Nihonkoku Shoukan: Beyond

Chapter 50: Sufficit Animus

Battleship JCS Andrea Doria, 30km away from the shore of Esthirant, Parpaldia Empire, 15th March 1640 CCY

"Ugh..." – Captain Rufino Di Leonardo

"Capitano... are you alright?" – Lt. Bianca Di Giulio, Adjutant to Captain Rufino

"It's nothing... Bianca... it's just the hangover." – Rufino

"I told you not to drink too much while on shore leave, didn't I?" – Bianca

At the moment, the space battleship JCS Andrea Doria, formerly the battleship of the Marina Spaziale Italiana, has traveled to Esthirant together with her sister ships Conte Di Cavour and Vittorio Veneto by the order of Admiral Kodai. With the situation in Esthirant seemingly worsening overnight, and the call for help from Emperor Ludius, the Admiral has ordered Captain Rufino to take a few ships with him and set sail to the capital to aid the legitimate government of Parpaldia and its Emperor that are recognized by Japan.

The small flotilla that was sent ahead of the 4th fleet is designated as Force Rufino, named after the commanding officer. Force Rufino consists of the three Cristoforo Colombo-class battleships, formerly belonging to the Marina Spaziale Italiana, two Legend-class space destroyers Ardent and Acasta, one Hyuga-class battlecarrier Yamashiro, and one Kearsarge-class armed cargo ship JCNS Ohio. With ground combat being a possibility and news of casualties in the capital, Ohio was carrying a contingent of Marines and medical corps.

The Cristoforo Colombo-class battleship was a variant based on the design of the venerable Andromeda-class battleship, with the main difference in its armaments. With the doctrine of the Marina Spaziale Italiana focusing on speed and volume of fire, the battleships of this class have the 4 triple mount 406mm replaced with the OTO Melara developed quadruple mount 381mm cannons, a further development into the miniaturization of convergent compression-type shock positron cannon. With these guns, the Cristoforo Colombo-class can effectively double the fire rate of the 406mm guns of the Andromeda, while preserving the range by trading some of the destructive power per barrel. This, however, is compensated by the addition of the 4th gun in the turret.

The battleships of the proud Italian Navy are also armed with more secondary and tertiary weapons from the lessons learned in the Gatlantean War. With suicide ships being more of a concern after the bloody war, these ships are now equipped with eight triple mounts 200mm secondary turrets similar to the ones mounted on Yamato-class, and many 127mm tertiary and AA turrets as well as torpedoes and missile tubes. With a focus on mobility and speed, the ship is equipped with 2 extra Kelvin-type Impulse Engines for a total of 6, necessitating the lengthening of the base Andromeda-class frame to 474 m. This enhances the speed of these ships in normal space and in the atmosphere with the exchange of slightly worse handling tendencies and raw thickness of the armor.

"Ah... but cara, I did not intend on..." – Rufino

"Yes, you did not think that the girl you picked up would drink you under the table. Rufino, even I can see that girl is one of those tough-as-nails Marines. Did you not see her uniform?" – Bianca

"I... erm..." – Rufino

"You have nothing else to say? Then focus on the mission. We should be receiving the transmission from the Parpaldian Government any moment now." – Bianca

"Yes... mia cara... Merda... Adesso doveva arrivare la trasmissione..." – Rufino

"Colpa tua!" – Bianca

The whole bridge snickers a little bit with the interaction between the Captain and his Adjutant. Force Rufino now flies into the coastal waters of the Port of Esthirant.