Blue Steel 2199: Arpeggio of Blue Steel/Space Battleship Yamato 2199 Crossover

Er, "spout crap"?

I'm talking about something that might make for an interesting crossover fanfic between two properties that involve WWII battleships being rebuilt into futuristic, physics-ignoring dreadnaughts. So maybe a fictional Earth couldn't recreate the superextraspecialawesome Iskandarian technology, maybe in this theoretical story Iskandar managed to send more than one WM Core?

Is THAT ok? :rolleyes:

The Fog has NEVER been ships rebuilt from existing vessels. All Fog ships are new-built, albeit with similar external appearance to WWII vessels.

Likewise, the 2199 continuity of SBY has the titular vessel be of new construction but disguised as a wreck for camouflage purposes.

I also feel that it's likely that there are more armored docks than just Yokosuka and San Diego in the Fog-verse. These two are just the only two that are known or relevant.
 
Regarding reverse-engineering the wave motion core; they've already been given most of the specs, including how to build the FTL drive and how to adapt the power systems to run off of it. It's just this one component that they aren't able to manufacture because Reasons, or maybe because whatsername from Iscandar doesn't want to tell them how to make it until they've proven themselves.
 
Chapter 5
Time for another update! Readers may note the oblique reference to Dragontrapper's excellent Crimson Aria. It was his work that inspired me. Enjoy.

Blue Steel 2199: Part 5


Later; as Murasame was asked to show Hoshina the base and his quarters, Hyuga and Sanada sat with Gunzou and company to give them a somewhat more objective view of the war and its politics.


"Serizawa should have been shot!" Hyuga swore. "Instead, he was able to use his connections to spin the incident as a victory for foresight. The losses incurred resulting solely from technical deficiencies. Something he and his allies of the day managed to pass the blame on to us; by the way, claiming that if the Fog had been more cooperative in sharing technology then the Earth Defense Fleet would have been perfectly able to handle the aliens. " Hyuga shook her head.


"Ignoring that Serizawa has always been poster child for the xenophobes in the EDF and with few exceptions has steadfastly opposed any collaborative efforts between the EDF and the Fog."


"Let me guess." Chihaya offered. "With the exception of Murasame."


Hyuga nodded grimly. "Tailor made for Serizawa. More control in his hands and if things got out of hand, he could always blame us."


"Murasame is playing right into it." Sou Oribe said, folding his arms.


"Yes she is." Hyuga agreed. "She was in worse shape back then though. Three times we tried reactivating her core, and each time it would shut off almost immediately. That's why I had to upgrade her core and give her a mental model."


"But other destroyers have manifested mental models without modifying their cores." Shizuka Houzumi pointed out. "What made Murasame different? I mean, I didn't even know it was possible to modify a Fog union core?"


"Other destroyers; with one notable accidental happening, got mental models by having another ship supply processor power to the destroyer's core. This creates a mental model at least partially based off the supporting ship and therefore this was useless for my purposes: To engage Murasame in an active dialogue and therapy."


"Psychotherapy for Murasame's union core?"


"Basically." Hyuga admitted. "But as you pointed out, no one has ever rebuilt or modified an existing union core before. I had to experiment first." She said looking at Kirishima.


"I needed to see if I could modify Murasame's core without accidentally disrupting any of her existing code. So I was granted a blank battleship core to work with. It was to have been for Illinois I think. I replicated Yotaro's data files to the last detail and installed them into the blank core. Then I practiced


"It's a bit like brain surgery. You really need to know exactly what you are doing or you can cause irreparable harm."


"Why not just transfer Murasame's files into the blank core?" Kyouhei Kashihara suggested.


"What? You mean give myself two cores needing therapy?" Hyuga shook her head. "No. This was the better way to go.


"And my brilliance and success explains why Kirishima is beside herself… so to speak. And Murasame gained her own mental model. She still tries to blame herself but we've been making steady progress and she no longer wants to terminate herself."


"Give her something to do." Sanada agreed. "Just like all of you in a way."


"What did you have in mind Commander?" Gunzou asked.


"One hundred and forty years ago, you helped save the world. Now we need all of you to help save it again."
 
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And he gets away with it?

What was the justification for attacking? That is kind of glossed over here.

Agreed. There is no way he can really justify firing first. Even though we have meta knowledge about how the Gamillans operate, they don't know anything about their culture or national policies in-universe.

If Serizawa had waited until Gamillan imperialism became obvious, then I would see him being able to get off the chopping block for it.

As it stands, if his order is anything close to public knowledge, he should be dead or in prison. There is no amount of spin that can get him out of a worldwide lynch mob.

One thing I'm wondering about is why the Fog couldn't just shoot the Planet Bombs or push them off course with Earth. It shouldn't be that hard for them to do with their gravity manipulation tech.
 
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And he gets away with it?

What was the justification for attacking? That is kind of glossed over here.

It was kinda glossed over in the series too. Here there actually is slightly more justification here since Earth knows that whomever originally sent the Fog to Earth are still out there with presumably less than friendly intent based upon the initial actions of the Fog. I think in the series, Serizawa simply went into conflict mode and assumed intent and chose to strike first despite Okita's judgement as Commander on scene.
 
Agreed. There is no way he can really justify firing first. Even though we have meta knowledge about how the Gamillans operate, they don't know anything about their culture or national policies in-universe.

If Serizawa had waited until Gamillan imperialism became obvious, then I would see him being able to get off the chopping block for it.

As it stands, if his order is anything close to public knowledge, he should be dead or in prison. There is no amount of spin that can get him out of a worldwide lynch mob.

One thing I'm wondering about is why the Fog couldn't just shoot the Planet Bombs or push them off course with Earth. It shouldn't be that hard for them to do with their gravity manipulation tech.

Serizawa's role and the knowledge that Earth fired first was kept from the public and all but a few politicians and senior serving officers in much the same way that Japan's senior naval staff swept their defeat at Midway under the rug in WW2. The truth was sacrificed in the name of unity in the face of an 'implacable EVIL enemy'.

On the other hand, that Earth fired first is well known among the Gamilons. As for the planet bombs... to be honest, I don't know why the bombs were not safely intercepted even in OTL.
 
Serizawa's role and the knowledge that Earth fired first was kept from the public and all but a few politicians and senior serving officers in much the same way that Japan's senior naval staff swept their defeat at Midway under the rug in WW2. The truth was sacrificed in the name of unity in the face of an 'implacable EVIL enemy'.

On the other hand, that Earth fired first is well known among the Gamilons. As for the planet bombs... to be honest, I don't know why the bombs were not safely intercepted even in OTL.

Honestly I find it easier to handwave the planet bombs. Just claim they were armored or shielded, or had extra thrusters to keep them on course and there were lots... or something.

But the General who fired first not being quietly 'retired' into a small room, even if only the military knows about it seems ridiculous. I think that using handwavium here doesn't really help. Either properly 'vilify' him for his actions among those in the know or give him an excuse, something to hang his hat on for why. "All aliens are evil" isn't really good enough, even if the fog were 'evil' originally they did eventually come to peaceful relations so there isn't a good excuse for intentionally trying to start out that way.
 
Bear in mind that it's been 140 years since the Fog made peace. If this guy is 50, he was born at the 90 year mark. That means that his parents and grandparents alike were born into a world that had peace with the Fog. This makes his xenophobia and anti-Fog activities considerably less understandable.

At this point, there's likely to be considerable pro-Fog feeling amongst the populace (they help boost society's tech level).

If the story doesn't fit, don't try to railroad it too hard. If things end up being much easier for the protagonists, then show the consequences. Did they earn some sort of respect through their struggles? How will hitting a much harder force affect the Gamilons? What about Iskander?
 
Honestly I find it easier to handwave the planet bombs. Just claim they were armored or shielded, or had extra thrusters to keep them on course and there were lots... or something.

The planet bombs and interplanetary ballistic missiles are really very damn durable. Before the Yamato launched, they sent the Kirishima up to try and stop the IPBM that was launched.
 
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Is that an SBY 2199 manga? Has it ever been translated? Where can I find it?

Also, I'd think that with Fog tech, it might be possible to shoot those down (not sure, though).
 
No unlicensed manga scans please. Don't get yourself in trouble with the mods.
 
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Is that an SBY 2199 manga? Has it ever been translated? Where can I find it?

Also, I'd think that with Fog tech, it might be possible to shoot those down (not sure, though).

Yes it is an official SBY2199 manga, sadly there isn't a translation. I compiled links to both the Yamato 2199 and Red-Eyed Ace manga here.
 
Honestly I find it easier to handwave the planet bombs. Just claim they were armored or shielded, or had extra thrusters to keep them on course and there were lots... or something.

But the General who fired first not being quietly 'retired' into a small room, even if only the military knows about it seems ridiculous. I think that using handwavium here doesn't really help. Either properly 'vilify' him for his actions among those in the know or give him an excuse, something to hang his hat on for why. "All aliens are evil" isn't really good enough, even if the fog were 'evil' originally they did eventually come to peaceful relations so there isn't a good excuse for intentionally trying to start out that way.

I agree. Of course in OTL, Serizawa DID literally get away with murder. I think this comes out to a Devil's Deal between Serizawa and his superior, Admiral Todo. Technically, Okita disobeyed a direct order from Serizawa by refusing to open fire. HAD the Gamilons not IMMEDIATELY declared war, Serizawa would have been at least sacked if not shot. But the way things turned out, Serizawa probably threatened to drag Okita down with him in a very nasty public trial. Todo would also have been relieved since he was Serizawa's superior. Todo felt that saving Okita (And probably his own skin) was worth more than the satisfaction of hanging Serizawa.

As for Serizawa's reasoning, I refer you to the Romulan verse that states "Of the ruling passions, Hate has a reason for everything."
 
I agree. Of course in OTL, Serizawa DID literally get away with murder. I think this comes out to a Devil's Deal between Serizawa and his superior, Admiral Todo. Technically, Okita disobeyed a direct order from Serizawa by refusing to open fire. HAD the Gamilons not IMMEDIATELY declared war, Serizawa would have been at least sacked if not shot. But the way things turned out, Serizawa probably threatened to drag Okita down with him in a very nasty public trial. Todo would also have been relieved since he was Serizawa's superior. Todo felt that saving Okita (And probably his own skin) was worth more than the satisfaction of hanging Serizawa.

As for Serizawa's reasoning, I refer you to the Romulan verse that states "Of the ruling passions, Hate has a reason for everything."
Still no reason not to arrange an unfortunate "accident" for Serizawa.
 
A lot of posts. Very interesting and very useful. A lot to consider as we go forward. I appreciate this. :)
 
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