Kantai Collection : Red October
Interlude(I): Origins
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Project Korabl
Kolyma Upland , Siberia, Russia
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"Romino this is insane, we can't do this! I read about what happened to the last girl who been through this, this, is too dangerous!"
"Dr Yuri, I insist that you keep your comments to yourself. We have been through the tests, she had met every attributes perfectly and we have made the precautions, so we both know, this experiment would be safe. All we need now is your thing with machinery as well as your knowledge of Shipgirl technology, not unnecessary comments."
"But dragging Juveniles from prisons, for a life-endangering experiment, it's definition of amorale."
Hearing this, Admiral Romino pulled out a cigar and lit it, illuminating his face with the malicious glow of the cigar in the cold dark cavern he was in, with no other lightsources but a few dim electric lamps. Beside him was a young man with messy black hair by the name of Yuri, dressed in a labcoat wearing a pair of round-framed nerd spectacles, whom was the new replacement for the scientist who quit his job out of PTSD from the last experiment that Admiral Romino and his department was tried to pull. Who had also became the subject of anger of the bigger sized, the ranked Admiral, glaring angrily into the smaller scientist`s soul with dark angry eyes while smoking fumes of cancerous ash.
"Yuri... I order you to take back what you said a few seconds ago ."
Yuri tried to protest, but lost his voice and nodded as he cowered into fearful submission under Romino`s shadow.
"She is no juvenile, She is never a juvenile, she is fiery and fearless, then why else would she met all the attributes from the tests? A straight one hundred percent Doctor Yuri , no girl had ever get a hundred percent in a compatibility test in the history of Shipgirls construction, it was as if it chosen her. Unlike the other warships we encountered so far , such as Fubuki, Bismarck, Ark Royal and Richelieu... I see that this Warship is quite picky in choosing which volunteer to give the honour of imbuing her with its soul. Unlucky suitors ... well"
Romino paused and sigh then wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"Then the girl happened, cells roasted alive and she disintegrated in a blink of an eye." Yuri continued that part of the story for the Admiral, who then nodded in sad agreement.
"Yes Yuri, ever since then it is rather hard to find a volunteer, we have the policy of giving our candidates disclaimers because about the thing about human rights, and they as expected, rejected the honour of being the first Russian Shipgirl in the world, not until Sanya, someone who actually have the balls showed up and took the job instead."
Yuri let out a relief sigh, he heard rumours that the military of different countries had fallen into unethical methods in Shipgirl-construction. Namely the French, the British, the Germans and especially, the American and Japanese , who had reports of using blackmailing, forced drafting from prisons and even kidnapping to swell their Shipgirl fleet. Yuri was at least glad his nation although drafting Juveniles, but not had not low compared to the rumours he heard.
"Anyways, what's the ship we going to summon?" Yuri said.
"I thought you did your homework before..., oh nevermind! Hahah, I remembered that was classified information. But since now we are here, I believe there is no harm in telling you what mystery ship we are actually summoning, Comrade Yuri my friend... today we are summoning the October." Romino said proudly, this only served to confuse the youthful scientist more.
Classified? Why would a information like that be classified? Since the principle of Shipgirl-construction according to Yuri`s knowledge he acquired after his years in the European Abyssal Research Organization it means imbuing souls from the ships in the past into female human bodies and those ships were only from the early 20th century only, hence identities of the Ships used for Shipgirl-construction will be no big secret when somebody decided to search the internet or flip a book on naval history. Then again, why so shady? Why was this information classified? And October?! What is the October? Still, Romino was still a Admiral, if Yuri wants to ask for information, he have to compose himself first no matter how hard is it due to the whole absurdity of this operation, but nevermind Yuri thought, composing one self is easy, simply by taking deep breaths, deep breaths.
" I been through all the past Naval files from 1919 to 1945, the top secret projects and prototypes included and there was no such ship known as the October." Yuri breathed unevenly.
Romino let out a dry laugh, wheezing cloud after cloud of cigarette smoke as he does so.
"You never disappointed me Yuri, you are indeed a good researcher who did his homework well, but did I say that the October, is a warship from the Great Patriotic War Dr Yuri?"
Yuri raised a eyebrow, but decided not to prolong the unnecessary conversation further by remaining slient as more will be revealed to him in time, and it is rather rude to roast spoilers out of powerful people like Romino. The two continued walking through rocky tunnels after tunnels along with the guide of the white buzzing electric lights, until Romino raised his hand briefly and halted his footsteps.
"Ahh, we are here ." Romino chirped.
After a long walk through a top secret underground network in the far Northern side of Siberia, the two men came face to face with a several armored thick steel blast door, made to vault whatever inside from unworthy eyes or even a tank shell that came from a Abrams Tank.
Bending forward, Romino trace his hand to a rectangular box that was built on the center of the blast door and opened it, revealing a 3x3 numerical pad.
"Yuri, what's the password?" Romino asked
"I don't know Sir,"
With a grumpy sigh, Romino dailed in his birthdate, with a metallic grinding sound, the blast door slide open automatically by itself.
"Some good friend you are Yuri, even when I told you the code was my birthday a week ago."
Yuri did not say anything, he was too busy being captivated by the breathing taking sight that had been hiding behind those blast doors all along.
"I see the cat got somebody`s tongue today, anyways Yuri, welcome to Project Korabl !"
Behind the blast doors, turned out to be a huge underground cavern that looks like it can house the whole Kremlin in it, already on its roof were several meters tall stalactites hanging down from the roof like rows of sharp teeth, whilst a giant slab of gray concrete platform acts as the cavern`s flooring. All of this made Yuri awe at the sheer dominating size of the man-made cavern. The wonder thickens as he then turned his attention away from the size to the contents of the cavern.
Lit by a long lining of electric lights, right in the heart of the cavern, resting on the concrete slab, was a giant circle made by hundreds of colossal sophisticated computing machinery operated by dozens of men in either hazmat uniforms or labcoats. Two towering, curved tesla coils that was built inside the circle, as if it was some sort of stargate to another dimension, in between the coils were a glass container that was designed to fit one person inside. On the flooring of the container was a weird symbol that glowed brightly in blue. What was that symbol Yuri wondered, it looked a symbolic drawing of a dragon, or something that came from the inscriptions from the walls of old Orthodox Churches, a magical circle? Yuri can forget about that however, because whatever was hanging above the tip of the testa coil had scared Yuri a lot.
Dangling from the cavernous ceiling in chains while surrounded by was a shipwreck that had the exact size of a typical world war II Battleship, humongous , dark and ominous. But in closer inspection, the shape had a tube-like body with spherical nose, the resemblance of a typical world war II German submarine, except bigger, more intimidating and more Sovietly mordern. Hence, Yuri tried his best to look for a Swastika or a Christian cross on the Submarine, hoping to tag the Leviathan as a Kreigsmarine Submarine. Sadly, all he found was red stars and a phase that was imprinted on the mast of the supposed Kreigsmarine Submarine.
On the mast wrote " красный октябрь ", Red October.
The most captivating detail that made Yuri almost peed his pants were the little missile ports built on the spine of the monster, missile ports that shoot nuclear missiles capable of taking the lives of millions. The being, even through was a shipwreck, a shadow of its former self , with its missile ports marred, its nose dented and manholes and gashes that had cables and wires spewed out of them shown the war scars the Soviet Submarine had endured, the Submarine was still able to preserve its aura of power and hatred.
As if any moment it will lash out from the chains , opened up a mouth that had rows of sharp teeth and swallow Yuri alive.
"I...I know that Submarine, it's a Typhoon-Class Submarine, a Typhoon class from the cold war!"
"Not just any Typhoon-Class, this Submarine, my friend, is the famous Red October, a Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarine built with a state of art Caterpillar Drive, something the Americans nor the Japs failed to weaponize even today." Romino exclaimed with a devilish smile.
"Dear god... you are going to summon a Cold War Era Shipgirl capable of a nuclear strike." Yuri breathed.
Romino`s grin grew wider, he put an arm over the young scientist shoulder and pulled it closer to him.
"Hahaha, yes Yuri yes, but first tell me, have you read the book The Hunt For Red October?" The Admiral asked.
"Yes, I did , the book was American Propaganda musor (garbage*) and... wait, Red... October..." Yuri`s eyes widen as a creeping realization propped up in his head.
"Yes Yuri, "The Hunt For Red October" is very non-fictional, but written by the hands of that American, the story is although distorted, but still very real, Yuri my friend, let me tell you a story, the real story."
Romino spit his expended cigar onto the concrete platform he was standing on and stomped it into a dirty cigar butt with his boots, then he lit another one as he told his story.
"The Typhoon-Class Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarine, also known as Akula (Shark), was the solution to catch up to the American Ohio-classes missile submarines during the Cold War, a slient war fought by the American capitalist , and the Soviet communist. The Typhoon boasted the pride of carrying a hundred and ninety two nuclear warheads that have the power to control the Western imperialists if they ever dared to threaten the seas of the motherland. The Akulas Submarines were the shield and the blockade against the American nuclear threat, and had been doing that ever since 1981.
But not all Typhoons were acting as shields, there was one single , special Typhoon class that was borned as the hammer, the hammer that was made to strike the Americans if the Cold War went hot. When the imperialists listened to their Rock n Roll in the Fourth of July while secretly plotting for the demise of our Motherland in their Pentagon, the October with the state of art caterpillar drive technology, will silently crawl under the enemy sonar undetected and then in a flash, make their Empire tremble under the nuclear typhoon of two hundred Soviet warheads without them knowing what hit them , if there was ever need to do so.
That Typhoon was called Red October, the ship of revolution, and striking the heart of the Empire, was its destiny.
A destiny that was robbed away from it by traitors. In its very first test run, the Captain that was supposed to steer it towards to victory, defected to the American side, and even attempted to steal it to the Americans whilst at it. In a hard decision, Soviet patriots have to sink the poor October along with the treacherous traitor into the abyss, and hence there goes sword, and there goes the destiny of the mighty Red October, killed and forgotten, the most decorated Submarine in the Red fleet hence had its name scrapped off the books of history just like that..."
Yuri was speechless, Romino`s grin disappeared, and his cigarette had long became ashes, taking another stick, he bitterly lit it and put it in his lips as he continued the story.
"The whole crew of the Red October died that day Yuri, to make things more disgusting for me, my father was inside that ship, as a Political Officer. He died too along with the rest, there was one survivor however..."
The Russian Admiral`s face had been darken into a scowl as his teeth grinded as the most unfavorable part of the story was about to be vomited from his mouth.
"An American CIA dog that goes by the name of Jack Ryan, who cowardly escaped via escape pod of the Typhoon as it sank, today you will know him as Tom Clancy, who painted the traitorous villain as a uprighteous lithuanian hero whereas in reality, he was a American paid dog borned from the slums of Gorkiy, a Russian-borned traitor that sold his motherland for capitalistic money. That Yankee even fantasized sailing on a small fishing boat with the traitor alive and well in his heroic little ending, but what made me most angry was he even used my father's name as the name of that lithuanian "hero", he have the audacity to slander the name of Markos Ramius just like that. I have to abandon my father's name Ramius, and change it to Romino, all thanks to the bloody Americans." Romino growled a little at the end of his story.
"While the other warships died a dignified death in world war II, the October died a painful death by the hands of traitors, betrayed and murdered by the West, just like our nation. Now look at it Yuri, look at the October in its wretched state, such humiliation, such insult."
Romino pointed his cigar at the wreck of the Red October, which was covered with seaweed, holes and shame, bad shame.
"So let's get it out of its wrenched state Yuri, and bring her back to her former glory once again."
Yuri was speechless, there was a brief moment of silence apart of the soft humming of the machines and the chattering of the staff working on it, until one of the Hazmat men called out for the Admiral, breaking the killing silence.
"Admiral Romino! The subject is ready!"
"Ahh Yuri, it has begun, now get to work." The Admiral said cheerfully and Yuri nodded and scattered to his work as fast as possible, the effects from the conversation just haven't worn off, his hand were still shivering from aftershock.
Escorted by two men in hazmat suit, armed with AK74 Rifles, were a young girl who was a head shorter than those two, wearing a orange prisoner blouse. Her ravenous black hair was damp and lifeless, obscuring most of her face, billowing ghostly as she walked towards the Admiral grudgingly whilst the two masked men kept close watch on her, fingers on trigger, as if she was some sort of dangerous animal.
Yuri can't keep his eyes away from the young girl, she looked like as if she just reached adulthood, but barely eighteen , with a expression this low and had already been commited to imprisonment, then drafted into becoming a Shipgirl.
The girl was now standing right in front of the taller, bigger Admiral had cast a shadow on her face just by his sheer height, and the girl... saluted to him?
The Admiral kneeled down and tap a hand on her shoulder as if she was his dear little niece. This was where Yuri gasped as he saw the Admiral as well as the girl`s eyes. The girl... the girl does not have the eyes of a victim who got exploited by the military, instead she had the burning eyes that scared Yuri, in those eyes Yuri saw vengeance and anger, not directed at the Admiral through, but at somewhere else. While the Admiral, had eyes of concern and fatherly joy, as if he was proud to see the young girl grow up just to see her give up her life as a soldier, then bid her farewell and good luck. This contradicts completely the initial image Yuri initially had.
To seal this, Romino and the girl then said something inaudible to each other , too soft for Yuri to hear, then exchange hugs for a brief moment.
Romino reached into his pocket and pulled out something golden.
It revealed to be a golden badge that takes the shape of the hammer and sickle , he placed it onto the girl`s feminine, yet rough and tried palm.
"Something from your father, Hence I want you to keep it. I am deeply sorry I wasn't there when he was gone."
Sanya Makarovna took the badge and held it to her chest.
"Its not your fault, but let's not forgive them."
She flipped the badge and read what was written behind it.
"Motherland first, Comrades second, revenge next , strike your enemies with your all even if you have only a toothpick." Sanya read out.
"That was what your Father always said to his subordinates." He continued.
"Then I shall honour his words, now I will go."
Putting the pin onto the collar of her blouse, then she looked up to the wreck of the Red October and the large concentration of dangerous machinery below it. She then looked down again at her father's pin. She heard what happened to the last girl who stepped into that machine, her hair got bleached white and her cells got roasted alive. But what were the risks? Her enemies had already took everything from her, her dignity,her glory and her family, her only family, her younger sister committed to asylum and she had no home to come back to, the fear of death have become nonexistent, while all she can count on was this once in a life chance opportunity given by her nation to reborn anew, and fulfil her destiny,
Striking the heart of the empire.
"Admiral Romino, I am ready, and thank you for everything." Sanya said with smile.
"Very well then, I wish you the best of luck. Yuri prepare the machine!" The Admiral screamed.
With a cold bead of sweat rolling his cheek, Yuri pulled the lever on his control panel that kickstarted the power source of the machine, and the beast whirled to life. Sanya marched into the glass dome of the machine and without a brief hesitation she shut the glass door on herself then put her feet on symbol etched on the floor. Romino stood beside Yuri, and stoically glared at the set up before him, the men in hazmat suit had already placed the bauxites and oil and other forms of resources needed for Shipgirl-making, surrounding the glass cylinder in a small, perfect circle.
The red lights flared and the alarms blared, telling the Hazmat men to scatter away from the whole set up and to the safety perimeter. Small sparks of electricity began to crackle on the tips of the tesla coils while the symbol beneath Sanya`s feet began to glow fiercer in blue. All the preparations had been made, now all it left was for the machine to completely warm up, making the humid air heavier and more dreadful.
"T-minus in Ten seconds." The loudspeakers blared.
"Yuri,"
Yuri looked up and saw Romino offering a steel canteen, probably contained Vodka, once Yuri took a hard gulp from it and his hypothesis was indeed correct. He needed that drink.
"We haven't even managed to summon a World War II Shipgirl yet, so do you know that this experiment has a ninety-percent chance of failure?"
"Yes." Romino said simply.
"T-minus in nine seconds."
Yuri look at the young woman inside the glass cylinder, who wasn't even showing a hint of fear despite the situation she was in, but just crossing her arms with a stoic look, as if she was impatient for the wait of her supposed demise.
"Does she knows this experiment have a ninety percent chance of failure Romino?"
"Yes, and she told me she don't care."
Yuri could only blankly look at Romino who hasn't left his gaze at the experiment yet.
"She wasn't a normal juvenile was she?" Yuri asked.
"No she wasn't , she was the elder daughter of my mentor, Vladimir Makarov, who was as close as a brother to me, and is also the reason why who I am today, and is someone who died of humiliation after USSR collapsed. A Uncorrupted good bureaucrat who spend his all for the nation and the nation of only , fell into shameful proverty in the end. His wife and son left him when he was in his weakest state and he died of a heart attack with his daughters by his side. Later the elder daughter took a job as a lumberjack to support her family."
"T-minus in seven seconds."
"Then why is she here, how did she went to jail?"
Romino furrowed her eyebrows and paused for a while, Yuri noticed the pure disdain on the Admiral`s face. Puffing another cloud of ash to comfort his throat, he calculated his words before speaking again.
"Out of rage, she killed a American who tried to did... certain things to her and her younger sister, and it took a entire division of policeman , a few SOBR officers (Russian SWAT*) just to capture a little raging lumberjack girl armed with nothing but a bloody axe, nobody other than the American lost their lifes that day, but one man lost his right hand while the another lost his left foot... well, half of it to be fair."
Yuri gasped, he now looked at the girl in the glass cylinder, now a menacing aura emanated from her. He then noticed took a good look again at the two men who escorted this Sanya just now, now guarding the only entrance and exit of this massive cavern, standing behind him and Romino, both staring intensively at the young little woman who was contained in the glass cylinder a few meters away. Despite their expression were hidden behind their hazmat, Yuri can sense their fear, and the unwillingness to let go the trigger of their rifles. Now Yuri knew why he can sense so...
"T-minus in three seconds."
"Two seconds,"
"one."
With a deafening crack of thunder, the two tesla coils flared and then from its ends, the tesla coils each shot two bolts of lighting huge crackling bolt of electricity up together and converged at the wreck of the Red October, causing it to lit up into a violent dangerous cyan blue aura of electricity that formed a inverted "V" shape of sheer lightning. Then in less than a few moments, the Submarine glowed into a bright cyan-white silhouette before launching a more powerful and concentrated beam at the glass cylinder beneath it, hitting the glass object along with the resources of steel, bauxite and oil surrounding it, causing everything in the machine's perimeter to be engulfed in a bright blinding intensifying electricity that includes the poor girl inside the glass cylinder, Sanya who was hysterically screaming in pain and agony as her claustrophobic glass confinements was filled with hissing chaotic violent sparks that surged through her body with a voltage more life threatening than that of a electric chair.
The electrified resources slowly levitated up to the air around Sanya and started to spin around her like a merry go around. Slowly, the steel , oil and bauxite started to melt into a molten state before stopping still, and shot through the glass cylinder like a ghostly projectile without shattering the cylinder, and latched themselves through Sanya`s cotton fabric of her prisoner blouse and smothered onto her skin, causing her to scream more hysterically while the silvery-brown liquid material started to morphed into a body suit over her prisoner blouse she worelike a symbiote. Then resources glowed into a blinding white light.
Sanya gripped her head in pain as she started tearing her hair like a crazy person, the raven-black hair on Sanya`s scalp was changing colour, or losing colour would be the more appropriate term, as a snowy whiteness started to creep up Sanya`s hair as if it was dipped in white paint. Below her neck, molten resources was starting spread throughout her body like a electrified body suit, those molten material felt like lava on her skin as they burnt through them , her bones started to crack and change as a unpleasant transformation started to take place in her body.
Yuri gasped in fear while Romino struggled to remained his composure
"This was just like what happened in the reports..., Admiral!"
Romino didn't respond to Yuri, but just remained his hardened stare at what was inside the glass cylinder. He was rubbing his chin , hence the Admiral knew his breath was uneven because his fingers can felt the breath. Meanwhile, panicked cries of base personnels can be heard, officers scattering around, flipping switches on machines and making phonecalls to either give out orders or ask questions on what to do.
"Admiral! We have to stop this now!"
Admiral Romino rubbed his chin harder, finally letting out a heavy sigh and wrinkled his forehead.
"Admiral!"
"Agreed! someone pull the plug!" Romino blurted.
A man in protective clothing rushed into the glas cylinder, bending down next to it, he wrapped his arms around a thick power cable with orange ringings at its rectangular plug, connected to the cylinder and started to pull it, sparks of electricity licked his suit in protest as he struggled to do so.
"NJET!"
The man stopped what he was doing and looked at Sanya, the girl he was supposed to save. The whole base personnel in that room went silent and looked at the girl inside the glass cylinder.
"NJET , I CAN STILL DO THIS!" She screamed again, for everybody to hear, her voice was amplified by some sort of supernatural force, it was as if two Sanyas was screaming at the same time.
Admiral Romino moved closer to the wall of glass which was the protective screen that separated him and Yuri from Sanya, Yuri was still sitting on his stool with both hands at the control panel of the terminal, not knowing what to do. In reality, neither the Admiral knew what to do, stop the experiment and go against Sanya`s wishes, or let her continue?
Too late to decide, the shipwreck of the Red October shot a nasty bolt lighting onto the man`s chest, causing him to fly up then hit the ground. The electric lamps above the Admiral and the scientist burst into sparks and glass shards and the readings on Yuri`s computing device was going off charts.
This was not only happening in Yuri`s area, on the second floor, a ball of electricity and fire burst out from an observation room a floor higher than Yuri and Romino`s one. The metal door of that room swung opened then smoke and fire escaped that room along with scientists and engineers who rushed out in panick. One of them even caught fire on his coat as he ran, screaming in pain as the fire consumed his flesh, fortunately, a fellow colleague of his grabbed a fire extinguisher nearby and doused out the flames off him.
Yuri looks up the ceiling and noticed cracks of rocks had already started raining down, and the tremble was felt from his heel. Oh, my god, Yuri thought as he realized the whole place was collapsing!
"Danger! All personnels evacuate the danger zone at once, I repeat , all personnel evacuate the danger zone. This is not a drill!" The voice on the PA system cried through the speakers.
The staff were desperate to flee through the only exit of the chamber, if it weren't for the guards who forced everybody to evacuate in a orderly manner, people would already have ran over one another. Romino turned his attention back Sanya, who was clutching her head in pain and when she lifted it up, he saw her eyes and her mouth were shooting out beams of white light and magical symbols in cyan appeared on her face and arms like glowing tattoos. But that's not all, cracks began forming on her face and skin visibly, knifes of lights shot out of the cracks, it was like she was going to explode in any moment!
"If anything happened to me, look after my young daughters for me alright?"
"What are you talking about Comrade Captain Makarov? You are the Captain Makarov , nothing bad will happen to you, and your daughters."
"Comrade Romino, this is serious, I fear something bad will happen eventually, to me and to this nation, You saw the news Romino. I will be going into this battle to save her from her traitors, this battle, will be so big and important that I fear I may not survive this, so may I please have your promise Romino."
"Captain..."
"I beg you."
" Sigh*, I promise." Romino remembered that he said to Makarov, and that was the last time he ever saw his mentor after the former got reassigned to somewhere else very far from his friend, where he missed the death of his nation , and the funeral of his friend.
Screw this, the Admiral thought, he made a promise to Vladimir Makarov to look after his daughters and he will not break it! Not again.
Yuri was about to leave his the control room, but halted when he realized the Admiral wasn't following him. He looked behind and saw the Admiral stuffing his body into a tight protective suit hastily.
"Romino what are you doing?!" The younger man call through the loud rumbling of the cavern collapsing.
"What do I look like I am doing!" Romino yelled as he squeezed his head through the protective helmet of his suit and rushed outside the control room through the door on his left, the wrong door.
Charging through a hurricane of lighting bolts that shown no mercy to the insulation of his suit, Admiral Romino set his gloved hand at the handle of door of the Sanya`s glass cylinder.
"Arrgh!"
A series of lighting hit Romino as he tried to open the door to retrieve the girl inside, he grit his teeth and winced in pain as he bore the stinging of the inhumane voltage the October gave him in defiance. Just a little more, the Admiral thought as he squints his eyes at the blinding flashing of cyan and violet electric bolts hitting his suit.
At last, the Admiral wrapped his strong fisherman arms at Sanya`s waist. Although protected by his suit, he can still felt the burning from the liquidly suit made from the molten resources from earlier. Regardless, he still pulled the girl out from the cylinder with all his might as the stinging of electricity and heat got worse.
"Hmm?"
Romino raised his left hand up and saw that his glove had been melted away, and his whole suit was melting!
"AAHHHHHHHHHH!" Sanya screamed harder as the light glowing out of her eyes intensified, and more light shot out of the cracks on her exposed face and hands.
"Pizdec." He muttered
Romino putting Sanya on his shoulders, he planted his feet one by one to escape from the glass cylinder as lightning continued to roast his body alive, splotches of his suit has already been melted away, revealing patches of his exposed back to the electricity to strike. Some of this molten material of Sanya`s suit got caught onto Romino`s exposed left arm, causing him wince harder in pain as the molten material sizzled through his skin like he was touching the lava.
Yuri in the control room, sweated his palms as he fumbled the switches of the control panel in an attempt to aid the Admiral in his daring rescue, his hope crashed when after his computing device burst out small electric sparks before smoking at Yuri`s face, Yuri tried the controls again, this time they are unresponsive.
"Pizdec!" Yuri cursed as he slammed his fists on the now useless control panel.
"What are you still doing here! This place is collapsing and you have to get out of here!"
Yuri turned behind and saw the two armed soldiers in hazmat suits standing behind him. A loud tremor rumbled the place and Yuri turned his attention back at the duo standing at the center of the chaos of electricity and fire. The Admiral were getting weaker and weaker in his every step advance out of their shocking death, his hazmat suit as well as his clothing was getting more and more defiled with tears and burnt marks.
The thin man in lab coat said "screw it", and rushed to the emergency telephone built on the left wall of the control room, only to be held back by the black rubber protective gloves of the soldiers.
"Calm down sir, we will get you out here safe and sound-"
"There are two human beings inside there, and they will perish for nothing if I don't use that telephone over there for THREE SECONDS!"
The two men halted their movements and looked at Yuri through the lens of their gas masks, Yuri snatched the telephone from its holder and pressed a button with a beep.
Through the protection screen, Romino was carrying the girl on his shoulders, marching through a sea of Tesla and electricity that held him down, his suit torn and exposed, bits of boiling molten resources on Sanya dripped and sizzled on his skin. It was too much, he fell to his knees. Gritting his teeth, he tried to walk again, but discovered he was too weak to do so, how on earth did he lasted so long? It didn't matter, as long as he is still alive he can make it, he MUST make it, for Sanya, for Makarov!
The whole cavern rumbled for the hundredth time, then boulders and stalactites rained down upon the duo. Fortunately, like an umbrella, the rocks plinked off the surface of the Red October as soon as the rocks fall, crashing harmlessly to the area surrounding the Submarine wreck and the two people under it. Although a stalactite that had the size of the tank shell, barely missed Romino and grazed Romino`s right ankle. He looked at his right leg, and discovered a yawning red gash on his leg, blood bleeding profusely from it.
"Blyad!"
"Romino! You must cut the power supply of the machine, unplug the Orange cable!" Yuri cried through the PA system.
"What?"
"THE ORANGE CABLE!" Yuri cried again, the crackling of the electricity and the tremors tried to drown his voice.
The Admiral narrowed his eyes at the thick cable connected to the glass cylinder, then his eyes shifted to the rock that cut his leg, which had weakened and was bleeding ridiculously at the moment, the static shocks were harsh on him too.
On his shoulders, the light continued to shoot out of Sanya`s eyes and mouth as she started spasming uncontrollably. More drips of her aura imbued molten mixture of fuel, bauxite and ammo splattered onto Romino`s exposed arm, causing the Admiral drop Sanya with a thud and clutched his wrist in agony. He felt the lava-hot liquid sizzled into his skin, but at the same time... he felt stronger and better? When Romino looked down at his leg, the gash had disappeared into thin air, no scars and any markings were present on his skin.
He felt refreshed and new!
"Now`s my chance!" was the only thought Admiral Vladimir Romino harboured in that second.
Like a rugby player, his mind went blank as he snatched the piece of stalactite from the ground and charged at the Orange cable dauntlessly like a rampaging elephant, not even static shocks can much a thing on him.
"URRRAAHH!"
The Admiral let out his primal warcry as he dashed right to the cable, raised the sharp piece of rock up in the air with both hands with its tip facing the black rubber insulation of the giant black tube, and striked it down with his all his barbaric might.
A big cacophonous blast erupted on his face the moment when rock meets rubber, everything was engulfed in a blinding white light. And all was consumed, all was over...
...
...
"There he is!"
There was a brief darkness, his ears were ringing, he fluttered open for a brief moment. All he saw was blurry patches of grey, black and white. He blinked and saw the tipsy shape of two soldiers in hazmat suits approaching him.
The two men carried him by the shoulders and walked him to the blinding white light which was the exit. He looked at his arms and realized his sleeves were turned completely, visible scars and bruises were all over his biceps.
He blinked again and blinked again... his heard his heartbeat slowing down and the voices get muffled, the ringing in his ears didn't stop.
Blinking weakly for the third time, he struggled to open his eyes, in the blinding white light, he saw an orange stretcher. He heard some panicked murmurs of staff personnel before being carried and placed onto the stretcher with a thud.
With that, he closed his eyes and his mind drifted away.
...
...
Romino opened his eyes to discover he was in a swirling void of darkness, his ears perched when he heard a soft coughing voice. Turning to his right he saw...
"Makarov?"
He saw an old friend in his sick bed dressed in flimsy blue pajamas, the friend looked at Romino with an tired look. His skin were pallid and he looks thin and brittle, a shadow of his former old KGB captain self, but was still his friend and Comrade regardless. Makarov weakly turned his head to his former protégé, and slowly smiled.
"Romino...you came back, it's so good to see you..."
Makarov coughed harder,. as he cough, his skin started to crack. The poor man cough uncontrollably, until the cracks spidered all over the poor man, and Romino watched as Makarov collapsed into a pile of dust before him.
"Ah Comrade Captain, so I see you and my son are the same type. After this operation is over, You should pay a visit to him, you two can make great friends. Like you, he was just as enthusiastic about maritime history as well as the - "
A loud crashing noise rang behind Romino`s back.
Romino turned his body once again and gasped, now he saw his father, dressed in the uniform he wore on the day he said goodbye to his son and wife before he went to the Red October, lying a pool of his own blood with red leaking from the head. Standing before him was a dark silhouette of a man with hands stained with the blood of the Comrade he betrayed, a new figure walked into the scene, another silhouette. Tapping his fancy leather shoes to the scene and eyed the dead political officer with complete disregard.
"Oh well I will tell the crew he slipped on tea, you will need onions for your tears later. He was quite a jolly man I admit, too bad he has to go." The newly entered silhouette said in English, in American English.
"Jolly, and stupid, to think his ignorant brat is the same type as me. Unlike me, Marko Ramius' maggot is enthusiastic about his dying motherland, I am enthusiastic about money, something you promised me Jack, as well as asylum away from those blinded fools." The traitor replied in accented English.
The American chuckled wholeheartedly before speaking again in his cheerfully malicious voice.
"Of course Captain, welcome to the New World."
The two silhouette dissipated into wisps of black smoke, while the corpse of Markos Romino turned red, before crumpling into a pile of red sand that gets blown after by the wind that came from nowhere.
"Admiral Romino!"
"What now?!" Romino grunted, frustrated as he turned around for the third time.
This time his saw Yuri, the short man in his lab coat looking up at him.
"Yuri? What the hell are you -"
"Wake up!"
Romino's ears rang as he jolted up awake, to find that he was lying on a sick bed , body battered and bandages can be seen wrapping his limbs , wrists, ankles here and there, a iv tube was connected to his left wrist. Yuri was standing next to him on his right-hand side, beside the piles of medical monitors and devices that were made to prevent him from dying.
Looking around again, Romino realized he was no longer in his dark swirling hell of nothingness, but in a cosy brightly lit medical ward, with white walls, air conditioning and the green medical curtains on his left and right that separated him from the other sick folks that shared the same ward as him.
"Admiral Romino, I am sorry"
The said Admiral turned his attention back to Yuri,
"For?"
"For misjudging you sir, I thought-"
"And here I thought You apologized because you forgot my birthday, ha ha ha Yuri, next time don't apologize for something less important alright?" Romino laughed with a reassuring smile, Yuri was caught flabbergasted, looking at his superior awkwardly with his lips pursed.
"Now why on Earth am I here... Oh yes, the Operation! What happened Yuri?! Where is Sanya?"
Yuri said nothing, he turned around, and place a hand on the green curtain on his right, and pulled.
Sitting on the empty bed was a girl with fair silvery hair, wearing a black ushanka and dressed in a winter white artic attire inside a black leather coat, was Sanya Makarovna. With her back facing the Admiral.
"She`s alive!" The Admiral thought, face beaming with joy at that thought.
When the girl turned around, however, Romino saw her eyes, they were flaming gold and face was hard as steel. He can't help but notice the eye-catching steel collar the girl was wearing, it had a silver surface, with a glowing yellow and black nuclear symbol built at the centre.
This was when the Admiral knew, the girl was no longer Sanya Makarovna, sitting before he was the Red October. He knew the risks, girls that turned into Shipgirls gets a memory wipe, and there goes...
October reached into her breast pocket and pulled out something golden, the old Makarov`s badge, and read out loud the contents on the back of the badge.
"Motherland first, Comrades second, revenge next, strike your enemies with your all even if you have only a toothpick, I can never forget my father's words."
"Sanya..."
Red October stood in attention and saluted to the Admiral.
"Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarine Red October ready to serve the motherland!"
And hence Romino with a bright smile saluted back to the first shipgirl of Mother Russia.
"So you retained you memories, how?"
"I... don't know, but now I realized, somethings are better not forgotten for harsh memories give us goals Comrade Admiral, it drives us."
"I see,"
"Now I will go back to the docks for more check ups Comrade Admiral, permission to be dismissed?"
"Permission to be dismissed" Romino said.
The Submarine nodded and exited through the door.
"Admiral,"
"Hmm?"
Yuri passed Romino a tablet-like device, on the touchscreen of the device was a fingerprint.
"What is this thing? I thought I only able to see this in science fiction movies" The Admiral said, too used to the classic physical buttons made from plastic, rather the ones on the touchscreen he was holding right now.
"Something our KGB took from the Japanese back in the old days of espionage, Fairies alien tech, Shipgirl technology, something we were currently trying to understand and harness. Anyways, first you have to place your thumb at the print to register yourself as the Admiral of your shipgirl fleet, and this thing will monitor the status of your shipgirls and even your base."
"Ohh I see, very convenient, thank you Yuri, "
"No Problem, if you need anything just contact me alright, oh and one more thing I would like to mention, if a new shipgirl was constructed or joined your fleet, the tablet will automatically register her under your command, no idea how that works, but like I said before, we were working on understanding it."
Romino nodded and Yuri leaved the room, leaving Romino all alone.
The Admiral followed the instruction and put his thumb at the fingerprint until a small beep was heard. The screen morphed into a new dark blue interface that showcase the list of Shipgirls the Admiral currently possessed, so far he had only one name on that list. Tapping the name "Red October", a list of stats was presented for Romino to preview, speed, missile strength , armament and her ship class, the Typhoon-Class Submarine and below her profile picture that shows a fierce-looking Sanya Makarovna in her black Ushanka.
The screen gitched a bit, and was some white and grey static appeared on Romino's tablet all of a sudden. He tried to pressed the screen again , but it was unresponsive to his commands.
Frustrated, he pressed the screen again, this time the screen gitched a bit and then a loading screen flashed to Romino`s eyes.
"Garbage Japanese products." 'The Admiral mumbled.
The screen stopped loading and the shipgirl listing appeared back on the interface, showing back October`s name... along with a new name underneath it.
A mess of corrupted letter meshed together, the name still haven't fully loaded.
A gitch probably? Curiousity took the better of Romino in the end and he tapped on the name regardless. A shipgirl profile that resembled Red October`s earlier flashed on the interface, except everything was more gitchy and distorted.
"Armament : loading, Armour : loading, Airplane : loading..." The Admiral read out loud, and the profile picture of this "Shipgirl" was a pitch black silhouette.
Before the Admiral dismissed the whole thing as a gitch, the screen flash a new window at his face.
"Load Complete." The window read.
"Hmm?" The Admiral clicked the X of the window to dismiss the message, and his eyes widen into dinner plates as they scanned the new profile of the "Shipgirl" presented to him.
"Type: Heavy Aircraft-Carrying Cruiser,
Class: Admiral Kuznetsov.
Name: Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Kuznetsov..."
Romino mumbled the words out as his eyes were fixed on the big 2cm by 2cm profile picture at the top left-hand corner of the interface.
He was staring at a cheeky picture of himself, smile brightly to the camera with a green military cap on his head.
"...!"
His bandaged right wrist felt an electric shock all of a sudden. Unwrapping the bandage, he gasped as he saw a bright white symbol glowing ominously on his skin. The glowing white light was reflected on Romino`s face, where a devious smile slowly formed on his lips.
.*.
Author`s notes.
Sorry for the long wait as real life responsibilities had bothered me again over the past few months, I hope this small backstory chapter can make up for my delay, but don't worry Comrades for this fanfic is not yet abandoned.
Feel free to leave a review, constructive feedbacks and criticisms are welcomed.