TL Note : https://wikizilla.org/wiki/Dogora
Dogora
September 2002 – London, United Kingdom
Mark Leland, Intelligence Agency Official (at the time)
Mark Leland, an advisor to the Integrated Defense Intelligence Agency, the intelligence arm of the Global Union Government, is a former officer of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS). He has spent most of his life in the world of espionage, his once jet-black hair now completely white at over 70 years old.
“Sorry to keep you waiting. My young ones just brought me news of some unsavory schemes against our ark.”
Welcomed into my office, he apologized. There were, of course, many opponents to the extraterrestrial migration plan, some resorting to extreme measures. From the die-hard faction demanding that resources be focused solely on the anti-kaiju war, to those trying to assassinate those granted boarding passes, the limited tickets for Earth’s escape…
Mark continues to fight on the front lines against such terrorism and intrigue. His face bears deep wrinkles, testament to the harshness of the battlefield of human intelligence. Yet his eyes remain sharp like a young man’s, and his British wit shines through in his speech.
He has been asked countless times – why, even in the face of a global crisis like the appearance of the kaiju, could humanity not unite?
The emergence of Kamacuras was in 1999, Biruidor in 2030…yet the founding of the United Earth Federation had to wait until 2039. This was more the result of the shock of contact with the aliens Exif and Bilusaludo, rather than human effort alone. The foolish India-Pakistan war and the appearance of the kaiju only intensified human conflict. If, when the kaiju first appeared, the American president had given a rousing speech and the world had united against them, it may have been a clichéd script, but perhaps history would have unfolded differently. Or perhaps the kaiju would have been so disgusted, they would have left this stage called Earth.
But regarding the 2002 Dogora attack, many did not believe it. They did not want to believe that such Kaiju could appear again. The 1999 incident was unprecedented and unimaginable – a second kaiju after Kamacuras, and one so different from the previous…this was too much for their minds to accept. I was the same. You may criticize it as a lack of imaginative power, negligence, optimism. For your generation, born after the kaiju became commonplace, it may seem that way.
But my poor generation was barely keeping up with the aftermath of Kamacuras. The devastation of New York, the economic crisis worthy of being called a depression, the global political instability – dealing with that left no room to think about “what’s next”. Humans have this wonderful ability to avoid thinking about things that become too overwhelming. Otherwise, how could you have toasted your bread in the era when two superpowers glared at each other with enough nuclear weapons to destroy the Earth dozens of times over?
And so, as we continued our morning routines of toasting bread and cracking boiled eggs, the year 2002 arrived.
You must have already reviewed the footage records regarding Dogora? Dreadful, isn’t it. Just what that kaiju was still remains unclear. Aside from it, Dogora would be the most baffling kaiju. Direct eyewitnesses unanimously stated that an amorphous, semi-transparent, blob-like existence resembling a giant flying manta ray suddenly appeared in the fog-enshrouded skies over London. They extended invisible tentacles from above, snatching the London Bridge, crushing the clock tower, and devouring many British citizens alive…The only consolation was that Her Majesty the Queen was fortunately away on an overseas visit. The military, which had occupied the capital’s airspace but stood by helplessly, didn’t launch an attack until 3 hours after its emergence, and bizarrely, this seemed to have activated Dogora instead. The devastation spread from London all the way to Manchester. It absorbed the thermal energy from the explosives to multiply? I can believe that. Although if there’s anything “unbelievable” about kaiju, I’d like to be informed. In any case, if you want to hear about that Kaiju panic footage, you’d better ask someone else. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be present for my homeland’s crisis at the time. I only returned to England after everything had ended. You don’t mind, do you? Then let this old man continue his tale a little more.
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I was in Cyprus at the time, working to unravel the smuggling routes of conflict diamonds (Note 2) from Sierra Leone.
After the end of the East-West Cold War, some of Africa’s cash-strapped armed groups had seized diamond mines and were using them to fund their activities. The Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone was one such group. Viewing this as a problem, the UN Security Council banned diamond trade with the country, but criminal organizations stepped in to handle the buying and selling instead of legitimate dealers.
2002 in particular saw a surge, as the financial crisis triggered by the 1999 Kamacuras incident’s stock market crash in the U.S. had increased demand for physical assets like gold, driving up prices for gems like diamonds as well. Quite a lot of these “dirty” diamonds were flowing into the UK at that time…Looking back now, it was such a pastoral idea. With humanity reduced to a tenth of its population in the ensuing apocalypse, what value did I think those pretty little rocks would still hold?
I had infiltrated Cyprus under the false identity of a British jewel merchant, in an attempt to make contact with a local Russian broker. However, that organization already had a mole…a Russian intelligence officer working undercover within their ranks. “You’re free to conduct business, but I won’t tolerate any activities that harm the motherland. If you want me to turn a blind eye, I’ll need a cut.” I was amazed by his patriotism. My own country tends to be a bit too cryptic at times. In any case, it’s a small industry. My true identity was exposed, forcing me to either establish a new contact route or make some kind of deal with this fellow operative. If I was really that stuck, I thought I might as well take an impromptu vacation. The beaches in Cyprus were that alluring.
It was on such a night when it fell. A red fireball streaked across the night sky and the ground shook. The impact site was no more than 5 kilometers from Nicosia, the capital where I was staying. At first I thought it was a meteor, but after inquiring with my home country, I was told it appeared to be a Russian satellite. Apparently part of the Mir space station. A few days prior, it had suddenly veered off course, grazing over British airspace before crashing in Cyprus. But of course, this was an antique from before the technology transfer from Exif and Bilusaludo. An artificial satellite from that era should have burned up completely upon re-entering the atmosphere. There was no way it could have impacted the ground. I was even asked if I had truly felt the tremor, as an investigation may need to be launched. I was told to be prepared for the scheduled check-in the next day. However, that scheduled communication never came. On that morning at dawn, a Kaiju…Dogora appeared in London. Worrying about a spy in Cyprus was the last thing on anyone’s mind. In fact, I could grasp the severity of the situation just by idly watching the TV from my sofa. You’ve probably seen the footage recordings as well. The BBC news crew, equipment and all, snatched up into the air by Dogora’s tentacles. The newscaster screaming “My ladies and gentlemen, it appears we are done for. Farewell. Farewell. God save the Queen and Great Britain” played on repeat. Really, if he was going to be that patriotic, he could have included some criticism of the government too. So what did I do? I could have sat back with some popcorn and enjoyed the Kaiju movie, but there was one thing that was bothering me. The fallen satellite.
–Did you initiate the investigation of your own accord, not under orders from Britain?
I suppose so. Even a foolish dog would jump into the river to save its drowning master, without being commanded. Since I was receiving a good salary from my homeland, I had to show I could work harder than some mutt. In fact, we have multiple avenues prepared for such situations. First, I relied on an American collaborator. According to them, Mir was originally scheduled for decommissioning and atmospheric re-entry disposal in 2001, but for some reason its operation was extended until 2003. However, the mission it was tasked with during that period was classified, with a high possibility of military research being conducted. Then the day after something secretive fell, a Kaiju appeared. Isn’t it reasonable to suspect a connection?
–Was that your spy’s intuition?
Well, maybe I had gone a bit mad at that point. I don’t mean to imply my actions were completely logical then. The young me wondered if there was anything I could do, becoming obsessed with an unfounded idea, forcibly drawing connections. Everyone has moments where they fancy themselves as Detective 221B (Note 3). In the end, there was only one basis – a Russian satellite fell the day before a Kaiju appeared in London. That was the sole link between the two events…
Inconveniently, Cyprus had deep ties to the Russian government, frequently conducting joint exercises together. Perhaps because of this, the recovery of the fallen satellite was swift, with reports of a Russian An-124 cargo plane taking off to transport it. When I tried to approach the crash site, it had already been cordoned off by Cypriot military forces, making it inaccessible. All I could do was watch with my fingers in my mouth as what appeared to be satellite debris was airlifted by three helicopters to an air force base. At that point, I… Well, I’d have trouble living up to any James Bond (Note 4) style heroics, like infiltrating their security solo. A real spy’s actions are more modest – bribing an officer in charge of local operations. I had military contacts already involved in diamond smuggling, so I used that avenue. But I was reckless in my haste to obtain information, lacking prudence. I found what seemed to be a credible lead far too easily, not even considering reasons to be suspicious. At the seedy bar I was told to meet at, a familiar face was waiting for me. Yes, it was that same operative – Tatiana, who had infiltrated the smuggling ring posing as a jewel broker’s secretary. Realizing I had been trapped, I steeled myself. But Tatiana said to me, “That thing that fell from the sky is what you’re after, isn’t it? Then hurry. At dawn, Mir will be transported back home. You need to find a clue about that Kaiju before then.” It seemed Tatiana was aware of my objective as well.
–“Why did she help you?”
“Well, if that Kaiju was rampaging around Europe, it would threaten our jobs, right?” she had said. That’s true. It took a long time for nations to come together. But there were many exceptions when it came to individuals. That’s probably how it was.
With her guidance, I disguised myself as a Russian soldier and began investigating the fallen satellite module. It was a module from Mir, and it seemed they had been conducting experiments on animal ecology in space. However, the cases that had presumably contained the animals were all damaged, and the insides were empty. Instead, the trashed module interior was stained with gruesome bloodstains. The images I had seen on TV of London… tentacles reaching down from the sky to prey on people flashed in my mind. Undoubtedly, something similar had run amok here.
I had heard the urban legends about creatures called space critters, atmospheric beasts, or space fireflies – strange beings said to inhabit the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. At the time, I had dismissed them as just tall tales, but perhaps the Dogora that attacked London was one of their kind.
I don’t know what Russia was thinking. Did they succeed in capturing the Dogora from space and extend Mir’s operation for that reason, or was the extension for some other purpose, and they just happened to be attacked by Dogora that day… (Note 5) In any case, judging from the internal conditions, the three astronauts aboard had been great heroes. They had deliberately made Mir re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere. They must have thought to incinerate the dangerous space creature with the reentry heat. But the space creature… Dogora endured the intense reentry heat. Maybe the heat itself had even caused it to grow. But what is certain is that in the end, Dogora had protected the station module from the reentry heat as well. And in doing so, it had given us the silver bullet.
Inside the module, those who had become the sole returnees from space were buzzing about excitedly. Those who had fought and likely defeated Dogora.
They were the hornets.
I immediately contacted my home country and hurried back myself. I wasn’t sure if my message had been properly understood back home. In the worst case, I was prepared to fight Dogora alone, if necessary. I had to become James Bond, if that’s what it took.
It was two days later that I was able to return to London on a helicopter arranged by my American colleagues. Fortunately, my worries had been unfounded. An effective component from the hornets’ venom against Dogora had been identified, and it was immediately mass-produced at chemical plants across Britain and the EU. The resulting chemical agents were loaded onto British Royal Air Force and supporting American and EU military aircraft and dispersed from the air.
What I witnessed upon arriving in London was the sight of our British Tornado IDS attack planes and American F-18 fighter jets releasing a mist-like chemical agent. The invulnerable Dogora, upon contact with the mist, turned into crystal-like snow that rained down over London. Soldiers, police, and the evacuated civilians all let out cheers. “Hurrah, hurrah, long live Britain!” From somewhere, the song “God Save the Queen” began to spread through the people. The usually cynical British citizens had become like carefree American children.
…Listening to the resounding song, I still couldn’t bring myself to join in. I simply couldn’t see this as a victory. The London I loved, the heart of the British Empire, had been devastated. Dogora had been defeated, but before that, two historic cities, London and Manchester, had been lost, and even more citizens had perished… (Note 6) And what that made clear was that this was not the end, but the beginning. It was not the end, but the start, I realized. The Kaiju that appeared in the US, Kamacuras, would not be the last. Unless we were truly fools, we couldn’t think that the second one to appear in the British Empire would be the last.
Likely, the 21st century would become a history of humanity’s battles against Kaiju. Yes, we had been thrust into an era of an endless global Kaiju war.
As the glittering crystals rained ceaselessly over London, I trembled with the rising fear, unconsciously gripping the hand of Tatiana, who had come with me from Cyprus.
(Mark’s gaze turns to the photograph on the desk next to him, of his younger self and his wife, Tatiana Romanova.)
Then, it was only three days later that the third kaiju in human history – Kamoebas – appeared in the Philippines.
Note 1: The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, which lasted from 1945 until the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Note 2: At the time, natural products were highly prized as decorative items, separate from industrial goods.
Note 3: The famous detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes.
Note 4: The protagonist of the James Bond [007] film series, a spy belonging to MI:6 who often performed outrageous feats.
Note 5: The Russian government and Siberian government have not issued any official statements regarding this matter.
Note 6: The estimated casualties caused by the appearance of Dogora exceed 3.9 million people.
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