Oh crap... But it's not like I can hide it in this kind of situation...
That was when Koutarou realized that his behavior was very unfitting for a high school student. But since he couldn't go back to acting like a student he decided to try and cover it up.
“After fighting so many times, I'll start thinking too you know.”
“...You have a point. Sorry for saying something so strange. Please forget it.”
Fortunately, Theia didn't say anything else. She had too many things to worry about that she didn't have the time to think about Koutarou's behavior.
“Your highness, Satomi-sama, there's movement on the ground.”
And thanks to Ruth's report, Theia completely forgot about Koutarou's behavior as tension returned to her expression. Koutarou did the same.
“What happened?”
“We've lost the signals of two of the unmanned scouts patrolling the outside of the operation area.”
“If it's two it means it wasn't an accident or a wild animal! Theia, they're here!”
“Yes!”
The next moment, the previously quiet bridge turned very noisy. All kinds of information started being displayed on the monitors and an alarm rang out as the artificial intelligence gave them a message.
“Just before the signal to the scouts were lost, they detected a weak space quake! It seems the forces on the ground are receiving support from the fleet in orbit!”
By support, Ruth meant it in the same way that Theia and Ruth used the Blue Knight to summon weapons. Elexis had summoned a weapon to destroy the unmanned scouts.
“So that's how you're doing it, Elexis!”
“What do you mean?”
“Elexis is planning on attacking from the ground and space at the same time!”
“I see. If we leave them be, the ground forces will be wiped out!”
Theia picked up on Elexis's plan after Koutarou.
The Blue Knight had currently reduced its power output and was pretending to be an asteroid orbiting the planet. That would make finding it difficult, but Elexis had chosen to lure it out. By summoning weapons and destroying the two scouts, he was sending them a message that if the Blue Knight doesn't come out, the three ships would support the forces on the ground. While they might have a chance against just the ground forces, with the support of the ships, the girls on the ground wouldn't stand a chance. Which meant that they wouldn't be able to protect Elfaria. It was a situation where Theia and the others had to show themselves.
“Ruth-san, where is the enemy fleet?!”
“It's currently being calculated!”
Ruth busily moved her hands and operated her panel. She was trying to locate the enemy fleet by tracking from where the signal was being sent as weapons was being transferred. When sending weapons back and forth, a message using gravitational waves was required. Using the data from the two unmanned scouts and from the Blue Knight, Ruth was trying to specify the origin. While she didn't know what was being sent, she knew the strength and direction of the communication, and from there she would be able to calculate the source location.
“I've found it, the three ships are all on the far side of the moon!”
Ruth displayed her results as a hologram. As she did, even Koutarou could understand Elexis's intentions.
“I see. From this position, they could fight without holding back!”
Observing what was happening on the far side of the moon was impossible from Earth, which was where the fleet of three ships had set up position. From there, they could fight to their hearts’ content without being discovered by the people on Earth. The only problem were the satellites, but because there were so few satellites capable of observing the far side of the moon, it wouldn't be hard to deal with them using Forthorthe's technological advantage.
“Blue Knight! Release camouflage. Set the generator output to the maximum! Enter a lunar orbit using a short warp!”
“As you wish, my princess.”
Upon hearing Ruth's report, Theia ordered the Blue Knight to move. It was obvious that this was a trap, but they had no choice but to walk into it.
“Theia, bring out my armor! I'll control the Blue Knight's hull!”
Koutarou's armor was originally one of the devices used to control the ship. By wearing the armor and moving, the ship would replicate those motions. While the Blue Knight was a warship, it had the shape of a person, which it made it possible to change the direction of the weapons and boosters. This was a characteristic unique to the Blue Knight.