Chapter 5

After the weeks-long vacation from work Hiro was eager to arrive at Kuniumi to start the next chapter in his life. Ship travel was not to his liking, despite the opportunity to spend time with so many colleagues he had previously been apart from. During FTL travel everyone was cut off from everything outside the ship, from the colony, from the other ships, and from what had been transpiring in the Confederacy. One existed in a bubble of ignorance, and that was disquieting to Hiro.

When the ship finally emerged from FTL and started on its approach to Kuniumi, Hiro was more than ready. He was hoping to see a lush world reminiscent of his homeland, filled with forests and fields and rivers teeming with beautiful fish. There hadn’t been much information available about his destination before, so this was his first chance to learn what his new home would be like.

It was disappointing to say the least.

Kuniumi was quite a barren world with little vegetation and an atmosphere that certainly wouldn’t permit pine forests and beautiful rice paddies. The atmosphere was barely adequate for humans and would require a breathing apparatus for anyone venturing outside until the atmospheric production plants had made the needed alterations to the planet’s environment. It was hot, humid, and lifeless for the most part with only a small amount of native flora.

Yet it could be made better, and the colonists were diligently working on that so it could be made into a suitable home. Much of the limited native wildlife would not survive the changes, but if anyone had any affection for the unattractive blue stalks that formed the near entirety of native plant life, Hiro would be surprised. This world would be thoroughly terraformed, its climate altered, and made suitable for the colonists. Within his lifetime perhaps there would be forests and pastures, fields and meadows, and it would eventually become a respectable place in the galaxy.

As the most senior sponsor on his ship, Hiro was transported down to the surface to meet with the colonial governor prior to the arrival of the pods disembarking from the ship. He donned his business suit, his sole remaining item of earth manufacture, and stepped onto the transporter pad.

“Yakazuki-san, it is an honor to finally meet you. I have heard many great things about your considerable accomplishments,” Akihito Shinno said warmly.

Hiro recognized the Imperial Crown Prince immediately. “Kotaishi denka!“ Hiro exclaimed and bowed deeply. “I had believed you might be among us, but I am filled with joy to see you here. Am I to hope that you are the colonial governor?”

“That is the title of the Confederacy. The people here have a more traditional one. They have chosen to call me tenno heika.“

His Imperial Majesty. The Emperor of a new Japan. Hiro had to take a moment to consider this news.

“That is most gratifying to hear, your imperial majesty. How may I be of service to the new Empire?”

Akihito smiled. “Your continued dedication brings you great honor. First, we must bring these new colonists down and make them a part of our settlement here, but I shall leave that task to others. What I will need from you is to continue your work to build a fleet which may protect us all and will bring us more of our people from Earth. I would have you lead our Imperial Navy and advise me on military affairs so that we make wise decisions here.”

Hiro was quite stunned, but to refuse would be disgraceful. “Of course, your imperial highness, it would be a great honor to serve you in such an important role.”

“We will do away with the Confederacy way of ranks and titles here, and that gives me great flexibility to assign the people I believe the wisest and most honorable to the positions where they may contribute the most. I understand you have the rank of Colonel in the Confederacy, but I believe the rank of Kaigun-taisho is more suited to your responsibilities here.”

Hiro reeled at the idea that he was not only going to lead the Imperial Japanese Navy, but he would do so as an Admiral. In just a few short weeks he had gone from being an unappreciated engineering manager to becoming the one in charge of a whole navy. A very small one, though. The Imperial Japanese Navy consisted of only the three untested ships that had arrived in the convoy.

“It is of course a great honor, your imperial majesty. How did this all come to pass, if I may ask?”

“Of course. I was not the choice of the AI to lead this world, but all those selected by the AI refused the position, deferring to me. My CAP score apparently suffered due to a lack of what it calls ‘aggressiveness’, yet there was consensus among the people that they wished to have me entrusted with this responsibility. I sought their counsel as to what they wished from me, and it was clear that their wishes were to restore the Empire and save our people. So that is what we shall do here.”

“A noble goal, certainly. What is the status of the colony?”

“We are still at the beginning of building a settlement which shall be called Edo. It is still rather primitive, but we are focusing on building the infrastructure for sustaining our population and for future industrial production rather than making ourselves comfortable. An orbital station is currently under construction, which will be of most importance to you. Oh, and you must meet with your direct superior, the Chief of Staff. I believe you know of Chuichi Yushida?”

Hiro smiled broadly. “Yes, your imperial majesty, I know Yushida-sama quite well. We have worked together for many years.”

Akihito smiled. “Yes, of course. The efforts of the two of you made all of this possible. Were it not for your hard work our people would not have been brought across the celestial river to this new home.”

Hiro understood by this that the Emperor must have been working with Chuichi back on Earth, and that the message he had been given on that day when he was picked up had originated with the royal family. He had diligently attempted to follow those instructions, seeing the wisdom of them, even if not understanding their origin.

When Hiro’s pod was finally connected to the colony he went to see Chuichi, who was still working out of an office in his residential pod, as construction of a headquarters building for the Imperial Defense Command had been deferred. Now-General Yushida had four personnel under his command - two aides, a secretary, and now Hiro.

“Yushida-sama, I am so bewildered by all this I feel like I have been tricked by a fox! So much responsibility has been given to me. I hardly know where to begin my work!” Hiro exclaimed.

“Yakazuki-san, do not be troubled. We have time before the orbital shipyard is ready and construction materials can be brought to it. You have three ships, and all that must be done now is to make them ready. The enemy is not near and there is no sign they have ever been here, so we have time.”

“Yet I seem to have two important goals, and am trying to catch two hares at the same time. I must build colony ships and pods to bring more here, and I must also build a navy to defend us. If I do too much of one, I will fail at the other.”

“That is the challenge for us all. We must build a colony and our industrial capacity, we must develop our military and our workforce. Everything all of us do must be balanced between competing needs, all of which are urgent. These are difficult times, but we have great people to help us and we are not harmed by infighting and politics, at least not yet.”

“This is not so different than being at Mitsubishi, where we had to make many choices and balance resources carefully. You were successful there, and you shall succeed here.”

“You have wise words, my trusted friend,” Hiro relented. “I find it of great comfort to be working with you on this.”

“It is always good to work with friends, and that shall make our work a joy,” he responded.

Hiro met individually with his officers later on and worked out with each what their responsibilities would be. The Shimakaze would be officially commissioned with Michael Bugyo as Captain, and Tim Akira as his executive officer. Michael’s rank would be changed to kaigun-daisa (Captain) and Tim would be a kaigun-chusa, or Commander. Neither were concerned in the least that those ranks might represent a demotion from Confederacy “Major,” since these ranks represented real authority and responsibility, rather than being somewhat meaningless Confederacy staff ranks.

Kinpei Yamaguchi and Kajuki Shima would remain as the captains of the two Patrician-class corvettes, and their ranks would be Lieutenant Commander, or kaigun-shosa. They also felt the Confederacy ranks they’d held before to be meaningless, and considered these new ones to be promotions, representing real trust and authority. Newly minted kaigun-shosho, or Rear Admiral, Tomozo Onishi would act as Chief of Naval Operations, a daunting task that would put him in charge of ship construction, crew training, and operations. Without a logistics officer in place, that would fall under him as well. As soon as headquarters facilities were available, assembling his staff and working spaces would be the highest priority.

Perhaps a minor issue, but one of importance to the captains of the Patricians, were their names. Having the IJN manning vessels named after American resort locations was an annoyance to the men. It was decided that they would be re-christened as the “Akao” and “Seragaki,” after suitable Japanese locations. Even simply trying to pronounce the word “Ozark” for the Japanese crew had been maddening.

After those individual meetings, they all got together to discuss urgent needs and priorities. They needed construction facilities the most, both to make colony transport ships and naval vessels. The transport ships were the most urgent, as the Sa’arm were expected to start threatening the Japanese people on Earth at any time. A portion of that construction capacity would be dedicated to building a fleet of destroyers and scouting ships, so the IJN could start lending a hand at slowing down the Sa’arm and push that danger as far into the future as possible.

There was considerable discussion about whether the IJN should focus on preventing such a catastrophe from happening in the first place, but that was the role of CENTCOM. Japan just couldn’t dance in and take their job away from them, and CENTCOM had vastly greater resources than the IJN would likely be able to establish anytime soon, even if all their efforts were dedicated to military construction. If they handed military resources over to CENTCOM, it wasn’t likely they’d be much appreciated based on their experience.

Instead, their military efforts would be directed towards identified Sa’arm occupied worlds that weren’t under Confederacy interdiction efforts. The IJN would independently conduct hit-and-run attacks there, hopefully taking pressure off the rest of the Confederacy’s fleets. It would be a valuable contribution, but one generally outside of the Confederacy’s knowledge or control. They wouldn’t try to hide what they were doing, but they wouldn’t be asking for permission to do it or request any assistance from the rest of the Confederacy when doing so.

Still, some degree of coordination would be needed. Logistics from Mitsubishi’s moonbase would have to be brought to the colony, which would require a dedicated IJN cargo vessel to run back and forth. The colony transports would be going back and forth, and there was certainly the likelihood that IJN combat ships would encounter other Confederacy vessels. They at least shouldn’t be mistaken as possible enemy ships.

Hiro left that meeting with an issue that must be resolved by persons in higher authority than himself. At some point the Japanese Empire was going to have to negotiate its status within the Confederacy, before many of these activities began. Secrecy was not going to protect Japan’s interests much longer.

That evening at dinner, Nomi started filling in Hiro about what she’d learned of the colony.

“Anata, have you heard what they are doing with all the extra women?”

“No, I hadn’t even wondered about that with all my work.”

“They are making geisha houses for them.”

“What, are all the men going to watch traditional dance for their entertainment?” Hiro responded doubtfully.

“No, they are making them like the pleasure quarters of the old times but are doing so in a more modern way. Very few will be wearing traditional makeup. It is for the men to spend time with more women so perhaps they can have more children, but more honorable like a true geisha than a lowly place of prostitution.”

Hiro grunted noncommittally. This was of no importance to him...

“I hope you do not feel the urge to visit them, dear husband.”

“No, I do not. I shall certainly have too much work to waste on such frivolous things. Besides, my bed is never lonely.”

“No, it never shall be, my husband, but you must retire to it earlier. You stay up too late and are often gone when I awake. I am concerned that you work too hard, and have troubled sleep.”

“That cannot be helped, my wife. I have many responsibilities. They weigh on me.”

“Please, tonight, do not make me wait for you. I shall do my best to heal your troubled spirit and let you have a sound sleep.”

“I would like that very much, my wife. I feel I am always tired these days.”

That evening, Hiro and Nomi conceived their third child. This time it would be a girl.

Hiro looked at the industrial production reports in his study after dinner with deep concern. The effort to obtain the raw materials necessary for the completion of the orbital shipyard was falling behind schedule. Survey teams were scouring the planet looking for deposits of important minerals, but the planet wasn’t very helpful in making them easy to find or exploit. Unless they could find potential mines for molybdenum and tungsten, critical metal alloys needed could not be made, and without them some of the station components would have to either be redesigned to use different materials, or the colony would have to start looking elsewhere in the system.

Engineers were trying both avenues to solve the problem, but it was uncertain when or even if they would succeed.

Other strategic material issues were going to cause problems when it came to ship construction. Several “rare earth” metals were in short supply, as was chromium and manganese. Instead of trying to manage production schedules, Hiro was watching an effort for prospecting and mining fail to deliver what he needed simply in order to begin. It seemed like a colony needed to have years of mineral exploration work before it would be wise to start development, but the survey done on this planet hadn’t done much more than verify the presence of several key minerals such as iron and copper, and extrapolate that if those were available, the other important materials would be as well.

Kuniumi might have to depend on trade for needed critical materials. That seemed familiar to those coming from a nation that had to rely almost entirely on foreign sources of oil, and many raw materials. Even with an entire planet available to them, the empire would not likely be free of all external dependencies.

The reports from his ship captains brought much better news. Crew training was progressing very well, and the ships would be considered ready for duty in just days. The Patricians were fairly easy, as the Confederacy had long experience with them and the library of sleep training modules for them was complete. The Shimakaze had none of those yet, as no crew had fully worked out all the processes and procedures before so they could be turned into training modules.

Tomozo had been busy overseeing the training and the development of a fighting doctrine for the ships. While they were an inadequate force to defend the colony from a Sa’arm invasion fleet, they could respond well to the type of Sa’arm scouting party that always seemed to precede such an arrival. Instead of charging into battle as usual, the doctrine would be for the Patricians to carefully scout and screen for the Shimakaze as it engaged any enemy.

Tomozo’s evaluation recommended at least three more Shimakaze class ships, and eight more smaller scouting or patrol craft. He felt the Patricians to be inadequate and sought input on whether another existing design would be more appropriate, or whether a new design would fit doctrine better. Of the alternatives, Hiro seemed to like the idea of a smaller, stealthier, torpedo-focused frigate that would have fewer launch tubes, but be at least as hard for the enemy to detect as the Patricians.

As long as the Type 93 could perform. That would mean leaving the planet nearly defenseless in case a Sa’arm scouting party showed up. But to confirm the wisdom of building more torpedo boats, he needed to test the Type 93 in combat, and the only way to do that now was to leave the planet defenseless, as they needed the smaller craft to scout for them.

The next day Hiro discussed this conundrum with General Yushida. Yushida’s thoughts were that the Type 93 simply must be proven in combat at the earliest opportunity. Every weapons platform the empire possessed had torpedoes as their main armament, and if it was necessary to go back to the drawing board on this, knowing that early would be much better than finding out too late.

“Is it possible to test the Type 93 without using the Shimakaze? Yushida asked.

Hiro considered this for a moment. “Well, yes, actually it is. The Patrician has two pairs of missile launchers that were intended for a Shipkiller missile. We can re-fit those vessels with Type 93 and they could do the demonstration. I regret that I had not thought of this sooner. I have been so concerned with the Shimakaze that I had not thought of this.”

“I understand perfectly, my friend. You have many worries right now, and it is only human to have those worries upset your thinking. Make sure you spend some time to clear your head of all these troubles. So, if we send out a Patrician to find a target to test the Type 93 on, could it perform this task by itself?”

Hiro thought for a moment. “That is possible, but it is always uncomfortable to send a ship out to do battle by itself. If it does not return, we would not learn the outcome and be forced to put a second ship at risk. Perhaps sending them both out together would be best, and Shimakaze may defend Kuniumi. It should perform adequately against a visit by scout ships, and as long as the Type 93 works as we expect, should do even better against larger combatants.