Preplanning

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Iwo Jima: Iwo Jima Air Base

Since the time-space cataclysm, the island had become cramped. Hyakuri's 3rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, which had conducted the counterattack against Mariana, remained deployed, and patrol aircraft were coming down to refuel and recuperate. Transport planes were busy unloading supplies, maintenance crews, and anti-aircraft units, and even Ground Self-Defense Force Ospreys have been deployed in preparation for landing operations. Furthermore, a Maritime Self-Defense Force tanker is scheduled to arrive in a few hours, so there is a lot of work to be done. But as for the United States Forces Japan, they had no choice but to treat them as if they were touching something swollen.

"Hey, how should we treat them?" Captain Makoto Kawagoe, an F-2A pilot, asked over a hamburger steak lunch in the mess hall.

Captain Kubota could not answer this question. He couldn't come up with any good ideas, nor did he think there was anyone in the world who could give him an answer.

"It's difficult... like usual," Kubota only said that and moved his gaze a bit.

The Americans, who looked good devouring steaks and fries and guzzling Coke, were all huddled at the end of the cafeteria, looking like a bunch of stale Cola.

"I'd like to cheer them up somehow..."

"Even if we did that... we've already killed over 100 Americans from this era."

"No, it can't be helped."

A man spoke in stilted and raspy Japanese. Before he knew it, a tall Irishman stood behind him like a ninja.

He was Lieutenant Thomas Fanning of the Navy's Strike Fighter Squadron 27, flying an F/A-18E Super Hornet. He and Kubota occasionally go mountain climbing together, and he will probably be one of the men who will launch a missile attack on an aircraft carrier manned by his ancestors tomorrow around dawn.

"Now that we're in a war, it's only natural that we'll fight... here, right?"

Kubota and Kawagoe silently nodded in affirmation.

Fanning smiled like a welded mask and sat down next to Kubota. He then took a good bite of the plate of ribeye, but he couldn't help but look like he was straining.

"But the war has to stop soon... or everyone will be unhappy."

"Totally."

"There is no reason to go to war with the States of this era or Japan today. We want peace."

Fanning paused for a moment and drank his coke.

"So please pray for the success of Operation Peace."

"OK, Tom, do your best!" Kubota said as if it were a conditioned reflex.

In this case, the best would be to render the aircraft carriers inoperable with minimal human casualties, and Fanning's expression seemed a little more natural. However, even if this is really the only way to go, it is too much to ask that a mission bearing the name of "peace" should consist of a friendly fire fight.

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Nerima Ward, Tokyo: Camp Asaka

"Contact from Landing Ship Division 1. The 1st Tank Company of the Western Army Tank Unit has been contained."

"Mm-hmm. Everything is going well."

Lieutenant General Shogo Himuro, commander of the Ground Component Command and commander of the Joint Task Force for Operation "Maker," was satisfied with the report. It was the result of successful study and preparation in advance. On the day after the announcement of the time-space cataclysm, he received orders from the Minister of Defense to study the landing on the Pacific Islands, and as a result, the various units were able to move smoothly.

"All that remained is... to transport the second wave to Iwo Jima."

Himuro had an idea of the formation of the Joint Task Force in his mind. Three Ōsumi-class landing ships would land a battle group based on the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade in the northern part of Saipan, with the destroyer Hyūga as a relay to conduct a heliborne landing. The first wave of landing will be done there, and eight ships under the light carrier and landing command destroyer Izumo will provide firepower support.

Of course, this is only the SDF's part. The USFJ also planned to deploy an amphibious operations force, with the amphibious assault ship America at its core, for Operation Maker, which would eventually total 6.000 personnel from Japan and USFJ. At this time, the 2nd Marine Division was stationed on Saipan, and although it was only about 30% of the US Marine Corps' total force, it was judged that the 80-year technology gap between the two sides would not pose a problem in terms of force.

'Nevertheless, the main objective is to create a path to negotiations.'

A careful response was needed on this point. After landing, the joint Japanese-USFJ forces will quickly take control of the poorly defended northern part of Saipan Island, hold the occupied areas, and crush the airstrips and other facilities, while making contact with the American military units deployed on the island at this era. Of course, the USFJ will be the first to make contact and negotiate, but it is difficult to imagine how the clash between the present and the past will play out. After all, the US Marines and Bomber Command are all bloodthirsty troops.

'Of course, it was they who treated Captain Sakae Oba as a hero... Ooh, is he still fighting?'

Himuro suddenly remembered an Imperial Army soldier who continued guerrilla warfare in Saipan after the war ended and was made into a movie a little more than 10 years ago. There are still Japanese army units fighting on the island, as well as more than 10.000 islanders who were interned there. The handling of these and other matters was a complicated thing that could not be settled in a simple military context. And now that all of the communication satellites had been lost, quick and accurate decision-making on the ground was more important than anything else.

"Mamiya, I'm counting on you..." Himuro muttered.

The Chief of Staff of the Ground Component Command, Lieutenant General Hiroshi Mamiya, should have already on board the destroyer Izumo. If he handles it well, this strange war could be brought to an early conclusion.

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Terrestrial Broadcasting: Commercial Discussion Programs

"As for the counterattack on the Marianas Islands, it can be interpreted that the content of the counterattack was in line with the government's view in Shōwa Year 31 (1956)," one of the panelists began his statement.

Then, a message appeared on the screen, "For example, as long as it is recognized that no other means are available to defend against attacks by guided missiles, etc., I think it is legally possible to strike the missile bases and that this is within the scope of self-defense." This was a famous answer by then Prime Minister Ichiro Hatoyama.

"However, if this is the landing on Saipan Island by the Self-Defense Forces, it would be a completely different story... and would constitute the use of force beyond the constitutionally permissible limits, wouldn't it? If this is allowed to happen, it could lead to a serious situation where no restrictions are placed on the Self-Defense Forces' activities."

"Thank you, Tsuneki-san. Indeed, we must consider this possibility. Now, let's see how the audience reacts to our discussion so far!"

The moderator then turned his attention to the large monitor on the dais. A near-real-time audience reaction analysis system, recently introduced, was now in operation, extracting a certain number of viewers' comments from social media sites and displaying related keywords, sentiment analysis results, the intensity of approval and disapproval, etc., for each panelist. Then, the results were displayed on a large monitor with a sound effect that made them feel a bit out of place.

"Oops, it looks like the audience response was not very positive," the moderator said with a tone of surprise and a strained smile.

The keywords associated with Tsuneki were "unrealistic," "peace idiot," and "fantasy," while the sentiment analysis graph showed a prominent level of dissatisfaction. The situation is not very welcoming. The reality might be even worse, as the keywords that are too demeaning are replaced by the ones that are semantically closest to them.

"Tsuneki-san, what do you make of these results?"

"What I would like to say is that our country is governed by the rule of law, and everything should be done according to the procedure."

"Uh, excuse me."

Professor Kitamoto, who has become a regular on the program, raised his hand. In fact, the system showed how popular it is with the audience.

"In the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln, in the midst of a national crisis, decided to introduce the draft, which was considered a constitutional problem. If he had not done so, the capital of the United States might be Richmond today. And now Japan is in the midst of a time-space cataclysm, with Tokyo suddenly being bombed by a group of outsiders. The situation is similar, isn't it?"

"But that doesn't mean that everything should be done by extrajudicial measures."

"That's a lot more reasonable than giving in to the hijackers' demands and releasing the thugs," Kitamoto laughed. But it was a dark laugh. "After all, 120 million lives are at stake, which is heavier than the Earth itself, it seems."

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Pacific Ocean: off the Mariana Islands

Task Force 58 had one more mission: an air raid on Iwo Jima.

It was said that there was still no contact with the invasion force on the island. There was a possibility that the Japanese had destroyed the invasion force using chemical weapons and had mobilized all the kamikazes to cover up the fact, and they wanted them to confirm the truth of this and the safety of the Marine Division and others by an air raid. If true, tens of thousands of Army and Marine soldiers were killed and wounded in the most despicable manner. Even the taciturn Vice Admiral Mitscher almost lost his mind in anger when he was told these details. But upon closer examination, it was difficult to find a more plausible explanation, and yet there were many oddities.

"You know, Chief of Staff."

Inside the bridge of the USS Bunker Hill, the flagship of TF 58, Mitscher called out as he looked out over the dash to the surface. Chief of Staff Burke, who was sipping coffee and looking at charts at his side, immediately looked up in response.

"What do you think about the situation in Iwo Jima?"

"What do you mean, sir...?"

"Regarding the rumor about chemical weapons. I'm not an expert on chemical warfare, so I don't know the details... If the enemy used a powerful German chemical weapon, how is it possible that no one was able to report it and they were all wiped out?"

"That's certainly the part I don't understand."

Burke put his right hand on his chin in contemplation. Even if lethal gases were sprayed at multiple locations at the same time, it would take a certain amount of time for the effects to be felt, and the degree of damage would vary from place to place. In contrast, there must be hundreds or thousands of radios, including portable ones and aeronautical radios, and it is unlikely that all of them would be silenced.

"We also checked with the chiefs of staff about the possibility of communications interference or ionospheric anomalies, but again, nothing seemed to be there."

"And if it was a chemical weapon, it could have been used against Saipan or Guam."

"They must have thought it would be difficult to cover it up on those islands."

"You're right... But Iwo Jima is a volcanic island. Couldn't it be a massive volcanic eruption?"

"In that case, seismographs would be shaking all over the place and we could see the volcanic fumes. There could also be an eruption of volcanic gases, but in that case, as with chemical weapons, there would be some kind of situation report."

"Yes, that's right."

"Well, we'll wait until tomorrow," Burke said optimistically. "First thing in the morning, Task Groups 1 and 2 will each launch 120 planes. That should tell us everything we need to know about what happened."

"I guess so," Mitscher agreed.

He knew that he was in charge of the world's most powerful task force, so he could not afford to be timid. But even so, he could not shake off his apprehension. Iwo Jima might sink overnight like Atlantis, and a blasphemous island inhabited by a giant evil god might have surfaced in its place. It was all too unscientific, but that's the kind of chilling feeling Mitscher remembered.

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In this Chapter 26, Operation Peace Maker was put into effect and the various units began their preparations. Chapter 27 will be updated on Saturday the 25th at 18:00. Thank you to all our readers for your comments, bookmarks, and ratings. Both the number of impressions and the number of evaluations have exceeded 100. We still have a long way to go, but thank you for your patience.

The rumors of chemical weapons have even Mitscher baffled. It is inexplicably unnatural, but when other possibilities are more directly unnatural, so he wasn't sure what to make of it. If a phenomenon too far outside the norm like a countrywide time travel actually occurs, how would people in the past interpret the sudden appearance of a future army or country? I would like to follow up on this issue as well.

The description of Vice Admiral Mitscher as if he had read a Lovecraftian book is completely my own creation. It is not impossible that he may have read them in the past, but they were probably still minor at the time...

- Kujaku Aoi