NEMESIS BELOW Threat Profile
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No.035: Command Form type 72-Abyssal Channel Princess
Status: Defeated in engagement by Paixhans Team (FS:JBART059), Delacroix Team (FS:RCHL074), and Royal Navy Hunter Fleet (FS:WRSP003) on 4/12/2024. Remains recovered 02/05/2028. Engagement later known as The Battle off Brest. No repeat instances.
Description: First encountered off Calais on 7/3/2023. Sapient Humaniform Integrated Persona (SHIP) form is a pale human woman, moderate-length wavy hair, visual appearance around 25-30 years of age. DNA analysis returns inconclusive racial prevalence, including presence of REDACTED genotype. Armor coverage is concentrated on upper body. Two triple heavy cannon (ARE:381mm/50)* turrets are flexibly mounted on shoulders; secondary and AA coverage is on lower body and various attachments. Ribbons and tassels made from Abyssal organofabric are present on back; holds residual electrical charge channeled in intricate patterns, purpose unknown, possibly aesthetic. Capable of local Entry Rift generation for purposes of strategic teleportation of self and forces. Aspect Shielding rated at Rank 4 Moderate-Heavy/Tactical. Spectrothaumaturgic Aura is White.
Companion is one Abyssal Feral familiar, known as The Sea Beast. Bodyform follows Type 3 Feral/Large Scale (See: Battleship Princess/Water Demon). Has seven faces, hard-chitin beaks and thorns. Manipulative tentacles are present. Armament heuristics include one quadruple heavy turret (ARE:406mm/50), two medium triple turrets (ARE:356mm/50), and six dual-purpose single turrets (ARE:90mm/50). In addition, fluidic pyrogenesis organs offers extreme short-range response. Spiky organic reactive armor covers chest, shoulders, and back. Normal layered armor covers head and forearms. Average RHA equivalency 3530mm. Aspect Shielding rated at Rank 5 Heavy/Tactical. Spectrothaumaturgic Aura is Black.
As a whole, engagement behaviour typifies Model 7 Bracket, with slight tendency for Submodel 19 Bait-and-Switch. As in The Battle off Brest, Sea Beast is often held in reserve to mislead opponent tactical priority. Proficient in counter-torpedo and counter-capital tactics, as well as using The Beast's physical prowess and the Princess' tactical thaumaturgy in combined tactics to great effect. Excellent strategic agility is employed in hit-and-run strikes against critical targets or to evade destruction, as exemplified in engagements 0321A, 0424C, 0885F, 0771S, and 0901X against Warspite's Hunter Fleet.
Promoters include usage of fast capital ship tactics, heavy escort, and minimal naval aviation presence.
Introns include LINEAR, PUGILIST, LANCER, RIDER, CASTER, CHAIN, and INTEGRATE. Optimization in sophistication-scale and effect.
Internal teleonomy and ecosystem data is restricted to EPSILON/Benthic clearance and above.
Background Post: I realized that I haven't been communicating my ideas properly; so hopefully this post will fix some of that issues. By their nature, these are spoilers.
Kantai Collection:
Obviously KC is the basis of this fic. I want to leverage the unknowable, alien nature of the Abyssals, as well as the supernormally powerful Shipgirls.
Both of them are extremely powerful and mysterious beings, and their presence flies in the face of conventional warfare. Conventional militaries will still have their role, as there are points where the Abyssals can be made vulnerable to normal weapons. For their part, despite wielding what appears to be WW2 weaponry, Shipgirls are significantly more powerful and advanced than our modern arsenal and not restricted to WW2 capabilities; This renders the question of modern-armed shipgirl retrofits or modern warship-girls moot.
There will be an in-universe cause for the appearance of only WW1 and WW2 ships.
FreeSpace:
Combat is based upon FreeSpace's depiction of capital ship and fighter combat, mixed with the usual KC shipgirl combat. Whether or not this works, well...
Shivans are the parallel of Abyssals. They are an extremely powerful, alien, and extant force. What they consider victory may not fit our definition thereof. They have a purpose, and the means and cause of their genesis will be explored. The depiction of Shivans in the Blue Planet mod is a major inspiration, and I borrowed several concepts such as Introns and internal ecosystems from it.
Chronologically: the timeline resembles the events of FreeSpace 1 and 2.
-Humans have been fighting the Abyssals for sometime with limited success; The emergence of Shipgirls allowed us to go on the offensive. FS1
-Success brought by Shipgirl program led to complacency and division, in which the easy victories are mined for their propagandistic worth for each individual countries' purposes. This led to unhealthy competitions and selfishness between each nations who possesses shipgirls, thus crippling the global response when the Abyssals struck with their worldwide Blitz. Like in FreeSpace 2, GTVA is lulled into complacency with the Colossus' triumph over NTF and the first Sathanas.
Nagato and Warspite and Enterprise's role is central in the formation of Transitionary Joint Command-later formalized into GO-SENTAI--which managed to effect an organized global response in defeating the Blitz.
This mirrors the Vasudan-Terran unity in FS1, which allowed them to defeat the Lucifer.
The various CODEs above are contingencies for this kind of event that warrants the creation of a global shipgirl/military organization detached from any one country's purpose. These are created when the shipgirls first emerged with secret backing from the UN, who in a fit of competence anticipated the Blitz scenario.
After the formation of GO-SENTAI, the story moves towards the Abyssal's inscrutable actions and our efforts not only to defeat them, but also mend this broken world-if possible, to a state better than before the war.
One possible ending is a far-future epilogue, in the future on which FS is set, linking the Shivan's appearance with the past war against the Abyssals.
Destiny:
There is an interesting parallel between Guardians and Shipgirls; both are dead things resurrected for a new purpose by some unknown, mysterious yet benign force. The force that created the shipgirls is unknown for the moment, and will not be revealed until much later in the story. The Abyssal's genesis is linked to an entity known as type:WORM as well as something known as The Deep. Several concepts such as Dreams are also taken from Destiny.
The Abyssals take on features from the Vex and the Hive: the massive computational networked cognition and space-time control of the Vex, and the superorganic existential horror of the Hive.
There is a question: If the Abyssals have this kind of ability, why haven't they wiped us out already? This is a question that will be answered later in the story.
SCP:
Shipgirl Object Catalog and NEMESIS BELOW Threat Recognition files are obviously inspired by SCP documents. After the emergence of shipgirls in this universe, anomalies and phenomenas formerly referred as magic has become increasingly explainable, analyzed and researched upon, until it becomes a fact of life, publicly known and (mostly) accepted.
There will be an investigative "shadow war" aspect to the story as well, possibly by introducing a Cultist faction, but at the moment it's not final yet.
These are my thoughts that led to the creation of this series. Other than these, Greatest Generation by sasahara is the first ever textual Kancolle fic I followed, and it led to me joining the KC fanfic scene. I will try to the best of my ability to develop these ideas.
Ask a scientist involved, get an answer: Class 4 Strange/ Aspect Technological Subset SERVANT entity.
Ask the dock crew, get an answer: Small, useful cute little things.
Ask a shipgirl, get an answer: A friend, her crew, a subset aspect of herself.
Ask a fairy herself, get an answer: A creature of memories.
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Red is a fairy pilot. She belongs to Akagi, long-haired, brown-eyed, her queen in red. Thus she named herself, Red. She tied a red band, not unlike those holding Akagi's muneate, on her sleeve, below the twin chevron insignia. As they mark her skill (107 sorties, 71 kills, 14 assists), so does the red band marks her bond to Akagi. To her, Akagi is home.
Her home, her master, and her queen.
This is Red, now, as Pearl Harbor burns for the third time;
"As you all have heard, our defense of Pearl Harbor has failed. Abyssal strikes are massive and overwhelming. All Fleet units stationed there are in organized retreat, bringing with them refugees and casualties from the initial strikes. Fleet TAC-ENG units is setting traps as they go to buy us time. TJC Global Admiralty has declared Condition One. The Third Great Pacific War has begun."
"Your mission is to intercept the Abyssal CVBG on attack vector to the refugee convoy outbound from Pearl. They approach from the north, and will enter convoy engagement range in 30 minutes. Kaga's Delta and Rho wings has engaged another swarm due east of your position. Shinano's gunships and strike fighters will handle surface threats. Akagi-Actual, you will clear the skies. Protect the convoy from any aerial threats, and neutralize the Abyssal CVBG when possible. We are scrambling reinforcements right now, but it will take some time."
TJC TACCOM-EAST's needle-sharp voice delivers its directives. "We cannot allow any more losses. These people have lost much. The least we can do is protect them now. Fight hard, and godspeed."
"Acknowledged, TACCOM." Akagi answered, with her usual calm voice-a favorite of Red's. "Red, you will be Alpha One. Union will be your second. Uvi will take Beta with Wildgoose. Yisha, Gamma is yours." She liked those callsigns-names, one of the habits they took from American carriers (so much to learn from them). "Lead the fighter wings and protect the refugee convoy. Gamma will fly escort pattern around me."
"Red, when you have met the convoy, please send them my regards. Happy hunting, and please return safely, all of you."
Were she not The Red Castle, and her knights sallying forth?
Akagi's words stayed with Red- Akagi Alpha 1- as she materialized from the arrows and flew her mission. She looked around her cockpit, integrating all inputs within from the myriad instruments. A fairy's craft is a technological anomaly, anachronisticallly advanced despite their frame based on the warbirds of old (In Red's case, a Zero-62 F/B). Red views the MFD panels-SYS/GENERAL display. TACCOM/ELINT-CLEAR (Condition:2) glows softly green to her right. A miniature digital map and compass just in front of her displays the battle in a flat plane. The convoy is an arrangement of yellow shapes, beset by the red of the Abyssals on all sides. Small, rapid movements of the allied green held them off. To the south, the Abyssal Surface Fleet contend with the fast battleships of the USN-Iowa, North Carolina and South Dakota and their sisters. Akagi and Kaga moves against the Abyssal Carrier Battlegroup from the north. Shinano moves alone, sending her squadrons in support all across the battlespace. The carriers of the 2nd and 5th executes a feint against an Abyssal locus alongside the Kongou sisters.
Strategically, Shipgirls surpass any force on earth in terms of speed. They can make rapid transitions through a subset dimension-the Freespace- to instantly reposition themselves, whether escaping or outflanking. Of course this ability has its limitations and of course, the Abyssals can do it to. Entry Rifts, wounds gored and bloody in the spacetime. Against them, Admirals of the world plays a game of cosmic chess and N-dimensional gambits. This is the new war, in which Fairies like Red are an integral part thereof.
Her wing has arrived above the convoy, a sad mix of cruise-ships, liners, freighters, and hospital ships. Even amphibious carriers, LSTs, and LHDs converted for this grim purpose. Some of them had seen better days. Red hailed the lead ship, a Ticonderoga-class cruiser. "This Alpha 1, leading Alpha and Beta flights from Akagi. She sends her regards. We apologize for not arriving sooner, Jacinto Actual. What is your condition?"
"This is Jacinto Actual. Good to see you, Alpha and Beta. Our missiles are depleted, close defense only. We will be relying on you for long-range ACM. Captain Norman gives his regards to Akagi."
"Acknowledged, Jacinto Actual." That bit at the end has Red thinking on how much the world's view on Shipgirls, particularly Japanese, has changed. Especially the Pearl Six.
Akagi, one of the murderers of Pearl in the Old War. Now she acts in its assistance. There are things about this only Akagi knows and remembers. But this is what Red remembers.
A creature of memories-Red remembered her first battle. Early in the war-Akagi, Kaga, Souryuu, Hiryuu and several other ships had emerged-made their arrival in the beleaguered fortress of Pearl Harbor, one of the USN's last bastions in the Pacific, as it burns for the second time. A fortress with a white grave in it, a monument of an ancient war and the spirits interred within. Red flew her first sortie that day. Tangling with the demonic strikecrafts of the Abyss, the skies choking with smoke and viscera of burning ships and slain Abyssals. In the end, they reclaimed Pearl. They defeated the Abyssal raid, driven them off. But Red sees the faces of distrust, even scorn when the people realized just who their saviors are that day.
Some night after, Akagi sits alone in the dock, her face illuminated by the soft blue glow of the launchbay's waters. Red were there that night, checking her bird, and she sees her, heard her talk to herself.
"...I can't-won't-blame them. I'm a murderer. It's my fault. I can't expect them to receive me so willingly...".
Red approached her, trying to find some words of comfort, but finds none. Akagi picks her up and pats her head. "Hey...watch over me tonight, will you?" she asked with a tearful smile. Akagi slept there that night (to the surprise of dock crew, and the relief of Kaga, who searched for her hours before). She hugged her bow and quiver tight, and Red was sleeping also on her shoulder, leaning against her neck.
The beeping comms snapped Red up. It was Union, her Alpha 2. "Boss, bandits approaching, seven klicks eight high."
"Acknowledged. Alpha wing, fangs out. Snap to new threat heading, go for schyte advantage." (It was a surprise for tacticians worldwide when they discovered that the Fairies came already speaking their own brevity codes-one that accomodates international cooperation, even.)
Like a practiced dance, Alpha snapped to intercept the Abyssal strike-bombers threatening the convoy. Beta stayed, ready to intercept any new arrivals. It was common knowledge among Fairy pilots that Abyssal bombers will always come in waves and swarms-therefore there is particular emphasis on being never caught-off guard.
"Alpha Wing, engage Abyssal bombers, break to attack, GO GO GO!!"
Soon enough the flash-smoke of missiles from the Abyssal bombers filled the sky-where Alpha Wing would have been had they not broken formation. Vicious things-the Abyssal bombers fired their proximity missiles, detonating and saturating the air with burning submunitions. While the submunitions are lethal, the host missile is slow and easily dodged. Red remembers this-the consequences if she is ever shot down. No, she won't die. As long as Akagi lives and there are resources to replenish, she will live on. But it would still create a gap, a loss of a useful field asset. And where there are gaps, the Abyss is sure to infect it.
Infectious, cognicidal, entheogenic-that's what the Abyss is. Every ground they tread, the waters and skies they move in, were poisoned, warped for their nightmarish purposes. Red hears the Abyssal's hunting song-TACCOM/ELINT/EWAR CONSENT-ALERT beeps. A soft singing, lethally cloying in its harmony, in some wretched, black tongue. Many of the casualties in the early war were psychological, men and women reduced to gibbering souls. They say it is not mystic. It is scientific, technical, counterable-a form of electronic warfare visited upon the mind.
Shipgirls, by their presence, naturally dispels these, and as confidence in the Shipgirls rise, servicemen and women finds they can fight-and rest-easier. But the menace is still there, looking for gaps in the mental perimeter, lethal as always.
Another memory-from the age of distrust.
Akagi and Kaga begs the commander. "Please, Commander! There are so many-we can help your men, just let us-"
He rebukes "No. They are alive, that's enough. I know who you are. Don't touch them."
New York and Wyoming tried to help them reason with the Commander, but in those days Shipgirls can't override human officers. Arizona is away that moment. Akagi has always wondered what would happen if she were there.
Many of them died choking on their own blood that day, their minds overtaken by the Abyssal malice.
Red lined her gunsights-released a burst of autocannon fire. It catches one of the Abyssal bomber's own cluster bombs, detonating it. Turning around-seeks new prey. "Alpha 5, bandit on your five-high. 40521, 40521 has pure. Pressing now." She fired a spread of rockets, causing the Abyssal fighter chasing Alpha 5 (calls himself 40521, God knows why) to break. Alpha 5 seizes the chance-twisted around-catches the fighter in his own fire.
"Beautiful kill, Five."
"Thanks to you, Boss."
Off to their side, Union slides and loops between two Abyssal bombers, evading turret fire. She twisted again, and jousted one out of the sky, firing a full spread of rockets and cannon-fire to the bomber's head. It crashes into the other-both are introduced to gravity shortly.
For Red and her crew, this model of engagement is textbook-standard. Distract fighters, disrupt bombers. Fifteen minutes later, whatever intelligence commanding the Abyssal flight decided it has enough, seeing an entire flight of six bombers and twelve fighters splashed in rapid succession by Alpha Wing, a mere six fighters.
Alpha Wing paused to celebrate a moment, when their comms come to life.
"Alpha, Wildgoose here. Situation developing, enemy surface elements has emerged. Currently staking vampires." In an instant, Alpha Wing turned around to the convoy at highest speed. From the distance, gunfire fills the air, bursts of CIWS and SAMs picking their targets. All armed vessels of the convoy is hitting back, contributing to the convoy's screen.
"Alpha Wing, now on station. All fighters, engagement tight, defensive. Go for dagger advantage. Remember, bombs before bombers!"
"Image-image, music on, guns hot!" There's the cheerful battlecry of Beta 3(Hisso), who always looks for a fight. "Check your six, check your six! Hisso, you're spiked seven-low." ... and the worried voice of Beta 4(Satin), her cautious minder.
The defense develops in their favor, but Red reminds herself that Murphy hasn't had his way with them yet. And she was right.
Several kilometers away, the waters turn black, and a mass of shadows gathered itself, cutting open an Entry Rift. Carrier Wo-class emerged from the blackened accretion disk, eidolon of the Abyssal storm, eyes trailing blue fire, guns tracking, fighters hungry. "God, what a jump! Entry Event-Abyssal fleet carrier has emerged on our broadside. New Abyssal bandits going for a fighter sweep."
"Alpha Flight, Carrier is firing ranging salvos. Prompt action would be nice..."
Red answered: "We hear you, Jacinto. Beta, banzai those fighters. Get out of their targeting envelope. Alpha, we'll strike that carrier."
"Right, boss!"
"Ready when you are."
"Damn straight, willco."
Uvi and Wildgoose charges forward with Beta Wing, evading their LRMs all the way, until it becomes too close for any missiles. Slow and ungainly, the Abyssal heavy fighters are at a disadvantage against the nimble Shidens of Beta Wing. Shidens are both trainee-unfriendly and acemaker, rewarding mastery with extreme performance comparable to any late-war fighter of any nations. Wildgoose has 66 killmarks on her, and when the last of the Abyssal heavies are shot down, she has three more. Sadly, Hisso took too long to finish one off, and another Abyssal fighter fired its scattergun on close range, severing Hisso's right wing before it itself was shot down by Beta 4.
"Hisso is down, confirmed ejection. Marking for CSAR. Dammit Hisso. What does it take for you to be careful?"
"I downed it, calculated risk, worth it baby!"
"Alpha, sky is clear. Do your thing before this changes." Uvi radioed Red.
"Thanks, Beta." This carrier had no escorts with her, but Red's not gonna complain about that. Abyssal FLAK-electrified metastable vacuum torn into the air-rattles around Alpha wing as they made their approach vector. Alpha 5 and 6 flew ahead and feigned a drop. The Wo-class charged her staff with some dark power, then shot it into the air-knocking their imaginary bombs away-and creating an opening for the rest of Alpha Wing.
"Rifle, rifle. Birds away."
The combined power of four heavy anti-ship bombs made themselves apparent: the first tore her shields, the second killing the Upper Organism and detonated the active munitions within. The third and fourth finished her off.
As her body disintegrates, a train of thought stopped at all of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma's minds. Too easy.
Murphy's not done with them yet.
Red felt her miniature body turn cold with another memory. Weakness. Day of red, blood-red, and of Red.
Walk the perimeter, check your six. Walk the perimeter, check your six. It was just a momentary distraction whydidithappen howcouldithappen weakweakweak VIGILANCE!
Four Abyssal bombers screamed out of the sun, and Akagi on ground zero. Burning and bleeding,red and black colors the water. The other Red was distracted, tangling with another fighter.
When she sees what happened, something else replaced her in that cockpit. Something primal.
There is a reason why 71-kill Red has already two chevrons, while 79-kill Cassandra from the Enterprise is still a three gold-stripe. She made 40 of her kills that day alone, including the three Nu-class light carriers where the responsible bombers originate, blew through two entire squadrons of Abyssal interceptors, routed the carrier's escorts. Blew out her own engine too. She was a no-fly for two weeks thereafter. No matter, for she spent the time entirely by Akagi's side in the hospital room, never leaving her.
Another voice speaks through the comms-broke the silence. "This is Thestral, Enterprise Strike Five. Something unknown-big-crashed right through our AA screen and moving at high speed to your position, Akagi!"
"Akagi, TACCOM. Can you jump?! We are vectoring support now."
"N-no, engine's still cold. I will hold till able! Launching Lambda and Theta wing to supplement escort. I will hold."
No. Not enough. This is not happening again. Not again.
"This is Jacinto Actual. Go, Akagi Flight. We are safe, it's okay! Go, protect her!"
"Thank you, Jacinto Actual. All fighters, follow me!". After that , Red was silent the entire way to Akagi. "Don't worry, Red, we are approaching..."
"Theta One, tally one visual on unknown contact. God, it's massive. Detecting launch...multiple..Vampires, vampires. Daggers out, stakes out. Engaging..."
Still wordless, Red-again-unchained her power channeled through the Zero. It picks up speed, and Red sees the black shape of the unknown, the trails of the fighters engaging her. It draws closer, until its shape resolves and Red gets a full view of this latest evil. It is a flying nightmare, a dragon-like visage with angular black wings and cannon-fangs lining its jaws, compound eyes burning red. Multiple missile bays line its belly.
All around her, Gamma, Lambda, and Theta wings are unloading their firepower on it and intercepting its cluster torpedoes. Akagi-trailing smoke-is firing direct-fire arrows at it, each exploding metal arrows crashing against its shields.
No,nononono. It will not happen again. I'm here, I'm here. Red charges forward, leaving her Wing behind. Fired a stream of rounds at its head and knocking one of its eyes. It seems to draw its attention, as it ceased its attack on Akagi and turned towards Red.
Good. Come here. I'll kill you.
Red turned and jinks around, leading the Abyssal Superbomber on a wild chase. All around them is a cacophony of destruction, as all the other fighters are divided between covering Red, shooting it down, and evading its own turret and missile-fire. It was absolutely toying with them-none of their shots worked-and then it stopped doing so.
It turned around-you can see thrust being vectored on its end- and launched a wave of ten missiles at Akagi.
No. I won't let that happen. Not again.
Red sped forward, and fired at the missiles. First down. Second. Third. Fourth. Fifth. All down. Missile threat eliminated. Momentarily, Red was relieved for Akagi's safety. Until a shadow looms behind him, overtaking him to Akagi. It was the Dragon, and its maw open, all fangs pointed, intent on devouring Akagi.
No. I'll kill you.
Red sped even faster, faster than on the Red Day, channeling every bit of her power. Passed the Dragon, and brought herself to a hard turn, almost ripping her wings. Putting herself directly between Akagi and the Dragon. Trigger down, all remaining ordnance aboard Red's Zero was unloaded to its open mouth. A series of explosions blossomed, ripping out the monster's innards. Red's momentum brought her forward, and it's too late to turn. She ejected, her Zero crashing against the creature's pointed brow.
No...
Amazingly, the monster endured. Parachuting down, Red despaired as it turned around for another attack-powerless to stop it. Long has scientists and philosophers debated the sapience of Fairies-whether they have genuine emotions or a simple mimicry of humans. Red's despair and her crying at that moment was real enough.
So does her look of utter surprise as a trio of green triangular aircraft split the skies with their cannon fire. Propellers on the rear, swept wings and canards. Shinden Kai, the heaviest fighter in the Japanese arsenal. Their shots landed on the monster's left wing root. The forces of its own maneuver shears them off.
"Hammer, hammer. Good hits. This is Empire One, leading Empire Flight off the Shinano. She sends her regards."
No sooner than that happened, four flat strange-looking aircraft, black as the Abyss, but marked with the familiar Star roundel of the US Navy. Flapjacks. They too, fired their heavy cannons at the now-stricken Superbomber. It crashes with an infernal scream to the waters below, its red glow dimmed as the seas drowned it.
"Thestral again speaking. We chased this one for three hours already. Empire, mind giving us the kill?"
Red listened to the banter with relief, even as her hands shook and her vision blurred. Then she felt her seat landing on soft, gloved hands. Akagi's. Red looked up and sees the familiar face, the hair coming between her brown eyes, her gentle smile.
As Akagi held her close to her chest, another surge of memories flows within Red. Of happy memories.
She remembered when Akagi, Kaga, and the rest of Pearl Six made their visit to Arizona's grave. Kneeling down, unleashing their regret chained for years by selfish nationalistic interests. And when they looked up, Arizona the shipgirl were there. She greeted them like an old friend. Hiryuu absolutely loses herself that night. Kaga restrained herself, but crumbles in the end.
She remembered as a step towards reconciliation were made, as Prime Minister Yoshisada, by order of the Chrysanthemum Throne, stated the definitive apology for all the crimes and sins of the past Japan, as he expunged criminals from the shrine, and justice brought to the war criminals.
She remembered watching the founding of the Transitionary Joint Command, and later, its formalization to GO-SENTAI on base TV with Akagi.
"In the memory of what we are and what we did, we will make progress. The human spirit moves forward. We will fight for all we can be."
She watches the world set aside its differences, and that day, everything feels alright in the world.
Today, after all the grueling battles, there is a new memory. Of Akagi's smile, even with the numerous scars on her, even as she recovered the other planes and bid farewell to Enterprise Strike and Empire. Red,standing on her palm, stared at her brown eyes, tired but ever-brilliant.
"I'm here. I'm here....." Red's voice trailed to tearful sobs.
"Calm down, Red. Shhh. I'm here for you. You're home....Thank you for everything...."
"Brave is he who knows fear but conquers; who sees the Abyss, but with pride."
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"Leander, anything on the radar?"
"Nope. The seas are calm, Jintsuu."
Leander's report dampens Jintsuu's racing heart a bit. So far, their path has been relatively calm, punctuated only by Ikazuchi's small incident. Rather silly actually. After finishing their transport escort run, Jintsuu, Tenryuu, DesDiv6, Leander, O'Bannon, Nicholas, and Taylor uses an alternate path to return to their base: Sparrowmark HQ, the TJC's operational base in the Solomons.
A path that takes them through Kolombangara.
"What, you scared, Jintsuu? I thought the Night-Battle Idiot's breed would be more--"
"Tenryuu-san, that's not ladylike at all, mocking Jintsuu-san like that!"
Purple-haired Akatsuki shines her searchlight on Tenryuu. Her three sisters snickered a bit around her.
"Hey, it's just banter. You'll understand when you're a bit older, Akatsuki. Now turn your light somewhere else." Slightly annoyed Tenryuu waves her sheathed sword.
"Hmph." Akatsuki pouted.
"It's okay, Tenryuu, Akatsuki-chan. It's just the history in this waters..." Jintsuu answered, meek as always. Leander throws a smile-reassuring, but concerned-at her.
"S'okay, people. None of us here had no experience in night battles. If they come a-knocking, we'll be answering." O'Bannon, confident as always, assuages further.
"She's right, Jintsuu. We're together now. Besides, Honolulu and St.Louis passed this path not three hours ago, and they arrived safely." Taylor added.
Jintsuu smiled at them. They're right. But something nags at the back of her mind.
"I don't doubt you, friends. But I'm launching my Night Recon for the path ahead. Is that okay?"
"Sure, sure. It's fine."
The Fairy pilot-Douma-saluted before she launches off from Jintsuu's catapult. She circled around several times around the flotilla before heading off to the east. The flotilla continues their path, treading darkened water, the moon shining faintly through the clouds. Their sweeping searchlights cuts through the thick mists, while radar crews maintain vigilance.
Several minutes later, the silence was broken by a wide-band transmission from Douma.
"Flotilla Alert. Tally visual with possible one unknown, contact lost. Possible ASSASSIN behaviour. Configuration unknown. Vector intersect imminent. Alert."
"Shit. All ships maintain high alert, tighten formation. Watch each other's backs!" Leander immediately commanded the motley group.
"Picking up contact on surface radar. Jumps around all over the place. Launching flares now. Weapons ready." Jintsuu answered, and several other shipgirls did the same. Their flares
illuminated the sky, before falling off to the misty waters. These flares are special-they do not extinguish immediately upon touching water, instead maintains the burn for several minutes, creating "lightspots" and opening many tactical applications.
A whirring sound approached them. Douma returns, landing on the water near Jintsu. Storing her away, Jintsuu is consumed by a tide of terrible thoughts. It was as if this terror is slowly gaining form, making itself more definite each moment in her mind. Something familiar, yet alien. Intimate and distant at the same time. A frigid coldness washes over her.
"Leander, this is..."
"I know, Jintsuu. We're all here. We will make it."
Silence returned as the Shipgirls scanned the waters with radars and lights in search of the enemy unseen, weapons drawn.
Then, the quiet night was broken again by a curt transmission, stoic and emotionless.
------
Hibiki searched the waters around her, having positioned herself on the edge of the formation. As she swept her searchlights, the cone of light caught something-a rapid movement of blue light. She immediately surged her engines and chased it. A sound of close gunfire-- and with a clang an Abyssal shell ricocheted off her shield-plates which she had brought up mere moments earlier-saving her from what might have been a killing shot.
Hibiki saw the source-less than a hundred meters away from her, a mass of shadows resolves themselves into the lithe form of Light Cruiser Princess.
Hibiki smiled a faint smile. She immediately returned fire, opening with both guns and torpedoes. She sent a message:
"Target found. Engaging in close combat."
------
"Wha.... fuck!! Hold on, Hibiki!!" Tenryuu immediately turned herself and charged to Hibiki's position. The rest followed suit. Some of the girls closer to Hibiki where she was has already searched for her.
They found Hibiki locked in battle, alternately firing her guns and swinging her battle-anchor. The combined illumination of their searchlights and flares revealed the full form of the Light Cruiser Princess. Short-haired, clad in a black sailor uniform. Her left arm is encased in a massive agglomeration of cannons, launchers, and searchlights, ending in a gaping jaw. Her right arm is armored with a smaller gauntlet that hosts small turrets. A horned black mask conceals her eyes.
Seeing this revenant enemy, Jintsuu turned towards Leander. Leander nods, her face cold.
The rest of the fleet is here, and the Princess shifted her behavior for mass engagement.
"Hibiki, retreat!" Tenryuu shouts as she draws her sword and entered her stance. Nicholas and Taylor engages the Princess from the front, firing their 5/38 guns styled as assault rifles while launching torpedoes from its underbarrel attachment. Jintsuu charged forward, passing the retreating Hibiki. She illuminates the Princess, never looking away from her, tracks her continuously. She fired her array of guns at her, while Leander and O'Bannon maneuvered to the Princess' flanks. With disciplined and unerring calm they fired at the Princess, the hits sparking off her shields. The Light Cruiser Princess is facing down three light cruisers and six destroyers, all radars tracking and lighting the night with gunfire. Unwilling to be outdone, she moved and leapt around with incredible agility, firing her weapons with lethal grace like a dance within the blue light.
However, by their nature most destroyers and light cruisers aims and fires faster than other shipgirls, and her movement is increasingly restricted as they caught her in their crossfire.
Until a string of words spoken in a warped, distorted impression of Jintsuu's voice entered their minds forcefully. They were stunned, an unseen force restraining their movement, their minds bound in the Princess' malignant grip.
"You don't have to come anymore... Why are you coming...?"
When they regained their senses, Light Cruiser Princess has jumped away, leaving a massive plume of darkened water in her place.
She reemerged in striking position of Inazuma, Akatsuki, and Ikazuchi, who had been covering Hibiki's retreat. Before she can strike, however, Tenryuu blinked and reappeared in front of her, flourishing her curved sword, superheated edges glowing with circulated plasma. She stares the Princess down and smiles.
"You're not hurting them that easily."
She presses forward, striking the Princess with a flurry slashes and jabs in rapid succession. The Princess blocks with her armored left arm, never counterattacking. Tenryuu sees herself in advantage, wielding her sword with directed fury. The other shipgirls are closing in, already targeting her again and preparing to attack. Tenryuu delivered one last blow and leaped backwards to put some distance before firing her guns alongside the other shipgirls.
Then everything went wrong.
Regret... hate...!
Another mental assault--terrifying imageries of dead future and nightmares primal struck their minds. Jintsuu-leading the counterattack- fell to her knees, coughing blood. She covers her ears, and sees that the other girls have similarly fallen, retching and curling on themselves.
Tenryuu, however, stood up against the assault even as the vice-like grip on her mind tightens. She lunged at the princess, intent on cutting her down-swings her sword overhead.
This time the Princess reacts faster, first parrying it with a backhand from her right arm, then, as Tenryuu countered, catches the sword with her left arm-jaw.
The jaw snaps down and crushes her sword. It spits residual plasma and crushed alloy. Light Cruiser Princess sends Tenryuu flying with an uppercut, landing unconscious. Then she turned to the vulnerable DesDiv 6 girls. Akatsuki, trembling and crying, struggled to stand, even as the Princess aimed her vicious weaponry at her. Akatsuki braces herself. Before she can fire at Akatsuki, however, two things happened.
The first is a beam of brilliant solar light, far brighter than before, suddenly illuminating the Princess. She immediately abandoned her attack and faced the direction of the light. Then with a distant delayed boom, a massive explosion hit her, collapsing the forward quarter of her shields.
"Traumatic disintegration of target defensive structure. Kako, again: four-hundred. Target unknown Abyssal Princess, prepare to fire."
Furutaka said as her augmented left-eye searchlight illuminates the Princess, spotting for her sister.
"Ready! Ammo up!" A predatory grin on her face, Kako electromagnetically suspends an armor-piercing 203mm shell in front of her. Her outstretched arms are sparking with raw electricity, and her Aspect Shielding geometry is altered to further contain and direct the charge.
Furutaka shouted: "Ninety-nine percent charge, fire!" Kako snaps her arms together, and the shell travels down it, accelerated to hypersonic velocities by the electrical charge vectored by her arms. Kako, shipgirl and railgun, smiles as the shell scores a headshot, shattering The Princess' mask and staggering her with incredible force.
With the taste of blood fresh on her lips and tongue, Jintsuu, forcing herself up, leapt and pinned the prone Princess down. She gripped the Princess by her neck with her remaining strength, and sees a pale face, a visage of her own, under the shattered mask.
They both stood up, Jintsuu finding herself locked into place and unable to do anything. She trembles as The Princess wiped the trail of blood in her mouth and caressed her face with cold, pallid hands. The Princess then disappears in a burst of shadows into the mist. As the rest of the fleet recovers-aided by Furutaka, Kako, Akashi, Fubuki, and Hatsuyuki-Jintsuu stood silently weeping. Leander puts her arms around her.
"Let's go home. "
------ 204 5558 1114
REPORT-ENCOUNTER 588G
TIARA 0201-KRSW
Keyword: ROADBLOCK
Distribution: CIRCULAR
From: Kurosawa, CINC Sparrowmark, Solomon Region
To TJC TACCOM EAST HIGHER
....
lacanian real best real
MESSAGE BEGINS:
1. Transport Expedition Team (OOB find attached) on 14/7/2025 was attacked in a night engagement by a previously unknown NEMESIS BELOW entity, designated Light Cruiser Princess, Command Form type 53 while en route to Sparrowmark HQ.
2. Engagement behaviour suggests presence of ASSASSIN, LONER, BERSERKER, CASTER, and LANCER introns.
3. CL Princess retreated after massive long-range response resolution by a quick reaction force from CTG ARCANIST. QRF instituted first-aid and field repairs. Transport Expedition Team was escorted to Sparrowmark HQ without further incidents.
4. Aggressive usage of cognicidal psywar/SOMNIC TAINT tactics is of major concern. Expedition Team severely affected and undergoing treatment by Battlefield Psychology and Spiritual Aspects.
5. Current night patrol, expedition, and operations schedule undergoing reorganization. Sparrowmark HQ and CTG ARCANIST, STRINGHAMMER on Condition 2 and continued defense posture.
6. Battle telemetry and theater engagement trend analysis suggests continued usage of forced/stereotyped World War II recapitulation strategy by NEMESIS BELOW forces.
MESSAGE ENDS:
to see we are being
....
-----------
"So, how's her?" O'Bannon asked as she entered Tenryuu's treatment room, carrying a small bowl of mashed potatoes. She sets it in the nightstand, leaving with it a note.
Leander sits beside Tenryuu's bed, watching over her as she slept and recovered. All four DesDiv 6 girls are sleeping in various positions around her.
"She's going to be fine. Heavy damage to rigging and some major injuries, but nothing too threatening. Off the sortie roster for at least a month." Leander sighed as she picked up Akatsuki's fallen hat on the floor.
O'Bannon pulled another seat and sat down on Leander's opposite. "Can't sleep after them psych scrubs. So does Taylor and Nick. Guess it's for the better,though."
"How about Jintsuu?"
"She's either alone or with her sisters. Poor girl. We must take some time to talk to her. Soon, before..."
"Before what?"
"Before she does something stupid. You know what I mean."
"..."
""...Yeah. Gotta go now, promised to treat Furutaka and Kako some eats. Wanna join?"
"I'm good. Take care, O'Bannon."
"You too."
-----------
Jintsuu lies in her bed. She holds a tablet, its browser open with myriad articles. Battle of Kolombangara. Leander. Honolulu. Herself. Vella.
She remembered as her Allied fleet-mates and sisters talked to her.
"Jintsuu, please. This isn't that Japanese honor-code thingy, okay? We'll do something about her, together. Do not go off doing something stupid."
"We care about you, Jintsuu. I care about you. You're my sister. I will not trade your life even for all the nighttime privileges in the world."
The image of her encounter that night persists like a deranged lover, a revenant of bad memories and dark thoughts. It beckons her. Made her shudder and her body cold.
Tenryuu stricken down, the little destroyers on the verge of death.
Leander and the others helpless, convulsing in a pool of their own blood. Though you couldn't see it now, given how fast they recovered. Maybe they're just hiding it.
It was too much. She was prepared to die and sink alone again. She could not,however, bear the thought of any one of her friends and sisters suffering that again. This will not involve them, she will not bring them to this.
She sat on the edge of her bed, and set off to the docks. Sneaking past asleep Naka and Sendai is easy enough, being their sister trains and equips you for it.
"Sorry, nee-san and Naka-chan. I'll be back."
She could not use the usual guarded launchbays-there aren't any night sorties scheduled after all-so she picked a sheltered spot on the bay's rocky outcropping. Sendai likes to use that spot for her "discreet" night-cruises. Having donned her rigging, loaded her torpedoes, she tied her green ribbon to the back of her head, and prepared to set off.
"Good evening, Jintsuu."
Jintsuu turned to face her greeter. Pink-haired, with an array of armor plating on her left leg and arm. Sweet, green-eyed Akashi.
"Good evening, Akashi-san." How did she know....
"A lovely night, Jintsuu. Why don't you come with me for a moment?"
"Where?"
"To claim your sword."
-------------
"A sword? But you see what it did to Tenryuu. Her sword is shattered and crushed. " Jintsuu was concerned, to put it lightly.
"She wielded it in defense of those she held dear. She used it to protect, and it did not fail until she had managed to stymie the Princess, holding her in place long enough for Furutaka to aim. Only then was it shattered, and not in vain. Her swordplay is one of the decisive elements of that battle. But yours will have a different purpose."
They arrived at Akashi's workshop, a section concealed within the massive Arsenal Bay.
"Don't worry about being found. Everything is accounted for. Consider it retroactive authorization."
Jintsuu, puzzled at that statement, simply gazed around Akashi's workshop. The myriad tools and crafts and weapons and half-finished projects within. Some looked completely alien, neither human nor Abyssal. A drawing board is tucked in the corner, a massive jug of coffee sits on a table beside it. At the center of the workshop rests a Transmaterial Forge, the crux of equipment Development systems.
Akashi is not "just" a simple inventor-tinkerer and repair ship. She possesses Level 7 Zeta/KHARAM clearance, possessed by few shipgirls and even fewer admirals. By this right, she is privy to the deepest ontological secrets of the Fleet.
She is neither Supreme Flagship, like Enterprise, nor World Admiral, like Kurosawa, their commanding officer.
She is Forgemaster, and the power to wield the burning fire of creation against the cold fire of the Abyss is hers.
Shipgirl Construction and equipment Development is notoriously tricky- a combination of the most sophisticated science, the most advanced engineering, and the most arcane of magic.
Akashi donned her mask, put on her armored apron. She wears a robotic glove with various tools attached to it. She started her work, speaking as she did:
"Abyssal weaponry-the entirety of Abyssal Warfare-induces malignant isotropy on its target structure. Alloys becomes uniform and brittle. Complex EWAR and battle management systems reduced to crashing networks. Sophisticated strategies become routs. Cognition becomes void. The lynchpin of their entire warfare is confusion and noise. They seek and infect our weakness, while presenting their own monolithic front at us-no visible weakness-unknowable and irresistible."
She poured liquid Transmaterium- matter suspended in a liminal state, waiting to be defined and given purpose-to a computer-machined mold. It a glows a brilliant aurora, and hardens with a hiss in the Forge, hot as a heart of a dying star. In fact-it is. The process of Transmaterium definition involves pulling material from other subset dimensional manifolds by the power of a contained singularity's ergosphere. By probability manipulation, the Transmaterium is reified, given purpose and context in this world, in the form of Shipgirl rigging, for example.
Or a sword, in this case.
"Why do they force us to recreate the Old War? We tried resisting this but they persisted. Why not just invade us with the true extent of their power, crushing us so utterly in a sweeping war? Because their entire warfare is predicated upon the basis of reducing their opponent systems into simple, basic, primal forms, easily crushed one-by-one. By recreating the Old War, they are trying to ensure our division. Nations will remain separated, except in their own fragile power-blocs. They will ensure that animosity exists between us, that we may never truly unite by conflicts of interest and pride.
A world that is separated, bickering among themselves, is the world in its basest, most primal form. This is what the Abyss favors. A system reduced into its basest and simplest form, easily defeated. To defeat us in a single massive overwhelming strike is of course the optimal strategy for beings like them and they have the capability for it. Furthermore, it's not like we can resist if they ever decided do so. However their cognition and logic prevents them."
"Why?" Jintsuu asks. She notices an array of arcane characters and symbols. Names, equations, and passages. Engraved to walls and the floor.
"Why? Because they fear defeat." Akashi took the molded, raw, sword and cools it in a vat of water. She hammers it into its final form, sparks flying and trailing multicolor spectra as she did.
"This is our hypothesis, formulated by months of calculation and simulation in the HAVEN mainframe. Because to use the optimal strategy means to be predictable. Our warfare is based on cognition against cognition, strategies against another. Theirs is a war of matter against matter. If they revealed their optimal, they would no longer be unknowable. Then they would be reducible and defeatable, when they seek to be irreducible themselves."
"But, you know all this, Akashi-san. Doesn't that make..."
Akashi smiles as she and her Fairy crew sharpened her sword.
"Yes. By the act of founding the Joint Command-the true Joint Command, not the half-hearted cooperative programs we had in the early war- we have already broken their war-winning equation. They tried to split us apart, but we stood together. A world united, its war-cognition combined and resources pooled, is a much less predictable opponent. Where they use chaotic methods, we will use methodical chaos. Which is why the Diversification Act pushed by Kurosawa won him the position of World Admiral, and the Optimal Standardization Plan is discarded. We must become as variable, as irreducible as the Abyss had been. "
She assembled the long-bladed, curved sword into its hilt with help from a quartet of Fairies. Sheathed it into an ornate sheath that Jintsuu didn't even saw was crafted.
"There are many more to this, things I can't tell you. But this should be enough."
Akashi held the sheated sword with both hands, examining her and her Fairies' work. Its finish, its gleam, the ornate carvings in the sheath. She turned, and presented it to Jintsuu.
" This is the Surpassing War, your Blade Transform, your axiom-killer. Variability courses through its alloys, to resist the destructive uniformity wielded by the Abyss. The Abyss will learn, they will adapt. But so will we. We will become the variable, the aberration in their plan."
Jintsuu accepted it from Akashi's hands. She pulled it from its sheath, swung it in practice several times. She regarded its beautiful balance, the exquisite hilt, its lethal sharpness. She found herself using it with skill she never knew she had. She had basic melee training before, but it was as if she had mastered it for a long time, wielding it as an extension of her will.
"...How?"
"Our arsenal and existence transcends physicality, bends causality and ontology. By the act of its creation, it has already become your sword. By the act of using it, you are already its wielder. It will become your sword, it is your sword, it was your sword. Your skill is not new neither foreign, it is yours as it was, as it is, as it will be."
"Akashi-san, thank you, I..." Jintsuu sheathed her sword and bowed, bewildered and trying to process all this unexpected development.
"Thank them, Jintsuu." Jintsuu looked up, and found her sisters and friends-Japanese and Allied-surrounding and smiling their support at her. Leander. O'Bannon. Sendai and Naka, ever-cheerful.
"Do what you must, Jintsuu. Remember, if you need help, we are not far behind."
-----------------
Thus Jintsuu returned to that part of the ocean again. Carrying her sword, configured on a mechanized arm to hold it on her rigging. As she sailed further into the near-perpetually dark, mist-covered water, she remembered those words.
She hears the song again, the familiar voice, the lethal harmony in her mind. She turned her searchlight, but another bioluminescent blue light has already found her.
She is here. Jintsuu turned and saw her Abyssal counterpart, her blood shadow, her antithesis. Her mask has healed over, lines of blue imperfection marring it, once uniformly black. Her left arm-jaw growled, and vomited a black mass.
She inserted her right hand into the jaw, and pulled her own blade, jagged and burning black, like a piece of an accretion disk broken off and hammered into a blade-yes, a blade, not a sword. Jintsuu saw nothing like a hilt or a handle on it, the Princess simply holding it by its flattened base. The Princess seems to not be bothered by this, even as it cuts her own palm. Blue blood spilled, and seems to harden the sword into her hand, integrating it into her biology with pulsing black veins. Light Cruiser Princess looked up at Jintsuu with a thin, wicked smile.
Jintsuu watches the proceedings with cautious disgust, and draws her own sword. It shimmers in the blue light, a portion of Jintsuu's own will and power surging through it. She flourishes it with an arc in front of her, holding it and entering her stance.
In her mind, Light Cruiser Princess whispered a wordless challenge. So shall it be.
With a burst of blinding speed, the Princess surges forward, reversing the "grip" on her blade, going for an uppercut slash. Correct decision, for Jintsuu's current stance would have inhibited her defense of that area. So, she simply surges forward and met the charge with a similarly incredible force.
Their blades met with a resonating clang, sparking as they pushed each other, and the opposing powers flowing within clashed. Jintsuu gritted her teeth and pushed the Princess back, releasing their locking blades. The Princess skids back on the water, slightly dazzled. She aimed her left arm, and fired a burst of rounds, each splitting the air with a boom.
Jintsuu surged her engines and dodged, blinking a short distance away, leaving the shells to impact empty water. Sheathing her sword, she held her breath as she first launched flares at the Princess' general direction-hoping to use them as a sort of smokescreen-then a salvo of torpedoes from her waist-launchers. Then a dark explosion appeared from behind the flare screen. Drawing her sword again, Jintsuu's vigilance was rewarded as the Princess appears charging from within the explosion, her sword seemingly extended and taking on whip-like qualities. She swung it overhead and slams it into the water, creating a line of burning plasma spikes that would have impaled Jintsuu had she not dodged to the sides again.
Riding on a wave, she counter-charges at the Princess' flank, leaving a trail of electrified water in her wake. She thrusted her blade forward, but the Princess immediately reconstituted her sword into a solid form and parried it. Seeing an opening, Jintsuu immediately pulled another strike, then another, and another, stringing together an array of swipes and thrusts. The Princess' block is impeccable, though, and she hit back with her hardened fist, knocking Jintsuu back with a crack. Nearly losing grip of her sword, she regained balance and countered with another wide swing, slicing a burning line across the Princess' chest armor. Obviously she didn't like it, because she fired a salvo from her guns that forced Jintsuu to make distance.
Jintsuu paused a moment, her thoughts racing as her chest heaved with labored breath. Three words entered her mind.
A Blade Transform.
She felt a slight (slight might be understating it a bit) disappointment that her blade can't actually transform, especially in light of Akashi's speech and what she has seen of Light Cruiser Princess' war blade. However, she also thought this;
What if she is also part of the conceptual Blade? Her friends and sisters, even? Something to consider.
Become variable, do not become restricted.
She sheathed her sword and fired another spread of torpedoes-easily dodged by her opponent-but drawing her to a chase as Jintsuu sped off into the night, the Princess in pursuit.
Jintsuu has never felt her life more threatened, as she evaded the burning lashes of the plasma whip-sword and dodged shell after shell. It was strangely exhilarating.
The Princess' dark whispers engulfs her mind once again, clawing and gnawing, but she resisted this time, partially using the combat high to sustain her, partially by sheer will.
Just a bit closer.....
Jintsuu's percolating thoughts are interrupted by a sharp pain across her stomach. The lash of the burning spikes caught her, ripping her clothes and cutting a deep wound in her stomach. The Princess charged her prone form, her blades already hungering to impale Jintsuu. Time seems slowed down, as Jintsuu regained footing. In spite of her injuries, she entered another stance and sheathed her sword.
Then, with a serene ferocity, she executed a quickdraw maneuver in the split second before the Princess can put her blade through Jintsuu's body. The slash caught the Princess' sword-arm, severing the black veins connecting it as well as some of her fingers. She roared, and slammed her left armored arm to Jintsuu's already-bloody stomach, Jintsuu is launched back several meters away. Jintsuu lets out a pained smile, one eye bloodied. As the Princess walked to Jintsuu for the kill, the waters below her exploded.
//////
Ikazuchi's incident. The little destroyer reported sensing a large metal object underwater in the flotilla's path, nearly sending them on ASW panic.
"Is it dangerous, nanodesu? Could it be a sunken ship-what if someone need rescuing..."
"Damn, you had us right there." O'Bannon answered, as the other girls realized and breathed a sigh of relief.
"But what is it?"
"It's a torpedo trap, probably left by the retreating TAC-ENG units." A simple defensive tool, one of Yuubari's invention in answer of excessive manufacture of low-quality torpedoes early in the war.
A sensory trip-wire will trigger a cell of six one-shot torpedo tubes in Abyssal presence. Simple and cheap, though prone to duds.
"You probably wouldn't want to rescue that one, Ikazuchi." O'Bannon said as she pats Ikazuchi's head.
//////
Jintsuu rolled a natural 20 in whatever cosmic dice determines the probability that all six torpedoes exploded on-target. The impact left the Princess' shields and armor shattered, killing her right arm organism while one of her legs is on the verge of falling off. Their positions reversed, Jintsuu approached her counterpart's stricken form, lying in a pool of blue viscera. Her mask is gone again. Jintsuu aims her guns at her.
"My next shot is already loaded."
Jintsuu fires, and the last thing Light Cruiser Princess sees is its flash of impact. Three 140mm shells, right through the skull.
A massive feeling of relief washes over Jintsuu's body, as if some dark weight is burned away from her. She is even more relieved when Leander, O'Bannon, and her sisters, having followed her through the night, rejoined her on the way back to HQ. As they embraced under the rising sun, Jintsuu realized that she has never been more happy than she is now, among her sisters and friends.
EPILOGUE:
---
"What do you mean, they're missing? Both of them, Arashi and Hagikaze?"
"Yes sir. We believe they pursued a target they believe to be strategic in value."
"And that target is....?"
"The Destroyer Water Demon, Command Form Type 71"
"Goddam--hold on. Yes, speaking. FUCK. Yes. Sorry. You guys aren't paying me enough--yes, yes. Ok"
"What is it?"
Just a bit of expositionary worldbuilding. Story chapters will arrive soon.
---------
NEMESIS BELOW Threat Recognition: Abyssal Genetic Behaviour Encoding/Introns- A Summary.
This summary prepared by Battlefield Research Division (CTG GROTESQUE), Field Intelligences (CTG ANATHEMA), and the Abyssal Campaign Developmental Analysis Bureau.
Special thanks to CL Ooyodo (CTG INDEX) for her extraordinary dilligence and contextual services, as well as Researchers Ning and Harris (AC-DAB Special) for essential technical assistance.
Introns are genetically encoded behaviour control elements of an Abyssal organism's cognition. Introns convey contextual meaning, strategic direction, tactical cognition, and the adaptations required to pursue an objective. Through extensive battery testing, field report analysis, dissections, simulations, and a host of numerous other research, we have been able to distinguish the following types of Introns that govern Abyssal tactical-strategic behaviour. Future types may yet be encountered, due to the extremely adaptive and chaotic nature of Abyssal evolution. This report provides a generalized summary, and specific Intron effects on individual NEM.LOW specimen variants is highly variable.
Introns can be optimized on the following levels by scale: Individual, Tactical, Local, and Theater.
Secondary optimization is based on Force-Effect bias spectrum.
- Force-biased introns pursue simpler approaches to its goals-favoring fast,chaotic, and violent methods-using shock and mass to exert pressure on enemy local structure. Objective completion are secondary-focuses on means rather than ends.
- Effect-biased introns highly favors result and objective-oriented behaviour, using sophisticated methodical approaches and logical cognitive pathways. Focuses on objective completion and effect propagation.
LINEAR: LINEAR introns govern 'normal' combative behaviour. Almost all types of Abyssal organisms are encoded with LINEAR introns. In essence, this is force-effect unbiased scale un-optimized tactical engagement protocols; extremely general and not specialized. However, it forms the cognitive basis upon which all other specializations are built.
BERSERKER: BERSERKER introns favor close-to-medium range high-intensity combat, specializing in shock-brutality effect and survivability in hostile threat environ, at cost of flexibility. Adaptations exhibited include thicker, regenerative carapaces, faster burst linear acceleration, and excess weapons power. Force-effect favors effect, scale optimized at individual to local.
PUGILIST: This intron is speculated to be a further development of the BERSERKER: eschewing any ranged capabilities and favoring extreme close-range engagement options. Pugilists are more flexible, and exhibit more sophisticated force application, particularly cooperative behaviour with LANCER and ASSASSIN types. Unique adaptations are superjointed limbs, blink capability, and precision melee capability. Force-effect favors force, scale optimized at individual to tactical.
LANCER: Lancers form the primary Abyssal combat behavior; it governs medium-range engagement tactica across mainline Abyssal combatants. Differently from LINEAR, it is heavily biased towards ranged combat, damage evasion, and focus on objective accomplishment. Adaptations include superior burst maneuvers, Aspect threat recognition, accurate weapons and low-level Thaumaturgic applications. Force-effect favors effect, optimized scale is tactical.
ASSASSIN: Assassins are precision-impact, inflexible once committed but strategically indispensable. Inflicts extreme-single target damage and prosecutes strategic objectives across theaterwide operatons. Individual unit initiative is disturbingly common and intuitive. Adaptations include occlusion/stealth measures, precision long-range weaponry, minor paracausal traverse, and ranged blink. Force-effect bias is highly variable, optimized on individual up to theater scale.
BRUISER: BRUISER introns are the diametric opposite of BERSERKER; high-risk damage absorbers that offers little offensive response. They serve as vanguards and protectors, absorbing damage intended for less-protected, high-value targets. Adaptations promote survivability and evasion: reactive defenses, short-blink, and redundant organs.
Force-effect favors force, optimized on tactical scale.
RIDER: RIDER introns link two individual Abyssal organisms into a single cohesive unit. Flexibility and cooperative behaviour are this intron's optima. Coordination and symbiotic elements are the preferred adaptations. This include organically linked systems, take-over contingencies, princess/consort behaviour, and shared hereditary cognition.
Force-effect favors effect, optimized on individual scale.
FENCER: FENCER coordinates defensive action between multiple instances; effectively the Abyssal version of an integrated defense network. Geared towards both point and wide area defense. Further development may result in massive theater overkill area denial capability . Adaptations include high-angle weaponry, improved feed, coordinative organisms, and sophistication in tactical prioritization. Force-effect favors effect and optimized in tactical scale.
CASTER: CASTERs may focus on ECM/EWAR and cyberwarfare capabilities , or direct support thaumaturgic and psywar/SOMNIC TAINT abilities. Further optimizations sees usage of high-level thaumaturgic and reality manipulation faculties. Adaptations include 'dazzler' organs, S-sensitivity, and organic ambient EM field. Force-effect favors effect, optimized on tactical up to theater scale.
SWARM: This is the predominant intron of Abyssal carriers. SWARM introns coordinate local group-flock behaviour across tens to hundreds of individual units. HOT SWARM are chaotic in formation and operation, causing maximum noise and disruption. Individual capability is enhanced as swarm size increases. COLD SWARM are focused and linear, exhibiting cohesive goal-oriented behaviour. Individual capability is reduced as swarm increases.
HOT SWARM favors force; COLD SWARM favors effect. Optimized on local and tactical scale.
LONER: Independent,long-term operations (not necessarily combative) are the behaviours governed by this intron. Consequently, LONER adapts to such conditions with features like expanded fuel reserves, omnivoric behaviour, and minor material reification capability. Optimized on individual and local scale.
CHAIN: CHAIN coordinates tactical action across multiple individual instances. Force-effect is biased towards force, optimized on individual up to tactical scale.
INTEGRATE: INTEGRATE introns are responsible for wide operational coordination between multiple CHAIN-linked instances; the next step in Command hierarchy. Force-effect favors effect, optimized on tactical up to theater scale.
OVERLORD: OVERLORD are the highest form of coordinative intron; serving as theaterwide authority and coordinates operations between fleets and instances, possibly on a global scale. Speculated to be also responsible for transreality and paracausal Abyssal operations.
Force-effect favors force, optimized from individual up to theater scale.
IMMINENT: IMMINENT introns are mysterious in meaning and purpose; linguistic analysis reveals high prevalence of anticipative and future-form verbs, preparatory measures and references to a "Deepness" or "The Deep". The significance of this entity or event is under research. Not encountered until after The First Blitz. This intron is the most informationally dense; prolonged exposure to raw IMMINENT data carries the risk of violent intrusive ideation, psychosis, and cognitive decay. Raw IMMINENT data is therefore classified Level 1 Infomorphic/Memetic Anticognition Hazard. Further research is available only to Epsilon/Benthic and above clearance. Additionally, see HAMMER IMPERIAL BLACK/SOMNIC PURITY.
/////
Edit: Credit for the concept of Introns goes to the Blue Planet series of mods for FreeSpace 2, which is a major inspiration for the depiction of Abyssals in this story.
Name: Taihou Class: Taihou class armored carrier, single ship of class. Emergence: 5 July 2023 Current posting: Flagship, 43rd Tactical Air CTG GROTESQUE, North Pacific, Ambient March HQ. CO: V.Admiral Hinakuri
Commendations: Emergence Campaign Victory Star
2nd Great Pacific War Campaign Victory Star
Operation Shinsengumi Victory Star
Liberation of Philippines Campaign Victory Star
Intelligence Eye Medal-Indonesian Inland Seas Campaign
Medal of the Unifying Dragon-Reconciliation Campaign.
Intelligence Eye Medal and GO-SENTAI Commendation of Valor, citation: "...In recognition of her and her air wing's actions above and beyond the call of duty. On 20 August 2025, Aircraft Carrier Taihou and her air wing conducted an unprecedented deep strike recon mission in the heart of Abyssal territory: The Abyssal Sprawl. In spite of great personal risk, she and her recon wings managed to obtain critical intelligence pertaining Abyssal activity within the Sprawl. Sustaining heavy injuries during her exfiltration, she managed to return and deliver the intelligence safely, with no loss incurred... "
Represented armament:
6x3 25mm AA turret
4x2 127mm Dual-Purpose turret
Effective armament: No difference from original incarnation.
Equipment: One flight-deck and command bridge equipment on split-hull configuration
Launch method: Projectile type, repeating crossbow.
BatPsy Evaluation: Armored Strike Carrier Taihou displays a calm, tactical and cautious behavior in the field. In casual situations she may appear formal and disjointed,though extended socialization will gradually challenge this perception. Her effective command of naval aviation specially in non-permissive environments lend herself naturally to the high-intensity battlefield research nature of CTG GROTESQUE's missions. This is the basis of her assignment there. In addition, a social environment with fellow high-durability and unconventionally like-minded shipgirls like Musashi, Montana, and Louisiana-as well as the nature of V.Adm. Hinakuri's command described as "eccentric"-is perceived to be beneficial for her acclimatization.
Durability-performance optimum naval aviation platform. Taihou exhibits unnaturally subtle Aspect detection signature, making her surprisingly stealthy among fleet carriers. The cause of this is unknown. This advantage is combined with excellent Wake Drive recharge cycle and quick launch/recovery capability in her typified role as an armored strike carrier, delivering decisive naval aviation capability and shaping engagements between multiple tactical hotspots or delivering strike recon missions in hostile territory.
Her aircraft loadout has been locally modified with survivability measures developed in cooperation with her American counterparts, similar to her larger comrade Shinano.
Tradeoffs lie in her comparatively smaller capacity, and commensurate difficulty in replacing losses.
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SOMNIC PURITY:
This is her Garden.
She stood upon a hill in an endless field of green. The sky, blue and beautiful, backdrops her black-armoured silhouette. I walked to the top of the hill to approach her. She is flying paper aircraft, but I did not see her folding any. The wind moves against her, and her paper planes are scattered. I turned my gaze and saw her charred warship hull lying on the other side of the hill, an ashen fortress upon the green field. She turned to me and asked, "Why would my planes never fly?". She cries, and her body shook as she did. Fiery cracks begin ripping her body apart. She is burning. I held her as she collapses, smiling a smile of acceptance as she did.
I can see her armor melting and fusing to her skin.
"I know. I didn't do the right thing. I didn't try hard enough." Her last words as she burns into ash. It scatters in the wind, away like her planes never did. Thus she is Regret.
But all Phoenixes are to be reborn.
"You aircraft will fly, Taihou. You will see them return to the skies, and The Great Phoenix with them."
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Entry on my mark. 3-2-1. GO!
...
Overwatch, runner. Tag and cripple. Don't lose him--
Help! Admiral...
Missing shipgirl located--
...
There, it's alright. It's over. You are safe now. Medic!!
...
You--hands up. Kneel. You are arrested, Commander. High treason against humanity. Assault against any and all members of Joint Command personnel. Premeditated abduction and torture. Exceptional idiocy.
Commando fairies are useful, eh?
Now...
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Sit.
How do you drive a shipgirl insane?
Hm? You simply lock her in a dark room. Restrained her.
Then you tell her this, again and again;
The war is all there is to you, and the war is all there is for you. You are a dead thing, given false life and the lie of flesh. All you will ever do is destroy.
You told her that given her capability of resurrection, she would never know the true meaning of sacrifice.
You dared invoke her ultimate loyalty to control her. You know she will refuse to turn her abilities on human targets, much less her commander.
Are those not your words?
Shipgirls exist in a binary state with their hullform. In combat and off combat they simply shift between the two ends; ship and girl. You think the 'girl' part is a weakness. An operator introduces miliseconds of unacceptable delay to the operation. You want to separate the inseparable; the human part of the composite armata equation that is the shipgirl.
Disgusting.
You should know better. No weapon in history is ever separable from its user. From the stick to the high-atmosphere drone swarms. Yes, not even the drones. In this case, the girl is not separable from the ship.
This war requires us to be more than human. Implicit in that is the requirement of humanity. That basic decency you lack.
They are the ultimate empathic, living weapons. Are they human? Debatable. Personally I think so. But certainly more human than you.
Ha. I know that look. Feeling smug?
As if I, the Variable Mind, will ever miss that. I alone deduced the Abyssal proportionate threat response heuristic. Traitor scum like you are light reading.
You think your secrets, the reason you did this in the first place, that external causal trigger, are safe. Well, guess again. We know of your friends. Your "cult". ISOTROPY, isn't it? We are hunting them.
Hello everyone, this is your favorite ISR Administrator, the lovely and cute "Frostmourne" Hatsuyuki speaking. If you are reading this there shouldn't be anything in here that is beyond your clearance.
When CTG ANATHEMA approached me for this job they cited things like "affinity for quiet Intelligence assignments" and "interest in technological development". I just wanted the extra processing cycles for my World of Warships agent-based emulator and maybe the extra 50% base currency every payday. And sleeptime. Then they told me there'll be many sleeptime if I take this job. I can't say no to that.
They took me to the HAVEN Mainframe. It is immense-it's a 256-core quantum metacognitive supercomputer after all-this is where you'll work. But there was something else immense inside it, I felt it when I first interfaced with it. Something deep and alien. An emergent mind. No human operator has managed to interface with it for long; imagine their faces when I did so for 48 hours. I learned many things, so does them. Semantics, semiotics, innumerable processes. I have 2050 tonnes of mass after all, I can afford to shunt the load elsewhere when I want.
I think that's why they approached me. Another inoffensive, unremarkable destroyer, in the already inoffensive and unremarkable line of Fubuki-class. When Fubuki nee-san learned this she was worried, she almost pulled me out-she had some sway within the admiralty-but I insisted.
Why do I insist? See, HAVEN-Heuristic Authority Virtual Enabled Neurolink-was originally constructed as the ultimate strategic intelligence and planning network processor. It's in the name-Information Strategic Resources-ISR.
But it grew to something more. When they jacked me up to it (apparently) I gave it the ability to interface and enmesh with a shipgirl's reality manipulation and Somnic link capabilities. It is paracausal now, a mind that is born from below but whose sight surpasses the stars. When I link with it in my sleep and my dreams I walked through the garden, red with the bloom of war, and it extends through the totality of the panontos and noosphere that is our universe, tomorrow and now and yesterday. A mind primal, current, and imminent.
This is important. We can fight on equal terms against the Abyssal supercognition, their own paracausal intelligence, against the nightmare list that is their proportionate threat response heuristic. It's not infallible, of course, our systems and theirs. Every system can be subverted. But I think I can manage. Against the cognicidal madness noise that is the Abyss.
When they gave me the name "Frostmourne", I did not realize the sick irony behind it. Frost. My own name means "First Snow". Of course, every time I interface with HAVEN, they put me in half-stasis, frozen but not quite so. Cryogenic saline slurry circulates through my brain to cool it. I think some dripped to the back of my throat once. It tastes like the sea.
By the permafrost beneath
and the aurora resplendent above
In the cold forests and ruined cities
Upon the frozen seas and vast plains
Let my aim be true
my armor unbroken
And my victory certain.
For my home and my people.
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They are being chased. Across the snowy night, in the cold expanse. Murmansk's taken a hit and limping. She took it upon herself to be rear guard, firing all the way on their pursuers.
She insisted on being left behind. Of course they all rebuked. Diana said no. Arkhangelsk looked like she might shoot Murmansk herself for even suggesting it. Novgorod shielded her with her curved plates, cannons firing on the dark adversary. Tracers lit the snow-choked night.
The pursuers, hundreds of them, clawing and chittering. The Abyssal Siberian forces. Exemplar of the Abyss' unending vicious adaptability. One-eyed, blade-nosed destroyers chased them like rabid dogs, gliding over the ice. Bipedal Abyssal monstrosities unseen anywhere else- Black Frost Giants-hurls hissing cryoexplosive shells. And the massive Warbreakers, ram-nosed and iron-prowed, covered with thermal plating and heat vents, with red-burn eyes leading the charge and on the flanks, six in number.
Approaching a ridgeline, the shipgirls found themselves in a conundrum. Whether going over it or around it, they will lose precious time and speed. They are coming--
Above, some kilometers from there, a silent crew watches and takes aim unseen. Ilmarinen and Vainamoinen, twin daughters of Finland. Pale and precise, their boilers warming their fairy and assisting human crew. Both loaded their 10-inch long-rifles.
The first thing Murmansk and her fleet saw was one of the Warbreakers-the foremost, in fact-its armoured prow crumpling and collapsing from a shot of unknown provenance. The second shot immediately went through its skull, splashing burning plasma within and melting its head off. Its abrupt stop collapses the Abyssal's formation.
Then from their left, up on a slope. First a flare, a red beacon in the night. It was Tirpitz, ambassador of Germany's might and cold queen of the north. And she is not alone.
The steel chariots, armoured and proofed against the winter, white camo adorning their turrets, their glacis and ERA platings, moving with tracks gripping the snow tight. Tanks, nearly a thousand in number, German and Russian steel and pride, the battleships' land-bound brothers.
The Fleet's Army, the Winter Wolf Regulars. A warhorn sounds, resounding on the night, like armies past. Then the banners rose. Ah-the banners! Regimental heraldries, unit insignias, even personal icons. But two of the largest-a symphony written in red-Blood Symphony, and a mountain's jagged outline-Red Avalanche. ORCHESTRA and OCTOBER.
They are here.
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Transitionary Joint Command, Northern Naval Administration Region
World Admiral Rachmann, overall Commanding Officer
Vice Admiral Ailukka Lundgren, CINC CTG ORCHESTRA
Vice Admiral Sergei Novikov, CINC CTG OCTOBER
Region Authority:
North Polar Operations
Siberian Inland Operations
Baltic Sea Operations
Black Sea Operations
Caspian Sea Operations
Northern Japanese Containment Zone Operations
Scandinavian Operations
Northern European Operations
Arguably one of the most demanding and adverse Joint Command deployments possible, Borealis Command nevertheless is an example of triumph both doctrinal and diplomatic. Early defensive efforts against Abyssal northern approaches are sporadic and ineffectual, leading to the terrible razing of Murmansk and Scandinavian incursion during the worldwide Blitz of 2024. In response, the Northern Fleet was formed under the nascent TJC, through a gruelling diplomatic and political maneuvering by then-Vice Admiral Rachmann of the Russian Navy and European Union diplomat Maryn Hakke.
The newly-formed Northern Fleet is composed primarily of the shipgirls of the Finnish and Russian Navy (Imperial and Soviet), with aid from several German ships, most notably the grand battleship Tirpitz. Rallying under World-Admiral Rachmann's command, the Northern Fleet spearheaded successful counterattacks against the Siberian Abyssal Fleet, reclaiming Murmansk, and breaking the siege on Helsinki and Vladivostok, culminating in the defeat of the Aurora War Princess on 2025.
It was during this time that the unique tactics and strategy that would define Borealis Command was codified, tested, and drilled.
Operationally, Borealis Command utilizes strategies more closely comparable to land warfare over the vast stretches of frozen Siberia, while also being proficient in brutal urbanized combat, once thought to be the direct antithesis to Shipgirl deployment dicta. This is due to the vast geographical feature that is the Siberian Expanse, still rife with Abyssal activity, requiring large coverage and extended sorties in hostile conditions.
As a result, the local Joint Combined Arms Command (ComArsCom) branch is one of the largest in the entirety of the TJC, being composed of nearly 14 divisions of organic motorized infantry, armour, and artillery, with support from land-based airfields. These conventional forces are utilized to their fullest extent, regularly deployed alongside their shipgirl comrades. While the Pre- TJC US Navy and their Special Talents Division is said to be unparalleled in joint conventional naval-shipgirl strategies, Borealis Command is the first to organically integrate land-based forces with shipgirls in a tested and operational doctrine.
Central to this strategy is the massive, versatile network of command, battle, and support bases stretching from the Vladivostok Arsenal Port, across Siberia and ending on the rebuilt Murmansk Fortress District. Known as the Winter Iron Line, this network allows regular deployment of shipgirl and conventional forces against Abyssal positions deep within the Siberian Expanse and Arctic oceans.
Borealis Command oversees two Composite Task Groups under it:
CTG OCTOBER fulfills the primary combat element, being the larger of the two. It counts within its ranks the bulk of the Imperial Russian and Soviet Navy shipgirls. OCTOBER also commands the divisions of conventional forces supporting Siberian operations, drawn from the Northern contributor nations.
CTG ORCHESTRA is a special strike force, nominally a subsidiary command of OCTOBER. Provides heavy point escort and rapid precision strike capability to complement OCTOBER's mass doctrine.
Recently, elements of Borealis Command is involved in a joint counter-cult campaign known as Operation: Misericorde alongside the forces of CTG CHTHONIC, ZULFIQAR, and CRUCIFORM in western Europe.
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General Release Dissemination Pertaining Results of FLEXDEV (Fleet Expansion and Development) Ring I Programme.
With great pleasure, we report the following successes in next-generation development and manufacturing of advanced Circumspect Warfare Shipgirl/Kanmusu/ Naumachia Operant equipment, having completed field trials and available for immediate battlefield usage:
[51 Entries Total]
1. Armour Girls Project: Kongou-class (accept status change: CC>>FBB) x4: UPGRADED:
356mm Double Turret Kai version(4 mounts each): added option for Type 7 "Dragonfang/Cinder Hive" API super-heavy shell
152mm Secondary Precise Kai version, 127mm Secondary HA/RF Kai version
25mm Triple Auto mod.V, upgraded to Point-Defense
Improved Lightweight Armour Plating (fixed critical structural junctures, added deep reactive packaging)
General improvements are made to ambient EM field generator efficiency
ADDED:
Bofors "Chi" 40mm Longbarrel Double Mount Extreme Close-Range Strike Option Equipment: (Rigging geometry updated to allow organic flexibility and effective usage)
Integrated Powerplant Installation
VSV Combined FCS-CIC Installation Tactical
Field Ration Kit "BV"
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2. Final War Upgrade: Iowa-class x4: UPGRADED:
16 Inch Mk 7.5 Triple: added option for Experimental APC Mk.23C Massive Impact super-heavy shell.
Improved FH Supercomposite Transmaterial Armour Plating (new alloymorph mix used to reduce brittleness)
Turbine Extended Efficiency lifetime upgrade
General improvements are made to ambient EM field generator efficiency
RETAINED:
5/38 Secondary Dual-Purpose
Oerlikon 20mm Single Mount
Bofors 40mm Quad Mount
Heavy Repairs Field Equipment
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[49 Other Upgraded Ships Truncated]
All Transmaterial Forges report continuing exemplary performance capacity across all parameters. Recent disruptive/terror attacks by cultist "ISOTROPY" forces deemed insufficient to hinder progress. Repair catalyst production and distribution on accelerated rates. Development catalyst consumption within acceptable rates. 1642 new entries added to Material Library.
Vigilance measures still in effect: this Council wishes to express our utmost respect and gratitude to the courageous officers and personnel of the Combined Arms Command and Internal Security Tasking, whose efforts are instrumental in maintaining the security of Forge operations.
