In orbit, close to Iō-tō…
"A cobalt bomb?!"
"Hai, Kikuchi-kaisa," Yasukawa Reina, a green-haired bioroid with blue-grey eyes who was one of Yamato's team of plank owners, said as she indicated the screen before her on the ship's bridge. "I recalibrated sensors to detect the trace elements of cobalt-60 that would mark the presence of such a device. There is a device, of the size and yield just signalled to us by Hiromi-sama, currently in Tomobiki."
Hearing that calm dissertation, Lieutenant-Commander Kikuchi Masayuki blinked before he shook his head. "My gods! Moroboshi-san was right about these Niphentaxians!"
"Can the bomb be beamed out of there and allowed to detonate in space?"
Eyes locked on Yamato's first proper Self-Defence Force captain, the former commander of JDS Mirai (as most of the current crew manning the starship were from that ship), Umezu Saburo. "I can't speculate, sir," Reina said as she shook her head.
"Why not?!" Masayuki demanded.
"Calm down, son," Saburo urged.
The combat officer jerked, and then he nodded. "My apologies, sir."
"Given that this weapon has been hidden, it is logical to assume there are safeguards present to ensure such a weapon could not be removed without assistance from those who planted the weapon there in the first place," Reina reported. "As you are well aware, Captain, Japan is prone to very strong earthquakes. If this device is meant to ensure compliance on Earth to allow the Church of Lum to have its way with the citizens of Tomobiki, having it accidentally go off when it was not required would be detrimental to their purposes."
Hearing that, the crew of JSDF personnel — mostly ex-Mirai crew with a small representation from both the Ground and Air Self-Defence Forces — on the bridge took in what was said, and then many of the people nodded in understanding. At that moment, Yoshino Tomomi perked, and then she looked up from her station. "Captain, signal from Colonel O'Neill of United States Stargate Command. Stargate Teams One and Twenty-one have boarded USS Arizona to bring the latter team to Japan to assist in the removal of the cobalt bomb. Also a signal from Canadian Specialised Warfare Regiment headquarters on Ellesmere Island. A CY-199 is deploying to Japan with members of the Explosives Ordnance Disposal Troop of 10th Defence Support Squadron to assist in the removal of the cobalt bomb. HMCS Haida is on standby to assist."
"Arigatō, Yoshino-san," Saburo said with a nod.
"How ironic."
Eyes locked on Yamato's executive officer, Commander Kadomatsu Yōsuke. "Still thinking about Kusaka, Yōsuke?" Masayuki asked.
"Do you blame me?" Yōsuke wondered in return.
Masayuki smirked as he shook his head. "What's bothering you?" Saburo asked.
"I'm just amazed at the irony of this whole situation, sir," Yōsuke stated. "Arizona. The battleship sunk at Pearl Harbour in the attack that launched the Greater East Asia War in earnest. Yamato. The battleship sunk near the end of that conflict. Haida. The destroyer that guarded many defenceless ships to ensure Britain couldn't be starved out by the Nazis during the European side of that war. Now their spiritual 'sons' are serving side-by-side on a force that Yamamoto-gensui, Nimitz-gensui or Nelles-chūjō could ever have begun to imagine."
A nod. "True. I have to applaud Hiromi-san for her forbearance when it comes to naming these ships," the Yamato's captain mused as he found himself glancing over at the uniform that had been worn by young Bachō Mōki when Moroboshi Hiromi had assigned her as the ship's temporary captain before the Self-Defence Forces came up to officially take the ship into commission as a unit of the Japanese Ministry of Defence, as Japanese Starship Yamato. Considering that, he hummed before gazing over at Tomomi, who currently manned the communications station. "Yoshino-san?"
The brown-haired bioroid looked over. "Hai?"
"This vessel can't land on the ocean, but she can operate in atmosphere, can she?"
A nod. "Hai, Captain. She was built to the same standard in that respect as most ships of the local galactic powers." She then considered something, and then added, "I should also note that we do possess a full signal flag and national ensign compliment aboard this ship, Captain. Hiromi-sama felt it was wise to prepare things that way in case the national governments chose to take direct possession of these ships in lieu of having an agency of the United Nations directly control them. The Naval Ensign can be flown from the mainmast of the ship when we're in atmosphere."
"Prepare it, please."
"Hai!"
As Tomomi left the bridge, Yōsuke gazed on his captain. "Sir…?"
"Just an idea I have," Saburo confessed.
The officers and men who had once served under him aboard Mirai found themselves grinning. How ironic that the man they always call Hiruandon would actually consider doing something like that! Yōsuke mused as he gazed out the front bridge windows at the beautiful curvature of Earth beyond Yamato's bow.
"Navigator."
The ship's navigation officer, Lieutenant-Commander Oguri Kōhei, tensed. "Sir?"
"Have Nakai-san set course for Tomobiki airspace. Do not execute the manoeuvre until the captain commands it," the executive officer ordered.
Kōhei tensed. "Sir!"
Yōsuke then looked to another station. "Air Defence Force Liaison?"
"Hai, Kadomatsu-kaisa?!" the liaison from the Japanese Air Self-Defence Forces, Major Haneda Miyuki (a former member of the all-girls "Airbats" 801st Tactical Training Squadron), said as she looked up from her own station.
"Inform ASDF Headquarters that we may need airspace over Tomobiki cleared out in case Yamato is required for close support in this operation."
A nod as Miyuki gave him a sharp salute. "Hai!"
"Major, we don't salute below-decks," Saburo reminded her.
The pretty pilot jerked, and then she blushed. "I'm sorry…"
The former crewmembers of Mirai chuckled on seeing her reddened cheeks. "Just remember that in the future, Major. And get that signal out," the captain said.
"Hai!"
A half-hour later, down in Tomobiki…
"I never knew ANY of this! I swear! They were all nice people…!"
"Oji-san."
The owner of the apartment block that had now attracted the attention of personnel from three nations blinked, and then turned as a gentle hand squeezed his shoulder. "Please calm down," Hiromi urged as she gave him a supportive smile. "We all were fooled by these people. So were the ones who have been living here since Onii-san drove Hensō off the planet last week. Don't blame yourself for what's happening!"
He took that in, and then he nodded, feeling a strange calmness fall over him as he felt himself relax on seeing her smile. "H-hai…"
"Excuse me, sir?"
He turned as a Canadian army captain wearing the gold beaver hat badge of the Canadian Military Engineers came up to him. "H-hai?" he replied, surprised that this young Westerner could speak Japanese so perfectly. "Is there something wrong, Taii-san?"
A sigh. "I'm sorry, sir, but given the nature of this device in your building, we'll have to ask you to get all your personal belongings out of here as quickly as possible," Captain Hugh MacDonald reported as he slipped off his beret and gave the older man an apologetic bow of his head. "From what we've discovered, we may have to rip out the whole building to get that device out of here and sent it into space."
"What are you talking about, Captain?"
Everyone turned as Jack O'Neill joined them. "From what Major Hale and Warrant Officer Mitchell discovered about the device, Colonel, there's no chance of dismantling the damned thing without setting it off," the Canadian engineer officer stated in English; Jack didn't speak Japanese but he had seen the look of shock cross the face of the apartment block owner when Hugh had dropped that bombshell on him.
Hiromi moved to translate the words to allow the older man to understand what was happening. Scowling on hearing that, Jack turned and marched into the apartment that had attracted all their attention, which was now ringed by soldiers of the Mendō Panzer Division (deployed here at the order of Mendō Tachiko despite the loud objections of her own brother) until such time as JGSDF troops could deploy and take over guarding this place. Heading into the basement, he then stopped on seeing the small crowd of Canadian engineers from the Specialised Warfare Regiment and American special weapons personnel that formed SG-21 around the bomb. "Talk to me, Riley!" he called out.
Riley Hale, a former B-2 stealth bomber pilot that had been headhunted to command Stargate Command's only special weapons disposal unit two years ago, breathed out as he walked over to join the commander of SG-1. "The thing is booby-trapped ten ways from Sunday, Colonel," the handsome major announced as he waved around the basement. "All the walls here are lined with motion sensors that are keyed to the bomb's triggering circuits. They're primed to go off if we try to move this damned thing out of here, much less move to dismantle it." He looked up. "Now, as far as Warrant Mitchell has found out, the sensors don't go above the main floor. So we MAY be able to save the upper floors of the apartment…" — it was a five-floor structure they were in — "…but it'll need a whole new foundation."
Jack took that in, and then he breathed out. "Easier to wreck the whole building and rebuild it from scratch, you mean."
"Yes, sir."
"Excuse me."
Both men turned as a rather heavily-scarred Yehisrite woman appearing to be in her thirties walked up to them. Like others of her race the members of Stargate Command had met, she was in full battle armour today. The scars, Jack was quick to note, had deprived the woman of her left eye, but she didn't wear some sort of patch over it. She also was missing several joints on the fingers of both her hands. "Yes?" the colonel asked.
A graceful bow. "Gizgihfna of Kyotos at your service, Lord Colonel O'Neill." She then straightened herself as she gave them a toothy smile, indicating she was missing some teeth as well, no doubt from the same wound that took the woman's eye. "My Prince has informed me that you're dealing with a Sky Burner here."
"Is that what you nickname these things?" Riley asked.
"Aye. Tell me what you've discovered of it, Lord Major."
The major beckoned the Yehisrite officer over to join the small crowd around the bomb. Staring at her, Jack smiled. While he had to admit that he was still getting used to the idea of women serving in the field and in the sky alongside men, he had to admire how easily both the Noukiites and the Yehisrites accepted the idea of women as being fighting equals with men. He then perked on hearing a materialiser beam, and then he turned before straightening himself and giving the just arrived Japanese officer a salute. "Captain Umezu," he said with a polite nod.
The salute was returned. "Colonel O'Neill," Saburo returned in accented English. He then waved down the personnel who had been examining the bomb. "We have a problem."
"Beyond this?" Jack asked as he waved to the bomb.
"Unfortunately so. Yamato's sensors have picked up six controlling nodes set out in a hexagonal pattern around this site." The captain pulled out a printout that had been made before he beamed down, pointing out the locations. "From what we can tell, these are extra motion sensor units set out to make sure that if something happens at this site, any one of them could trigger the bomb." A sigh. "We'll have to move ALL these sites, PLUS this building, out of here and get it away from Earth to make sure the damned thing doesn't go off anywhere in atmosphere."
"That is typical."
Both men turned as Gizgihfna stood. "You're familiar with these things?" Jack asked.
"Aye." The Yehisrite officer took the map and scanned it before she sneered. "Standard setup used by a half-dozen races in the Federation when it comes to preparing a self-destruct mechanism to ensure something doesn't fall into enemy hands. No doubt modified since your people experience earthquakes here, but it's easily defeated."
"Can it be dismantled?" Saburo asked.
"No. Our approach to dealing with this is to lift all elements of it at the same time into high orbit before detonating the Sky Burner that is the heart of this arrangement." She pointed to the map. "Of course, doing it at a high enough altitude allows an electromagnetic pulse to be used to disable what enemy weapons and sensory emplacements still remain once the Sky Burner is removed."
"We'll want to get it farther away than that, ma'am," the senior Canadian present, a bearded and moustached man with a warrant officer's crown on his uniform, advised.
A dismissive wave of the hand. "Easily done."
"But it can't be done by CY-199," Riley warned as the other people came up to join them. "They've got tractor beams on those planes, but they're built to be used to tow something in space. Atmosphere and mass are against us here, Colonel."
Jack hummed, and then he perked. "Just a moment." He then headed to the bottom of the stairs to yell up, "Carter!"
"Yes, sir?!" Sam called back.
"Get Hiromi down here! And if Kōgetsuei is out there, get him here, too!"
"Yes, sir!"
Saburo looked over, a smile crossing his face…
Two hours later…
"Colonel O'Neill?"
Jack looked over. "Report."
Hugh MacDonald saluted, which the American returned. "Just got the report from all the teams. All personal effects at all the target locations removed and in the clear."
A nod. "Thank you, Captain." He tapped the control on the iPad-like device Hiromi loaned him so he could communicate with people in orbit. "O'Neill to Yamato."
"Yamato, Kadomatsu here."
"Commander, we're all clear down here. Start the run."
"Acknowledged, Colonel. We'll be down in ten minutes."
In orbit…
"Take us down, Nakai-san."
"Hai," Nakai Mami, a lavender-haired, blue-eyed bioroid that was another of Yamato's original team of bioroids, said as she tapped controls on her main board. As the former Mirai crewmen — including Yōsuke, Kōhei and Masayuki — all watched, she added, "Coordinating movements with Arizona and Haida. Arrowhead formation, Yamato at point. Heat shields activated, descending the ships. Current altitude 1000 kilometres, descending a hundred kilometres per minute until contact with mesospheric boundary at 85000 metres above mean sea level. Ship will be levelled out at 5000 metres above mean sea level once past tropospheric boundary."
Yamato tipped her bow down as she began a slow descend northward away from Iō-tō, with the American and Canadian starships at her port and starboard quarters respectively, maintaining two kilometres distance. Soon enough, all three ships were engulfed in glowing spheres of energy as the heat shields made contact with the denser air of the mesosphere, the place over Earth where anything in orbit that isn't protected or didn't have enough mass within it would start to burn up. Far below, what few ships would be in the Pacific Ocean close to the Izu Islands leading up to the mainland of Honshū would see three large balls of light come down at a stately pace, clearly indicating they were artificial constructs and not the large type of meteorites that had helped kill off the dinosaurs sixty-five million years ago.
By the time the descent was complete, the formation of three starships were soaring past Izu-Ōshima into the Sagami Sea, now clear of any need for heat shields and quite visible to anyone on the ground or in the air nearby as the atmosphere was CAVU. By then, the naval ensigns of all three ships — the Rising Sun Flag on Yamato, the Stars and Stripes on Arizona and the Maple Leaf Flag on Haida — had been hoisted on the stylized mainmasts of the ships, clearly identifying which nations owned the ships despite the current light blue colouring of their hulls.
And the names would be quite visible to anyone with a good set of eyes or binoculars.
And if they were at the right vantage points, of course.
"Wow!" Sam breathed out.
"Indeed," Teal'c said, nodding in approval.
As the crowd on the front lawn of Tomobiki High School watched, Yamato — which, despite her being well over four kilometres above the ground level here, still loomed quite large in the early evening sky overhead — came to a stop right over the school. As Arizona and Haida moved into place, Kōgetsuei — who was standing next to Hiromi — tapped controls on his iPad. "All programs in place, ready to execute the tractor manoeuvre at any time," he announced.
"Do it now," Jack ordered.
"Yes, sir!"
A control was tapped. A second later, blue beams of energy lanced down from the underside of all three ships to touch the ground, instantly making contact with all the buildings everyone had been after. Without any visible sign on the starships, the buildings were effortlessly yanked from the ground and lifted into the air, all rising at the very same time and speed to get clear of their surroundings. "All target buildings now clear of the ground," Kōgetsuei said. "All ships now rising into orbit. Mami-san, make sure you get past the magnetosphere before you let them go!"
"Acknowledged, Tsukihana-sama," the bioroid replied from Yamato.
"Make sure you're protecting yourselves up there!" Jack advised.
"We're prepared, Colonel," Kadomatsu Yōsuke replied.
The ships then elevated themselves high in the sky, carrying their deadly cargo with them as they vanished into points of light high above Earth…
"Distance from Earth now 1,000 kilometres," Mami announced. "Engaging horizontal flight on plane of ship's centreline, ahead full sub-light speed."
The crew on Yamato's bridge watched as all three ships seemed to soar away at an angle away from the plane of Earth's orbit into space. "How far do we have to go?" Yōsuke asked as he watched the tactical progress on a screen above the main viewports.
"At current location in comparison to Sol's location, a safe detonation distance will be anywhere past 80,000 kilometres beyond the nearest point on Earth," Tomomi replied.
"Estimated time of safe release point of cargo: two minutes," Mami announced.
"Can we shield ourselves now?" the former medical officer of Mirai, Lieutenant Momoi Sachiko, then asked. "Cobalt radiation would be much worse than…"
"Not while we are using tractor beams, Sachiko-sama," Sasamoto Narumi, who had accompanied Sachiko to the bridge, warned. "However, given that there is next to nothing that would deflect the movement of any elements of our current cargo, we will have enough time to raise shields before the bomb detonates."
"Or we detonate it ahead of time," Kikuchi Masayuki stated.
"Agreed," Umezu Saburo said. "Prepare forward keel main turret to fire on target once release point is reached and the cargo is let go."
At the main weapons station, one of Mirai's former crew, Chief Petty Officer Yanagi Isshin, nodded as he tapped controls. "Power dynamo to Main Turret C coming on-line. Dynamo will be fully charged in thirty seconds."
"Do not fire until ordered, Chief," Masayuki warned.
The older seaman nodded. "Aye, sir!"
"Distance from Earth now 50,000 kilometres," Mami announced.
"Stand by to raise shields!" Yōsuke ordered.
"Shield dynamos at full power, standing by to activate," Yoshino Tomomi acknowledged.
"Distance from Earth now 60,000 kilometres, approaching magnetopause."
"Prepare to release tractor beams," Yōsuke ordered.
Tomomi placed her finger on the touch-screen before her, though no pressure had been applied. "Tractor beams ready to release cargo."
"Distance from Earth now 70,000 kilometres, passing into the magnetopause."
"Standby!"
To the surprise of those people who had only boarded Yamato earlier that day, there was no movement on the ship as she passed through the barrier that protected Earth from the full power of the solar wind emerging from the distant Sun. "Slight increase in external radiation levels, Combat Officer," one of the petty officers manning a sensory station reported. "Ship's navigational shields are holding."
"We have passed through the magnetopause. Solar wind bearing off the port bow, particle speed approximately 140 kilometres per second," Mami announced.
"Will that affect the release of the cargo?" Masayuki asked.
Mami tapped controls on her board, and then she shook her head. "Negative."
"Release tractor beams!" Yōsuke ordered. "Shields up! Stop the ships!"
"Tractor beams released," Tomomi replied.
"All forward motion ceased," Mami added.
"Defence shields up and at full strength!" a chief petty officer manning that station called out. "Cargo is well clear of the shields."
"Cargo proceeding ahead at full impulse speed," Yasukawa Reina then announced from the main sensory station. "Range 20,000 kilometres, mark. No deviation from course by any components of the cargo. Now past safe detonation range even with shields up."
"Chief, lock on target!" Masayuki ordered.
"Safeties off, Main Turret C fully charged and ready!" Isshin said.
"Shoot!"
"Turret C firing!"
There was no noise aboard Yamato as three spiralling bolts of energy leapt out from under the bow to race into the near-empty space ahead of them. A second later, a bright burst of energy exploded well away from the starship's bow. Again, there was no noise, much less movement, as the shockwave of the cobalt blast washed harmlessly past Yamato, Arizona and Haida. Finally, the glow faded and everything returned to what it was. Or at least as could be seen by human eye.
"Target destroyed," Reina announced. "Elements of the resulting debris field are no larger than specks of dust. There is no threat to Earth or us."
Silence remained for a moment, and then people let out the air from their lungs, many surprised that they had held their breaths when the guns were fired. "Damn!" Yōsuke finally said. "If it only can be that simple in the future."
"We can't count on that, Commander," Saburo warned, and then he stood from his chair. "Release Haida and Arizona to their own manoeuvres. Nakai-kashichō?"
Mami blinked as she looked back, confusion on her face. "Sir?"
The others on the bridge were also surprised to hear Saburo address the lavender-haired bioroid with the rank of leading seaman. "Navigate the ship back to our patrol station in orbit over Earth," the captain ordered. "Once we're back, we'll get in contact with the Yokosuka District quartermaster's office to get you girls proper uniforms and all the other kit you need. Not just you and the others Hiromi-san initially assigned to this ship, but the other ladies Shikuko-san helped rescue a couple of days ago." He then glanced at Yōsuke. "See to it all of them are properly outfitted, Commander."
Yōsuke bowed. "Hai!"
Mami nodded. "Returning to currently-assigned patrol station, sir."
Everyone on the bridge smiled as we now…
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