Chapter 26: Alien Pedan Equipment, Teleportation Bracelet, Pedanium Ray Weapon

To think that the accessories included a Pedan starship! It makes sense, though; after King Joe was defeated by Ultraseven, a Pedan spaceship did indeed fly out of its chest before being destroyed by the Ultra. The model kit even comes with a miniature Pedan spaceship.

Back then, due to technical limitations, the Pedan aliens only appeared as two silhouettes. It wasn't until *Ultra Galaxy Mega Monster Battle* that they officially debuted, commanding a vast army of King Joes and a massive, ark-class fortress starship. They are humanoid aliens, roughly the same size as humans, wearing specialized armored spacesuits. They carry a wrist-mounted bracelet capable of short-range teleportation, a stun baton, and a unique Pedanium ray gun. In all honesty, the defensive capabilities of their armor in the series were non-existent—arguably worse than the flak armor of the Astra Militarum.

The Pedanium ray gun and the Pedanium cannon are types of specialized energy weapons. This "Pedanium energy" is akin to the light beams used by the Ultra race—a cosmic energy that the Pedan people have mastered; through specific means, it can even be transferred to other spacecraft. Once retrofitted onto the *Pendragon*, its power became immense. According to official lore, it is capable of destroying an asteroid. In the show, it obliterated a wandering Bemstar in a single shot, and at full power, it could potentially destroy dozens of King Joes. The cannons equipped on the King Joes are of this same variety and can be mounted on starships as primary batteries. These Pedan weapons shouldn't be underestimated; the limitations of low-budget special effects often failed to showcase their true destructive potential.

The teleportation bracelet is what Rod is most looking forward to; it is the ultimate tool for assassination, theft, and surprise attacks.

"Elena, my spaceship has arrived. I’m going out to retrieve it," Rod said, turning to the Hospitaller.

The sky was already darkening, and with only an hour left until the appointed time, Rod planned to summon the King Joe and the Pedan starship to inspect them. He needed to estimate their passenger capacity, figure out how to explain the origin of the King Joe, and, most importantly, explore the Pedan spaceship to see if there was any useful gear. He remained particularly covetous of that teleportation bracelet.

"Really, Mr. Rod? Should I call the Captain and the head sister?" Elena asked, her face full of excitement.

"You can go inform them to meet at the mountaintop over there in an hour. That’s where my ship will be parked," Rod replied.

"Understood!" Elena nodded, trotted out of the cave, and headed toward the Space Marine captain.

Rod exited the cave as well, heading to the far side of the mountain. He pulled the Pedan starship from his system inventory. The ship, included as a bonus with the King Joe, was roughly the size of the robot's chest—a disc-shaped craft about five meters in diameter. It was a small vessel from the Pedan expeditionary series, designed to work in tandem with the King Joe. It could be docked externally on the robot's chest or tucked inside its massive thoracic bay. Because it was a system-redeemed item, Rod was automatically registered as the primary user.

The hatch opened, and Rod stepped inside. The circular ship was divided into two levels: the upper deck served as the command center, while the lower deck contained the crew quarters and the power core. The command center featured a ring of twelve crew seats, with three seats in the center—two for pilots and one for the captain. The ship’s complement was fifteen.

Each seat was equipped with a standard-issue Pedan spacesuit, including a helmet, armor, and weapons. The pilot and captain seats were equipped with ray pistols and a telescoping baton, while the infantry seats had standard ray rifles. The teleportation bracelet Rod had been dreaming of was only found in the captain's station; the regular soldiers and pilots lacked them.

Upon equipping the bracelet, Rod instantly grasped its functions. The device could be recharged via the ship, and each full charge allowed for twenty phase-teleportations within a certain range. Most importantly, it could transmit the user directly to the ship from across a planetary distance—far more powerful than standard phase-teleportation. Good grief, if human engineers could reverse-engineer this individual teleportation tech, the snipers of the Necrons would be in for a nasty surprise.

I wonder how the Pedanium ray rifle compares to Necron Gauss weaponry? Rod picked up a rifle to examine it; the design was elegant, though he would have to test its actual power later. As for the armor and stun batons, he didn't bother testing them, given their dismal performance in the source material.

After inspecting the upper deck, Rod descended to the lower level. It contained fourteen stasis pods, a private captain's quarters, and a storage room. In the center sat a massive energy converter and the ship's propulsion system—the core power source, which could absorb stellar energy to fuel the craft.

Small as it was, it was fully equipped!

However, the ship was still quite small. Between the King Joe and this craft, transporting the remaining thousand-plus Imperial Guardsmen would be difficult. The ship's max capacity was fifteen, though one could squeeze fifty or sixty into the lower hold. If the King Joe's thoracic storage bay were emptied of the starship, it could probably hold four or five hundred people. Yet, the robot's head, waist, and legs were unusable for passengers.

That meant more than half the Imperial Guardsmen would still be left behind. Rod frowned—would he really have to abandon half of them?

Suddenly, an idea struck him. He opened the Monster Enhancement page.

Mechanical monster enhancement didn't work like normal monsters—it wasn't about increasing tonnage or height, but rather installing various weapons, accessories, and upgrades. Rod still had 5,000 system gold coins in his balance. Could he upgrade this starship? As an accessory to the King Joe, it should theoretically be eligible for enhancement.