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Indestructible Spirit (Kancolle AU)

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Chapter 7
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    • Chapter 7: Abyss​

    Indestructible sat at the foot of Fubuki's bed, staring at the two destroyers across from her. Fubuki herself had an uncomfortable look on her face. And Shigure was looking anywhere but at the British battleship. The combination of the two had Indestructible more worried than she would like to admit. The destroyers were supposed to tell her exactly what these 'Abyssals' that her sisters were fighting...were. And why she had such a deep, instinctual urge to get as far away from the word as possible. The Brtitish girl didn't know what to think about that reaction. But it most certainly did not endear her to the idea her sisters were out there, risking themselves fighting these enemies. She had to know though.

    If nothing else, so she could fight herself.

    Because if there was truly no choice but to fight these Abyssals? If that was really the reason that she, and by extension all these girls, had come back? Indestructible, despite barely knowing how to use her rigging properly, would fight in a heartbeat. Hiei may have been the lead ship of her class, but all three of those girls- and her own, direct siblings in Britain -were the younger siblings. Indestructible was the eldest sister, and it was her job to keep her sisters safe. She had failed that, in the Second War. But she would not fail it again.

    "Right," the British battleship looked at the Japanese girls, "I need to know. What exactly are my sister's fighting?"

    "Abyssals," Shigure replied.

    "But what are..."

    "We don't know, not really," that was Fubuki, looking down at her hands as she took a steadying breath, "We don't know what exactly Abyssals are, or where they come from."

    "Then why are we fighting them?"

    Fubuki winced, "We don't have a choice but to fight the Abyssals, Indestructible-san."

    "Why?"

    It was...hard...for Indestructible. There had to be a reason to fight, or a reason why they couldn't make peace. Clearly, even the Imperial Japanese government had seen the light of peace, or her nation would not be allied with them. So why did Fubuki imply that peace with the Abyssals was...impossible?

    It would be Shigure who answered that question, blue eyes filled with pain as she looked at her hands, "Abyssals are monsters. They...they appeared some time ago, we don't know from where or how. But from the moment the first one appeared, they've done nothing but attack everything on sight. Our Navy, the American's Navy..."

    "They were wiped out," Fubuki continued, sad expression on her normally cheerful face, "Abyssals are...they're like us, in a way. Conventional weapons can hurt them, but they're so hard to hit...the navies couldn't manage with that and their numbers. Civilians were hit even harder."

    Indestructible felt a scowl come over her lips, "Civilians? Like the Germans did?"

    As a British warship, she felt more of an anger at the idea of civilian shipping being targeted than most. She had been there when the news of Lusitania hit. It was one thing to raid convoys on the surface. Then, there was warning and a chance to escape. Submarines? Unrestricted sub warfare? Directly targeting specifically civilian traffic? Indestructible was still less than fond of that, to say the least.

    That said...

    "Worse," Shigure's voice was pained, "A lot worse."

    "Anything on the ocean is attacked, no matter who owns it or what it is," Fubuki nodded sadly.

    "Escort duty is our main task, because of that."

    And suddenly the pain in Shigure's voice made a lot more sense. Indestructible shifted, pulling the dark-haired destroyer into a one-armed hug. Shigure tried to pull away, but the battleship was not going to let her go. She owed that girl a lot, and if this was all she could do to repay it...well.

    "Abyssals target anything and everyone," Indestructible asked, nodding when she got a confirmation from Fubuki, "And that is why we were brought back. Because conventional navies struggle to fight them."

    Fubuki nodded again, "Yes. Indestructible-san...we...all we do when we aren't on base is patrol for Abyssals, or fight them."

    "What do they look like?"

    Even as she asked that question, the battleship wondered if she truly wanted to know the answer to that. There was still that instinctual aversion to this topic, deep inside her. So yes, part of Indestructible was far from inclined to talk more on this subject. But the rest of her, the part that was so very worried about her sisters, knew that she needed more context. She needed to know about the Abyssals. It would be impossible to keep her sisters safe, if she didn't know what they were fighting.

    In answer to that question, Fubuki got up from her bed and went to her desk. She came back with a square object in hand, something like a smaller version of the massive screen that the Admiral had shown her...was it really the same day? It felt so long ago, to Indestructible. That said, her attention was soon focused on the screen Fubuki held, as the girl's fingers deftly flew over it. Flew over it, and revealed a set of images.

    A set of images that had a chill running down the British girl's spine.

    "Abyssals," Shigure whispered softly, turning wide blue eyes up at Indestructible.

    "Abyssals," Fubuki confirmed.

    For her part, the battleship reached out warily, prompting Fubuki to put the strange screen in her hands. Sending a thankful nod her direction, Indestructible turned her focus to the screen. Staring up at her, was the form of a battleship, corrupted beyond any reasonable identification. Of course, for all that she saw the twisted and warped turrets, she also saw a woman. Long black hair, framing a face that might have been called attractive. Were it not for the complete lack of expression, and haunting blue eyes, glowing with an otherworldly light. And the lack of any other color, the face pale beyond even the palest humans.

    I...

    Not to mention, the feeling of deep-seated fear that the image brought up. Indestructible had never truly felt fear before. Worry over her sisters? Yes. Deep, primal fear like this? No, not at all.

    "Ru-class."

    Turning her head, Indestructible saw nothing but worry in Fubuki's green eyes.

    "That's what that is. Ru-class battleship," the destroyer looked uncomfortable herself, "We don't have a name from the Abyssals, so that's what we designated them. I...thought that would be the easiest to show you. A lot of the Abyssals...they don't even look that human."

    Shigure took the screen, tapping against it to change the image. Change the image to an almost dolphin-like figure, were it not for the cannon and warped features.

    "I-class destroyers...the Abyssal's equivalent to us," the girl softly explained.

    Indestructible sighed, pushing the device away, "I...don't know what to say. Fubuki, Shigure. You have been fighting these...things. For how long?"

    "Over a year," Fubuki answered, with a small shrug, "I was one of the first to come back."

    "A few months," Shigure shook her head sadly, "I'm not on sorties much."

    The idea that these two girls, so young and yet so wise, were fighting these monsters? For over a year in Fubuki's case? It made Indestructible clench her hand in her skirt. Why...why had it taken so long for her to come back? She feared the Abyssals, on some level she couldn't readily explain. But that wouldn't have stopped her from charging right out there, to keep these girls safe. It was her job, as a battlecruiser-turned-battleship. She was the one, who should be fighting at the front. But...

    But, she had been sleeping. Sleeping for over a year of this war, while her sisters and all these other girls fought their battles. And even now, she had only been brought back as an accident.

    An accident, but one she intended to take full advantage of. Before, she had felt uncomfortable about her training. If only because it meant she was so vulnerable around girls she didn't trust. Now? Well, now, Indestructible fully intended to learn how to fight as quickly as she could. Even though she wanted nothing more than to return to Britain, she knew that couldn't happen anytime soon. She had to train, and wait for her sisters- her British siblings -to arrive first. And if she was going to be stuck in Japan for who knew how long, she was damn well going to take advantage of that.

    Those Abyssals terrify me, and I don't know why. I feel like there is something telling me to stay far away from them, lest I find out something I don't want to know. But that doesn't bloody well matter. I am a battleship. Shigure and Fubuki...they aren't sisters. But they are the next best thing I have, here in Japan. If they have been fighting this threat for months now...

    Indestructible turned brown eyes on the silent girls next to her, both of them evidently deeply lost in thought.

    The least I can do is fight to protect them. I have been sleeping far too long, it seems. I have to make up for that. No matter how long it takes, I will make up for that. I will protect these girls, like they've been protecting everyone else.

    "Fubuki."

    The destroyer turned, green eyes widening at the look on the taller girl's face, "Indestructible-san?"

    "Please...help train me," Indestructible bowed her head, while not letting go of her grip on Shigure, "I have to learn how to fight. My place isn't here, waiting for my sisters. My place is out there, fighting. I failed my task in the War. But I can't fail here."

    "Indestructible-san..." Shigure whispered, pulling enough away to look up at the battleship, "You didn't fail..."

    "Shigure, please," the battleship turned a weary smile on the girl. On the girl who had taught her just how much she had to work for, in this new life, "I know what you're going to say, since I said the same thing to you. And those words apply to both of us now. We both feel we failed something, and we both can deny that to each other. But the more important thing? We can both bloody well do our best to make up for it, now."

    Shigure didn't quite grin. Indestructible wasn't certain if the girl had it in her to grin. But the smile was no less bright for that, as she pulled away fully, to get to her feet. Fubuki watched with a grin of her own, seeming to be quite happy.

    "Looks like you have a friend now, Indestructible-san!"

    "I have two friends," the battleship replied, brushing a lock of brown hair out of her face, "You two are both friends."

    It was a heartwarming moment all around, really. Indestructible had people she could rely on in Japan, and trust. Outside her sisters, of course...and thinking about them, was why the happy moment couldn't last. Hiei, Haruna and Kirishima were still out there, fighting the war. And Indestructible was stuck her, unable to help. Well, there was only one way to rectify that, and that was figuring out how to fight. Figuring out how to fight, so she could get out there and help her sisters.

    I have to learn. I have to learn, so I can help my sisters.

    Those haunting blue eyes of the Ru-class battleship in mind, Indestructible left the room. Her destination was the training grounds, that she had been at so recently. Only now, this was not her humoring Fubuki. This was her...all her. The battleship was going to help her sisters!

    Far away, the spray of seawater on her face, Hiei had no idea the problem's her dear onee-sama was going through. For all that she loved to goof off on base, the lead ship of her class was entirely focused now. Her face was a serious mask, as her sharp blue eyes scanned the horizon ahead of her. Haruna and Kirishima were right behind her, the three battleships sailing in a triangle formation, with turrets facing every direction ahead of them. And on either side of them, further afield, were Sendai and Jintsuu, dragged off training to sortie.

    Japan was very serious about defending her convoys, well aware that every ship lost was a ship they needed badly. Air traffic could only supply so much food and resources, and they couldn't afford convoys to fall to the Abyssals. Not now.

    "Onee-sama," Kirishima shouted over the sound of waves crashing against their bows, "Radar is picking up a formation of Abyssal destroyers."

    "The convoy?"

    "It appears so, yes."

    Hiei bit her lip, nodding as she pushed herself to her limits, "Come on, we can't let our onee-sama down!"

    "..."

    "What? I don't want onee-sama to be disappointed in us!"

    Well, to be fair, Hiei was more serious than she normally was.

    For her part, Haruna shook her head fondly, before turning to look at Sendai, the closer of the two cruisers, "Sendai-san? Can you and Jintsuu-san head off the destroyers?"

    "Leave it to us!" the cruiser shot a grin at Haruna, pumping her arm as her screws shot her forward past the Hiei sisters.

    Said sisters were, despite their apparent mirth, scanning the horizon ahead of them. Scanning it with their eyes and radar alike, warily watching the I-class destroyers. Their boilers pushed the girls as fast as they could possibly go, and for a Japanese battleship, it was quite fast. But the question was...would that be enough? They could see the mixed formation of Japanese and Russian transports in the distance, triple-A fire scything through the sky from their Russian escort. The only reason there would be aircraft attacking was...

    Wo-class.

    "Onee-san!" Kirishima began to shout.

    "I know," Hiei shot back, "Haruna, Kirishima, stay close!"

    The three battleships turned hard to port, angling for the side of the convoy. Between their own boilers being pushed to the limit and the same for the transports, it didn't take long for the two formations to close. Even as Sendai and Jintsuu began shooting into the destroyer formation, the Hiei-sisters began firing their anti-aircraft weaponry into the sky. The rounded forms of Abyssal fighters and their strange bombers began to fall from the sky in larger numbers, as cheers erupted from the transport's crews.

    Hiei and her sisters may not have had the best anti-air weapons in the world, but three battleship's worth of triple-A was more than enough to make a difference. With their guns barking into the sky, the three sisters pulled up alongside the kanmusu Kalinin and the warship Varyag. The large cruiser was pitted in places by Abyssal fire, but her guns still fired. And Kalinin seemed to be perfectly okay, not even her fur-cap misplaced.

    "Thank you for arriving as fast as you have," her deep Russian voice pierced through the gunfire, as the Kirov-class cruiser's guns fired at an Abyssal bomber, "It is appreciated, da."

    "No problem," Hiei winked at the Russian girl, her own guns joining the barrage, "It's our job after all!"

    Kalinin nodded, "Da. I believe you would be of more use finding the source of these aircraft."

    "She's right onee-san," Kirishima chimed in.

    The eldest battlecruiser, the oldest ship there in fact, pouted at her sister. But it was only a temporary pout, before her 'combat face' was back in place. Hiei nodded at the Russian girl, who returned to her escort post.

    "Come on, Haruna, Kirishima," Hiei nodded at her sisters with a grin, "Let's show them what the Hiei sisters can do!"

    "Right after you, onee-san."

    Turning away from the damaged cruiser at their side, the three battleships shot out to where damaged Abyssal fighters were falling back. In the distance, just out of range of the Russian's guns, floated a pair of Ne-class cruisers and a single Wo-class carrier. The twisted warships, pale faces staring emotionlessly out at their targets, showed little outward reaction.

    Well, little reaction save for the cruisers moving forward. Eight-inch gun turrets turned to the battleships, who split their formation to force the Abyssals to split their own fire. Hiei had a grin on her face, as the wind brushed through her short hair. Sure, she wasn't the type to go out of her way to fight, but getting the chance to get out and do some fighting instead of patrolling? It was exciting! And as she had told her sisters, this was her chance to prove to her onee-sama that she could fight. Hiei wasn't about to turn down that chance.

    She wanted Ko...Indestructible...onee-sama to be proud of her!

    Onee-sama will love sailing with us, I'm sure. So I have to finish this and get back to her!

    Turning her bow slightly to port, Hiei unshadowed her turrets. Fourteen-inch guns rotated, and angled at the distant form of an Abyssal cruiser. The Ne-class, her face remaining stubbornly stoic, opened fire herself. Her shells fell well short of Hiei, however, the battleship staying outside her range. Hiei wasn't the lead ship of her class for nothing. She wouldn't get in range when she could do this!

    "Fire!" her voice rang out over the battlefield, as all three battleships roared.

    Fire and steel shot into the air, powerful cannons shooting at the Abyssal girls in the distance. The Ne-class cruisers turned their own bodies, their hulls presenting the smallest possible target.

    It wasn't enough.

    "Haruna got one!" the youngest sister called out.

    Bracketed by several shells, one of the Abyssal cruisers split clean in half, fire and oil spraying into the air. She quickly began sinking, as her counterpart came out of the spray of seawater, one turret- and indeed, one arm -completely blown away. Her second turret ineffectually returned fire, her bleeding face showing no pain from her missing limb. Hiei had always been confused by that...how the Abyssals could just shrug off damage like that. It was spooky, and creeped her out more than she would like to admit. But that was a thought for another time.

    "I have a lock," Kirishima reported.

    Hiei grinned at her sisters, "Fire!"

    But while they bracketed the Ne-class, finishing the damaged cruiser off, Hiei opened fire on the Wo-class carrier. The Abyssal girl, hands on her staff, made no effort to dodge. Her glowing blue eyes watched the incoming 14-inch shells, not widening or even changing as the massive- if shrunk down -projectiles fell down on her 'hat'. Black armor went flying into the air, as Hiei's armor-piercing shells cut clean through the thin skin of the Abyssal carrier.

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, she fell to the water, citadel obliterated.

    That was easy!

    Hiei's grin widened, as she turned to give her sisters a congratulatory smile. They returned it, though Kirishima also pushed her glasses up. With the Abyssals handled, it was just a matter of returning to the transports. Two members of the convoy were smoking from the air attack...but it seemed like the sisters had arrived soon enough to prevent worse damage. Sendai and Jintsuu had proven more than capable of dealing with the destroyers, not a single torpedo entering the water. Even so, it was a sign.

    Grin or no, Hiei felt a small chill at that sign.

    The Abyssals don't normally hit convoys like this. They don't try to attack so close to our shores. Why now?
     
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    • IRL, maybe. It would still mess with the ships something fierce. If it didn't outright kill them, they'd still be pretty messed up anyway.

    In Kancolle terms, Wo taking a brace of 14in shells to the face...is going to kill her.
     
    Skywalker_T-65 said:
    As a British warship, she felt more of an anger at the idea of civilian shipping being targeted than most. She had been there when the news of Lusitania hit. It was one thing to raid convoys on the surface. Then, there was warning and a chance to escape. Submarines? Unrestricted sub warfare? Directly targeting specifically civilian traffic? Indestructible was still less than fond of that, to say the least.
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    Well let's hope she never meets Gato, her sisters, or any of her fellow American subs then. :V
     
    Exterminatus said:
    Well let's hope she never meets Gato, her sisters, or any of her fellow American subs then. :V
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    They didn't TEND to sink completely civilian craft. It was craft they could spot hiding guns on that got kerblewed most of the time.

    ... That's not to say american subs didn't sink any civvies. But they definitely didn't sink any civvie cruise liners.
     
    Exterminatus said:
    Well let's hope she never meets Gato, her sisters, or any of her fellow American subs then. :V
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    Selonianth said:
    They didn't TEND to sink completely civilian craft. It was craft they could spot hiding guns on that got kerblewed most of the time.

    ... That's not to say american subs didn't sink any civvies. But they definitely didn't sink any civvie cruise liners.
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    Yeah...when Indy finds out her allies got up to that, even if not to the same extent, it's not going to be fun times. I just figured when writing this chapter...that this is a girl who lived through WW1 and the early parts of WW2. She was there when Lusitania went down, and logically, would have had her crew talking about it. So her first thought when Abyssals are mentioned as targeting civvies specifically?

    German sub warfare.

    Better pray she doesn't run into Yuu/Ro-chan, eh?

    SV5195R said:
    I take it that Kalinin mentioned in the latest chapter was a Project 26bis2 gun cruiser?
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    Ayup. Didn't see any combat, but she did serve in the Pacific Fleet her entire career.
     
    DaLintyGuy said:
    Umm... Just saying, a carrier would, in a combat timeframe, laugh off AP rounds from a BB. They'd punch clean through without detonating, which would be insufficient to affect one barring freak accidents like the Taiho's encounter with a torpedo.
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    Actually, no. Most fleet carriers, of which Wo is an example, carried at least a cruiser-grade armor belt over their vitals. Plenty of armor to detonate an AP shell. You're thinking of the jeep carriers in the Taffies, which didn't have any armor.
     
    Let's hope that the Diet hasn't done a preemptive press release about the newest Japanese ship girl. You know, under the line of thought that they just need to keep her away from the papers, and they have a new morale booster. Might work in the short run, but would really backfire later on.
     
    Cataquack said:
    Let's hope that the Diet hasn't done a preemptive press release about the newest Japanese ship girl. You know, under the line of thought that they just need to keep her away from the papers, and they have a new morale booster. Might work in the short run, but would really backfire later on.
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    That would require exceptional stupidity and exceptionally swift stupidity. Indestructible has been back for barely a day or so and the UK is already aware and coming to get her. The JMSDF Admiral already knows as well, so unless he didn't tell his superiors that Britain gave them a "Not only no but bloody hell no" they should already be aware the jig is up.
     
    Akritedes said:
    That would require exceptional stupidity and exceptionally swift stupidity. Indestructible has been back for barely a day or so and the UK is already aware and coming to get her. The JMSDF Admiral already knows as well, so unless he didn't tell his superiors that Britain gave them a "Not only no but bloody hell no" they should already be aware the jig is up.
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    Their politicians, worst they are Japanese politicians.

    To quote someone.

    Poly-tic-ians

    Poly= Latin for many
    Tics= a blood sucking insect.

    They will do this cause because they believe they can.
     
    All that said, the only way they could get some sort of press release this quickly- remember, Indy's been back for all of two days -is if they already had one prepared in the event Tosa and/or Amagi came back, and they subbed Indy's name in (possibly as Kongou, to add to the problems).

    Not saying that didn't happen, but that's the only way I could see it.
     
    Skywalker_T-65 said:
    All that said, the only way they could get some sort of press release this quickly- remember, Indy's been back for all of two days -is if they already had one prepared in the event Tosa and/or Amagi came back, and they subbed Indy's name in (possibly as Kongou, to add to the problems).
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    That also assumes that the Diet have been TOLD about this little wrinkle or dozen.
     
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