ASAHI NO NISHISEI - Rising Sun Goes West (2)

Battle of Makuteru

As a warning now, if you skip Volume 4 (especially Parts 5 and 6) and the Interlude in Volume 5, this chapter onward will be incomprehensible. The Volume 5 is basically the culmination of everything foreshadowed from Volumes 1 to 4.

- Bokutotsu Zen'u

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

February 8

Prime Minister's Office, Tokyo, Japan

Upon his return to Japan after the failure of the nuclear attack mission, Prime Minister Kotoku Inaha held a small meeting with the Minister of Defense, the Chief of Staff, and JAXA officials.

"...Let me hear your opinions, gentlemen."

Inaha asked the participants for their opinions in a hollow tone of voice. In a heavy mood, the Chief of the Air Staff, Lieutenant General Akinobu Naoka took the initiative and began to speak.

"The barrier that covered Slephen's capital Rhodim half a month ago... was probably the barrier of that saucer itself, and we should use the Massive Ordnance Penetrators (GBU-57) that we were planning to use against it..."

He advised the use of the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which was an idea that came up when Rhodim was covered by the Laskant's magical barrier. The GBU-57 is a type of weapon called a bunker buster designed to penetrate concrete, embankments, and other fortifications to destroy targets covered by them, and boasts power and penetrating force far greater than the GBU-28, commonly referred to as the bunker buster bomb.

"It is hard to believe that a MOP would be effective against a shield that withstood a 200-kiloton nuclear explosion... And even if it could break through the barrier, it would have to penetrate the outer shell of the saucer itself after falling several hundred meters from the barrier. When it breaks through the barrier, it will lose its penetrating power and that will be the end of it."

The Chief of the Maritime Staff, Vice Admiral Daiki Ukita disagreed with Lieutenant General Naoka's opinion. Even if the barrier is breached, it is meaningless if the saucer itself inside the barrier is not damaged.

"Certainly... now that we know from the statement of the descendants from the Sharhyde Empire that it is a spacecraft from planet Elmerand, even the saucer itself should be able to withstand the atmospheric pressure from within and boast armor that completely shields it from cosmic rays, solar flare radiation, and electromagnetic waves," Aoi Takasugi, Director of the Institute of Space and Aeronautical Science (ISAS), explained the finding.

"Moreover... the enemy has a vast area of over 150 square kilometers. The MOP that exists today would not be enough to do sufficient damage. To use an analogy, it would be like shooting a dart arrow down into a 25-meter pool... If we had the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, it would have been worth trying again... but things don't work out that way."

General Takeshi Akiyama, Chief of the Ground Staff, expressed further concern. In short, the saucer itself is too large to be handled by the conventional weapons possessed by the Japanese and American forces at this point.

"But I am not sure if we can break through that armor with the means at our disposal, probably... concrete, steel, or some other substance completely different from what we think of when we hear the word 'armor.'"

Vice Admiral Makoto Hasegawa, Chief of the Joint Staff, sighed loudly as he spoke. After that, domestic military experts offered their opinions, but there was no sign of light at all, as they were met with a succession of counterarguments that shut them down.

"However... I am still opposed to surrendering."

"...!"

As the mood of the meeting became even gloomier, Defense Minister Kuraba appealed to the participants with narrowed eyes. He had not yet lost his will to resist.