Ultraman Legend of the Light Chaser

Because of the time difference, the local time for TPC1 was in the afternoon, so the flight attendants closed the cabin window shades to create a dim environment for rest.

According to regulations, long-haul flights require two crews to take turns flying. Although Aiba Yu was still full of energy, Fujisawa Sousuke was practically showing signs of fatigue. The two went to rest, and two other members of the air force took over, thus ensuring safety to the greatest extent possible.

Below them lies the Siberian plateau, with the Lena River flowing quietly like a ribbon. If all goes well, they might be able to see the Ural Mountains after they finish resting.

"What a lovely day!" Fujisawa Sousuke was also holding a Teru Teru Bozu doll next to his bunk. He happily poked at the doll's round head, then turned his head to look down at the sparse cirrus clouds and the golden autumn leaves of the forest below.

It was golden, like a blazing fire, burning from our feet all the way to the horizon, with the Lena River acting as a ribbon separating it. Fujisawa Sousuke could almost smell the fragrance of the trees and the earth.

"Captain, how about we arrange a trip to Russia next time we have a break? Autumn in Russia doesn't make your nose freeze."

"Hmm," came the captain's reply from next door.

"Goodnight then." Fujisawa Sousuke reached out to close his sunshade, gradually shutting out the golden forest.

“It’s not evening yet,” Aiba Yu said.

“That’s called a sense of ritual,” Fujisawa Sousuke chuckled.

His laughter suddenly stopped, as if something had choked him.

He yanked the sunshade open, but the golden forest didn't return—thick clouds obscured everything.

This is 20000 meters above the ground!

Can tropospheric clouds reach this altitude?!

"Captain! Captain! Captain!" Fujisawa Sousuke shouted repeatedly, pounding on the bed board as if afraid that the captain had already fallen asleep.

He heard the sound of shoes hitting the ground from next door; Aiba Yu had already climbed into the driver's seat before him.

"What's going on?" Aiba Yu returned to the cockpit. One of the two team members gripped the control stick tightly while the other stared at the instruments and kept calling the control tower. Occasionally, a bright light would illuminate the cabin, which was the last thing any aircraft wanted to see: a thunderstorm.

A vast expanse of gray and white stretched out in front of the seating area, clearly indicating that something was traveling through the clouds.

It was impossible to see anything outside the windshield.

“I don’t know, a rapidly forming cumulonimbus cloud suddenly appeared ahead,” flight crew member Herbert Longman quickly reported. “I’ve taken the maximum evasive action—pushing the pitch angle further might have caused a stall, but I still couldn’t avoid it.”

"It should be sunny along the route!" The crew had no time to dwell on the weather forecast error; Herbert Longman could only try to maintain the flight attitude and hope to get out of the clouds as quickly as possible.

Due to the turbulence and the initial high angle of attack, passengers who had been resting for a short time gradually woke up.

"Where do cumulonimbus clouds come from in the stratosphere?" The display screen indicated an altitude of 23415 meters. The members who were heading to the European branch to handle technical exchanges looked at each other in disbelief. The aircraft seemed to be experiencing an earthquake, and they held onto the seats in front of them.

The flight attendants squatted on the ground, clinging to the trolley that was about to roll out. Fortunately, TPC1 didn't carry much cargo, otherwise they could only pray that the large items in the cargo hold were securely fastened. The displacement of such a large amount of cargo would have been enough to land a plane on the crash list.

The thunderstorm outside struck everyone's wildly beating hearts, and Staff Officer Nan Yuan clutched the classified documents in his arms tightly.

Instead, Director Sawai comforted him in a low voice: "Trust our air force."

One of the air force members they were talking about was hurriedly climbing into the cockpit.

"Where did this thunderstorm come from? I haven't even gotten married yet and I'm going to die with my superior! I'm so miserable!" Fujisawa Sousuke rubbed his arm, which had been bruised from the bumpy ride, and was sweating profusely.

“The flight altitude is normal. The engines and wing shells of TPC1 have been reinforced. The possibility of it being damaged by a thunderstorm is extremely low. Don’t worry, you have blind flight training, haven’t you?” Aiba Yu patiently persuaded them, and their emotions gradually stabilized.

With the two pilots back to him, Fujisawa Sosuke's eyes were fixed on the instrument readings, and no one saw the silver glint in his eyes.

The thick clouds gradually thinned, and although the thunder was loud, none of the thunderbolts struck the aircraft. Communication with the control tower was restored, and calls came through the channel. Everyone thought they were lucky.

Only then did Aiba Yu manage to find a moment to say to the rookie in the team who hadn't yet gone solo, "Would it be a disservice to you to die with me?"

The red-glowing police

The report had just ended when Fujisawa Sousuke, after a long pause, asked, "Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"

Aiba Yu straightened his uniform, which he had hurriedly rummaged through: "I want to hear you recite the flight manual. If you make a mistake, you'll have to recite another section."

Chapter Three: I Will Protect You

The thunderstorm was unpredictable, but thankfully, the plane landed safely in Oslo, Norway, at the European branch base.

Fujisawa Sousuke clutched his heart and chugdled water down his throat, while casually ripping off the teru teru bozu doll stuck to the side of his seat.

"Phew," he burped, rubbing the face of the teru teru bozu doll with one hand, "It's not working, let's try another one."

Aiba Yu chuckled, looking through the cockpit windshield at Director Sawai and the others who were boarding the shuttle bus to the venue. According to the itinerary sent by the secretariat, they would rest here for two days and then depart for the Far East headquarters the day after tomorrow evening.

During this period, the entire crew was allowed to rest, except for cleaning the cabin and contacting ground crew for inspection and maintenance.

Fujisawa Sosuke pondered where to go after waking up: "Captain, Captain, Oslofjord, Holmenkollen! The best Nordic scenery! What are your plans?"

“I have to attend the research meeting on the series of bills concerning extraterrestrial life,” Aiba Yu took the teru teru bozu doll that was being crumpled from his hand: “This thing won’t protect you no matter how many you replace it with. You’ll have to memorize it before the next takeoff.”

Aiba Yuu stuck the teru teru bozu (a Japanese doll made of teru teru bozu) to the door, and Fujisawa Sousuke's wails were muffled by the cockpit door.

He stepped down the gangway, his faint smile gradually fading.

"Extraterrestrial life... Is that thing in the thunderstorm cloud extraterrestrial life?"

……

three years ago.

TPC Far East Headquarters

A travel-worn "newcomer" stood in front of the director's desk, carrying a suitcase, clearly having just arrived at the base and come to report for duty.

A transfer order lay open on the table in front of Director Sawai, stamped with the official seal of the Lunar Carlo Base.

“You are an excellent test pilot and should have continued testing the Carlo airship. Now you’ve been transferred to headquarters…” Director Sawai looked up: “If you hadn’t submitted your own application, I wouldn’t have let you come back. There is no ‘freedom’ in outer space on Earth.”

Aiba Yu gave a salute: "But there are more things we can do on Earth."

"Did you observe extraterrestrial life at the Carlo base?" It was winter, and Director Sawai warmed his hands with a steaming porcelain cup, the steam rising into the air.

The last time Aiba Yu saw him was in a video conference. He was wearing the same purple uniform then, and his hair was jet black and shiny. It seems he doesn't plan to dye his hair black anymore. As he gets older, no matter how much he tries to style it, he can't hide the marks of time.

“You’ve seen the report. Humanity must prepare for the dialogue that is about to begin—no, that has already started,” Aiba Yu said.

Director Sawai nodded: "Great, we're still building the framework for the bill. It's good that you're back... You should go see Staff Officer Nanbara when you have time."

Aiba Yu glanced at the teapot beside him, put down the suitcase, and without saying a word, picked up the teapot to add hot water.

"You're making coffee in the teapot again." Aiba Yu smelled the aroma of tea leaves and coffee mixed together.

Director Sawai watched him clean the teapot, then relaxed back in his chair. If he weren't the director, he would really look like an old man at this moment: "The police department is certainly a good fit for you, but why didn't you go to the Victory Team? Did the interim captain say she needed a tactical commander, or are you also being chauvinistic and unwilling to let a woman lead you?"

"Beep," Aiba Yu turned on the water heater, saying, "Because your safety is more important than anything else."

Director Sawai laughed: "It's not as serious as you make it out to be. The world can keep turning even if someone is missing."

He held a porcelain cup, the steam blurring the silhouette of the newly arrived captain of the police aviation unit.

Aside from video conferences, they hadn't seen each other for two years. Sawai first noticed this young man when he was a test pilot for the Flying Swallow—the electronic equipment malfunctioned, the control tower and the aircraft lost all contact, while they were still enthusiastically watching the aerobatic maneuvers of the new fighter jet through binoculars.

It wasn't until the plane landed safely and the fire trucks came out that anyone noticed the charred marks inside the cockpit. The logistics staff rushed out and surrounded the test pilot, half wanting to check on his safety, and half thanking him for bringing back the precious Flying Swallow test aircraft.

“Test piloting is dangerous. It’s better if you quit. TPC has many other departments… Regarding extraterrestrial life, you can go to Delta Force and Space Development Center,” Director Sawai couldn’t help but say, “or to the General Staff.”

“TPC has been established for less than ten years and needs you as its initiator and ‘ambitious’,” said Yu Aiba.

Sawai remembered that "ambitious man" was a title given to him by some tabloids. They said that this former UN Secretary-General lobbied various countries to establish the TPC, single-handedly disarming their defense forces, while he himself held the TPC in his hands, actually aiming to establish a unified global government. Sooner or later, he would get tired of being a nominal leader and choose to be the emperor of the entire world.

Staff Officer Nanbara and the secretariat never brought the relevant reports to his desk, remaining silent on such rumors, but Sawai was not blind or deaf, and eventually got the news.

“I remember you joined TPC in your first year,” Sawai laughed off the rumors. “Like Yoshioka, you were also a member of the Defense Force before.”

“Air Force,” Aiba Yu replied, “to be precise, the first batch of members to join TPC. Most of the Defense Forces thought TPC was too idealistic. You know why I signed up.”

? ”

"I guess it's because of the Flying Swallow? A groundbreaking new type of aircraft."

“No, because of a group of idealistic people.” Aiba Yu turned around, the freshly brewed black tea floating in the pot.

Rain was falling outside the window. Even in the coldest season, the temperature at the Far East headquarters never dropped to freezing point, and all the frost and snow melted into water droplets.

Today wasn't a good day for going out. Sawai thought of the field team members who were traveling to various places. In comparison, those at headquarters were actually very comfortable—even too comfortable.

The bill's progress was completely stalled, since no one had actually communicated with extraterrestrial life, and could only formulate vague contingency plans. The GUTS team wasn't equipped with offensive weapons, but the design still needed to reserve space for them. Earthlings may yearn for peace, but who knows what kind of nature extraterrestrials have? Actively pulling out one's own teeth would only lead to self-destruction.

Another issue is the lack of trust from the outside world. As Aiba Yu said, the TPC was founded less than ten years ago. Although countries have reached a consensus, how many decades will it take before they can completely remove their guard and truly come together?

Thinking about this, Sawai felt a bit drained; perhaps he really was getting old. A few years ago, he could tirelessly lobby and fly all over the world, but now he felt exhausted just thinking about problems in the office.

"Here you go." Aiba Yu pushed the teacup over, and Sawai subconsciously took it and drank from it, completely unaware that it had been brewed with boiling water just a dozen seconds ago, and was now at a drinkable temperature.

“Young people need to grow up quickly,” he sighed, black tea certainly suited winter. “Ah, how old were you when you joined TPC… Let me see, the requirement for enlistment in the Defense Force is 18…”

“I joined the Defense Force at the age of 23, and the TPC was established three years later,” Aiba Yu said. “As for the reason why I joined the Defense Force…”

After drinking the hot tea, Director Sawai felt a bit better. He joked, "Could it still be because of 'a group of idealistic people'?"

To their surprise, the other person actually nodded solemnly.

"Since the attack on the Asian air force base, scientists have been calling for the establishment of a peace alliance to deal with extraterrestrial threats, including a UN official who has been working to coordinate efforts."

Director Sawai knew he was referring to himself as the then-UN Secretary-General.

He heard the current captain of the police aviation team, a former test pilot in his prime, say: "I originally applied to the army, intending to join the peacekeeping force, but because there were so many pilots recruited that year, there were too few qualified candidates, so I was poached."

“Now we’ve finally come full circle. I don’t plan to leave the air force,” Aiba Yu said. “Your ideals, TPC’s ideals, are good, until they’re on the right track…”

"I will protect you."

Chapter Four: The Eccentric in the Library