60. Aftermath

The frontier worlds of the Azel Empire had fallen to Zeno’s incursion, their inhabited planets reduced to ruin.

As Agirakana, the fact that the Azel Empire—three hundred light-years away—was suffering Zeno’s assault posed no immediate threat. One might argue that ignoring the current Zeno situation would be perfectly acceptable. Still, the fewer Zeno survivors remaining, the better. Agirakana would prefer to announce its intent to eliminate the Zenos in Azel territory and be done with it swiftly.

First, let’s finish up the work left here, then move on to dealing with Zeno.

The Arze Fleet’s radio transmission of surrender demands, aimed at Earth, was received in various locations across the planet—apparently, there hadn’t been enough time to disrupt the signal without causing interference. Though the transmission did not reach Earth’s far side directly, from there it spread instantly through the network, arriving at nearly all major national governments with minimal delay.

In response to the sudden, extraterrestrial surrender offer, governments worldwide simultaneously requested that the Japanese Government verify its authenticity through Agirakana. Since Japan served as Agirakana’s official liaison, the requests arrived at the Agirakana Embassy in precisely the same form they had been sent—meaning, they ended up at my doorstep.

Upon receiving this, the Japanese Government likely deemed individual responses to various nations too much trouble, and so opted to broadcast the following statement and video via a web-based video platform in an attempt to calm the situation.

“An interstellar nation calling itself the Great Alze Empire exists approximately 300 light-years beyond the Solar System. It is a fact that the Great Alze Empire’s fleet, dispatched to the Solar System, has issued surrender demands to the governments of Earth’s nations.

In response, the Spacecraft Nation Agirakana has instructed the Great Alze Empire’s dispatched fleet to vacate the Solar System without delay.”

Since the directive was rejected, the Agirakana Space Fleet surrounded the Great Alze Empire’s dispatched fleet and seized all vessels without engaging in combat. The containment at Agirakana has already been completed. Therefore, the Great Alze Empire’s surrender ultimatum is, in practice, null and void. Should the Great Alze Empire dispatch a fleet to the Solar System again in the same manner, our nation will respond in identical fashion.

A grainy image of an Alze vessel, captured during the ground forces’ seizure of the Alze fleet, flickered on screen.

“This is an Alze ship—notice its intricate, almost convoluted geometry. And this,” a finger pointed to a second vessel, “is the flagship of Agirakana’s current deployed fleet.”

Now, the screen displayed the Special S5-class Heavy Cruiser HL-0001-Inspire, with a diameter of 1,800 meters. The footage, captured from another vessel, showed the tiny shuttle—like a grain of rice—detaching from the Inspire. The shuttle then zoomed in sharply, emphasizing the Inspire’s immense scale.

“Until now, we have not issued any specific statements regarding the Spacecraft Nation Agirakana. However, Agirakana is currently orbiting the Sun at a distance of approximately 20 astronomical units from Earth, along Uranus’s orbital path.”

Though distant enough from the Sun to appear faintly crescent-shaped, Agirakana glowed intermittently in places, giving a vague sense of its overall spherical form.

Footage from a fleet returning to Agirakana after completing the seizure of the Arze Fleet.

“This is Agirakana—a planet-sized spacecraft, 14,000 kilometers in diameter.”

A dark celestial body, filling the background of the void, gradually grew larger, resolving into a distinct form. As the fleet approached Agirakana, the aperture connecting to the internal spaceport expanded incrementally, revealing the shaft illuminated from within by the bright light streaming through the spaceport on Agirakana’s interior—then the video feed abruptly terminated.

The footage left governments across the world, especially those isolated from Japan, stunned. Yet under the prevailing sentiment that “Agirakana could do anything,” the public response was oddly calm. The only notable reaction came from whispers about the voice reading the statement—none had heard it in over a decade—belonging to Mister Yamada, otherwise known as Yamada Keiichi, Agirakana’s representative.

Ichijō, seated beside me, stared wide-eyed at the monitor on his desk, then turned to look at me. Right— I hadn’t explained the details to him yet.

"Senpai, I’d heard Agirakana was a large spacecraft, but that’s a star, isn’t it?"

"Earth’s diameter is twelve thousand kilometers—so it’s bigger than that. You could call it a star, but Agirakana is a spaceship. While I was away, it traveled back and forth across twelve thousand light-years. Inside, there are ten layers of surface area equivalent to Earth’s. Right now, only two layers are habitable, though."

"????"

"Well, seems like it’s beyond your expectations. There’s even my house inside. At the moment, it’s the only house built."

"What about food?"

"Most Japanese ingredients can be grown on Agirakana. By the way, we now make various kinds of sake there too. Whether sake made on Agirakana qualifies as real sake is debatable, though."

"Senpai, that’s cheating."

"Once you’ve got the time, I’ll take you there myself."

"Absolutely."

As expected, the Democratic Korea seemed poised to surrender unilaterally to the Arze Empire before the live stream, though it managed to restrain itself—more or less. If it had surrendered earlier, what would have become of Democratic Korea in Agirakana’s eyes? A nation that surrendered to a fleet which itself had surrendered to Agirakana? In any case, it would have received its due share of evaluation from the various nations on Earth.

Accommodations have been prepared near the Spaceport for the entire crew of the Arze Fleet, including the commanding officer. The housing was arranged based on data gathered by probes sent from Arzeen, the capital planet of the Arze Empire, so discomfort should be minimal. Quarantine procedures conducted upon arrival appear to have posed no issues; provisions and supplies are being managed locally without difficulty.

If the Agirakana side were willing to accept the contingent of the Alze Empire’s surrendered fleet, it would be convenient to send them home right away—but given that the fleet’s officers surrendered so easily, it was understandable they’d feel reluctant to return.

After discussing the future with Agirakana’s key personnel, and in preparation for an urgent meeting with the commanding officer of the Alze Empire’s fleet detachment, Maria and I boarded the light cruiser Klein, currently in Earth orbit, and set course for Agirakana.

It took us roughly ten hours to reach my Office, located within Agirakana.