22Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Ars Nova is owned by Ark Performance and Studio Sanzigen while Strike witches is owned by Noboru Yamaguchi and Gonzo anime studio.
Credits to Sky EXE for grammar check.
Before starting the story, here are the background and assumptions.
1. This does not follow Anime but more of its manga so expect more ships, more cores, Mental Models and of course Chihaya Gunzou's father Chihaya Shouzou to appear with his flagship "Musashi" and the Scarlet Fleet, or the remains of it. It will have a few Anime components though.
2. The conclusion of the war between humanity and the fog has passed. The Admiralty Code's final will is for co-existence, peace. Though rebels still exist that wishes to continue the war, they are out casted and branded terrorists. Chihaya Gunzou and Chihaya Shouzou are both hailed heroes as they lead their two fleets in protection of the world.
3. Ships and fleets from different forces will show itself. The Atlantic fleet, arctic fleet, Adriatic fleet etc.
[Ships like HMAS (Australian), HMIS (India) and HMCS (Canadian) which are an extension of UK will appears as part of UK fleet around their commonwealth colonies]
4. Basis for the personality of new Mental Models that doesn't exist in the manga might follow archetypes. I promise though that I will research about them and give them their most suited personalities. Japanese ships however, whose mental model is yet to be shown, will be based on Kancolle selves both in appearance and in personality unless shown otherwise.
5. It's a strictly Air superiority Vs. Naval superiority fic, there may be a little sea battle but you know who will win. Land Neuroi might appear but simple bombardment could wipe them out. [It isn't shown in the Anime, but a single heavy cruiser could perform the annihilation of cities thousands of kilometers away, the late Admiralty Code that forbids attacking land targets are the only thing stopping humanity's end.]
6. The Blue Fleet which consist of I-401 (Iona), Takao and Hyuuga, now has Heavy Battleship Ise, Fast Battleships Haruna and Kirishima, Light Carriers Hiyou, Junyou and Standard Carrier Zuihou, Houshou, Shokaku and Zuikaku [In the manga carriers are "Assault and Suppression vessel"], Heavy cruisers of Takao-class and Myoko-class, Light cruiser consist of Agano, Kuma and Nagara Classes [Some of their respective classes are of course sunk but assume all core survive] and Destroyers of Shiratsuyu, Akatsuki and Kagero classes.
The Scarlet Fleet consists of Bismarck-class battleship, O-class battle cruiser, Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier, Jade-class light carriers, Deutschland class heavy cruiser, and 1936-class destroyers and the massive numbers of U-boats, submarines, ranging from the Type IA up to the Type XXIII submarines including the Type XXI U-2501. [Much of the submarine fleet has been sunk, their cores recovered and their bodies remade with available nano-material, has a severe 'sinking' trauma which means they wouldn't be much in another war/fight/battle.]
7. Nagara light cruisers aren't those mass produced weapon of war like in anime. They are singular and unique just like their manga counterpart.
8. Battlepower of Super battleship = 2 Heavy Battleships/Standard Carriers = 3 battle cruisers = 5 Armored Cruisers/Light carriers = 10 Heavy Cruisers/Seaplane Tenders = 18 Light Cruisers/Frigates = 30 Destroyers/Torpedo/Mine warfare/Corvettes = 50 Patrol boats
Mobile logistic, auxiliary and support/supply ships only bear 25 mm photon guns on an active triple turret and thus have little to no battle power.
Submarines have a conditional battle level that assumes underwater combat. In an underwater fight, Attack Submarines can defeat practically any foe but if a battleship fights on land where it could fire its cannons, then the odds are even. Comparison between submarines battle power is 1 Attack Submarine = 2 Observation Submarines = 3 Carrier Submarines
Iona with her battleship Supergravity Cannon exceeds this hierarchy, having the battle power of a battle cruiser above water.
[Battlepower is extremely relative. Weaponry and ammunition if used correctly/effectively will perform better than those that couldn't use it so in the end a large cruiser may sink a battle cruiser but of course really low chance of defeating a super battleship. A variable exists though, it's called 'Miracle'.]
9. Fog docks are also transported into the Strike Witches universe and all of them in operational condition. (Strike Witches universe inhabitants are not able to develop much of their land because of the war thus the islands that supposed to have military bases, outposts, are just islands with lush forests which they replaced)
10. Neuroi are made out of nanomaterial, shattered Neuroi rain reusable nanomaterial which means that the world is rich with material to mass produce bases, ships, weapons, facilities like the nanomaterial forge needed to make corrosive torpedoes [Thanatonium particles] and ammunition [Regular torpedoes, anti-air missiles]. This also allows the Fog ships to have swift regeneration without sacrificing any weapon nor hull integrity in the heat of battle by drawing upon the nanomaterial available on the seabed to fix themselves.
[Their Cores are made of Thanatonium, the spatial distorting element. They draw energy from the fourth dimension, dimension W, so they could not be destroyed with corrosive warheads since their cores are unaffected by it.]
11. I-401 Iona can assume its "Ars Nova" and not only with Takao. She may perform a 'unison' as long as two cores agree mutually to join. Other ships are capable too but unlikely to use them due to lacking motives. Hacking of Cores will fail Ars Nova and create 'Chimera', that flying Zeppelin like structure.
13. Fog technology relies heavily on gravity. Their engines are graviton-powered, their laser oscillators rely on gravitational energy, superheavy cannons and anti-ship missiles rely on gravitons. Submarines have graviton ballast and all photon thrusters of Fog torpedoes and missiles rely on graviton particles. Thanatonium is a product of gravity tech, distorting space and dimensions.
14. Maya is not the fake Mental Model I-400 and I-402 made to monitor Kongou. She is a regular Mental Model that have the same personality as the fake but follows Haruna and calls her 'The flagship of my heart' though said Haruna's heart may have gone somewhere else, her present captain.
15. Even without traumatic incident of Maya, Kongou will feel 'lonely' and denying her 'human' feelings, closed herself off and ended up fighting with I-401 against Yamato's wishes. Kongou is now still stoic to most but is shy to Iona, a different kind of adoration compared to Hyuuga.
16. Zordan Stark is no longer that hate-able bastard that he showed himself to be. His losses made him think a lot and changed him to become a better person before came to support Gunzou in his fight against his father in the end of the Fog war. Since then he allowed U-2501 to create its Mental Model freely and even given her a name of "Zwühein".
17. The Hakugei-class human nuclear submarine, Hakugei-3, that miraculously survived the war against fog and perfected along the year, and its crew of 80 men too will be transported into the witches verse. The reason being their ownership of Fog quantum telecommunications and thus in a sense, a part of the 'Fog'.
19. In a year, weapon and arms have improved even further. Technological improved not only on humanity's end but on the Fog's end too.
The new wave force warhead designed to pierce the Klein Field of the Fog and destroy them with their own Klein Field. It first overheats itself to a high energy threshold to saturate the field it is in contact in and it doesn't matter if the field falls apart or not, increasing entropy, it will force all stored energy in the armor to be released collapsing the Fog ship from the inside out.
To face this threat, the Fog have a new defensive ability. The Laplace Field, a causal cancelling area, it erases certain possibilities which means that in this case, it erases all energy present in the field's area of effect. But cancelling such causal means all electric and gravitational energy present at the center of the field will be affected too, disabling it's user until completion of reboot. In that 15 seconds of deactivation, said ship will be vulnerable to all, conventional weapons included.
Current regular torpedoes and missiles inflicts more damage than their predecessors. All torpedoes super-cavitation propulsion improved so that it's speed can reach 150-180 knots while missiles in the air can now speed up as far as going Supersonic, up to Mach 4,6 . Default missile speed is transonic though, stable at Mach 1,2.
Fog's torpedoes and missiles are even worse. The gravity charge of said weapons have been doubled which means they can go twice as fast at the same range and twice as far at the same speed. They can bombard faraway targets without their existence detected, unless they are detected by satellites, just like sniping. The target of attack needs to be in detection range for homing programs to work, though.
Photon cannons and guns, Laser oscillation systems, charge faster and thus fire small bursts or large beams faster. Said energy blasts are more powerful at same rate of fire (Higher DPS basically) All live rounds are depleted uranium with an overcharge to increase it's pyrophoric lethality, it's speed at moment of fire is regularly Mach 2, decelerating at -10 m/s^2.
Wave Force armor are improved, having a bigger 'Klein Bottle' per surface meter of the armor and faster energy emission rate. It is still restricted to processing capability of core though so the ship will less processing power still have the same size of energy absorption limit as they have before.
[Most of these improvements are credited to the efforts of Osakabe Makie, the lead scientist of the fleet]
20. If you assume that the Fog is overpowered, the Neuroi paints the sky red with their beams. They have unlimited range to target and unlimited energy threshold, their limitations are their range of detection and since they are airborne, no sonar to detect underwater vessels. They can shoot blankly into the sea and hope it hits so it makes no difference. Neuroi themselves are overpowered and thus the 'Fog' are equal enemies.
More assumptions will be added according to need, if need arises, so this section may get bigger and bigger.
I am a business student and thus have practically little to no information naval history. I will have to rely on the internet for research and thus to those with knowledge of the navy and history of world war 2 naval forces, if you can advise me and give me some tips please do so. Thank you very much.
A New World, A New War
(Chihaya Gunzou) [Currently cruising across the Pacific, last docked at a Philippines Fog dock for resupply as they head towards Bering Sea planning to cruise silently through the strait and pass the Chukchi Sea]
"The breeze is good today don't you think?" Chihaya Gunzou asked to the mental model that is listening attentively by his side. Iona has changed or it is more appropriate to say, 'she have returned to what she should be'. Her appearance is much older than her late self, equal to his own, around 19 year old. Her white hair, that is already long, is longer but with a significant increase in height, it makes her look similar to what she always had been.
The first she returned to grace as an aide/compliment of the Admiralty code, she chose to remove her frilly dress that symbolizes her status for her blue steel attire. Though enlarged, it is the same one she had always wore as she stood beside her captain, until now.
"Yes." She agreed while looking at the endless horizon, "The perfect temperature difference between the warm tropics and colder temperate zone makes the subtropical winds blow well."
It has been four months since the conclusion of the war between the Blue Fleet and the Scarlet Fleet. The War of the Fog between the half that wanted to usurp the Admiralty Code's authority and the other half that wishes to protect it.
"A fate worse than death huh?" He reminisces about the past, the talk he held with Ryoukan Kita on the 'fate of the world' and of his 'future', as his ship listens attentively to her captain's words. She merely smiled remembering the same nostalgic scene in her memory banks.
The background exploded in a blast of heat and steam as a battleship's, Haruna and Kirishima, 15-inch photon cannons fired onto the defensive wall of Yokosuka, blasting it open even with low output.
"Sir, this place is." One of the bodyguards of the diet member Ryoukan Kita urged him to move from his current location because of the potential danger, of two incoming Fog battleships that wanted the I-401 and its crew who were currently dining with him.
"Silence." He ordered, "I am currently discussing the fate of the world with them." It wasn't an exaggeration. He said it himself, the vibration warhead transportation plans have been crushed by the Fog thus the I-401 is their last hope, possibly the world's last hope. He knew it to a disgusting extent.
Chihaya Gunzou then could only smile in admiration at the ex-navy admiral that hasn't lost his edge. The member of the Diet never lost his leadership capabilities after delving into the backstabbing world of politics. "What you do with the 401 will change the world," He believed in that same belief, 'Iona will change the world'.
"Do all of you, no..." Ryoukan Kita knew that the rest of the crew doesn't have the capabilities for that long term forecasting and so he corrected his words, "Do you know that? Gunzou Chihaya." to direct his question at the man who took responsibility.
He still remembers his reply then, "I don't know what the future have in store for me but I know that my own future is entwined in it." The future is impossible to predict perfectly, "I have the power to determine my fate I will use it." He confidently declared, "I shall no longer sit by the sidelines."
"Even if that choice brings you death?" Death was too light of a punishment for such pride, for his apparent hubris. "You might be given a fate worse than death."
"If that is the result of my choices then I will accept it!"
A helicopter was shot down by an AA photon laser battery as its fuselage exploded. I-401's crew looked away from the conversation because of the flash that resembled fireworks and the bodyguards fell into further panic at the continual destruction of their coastal defenses. Two men alone are undisturbed by said explosion as they glared at each other with unrelenting spirit.
"What do you think?" He asked Iona of her opinion. "Is Ryoukan Kita's premonition right or is it wrong?"
"I think we were given a good fate." She serenely replied as a flash of light took her attention. Deducing from range and speed it could only be the new micro motion tile bombs dropped by the newly developed micro motion jets. "Klein Field activated." She simulated impact after the Klein Field is properly set and easily concluded that there will be no damage to herself, just a small tremor that passes through the field, harmless. Then she calculated energy emission rate, just in case.
Just because Hakugei-3's micro motion tiles are somewhat effective against the fog, it has been utilized everywhere where applicable; even the SSTOs were equipped with said anti-detection mechanism. It is logical that once those who are hidden show themselves, they are no longer hidden and thus easy picking especially air targets. Sadly, the Army doesn't know that.
"It's seems the army still doesn't accept their standing, even after their total defeat against the second Oriental fleet." Gunzou himself has been thinking about who might have staged this attack while he stood beside the railing without fear, hands in his pockets, fully trusting that no harm shall befall him.
"The Blue Fleet controls the Pacific so they at least wanted to control Japanese seas but without the support of the Navy and their privileged use of the new wave force warhead, they suffered heavy losses of landing crews, gear and infantry." Iona agreed as she starts the emission of energy absorbed by her Klein Field. "Should we reply in kind?"
"No need." Gunzou chuckled at the reply he received before ordering, "We'll just ignore it like usual." getting an 'understood'. "Let's go back in." and the two tried to go back within the vessel. Tried being the main focus as the world just suddenly turned dark.
Noticing the change in atmosphere he looked back into the skies. What have been a clear day has turned dark and cloudy, a brewing storm. It happened so suddenly, no, it was faster than that, it might have appeared instantly the second he turned his eyesight.
"Graviton wave detected." Iona suddenly went into battle mode as she detected an unknown wavelength and an ever increasing level of energy vibration, tugging on his sleeves indicating the need to enter the vessel if the need to dive arises.
"A tractor beam? A Supergravity Cannon!?" He rushed towards the entrance of the submarine as his world rotated one full circle.
'Unlike the usual Supergravity Cannon attack, the tractor beam didn't split the ocean.' Overturned he could see that the sea is calm, as if it's only them that is pulled upwards, 'The regular arms of the Fog shouldn't be able to cause this 'field', thus this attack does not belong to the Fog.' He concluded while he was falling in a wrong way, not even for a second falling into panic.
"Gunzou!" Iona created a Klein Field which held him and herself, the whole submarine included, from 'falling' further as she supported her captain against the pulling gravity.
'This power level exceeds even the dimensional wave caused by the Mirror Ring System... what could possibly perform such feat?' He could only grit his teeth at the pressure of gravity.
"Klein Field 2% saturated. It will be operational for 12 more minutes." Iona reported, the Klein Field feeling the pressure, though she did not show any visible strain on her expression. "The dimensional anomaly is causing my graviton engines to fail, output is decreasing. Klein Field operation time is estimated to be reduced by four minutes."
"Iona, prepare Full Burst mode! We will shake through the field. Can you keep output as high as possible?"
"I think I can hold it at 80 percent."
"Good enough, now let's head back in."
"Mn."
Klein Field platforms appeared as he stepped each heavy foot slowly but surely towards the ship's hatch. With a "Pssh" sound of decompression, the circular steel hatch opened and the two threw themselves into the ship to avoid pressure. Now allowed a breather he gasped a bit more before he walk towards the bridge.
The empty rooms that used to have his companions look so lonely. Things has changed, they weren't a small group of outlaws anymore. They are a full-fledged fleet with political power equal to a nation. Since there are a lot of Fog ships that needed command, though unused to perform on their own nor command others, the crew of the I-401 led their own fleets. As expected of them, they adapted and easily learnt the ropes with the sole exception of Kashihara Kyouhei, who is now the commanding officer of Iwo Jima military base, the headquarters of the Blue Fleet.
Iori leads her own fleet of heavy cruiser and battleships focusing on heavy bombardment and or barrages. Given the nickname of "Fleet Mechanic" for being the best in the fleet for her analysis and engine repairs, she is treated like a doctor to the Fog. Her fleet is named "Aegis" for the thick Wave Force armor each of her ships have making them the perfect defensive line.
Shizuka leads her fleet of submarines. Never detected by human ships and even invisible under Fog standards, they are feared by all. She earned the moniker of "Sonar Phantom" for matching the sonar capabilities of an observation and surveillance submarine. If a Fog fleet notices her, then they can assume that torpedoes have already been fired should they be enemies. Not once has she lost her enemy in detection as her fleet underwater was called the "Eastern Wolfpack".
[Yep, she have the full set. Type A Ko-hyoteki, Type B Ko-hyoteki otsu-gata, Type C Ko-hyoteki hei-gata, and Type D Ko-hyoteki tei-gata or Koryu midget subs. Though the midget subs are of different tiers, they are practically the same as a 'fog' midget sub just like the Seehund.
Of course she had observation vessels watching and resupply vessels waiting.]
Sou leads a mixed fleet, a balanced mixture of firepower, torpedoes, air suppression and combat clarity equipment, sonars and radars but as a whole, he leads the suppression fleet having more than a third of his fleet composed of light carriers and a quarter of the same fleet of standard carriers. His fleet is given the moniker "Death from above" for its deadly torpedo bombing and himself, "Impregnable Commander" for holding the Pacific line against the overwhelming firepower of the American fleets with just his fleet alone. Sou Oribe's moniker also speaks of his ability to defend his carriers well. Few Fog fleets can pierce his first line of defense, much less the second.
[Assault and suppression vessels are airborne weapon platforms.
They bring inside them 'fog' fighter bombers, the WWII counterparts may be torpedo bomber, dive bomber and fighters but they all become fighter bombers, all of them, minimum 80 and maximum 120, 40 to 60 for light carriers and 10 to 30 for seaplane tenders. These are stored in the middle to bow of the ship.
The middle to stern of the ship is the resupply modules and missile launchers, mostly interceptor missiles for anti-anti-air countermeasure.
For having a size larger than a battleship, their wave force armor can hold more energy, the only ship that can defeat it's energy containment are superbattleships.]
Kashihara Kyouhei doesn't have a fleet of his own but is now a commanding officer of the headquarter base of Iwo Jima and was given a moniker, the "Weapon Overdrive" for being able to use all 360 different caliber photon cannons, ranging from 10mm AA guns up to the 16-inch cannons, and launch 400 actively controlled missiles in an erratic algorithm that can match a fast battleship's rate of calculation. Although it happened when the base was under attack and he snapped under the pressure , it was an achievement by itself. Some of the Fog ships even simulated that under a similar simulated pressure, he may hack ships of processing power below a large cruiser.
Of course, the base should not be devoid of ships. Though not a fleet, he commands a few frigates, corvettes, auxiliary, supply and coastal defense ships for all the necessary support and defense of the steel fortress. He's also tasked with the odd jobs of the fleet, managing munitions and such.
The Blue fleet has one additional member, the designed child Osakabe Makie. She led a relatively cheery fleet that has balanced firepower and commonly performs stealth tactics with submarines or massive bombardments with her battle cruiser friends. She named her fleet 'Haru-Haru' in respect to the nickname of her flagship Haruna. Maya likes it too and the name caught on to most of the ships in the fleet. Their leader herself is given a moniker of "Smiling Death", not even once faltering under onslaught of superheavy cannons, she smiled through the naval battlefield with her merry ships.
Kamikage Ryuujirou and Osakabe Makoto too came for a ride, until they have to return to their posts, their responsibilities to the nation.
He, Chihaya Gunzou, himself has changed. He wasn't the human he used to be but he's not of the Fog either; he changed into something different form the two altogether, a third existence.
'You shall be the bridge between us two existences,' she said, 'I can only hope that your future arrives, no matter how long it takes. A century, a millennium. I have given you the necessary power needed.'
Then she sacrificed herself for his sake, protecting both Iona, Takao and Yamato, who already used her Mirror Ring System and was thus vulnerable, from a Supergravity Cannon of a super battleship.
'Live on and enact your will. Understand and finally, believe.' that was the final message that resonated through the Joint Tactical Network as the Admiralty Code met her end. He saw it happen, he watched it unfold and he received her blessings on his wish of a new era, of coexistence between the Fog and humanity.
[Iona is the joint tactical network if you don't know. She too honoured the 'will' and so communicated the admiralty code's final message to all fog ships]
"Admiral of the Fog" that is now what the Fleet of Fog call him. The new Admiralty Code that shall lead the Fog to a new era, a leader to the surprised and confused fleet. To fulfill the last wish of the late Admiralty Code.
He who was just a single weak human had finally found the power he sought, the power to change the world to the better or to worse, that large influence. Now he's asked of his answer, what is his answer? Do he have the answer?
The first, command all of the Fog as it's leader actively as he forces them to co-existence with humanity. They will be treated not even as a weapon but as a tool, a cruel end for them and a great victory for humanity. The comeback of the "Traitor" most will comprehend.
Just by looking at Musashi's fear-stricken face clutching on his father's sleeves at that time dispelled that option. Each Fog ship should be able to choose their captain, the fleet they are in, with certain logic restraints, admiral command and or control. The rights privileged to those who accept it, who acknowledged it.
The second is the opposite, command all of the Fog against humanity and dominate not just the sea but the land included. It should be 'logical' for the traitor to be a part of the stronger force and thus control the weaker existence. The Fog is no longer a tool of war, mighty weapons, they are proud weapons, warriors of the sea. The humans that could not defeat the unchanging Fog for a decades of research and innovation, now that the Fog is changing, they no longer have hope.
How could he be inhumane? Even the Fog is more humane than that. All that they have been doing is just following orders, they doesn't even care about the fate of humanity after gaining Mental Models. They just wish to understand what is happening and what they have become.
So the third is the best choice bust also may be the hardest while some would say the easiest. Difficulty is relative.
Waiting.
Simply wait.
He started the change.
The people are watching.
The gears are turning.
All eyes are on the future.
The world is moving.
A new era had begun.
Thus there is no more need.
And he disappeared.
The world wasn't in its stagnant status anymore. Things have changed heavily throughout the war between the Blue and Scarlet Fleets. It is on its way to a better tomorrow. What is hard is the patience to wait.
One year has passed since the gears of the world have started, after they had sunk the heavy battleship Hyuuga, two will pass and later three. All that time, can he just keep waiting? Most probably not.
Still, all fear change, even if it is well intended and will be good in respect to the future. There will be a lot of people who demand for the status quo that held them down. There will be many of the Fog that deny the ability to coexist saying that their irrational aggression will disallow any peaceful standing between the two.
"Full Burst Mode will reach critical output in sixty seconds." Iona reported the moment the two arrived at the bridge waking him up from the massive recollection of the recent changes.
Sitting down on the chair that he had gotten used to, he saw the 'battle' proceeding on the screen, that they are suspended in the air but without detecting anything in their surroundings even if their sonar and radar sensitivity has fallen.
"Iona, can you shake free?" Said Mental Model shook her head and enlarged her photon turbines, her prow, to emphasize the lack of movement and obvious futility. Even at maximum output, charging Full Burst mode, is not enough to shake them off of this 'gravity field', will Full Burst mode share the same results?
'If not a stealthy vessel with equal stealth to a Fog submarine is attacking then it couldn't be anything else, but what could possible appear after the Fog?' Imagination running wild like a random simulation he could think only about what this new foe could be and of its identity.
"Full Burst mode in 30 seconds." A countdown timer is set in the middle of the large screen as numbers jump up and down. The statistics of the event being analyzed and recorded.
'Could it be a natural occurrence? Didn't Hyuuga speculate this before?'
"Supergravity Cannons collect ambient gravitons, degenerates energy from it and decompress them to reach its critical state. In the process, energy and gravitas, dimensional disturbance causing particles, is produced. The tractor beam that is used to split the seas and suspend the enemy vessel is the energy emission mechanism of the cannon." Hyuuga once lectured on the workings of the gravity cannons. "The degenerated energy that was fired will regenerate itself and since their frequencies return to natural, dimension is usually pulled in all directions."
"So what is this possible hazard of Supergravity Cannon warfare?" He asked, "Permanent spatial distortion?" getting a 'maybe' as a reply before it was continued further.
"In the process of energy regeneration, milenium is produced, a Thanatonium like element that causes spatial disturbance." Ise continued the explanation for her sister, "Locations which milenium suspend itself in, that small pocket dimension, all possibilities are equalized." She showed on a screen the pockets, a black liquid like matter floating in the air but surely they decrease in quantity as the timer of the feed sped forward. "Nature itself will correct the dimensional error and normalize gravitational force but not all is normalized. In the end, a nominal amount of an unknown element, officially dubbed as dark matter, floats stationary at the original position of the disturbance, invisible to the naked eye."
"What will happen should this dark matter pile up?"
"How should we know?" Hyuuga answered with irritation from the fact that she doesn't know and did not understand why nature worked that way, "This unknown matter is alien even to the Fog. It may react with other elements to causing dimensional tears, distortions, imbalance, and disasters. Whatever it might lead to, it will be catastrophic if not apocalyptic." None of the Mental Models and humans present are confident that they can refrain from using Supergravity Cannons. They are at war after all and thus they need all the firepower they needed.
'Could dark matter really be the cause for this?' He wondered not believing in such a convenient train of thought.
"10, 9," Iona counted down the time to engagement of full burst mode but before she could count 8, the pressure of gravity suddenly disappeared.
Hovering on air for a few second the two were completely surprised at another sudden change as they fell towards the seas below.
Too late to perform field calculations, they landed on the sea with a heavy crash. A few seconds have passed since they flew in the air and the weather is already bright, as if the abnormality that just happened never happened.
"Are you okay, Iona?" Gunzou first checked the welfare of his ship as Iona nodded.
"The fall hurts but there is no damage whatsoever to the hull."
"Cancel Full Burst mode and continue cruise, change course to Iwo Jima."
"Understood."
And thus they turned onto a six hour voyage towards their headquarters not before multiple updates were uploaded into the network.
"It seems that the others experienced the same gravitational abnormality that we did," Iona sounding rather surprised reported, "Their accounts and reports look similar except for the level of gravitational pressure."
"Upload our abnormality information to the joint network. Ask Hyuuga to analyze it."
"Already done." A small upward arrow with [Upload] popped on her holographic display before a picture of a mail popped out, a message.
[For Iona nee-sama, Hyuuga will do ANYTHING!] With a SD version of her Mental Model winking in the bottom right of the mail.
Another message popped up seconds after the last and opening it, the two read an apology letter.
[I'm sorry for my sister's buggy Mental Model. I will be analyzing the data together with her.] From that alone the two could know that this message was sent by Ise and was meant towards Gunzou. [Iori and I are heading towards Iwo Jima as we are speaking. We too experienced the strange gravitational abnormality, though all the damage the fleet received was due to the collision of battleships after the fall. Iori is still blaming herself as I send this message muttering, "I should have stayed as a mechanic" and calling the I-401's name for comfort.]
"Heh, Iori seems to be doing fine."
After the light tone, it continued with a more serious one, [It seems that the worst have come to realization. All the pacific fleet is affected and probably the whole Fog has suffered from the same occurrence.] Despite Ise having a childish Mental Model, she is one of the smartest Mental Models in the fleet. [Hakugei-3 existence have also been confirmed.] She reported of what is supposed to be a man-made submarine. [Should my sister's theory be true then maybe a restriction on Supergravity Cannons should be applied. - Ise] A thoughtful message indeed.
More started pouring in faster than they could be received, much less opened and read. Some messages are even from other fleets, namely their flagships Yamato of the First Oriental Fog Fleet, Nagato of the Second Oriental Fog Fleet, Iowa of the North Pacific Fleet, Sovetsky-Soyuz of the Okhotsk Fleet and Pravda of the Bering Fleet which are all relatively close to Japan. Even the Arctic and Siberian Fleets contacted the Blue Steel.
"Send a message to all fleet captain and flagships of the Blue Fleet," Gunzou came to a conclusion on what to do for now.
[Let's meet at Iwo Jima]
(Scarlet Fleet leader, Captain Zordan Stark) [Currently cruising through the Atlantic Ocean]
It has been a sudden 'change of pace' for Zordan Stark and U-2501 as they were struck with the same natural disaster.
They had just been flung into the air and back down by a strange gravitational occurrence. Natural or created at first wasn't clear but after it happened, it seemed more natural than an attack could be.
An attack would always be erratic, going up and down within standard deviation of a mean. This, it stood straight as a line and does not change. The only vibration present and detected is caused by their efforts to shake off the area of effect but to no avail.
"Zwühein, perform integrity check. Is there any damage?" He ordered because they fell pretty hard.
The screen showed the system and performance check as the bar filled to a hundred percent and all system are green. "No damage to wave force armor nor to engines." U-2501's Mental Model, Zwühein, replied. "All systems functional."
'As expected of a smaller submarine model, the fall could damage little and the pressure is nothing at all to a submarine. The only ships that would receive damage are the big ships with huge displacements, at least a heavy cruiser class and displacements above its class.'
"Captain, strange flying objects detected 10 miles away."
"Show it on the screen." and the video feed from the periscope of U-2501 showed a gigantic flying black mass, with two smaller but similarly big black masses beside it. 'Could humanity finally created a super weapon?' Sadly he did not even think how did it appear, he did not question from where it has flown, how could they fail to detect it on radar before gaining visuals?
"Detecting ships, this reading..."
"What is it?" Surprised at the surprise the mental model is showing he urged her to go on.
The screen moved to the seas, 2 miles to the left below the black mass, to show ships, Königsberg-class and Admiral Hipper class ship to be precise, a German cruiser fleet. The United States carrier USS Lexington, the HMS Victorious, a United Kingdom carrier, and Shoukaku, an Imperial Japan carrier. Protecting the carrier are some Gerard Callenburgh-class destroyers and few Flores-class gunboats of the Royal Netherlands Navy.
[Surprisingly, the Netherlands exist in Strike Witches verse.]
"A mixed Fog fleet?" Surprised at the mix of World War II vessels, assumed 'fog', that are of different fleets, control regions, Zordan exclaimed.
"Captain, there are no gravitational readings. They aren't Fog ships." Alarmed at the existence of World War II ships that aren't Fog U-2501 quickly reported.
"Upload abnormality data and existence of WWII mixed fleet to the joint tactical network and contact Romuald and Francette. The Scarlet Fleet will have to regroup at our headquarters, on Angra." Romuald's heavy battleship fleet and Francette's submarine fleet will be helpful in the upcoming events as strange and unreal as it could be. "For now we support the fleet. How many missiles do we have left?"
"We have 26 left, 10 of them ASW and 16 anti-ship; we aren't equipped with many anti-air weaponry..." She answered, reporting timidly about the incompatibility of their missiles against air targets before trying to dismiss it by advising alternative, "We still have many torpedoes though; 82 normal torpedoes and 22 corrosive torpedoes!"
With correct programming, they should be able to hit. Above water capability? Probably lacking.
"We'll make do. How about mines?"
"I have four Scatter mines and 44 regular naval mines in the inventory."
"Just to be safe, how many decoys we have?"
"Five active decoys, twelve passive decoys, and six sound decoys."
"Mirror Ring System?"
"Fully operational."
They are fully armed for a naval battle, since it is assumed that they will fight only against man made ships or 'Fog' ships. Conventional fighter and bombers too aren't this massive.
"Detecting more flying units coming from 8 O'clock." Zwühein's radars detected more objects in the sky and moving at a rather fast speed, a fighter plane?
"Wha!?" The zoomed in screen showed girls, teenage girls to young ladies flying using strange rotary engines on their legs, a peculiar similarity to outdated planes. Could they be another 'fog'? Mental model of fighter ships?
"There is a reading but it's not gravitational." Zwühein reported. Though not gravitational, the existence that a reading is present means they are not human or at least not fully human. The best theory currently present are that they are too a kind of 'Fog' Mental Model, just in the form of fighter planes.
Said girls brought heavy firearm though outdated in his opinion, but is more effective than the artillery shells the cruisers fired. Volley of their bullets are more powerful than bombardment of 12 inch shells.
And as he thought of that, the Neuroi fired a beam from nowhere. A red large force of energy as it sliced the air trying to shoot down the flying girls and those that was aimed to the sea, cut the steel ships down like they were made of butter. Looking at that one attack alone he concluded that waiting will mean a probable end to the human fleet.
"Arm the missile pods. Fill the torpedo tubes one to five with regular torpedoes and six with a corrosive torpedo." U-2501 still have a tendency to wait for orders, afraid of his temper but recently, she have started to follow commands preemptively, "Flood tubes." he ordered after the all warheads are live and after another destroyer of the fleet was cut apart, "Fire corrosive torpedo!"
From the bottom left to the ship and bottom right to observers a torpedo is fired at high speed, about a hundred knots as Zordan continued their attack, "Fire all missile!" as all eight opened missile pods shoot out photon propelled warheads out of the water into the sky as their photon thrusters took over acceleration. "Fire the rest of the torpedoes, aim to hit, and reload all warheads." As five more torpedoes sped off, Zordan prepared the second volley in case that this new enemy could not be brought down with regular anti-Fog tactics.
"Sir!" The Sea Observation Officer detected something moving at high speed. "There's something moving in the waters." The communications officer reported, from the sonar room, to the captain of the USS Lexington, Rear Admiral Frederick C. Sherman, "It's a torpedo!" as the same report, though different in language, rang out on the bridges of Shoukaku and Victorious.
"What!?" Not believing the report of an incoming torpedo he shouted in surprise, one that is mirrored by the crew on the bridge albeit without the same outburst. "Perform evasive actions!" Though he ordered that, they are already in evasive motion, but that action is intended to evade a beam not a torpedo even if evading both are impossible.
"Wait." The same officer stopped the panic outbreak occurring on the bridge as the sonar officer notices the direction that the torpedo is and reported again, "It is not aimed at us sir!"
'Then what is it fired at?' The crew collectively thought as they saw said torpedo burst out of the water and into the sky. 'It's not a torpedo! It's a missile!' Most cheered inside themselves as they watched what seemed to be an underwater launched missile speed off towards it's true target, the Neuroi. It blasted in a red sphere of destruction as the largest Neuroi's armor is consumed by the blast radius easily showing its red hexagonal Core, a feat that has never been seen before.
"Unknown vessel detected!" The sonar officer reported the existence of the ship that fired the missile.
"How many?" The rear admiral questioned as the officer replied back to the sonar room.
"Only one, Sir!" As admiration showed on the rear admiral's face and obviously all men on the bridge, the sky observation officer could not do the same as he have to report a reading on his radar screen, "Flying objects, more missiles, hot onto target."
As he reported, more missiles followed at supersonic speeds shattering the Core of the large class Neuroi and blasting apart the armor of the other two Neuroi present in the airspace, not even one hitting the allied Witches. With just two missiles, this single unknown vessel has just destroyed a Large Neuroi singlehandedly!
"More underwater/flying objects inbound!" Both sonar and radar detected high velocity objects on their screens.
Eight more missiles blasted the left over Neuroi as underwater torpedoes blasted it upwards with same force. The Witches in the sky could only stare agape at the fact that they aren't needed. Whomever is currently firing those missiles have enough battle power to destroy three Neuroi by themselves and so overwhelmingly.
The crew of the fleet could not see it since they are faraway but the Witches could see it; the beams that the Neuroi fired to intercept the missiles were being intelligently evaded as they swerved off target before turning back to hit. Evasive actions of the Neuroi are futile as the missiles that were supposed to miss turned at the last moment and blasted themselves deep inside the armor despite their sharp turn.
They soon saw the U-2501 surfacing quite a distance away from their fleet as it fired her 20mm photon AA-guns in short bursts as to look like live arms but for such small AA guns, it shaved off the armor of the Neuroi as fast as their magically enhanced weaponry could perform, maybe faster.
All of the people present that watched the battle have a similar question ringing inside their head, asking 'What is that ship?', 'How could it be so powerful?' and 'Who led it out here in the Atlantic?'.
The corrosive torpedo flew high faster than it was underwater as water resistance receded and hits the largest of the three black masses with ease, exploding in a huge spatial discharge, shredding off all the armor it comes into contact with, and exposed a red hexagonal crystal, the 'Core' he concluded for it is in the middle of the 'plane'.
"Thanatonium detected!" Zwühein alarmed her captain at the sudden emergence of the corrosive element and pinpointed the same 'Core' of the black airship to be source. Then the two know why it wasn't disintegrated completely; its core is impervious to Thanatonium since they are of the same element.
The leftover armor, which is practically specks of the black plane, tried to cover the Core exposed by the corrosive torpedo, confirming regenerative abilities, but the missiles came and said Core was shattered. The few that did not hit the Core switched targets onto the other two masses as they flew higher and dived, all the way evading intercepting beams.
The torpedoes followed suit though as they jumped out of the waters below it and crashed upon the fuselages of the other two masses disconcerting it, since the beams stopped for a second, to allow the missiles in the air to land easier. The torpedoes that are built to vibrate in the water performed somewhat better than expected as their damage, though light, spread through the nano-material of the mass, making the armor brittle and easier for the latter missile explosion to destroy.
"Fire all missiles!" He ordered again as the second volley and last of their best flying projectiles were launched. "Surface and fire our guns!"
"Surfacing." Zwühein followed the orders and surfaced before opening fire with her four 20mm photon AA-guns in short bursts, each photon bolt that made contact cause the armor of the mass to melt, plasmatized, ionized and with a thermonuclear reaction, explode, the process occurring all within half a second. As the supercharged lasers pierced through the cores of the two remaining Neuroi, shattering them into more nano-material rain, silence ensued.
The flying girls floating in the air stared agape at the battle power that their U-Boat had shown and so are the fleet as the seas are completely quiet. They weren't even hailed for identity or confirmation. Gauging from the tension alone, one would think that they, the fleet, are the next targets of the unknown submarine vessel.
"Battle ended." Zordan assured U-2501 to calm down and deactivate her battle mode, the thrumming of her graviton engines receding and energy outputs returning to normal. "That was easier than I expected... It didn't even have a Klein Field." He confessed, "We weren't even detected."
"I plotted a possible detection range, should I upload it?" He nodded at her thoughtful action before looking again at the screen, waiting for development.
"Incoming transmission from the Lexington, a radio transmission." She was kind of taken aback at such outdated method of communication as the ship's speakers blazed with radio static.
"This is Rear Admiral Frederick Sherman, Captain of the Liberion Aircraft Carrier USS Lexinggton of the 6th Joint Fleet. Thank you for the support but may I know who am I speaking to?"
'Liberion?' Zordan thought of the strange name and concluded that he never heard of it, "Log this 'Liberion', it may be important information." He told Zwühein, who nodded and logged the name 'Liberion'.
"Zordan Stark, Kapitän of U-2501. Kriegsmarine's Elektroboote" First introducing himself and his ship and leaving out the fact that he is a part of the 'Scarlet Fleet' with thus fleet not in sight and replacing it with historical fact of the ship, he now asks for an audience, "May I come aboard your vessel? I have a few requests I wish to ask."
"Of course!" Sherman exclaimed with gratitude, "You can come aboard the vessel my friend."
"Zwühein, follow their course and come close to USS Lexington." As the said ship diverted its course to meet up with the carrier.
"Can I come with you?"
"Of course." Zordan replied with a rare smile as he wore his naval commander's jacket and cap. Though there are no insignia to prove naval ranking, it should show status well enough to warrant respect guaranteed to men of his position.
Exiting the U-2501, Zordan saw the crew of the Lexington throw a rope down from their deck onto the submarine as watched the hemp rope with amusement before climbing up, deciding not to show the Klein Field to the men of the fleet.
At first the crew of the ship saluted at the coming of another captain in respect and admiration, looking at the full attire and attentive visage of the young man made the atmosphere heavier.
"Captain Stark." Albert saluted at the captain of U-boat vessel and smiled as he confirmed him to be of Karlsland origin not knowing that he is a German, not someone of this world. Still, he is human and thus a friend or at least an ally.
"Rear Admiral Frederick." He saluted back towards the saluting captain in the most respectful stance as if he is his past admiral, Chihaya Shouzou.
Once Zwühein also got up on the deck, it surprised all the sailors as they wonder why a female child is on a U-Boat.
"Your daughter?" Sherman at first asked a bit skeptical not believing that the man in front of him that looks like true captain though young, orderly and stern, could bring a normal child on a vessel in a dangerous mission against the Neuroi.
"I'm Type XXI U-Boat U-2501's Mental Model." Zwühein introduces herself as her holographic displays of ship calculation were shown in the open to assert her existence as a 'Fog', "You can call me Zwühein, Kapitän."
The Rear Admiral, not understanding the strange terms stated and not recognizing the names presented, didn't understand that she is introducing herself as the U-Boat but recognized her rather as the operative of the vessel, as she create a screen on thin air, the holographic screens, thinking. 'Can Karlsland scientists create such technology?' believing that she is just a new kind of 'Witch', a 'Sea Witch'.
"Sir, may I ask a question?" Mind still occupied, the Liberion captain nodded, "What date is it today?"
"It should be 26th April 1944. Why?"
"Hmm..." He was surprised but wonders more at how a time displacement could occur and 'Is it only the two of us or did our comrades get pulled into this as well?', if there are any more victims to said time displacement.
"Update our date to 26 April 1944." Zordan told Zwühein as she replied with, "Updated."
"Have you been at sea for quite a while?" The captain asked wondering how another captain could lose count on their days at sea.
"Around four months at sea I guess." Zordan admitted getting a surprised look from the captain in front of him.
"I heard that U-Boat crews eat a certain kind of paste for food, is that true?" As a Liberion, he is a carefree man and thus to make things lighter and also to make it light for himself he asked playfully according the few rumors evident back in his country.
"Not at all, I eat quite fine dining even under the sea." Noticing the playful tone that was used, Zordan replied in his friendly way, "We even have deep sea fish to dine with."
"Bu-Hahahaha!" He couldn't hold himself back to laugh at the nautical sarcasm his playful tone was countered with as he slapped the young man's back, "You might want to try our cuisine then. Liberion food should be better than those Karlsland rations!"
'Liberion and Karlsland...' Zordan looked at Zwühein as she logged the new name down and a tag of [United States counterpart] and [German counterpart] to each name respectively.
"Ah! Right," Pretending as if to remember a lost thought, "Can I meet with the brave Fräulein that fought in the sky?"
"The 508th Joint Fighter Wing, the Mighty Witches?" Zordan just nods because he doesn't know what these 'Witches' are but noticed that they are the 'Air Force' from the statement of 'Joint Fighter Wing'. "They are resting at the moment but I guess it is fine. Mrs. Jane Thatch too has questions about your ship and its armaments, though she knows you may not disclose it due to military regulations."
"Lead the way then." Zordan urged the captain to lead him into the vessel as said Rear Admiral first pulled him into the mess hall, forced him to get treated to lunch and then pulled again towards the quite luxurious conference room of the carrier.
While walking through the carrier, U-2501 rubbed the steel surfaces of the ship frowning in discomfort.
"What's wrong?" Zordan asked towards his ship's Mental Model, not knowing what exactly is going on in her mind, or rather, her processor.
"This is the first time I could not communicate with a fellow vessel from the same age..." She confessed, "It feels weird, and unsettling." She knows that this is a normal ship and thus has no intelligence but even so she feels 'weird', the 'Fog' ship could feel a 'weird' feeling, like a vibration, not because of a resonance, through her keel. The fog has changed so much in a year compared to the seventeen years of unchanging toil.
For saving the fleet they are in, reducing their losses from possibly most of the fleet to a few cruisers, Zordan was given quite the luxurious welcome by the ship's crew and thus included in it, the kitchen staff.
He was given frozen steak, complete with vegetables and chips as a side dish. Mash potatoes in plastic cup and mineral water right beside the steel stray that held the food. Even Zwühein was generously given a set.
"This is luxurious indeed." He remarked surprised at the existence of beef that he hadn't tasted for quite a while. U-2501's Mental Model too ate the meal happily since she rarely gets a chance to eat while they are on a voyage, saving the perishable foods for her captain.
"Don't get used to this treatment, we'll part ways after this after all." Sherman advised to the two as two more high ranking men with a few young ladies without proper attires, lacking lower wear, entered the same room.
"Rear Admiral Sir Peter Maxwell Compton of the Britannian Navy, Rear Admiral Masafumi Arima of the Fuso Navy and Wing Commander Jane Thatch of the 508th Joint Wing." The Rear Admiral introduces his fellow rear admirals and the commanding officer of the Joint Wing before introducing him, "Captain Zordan Stark of the U-2501." Zordan stood up and saluted as a formality, like a true German soldier, each action are performed perfectly before they all sat down on the conference table.
All that while Zwühein logged the two names "Britannia" and "Fuso" and tagged them with "United Kingdom" and "Imperial Japan". She also took note of "Jane Thatch" finding similarities of the last name to the ace of the United States VF-3 pilot, John Thach.
"Mind if I ask of your mission in the Atlantic? It is just a coincidence that your U-boat stumbled upon our fleet right?" The witch asked a sensitive question right away, as expected of her frankness.
"Indeed." Zordan replied with a steely gaze not faltering under the frank questioning, interrogation, and restricted the amount of information he will voice, "We were merely in the vicinity and thus supported your fleet."
"What are those missiles? The first doesn't explode normally and they move like they are alive!" Amazement is obvious in her tone as she didn't believe that a single missile could shred Neuroi of their armor and evade its beams.
"I'm sorry but the technology of those missiles is still under development nor am I allowed to share our country's secrets." Using the classic excuse of an experimental weapon and top-secret data he hoped that it would end all technological questions before exaggerating the subject easily, "There are risks of it to fly towards friendlies but they are the only anti-air armaments available in our inventory."
"So there is a chance that it will hit us in the air?" Surprised at the revelation her tone shifted to one of anger.
"They won't," Zordan assured, "it targets huge masses only and thus may fly down towards your fleet carriers, especially the ones launched underwater." He easily fortified his lies to erase the misunderstanding of the Wing Commander. "Our vessel is an experimental one too, as so due to some faulty parts, our communication and navigational systems failed recently."
"So you will be tagging along our fleet to a harbor and fix your systems?" Peter concluded from the direction Zordan is pointing at, a request that he may ask but Arima asked Zordan in return, "Aren't there engineers on board the vessel? Scientists at least?"
"I and Zwühein are the only crew aboard this experimental U-boat." As long as he doesn't mention 'human crew', this statement is not a lie. As he watched the amazement the three rear admirals held of his ship's technology, the technology of the 'Fog', even if he claimed they are still in testing.
"What does she do on the ship?" Jane pointed at Zwühein that Sherman forgotten about and asked of her purpose on the vessel.
"She's controls the ship's operations and battle calculations. You can say that she is the ship." Zordan rephrased her earlier introduction into simpler terms.
"U-2501, Zwühein." She acknowledged and introduced herself before she noticed something in her sonar and a common fog reading. "Captain, gravitational engines detected." Holographic screens showed, surprising the three that hasn't witnessed its existence before, a video feed from U-2501's bow. "It's Bismarck!"
As Zwühein announced the German Heavy Battleship, the wall of the conference room that outlooks the sea exploded. The mental model present in the room instantly created a Klein Field that absorbed all kinetic energy from impact and rebounded all shrapnel but it could not erase the mental shock of the crew.
"An ambush!?" Somebody shouted, "Battle stations!" Another ordered.
The witch in the room and the other few eavesdropping out of the room activated their magic on reflex and showed their animal pair of ears and a tail. Zordan took note of that 'transformation' as he calmly walked towards the newly opened hole on the ship's side. The edges of the steel melting, surely caused by a single-shot fire of one of the 37mm photon AA-guns on the Bismarck.
"What is the meaning of this? Bismarck!" Zordan shouted out of the side of the ship like a mad man, in the sense that he is angry not that he's crazy but seen by the others as crazy while in fact he's just angry, as the U-2501 emerged out of the waters perfectly below him. Zwühein created platforms made of Klein Fields and the two descended into their vessel as the battleship Bismarck turned its bow to the right, to starboard, as if telling them to come after it.
"Sir! We have been fired at by the Karlsland Heavy Battleship Bismarck!" Captain Albert Marshall, the Liberion rear admiral's second in command barged in the conference room witch panic written on his face but reported amazingly without a stutter.
"What are the damages to the vessel?" Sherman asked quickly just in case as Albert pointed at the huge hole on the side of the room that stretches half a level up and down, "Only that sir. Right now the Bismarck has turned and at high speed away from our fleet."
"What happened to Zordan Stark and the U-2501?" Arima asked of the young man and his ship that suddenly appeared and now, his sudden disappearance.
"The U-Boat seems to be following after the Bismarck."
"He never said that his weapons are Anti-Neuroi. I don't think that he is a legitimate experimental ship. The perfect replies and calculative gaze he held towards us, the crew and our ships could only mean that he is putting on an act." Peter shared his opinion on what just happened.
"For what!? Each of our nations shared all publishable technologies present and none of us bear secret weapon nor special equipment!" Though Sherman admits that he is kind of naive, he could not imagine their ally attacking them just because. 'We are at war with an alien force for god's sake! What is going on!?'
As the rear admirals moved through the corridors towards the bridge, the two other rear admirals choosing to command from the vessel they are on rather than wasting time to get back to their own vessel, they discussed the possibilities of who Zordan Stark could be.
Is he truly as he claimed to be?
Does his name exist on the list of Kriegsmarines?
Or is he another existence altogether, similar to the Neuroi?
Or worse, is he a Neuroi spy?
"What just happened?" Delia Jeram, a Britannian witch of the 508th Joint Fighter Wing, muttered due to the extreme shock that their whole group could not shake off yet. She had just arrived from the HMS Victorious even thus her shock is one of the most.
"I have no idea." Jamie Swett, a Liberion witch of the 508th Joint Fighter Wing and youngest Witch in the Joint Fighter Wing, blankly replied to her best friend.
"Just stand by and wait for orders." Jane assured her colleagues that they do not need to delve themselves into the complicated and ready themselves for another flight, "We might open combat with that battleship together with a U-boat or both at once."
A few Witches that have above average scientific minds showed fear against the unique armaments that the ships have. The missiles they saw can evade attacks and follow their targets will be impossible to shrug off. It can also traverse the waters like a torpedo, exiting the water from blind spots and surprising them mid-flight. If they indeed have to fight against that U-Boat, they have little confidence that they can survive. Little did they know that the battleship could do even worse than they ever thought possible.
'Rather than who he is, we should ask what he is and that girl beside him.' Jane Thach had a different question to be answered than the rest, 'That girl... she made a shield.' She saw it, that thin glow of red tessellating hexagons that stopped them from getting hurt. 'It's not made out of magic though,' she is sure that she could not feel anything out of that 'shield', like looking at a machine.
'Could it be...? She really is a ship as claimed?' Sherman seemed to treat it as a joke or at least a genius of a child, similar to how the Navy and Air Force used the Witches, and thus control of the ship. 'What is happening indeed?'
"Did she say anything through the network?" He asked his ship after settling in his captain's seat quickly but his ship's Mental Model shook her head saying, "She didn't."
The Bismarck then submerges itself, surprising the now alert human joint fleet as the U-2501 followed suit and both left the startled human fleet behind them.
By direction, the fleet should be heading to the Bay of Biscay and dock at the La Rochelle harbor. Now, the two Fog ships headed the other way, towards the 'Liberion' mainland going to reach the Scarlet Fleet headquarters in the Atlantic on on Angra.
Of course there are three largest Fog docks in the Atlantic. One on Angra, the island of Tericera, another on the Bermuda Island and the third biggest are on Santiago of Cape Verde islands.
"Why did you open fire at the ship, Bismarck? 'Revenge' against the ships that are supposed to hunt you down? Or were you just itching to fire your main guns?" Still angry somewhat, Zordan's speech oozes with cynical remarks. Even if he knows fully that her 15-inch photon cannons could destroy the regularly armored carrier ship with a single full blast, it does not erase the fact that he lost the best chance to gain information.
"You should thank me." Was her reply prideful and loud as usual, "You no longer need to keep up with your façade; we're hacking their primitive databases for information anyway so you don't have to worry with that."
"Hmph. First-hand information is much more trustworthy. If their claimed date is right, there wouldn't be much databases in this time and age to hack eitherway." The two always clashed wills despite the peace that they are in. Bismarck always ticked him off and he will always piss her off. It's like a war of their own; Zwühein would disagree with that though and calls it a 'cute' friendly exchange. "Sorry for posing an intelligence risk." he says in a sarcastic way not even once having the intention to apologize.
"Of course, I would expect the commander of Scarlet Fleet to perform impeccably, but in the end you are still human."
"Said the heavy battleship whom I almost sank with a submarine vessel." At that taunt the holographic Bismarck clashed heads with Zordan as U-2501 just laughed at their seemingly old antics.
"I sailed from the Faroe Fog dock for nothing." The twin tailed Mental Model of the German battleship vocalized her regret as Zordan sighed, tired at the energy expended towards staying angry.
"Take responsibility for this world's Germany's political haymay." He demanded out of the battleship.
"Let the humans bicker with themselves. They will have more questions that they have answers." Her simulation says so, "More importantly, most of the Fleet Flagships has been assembled at Angra."
"All six fleets of the Atlantic and European Fog? So it seems that everyone got pulled into this mess." Zordan assumed that the whole 'Fog' has indeed been displaced together with its crew, if they exist thus, "The Pacific Blue Fleet must be active too."
"Indeed, the Admiralty Code has uploaded information from their side on real time into the Joint Tactical Network." Zwühein confirms after connecting to the network. She respects the Blue Steel, I-401, and it's captain, the new Admiralty Code, with utmost admiration that it's borderline adoration, but she confessed that she preferred Zordan to be her captain even if he had abused her before.
"It has been four months since he fell off the grid..." He mused at the possibility that the new Admiralty Code caused this time displacement and re-emerged after the successful action.
"All submersible Fog ships have submerged themselves, the non-submersible ships are docked in the nearest fog dock that they can reach." Bismarck reported on the current state of the European Fleet, "The docks themselves are camouflaged and so for now, we are hidden from the eyes of the world."
"Can we jam their communications?" Zordan asked the battleship if she has tested that while thinking, 'It can make a good leverage against the people of the day.'
"Of course we can. Radios are even easier to jam than a satellite up-links." Obvious as it may, there are flying girls on rotary engines that act as an Air Force, they may have other means of communication than mere radios.'Optimistic is a good quality but underestimating enemies is a fatal mistake.' He kept that to himself though.
"How long do it take to reach Angra at Bismarck's maximum speed?"
"Half a day at least." Zwühein calculated the submerged battleship's time to reach the designed location and knowing that she can traverse that same length in four hours due to their underwater maneuverability, she looked at Zordan with begging eyes not to leave the battleship behind. While the man was under attack from those pitiable eyes, he sighed in resignation and nodded, allowing their current cruise to continue.
Standing up to go to his quarters and rest, he voiced his excitement on what his rival will perform, "Chihaya Gunzou, what will you do now?"
(Captain Komaki Daisaku) [Repairing damages to module due to fall impact, currently stationary near the fog dock of Minami-Daito]
The crew too suffered from the same gravitational field as the rest of the fog though they too do not know why and what is it. Most of the men were unharmed but the Hakugei's heavy bulk and lack of wave force armor means that they flew higher and thus fell far more badly. It's not long after the assault module had been repaired and reinforced and she received damage again. Their micro motion tiles were smashed by the belly flop, its available ammunition clashed to a certain extent as the maintenance crew tried their best to repair any leaks.
Captain Komaki sighed at the currently panicking crew of the Hakugei. He himself could not believe what the ship's cameras are catching.
The live feed shows a big flying mass of black steel, floating without any identifiable thrusters nor exhaust. Having red patches along the black body, it flew on a relatively fast speed of 60 m/s, approximately 117 Knots. Their current position is but a few kilometers from the incoming flying object and the closest it will get to the submarine vessel is 350 meters in a few minutes.
Rather panicking at the unidentified flying object, since they doubt that thing could sense them on the seabed, they are worried for the welfare of the flying girls fighting said object.
Yes. Girls from ages of 11 up to 19 wearing strange propeller engines on their legs and flying in the air holding outdated heavy weaponry that were supposed to be platform guns or fighter aircraft auto-cannons. Worst of all, they don't wear pants as their panties are visible for all observers to view.
The black airship fired beams, hundreds and thousands at said flying girls as they evaded and when they are unable to, they somehow defended against said beam attack with a shield. The energy shield they use is not at all like a Klein Field, it seems to be repulsing energy rather than absorbing it and their amount of usage is astounding.
The black airship lacks defensive abilities though as it couldn't protect itself from bullets piercing its armor. If mere bullets could pierce the armor then the AA turrets on the Hakugei would work too, right? Only the regeneration abilities that is evident on the screen that stops the optimism of the Hakugei's crew.
"What should we do Captain?" The Hakugei's first mate and second in command, commander Nobutake asked for orders. The rest of the Hakugei's crew also looked at him with expecting eyes, expecting to help. Even Maruri Hibiki, the vessel's Fog advisor too expects him to help.
"All me to battle stations!" He ordered which gives him knowing smiles from his colleagues, "We're helping these girls bring down that monstrosity."
Thus the Hakugei's nuclear engines increased their output stopping the silent cruise and into regular mode. Their turbines picked up speed with the additional energy as their current speed of 20 Knots accelerated to 40 Knots within seconds. Their course is towards where the black 'plane' will pass though if it travels in a straight line.
"Load all missiles and magazines," The Hakugei, which was built to fight against the Fog, suffers the same dilemma as U-2501, they lack anti-air weaponry. "We have to make do with our anti-ship weaponry, use torpedoes if we have to!"
"Sir… that would be overboard." A few of the crew sweat dropping at the desperation their captain showed as Maruri giggled at the comical take. "But I guess we can't help it, huh?"
"It shouldn't be hard to program the torpedoes to fly like a missile." The head weapon officer, Warrant Officer Higuchi replied through the comm line, "We'll make sure they fly straight."
Komaki nodded, appreciating the effort of the weapon officers of Hakugei-3 as he ordered the ship to surface. "Prepare to surface."
"Surfacing."
As the numbers that determine the submarine's depth kept reducing, the pulse of the Hakugei's crew increased drastically in anticipation. They are about to fight a new enemy that is potentially stronger than the Fog, more powerful offensively but relatively easy to pierce their defenses.
"Fire!" The moment the Hakugei's deck touched air, Komaki ordered the launch of all their armed missiles. "Activate all AA turrets and fire full-auto."
The anti-ship missiles flew up as high as they can as they reached the black airship's fuselage. Each missile exploded in a powerful blast but the armor that is blasted away by the missiles regenerated soon after. The barrage of bullets that came after however, were ineffective. The 20mm Anti Air bullets could not pierce the same armor that machinegun bullets could at least penetrate a few centimeters.
[FYI, these are conventional weapons and thus aren't energy based like the Fog's oscillator systems nor are their missiles equipped with photon thrusters]
'This is bad.' Captain Komaki indeed panicked and so did the whole crew of the Hakugei that watched their ineffective AA rounds, 'We underestimated it too much.' Though the black airship has no eyes, no distinctive movement that shows it has them in its sights, he knows that they have been seen and is now targeted.
"Perform emergency crash dive! Hard to starboard!" He quickly ordered the submarine to perform evasive action as a beam equal to the power of a 16-inch Photon cannon came at them. It was too late to perform evasive actions as the beam flew at the speed of light and is about a second away from sinking their vessel down to bottom of the abyss.
One of the flying girls stopped the beam as she acknowledged the naval support from the unknown vessel.
"Sir, incoming radio transmission." The communications officer that managed the Fog quantum communication reported a transmission from outdated long range radios.
"Patch it through."
"This is Wing Commander Etou Toshiko of the Temporary Fuso Imperial Joint Fighter Squadron." As soon as the line is connected, the woman who introduces herself as Etou Toshiko and her group of flyers. "You have done well, but sadly you must retreat. We Witches will deal with the Neuroi ourselves."
"Understood," There are too many unknown variable for logical thinking as Captain Komaki humbly accepted the chance to retreat into the waters but before he could command the order, one of the flying 'Witches' were shot down, her shields barely blocking the beam fired at her.
"Hayate!" Etou shouted at the falling Sergeant as she and the other Witches tried to save her from plummeting to her death or pulverized by the newly fired beam vainly. After a blast rang out, the Witches and the Hakugei watch in shock at the apparent death of one of the flyers leaving only three fighters in the air which the Neuroi resumed to fire at.
Soon after the steam dispersed and visuals returned they found that the Witch that fell was protected by a Klein Field and that the field was spherical in shape, suspended her on the air long enough for a large deck to blast out of the water and allowing Sergeant Nakajima Hayate to land safely on it. The crew didn't notice the ship coming at all since the sonar officers are too occupied to read their passive sonar readings to notice the Repulse coming to their rescue.
"Repulse!" Captain Komaki exclaimed towards the Fog battle cruiser as her Mental Model that looked like a maid, complete with brooms held by nanomaterial fabric, saluted towards the Hakugei atop one of her main cannons before assaulting the flying airship with all of her weapons.
"Automatic regenerating nanomaterial armor," Repulse analyzed the structure of the black airship as her Klein Field shrug off its beams, "What outdated technology." before firing twenty of her available anti-air missiles as a reply, the missiles each separating into eight smaller missiles in mid-air as they raced towards their intended target while being accompanied by a few corrosive warhead torpedoes that were launched into the air as well, bringing the total number of missiles that were heading towards the Neuroi to 164.
The Neuroi's beams easily destroyed a few of them since they could not perform evasive actions fast enough due to lack of space, but in the end there are too many missiles to intercept and the beam's too slow firing speed as the missiles clashed with nanomaterial armor.
Some beams came at the battle cruiser despite the onslaught of missiles but are easily absorbed by her Klein Field and the release process started instantly after, though the gradual emission takes around fifteen seconds to release the energy of one beam. The three Witches who were stationery in the air watched in admiration as they assume the battleship creates the barriers and are able to block the Neuroi's beams.
They landed on the still firing battle cruiser to check on their comrade's state, who is shell-shocked by the battleship's firepower, before wondering at the nonexistent crew of the large ship, even the bridge is empty.
The Neuroi was completely covered with numerous blast spheres as Repulse waited for confirmation of target's destruction. A shattering sound resonated through the air as the smoke cloud is blasted away by a dust blast, nanomaterial dust, and clears the air of smoke.
The air clear, Repulse could not see any remains of the 'Neuroi' except for the nanomaterial rain and her radar detects no other flying units as far as her detection capabilities go.
"Who are you?" Flight Lieutenant Kuroe Ayaka muttered at Repulse's Mental Model once the Witches walk close enough to where the Mental Model is standing.
"Renown-class battle cruiser HMS Repulse of the 'Fog's Far East Fleet." She introduces herself as a destroyer surfaced not far beside her, "Vampire! Where did you go?"
"Sorry, I shut my engines undersea," The Mental Model of 'HMS Vampire' that looked like a 12 year old child with 13 inches of brown hair and playful red eyes in maid attire like her flagship replied after pulling herself up the battle cruiser's deck. "The wave force armor of a single destroyer is not as strong as a battle cruiser. I couldn't shrug off those beams like you do, Repulse."
Pouting, Repulse rejected the excuse of the destroyer saying, "Even so you could at least support me. I can expand my field to protect you too!"
"If you used your Supergravity Cannon, it will be over in a single shot anyway so I am actually unnecessary." That reasoning is undeniable. A Supergravity shot would undoubtedly destroy the target without leaving a trace of its existence.
"I am analyzing the offensive and defensive capabilities of the enemy." Repulse gave an excuse for not using her trump card, "It strangely attacks in an irregular algorithm, it doesn't focus fire on me alone and never ignores the flying missiles, my Klein Field usage never increased above 6 percent ." She wondered why it attacks like that as she uploaded that info so the others that met the same enemy could use that weakness, "Other than armor, it have no defensive capabilities whatsoever. All my missiles that hit performed substantial damage to the mass."
"6 percent to you means 30 percent to me, but knowing that that thing is only a big piece of armor makes me feel grateful that even I have wave force armor."
"Excuse me?" Etou Toshiko representing the Witches that were ignored by the two Mental Models tried to take their attention, "Can you please explain who you are..." 'Who' is inappropriate after seeing the show of force, "What are you and what just happened?"
"Captain Komaki," Repulse opened a quantum comm line to the Hakugei ignoring the question given to her on purpose, "What should we do about these 'Witches'?"
"I will be exiting the Hakugei," The Captain asked for some time, which is transmitted onto the ship's speakers for the Witches to hear, "Please wait for me." Said submarine is cruising towards the battle cruiser.
"Understood," Repulse looked at the Witches and said, "You people can fly right?" getting nods of acknowledgement before she demanded, "I gave my utmost hospitality but please, leave my deck."
"Ah, right." Acknowledging the formality blankly, two out of four Witches took off with their Strikers.
"Can you fly Hayate-san?" Katou Takeko asked her army colleague as said Witch nodded her head albeit a bit doubtful.
"If you cannot fly then you can rest on my deck." Vampire allowed, "The rest of you too are tired right? My deck might be small but it's better than nothing." Small is an understatement. The empty destroyer could hold two hundred sailors and have space for another hundred.
"Hey! You're making me look bad!" Repulse accused Vampire of the apparent intention as said destroyer's Mental Model giggled and disappeared, "Hey! Don't dispel your Mental Model when someone's talking to you!"
The Witches accepted the destroyer's generous gesture as the flying ones landed again and the ones still on Repulse's deck traversed a Klein Field platform between the two Fog decks.
Once across the platform, Vampire's mental model reformed itself on herself as the Witches watch in wonder.
"We are the 'Fleet of Fog'. Mental model, Vampire, this is me." She opened her arms wide to emphasize her 'self', the ship. "What are 'Witches'? It's the first time we see humans flying in the air, that is if you are humans."
"You know of humanity?"
"Of course," Repulse jumped from her deck to Vampire's deck, "We are the 'Fog'. We cruise the seas under the Admiralty Code's command." The new Admiralty Code but these unknowns do not need to know that. "Now it's your turn, what are Witches?"
"We are humans, Witches are born human, before our latent magic abilities wake up" Etou Toshiko shared what should be the most common information, even civilians know the existence and history of Witches.
"Magic?" Both Repulse and Vampire asked, Repulse's voice tainted with disbelief while Vampire's voice is one of excitement and anticipation.
"Yeah," As Kuroe Ayaka acknowledged, she activated her magic and created a pair of dog ears and tail. The color of the fur and its biological analysis found that it bears a resemblance to a Satsuma Dog. "The Neuroi, the flying unit you have just destroyed, are the enemy of humanity and we are the only few that can match it in combat."
"Extraterrestrial life form?" Repulse asked making the Witches that don't understand the term to raise their brow while Vampire wonders by herself, 'It's made of nanomaterial, so it's similar to the 'Fog'?'
The Hakugei soon arrived and Komaki Daisaku walked on the Klein Field platforms Repulse made onto Vampire's deck.
"Captain Komaki." Etou Toshiko saluted on reflex at the apparent navy captain as he replied the formal gesture replying verbally, "Wing Commander," before greeting the battleship on purpose so as not to see any visible panties, "It's a very short farewell isn't it? We just left the port and this happened."
"Indeed," Repulse sighed at the fact, "I couldn't believe we would be thrown away to... wherever we are." Even she do not know where the Fog has been thrown, if the data in the Joint Tactical Network that list impossible threads of information are trustable. She uploaded data on 'Witch' and 'Neuroi' as she could feel the same disbelief from her fellow Fog.
"Thrown away? What do you mean?" The Witch asked the Captain and Fog Mental Model of their exchange.
"We're not part of your world." Vampire summarized for the Witch, "According to information uploaded into the Joint Tactical Network, today's date is 26 April 1944. We indeed do know of humanity but not of this time, or this age."
"But that's impossible, it's supposed to be 14 August 2059!" Komaki Daisaku exclaimed panicking again, a bit at the fact that they are not in their world, some more at the fact that they are at least a hundred years back in time and the rest at thinking how to explain it to his crew.
"2059?" Katou Takeko muttered the year in disbelief as the Witches looked at the strange Fuso captain that wore strange navy like clothes.
"We don't know how this happened or why did it happen, but we're contemplating on what we should do." Repulse told the Captain of the state of the Fog before excusing herself and trying to leave the matter of humans to the humans, "Since we have confirmed your safety, I and Vampire will return to our docks."
"Said the battle cruiser that burst out of the dock worried sick." Vampire teased that made the seemingly stoic Repulse blush.
"W-w-w-who's worried!" She rebutted, "I'm just, just..."
"Just what?" Vampire asked before continuing to push Repulse. "Just say it already! 'Be my captain'."
"It's not the time! And in a disconcerting mood like this?" Repulse looked at the gallery of humans that watched her with amusement, her blush increasing in intensity at the Hakugei's captain's averting eyes.
"She's practically human." Kuroe Ayaka muttered.
"Very shy," Nakajima Hayate agreed.
"Mental Models are supposed to simulate human reactions. They were bad at it at first but it's getting perfect lately." Captain Komaki explained to the wondering Witches as he blushed at the implication of the proposal.
"It's amazing."
"Enough!" Snapping under the pressure of numerous watchful eyes, Repulse jumped back to her bridge, the whole distance and height, as the battle cruiser forcefully dived sending water splashing left and right, raining down upon the destroyer. Said destroyer used her Klein Field to shield the humans from getting wet though.
"Ah, she ran." Vampire stated disappointed by the lack of development before looking at the captain, "It's best if you go to Iwoto. Chihaya Gunzou is heading there."
"He is!?" Surprised at the reappearance of the hero that ended the war and technically his superior in naval combat, Komaki Daisaku immediately acted, to meet him at Iwo Island.
"Wait, you haven't explained exactly what are you and what happened." Etou Toshiko asked, "With the necessary information we might even be of help to you and your crew Captain," Said captain held his cap, with the intention to hold his gaze away from panties, but the Wing Commander sees that act as indifference and his lack of intent to share information.
"You currently have unfulfilled duties right? You should have rested enough, go, fly, return to the mainland." Vampire ushered the Witches that don't know how to reply. "Tell your higher ups whatever you want, though I doubt they'll believe it," She informed them of the fact as Komaki entered his submarine, preparing to explain what the hell is going on. "We will meet again though, you Witches and us Fog." With that she too dived and chased after Repulse.
"What is happening?" Etou Toshiko wondered as she hovered in midair. These warships appear out of nowhere, claimed to have been thrown away into their world, and also few human naval crew who claimed to have come from a hundred fifteen years in the future.
"If we say anything, it'll sound like imagination or worse hallucination," Most likely they'll be told to rest, believing that they've overworked.
"Still we need to report it, no matter how outrageous it is." The top brass will make the choice to believe or to dismiss it as a delusion.
This is only the beginning of everything. The intensity of the war will increase. Gravity elements increasing with every Fog ship present in the seven seas, Thanatonium elements that wish to eliminate them will increase in return.
Patrol crafts and small squadrons will cease to be. A full wing will start to sprout forth. Air and the Sea, energy and laser beams fill the airspace.
Nanomaterial scatters through the salty ocean wind. Spatial distortions ever increasing in size in hopes to cause another dimensional anomaly.
Who shall be the final victor? Humanity or something else...
This continuation implicated is merely fictional imagination of mine and possibly not canon, since it wasn't out yet. Should events show that the story did not come this way, I will personally remake it so as to make it as close to a canon continuation as possible.