30. Idle Chat 01: Naming the Vessel

Thank you for the typo report.

We received a suggestion that "Specifications" might be preferable to "Overview," but since this pertains more to the vessel's dimensions than performance, we've kept it as "Overview."

Having previously received comments on ship names, I’ve given it some thought. I rather enjoy writing these kinds of offhand musings.

In the Embassy’s Office, today as always I’m staring blankly at the monitor atop my desk. On the screen, the side view and overview of the assault landing vessel AA-0001 are displayed.

The side view is little more than a long rectangle with hexagonal prisms stretched horizontally, adorned with various patterns—nothing particularly interesting.

On the desk, a mug sits half-empty, its contents long since gone lukewarm. I can’t recall when I last ordered coffee.

Agirakana—or rather, Arsen—had always maintained that ships were consumables, and thus there was no tradition of assigning proper names to such expendables. Still, I’ve been meaning to give names to the assault landing ship AA-0001 that ferried me to Earth, and the light cruiser LC-0001, though nothing particularly suitable has come to mind yet.

Looking over the specifications of AA-0001:

A hexagonal prism-shaped hull vessel (H3-class), 360 meters per side, 3.6 kilometers in length.

Main propulsion: Gravitic thruster

Primary power: Multi-stage fusion reactor; auxiliary power: Antimatter reaction chamber

Guided missile interceptors

Various close-range anti-space infantry armaments

Various equipment and weapons for descent operations

Maximum capacity: 3,600 ground combat infantry

Each infantryman accompanied by twelve unmanned support units.

Breakdown of unmanned support units:

Spherical Airborne Surveillance Unit: 4

Four-legged close-combat android: six

Eight-legged large-scale combat machine: 2

Ninety机动 armored vehicles, plus numerous other unmanned support units

Multiple planetary descent pods

480 assault drones—twelve make up one squadron.

Internal, atmospheric operation-capable craft ×420 (arrowhead configuration)

Internal, aqua-zone capable units × sixty

Up to six unmanned support craft accompany each manned aircraft.

Backup: ten percent of nominal capacity

Various liaison craft

The current AA-0001 is said to be operating with only three full battalions due to a detachment shortage—but upon closer inspection of the essentials, it's an absurdly formidable force.

Damn it, damn it—wasn’t I supposed to be thinking of a name? Kept getting distracted by the essentials.

First, let's think about the name for AA-0001.

AA-0001 was hovering above Tokyo, so I considered calling it Assault Landing Ship AA-0001-Tokyo—but it sounded too much like a headline from a war report, as if Tokyo had been seized after a brutal battle by the U.S. Marines. So I dropped it.

Next, I tried going by shape: Assault Landing Ship AA-0001-Hex? No good—calling it a hexagonal rod wasn’t exactly elegant, and besides, all H-shaped spacecraft were hexagonal prisms. If you started with shape, there’d be no way to tell one from another.

Stalled again, she reset her focus and switched the display, turning her attention this time to the blueprints of the light cruiser LC-0001.外观 was nothing but a plain white sphere. Light cruiser LC-0001—Maruchan. Seems Eastern Ocean Fisheries might be willing to sponsor it. Cute, perhaps, but a poor name for a warship. In fact, all combat vessels designed for anti-ship roles at Agirakana—excluding specialized craft like attack carrier vessels—were spherical by design.

Key specifications:

Hull diameter: 720 meters (S2-class)

Main propulsion: Gravitic thrusters

Primary power: Multi-stage fusion reactor; auxiliary power: Antimatter reactor

Large-scale anti-annihilation guided missile

Anti-annihilation guided missile

Guided missile interceptor

Main gun: Axial cannon (compatible with anti-annihilation rounds), caliber 120 cm, barrel length 600 meters, six units

Close-combat anti-space infantry armaments, various types

Other

Anti-ship assault pods

Various liaison craft

Ah. This one is undoubtedly strong—but compared to an assault landing ship, the sensation of strength isn’t quite there. One doesn’t get a sense of real power in space-based anti-ship combat, after all. One’s never even seen it.

Shaking off the sidetrack, refocus on LC-0001.

Currently, LC-0001 is conducting exercises with its escort destroyers somewhere between Mars and Jupiter. Between Mars and Jupiter—so, the asteroid belt, then. Light cruiser LC-0001—Asteroid? Hmm. That sounds like a steroid medication. No, that won’t do.

Hard to come up with anything. No clear direction—but what if we twist a little from Sun Tzu? The famous "Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain" attributed to Takeda Shingen?

Swift as the wind. Not bad, actually.

Still as a forest. Feels about right.

Like fire—ravaging. A bit off, but within acceptable parameters.

Motionless as a mountain. Can't move, though, can we?

So, Wind, Forest, Fire—transliterated into katakana, it's Fūrinka. Sounds kind of awkward, doesn’t it? S2-class cruiser LC-0001-Fūrinka. That’s the one. My brain’s at capacity as it is.

A step forward, so I rewind the display and gaze again at the schematics of the assault landing ship AA-0001.

Speaking of which, Lieutenant General Eris of the ground forces mentioned she’d like to conduct battalion-level descent drills on Mars using the 1st Battalion aboard the assault landing ship AA-0001. Since AA-0001 can’t be moved from above Tokyo, we’ll have to call another assault landing ship from Agirakana and transport the ground battalion to Mars for the drills. Permission was granted under the condition that no terrain be destroyed—should be fine, right? No risk of accidentally uncovering some ancient Martian relic, I hope.

Ah, speaking of Mars—there’s that Mars series by Barrows. In that case, Mars was referred to as “Balsuum,” wasn’t it? Sounds like a bathroom, doesn’t it?

Assault Landing Ship AA-0001—Balsuum. The name has a certain ring to it, but once you’ve thought of it as a bathroom, it’s ruined. You’ll inevitably misread it as “bathroom.”

Upon further reflection, “assault landing” is precisely the kind of thing that fits the phrase “like fire in conquest.”

Fire, flame, firestorm… Fire, blaze, flame.

Assault Landing Ship AA-0001—Fire. There was a wrestler who used to shout something like that. The ship looks like it’s about to spew flames—this won’t do.

Assault Landing Ship AA-0001—Flame. That’s just the frame of a pair of glasses.

Assault Landing Ship AA-0001—Blaze. The sound is good. This one’s a keeper.

Now, let’s twist it a bit—how about “Blazer”? Seems to carry a rather impressive connotation when looked up. But here, we’ll take it to mean “conquest like fire.” I doubt we’ll be invading anywhere anytime soon, but since Agirakana doesn’t have the kind of complicated political parties that plague other nations—(……)—it should be fine.

H3-class assault landing ship AA-0001—Blazer. Nice one. I’ve decided on this for you! It’s spelled the same way in English as a jacket’s blazer—though, really, that’s not a bad thing.

If this is the mood I’m in just from naming two ships, my entire future might just consist of naming vessels and nothing else. Probably can’t handle assigning any more individual names.

[Supplementary Explanation]

Breakdown of the 3,600 land combat infantry:

One reinforced regiment: 800 personnel × 4 battalions + 50 personnel × 8 companies, totaling 72 companies.

Details on regimental structure and subunits will be clarified in the next installment’s main text, but:

One regiment = 4 battalions. One battalion = 4 companies = 16 squads = 50 personnel × 16 squads = 800 personnel.

One squad = 4 sections + 2 personnel. 12 personnel × 4 sections + 2 personnel = 50 personnel.

Comedy: *Agirakana Side Story, Reika of Hōzōin — The Invincible Young Lady*

URL: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4131fy/ Thank you. This side story begins roughly a little before the thirty-first episode of the main narrative.