Farewell. For the sake of humanity's victory.

Farewell. For the sake of humanity's victory.

The Combined Fleet of the Imperial Space Forces of the Solar System anchored in the United Fleet anchorage adjacent to the massive structure of an orbital elevator in geostationary satellite orbit 36,000 kilometers above the Earth. The command center of the flagship Yamato. In the command room of the flagship Yamato, Chief of Staff Kodama is talking to Commander-in-Chief Yamada, who is sitting in the Commander-in-Chief's seat.

"Sir, I believe that Fleet is approaching within enemy reconnaissance range."

"Yes, they have endured well for twelve years. Now, let's get to work so that they can complete their mission safely."

”All raiding fleets, execute mission as planned."

　Under the commander-in-chief's orders, the 10,000 small combat ships of the raiding fleet began to accelerate toward the three-kilometer diameter gate while the gate blockade fleet watched.

On each of the ships in the gate blockade fleet, the captain and crew saluted toward the glimmering lights that indicated the individual ships of the raiding fleet that were slightly visible.

The gate is a donut-shaped structure made of rings that are unanalyzable by current science. The inside of the ring is visible with a faint reddish tint, but that is all, and we cannot peer beyond the gate, which is tens of light years away.

At the request of the crews of the raiding fleets, the small combat ships have been modified to accelerate and not decelerate as long as their propellants last. The small combat ships will enter the gate in ten waves of one thousand combat ships each. One command ship, a converted light cruiser, will follow to command each of the 1000 small combat ships.

"Chief of Staff Kodama, is the probability of survival of the raiding fleet still less than 0.1%?　I'm still wondering if we couldn't have done something about manned raids, even if it was to increase the results of the war."

"They are all volunteers. They don't want to come back alive. Their mission is to plunge into the enemy minefield and destroy as many mines as possible. The thinner the minefield, the more the enemy fleet will be forced to stick to the gates, so they will be able to restrain a large number of enemy ships. The neutron beam that is generated when a ship is destroyed is also very powerful, so let's hope that the destruction of the minefield will be greatly advanced."

"That's why they took off the armor and increased the warhead's power, right?"

......

"Sir, we've just lost signals from all ships in the raiding fleet."

In a voice with less inflection than usual, Chief of Staff Kodama reported to Commander-in-Chief Yamada, who was meditating in the director's seat.

The number of remaining ships was also displayed on the monitor in front of Commander Yamada, showing zero.

"Not even one ship survived."

"It can't be helped. The expected survival rate is only a figure derived from the results of the simulation."

In fact, at the request of the volunteers, the small combat ships in the raiding fleet had been modified so that they could continue to accelerate and not decelerate as long as their propellants lasted. Chief of Staff Kodama himself had been told of this and knew that not a single ship would survive. Kodama's only daughter also volunteered for the mission and is the captain of the command ship. Commander-in-Chief Yamada was not informed of either of these facts.

"Four men per ship, 40,000 gone"

According to the information from the surveillance drones, we have been able to hold the enemy fleet thanks to their noble and heroic sacrifice.

The year is 2312 AD. A donut-shaped structure with a diameter of three kilometers was discovered beyond the orbit of Uranus. It was confirmed that similar structures existed in other star systems, and that they could be accessed by passing through the holes in the donut. The donut-shaped structure eventually came to be called a hyperspace gate, or simply Gate.

The discovery of pairs of gates connecting star systems led to a boom in the discovery of gates, eventually leading to the discovery of a total of four gates in the solar system, connecting four new stellar systems to the solar system.

The fourth gate, the last one discovered, was inhabited by a creature that looked very similar to a human being, and whose level of technology was somehow on par with the level of technology in the solar system.

After that, there was some interaction between humans and the creature, but an unfortunate accident and a mutual misunderstanding led to the beginning of a war that has continued to this day.

In the early stages of the war, the Earth was overrun by an enemy descent force that had evaded the defenses at the cost of its own ships, killing billions of humans and devastating many regions before the enemy could be eliminated.

And the human race vowed to retaliate. The war of extinction had begun.

The enemy, which had lost most of its spacecraft in the early days of the war, was unable to continue its aggressive offensive, and the Earth was rebuilt and consolidated with Japan, the only advanced nation that escaped being overrun, and the Empire of the Solar System was soon established.

For the past few decades, the enemy minefields have been waiting beyond the fourth gate, and beyond that, there are multiple space fortresses and countless battle ships. Of course, the Empire of the Solar System has blocked the gate on our side as well, so the war is at a standstill.

The secret name, "Fleet".

It was twelve years ago that a fleet of twelve large cruisers and four high-speed transports, named only as Fleet, left the solar system. After entering the first gate and passing through it several times, Fleet gated out to a star system near the main enemy system. From there, they had spent twelve years accelerating under normal navigation to approach the enemy's main star system. All four of the high-speed transports have already left Fleet and are on their way back to the solar system.

"There's no way the enemy fleet gathered near the gate location will be able to intercept our fleet approaching the enemy's main planet. I'm sorry to keep asking you this, but what is the final entry speed of the fleet?"

"I've heard that it's up to 30% of the speed of light. At that speed, it will be nearly impossible for fixed batteries such as defense satellites to intercept them. It'll be a while."

"Sir, we have a hyperspace transmission from Fleet. It reads, 'Tora, Tora, Tora.'"

"Got it. Please send a message back saying that we expect successful results.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

"Commander, we've completed our final course adjustment and our propellant level has just dropped to zero. There appears to be no intercept by the enemy fleet."

"Transmit to Combined Fleet Command, 'Tora, Tora, Tora'."

　.......

"Incoming hyperspace transmission from Combined Fleet Command: 'We expect successful results. In an accompanying transmission, all members of Fleet have been notified that they will be promoted to the second rank as of today.

"I see. Please let everyone in the fleet know. Captain Yamada（・・・・・・）, thank you for all your hard work. By the way, you're a Lieutenant Commander, aren't you? Hahaha. Everyone else, make yourselves at home for the short time before we go in."

"Please transmit to Combined Fleet Command for the last time. "Farewell. For the sake of humanity's victory, Fleet will now enter the enemy capital planet."

"Yamada, I have a bottle of good whiskey, but it's the last one. I forced myself to buy it before we sailed, would you like to join me?"

" Commander, no, Admiral, I'll take it."

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

"A message from Fleet, 'Farewell. For the sake of humanity's victory, Fleet will now enter the enemy capital planet.'"

"Thank you, Kodama, for everything you've done for me. I'm going to go to the raiding fleet and Fleet first. My son will be waiting for me."

"My condolences on the loss of your son. Thank you for your long favor, Mr. C-in-C. I'll be by your side as soon as I've finished the rest of my duties."

[afterword]

'Tora Tora Tora' is the cryptic abbreviation for the telegraph that told the Japanese that the attack on Pearl Harbor, the beginning of the Pacific War, would be launched by surprise.

It means "We have succeeded in our surprise attack.' by Wikipedia

２０２１年１２月３０日。

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