“Kujeli.”
Penawaran yang disajikan kepada kami senilai sekitar 12 juta Enel. Untuk kapal kelas menengah, harganya cukup wajar. Malah bisa dikatakan lumayan murah.
“Ini harga untuk model dasar, ya?”
“Memang benar. Ini yang kamu dan teman-temanmu sebagai tentara bayaran sebut sebagai 『Base』 atau 『Vanilla』.”
Dengan kata lain, mengkustomisasi kapal akan dikenakan biaya tambahan. Istilah 『Base』 atau 『Vanilla』 itu merujuk pada model kapal standard yang dijual begitu saja oleh pembuat kapal. Biasanya, pembeli akan mengganti generator baku dengan yang lebihbertenaga, menambah atau mengganti pelindung, zirah, dan senjata, sekaligus menyelaraskan sistem kehidupan, pod medis, dan berbagai kelengkapan interior lainnya. Mengganti generator daya dan zirah justru cukup mahal.
“Meskipun demikian, generator yang disediakan ternyata merupakan produk militer kelas tinggi dengan output tinggi, dan Gravity Jammer sekaligus kapasitornya adalah peralatan khusus. Jadi menurutku tetap sebuah penggemukan.”
“Benar…… Apalagi generatornya. Menurut data ini, performanya bahkan melebihi kebanyakan generator high-output di pasaran…… Atau lebih tepatnya, bukan ini justru generasi terbaru yang dikembangkan khusus untuk kapal kerukunan militer?”
“Memang benar. Di samping itu, Kapten Hiro juga sudah mendapat izin untuk membeli dan menjual peralatan militer, jadi kami tidak akan punya kesulitan dalam menyupplynya.”
“Diberi izin membeli dan menjual peralatan militer? Nah, bukan hal yang mengejutkan bagi kita.”
Mungkin izin ini datang sebagai bagian dari penghargaan Gold Star. Atau mungkin Commander Serena yang ngobrolnya santai saat dulu kujelaskan soal keinginanku untuk membeli robot tempur militer? Apa pun caranya, kudapatkan senang bisa bebas membeli peralatan militer dari sekarang.
Biasanya, peralatan bertipe militer memiliki spesifikasi performa yang lebih unggul dibandingkan dengan produk serupa di pasaran. Meskipun performanya hampir setara, justru mereka cenderung lebih andal secara jangka panjang. Namun, ada juga kekurangan: mereka cenderung menggunakan peralatan model lama. Jadi ada kemungkinan dapat teknologi yang sudah usang.
Jika aku terlalu antusias dan membeli peralatan militer seengguhnya, tak mustahil aku akan berakhir dengan teknologi yang sudah berumur puluhan tahun. Meski lama, teknologi sepert itu justru sangat tangguh dan andal. Itu juga bagiannya.
“Kami bisa menyediakan peralatan militer otentik dari Kekaisaran untuk Bapak, Sir. Zirah, senjata, apa saja.”
“Wah, koneksi yang cukup solid nih.”
“Ini memang Ideal dong.”
Para saudari mekanik tersenyum lebar. Ideal Starway merupakan pembuatan kapal utama Kekaisaran, dan menjadi distributor banyak kapal yang dipakai oleh Angkatan Militer Kekaisaran. Tentu saja, mereka juga punya jaringan erat dengan pabrik zirah, senjata, dan perlengkapan lainnya. Mereka mungkin punya garis langsung ke para bos perusahaan-perusahaan tersebut.
“Baiklah, mari kita beli sebanyak yang bisa dimungkinkan sesuai anggaran.”
“Setuju, tapi yakin kita bisa memulihkan biayanya nanti?”
“Peralatan yang baik bisa meningkatkan peluang bertahan hidup di medan perang. Itu sudah profit yang cukup besar.”
“Benarkan……? Yaudahlah, kamu pasti benar.”
Kita lebih hemat di jangka panjang jika membeli kapal yang tahan banting dan high-performance, dibandingkan dengan sekadar pakai kapal murahan yang mudah hancur. Juga, aku tidak ingin Elma kehilangan kapalnya hanya karena kita pengen menghemat biaya. Jika kekalahan itu terjadi setelah kita sudah berusaha keras, ya rela. Tapi kalau karena aku terlalu pelit dan kehilangan Elma… aku tidak tahu pasti bisa memaafkannya diri sendiri.
“Aih, nama kapalnya apa sih?”
“Kode proyeknya adalah 【ISCX-317 Antlion】.”
“Antlion…… Katakertas. Pas sekali.”
“Oh, kamu familiar dengan makhluk itu?”
Pak Autumn menunjukkan ekspresi terkejut setelah melihat responsiku. Tentunya, aku cukup tahu akan makhluk itu. Kenapa dia seperti ini……? Oh ya, orang yang besar di koloni biasanya tidak terlalu paham mengenai serangga, dan bahkan di kalangan penghuni koloni planet, tidak banyak yang tahu tentangnya. Itu karena keanekaran hayati di planet terraforming terbatas. Aku tidak benar-benar yakin seberapa besar pengetahuan tentang antlion di dunia ini, tapi menilik reaksinya, seperti rasanya hal itu cukup langka.
“Itu serangga yang membuat lubang berbentuk corong di tanah untuk menjebak dan memangsa serangga lain. Tampilannya memang tidak indah, tapi cukup anggun saat muncul dan terbang.”
Tapi aku kurasa antlion tidak terlalu lihai dalam terbang. Aku mungkin sedikit berlebihan.
“Kamu cukup paham. Pernah tertarik sama ilmu biologi?”
“Cuma kebetulan saja. Jadi, Antlion ya. Nama itu tidak terlalu buruk. Pendapatmu, tim?”
“Mari kita lihat. Bisa saja kita pertahankan nama Antlion untuk kapal ini. Sekarang, tentang senjatanya, asumsikan kita sudah menyiapkan armor dan thruster dengan level militer tertinggi?”
“Dua unit pod pencari, dua laser kelas II, dan satu laser kelas III sudah cukup baik, kan?”
“Konfigurasi yang cukup stabil.”
Kombinasi laser kelas III dan II militer yang kuat, plus pod pencari yang mampu memberikan dukungan dan cakupan area, merupakan konfigurasi yang sangat solid.
“Aku rasa tidak perlu memilih peralatan yang jarang sekadar untuk alasan itu.”
“Itu benar, apalagi kita punya Hiro sebagai contoh langsung. Aku maksudnya, shard cannons dan torpedo reaktif antikapal? Itu sesuatu.”
“Aku ingin kamu tahu bahwa beban akhir kapalku adalah hasil dari riset dan perencanaan yang luas untuk mencapai kombinasi peralatan yang paling optimal.”
Elma hanya mengangguk. Shard cannons yang punya damage tinggi meskipun jarak efektifnya singkat, dan torpedo reaktif antikapal yang relatif lambat, sulit untuk mengena, itu dipilih karena karakteristik kapalnya. Tentu saja, kita juga bisa mengganti shot-cannons dengan laser medium-caliber dan mengganti silinder torpedo dengan pod pencari, tapi itu akan mengurangi efektivitas Krishna dalam melawan kapal besar. Empat laser berat sudah cukup untuk menghadapi kebanyakan kapal kecil dan menengah.
“Kalau begitu, jika kita merasa konfigurasi standar ini nanti kurang efektif, kita bisa selalu mengkustomisasi ulang. Yang terpenting, konsep desain kapal bintang ini memang tidak untuk pertarungan cepat di garis depan.
“Lebih tepatnya, ini adalah kapal dukungan tempur. Bukan kapal yang harus meluncur cepat ke medan perang dan bertarung secara langsung, jadi tidak perlu terlalu memperhatikan firepowernya, kan?”
“Hmm. Tapi aku pikir lebih baik pasang senjata kelas III dengan daya tinggi di slotnya, karena kapasitornya cukup besar. Sesuatu yang bisa menghadapi kapal menengah dari jarak jauh. Itu akan meningkatkan efektivitas tempurnya secara signifikan. Bagaimana pendapatmu?”
“Ide yang bagus.”
Saran Elma cukup baik. Jalan tercepat untuk menghancurkan kapal menengah hanya dengan peralatan Krishna adalah menyerang dengan shard cannons atau torpedo reaktif antikapal. Kedua metode itu cenderung berlebihan, apalagi torpedo itu sendiri. Firepower Black Lotus juga cukup untuk menghancurkan kapal menengah, tapi seringkali tergantung pada keberuntunan apakah kapal target berada dalam jangkauan. Juga, tembakannya dengan EML juga terasa berlebihan. Jadi, memberi kapal baru ini kemampuan untuk menghancurkan kapal menengah dari jarak yang wajar akan sangat berguna.
“Dua pod pencari dan dua laser kelas II militer sudah cukup untuk pertahanan terhadap kapal kecil. Aku ingin memasang plasma cannon. Pendapatmu, Hiro?”
“Plasma cannon lumayan bagus, tapi bisakah kita andalkan tembakan yang konsisten?”
Plasma cannon emang punya damage yang mantap, tapi kecepatan proyektilnya relatif lambat. Sulit untuk mengena. Kapal menengah yang cukup agile juga akan sulit, dan hanya kapal besar yang menjadi target relatif mudah. Untuk kapal kecil, hampir mustahin untuk mengena kecuali kita sampai super dekat.
“Aku bisa berlatih. Di sisi lain, kalau kita ingin fokus pada kapal kecil, laser beam emitter juga bagus.”
“Senjata itu tentu punya range yang bagus dan sulit dihindari, tapi pengelolaan energi dan panasnya lumayan ribet……”
“Aku tidak keberatan. Aku pernah pakai di Swan.”
Laser beam emitter adalah jenis laser cannon yang dikenal di SOL sebagai 『gerobi』 (beam vomlet). Biasanya, laser cannon adalah pulse laser yang memancarkan sinar cahaya kuat secara singkat, menyebabkan permukaan target menguap spontan, ledak, dan menimbulkan kerusakan besar. Itulah caranya.
Dibandingkan pulse laser, laser beam emitter memancarkan stream laser dengan intensitas rendah secara kontinu, menyebabkan terbakar, meleleh, dan dalam beberapa kasus, melepas konsentrasi total. Dalam hal firepower mentah, pulse laser tetap unggul. Tapi masalahnya, laser beam emitter ini malah sangat mengganggu karena perisai energi tidak bisa sepenuhnya menahannya. Aku belum tahu pasti teori di balik ini, tapi di SOL, sekitar 30% damage langsung menembus perisai dan merusak zirah serta casuk kapal.
Ini adalah keuntungan yang sangat mengganggu namun nyaman: memberi kerusakan fatal pada kapal yang cepat tapi armor tipis. Sulit untuk dihindari karena bergerak pada kecepatan cahaya, dan adegan kapal yang hancur oleh gerobi dari jauh memang bukan hal langka di SOL. Senjata ini juga sangat efektif melawan kapal bajak laut yang perisainya lemah dan zirah tipis. Cocok juga untuk menghalau proyektil yang cukup lambat seperti misil pencari dan torpedo — meskipun aku tidak yakin apakah itu bisa dikategorikan sebagai 『terbang』 di luar angkasa.
Di sisi lain, senjata ini lemah melawan kapal yang punya pertahanan kuat terhadap panas dan laser. Sangat lemah. Musuh akan bilang 『Apa sih ini senjata kertas?』 dan menghajar kita dalam serangan balas. Tak bisa dikatakan berhasil melawan kapal seperti Lotus.
“Itu tugas torpedo reaktif antikapal dan EML di Black Lotus untuk menghadapi kapal besar. Jadi ingin fokus pada kapal kecil, ya……?”
“Aku rasa cukup juga untuk menghadapi kapal menengah dari jarak jauh. Kapal kecil akan robek ngefek. Sistem kehidupan dan pemadam kebakaran kapal bajak laut itu seperti... sangat lemah. Kalau kita membakari sedikit, pasti langsung mati."
“Jika begitu, gimana kalau kita memasang laser beam emitter high-output yang dipakai oleh Kapal Perang Imperial? Kompatibel dengan hardpoint standar, jadi bisa juga dipasang di Antlion.”
Pak Autumn mulai mempromosikan salah satu barangnya lagi. Spesifikasanya cukup bagus, jadi tidak ada salahnya mendapatkannya. Dengan itu, kita melanjutkan negosiasi harga, termasuk upgrade armor dan thruster.
“I see.”
The offer presented to us was about 12 million Enels. For a medium-class ship, the price was rather reasonable. In fact, it could be considered to be fairly cheap.
“This is the price of the base model, right?”
“Indeed. It’s what you mercenaries call a 『Base』 or 『Vanilla』 variant.”
In other words, customizing the ship will incur additional fees. The so-called 『Base』 or 『Vanilla』 variant was the standard unmodified ship model offered by ship makers. Usually, buyers would replace the stock generators with more powerful ones, replace or add shields, armor, and armaments, as well as arrange stuff like the life support system, medical pods, and other interior amenities. Replacing the power generator and armor was particularly expensive.
“Even so, the generator provided is a high-output military-grade product, and both the Gravity Jammers and capacitors are exclusive equipment, so I think this is still a good deal.”
“Right…… Especially that generator. According to this, it has higher performance than most other high-output generators on the market…… Or rather, isn’t this actually the latest type developed for use by military corvettes?”
“That is indeed the case. Furthermore, Captain Hiro has been allowed permission to purchase and sell military equipment, so we will have no trouble providing him with those.”
“I’ve been given permission to purchase and sell military equipment? Well, I suppose it ain’t that much of a surprise.”
Perhaps the license came included with the Gold Star award. Or maybe Commander Serena pulled some strings when I said I wanted to purchase military combat bots back then? Either way, I’m glad I’ll be able to freely purchase military equipment from now on.
Usually, military-grade equipment had higher performance specs compared to similar products out on the market. And even if the performance was more or less similar, they were still generally more reliable in the long run. However, they do tend to make use of older model equipment often, so there’s a tendency to draw a losing hand from time to time. I gotta remember to pay attention when dealing with them.
If I went all giddy and recklessly purchased military equipment, I might suddenly end up with decades-old tech. Well, they might be old, but they were tough and reliable, so there’s that too.
“We can prepare genuine Imperial Military equipment for you, sir. Armor, weapons. You name it, we’ll provide it.”
“Wow, you sure have some serious connections.”
“It’s Ideal after all.”
The mechanic sisters displayed bitter smiles. Ideal Starway was the Empire’s premier ship-maker and was the wholesaler of many ships used by the Imperial Military. It goes without saying that they had solid connections with armor, weapons, and other gear manufacturers as well. They probably had direct lines to the bosses of said companies.
“Alright then, shall we purchase as much as our budget can afford?”
“Fine with me, but are you sure we can earn back the expense?”
“You’d have better chances of survival in battle if you have good equipment. That in itself is already profitable.”
“Is that so……? Well, I suppose you’re right.”
You’d get to save more in the long run if you purchased a high-performance starship with high survivability rather than using a cheap ship that gets wrecked every time. And Elma’s ship getting shot down because we tried to save money is definitely a no-go. Getting shot down after doing one’s very best was one thing, but I’ll regret it for the rest of my life if I lost Elma just because I was too stingy.
“By the way, what’s the name of the ship?”
“Its development code is 【ISCX-317 Antlion】.”
“Antlion…… An antlion huh. Makes sense.”
“Oh, you’re familiar with the creature?”
Mr. Autumn displayed a surprised expression after seeing my reaction. Of course, I knew a thing or two about antlions. Why is he so……? Oh, right. People who were born and raised in colonies usually weren’t familiar with bugs, and even among those born in planetary colonies, there weren’t many who knew about them. That’s because the biodiversity on terraformed planets was pretty limited. In the first place, I’m not sure how known the antlion was in this world, but judging from Mr. Autumn’s reaction, I guess it’s pretty rare.
“It’s an insect that creates a funnel-shaped hole on the ground to trap and eat other insects. Well, its appearance isn’t all that pretty to look at, but it does look graceful in a sense when it emerges and flies off.”
But I don’t really remember the antlion being all that good at flying though. Was I overdoing it?
“You really are quite familiar with it. Do you perhaps have an interest in biological sciences?”
“I just happened to know a thing or two about it. So, the Antlion huh. The name doesn’t sound bad at all. What do you think, guys?”
“Let’s see. Sure, we can keep the name Antlion for the ship. What are we gonna get for the armaments, assuming the armor and thrusters will be the highest military-grade level?”
“Isn’t the loadout of two seeker missile pods, two Class II laser cannons, and one Class III laser cannon fine already?”
“It’s a pretty stable loadout.”
The combination of powerful military-grade Class III and Class II lasers and seeker missile pods capable of wide-area suppression and covering fire was pretty solid.
“I don’t think it’s necessary to deliberately choose uncommon equipment just because.”
“That does sound pretty convincing, especially since we have Hiro here who’s a perfect example. I mean, shard cannons and anti-ship reaction torpedoes? Talk about over the top.”
“I’ll have you know that my final loadout was the result of extensive research and planning to achieve the most suitable equipment combination for my ship.”
Elma just shrugged her shoulders in response. Shard cannons that had a short effective range but raw punching power and anti-ship reactive torpedoes which were relatively slow, making it hard to get hits with them, were loaded on Krishna mainly due to the characteristics of the ship itself. While you definitely could choose to replace the shot-cannons with medium-caliber laser cannons and the torpedo tubes with seeker missile pods, that would drastically reduce Krishna’s effectiveness against large-class ships. The four heavy laser cannons were more than enough to deal with most small and medium-class ships.
“Well, if we find that this standard loadout configuration isn’t that effective later, we can always just customize it again. Anyway, the design concept of this starship isn’t particularly geared toward high-speed combat in the first place.”
“If anything, it’s more of a combat support ship. It’s not a ship meant to zip around the frontlines and fight directly, so it’s not necessary to be so particular about its firepower, right?”
“Mm. But I think it’s better to equip a Class III slot with a more high-powered weapon instead of a standard laser cannon because of the large-capacity capacitors. Something that would allow it to deal with other medium-class ships from long range. Doing so will increase its combat effectiveness significantly. How about it?”
“Yeah, that’s certainly a good idea.”
Elma’s suggestion was pretty good. The only way to quickly bring down a medium-class ship with Krishna’s equipment was to hit them with the shot-cannons or an anti-ship reactive torpedo, and both of those methods can be regarded as overkill, especially the torpedo. Black Lotus’ firepower allows it to easily bring down medium-sized ships, but it’s mostly up to luck whether or not those ships would end up within its range in the first place. Not to mention shooting them with the EML was still overkill. So it would be really useful to give the new ship enough means to bring down other medium-class ships from a reasonable distance.
“Two seeker missile pods and two military-grade Class II high-power laser cannons are sufficient for defense against small-class ships. I’m thinking of equipping it with a plasma cannon. What do you think, Hiro?”
“A plasma cannon’s not bad, but can you really get consistent hits with that thing?”
The plasma cannon certainly packed a powerful punch, but its projectile speed was relatively slow, making it hard to hit stuff with it. Even sufficiently mobile medium-class ships would be a challenge, and only large-class ships were somewhat easier targets. As for small-class ships, it would be nigh impossible to hit them unless you get super-close and personal.
“I can always practice. On the other hand, if you want it to specialize in dealing with small-class ships, I think a laser beam emitter would be nice.”
“That thing certainly has range and is hard to avoid, but both energy and heat management will be troublesome……”
“Well, I don’t mind it. I used it in the Swan too.”
The laser beam emitter is a type of laser cannon that’s commonly known in SOL as the ‘gerobi’ (vomit beam). Generally, most laser cannons are a type of pulse laser cannon which irradiates targets with a powerful light beam in short bursts, causing the target’s surface to spontaneously evaporate, leading to explosions and major damage. That’s how the weapon works. At least, that’s the way I understand how they worked. Different explanations might be offered if I asked either the mechanic sisters or Mei.
Compared to the pulse laser, the laser beam emitter irradiates targets with a continuous stream of lower intensity laser that leads to burning, melting, and in some cases, completely liquefying them.
When it comes to plain firepower, a standard pulse laser cannon trumps over it, but the troublesome point of the laser beam emitter was that energy shields can’t completely defend against them. I’m not clear about the exact theory behind it, but in SOL, about 30% of the attack output goes through the shields and directly damages the armor and hull.
This was a very troublesome yet convenient characteristic that allowed it to deliver fatal damage to fast but thinly armored targets. It was extremely difficult to avoid since the beam shoots out at light speed, and scenes of ships getting done in by gerobi from range were not a rare sight back in SOL. It also made short work of pirate ships which had abysmally weak energy shields and thin armor. It’s also suited for intercepting relatively slower flying projectiles such as seeker missiles and torpedoes – though I’m not sure if those can really be regarded as ‘flying’ out in space.
On the flip side, it’s weak against ships with strong defenses against heat and lasers. It was weak to the point of nonrelevance. The opponents would go ‘The heck’s up with that peashooter, man?’ and proceed to kick your behind for a counter kill. It’s no exaggeration to say that it would be almost utterly useless against ships similar to the Lotus.
“It’s up to anti-ship reactive torpedoes and the EML of Black Lotus to deal with big targets, so you want to deal with the small fry huh……?”
“I think it’s also enough to deal with medium-class targets from long range. Small ships would be instantly roasted. The life support systems and fire extinguishing equipment of pirate ships are really poor, so they’d be incapacitated immediately if I roast them a bit.”
“If so, then how about getting a high-powered laser beam emitter used by Imperial Battleships for weapon interception? It’s compatible with standard hardpoints, so it can also be equipped on the Antlion.”
Mr. Autumn started promoting one of his wares again. The specs do look good, so I guess it wouldn’t hurt to get one. With that in mind, we proceeded with the price negotiations, including armor and thruster upgrades.
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