Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
pursued
forty
forbid
-
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Northern Light (Worm/Misc Shipgirl)
- Thread starter Taliserian
- Start date
Taliserian
(Unverified Verifiable)
- Location
- ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
- Pronouns
- They/Them
As always, thank you. I'm Canadian, I tend to throw spare U's everywhere. I'm not entirely satisfied with the structure of that last sentence you pointed out; I think I need to rephrase it.
Unfortunately, a close family member has had a rather severe and life-changing (nearly -ending) medical emergency that's thrown me off my groove; and I've used up my reserve chapters. Regular service will resume shortly; after I've got two new chapters written and through Beta.
So I have to ask. Just started this and haven't read the latest chapter yet but... is there any reason she can't use anything inside of her hull as if she had a crew operating it? I mean, most of her equipment is manual operation from range finding to everything else. And if she could do that... couldn't she use damage con to renovate anything that wouldn't need yard time? I mean, setting up a ship wide network and some network connected cameras, range finders and other equipment shouldn't be too much harder than doing so on a house.
Refits and upgrades
Taliserian
(Unverified Verifiable)
- Location
- ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Yes and no. Not all of her equipment is 'manual'; for instance her fire control system (Rangfinding radar, fire direction computer, and fuse-setting system) are electro-mechanical. And these are systems she knows. Powers in Worm seem to come with an inherent understanding of what they can do and some of their limits. She instinctively knows how to operate her current systems because they're what she was 'born with'. There's nothing stopping her from running some cable around and wiring everything up digitally; but then she'd have to learn how to use that. Whereas her current systems are perfectly functional. For instance her fire control radar is sensitive enough to detect incoming fire.
In addition to training times, the new systems wouldn't be part of her. She can heal damage to her existing parts because they're 'natural' for her, whereas mounting, say, an Avenger missile system in place of her 40mm mount would cause issues. Even running a bunch of ethernet cable around is getting into territory that would be bordering on 'cybernetic implant'. And wifi is right out. Not only is it unsecure, but it's transmitting.
The actual process of getting a refit along those lines actually wouldn't be that difficult for Haida. While she's not a network engineer, she does have certain advantages. Dani is capable of swapping any of her physical properties between girl and ship; that includes her shape. She could go full steel-hull and let people who actually know what they're doing run the cables.
I desperately want to modernize her torpedo systems. Her existing tubes are large enough to accommodate modern US navy submarine-launched weapons. 21" is still a standard diameter tube, and her original Mk IX torpedoes were four feet longer than the systems that can be deployed from a Los Angeles class. That would give her a significant upgrade in punch at stand-off ranges. Unfortunately she doesn't have the capability to program such weapons prior to launch.
And her tubes are just a couple feet too short for VA-111 Shkval; which would be my preferred anti-Leviathan load.
She might get her Korean war refit; but it would take something to cause her a second trigger.
Honestly, the whole reason that I suggested it was that she was both using dragon tech shells and was pulling them out of hammerspace. I mean, I get where you are coming from, but her power makes less sense than Lung's if she can't do the things that a normal ship would be capable of while being able to turn into a ship wholesale.
I get where you are coming from on the "basically cybernetics" point however. But I also feel that normal sailors learn new things and retrain all the time when new stuff comes out. I feel that should she get, as you described, ethernet run across her systems, she shouldn't be able to heal that. Not until she learns how to fix it herself. Then she should be able to fix it because her own damage con knows how to fix it. But in the time before that? Give her tablet computers, or even just ruggidized laptops. Give her a cellphone and something she can use to encrypt/decrypt radio traffic. Because as dumb as connecting literally any system directly into a communication computer would be, making her transmit in unencrypted analog radio is just as dumb when an enemy Tinker can have a radio scanner on hand and basically just listen to all of your chatter.
Another option for a second trigger is the ability to upgrade herself.
Shakedown 1.7.1
Taliserian
(Unverified Verifiable)
- Location
- ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Rudyard Kipling said:
The Rig
25Aug10, 1145 Lima
"Haida," Battery's voice on the radio; one of the secondary channels rather than the main Console channel. "Please report to the Wards Lounge."
I reeled in my fishing line with an audible sigh and tried to sub-vocalize my response; transmitting without speaking aloud was a skill I needed to work on according to Armsmaster. "Haida copies, on my way."
Dave and Arnold, the two usual troopers assigned to the relatively dull job of making sure that nobody tried to board the Rig from the warf, shared a chuckle at my frustrated sigh as I started packing up my fishing tackle. "You know kid," Dave grinned, "There's no fish in the Bay. Like, nothing. And even if there were, it probably wouldn't be safe to eat."
"Yeah, but it's called 'Fishing', not 'Catching'. I just do it to relax."
Arnold turned to his partner. "I think a calm Haida is a good thing; keeps her from filling the whole Rig with Confoam."
"Good point. Wouldn't want to end up like Assault; I hear it took him hours to get his hair right after that."
"You two are incorrigible. How do you even keep your jobs?"
"Why do you think we're always stuck on guard duty down here? Maybe you shouldn't incorrige us." Dave took a bow as I boo'd the terrible pun. His partner applauded enthusiastically. "Thank you, thank you; I'm here all week..." I could still hear the two laughing as I dogged the hatch behind me.
Wards Commons
Several verses later
"God damn them all, I was told;
We'd cruise the seas for American gold.
We'd fire no guns, shead no tears...
Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier,
The last of Barret's Privateers."
The light on the door lock turned green and I opened it to immediate suspicion. The lights were all out; the big screen dark, and my enhanced hearing could detect breathing and rustling. I briefly contemplated putting a star shell into the middle of the room before remembering I didn't have any loaded. "You know I can hear you, right? My Thinker rating isn't just for radar." I hit the light switch-
"Surprise!" Most of the Wards, plus Assault and a couple of girls it took me a second to place as New Wave kids leaned out of various pieces of concealment. Only partway, I noted with a grin, probably in case they needed to dive for cover. All except for Vista, who stood under a big multi-color banner strung across the middle of the room. 'Happy Birthday Haida'
I closed the door behind me. "Uhm... my birthday's the end of May..."
Dean, Carlos, and Missy traded some looks before the latter spoke up. "Our empath shared some concerns with our glorious leader about your emotions surrounding your family the other day while we were patrolling. We decided that if there was enough mutual animosity there that you'd change your name and move to the far side of the continent to get away from them; maybe we should change up your birthday too. So I did a little research online..." She walked over and gave me a hug. "Happy launch day, Haida."
"..." I blinked in surprise, then scooped the tiny space-warper into a bear hug; lifting her right off the ground. "Thank you."
"...air. Air... ribs. Halp."
"Oops." I set her down, only to be hugged in turn by Dennis.
"Thanks, my dad's doing good for the first time in... like, ever."
"Don't thank me, it was Panacea who did the hard part." I offered the mousy brunette a wave. "Hi, by the way. Nice to meet you." ...why was one of the most famous young capes in the world staring over my... "ASSAULT!"
Dennis leaped back just as the Protectorate joker broke a bottle over my head; drenching me with ... soda water? The bottle snapped cleanly in half instead of shattering; probably candy-glass like a movie prop. I rounded on the supposed adult in the room. "Soda water?"
"Youth Guard would give me hell if I used champagne." He gave a mock shudder. "YG scares me."
"You dolt; you got me soaked!"
"You're a boat, you're supposed to be wet. ...Wait, that came out wrong." Dennis nearly fell over laughing at Assault's slip of the tongue.
I rolled my eyes. "I'm a ship, not a boat. And besides, you're half of the age of half of me and twice the age of the other half." I blew a raspberry at him and turned back to the guests. "Sorry... umm, I'm gonna go get something dry on, I'll be right back. Assault, make yourself useful and put on a movie."
"As you wish." He smirked.
"Don't start that again." I gave a wave and headed for the locker room to change. And to give me time to think. I'd never been really comfortable at parties, before... Did I want that to change? New city, new team... new me? They seemed like good kids, Shadowstalker not included. But she wasn't here.
It might be nice to have some actual friends. And cake. Cake makes everything better.
Ok, sorry for the delay and the short chapter. Late on the 6th my father suffered a pair of massive heart attacks, the first while a significant distance from any emergency services; the second actually in the ER. Thankfully, the ER team managed to get him back from the second. Things have been a mess because I live in a small town without a decent hospital; so he had to be airlifted to the city to undergo a triple bypass.
I just found out last night that the surgery was a success and he's expected to make a full recovery. Needless to say I've been a little distracted from writing. I'm not entirely sure this chapter is even finished; I just wanted to get something up so that you know it isn't dead. And yes, Dani still has an island to blow up.
I just found out last night that the surgery was a success and he's expected to make a full recovery. Needless to say I've been a little distracted from writing. I'm not entirely sure this chapter is even finished; I just wanted to get something up so that you know it isn't dead. And yes, Dani still has an island to blow up.
jwolfe_beta
Semi Genre-Savvy Overlord
- Location
- Canada
But what would be even better is if the young shipgirl got a chance to pick up a mascot.
Based on her calling herself Haida and said ship's history I suggest a rabbit or a dog.
Taliserian
(Unverified Verifiable)
- Location
- ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Vista in a bunny costume. Because power interactions are weird.
- Pronouns
- Yes
Nice chapter, but this line is bugging me. Even if we ignore the effects of the boat graveyard and the sunken ships (which would ensure there are a LOT more fish than normal for this sort of bay) If something was poisoning the Bay to the point that none of the fish in it are safe to eat, it would also be poisoning all the area around the bay to the point they'd need to evacuate all the area around the bay, and there certainly wouldn't be any boardwalk.
I can see there not being any fish in the area around the Protectorate base, or around X for various reasons, but not the entire bay.
Shakedown 1.7.2
Taliserian
(Unverified Verifiable)
- Location
- ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Missy, it turned out, had never seen Princess Bride. The poor girl. But even those of us who could quote it verbatim were laughing at the antics being read to the young Frank Savage. It even got Panacea to relax a bit. Then I dug 'The Last Starfighter' out of my DVD collection because apparently none of these poor heathens had ever heard of it.
"Wait... wait. Does this count as video game themed?" Dennis and Chris shared a quick look.
"You're thinking 'What if Leet built a Gunstar'?" The tinker blinked and rubbed his chin. "It'd make a Ziz fight pretty interesting. And then it'd explode and probably kill them both. And everyone else nearby." He shook his head. "Anyways, enough with the versus speculation, that's for PHO. This is a birthday party."
"That's right." Carlos smiled. "Vista, the envelope please?" The youngest Ward solemnly handed an envelope to the team leader, who passed it to me. I raised an eyebrow suspiciously at Dennis and Ethan, then opened it. Inside was a pretty funny Snoopy-themed card, a gift certificate for Fugly Bobs, and an incredibly complicated-looking origami figure. Missy leaned over and gave a little tug to one arm and it popped into three dimensions; a little paper soldier figurine at attention. Then I noticed the '215' in white on a dark grey part of the chest and realized what she'd folded up a picture.
I looked at the statuette for a long minute, completely silent, then raised my eyes to the young Shaker. "Is that what I look like to your power?"
"Kinda? I mean, it's only 3d and you're folded a lot higher than that. There's a lot of stuff going on that I don't really have the words to describe. The words I need might not even exist." She shrugged helplessly.
Chris looked intrigued. "Ok... can you navigate those folds?" Before anyone could stop her, Missy perked up, took a step towards me, and seemed to crumple in on herself while falling away. And then she vanished.
"Where'd she...?"
"Chris, next time you get an idea like this, keep it to yourself? Vista, stop playing with that, it's not a toy." I could feel her feet running along my weather deck, hear her giggling as she explored. "Ok, that's enough; we'll test this out later. There's cake, remember?"
Vista popped back sitting in my lap. "So cool!"
Victoria looked baffled. "What. The. Hell?"
I sighed as Vista giggled. "Her power is bull ship."
"Speaking of which." Chris reached into a pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box. "I, uh... I had some spare scraps of lasing medium in my shop. I, um..." He actually blushed as he handed me the box. "Happy birthday, Haida." Amy, Vicky, and Missy packed in around me as I popped the top open with a thumb. It was a pair of simple stud earrings, one apparently emerald, the other ruby, set in polished silver.
"They don't match." Vicky glared at Chris.
"They're perfect." I sniffled. I was not going to break down and cry just because a boy had made me jewelry.
"But they don't match." The blonde reiterated.
"They're not supposed to. They're perfect. Thank you Chris." I wiped a tear from my eye; holding back a sob. There'd be no way in hell my so-called parents would ever have...
"If you'd like, I can...?" Amy held out a hand towards me. I sniffed again and nodded, taking hers.
Working on Breakers and Changers was never easy. This was kind of absurd. The girl had driveshafts for femurs. But as she closed her eyes and focused; Amy started to pick out the biology in all the hardware. The girl seemed to help, dialing back her changes; more meat to metal ratio. But even then, what she was getting from her power didn't seem to add up. Too much of some chemicals, not enough of others. Taking a good look at... oh. Oh!
That explained a lot.
"Ok, now that I'm not trying to punch a hole through your sonar transducer, this'll be just like when I did my cousin Crystal's for her. Vicky, if you'd do the honors?" Her sister took the earrings dubiously.
"Emerald in the right ear." Surge of dopamine from the patient. Her sister popped the backing off and started to push the stud in. Just a little cellular rearrangement, open a channel. No chance of infection, no healing times because it wasn't actually scar tissue. No pain, either. The earring slid in effortlessly, her sisters' superhuman strength and her reputation as a healer masking the fact that it was all her. In less than a minute the newest Ward was wearing her birthday gift.
"I still say it's weird they don't match." Vicky floated around to look at the results.
"You'll have to excuse my sister; she's a stereotype." Amy smiled and let go of my hand. "But she's great if you ever need fashion advice or makeup tips."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, both of you." I took a deep breath and wiped my eyes. "Right now though, I think I need cake."
"Wait... wait. Does this count as video game themed?" Dennis and Chris shared a quick look.
"You're thinking 'What if Leet built a Gunstar'?" The tinker blinked and rubbed his chin. "It'd make a Ziz fight pretty interesting. And then it'd explode and probably kill them both. And everyone else nearby." He shook his head. "Anyways, enough with the versus speculation, that's for PHO. This is a birthday party."
"That's right." Carlos smiled. "Vista, the envelope please?" The youngest Ward solemnly handed an envelope to the team leader, who passed it to me. I raised an eyebrow suspiciously at Dennis and Ethan, then opened it. Inside was a pretty funny Snoopy-themed card, a gift certificate for Fugly Bobs, and an incredibly complicated-looking origami figure. Missy leaned over and gave a little tug to one arm and it popped into three dimensions; a little paper soldier figurine at attention. Then I noticed the '215' in white on a dark grey part of the chest and realized what she'd folded up a picture.
I looked at the statuette for a long minute, completely silent, then raised my eyes to the young Shaker. "Is that what I look like to your power?"
"Kinda? I mean, it's only 3d and you're folded a lot higher than that. There's a lot of stuff going on that I don't really have the words to describe. The words I need might not even exist." She shrugged helplessly.
Chris looked intrigued. "Ok... can you navigate those folds?" Before anyone could stop her, Missy perked up, took a step towards me, and seemed to crumple in on herself while falling away. And then she vanished.
"Where'd she...?"
"Chris, next time you get an idea like this, keep it to yourself? Vista, stop playing with that, it's not a toy." I could feel her feet running along my weather deck, hear her giggling as she explored. "Ok, that's enough; we'll test this out later. There's cake, remember?"
Vista popped back sitting in my lap. "So cool!"
Victoria looked baffled. "What. The. Hell?"
I sighed as Vista giggled. "Her power is bull ship."
"Speaking of which." Chris reached into a pocket and pulled out a small jewelry box. "I, uh... I had some spare scraps of lasing medium in my shop. I, um..." He actually blushed as he handed me the box. "Happy birthday, Haida." Amy, Vicky, and Missy packed in around me as I popped the top open with a thumb. It was a pair of simple stud earrings, one apparently emerald, the other ruby, set in polished silver.
"They don't match." Vicky glared at Chris.
"They're perfect." I sniffled. I was not going to break down and cry just because a boy had made me jewelry.
"But they don't match." The blonde reiterated.
"They're not supposed to. They're perfect. Thank you Chris." I wiped a tear from my eye; holding back a sob. There'd be no way in hell my so-called parents would ever have...
"If you'd like, I can...?" Amy held out a hand towards me. I sniffed again and nodded, taking hers.
Working on Breakers and Changers was never easy. This was kind of absurd. The girl had driveshafts for femurs. But as she closed her eyes and focused; Amy started to pick out the biology in all the hardware. The girl seemed to help, dialing back her changes; more meat to metal ratio. But even then, what she was getting from her power didn't seem to add up. Too much of some chemicals, not enough of others. Taking a good look at... oh. Oh!
That explained a lot.
"Ok, now that I'm not trying to punch a hole through your sonar transducer, this'll be just like when I did my cousin Crystal's for her. Vicky, if you'd do the honors?" Her sister took the earrings dubiously.
"Emerald in the right ear." Surge of dopamine from the patient. Her sister popped the backing off and started to push the stud in. Just a little cellular rearrangement, open a channel. No chance of infection, no healing times because it wasn't actually scar tissue. No pain, either. The earring slid in effortlessly, her sisters' superhuman strength and her reputation as a healer masking the fact that it was all her. In less than a minute the newest Ward was wearing her birthday gift.
"I still say it's weird they don't match." Vicky floated around to look at the results.
"You'll have to excuse my sister; she's a stereotype." Amy smiled and let go of my hand. "But she's great if you ever need fashion advice or makeup tips."
"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, both of you." I took a deep breath and wiped my eyes. "Right now though, I think I need cake."
So, I wasn't expecting this part to be as long as it ended up being, but Chris turned out to be more insightful than I gave him credit for. Fucking Tinkers. And yes, he did just give her navigation light earrings. On the other hand, both this and the preceding are shorter than I prefer to consider a 'chapter' to be. I'm trying to hold myself to about 1.5+k words, excluding any author's notes and disclaimers; while these both ended up being in the neighborhood of 1k each. I've given them fractional chapter numbers (1.7.1 and 1.7.2); if I ever cross-post this somewhere else they'll probably end up being merged. Chalk it up to needing a running start before jumping into an exploration of the implications of Blaster 9 rating. Tune in next time for Fun with Guns! Possibly followed by a PHO interlude.
Last edited:
- Location
- Ohio
This part here, combined with earlier hints (name change, family not taking trigger event well) makes me think Haida is MtF trans, and that ostracization/persecution for it from peers and/or family contributed to her mental state during her trigger, leading to her power helping her 'jump ship' to her chosen gender in addition to 'I identify as a WWII Canadian Destroyer' powers. This is the "straw" that broke the camel's back in regards to her family's strained relationship, leading to where we are now.
Of course, I could just be reading way too much into it, and Danielle was never a Daniel in the first place, but it made sense in my head. If I am right, though, Victor's subversion attempt is going to backfire so spectacularly that any bystanders are going to wish they brought popcorn.
Pretty sure she only noticed the crew/fairy's.
- Location
- Ohio
Earlier author stated that their plan wasn't to have fairies. Combined with the context of the issue being observed as she shifts towards girl:
seems to indicate that the problem stems from the 'girl' side of shipgirl. Also, I would expect that seeing fairies would lead to an observation along the lines of 'wtf why are there tiny people living in your bones' as opposed to 'oh, that answers some questions'.
Usually, introducing fairies to people who haven't met them leads to an increase in unanswered questions, not a decrease. I could be wrong about what specific issue the ship's meatsuit has, but I'm pretty sure it's not fairies.
tl,dr: not enough screaming amy for it to be fairies
Taliserian
(Unverified Verifiable)
- Location
- ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Also Vista would probably have commented if she'd seen anyone else aboard. No fairies. Again.
And not just because inch-high monosyllabic chibis make the author want to reach for a flyswatter.
There's too many practical applications for 259 inch-high humanoid drones that I can think of; from practical jokes to reconnaissance. It's not a can of worms I want to open. The story's about Dani.
Daimah
Lurking lurker that lurks
- Location
- home
Vista in a bunny costume. Because power interactions are weird.
Now they only need to get Vista to wear this
- Pronouns
- Yes
Next question, since Missy can apparently board the ship, can she make a path to let others do so as well? And once they're on board could they make any changes? For that matter what would happen if Missy took a GPS unit, or a modern computer and put them on Haida's bridge?
Port and starboard lights? Very appropriate for a ship,and I really like the scene but I think it very odd that Glory Girl is the only one who doen't get it, while Panacea does.
Interesting, I would have thought ears would be better analogs to radio receivers/antenna, but nice line.
Interesting theory, that does seem to fit what we know
Completely off topic, but there's no shortage of girls named Daniel (Not Dani, Danielle, Daniella, etc) although it is more common today than it would have been in the mid/late 90s.
Taliserian
(Unverified Verifiable)
- Location
- ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Then there'd be a laptop sitting on her bridge; probably right next to her tablet. Just because it's on board doesn't mean it's hooked up to anything.
Panacea doesn't get it; she just sees that it's important to Dani. More of a 'Drop it, Vicky; it's good enough for her'. In the Amy PoV section it's Dani who says that the green one goes on the right side. I might need to make that clearer.
It's actually a pretty good idea. Bravo. I'm gonna WoG here and say that Haida is still the gender that she started as.
- Pronouns
- Yes
I can see you not wanting to give Haida cheap upgrades like that, but it's not like most of the normal equipment is hooked up to anything else. Or is she similarly unable to take advantage of the binoculars or radio the crew would have used?
I thought shipgirls had to have their equipment on their TO&E to use it.
Taliserian
(Unverified Verifiable)
- Location
- ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
- Pronouns
- They/Them
She can and has.
I'm not sure how many more ways I can say it: Using Worm setting powers to mimic KanColle. Not following the rules of KanColle.
- Pronouns
- Yes
The point I was making is that your explanation for stuff Vista brought on board not working because it isn't part of the ship applies equally to the binoculars or radios she uses, so you need a different explanation.