Part 14[edit]
(November 10th – The Ocean near Lanai – From a patrol camera)
A military transport plane floated in the gentle ocean.
However, Arc Daniels felt more bored than relieved as he held the helm of a marine patrol boat. He had been piloting all the way from the Third Pearl Harbor Marine Base on Oahu. Normally, a base on Lanai would have handled it.
“There he is! Just as reported, Mr. Scandal and the others are standing on top of the transport plane!!” shouted one of his colleagues on the deck.
Most likely, similar excitement was occurring on the other patrol boat alongside him. Only those at the helm remained anxious.
“That was completely reckless. Does he have any idea how dangerous an emergency landing like that is?”
“This is probably another one of his stunts to get votes. They’ll probably start calling him the man loved by lady luck or something.”
The marines may have said those kinds of things then, but they quieted up once they were within earshot of the president. About half of the plane had sunk underwater, but the roof was still a few meters above the surface. It was quite a bit higher up than the small motor boat that had been modified into a patrol boat. They fastened a rope to a lightning rod-like unit on top of the transport plane and lowered down those needing rescue.
The original plan had been to directly return to Oahu, but the pilot had been shot. They had no choice but to stop by a hospital on the much nearer Lanai.
The transport plane had reached an area 40 meters from Lanai’s coast. If it had gotten any closer, the belly of the plane would have scraped the bottom which could have led to a different result.
The pilot was in real danger, but he could still be saved if they acted quickly.
The successful emergency landing alone was worth celebrating.
However, the president and the others who had been with him were not celebrating their survival. They were not looking at the plane they had been on or at Lanai where they were headed. They were all looking in the same direction and had nothing but urgency and tension on their faces.
Arc turned his head in the direction they were looking and then understood.
The blue sky had turned black.
What looked like a pitch black thunderhead was actually volcanic ash. It was coming from the direction of the Island of Hawaii. The first thing that came to Arc’s mind was Kilauea.
“It really…erupted!?”
“You’ve gotta be kidding me. We couldn’t stop the Trigger…? Weren’t 500,000 people’s lives counting on that!?”
“No.” The president started saying something in Japanese. “Kilauea is the type of active volcano that sends a lot of soft lava spewing out when it erupts. To cause huge amounts of damage to the areas at the base of the mountain, they would only have had to cause an eruption like that but on a greater scale. Something is odd about this. There shouldn’t be that much volcanic ash in the air…”
“So you’re saying the explosion didn’t go how Gremlin planned it to?”
“I don’t know. …Corporal! This ship can access the internet in order to connect to the smart system for linking units, right? After all the money we gave you, I won’t let you say no. I want to hook up my Imperial Package and gather some—”
The president suddenly stopped speaking because of a long, narrow trail of smoke.
A somehow spear-like trail of white smoke was approaching from the coast of Lanai. However, it was not coming from the closest point of the coast. Instead, it was coming from a point jutting out from the island over 10 kilometers to Arc’s right.
Arc immediately understood what it was that was flying just above the ocean surface toward them.
“An…anti-ship missile!?”
“Shit, jump into the sea!!” someone yelled.
Seconds later, the missile mercilessly struck the side of the other patrol boat accompanying the one Arc Daniels and the others were on. The small ship continued in its original direction, but the blast sent it arcing through the air where it slowly passed over Arc’s head.
The soldiers who had managed to dive into the ocean came up for air.
The fact that they had escaped relatively unscathed meant…
“Mr. President! That was most likely the Narwhal that was joint developed by the EU!! It’s an anti-ship missile designed solely to open a hole in the side of a ship. Its power and size are kept to the bare minimum to minimize price and transportation costs. The shockwave is sent straight ahead like a spear, so the blast can be escaped by just getting a few meters away!!”
“But who is attacking us…? What is going on…?”
“More are on their way!! Jump into the sea! Hurry!!”