A man sharing Katou’s thoughts was on the ship. If he weren’t wearing the black uniform of a marine leader and the gray life jacket, he’d look like a handsome middle-aged man. He was brilliant, but his on-the-spot, tactlessly straight-forward decision making unfortunately made him a SDF leader who couldn’t have a good career. He—Kaburagi—getting ahead of his worry, declared the next step to take.

“Activate the Ballistic Missile Defense System.”

“Y-yes!?”

The weapons officer who had accepted the order doubted his sincerity and soundness, and he reflexively looked at his face. In this unusual circ.u.mstance of having a meteorite coming to fall on you , many crew members had lost their composure. Kaburagi, knowing this, dished out some sound judgment.

The subordinates who fell into panic completely would cling to a calm commander. That was taken into account.

“Standard Missile 3, prepare to launch.”

Kaburagi was not being impatient. Still, there was something left for them to do. People have a strange mentality when “fate” gives them a large thing to stand against, where they give up or do nothing, or devote themselves to their own skin.

Kaburagi hated that. Being a man on the sea, he could not permit such an abject mentality. Fight and struggle until the end! Kaburagi is a good-natured man and doesn’t talk much about this, but he is a person who has some pa.s.sion in his heart.

(EN: That’s a man there! You see that, Kuze! Be like Kaburagi! Stop taking the girls!)

“R-roger! SM3, standby!”

The weapons officer, while making a face as though he didn’t understand the reason, doubted the command. The SM3 is an Intercontinental Ballistic missile which is launched to intercept an object a long distance away outside of the atmosphere: it is an extremely long-range attack missile.

The Aegis system includes GM software built-in, which allows for the launching and is cutting-edge in the field of defensive weaponry. But, it technically has unfinished parts at this point, which makes it highly possible that the attack will be difficult.

It can be said to be as difficult as shooting a bullet from a pistol straight up and having the casing fall back into the same barrel.

“Launch with everything you’ve got!”

Kaburagi ordered. The weapons officer was dismayed.

“Y… You don’t mean to attack the meteorite!?”

Kaburagi affirmed it silently. It would be an unprecedented attempt. But, he had appraised the chances of success. It was like a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV), except with only one target, not multiple.

Also, it was not as if you could detach the ballistic part of the missiles and have only the warheads fall. In short, this meteorite compared to ballistic missiles is overwhelmingly enormous. With a huge target, it is easy to hit.

The possibility was 50/50.

“Preparation to launch ready!”

It was like a bet. It was a bet that one would dislike to take, but there are times in life when you have to bet.

“I approve… This launch!”

Kaburagi believed in the “Ibuki”. The “Ibuki” was built on the preconception of defense against ballistic missiles as the marine SDF’s first Aegis-cla.s.s destroyer. When suspicions concerning the “North”, to appease the international tensions around the world, the “Ibuki” was loaded to the brink with state-of-the-art tech. It is expected to be a shield to protect many people at the last moment.

(“Ibuki,” you are the last shield, even in this world…!)

In this parallel world. A

gainst this atrocity no one can fight against., The only thing that can stop such a thing is this single destroyer with the Aegis system prepared alone. He was brought back to his memory of when he first laid eyes on the “Ibuki”. It was at the naming ceremony prior to the ship’s launching.

“The ‘Ibuki’, huh?”

“We’ve got another safe name.”

“The name of a piece of sc.r.a.p that won’t ever fire even one shot…!”

(EN: … Someone just got burned.)

Those words were whispered around. The source of the name “Ibuki” is an old Imperial j.a.panese cruiser, the “Ibuki”. It was a ship which was only halfway done being built by the end of WW2, and it was never used in even one battle by the end of its use.

But, Kaburagi was happy to be able to ride such a ship. After all, it would be a very proud thing to have your ship not get into a single battle for the Self-Defense Force. He clung onto belief in this lump of iron which held no meaning as if it were a G.o.d.

“Fiiiire!”

(EN: FAAIIYAA!!!)

The weapons officer screamed. It was not just the vessel. The life of everything in this part of the world depended on this battle.

The VLS on the deck opened, and the standard missiles took off into the sky. There were ten missiles fired. They immediately surpa.s.sed the speed of sound barrier, and rose in the sky. To launch this many SM3s at the same time is not believable under normal circ.u.mstances. But, considering the target’s largeness and how st.u.r.dy it will be, even this many makes one fear of not being adequate.

“The launch of the SM3 is confirmed: it should reach the target in 200 seconds!”

“The first stage has been purged!”

The SM3 missiles have 3 stages. The first stage of being shot via the boosters, the second stage of cruising, and the third stage of a direct hit with the equipped kinetic warhead. Its range is approximately four hundred and fifty kilometers, and its limit for ascending range is approximately two hundred and fifty kilometers.

That is, it has the ability to reach s.p.a.ce.

(EN: (♥ ͜ʖ♥))

The radar screen on the “Ibuki” displayed the attacking missile and the meteorite. The distance between the two was gradually shrinking.

“Second stage, the rocket is cut off! The nose cone is released. It has activated its kinetic warhead!”

Thirty seconds before reaching the target, the second stage releases the nose cone and activates stage three. Crossing many kilometers per second, they moved to meet their target at frightening speeds, and they were sure to be able to hit their target as they were able to make fine adjustments in their courses with highly precise seekers that used infrared lasers.

At that point in time, thirty seconds.

That is, after thirty seconds, everything will be decided. In the well air-conditioned CIC, the crew members had sweat pouring on their foreheads and the napes of their necks due to being nervous.

“B-before the counter attack, 10 seconds…”

The wildly sighing member in charge of the attack reported. Already, on the screen, the target and the missiles were set to meet up neatly. Finally, they broke into the steps of the countdown.

“Five…four…three…two…standby…”

With his fist grasping onto the desk really tightly, Kaburagi closed his eyes forcefully. Their fate, no, the fate of thousands, tens of thousands, millions of people in this country would be determined in that second, and none of them can look up at the result. The scream of the crew member in charge of the firing reached their ears.

“——Mark, intercepted!”

Light shone in the sky.

(EN: Sayonara, ryuusei-chan!)