69. Fleet Review

The same day that Agirakana jumped out of hyperspace into interstellar space two light-years beyond the Solar System.

Since inviting Ichijō required sending a vessel to Earth, and considering that Hōzōin Reika, now almost a close ally of Ichijō’s, might as well be invited as well.

Considering what would be worth showing to the two guests, I could only think of one thing: soaking in the bath and hosting a banquet at my private residence. Going out on a river, rowing a boat, fishing—well, that would be no different from doing the same thing on any river in Japan, so it hardly seemed worth the effort. The schedule was set for two nights, three days. What on Earth was I to do? I asked Maria for advice.

“Maria, we’ve gone to such trouble to invite Ichijō and the others—nothing really comes to mind. What should we do?”

“Captain, why not a fleet review?”

"A fleet review, huh. Sounds interesting, but isn’t that overkill for just a handful of welcome parties? And can we even pull something like that off on short notice?"

"Overkill perhaps, but if you think of it as training, there’s absolutely no issue. Whether it’s the Aerospace Fleet or the Ground Combat Division, we’re all, in effect, ‘permanently on the front lines.’ We’re ready to follow the captain’s orders—anytime, anywhere."

"I see. So calling it training makes it acceptable. Then let’s go ahead with it. If we deploy an entire fleet, it’ll make quite the impression, don’t you think?"

"Captain, if we do that, then the fleet we’re reviewing won’t actually be present. Let’s send all ships from the first to the fourth divisions—every available vessel. I’ll handle the arrangements for the fleet review. Captain, please grant your approval."

And so, under Maria’s supervision, a fleet review was arranged to welcome Ichijō and the others.

A few days passed. Today was the day Ichijō and his party were arriving at Agirakana.

For the welcome, I’ve dispatched the First Torpedo Squadron—flagshiped by my personal vessel, L.C.-0002-Craine—out to Earth.

Craine will send a shuttle to land on the rooftop of the Agirakana Embassy in Tokyo; from there, the shuttle will transfer passengers directly onto Craine.

Though several solar-system cruise liners now operate, intra-solar navigation is no longer uncommon. Still, Ichijō and his party will be the first humans from Earth—other than myself—to pass through the hyperlane gate.

Ah. I was the first human from Earth to pass through the gate, and the only Earth-born individual to have experienced hyperspace travel. I suppose if I applied somewhere, this would end up on some bureaucratic file or another? Probably not worth the effort.

When I first entered the gate, decades ago, I was tense—yes, and awed, too. But the true spectacle, as always, was seeing Agirakana up close.

Thus, the fleet review—doubling as training—commenced.

I stood at attention in my Agirakana Space Force officer’s uniform, three gold buttons on the collar, rising from the elevated captain’s chair in the central command chamber, facing the screen ahead, performing the customary salute. Maria had suggested it—supposedly to boost morale among the bioid troops—but it felt a little excessive, even theatrical.

If a simple salute could lift spirits, I’d salute a thousand times. I saluted in gratitude for the fact that everyone followed me, despite my lack of any real distinction.

Today, not only the usual Rear Admiral Amanda, but also the heads of various departments flanked me on either side, returning my salute in unison toward the screens. Personnel stationed in the central command chamber likewise saluted in perfect synchrony. The flawless precision of it—watching it was, admittedly, rather gratifying. It was a relief, really, that no one here in Agirakana would bother complaining about militarism, as if such a thing were a flaw in a society that had long since learned to treat military displays like a well-rehearsed household chore.

The fleet review today was being filmed from multiple angles. Since the footage would later be edited and streamed online on Earth, we accepted, with a shrug, that some theatricality was unavoidable. So we continued playing our parts, following Maria’s carefully choreographed script.

Before the Agirakana-side hyperlane gate—aligned with the one stationed near Jupiter—the fleet formed up in formation.

After a pause, the first squadron’s vessels emerged one by one from the hyperlane gate—beginning with the P2-class destroyer, a slender, elongated square pyramid-shaped vessel, ninety meters at its base and two hundred seventy meters long—followed last by the flagship of the first fleet, the light cruiser Krein, a spherical-hulled ship seventy-two meters in diameter, which passed through the gate with deliberate slowness.

Arranged in four lines to form a cylindrical shape with a square cross-section, the entire navy of four fleets now presented a spectacle: Krein advancing toward the Agirakana, center stage. It was, as expected, excessively theatrical. Maria, however, seemed satisfied—certainly, the shot would look good.

From the forward end of the cylindrical gate emerged, in four columns of four each, four正规 motherships—hexagonal prismatic hulls, six kilometers long, with a base side length of six hundred meters, H5-class vessels. The H5 class, currently the largest hull class the Agirakana can construct, was a marvel: a spaceborne warship of H-class, its volume more than four and a half times that of the H3-class assault landing vessel, the Agirakana’s military symbol orbiting Earth at one hundred kilometers above Tokyo. The light cruiser, with a diameter of seven hundred and twenty meters, looked like a toy next to it.

Following the正规 motherships came the heavy cruisers of the striking squadron. Standard complement: six ships per fleet. However, due to unmet replacements for losses during the earlier Zeno homeworld destruction operation, vacancies remained. Then came the torpedo squadrons—nine torpedo squadrons per fleet, each consisting of one light cruiser and six destroyers.

Ships, arranged in single file per fleet, advanced toward the gate, then executed a one-eighty-degree turn one hundred kilometers short of the gate, aligning themselves to follow the central axis of the cannon, trailing behind the Crain.

Watching the flawless maneuvering—no prior rehearsal, just one shot at it—

"Your Excellency," General Amanda said, "the fleet inspection today involves direct command by each ship’s captain. I don’t say this lightly, but the level of precision is quite remarkable."

The remark left him even more astonished.

Well then, it’s about time we went to meet Ichijō and the others at Dock One.