The Aegis cla.s.s Destroyer “Ibuki” raised its speed. As it moved away from the fleet and drew closer to the Imperial Capital Seiroad. This was for the purpose of protecting the ground forces already in a painful battle. Essentially, the Aegis destroyer’s greatest advantage was the ability to be out of range of all the enemies’ attacks, yet still be able to attack them with missiles, that was the ability to out-range the enemy.

It shouldn’t have been necessary to move close enough to see the city with the naked eye. However, Kaburagi ventured to go so close. Historically, the marines have wanted to see nearby nations fromaboard the vessel  fairly often.

This time, it isn’t fully dedicated for planning the tactics, . At the same time, it could raise the possibility of putting themselves in danger, but having  the land force members in danger was something that the main force commander would not accept. Kaburagi was deep in the ship in the CIC. (*CIC : Combat Information Center / under the British system AIC (Action Information Centre))

Without windows, the dimly lit room was filled with operations specialists glaring at the radar screen so as to not overlook even the smallest mistake. 

“Carefully watch out for any aircraft.”

Kaburagi instructed, and they replied greatly.

“Roger. We will carefully watch for any aircraft.”

Kaburagi stared at the radar screen when, all at once, the luminous points increased. He quickly understood that it was the “enemy” flying.

“Commander Kaburagi, it is confirmed to be aircraft from an unknown nation!, enemy targets are about 50 aircraft!”

“…It’s not the aircraft, it was an animals.”

Kaburagi made a cynical face…was what happened. Though there was ample time so the subordinates to be able to rest a.s.sured, many were still stiff with the tension of the situation. But, that couldn’t be helped. Yes, this was the first “real war” for the SDF.

“The targets are heading straight to this ship, and are getting closer! The closest target is about 6 miles away!”

“Commander, please relay to us your instructions!”

The weapons officer that controls the use of weapons asked Kaburagi for instructions. For the Aegis Destroyer’s full range of battle distance, they were relatively close. There was not even a hesitation. Kaburagi commanded the weapons officer.

“Prepare for an anti-aircraft battle!”

The weapons officer yelled to the subordinates. 

“Pre~pare for an air~craft ba~ttle!”

It is tradition from the era of the old j.a.panese marine military to give commands to start battle preparations with a weird p.r.o.nunciation in the CIC. It is a behavior deeply engraved in the person which one gets used to through practice. Concurrently, the arrangement order alarm rang throughout, and reverberated throughout the warship.

Those riding on the warship were at their posts and put on their helmets and Kapok life jackets. And, every door, and  wall hatches were all closed. These were the measures for the chance that the ship would take damage and some flooding would occur, there would be a sort of block to keep the flooding to a minimum. Kaburagi did just as the training went, and rapidly readied the positions for battle. His subordinates did their best. So, as the commander, he also must do his best. 

“Watch our battle power. We’ll do the attack on half auto mode. With the loss of the enemy target group’s battle power as an objective, intercept. Shoot down all the enemies coming our way!”

The crew was astir. The head of the weapons officers, without thinking about the normally good-natured Kaburagi’s words, the orders to attack, which could be called excessive, reached his ears. 

“The enemy is serious. If we aren’t serious as well, there will be no meaning to it.”

Kaburagi said, as though to persuade. Thinking about the enemy’s true purpose in his head, in conjunction with what is known as far as Katou’s report goes, the light-hearted battle became dangerous, one could think. Looking at the earlier radar screen, one could see all the enemy’s flying battle power heading their way.

In other words, the enemy’s commander was trying to sink the crew with all of its power. It was hard to think halfway-there that the has occurred. This was a battlefield, and the enemy is calmly invading a foreign nation, going as far as to ma.s.sacre in doing such; this is a real military troop.

Secretly, Kaburagi fell to self-derision. Against such a real military troop, how far would a “peaceful military” troop go?

“Commander Kaburagi…we have finished the preparation. We can beat down all the approaching ‘flying enemies’!”

The weapons officer confirmed that Kaburagi was not unsure of his orders, as Kaburagi made an expression of decided resolution and ordered his subordinates.

“Main armament and short-range missiles, stand by!”

At the same time, the Aegis system’s computer with the ability to detect, capture, and intercept  over 200 targets started to calculate the coming enemies’ distances and speed to determine their threat levels and see which took priority.