Rune Troopers: Self-Defense Forces Adventure - Chapter 5: The Eye of the Storm (Part 4)

At the same time…

On the Aegis Class Destroyer ‘IBUKI.’

With the surrender of the enemy’s main force, the tension within the CIC had been released. But suddenly, the radar operator suddenly cried out, “Commander!”

“What’s wrong?” Kaburaki regained his composure at the sound of his subordinate’s voice.

“There’s a faint radar reading, sir! There is a possibility of an object entering the atmosphere!”

“What did you say?”

At first, no one could imagine what he meant. The only thing they shared was a bad feeling.

“Get me accurate information on the target.”

“Roger!”

The three-dimensional radar’s radio wave irradiation, which had been directed in all directions, was concentrated in the designated direction. This was only possible because there were no enemies in the surrounding area.

“This is!”

The data analysis results made the team members turn pale.

“Yes, it’s a meteorite! A huge meteorite is descending upon us!”

A meteorite! The CIC was in an uproar. It was too good to be a natural phenomenon.

A meteorite descended upon them at this time. They had no idea how, but they could imagine that it was some kind of man-made attack. 

The supercomputer of the Aegis system displayed the calculation results of the destructive power from the descending meteorite. Everyone who saw it went speechless.

The amount of energy was comparable to that of a nuclear attack. They couldn’t be saved. They were now on the verge of a crisis that was incomparable to the one they had just experienced. Understanding this, the faces of the members of the team were drawn together in fear. Hopelessness gripped everyone’s hearts.

What were they going to do, there was nothing they could do. Everyone looked at each other as if they were about to start screaming.

“How long until collision?”

“About 20 minutes, sir!”

“Damn!”

Kaburaki could only suppress his irritation at the image from the simulation of the meteorite’s estimated fall that appeared on the display. The meteorite was going to hit them.

****

Sensing something unusual, Hamiea rushed out to the castle terrace and was stunned to see the vermilion sky. If the end of the world existed, surely the sky at that time would look like this.

At least, for this Nation, it was the embodiment of the end. Hamiea’s brown forehead was sweating. She was an erudite woman, and she understood what this scene meant.

She had often seen references to its existence in the literature of Ancient Winged Race.

“Meteor Shower? The Empire, do you want to destroy this Nation so badly?”

The maid of honor approached her in despair and said, “Your Majesty, it is not safe for you here! Please take shelter in the basement!”

“That meteorite will descend on the castle and blow the whole basement!”

Hamiea had the face of a girl of her age at that moment. The ‘Meteor Shower’ was an attack that could not be survived, no matter how hard one tried.

“No matter how many troops you have from the otherworld… This is impossible…” She sat down on the terrace with her knees folded weakly.

***

At the same time, Kato was also staring at the red sky. He knew from the fleet that a meteorite was going to fall. But even so, the sight was hard for him to believe from his world of ‘scientific’ common sense. 

However, with an adaptability that could be called a gift, he accepted it as a reality. In his own way, he thought about how the meteorite attack had taken place.

“How did they pinpoint the location of its descent?”

That was the first thing Kato wondered. As a crew member of a Maritime Self-Defense Force Destroyer, he was more concerned about the method of guidance than about the power of such an ultra-long-range attack. 

Even if it was Magic, it would be very difficult to make a meteorite descend at a desired location. There must be some kind of guiding method or source of attraction.

“No, I’m sure there must be.”

He stared at the black monster that had appeared at the same time as the vermillion sky.

“I guess we’ll have to do it.”

There he was, not the oddball who was always looked at as if he was not a Self-Defense Official, but a Fleet Chief-of-Staff on a mission.

He would never give up.

The Self-Defense Forces had adopted a strategy of ‘self-defense,’ a strategy that left no end in sight. Giving up meant the annihilation of the nation. Therefore, even if there was no fundamental solution, they would not neglect their efforts to reduce the damage as much as possible.

“Commander Kaburaki, come in.”

He looked at the Aegis floating in the bay.

****

There was a man on the Destroyer who shared Kato’s thoughts. 

He was a middle-aged man with good looks, except for the fact that he was wearing the black work uniform and gray life jacket of a Senior Officer of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. He was an excellent Officer, but his field-oriented attitude, which could be described as foolish, had prevented him from rising in the ranks commensurate with his abilities.

Before he could worry, Kaburaki spoke of the measures he could take.

“Activate Ballistic Missile Interception Mode.”

“What?”

The Chief Gunnery Officer who received the order, looked at Kaburaki’s face reflexively, doubting his sanity. Many of the crew members had lost their composure due to the unorthodox situation of a meteorite falling on their ship.

Kaburaki knew this and dared to feign calm. Panic-stricken subordinates would unconditionally turn to their calm superiors. Such was his calculation.

“Standard missile three, prepare to fire.”

Kaburaki was in no hurry. There was still something they could do. People had a strange psychological tendency to give up, be carried away, and surrender to something so powerful called ‘fate.’

 Kaburaki hated it. As a man of the sea, he could not tolerate such a spirit of servility. 

I will struggle, I will struggle to the end!

Kaburaki was a mild-mannered man who did not talk much, but he was a man with a passionate heart.

“Roger that, sir! SM3, stand by!”

The Chief Gunnery Officer followed the order with a look of incomprehension on his face. 

The SM3 was an ultra-high altitude interceptor developed to intercept Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) that enter the atmosphere at high speed. It was a state-of-the-art defensive weapon that could only be launched by Aegis systems and Aegis Destroyers equipped with BMD (Ballistic Missile Defense) software. However, it was said to be technically incomplete and difficult to intercept with a high degree of accuracy.

It was as difficult as shooting down a pistol bullet fired from a gun with a bullet of the same caliber from directly in front of it.

“We need to Launch everything!” Kaburaki ordered.

The Chief Gunnery Officer was dismayed.

“You don’t think we can intercept a meteorite?”

Kaburaki gave a silent affirmation. It was an unprecedented attempt. But he knew the odds were in his favor.

Meteorites, like nuclear missiles with multiple warheads, did not have multiple targets, but a single target. Furthermore, the rocket part of a meteorite was not detached from the missile like a ballistic missile, and only the warhead would descend from the rocket. In other words, meteorites were much larger than ballistic missiles.

“The target is bigger and easier to hit. There is a 50-50 chance. Ready to fire!”

It was a gamble. He was not a man who would gamble, but there were times in life when one had to bet.

“Permission to launch!”

Kaburaki believed in Ibuki.

The ‘IBUKI’ was the first Aegis Class Destroyer of the Maritime Self-Defense Force, built to defend against ballistic missiles. It was equipped with the latest technology designed to respond to the tense international situation, including the suspicions of the nuclear armament of the North.

It was expected to be a shield to protect people at the last moment.

‘Ibuki, you are the last shield in this world too!’

In this other world. In the face of tyranny that no one had no means to resist. Only one Destroyer equipped with the Aegis system could stop it.

The memory of the first time he saw the ‘IBUKI’ rushed into his mind. It was at the naming ceremony before the ship was launched.

“Ibuki?”

“Another safe name.”

“I have no idea the name would be given to a ship that hadn’t fired even a single shot…”

Such words were whispered around at that time.

.

The name ‘IBUKI’ was derived from the cruiser Ibuki of the former Japanese Navy. The ship was terminated in the middle of construction at the end of World War II, and she ended her life without ever having fought a single battle.

However, Kaburaki was happy to be aboard such a ship. The ship that never fought was the one that the Self-Defense Forces would be most proud of. He believed in this lump of steel that never said a word, as if it were a god.

“Fire!”

The Chief Gunnery Officer roared a command.

Not only this ship. It was a battle for the lives of everyone in the world.

The VLS cell on the deck opened and standard missiles took off into the sky. A total of ten missiles in number. Soon, they exceeded the speed of sound and soared through the sky.

Normally it would not be possible to launch so many SM3s simultaneously. However, considering the target’s size and robustness, this was still a bit worrisome.

“SM3 launch confirmed, two hundred and ten seconds to target!”

“First stage purged!”

The SM3 was a three-stage missile: the first stage with a booster for a launch, the second stage for a cruise, and the third stage with a kinetic warhead for direct hit and intercept. It had a range of about 450 km and a critical ascent altitude of about 250 km. This was the capability to reach outer space.

The radar screen showed both the interceptor missile launched from the ‘IBUKI’ and the approaching meteorite.

The two were gradually closing the distance between them. 

“The second-stage rocket was jettisoned! Warhead protection cover released. Kinetic warhead activated!”

The third-stage kinetic warhead detached from the second stage and activated a 30 seconds timer before reaching the target. At a tremendous relative speed of several kilometers per second, the high-precision seeker detected the opponent’s infrared rays and fine-tuned its course of travel to ensure interception.

The interval between the two steps was 30 seconds. In other words, in another 30 seconds, everything would be decided.

Even in the air-conditioned CIC, the crew members were so nervous that sweat was pouring down their foreheads and necks. 

“Gee, ten seconds before theinterception.” A rough-breathing fire control officer reported.

The two on the screen were already on the verge of overlapping exactly. Finally, the countdown phase was underway.

“Five… Four… Three… Two… Standby…”

Clenching his fists tightly on the desk, Kaburaki closed his eyes tightly.

He could not face the moment when the fate of his own people, or rather the thousands and thousands of millions of people in this nation, would be decided.

The cries of the fire control officer reached his ears.

“Intercepting, now!”

The sky lit up.