Long Xuyen Military base, An Giang Province, Vietnam.
Chitose POV
"Alright, lay it on me." The commander didn't seem all that impressed with me. She'd 'requested' that I meet with her back at her dorm, and to be fair I could see why. Dark bags underlined her eyes, her hair was a mess too, it seemed like she hadn't been sleeping well.
"I just got into contact with a spy within New Jersey's ranks, a Submarine named Georgia," I said. The Frigate's eyes widened, tiredness forgotten.
"She's American?" I nodded, this only seemed to make the Commander more agitated, she began to pace.
"The only two USS Georgia's I know of are an old Virginia Battleship that was scrapped before my time, and the nuclear submarine." Oh, that's right, Pham Ngu Lao was originally an American ship, she'd probably know her.
"And your saying Georgia, the nuclear submarine, strategic thermonuclear missile-carrying, Ohio-class Georgia, is here? In Vietnam?" Her face was beginning to go an odd shade of green. And Georgia carried nuclear missiles once?! I thought it just powered her! Best to defuse this quickly.
"I think it was mentioned she's actually caught between refits, she has the 109 tomahawk loadout along with her old mk48's, apparently they took those tubes out later on in her life." This actually managed to work slightly, as Lao's skin tone slowly returned to normal. The small girl kept pacing, however.
"That's a relief, the last thing we need is for the Americans to decide to wipe southern Vietnam off the map to get rid of their Abyssal fuck-ups." I startled a bit at that, I hadn't even known that was an option in peoples heads! I'd sunk far before the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but I'd read the historical report on the end of the war, on both sides. ( Provided as a matter of course for newly summoned Kanmusu ) and, it wasn't pretty, the fact people would consider doing MORE than that here? I was beginning to see the main cause of Lao's worry. But that was neither here not there, I had a mission to get authorized.
"In any case, she needs extraction, she was caught-out by the Abyssals in Jersey's fleet, we agreed on a meeting spot, all we'd need to do is go out and get her." The Commander's pacing stopped, as she hopped up onto her bed, a look of deep concentration on her face as she listened to me. "She's got two other ships with her as well as a couple of survivors she found in the ruins, they are only kids, apparently they've been out there all this time." Lao only looked slightly surprised at this, commenting.
"Humans find a way, they always have. We still occasionally hear reports of gunfire and small groups of people in occupied territory, the Abyssals don't have the man-power to patrol their territory well, so they just blast a place to rubble, flush out the population to gun them down, and move on after a few weeks of 'hunting'. A lot of space for individuals to slip through the cracks." I sat down next to her as she continued. "Where is it you agreed to meet? You should have waited for me before deciding that by the way"
"She was on a local landline and she had to get going quickly, we made up a meeting location on the spot, didn't have the time, sorry." I looked slightly abashed at that. Lao put an arm around my shoulder in a small half-hug.
"Don't worry about it! We'll pick up this sub for ya! Where are we meeting her?" I gave her the location, she hummed in thought. "The suspension bridge near Tan Cang Thot, pretty decent spot, lot of old cargo containers and buildings to hide in. Used to have a holding company there, I guess we can get there and wait for her near the base of the bridge, she's on her way there now?" I nodded. "Where from?"
"A City called Can Tho." I supplied. Lao's eyes squeezed shut for a moment before she sighed.
"Of course, it had to be there. Alright, I'll get a couple of my men together with one of the spare KamAZ's and we can head off, it will take a couple of hours by road but we'll be able to pick them up and be off again without Imp patrols along the river noticing us."
"I'm surprised they never targeted the roads, it would make it harder to travel wouldn't it?" I asked, Lao made a rueful grimace.
"You'd think that, but they generally leave the roads alone, its easier to spot and destroy a convoy of refugees if they are on a road then if they are creeping through the jungle on foot. They've actually been known to unblock the roads themselves when their planes strafe a vehicle convoy, usually they take the military hardware to do... something with, and just shove the rest of the cars to the side for the next group of saps. Should be fine for us though, Abyssals haven't had recon craft in the area for a while, must be targeting another province right now." I nodded mutely to that ruthless reasoning as Lao got up from the bed, walking out of her dorm as she started yelling in Vietnamese downstairs.
"I can't believe she's going along with it." I thought, this was actually going to work! Though when she actually met Georgia... I stewed in my thoughts uncomfortably as Lao came back.
"Hey, some of the boys downstairs are getting the truck, anything else you wanna say before we head out?"
"Yeah, Georgia said she had to sink a Hime on her way out, she was a light Cruiser, but she never got her name, any idea who that could be?" Lao's eyebrows rose almost to her bridge band.
"The only light cruiser-Hime I know of is an American model that helped sack Can Tho last year!" Lao's lips drew into a smile with far more teeth than I was comfortable with. "You're saying Georgia killed her? How? Was it painful? I hope so!" Really uncomfortable.
"She didn't say, just that doing it injured her pretty severely, she had to reattach an arm and one of her eyes isn't working right, the other two ships with her are in hard shape too." Lao's excitement bled off at that, wincing before gaining a puzzled look.
"You mentioned those two ships before, who are they?" Ah, yes, I hadn't mentioned them had I?
"That would be Countess and Hakone, Countess is a bit, confusing as a ship. You'll see when you meet her, we basically call her a light battlecruiser." Lao's confusion was expected and somewhat vindicating. "And Hakone is a Ri-class heavy Cruiser." I finished, waiting for the reaction. Lao nodded along for a second, before freezing in place.
"A what?" She looked at me incredulously. "I'm sorry, I must have too much grease in my ears, one of your contacts is an Abyssal Cruiser?!" Oh if only that was all...
"She attacked me and Georgia when we were traveling together, Georgia managed to capsize her and drown her crew." The Commander winced at that.
"How did she manage that? And if she capsized, how is she meeting with us now? WHY is she meeting with us now?!"
"Georgia told me she snapped Hakone's heels off then pulled her underwater when she tripped." I nodded at Lao's horrified face. "That was my reaction too. but anyway, since the bridge was empty, Georgia put one of her officers inside along with a few engineers to restart the boilers an-"
"WAIT wait wait, this submarine put her crew inside an Abyssal?!" Lao made a gagging noise at my affirmation. "That's disgusting! ...Continue."
"Georgia started up her boilers after repairing the water damage, and Hakone woke up again with no idea who she was! Apparently, some Abyssals enter a 'factory reset' when you start them up again after taking out the boiler and bridge and repairing them again. They are basically like children then. Complete blank slates." Lao gave me a dubious look. "I'm serious! She went from threatening us in English to flawless Japanese for a while because her hull was based on a Japanese Heavy-Cruiser! Wandering around with her tagging along is like having a kid with you! That added on to Georgia herself, I was beginning to feel like a baby-sitter!" Lao snorted as she got up, beckoning me to follow as we started off.
"I have to be honest, I think you're full of crap, there's no way Georgia has a tame Ri-class." I opened my mouth to argue. "But on the off chance she DOES... I wanna see. Would explain how she was able to spy so well at least, send in the tame Ri to get info for her, and stay submerged for the reports..." The Commanders face gained a hesitant look to it. "Actually, the more I think of it, the more sense it makes." She turned suddenly, poking a finger into my chest. "If you are making all this up and I have to sit in the back of a truck all day for nothing, I am gonna be really, really mad at you, got it?" She was adorable when she was trying to look angry, I nodded anyway.
"I promise everything I've said is true!" I said, meanwhile all I could think of was:
"From a certain point of view."
