I'm finally back to write on this story more. I did quite a bit of rewriting on several chapters so some might want to reread some of them since scenarios have changed. Story kinda makes me think of SNK and resident evil while writing, though I didn't do that on purpose...
Warning: This story is unsuited for younger readers. Contains gore, death, blood, adult language and possible themes. Read at your own discretion.
Hellsing belongs to those how own it, not me.
"Only when you listen do you realize the silence screams the truth."
Infinity Works was a massive compound made of 30 different buildings of varying sizes. It was a very secure and efficient facility. Seras as the Grand Duke moved across the compound taking time to observe her employee's works.
She had traded her usual shades for shatter proof eyewear that all workers wore with the exception of hers and any other night eye creatures having theirs with blackened lenses to protect their sensitive eyes from the sun. A hardhat also adorned her head as even she was not exempt from standard safety rules.
Around her engineers took notice of her presence; many of them greeting her with a wave or a simple nod. She paused on a scaffold overlooking an area where a team was testing a turret system. The weapon was not armed at the moment as they observed its reaction speed and aiming ability.
A woman at a computer entered coding for the turret's AI and the barrel suddenly changed direction. Seras smiled as a male worker was shoved to the ground. He gripped at his coworker as she shrugged rolling her eyes and informing him he shouldn't have been standing so close. Her words earned a slight laugh from the rest of the team as the man dusted himself off.
The vampire continued on her way. After a bit of walking she finally came to a building in the rear of the compound. It was marked as Faculty 29 in bold black lettering across the front door. She looked up at the camera and removed her glasses. The security AI recognized her and soon after the door slid open.
Seras replaced her glasses and entered. The building was sparsely filled and had enough space to fit an old pre-phantom era cargo plane. She observed as a large machine stalked around a space within a few cones. Other cones and objects lay in its path to simulate obstacles it may encounter were it beyond the compound someday.
A team of six engineers stood about observing the machine's movement. It stood twice the height of a man and walked on two legs with a bulky center. Seras tilted her head with a 'hm' as it kind of looked like a giant metal chicken.
She watched as it tilted its body downward so its optical camera could see what was at its feet. At first it tried to step over the large log shaped object with its three toed foot but failed to lift its leg high enough. The chicken shuffled its feet clearly trying to determine the best way to move past the obstacle since it couldn't step over it.
Readjusting its feet it shifted its weight onto the left leg and used the right to nudge the obstacle. Discovering that the object was light enough to be pushed the chicken applied more force moving the log away and successfully clearing its path.
Seras clapped at the achievement earning the attention of the team.
"Congratulations, you've finally managed to make a giant chicken that doesn't trip over its own feet."
They had come far since she had deliberately told them they were not allowed to build drones for use beyond the wall. She remembered their conversation well.
All of them stood in her office. Eriks, Hisaya, Hisayu, Jass, Sora, Fawn; her best and most trusted engineers. She herself had sat behind her desk like a classic villain.
She spoke to them simply, nonchalant even.
"By order of the king I am not to order or build any drones or weapons for the annihilation of Phantoms beyond Dragozen's wall." She crossed a leg over the other. "So do not go and build anything that might be considered anything like a drone or weapon for Phantom annihilation purposes."
After they all shared a knowing glace with each other, Hisaya, the team leader came forward.
"Sir," She began, "I would like to request funds and resources for a robotic mobile agriculture project."
"Request granted," Seras presented Hisaya with a faculty 29 keycard. "Now be gone, as I have important things to do."
Seras smiled knowingly to herself. Something the king would have to learn when dealing with demons is you should always cover all loopholes.
"How goes your agricultural project."
Hisaya departed from the team to address her superior. The woman like her twin brother was a young genius. Her short black hair was currently pinned under a hardhat, she had fair skin and silver toned eyes. The scientist's ears were pointy and covered with short fur. A white classic lab coat covered her form and a furry lion like tail swayed under it.
"We have made much progress since your last visit."
Seras clasped her hands behind her back taking a few steps and observing the chicken.
"Tell me Hisaya are those guns mounted on your agricultural project."
The team leader smiled, not even batting a lash at her superior's inquiry.
"Of course." She grinned wider showing fangs. "Our chicken is equipped to deal with a wide range of pests that might present a threat to farmers' crops and livestock."
Seras nodded before her eyes laid upon a box labeled 'Danger Live Rounds'.
"HEI ammunition?" Seras raised a brow at her.
"You can never be too prepared."
The shooting yard was an interesting area and Integra was fond of the different weapons she got to try out. Manto being the secret smug bastard that he was ordered Takaso to teach Integra how to use the various weapons at a human's disposal.
Takaso had given her optical combat glasses to put on. They were an amazing piece of technology. The lenses which doubled as screens linked with her gun acting much the same way a scope would by zooming in and adjusting to a target based on her vision and location of target. They even identified where her gun was aimed and highlighted the predicated area of impact.
The vampire rolled his eyes as Integra tried out different guns. He could tell she really enjoyed shooting the heads of her targets and he had to admit she was a dead shot with any weapon. He acknowledged her skill but that didn't mean he approved of Manto forcing him to look after her.
He snarled as he thought and Integra paused to reload her assault rifle. Both of them however stopped their actions when a squad of four moved past them. The squad was made up of two humans; a man and a woman, some type of giant man with horns sticking out of the side of his head and a vampire.
Integra cared little for the squad itself but rather their conversation. She and Takaso shared a glance.
"Hey did you guys hear about the cargo ship Sahara." The human man stated to the other three.
"Sahara?" The giant bull man questioned. "Yeah wasn't she destined for Berkshire in Antarctica?"
"I heard things aren't so good there since the weather dome project failed." The human woman stated.
"What about the ship?" The vampire asked last.
"It's gone."
All of them gasped at the notion.
"Impossible" bull man stated, "That ship is of 450 meters long."
The human continued as he pulled a rifle from a locker.
"It's true, I heard from my sister at the terminal. She said it never checked in nor docked at its destination. Yesterday a search party and satellite confirmed that it was missing without a trace."
They gapped in disbelief.
"Was there no SOS."
He shook his head.
"The one the terminal received was all static and someone yelling as if someone meant to say something but never did, and the strange thing is that there's not even any debris. The Sahara just disappeared in the Antarctic without a trace."
The group went quiet after that as Integra and Takaso took their leave. She turned to the vampire.
"What could sink a 450 meter ship?"
Takaso looked at her dumbfounded for a moment before shaking his head.
"I'd say an iceberg but ships are equipped with anti-iceberg weapons and armor so… I don't know."
Vic Arkimez, Seras, snarled as he observed a classified recordings recover via satellite. The imagery was dark and pixelated from the sudden lurch of the ship and the water pelting the camera but it was clear to her those were no rouge waves. They were too erratic, not rising like a wave but rather looked as though they were being pushed out like something rising from the sea.
Unfortunately the image was too poor to get a good view of whatever had destroyed the ship, and the SOS she had listened to wasn't any more helpful. All it consisted of was the Captain's panicked pleas for help, a frantic and terrible description of something that gave absolutely no hint to the ships destroyer followed by screaming and then rushing water until the connection died.
It was quite possible that a kraken had assaulted the ship, however not even a giant squid could drag a ship as large as the Sahara down as quickly as it disappeared and that was if it could even scratch the ships armored hull or manage to survive artillery designed to destroy icebergs.
The other options to consider were that the ship had somehow managed to piss off an extremely large whale but even that didn't quite fit. Next is of course the possibility of the ship actually striking an iceberg as technological failure wasn't totally out of the question (if so then she needed to cover it up quick as the Sahara was Infinity Works design and production). Other than that there was the possibility that an actual sea monster did in fact live somewhere in the Antarctic.
That would have been cool of course if it hadn't just cost her billions of credits it would take to build a brand new ship.
Seras turned to a screen on her left as a phone icon showed. She waved everything else away and moved the call to center over her desk. Answering the video call an older man appeared.
"Sir, I successfully collected all data on the Sahara that you requested. Shall I sent it to you?"
"No, destroy it all. Don't leave a trace on any databases and make sure it has been purged from all AI systems."
He gapped for a moment before nodding.
"Yes Sir."
The call ended and Seras leaned back in her chair. When had she become such a corporate bastard; there were at least a 500 crew members on that ship and the first thing she did was consider her financial losses and cover it up.
She laughed to herself. The hollow sound filling the dim room. It was quiet after that as she sat in silence, completely alone. There was also another possibility to consider; one she was truly dreading was not truth, but Seras could not completely rule out the possibility of the oceans being contaminated.
How large would a Phantom have to be to sink a 450 meter ship within the 45 minute time frame spanning the SOS to the response team arriving in the sky over where the ship should have been? Also was it restricted to the ocean only?
For now perhaps it was restricted to the ocean only, but in a hundred years or so could they say the same?
The horrid scent of rotting flesh was all around as corpses and bones were scattered about. Bodies abandoned, left to decay in the halls and blood coloring the once blue carpet and cream wall paper. A figure waded through the hall; the darkness reaching to the form coveting it.
She'd given up long ago on removing the bodies from the halls and instead left them were they died, murdered by her own hands. Regardless of whether or not she took the time to dispose of the deceased the smell remained forever soaked into the foundation.
Once it had been her home, now it was a monsters den. Seven, eight, how many times had they sent men and women to their deaths now. Granted, she didn't have to kill them; she could have just let them come, let them kill her, but she didn't. They came here to kill her so she killed them instead. Now they're nothing but flesh and entrails strewn across a once beautiful dance hall.
Hadn't someone once told her something similar?
Seras paused in her musings when a clanking reached her ears. Making her way to one of the few windows on the second floor still intact she peered beyond its curtain. A white workers truck was parked just before the old iron gate. She watched as he heaved a thick chain over his shoulder and weaved it through the iron bars.
Lastly he added an equally large lock before hanging a sign and hurrying to his truck. The vehicle sped off, squealing its tires before disappearing beyond a late night London fog. With the night once again quiet Seras made her way across the yard. She took note of several signs staked in the yard, one placed on the front door and many more hung on the fence. The front door had even been nailed shut and all first floor windows had been covered with cheap plywood.
'Apparently the roundtable has been busy while I slept.' She mused.
It seemed that they finally realized none of them had the means to destroy Seras so they did the next best thing: they sealed off the mansion cheaply and just forgot about her hoping she might just disappear. That was fine with Seras, if they stayed away from her then she'd stay away from them.
Yes, large container ships such as the fictional Sahara are possible. A real ship, the CSCL Globe is a ship of about 400 meters in length. (awesome)