A/N: Sorry about the late release. The whole of June I haven't had time to update due to exams.
Also, Chapter 3-08 can't be updated together in this round, frustratingly due to my beta giving up and being unable to find a new one. If you want to read a raw and unedited chapter, you can find it on Spacebattles/Sufficient Velocity Forums.
But in the meantime, enjoy!
-MagicianX26
It had been half a month since the meetings with the Marauders and the envoys from Yumenominato, and the Abyssal base had become a hive of activity as its occupants prepared for the departure of the Yu Huang.
Some of them were helping to load supplies or acting as temporary crew for the ship, while others stood near the docks to see the strange human vessel in action.
From the command tower, Phoenix watched over it all as she adjusted her outfit. In place of the capelet that normally adorned her shoulders, she now wore a long traveling cloak, that extended down to her ankles, and was adorned with some intricate patterns along the edges. As she adjusted the clasp that pinned it in place, her mind briefly wandered to its origins. It had been a gift, from Leviathan when the latter had been recruiting in Yumenominato-
"May I speak to you?" Rally's voice echoed in her mind.
"You may."
She heard a slurping voice behind her, and Phoenix turned around to see Rally's avatar forming from the floor in her room. Phoenix eyes widened, for usually Installations didn't manifest their avatars unless they had something serious to discuss.
For a few moments, Rally took time to polish the avatar, before occupying it, causing its eyes to light up.
"What is it? Do you have any concerns about your role of temporary commander?" Phoenix asked immediately, worried she had messed up the orders to keep the base operational while preparing for another human attack.
"Not really." Rally paused for a moment. "It's more about...you, actually."
"Oh." Phoenix dropped the commanding tone from her voice. Rally might be her subordinate, but she was also older and wiser. Whatever she was about to say was important to transcend the boundaries of rank. "What is it?" She asked, sounding more like a worried child.
"Just a few things before you leave, although this is really irresponsible of me..." She paused for a bit. "Why are you going to Yumenominato? You never actually explained your reasons, and I was wondering if you would mind explaining."
Phoenix let out a sigh of relief. Thankfully, it wasn't anything serious related to her command. "Quite a few reasons...although most are trival. First, its been awhile since I have been on the Port Of Dreams. And since Magician is heading there, I'm taking the opportunity to follow along at the same time and see the place again, relive some of my older memories...perhaps for the last time."
Rally nodded in agreement. "Yumenominato is beautiful, even after the Burning. Especially when we are facing the threat of human invasion. It's a shame though, that you didn't see it before the Burning. It was a lot more beautiful back then, even with the Founders in charge of the place."
Phoenix nodded. "True. Secondly...I want to see if I could do some recruiting right there. We are currently low on manpower, given that Leviathan's defeat has scattered our main fleet."
Another nod. Phoenix hesitated, unsure whether she should reveal her last, somewhat embarrassing reason. "Finally...I plan to speak with Magician some more, try to get him to reveal more of his knowledge or fully commit to our fleet."
"Wait, you haven't actually talked to him much?" Rally eyes widened in surprise. "I thought you would have...prioritized given how...in demand he is."
"True." Phoenix admitted. "Thing is, he hasn't actually communicated with us much, especially since he released the human captives. I thought he was busy with preparing for the conference, since that he said that he doesn't like being disturbed while he is busy, I haven't even let Juri or Yuri bother him. But now that I'm going to have more free time on this trip, I think I will take the time to fully convince him, or at least try to figure him out. He isn't exactly cheerful the few times I manage to meet him."
"I see." Rally replied. "Personally, I see nothing wrong with your actions; you are a commander now, and frankly, I don't see much use in him."
"Why?"
Rally frowned. "Why? Well...to start off, he is of absolutely no use in combat. He apparently has no rigging of his own, and I doubt that he can actually handle the weapons Black-Crane gave him, especially given his self-professed cowardice and lack of combat experience. Next, his own knowledge of the enemy is rather limited, and he seems to run off guesswork more than anything else. The only thing I can vouch for is his strategic ability...and given his recent performance, I do not have much faith in that either. Not to say I do not care about him...but in my eyes, he is only important because of the human vessels he has under his command...and I say we could easily seize them with minimal effort."
Phoenix stared at her disbelievingly . "You would go and betray our benefactor?"
"Even if he is our 'benefactor', aside from the vessels under his control, he has no true power and is more of a liability than an asset. I say stripping him of everything and sending him to an early death would be helping both us and him - we get human technology under our control, and spare him from the emotional and physical torment his current existence will subject him to."
"Torment?"
"It's hard not to feel it, his behavior resembles a wounded animal - hiding in other places, easily irritated, cowardly...and I can guess why." Rally paused, and shrugged her shoulders. "The truth is, I feel as horrible as a Founder for suggesting it, for I pity him more than anything else, but pity has no place in our minds if we are going to fight a war of survival."
Phoenix stared at the older Abyssal for a few moments, trying to get her emotions in order.
"Recruiting him is still your decision however, and if you do succeed, I won't harm a hair on his head as long as he remains a part. I'm just saying that if you want to recruit him, you will need to do something about his attitude." Rally continued, more gently this time.
For a few moments, there was nothing but silence. Finally, Phoenix asked, "Anything...else?"
"Let me think...no, nothing. Good luck, and may your trip be fruitful."
"Thank you."
Phoenix stepped to one side of the room, where a small black suitcase sat, waiting for her. She paused for a moment, and produced a notebook from her pocket, flipping through it.
"Is that-" Rally began.
"Yes, it's one of the notebooks that Leviathan used to record things...but this is one of the many copies she had not used."
"Ah, I see." An approving smile spread across Rally's face. "Emulating her, huh?"
"Just...trying to keep track of everything that has happened since my promotion to Commander. It really helps." Phoenix pocketed the notebook, and picked up the suitcase, heading for the door. "Goodbye, Rally."
"Good luck, Commander."
The door closed, and Rally's avatar melted back into the structure.
In the bridge of the Yu Huang, I sat alone, riffling through notes and checking through the files on a laptop.
I adjusted my glasses as I looked through them; though, why did I still have eyesight problems even after being dragged over multiple dimensions and transformed into an Abyssal? This was weird...and depressing. If one wanted to make me completely lame, all he or she had to do was nick the glasses and send them to the bottom of the sea.
Man, this really sucks.
Like, really hard.
I paused for awhile, thinking, before flipping over to a particular file.
Inside that file, was a shortened version of a timeline I cooked up on reading certain files and documents I managed to salvage from around all the ships. It had been difficult, but I couldn't exactly look it up online.
It was very incomplete though, and certain terms remained a mystery to me, and would probably remain so for a very long time. Some were easy to figure out...especially the ones labelled 'First Wave', 'Second Wave', and 'Third Wave'.
Apparently, the 'Abyssal War', as they called it, was divided up into three periods, or 'Waves'.
The First Wave lasted from the start of the war, 2018, to 2025. This was when the Abyssals and their fog shrouding were seen and began by attacking human merchant shipping in small packs. This forced humans to begin escorting convoys, leading to the first military clashes between the two species. In that period, both humanoid Abyssals and magic were rare, and human forces were able to chase off, although not destroy, the Abyssal attacks.
The Second Wave followed, lasting till 2043. Abyssal forces greatly increased in size, and the appearance of humanoid Abyssals, the ambient magic that surrounded them, and their intrusion into human territorial waters became common. The oceans themselves began to go 'dark', with the Abyssal fog starting to expand and cover them. This was also when shipgirls started to appear, either through summoning or through chance incidents. Despite the disparity in numbers, human forces were eventually able to establish firm control over their waters. These routes eventually became the primary avenues of trade, and were protected by bases established and constructed along them. This was possible thanks to heavy research magic research, which allowed the creation of 'artificial' shipgirls, shipgirls that weren't drawn from past warships, as well as a few other developments.
After that was the Third Wave. Based on what I read, this was when the Abyssals actually 'got serious'. Unlike the previous two waves, this was not a gradual escalation. Instead, on the 21st of May, 2043, the Abyssals launched simultaneous, overwhelming offensives across the world. The Abyssal fleets contained both humanoid Abyssals, and the previously unseen Greater Abyssals, both of which exhibited new abilities. Greater Abyssals, for example, demonstrated the ability to use magic on a scale that could affect entire fleets.
The human navies lost a quarter of their ships/sailors on that day.
After that fateful day, all other attempts to slow down or stop the Abyssals had failed. When the Abyssals reached human cities, they razed them. Los Angeles, Shanghai, Tokyo, Edinburgh, New York, Sydney had been among the cities burned among the first assault.
It was a sign of things to come. This same pattern would be repeated, again and again, on coastal cities around the world. As the invasions continued, the Abyssals slowly dominated the oceans, shrouding each of them in their fog. Worse, began to invade the land itself. Very soon, many areas became 'Dead Zones', places where contact could not be established at all, such as the entirety of Australia, large portions of Southeast Asia, and the coastal areas of South America, Africa and Canada, their inhabitants long fled from the fog.
The aftermath of the attacks were heavy and damaging - the loss of arable land and trading partners caused many nations to fall to famine, the loss of industrial power caused the near-collapse of the economy, and the shortage of essential goods, causing a few minor wars over remaining material. These caused the death toll to rise even further. I still remember the horror I felt as I read the statistics - barely 4.5 billion people were left, over a third of the world's population were gone.
No wonder that Admiral had been furious...how did it feel to watch your command die and fall to mindless, powerful creatures, while losing your home and everything else in the process?
Moving on, the Third Wave gradually came to a stop around 2050, when the Abyssals no longer launched assaults on human-held lands. From there on till now, the year 2086, it had been a uphill battle for humanity as they tried to reclaim their land and water from their enemies, rebuild, and develop technology to better repel the Abyssals.
From there, gaps began to pop up, leaving me with more and more questions
First, what happened to the Abyssals that were left on land? Their behavior had become disquietingly mindless creatures...They seemed to lose any form of sapience, and only barely used their weapons when responding to human attacks. Heck, I just saw footage of a Wo-Class, like Phoenix, standing completely silent and unmoving as shipgirls bombarded her from range.
Second what exactly caused the Abyssals to gain sentience? Or stop their attacks on the human forces? Actually, what caused the sudden upsurge in attacks during the Third Wave?
I only had clues from what Phoenix said, about the recent rise and fall of the Founders, and some small details about their gaining of sapience. There was still a huge hole in between those events...
Not to mention what caused the appearance of Abyssals in the first place, or what were they really. Were they the vengeful spirits of warships? Because, as I read the history and descriptions, they seemed more like...aliens?
I scratched my head. My amateur historian senses were tingling. Part of me really wanted to get to the bottom of this...
Heh, maybe I could roam the oceans, stealing and gathering data from wrecks, other Abyssals, or what not...
A voice in my head interrupted my reverie.
"Magician?"
"Hmmm? Yes, Siren?"
"Could you come down to the reactor room? I need to ask you more questions."
I looked at the laptop. Fuck it, there isn't a need to steer the ship, and I could use a chat.
...I actually haven't talked much to the others, have I? Too busy reading and compiling records...
"Sure, why not. I'm coming down now." I stood up and stretched, pulling myself from side to side, before heading for the door to the corridor.
I whistled a tune as I walked down the corridors of the ship. At least, I tried - the only thing that really came out was some badly-tuned notes.
I shrugged. While I had a high-tech electronic device attached to my right forearm, I was far from using it effectively, and the lack of internet access meant that I could not install any new applications on it. It also meant I could no longer surf the internet on the go. Or get music to listen to.
As I passed doors and passageways, I noted the lack of any sound other than the constant rumbling of the engines beneath me. While I had long gotten used to it, the silence and loneliness associated with it still...affected me to some extent.
Couldn't be helped though, the ship was probably designed for a crew count in the thousands, and only around a handful of Abyssals had elected to join Phoenix for the trip.
Further down, I spotted another Abyssal, also exploring the ship. She spotted me, and gave me a shallow bow in acknowledgment.
With a smile, I returned the gesture and went on my merry way.
The double doors to the reactor room slid open, and I paused for a moment as I stepped in, looking at its prime occupant.
Suspended in midair, the core of the structure consisted of a single sphere with 12 large rods jutting out of it, positioned at equal angles to each other, 6 on each hemisphere. Another device sat directly on top of the sphere like a hat, and two massive pipes ran out of the sphere itself. Large and small wires alike extended into and away from the reactor, placed and arranged neatly in metal rails that hung from the ceiling. A ring of computer consoles surrounded its base.
The reactor filled the room with a low hum, radiating a sense of power.
I stood there, admiring it for a few moments-
"Ah! There you are!" Siren came scurrying out from behind the reactor, the same eager grin on her face.
"So..." I stepped forward slowly, turning my gaze back to the reactor, "What's so important that you had to call me down here?"
"A few things!" She jumped, forcing me to turn my attention back to her. "Just follow me please~"
She grabbed me by my arm, and pulled me over to a seat next to one of the consoles. I made a squeak of protest at the rough gesture, only to be ignored.
"First," Siren began, dumping herself onto another chair, "could you tell me how that reactor works?"
"How does that reactor work..." I rubbed my chin as I pondered the question. "Well...I think it heats up water, turning it into steam -"
"No no no, I already know that !" Siren grabbed a paper from the table, pointing at it irritably. I glanced at it; it was a diagram of the ship's propulsion system.
"What I want to know is how the reactor produces the heat...how does it create...that...that 'reaction'-"
"Oh I see what you mean," I slapped myself mentally. "You are talking about the fusion reaction itself..."
"Yes, yes!"
"Ok...but weren't there notes to tell you how this works? You could have read them..."
"There weren't many, and I can't just learn everything from maintenance notes! Although there was some things I found...like 'D-T reaction' or 'operating lifespan'..."
Wait...
"Those are probably specifications for the reactors." I paused for a moment thinking them through. "D-T reaction...that probably means a deuterium and tritium mix for the reactors."
"What does that mean?" Siren asked, perplexed.
"Deuterium and Tritium are isotopes of hydrogen, meaning they are hydrogen atoms with different numbers of neutrons inside them. A hydrogen atom normally has no neutrons, but deuterium has one and tritium has 2. When you say D-T reaction, it means that the reactor is using the two isotopes as fuel for the fusion reaction."
"I see...but how does the fusion reaction work?" The scientist grew even more impatient.
"Hold on, hold on...well, nuclear fusion is simply, well, smashing two different elements together, and when they fuse, or combine, the process releases energy as heat."
"Just like that?"
"Not really, no...you need to contain the reaction using magnetic fields...and the two chemicals must be at extremely high temperatures and fired together at very high speeds." I shrugged. "Truth is...I'm no expert on this, and back in my world a fusion reactor was very much theoretical, because we hadn't yet been able to make one yet. In fact..." I looked back at the reactor, "I bet you anything that magic is definitely involved in the process in some way..."
"Awwww..." Siren looked downcast. "I was hoping you knew how to recreate it completely, because I was already thinking of some applications..."
"Like what?" Immediately, I came to the obvious conclusion. "Big explosions?"
The look on her face answered my question.
"No." I said, firmly. "Like I said...you can't create a fusion reaction out of nowhere. Besides, the heat generated would dissipate extremely quickly. If you want a nasty weapon, you are better off looking at nuclear fission, and fat chance of getting uranium or plutonium from the seabed."
"Fission? You mean splitting the atom, right?"
"Yes. It generates heat and energy just as much as a fusion reaction, and its easier to create anywhere. However, as I said, you need certain superheavy metals, which need to be enriched in some way I don't know how to do that, and we have a fat chance of getting the materials in the first place. Not to mention, I am not going to let a mad bomber get hold of the tools to make a strategic weapon if I can help it!"
"Awwwwww, really?" Swinging her massive tail back and forth, Siren made a pouty face, forcing me to choke back a laugh.
"Yes, really. Seriously though, why are you so obsessed with technology? That kind of mad scientist attitude...isn't normal, at all."
I stared at her for a few moments, waiting for an answer, while she was lost in thought.
"Well...a long time ago, I was on a Founder base..." Her face was shrouded in nostalgia, and her tone became melancholic.
I stiffened.
"I don't remember my birth, but I do remember that I was bad at fighting, which meant that I was often neglected, left to do my own things."
"So, one day , I managed to get a book to read. During a supply run, someone managed to sneak some around, and I got away with one."
"Inside were some descriptions of certain equipment or machines...it was small, and it didn't contain much, but...I fell in love with the pictures, the words, the descriptions of how they worked."
"Then, as I tried to learn more and understand, I started trying to write down my ideas and thoughts, sneaking paper from the supply runs when they came in."
"Then one day, I was called in front of the base commander."
"She asked me, "Do you love machines, weapons, and the like that much?""
"I said yes, and she replied, "Then I can give you everything you need.""
"I was taken to a new room, which had everything I wanted - books, paper, pen, a table and all sorts of things."
"I was told, "Study all you want here, you don't need to fight any more. Just bring me something curious once in awhile.""
"From then on, I stayed there, only coming out once in awhile when I was told to do so. I read, I researched, I tried to learn...and tried to create. I was...so happy there."
"As for the base commander...she would come to my room every few days to observe me. Sometimes she would take one of my diagrams and read through it, or ask me to copy it out for her. Other times, she would give me a task to do, like asking me to shrink a radar or modify a weapon."
"Once, I was asked to do a demonstration of a crude explosive I made, which...didn't work out so well."
"Even then, she wasn't angry, and pushed me to learn more."
"In the end...the Marauders came, and she was forced to surrender the base. When they searched it all over, they confiscated all my things, all my books, and forced me to leave."
"So I went to Yumenominato, and I found the Gatherers. After studying under Collector for a while, Leviathan came, and I was assigned to her. And after that, here we are."
Only when she finished I realised I've been staring at her silently the whole time. "Oh...um...yeah, sorry for your loss..." I tried to cover myself.
"Hmm? Oh no, its nothing...anyway, Magician, when are you going to make your own fleet?" She asked, quickly switching gears.
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"I want to work with you! You have all the human technology under your command, and you taught me a lot! Please, if you do create your own fleet, please take me in first!"
Taken aback, I began sputtering. "Look, well, can we discuss this on another time? I have no intention of doing so at the moment-"
"Why though? I mean, you can do it now, maybe I can help convince Phoenix to let you go-"
"Enough." I growled, cutting her off. "I have no intentions of going solo at this point, and I don't like getting pestered like this. If I do create my own fleet, would probably be the first I'd recruit, but right now, that's off the table. Got it?"
Her face fell. "Ok."
"Thank you." After a few moments of silence, I made to leave. "Goodbye, and thanks for the talk."