Godzilla: The Series © Toho, Sony, Centropolis; Kantai Collection © Kadokawa Games; inspiration from Pacific: World War II U.S. Navy Shipgirls

Ahoy the Vessel

Chapter 11: Body of Swords, Blood of Steel, Heart of Glass

Jason M. Lee

He wasn't liking how this patrol had turned out.

While he rarely strayed far from Parent or Home, bar hunting and patrolling (because Parent ALWAYS wound up in some form of trouble), a large group of the Wrong Black Ones had come too close to the fringes of the Territory that was Home, chasing after a fleet of box ships. Already, he could see the Surface Females attacking with their fire stingers, as well several of the gray stinger-ships sloughing through the cold waters of the Eastern Ocean that had broken off from their formation surrounding the box ships. Some of the Surface Females were sending out their stinger birds, including the new Surface Females that looked as if they had been escorting the box ships. He had learned early on that the gray ships and Surface Females often encircled the box ships as a form of protection. Ever since the appearance of the Wrong Black Ones, that sort of behavior made sense. Predators hunt to sate their hunger or attack to protect territory, and he has seen pods of the black and white singers and the playful singers attack to defend their weaker pod members.

As if compounding the fact that the Wrong Black Ones were intruding, another Large Enemy had shown up.

Except this Large Enemy gave off the exact same grating feeling as the Wrong Black Ones did, appearing alongside them.

Utterly foul and exuding that aura of empty darkness, as if absorbing all life and light around it. If they were both above the waters, Godzilla wouldn't doubt that it would smell equally as bad as the Wrong Black Ones, if not more. Like the few times he had encountered the small Wrong Black Ones, he didn't engage them as the Surface Females could deal with them.

This... THIS Large Enemy, he could fight.

Parent's boat was hiding behind the smaller gray ships quite a ways, but for all their fire stingers, he knew that they might not hold out long enough before this new Large Enemy was dead or driven off alongside the Wrong Black Ones.

Eyes narrowed, circling the Not Black and White Singer, just as it circled him with equal and dangerous scrutiny. Rows of sharp teeth bared in a threatening manner, as if daring him to attack first, yet he stayed his ground, continuing to circle and take in this dangerous opponent. While its overall shape and pattern was similar to the black and white singers, the similarities ended there - jagged, harsh, and devoid of the brightness most of the various singers carried within them.

Eyes barely hidden by the pale patches that surrounded them followed his movement, in which his own eyes watched as well.

As if it was fed up with waiting, the Not Black and White Singer briefly flared its spines and shot forward with mouth opened wide. He responded in kind.

~ O ~

"WHAT IN SWEET RAVEN'S EVERLOVING NAME IS THAT TA'XET-DAMNED UNHOLY THING?! ARE YOU SERIOUSLY KIDDING ME?!"

Haida's outburst over the radio pretty much voiced the thoughts of those present when Godzilla and what looked like an Abyssal-based mutated killer whale exploded out of the ocean, their roars nearly drowning out the sound of gunfire. Several of the cruisers scrambled to get out of the way to avoid being crushed as the leviathans dropped back into the water, whereas Battler and Card were so startled that the former almost dropped her crossbow and the latter almost dropped her baseball. The convoy of cargo ships and their naval escorts not engaged with the fight had taken the chance to immediately steam on towards the relative safety of New York Harbor.

"I thought Abyssals were mostly negative mojo of sea folk given form!" Randy yelled, struggling to keep the H.E.A.T. Seeker behind several of the destroyers, both ship girls and actual ships plus some of the USCG fleet personnel. Behind him, he could hear Mendel let out several panicked yelps on attempting to guide N.I.G.E.L. through the chaos. "Or fragments of bad juju from the war!"

"There's nothing that says they can't infect other sea creatures or take their shape!" Elsie snapped back, trying to keep one hand on the rail while also trying to record footage of what was no doubt a brutal beat down between two titans. She hoped the shipboard cameras and sensors would be able to get any additional data that the little yellow robot might not, even though she knew that Abyssals had the tendency to mess up with electronics. They were already chancing it being this close to Abyssals in a full-on firefight, since they were civilians (save Monique). "The fact that it resembles an Orcinus orca might say something otherwise!"

"What makes you think that?" Nick asked, setting aside his parental worry and mentally compiling notes each time the two aquatic behemoths popped out of the water. 'Two rows of spines, possibly a mutation of the singular dorsal fin, most likely used as stabilizers and maybe to indicate body language. Pectoral fins with actual claw tips similar to Nessie, and the fluke seems to have seen better days from the amount of nicks it has. Epidermal element appears to alternate between the carapace-like skin seen on Abyssals and scutes on crocodiles, or a mix of both. Remind Mendel to see if we can get biological samples. Coloring pattern matches the Type A seen on most...'

"Orcas are apex predators and are sometimes known as the wolves of the sea," Monique answered, her ever watchful gaze focused on the ongoing sea battle. A finger hovered above the trigger of her modified rifle, but she kept it pointed down, the constant dodging too rough for her to take a clear shot. Although she doubted she could do any damage to the weakest of Abyssal, "weak" relatively speaking. "Some of the First Nations have tales of orcas taking the form of wolves in the winter, and vice versa in the summer. There is also the fact that they hunt in packs, much like wolves."

Now that she mentioned that, the trio of scientists immediately noticed that the rostrum was vaguely more like a wolf's muzzle in shape instead of the shorter and round one on regular orcas.

"Of course, there's also the fact that 'Orcinus' means 'of the realms of the dead' in Latin," Monique continued, speaking calmly as if discussing the weather. "Some First Nation myths have them being the embodiment of the souls of deceased sea hunters."

"Wait, isn't 'Orcinus' derived from Orcus, a Roman god of the underworld?!" Mendel interrupted, glancing away from the bank of monitors with wide eyes.

Monique's lips twitched, briefly looking at him before returning her attention back to the fight.

Wasn't that a nice coincidence with the feeling of death and darkness that came from the Abyssals.

"Orcabyss!"

Four flat looks were directed at the second youngest member of the team, momentarily ignoring the firefight. Randy shrugged, jerking the wheel hard to starboard.

"What? It's pretty much an Abyssal-fied orca, orcas have relationships with the dead, and the Abyssals are all about granting death to anything that so much dips a toe into the oceans. That, or we call it Aspidochelone."

Campbell, who had sailed up next to the team's ship, simply shook her head at the impromptu portmanteau.

~ O ~

Fighting this Not Black and White Singer was frustrating.

No.

Difficult.

It was bad enough that the Not Black and White Singer was almost as good as he was when it came to swimming (if not equal, Godzilla had to grudgingly admit), but its back-fins made it difficult to aim for the back of the neck. Going for where he could think of as the throat was tricky, what with it spinning out of the way. He hadn't been able to think of an idea to lure it closer to land, as they were still too far out, so he couldn't use his fire on it. Most of the damage inflicted had been either his fore claws or hind claws, and the occasional smacking with his tail. In return, the Not Black and White Singer would try to dive underneath him to use its back-fins or use both of its flipper-claws and tail to attack.

What made the fight actually difficult were some of the Swimming Black Ones that tried to attack him with their underwater stingers. Stung, they did, but he swatted them to pieces with his tail or bit down on the ones that foolishly came too close. Yet that split in attention was what allowed the Not Black and White Singer to get some strikes in.

Splashes from above and a quick glance had him diving out of the way before the Surface Females own fish-stingers hit the Large Enemy, earning a gargled roar from the Not Black and White Singer when bubbles and fire spread. He took in a slightly dark satisfaction on seeing the small plumes of blood spurt out, as well additional fish-stingers sinking some of the Wrong Black Ones by the larger stinger birds, but more Fish-stingers from the Swimming Black Ones prevented him from enjoying it long enough. A dodge and the sensation of an explosion from behind indicated that they had hit something. Another quick glance revealed that the black stingers had hit the largest of the gray ships.

As if a something had been flipped, the Not Black and White Singer shot forward, nearly surprising Godzilla. Yet instead of aiming for him, it slammed into the large gray ship's bottom with an incredible amount of force.

While Godzilla wasn't entirely fond of the gray ships, he understood that they were as much predators as he was in a way, protecting what they saw as their territory and he understood that Parent cooperated with them at times. Immediately, he went to intercept the Not Black and White Singer, but it dodged around him and once again slammed into the large gray ship, further increasing the hole it had created before retreating.

Before he could do anything else, what few Swimming Black Ones that had either escaped his wrath, or new ones that had snuck in, released their fish-stingers right at where the hole was and the large gray ship's bottom.

For a brief moment, he could almost hear a keen of pain when fire blossomed.

~ O ~

Alarms blaring.

Red lights flashing.

Controlled frenzy as the damage control teams tried to minimize the damages.

Yet, it was too much.

Set general quarters.

The first impact had severely dented the port-side, knocking some of the important pipes almost out of place, the sounds that of underwater explosions going off.

Torpedoes.

The second impact was more forceful, an unexpected breech letting water in.

The third impact widened the hole further.

Everyone down there was already risking electrocution to fight the fires that were started from the shorts.

The fourth strike was of several, now carrying fire and utterly rocking the entire place, dislodging the all important coolant pipes.

Set general quarters.

Immediately, the dreaded alarms rang out, even as the engineers and DC teams rushed to contain the situation as much as they could.

Explosions from above sent tremors rumbling down. Chances were that one or two of the Abyssal fighters were lucky enough to strike when jets were being spotted.

The inevitable order was finally given over the PA system.

Set general quarters.

No turning back.

Boots pounded down the halls and through the stairs. More explosions rocked against the ship, dislocating parts of the super structure and knocking them over. Those that fell were pulled up by their fellow sailors. Those that were knocked unconscious were carried.

Those that didn't make it were carried in the living's hearts and minds.

She couldn't think of her exact position within the ship, the overwhelming pain coming from her leg and arm overriding much of her thought process. She could feel part of her uniform sticking uncomfortably to her leg as well.

The only thing the pain couldn't override was the constant thought of not wanting to give up the fight, not yet. Not when she still wanted to protect, to defend. If she couldn't do it that way, then maybe this way...

Fleetingly, she could feel someone wrap something around her and then pulling her into a fireman's carry before hobbling towards what she vaguely guessed was the direction of the ports.

"There raise not the dead..."

She barely caught the words, the klaxons nearly drowning them but she heard it nonetheless.

"There cannot recover lost things, never again..."

Another explosion.

Now she was fighting to stay conscious, even though she kept fading in and out.

She was starting to hear ocean waves.

A glimmer of hope.

But...

Her rescuer was gradually breathing harder than usual, more raggedly.

"Even the greatest miracle can only affect the living..."

The sound of waves was louder, the continuing thunderous roar of gunfire and the shuddering of the compromised structure nearly drowning the alarms.

A brief pause, almost as if at the edge of the ship.

Eyes struggled to make out the churning white foam and orange blobs of life rafts and vests as her body was moved from the fireman's carry.

And then lips to her ear.

"Give 'em hell, I-"

Realization struck and just as she tried to reach out, her savior had shoved her off towards the closest life raft.

She remembered grabbing something and feeling it rip within her hand.

The last thing she saw before darkness claimed her was a smile tinged with red before it was overtaken by yellow and orange.

Set general quarters.

~ O ~

The clocked ticked away, its constant tempo continuously moving forward.

Taking her eyes off of it, Rear Admiral Ione Colvocoresses didn't know what to feel.

She would've been behind her desk, sorting through the mountain of paperwork from the recent battle several days ago, Wisconsin helping her. Tallying up the injured, tallying up the deceased, damages to various ships, damages/injuries to the fleet personnel, communications with the RN and RCN, orders to the MCS, and sending new intel to the various spooks and marine biologists on the appearance of the Abyssalized orca. (Half were already arguing to use Randy's impromptu name, while others wanted something that didn't sound as ridiculous.)

Yet, here she was, sitting next to the young woman in one of the hospital rooms of the converted ship girl repair building with a stack of paperwork, whose name wasn't on the original personnel list but was rescued by the captain who had gone down with the ship.

Thinking of her twin brought a fresh pang of grief.

"Done yet, ma'am?" Wisconsin asked softly, stepping into the room, one hand carrying a large bag and the other holding a cup tray. A bandage was still stuck across the bridge of her nose and the battleship still had gauze wrapped around her head.

Blinking furiously, Colvocoresses swiftly signed her signature on the last batch before setting it on the dresser next to the bed, accepting the coffee. "How's everyone?" Never mind that she had already read the reports - it made her feel better to hear the more recent updates. She didn't even question why her secretary ship wasn't resting like she should be from an earlier sortie - battleships were stubborn that way.

"Half of the RN girls will be staying in the docks longer than planned, same with ours, the RCN, and the CG girls. The others are still recovering, but I've been told that they'll be discharged within reasonable time." The youngest of the Iowa-class tilted her head at the unknown patient. "Her?"

A tired sigh. "I have my hunches on where she came from, but Nestor and the corpsmen have confirmed that she is a ship girl. Considering that we needed to have shielding brought in when they went to reset her limbs and fairies showed up in radiation suits from her..."

Purple eyes blinked, nearly dropping her cup. She couldn't believe that she missed that while skimming. "Quarantine?"

"Safe levels." Colvocoresses popped open the lid of her cup and blew on the contents. "Although Nestor had to MacGuyver some suits for her fairies. What's the status of the site?"

"A team will be sent out in the next few days to verify its status once we're sure that the site is secure from Abyssals, but all things considered, I don't think we'll have to worry about the environmentalists knocking on our doors. Dr. Tatopoulos has also reassured me that Godzilla won't be affected either."

It would've been bizarre, if both hadn't gotten used to crazier ship girl antics. Watching footage of the titanic reptile break off from chasing the mutated orca and struggle to help keep a ship almost three times his length upright, allowing various ship girls, destroyers and cruisers to pick up or tow the surviving crews, was just a bit awe-inspiring. Once the all clear was sounded, Godzilla seemed to know and had swum away, letting the damaged vessel finally sink.

Studying the still sleeping woman, her curtained titian hair barely forming a halo, Wisconsin could see the original hull imposed over her and shook her head. She should have recognized the younger ship girl - they both had operated in the Red Sea. And to appear now, of all times.

Constitution self-summoning herself and her hull still standing was one thing, even if materials designated for her had disappeared from several depots.

This newest member, though...

"And yourself, ma'am?"

Colvocoresses sipped her coffee, making a slight face and suddenly wishing for her grandfather's seasoned coffee pot. "I'm managing. What I hope is for her to wake up soon."

"Not... soon... enough... ma'am," the unexpected voice croaked out.

Wisconsin quickly hit the switch to raise the bed, preventing the newest ship girl from sitting up under her own power. "Steady, now."

She blinked blearily, accepting to stay resting against her pillows and accepting the straw. "How come I'm not in the docks?"

"Didn't want you to accidentally slip under," Colvocoresses answered, putting the cup of water down onto the bed tray. "Before we dump a forest on to you, can you tell us who you are?"

Blue-gray eyes flickered to the rear admiral's name tag, and for a brief moment, Wisconsin thought she would burst into tears when her lip trembled briefly. The fourth of the Iowa-class wasn't immune to emotional displays herself, having occasionally become teary-eyed upon meeting her past crew members not long after her own return. However, she and the older fleet personnel came from older times, when they were no longer floating or had become museums, and thus had additional time to acclimatize to their losses.

The younger ship girl, who wasn't as lucky, took in a shuddering breath and slowly lifted her right arm in an awkward salute due to her cast, fighting not to grimace.

"Second of the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, CVN-69. And above all, I apologize for my failure in regards to Captain Colvocoresses, ma'am."

Ione didn't return the salute. Instead, she stood up and drew the startled carrier into a hug.

"Alcyone would be glad that you made it, Ike." She tightened her arms when she felt Dwight's shoulders start to shake. "So you didn't fail her."

The clocked stayed ticking, still marching forward.

A soft hiccup, and then the good arm went around Colvocoresses.

Another hiccup, fingers grasping her shirt.

Finally, the sounds of weeping, Dwight leaning into the stroking hand on her head and clutching on tightly as if the older woman was a lifeline. Wisconsin laid a ripped name tag on top of the pile of clothes within the bag she had brought in and slipped out of the room unnoticed, closing the door behind her quietly with a sad smile.