The Night of the New Moon
The man running was the helicopter pilot who was shot...
...through the shoulder during the previous day's operation.
An expression of total concentration on the path ahead,
...as if he could brush aside his injury by willing the pain into submission.
Shirasu's viewfinder couldn't tear itself away from the sight of his tenacity.
Everything inside her lens had changed.
The same scenery as yesterday now looked completely different.
Because she now knew that this place was a battlefield.
Good morning!
Good morning.
Oh, that reminds me. Thank you for what you did yesterday.
Is your arm all right?
Yes, because I received the proper treatment. It is as good as new.
We've been detecting it intermittently for the past 10 seconds.
SA-18s? Those are medium-range, vehicle-mounted SAMs.
How in the world did they get them to a gorge like this?
With enough time, it's not out of the realm of possibility to transport them by horse.
It's a radar wave.
It's a single band, and the waveform is typical of the SA-18's search radar pattern.
So are you trying to tell me that this recent activity was carefully planned out?
We've picked up metallic armor plating signatures in six locations.
One of them coincides with the location that our chopper was attacked from.
So this site has extensive defenses in place...
Can you tell how heavily defended they are?
Analysis of the synthetic aperture radar returns...
...suggests an armor thickness of roughly 50mm.
That's on par with a light tank...
Our largest problem is these anti-aircraft emplacements on either side of the gorge.
Originally, they assumed that the most they'd have was shoulder-launched missiles,
...meaning that attack helicopters could make it in.
But if they have radar-guided medium-range missiles,
...that changes things completely.
If it really is SA-18s that they have set up inside the zone,
...a standoff attack by Comanche-launched Hellfire missiles as originally planned won't be possible.
So their conclusion was to switch to a heliborne HAVWC parachute drop.
Since the HAVWCs use ceramic armor that has virtually zero metallic components,
...they're like the Invisible Man to radar.
And on a pitch-black night with a new moon, no way are they gonna spot 'em.
The night of the new moon, where it's gonna be totally dark, is tomorrow night.
Tomorrow night is the only time we can possibly carry out the operation.
Tomorrow?
But that presents a ton of problems.
We won't have chopper support, and they're sitting behind armored defenses.
To neutralize them...
...we'll need some long-range firepower that packs a serious whallop.
Our battle is already underway.
Moments ago, I put in a request to Subasci for a sniper cannon.
Long ago, when caravans made their way up and down the Silk Road,
...this place was one of many waystations.
The fact that the city is built along an east-west axis...
...seems to be a vestige of the city's divided historical background.
Dominating the east side of the city is Ru Pou Temple.
And dominating the western side was the Kufura House.
The Kufura, a living goddess.
The sniper cannon is a long-range anti-materiel rifle developed for use by the HAVWC.
In other words, it's an anti-armor rifle.
Compared to existing anti-materiel rifles, whose maximum caliber is about 0.5 inches,
...this sniper cannon has a large bore size of 40mm.
In conjunction with its newly-developed multi-stage explosive charge,
...we can expect a penetration power on par with old 105mm tank cannons.
I'm sorry, Miss Shirasu... Are we getting too technical?
Um... No, that's okay.
You guys have already started fighting the battle, right?
Please, go on. I want to document everything you do that goes into it.
The problem is, can the HAVWC withstand the recoil...
...when it fires a cannon of that power?
A HAVWC weighs in at barely 2 tons, and we're arming it with what's basically a tank cannon.
It might be blown away by its own cannon before it can do the same to the insurgents.
If we don't run real-world tests, that's a very real risk.
As I explained earlier, the long-range firepower of the sniper cannon...
...is absolutely essential to neutralize the targets from a distance.
No, sir, I can't push back the operation.
Now that we know that the enemy possesses air defense radar,
...missing the opportunity presented by the new moon would be...
Understood.
They say they will deliver it to us within 30 hours.
30 hours... That's cutting it so close that there might not be time to run any test firings.
I don't want to let the time go to waste while we're waiting for it to arrive.
I'd like to begin testing the HAVWC's recoil endurance by using...
...hot-load grenades that have been boosted to match the sniper cannon's firepower.
Shirasu couldn't help but stare in amazement at the mental resilience of...
...the special forces member who returned to duty the next day after being seriously wounded.
It's just like being out at sea on a ship.
When you're out in the middle of nowhere like this, food is your greatest source of pleasure, right?
However, that tenacity wasn't the only thing that Shirasu's lens stared at.
The hardest thing to deal with is the altitude.
The air's thin up here, so you can't use regular cookware.
You're Japanese, so you know how important heat management is,
...even when you're boiling rice.
People here are from all over the world, unlike a regular army, so that has its challenges,
...but in the end, we're really just cooking for each individual.
For instance, you'd never guess it, but Lt. Eversalt has a serious sweet tooth.
The Commander has a sweet tooth?
Yeah, especially for things like tarts. And Lt. Olowokandi loves Japanese food.
But I guess it's Lt. Ichiyanagi who's the strangest of them all.
He never, ever eats before a mission, no matter how trivial it is.
He doesn't eat? He goes off on missions on an empty stomach?
- That's right. - Do you think it's nerves?
No, I don't think that's it. I think it's because people are so delicate.
You know, like me.
Load, charge 7. Damper maximum, +20.
- We're okay. - Roger.
Hey, somebody's down there.
It's Shirasu.
Tell her to get clear!
She'll be fine that far away.
It'll knock her hat off, that's all. It'll just make her jump a little.
Don't say I didn't warn you.
Are you okay?
Are you all right, miss?
I... I'm okay.
That's a relief! Looks like we gave you a bit of a scare.
See?
Huh? What's the matter?
At first, she was an outsider. The distance of the camera told the story.
It showed the awkward distance between Shirasu and her subjects.
Are the pictures no good because she didn't know how to get close?
Oh, I understand it, all right.
I know that it takes more than just physically getting close to your subject.
No matter how close you get, an outsider is an outsider.
But even so, we keep on snapping away.
In the end, all we can do is keep our lenses trained on our subjects.
We have faith that we'll be able to get close eventually.
That we'll be accepted by our subjects.
By using multi-stage charges, the recoil is reduced to roughly 1/8,
...but in spite of this, a load in excess of 20 tons is generated for a split second.
Because of this, it is believed that the temperature of the leg dampers...
...will climb to a maximum of 400 degrees.
It's true that we can decrease the recoil significantly...
...by lengthening the suspension travel.
But that's only if you're willing to accept the tradeoff in cannon accuracy it'll cause.
If we had enough time to conduct proper test firings,
...we would be able to fine-tune the various data.
Miss Shirasu, speaking of which, I hear that you were given an initiation at the test range.
Mr. Olowokandi!
Everyone is curious about you.
About the charming photographer who has come from the outside world to visit us.
Sorry about earlier. Are your ears okay?
I'm fine. It caught me off guard, that's all.
Where Ru Pou is the power of yin, the Kufura represents that of yang.
In around the mid third century, when Buddhism was introduced to this country,
...the earliest form of Kufura worship was already widespread among the people.
Normally, suppression by Buddhism would have begun at this point,
...but they coexisted here, the two religions complementing one another.
Almost like Shinto and Buddhism in Japan.
The difference, though, is that the blending...
...that occurred with Shinto and Buddhism never happened here.
My camera was drawn to this goddess who is Ru Pou's counterpart.
My camera introduced me to an unexpected person.
A young woman who used to be the Kufura.
Sorry about earlier. The blast was a lot bigger than I thought it would be.
Most special forces missions aren't the simple sort of things you find in textbooks.
Anyway, the normal methods can't get the job done, that's when it's OUR turn to try.
I mean, even you can probably tell how crazy it is to try this.
It'll probably be wrecked after just one shot.
Of course, I don't think it'll damage the HAVWC itself...
Are you saying that...
Weren't you listening? This isn't an operation that you're gonna find in any textbook.
Our plan of action is composed of two phases.
The first is a drop by airborne transport into the Zone.
The second is support fire provided by sniper cannon from that position.
That being the case, Lt. Nikkanen, I want you to take this support attack mission...
...since you have experience firing the sniper cannon.
Damper friction adjusted. Suspension, locked.
Chamber temperature, 282 K. Pressure, 560 hectopascals.
You're all ready, sir.
Roger.
Kufura worship one example of goddess worship...
...where a virgin is treated as a living goddess and worshipped.
At the age of four or five, a girl is chosen from the Uddiyad caste...
...and dwells in the Kufura House as a living goddess.
And when she begins to menstruate, a new Kufura is chosen,
...and the old one is sent home as an ordinary human.
When I lived inside that house, I often stared out at this hill.
And now, here I am standing on that same hill.
Every once in a while, I get the feeling that my old self is watching me up here.
The Kufura doesn't normally show herself. But the time of the new moon is special.
To grant new life to the heavens, the Kufura goes out into the human world.
Tomorrow night is the full moon, so you might get the chance to see her.
This girl once told me that if peace ever returned to Uddiyana,
...she wanted to go to school and study.
Well? How are the repairs coming along?
It'll be close, but we'll have it ready in time.
I still can't believe that it was the frame that failed...
Does this mean that we can't use the sniper cannon?
No, ma'am. Lt. Nikkanen says that if we change the damper settings, they'll hold up.
But if we do that, the aim won't be as precise.
He says that if he drops in closer to the Zone, it should make the targeting easier.
- Closer? - Yes, ma'am.
But that will put him close to the firing range of those machine cannons.
Lieutenant, are you trying to get into a shootout with those things?
So... You're not going to eat dinner, then?
I'm eating it now, see?
Not one of those bars, I mean a proper meal.
This IS proper.
But...
We have 30 hours to completely repair the HAVWC before we move out.
And on top of that, we have to tweak the damper settings.
Those guys don't have time to sleep, much less sit down to eat.
I don't know what Shirasu was feeling at that time.
Maybe it was the gravity of the situation as each of them was absorbed in his duties.
Hey, be careful with that!
You gonna pull an all-nighter with us?
That's right.
While that was going on, I was covering the official UN briefing, same as always.
At the meeting of the Provisional Authority Commission yesterday,
...a final consensus was reached.
The official signing of the peace accord will be held in 10 days...
...as laid out in the initial schedule, on August 21st.
At this time, law and order is steadily returning in Subasci,
...and terrorist acts by insurgents have fallen to 1/5 last month's numbers.
Law and order is being restored?
Are we talking about the same country here?
"Keep your camera trained on the maintenance crew as they work through the night."
That was the message that Shirasu sent to herself.
No, that was her reply.
Miss Shirasu?
Here.
Thank you.
It'll be morning soon. You should get some rest.
No, I'm fine.
18 hours to go...
Time was flying by.
What her camera was capturing was pictures of people who were desperately trying...
...stick to the roadmap was laid out on a whim by the powers that be.
Pursuing all the while the fragmented peace that lay ahead...
...like the image at the end of a kaleidoscope.
48 minutes behind schedule...
We're out of time, people! I'm calling off the test firing!
How are the HAVWC repairs coming?
We'll have everything finished inside of two hours.
Please start the countdown to move out, ma'am.
Understood.
It is the power of rebirth that is sought in the Kufura.
To breathe new heavenly life into the earthly death that is brought about by Ru Pou.
Winter solstice, when the life of the sun is at its weakest,
...and the new moon, when the moon's life ebbs completely.
Apparently, these are the two times when the Kufura...
...conducts a rite in the courtyard to offer up her own life to the heavens.
And this was the night of the new moon, the secret door that was opened...
...to guide the Kufura's power.
The Kufura came and went, but the memory of her reverberated inside me.
The girl who had stood on the hill and looked back at her old self...
...offered up her prayers to the new Kufura.
At that instant, I forgot why I was trying to see the Kufura in the first place.
When the girl and I parted ways, she thanked me. "For what?" I asked.
"For taking pictures of my country. Thank you."
When she turned around, Shirasu realized that she could be seen in the shot.
Nah. It's fine.
Lifting off.
And now, the second act was about to begin.
Just one time, just one is enough.
I want to see a beautiful light.
No matter long the night that comes,
...even if darkness should fall,
...if I know that light will shine down on everything,
...I don't need anything else.
"Please don't let me be swallowed up by sadness."
"Please let me have some purpose in my stride."
We just need to wish a little harder for it,
...wish for a light to erase the shadows that have come upon us.
Every time I lose my way, I'm pierced by the pain...
...of losing a little bit of myself.
And every time I set out again,
...I realize and relish that I have the strength to crush the darkness underfoot,
...and I'm able to wait for the stars once again.
Presented by Gray_Phantom #Gray_Phantom @ rizon
Next Time 0 0 5 Hyperbolic Curves in the Nights
The girl thanked me for taking pictures of her country.
But what kind of future does it have? Nothing but tragedy ever happens here!
All right, fine. I'll take pictures of everything.
Me and the others, we'll keep on pressing the shutter button.