Yamato Resurrection Chapter 14

Shout! The Six-way Wave-Motion Gun

Barlsman’s mocking laughter echoed throughout the main tower of the giant SUS fortress.

“You can’t put a single scratch on this fortress with an attack like that,” he yelled. “You inferior savages will come to understand true terror of the SUS.”

“My lord,” Metsler observed, “as long as our fortress is surrounded by the magnetic field, they can do nothing. It will take some effort, but we should fire the Hyper Neutron Beam Guns and hit them all at once.”

“You’re right. Prepare to fire all Hyper Neutron Beam Guns!”

“Preparing to fire all guns,” a gunnery officer responded.

In Yamato‘s third bridge EC1, Maho detected signs of beams being readied in the fortress and switched on her communicator.

“Captain Kodai, the SUS fortress is preparing to fire its guns. They’re all in firing position.”

“All ships, rise and reverse!”

Kodai evacuated Yamato from the firing line of the Hyper Neutron Beam Guns. Yamato, the escort fleet, and the Amal fleet had no way of countering it, and no option but to escape.

Thirty seconds after Maho’s report, the SUS fortress fired. Their light was visible to the naked eye through the reinforced glass of Yamato‘s first bridge. A torrent of light passed in front of the ship. Part of the escort fleet and the Amal fleet were exposed to it and instantly transformed into plasma. No more battleships were left to fire Wave-Motion Guns at the fortress.

Deputy Captain Omura stared silently at the SUS fortress on the screen. With those terrifying weapons at its disposal, there was no means to overpower the fortress, and they could only watch their ships be destroyed. Eventually, the entire fleet of both Earth and Amal would follow. And what if those guns bombarded Amal or its moon?

Planet Amal, which had accepted the emigrating Earthlings…if the moon of Amal, which had become a second Earth, was destroyed, that would be the end. With determination in his heart, Omura spoke to Kodai.

“Captain, let me borrow the special duty ship Shinano…”

Shinano?”

Shinano is loaded with 24 missiles equipped with nuclear warheads. I’ll use them to destroy their shield.”

“That’s dangerous. What if you can’t get back?”

“There’s no other way to destroy that shield. Meanwhile, Yamato can prepare to fire the Wave-Motion gun. Let me go.”

“Mr. Omura, it’s too dangerous!”

But Omura silently saluted Kodai and left the first bridge. On his way out, he turned around and whispered to the young crew.

“All of you…Captain Kodai…Yamato…I beg of you…”

But his voice didn’t reach the ears of the crew, who were busy with their respective duties.

“Special duty ship Shinano has launched,” Kamijo said in a puzzled voice.

The crew traded glances, not knowing what this meant.

“Nakanishi,” Kodai ordered in a tense voice, “open the communication circuit to Shinano.”

“Communication circuit opened.”

An image of Omura in Shinano‘s pilot seat was displayed on the main screen.

“Captain Kodai, this is Kosaku Omura. Please leave this to me. I’ll blow away the magnetic field protecting that fortress. What did Orihara say? We can stop the magnetic field by destroying the generator from inside. Shinano can do that.”

“But…”

Shinano is made of a special metal that doesn’t react to magnetism. Its resistance level to an electromagnetic pulse is the same as a battleship. Shinano can get through the interference of that magnetic field. And Shinano has 24 missiles equipped with Wave Energy.”

Shinano accelerated.

“Well, I’m single anyway. So I have nothing to lose!”

Under constant attack, Shinano advanced further toward the huge SUS fortress. The ship was hit without being able to hit back, but did not stray from its course.

“Captain Kod…can y…ear me?”

The signal was choppy due to the magnetic field.

“I hear you, Omura!”

“Captain Kodai…the three years I spent with you…the best voyage I ever…I had lost hope. You gave me…meaning to live. Thank you. Thank, Captain Kodai.”

Omura shouted above the noise.

“Are you listening, young people on the first bridge?! I beg of you and Yamato, protect the Earth from now on! I leave it to you!”

“Deputy captain!” someone cried out.

Shinano was under constant bombardment, and the impact caused it to tilt sharply. Omura held the controls tightly to stabilize the ship. Shinano‘s cockpit began bursting into flames. A severe impact penetrated the hull and hit the cockpit directly. Omura’s helmet was blown off and he was knocked to the floor. Still, he stood up and grabbed the control stick. He was covered in fresh blood, dripping from his forehead.

The huge fortress was directly in front of him. The shield was generated from the top of a Hyper Neutron Beam Gun cannon. He pulled back on the control stick and rose steeply toward it.

“Don’t underestimate Earth!” Omura roared. “Don’t underestimate Space Battleship Yamato!”

Omura and Shinano turned into a fireball that bloomed in the shape of a demon. It plunged into the shield of the huge fortress. In the next moment, a tremendous flash went off inside the shield. Yamato‘s crew covered their faces.

“OMURA!” Kodai screamed.

Shinano‘s 24 Wave missiles exploded simultaneously. At that moment, Space Battleship Yamato‘s Deputy Captain Kosaku Omura gave his life to protect his ship.

Barlsman was dumbstruck.

“The shield!”

Metsler’s face was also frozen.

“What happened? Why did the shield just disappear?”

The officer in charge of shield modulation answered.

“Someone destroyed the shield and dissolved the magnetic field. The shield generator is down. Output has dropped to zero percent.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Barlsman cried out in growing panic. “Redeploy the shield! Fire the Hyper Neutron Beam!”

Maho’s report arrived from EC1 on the third bridge.

“Captain, the SUS shield generator is restarting!”

The fortress was fully mobilizing the remaining functions of its shield generator, trying to recreate the magnetic field.

“There’s also an energy reaction in the cannon,” Maho continued. “There’s a bombardment coming!”

In the captain’s seat, Kodai raised his tear-soaked face.

“Tokugawa!”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Prepare to fire Transition Wave-Motion Gun! We’ll destroy all five of the enemy cannons before the SUS fortress redeploys its shield!”

“Roger, Captain! Do you want to fire all six Wave-Motion Gun rounds?”

“Hold one shot back. We’ll hit five cannons with five shots! Full speed ahead, directly at the fortress!”

“Roger!”

“Kamijo, aim for each of the five beam cannons. Don’t take your eyes off them!”

“Aye, sir!”

“Kamijo,” Tokugawa added, “when the Transition Wave-Motion Gun is fired, Yamato is defenseless. Failure is not allowed!”

At Kodai’s order, Yamato‘s main engine flared to life and the ship leapt forward toward the fortress. Yamato aimed its bow toward the battery of the Hyper Neutron Beam Gun that doubled as the magnetic field generator.

“Kamijo,” Maho’s voice came from EC1, “I’ll send you the position data of their cannon.”

“Thank you, Maho. Position data of the enemy cannon locked into the sight.”

Kamijo started the firing sequence for the Transition Wave-Motion Gun.

“Wave Gun, prepare to fire. Energy rising. Release safety lock.”

His eyes fixed forward, Kodai prayed.

Please, Kamijo, don’t miss a shot. Don’t waste Omura’s death!

“Target scope, open. Cross-gauge brightness at 20. Energy charge at 120%!”

Kamijo pulled the trigger and space was filled with a blue flash. A blast of Wave-Motion Energy erupted from Yamato‘s bow gun and burned toward the SUS fortress. The energy hit the cannon, instantly shredding it to plasma and superheated gas.

Then the second shot was released. The third, fourth, and fifth rounds were immediately fired from the muzzle of Yamato‘s Wave Gun. It was the roar of Space Battleship Yamato‘s rebirth.

All five cannons and the shield generators protecting the SUS fortress vanished from space. The crew of the first bridge cheered. Wave energy struck the main tower, which burst into terrible flames from the inside and collapsed. As the crew took a breath, the enemy attack completely stopped.

“Did it!” Sakurai yelled. “We did it!”

“The end of the SUS,” someone muttered as they stared at the screen.

Like a mountain of rock shattering to pieces, the giant fortress broke apart, scattering in a hurricane of flame and gas. Kodai stared at it intently.

“Omura…thanks to you…Yamato has saved Earth.”

The first bridge crew cheered. Maho was quietly moved to tears. A huge explosion shone bright light into the first bridge as Kodai sank back into his captain’s seat. Then Maho’s high-pitched voice rang across the bridge.

“Captain Kodai! In front of us!”

At that moment, something unbelievable happened. The giant SUS fortress crumbled. Its scattered, flaming remnants were pulled into a small hole in space that opened like magic. There was no longer a massive fortress blazing with the fires of hell, only silence.

“What’s that?” Sakurai cried out, staring at the radar panel.

A huge vessel suddenly appeared from a crack in dimensional space. A gigantic battleship lurking in the dark, ten times the size of Yamato. It attacked all at once. Yamato was engulfed in black smoke amid a relentless bombardment. But then…

“It’s disappearing!” With a shout from Kamijo, the leviathan began melting back into space. All was silent for a moment, then new impacts knocked the crew off their feet, one after another. The giant ship had emerged from another space distortion and opened fire. But in the next moment, it withdrew into its other dimension in an instant and disappeared.

Yamato was being attacked by a massive submarine, continuously striking from different places and withdrawing again.

It suddenly appeared at the bow, as if it were about to crash into Yamato‘s side. It was less than a kilometer away. A system of weapons like Wave-Motion Guns lashed out from its bow.


Concept art by Nobuyoshi Habara

Realizing this, Kodai shouted, “Hard to port, full speed ahead!”

They dodged by a hairsbreadth, the submarine disappearing again. Kodai groaned. The first bridge was filled with smoke. He stared forward, holding tight.

“Damage to secondary guns!”

“Damage to torpedo tubes!”

“Serious damage to starboard anti-aircraft guns!”

“Damage to hanger launch port!”

On the main panel, he could see distortions in space and movement of the submarine, which seemed to break through a watery surface. Small dimensional faults often occurred in normal space. After confirming an enemy ship in normal space, a submarine would emerge from the fault and fire a torpedo, then dive quickly back in. There was no way to trace them. Yamato would be attacked without warning.

Sakurai took in a quick breath at the radar. “The enemy is emerging suddenly from empty space!”

“Captain,” Kinoshita called out from his screen, “The damage is severe! We’ve got onboard fires!”

“Hehehe, did you see that?”

Barlsman’s big body shook as he laughed.

“They don’t even understand where the attacks came from.”

He was watching his screen with a proud look.

“The Earthlings have no way to deal with this.”

Kodai stared forward for a moment.

“That’s…”

As a star shone, space overflowed like water. The submarine surfaced, attacked, and sank again. Kodai leaned forward suddenly.

“All engines, full speed ahead! Toward that star!”

He had noticed that the star was subtly changing with the movement of the submarine. There was no mistake. He was convinced.

“Huh? The star?” Kobayashi was confused.

“Forward!” Kodai shouted again.

“Roger! Heading toward the star!”

As Yamato shot forward at full speed, the submarine continued its persistent attacks.

“Kamijo, aim the Transition Wave Gun at that star!”

The star was their target. Kamijo was dumbfounded.

“I noticed that its energy is linked to the enemy. It’s an artificial singularity camouflaged as a star. It’s the energy source of the SUS!”

“Captain, for real?” Kamijo nodded. “Understood! Targeting the star!”

An image of the artificial sun crowded into the cross-gauge.

“Wave energy at 120%,” Tokugawa yelled. “Ready to fire Wave Gun! Kamijo, do it!”

“Roger! Target scope open…Wave Gun FIRE!”

The Wave-Motion Gun fired straight at the fortress’ artificial sun…and all of its energy disappeared, as if the sun inhaled it. The sun showed no change.

“No use…”

Had there ever been a chance? Impatience rose within Kodai. Then a terrible light instantly turned all of space white. A huge flare erupted straight up from the sun, flooding everything in sight. The naked eye could clearly see it collapsing in on itself.

The flying task force also exploded, the submarine erupting in the raging flow of energy. It was smashed to pieces, all drawn into the artificial sun. A huge chain of explosive energy distorted and split the space around it and the submarine disappeared for the last time.

As the main panel returned to normal, the pale face of Metsler appeared. The lower part of his body seemed to be melting into space. His image seemed close enough to reach out and touch.

“You!” Kamijo yanked his cosmogun out of its holster and aimed it at Metsler.

“Wait,” Kodai said, stopping Kamijo.

Metsler’s lips were ugly and distorted.

“Humans. Let us celebrate your victory. We give this world to you. Dominate it.”

“We don’t believe in domination,” Kodai responded calmly. “We coexist. That is our world.”

“I cannot understand humans. The SUS is leaving this space.”

“Are you saying you don’t live in the same space we do?”

“You know nothing. It is impossible for you to see into the true darkness of space.” Metsler smiled sarcastically. “Farewell, humans…”

With another glare from his eyes and another distortion of his lips, Metsler disappeared from the screen. Yamato‘s crew was dazed. Kamijo coughed.

“Is it over…?”

“Is it ever really over?”

Even Kodai couldn’t believe what he had seen. The only thing that was clear is that nothing the SUS had shown the world was true.

The sky over Amal was crystal clear with a refreshingly cold breeze. People beyond counting had gathered in the square outside the royal palace to celebrate victory over the SUS. Many Earthlings were mixed in with the crowd. They had taken up weapons together, fought against the SUS together, and bled together. Now that they had won their independence, their hearts were united.

The home nation of the SUS was eerily quiet. As Metsler had said, the SUS wasn’t from this dimension of space. Perhaps they had returned to where they came from. In any case, the huge fortress that was their symbol had disappeared, and from the Great Urup Interstellar Union once ruled by the SUS, four nations remained: Amal, Etos, Fridei, and Beldel. Amal’s strong alliance with Earth was born. The menace of the SUS was not gone, but the future was bright.

The people of Amal and Earth joined together to celebrate victory, bursting with joyful freedom and independence. Their voices were heard from the terrace of the palace, reaching its crescendo as the beautiful Queen Iriya appeared and called out to them.

“My dear people of Amal and friends from Earth, who are now important partners with whom we will build our future…tonight, my Amal has won its long-cherished independence from the SUS.”

The cheering voices became louder.

“We must never forget that this victory has been built on the dedication and sacrifice of many brave warriors. We must tell the story of this battle in the future. How there was once a time of grief and sadness, and a light from far away came to drive off those who forced their tyranny upon us.”

“Those who live now must hand down that light and continue to talk about the important things it brought us. The things we must continue to protect. For the pride and honor of those who live in this space, I declare glory to Amal and the future of Earth!”

A huge shadow was cast down from the sky onto the palace. Space Battleship Yamato crossed the sky overhead on its auxiliary engines.

Kosaku Omura no longer sat in the deputy captain’s seat. Instead, it was filled with red wine and red roses. It was an Amal-style mourning.

Yamato. Yamato returns to Earth.”

Both Amalians and Earthlings looked up to watch Yamato pass over them. Queen Iriya murmured quietly as she watched Yamato‘s bold figure.

“Thank you, Space Battleship Yamato…thank you, Captain Kodai…you have brought the light of hope to Planet Amal…”


Continue to Chapter 15

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