It sounds more like the Abyss itself has this view, rather than the Abyssals.
The Second Overwatch [Kantai Collection SI]
- Thread starter Hivemind-Chan
- Start date
That was what I was going for, the Abyss pushes abyssals to do that one thing and has mechanisms to enforce its will. Abyssals range from thinking that it is their own opinion to finding loopholes to do anything else besides active combat (like repairing other abbies, collecting resources or even standing watch). Abyss here is a pretty monomaniacal force that is either dumb (transmitting one concept on repeat) or doesn't care how abbies do its will. It is not yet clear if the force behind Epsi's attempt in conversion is too alien in thought to understand her points, too hard set in its worldview that it disregards her arguments or is a "smarter chatgpt" levels of non-sapient autonomous actor.
Basically, an abyssal ship gets a dopamine rush when she sees that her actions have somehow hurt humans and/or shipgirls. They also get sad and/or get migraines if they think of doing something that wouldn't hurt humans or would help humans. Then if they actually follow through with that idea they'd get a ramp up in punishment effect. Abyssals with less will and intelligence end up being monomaniacal to hurting people all the time and other abbies need to basically force them to even maintain their systems and not bumrush first known human target in sailing range. Hime and other leader abyssal orders can override this to a degree, so can personal desires if the will of the abbie is strong enough (like not wanting to die, etc. Relevant for the next update :3).
TLDR: The Abyss gives one directive, then the abyssal self- whips for how good they think they follow the directive. "Lazy", "traitorous to abyss" or "counterproductive" thoughts and actions are punished relative to abbie's own understanding.
It is not lying, it is Epsi considering the Abyss (the force behind abbies) as objectively wrong. Aka it IS a worldview, Epsi just thinks it is a wrong worldview.
The worry came from being contacted by the force behind the abyssals that attempted to sell power in exchange to view realignment and didn't accept deviation. Not agreeing to a part of the demand was a no-sell for it. Due to the person who Epsi was before being shipgirl'd, the way the abyss phrased it was offensive and she objected over that rather than over abyss itself being ontologically evil. As such, Epsi can still fall if the Abyss produces a convincing enough argument to her during an impaired emotional state.
Chapter 13: "That which does not kill me has made a tactical error…"
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Chapter 13: "That which does not kill me has made a tactical error…"
Omega is here. Logically, I shouldn't be surprised. If I'm here then by non-exclusivity it is likely that there could be others in the same situation. Unfortunately, I doubt that our reunion would be peaceful. Even if she's not an abyssal, she probably remembers fighting Epsilon on Telos. In addition, if she's not a former human she likely has no idea that this is Earth and thus she might be operating under the directives given on Telos, which were to destabilize the small world's tectonics to shut down the mining and manufacturing operations.
The reason why I'm so sure it is her is the alleged performance of her aircraft in combination with multiple bases and the cruise missiles. Manta UAVs are flying wings and are significantly smaller than any manned jets fielded on Earth and as such have a very distinct performance and appearance.
No military on Earth has actively fielded drones like this. The only things that come close are prototypes and the Reaper and Predator drones, but they are subsonic and propeller driven. As such, MCP can't be a historic or modern shipgirl. She's either Omega, a UEC ship that I have no knowledge of or a complete "black swan" that I can't account for.
I would still attempt to communicate with her as the first resort, but I can't get my hopes up. Premature contact would likely be counterproductive. She already has several bases, and I don't even have one. The Telos campaign started in a similar way as Epsilon… I… had to conquer all of my islands from her to set up and maintain production lines that would provide resources needed to take over more islands and eventually accumulate enough assets to defeat a dumber but initially better equipped automated ship.
Even then, the risk was high. Command estimated that I had a 13% chance to win against Omega the first time. The strategy relied on a combination of fast enough territory capture to snowball but with attacks spread out and slowed just enough to confuse Omega's "weak" AI. With her being a shipgirl and thus human-intelligent, this strategy would no longer work as she could see through this and focus me down early when I don't have enough resources to fight her.
Luckily, she can't spread geometrically. Only the carrier has the construction software, coordination servers and enough engineering bots to assemble the HQ structure needed to autonomously construct and operate the island's automated facilities. Same for hacking, to take over an island the carrier needs to be within high bandwidth botnet range. As such, she needs to personally settle (and recapture) every island she wants to have, limiting the rate at which she expands.
With the advantage of the existing supply chain Omega would be able to settle islands faster than me, but she needs hundreds of islands for her directives if she still follows them. As such, I'd have enough time to at least set up the full logistics chain before I'm forced to fight equivalent "tech level" units. I should be able to overpower individual islands through force concentration. Beyond that, I expect that the humans would supply some materials if not as reparations then as a way to help me deal with the MCP or at least to occupy her and to intercept abyssal raids trying to cut through my territory.
Capture of the island is also faster than construction from scratch, even if all surface structures were leveled during combat. In fact, the purpose of the nukes on board the Green Dragon and by extension me is mostly to bypass or capture an island faster than through an amphibious attack. Most of the infrastructure is below ground and the HQ can rebuild everything that gets wiped out, but it can't defend itself from the takeover when the surface structures are gone.
Omega would be forced to expand away from me at a slower rate than my ability to take over her stuff which would starve her of materiel or she'd have to fight me for a small set of islands on the border of our territories as they get captured and recaptured until one of us gets caught and sunk. I don't know if I can win against her, but I can't afford to not take this fight. In the worst case, I can just manufacture more multi-hundred kiloton nuclear munitions as a plan Z and try to tac-nuke her directly.
At least I can guess one thing with a degree of certainty: she is probably either not an abyssal or she lacks nuclear weapons. An abyssal with nukes would likely not hesitate to use them. Sydney confirmed that there were no cases of offensive use of nuclear weapons since the Blood Week, so MCP has only used the "conventional" weapons. Omega might have not received them at the start since Red Dragon didn't utilize nukes in the Taurus campaign, but Green Dragon did. Then again… an abyssal that keeps nukes in reserve as a last resort might need to be considered...
The industrial buildup required to fight Omega would need to be substantial, and the biggest demands are placed on the first island. I need to have a headquarters island set up to remotely operate other bases. It is also designed as the first step in archipelago colonization, so it can do everything… badly.
This places a limit to the smallest island that it could be built on. Pitcairn is not large enough which would necessitate some facilities to be entirely submerged in the ocean or buried deep in the island's rock which would more than double the already substantial time and material investment. Same goes for Henderson Island, these two can only economically be mining, refinery and/or fortress installations.
Gambier is beyond large enough for my purposes. My headquarters on Telos were less than a quarter as big and it has to have a stockpile of materials collected both by the abyssals and from the ruins of the town. The island is even a tiny archipelago with three smaller islands large enough to house primary refining or manufacturing facilities.
Unlike in the game, the production chains go beyond "fuel", "resources" and "dedicated factories". It is not factorio, bots are smart enough to build and route themselves, but every primary resource that I need has at least a two step chain of facilities with branching options. For instance, I can run a variety of power plants to produce synthetic fuel, or I could tap into a natural petrochemical reserve and build an oil refinery to get my avgas and diesel.
There are also dedicated factories. Some focus on ground units or aerial units. Others focus on production of specific munitions or weapons. A separate drydock facility is needed to produce logistic ships as well as escort gunboats and frigates. There are universal printer arrays, but a dedicated factory is always faster and more efficient at doing a narrower task and I need to decide how narrow I'm willing to go. If I really needed, I could have a dedicated 2 ton aerial bomb factory that would output munitions faster than I could physically sortie with them.
There are also a few options that are turbo expensive and aren't useful in the moment or for warfare at all such as terraforming equipment and spaceports, but I was especially interested in something called an "experimental weapons factory". Maybe it could give me some sort of an edge, but it is still below the priority for the industry and conventional forces. A lot of experimental options are encrypted and would need the decrypting array in the factory, but the bits that are readable hint on "laser CIWS" and "railguns" beyond a significant list of other options which is getting me excited. I hope they don't suck…
In any case, two things stand between me and my first base. First is my seaworthiness. I am fucked up, no other way to say it. However, I don't need to be at 100% to sail this distance. Once I'm there, the status of my hull or weapons won't impede the rate of construction. As such, I need to fix myself "just enough". Minimum Value Product, hah.
There are two main reasons why I'm not seaworthy. First of all, I have a large breach in my starboard aft and collapsed load bearing elements and hull in mid- starboard, which has to be fixed properly and there's no way around it. Second reason is my engines. I'm missing two entire engine blocks out of four.
It is unfeasible to print out new engines. Superconductors can't be printed with the onboard facilities and it would take almost a month to fabricate lower tech electric engines assuming access to sufficient copper reserves, which I don't have. However, I don't need full propulsion, I just need what can get me there.
As such, Engine 1 (outer left) would be moved to the slot for Engine 3 (inner right) which would allow me to at least move in the correct direction. In combination with hull repairs and the total focus of all of my engineering bots this would get me back on my feet within mere two weeks.
Far from perfect, but still something. My horsepower and energy reserves are halved and I need to be loaded to the brim with salvaged steel so my speed would drop to mere 18 knots. Maybe it was once respectable for a WW1 ship, but it still means that I'd take more than a day to cross the distance.
Here is where the second issue comes in. The surviving elements of the BB-Hime's fleet fled to Gambier and I frankly don't have the strength to 1v however many of them are left even if I was fully operational. With the reduced speed I won't be able to run. Nukes are an option, but I'd prefer to not resort to them, and if this works I won't need to.
Gambier is within strike range of my Mantas. They fly higher than WW2 fighters and anti air while being capable of precisely engaging ground targets with impunity. When Hime was around, her storm enforced the ceiling cap which would put expensive aircraft in danger, but now I can just take my time and eliminate every surface target with laser guided bombs.
I don't have enough munitions to kill every abyssal ship in the base, but that's not my goal anyway. I want the island, not the corpses. As such, I decided to bluff. Hime didn't know that I wasn't an abyssal until I removed my helmet which suggests that her forces are most likely unaware of my nature.
I simply placed some abyssal steel near my transmitter and sent a focused radio message demanding them to vacate the island or else. Over the next two weeks as I repair I'd be targeting static installations and I'll also focus down the abyssals that attempt to fight back. If they don't vacate the island on time I'd start demonstratively wiping out the most prominent abbies one by one until they flee.
The only way this could go wrong is if the abbies ignore the USN kanmusu hauler nearby and the fact that I used nukes against them to sortie against me in force, and for these cases I would have to use nukes or I could request evacuation from the americans. However, with most of the leadership gone I doubt that they'd have the will to pull something like this off.
My bluff worked beyond expectations. A week into bombardment individual abbie ships and small groups started dispersing towards the north-north-west and beyond the scouting range. Within the week and a half of the bombing larger groups led by prominent capital ships started heading out in roughly the same direction until the vast majority of identified ships were gone. It didn't mean that the island was empty, but it suggested that I could fight whoever was left directly.
Of course, it wasn't bloodless. A Wo- class attempted to intercept my jets with her late WW2 piston-props on the second day. I redirected an entire Manta against her and dropped four 500kg laser guided bombs. Let's just say that mushroom clouds can be formed by things other than nukes.
Guided bombs landed almost simultaneously. One into the oil bunkers, one into the avgas storage, one into the known ammunition stores and one directly into the carrier island. She was just instantly gone. The shrapnel and shockwave visibly startled and concussed smaller abyssals nearby as she was reduced to chunks of steel debris and a tattered keel, all covered in flaming inferno. They didn't even try to put her out, just letting the fire burn out over the next several days.
It took only one more example for the attempts to intercept my jets to cease. Another carrier tried to juke the bombs in open water with some quite inspired maneuvering, but she was gone and reduced to atoms as well, not even a Thanos joke. This was what broke the camel's back and after that abbies started to slowly and then faster and faster vacate the island.
As this took a long time, Sydney was periodically recalled to her tender for rest and debrief, leaving me with enough privacy to remove the prosthesis and repair my leg. Regrowing the foot felt… weird. Unlike what I expected, it was less like the way Deadpool or Wolverine regrow limbs, it was more like it was actually built with scaffolding first, then the hull and internals. Due to a rush job the boot and the screws didn't look great and my toes looked nasty, a bit inflamed and unnaturally bent, but my foot was fully back. Good enough.
To prepare for the potential upcoming fight I salvaged a little bit of the Hime's armor plating making a simplified helmet with open face and a vest. I couldn't use the armor I had because it was too heavy to float with. I'd also salvage the gauntlet mittens and I'd be taking the mace. I know that it is a risk of further abyssal influence, but my defensive weapons won't be sufficient to handle being jumped by multiple ships at point blank range.
Sydney wasn't happy and she demanded that she'd follow me. She insisted that after I refused to allow the USN to send more shipgirls to escort me or to clear the island first. Eventually I relented, but I had conditions. First of all, this won't be considered a favor. I refuse to owe anything for the assistance which I didn't ask for and I wouldn't accept this as a favor or a bargaining chip.
Secondly, she'd load up on processed steel to help with the hauling of as much building materials as possible. With the round trip of two days I need to get as much stuff in one go as I can as I wouldn't be able to return until the HQ is set up.
Third, USN would try to avoid landing on Pitcairn and if they do they promise to not physically take anything. I have a mostly intact and yet to be salvaged abyssal Princess corpse as well as stores of yet to be processed scrap steel. I don't care if they take samples or measurements, it is the materials that I'm concerned about. If they offer to buy her for an equivalent quantity of stuff I'd consider it.
The islands are too far for decent remote operation. Short of leaving a bunch of UGVs with autonomous orders to shoot anything that moves I can't really enforce my ownership. As such, I can't prevent anyone from landing on the island, but I can state what items there I value and implore them to think twice, especially considering our current relations.
Something rubs me wrong about this, I hope I won't regret taking her along…
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Perspective: Wo-Class standard carrier, USS Oriskany CV/CVA-34, Essex class. Gambier Island abyssal base drydock
…The time of reckoning is almost here. This is the day after the deadline of the new Hime. Everyone who could leave has already left, the few who were too far gone have already scuttled or passed away from the after effects of the Hime's unbridled rage and power. I am not quite sure why I'm still here. Do I wish for a warrior's death? Do I hope for Hime's mercy? Or am I simply too much of a coward to punch my own ticket?
During my old Hime's last mission I was hit directly into the avgas stores. The damage wasn't that bad at first, but I failed to contain the fire and by the time I was extinguished the engines were too damaged to work and all my aircraft were lost. I… watched how the "Big Sister Wo" disappeared in the blinding flash of the nuclear blast. While only the late Bunker Hill was a "true" Essex like me, she was still a sister to me, and so were the others.
My damage kept me far enough away to not be affected by the fallout, unlike many of those that were escorting my sisters. The contamination caused them to lose crew, some quickly, others slowly. The lost imps could be refilled and the deadly dust eventually lost its potency or was cleaned off, but if all of the crew is lost then you are lost as well. I've seen destroyers and cruisers almost entirely repaired yet limp and having to be carried out of the drydock to triage the space for more of the wounded.
I was spared of that horror, but I still had to be towed back to the base. I wouldn't sail, not for another month at least but now I fear that this day won't come. My body aches all over from the burns, my crew is limited to a third of what I need to operate due to the damage to the quarters and most of the cabling is fried to the point where it needs to be replaced entirely. While towing was technically on the table, my fleet had decided that there was little hope for me to survive the journey to another Hime.
Some suggested trying to ambush the other Hime, but that notion died out pretty quickly. She has defeated Polynesian Battleship Princess in single combat, sunk more than a third of our Hime's combined fleet and within just two weeks she was ready for the second round. She is a monster clad in remains of our fallen allies, if Ka was to be believed. This silenced anyone proposing to request the new Hime to adopt our fleet. That coward fled first…
Woos, one of the newer carriers nicknamed after her production number Wo-05, tried to defend the island from Pitcairn Hime's planes, but they were too high, too fast and hated fair dogfights with passion. There was nothing of her left to salvage. Her sister Tessera followed in her footsteps several days later and then the fleet decided to leave.
There are a few places where they could go. Kiribati Depot is always in need of someone to screen her convoys. There's also Central, Midway and Samoa Harbor Hime who are known to at least not cannibalize fleets who wish to join up or stay before moving elsewhere, although getting to the latter via a direct route would be difficult on account of Modern Carrier Princess. I hope the girls will eventually get to some kind of safety…
I hear some explosions and gunfire, the Hime must be close if she's focusing down the garrison imps with strafing runs and airstrikes. It… it hurts… only one boiler is working, none of my secondaries are functional and my airwings are depleted. I should thank the girls for helping me prioritize the scuttling charges, but will I have what it takes? I hope she's not as bad as I think…
The door bursts inward being blown off the hinges and a silhouette enters the room. I struggle to tilt my head to see her approach. I'd prefer to see my death coming. I hear two sets of rudders clicking against the floor, but I can't see the second ship. She walks up and stands over the pool. I wince.
She is tall, imposing, her chest and head covered by abyssal hull plating which echoes with screams of my old Hime. In her hand she carries a horrifying black mace, held in a resting position from which she can strike me with no hesitation. "This is your first and only chance to be heard. Do you understand me?" she asks, her voice causing shivers to run down my keel.
"Y…yes…" I reply, struggling against both fear and wounds.
"I gave you the time, why have you stayed?" she asks, strangely her voice doesn't drip with malice as I've expected.
"...damage… too severe… I couldn't…" I replied with hesitation. The more I look at her, the more I realize that she is not a Princess. Her skin is not pale enough, at least not everywhere. Her uniform has too much color. Her eyes stutter in their glow. She is a shipgirl.
How can a shipgirl be so… She is the [Traitor]… no… a shipgirl wouldn't do such things. She looks so close to us… I get a rising headache. I have nothing that could hurt her. I don't want to die and she seems to be… different. Maybe…
"What is your name?" she asks. I start replying: "Wo-cla…" and she shuts me up. "No, your actual name, as you were commissioned." I hesitate. Headache increases as I contemplate on how to reply. A part of me thinks that this would be cooperation with the [Traitors], but the more I look at her and think the less I see her as a [Traitor].
"...USS …Oriskany, CV-34" I produce, my voice shaky. For a few excruciatingly long moments the …Hi… …Tra… …She… thinks, after which she replies: "Very well, Ori. I will give you the chance to repair, and then a way to leave my territory safely. Take any materials you need. Don't make me regret this."
Her last words carry so much malice, yet she was kind enough to spare me. No kanmusu [Traitor] would do that for us… She is like us. She has practically fallen, and when eventually she does she'd be a powerful Princess. And a Princess needs her Servants…
The headache and the voices begin to quiet down as I bow to the best of my ability, cringing from pain. "Thank you, Hime. I won't betray your kindness." My Hime takes a step back as I hear a gasp of someone else… and the two start arguing.
Chapter 13: "That which does not kill me has made a tactical error…"
Omega is here. Logically, I shouldn't be surprised. If I'm here then by non-exclusivity it is likely that there could be others in the same situation. Unfortunately, I doubt that our reunion would be peaceful. Even if she's not an abyssal, she probably remembers fighting Epsilon on Telos. In addition, if she's not a former human she likely has no idea that this is Earth and thus she might be operating under the directives given on Telos, which were to destabilize the small world's tectonics to shut down the mining and manufacturing operations.
The reason why I'm so sure it is her is the alleged performance of her aircraft in combination with multiple bases and the cruise missiles. Manta UAVs are flying wings and are significantly smaller than any manned jets fielded on Earth and as such have a very distinct performance and appearance.
No military on Earth has actively fielded drones like this. The only things that come close are prototypes and the Reaper and Predator drones, but they are subsonic and propeller driven. As such, MCP can't be a historic or modern shipgirl. She's either Omega, a UEC ship that I have no knowledge of or a complete "black swan" that I can't account for.
I would still attempt to communicate with her as the first resort, but I can't get my hopes up. Premature contact would likely be counterproductive. She already has several bases, and I don't even have one. The Telos campaign started in a similar way as Epsilon… I… had to conquer all of my islands from her to set up and maintain production lines that would provide resources needed to take over more islands and eventually accumulate enough assets to defeat a dumber but initially better equipped automated ship.
Even then, the risk was high. Command estimated that I had a 13% chance to win against Omega the first time. The strategy relied on a combination of fast enough territory capture to snowball but with attacks spread out and slowed just enough to confuse Omega's "weak" AI. With her being a shipgirl and thus human-intelligent, this strategy would no longer work as she could see through this and focus me down early when I don't have enough resources to fight her.
Luckily, she can't spread geometrically. Only the carrier has the construction software, coordination servers and enough engineering bots to assemble the HQ structure needed to autonomously construct and operate the island's automated facilities. Same for hacking, to take over an island the carrier needs to be within high bandwidth botnet range. As such, she needs to personally settle (and recapture) every island she wants to have, limiting the rate at which she expands.
With the advantage of the existing supply chain Omega would be able to settle islands faster than me, but she needs hundreds of islands for her directives if she still follows them. As such, I'd have enough time to at least set up the full logistics chain before I'm forced to fight equivalent "tech level" units. I should be able to overpower individual islands through force concentration. Beyond that, I expect that the humans would supply some materials if not as reparations then as a way to help me deal with the MCP or at least to occupy her and to intercept abyssal raids trying to cut through my territory.
Capture of the island is also faster than construction from scratch, even if all surface structures were leveled during combat. In fact, the purpose of the nukes on board the Green Dragon and by extension me is mostly to bypass or capture an island faster than through an amphibious attack. Most of the infrastructure is below ground and the HQ can rebuild everything that gets wiped out, but it can't defend itself from the takeover when the surface structures are gone.
Omega would be forced to expand away from me at a slower rate than my ability to take over her stuff which would starve her of materiel or she'd have to fight me for a small set of islands on the border of our territories as they get captured and recaptured until one of us gets caught and sunk. I don't know if I can win against her, but I can't afford to not take this fight. In the worst case, I can just manufacture more multi-hundred kiloton nuclear munitions as a plan Z and try to tac-nuke her directly.
At least I can guess one thing with a degree of certainty: she is probably either not an abyssal or she lacks nuclear weapons. An abyssal with nukes would likely not hesitate to use them. Sydney confirmed that there were no cases of offensive use of nuclear weapons since the Blood Week, so MCP has only used the "conventional" weapons. Omega might have not received them at the start since Red Dragon didn't utilize nukes in the Taurus campaign, but Green Dragon did. Then again… an abyssal that keeps nukes in reserve as a last resort might need to be considered...
The industrial buildup required to fight Omega would need to be substantial, and the biggest demands are placed on the first island. I need to have a headquarters island set up to remotely operate other bases. It is also designed as the first step in archipelago colonization, so it can do everything… badly.
This places a limit to the smallest island that it could be built on. Pitcairn is not large enough which would necessitate some facilities to be entirely submerged in the ocean or buried deep in the island's rock which would more than double the already substantial time and material investment. Same goes for Henderson Island, these two can only economically be mining, refinery and/or fortress installations.
Gambier is beyond large enough for my purposes. My headquarters on Telos were less than a quarter as big and it has to have a stockpile of materials collected both by the abyssals and from the ruins of the town. The island is even a tiny archipelago with three smaller islands large enough to house primary refining or manufacturing facilities.
Unlike in the game, the production chains go beyond "fuel", "resources" and "dedicated factories". It is not factorio, bots are smart enough to build and route themselves, but every primary resource that I need has at least a two step chain of facilities with branching options. For instance, I can run a variety of power plants to produce synthetic fuel, or I could tap into a natural petrochemical reserve and build an oil refinery to get my avgas and diesel.
There are also dedicated factories. Some focus on ground units or aerial units. Others focus on production of specific munitions or weapons. A separate drydock facility is needed to produce logistic ships as well as escort gunboats and frigates. There are universal printer arrays, but a dedicated factory is always faster and more efficient at doing a narrower task and I need to decide how narrow I'm willing to go. If I really needed, I could have a dedicated 2 ton aerial bomb factory that would output munitions faster than I could physically sortie with them.
There are also a few options that are turbo expensive and aren't useful in the moment or for warfare at all such as terraforming equipment and spaceports, but I was especially interested in something called an "experimental weapons factory". Maybe it could give me some sort of an edge, but it is still below the priority for the industry and conventional forces. A lot of experimental options are encrypted and would need the decrypting array in the factory, but the bits that are readable hint on "laser CIWS" and "railguns" beyond a significant list of other options which is getting me excited. I hope they don't suck…
In any case, two things stand between me and my first base. First is my seaworthiness. I am fucked up, no other way to say it. However, I don't need to be at 100% to sail this distance. Once I'm there, the status of my hull or weapons won't impede the rate of construction. As such, I need to fix myself "just enough". Minimum Value Product, hah.
There are two main reasons why I'm not seaworthy. First of all, I have a large breach in my starboard aft and collapsed load bearing elements and hull in mid- starboard, which has to be fixed properly and there's no way around it. Second reason is my engines. I'm missing two entire engine blocks out of four.
It is unfeasible to print out new engines. Superconductors can't be printed with the onboard facilities and it would take almost a month to fabricate lower tech electric engines assuming access to sufficient copper reserves, which I don't have. However, I don't need full propulsion, I just need what can get me there.
As such, Engine 1 (outer left) would be moved to the slot for Engine 3 (inner right) which would allow me to at least move in the correct direction. In combination with hull repairs and the total focus of all of my engineering bots this would get me back on my feet within mere two weeks.
Far from perfect, but still something. My horsepower and energy reserves are halved and I need to be loaded to the brim with salvaged steel so my speed would drop to mere 18 knots. Maybe it was once respectable for a WW1 ship, but it still means that I'd take more than a day to cross the distance.
Here is where the second issue comes in. The surviving elements of the BB-Hime's fleet fled to Gambier and I frankly don't have the strength to 1v however many of them are left even if I was fully operational. With the reduced speed I won't be able to run. Nukes are an option, but I'd prefer to not resort to them, and if this works I won't need to.
Gambier is within strike range of my Mantas. They fly higher than WW2 fighters and anti air while being capable of precisely engaging ground targets with impunity. When Hime was around, her storm enforced the ceiling cap which would put expensive aircraft in danger, but now I can just take my time and eliminate every surface target with laser guided bombs.
I don't have enough munitions to kill every abyssal ship in the base, but that's not my goal anyway. I want the island, not the corpses. As such, I decided to bluff. Hime didn't know that I wasn't an abyssal until I removed my helmet which suggests that her forces are most likely unaware of my nature.
I simply placed some abyssal steel near my transmitter and sent a focused radio message demanding them to vacate the island or else. Over the next two weeks as I repair I'd be targeting static installations and I'll also focus down the abyssals that attempt to fight back. If they don't vacate the island on time I'd start demonstratively wiping out the most prominent abbies one by one until they flee.
The only way this could go wrong is if the abbies ignore the USN kanmusu hauler nearby and the fact that I used nukes against them to sortie against me in force, and for these cases I would have to use nukes or I could request evacuation from the americans. However, with most of the leadership gone I doubt that they'd have the will to pull something like this off.
My bluff worked beyond expectations. A week into bombardment individual abbie ships and small groups started dispersing towards the north-north-west and beyond the scouting range. Within the week and a half of the bombing larger groups led by prominent capital ships started heading out in roughly the same direction until the vast majority of identified ships were gone. It didn't mean that the island was empty, but it suggested that I could fight whoever was left directly.
Of course, it wasn't bloodless. A Wo- class attempted to intercept my jets with her late WW2 piston-props on the second day. I redirected an entire Manta against her and dropped four 500kg laser guided bombs. Let's just say that mushroom clouds can be formed by things other than nukes.
Guided bombs landed almost simultaneously. One into the oil bunkers, one into the avgas storage, one into the known ammunition stores and one directly into the carrier island. She was just instantly gone. The shrapnel and shockwave visibly startled and concussed smaller abyssals nearby as she was reduced to chunks of steel debris and a tattered keel, all covered in flaming inferno. They didn't even try to put her out, just letting the fire burn out over the next several days.
It took only one more example for the attempts to intercept my jets to cease. Another carrier tried to juke the bombs in open water with some quite inspired maneuvering, but she was gone and reduced to atoms as well, not even a Thanos joke. This was what broke the camel's back and after that abbies started to slowly and then faster and faster vacate the island.
As this took a long time, Sydney was periodically recalled to her tender for rest and debrief, leaving me with enough privacy to remove the prosthesis and repair my leg. Regrowing the foot felt… weird. Unlike what I expected, it was less like the way Deadpool or Wolverine regrow limbs, it was more like it was actually built with scaffolding first, then the hull and internals. Due to a rush job the boot and the screws didn't look great and my toes looked nasty, a bit inflamed and unnaturally bent, but my foot was fully back. Good enough.
To prepare for the potential upcoming fight I salvaged a little bit of the Hime's armor plating making a simplified helmet with open face and a vest. I couldn't use the armor I had because it was too heavy to float with. I'd also salvage the gauntlet mittens and I'd be taking the mace. I know that it is a risk of further abyssal influence, but my defensive weapons won't be sufficient to handle being jumped by multiple ships at point blank range.
Sydney wasn't happy and she demanded that she'd follow me. She insisted that after I refused to allow the USN to send more shipgirls to escort me or to clear the island first. Eventually I relented, but I had conditions. First of all, this won't be considered a favor. I refuse to owe anything for the assistance which I didn't ask for and I wouldn't accept this as a favor or a bargaining chip.
Secondly, she'd load up on processed steel to help with the hauling of as much building materials as possible. With the round trip of two days I need to get as much stuff in one go as I can as I wouldn't be able to return until the HQ is set up.
Third, USN would try to avoid landing on Pitcairn and if they do they promise to not physically take anything. I have a mostly intact and yet to be salvaged abyssal Princess corpse as well as stores of yet to be processed scrap steel. I don't care if they take samples or measurements, it is the materials that I'm concerned about. If they offer to buy her for an equivalent quantity of stuff I'd consider it.
The islands are too far for decent remote operation. Short of leaving a bunch of UGVs with autonomous orders to shoot anything that moves I can't really enforce my ownership. As such, I can't prevent anyone from landing on the island, but I can state what items there I value and implore them to think twice, especially considering our current relations.
Something rubs me wrong about this, I hope I won't regret taking her along…
_________________________________________
Perspective: Wo-Class standard carrier, USS Oriskany CV/CVA-34, Essex class. Gambier Island abyssal base drydock
…The time of reckoning is almost here. This is the day after the deadline of the new Hime. Everyone who could leave has already left, the few who were too far gone have already scuttled or passed away from the after effects of the Hime's unbridled rage and power. I am not quite sure why I'm still here. Do I wish for a warrior's death? Do I hope for Hime's mercy? Or am I simply too much of a coward to punch my own ticket?
During my old Hime's last mission I was hit directly into the avgas stores. The damage wasn't that bad at first, but I failed to contain the fire and by the time I was extinguished the engines were too damaged to work and all my aircraft were lost. I… watched how the "Big Sister Wo" disappeared in the blinding flash of the nuclear blast. While only the late Bunker Hill was a "true" Essex like me, she was still a sister to me, and so were the others.
My damage kept me far enough away to not be affected by the fallout, unlike many of those that were escorting my sisters. The contamination caused them to lose crew, some quickly, others slowly. The lost imps could be refilled and the deadly dust eventually lost its potency or was cleaned off, but if all of the crew is lost then you are lost as well. I've seen destroyers and cruisers almost entirely repaired yet limp and having to be carried out of the drydock to triage the space for more of the wounded.
I was spared of that horror, but I still had to be towed back to the base. I wouldn't sail, not for another month at least but now I fear that this day won't come. My body aches all over from the burns, my crew is limited to a third of what I need to operate due to the damage to the quarters and most of the cabling is fried to the point where it needs to be replaced entirely. While towing was technically on the table, my fleet had decided that there was little hope for me to survive the journey to another Hime.
Some suggested trying to ambush the other Hime, but that notion died out pretty quickly. She has defeated Polynesian Battleship Princess in single combat, sunk more than a third of our Hime's combined fleet and within just two weeks she was ready for the second round. She is a monster clad in remains of our fallen allies, if Ka was to be believed. This silenced anyone proposing to request the new Hime to adopt our fleet. That coward fled first…
Woos, one of the newer carriers nicknamed after her production number Wo-05, tried to defend the island from Pitcairn Hime's planes, but they were too high, too fast and hated fair dogfights with passion. There was nothing of her left to salvage. Her sister Tessera followed in her footsteps several days later and then the fleet decided to leave.
There are a few places where they could go. Kiribati Depot is always in need of someone to screen her convoys. There's also Central, Midway and Samoa Harbor Hime who are known to at least not cannibalize fleets who wish to join up or stay before moving elsewhere, although getting to the latter via a direct route would be difficult on account of Modern Carrier Princess. I hope the girls will eventually get to some kind of safety…
I hear some explosions and gunfire, the Hime must be close if she's focusing down the garrison imps with strafing runs and airstrikes. It… it hurts… only one boiler is working, none of my secondaries are functional and my airwings are depleted. I should thank the girls for helping me prioritize the scuttling charges, but will I have what it takes? I hope she's not as bad as I think…
The door bursts inward being blown off the hinges and a silhouette enters the room. I struggle to tilt my head to see her approach. I'd prefer to see my death coming. I hear two sets of rudders clicking against the floor, but I can't see the second ship. She walks up and stands over the pool. I wince.
She is tall, imposing, her chest and head covered by abyssal hull plating which echoes with screams of my old Hime. In her hand she carries a horrifying black mace, held in a resting position from which she can strike me with no hesitation. "This is your first and only chance to be heard. Do you understand me?" she asks, her voice causing shivers to run down my keel.
"Y…yes…" I reply, struggling against both fear and wounds.
"I gave you the time, why have you stayed?" she asks, strangely her voice doesn't drip with malice as I've expected.
"...damage… too severe… I couldn't…" I replied with hesitation. The more I look at her, the more I realize that she is not a Princess. Her skin is not pale enough, at least not everywhere. Her uniform has too much color. Her eyes stutter in their glow. She is a shipgirl.
How can a shipgirl be so… She is the [Traitor]… no… a shipgirl wouldn't do such things. She looks so close to us… I get a rising headache. I have nothing that could hurt her. I don't want to die and she seems to be… different. Maybe…
"What is your name?" she asks. I start replying: "Wo-cla…" and she shuts me up. "No, your actual name, as you were commissioned." I hesitate. Headache increases as I contemplate on how to reply. A part of me thinks that this would be cooperation with the [Traitors], but the more I look at her and think the less I see her as a [Traitor].
"...USS …Oriskany, CV-34" I produce, my voice shaky. For a few excruciatingly long moments the …Hi… …Tra… …She… thinks, after which she replies: "Very well, Ori. I will give you the chance to repair, and then a way to leave my territory safely. Take any materials you need. Don't make me regret this."
Her last words carry so much malice, yet she was kind enough to spare me. No kanmusu [Traitor] would do that for us… She is like us. She has practically fallen, and when eventually she does she'd be a powerful Princess. And a Princess needs her Servants…
The headache and the voices begin to quiet down as I bow to the best of my ability, cringing from pain. "Thank you, Hime. I won't betray your kindness." My Hime takes a step back as I hear a gasp of someone else… and the two start arguing.
More MCP artwork
Hey guys. Sorry that it took a while. I was melting in my juices here since it was 42 degrees outside and 30 inside with two ACs on full blast. My productivity tanked and that overlayed over greek language courses which obliterated any free time I had available. Updates will continue whenever I can, and REINTE is hiatus'd under tertiary priority after this and SGQ rewrite, as I mentioned in the thread.
In the meantime, I'd like to thank Jesse for producing this image of Modern Carrier Princess. Due to the language barrier I couldn't get the original artist to draw MCP and her rigging in the same image to display intended size, so I decided to commission this.
In the meantime, I'd like to thank Jesse for producing this image of Modern Carrier Princess. Due to the language barrier I couldn't get the original artist to draw MCP and her rigging in the same image to display intended size, so I decided to commission this.
FlavorTown
Always Hungry for More
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hmm, I'm not sure how in line with her character so far with letting the Wo go is, I expected her to pump it for info and sell it to the US or to conscript it.
TharjaDoesWrite
Tharja the Kat Dragon
- Location
- Muse City
I mean, general reminder its a self insert as well. If Hive would do it over those other options, then...
WHITE WHALE????? CURSE YOU! BaAYLE!!!!
IMO, Epsilon is still self consistent, I guess her recent behavior didn't quite show how she thinks. Essentially, as an SI she has expectations that abbies can be people. However, all her previous encounters with them went south. First, a destroyer shot at her. Then a cruiser instead of replying to demands after being subdued tried to bite her. Then a Wo bombed her island for days until she had to hit too fast for Bunker Hill to react. Re was taken out at range so no communication was possible and BB-Hime replied only by cursing Epsi out. It is not that Epsi hates abyssals, she just has very low expectations and she expects smaller abbies to be only subsapient.
What happened here is that Epsi gave Wo a single chance to prove the intelligence/capability and willingness for communication. If Wo refused, she'd be killed on the spot. At this point, in Epsi's mind the Wo moved from the category of "rabid animal/enemy" to "captive individual" which made her extend the benefit of the doubt as she is not a murderer. Epsi doesn't execute POWs, and "being unable to resist" qualifies for that definition. Essentially, Wo has one chance. If she bites Epsi's hand she's dead.
Beyond that, Wo has something that dead abbies don't provide to Epsi: knowledge. Epsi would definitely debrief and question Oriskany. Regarding drafting, Wo has limited utility because she can't fight MCP's stuff on equal footing and for defenses Epsi needs to set up something that could nail Wo if she goes rogue because an abbie won't be trusted easily. Also, Epsi has reservations about drafts and enlistment, which is why instead of signing up she technically made a mercenary employment contract with UEC by proxy of Commander Gage. She'd prefer just keeping Wo in the dock as opposed to forcing her to fight if Wo doesn't volunteer.
As for selling Oriskany to the US, as Epsi filed Wo under "people" category she'd expect that this would be paramount to killing her, and as such she'd refuse. If Wo betrays Epsi then she'd kill Ori herself, otherwise she either leaves under Epsi's protection until she passes outside the claimed region or she stays under Epsi.
I have update 3 to tech list in the works, it would just take a while. As for the story it would come out when I both get the time and the burnout passes.
- Location
- The State of Denial
With the oil tear in its eye, and the way its mouth is opened, it looks less like the rigging is roaring, and more like it stubbed its toe on the coffee table at two AM.
Chapter 14: “Building something permanent, for once"
======================================================================
Chapter 14: "Building something permanent, for once"
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Perspective: Mangareva, Gambier Islands
"You can't just adopt a Wo!" the aussie stated in exasperation as we exited the abyssal repair pool facility.
"I'm not adopting her, I'm sparing her" I reply, not responding to the emotionality of her words as I partially focus on a group of Corgi marine bots cleaning up the last of the garrison imps. "She will be free to go once she is repaired enough."
"How is it any better?" Sydney asks as she facepalms. "You'd be letting a monster out into the world. A monster that would kill people and sink ships."
"I'm not harming a prisoner. You've heard what she said, she's Oriskany, an Essex class carrier. She's a corrupted shipgirl and she has surrendered."
"That is not what I meant, and it didn't stop you from scrapping other corrupted kanmusu before!" she points out with some annoyance in her voice.
I turn towards her, not showing the fact that these words actually somewhat hit a nerve. "No. In the first case I had to put a cruiser down because she was biting me like a rabid animal and in the second case I had to kill the carrier in combat because she didn't even attempt to surrender. Oriskany can speak and she has actually done something outside of direct hostilities."
Sydney's eyes go wide as she notices my mood regardless of my efforts and she nervously replies "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I didn't want to be offensive. It is just… it feels like anything we propose you just dismiss out of hand. Almost like you're disinterested in cooperation. You don't compromise, you just do as you want. You even refused the offer to share my food."
I'm stunned for a few moments before I reply: "...really? I didn't consider it as a trend, I guess it is my turn to apologize. I simply made a decision based on multiple factors, and your proposals didn't account for the entirety of the reasons why I came up with the decisions I did. From my perspective it felt like you were raising concerns that I already considered while making proposals that don't account for my goals and values, likely because you can't guess my goals and values."
I sigh. "I'm sorry for this, once again. Let's do this differently. I'll explain my reasoning and then we'll see if we can compromise on something, ok?"
Sydney was not expecting this, but she nods, which allows me to continue. "I have two main reasons for keeping Wo at least for a while. The reasons are practical and ethical. I consider that keeping her with me would provide more information to both of our sides than any other alternative and I doubt that she'd be safe if I give her to you. I am aware of the risks, both that she could attempt to harm me and that she could attempt to sway me towards the Abyss, but these risks are not insurmountable and can be hedged against.
To explain the former, I have a strong hunch that Oriskany might have something that limits her will. Be it her own convictions, literal brainwashing or anything in between, we won't know until she is debriefed. However, we both could clearly see how much she struggled with specific topics while surrendering. It was as if she was disgusted and actively in pain.
Also, she surrendered to a Hime, as in she considers me to be an abyssal princess. She didn't surrender to a shipgirl. Potentially this is the only reason why she surrendered and not scuttled. She may refuse or even actively resist you if I just hand her over. From what I understand, this is the only case of a captive abyssal, right?"
"As far as I know, yes" Sydney agrees and nods. "In the rare cases of disabled abyssals they seem to either scuttle or try to break out to the point where they irreparably damage themselves."
"Ah, like how a restrained mouse would struggle to the point it breaks its own skull and dies." I comment, and sensing the cruiser wincing I explain "Or so I've heard. Apparently you need to be quite desensitized to work in a neuroscience research lab."
I continue my initial point: "Anyway, this might also be the only opportunity to question an abyssal and to study her with her limited cooperation. Without it she'd only be interesting for abyssal biology and physiology, which brings up the second point.
I expect that giving up Ori would most likely result in her death. She is difficult and expensive to contain, especially if she is not cooperating. You mentioned that to subdue a shipgirl it is recommended that several bigger shipgirls are present. That's kanmusu that can't get deployed while a Wo is a 30-flipping-thousand tons of shipgirl who can just walk straight through a concrete wall. You'd be benching several carriers or battleships while she's there.
Thus there is a motivation on your side for the research process to take the shortest amount of time possible or to make her containment take up the least resources possible. As such, she'd either be invasively studied and killed or she'd be entirely immobilized for long periods of time.
That Wo-class is a prisoner of war. Legally by both my and your standards I'm responsible for her health and safety. Giving her up might violate human experimentation regulations and potentially even human trafficking laws, although I'm not a lawyer to know for sure.
I know that it might not look like I have any morality when I wear armor that was cut out of an abyssal princess, but this is different. She is a person, she is not actively hostile and she is my prisoner. I refuse to compromise my morals. However, I do plan to share what I find out about her, both as recordings and notes. I'm also ready to hear you out if you have anything."
Sydney is silent and thinking for quite a while before she says: "Broken shipgirls risk falling to the Abyss, so maybe helping her heal would bring her back?"
My eyebrows rise in mild surprise. "That's… a decent idea, at the very least worth a try. We'll need to be smart and methodical about this. Bringing in some comforts she couldn't access as an abyssal and maybe even the people that she might be familiar with, such as her sisters. Might need a few trained psychologists and/or psychiatrists to be in the loop… It would really depend on how she'd react to people other than me, but that is something I'm willing to try."
The Australian cruiser quietly breathes out in relief. I didn't realize that she expected me to refuse. She continues: "I still think that it is too dangerous for you to be this close to an abyssal."
I rub between my eyes and reply: "I won't sugarcoat it, this is risky and dangerous. However, I have almost three times the mass advantage on her and I always have a bird with anti ship munitions in the air. If she ambushes me when sleeping or undergoing repair then she'd be bombed before she could launch anything.
Yes, I need to wear my armor until we figure out if she'd be triggered by me without it. Yes I expect that she'd try to influence me to switch to the side of the Abyss. However, I've refused it before and the corruption process is not instantaneous. If things go really bad then we can abort at any stage.
Once I set up more static defenses I'd be confident enough to allow more and bigger shipgirls to visit. Considering the circumstances I also expect that you'd want me to be monitored more closely so that we don't miss the early signs of things not going to plan. And as for releasing Ori, well, we can return to that subject at a later date. How does that sound?"
_________________________________________
Well, Gambier Islands are now mine and the construction of the headquarters takes the maximum priority. Abyssal land forces were hunted to extinction and Ori is confined to her repair pool. It would have been smarter to debrief her early, but I literally can't afford the delay. Headquarters facility is required for automation and until it is built I'm stuck running everything manually.
I won't forget about the Wo, but my attention would be strained during the bootstrapping phase… for about three weeks. I will deliver supplies and food to Ori, but she proved to be currently struggling with maintaining consciousness which makes questioning unviable until she repairs herself further. In combination with the bootstrapping load I expect her to be mobile before I'm done.
However, before I look into the construction plans I need to survey my holdings. Gambier islands used to have about 1,5 thousand people living on them, but the vast majority lived on Mangareva with others having less than 50 permanent residents each. Less than a village per island, barely a couple buildings in some cases. Mangareva itself has a road going all the way around the coastline with one to two story buildings (or what remains of them) built in a few of the very neat and scenic bays.
The people were mostly successfully evacuated to Australia and New Zealand during the Blood Week which was some good news for a change. Apparently they hid in the forest and waited for relief. Abbies didn't perform coordinated raids before the emergence of the Princesses and Demons, they just shelled and monitored for obvious human activity between bouts of fratricide. A coordinated strike allowed for quick evacuation of the island once the military adapted to these "wild" abyssals, but when they started forming fleets it became too difficult to reliably push into the infested waters.
Hime's presence here not only caused the devastation of human infrastructure, but it seemingly affected the local ecosystem. My assumption is that having a rainstorm in the sky 24/7 severely hampers the vegetation. The trees around BB's favorite half of the island look darker and sickly with some that are outright dead and rotting while further away they are much healthier.
There were few standing structures left that weren't built by abyssals themselves. Abbies had a repair pool building, several warehouses, a variety of coastal defenses and a dock with a half- submerged facility that is presumably for ship construction or is some kind of mooring shelter. I couldn't find any housing facilities, as if they lived almost entirely outside or just slept in the storage sheds and the few surviving ruins.
I expected a summoning chamber or something, but it is possible that such services could have been sidestepped with the drydock or purchased from other princesses. BB Hime's throne is apparently a vaguely throne-shaped pile of rubble that once used to be a church. Yeah, good thing I refused the abyss's offer, this feels both wrong and uncomfortable to use.
The primary island is volcanic with soft sandy beaches and a relatively tall mountain (441m). There are three smaller but still sizable and close by islands nearby as well as a long and thin sandy island chain to the north - east that is great for a long airstrip and directional defenses. In fact, a bombed out airstrip suggests that a small airport used to be there once. I'd be taking everything, of course, but Mangareva promises to be the best starting site. Everything else can be connected with shipping logistics and later with underground tunnels.
The mountain offers a promise for mining and maybe even geothermal power while the ocean nearby already shows the potential for deep sea mining. Aerial reconnaissance already detected signs of significant sulfide deposits, polymetallic nodules and polymetallic crusts as well as potentially some rare earth sources but more survey is needed. However, mining facilities are currently at the bottom of my priorities.
With the quantity of abyssal wrecks in the ocean and the unprocessed steel on land I won't be bottlenecked on base materials for a while. Yes, the non- corrupted abyssal components seem to decay rapidly in water but I can still process the rust and bauxite. I'm actually primarily bottlenecked with processing steel and printing parts. Half of the manufacturing capacity makes the feedstock for the other half. If I simply use my current facilities I would be done in over two months which is unacceptable.
What I'm going to do is construct a small metallurgic plant and a small laser sintering printer array. They would take some time to build and I'd be stuck plugged into them to tap my reactor for power, but this would drop the time estimates to merely three weeks. Just the smelter alone would produce more metal powder than I can process and while the printer is not universal it would take over the job of producing structural elements. Afterwards I'd focus on some base power source array like wind turbines and later the resource gathering would be constructed in parallel or after the docks and larger factories.
But until the HQ and power plants are ready, I'm going to be wired into the factories for weeks. This will suck. To make this suck a little bit less I decided to collect and prepare as much long-living food as I could and see if I could find something interesting and useful in the ruins while the bots were occupied with preparing land for construction. There are coconut trees and abandoned fruit plants all over so I suppose I have a bit of time for some fishing, gathering and preserving.
This is where I found the worst thing yet. A huge huntsman spider! I admit, maybe freezing and ordering marine bots to hose the spider down with HMGs was a bit of an overreaction, especially when my skin is made of thicker steel than the arachnid's entire body. But I just don't like spiders, okay?
And keep in mind, this is a tropical jungle. Don't walk into a nearly invisible web that feels like it is made of steel with a spider the size of your fist in the middle. Thankfully, by that point Sydney was recalled for a couple days so no one has heard my embarrassing shriek. Nevermind, just received a radio call from Ori asking if her Hime is alright. Great…
Anyway, unfortunately there wasn't much left. I managed to get some of what once used to be electronics, but being covered in rubble and exposed to the elements is not the best environment for naked computer hardware. At most it would provide some samples for Essi to look into, but I doubt that we'd have enough intact parts to make anything functional.
I did find a still standing building which still had a bed that wasn't molded over and a backup generator that could run a stove and a fridge. It was on the other side of the island which is almost an hour walk from where I'm building. I do have a ruin that is closer but unfortunately it was filled with mostly unusable furniture. I simply took apart the generator, the bed and appliances to move them there. With the generator reconfigured to accept refueling from Mule UGVs I wouldn't need to worry about the fridge defrosting.
By the time I needed to resign myself to temporarily being a static powerplant, I managed to collect, salt, smoke and prepare a bunch of fish, crabs and a variety of random fruits and vegetables that I could recognize. While I don't think that I'd starve without this food, I'd still prefer to have something for myself, for Ori and for any guests I might end up having. The Wo-class can apparently drink oil directly but I just know that this is not the way to do it.
Sydney comes over several times a week to check up on me. She said that she'd wish to come more often but her commander worries about the level of stress she gets from being near me and the Wo. They could set up a rotation, but they are still choosing who to send and worry about my reaction even though I stated that I don't really care as long as it is not a destroyer, a BB or a fleet carrier. I think it is probably some internal political stuff, such as which country gets to send their girl if they worry that I'd get mad at a USN kanmusu.
With her worst fears failing to materialize Sydney allowed herself to relax a little. She brought a couple board games, bedding and some food. I accepted the former two. She was a bit miffed, but I offered some of my own cooking and she got better. Apparently I'm a decent cook even though I'm improvising almost everything, who knew. Ori complimented my cooking as well, but it honestly felt like she was being obsequious. One would assume that a simple seawater boiled crab was the best thing she ever ate from how she phrased it.
After a somewhat boring attempt at playing Monopoly with just the two of us we ended up playing Battleships. It was quite amusing, especially considering our nature. We didn't have that much time to play since her visits were somewhat limited and preoccupied with checking me for porcelain white spots, but she did leave a chess set and a deck of cards.
Chess in particular could be played via the radio. I've had a few matches with other shipgirls aboard the Peleliu and even a match against commander Mitchell. Didn't win everything, but I've won way more times than I had the right to. I was never that great with chess, but I had a secret weapon. Gage had an actual competitive rank of a class B so it was more like him versus the shipgirls, but he insisted that I should take the credit.
In any case, until the construction is done I can't really do anything significant. I can only wait…
_________________________________________
Perspective: On board of the Peleliu, ready room
The ready room contains only two people. Commander Mitchell can be seen sitting in the front row of the chairs while a USN analyst is presenting slides on the screen. An older gray haired gentleman in a distinct uniform can be seen in the teleconference window to the side of the smartboard. They are poorly lit and the camera is often buffering making it hard to discern the finer features, but the uniform style and a few other discerning markings suggest a rank of admiral.
Analyst, finishing an extensive presentation as the screen shows satellite and drone footage over the span of a week: "...from what we see here, she's almost like a shipgirl version of an Installation Princess. Within days the terrain is cleared, explosives are planted and a precise demolition clears the ground for concrete foundation pouring as bulldozers extract the debris. The construction machinery is fairy sized, but the buildings they're making are full scale. We see three terrain clearings with the construction primarily focused on one of them. Once Epsilon is done, the islands are likely going to be de facto hers."
The Admiral's voice crackled over the speakers, steady despite the intermittent connection. "Thank you, Mr. Smith. Frankly, I don't think there's anything we can reasonably do about it at this point. Let's move on. After the recent expedition to Pitcairn, ONI is eager to acquire the PBP wreckage and that abyssal steel armor. Is there any way we can retrieve it from under her?"
Smith straightened, clearly anticipating the question. "Epsilon has expressed her desire to maintain ownership of the body. I believe that she would react negatively if we were to just take it and she would find out very quickly. Her opinion of us is already quite low. We risk ruining all the goodwill that we managed to accumulate with her as of yet."
The older man clears his throat. "She is not very cooperative regardless and I doubt that she can afford to hold a grudge, but it might complicate things in the future. Do we have any better proposals?"
Commander Mitchell leaned forward slightly, choosing his words carefully. "We may simply ask her directly. She has been more cooperative lately and maybe she would be more willing to part with her kill. Especially if she gets something in return."
Admiral's voice over the speakers takes a momentary pause. "You propose that she might sell it?"
"She was the first to offer it as an option. Epsilon stated that she values the Princesses body for materials rather than for its scientific value and she has stressed that the material is critical for timely construction of her facilities. She will be willing to exchange it for nearly 1 to 1 of the "factual" mass of bulk steel, copper and bauxite which is around 60 000 tons, same applies for the harvested abyssal steel. We were also informed that she's interested in semiconductor industry grade silicone boules, metallic iridium and nuclear fuels. Specifically NU or any enriched uranium, plutonium and/or thorium." Commander Mitchell replies.
"Well now," the Admiral's voice perked up. "That's a pleasant surprise. It also shows what she wants, which would be helpful for the reparation offer later. Speaking of which, it is being delayed for logistics and… political reasons again. Washington wants to see more cooperation from her before they commit the taxpayer funds. Hypocritical, perhaps, but what can we do? They probably heard "Is Epsi ok" and thought it involved soft drinks." His joke prompted faint chuckles from Mitchell and Smith.
The Admiral continued, his tone more serious now. "I don't think that she'd be getting uranium anytime soon, but the trade proposal appears reasonable. We'd get what the Naval Intelligence wants and remove a potential abyssal corruption source. This is also not an exorbitant amount of resources and within the discretionary budget so we can handle it without the Congress approval. In fact, maybe ONI could pitch in most of it considering who caused all this mess in the first place…"
Chapter 14: "Building something permanent, for once"
_________________________________________
Perspective: Mangareva, Gambier Islands
"You can't just adopt a Wo!" the aussie stated in exasperation as we exited the abyssal repair pool facility.
"I'm not adopting her, I'm sparing her" I reply, not responding to the emotionality of her words as I partially focus on a group of Corgi marine bots cleaning up the last of the garrison imps. "She will be free to go once she is repaired enough."
"How is it any better?" Sydney asks as she facepalms. "You'd be letting a monster out into the world. A monster that would kill people and sink ships."
"I'm not harming a prisoner. You've heard what she said, she's Oriskany, an Essex class carrier. She's a corrupted shipgirl and she has surrendered."
"That is not what I meant, and it didn't stop you from scrapping other corrupted kanmusu before!" she points out with some annoyance in her voice.
I turn towards her, not showing the fact that these words actually somewhat hit a nerve. "No. In the first case I had to put a cruiser down because she was biting me like a rabid animal and in the second case I had to kill the carrier in combat because she didn't even attempt to surrender. Oriskany can speak and she has actually done something outside of direct hostilities."
Sydney's eyes go wide as she notices my mood regardless of my efforts and she nervously replies "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I didn't want to be offensive. It is just… it feels like anything we propose you just dismiss out of hand. Almost like you're disinterested in cooperation. You don't compromise, you just do as you want. You even refused the offer to share my food."
I'm stunned for a few moments before I reply: "...really? I didn't consider it as a trend, I guess it is my turn to apologize. I simply made a decision based on multiple factors, and your proposals didn't account for the entirety of the reasons why I came up with the decisions I did. From my perspective it felt like you were raising concerns that I already considered while making proposals that don't account for my goals and values, likely because you can't guess my goals and values."
I sigh. "I'm sorry for this, once again. Let's do this differently. I'll explain my reasoning and then we'll see if we can compromise on something, ok?"
Sydney was not expecting this, but she nods, which allows me to continue. "I have two main reasons for keeping Wo at least for a while. The reasons are practical and ethical. I consider that keeping her with me would provide more information to both of our sides than any other alternative and I doubt that she'd be safe if I give her to you. I am aware of the risks, both that she could attempt to harm me and that she could attempt to sway me towards the Abyss, but these risks are not insurmountable and can be hedged against.
To explain the former, I have a strong hunch that Oriskany might have something that limits her will. Be it her own convictions, literal brainwashing or anything in between, we won't know until she is debriefed. However, we both could clearly see how much she struggled with specific topics while surrendering. It was as if she was disgusted and actively in pain.
Also, she surrendered to a Hime, as in she considers me to be an abyssal princess. She didn't surrender to a shipgirl. Potentially this is the only reason why she surrendered and not scuttled. She may refuse or even actively resist you if I just hand her over. From what I understand, this is the only case of a captive abyssal, right?"
"As far as I know, yes" Sydney agrees and nods. "In the rare cases of disabled abyssals they seem to either scuttle or try to break out to the point where they irreparably damage themselves."
"Ah, like how a restrained mouse would struggle to the point it breaks its own skull and dies." I comment, and sensing the cruiser wincing I explain "Or so I've heard. Apparently you need to be quite desensitized to work in a neuroscience research lab."
I continue my initial point: "Anyway, this might also be the only opportunity to question an abyssal and to study her with her limited cooperation. Without it she'd only be interesting for abyssal biology and physiology, which brings up the second point.
I expect that giving up Ori would most likely result in her death. She is difficult and expensive to contain, especially if she is not cooperating. You mentioned that to subdue a shipgirl it is recommended that several bigger shipgirls are present. That's kanmusu that can't get deployed while a Wo is a 30-flipping-thousand tons of shipgirl who can just walk straight through a concrete wall. You'd be benching several carriers or battleships while she's there.
Thus there is a motivation on your side for the research process to take the shortest amount of time possible or to make her containment take up the least resources possible. As such, she'd either be invasively studied and killed or she'd be entirely immobilized for long periods of time.
That Wo-class is a prisoner of war. Legally by both my and your standards I'm responsible for her health and safety. Giving her up might violate human experimentation regulations and potentially even human trafficking laws, although I'm not a lawyer to know for sure.
I know that it might not look like I have any morality when I wear armor that was cut out of an abyssal princess, but this is different. She is a person, she is not actively hostile and she is my prisoner. I refuse to compromise my morals. However, I do plan to share what I find out about her, both as recordings and notes. I'm also ready to hear you out if you have anything."
Sydney is silent and thinking for quite a while before she says: "Broken shipgirls risk falling to the Abyss, so maybe helping her heal would bring her back?"
My eyebrows rise in mild surprise. "That's… a decent idea, at the very least worth a try. We'll need to be smart and methodical about this. Bringing in some comforts she couldn't access as an abyssal and maybe even the people that she might be familiar with, such as her sisters. Might need a few trained psychologists and/or psychiatrists to be in the loop… It would really depend on how she'd react to people other than me, but that is something I'm willing to try."
The Australian cruiser quietly breathes out in relief. I didn't realize that she expected me to refuse. She continues: "I still think that it is too dangerous for you to be this close to an abyssal."
I rub between my eyes and reply: "I won't sugarcoat it, this is risky and dangerous. However, I have almost three times the mass advantage on her and I always have a bird with anti ship munitions in the air. If she ambushes me when sleeping or undergoing repair then she'd be bombed before she could launch anything.
Yes, I need to wear my armor until we figure out if she'd be triggered by me without it. Yes I expect that she'd try to influence me to switch to the side of the Abyss. However, I've refused it before and the corruption process is not instantaneous. If things go really bad then we can abort at any stage.
Once I set up more static defenses I'd be confident enough to allow more and bigger shipgirls to visit. Considering the circumstances I also expect that you'd want me to be monitored more closely so that we don't miss the early signs of things not going to plan. And as for releasing Ori, well, we can return to that subject at a later date. How does that sound?"
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Well, Gambier Islands are now mine and the construction of the headquarters takes the maximum priority. Abyssal land forces were hunted to extinction and Ori is confined to her repair pool. It would have been smarter to debrief her early, but I literally can't afford the delay. Headquarters facility is required for automation and until it is built I'm stuck running everything manually.
I won't forget about the Wo, but my attention would be strained during the bootstrapping phase… for about three weeks. I will deliver supplies and food to Ori, but she proved to be currently struggling with maintaining consciousness which makes questioning unviable until she repairs herself further. In combination with the bootstrapping load I expect her to be mobile before I'm done.
However, before I look into the construction plans I need to survey my holdings. Gambier islands used to have about 1,5 thousand people living on them, but the vast majority lived on Mangareva with others having less than 50 permanent residents each. Less than a village per island, barely a couple buildings in some cases. Mangareva itself has a road going all the way around the coastline with one to two story buildings (or what remains of them) built in a few of the very neat and scenic bays.
The people were mostly successfully evacuated to Australia and New Zealand during the Blood Week which was some good news for a change. Apparently they hid in the forest and waited for relief. Abbies didn't perform coordinated raids before the emergence of the Princesses and Demons, they just shelled and monitored for obvious human activity between bouts of fratricide. A coordinated strike allowed for quick evacuation of the island once the military adapted to these "wild" abyssals, but when they started forming fleets it became too difficult to reliably push into the infested waters.
Hime's presence here not only caused the devastation of human infrastructure, but it seemingly affected the local ecosystem. My assumption is that having a rainstorm in the sky 24/7 severely hampers the vegetation. The trees around BB's favorite half of the island look darker and sickly with some that are outright dead and rotting while further away they are much healthier.
There were few standing structures left that weren't built by abyssals themselves. Abbies had a repair pool building, several warehouses, a variety of coastal defenses and a dock with a half- submerged facility that is presumably for ship construction or is some kind of mooring shelter. I couldn't find any housing facilities, as if they lived almost entirely outside or just slept in the storage sheds and the few surviving ruins.
I expected a summoning chamber or something, but it is possible that such services could have been sidestepped with the drydock or purchased from other princesses. BB Hime's throne is apparently a vaguely throne-shaped pile of rubble that once used to be a church. Yeah, good thing I refused the abyss's offer, this feels both wrong and uncomfortable to use.
The primary island is volcanic with soft sandy beaches and a relatively tall mountain (441m). There are three smaller but still sizable and close by islands nearby as well as a long and thin sandy island chain to the north - east that is great for a long airstrip and directional defenses. In fact, a bombed out airstrip suggests that a small airport used to be there once. I'd be taking everything, of course, but Mangareva promises to be the best starting site. Everything else can be connected with shipping logistics and later with underground tunnels.
The mountain offers a promise for mining and maybe even geothermal power while the ocean nearby already shows the potential for deep sea mining. Aerial reconnaissance already detected signs of significant sulfide deposits, polymetallic nodules and polymetallic crusts as well as potentially some rare earth sources but more survey is needed. However, mining facilities are currently at the bottom of my priorities.
With the quantity of abyssal wrecks in the ocean and the unprocessed steel on land I won't be bottlenecked on base materials for a while. Yes, the non- corrupted abyssal components seem to decay rapidly in water but I can still process the rust and bauxite. I'm actually primarily bottlenecked with processing steel and printing parts. Half of the manufacturing capacity makes the feedstock for the other half. If I simply use my current facilities I would be done in over two months which is unacceptable.
What I'm going to do is construct a small metallurgic plant and a small laser sintering printer array. They would take some time to build and I'd be stuck plugged into them to tap my reactor for power, but this would drop the time estimates to merely three weeks. Just the smelter alone would produce more metal powder than I can process and while the printer is not universal it would take over the job of producing structural elements. Afterwards I'd focus on some base power source array like wind turbines and later the resource gathering would be constructed in parallel or after the docks and larger factories.
But until the HQ and power plants are ready, I'm going to be wired into the factories for weeks. This will suck. To make this suck a little bit less I decided to collect and prepare as much long-living food as I could and see if I could find something interesting and useful in the ruins while the bots were occupied with preparing land for construction. There are coconut trees and abandoned fruit plants all over so I suppose I have a bit of time for some fishing, gathering and preserving.
This is where I found the worst thing yet. A huge huntsman spider! I admit, maybe freezing and ordering marine bots to hose the spider down with HMGs was a bit of an overreaction, especially when my skin is made of thicker steel than the arachnid's entire body. But I just don't like spiders, okay?
And keep in mind, this is a tropical jungle. Don't walk into a nearly invisible web that feels like it is made of steel with a spider the size of your fist in the middle. Thankfully, by that point Sydney was recalled for a couple days so no one has heard my embarrassing shriek. Nevermind, just received a radio call from Ori asking if her Hime is alright. Great…
Anyway, unfortunately there wasn't much left. I managed to get some of what once used to be electronics, but being covered in rubble and exposed to the elements is not the best environment for naked computer hardware. At most it would provide some samples for Essi to look into, but I doubt that we'd have enough intact parts to make anything functional.
I did find a still standing building which still had a bed that wasn't molded over and a backup generator that could run a stove and a fridge. It was on the other side of the island which is almost an hour walk from where I'm building. I do have a ruin that is closer but unfortunately it was filled with mostly unusable furniture. I simply took apart the generator, the bed and appliances to move them there. With the generator reconfigured to accept refueling from Mule UGVs I wouldn't need to worry about the fridge defrosting.
By the time I needed to resign myself to temporarily being a static powerplant, I managed to collect, salt, smoke and prepare a bunch of fish, crabs and a variety of random fruits and vegetables that I could recognize. While I don't think that I'd starve without this food, I'd still prefer to have something for myself, for Ori and for any guests I might end up having. The Wo-class can apparently drink oil directly but I just know that this is not the way to do it.
Sydney comes over several times a week to check up on me. She said that she'd wish to come more often but her commander worries about the level of stress she gets from being near me and the Wo. They could set up a rotation, but they are still choosing who to send and worry about my reaction even though I stated that I don't really care as long as it is not a destroyer, a BB or a fleet carrier. I think it is probably some internal political stuff, such as which country gets to send their girl if they worry that I'd get mad at a USN kanmusu.
With her worst fears failing to materialize Sydney allowed herself to relax a little. She brought a couple board games, bedding and some food. I accepted the former two. She was a bit miffed, but I offered some of my own cooking and she got better. Apparently I'm a decent cook even though I'm improvising almost everything, who knew. Ori complimented my cooking as well, but it honestly felt like she was being obsequious. One would assume that a simple seawater boiled crab was the best thing she ever ate from how she phrased it.
After a somewhat boring attempt at playing Monopoly with just the two of us we ended up playing Battleships. It was quite amusing, especially considering our nature. We didn't have that much time to play since her visits were somewhat limited and preoccupied with checking me for porcelain white spots, but she did leave a chess set and a deck of cards.
Chess in particular could be played via the radio. I've had a few matches with other shipgirls aboard the Peleliu and even a match against commander Mitchell. Didn't win everything, but I've won way more times than I had the right to. I was never that great with chess, but I had a secret weapon. Gage had an actual competitive rank of a class B so it was more like him versus the shipgirls, but he insisted that I should take the credit.
In any case, until the construction is done I can't really do anything significant. I can only wait…
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Perspective: On board of the Peleliu, ready room
The ready room contains only two people. Commander Mitchell can be seen sitting in the front row of the chairs while a USN analyst is presenting slides on the screen. An older gray haired gentleman in a distinct uniform can be seen in the teleconference window to the side of the smartboard. They are poorly lit and the camera is often buffering making it hard to discern the finer features, but the uniform style and a few other discerning markings suggest a rank of admiral.
Analyst, finishing an extensive presentation as the screen shows satellite and drone footage over the span of a week: "...from what we see here, she's almost like a shipgirl version of an Installation Princess. Within days the terrain is cleared, explosives are planted and a precise demolition clears the ground for concrete foundation pouring as bulldozers extract the debris. The construction machinery is fairy sized, but the buildings they're making are full scale. We see three terrain clearings with the construction primarily focused on one of them. Once Epsilon is done, the islands are likely going to be de facto hers."
The Admiral's voice crackled over the speakers, steady despite the intermittent connection. "Thank you, Mr. Smith. Frankly, I don't think there's anything we can reasonably do about it at this point. Let's move on. After the recent expedition to Pitcairn, ONI is eager to acquire the PBP wreckage and that abyssal steel armor. Is there any way we can retrieve it from under her?"
Smith straightened, clearly anticipating the question. "Epsilon has expressed her desire to maintain ownership of the body. I believe that she would react negatively if we were to just take it and she would find out very quickly. Her opinion of us is already quite low. We risk ruining all the goodwill that we managed to accumulate with her as of yet."
The older man clears his throat. "She is not very cooperative regardless and I doubt that she can afford to hold a grudge, but it might complicate things in the future. Do we have any better proposals?"
Commander Mitchell leaned forward slightly, choosing his words carefully. "We may simply ask her directly. She has been more cooperative lately and maybe she would be more willing to part with her kill. Especially if she gets something in return."
Admiral's voice over the speakers takes a momentary pause. "You propose that she might sell it?"
"She was the first to offer it as an option. Epsilon stated that she values the Princesses body for materials rather than for its scientific value and she has stressed that the material is critical for timely construction of her facilities. She will be willing to exchange it for nearly 1 to 1 of the "factual" mass of bulk steel, copper and bauxite which is around 60 000 tons, same applies for the harvested abyssal steel. We were also informed that she's interested in semiconductor industry grade silicone boules, metallic iridium and nuclear fuels. Specifically NU or any enriched uranium, plutonium and/or thorium." Commander Mitchell replies.
"Well now," the Admiral's voice perked up. "That's a pleasant surprise. It also shows what she wants, which would be helpful for the reparation offer later. Speaking of which, it is being delayed for logistics and… political reasons again. Washington wants to see more cooperation from her before they commit the taxpayer funds. Hypocritical, perhaps, but what can we do? They probably heard "Is Epsi ok" and thought it involved soft drinks." His joke prompted faint chuckles from Mitchell and Smith.
The Admiral continued, his tone more serious now. "I don't think that she'd be getting uranium anytime soon, but the trade proposal appears reasonable. We'd get what the Naval Intelligence wants and remove a potential abyssal corruption source. This is also not an exorbitant amount of resources and within the discretionary budget so we can handle it without the Congress approval. In fact, maybe ONI could pitch in most of it considering who caused all this mess in the first place…"
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Finally, someone sane in the Chain of Command.
- Location
- Dodging chaos dragons in Limbo
Thanks for the chapter, always good to see another one. Always a fun story.
A point of style here: If you have direct dialogue (i.e., someone speaking) from the same person over multiple paragraphs, the start of the new paragraph should get a quotation mark, but only a ending quotation mark at the end of the dialogue (which you have correctly). I've highlighted those places in red in the example I quote. It's a small change, but it does make it significantly easier to read and keep track of who's speaking when you have long stretches of dialogue like this chapter. hope it helps!
I was actually previously told off about the exact opposite. I was told that when I close each dialogue paragraph the reader assumes that the next chunk is said by another character which confuses people.
I think the way you did it is more understandable as a single character daying it, personally
Nausicaa
Monster-Friend
The problem is, without that starting quote, I immediately assume it is a narrator passage.
Multi-paragraph lines from a single person are confusing to most people in general, mostly because it's so rare. Generally in most fiction, there's something to describe, whether actions or expressions, etc. to break up things enough.
When it's so rare, people find it weird - I found the grammatically correct way felt like a typo for a while before I got used to it. I'm not surprised people "corrected" you.
- Location
- Here
IRL, nukes are much more politically toxic than huge non-nuclear bombs that are more powerful than small nukes.
IRL, nukes are much more politically toxic than huge non-nuclear bombs that are more powerful than small nukes.
In this case, it is a question of non- proliferation. Some nuclear fuels are easier to turn into nukes than others. Uranium and plutonium (well, some of their isotopes) are used in nukes directly, while thorium has a different mechanism that doesn't sustain a chain reaction and thus is harder to weaponize. Not impossible and nukes in general are hard, but significantly harder in comparison. From what I understand, when a neutron hits a thorium atom it turns it into a bunch of other atoms in a chain until you get uranium 233 that then is used as fuel and produces neutrons to continue the "breeding". To get weapon grade isotopes you need to run the breeder reactor for a while and then reprocess spent rods for plutonium and U233 at a lower yield than with conventional uranium rods.
Essentially, Epsi wants nuclear fuels and USN doesn't want to give her something she could use to make nukes out of.
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IIRC the intermediary between thorium and U-233 needs to be removed from the reactor because it takes 2 weeks to decay. To get power out of this you add the U-233 back in, or take the beyond weapons grade uranium to make nukes. Therefore thorium reactors are a higher proliferation risk then uranium reactors.
Eventually she can just turn to seawater filtering and get all she needs, so this is just burning them goodwill, even if for an understandable reason.
Im fairly certain thats incorrect, tho its been a while since Ive looked into it
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Here is my source, if you don't trust it fine. Also, I misremembered the intermediary decay time, it's about 27 days.
View: https://youtu.be/148NI9j23Kg?si=5luFQR6PZWgM_bLA&t=892