He begged, driven solely by the desire not to die, but the voice of the pilot in the Nevan was utterly cold.

"'--I have no interest in small fry.'"

The last thing the young pirate saw was, after the monitor's image cut out and the cockpit was plunged into darkness--the moment the light of the laser blade reached inside.

◇

After finishing off the gun turrets inside the base, an allied unit equipped with an electronic warfare pack approached Claudia.

"'Commander, no self-destruct devices were found.'"

"I figured. This place is a valuable source of income for the pirates. They couldn't afford to just blow it up."

Placing self-destruct devices in a base has the advantage of making it difficult for enemies to infiltrate.

However, pirates are not a military.

There are many stories of them becoming desperate due to interpersonal troubles and self-destructing their bases.

And when they installed devices that couldn't be easily self-destructed, there was this story.

The enemy boarded, they decided to self-destruct, but they forgot how to operate it and couldn't--that's how it went.

Also, there are cases where they'd rather have them fight to the death than easily choose self-destruction.

Claudia believed this was one of those cases.

"Alright, deploy the ground troops. I'm leaving the suppression of the plant's interior to them."

"'We will begin securing the perimeter.'"

Mobile knights are too large and not suited for suppressing the interior of a base.

From here on, it's the ground troops' turn.

A short while later, three small crafts launched from the Lemea landed inside the plant.

Soldiers clad in powered suits exited one after another.

They quickly infiltrated the facility, and a firefight began inside the building.

The installed interception systems and armed pirates.

The special forces broke through them one by one and pushed deeper inside.

Their efficiency put Claudia in a good mood.

"So, it'll be over once we capture the executives."

Just as the completion of Christiana's request was in sight, the allied unit with the electronic warfare pack reported to Claudia in a panic.

"'Commander, enemies confirmed around the base!'"

"The units stationed outside?"

Claudia also scanned the surroundings with her radar, but the noise was terrible.

Zooming her camera to maximum, she could confirm several Zokes in the distance.

The number of Zokes that appeared, surrounding the base, exceeded one thousand.

"Where did they come from!"

They had calculated the enemy's forces beforehand based on the scale of the plant.

Therefore, they had only prepared the bare minimum number of forces--but the enemy had deployed more forces than anticipated.

And then, an explosion occurred within the base.

"What happened!?"

"'A pirate ship inside the base exploded. It wasn't us!'"

"--They cut off their own escape route?"

Amidst a series of unbelievable events, Claudia made a decision.

"Leave the interior to the ground troops. We'll deal with the outside."

"'B-But, our ammunition...'"

"We'll procure weapons from the pirates. Analyze the weapon access codes and--"

To prevent enemy units from using the weapons, an access code was required to make them usable.

They would analyze it and procure weapons on-site.

But then, another explosion occurred.

"What is it this time?"

"'--It seems the armory has exploded.'"

A larger explosion than before erupted.

The place that had been blown away, taking surrounding buildings with it, was where weapons and ammunition were stored.