It was 11:45 AM, fifteen minutes before the operation was to begin. Nearly all forces the alliance and Empire had were assembled in Mid-Blue airspace near Aohime Island. Preparations for the operation were nearly complete. The “mirror” was set up, and the Nürburg, with Tooka on board, was in position.
The flagship Kuou was surrounded by an intimidating number of motherships. From there, the fleet commander Admiral Shirota addressed all assembled. He was a grizzled veteran. His hair was turning white, but years in the field had kept him in prime physical shape with no signs of deterioration. The conscience of high command, he’d furiously argued both publicly and privately against the decision to send the Student Echelon alone into the pseudo-Gate last time. He was the kind of macho grandpa who’d earned the trust of his wife, HQ, and the fiercest Air Force Cavalleria.
“The goal of this operation is to send the Nürburg to the Jave’s world and destroy their solar system. The fate of the Empire and the human race will be decided here!” Shirota said.
Tooka and the mechanics had barely slept the last week getting things ready. As a result, they’d finished in time for the operation—the product of sheer desperation. All that remained were the final checks, and those would be completed in the next fifteen minutes, at which point they’d open another pseudo-Gate.
Kuon was waiting in the storage bay of a mobile mothership at 30,000 meters, along with Hanabi and her Kiryu. Hanabi only managed to deploy her Maneuver after a military doctor had given her some simple hypnosis and a few drugs to calm her down. Before that, she had been unable to use a DM at all.
Fuji joined them, his Division Maneuver already active. Surprised, Kuon asked, “You’re good already, Squad Leader?”
After his fiancée’s death, Fuji went on leave until right before the operation. He’d gone to visit Nao’s family for the wake. “Yeah, sorry, Okegawa-kun. The time for grieving’s over. Now it’s time to avenge Nao and the others.”
Fuji looked just like he always did, so Kuon nodded. “Yeah. Let’s win this thing.”
Hanabi was already docked with the Kiryu, so she popped open a window. “You came, Fuji-kun?”
She sounded cold, and Fuji picked up on it immediately. “Sorry I’ve troubled you. And thanks.”
“That goes for all of us. Don’t worry about it.” Then she whispered, “Either way, it ends today.”
The Fuji Squad and the majority of the other squads were deployed on the far side of the mirror. When the Nürburg opened the Gate and the enemy came flooding out, they’d be ready for them. They’d laid traps for them. A terrifying number of hover mines were scattered everywhere, enough to darken the sky. When the pseudo-Gate opened, the enemies would charge headlong into that minefield. The ensuing fireworks would be the signal for the Fuji Squad’s Kiryu to drop a bomb from above, buying time for the Nürburg to enter the pseudo-Gate. It would then open a door on the other side and enter the Jave world. Tooka would eject, the Nürburg would blow itself up, and the Jave solar system would collapse into a magical black hole.
That was command’s plan, anyway.
But the best laid plans often go awry, especially when those plans have the fate of the human race at stake.
Admiral Shirota’s speech was still in progress. “May you all fight well,” he said.
And then the sky split open.
“Multiple Heavy Magic Reactions near the Pseudo-Gate!”
“What?! The operation hasn’t begun!”
“These are…enemy Gates! Four…no, five! Five Gates!”
“Jesus!”
“The Gates are opening!”
Black fields appeared above and around the mirror. Crackling, sparks flying, five Jave Gates yawned open.
Manta came flying out in the opposite direction from the last fight, headed right towards the Nürburg. In other words, the minefield was useless, and the troops were positioned in the worst possible place.
Admirable Shirota was flooded with reports from his staff.
“They’ve avoided the minefield!”
“Enemy mantas swarming the Nürburg!”
“Commence operation!” Shirota yelled. “Get that pseudo-Gate open!”
“But the final checks…”
“Forget them! They’ll destroy the Nürburg! We’ll be too late!”
“Roger that!”
A moment later, dozens of mantas penetrated the Heavy Magic Field surrounding the Nürburg.
The operation had begun.
The Air Force units began attacking the Jave clustered on the far side of the pseudo-Gate. The attackers dove in, the snipers backed them up, and the enemy didn’t budge. After all, there were five Gates with five times the number of enemies in most battles. And if there were Gates…
“Enemy Queens! Five of them!”
“Damn it, they’re already arriving?!”
Queens to the side of the Nürburg were slowly emerging from the five black moons around the pseudo-Gate. Cavalleria fighting the manta nearby were quickly snagged by their tentacles and hurled into countless mouths, eaten alive in passing.
“Arghhhhh!”
“No, noooo!”
“Damn iiiiit!”
Cavalleria screams echoed. In their midst, the Queens’ conical bodies turned towards the sky, gathering light.
“Evasive actions!” Admiral Shirota yelled. “All ships, move to—”
Bam bam bam bam bam! Five massive white lights flashed. The mobile motherships ringing the Kuou exploded one after the other, going up in flames, and a number of them fell to the ocean below. Half the forty ships in the fleet were lost in an instant, and the Queens were charging another round.
“Second barrage, incoming!”
“Don’t let them fire!”
“Too late, interference can’t make it in time!”
The lights grew larger. Then…
“Roger, counterattacking.”
Two even larger bullets swallowed up one of the Queens, detonating it. Those bullets were High Nova Launcher shots, which meant…
“The Kiryu! You made it in time!”
It took time to get the Heavy Magic Engine for their newest weapon running, and the battle had started unexpectedly, so the Kiryu had only just dropped down. It fired another round before the Queens could react.
“Twin Nova Launcher, firing,” the Bushi Hime whispered calmly. As she did, two bullets fired at once. The targeted Queen tried to flee to the side but wasn’t fast enough. A direct hit vaporized her. The two bullets didn’t overlap but left a gap between them, preventing the enemy’s escape.
The three remaining Queens fired back, but the Kiryu made no attempt to dodge, flying straight at their bullets and meeting them head on. With the Heavy Magic Field at maximum output, the enemy bullets easily slid off it, and the Kiryu’s twin heads opened, howling.
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee…!
A Queen howled as it was bathed in light bullets, dissolving as the Kiryu swooped by. The two-headed dragon flew between the pseudo-Gate and the ocean surface, turned 180 degrees, and targeted the two remaining Queens.