37. Preparations for the Final Battle

Two and a half years since I was summoned by Agirakana. In that time, Japan has brightened considerably. Passenger flights to AMR have begun from regional airports across the country, and related infrastructure development has proceeded smoothly.

There’s been a noticeable return of population from urban centers like Tokyo to the countryside. The aircraft operating these routes are smaller than the RS Jupiter 1 model—RS Jupiter 2 models, capable of carrying two hundred passengers, shuttle back and forth between AMR and various regional airports. AMR itself has expanded fourfold; what was once a two-kilometer-square facility is now four kilometers square, with the number of domes increasing from one to four, each with a two-kilometer diameter.

The operation of the luxury hotel spaceship, branded “A Solar System Voyage on a Grand Cosmic Liner,” carrying over ten thousand crew and passengers, is proceeding smoothly. These vessels depart from international spaceports across Japan. While one ship is currently in service, another is already undergoing training for cabin staff and other crew members.

At the small, resource-receiving-only spaceports established across Japan, small cargo vessels are taking off and landing. Metallic resources are transferred directly from Agirakana, while gaseous materials are relayed from large orbital cargo ships circling the Moon to smaller cargo vessels for transport.

Hovering one hundred kilometers above, AA-0001—though not the entirety of Agirakana—deliberately forwent stealth capabilities on this large cargo vessel, hoping, however gradually, to acclimate Earth’s people to its presence. The decision to disable stealth near Jupiter’s hyperlane gate, however, still felt premature. Perhaps it would be better to wait a little longer.

Biological information collection from flora and fauna proceeds smoothly. Over a million species have already been cataloged. Unaware of Zeno’s threat, the world continues to sing songs of peace. Perhaps Earth’s people would be happier if this truth were never told.

The Democratic Korea, unable to resupply the island it claimed as its own due to the activation of the Return System, continued concealing this fact from its populace. Six months after the Return System began operation, the truth finally came to light. In response, the Japanese Government, citing humanitarian grounds, evacuated several dozen Democratic Korea garrison personnel via patrol vessel. All of the rescued garrison personnel were emaciated and suffering from severe malnutrition.

The incident served as a catalyst: the pro-people government of Democratic Korea collapsed in its usual candlelight protests, and amid the chaos, a military regime emerged. The core of the previous administration, down to the president, was arrested. The northern islands, linked to Russia and home to many civilians, are restricted to military vessels for the return system. Yet, compared to the past, life on the northern islands has clearly become more constrained—some have begun relocating to the Russian mainland.

The time of the final confrontation with Zeno is approaching.

Until now, Agirakana had not possessed any combat vessels above S5 class. But for operational command purposes, an S5-class special heavy cruiser, HL-0001, has been completed. For my own transport, I’ll continue using LC-0001-Furinkan, as before.

This vessel, possessing an S5-class hull, is a massive spherical ship with a diameter of 1,800 meters. Its distinguishing feature is the presence of an S4-class hull within, granting it overwhelming defensive capabilities. A large number of proximity-defense anti-annihilation guided missiles—anti-annihilation rounds—are stored in the space between the two hulls, separated by defensive bulkheads, for the purpose of shooting down approaching Zeno. It is specialized in communication functions, designed to remotely operate the supply mothership described below.

Upon integration into the Agirakana Aerospace Force, it will become the force’s flagship, designated as the flagship of the newly formed First Fleet among the four fleets, and will serve as the overall flagship for all fleets.

The S2-class cruiser LC-0001-Flurinka and the H3-class assault landing ship AA-0001-Blazer had given them quite enough trouble—still, one would think the flagship of the Aerospace Fleet should have a proper name. The one they’d dismissed as unsuitable for combat vessels, "Mount," now needed to stand as a mountain, solid and immovable, befitting a flagship.

If one were to twist the phrase "Still as a mountain," then perhaps the special S5-class heavy cruiser HL-0001-Shanshan—though that would make it a panda.

Steering clear of mountains, and aiming instead to inspire the entire fleet, they settled on the straightforward S5-class special heavy cruiser HL-0001-Inspire. There’s a hint of automobile naming about it, but isn’t that precisely what a flagship deserves?

The enhanced autonomy of the accompanying unmanned attack drones—driven by the need to boost the combat effectiveness of the manned strike craft in engagements against Zeno—allowed not only an increase in the number of accompanying strike drones from six to eight, but also enabled more organic coordination through the pilot’s improved proficiency in training.

In accordance with the basic policy established during the emergency meeting, the supply mothership was conceived to enhance the sustained combat capability of attack craft. The supply mothership carries numerous unmanned attack drones and replenishes manned attack craft—once their accompanying drones have been expended—with fresh unmanned units for continued escort duty. Furthermore, by firing autonomous navigation propellant cartridges and anti-elimination or anti-elimination guided warhead cartridges into the combat zone, it enables short-term resupply of attack craft within the vacuum of space.

Propellant cartridges and anti-elimination warhead cartridges are launched from within the ship, but the unmanned attack drones are treated as expendable—stacked externally and tethered to the hull. This arrangement has improved launch velocity. The supply vessel, though named a ship, lacks a proper hull and functions essentially as a standard cargo freighter, making its defense negligible—unable to withstand even a single impact from Zeno.

While the attack craft’s endurance has increased, the pilot’s workload has correspondingly risen. Still, with always-present unmanned drones ready to sacrifice themselves in support, pilot survival rates are expected to improve dramatically.

The supply carrier features a hull comparable to an H1-class vessel—a hexagonal prism, 120 meters per side and 1,200 meters in length—capable of carrying approximately three thousand unmanned attack drones. The carrier itself operates unmanned; in normal conditions, the flagship at the rear assumes command, but if the flagship becomes inoperable, one of the other cruisers takes over remote control. A total of two hundred supply carriers were assembled before Zeno’s reactivation.

Combat forces participating in the current operation at the Eridanus Epsilon I System.

Standard mothership: 16 units (each carrying one manned attack craft and eight accompanying unmanned attack drones, forming a combat unit of 6,250 total; total of 100,000 combat units)

Supply carrier: 200 units (each capable of resupplying 3,000 unmanned attack drones; total of 600,000 drones)

Torpedo squadron: 36 units (each squadron composed of one light cruiser and six destroyers)

Strike Squadron 4 (6 heavy cruisers per squadron)

With this formation, four fleets—Fleet 1 through Fleet 4—are organized, each comprising one regular flagship, fifty supply flagships, nine torpedo squadrons, and one to four strike squadrons.

Twelve H3-class decoy mine vessels are ready for deployment.

Decoy mine vessels are equipped internally with an infinite number of self-annihilation guidance missiles, designed to lure Zeno into proximity by the hull, and to destroy as many Zeno units as possible before their own destruction.

During this preparatory period, tactical simulations had been run countless times. If the operation unfolded precisely as planned, Zeno could be completely eliminated through remote strikes alone. Conversely, if every contingency failed—well, a prolonged engagement between Zeno and the attack fleet would ensue, potentially resulting in up to five percent losses among the attack force and five thousand human casualties. There was nothing to do but pray the contingencies wouldn’t fail—though, at the same time, there was also the fact that the Agirakana fleet commander, herself, was willing to accept five thousand human casualties.

[Supplementary Explanation]

Standard Flagship

An attack carrier with an H-level maximum H5-class hull (a hexagonal prism, 600 meters per side, 6,000 meters long), capable of being constructed by the Agirakana. It carries a combat unit of one manned attack craft plus eight accompanying unmanned attack craft—six thousand two hundred fifty per vessel. In addition to observation and other support craft, it carries four newly developed large, high-speed attack craft, specifically for this operation.

Heavy cruiser

A combat vessel with an S4 or S5-class hull (spherical hulls, 1,440 meters and 1,800 meters in diameter, respectively). Currently, only the HL-0001-Inspire possesses an S5-class hull.

Battleship

A combat vessel with an S6-class or larger hull. Not currently in active service within the Agirakana.

Combat vessel

A spacecraft designed with anti-ship combat in mind. Typically constructed using a spherical S-type hull.

Annihilation rounds, annihilation-guided rounds

Annihilation rounds designed for use against Zeno employ a physical warhead containing electromagnetically confined antineutron plasma. They are fired via railgun. Upon contact with the target’s neutrons, the high-pressure antineutron plasma beam triggers annihilation reactions, destroying the target. The warhead is engineered so that residual antineutron plasma does not disperse upon contact. Annihilation-guided rounds are autonomous missiles equipped with antineutron warheads—essentially, “fire-and-forget” projectiles. They carry one or multiple warheads. Annihilation-guided rounds launched from attack craft are usually single-warhead models. Annihilation-guided rounds intended for anti-ship use typically include stealth features to evade laser-based interception.

Agirakana Space Force

Subordinate to it are the Agirakana Space Force, the Agirakana Ground Combat Unit, the Exploration Division, the Logistics Division, and others.

Incidentally, the protagonist serves as the commander of the Agirakana Space Force. As commander, the only direct subordinates under him are the personnel of the Secretary's Office—Ain included.