Battle Along The Coasts +4; April 2012
It has been 4 days since the whole world went to shit. 11 since it began its spiral
On the first day, Humanity didn't know what was coming, or who was coming. All we knew was that around noon, Ascension Island suddenly went dark. No communication in or out of it. From the RAF base, from the BBC broadcasting station, or even from the NASA telescope put there, though the most obvious sign that it had stopped receiving was that a quarter of GPS in the region suddenly ceased working. The British, assuming some massive mechanical failure on the island was responsible, sent the
HMS Scott and the
RFS Argus to go and assess the situation.
As soon as they crossed the Equator, they stopped transmitting.
The second day, after the
Scott and the
Argus stopped answering their hails, the Admiralty decided that the only rational explanation as to how they lost two fleet ships and one of their country's most important outposts in the world was to some hijacking and attack in the region, likely from pirates in the Gulf of Guinea.
Still realizing the massive prestige issues of losing two of their ships to pirates, they decided to send another task force, this time made up of the warships
Diamond, Daring, Lancaster, and
Westminster, and sent them to deal with any enemies of the state, and retrieve the two ships before they were used against the British.
They,
also, stopped transmitting, this time soon after they passed the Azores. This was worrisome.
On the third day, more outposts began going dark. The Pitcairn Islands and Saint Helena stopped calling in. The Americans lost contact with their airbase on Wake Island. The French couldn't hail Reunion and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.
As the days wore on, across the world, small but populated outposts simply ceased contacting the mainlands.
The rest of the world began panicking and blaming each other for these misfortunes. The British accused the Argentinians of taking them out to prepare another assault to take the Falklands. The French blamed the entire eastern African region for taking their territories. The US, for their part, believed that these were the results of another round of terrorist attacks, and started verbally attacking the Middle East.
The Polish panicked and claimed that Russia was the source of all of this, prompting a verbal Russian response that saw the entire Eastern Europe region trading insults, and eventually military threats. The Chinese were the recipients of accusations from most of the countries of Southeast Asia. Warlords in Africa did as much as they could to placate the Europeans that saw them as the aggressors, claiming innocence in the matter.
And all the while, more and more communities began going dark, with a steady increase of missing people and a steady convergence towards more populated countries. The Russians and the Nordics lost contact with their Arctic centers. Canada and Alaska reported an increasing amount of their indigenous communities not relaying their positions. All of the Antarctica science stations also stopped answering.
After Guadalcanal and the rest of the Solomon Islands stopped contact, the Australians and the New Zealanders grew worried, and hastily signed a defensive treaty to protect each other on the off-chance that this was indeed a coordinated attack. They would need it, for less than 24 hours later, on the 6th day, New Caledonia, Fiji, and Vanuatu all went dark. Auckland reported that they began receiving refugees from the Northland Peninsula. There, they spoke, they were suddenly and deliberately attacked by unknown hostiles during early sunrise.
The survivors said they came at dawn, attacking with precision and speed that could rival modern military equipment. Entire towns and villages were razed to the ground, though miraculously, no lives were lost. They mentioned that, from the few glances they could see of the attackers, they were not human in nature. They looked grotesque, described as 'disturbing and brutish' by the people that saw them.
Deciding that, once and for all, they needed some answers, a combined ANZAC task force was mustered by the two countries and sent to the north with live footage being broadcasted back to Canberra and Auckland to avoid the issues that arose with the British response to Ascension Island.
Before they got there, they got an answer.
As soon as the task force, led by the
HMAS Choules, exited the general area of the Tasman Sea and entered the Coral Sea, it and its escorts were accosted by the enemy, striking with such fury and pace that, within a half hour, all but the
Hobart, the fastest ship in the task force, were reduced to wrecks, and the
Hobart itself wasn't far behind, having been struck aft and reduced to only 19 knots at flank. Within another half-hour, the
Hobart was taken.
But not sunk.
Instead, the enemy surrounded the dead frigate, bathing it, its crew, and the camera which was streaming to Canberra, Auckland, and every other nation who wanted to know what was attacking their territories, in a dark visage. All around the ship, the figures that were described to have attacked the Northland Peninsula circled
Hobart. On them, they wore what looked to be miniaturized versions of warship armaments., all aimed toward the frigate. The world's governments watched as, on the bow of the warship, a noticeably larger figure rose from below the ship, rocking it violently and nearly throwing one poor seaman over, and stood facing the crew, and their camera.
"H̵̨͛̏̓ü̶̱̯͍m̸̱̫̋͗a̶̫͓͝n̵̠̓į̶̛̛̜t̸͍̍͆͌ͅý̷͘," a deep, guttural voice came from the figure, noticeably feminine, but nevertheless fierce. 'Her' face twisted into a sneer and she began making her way toward the camera.
.̷̝͚̊̉̋"
̸̠̺͆ͅF̵̳̆͗o̶̥͉͔̅r̵̪͈̀ ̴͍̂͠ṫ̴͕̦̄̍o̸̽ͅo̷̡̝̠̍ ̴͚̽̎ḽ̸̨̒̀͠ͅo̸̘̪̫͛̀͠n̸̨̧̝͒͝g̷̬͠,̵̝̩͚͗̓͝ ̶̧̘͖̓̌̓ỹ̸̳̗͘ǫ̶̫͒ŭ̸͓͙̄̈́ ̴̱̗̑͆̉͜h̸̙̊̉â̴̞͚v̸̢̯͓̾é̶̹̿̈́ ̴̩͈̣̓̓s̴̭̼͒̆́ͅq̴̠́u̸͍̎͗̋ä̴̧̝́̍ḇ̷̪̤̽͂̉b̸̠͉͊̈̀l̷̨̨͇̾̑e̴̮͋̅̇d̴͉̙̎̎ ̷̩̓ẃ̸̞̦̬̊̑ĭ̷̙͉̆ṱ̵̱̪̊͛͝h̷̥̱̅̈́ ̴̤̉͑ë̵͖͔́̀a̶̯͐͗͝c̴̦̮̅̽ḩ̷̩̯̂̕ ̶̺̜̺̈́̎̽ơ̶̘͇̪̒ṫ̶͕̩͐h̶̯̠̐̀e̵͙̮͑̂̿r̷̡̘̯̾́,̶͍͔̈́̓ ̸̡̲̪̎̒ẉ̴̆͒å̵̧̢̯͐g̶͎̉̈́í̶̫n̵͚̂̒͛ğ̴͖̰ ̶̱̳͕̒͗w̸̩͐ą̸̂͠ŗ̷́s̶͇̗͐̄͜ ̶͕͍̀o̸̞̓͌͋f̷͈̱͙͝ ̸͔͝d̴͍̓̏͝ͅẽ̸̜̈̐s̷̨̘̘̒t̴̰͈͉̓͘̚r̶͂͝ͅū̶̧̓ç̴͚̰̓t̸̩͒̃ỉ̶̚͜v̵͇̯͊e̷͔̩̝̽͋̑ ̷̭͛̽ṅ̶̝̺á̸̙̠͑͠t̵̼̥͚̓ù̸̞̯̌̚ṛ̴̓͑ė̴͚s̶̠͝ͅ ̷͇̄̈́f̵̹̿ǫ̵̛̣̇r̵͔̀ ̵͖͖̲͆̀p̸̨̣͔̄͘e̵͕̥̲͆t̶̠͖͝t̵̻͈̓y̵̲̽̚ ̵̳̣̍͐͌r̵͙̄e̶̮̒̎̚a̶͖̪͝͝s̴̫̋̈́o̸̢͆n̶͕͉̼̾̾s̸̛̬ ̸͇̜̀͘a̸̼̪̽͒n̶̳̘̯͛́͊d̵̥͔̦͒̏ ̴͕̿̇̚s̵̻̠̊͗e̴̩̒l̸̞̥̋͐͝f̶̮͛̋̚i̷̗̱̰̚̕s̸̱̭͆͝h̸̻͓͙̿̽ ̶͎̃c̸̞̫͎̄͛͠ả̷͉̩̆͒u̶͈̘͊͘s̷̹̼̆́e̴̙̗͒̅̕s̶͎̀̓͠." she accused. She stopped in place, and a dark entrail snaking out of her back shot out and coiled itself around the unlucky seaman that nearly fell over and hoisted him into the air.
She faced the man, who seemed terrified and panicky, and strode over to where he was as he frantically tried to pry himself out of his predicament. In vain, he pulled out a combat knife that was strapped to his waist and thrust it into the tendril.
Or he would have, if another tendril didn't
rocket out from the figure, smacking the knife from the man's hand. The figure pulled him in closer after his attempted escape, her face turning into a snarl.
With great speed, the figure
chucked the man haphazardly, like a broken toy, into a bulkhead. The man cried out in agonizing pain, his bones seemingly all shattered. Two crew members rushed to put him on a stretcher and bring him inside.
He would die within the hour, officially marking him as the first in a
very long list to meet the same fate.
The figure paid the rest of the crew assembled no attention, as hers was put back on the camera. She stared at it dead in the eye, and all who saw the stream swore that they could feel her gaze on them, washing over like a torrent. Her eyes were hard, but they looked feral, eager. Her mouth twisted into an evil grin that bordered on maniacal.
"W̸̛̭͇̌̌̃e̴̜̾͝ ̶͚̙̅̈́͊͌a̴̜͈̟̿̉̐̕ȑ̶̡̮ḛ̸̰̖̏ ̴̫̜̝̐t̶̛̤̩̄̑͝h̷̨̖͋̐͠ë̵̺̳͔̳́̈́̌ ̷̤̟̱̀̓͜Ả̷̧͔͖̖͑̒͝b̶͓̓̈͜͝ý̸͖̻s̵̢̻͑͗͠s̵̤̖̹̈͛,̴͔̓ ̵̜̼͈͙̎ą̷͙̻̋̎͜n̶̛̜̠͚̑͋d̸̥̫̹̘͒̒͊ ̴̡̠̥̺͒͗̈́ẇ̴͎͓e̸̯͇̯̋̒̓ ̶̨͇́̃w̸̠̄i̸̱͎͉̍͗̀l̸̳̦͈͌͆̃l̸̖͓͙̅̅͋ ̸̨̭͕́͗̚m̷̫̾̽͗̈a̸̭̥̟̔͌̓̄k̵̢̡̲͙͂͑͗ȩ̸̭̯̞̀͗̃̚ ̸̼̏̾͒̋ÿ̶̡͉̠̣̍̒o̶̡̫͇̒ū̵͚̩͛͊͗ ̸̳̽̅s̴̱̣̜̏̓͒͝e̵̡̺͚̰͛̈́͋͠ė̸̡̻̓̽ͅ ̵̹̿̀ṯ̶̨̼͘h̷̰̳͗̆́̃ȇ̵̯̥͑͝ ̵̟̜̊̈́́̕ë̴̼͖̼r̵̛͕̺̪͍̈́̅͝r̶̝̜͉̈ò̴̜̜̯̦͒̑͘r̵̟̫͓͌ ̶̧͕͉̽̉̐̉ơ̷̳͗̿̾ͅf̴̫͒͒ ̶͉́͘͠y̴̬̦͙͒͊o̸̝̺͚̊̌̀ų̷͕͕̲̎̓͌̈́r̶̥͙͝ ̸̗̝͙͉͋w̷̨̙̞̗͗̐a̸̢̾̆͛͝y̵̧̭̏͋͋̂s̶̯͘."
The next day, they did.
><
Dear Mom and Dad,
It's official, we're at war with these so-called Abyssals. The Navy sent me my orders yesterday, instructing me to report to Portsmouth. It seems after the attacks on Faslane and Devonport, they're strapped for both ships, and bodies.
We lost the Ocean
to our Portugal/Gibraltar Defense, damn that so-called 'Central Island Princess', and now we only have the Invincible's
left. However, we were supposed to start scrapping the Ark Royal
and the Invincible
within a few years, which means they're nowhere near combat-operational capacity. They're recalling everyone that served aboard them to get them to fighting capability, even if for a single tour, which means me.
They're towing the Ark Royal
to Portsmouth for re-armament, and I'll spend that time re-learning how to command her once more. After that, I don't know. But the best guess I can make is we're to be assigned to the defense of the Isles while we figure out what the fuck these things are and what they want.
I know you both are worried for me. Lord knows how worried you were when I decided to sign up for the military instead of going into finance like you both wanted me to. I have this sinking feeling Dad still holds that over me. But I promised I'd protect you both, and I intend to do so.
I love you both,
Anna
><
AN: Woah.
So, yeah. As the title says, this story will dictate the beginning of the Abyssal War, since it never shows up in the main story until quite far in the future, and by that point, it'd have been a few years since the start of the war instead of the beginning of it. As such, I want to present my version of what happened in the Abyssal War, and how the countries of the world reacted to it.
Anyways, I put this in a separate thread because, as you see, this story will take a more mature tone than the main FP story. Nothing dark or egregiously evil, but it is more heavy-handed than FP is, and I didn't want to mix the two up for any of you readers. A lesson I learned from the DCCU and Batman V. Superman, of all things XD.
This will, however, be still treated as an omake, so don't expect as many updates as the main story.
In any case, enjoy!
