There was roughly one hour left until Operation Daybreak.
However, the livestream room had already begun broadcasting. This was also Dr. Kouzuki's first livestream.
Because of that, none of them really knew what the alien monsters called BETA were like in this world.
However, they did know that the current year in this world was 1998. In their worlds, televisions at that time were still bulky CRT sets.
It was inevitable that they would judge the level of modernization in Dr. Kouzuki's world based on their own eras, and from there estimate roughly what level its weapons of war had reached.
Of course, this world had first come into contact with the BETA in the 1960s, and war had begun from that point onward. War was also a catalyst for technology.
That meant they could not evaluate the development level of the other world by using their own worlds as a standard.
Now, through the livestream camera, and through the images provided by Dr. Kouzuki, they saw an extremely modernized fleet.
In Lacus Clyne's view, the surface fleet seemed to be roughly on the same level as the Earth Alliance's surface fleet in her world. The difference was that Dr. Kouzuki's warships appeared to include more battleships and cruisers equipped with large cannons.
That gave off a somewhat outdated impression.
The reason for building large numbers of cannon-equipped warships had also been explained. It was because humanity had lost air superiority.
As a result, humanity's missiles were less threatening than artillery shells.
When she saw the underwater TSF submarine carriers, their diving depth and sailing speed appeared to be about the same as the MS submarine carriers in her own world.
However, the TSF carriers on the surface were larger than the MS maritime transport carriers on her side. The TSFs they carried were roughly the same size as her world's MS.
Strictly speaking, they were all mechs. Only the names were different.
As for whether the TSFs here were stronger, or the MS from her side were stronger, that was still unclear for the moment, because the attack had not yet begun and there was no combat footage.
Adjusting her view, Lacus looked toward another window in the cockpit where Dr. Kouzuki was located. That window showed footage of the orbital fleet in space.
After aligning the angle, the livestream window overlapped with that window, allowing her to properly observe the orbital fleet within the image.
The space fleet did not look as if the warships themselves carried much firepower. They were mainly transport-type spacecraft, weren't they?
That made sense. After all, this world's air superiority had been seized, and they did not fight the BETA much in space. There was no need for those space warships to be equipped with excessive firepower.
Aside from the space fleet, she also saw many space-based weapons.
Those weapons did not seem to be aimed at Earth. Instead, they were pointed outward.
The muzzles seemed to be primarily facing the moon.
Right. There were BETA on the moon as well. They had used the moon as a springboard to invade Earth.
In other words, these orbital weapons existed to prevent BETA attacks from the moon.
When she heard some personnel in the communications report that no landing units had been launched by the lunar BETA, she understood the implication. Once that thing failed to be intercepted and fell to the surface, it would immediately construct a new Hive there.
After watching through many camera feeds, Lacus noticed a particular issue: the ratio of men to women among the soldiers.
[Tendo Civil Security Agency: Why are most of the soldiers women? Even among those TSF pilots, more than half seem to be women.]
As for Dr. Kouzuki's world being invaded by aliens, Kisara Tendo did not know the specific situation. Most of the members also did not know exactly what that world was like.
Although Mr. Golden Toilet knew, he had not publicly explained the details. He had probably communicated with Kouzuki Yuuko separately.
However, when Kisara asked that question, she actually had a certain guess in mind.
[Dr. Kouzuki: The answer is simple.]
The answer from the person herself made them look at a screen, where information began popping up.
It was a chronology of the BETA invasion:
In 1967, humanity first encountered the BETA on the lunar surface, and the Lunar War broke out.
In 1973, the BETA invaded Earth and established the first Hive. In only one year, humanity lost thirty percent of its population.
That number immediately made everyone feel suffocated.
The next year, the BETA's second landing force descended on North America. To avoid its own collapse, the United States of North America concentrated nuclear weapons on Canada, unleashing a carpet nuclear strike. More than half of Canada's territory suffered severe nuclear contamination.
As for the population that had not been given time to evacuate, most of them did not die at the hands of the BETA. Their lives were taken by humanity's own nuclear weapons.
As they continued reading, all they saw were suffocating numbers.
This world was constantly being devoured. Hives were established one after another. Nations fell one after another. The death tolls were horrifying.
Deaths in the hundreds of thousands could be heard of multiple times in a single week. Deaths in the millions or even tens of millions erupted on average once a month.
Then the information that popped up began showing conscription data. The main point was that the conscription age kept dropping: sixteen, then fourteen.
Eventually, mandatory conscription laws for women were also enacted.
At this point, the answer was already clear. The men of this world were almost used up by the war.
The reason the fleet they were currently seeing had more than half of its personnel made up of women was that too many men in this world had died. The ratio between men and women had become a number that left people silent.
At present, humanity's population had only around one billion people left.
And two months ago, Dr. Kouzuki's nation had officially been invaded by the BETA. In just one week, nearly one-third of its population had died.
Next came the released intelligence regarding the Alternative I through V plans for dealing with the BETA.
Alternative III made Lacus pause, because it involved artificially creating psychics.
Although it was also an inhumane experiment, for this world, it was no longer a time when humanity could hold fast to humanitarian principles.
As for Alternative IV, the Operation Daybreak that was about to begin was its implementation.
As for Alternative V, it involved selecting several hundred thousand people for emigration while abandoning the rest of humanity to be destroyed alongside the BETA.
Using bombs called G-Bombs, they would shatter and sink the land, letting the ocean flood in so that humanity and the BETA would perish together. It was truly an insane plan.
"The vanguard reconnaissance force has begun encountering BETA!"
The sudden report drew everyone's attention to one screen. Three different surveillance angles aligned with that display.
The camera was moving, about to capture the monsters pouring out of the abnormal "mountain," or Hive, ahead.
They came. White alien forms began bursting into the camera's view. The instant the monsters' appearance entered sight-
[Tendo Civil Security Agency: What the hell is that?!]
Kisara was the first who could not hold back. Her text was filled with shock and horror.
Her world was also an apocalyptic one, with monsters called Gastrea. Humans infected by them would also mutate into monstrous forms with various animal traits.
But the monsters before her eyes gave her the same bone-chilling feeling she had experienced the first time she saw a Gastrea.
The white monsters before them had some parts of their bodies that resembled humans. Their arms and chests were similar to human ones. In particular, beneath their thick, swollen abdomens, there was a structure resembling female genitalia, magnified dozens of times.
Really, she could not help suspecting that these monsters called BETA had been transformed from human beings.
That malicious, intensely nauseating form filled her with anger so strong she could barely control it.
She believed that as long as someone was human, they would feel intense fury at this moment.
(End of Chapter)
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