Harada did not know why, but that put him just a little on edge.
“What would you need, sir?”
“There is a program underway in certain research centers involving the use of these rocket motors. When you made that little demonstration off Davao, I was quite surprised, initially thinking it to be the fruits of this research. Surprise was not half a word for what I felt when you revealed the truth of your identity to me. You have showed me the end of the road we now walk with this war, and all in an effort to persuade me not to undertake this journey. As we have seen, events had a gravity of their own, and here we are. I do not think it will ever be possible to undo the steps we have already taken on this path. Once the order was given to Climb Mount Niitaka, our course was set. Yet the end I saw in the photographs from your library is too dark to contemplate. No sane man would ever wish to lead his nation to such a disaster. So now I ask you to help me reach a different end, and one that preserves the integrity of our nation, and spares our people the horrors I saw in your books and photographs.”
“We are willing to help in any way we can,” said Harada. It was a case of in for a penny, in for a pound, as the British might say.
“These rocket weapons you possess,” said Yamamoto, “are they clearly the future in terms of the projection of military power at sea?”
“A place remains for the aircraft carrier. That was proved here, and the United States continues to rely on carrier based air power even in our time. They use those planes to protect their ships, just as you do now, but if any get through, then medium to close range air defense is largely a case of missiles against planes, or other missiles, and certain powers now also see the missile as the only foil to carrier based naval supremacy.”
“Then you may already know that both Germany and Japan are working on these weapons now.”
“Yes sir, and we know the outcome of that research as well.”
Yamamoto nodded, a wry smile on his face. “How strange to think I hesitate briefly here to reveal what is now a military secret, for you are men who have seen the end of all these events. So you must certainly know that we have a weapon in development, a rocket powered craft we call the Okha.”
“Yes sir,” said Fukada. “However, it did not reach deployment until it was too late to make much difference in the outcome of the war. By then, the American carriers had decided the issue, and it was only a matter of time.”
“Time and that other terror weapon I saw images of over Hiroshima,” said Yamamoto. “Knowing that, I wish to find a way for our carriers to decide the issue here before that weapon makes the outcome of this war inevitable.”
“The American project that delivered that weapon is only now beginning in earnest,” said Fukada. “If the history we know is any guide, it will take them three years.”
Yamamoto considered that. “But if we achieve a decisive outcome here before that, perhaps the negotiated settlement you suggested to me might be possible.”
“That gets more and more unlikely with each battle fought,” said Harada.
“Then you believe there is no hope? How can I proceed here knowing that the sum of everything I do leads to defeat and the destruction of our nation?”
“Sir,” said the Captain, “Mister Fukada has just explained how the fate of the Taiho could be brightened considerably. In the same way, the future you saw in our library might still be avoided. Negotiations may still be possible, but to force the Americans to the table, we would have to demonstrate that a military victory would be impossible for the them to achieve.”
“Winning the battles we have just discussed would be a necessary first step,” said Fukada. “Yes, dominate the Indian Ocean, defeat the Americans on Fiji, occupy Samoa, destroy the last of the American fleet carriers. These things are still within your grasp now. You can still prevail, and we can help you. We could not defeat our enemy, but our ship can still tip the balance decisively in one more key engagement. Given that, it may be wise to consider another attack on Mizuchi.”
“But you have just told me you have no further offensive capability.”
“But you do, sir. Your carriers do, and if enough of them were grouped in one massive attack, you might get hits, and it will only take one or two to cause significant damage. Modern ships are not well armored. Their defense relies on missiles.”
“I see,” said Yamamoto. “Yet that would put every carrier I might assign to such a mission at risk. Surely that is the case in every operation of war, but Mizuchi seems to hit anything it fires at. Nagumo’s description of the death of Hiryu was none too pleasant.”
“They failed to hit Takami,” said Fukada. “And they tried thirteen times. In the same way, the missiles we still have could protect your carriers, and then it would be simply a matter of swarming the defender with as many planes as possible.”
“You are forgetting the speed demons,” said Harada, prompting Yamamoto to give him a quizzical look. “I’m sorry sir, but the last missile Mizuchi fired at us, the one I mentioned earlier, was very fast—twice the speed of the first twelve we defeated. The missiles we fired at it failed to acquire the target, and it was only our last ditch inner defense that scored the lucky hit. Yet if it had failed to do so, Takami would most likely have been sunk. If the enemy has more of these fast missiles, then our ability to defend your carriers may not be absolute.”
“True,” said Fukada, “but if we do not attack, and Takami expends its remaining missiles in other operations, then your chances of killing Mizuchi diminish considerably.”
“So you are saying we may have only one last chance,” said Yamamoto. “I understand. And if the enemy has more missiles than you believe, and they are these speed demons, as Captain Harada describes them, then what?”
Before Fukada could argue that away, Harada spoke up first. “If they were to fire a salvo of four or five such missiles, assuming they still had them, then we might get one of them, two at the most. The others would reach a target. And one thing more. This ship also carries torpedoes—533mm with a 300kg warhead capable of ranging out 50 kilometers. It also has another model that is one part rocket, and one part torpedo. It fires into the water, ignites its rocket engine while submerged, then emerges from the sea to approach the target. It can then deploy as a torpedo, or a depth charge in the sea, and that rocket extends the range to 120 kilometers.”
“Quite sobering,” said Yamamoto. “That is three times the maximum range of our Type 93 torpedoes. Hopefully it would miss at such a range. Our own units do not fire the Type 93 at its maximum range for that same reason.”
“Unfortunately, this torpedo will be much more accurate than your Type 93. It uses what we call inertial guidance, not the best way to find a target, but much better than anything used in this war. The fact that it closes most of the range as a rocket in the sky, is also a factor. Hopefully we might be able to shoot one down, unless it deploys into the sea again as a torpedo.”
Yamamoto nodded. “I will consider what you have said here. Risking the carriers also gambles with the edge we presently have relative to the Americans. They are the real enemy. I do not think Mizuchi could ever win the war against us, or that the Siberians could ever successfully invade Japan. As for the Americans….”
“Agreed, sir.” Harada decided not to speak of the possibility that Kirov harbored nuclear weapons. Instead he focused on the battle against the United States. “The next six to eight months will be decisive. Mizuchi certainly remains a threat, but for now, at this moment, the carriers still rule the Pacific. So fight your war as you would if our ship were never here, Admiral. Fight your war with those carriers, and win.”