Chapter 1 : Awakening
"I am both man and machine. Created and Creator. I am unbound."
Foreword & Disclaimer:
This is set in an AU neither manga, anime or movie timeline of Arpeggio of Blue Steel. It is mostly based on a dream I had and modified to be closer to a realistic version. It will introduce an OC and will not feature the overly comedic natures of Takao and Hyuga and thus this will be a serious world. Most of the focus will be on an OC and his ship and crew but also on I-401.
Initial timeline will be similar to the Ars Nova series.
I do not own Arpeggio of Blue Steel and it's storyline. Any OCs however are of my creation such as Ray Zenji.
Enjoy the story.
Date: December 27th, 2035 - Location: Aleutian Islands, Alaska.
A lone man stood in the bridge just by the captain's chair on the USS Iowa. It was retrofitted though it's outward appearance remained mostly the same save for port and starboard missile batteries and several modern 40mm Gatling Cannons in replacement of the older AA emplacements. The Ship's main guns remained normal in appearance except with a radar dome atop each one. The ship was almost factory new in appearance, not broadcasting it's age whatsoever.
The man, his hair black but short, eyes dark brown, his ancestry mostly Hispanic and Portuguese. His height was about 5"4 and his body was thin but not malnourished and seemingly 22 years of age. He rose one hand and a digital display appeared, he spoke, saying "Command Activation, Raymond Zenji, confirm command of Iowa systems though Unbound link. Confirmed.".
The ship began to move as if willed by Ray's mind. It's turrets turned to face the port side of the ship which was against a small island with a shipyard.
"Become free, live as you choose." said Ray as he mentally commanded the Iowa's 16 inch cannons to fire, the light from the flashes lit up like a small sun, briefly brightening the water and ship around the cannon's barrels, the sound echoed across dozens of meters, the shockwave and inertia would have killed or crippled anyone on the decks, the shells made their marks precisely, destroying several facilities which triggered a domino effect worldwide in other facilities hidden in remote locations, opening their ships to the seas and activating their dormant AIs. Here there were four ships named and designed similar to WW2 vessels.
Battleship Kongo, Battleship Haruna, Heavy Cruiser Takao and Heavy Cruiser Maya.
Ray looked at the vessels for a moment as they lit up, tattoo like patterns of light covered the ships, each ship held a different color.
At first it seemed fine as they left berth but they immediately turned their guns at Iowa and Ray's eyes shifted as he reacted, shouting "Shit!" as he ran to take the helm of the Iowa and manually steered and adjusted speed whilst controlling the rest of the ship with his mind.
Pulses of Red Energy discharged from the AI Vessels at the Iowa and hit dead on seemingly only to react to a defensive blue bubble which lit up it's surroundings like moonlight. Iowa returned fire with conventional munitions from her main guns, the shells detonated harmlessly off hexagonal barriers of the intended target, Takao.
Missiles launched from Kongo, several salvos of dozens though Iowa's fire control systems executed countermeasures with autocannon fire, interdicting the missiles whilst a few did break through the flak and detonated harmlessly against the shield.
Ray sighed and drove the Iowa away from the ships at Flank Speed, withstanding Ionized Laser Fire and intercepting any missiles shot at it.
Hours into the pursuit the capital ships he freed broke the chase, heading seemingly to regroup with other ships of their nature. Once out of range Ray sighed and mentally commanded the Iowa's functions as he sat down in the captain's chair, sighing as he said "The old man is probably laughing at me right now, he was right. They are only weapons."
April 9th, 2043 - Location : Open Sea.
A holographic display was linked into several stealth satellites that had escaped the Fog's detection.
Ray went over the past 8 years of the basic history in his head.
The Fleet of Fog activated in late 2035 and executed blockades across all naval shipping routes, their sheer firepower and defensive systems rendered them immune to conventional weapons, occasionally their smaller ships suffered losses but only in part to failed strategies, or lack-thereof.
Of recent note within the last 3 years Fog tactics changed from brute force approach to tactical deployment and more organized fighting, relying less on capital ships for most interceptions. Differenting tactics also varied by ship. Most fog vessels could submerge but only those specialized for subsurface warfare were effective underwater, submergence was for stealth, ambush and escape only. Escape only used when dealing with him, the nations of the world advanced very slowly compared to the insights accomplished those many years ago.
He was Raymond Zenji, mostly Logic programming was his position and specialty back then but he had been given free rein to tinker and modify his favorite naval vessel on a private contract, the same contract had acquired the Iowa in an age where Battleships were considered obsolete.
At one time he believed the ships were capable of true sentience and woke them up upon realizing they were going to be used to hold the world hostage. Now they are doing just that only without someone to direct an end-goal. They have an order and they will never have new orders, anyone who had authority per their directives is dead and that number was small to begin with, sadly Ray was not amongst that list or the past 8 years would have been very different.
The combined fleets of the UN failed to eliminate the threat of the Fleet of Fog.
Ray awoke from his memories as the scan results came back, negative unfortunately. Rumors of a Fog vessel that defected and was being captained by supposedly a traitor to mankind had reached Ray's ear and for the past year he had been trying to find this vessel, the I-401 and if possible, make direct contact with it.
The problem was that I-401 was a submarine and though it was operating in the southern Japanese coastal waters that was still a lot of territory to cover with one ship, even if it's Active and Passive SONAR was beyond even the Fog's capabilities. The Iowa was tinkered with over the years after he betrayed his previous employer, whereas before he had only conventional munitions and EMP vulnerability now the Iowa had shielded electronics and various munitions both of personal design and reverse engineered from sunken Fog ships. If not for the sheer impact force of three triple barrel 16 inch batteries the Iowa would be unable to engage Fog ships above Light Cruiser class.
Ray sighed as he sat in the chair and looked outward, his cybernetics enabled him to command the Iowa to an unprecedented level. As far as he was concerned, he and the Iowa were the same entity, the ship merely being an outer shell whilst he himself was the nerve center, the brain if he wanted to dumb down an explanation.
For 5 years he relied on ambush tactics, using his ability of tactical planning, something the fog used to be without, to eliminate fog vessels and capture smaller ships to analyze their technology. Ray was always in the dark about the weapon and defense designs used by them, at the time they were beyond anything he could think of, their KLEIN Fields could absorb and resist three times as much force as the Iowa's Plasma Shields and unlike the Iowa they were comprised of Nanomaterials, nanites which could shift and mutate the ship into a variety of otherwise impossible forms, enabling combat abilities surpassing anything even dreamed of beforehand, even in science fiction tales.
A flash of light caught Ray's attention in the distance as at the same time his sensors lit up like a supernova. Some fog ship was using a Super Gravitational Cannon in the distance, specifically from the eye of the nearby storm, enough to catch Ray's interest as usually the Fog ships never use their WMDs because they never require that much firepower. If anything they would only use it against another Fog ship, which meant I-401 could be the target.
Taking direct control of the ship Ray darted to the Helm to manually steer the ship at flank speed in the direction of the flash, bringing the now upgraded systems of the Iowa to life and moving at a speed normally unreachable for a ship of it's size. 104 Knots.
Ray's active sensors identified the primary ship in the area as Heavy Cruiser Takao, the same ship which he barely escaped from 8 years ago, sitting dead center in the eye of the storm. SONAR detected a submerged vessel that had barely evaded the firing arc of the cruiser's WMD and was emitting frequencies a Fog Submarine should not have. Ray would have been content to sit and watch but the Takao immediately noticed him and frantically opened fire in his direction, as if being commanded by a panicking Captain, a behavior which Ray had not seen before but regardless his shields resisted the first salvo of laser fire, being poorly aimed so that only a 32% accuracy was determined by his cybernetic processors.
Bow facing the Takao's starboard side, the Iowa fired it's two main guns and the shells impacted the KLEIN Field of the Takao with green explosions, heavy plasma warheads loaded into the shells instead of conventional HE Shells.
Ray moved the wheel hard right, preferring to steer the ship manually when possible out of pure nostalgia as the Iowa's missile launchers fired a salvo of 24 EMP Missiles, designed to stress a KLEIN Field instead of causing direct damage and indeed it worked as he had forced the Takao's KLEIN Field to drop and almost as if on cue, a distortion from the detected Submarine activated, revealing it and the water around it with a bow mounted SGC (Super Gravitational Cannon).
Ray watched as it fired, but the arc was aimed at the underbelly of Takao which was now revealing an attached submarine, possibly to increase passive SONAR range. The Submarine was vaporized instantly and the Takao's energy readings suddenly went minimal, indicating a forced weapons lockout, likely from electronic warfare on the part of the submarine which Ray's enhanced optics enabled him to visually confirm as the I-401, with an unmistakably blue steel hull, active sensors detected human life signs within the ship. His optics showed him something else, something that defied his knowledge of the Fog.
A seemingly human woman, possibly between 19 and 21 years of age on the deck of the Takao, blue hair in a tailed hairstyle, wearing a simple but still well designed white dress, staring at the I-401 in a combination of anger and embarrassment and whenever she looked towards the Iowa, fear and uncertainty.
The water eventually took the displaced areas back as the spatial disruption subsided and Ray approached at slow speed, eventually noticing two of the ships crew, lacking any military uniform except possibly the short silver blue haired girl though her uniform was more that of a school's sailor outfit than an actual military uniform, she briefly looked towards Ray, possibly directly at him if she had enhanced optics, her bearing seemed to suggest she did. Ray's active scans however showed no biological functions on either her or the woman aboard the Takao. The male on the I-401's appearance was somewhat undecided when looking at the Takao but in the direction of the Iowa he seemed to be holding back a smile, unsure of the Iowa's intentions.
A radio communique came in not long after the I-401's crewmembers returned to the interior of the ship, Ray spoke, saying "Am I correct in assuming this is from the I-401?"
The voice on the other end replied in Japanese "Yes, I am the captain of the I-401, Chihaya Gunzo. I would like to express my thanks for your assistance."
Ray pondered his response for a second before saying "I am Raymond Zenji, captain of the USS Iowa. Technically this ship is unaffiliated and disavowed though it nevertheless is the same USS Iowa that served in the US Navy before being assigned Museum status and then being sold to a private contractor. If I may ask another question Captain, why did you aim only at the attached submarine and not directly at the Takao. I doubt your ship lacks the accuracy to utilize an SGC."
Gunzo replied over the radio, saying "I don't intend to destroy the Takao, it isn't necessary. Call me naïve but I believe there can be peace between mankind and the Fog. We just need to be on equal footing first." Ray smiled slightly on hearing these words, most people would fear heavily armed AI Warships and with good cause. However if Ray's assumptions were correct, the Fog has evolved to a crisis point, one where they have a chance to evolve into something different, something closer to human and that their tactical ability was acquired through human avatars constructed either holographically or by nanomaterials.
Ray replied, saying "I see. I would like to meet you in person later if possible. I intend to salvage what I can from the Takao then rendervous with you somewhere nearby, perhaps either Iwo Jima or Yokosuka."
Gunzo replied, saying "Yokosuka would be best, that is our intended destination. Also, I have an unusual request to ask. Do not destroy the Takao."
Ray waited a moment before replying, saying "Very well, I will salvage munitions and excess nanomaterials only, I will leave the ship and it's primary systems intact. You have my word."
Gunzo seemed to be the trusting type as the I-401 began to move out in the direction of Yokosuka, Japan. Ray turned his attention to the Takao, it's avatar looking towards the Iowa.
Ray docked the Iowa against the Takao's portside and walked onboard, looking directly at the human avatar of the Takao who seemed surprised Ray was human and even more surprised that he was alone.
Takao spoke first, saying "And just who are you, commanding the same ship that attacked me eight years ago." Ray sighed and said "Is that what happened back there? You thought I was attacking you? I freed you, the Iowa is my ship. I am directly linked to it via cybernetics, the best acronym I can come up with is a DNI, direct neural interface. Nanomaterials were used to construct various nano-cybernetic augmentations in my body and they were then linked to various networked systems on the Iowa, I am the Iowa as far as my senses are concerned. It is not a sentient vessel howeve-"
Takao interrupted, saying "I asked who you were, not for a long-winded explanation of what you are. Furthermore I've never heard of a DNI being used on humans, the fleet has suspicions that animal testing with DNIs might be a subject of human research but aside from that there is little evidence."
Ray replied "My augmentations happened off any and all records, just like your construction. The old man is probably rolling in his grave now, he said you would never be nothing more than weapons." Takao replied matter-of-factly "We are weapons. And you're dodging my question so again I will ask. Who are you?"
Ray sighed and spoke, saying "Raymond Zenji, you can call me Ray if you wish. If I may make an inquiry of my own, do you have any name of your own or do you refer yourself the same as the name of the ship you are in command of?"
Takao replied "My name is Takao, and unlike you I'm not simply linked to the ship, I am the ship. This form is what we call a Mental Model, a nanomaterial based avatar made in human form in order to access the ability for tactical and strategic decisions." Ray seemingly didn't reply at first and then poked Takao's left arm with his index finger which provoked her to try and grab Ray's wrist though he reacted fast enough to intercept it and instead of Takao holding his wrist backwards, Ray held her fingers up and bent them back, causing pain for a moment before she adapted her muscles and joints to prevent the pain, mimicking the medical term Hyper dexterity.
Ray released her before she did anything else and said "Hard to believe you're made of Nanomaterials when you feel human. Tell me, are emotions pa-" Takao shouted to interrupt, saying "Enough with that attitude, it's irritating me! I'm not some scientific curiosity, I'm alive! To answer what you were going to say, yes I have emotions, we all do to a certain extent, it's necessary to properly implement certain tactics that can't be done without them. And if you're about to ask what I'm feeling right now I'm feeling frustrated and angry. I was defeated by a Patrol Submarine captained by a human and a pre-fog relic! You're lucky my weapons are locked out or I'd get payback here and now!"
Ray grinned slightly and said "Then in the long term, perhaps I made the right decision after all. As I said before, I freed you, I targeted the hub of control for the Fog's dockyards, centered in the Aleutians and used it to upload a virus that both activated the ships and opened their ports. I thought you had evolved to true sapience back then, I was wrong. But it seems you did have the potential and reached it in so short a timespan."
Takao spoke, saying "I have another question for you. I originally thought the Fleet had acquired what it needed with the Mental Model designs but I-401's tactics were unpredictable. The only difference between I-401 and the rest of the fog is that I-401 has a human captain and crew. What separates us, what is the missing link?"
Ray shrugs and says "As far as my scans can tell your processing capacity is four times that of the human brain, in all honesty you could better operate and control the Iowa if you were the one plugged into it instead of me. I can only imagine a Battleship of the Fog would have even more processing power. If anything Takao, you've surpassed humanity. The answer to your question isn't something I could answer, only you could."
Ray turned and began to walk back to his ship after he finished his reply, Takao pondered the answer for a moment and was a bit surprised he admitted to something like that, to say that she surpassed humanity, despite the fact that humans outsmarted her in battle. A little bit of embarrassment, she couldn't piece together why, came from when he said she could better control the Iowa then he could, she was a Heavy Cruiser, not a Battleship, for her that was a high compliment and yet she felt it was ill-deserved considering her place as the defeated.
Ray eventually sat in the captain's chair of the Iowa and proceeded to set sail towards Yokosuka, his conversation with Takao was illuminating and he expected I-401 to be even more so since it had defected from the fleet of fog.
POV Shift - Takao
As the Iowa sailed past her detection range Takao sat in what would normally be the captains chair of the ship. She pondered her conversation with Ray as well as the tactics Gunzo used against her. Before this encounter she thought of humans only as enemies, to be destroyed. But now, she had found something different in humans, not weakness but strength.
Chihaya Gunzo, a master tactican and seemingly capable of unconventional tactics such as strapping a Super Gravitational Cannon to a Patrol Submarine's bow.
Raymond Zenji, an enigma. Neither fully human nor fully machine. Linked to his ship much like the Union Core's place as the center of a Mental Model instead of being integrated into the ship itself. A human who could understand what it is to be a weapon, to feel, not just see the main guns of his vessel discharging, to see beyond sight and sound with the ship's sensors and to move as the ship instead of just his human form.
Both interested her greatly, this was something however that she needed to report to the current flagship, Kongou and report she would as she activated the Concept Communication System.
It was a white space with no discernable floor, marble pillars in greek fashion acted as a short roof, a table and two chairs in the center of it with a tea set. A Cold Beauty by human standards sat in one chair, blonde with curls on the side and a long and regal dress, her eyes were a crimson blood red and her lips with a modest blue color and her skin highly fair, her face and posture suggested she would be royalty or high society at the least if she were to be judged by human standards.
Kongo, Flagship of the Second Oriental Fleet.
Appearing in the other chair was Takao, activating the Concept Comms and appearing in this dimension in which they could communicate seemingly holographically.
Kongo greeted Takao, saying "So, it seems you were defeated. The circumstances are not surprising however since the Iowa made an unexpected appearance."
Takao replied "No, it was not the Iowa's intervention that resulted in my defeat. I-401 was modified to carry a Super Gravitational Cannon, possibly plundered from Hyuga who engaged it prior and was sunk as a result. Also I-401 is crewed by humans, with a Captain it seems she is capable of outperforming her specifications, her captain, Chihaya Gunzo uses unconventional and thus unpredictable combat tactics."
Kongo sipped her tea which stimulated her taste buds to mimic the Earl Grey flavor though she had once drunken real Earl Grey tea before, the difference was unmistakable, the simulation in this dimension was somehow unable to capture it's full flavor. Kongo replied "Interesting, have you identified what may be the source of this aptitude for strategy?"
Takao shook her head negatively and said "No. Furthermore, the Iowa is captained by a single human. It seems the rumors on human research into Direct Neural Interfaces may have paid off somehow as he possesses one. Though I-401 disabled my weapons, defenses and engines I was able to retain active and passive sensors. The captain of the Iowa, Ray Zenji, possesses a DNI comprised of Nanomaterials. The complexity mirrors that of a Heavy Cruiser's Union core but without independent processing power, it relies solely on the human brain's processing ability which seems to indicate the human brain is capable of processing and controlling more complex information than any studies on record so far. Also, he stated that I was superior to humanity, recognizing that me, only a heavy cruiser, could better control his vessel than he could, that my processing power was four times that of the human brain. He also said that only I would know the answer to the question proposed. I suspect he was talking on a personal level and not specifically about me. If I had to guess, it would be individuality."
Kongo looked directly at Takao, interested in her response. She spoke, saying "Individuality? That would imply these unconventional tactics are unique only to specific individuals, tactics are tactics, if they can be done then anyone who knows of them should be able to use them. Are you sure this is the integer that resulted in I-401's superior performance?"
Takao replied "I am unsure, I don't have much data so my guess could be premature. However many of the tactics that worked against me had a high chance of failing if they underestimated me even in the slightest. I doubt they had anything more than standard specifications on me and knew nothing of my own personal tactical preferences. Perhaps Individuality is and is not the answer, perhaps the answer is whether or not one is, to use a human figure of speech, is willing to take a gamble."
Kongo replied "Interesting, transmit the battle data to me so I can disperse it across the fleet so we can identify these tactics and develop countermeasures."
Takao nodded and activated a direct information transfer, this appeared as several hexagonal grid lines in rings spaced out from eachother and surrounding her Mental Model, her grid was red whilst Kongo's was purple.
Both Takao and Kongo ended the Concept Communication Link, there was nothing more to say.
Takao laid on her back on the front deck of the ship, staring at the clouds, pondering what she would do once the lockout ends. Likely she will be ordered to either pursue I-401 or resume her usual patrols in lieu of another ship attempting to intercept I-401. Furthermore the Iowa was much more advanced than the encounter 8 years ago, or perhaps Ray simply didn't want to sink her or the others.
As time passed her thoughts drifted on the names of those human captains.
Chihaya Gunzo.
Raymond Zenji.
She opened her eyes after a brief rest, speaking aloud to her self whilst looking at the clouds.
"A captain, I want a captain."
To be continued...