Haze Gray 17
Danny walked into the dock just after sunrise. He had seen the girls out on the bay after the hum of the Hawkeye woke him just before dawn. The Master Chief had informed him they were catching a staff car at the boardwalk and were fine.
He walked to the dock to see if Lisa was included in the 'they'. He chuckled as she was chasing her workboat, whining, while holding a Taylor ham egg and cheese biscuit out of the water, one in each hand, and her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk. That sailor had a mean streak. He looked up as Tess came in the door on the caisson "Got them off to school then."
Tess nodded, looked at Lisa and sighed "They've been at it for thirty minutes. No idea where she is putting all those biscuits."
Danny sat at one of the tables in the cafeteria part of the base and nodded as a plate and cup of coffee appeared. "Thanks, however you did that. No surprises?"
"Ha! Plenty. General Dynamics and Northrup Grumman are looking at her as built drawings, kind of happy, mad she got all the systems to work, but that she got their proprietary designs. Oh, and she has eighteen VLS cells but only six torpedo tubes. And mark forty-six that have ship space fuel tanks so practically unlimited range, or would that be no practical limit on their range? And they are stupid fast, little buggers. One ran around the dock for an hour ramming into people like some dogs do when they want to play before she figured out how to turn it off.
"Bit of a problem as they have to have friendly ships acoustic signatures in their memory not to attack them. Or have it transmitted to them via sonar. Which what? Now I want some of the little buggers and that control system.
"Oh, and they are swim outs because they are smaller diameter than the tube and three per tube, sort of overlapping, then three times as many in storage aboard so ninety total torpedoes. It's a bit ridiculous.
"And of course, her oxygen and diesel tanks are ship space so she can stay submerged for only god knows how long with the sterling's, carbon dioxide scrubbers, and oxygen generators she has on board."
Danny smiled "So if we tell her to go test it all she will be gone a while."
"Only physically, she has multichannel full duplex and digital Ultra low frequency communications and we are hooked to a modem that talks to the system. Grumman got the facilities the Navy had, they shut them down in 2004, and she is merrily, if more slowly, yapping away on them, she also can stream a floating antenna for UHF and VHF."
Danny asked "So a pocket super sub like you are a pocket cruiser and Taylor a pocket battleship? Leslie is just a flat-out super carrier though." Innocently. Tess gave him a glare.
"So, the pups are going to be super PT boats? Form factor the same but uprated everything? What is Rachel going to end up like?"
Tess grinned "The biggest, meanest, destroyer tender in the history of the world. Let me show you what we got for her and the dogs. The dogs have piston engines, there have been a lot of advances in lightening heavy oil marine engines and their specific fuel consumption at less than full power is much lower than gas turbines. Two engines for safeties sake but they have more power than the original PT boats and much lower fuel consumption, a quarter if not less of the gasoline engine boats. They can burn the same fuel oil we use as well. Composite hulls, kevlar and carbon fiber, they'll be fast and should be tough. Little worried about AA for them. Thirty millimeter mark forty four maybe.
"Rachel looks to be a big tender armed with eight cell VLS, five inch like Taylor, fifty-four caliber twins, four of them, and CIWS four of those, the new ones without the huge dome, linked to the rest of us, twenty-five thousand tons. Same speed as Amy theoretically."
"I got a few minutes before I need to go find a lot more workers. Let's see those plans" Danny nodded.
"Oh?" Tess asked.
"We got the railyard contract from the Navy."
"Oh good! Uh, how do we get refinery and tank farm workers?"
Danny blinked "I'll figure it out? Those guys might still be around, at least enough to train new guys?"
"We can automate a lot of the processes but maintenance and troubleshooting, plus safety checks, need people."
Later as Danny was leaving, he looked in the dock, where Lisa had stopped chasing the workboat and was now stalking it, from the bottom of the dock "Are those floaties on her upper arms, waist and ankles?"
"Not floaties, emergency buoyancy devices as none of us can dive for more than an instant anymore"
"They're yellow, with ducks on them."
"-"
"Girls play rough."
Haze Gray
"What's wrong with them?" Taylor asked as she sat.
"Who, and why is there a magic lunch box on the cafeteria line?" Lucy frowned.
"Lisa, apparently there is a government subsidy for school lunches that pays enough so we make money at economies of scale. Something. And the cooks use government recipe cards, so it's all department of agriculture approved. Something about the Tri service cooking school and the maintenance of supply. She hurt my head." Taylor pouted a bit. "Somehow all the cooks from all the ships and the cafeteria at the base cook and it gets divvied out through my lunch box, off the cafeteria line, or in the mess halls on the ships, or now that lunch box. SMSGBS.
"And we underbid the school's normal supplier by a lot. A division of Medhall, guess they thought it was like six-dollar aspirin. But the lunch ladies still serve up special dietary requirements stuff they have to make from raw from ingredients they get from the box. They actually like it. It lets them concentrate on that stuff, did you know they are dieticians and trained chefs hired by the school?"
Amanda's lips moved for a second then she grinned "Sparkly Magical Ship Girl Bullshit. OK."
Lucy eyed Amy getting her second plate "Twenty-two hundred tons max? How are you this hungry?"
Amy shrugged swallowed and managed "Veal Parm, I love veal parm. Plus, I don't know? Exhausted and hungry all the time, the researchers are looking at it, something about the dock and the minerals and metals and the people swimming and blah blah blah."
Dennis chuckled "Army guys, at least my dad's generation, call veal patties track pads. I guess they got fed them a lot."
"Hmmph. My Marines too. Doesn't stop them eating them though." Taylor replied.
Lucy rapped on the table "What's wrong with who? You never said?"
"Empire. They never did anything."
Vicky shrugged "Yet? And to us. I mean they can't really blame us. Mush could but..."
Amanda nodded and swallowed "Kind of with Taylor here, would have expected them to do something to someone by now." Everyone else shrugged.
Haze Gray
Taylor, and the others were not alone in wondering what the Empire was doing. The scouts were still watching, law enforcement moving and arresting likely Empire members in a sort of reverse racial profiling, and the Empire members themselves wondering why they were taking this bullshit.
"Max!"
Max Anders sighed "You know what, fine Bradly. Go attack the US Army or Marine Corps."
"Grrrr. Fine! What about the Protectorate then?"
"Oh yes, nice choice for a secondary target. Let's do that. Certainly, New Wave and the Kanmusu will just watch.
"I'm sure we won't be targeted by say, two hundred and eighty-five hundred-pound bombs in the next five minutes after we are successful by the Aircraft Carrier girl.
"Perhaps not eighty-five hundred pounds of explosive every twenty seconds until that Cruiser Girl gets tired of shooting. Certainly, my armor is proof against a twelve-hundred-pound projectile designed to penetrate seven to twenty-four inches of armor. Why then I should certainly not have a problem with the fifteen odd pounds of high explosive it also contains. Even if my armor happens to be enough to set it off with its delay action fuze. Made by a tinker, or whatever the fuck she is, out of chemicals dumped in her bath. Just because she appears to not be Manton limited like a normal parahuman, well that's nothing to be concerned about.
"Certainly, the best tinker in the world who is also a ship will just watch the show.
"The twins have the shields, Why, you are armored too. How foolish of me. Let's go right now. Let me call for a car."
"You made your point, this isn't over."
"Certainly not Brad. It's just begun. Patience." The parahumans of the Empire left the conference room with the marvelous view. Victor paused long enough for the door to the room to shut "Might not be a good idea to humiliate Hookwolf."
"Better than having him turned to a grease spot."
Haze Gray
"You have to talk to him James. I lost nearly a hundred guys."
Krieg nodded then thought of the PHO page his computer had been on this morning. "You are correct. We will lose respect. There is a thorn that should be pulled from our side though."
Haze Gray
Missy looked at Aisha "Anything?"
"I found some white hairs."
"What? Let me see!"
Missy looked where Aisha pointed "Yep, three. Is that why you were late this morning?"
"I wasn't late, I made it before the bell. I had a mission from Tats. Well Lisa now that she shipped?"
"A sub. Suits her. Come on I'm off so let's go see how she turned out!"
Haze Gray
"Finally! Come on." Taylor blinked as she was spun around and shoved back out the door. She looked over her shoulder at Tess who was laughing?
Lisa got Taylor to the ladder and dived in the bay. Taylor blinked "Did she still have her floaties on?"
Tess rolled around on top of the caisson.
Armsmaster watched the progress of the Kanmusu slowly moving around in the bay "Athabasca are you in need of assistance?"
Tess's voice came back a bit confused "Uh no? Oh, no we are fine, we just have our sonars streamed following... Kanmusu Seawolf."
Armsmaster blanched and looked at the red bolded text now scrolling across the bottom of his HUD then the blue text that followed "Modified Barble? As was built here?" He looked closer with his magnification "Are those boats with you from the Naval Shipyard?"
He could hear the giggle in her reply "They are chasing her with these torpedo-like things that are instrumented. The boats are the mother ships. She isn't very happy about it but has to certify."
Out on the water Taylor nodded "Told you that name was a bad idea. I know she means the Sargo class, top scorer from Brockton Bay Naval shipyard, but other people don't think like that."
Leslie shrugged "They have to deal, OK you flyers watch out I'm launching some ASW to keep an eye on her." She drew a pistol and put up a Viking, and a Seahawk appeared from behind her.
Taylor shrugged and a Sea Hawk left her backpack. "You just want to exercise your girls."
"And?"
"Nothing. Me too." Taylor grinned.
Amy surfed along on a flank "We'll be on the news again. Plus, MP will be all 'five of them!' and Rachel will chase her around the dock some more.
"When we get back, I want to look at the dogs plans some more."
Taylor nodded "Homework?"
Amy snorted "I got a combined million years of med school. It won't take long."
Leslie frowned "Any veterinarians?"
Amy blinked "Crap, well I got some work to do after all. But mammals?"
They all turned and watched as Vicky dove from who knew how high. She hit the water with hardly a splash and surfaced as they were starting to worry. Grinning "Tagged her."
Lisa popped to the surface rubbing her butt "What is wrong with you? You dented me I think." A bunch of the instrument packages appeared and she dove into the water again with no splash at all. The instrument packages gave chase. Vicky circled the group twirling like a figure skater. Taylor sighed. Amy rolled around on the ocean laughing. Vicky took a bow. Leslie gave Taylor a one-armed hug. Tess covered her mouth and turned out to sea a bit.
Amy recovered and they skated along headed toward the dock. Amy had a tablet out "Your twin five-inch fire at the same time but your three big ass guns in the same turret don't?"
"Twelve inch and turret whip. Even though the five inch would be more accurate with a tiny delay, but if you do the turret whips back and forth because its two recoil impulses and then recoiling masses and finally when the guns come back into battery. Bang, bump, bump sort of. My three gun turrets fire the center gun, then, a split second later, the outboard guns because the wake off the center gun shell would throw them off otherwise, but they are far enough apart not to interfere with each other without the center shell there They travel just inside its wake turbulence cone." Taylor explained. Which got a whole conversation started.
Haze Gray
Barack smiled at the cabinet secretaries "Come on people, hope remember? So, the Kanmusu are hiring like crazy through the Dock Workers, the Naval Shipyard is hiring like crazy, Pease Airforce Base is hiring like crazy, the recruiters from all the organizations are having a field day. This is what hope looks like. Why the long faces?"
Robert Gates looked around at the silent secretaries "The problem hasn't gone away Mr. President."
Barack nodded "But now, it has problems, which I am sure you all are just going to increase right?
"Look I don't expect to get out of this without a fight, some people cannot be reached. The hardcore unemployed and homeless, some of the gangs, but we will keep making it better and it will keep spreading. Then when it comes to a fight. Crush them. Use every means. Get the IRS in there. Then we pack it up and move it to the next place.
"Now, Rebecca, you want to share with us what this is?" A picture appeared on the screen on the cabinet room wall.
Rebecca Costa Brown sighed "It's the Simurgh building a replica of the Kanmusu yards on Bikini atoll."
Robert Gates sat up "Is that accurate? As a sand table?"
Rebecca shrugged "Yes, fairly accurate. We don't know."
"How did she get the data? Precog, damnit." Bob was not a happy man.
Barack nodded "No Endbringer sirens because she is just sitting on the, highly radioactive, beach playing in the sand? Nobody around for her to harm and we know where she is then?
"Little concerning she got Prince Eugen, Saratoga, a class C4, a bunch of destroyers in a pile? Couldn't find a Tribal I guess. Quite a few submarines.
"Now, are these whales she is trying get to ride these battleships? And is that a giant crab she is using for a hat?" The secretaries groaned. "One last question for today Where did her wings go, and can we get her in something other than a string bikini and a choker made out of Nagato's chrysanthemum? You know the Japanese are great friends of ours and some of the people in the world are going to find this outfit a bit much. Two legs though so, progress?"
Haze Gray
Taylor looked at the picture on Lisa's tablet and snorted "Told you, pedophiles, she is what, nine? Pants! Always a good idea."
Lisa smirked "OK first, Simurgh, hanging out on the beach, playing with her toy boats, then boobs the size of you, and you are worried about pants? At least she shaved?"
The girls gaped at Lisa then Taylor. Danny shook his head "Need a ride home Pants?"
"Nah, got my staff car. Plus I can give the girls rides." She looked around "A bus maybe."
Danny nodded "Not too late Taylor."
"Ok Dad."
Haze Gray
Victor looked through the Thermal sight. The US military certainly had some nice toys. He keyed his radio "Laser attachments." He went back to looking for the sniper sure to be covering these mercenaries covering the Insane Clown Posse. A top hat. Seriously? You could hear the circus music, was their sideshow music? What was this guy's name again? Switch, swap? No that's what he did. Trickster! How did the weakest of them become the leader? The girl Sundancer. Now that was a power. And with it they might be able to..."Don't blend the girl." He went back to watching. How long could it take them to hit a jewelry store in the middle of downtown at two in the morning? Snake monkey? Side show.
Haze Gray
Lung looked at Oni Lee "And you saw this?"
"Hai"
"So, Kaiser distracts his dogs. Hmmm. Coil overreaches? No, it was a draw besides Victor killing those normal. So, Coil had tested his team on the Empire. He would come to the Dragon next.
Lung drummed his fingers on the desk. "Push the under aged girls on the immigration. Make sure the whores that remain want to be whores, clean up the ones on drugs, push them on the other federal agencies if they can't be cleaned up, ensure they know not to talk.
"Better, do it in Empire areas and tell them to identify Empire lieutenants. Make sure all of your people's licenses and inspections are completed. Have our people report any crime outside of our area that they know of to these many policemen." The lieutenants kneeling in front of his desk bowed.
"Oni Lee watch these Travelers. If they come to our territory report it, night or day."
"Hai"
Lung watched the ashes fall and the girl begin to sweep them up. He went back to the paper and the report of this new tinker in Ithaca, an interesting ability. One to perhaps counter a Kanmusu.
Haze Gary
Emily lay back down and turned off the light. A swim first in the morning before the parade got started coming through her office. Meanwhile an hour more sleep. The ships were up before dawn everyday so someone would be awake at the Dock at five. Oh, and she could get breakfast there too.
Haze Gray
Mouse Protector wrinkled her nose "Always smells. Anything Bo Bana?"
"Nothing we didn't know already, Two sniped, one blended. Something got a pretty serious shot of I think Hookwolf. A lot of molten metal over here. He regenerates or replaces it though."
Mouse Protector nodded "That guy is going to be a pain in the ass unless you do him from range Bo Bana. Next time we get him though, straight to the cage."
Miss Militia nodded "Already convicted, do not pass go do not collect two hundred dollars."
"I'm going to find whoever it is teaching you these things. Its Assault isn't it?"
Miss Militia smiled "Come on. We're done here."