A high layer of clouds hung above the ocean, a soft blanket that reduced the sun's glare without truly darkening the sky. The moderate sea chopped and slapped at The Fishing Trawler's hull, a steady metronome that lulled her crew into their routine. It was a lovely day.
For besieged island nations like England and Japan, fishing was a vital to a nation's survival. Fishing missions were of military import, guarded jealously, and the humble fisherman was a celebrated hero.
None of that applied to the Oregonian Fishing Trawler Pacific Lilly. She, along with her crew, were out there because fishing was their way life, and they weren't going to allow some angry ghost ships change that. The Pacific's navies would prefer it if she wasn't there, and the majority of the people on the mainland thought her crew were a special kind of crazy, but they also hadn't experienced perfect days like this, where she was reminded why fishing was one of mankind's oldest professions.
The skyrocketing price for cod and other ocean-dwellers helped, as well.
Pacific Lilly loved her job, and she could say with certainty that her skipper would agree with her. Fred Kelly grew up at sea, and was a man who lived and breathed fishing. His crew had total trust in him, and while he'd gained a reputation for straying particularly far from shore, their results couldn't be argued with. The closer to Abyssal Territory, the more pronounced the recent boom in sea life was, which meant a shorter trips and a higher income. With news of some kind of battle keeping the abyssals in the central pacific busy, Pacific Lilly found herself venturing deeper than ever.
"Lilly, Lilly, this is Peregrine, over." The VHF crackled, and Her Captain let out an audible sigh. Ever since the start of the war, the government had been flooding the Navy, Coast Guard, and even the Civil Air Patrol with look-down radar aircraft. Against the weirdness that surrounded shipgirls and abyssals, the powerful radar sets they sported were only useful in the hands of a skilled operator. There weren't many of those.
In the last three months, Pacific Lilly had been diverted around four random shipgirl patrols and eight anomalies that turned out to be nothing at all. The aircraft with the "Peregrine" call-sign, in particular, had been bothering them all along this voyage, even reporting that they had diverted to follow the trawler out 'for security purposes.' She would have been thankful if it hadn't been accompanied by almost constant bitching over the VHF.
"Peregrine, this is Lilly, over." Captain Kelly replied, resigned to another verbal browbeating from the government aircraft.
"Peregrine, continue on Two-Two, over."
That got the bridge crew's attention. The aircraft that was following them wouldn't send any of its 'recommendations' over a reserved safety channel. More likely than not, it would be another false alarm, but out this far…
"Copy, Two-Two, out." Kelly keyed off the radio, hand darting to adjust the VHF perhaps a little too quickly. "Peregrine. Lilly."
"Lilly, this is Peregrine. Uh… we're picking up one Alpha-Sierra contact, cruiser profile, thirteen miles from your location, should be bearing 247 for you."
"Didn't the weather-heads say these clouds were natural?" Pacific Lilly's sonar technician interjected, looking up from her scope and grabbing a pair of binoculars. "If it isn't a false alarm, I should be able to see it."
"Repeat, one cruiser profile Alpha-Sierra, thirteen miles, 247, over."
"Go ahead." Kelly nodded, keying the radio as the sailor left. "Thanks for the heads up, Peregrine. We're diverting now, over."
As Pacific Lilly began to veer starboard, the trawler started scanning the south-western horizon. If something as big as a cruiser was bearing down on them, it should be just visible over the-
There
The technician slammed the hatch open, eyes wide.
"Holy shit, Skipper! He's right! There's a bridge, sticking just over the horizon!"
"Peregrine, We have a confirmation on that Abyssal." To his credit, Captain Kelly kept his voice even as he made perhaps his last report. "We'll keep you updated, over."
"Copy that Lilly. I'll try and get some help to you, o-"
Peregrine's statement suddenly died in a wave of static. The noise flooded the ship's bridge, causing everyone inside to flinch visibly as the new transmission overwhelmed the aircraft's.
"-̶̷̵-̵̀͡͝-̡̧̀҉-̴̴̀-̛͢͞n͘t҉io͢n̡ -̴̀-͟i҉den̛t̢i-̸̷̕íe͢d͟ v͝-̴͟-̴̧͞͝-̸̕̕҉̛e̕l҉.̵ ̢Sl-̴̡-̵͟-҉̧͝d͜ow̷ń ̛a-̧́͘d̨ ͡p͝-͘-̸͟-͏҉-̶̡̡̀͢re҉̶ ̸̢̡-̸̸́̀͟or͢ ҉b̴-̵͘-̶̕͟͡r̸d͝in̕g͜-̶̷́͠-͏̴-̷̀͘͢-̸ȩr̶."
As the wave of static washed over them, silence filled the bridge. The otherworldly message echoed in their minds, the crew continued to stare at each other. Finally, the sonar technician spoke up.
"What the hell was that?"
This… this was dumb.
As CFS Trinitite neared human territory, she felt herself getting more and more desperate. An unescorted aircraft carrier, with no way to launch and rearm more than two or three aircraft at a time, was vulnerable to just about anything she could run into. If she wanted to get to the mainland, she was going to have to get very creative. She'd spotted her target half an hour ago, the one aircraft she'd managed to launch keeping the fishing trawler in sight as she racked her brain on what to say to it.
"Attention unidentified vessel. Slow down and prepare for boarding, over."
Trinitite wasn't entirely happy with the repairs to her radio, so blasting the thing at maximum power seemed like the only way to guarantee the message got across. Tuning the damaged transmitter was also difficult, even after picking up on what frequency the fishing boat was speaking at. It wasn't like she had anyone to test it with, either. Still, she had been spotted, and although she was fairly confident her sleek hull would catch up with the ungainly trawler, there was no telling when a warship would intercept them. No point wasting time, then. A few seconds passed. Then, half a minute.
"Attention, unidentified vessel. Slow down and prepare for boarding, over."
No change.
Suppressing the frustration welling in her heart, she keyed the radio again.
"Unidentified vessel. Can you hear me?"
More silence. The fishing boat had just been talking to someone, but now it had gone completely silent.
"Unidentified vessel. You were conversing with another party earlier, I know your radio is functional."
"Abyssal. Your transmitter seems to be mis-tuned, over."
Of course. Her plan hadn't even gotten past step one and she'd already screwed it up. She couldn't do anything right, could she?
"Uni̷den̶tífie̷d Vessel. Does this work better?"
Pacific Lilly never expected one of those things to be trying to talk with her, but if she was asked to try, she wouldn't have expected the first portion of the conversation to be wasted on technical issues.
"This is Lilly to Abyssal Vessel." Captain Kelly responded, his gaze locked on the approaching monster "...we can hear you, over."
"I see." The abyssal responded. As the carrier (Peregrine had misidentified the signature, to no one's surprise) gained on them, its form started to make itself clear. The thing towered above Pacific Lilly, guns angrly poking from around its flat surface. The thing's superstructure, barely visible, seemed to be alive with movement- although when the fishing trawler focused she couldn't make out anyone on board. The deep paint and varnished wood that covered the warship transformed the ship into a dark blot on the ocean, but as it neared them the Fishing Trawler got the impression that it wasn't made of wood and steel at all- just a convincing impression. Like an alien got detailed plans to a warship, but didn't actually know what one looked like.
Yet impossibly, in the same time and space, the ship took the form of a woman, gliding across the water. The humanoid was only slightly taller than Pacific Lilly's sonarman, although her crew's practical clothing made it difficult to compare their actual proportions. Growths of teeth and metal decorated her form, to the point where the fishing trawler wasn't sure what was being worn, and what had burst from her skin like some kind of science-fiction parasite. They left her mostly exposed, but her modesty was almost preserved by a form fitting bodysuit, the same color as her pale skin. From the distance Pacific Lilly couldn't make out what it actually covered, so similar was it in texture and shade to its deathly-white skin.
"Attention, fishing trawler Lilly. Slow down and prepare for boarding, over."
Dead silence.
"Board us?" The sonar technician started. "What can they do? Do they have crew?" Captain Kelly didn't respond, instead activating the VMF.
"I'm sorry Abyssal vessel, will you repeat that, over?"
"Lilly," The abyssal started. Up until this point, the monster had been fairly brisk and stoic, but now that familiar undercurrent of anger she'd heard about was presenting itself. "you said you could understand me just fine, over."
"Abyssal Vessel, I copy. However, I'll need a guarantee you won't harm any of my crew, over."
"Lilly, if I wanted to kill you, we wouldn't be talking." As if to accentuate the point, something appeared from within the clouds, gliding in lazy circles as it descended towards the carrier. "Slow down or you will see your people 'harmed'. Over."
As if to capitalize on the day's embarrassments, they had to throw Trinitite a rope to get her aboard. With her rigging out, she would break the green-hulled ship into splinters if they met. Without her rigging, she'd quickly get carried away by the ocean currents, helpless until she resummoned her engines. She supposed she could use her strength to punch a hole in the trawler's hull, using that as a hand-hold to climb aboard, but compromising her only ticket to the mainland seemed like a bad idea.
The rope they threw Trinitite seemed solid enough. The carrier dismissed her rigging before hauling herself up, her most painful damage dissolving into the breeze. Now a dull ache in the back of her mind, Trinitite knew it wouldn't go away, but she could ignore it for now. Hopefully they hadn't gotten a good enough look to realize her compromised state.
With flushed cheeks and thin lips, the embarrassed carrier hauled herself up the trawler's side. At least they allowed herself to do it on her own power.
The deck was empty, save two sailors in heavy clothing that concealed their figure. One was already hauling the rope back up, while the other stood in front of her, defiant.
"Welcome aboard." The man said, his tone making it clear he didn't mean it.
Trinitite took a moment to clear the hair from her face, purposefully ignoring the man as she tried to think of something to say.
"You're the Captain?" Idiot. Of course he is.
"I am." He replied, straightening his shoulders.
"Good." She started, mentally preparing the line she'd practiced. "Take me to The United States."
Whatever the human was expecting, it clearly wasn't that.
"I'm sorry?"
"I need you to take me to The Mainland." Trinitite repeated, before walking past the human and towards the ship's bridge. Had she messed it up? English was the only language she knew, but what if the land-dwellers spoke a different form of it? She'll just have to find a chart and point the location out. The Captain wordlessly followed behind her, his steps slow and hesitant at first, but quickening as the human caught up to her.
"Lilly, Lilly, this is Peregrine. The Alpha-Sierra just dropped off our scopes, were you really boarded, over?"
Besides the radio, the bridge was silent. Three sets of eyes followed Trinitite as she made her way inside.
"Lilly, Lilly, this is Peregrine, over."
There was the third party. Not only was the Pacific Lilly picking up on transmissions Trinitite couldn't, the clarity of the transmission was astounding. Were human radios that much better? Before she'd realised it, the Abyssal found herself approaching the radio.
"Lilly, Lilly, this is Peregrine. What is your status, over?" No one made a move to counter her as she reached for the device.
"Peregrine, this is Lilly." Trinitite stated, bringing what she assumed to be the mic up to her face. "I'll be borrowing this ship. If you want it and its crew back, you'll have to leave it alone for a while. Out."
With that, she reached for the radio's volume dial and spun it to zero. She'd debated silencing the radio, but figured negotiating with the enemy would only give them intelligence to work with. Plus, that meant she wouldn't have to talk to anyone else.
She turned, coming face-to-face with the enemy Captain.
Okay, maybe that wasn't entirely true…
"Well?"
"They'll want proof we're alive." The Captain said, his eyes unflinching as he met hers. Was he always this intense?
"I don't see how that's a problem. They'll see people on the deck, yes?"
"Okay." The Captain replied, breaking their stare to take a seat. Trinitite wasn't sure if she'd convinced him, or if he didn't care to push the issue. "Shall we get going?"
"Do so."
As the ship accelerated, Trinitite found an open chair and took an opportunity to relax. That was her biggest issue, taken care of. After she snuck off the trawler and made a dash to the mainland, she could find her Princess!
How big could this 'United States' be, anyways?
I'm wondering how much time I want to dedicate to the Pacific Lilly- it's the first opportunity I have to start messing with the kind of comedy I'm focusing on, but I'll have plenty of other opportunities in the future. Expect next snippet to be another interlude, though, were I take a moment to check on our damsel in distress and introduce this story's antagonist...