Kantai Collection fanfic
How did the Abyssals drive the world's navies from the oceans?
The Battle of the Mariana Islands
Note: meters will be used by the Japanese. Feet/miles by the US forces (who will also use meters on occasion. I know this is confusing, but so is real life.)
Note: this began as a 200-400 word flashback in a different story, but grew into this…
Prologue
Time: 6 weeks after the first recorded appearance of the Abyssals and Kanmusu.
Abyssal attacks have been, until 10 days ago, scattered, but worldwide, and mostly unrecorded. Ships, generally, would signal after an explosion and while they were sinking, they might mention a weird, frightening black whale, and then they vanished.
Attacks on first world warships were always by surprise. Their modern electronics gave them no warning, before the any attack and no warnings after any attacks, for that matter. Most of the attacks were quickly hidden under "military secrets". Until an origin for the Abyssals could be determined, everybody is keeping any details hidden.
Satellites can see wakes, but no ships. No transmissions are recorded. Underwater mics that can hear anything in the water for miles, hear nothing.
Some form of Super Stealth is assumed.
10 days ago, things changed.
First an Abyssal task force sailed into Tokyo Bay.
Where they were met by a force of Kanmusu. Kongo and a mixed bag of DDs. The Kanmusu won that encounter, but only by a desperate summoning of reinforcements. Akagi's First Strike was devastating. This was their Public debut. Previous mentions of them were downplayed and hidden under "state secret" The Kanmusu's naming of the attackers as Abyssals and the naming structure the Kanmusu use for the different types becomes an instant hit.
Most of US 7th Fleet and JMSDF were at sea chasing sightings and searching for survivors of previous attacks. The US and JMSDF installations were the primary targets of the raid. Between surprise and damage their records of the attack are fragmentary.
No doubt, in time, they can be sorted out and mined for useful data, is the common thought, as the overnight reports were filled with unknowns. Most analysts, though, are at a total loss. This is Tokyo, even with no military sensors, there should be plenty of data, but there is nothing.
They can see the Kanmusu, but no data on the Abyssals, until the Kanmusu killed them. Parts of the dead whale-things are being examined, but the scientists working on them are going, literally, insane working on the poisonous things.
There are plenty of eyewitness stories and some? photos, but they make little sense. Eyewitness reports that there are unknown multicolored 'shells' of energy visible, temporarily, around the Abyssals and the Kanmusu that appear at random. Since eyewitness accounts are notoriously wrong, they are discounted and/or ignored.
Best guess is that the Abyssals have some kind of super stealth.
Second a different task force appeared, at the same time, off Guam.
This task force surprised and destroyed the base, sinking a couple of subs in port there. The DD's and Coast Guard ships, based at Guam came back to port, from hunting for a missing ship, they were, even though they were at General Quarters, surprised and destroyed.
Abyssal aircraft made their debut here. They are described as a flying wedge with teeth and a cannon. They destroyed most of the larger planes on the ground, while shooting down anything flying. One B-2 forward deployed, due the previous Abyssal attacks, is destroyed. No apparent damage was done to the Abyssal planes.
A couple of the Abyssal whale-things appeared to be injured, but escaped. Again like Tokyo, while there are no electronic records, there are eyewitness stories. Again, some photos exist, but there is problems, unknown problems, with any upload.
The black whale-things can be seem around the island, patrolling, but they do not show up on any sensor platform.
This Abyssal task force started a blockade of Guam and Saipan. The Abyssal warplanes shoot down everything landing. Attempts at locating and bombing, via B-2's, the Abyssals floundered against their stealth. Any ship leaving is sunk.
Again, the best guess was some form of super stealth.
Open attacks by Abyssals, during the next few days, occurred all over the world. Targets: Kings Bay, USA. Clyde, UK. Ile Lounge, France. Sanya, China. Gadzhiyevo and Vilyuchinsk, Russia. Abyssals took losses in these raids, especially when they appeared on land However, the Abyssals were going for the world's Ballistic Submarines and their support infrastructure, and given the secrecy around them, no one is sure what happened.
No one knows how successful the Abyssals considered the raids.
The world suddenly realized it was at war.
A war of unknown duration and intensity. Adapting from a peacetime routine to a wartime routine is happening, but… That does not happen overnight
US 7th Fleet is ordered to Guam to break the blockade and defeat the Abyssals. It is felt that in a set piece battle, against an un-surprised 7th Fleet, that the Abyssals would be defeated. Given the massively changed world situation, however, a new mission was added, guard an evacuation convoy from Guam to Tokyo, using shipping already at Guam.
7th Fleet downloads emergency updates, tests and calibrates its sensors against a Kanmusu volunteer. Japan orders an evacuation of their citizens from Saipan and Guam, to be held in coordination with 7th Fleet. They send, which travels with 7th Fleet, JMSDF DD Kurama with an ad hoc DesRon of 6 Kanmusu DD. Kisaragi, Nenohi, Arare, Mitsuki, Yayoi and Fubuki (Flagship).
7th Fleet has timed the trip, so their final approach to Guam would be during the day.
Chapter 1: Introduction
On the USS
Ronald Reagan
Early morning, after one day at sea, Admiral Scott, the Commander of the 7th Fleet, asks his Communications Officer, "How are the Japanese Girls doing? We have been traveling for hours, will they need a rest?"
The officer shakes his head, "From the messages they've sent each other, they are enjoying the trip." He smiles. "They have argued about what to call our ships, they wanted call them cruisers due to their size, Fubuki said they would use destroyers even it if was silly. They all hate the fact they only have one or two cannon."
He shrugs, "No one has mentioned any fatigue, although they are talking about some new facility they call "the docks" that was made for them." He shrugs, "Japan must have hidden it under a bunch of secrecy, I could not find where or what they were talking about. And they wondering about the food, fuel and ammo on stored on the Kurama."
"Any problems with them? They look so young."
"There is some communication issues. Luckily English was the IJN's second language, so they all speak it, though a couple have really bad accents. We have plenty of people that can understand their Japanese, so there isn't a real problem. Their WWII era radios can not hear some of our signals and we have removed the basic encryption from our signals and are sending them in the clear to make sure they understand us. They have, while not to us, to themselves, complained about the 'beeping' from our signals as the computers are talking to each other. Although, that seems to clearing up." He shrugs, "An adaptability issue? Unknown."
He snorts, "They gave them new smartphones, nice idea, but. One forgot it, one accidently crushed hers, two have dropped theirs into the sea, one girl acts as if it's evil magic and will not touch it. Fubuki still has hers, and she, somehow, has it set on silent, so in order to get her to answer it we have to radio her, first."
The Admiral rubs his face, "I'm afraid of friendly fire. If they are like that."
The commo officer nods, "Fubuki is, also, aware and concerned about it. Given how spread out we are compared to them, she is planning to stay concentrated, and out of the line of sight to reduce the odds. She has been keeping them on focus and going over convoy protection."
"So they did make the Flagship a responsible girl, first impressions aside." The Admiral snorts, "Of course, given Fubuki's history, she would be concerned with it. Her torpedoes missed other the Japanese ships at Sunda Strait, but that was luck."
The Communication Officer chuckles, "Her tripping and stumbling when we started looked hilarious, didn't it."
"Perhaps." The Admiral says in an icy voice. "Staff meeting in fifteen minutes." He orders.
At the meeting.
"Scouting?"
"We've got a cloud of long range drones around us," The Reagan's Air Group Captain replies, "The Hawkeyes are up. Cap is up. ASW Helicopters are in the air. AWACS is in the area. Anything that happens within several hundred miles we will know. Given the known problems with radar, and I do not trust the patches required to target something as small as the Shipgirls, I've gone with IR guided missiles and gun pods." He shrugs, "We know guns work and I'm confident that the IR will work."
The Captain clears his throat, "A fleet of KC-135's is circling behind us, so refueling can be handled by them. The only time our birds must land today is to rearm. Another fleet of large passenger planes will be following them. They will land on Guam, after we clear the skies."
"I approve." The Admiral states.
The room nods.
"Sensors?"
"We are double checking the new patches every three hours. We have figured out the 'ghost' with radar." His Chief of Staff replies.
"It is?"
"Her heartbeat. Every time it beats her radar returns shows her WWII hull instead of the what we see."
The Admiral nods, "That does explain the shifting image. Signals? I heard that there's a problem?"
"It's not an actual problem, sir. It's more weirdness than anything else."
"And it is?"
The Electronic Warfare Officer sighs, "When we examine their transmissions on a second by second basis, things get weird. The actual radio signals are in Morse Code, actually the Wabon version of it, but we hear them speak. The voice has the same voiceprint, even."
He looks around the room. The officers have the disbelieving look common when talking about the shipgirls or the Abyssals.
"Breaking it down, we have tried to find where and how our system changes the Morse to voice, but we can not find it. Even step, even circuit has been checked and rechecked and it is still unknown. Sir."
The Admiral takes a deep breath, "Continue investigating." He looks over the room. "And the others?"
"Infrared still shows that her ahh. backpack,"
"Rigging" another officer supplies
"Thank you. Her rigging shows up beautifully. How she can wear it and not have 3rd degree burns remains a question." He shrugs. "But people have touched it, and they only reported only cool metal, so I'm more than a bit confused. More tests are to be done at Tokyo while we are gone."
The room chuckles at the confused statement, everyone is confused about the appearance and the science behind the Abyssals and Kanmusu.
The Communication officer coughs into his hand, "That will be delayed. Kongo took herself and most the remaining shipgirls out for a familiarization and gunnery tour of the southern Japanese Islands, this morning. She was not impressed with their performance at Tokyo Bay."
The room nods. The Shipgirls performance was great, but was littered with, what everybody could see, inexperience. The Shipgirls just have not had the time and training to adapt to the new human shape, luckily that inexperience was also seen with the Abyssals.
"Magnetics?"
"She shows up as 2,000 plus tons of steel. Explanation, none."
"Sonar?"
"She sounds like a ship. Again, no explanation. One of the sonarman found some WWII recordings and she sounds 'very close' in his words."
The Admiral nods, "It sounds like we are ready. Remind the attack subs that I want them to stay close, there are too many unknowns for them to go it alone." His tone softens, "I known that Guam is their base and they want revenge, but let's do it as a team, not lone wolfing it."
"Yes, Sir." The chief of staff says softly. The crews of the attack subs are beside themselves do to concern over their loved ones on the island and a desire for revenge for the couple of subs that were destroyed, as well as shock over what happened as King's Bay. The rumors from there are frightening.
The Admiral continues "Remember, the planes that hit Guam sounded like single engine prop aircraft. There has been no kills, so. If they are single engine props and given the Shipgirls stated history and origin, we are facing a WWII carrier and her escorts. She will have the same mobility we have, so maintain a 360 search. We should spot her scout planes first, so warn the Hawkeyes and CAP." The Air Group Captain nods.
"We will sound General Quarters at 400 miles out, if we do not do it earlier."
Two hundred miles from Guam.
The sea is reasonably calm for the Western Pacific and the skies are partly cloudy, no real storms are in the area. A perfect day for a battle. A similar, if more cloudy day, is predicted for tomorrow.
"Sir! I've got a call from Fubuki for you!" A communication rating calls to the Admiral.
"Fubuki?"
"Admiral, I can see an Abyssal Dive Bomber. It is at my 3 o'clock and is approximately 6 or 7 thousand meters high." She pauses, "How did I know what it was?" she asks herself in wonderment.
The Admiral looks at the radar officers, who shakes his head. He does not see it on his screen.
"Fubuki, we don't see it." He says gently.
"Sir" She earnestly says, "I can see it! It is turning and following us! It must be a scout."
"Fubuki, I'm sorry but."
Fubuki interrupts him, "Please sir. My last Admiral did not listen to his lookouts and sailed us into an ambush! I had hoped, when I heard that your name was Scott, you'd be equal to the Admiral that led the forces that killed me." She finishes in a whisper.
A pause. "Sir?" Fubuki asks in a quiet voice. "I know it is bad manners to interrupt and I apologize. It's."
"It's OK, Fubuki." He says in a soft voice. "We should be getting some contacts. Our scouts are over and beyond Guam, now. I think something is wrong."
He turns to the room, "Double check, everything! We are missing something. Send the CAP to visually search that area, now!"
minutes later.
"Reagan." The CAP pilot states. "I've got problems, here. I've got nothing on my scopes, but I saw a glint of sunlight off metal up here. There is something up here, I feel it." His cracks, "I just felt as if somebody walked over my grave." He whispers. A pause, "I've lost that glint, now. It flew into a cloud. Searching. Over."
"Sir! I've rechecked everything." The radar operator says, "I can see Fubuki and the others, like normal, but I still have nothing else on the screen."
"Shit." Someone in the room says.
"Fubuki." The Admiral says, "You did everything right, thank you. Since your eyes appear to be working better than our radar, please tell us of any more sightings."
"Thank you, Sir!" Fubuki replies in a heartfelt tone.
"We are going to have to rethink some things here, Fubuki. But, I think we are going to have to move you and your girls. Start thinking about that and we'll get back to you."
"Sir! Of course." Click.
"OK, people, ideas?" The Admiral asks.
Silence.
"I think we need some people on deck with binoculars, sir." the radar operator says. "I'm useless as far as I can tell."
A pause. "Do it." The Admiral orders. "Get Washington on the line. They might have something."
175 miles from Guam
Mutsuki calls, "I've got a contact!"
This time the CAP fighter reports seeing a flying wedge, with a jaw and teeth on the underside and a cannon, before it fades into a cloud. The pilot, also, feels 'creepy' around the Abyssal.
Contacts become more common.
100 miles from Guam
Although the 7th fleet has rebooted and updated everything, Fubuki and her Shipgirls plus people with binoculars are still reporting contacts. They will shoot at them, every so often, but after Mutsuki, Kisaragi and Yayoi all mention how bad their AA was against the planes that sunk them, even that is limited to a couple of rounds, more to point out the contact then any real attempt to kill them.
Like before, CAP pilots can, occasionally, catch glints and attempts at interceptions, but no prolonged contact is made as they fly into clouds.
Fubuki and the other Shipgirls are now intermixed with the US ships.
The effect is still unexplained. The command staff and experts at Washington are locked in various arguments. Super stealth vs a computer virus vs super nanotech vs magic...
"Sir!" One of the ratings says, "I've got something on Global Hawk number 4, that you need to see!"
The Admiral's aide changes the big screen to the feed from the Global Hawk. "It is about 400 miles north, north west of us. It is covering our back trail." He mentions as everyone looks at the screen.
It takes a minute, before the Admiral speaks, "Those are wakes, six of them."
"Where are ships?" Another whispers. "We can see the growing wakes, but where are the ships that are making them?"
"Anything else?" The Admiral asks.
"Negative on radar and IR, sir. You can only see it, sir." the rating replies softly.
The room is silent.
"Bring it down. I want to see if there is anything at very close range." The Admiral orders.
A few minutes later, tracers begin to lift from the Abyssals.
"Sir! They are shooting at the drone!"
"Invisible, still, of course." The Admiral remarks.
"Sir, the radar on the drone is picking us something."
"Yes!" The room tenses, waiting to hear to operator.
"It is picking up the shells that are being fired at it. Sir. They are combination of 12.7mm and 28mm? Who makes that?"
"Only, that?"
"Yes, sir."
The Global Hawk begins to spin and tumble. The screen goes blank.
"Shit."
"Invisible ships?" An officer says. "Or are they ghosts, like the Japanese think."
The Admiral orders, "Vector another to that area. Warn the other Global Hawk operator's. Tell everyone that their radar is not be trusted. I want the eyeballs in the planes looking. Tell them to look for wakes."
The Admiral punches a button, "Fubuki."
"Sir."
"We have been chasing our tails here and forgot to ask you." Admiral begins to speak. "Do you have any ideas about why our radar is not working?"
"I'm not sure, Admiral. Radar is not a technology that I'm familiar with. I never had it, so all I know is stories and rumors." she speaks cautiously and she pauses, gathering her thoughts. "When you asked for a volunteer to calibrate your radar, I said yes. Part of the reason was to learn about it, but when I asked questions, I never really understood the answers and I was afraid to insult people by asking for clarifications."
She finishing rapidly, "Everyone said that they knew much more than I did and I wasn't to worry about it. There would be an explanation later. Treated me like a child." She whispers. "Not a Destroyer." The Admiral hear the pain in her voice.
"Hold there, Fubuki, please." The Admiral states as he presses the mute button.
He closes his eyes and says, "I think we have made a terrible mistake, here. If anybody would know what is going on, it is the shipgirls. And they have been treated like children that know nothing and ignored." He shakes his head. He turns to his Master Chief, "Look into it, please. I have the feeling there are people I need to discuss things with."
The Master Chief salutes, "Yes, sir. There has been a couple of instances that I was bring to your attention, once things calmed down."
The admiral raises his eyebrow, and waits.
"Somebody, and I know who, I just have not proved it yet, used photoshop and placed the girls heads on some pornographic pictures. I was thinking about locking him in the same room with the girls and his photos."
Everybody smiles at that.
"The radioman on one the DD's has been flirting with Yayoi. I was waiting for his Captain to handle it, sir." A pause.
"Handle it, now." The order is iron. "I want whoever did the pictures in the brig within the hour. The radioman and his superiors, all them, including me, will write out a formal apology, to be on my desk, as soon as possible. And I want to know who has not been treating them with respect."
The Master Chief salutes and leaves the room.
He presses the button, "Fubuki, my apologizes. We should have consulted with you earlier. We just are not used to you and your abilities, yet. That changes, now."
"Thank you, sir."
"Do you have anything to add to your previous statement?"
"Well," Fubuki starts to say. "They wanted to calibrate your radar, so I tried to be as visible as possible. When I tried to be invisible that upset the man I was dealing with and he told me to stop it. He said that there would be more tests, when he had better equipment to study the effect. Sir."
"You tried to be invisible?" The Admiral asks.
"Yes, sir. We do not do it because everybody gets upset, But, I thought that was what I was asked to do."
He closes his eyes in pain. "Fubuki, if you could, please, move to an open area and we will test this 'invisibility' in the field."
"Yes, sir." she says in a small voice.
"I need to know what the happened at the calibration test, now." The order is soft spoken, but firm. "Vector a helicopter over Fubuki. We'll test airborne and ship-based sensors. Set it up. Now."
A minute later, as they watch Fubuki maneuver.
"Sir." One of the ratings says, "I think I've found something."
"Go ahead."
"It's from the original Japanese briefing paper on Kanmusu. One of footnotes mentions the "invisibility" to radar around them and that further testing is needed. Somebody in Washington struck it out with a note that was impossible, and it was ignored when we briefed. Sir."
"Sir." Another rating speaks.
After the Admiral nods, he continues, "The first man at the test was a contractor, he had about ten minutes alone with her, specializing in stealth technology. He has a past history of being difficult. Looking at his record, I would not be surprised if he hid it, so he could claim credit for discovering it and how to counter or use it."
"Fuck." Someone in the room says.
"I want names, please." His voice is calm. "We will pass the information up the chain for action. No doubt, the very high security clearance on the ShipGirls and the time pressure after Tokyo Bay and Guam, prevented a thorough checking of experts. So they sent the first person with the clearance and qualifications without checking. Washington was being cautious and not wanting us to be confused with conflicting and impossible reports."
"Fubuki is in position, sir."
"Thank you."
The big screen in the room has Fubuki standing on the ocean. The TV camera from the helicopter is on her. The wind from the hovering helicopter is twisting her hair and clothes around.
"Fubuki."
"Yes, sir!" You can hear the salute in her voice.
"Smile and wave at the camera."
She looks around. "Where, sir?"
A sigh, "The helicopter."
"Oh. Sorry, sir." She looks up and waves.
"Can you become invisible, now?"
"OF" the transmission stops.
Fubuki has vanished from the screen. You can see her wake trailing behind her.
"Fuck." from the back of the room.
"Radar?"
"Negative."
"IR?"
"Negative."
A sigh sweeps the room at that.
"Magnetics?"
"Nothing but ocean."
"Electronics?"
"Nothing. Her transmission just ended."
"Sir, I have a transmission from Nenohi."
"Put her on."
"Admiral, is something wrong with your receiver? Fubuki is trying to talk to you, but you, apparently, are not hearing her."
"She can hear us?"
"Yes, sir."
"And you can hear her and us."
"Yes, sir."
He rubs his face and sighs, "Tell her. No. Fubuki, please give us a call on that smartphone. Let's what happens then."
"She says, Ok, sir"
A pause.
"Sir. She says that is not working, like the battery is dead or something. She wants to know what you wish her do to?"
"Fubuki, please, be patient. You are not being ignored, we just are very busy right now."
"She says, 'Thank you, sir.'"
"Sonar?" He asks hopefully.
"Negative." A pause, "Wait. They can hear the wake, sir. Only that and it is very faint, too faint for a lock."
"Sir. This the Pilot of the helo. I can see her with my naked eyes. She isn't there accordingly to any of my instruments, but I see her." A pause. "I suppose she is a ghost, then."
The admiral looks around the room. "Any other ideas?"
The room is silent.
"Washington?"
The screen showing a conference room in Washington has an officer stand up and says, "Not now. We have to think about this."
"Fubuki, you can decloak, now."
Nothing happens.
Nenohi says, "Ah, Sir, she asks what does that means?"
Another sigh, "Become visible, please, Fubuki."
Fubuki appears on the screen, she is crying, "Sorry, sir." She wipes her eyes. "But, I just do not understand. Radar is nice for spotting things, but you are sounding like it is the end of the world. Why?"
"Why, Fubuki? Not only do we spot with radar, we guide our weapons with it. Without radar, every weapon we have will not function as designed."
"Your cannons, too? I mean you have so few, but?"
"They are aimed by radar, too."
"That is what I had been told, but I just did not realize that it was this important. But, don't you have an optical backup, at least for the cannon?"
"Fubuki, there is no one in the turret. It is aimed by a system that will not detect you and I am assuming the enemy."
"Oh. I know it looks small, but I assumed there was still somebody in it." A pause. "I'm sorry, sir."
"Don't be. It's not your fault. It is not, really, anybodies fault. Things are happening faster than we can adjust for them."
"Sir?"
"Yes."
"I've got a report from a person using binoculars about what he saw during the test."
"Tell me."
"Here, let me put him on."
"Sir, PO Smith, here."
"Tell me what you saw."
"Sir. Everything was fine, then she vanished from the brand new high tech binoculars, I was using. But, sir, I could still see her with my naked eyes. And the guy next to me, using a very old set could see her just fine. I could see her just fine when we traded, sir." He swallows. "On a wild thought, I took the batteries out of my binoculars, and tried again. It worked, somewhat, she was blurry, but she was visible. Sir."
"Thank you for that report, sailor. PO Smith, I want you here, and bring both sets of binoculars and the other sailor you mentioned."
A few minutes later.
The Admiral is turning over the binoculars, when the sailor they belong to says. "They were my grandfathers, sir. He gave them to me when I joined. I use them for bird watching."
"Sir," PO Smith says, "I've been hearing rumors and, well, the only thing I did was turn off all the electronics in my set. Begging your pardon, but I think she was messing up the computer chip itself."
Silence.
Admiral Scott looks at the old binoculars. They are US Naval 7X50 Binoculars from WWII.
"We are sooo, Fucked." Sounds from the back of the room.
End Chapter 1
Author's note: For this story, Kanmusu and Abyssal are basically two sides of the same coin, magically speaking. The Alpha to the others Omega. So, they share basic abilities, how they use them is different, of course.
Note: I've read some action novels and done some very limited research on modern naval tactics, only. So, my titles and tactics will be wrong. If you, the reader, can give me some advice I'll use it. But, all I'm hoping for is readability and drama, I will sacrifice detail for that.
Thank you for reading
Jeff