Disclaimer: This is a non-profit work of fiction using characters from the Kantai Collection franchise, developed by Kadokawa Games and published by DMM.com. Please support the official release.
Additional note: Please be advised this work contains allusion to certain contemporary issues, namely war crimes perpetrated by Imperial Japan in World War 2. This work is meant to be for enjoyment, and no offense is meant. Also note that, as a fanfiction, many liberties were taken with Kantai Collection canon for the purposes of this story. That being said, please enjoy.
Warning: Exposition and world building chapter. Huge info-dumps and other such boring stuff involved. Sorry, but this needs to be done. I think I made up for it with a battle scene though.
Special thanks: To
Gosu, who stepped up to help with the proofreading. You rock, man.
-=-
"Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce."
Such had the German political philosopher Karl Marx said, and it was these words that Bismarck, proud battleship of the Deutsche Marine and flagship of their Flottemädelskorps, recalled as she scanned the lightening horizon for her pursuers.
"How humiliating to find myself in the same situation as before," she cursed angrily, one bloodied arm nursing her wounded side, as she limped back west towards Brest. A trail of blood blotted her wake, from a large gash across her right thigh where a torpedo bomber had scored a direct hit.
Geysers of seawater erupted behind her, as two Abyssal Ru-class battleships closed in at flank speed. They weren't in range yet, but it was only a matter of time until they caught up, given she'd already been crippled. More concerning were the intermittent attacks from the five Abyssal destroyers, and torpedo bombers from one Wo-Class carrier, that constantly harassed her as she attempted to retreat. It was frustrating to no end: they'd strike at her, then melt back into the darkness just as Bismark attempted to bring her weapons to bear.
It was exactly the same situation as the one which had felled Bismarck in a previous life… except worse.
"Disgraceful! How could I allow this to come to pass again?" Bismarck growled, furious at allowing herself to be chased down the same way twice.
She had been with her long-time friend Prinz Eugen and their battlegroup on a routine patrol to protect efforts to secure the strategic North Sea oil fields, when they had come under attack from a massive force of Abyssals. In the confusion of battle, there had been a miscommunication, and Bismarck had been separated from the rest of her battlegroup.
She'd made the hasty decision to steam north into the Norwegian Sea, where she'd believed she could break contact and then make for safety at the British base at Scapa Flow. But then she'd been ambushed by another Abyssal force, which she'd ascertained to be no less than three battleships, three cruisers, five destroyers and one carrier.
They'd relentlessly chased her west, past Iceland, blocking her from making for the safety of the coasts of Scotland or Ireland. She'd been driven deep into the vast expanses of the North Atlantic, until she'd spotted a hole in their formation and used it to make a break for the coast of France, the Abyssals still in pursuit. And so she found herself here… in a very familiar patch of the ocean that Bismarck had had no wish to revisit ever again.
"Do you wish to humiliate me?" Bismarck swore angrily at her distant foes. "Is it not enough that you are going to kill me, but you wish to embarrass me as well? What kind of devils are you?"
With a force that size, Bismarck was well aware they could have killed her at any time as they pleased. Yet, as if guided by an unseen hand, the Abyssals had deliberately forced her here, the site of the last stand of the Kriegsmarine battleship
Bismarck, before crippling her.
Instead of just killing her, they had ensured that Bismarck would sink again in the exact same place, facing the exact same odds…
What a farce.
Already she could see the Ru-Class beginning to appear over the horizon as the splashes drew nearer. The trap was closing around her, and she was too wounded to escape.
"Very well! If it is my fate to sink once more here, I will meet it head on!" Bismarck declared, as she turned to regard her enemy, drawing upon every ounce of courage she could muster. Her turrets rotated to face the enemy, as the wounded battleship defiantly stood her gorund.
If she was to die here, she would do so with her head held high, as befitting the legend of the battleship
Bismarck. She was determined to give a better accounting of herself this time. If she was to sink here, she would not die alone! Let this battle be one sung of in the halls of Valhalla!
"Hear me, Abyssals! I am the Battleship Bismarck, and I swear to fight to the last shell! For this insult, I will drag you all into the ocean depths with me!" Bismarck howled, raising her hand. "En-garde!"
Then, in the distance, one of the Ru-Class battleships exploded.
"There'll be none of that, my dear," an amused voice said over the radio.
"I must say, getting run down the same way twice? I thought better of you, my friend!"
Bismack lowered her hand, astonishment on her features. She knew that voice.
"…Hood?"
"Who else would rush out at two on Tuesday morning to save your sorry arse?" The voice over the radio cackled mirthfully. "
Keep heading towards Brest. I have some cruisers that will meet you halfway with tow lines. Leave those Abyssals to us and concentrate on surviving."
"My thanks, Hood."
"Don't thank me. I just don't want to explain to your bed warmer about how I let you sink this close to Gibraltar!" Hood laughed good-naturedly as she cut the channel, causing Bismarck to go beet red.
As embarrassed as Bismarck felt, she couldn't help the relief that washed over her. It seemed that she wouldn't be facing her last battle today, and it was all thanks to her friend. Bismarck been so caught up in her hopeless situation that she'd forgotten that Hood, the flagship of the most effective quick reaction force in the Atlantic, would have been sent out to her rescue.
How ironic, the cause of the events that led to her original sinking was now doing her level best at preventing history from repeating itself! With renewed hope in her heart, Bismarck turned back towards Brest.
Before long, she saw four figures come into view, making best speed towards her. The long, gold embroidered red coat the lead vessel wore was unmistakable, even in the dawn's early light.
It was impossible not to know who it was.
"Hood! It is good to see you." Bismarck greeted the battlecruiser with a tired, but grateful smile, as the Pride of the Royal Navy, and flagship of the Royal Navy's QR Task Force stationed in Gibraltar, drew up alongside her.
"And I, you. Fine mess you got yourself in, though. Really, didn't you learn from the first time?" Hood returned a teasing smile. The battlecruiser handed a steel tow cable over to Bismarck and turned to the other ships sailing alongside her. "Renown, Escort, Foresight, you three know what to do."
"Yes, Ma'am!" The two destroyers said with a salute, quickly securing their own ends of the tow cable. Renown, on the other hand, was a lot more reluctant.
"I'm not a tug boat, Hood," Renown complained as she secured the tow cable onto her rigging
"You lost the bet with Repulse," Hood fired back with a mischievous smirk. "You're not saying you'd go back on your word, would you?"
"Well, no… but
you try eating all of that
Haggis! I really thought I was going to die that time!"
"Ah, ah, ah! None of that sass!" Hood sang. With a huff, Renown joined the two destroyers and began pulling Bismarck with all her might while Hood sailed nearby to provide cover fire. Slowly but surely, the five ships began making best speed for friendly waters.
Bismarck saw flashes of light and tracers as the Abyssals began engaging targets in the distance that slowly drew them away from the wounded battleship. Clearly, Hood had brought her entire task force with her. If she really squinted she could see tracers of gunfire in the air. It was clear to Bismarck that the fighting over there was fierce.
"Will they be alright?" Bismarck asked Hood worriedly.
"I'd put money on Repulse and Oak any day of the week against those Ru-class, Swift's squadron has got that Wo-class and her air group on lockdown… and that's to say nothing of all those destroyers and cruisers I brought along for our little party. Those Abyssal bastards bit off a little more they can chew this time!" Hood laughed.
"You Royal Navy girls don't do anything in half measures."
"Since when have we ever?" Hood laughed jokingly. "We've got this, Bismarck, so just sit tight…"
"Destroyer Squadron Two to Flagship! Bloody hell… come in, flagship! Hood, this is Cossack! Hood, this is Cossack, come in, this is urgent!" A distressed voice came over the radio.
"Hold for a moment, Bismarck. I need to take this. " A slight crease formed on Hood's face as she turned away from Bismarck. "This is Hood. What's happening over there, Cossack?"
"Hood! There's something in the water! It just tagged Lance in her port side, she's listing! I've had her fall back, but it's still trying to get past us!" the destroyer shouted frantic.
"Focus damn it! Hit it again! Harder! More depth charges!"
"A submarine?"
"Yes! No! Damn it, I don't know! I think it's something else!" Cossack swore as explosions echoed over the radio as the battle raged on the other end.
"Bollocks! Why aren't these bloody depth charges working?! It's a submarine and there's four of us!"
"Cossack, pull back closer to Cruiser Squadron One. You can-"
"Negative! It's moving too fast, at least forty knots! Something's different about this one!" Cossack insisted.
"You have to get Bismarck out of there. We've hit this thing with half our depth charges already and it's not stopping!
"Cossack, calm down. Just aim and-"
"Hood you don't understand! We hit it! It should be dead!" Coassack screamed.
"We can't hold it! Hood, you need to-"
"Cossack, torpedo to your starb-!"
Explosion. Static… silence.
Hood's good cheer was wiped straight off her face.
"Cossack, Cossack what happened? Cossack, respond. Talk to me," Hood said in an even voice, clearly attempting to be the picture of calm.
"D-Diamond to Hood! Hood, come in! Please!" A frightened voice came on the radio.
"Diamond, what happened?"
"Cossack's down! Damn it. Cossack. Is. Down! Destroyer Squadron Two Actual is down," Diamond all but shouted over the radio.
"That… that thing sunk her! Blew her in half! S-She's d-dead!"
"Shit," Hood said and closed her eyes.
It was a sentiment echoed by the other ships in their small group as every Royal navy ship girl let out some kind of expletive. For her part, Bismarck felt her heart clench: someone had just died trying to rescue her. She didn't know Cossack very well, but the loss was raw all the same.
However, there was no time to grieve.
"Hood, you have to move!" Diamond continued urgently,
"It went right past us and it's heading for you! It's coming your way! We're trying to catch up but you need to get ready to intercept it!"
That got their attention.
"SHIT!" Hood swore, pivoting around to orient herself in the direction where Bismarck assumed the destroyers were supposed to be guarding their flanks.
In the dark of night, it should have be impossible to see whatever it was, especially so since it was under water. However, something
was different. Bismarck, and every other ship girl around her, could actually feel whatever it was coming at them. Somewhere beneath the waves, heading at them at speeds no ship should be capable of, was something powerful and malicious. Though they could not see it, they knew it was coming at them.
Whatever it was, it was unlike anything the ship girls had ever encountered before.
"Renown, protect Bismarck! Destroyers, form a Defensive line with me, now!" Hood ordered. Escort and Foresight threw off their own tow cables and quickly formed a defensive line with their flagship. Renown on the other hand stayed close to Bismarck, clearly attempting to use herself as a shield for the wounded ship, if
it got past Hood.
Then Escort's leg exploded.
"NO!" Hood exclaimed, above the anguished cries of the little destroyer, who fell into the water screaming, clutching the bloody stump where her leg used to be. A torpedo had hit Escort dead on, and no one had even seen the shooter. The mortally wounded destroyer didn't scream for long: the mortal wound caused the girl to drop beneath the waves and sink like a stone.
A growing puddle of red on the water was all that remained of one of Bismarck's would-be rescuers.
Bismarck felt her mouth go dry.
"Ship down!" Hood called urgently over the open channel. "We just lost Escort!"
"There it is!" Renown pointed. Under the waves was an unnatural dark shadow, just visible to their enhanced eyes, slowly diving from periscope depth after having just taken down Escort.
It was vulnerable.
"BASTARD! DIE!" Foresight screamed in vengeance, as she fired both her depth charge throwers at where the torpedo had come from… and surprisingly scored a hit, a shadowy shape blown to the surface with a pillar of water. "GOTCHA YOU SON OF A-!"
The shadow shape kept moving, casually changing course this way and that, prowling like a shark, as if to gloat that they hadn't killed it.
"N-No way. That was a direct hit…" Foresight stammered in disbelief, a sentiment shared by the other ship girls. "I hit it. I… I should have sunk it."
Only when the Abyssal was satisfied they knew it was alive did it begin its dive, and it soon disappeared from their senses. But the feeling of being hunted hadn't gone away. In fact, the feeling magnified, as they felt it draw closer, unsatisfied with a single kill. It was circling around them like a shark around a sinking ship, waiting for the opportune moment.
"It's still here." Hood moved to place herself between Foresight and the submarine, hoping that her being bait would protect her young comrade if, when, the Abyssal decided to attack again. "All Royal Navy vessels, this is Hood, we are under attack from an enemy submarine and need assistance now."
"Hood, this is Swiftsure, I read you loud and clear. The Wo-class is falling back, so I'm sending Cleo and Dido over to you."
"Hood, this is Repulse, Oak and I just finished up with the battleships. Heading over! Hang tight, Hood!"
"Hood, Diamond, we're almost there! Two, no, one minute!"
"This has gone pear shaped pretty quickly, eh girls?" Hood jested, clearly trying to keep their spirits up. However the beads of sweat that now ran down her face showed the pressure the battlecruiser was feeling. Facing an opponent that you couldn't strike back at was every warship's, every soldier's worst nightmare.
"No shit! Tell us something we don't know!" Renown reported, head swivelling about in vain to see the predator that stalked them.
"I… I
should have killed it," Foresight whimpered, shaking like a leaf in fear. Now that her anger over Escort's death had fled from her, fear had set in. "It sunk Escort and… and I didn't… I'm supposed to hunt subs, and it just s-shrugged my depth charge off. H-How did it do that? W-What are we going to do n-now, Hood?"
"Hold out until the others get here. Just a little while longer," Hood stated firmly, the battlecruiser putting on a brave face for her subordinate. "Keep calm, and carry-"
"Hood, I'm dead in the water. You have to get out of here. You're risking your lives!" Bismarck said, fear and shame having settled in her stomach. Two young women had just died protecting her, and more could follow. Against torpedoes, a warship's main defences were speed and agility. Protecting a crippled ship like her denied them both.
Unlike Hood, Bismarck wasn't afraid to admit just how much danger they were all in.
"We came here to save you. We're not leaving without you, and that's final," Hood refused.
"Hood, I can't dodge torpedoes, not like this!"
"Shut your bloody mouth and sit tight, I have this well in hand."
"You're… you're using yourself as a shield!"
"If that's what I have to do to protect you, then by Jove that's what I'm going to do!
You are not dying here Bismarck!"
"Here it comes!" Renown shouted in alarm. The shadow had reappeared, having risen back to firing depth. It was charging at Bismarck at full speed, at almost fifty knots! It didn't fire any torpedoes, though… because it was trying to do something else entirely.
"Fucking thing is going to ram Bismarck!" Renown cried in horror. "Is it insane?!"
"Foresight, get back! Renown, defensive line! Tank it!" Hood ordered. With only seconds to spare, she and Renown quickly repositioned themselves between Bismarck and the Abyssal. Their armour might not be as thick as Bismarck's, but they were in a hell of a lot better shape than she was.
The two battlecruisers faced down the speeding submarine as it barrelled towards them, a sight which Bismarck could only helplessly watch unfold before her eyes.
"BRACE!" Hood ordered, leaning forward.
Then, seconds from impact, the Abyssal leapt out of the water.
The shock on the faces of the ship girls was only complemented by the feral sneer in the monster's face, visible even through the miasma of smoke and shadows that cloaked her form like a fog, as it spun in the air in an arc that took it over Hood's head… and loosed a single torpedo right into the battlecruiser's astonished face.
A flash of light, heat and fire, and it was done.
"Repulse to Hood, we saw an explosion! What happened? Talk to me!"
Two large splashes followed.
The first was the monster hitting the water at the other end of its arc… and the second was the headless body of HMS Hood doing the same, followed by a small shower of gore and red mist.
"HOOD!" Bismarck shrieked, finally jolting the three survivors from their shocked stupor. The ship girls rushed over, snatching the body from the water and keeping it from slipping beneath the waves. The struggle to pull up the body soon stained their hands and clothes as red as the battlecruiser's coat.
But there was nothing they could do.
Hood was gone.
"Diamond to Hood, sixty seconds! We're almost there!"
The shadow had turned away and was making best speed away from them. It had had its fill, and had chosen to spare those that remained. Why wouldn't it? With the other ship girls almost there it had overstayed its welcome. It was time to leave.
But the damage had already been done.
"H-Hood, oh god… not like this…" Renown wept quietly cradling the body, hot tears streaming down her face. Foresight had just frozen in place, her mind having shut down at seeing her friend, then her leader, die within seconds of each other.
"Hood, what the hell is going on? The Abyssals are disengaging. They're leaving! Hood, are you reading me? The Abyssals are leaving!"
The young woman didn't know what to do.
"No, no, no, NO! This can be happening!" Bismarck screamed, her hands stained with her friend's blood once more. This was a nightmare.
For the second time in history, HMS
Hood, the Pride of the Royal Navy, was dead…
…and it was again all her fault.
-=-
Kantai Collection: The Greatest Generation
Part 5: Doomed to Repeat
-=-
"Two destroyers and
Hood. Jesus. Fucking. Christ."
Yvonne shook her head as she processed what she had just been told. This one Abyssal had shown up for all of five minutes. In that time it had caused the single greatest loss of ship girls ever suffered in any one engagement since the war had started.
One destroyer, Cossack, on the way in. Another, Escort, while attacking Bismarck. Then
decapitating Hood…
It was a monster, and worse still, it was still out there.
"This…
thing did all of that?" Yvonne marvelled. "What the hell was it?"
The man on the screen of her tablet computer looked haggard and tired. He had every right to be: Flottillenadmiral Klaus Hartmann, commanding officer of the German 1st Flottemädelskorps out of Kiel, was probably one of the men on the planet most affected by fallout from the recent events.
He had been Yvonne's contact in the Deutsche Marine regarding the acquisition of the U-Boat for her operation, and when she'd heard about what had transpired, she'd immediately called him to find out more. The news was not good.
"We don't know," Hartmann admitted morosely. "None of the Royal Navy girls managed to get a good look at it… the ones that survived the altercation at least. It spent most of the time submerged, and when it jumped out was coated in some kind of 'fog' or something."
"I see," Yvonne said. Trust the Abyssals to pull out something like this when everyone least expected it. "And… Bismarck?"
The man shook his head. "Bismarck is… well, she's not good, to put it mildly."
The repercussions of the death of Hood was leaving tremors around the globe. Hood had been one of the more heroic personas in the defence effort. Her quick response force had saved more lives than any other flotilla on the planet. Countless merchant ships owed their lives to Hood and her fleet, and it was also due her vigilant watch over the Mediterranean that had allowed the Italians to achieve such a decisive victory.
Hood, more than any other Royal Navy shipgirl, was a symbol of their naval might and resolve. Her dynamic command style, heroic deeds and classical British wit had won her many fans and admirers worldwide. She was, quite plainly, an international hero. Her sinking, more than that of any other Royal Navy ship girl, would undoubtedly impact morale in a big way… but the manner of her death had exacerbated the situation to incredible levels.
"Bismarck hasn't stopped crying since she returned to Kiel from Brest. She thinks Hood and the Royal Navy girls died in her place… and from the rumours going about, so does half of Britain."
"Damn. That bad, huh?"
"They have been
riots, Swanson. People are blaming
us for Hood's death, and to be honest I can't blame them. It was my own carelessness that got Bismarck into that situation, and Hood was the one who ended up paying for it," Hartmann sighed.
"Hey now, don't start blaming yourself too," Yvonne admonished. "Could have, should haves… doesn't matter. It's war. Shit happens. Besides, who could have predicted the Abyssals had something like that up their sleeves?"
"I know, I know… but it's hard not to. Hood may have been a warship, but damn it, physically she was the same age as my son. She shouldn't have had to die like that," Hartmann said guiltily, clearly haunted by what happened. "The First Sea Lord and every single one of the Royal Navy girls have come out to condemn the rioters in our support, but it's still very touch and go on our end."
"It's only been a day, Hartmann. This'll get better."
It had to. Hood's death had left a huge gaping hole in the European's overall defensive strategy. Her vigilant watch had been disrupted, and anyone attempting to cross the Atlantic was now more vulnerable than ever. They couldn't afford to be bogged down in distractions like a pointless blame game, or else the Abyssal fleet might capitalize on that advantage.
"As for Bismarck, I'm not sure what to do with her. She's completely combat ineffective," Hartmann sighed helplessly. "Sometimes she seems so angry. Other times, she can't stop crying. It's tearing my heart out to see her like this."
"She was really close to Hood, wasn't she?"
"You've read the papers. I don't think there was another person Bismarck respected more." Hartmann admitted gloomily. "With the way she is right now, whatever it was that killed Hood might as well have taken Bismarck out as well. She's no good to anyone like this."
"Christ…"
Hood and Bismarck's friendship was one of the great surprises of the war, and certainly one that the ship girls, public and media had latched onto. The image of the former worthy adversaries now fighting together as first as reluctant allies, then as bosom friends, had solidified the image of this life being a second chance for the returned warriors. Certainly, it was what many of the former Kriegsmarine ships seemed to think.
To see Hood die again on her account must have been a very unpleasant shock to Bismarck's system. Two for the price of one. What a disaster.
"I've forced Bismarck to take time off duty to spend with my son," Hartmann said. "She's in mourning right now, so I think it's good for her to be around him."
"That sounds like a good idea." Yvonne nodded.
"You know, when you first told me your theories, I thought they were a bit farfetched. Now… now I'm not so sure," Hartmann admitted. "Swanson, I'm sorry to tell you this, but there may be a problem with securing U-38 for you now."
"I expected as much," Yvonne nodded.
The Royal Navy and Deutsche Marine were recalling all their submarine assets in preparation for the greatest naval manhunt the world had seen. Somewhere out there in the Atlantic was an Abyssal submarine that was eating surface warships like tortilla chips. Even destroyers, the ships thought to be a submarine's natural predators, were falling prey to this new threat.
As such, the Germans were deploying the entirety of their remaining submarine fleet and ship girls, to support surface and subhunting assets of every Navy operating in the Atlantic, in a massive manhunt to find Hood's killer.
The rallying cry of 'Avenge the Hood' once again sounded.
Yvonne agreed with that decision, even though it would cost her the U-Boat she required for her own operation. Whatever had taken out the Hood was simply too dangerous to be allowed to run free. If it meant she had to expend the effort to look for another submarine for her own mission to give the Europeans the best chance they could to bring that Abyssal down, it was a small price to pay for the greater good.
Yvonne nodded, drumming her fingers against her desk in thought.
The first, truly devastating loss any ship girl fleet had suffered in this war, and it
had to be the Hood… and it had to be the place where the Bismarck sank.
Too many coincidences.
Far, far too many coincidences.
The pieces of the puzzle where there, and she could almost taste the answer.
"Is there anything you can tell me about it? Anything at all? I've studied these things, so maybe I can gain some insight into what happened," Yvonne offered. "It doesn't have to be a picture. After action reports, maps… anything you can give me will be fine. I need to know everything I can."
"I'll see what I can do." Hartmann nodded.
"Listen, just send me whatever you have and I'll analyse it," Yvonne continued, "If I find anything that can help you kill this thing, I'll let you know immediately."
"Thank you, Commander. It is an honour to have the USN's foremost expert on Abyssal behaviour looking into this for me, especially when you are on your own assignment."
"Oh please! That's praise I don't deserve, you know that," Yvonne chuckled mirthlessly. Really, she was the 'foremost expert on Abyssal behaviour in the United States Navy' because she was the ONLY expert in the Abyssal Behaviour in the United States Navy!
"Seriously, Swanson, you
are one of the best. Thank you."
"If you really insist. But Admiral, this
bastard killed a hero. We need to make it pay. If there's anything I can do to help you to send it straight to hell, let me know."
"So say we all. Commander… as to your submarine problem, I am looking into an alternative solution for you," Hartmann informed her. "As part of the agreement our government had with the Japanese for ship girl technology, U-511 was transferred from my command over to the JMSDF shortly after completing her training. She should be available."
"Really?"
"She's under the designation Ro-500. Last I checked she was stationed in Okinawa," Hartmann confirmed. "I can tell you she's as skilled as any of my own submarines. She would make a good addition to your team."
"How good?"
"She aced the Perisher. Insisted she take it before leaving for Japan, just to prove that she's as good as any regular modern submariner. Ended up passing with flying colours. A little quiet and meek, but when the chips are down, I can confidently say she's one of the best in the service."
"Well,
damn." Not even Tresh had been able to do that yet! Boy was Yvonne's friend going to be jealous as hell. This Ro-500 must be a complete badass that made Navy SEALS look like kindergarteners in comparison! "I'll look into her."
"You should. I'll send you a copy of everything we have about the Abyssal. It's not strictly official, but right now I don't give a damn if it can help us find this thing."
"Right. I'll try and have something back for you by the end of the day then."
"Anything you can give me will be helpful. I have to go, Swanson. My girls need me." Hartmann finished up the video call, leaving Yvonne to her own thoughts.
-=-
Though Hood's death had shaken things up, the war marched ever onward. As much as the events of Brest that day had raised the stakes, her mission had remained the same. At eleven thirty hours, Yvonne, with Yamato in tow, entered the conference room she had booked in preparation for the briefing for her team. It didn't take very long for her and Yamato to finish setting up, and soon the members her team began filtering in.
Tenryuu and the four girls of Destroyer Division Six, the best expeditionary squadron in Yokosuka, were first to arrive. With the whole conference room to themselves, they opted for the front most seats with the best view. The four destroyers were clearly excited at just being here, and they'd all brought their own little notepads and pens with them.
Really it was adorable, especially since Tenryuu really did look like a school teacher when she sat each girl down in their seat.
Following not long after them was Matsuda, who hurried in direct from the Admiral's office after finalising some paperwork. He exchanged quick greetings with Yvonne before sitting down into his own seat, just behind Tenryuu and the destroyers. They hadn't managed to exchange more than a casual acknowledgment though, since they had more pressing matters to attend to.
She did make it a point to schedule a one on one session with him sometime in the future. She hadn't had the chance of apologizing for all the trouble she'd in avertedly dropped in his lap. At very least, for the sake of their ongoing working relationship, that would have to be ironed out.
Finally, seconds before twelve hundred hours, Zuikaku arrived. The carrier seemed pumped and eager to begin as she herself beside Yamato, who on Yvonne's advice sat with the rest of the team as a sign of solidarity. The battleship had indicated she wouldn't be saying very much though, since they'd already gone through the material in private earlier.
Yvonne's team, or at least a large portion of it, since she hadn't secured her submarine yet, had finally been assembled.
"Thank you all for coming," Yvonne began. "I know it's been a tiring day for us, but I want to get this team underway as soon as possible. By the way, if you have any questions, please feel free to raise your hand at any point of time and I will do my best to attend to you."
With a tap on her tablet to bring up the opening slide, which was now synced with the room's projector system, Yvonne began her presentation.
"As you all know, my purpose for coming to Yokosuka is to find out the origins of the Abyssal fleet. What only some of you are aware of is that we plan to do so by locating and capturing an Abyssal commander," Yvonne said, causing Tenryuu and the destroyers to break into murmurs.
Unlike Yamato and Zuikaku, who had already been told, Tenryuu and the destroyers hadn't known the exact details about what they were supposed to do. Well, now they were about to find out!
"Officially, you'll be observing the Abyssals and recording their behavior. If anyone asks, tell them that," Yvonne informed them. "That isn't a complete lie: we'll need to do a lot of observation before we launch the capture mission. But the actual capture part of the mission
must remain secret."
Akatsuki raised a hand. "Um, may I ask a question?"
"You may."
"Why the secrecy?" Akatsuki queried. "There are a lot of Kanmusu complaining about you poa… poach… collecting us. Everyone thinks you're an analyst. If you let them know about why you really need us, wouldn't that solve a lot of problems?"
Yvonne could see a lot of nodding heads. Indeed, if yesterday had been any indication, much of the animosity from Yokosuka's ship girl corps had to do with them not understanding of the severity and importance of Yvonne's mission. Telling them would certainly solve that. Unfortunately, that would create its own problems as well.
"Would that I could, however that is actually a very
bad idea," Yvonne said, much to the surprise of the assembled Kanmusu. "Researching Abyssals is one thing; the idea of actually capturing one and holding it prisoner... it could potentially unravel the alliance in the Pacific."
There were multiple gasps from around them room as the ship girls processed this shocking news. However Matsuda wasn't among those surprised. It seemed that, unlike the ship girls, the young officer understood
exactly where the problem was.
"Despite the war forcing a common enemy on us, many countries are still very distrustful of the Japanese and the United States," Yvonne continued. "Finding out we are planning to capture an Abyssal, or that we are holding an Abyssal captive, might cause them to jump to 'conclusions'. Best case, our politicians have a bad day at the office and have to answer some very uncomfortable questions. Worst case, someone starts a shooting war to seize the captive."
"I don't understand, why would they distrust us for trying to capture an Abyssal?" Inazuma asked. "Aren't we all on the same side, nanodesu?"
Yvonne pitied the poor girl. It was clear that Inazuma still held a very innocent view of the war. Humans and ship girls were good, and the Abyssals were bad. Except it wasn't like that.
"Unfortunately not everyone believes that, Inazuma," Yvonne informed her. "Japan wasn't the most…
popular country in East Asia before the war started. The Abyssals attacking hasn't changed that, especially since your country developed ship girl technology without anyone's knowledge."
"But we helped a lot of people, nanodesu!"
"Yes, but some don't see it that way," Yvonne sighed, feeling like an ass for breaking the poor girl's heart. "Without naming any names, these nations lost more than people and territory to the Abyssals: economic collapse, social upheaval… the Abyssals can harm us in more ways than just shelling our ports and dropping bombs on our cities."
Indeed, the biggest problems caused by the Abyssals was that they'd absolutely destroyed the status quo. With the severing of the trade routes, entire economies had ceased to function causing their nations to plunge into anarchy. Food, medicine and other essential goods had shortages everywhere, and international relief agencies were strained beyond their breaking points. Throw in millions of displaced refugees, and it was a wonder they'd held together until now!
That however, didn't change humanity being humanity – there was always someone who would carry a grudge at the worst of times.
"Japan suddenly being at the forefront of military technology is an indicator to them about what the post-war political environment of the world would be, and they might not like what they see," Yvonne explained. "Suddenly having an Abyssal in our possession could be a sign to them that we're trying to develop a new weapon that could solidify our hold on the future status quo. Our countries would be the new world superpowers, and they would have to bow to us. Worst case scenario… they try and take the captive from us by force."
"We'd never do that! We're protectors!" Ikazuchi jumped up from her seat, protesting angrily, only to be pulled back down by Tenryuu.
"Ikazuchi… if America suddenly revealed that they had an Abyssal captive, what would you think?" Tenryuu said. The little destroyer opened her mouth to answer, and promptly snapped it shut when she understood the point Tenryuu was making.
It seemed that the older ship girls at least had gotten the message.
"There is a chance they might, and that is unacceptable," Yvonne clarified. "It's only a worst case scenario, but one that nobody in the know wants to risk."
"Which is why we can't let this cat out of the bag until after we are sure it won't give us problems, correct?" Tenryuu finished for Yvonne, who nodded gratefully.
"Yes." Yvonned nodded. "So as to answer your question Akatsuki, we can't reveal the true purpose of this team to reduce the possibility of an intelligence leak: this base may be staffed mostly by ship girls, but there are still support personnel who might talk."
"Damn, that's heavy," Zuikaku muttered.
"Going back to the point, our endgame is to capture an Abyssal commander," Yvonne said, as she returned to her presentation, bringing up a slide containing pictures of all known Abyssal warships. "However, before that, we need to be able to first identify one, and then devise a way to capture it… and that means understanding our enemy."
-=-
Yvonne ran through the basics of the mission with the team. It was pretty elementary and similar to what she had covered with Yamato on her second day in the base.
First step, go through records and interview people to gain an in depth understanding of Abyssals. Second step, form hypotheses of the Abyssals and, if possible, test those hypotheses. Third step, identify an opportunity to capture an Abyssal commander. Forth step, devise a capture plan and then practice it to perfection.
Fifth step, capture the Abyssal.
There was stuff after that, but Yvonne didn't want to overload them with information. Hammering out how they'd actually keep the Abyssal captive would be a topic for another day.
Granted, Yvonne had already done quite a bit of analysis on her own, but she was hoping the extra help could take some of her load off, or better yet, offer her new insights. They were a team after all, and she fully intended for them to help her every step of the way. By the time they were done... maybe they wouldn't be full-fledged intelligence specialists, but she hoped they'd at least be able to see more than what was directly in front of them.
"I intend for each and every one of you to be a part of every step in this process," Yvonne stated clearly for everyone to hear. "We need to be intimately familiar with the Abyssal fleet, their strengths, weaknesses and strategies, to have even a remote chance of succeeding."
There were murmurs of ascent from everyone before her, but just as she was about to continue a hand shot up.
"Commander, a question," Zuikaku said.
"Go ahead, Zuikaku."
"This includes the thing that attacked the Royal Navy yesterday afternoon, am I right?" Zuikaku's question caused a spate of whispering to break out among the audience, "Whatever it was took out three ships, including the most famous battlecruiser in Britain's arsenal. If there is a target we should go for, it should be that, right?"
There was also the added implication that Yvonne was entirely on the wrong side of the planet, but it went unsaid. Yvonne did catch it though, but thankfully she'd already put some thought into her reply having expected this question.
"Whatever attacked Bismarck and Hood is indeed a legitimate target, however I was hoping for something a little 'softer'. Our objective is to capture something, and we can't do that if the target is too dangerous," Yvonne explained.
"But it is still a legitimate target, right?"
"Yes. But as I said, I want to go after something else, and I believe that an opportunity to do so will arise," Yvonne insisted.
"You're rather confident about that. Strange considering that the Abyssals' actions in the Atlantic are completely different from their usual mode of operation," Zuikaku said.
"Actually, upon review of the facts, I came to the opinion that the behaviour of the Abyssals in Brest was entirely in line with one of my initial hypotheses."
Now that caught
everyone completely off guard.
"You… weren't surprised by what they did?" Zuikaku gaped, open mouthed in disbelief at the preposterous thing Yvonne had just said.
"Oh, I was surprised about the new Abyssal and the circumstances around Hood's demise. However, after reading through some of the material my contact in Germany sent me, their behavior in the battle matched what I already knew about them. I had planned on leaving this until the final part of the presentation, but since we're on the topic, I might as well skip ahead."
Yvonne looked down to her tablet and quickly cycled through the presentation slides to find the one she wanted. The slide bearing the
title 'Hypothesis on the link between Abyssal behavior to WWII events' appeared behind her.
She looked up at her audience, now completely rapt with attention.
"Now this is where it gets
really interesting."
-=-
When Yvonne had started looking into the Abyssals, she had been confounded by the absolute glut of useless information that had been collected about them. The first month of her research had been absolutely fruitless, with spending hours poring through documents with little to show for it. Sure, she'd manage to understand the intricacies of individual Abyssal types, but her true goal, an insight into the grand strategy they employed eluded her.
However, that was until she'd accidentally stumbled onto the capture of Singapore by the Abyssals midway into the war.
Not too many people paid attention to Singapore. Compared to the major players like the United States, China, Russia and the European Union, the fall of small city state was a footnote in the grand scheme of things. The only thing anyone really knew was the fact that the surviving Singaporeans had managed to flee to refugee camps in Australia and New Zealand, and what was left of their professional armed forces had been absorbed by the Royal Australian Navy.
Most didn't know the utterly ferocious fight they'd managed to put up during the evacuation, nor the lopsided casualty figures they had managed to inflict on the advancing Abyssals in the face of certain defeat. She had felt it a pity that the fall of Singapore and the valiant last stand of so many of their soldiers had become a mere footnote in the ongoing war.
Then she'd noticed, entirely by chance, the manner in which two of their
Formidable-class Frigates had met their ends.
Arguably the most powerful surface warship class fielded by a South East Asian nation, the six
Formidable-class frigates had pretty much stonewalled the Abyssal advance from the north east, holding the monsters while the island's residents made a mass evacuation south. Despite their limited armament and small numbers, the Abyssals just couldn't get past the frigates and their corvette and LMV escorts.
Two of the frigates had opted to lead a daring sneak attack north to take out an approaching Abyssal carrier fleet. Radio silence was observed. When they failed to locate the Abyssals, they then sailed back south to rejoin the main fleet. While in open water, they then came under air attack from a land based Abyssal Princess nobody had even anticipated. They were ambushed, and promptly overwhelmed…
…just like HMS
Repulse and HMS
Prince of Wales had been, in almost completely similar circumstances too.
At first, Yvonne thought she was just seeing things. Two frigates lost to almost exact same circumstances as a battleship and battlecruiser? Most would have thought it a sad coincidence of fate and moved on. However, Yvonne decided to keep looking, and hit pay dirt.
For some inexplicable reason, the Abyssals had an uncanny preference for mimicking the actions of navies from World War 2, to bring about similar situations.
When laying siege to Singapore, they had deliberately re-enacted the sinking of the
Repulse and
Prince of Wales with suitable stand-ins in the form of the two
Formidables, the most powerful and capable surface ships in the area at the time.
Whereas they'd stormed Norfolk with everything they had, the Abyssals at Pearl Harbor had razed that base to the ground using air attack only. Battleship Water Demons were present, but much like the
Fuso and the
Nagato sisters in the day, the Abyssals had simply kept those ships around in reserve in the Bonin islands.
A Royal Australian Navy destroyer engaged an Abyssal submarine off the coast of Western Australia in a single ship action that resulted in their mutual destruction.
The Abyssal submarine campaign in the Atlantic was so effective at severing shipping lanes, news commentators actually made comparisons to the effectiveness of German U-Boats.
The list went on.
At first, Yvonne had thought they were mimicking the actions of the Axis forces. Then she'd come along to the point in the timeline when the ship girls appeared, and Yvonne saw a transition in behavior from that of Axis forces to those of Allied forces. Abyssals had set up bases and made movements similar to those used by American forces during the Pacific war to greet the Japanese ship girls when they pushed south.
It was shocking, to say the least.
The Abyssal Airfield Princess had set herself up right over Honiara airport - foemerly known as Henderson airfield - and was proving impossible to dislodge.
Similarly, Darwin had been repeatedly raided by Abyssal fighters - although this time, the raids were hardly uncontested.
Then there was their attempted Doolittle Raid that had missed its target, and instead bombed the Akihabara district in Tokyo. She supposed they should have been thankful that the Abyssals hadn't hit anything of real strategic importance, but the point stood.
By the time she was reading about how one of the Abyssals had decided to turn Wake Island into a fortress, Yvonne realized that the Abyssals weren't trying to imitate anyone in particular… just imitate whoever it suited them at the time, all so they could reenact World War 2 history.
There was no rhyme or reason why they were behaving like this, but the fact of the matter was that the Abyssals never passed on the chance to repeat history… sometimes, even to their own detriment.
And to Yvonne, that revealed a weakness she could exploit.
-=-
"…so as you can see, the Abyssals never pass on the chance to mimic a prior, World War 2 event," Yvonne finished, a map of American and Japanese movements around Leyte Gulf behind her. "The attempted assassination of Bismarck and the death of Hood does fit in with what I know about the Abyssal fleet."
Indeed, when they'd managed to separate Bismarck from her fleet, the Abyssals had gone through all the trouble to corral her hundreds of miles past the entire length of the Irish coastline, all just so they could try to sink her in that specific patch of ocean off the coast of France. And when they'd failed to do that due to a timely intervention by the Royal Navy, they decided to sink Hood by delivering a torpedo where it would instantly kill her. Hell, if accounts were to be believed, whoever that submarine was had leapt out of the water specifically to do that.
Now all of Europe was out on a single minded manhunt to find the fearsome super ship that that killed the Hood… except this time this fearsome super ship wasn't the Bismarck, but this new challenger. The parallels were there, even if they weren't exact.
"Dear god, how did no one see this before?" Matsuda breathed deeply, as he digested what Yvonne had just revealed. She knew the feeling; it was the exact same one she had when she'd first come to this realization. The answer to that was painfully simple though.
The only reason nobody but her had figured it out until now had been because there had been so much confusion. The Abyssals had only mimicked the World War 2 events when the opportunity to do so came along, and since the Abyssals had been attempting to emulate everyone simultaneously in no particular chronological order, their movements had appeared completely random to the eyes of military planners and intelligence agents.
The randomness of the cases of this occurring, when compounded with the confusion of everything else that was happening at the time, had simply caused the instances of this behaviour to become lost among the sheer amount of other problems that had been happening concurrently.
The loss of two Singaporean frigates in South East Asia paled in to the loss of the USS
Gerald R. Ford and her escorts off the coast of Madagascar, and had simply slipped beneath notice in the headlines. HMAS
Sydney had been one of many Aegis destroyers that had been lost that week. Although a few had noted the uncanny circumstances of its demise, it was quickly overshadowed by the attack on Sydney Harbor itself on the other side of the country days later… and of course, Pearl had been hit at the same time as Norfolk. Too many dead bodies, not enough working brains.
Simply put, it had been the information overload that had caused this behavioural pattern to slip everyone's notice. It was only until she'd approached the problem by isolating individual incidents with a view to specific historical events that a pattern began to emerge.
Yvonne was confident that with time and patience to properly sort through all the crap that had come in, the connection would have eventually been discovered… but given the mess ONI was in right now, that might have taken years.
Yvonne was just lucky that she noticed the pattern first, so that mankind could take advantage of this weakness as soon as possible.
"I know. I've already presented my findings to my superiors and a number of Admirals in the European navies, and they're currently evaluating it for themselves," Yvonne nodded. "However, Admiral Briggs himself as ordered me to keep this on a need to know basis for now, and I agree."
"Why? This sounds revolutionary. People should know about this," Zuikaku punched a hand into her open palm, just as enthusiastic as everyone else in the room. "Imagine what we could do with this information. We'd kick so much ass."
"Yeah! If everyone knew, our military planner would be able to set up traps and stuff," Tenryuu heartily agreed. "Why the secrecy this time?"
As nice as those sentiments were, the answer was in fact quite simple.
"Well let me put it this way for you: how do you think the Japanese public would react if they ever realized the current Abyssal fleet in the pacific was an exact mirror of the composition used by the United States during the war?" Yvonne said simply.
There was a long pause in the room as the implications set in.
"Yeah, the average Japanese kid won't be happy about finding out Akihabara being bombed was simply a bad, B-grade re-hash of the Doolittle raid," Yvonne grumbled. "More to the point, keep in mind every almost living soul in South East Asia was displaced by the Abyssals accurately mimicking the movements of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Lots of those nations didn't like Japan before the war. How do you think they're going to react after hearing this?"
"That's… not really going to go over well," Matsuda surmised, well aware how many of those issues were still open wounds, even in this modern age.
"Well, that is an understatement if I ever saw one," Tenryuu agreed with a shudder, no longer so enthusiastic over the discovery. "Crap, this is a ticking time bomb, isn't it?"
Millions had already lost their homes and livelihoods to the Abyssals. More than two thirds of these displaced populations were living in refugee camps, and those that weren't were still going through a hard time. To put it plainly, these people were not in
any good state of mind.
Add that to the past resentment over World War 2 Imperial Japan among many of these people's histories, and it was likely they'd jump entirely to the wrong conclusions if word ever got out. It might be irrational for them to blame the Japanese. It would certainly be unfair, since nobody had control over what the Abyssals did.
These refugees wouldn't care. They needed someone to blame, and blame they would.
There would be riots on a massive scale, and there was no telling how much damage would be done before order was finally restored. Something similar happening in the refugee camps outside Brisbane or Okinawa would have dire consequences for everyone involved.
"That's why I'm hoping that the real cause is something else. One of the things I'm hoping to find out during the interrogation phase is why these assholes are so dead set on re-enacting World War 2 history," Yvonne stated bluntly. "I don't care if they're doing it for shits and giggles or because they are complete military nerds, as long as we can pin
this squarely on them in a way no one can argue with, we can diffuse the problem and make sure this doesn't reopen old wounds unnecessarily."
"That sounds like a good idea," Matsuda agreed.
"Um… I don't quite understand, nanodesu."
All eyes turned to look at Inazuma, who seemed genuinely puzzled by all the grave faces on the older members in the room. Indeed, the destroyer girls, save Hibiki, all seemed genuinely perplexed by what they were seeing.
"Why are people mad at Japan because of the war?" Inazuma asked worriedly. "I mean, we lost didn't we? Why would all these people hate us for losing, nanodesu? We're victims too… right?"
Now it was Yvonne's turn to gape like a fish, just as Tenryuu, Zuikaku and Matsuda gave simultaneous groans. Even Yamato, who had been silent for the entire presentation, on account of having heard all this before from Yvonne and wanting her commander to focus on the others, seemed to deflate at Inzauma's innocence.
Part of Yvonne told her she should have seen this coming. Inazuma was of an innocent age where she wasn't quite ready to know about the nastier parts of her own country's history. Maybe she hadn't covered that part of her country's history yet. A reasonable assumption, since nobody knew that WW2 history was relevant to fighting the Abyssals.
On the other hand, she'd effectively hit one of the hot topic issues they had just been talking about right on the head, and everyone in the room but a blissfully unaware Destroyer Division Six was aware of it. The whitewashing of Japanese war crimes was a huge point of contention for many South East Asian nations in their deals with Japan.
Sweet Jesus, who was going to be the one to have to break this poor girl's heart?
Yvonne cleared her throat.
"Um, would anyone…"
"Nope. No. Not touching that with a ten foot pole." Tenryuu shook her head violently and held her hands out. "Your problem, not mine."
"You said you'd answer her question. I sure as hell am not doing it!" Zuikaku gulped. "You're on your own, Commander."
Yvonne turned to Matsuda, looking at him pleadingly.
"Yeah… I'm thinking, no."
Well, shit.
"Um, Commander? I really don't understand, nanodesu." Inazuma tilted her head curiously.
"Yeah, why is everyone touchy feely about this?" Ikazuchi chimed in support of her little sister, "What's wrong guys? It's just history!"
Ah hell, how was Yvonne supposed to do this?
"I'll take care of it, Commander," Yamato spoke up. "I myself am not aware of the full details, but I think it would be best if they heard it from me, and not from a foreign officer."
"Thanks, Yamato!" Yvonne breathed a sigh of relief. She'd really dodged a torpedo that time! "You're a life saver! I could
kiss you!"
"Thank you, but I would rather you not do that." Yamato turned away, a blush on her cheeks.
-=-
There hadn't been much left to cover in the briefing, now that she had gotten the meat out of the way. Besides, Yvonne had given her team a lot to think about already, and didn't want to overload them with information. They needed time to digest what they had learned, so she'd dismissed them after making sure they understood the need for secrecy and issuing them some final orders.
Those orders being of course that they were to read every single history book they could get their hands on about the Pacific theatre.
"Tenryuu was entirely right that we could use what we know about history to develop traps for the Abyssals," Yvonne had explained to them. "Besides, if one of the Abyssals decides to to try what they pulled on Bismarck on any one of you, I need you to be able to see it coming from a mile away. As the saying goes, those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
From what Matsuda had told her later, Yvonne's 'encouragement' had been all the motivation the ship girls needed to start piling on the history books. All of them but Hibiki had been sunk during the war, and none of them wanted a repeat performance.
As Yamato had joined the destroyer girls in their research, and to make good on her promise to explain things to them, Yvonne returned to her quarters alone. There she found herself taking an interesting phone call.
"Dakota, really there is no need," Yvonne said into the phone as she talked to her friend. "Look, I know that Hood's death has gotten everyone spooked, but isn't this a little much?"
"Look, just take the goddamn arrows," Dakota stated bluntly, her jovial tone gone. She was dead serious, and to anyone who knew about the redhead, that meant something. "It's not like I sent all your gear over. The arrows…"
"Are classified tech, Dakota. You know this," Yvonne insisted. "I sent them back to you for a
reason."
"Because of that advice you got?" Dakota scoffed.
"Look, I almost got busted the other day when a kid came into my room. If I hadn't left that tablet out as a distraction on a hunch, we'd be in deep shit right now. I'm an intelligence officer, Dakota. An intelligence officer smack dab in the middle of Japan's greatest naval stronghold," Yvonne pointed out. "Guarding secrets is hard. I can't afford to have more than I absolutely need to."
"Yeah, but what about guarding yourself? Most of the time you don't even have a piece on you!"
"That's because I have a bodyguard with eighteen inch rifles who follows me everywhere." Yvonne pointed out. "I'm going to be
fine. The Abyssals would have to raze this place to the ground to get to me."
"Just like they did to Pearl?"
Yvonne had no answer to that.
"Yeah. I wouldn't put it past them to do that," Dakota said gruffly. "If you're right and we're worrying our little heads off about nothing, you never have to take the things out of the box. But if you're wrong, having them could save your life."
"Who greenlighted you sending them over?"
"Briggs did. He wants the extra insurance," Dakota stated. "Look, I know you're worried about upholding the President's orders, but if it comes down to keeping them and getting wasted, or breaking cover and causing a political shit-storm…
you fucking break cover."
Yvonne gave a loud defeated sigh. If the CNO himself made the call, there wasn't much Yvonne could do but take the arrows and bear with it.
"Fine, fine. They're be on the next flight over, right?"
"You should have them within the next few days," Dakota affirmed. "We cannot afford to lose you. America can't afford to lose you… not now, not ever. Let the politicians worry about this stuff."
"I understand," Yvonne said sourly. She was going to have to be extra careful now, especially since she was going to have to mind even more sensitive material than she was used to.
"And don't forget if you ever need my help, you call me. I'll come running," Dakota added gruffly. "You keep that encrypted cell on you wherever you are, and I'll be there before you know it. Alright?"
"Come running?" Yvonne scoffed. "Geez, now you're being overprotective. You're on the other side of the Pacific, Dakota. Now the hell can you come running?"
Dakota was silent.
"…you
are on the other side of the Pacific, aren't you?"
"Force movement. I can't discuss that with you, even on this channel," Dakota said stiffly. "But my point stands: if shit hits the fan, you call me
immediately."
Yvonne had no idea how to react to that.
-=-
She'd spent the rest of the day typing up her initial findings and making recommendations about Hood's killer in an encrypted email to Hartmann before sending it off. She wasn't sure if her recommendations would help, but hopefully it might give him some understanding about what had just transpired.
If she was honest, there was one thing still bothering her though, one thing she'd kept from the others during her briefing.
"That submarine… it reminds me of something," Yvonne muttered, paging through her cloud collection of World War 2 history books on her tablet, looking for the right book.
The Abyssals had repeated three instances of history, not two, in that early morning off the coast of Brest. The attempted sinking of Bismarck and the sinking of Hood by a shot from above ones that were well known and publicized, but there was one other.
Whether it was by accident or design, the Abyssals had managed to create a subsurface threat with a fearsome reputation matched only by one other ship in all of history.
"
Death at a Distance: The Loss of the Legendary USS Harder, by Michael Sturma," Yvonne read aloud, feeling a pit of dread settle into her stomach. "Shit… of all the submarines they could have emulated, why did it have to be Harder?"
The events hadn't completely matched up of course. Harder had never made any Atlantic patrols during her career, and Harder had never been able to take out a battlecruiser before, but the essentials were all there.
The aggressiveness in its tactics. Its ferocity in battle. Its propensity to turn the tables on destroyers that tried hunting it. Its utter refusal to die when getting hit by depth charges. The Abyssal had been there but for all of five minutes, and in that time this unknown threat had shown up for the first time and then sailed away minutes later with a terrifying reputation few could match.
This, more than the failed trap for Bismarck and the assassination of Hood, bothered Yvonne.
Up until now, the Abyssals had been mimicking troop and naval movements. Setting up their bases where others had previously done so, forming their fleet compositions to mimic historical orders of battle and employing old strategies where appropriate, that had been what Yvonne had expected of them. This had been the first time they'd actively gone out of their way to mimic a specific ship.
Off all ships they could have chosen, it had had to be the most vicious US Navy submarine to stalk the Pacific ocean: Hit 'Em Again, Harder.
Questions whirled about in her mind.
How had the Abyssals managed to create a ship that could do what it did? Reports had clearly stated the Royal Navy destroyers had basically carpet bombed the thing with depth charges. Foresight even claimed to have scored a direct hit. How had it survived?
Why Harder? Why a United States Navy vessel? Could they do it with ships from other navies? Could they employ it against other services, or move it to other theatres? Could they mimic ships that had already come back as ship girls?
So many questions, so few answers to them.
Yvonne was not used to being at a loss, and was determined to rectify the situation as soon as she could. However, the answers eluded her.
Even after she'd finished filing her report, she was still thinking about it. After having dinner and arranging for a trip to Okinawa to evaluate Ro-500, it sat in the back of her mind like a cancer. Even as she lay down in her bed, one question didn't go away.
If they could do it once, they could do it again. Which ship would they try emulating next? That was the million dollar question that now worried her.
"Sure could use England right about now," Yvonne sighed.
Sleep did not come well for Yvonne Swanson that night.
-=-
It was a memory that she would never forget.
Pearl Harbor was burning.
The sheer horror of what was before her like nothing she had ever experienced before. Great plumes of smoke reached into the sky from the fires, a sound accompanied by the desperate screams of the dead and the dying. Indeed, the water itself was aflame from oil that coated it.
It truly was a scene out of hell.
Never in her career had she ever experienced anything like this.
She wasn't the only one who had trouble believing what she was seeing. Around her, thousands of sailors of the United States Navy looked on from the deck at the inferno before them. The bastion of America's military power in the Pacific, Pearl Harbor, was burning.
Impossible.
An attack as brazen and destructive as this should have been unthinkable, but it had happened. Now people were dying, her comrades, and she was powerless to do anything but look on. Thousands dying, and she had arrived too late to do anything.
The cold chill of the knowledge that, but for the whim of fate, she too could be amongst the dead and dying was something she would never forget.
No… it was more than that.
This was a memory that would come to define her.
-=-
To be continued…
-=-
Beta Note: And so it's out. There were some delays and a fairly persistent eye infection didn't help matters any. Many thanks to
Gosu for his help in this, who spotted issues I literally did not see. Certain things have been retconned and changed but on the whole, the reworking has been relatively minor, I think. The most major change is Yvonne shifting from being a full powerpoint warrier to be more sensitive to the vocabulary of her audience, which is only fitting given how she was a pretty good conversationalist in Chapter 4.
Also in an attempt to head off the usual questions, if you want American battleships, head for
theJMPer 's Belated Battleships, starring New Jersey and Washington, and if you want museum ships, go for
Breakaway25 's Bama Quest (aka Museum no more) and
Sheo Darren 's Eternity (aka Museum Ships, Museum Ships Everywhere). There's also
Skywalker_T-65 's Indestructible spirit and Saratoga stories as well. And if you want zany shens, there's always Things Involving Shipgirls That Are No Longer Allowed, which
@CV12Hornet is custodian of. And y'know what, that's a great thing.
It's been a year plus since this fic was originally written, and it's gone from being the only game in town (srsly, Ambience's author abandoned SB when people basically ignored A:AFS for GG lol) to being one of many Kancolle fics. Good fics written by good people, go check them out. That's one of the things I'm happiest about as GG's original beta and now Comrade Archivist - that this story, which I helped with, paved the way for other Kancolle stories to grow.
That's all for me. FF.net version will go up on the weekend as this week I'm fairly busy. Happy reading!
