Ok. Second writer's block.
Hell yeah.
Having finally settled herself down to a position that guaranteed safety, Providence finally had time to check on her sensors.
The contacts were closing in at a rather slow speed. Average speed being at twenty knots. Her missile pods were tracking them as the Longswords crossed by for a visual. The imagery they sent back was... quite interesting. Girls, skating across water, some kind of mech suit strapped to them. She herself was no stranger to kanmusu. After all, the UNSC established the Naval Auxiliary Forces late in 2546 after the Marathon-class heavy cruiser Never Back Down had returned from the abyss with her Battlegroup after the fleet had been obliterated over Harvest. But their design caught her eye. UNSC kanmusus typically wore navy uniforms that doubled as armor, for some wierd reason. It was guessed that their clothes were seemingly cloth, but at the molecular level weaved fibers of Titanium-A or the later byzanium-enhanced Titanium-F. Their rigs would be their old hull split lengthwise and suspended from two arms attached to a backpack-like object on their back, and their MAC taking the form of a rifle. She had seen a Halcyon-class light cruiser bash a CCS-class battlecruiser with her MAC shaped like a Stanchion, and hers took the shape of an ARC-920. Examination of the front, however, revealed that her two FMJ-X-2556 Super-Heavy Coil MACs, the kind installed on ODPs, were actually located in the prongs. Not that they would be of much use to her right now, seeing that the fire control system for them was offline and she didn't want to bust the planet she was on right now.
Their rigs, on the other hand, were of a curiously old design, as if someone split a sea-going ship apart and taped them to their limbs. Their gun batteries resembled the Bismark naval coilguns seen on the larger Warlock-class battlecruisers, but lacked the magnetic coils from what her Longswords could scan. But they revealed the existence of chemical propellants on them, further heightening her suspicions. Who would bother to summon a centuries-old ship to work in an environment where they'd be a pile of scrap when they could summon a fresh-from-the-dock cruiser with MACs, coilguns, missiles, and nukes?
That the scans indicated that the smaller guns were the Bofors 40mm guns commonly used for anti-aircraft during World War II, of all times, wasn't helping.
So her missiles continued to lock and her coilguns remained ready. Not that she was trying to communicate, if the scans were correct and that they were out of date six centuries, she won't even bother, since WWII communications technology was limited to direct line-of-sight only, and even then, nine times out of ten you would have to be in literally pistol range to talk.
And so she kept monitoring the HUD, which indicated that multiple smaller contacts had emerged from one of the larger. Her active sensors were scanning them, and came up with a match: Mitsubitshi A6M Zeroes.
The fuck?
As if that was already enough for one day...
"Alright. According to our best sources, we are at the origin of the sound, actually, some distance away." Kaga noted.
The entire patrol group was cruising along the way, their eyes glued to their radar, which displayed a single unidentifiable object. It showed no visible IFF, no signature, nothing. Like a radar relfector.
As they entered visual range, three things greeted them: smoke rising in the sky, a lone figure standing a few feet nearby, and a Ru-class, or to be exact whatever remained of a Ru-class, which was half a gun turret. The rest was simply gone. She couldn't fathom what had caused this devastation. The figure was a kanmusu, but unlike any other. In height she easily dwarfed Yamato, standing at a full six feet, six inches tall. A pair of eyeglasses with rounded square lenses projected an eerie green glow from one side, prompting her to guess that it was a HUD of some sort. She wore a uniform consisting of a collared shirt, black necktie, and an olive green jacket combined with a matching short skirt. An olive beret completed the picture, along with steel gray eyes and auburn short hair. She projected an aura of power and strength around her, which sent a chill up and down Kaga's spine.
Her rig was futuristic, and she held a double-barreled rifle in her hands. An ungodly amount of turrets lined her side, and they all were tracking them, their barrels glowing menacingly as if they were ready to fire at any moment. The proud symbol of an eagle could be seen displayed clearly on the rig for all to see, an eagle with its wings spread over a globe. A banner flowed across the globe with the letters "UNSC" written on it.
The UN Security Council?
The awkward silence that followed was broken by the form of an Abyssal Ru-class battleship shattering the ocean surface.
Followed by dozens of more battleships.
Followed by dozens of Wo-class carriers.
Followed by hundreds of cruisers.
And thousands of destroyers.
Oh, we're so fucked. Fubuki thought.
The newcomer reacted immediately, her triple batteries switching from her and her comrades and began tracking the demons as they all fired in unison. The deafening thunder echoed throughout the area, and the shockwave sending everyone backpedaling as the blinding muzzle flash caused everyone to close their eyes and shield them with their hands, all save for the newcomer. Fubuki guessed that her eyeglasses must've polarized.
Then the newcomer returned the favor.
If the muzzle flashbang from the Abyssals were deafening and blinding, the resounding thundercrack of the newcomer's retaliation made them seem like a hand grenade compared to a nuke. Fubuki opened her eyes to see the hat of a Wo-class carrier, the entire demon itself, put simply, gone. The battleships suffered the same fate as the salvo went straight through them like a bullet through air, and the cruisers and destroyers were sent flying several hundred feet away as the newcomer's rig suddenly opened up with the smoke of rocket exhaust as thousands of screaming missiles launched from their pods. The missiles obliterated the demons where they hit, leaving nothing save a few gun barrels here and there. The air was filled with the odor of vaporized rocket propellant as the newcomer's anti-aircraft batteries engaged the fighters the Wo-class carriers launched. Fubuki and Amatsukaze added their own AAA to the mayhem, and Kaga proceeded to send a pack of Zeroes at the demon fighters as the newcomer simply stiched apart the fighters with insane accuracy and popping open the fighters like a balloon. So obsessed was she with the newcomer that she didn't see the abyssal Ru-class battleship until it was too late.
She suddenly felt the air being slammed out of her as the full-on force of a Ru-class battleship rammed into her on full speed. Before she could get up, she saw the barrels of a Ru-class battleship aiming at her, with its eyes behind them glowing with pleasure.
Oh, I'm going to die. Fuck this.
Before said battleship was bisected by a glowing sword.
Staring at where the demon battleship used to occupy moments ago, she stared at its smoking remains, now a molten slag of metal and...
"You ok, little missy?" said a Kansai voice.
Looking up, she saw the face of the newcomer, staring at her with her hardened expression. But her eyes betrayed obvious concern and as if that wasn't enough, her hand was extended. Taking it, the newcomer helped her to her feet, before Fubuki felt her legs become extremely numb, and suddenly collapsed, and the newcomer catched her before she fell completely and kept Fubuki leaning on her side for support.
After that, Kaga began to approach her, rather timidly. The newcomer's turrets were rotated into a defensive position, but not pointed at anyone in particular. In fact, they seemed to be aiming skyward.
"Sorry but... Who are you?" she asked.
The response came in a strange language Fubuki couldn't understand, but the best she could make out was that her name was a "Yoo Ann Ess See Pra Vee Den Ce", followed by a string of numbers and god-knows-what.
Kaga seemed not to understand, but brushed it aside.
"I see. Would you come to our base? I think we could discuss things better there."
"I see," said the newcomer in a Kansai dialect.
After that, the only sound was the lapping of the waves, as the fleet slowly made the journey towards Yokosuka.
A/N:
Some answers to the reviews:
KumquatMan:
I sure appreciate your review, but thing is, my life is kind of hectic. Shaky bus, sudden change of personal papers, and a big fucking propaganda loudspeaker next door and writing fanfics don't mix well.
Anyways. To all who's been reading, I'll try my best to update this story at least twice a month. While it's not a solid promise, I'll try my best.
Also, the main theme of this story is Final Frontier by Thomas Bergenson.
Anyways, bis zum nächsten Mal!