TWSF do borrow a lot from sci-fi media, XCOM included.
That the Commander was basically used as a living server farm... think carefully about what that means when combined with what has been implied in the story so far: talk of simulated iterations of reality, strategic computational assets, and multiverses. Then again it may not mean what you have in mind.
As I've detailed in the TWSF thread, the question that precipitates TWSF's genesis was: What if KanColle mechanics and conceits was exists diegetically in an actual world where Shipgirls and Abyssals do exist, based upon observations of the anime and movie.
Viruses exist as a not-yet appearing element in TWSF, but they are not used to corrupt or assimilate, simply to kill. That some of Abyssals in-story have human or animal-like features follows another logic and reason entirely and are not related to a virus.
Also, since Phoenix Point will include underwater sections, and the sea is mentioned to be important, a crossover story with it certainly seems even more possible. I'll have to look into that.
So, I am now of the opinion that certain ships would be extra protective of their guns. Case in point would be Gneisenau. Her Caesar Turret was removed and emplaced in a fort in Norway, where it remains to this day.
There's also Gangut's sister ship, Poltava, whose guns were used in the Vladivostok defensive fortification known as Coast Defence Battery 30 , the Maksim Gor'kii position.
Aurora would be the exception, as her guns were used in a valiant defense of St Petersburg, even though it resulted in the loss of her entire crew.
Okay, I was wrong. What I was reading said that the guns went to VLadivostok. Rechecking now.
Conflicting. One source says that the guns from Poltava went to Russky Island, as part of the Voroshilov battery. Another says the guns went to Sevastopol. Help?
Okay, I was wrong. What I was reading said that the guns went to VLadivostok. Rechecking now.
Conflicting. One source says that the guns from Poltava went to Russky Island, as part of the Voroshilov battery. Another says the guns went to Sevastopol. Help?
Okay, so here are the guns in Vladivostok. Google Maps
There's a pair of turrets, so that's half the guns accounted for, but I can't find any satellite photos of the turrets in Sevastopol, unless they were the turrets destroyed before Germans could capture them. Maxim Gorky Fortresses - Wikipedia
But, there was only one there, as far as I can tell, which means three barrels are unaccounted for.
Actually, she's not. She survived Shot Baker and was towed to San Fran for testing and such, and eventually sunk as a target off the coast there. Independence is alone.
Actually, she's not. She survived Shot Baker and was towed to San Fran for testing and such, and eventually sunk as a target off the coast there. Independence is alone.
Good company, as in she, Saratoga, Nevada, Nagato, Yukikaze, Houshou. By which I mean they were 'there.' As a start. Prinz Eugen also survived the shots.
Continuing my list of ship names for the A Girl's Name storyline, this time encompassing the British Commonwealth's heavy cruisers and the Americans' aircraft carriers. One name is inspired by my Shipgirl Samurai and Super-Ninjas storyline. I'm also including the "dragon killer" battleships from that story and noted also in my Magic and Canada narrative in this list. Also listed here are the Lion-class battleships from the immediate predecessor list to this one; I redid the family names. Some names are repeated from the original list. The one ship that was listed here which never was built and never was named is marked with an asterisk; the name is my invention.
As always, if family names aren't it quotes, they're the ship names. Hull numbers will be indicated if there are double names:
AUSTRALIA
COUNTY-CLASS HEAVY CRUISER
Alice Caroline Dixon "Canberra" (D33)
Francine Heather Goolden "Australia"
LION-CLASS BATTLESHIP
Linda Frances Harvey "Lion"
Hatice Edith Jah "Erin"
Patricia Roberta Mountbatten "Thunderer"
Tracy Régine Sabran "Téméraire"
Anna Marian da Silva "Agincourt"
Christine Rhoda Wreford-Brown "Conqueror"
HAWKINS-CLASS HEAVY CRUISER
Maria Antonia Cavendish "Vindictive"
Arabella Catharine Howard "Effingham"
Ann Mary Frobisher
Nancy Joan Hawkins
Catharine Wynn Raleigh
COUNTY-CLASS HEAVY CRUISER
Leslie Hailey Ashmore "Kent"
Julia Wilma Durnford "Suffolk"
Wendy Heidi Ginevra Fallowfield "Cumberland"
Alexandra Roberta Hammick "Sussex"
Charlene Faye Hammill "Cornwall"
Jean Rayna MacDonald "Northumberland"
Bette Charlotte Stella Martin "Dorsetshire"
Irene Morganna Palmer "Berwick"
Lily Alberta Potter "Surrey"
Regina Maxine Servaes "London"
Amelia Willow la Touche "Shropshire"
Alexa Glenn Beatrice Wilson "Norfolk"
YORK-CLASS HEAVY CRUISER
Freida Suzanne Bell "Exeter"
Rhoda Hallie Portal "York"
ESSEX-CLASS AIRCRAFT CARRIER
Mildred Wilma Austin "Lake Champlain"
Doreen Dana Boynton "Bunker Hill"
Ida Danielle Cannon "Oriskany"
Callie Mildred Chandler "Philippine Sea"
Wendy Helen Dodds "Princeton" (CV-37)
Rosa Jodie Doolittle "Shangri-La"
Andrea Wynn Fitch "Kearsarge"
Mildred Helen Franklin
Allie Lynda Gates "Essex"
Charlotte Joan Gilbert "Tarawa"
Juanita Raven Hancock
Helen Joanna Hoover "Intrepid"
Glenda Kumiko Kiribayashi "Iwo Jima"
Anna Rhoda Knox "Hornet" (CV-12)
Melinda Jodie Maas "Bennington"
Catharine Miranda McCain "Bon Homme Richard"
Michelle Janet Mead "Leyte"
Doreen Ruth Overton "Boxer"
Sarah Stephanie Pell "Ticonderoga"
Rose Gillian Randolph
Tracey Donna Robinson "Lexington" (CV-16)
Rebecca Anna Roosevelt "Yorktown" (CV-10)
Eleanor Dana Tydings "Antietam"
Kathryn Mildred Vandergrift "Valley Forge"
Margaret Julia Walsh "Wasp" (CV-18)
Margaret Raye Wickes "Reprisal"
INDEPENDENCE-CLASS AIRCRAFT CARRIER
Patricia Nicole Lynda Bellinger "Monterey"
Anna Juana Cabot
Danielle Josephine Daly "Belleau Wood"
Margaret Mary Dodds "Princeton" (CVL-23)
Margaret Frances Grandy "Cowpens"
Glenda Jacinta Jones "San Jacinto"
Maria Josephine Phillipa du Motier "Langley" (CVL-27)
Estefania Esperanza Osmeña "Bataan"
Dorothy Rayne Warner "Independence"
SAIPAN-CLASS AIRCRAFT CARRIER
Harriet Joyce McCormack "Saipan"
Susan Catharine Wright
MIDWAY-CLASS AIRCRAFT CARRIER
Jane Sarah Jefferson "Thomas Jefferson" (CV-44) *
Virginia Lane Kinkaid "Coral Sea"
Brenda Wynter Ripley "Midway"
Rosalyn Jane Towers "Franklin D. Roosevelt"
Okay, so here are the guns in Vladivostok. Google Maps
There's a pair of turrets, so that's half the guns accounted for, but I can't find any satellite photos of the turrets in Sevastopol, unless they were the turrets destroyed before Germans could capture them. Maxim Gorky Fortresses - Wikipedia
But, there was only one there, as far as I can tell, which means three barrels are unaccounted for.
"I don't like using the convoy as bait, Duke. They don't have anything that can really hurt Scharnhorst." Bismarck commented, sailing alongside the more experienced battleship.
"I don't like it either, but that's the Admiral's orders." Duke replied.
"Does she have any escorts?"
"A pack of destroyers, last I heard. But the flyboys have said they were sent off, probably for scouting." Duke paused for a moment. "If we can sink Scharnhorst now, while she's alone, the only real surface raider the Jerries will have is your sister, and she's staying holed up in Norway."
Bismarck flinched at the mention of her younger sister, Tirpitz. Tirpitz hadn't yet been commissioned when Bismarck had sailed on her first sortie, the ill-fated Operation Rheinubung. She had sunk both the Mighty Hood and HMS Rodney before being captured by the British and pressed into their service. It was a bit of a sore subject for the former German.
"Oh. Sorry." Duke hastily apologized.
"She's fine! It's not like you're the first one to mention Tirpitz." Norfolk interrupted from where she was with Jamaica and the destroyers.
"Are we going to stick together for this or split up to cover more ground?" Bismarck asked.
"Split up. We each have enough firepower to sink her on our own. Take Norfolk, I'll take Jamaica and the murderballs."
"Roger that." Bismarck snapped off a salute before turning ad steaming away, Norfolk splitting off and easily catching up.
"Good luck, and may the seas always be fair." Duke offered as Bismarck disappeared into the setting sun.
"Good luck, and fair seas to you too."
"Duke, this is Suffolk. All seems clea- Wait one. Something's on radar. Sheff, can you go investigate?"
Bismarck tensed as the convoy's radio check seemed to go awry. She hated not being there while her good friends were at risk. Behind her, Norfolk seemed to have a similar sentiment.
"I hope they're okay." The County-class cruiser said softly.
"So do I." The two waited in a tense moment of silence. There was no point in turning and rushing back to the convoy just yet.
Their radio crackled, then blared to life as eight inch gunfire echoed over it. "It's her! Scharnhorst is he-" Sheffield was violently cut off. Bismarck assumed the worst.
Bismarck removed her peaked cap and brushed the light covering of snow off of it. "Should we return to the convoy?" she asked softly.
"We're of no use out here." Norfolk replied. Bismarck knew she was right. While she wanted to be nowhere near her former friend, ever fiber of her being was screaming at her to return to the convoy. Her ironclad sense of duty wouldn't simply allow her to abandon her new friends to their fate.
Bismarck flicked on her radio. "HMS Bismarck, requesting permission to return to the convoy."
"Negative, Bismarck. The cruisers are driving her off." Duke replied. She gave Scharnhorst's heading. "Try to intercept her. You'll be the anvil to our hammer."
"Roger. Bismarck heading out." Bismarck cut her radio. There hadn't been an order for radio silence, thankfully. Coordinating at night with one would have been near impossible.
With a heavy heart, Bismarck turned her attention back to radars, praying that the cruisers would be okay until she could help.
"Sheff's hit! Belfast, cover her!" Suffolk's panicked cry echoed through Bismarck's mind as she raced through the darkness. Scharnhorst could tear through those poor cruisers, and neither battleship was anywhere near the convoy.
The radio was silent for a long time, before Suffolk finally radioed again. "We've driven her off, but I don't think Sheff is gonna make it. Bel isn't looking too good, either." The cruiser went on to give the German battlecruiser's last known location and heading.
Bismarck could feel her crew plotting the information down on her charts, before adjusting her heading on the new intercept course.
"Will you still be able to cover the convoy?" Duke asked. "I can redirect the destroyers with me if I have to."
"We should be good. Bel's hurt, but she's in no danger of sinking. As long as Scharn doesn't come back, we'll be fine."
"All right. Keep with the convoy. Keep them safe. Duke out."
Bismarck felt helpless. She was supposed to protect these cruisers, fight off the heavy units her enemies would throw at them. She wasn't supposed to be off chasing butterflies while they did all of the fighting.
"This is Jamaica. I've got her on radar."
"Roger, Jamaica. Scorpion, can you get a star shell over her?" Duke asked.
"Yup!" The little destroyer cheered. One of her little 4.7s barked, and Bismarck couldn't help but imagine the star shell illuminating her former friend. The image she saw in her mind's eye was haunting, the battlecruiser's pale skin being bleached white, while her striking blue eyes seemed to glow from a distance.
"All batteries, open fire!" The distant boom of Duke's fourteen inch guns echoed to Bismarck's position well after she heard it over the radio.
For nearly twenty minutes, Duke and Scharnhorst traded blows. At one point, the brave destroyers escorting Duke had attempted to charge in for a torpedo attack, but had been forced back by Scharnhorst's surprisingly accurate secondary battery.
For twenty minutes, the heavies traded blows, but neither inflicted critical damage upon the other.
"Shit!" Duke swore violently. In her mind, Bismarck couldn't help but imagine the heavy hits that had ultimately sunk Hood and Rodney being replayed on the form of Duke. Her already pale face lost all color as she awaited the blast to reach her ears. It never came.
"Duke? Are you all right?" Bismarck asked tentatively.
"I can't see anything. I think that last hit took out my radar. I have to pull back. It's all up to you now, Bismarck. Best of luck to you."
Bismarck audibly gulped. A hand was tenderly placed upon her shoulder.
"It'll be okay, Bismarck. We believe in you." Norfolk said softly. She wrapped the shivering battleship in a hug. Bismarck gently returned the hug.
"Thank you." Bismarck said as she released the heavy cruiser. Norfolk gave her a sloppy salute, a huge grin splitting her face. A wave crashing over Norfolk's decks completed the goofy image, and Bismarck couldn't help but break down in laughter.
Suddenly, Jamaica cut in over the radio, ruining the moment. "It looks like she's slowing down, Bismarck. I think Duke got one last hit on her machinery."
"Alright!" Norfolk pumped a fist into the air as Bismarck pulled towards the battle at her best possible speed, with the heavy cruiser struggling to keep up in the rough seas.
Bismarck knew where Scharnhorst was well before the crippled battlecruiser knew where she was. Jamaica had been shadowing the German ever since Duke had lost contact, while managing to stay out of Scharnhorst's own radar.
"Norfolk, think you can illuminate her?" Bismarck asked.
"I'm not yet in range." The cruiser turned on her radio. "Jamaica, think you can shed some light on the subject?"
Both Jamaica and Bismarck groaned at the joke, but Jamaica complied with the request. A star shell streaked through the dark, lighting up the damaged Scharnhorst. The battlecruiser cut an imposing figure, even as fires smoldered on her decks.
The gaunt, almost starved looking girl looked about wildly. Her eyes locked in the direction of Bismarck as the latter's fifteen-inch guns roared.
Scharnhorst screamed her rage, punctuated by the muted roar of her eleven inch guns desperately searching for a target. "Traitor!" She cried in German, barely understandable to Bismarck's ears.
One by one, Scharnhorst's guns fell silent, destroyed by Bismarck's unerringly accurate fire.
"I'm sorry, my… Meine schwester." Bismarck said, as her guns hammered into the battlecruiser. "I'm so sorry." Tears streamed down her face, even as her guns blazed their righteous fury. At some point, Norfolk and Jamaica added their own fire to the barrage, struggling to make the battlecruiser sink.
After what felt like an eternity, with three torpedoes expended, Scharnhorst began to sink. She was defiant to the end. No quarter was asked, and none was given.
"I'm sorry, Gneisenau. It seems we shall never again sail the seas together…" Scharnhorst said, before her head slipped below the waves.
Bismarck wiped the tears from her eyes as Jamaica sailed up to her and Norfolk.
"Come on, let's get back to the convoy."
"Aye, ma'am."
"You got it, Bismarck!"
The image that was revealed upon Bismarck's division reaching the convoy was shocking. Duke had been ravaged, her eyes covered by blood. Suffolk was covered in bruises, and Belfast was being supported by one of the transport girls. There was no sign of Sheffield.
"Where's Sheff?" Norfolk asked. Bismarck feared that she knew the answer. She prayed that she was wrong.
"She went down. Scharn took her out of the fight quick, and Bel had to tow her back." Suffolk replied. "She got all of her crew to a freighter before going down."
"The best death she could ask for." Bismarck commented. "I just wish we had been here to help." She glanced over at Duke, who was shifting uneasily from one foot to the other.
"Let's just get this convoy to the Russians. I don't like these seas." Duke interrupted, ending the conversation.
Before you all get up in a fit about it, I do know that Scharnhorst is technically a battleship, not a battlecruiser. However, with her eleven inch guns, she fits into the Imperial German battlecruiser design scheme, and it helps to quickly differentiate between her and Bisko.
Something that will likely surprise many Anglophones is that many European countries do not use port and starboard or even larboard and starboard. They use backboard (bb) and steerboard (sb). The steering oar was on the steerboard side and the helmsman had his back towards the backboard side.
Something that will likely surprise many Anglophones is that many European countries do not use port and starboard or even larboard and starboard. They use backboard (bb) and steerboard (sb). The steering oar was on the steerboard side and the helmsman had his back towards the backboard side.
...I wonder if that's why in spanish they're called "babor" and "estribor". The phonetics match pretty well.
E: apparently it traces back to the dutch "stierboord"/"bakboord" ("stier" = the steering wheel, "bak" = the back, "boord" = board).
Oh, and the english ones are apparently traced back to old english which in turn probably got'em from the vikings. The dutch words are traced back to the vikings as well. Man these are some really old words.
In Russian maritime terminology words "штирборт" and "бакборт" are used. They are basically the aforementioned Dutch terms, borrowed by the language due to historical reasons.
A Girl's Name: Slaying the Dragons
by Fred Herriot
Based on Kantai Collection, developed by Kadokawa Games; The Seventh Carrier, created by Peter Albano; Koihime Musō, created by BaseSon; Men In Black, created by Lowell Cunningham; Azumanga Daiō, created by Azuma Kiyohiko; Sweet Valley High, created by Francine Pascal; Suzumiya Haruhi no Yūutsu and its sequels, written by Tanigawa Nagaru; Stargate SG-1, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner; Harry Potter, written by Joanna K. Rowling; and Urusei Yatsura, created by Takahashi Rumiko
Including characters and situations from Belated Battleships, created by the JMPer; Greatest Generation, created by sasahara17; Urusei Yatsura: The Senior Year, created by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot; and Magic and Canada, Phoenix From the Ashes, Shipgirl Samurai and Super-Ninjas and The End of the Circus, created by Fred Herriot
****
United States Fleet Activities Sasebo, one afternoon at the end of April...
"Kyech! What are you doing here?!"
Hearing the fondly exasperated voice of a wonderful friend she made the acquaintance of a year before on the planet Okusei, the pretty woman appearing to be in her late teens by Terran terms smiled as Moroboshi Ataru came over to warmly embrace her. "Hello, Ataru. Are you treating the ch'uongtechhu nicely?" the woman known across most of the galaxy as "She Who Speaks to Dragons" asked after they shared a tender yet sisterly kiss before he waved her towards the front gate.
"Oh, they don't seem to mind," he assured his travelling companion for nearly a year, thanks to a freak time-travel accident unleashed by one of Noukiios' legion of spirit-dragons, which sent the man tumbling back a year, forced to remain on an alien planet to avoid a temporal paradox while his past-self had been subjected to everything imaginable thanks to a warlord's daughter from the fourth planet of Oniboshi. "Matter of fact..." he trilled before looking over, then he smiled. "Roberta-chan!"
Hearing that hail, a smiling brown-haired, bespectacled fast battleship perked, then she waved back. "Ataru!" Roma called out before her brown eyes went wide on seeing his current companion. "Who...?"
He smiled as he moved to do introductions. "My honoured friend, may I present the living spirit of the third of the Littorio-class fast battleships of the Royal Navy of the old Kingdom of Italy, the Revered Lady Roma," Ataru formally began as Roma stood to attention and bowed to the flame-haired, chestnut-eyed humanoid with the noticeable Klingon-like forehead ridges under the thick bangs of her hair and the flower blossom cheek tattoos under her eyes. "Mio amabile appassionato," he then said in Italian as he then gazed on Roma, making her instantly blush. "My fighting companion at the Battle of Morningstar Plain on the planet Okusei and the Liberation of the Avalonians, a woman I consider both dear friend and teacher, the Lady Seu-P'ye Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech of Ait'uch Nehech."
Roma nodded before formally saluting with her hand. "The blessings of the Lord upon you, Lady K'ekhech. Welcome to Earth," she said with proper dignity; the battleship had been informed long before concerning how to treat the natives of Noukiios should fate ever bring any of them before her bow. "In your style, I also greet you with the name our shared friend gave me three years ago, Roberta Ansaldo of Roma and Trieste. I humbly and honourably give my name to you."
Hearing that, the Dragonspeaker gave the reincarnated battleship a traditional left fist-in-right palm salute used by Noukiites when greeting people they just met. "Heaven's most sincere blessings upon you, Mistress Roberta. I am Kyech. I humbly and honourably give my name unto you as well." She then impishly smiled before she gave Ataru a knowing look. "A date?"
"She just helped escort a large convoy over the top of Eurasia and came down to visit me while she's preparing for the next run," Ataru admitted as he waved them towards a smiling gate guard while drawing out his security pass. "Most of the non-Japanese shipgirls who come to the country performing their duties tend to congregate here when they're busy resting up from their missions. She'll be here for a couple days, then it's back at sea escorting a convoy of empty ships across to Canada."
Kyech nodded as the smiling master-at-arms held out a clipboard to allow him to sign the visiting free warrior of Noukiios onto the property. "The hit'kyechtechhu are still seeking to destroy all life here?"
"Sadly so, but we're pushing them back," Roma noted as she held up her guest pass for the guard's attention. After Kyech was signed in and a temporary pass was fixed to her flowing white-and-black battle robes, they were waved through the gate onto the grounds, making their way towards the large building that held Admiral John Richardson's command staff. "Still..."
Ataru perked. "You're feeling her still, aren't you?"
"Sì," Roma answered as she returned the salutes of passing servicemen; in the Marina Militare, she was rated capitano di fregata even if Ataru believed she deserved to be ranked one step higher as she was a battleship. "I've always wanted to speak to her. Ask why she performed such an act of mercy the day I was sunk by those damned monsters. But even though I've sensed her in the Pacific and the Atlantic since I was summoned at the Scuola Militare Navale, I've never spoken to her."
Ataru's hand fell on her shoulder to give her a friendly squeeze. As they headed upstairs to the private office the "special boatswain's mate" to many shipgirls now based at or who staged out of Sasebo, Kyech was quick to sense a flash of guilt race through her once-intimate friend's heart on hearing what his new intimate friend said. Sensing he had been made to stay silent about this subject even to the living house angels of the lost warships born before and during Earth's second great worldwide war, the Dragonspeaker kept her tongue as they made their way to the quiet corner office on the upper floor.
Walking inside, he grinned on seeing his two chief "adjutants" relaxing there, with Kirishima standing by the windows looking out onto the harbour and Yonaga kneeling seiza at one side of the room, her personal katana — it was actually that of her late commanding officer, Admiral Fujita Hiroshi; it had been salvaged from her wreck shortly after she had been summoned as a shipgirl two weeks ago — drawn from its scabbard as she moved to clean it with linseed oil. "Teitoku," the fifth of the Yamato-class called out with a nod before her eyebrow arched on seeing the alien woman there. "K'ekhech-dono."
Kyech nodded. "Yoiko. Isabel."
Roma closed the door before she walked over to embrace the third Kongō-class fast battleship. "Isabella! How are you?!"
"Aroused as always," the other bespectacled shipgirl noted before they shared a warm kiss on the lips. Fans of the kanmusu always depicted the two as rivals of sorts, though the girls known better to Moroboshi Ataru as Roberta Ansaldo and Chihaya Isabel were actually very close friends, always chatting with each other over the Internet even when they were doing their duties on the high seas. Thanks to the wonders of modern communications and the Abyssals' total inability to tap into them, many relationships that crossed the once-wide gulf between the warships of the Allies and those of the Axis had been given a chance to flower without the enemy moving to target one of the shipgirls by slaying her lover.
"Sì! Our nostromo is such an addiction," Roma teased as Ataru turned red while he moved to sit at his desk, setting aside his briefcase before he moved to retrieve a can of cola from his personal fridge.
Both battleships laughed as the Dragonspeaker moved to sit on the desk and the aircraft carrier continued to clean her sword. "What are you doing here, Kyech?" Ataru then wondered as he gazed on the Noukiite free warrior. "Even if the banditry issue in the Outmarches is pretty much eliminated, you normally don't go visit other planets on a whim. Did something happen?"
"Nothing of too great importance," Kyech noted as Yonaga focused on her. "Kaep' was able to finally have you declared ineligible to be pursued by either Lum, Amora, Kurama or anyone else with the Galactic Religious Council. As was promised before you were allowed to return to Earth after your past-self was teleported off Uru by Nengmek'i, you were declared a 'servant of angels' by the Council of Elders in Ryekkyuk because of this ongoing battle between your lovers and their friends against the hit'kyechtechhu. To ensure the Oni do not push things, Her Imperial Majesty has declared the creation of an Imperial Commandery that will shield the inner part of this solar system from intrusion until such time as your people have both reformed the Special Committee AND created a planetary defence force, making use of the various alien technologies that were seeded on Earth over the millennia."
"It is a pity we must depend on aliens to defend us from aliens," Yonaga declared. "I would believe Hoppō's actions against the oni and their traitor allies in Tomobiki would have driven the point home."
"It shook them up," Kyech calmly noted as Kirishima moved to make tea and Roma sat on the couch. "With what Ataru arranged with the Yizibajohei by allowing Tariko to live as Coyote — added to the Gifting of people such as Kasuga Ayumu, Elizabeth Wakefield and Suzumiya Haruhi as Infinity, the Academician and the Weaver — the shielding system that will destroy all alien starships and divert attempts by using things such as the Stargate and the Neptunians' Central Warp Chamber from teleporting people to Earth was made operational within two days of Lum being evacuated to Uru after Hoppō nearly killed her. That made the Urusians and their allies finally realize their carefree approach to Earth had to change, especially after Tariko teleported the other aliens resident in Tomobiki to Uru to forever remove that 'exclusion zone' the local government in Edo allowed to be created because the Special Committee had all been but destroyed by the hit'kyechtechhu five years ago."
"Teitoku has already begun the psyops about that," Kirishima noted.
"Oh?"
As Yonaga shook her head, the fast battleship drew out her iPhone, then tapped into Twitter. As the phone automatically signed into her account, she then drew up a message that Ataru had put out last night, then she showed it to the Dragonspeaker. Gazing upon it, Kyech then smiled.
Moroboshi Ataru @ YonagaNewNavO Apr 20
RM Roma coming to visit, planning night excursion with THG Kirishima and THG Yonaga. Friends always welcome! Traitors to the human race WILL BE SHOT! # TuyukiIsComing # MotherofAllFightScenesII
Kyech chuckled...
****
Tomobiki Senior High School, the next afternoon...
"Wh-wh-what is th-th-this...?"
For the people who had often associated with the gregarious Oni warlord known properly among the people of his society as "Redet Invader", the sight of seeing him look ready to literally soil his jumpsuit made all of them shudder in horror on realizing that what had been happening over the last month and more concerning his would-be son-in-law wasn't some "aberration" that would be swiftly corrected to allow "normalcy" to be restored to this most abnormal district of Japan.
To some in the gymnasium as they awaited their old classmate, it was the sign of the coming of the Apocalypse!
"D-d-Darling CAN'T kn-kn-know about th-th-THEM...!" a white-faced Redet Lum sputtered out as she gazed on Mendō Shūtarō's own phone, shaking her head in denial. "I n-n-never t-t-told him a-a-about Th-th-they Who M-m-must Never be N-n-named!" She then blinked before her face flushed with outrage, then she spun on her oldest "friend". "DID YOU TELL HIM, RAN?!" she shrilled out as lightning danced over her body, said power causing the phone to explode in her hand.
"NO!" Aruka Ran shrieked back. "DO YOU THINK I'M INSANE, LUM?! YOU KNOW WHAT THE YOU KNOW WHOS COULD DO TO US ALL IF THEY GOT THE CHANCE!"
"QUIET!" Invader barked. "NOW'S NOT THE TIME!"
"Time for what, I wonder."
That was Miyake Shinobu, who was glaring daggers at her once-rival for Moroboshi Ataru. "What do you mean, Miyake?!" Lum's true best friend Shigaten Benten of Fukunokami snarled; like the Urusians who had come to this meeting at Tomobiki High School thanks to the grace of the Imperial Dominion of Noukiios, the space-biker also looked ready to soil her panties.
All the aliens screamed out in mortal terror on hearing that word. As Mendō and the members of Lum's Stormtroopers — to say anything of Ataru's mother Kinshō; his father Muchi was still at work — watched their favourite alien and her companions nearly die of apoplectic fits from the utterance of a simple WORD, the others all stared wide-eyed at the plain-looking teenage girl seated off to one side. "What does that mean, Yon-san?" Fujinami Ryūnosuke then demanded.
Inu Chigaiko's eyes narrowed. "Who?"
The "heir" of the Hamachaya and "son" of the school's current janitor jerked on hearing that cold statement from the "ghost" of Class 2-4, a woman who had been cursed to have her very name forgotten by her classmates and teachers all thanks to her long-buried feelings for Moroboshi Ataru. Even now, ever since Ataru had left school and the actual magic of the curse had been lifted from the star forward of the school girl's basketball team, no one bothered to try to remember her name; they were too used to calling her "Yon-san" from her uniform number.
An amused chuckle escaped the princess of the Karasutengu seated nearby. Unlike the other aliens, Kurama hadn't freaked out on hearing the name of the home planet of "They Who Must Never be Named". "Ah, your dirty little secret's been revealed at last, Lum," the half-Terran woman with the crow wing-styled black hair said as she gazed at the shuddering Lum. "No doubt prompted by the removal of that starbase self-destruct device from this town's shopping area just before the young Abyssal princess put you into the healer's cockpit. I assume, Shinobu-san, you got a copy of The Book of Lum?"
"I did," Ataru's former girlfriend asserted. "Unlike these traitors to humanity here..." — she thumbed the Stormtroopers, all of whom awked in outrage at having that insult applied to them — "...it didn't take me long to realize how much danger this selfish bitch put us all into when she LIED about her 'marriage' to Ataru-kun a year ago!" As Lum squawked in fury at that accusation and the Stormtroopers all shouted on hearing that particular insult applied to her, Shinobu calmly picked up a large table by one hand and flung it at the four boys, decking them in one blow! "So that fleet that bomb destroyed was that of your most powerful ally," she then noted as she gazed knowingly at Invader, making him pale as he realized that some people in Tomobiki were now aware of true events beyond Earth's atmosphere. "With them gone, all your enemies are ready to put you into the dirt again if these Yizibajohei..." — she smiled as all the aliens outside Kurama shrieked in terror — "...don't decide to unleash their 'mother of all fight scenes' on you again!" The smile then turned cold as she added, "I hope that THIS time, they'll finish the job. We've no need of your kind on this planet anymore. If we ever did."
Lum shuddered as electricity began to spark over her...
"SECTUMSEMPRA!"
A bolt of energy slammed into her, causing deep cuts to appear all over her body, making her scream as she was flung by some unseen force to the floor. As the other aliens all gasped on seeing the warlord's daughter dropped, the person who fired that spell repeated herself to knock down Benten and Lum's other best friend, Oyuki of Neptune. While many of the boys who had come to this "peace meeting" all screamed in horror on seeing their favourite alien and her two best friends nearly shredded like that, a woman's voice then barked out in a voice that nearly shattered everyone's eardrums, "SILENCE!"
Heads snapped around...
...then people gaped on seeing the tall and curvy twenty-something Western woman with the shaggy, close-cropped dark red hair and the sea green eyes under sunglasses standing by the main doors. In her hand was a well-crafted wand, which made the boys pale in horror on realizing that this woman was clearly a magical warrior in the Western traditions. She was dressed in a plain black business suit with white turtleneck sweater under the blazer. As Kurama calmly sipped her tea and all the girls in the room gave the newcomer grateful looks for stepping in and putting Lum down like that, Mendō quickly surged up in hopes of grasping her hand and using his charm to win the stranger to their side. "Miss..."
He then screamed out as the sharp edge of a well-honed katana touched his throat, instantly dropping to his knees. As all the girls save Shinobu, Ryūnosuke and Chigaiko tensed in horror on seeing their favourite classmate brought down like that, a voice as cold as the Arctic in mid-winter then declared, "Keep your place, merchant's brat! You have no power here! You money will get you NOTHING at this time! Speak out of turn and you'll be put to death like the DOG you are!"
Heads snapped over to see the woman — as tall as the warrior-sorceress who had just put down Lum and her friends — in the kimono and hakama standing next to the scion of Japan's richest family, a look of cold disdain on her face. As the other boys all smirked on seeing the arrogant Mendō brought down by this shipgirl samurai who had been brought back by Ataru two weeks ago to bring terror on all the Abyssals now trying to starve the country into submission, a back door to the gym opened, allowing two battleships to walk inside, they accompanying a man in a white gakuran. Also with them was a crimson-haired Noukiite free warrior, whose very look caused Invader to nearly soil himself as he tried to surge up and loom over the traitorous bastard who had hurt his precious baby so.
Moroboshi Ataru noted that, a smile that had no humour crossing his face. "Tuyuki is coming."
Invader nearly died of a heart attack on hearing that dire statement...
****
Later...
"So we'll never see these things again? Is that what you're saying, Ataru-kun?"
"Hai, Chigaiko-chan, that's exactly what I'm saying," Ataru said as he enjoyed the beautiful wine that Roma had brought to the meeting on occasion. "Much that I do understand how hidebound your people are to their old laws, Kurama-sama, I hope that you'll be able to find someone to have your heir with. Since I'm too busy with the shipgirls, I won't have time to spare for you."
Kurama chuckled in amusement. As the still-wounded Lum, Benten and Oyuki stared in dumbfounded disbelief at the man they thought they had known so well — but now realized that they knew NOTHING of at all — the crown princess of the Karasutengu smiled politely. "Well, being declared a Servant to Angels is important among the Noukiites and it is recognized among the civilized races of the galaxy. I wouldn't dream of getting in the way of relations between yourself and these beautiful women with you, especially the living incarnation of your great-granduncle's ship." Here, she gazed at Yonaga.
The carrier tried not to sneer in disgust at the arrogant alien woman who claimed to be the daughter of the legendary Genpei War-era samurai Minamoto no Yoshitsune himself. Since such a claim was clearly absurd, Kurama wouldn't be allowed to visit Earth again after today's meeting. While she had not been as destructive as any of the natives of Uru or their friends from other planets in Tomobiki, her belief in her own superiority over the people of Earth would clearly cause friction in the future, which the Heavenly Sovereign and his allies elsewhere could not afford while the Abyssals were still causing issues. Best to remove the twit from the planet now before she nearly killed someone.
"So why didn't Admiral Gotō or Admiral Richardson come here?"
Hearing that from Ryūnosuke, Ataru shrugged. "They have no time to deal with the arrogant fat slob here, Fujinami-san," he said as he nodded in contempt at Invader, which made him jolt before Yonaga's icy grey eyes fixed on him. "Since the umale from Uru..." — here, he smirked as all the aliens save Kurama paled on hearing that well-known Yizibajohei insult — "...couldn't be bothered to send a proper government official or flag officer to this meeting, they asked me to deal with it."
As the "heir" of the Hamachaya jolted slightly on hearing Ataru address her by family name — which he was also doing with all the other girls save Chigaiko, something that he had never done before and that clearly bothered all the girls, especially Shinobu — Invader shuddered. "Why...?"
"Why what?" Ataru coldly stated.
"Why made a deal with the You Know Whos?!"
The smile turned lethal. "Because they're civilized!" Ataru answered, making all the aliens — even Kurama! — gape in disbelief at him. "You're the monsters, Fat Boy! I'm not going to waste time with you anymore! For that, you can thank my other so-called 'fiancée' for sending a wedding invitation to my grandmother when she was on Tengsei before I finally was freed from your brat's control a month ago...which, to me, was over a YEAR ago thanks to Nengmek'i-ojiichan!" He focused on the shuddering Lum. "Don't depend on your spacializer to try to change time like you did some months ago, Redet!" As Lum recoiled on being addressed by her overall clan name — which was never done in polite Oni society these days — he sipped his wine. "The Weaver's disabled all Urusian time-travel tech until such time as you all die. Face it: You've LOST! And if I have to ask my sister to unleash Mother of All Fight Scenes Mark Two to drive it home, I'll do it!" As the aliens all paled on hearing THAT threat, he wagged his finger at her. "You should have done your homework," he then sing-songed at her.
Roma and Kirishima laughed as Yonaga smirked and Chigaiko whooped in delight. As Lum shuddered while she tried to force her lightning powers back to her conscious control — that slashing spell she had been hit with by the strange woman standing nearby had nearly ripped off her horn buds, which were the source of her metahuman abilities — muffled wails of outrage escaped the hog-tied boys and Ataru's mother, all now prostrate on the floor nearby. "SILENCE!" the woman in the business suit screamed out, causing everyone save the shipgirls and Kyech to wince. "You mind your Ps and Qs, you filthy traitors to humanity!" she snarled out as she levelled her wand at Mendō and the Stormtroopers. "I'm sure that some nice group like al-Qā'idah or Dā'ish will send someone along soon enough to deal with you for all the trouble you've caused, ever since that stupid incident with the space-taxi that YOU caused, Mister Aisuru!" Here, she focused on Megane, which made him pale on realizing that he had a death mark on his head thanks to the fanatics from the Middle East who were still fighting to establish their caliphate even in the face of the Abyssals moving to cut off all oil trade to the rest of the world.
"Teitoku?"
Ataru gazed up at Yonaga. "Hai?"
"Tell me: Did Nagaiwakai-sama approve of your father's interest in the yūjo?" the carrier then asked as she gazed in contempt at the former Yamaguchi Kinshō. "I am aware through my navigation officer's memories that only the Matriarch of your clan can approve such marriages, especially when it comes to her children and future parents of the next Matriarch."
"No, Obā-san didn't care at all for Kinshō," Ataru said, which made his mother shriek out through her bound mouth at the mere mention of the "ageless cow" by her stupid boy. "That's why she'll GROW OLD and DIE ALONE!" He shrugged as Kinshō froze in horror on hearing that declaration. "Unless our wonderful friends from the Middle East decide to eliminate her first."
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then...
Kinshō collapsed on herself as a pained moan escaped her. As all the girls save Chigaiko gaped on hearing that threat from their former classmate, Ataru finished his wine and stood. "Paragraph Ten of the Tag Race Treaty is now in effect for all citizens of Uru for the next two centuries, Fat Boy," he coldly declared, not bothering to look at either Invader or his daughter. "That also includes the idiots on Konton and all other Urusian expats your Imperial Round might try to use to get around that. Anything gets detected that can be traced to you or your allies, the Yizibajohei get to party." As the aliens save Kurama shrieked in horror on hearing that, he smirked. "Thanks to my sister. Which YOU helped create thanks to your stupid lollipop some months ago, Redet! I'm sure your many fans back on Uru would LOVE to hear that the Nightmare of the Mother of All Fight Scenes came back thanks to YOU!" As Lum squawked in horror on hearing that, Ataru smiled. "Elaine-san, hit them with another Sectumsempra before Kyech sends them back to Triton," he ordered. "Madame Fuyujo, warn your father that any attempt at using the Warp Chamber to help the Oni try to overcome what happened will result in the Mother of All Fight Scenes being unleashed on your kind!" As Oyuki gasped in horror on hearing that, Ataru smirked. "Monsters, the lot of you. Let's go, girls," he then bade his three shipgirl companions.
They rose to leave as the stranger woman levelled her wand on the aliens...
****
The Tomobiki Ginza, an hour later...
"You know who that woman was?"
Ataru perked on hearing that from Roma, then he nodded. "Hai, Roberta."
"Who is she?" Yonaga asked.
"I can't say, Yoiko-san."
"Can't or won't?" the carrier asked.
"Can't."
Hearing that, the three shipgirls nodded before they turned back to the rāmen they were served. "So will this drive the aliens away once and for all, Ataru?" Kirishima asked after slurping some noodles.
"Most likely, Isabel," he answered with a tired sigh. "Unlike other alien races — even the local superpowers like the Noukiites — the Yizibajohei are the real demons in the eyes of the Oni. Given how much Invader and Lum both freaked on noting that I had found out about them, it was easy to confirm what I've long believed about their intentions from the Tag Race onward: Keep us pig-ignorant of the realities of the galaxy beyond Earth. Lucky thing that Ojii-chan intervened like he did; if he didn't and Onē-san found some other way to see the Promise fulfilled...!"
He tried not to shudder as he considered what Moroboshi Negako might have done had she gained enough ki energy to take control of Ataru's body when the time finally came, then strove to assert her independence once and for all time with a woman like Redet Lum around to try to stop her. "These aliens are yakuza," Yonaga noted. "Such beings always trip themselves up in the end because they have no honour and no concept of honour. Because of their lack of respect for the proper things in life, they begged to have someone put them down like the rabid dogs they are." She then smirked. "Interesting tactic, Teitoku. Threatening them with bandits from the Middle East to make the would-be traitors to humanity in this town finally give up their perverted fantasies concerning your 'wife'..."
"I'm not defending them anymore, Yoiko-san," he coldly declared. "Not even people like Shinobu and Ryūnosuke. Chigaiko-chan's going to move to Sasebo with her family soon enough. Why Ryūnosuke doesn't just poison her stupid old man once and for all, I'll never understand. She's neither a boy or a girl; she's some asexual thing that's been too beaten down by her old man to try to change." He then sighed. "As for Shinobu, she made her choice a long time ago. Yeah, I was often at fault for a lot of things, but she never had any right to assume she could judge me for everything I did. If she can't see that people won't conform to her narrow-minded worldview, then she's as much a monster as Lum was." He shrugged. "I'll miss the good things about them, but I won't let them in my life anymore. I've got more important things to worry about than placating a bunch of stupid kids who can't see the forest for all the trees in front of them. I've outgrown all the crap that I allowed myself to wallow in for so long. Morningstar Plain and freeing the Avalonians saw to that. I can't help them if they don't want to be helped anymore." He then smirked. "Ah, enough of that! Let's eat!"
As Yonaga nodded and Kirishima whooped before they dived into their rāmen, Roma sighed...
...before she perked on sensing some set of Big Eyes fall on her. As the faeries inside her focused her optics to starboard aft, she was quick to sense the strange woman in the business suit standing some distance away, gazing in amusement at the two battleships, the carrier and the lone human man at the yatai enjoying a late night dinner. Looking over, the adopted native of Rome and Trieste blinked as the taller woman gave her a jaunty salute, then turned to head away.
Roma's brown eyes then went wide on seeing the ghostly aura of this woman's massive ship-self form around her before she faded fully into the darkness like some ghost.
The aura of the very same mysterious warship that had saved half her drowning crew on 9 September 1943 off the coast of Sardinia in the wake of the Fascist surrender.
Assassino Leviatano...!
Fin...
****
WRITER'S NOTES
Translation list: Ch'uongtechhu — House angel; Mio amabile appassionato — My passionate friend; Hit'kyechtechhu — Abyssal angel; Marina Militare — Military Navy, the official name of the Italian Navy; Capitano di fregata — Frigate captain, equivalent of a Royal Canadian Navy commander (NATO rank code OF-4); Scuola Militare Navale — Military Naval School; Nostromo — Boatswain; Umale — Same/Sameness; Yūjo — Harlot; Assassino Leviatano — Leviathan Killer.
