Do I need to say what this is? You know what it is. Let's get this idea explanation started.

So, I've been reading a few GATE fics, some good, some meh, some bad; as it is with all fanfiction on this and other websites. But I had an idea. We always see the Army, Air Force, or Marines involved in these fics whether they be the US and other assorted nations, or Japan's Defense Force's variants for each branch. But do you know who we haven't seen yet? I'll give you a moment to do a little elimination.

The Navy.

But then that begins the question, how does one get the Navy across the GATE? How about another GATE is opened, this time, at sea?

Where did this idea come from? Well, I may have been playing a lot of a mobile game called Azur Lane (don't worry, it's not making an appearance), Sabaton recently released a music video in conjunction with World of Warships called "Bismarck" in which the KMS Bismarck's final battle is displayed using the engine that WoW uses for their cutscenes, and a few documentaries such as "How did the HMS Hood sink so quickly?" and one on the USS Pennsylvania. I went deep down the YouTube rabbit hole, man. So, yeah, blame YouTube for this one.

Title: Sailing the Seven Seas… and then a few more.

Summary: In a shortsighted and desperate attempt to ambush the "men in green" from sea to claim victory, a new GATE is opened and a massive naval force is unleashed upon Earth. Unfortunately, the Empire didn't "carry the 1" and end up thousands of miles to the East of the original GATE, right outside this little town called Los Angeles. This will end well.

Rating: Probably nothing more than a T+ rating, but you never know.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my copy of MS Word and my desktop. GATE – JIETAI KARE NO CHI NITE, KAKU TATAKERI is owned by Yanai Takumi and Sao Satoru. This "whack" idea is purely mine. See the foreword for the full disclaimer.

Also, on a personal note, fuck long anime titles like that. Geez.

XxXxXxX

Pilot – Hindsight is 20/20 after all.

It had been several weeks since the existence of the Empire was released to the world. It was impossible for the Japanese government to cover up. During the Incursion, people were live-streaming it on various platforms. Initially, some saw it as a publicity stunt or some kind of viral marketing campaign. But when several hundred are Tweeting pictures, uploading clips, and live-streaming all at the same time? The world exploded in both excitement and fear. Excitement because dragons and other mythical beasts were real. Fear because they were not friendly seeking trade or refugees seeking shelter and asylum, but an invading force willing to kill anyone and enslave anyone. One heartbreaking livestream on Facebook showed a child being stripped away from her parents who were killed by 'pigmen'. There were many uncounted for that were still considered missing. Many around the world were calling their respective embassies in Japan asking for updates on their loved ones. Many world powers were trying to butt in. While some saw their attempts as an attempt to genuinely help, others in power saw it as power grabs.

John Malkovich watched movements of the Japanese Self-Defense Force carefully as it was his job in Naval Intelligence: to observe, note, and report. It didn't take much to budge a spy satellite from viewing North Korea to take a peek at Japan and what they were doing. So far, they created a walled-off area where the 'GATE' showed up with a high military presence near it. Japanese-descended CIA operatives had already infiltrated the country observing what was going on as well. There was a call to action among the populace to join the Self-Defense Force as they were planning a counter-attack. However, this would take a lot of time and resources. So far there had been shipments from other countries like South Korea and Russia for surplus tanks and from the US for older yet usable aircraft. Orders to iron and steel producing countries were made for arms manufacturing. Every Intelligence community was at a consensus: Japan was going to war.

John locked up his computer and left the building for lunch. As he stepped outside, he was re-exposed to the outside world, specifically that of downtown Los Angeles. This particular building, he was in was one that the Navy took over when the previous occupants went out of business. It made for a good office space and those that worked inside looked no different from other office workers or business types. The normal Navy uniform he would be wearing if he was on base was replaced with a suit and tie. He proceeded to wave down a taxi and took it to the Santa Monica Pier. There was something about the view there alongside one of his favorite food joints that made it a relaxing experience.

As he watched over the rolling waves from the bench he sat at, gulls cawed as they usually did. But something interesting pieced his interest behind him. "Hey, what's that?" a child called out.

"I don't know, looks sort of like a black box or something," another chimed in.

"In the water?" yet another added. There was muttering as well.

"Doesn't it look like that thing on the internet from a few weeks ago?"

This got John's attention as this was something that his higher-ups had him watching. He stood up and faced the opposite side of the pier. He saw that there was something in the distance, but at this range, he couldn't quite see the details. Looking a bit further up the pier, he saw one of those quarter-fed sets of binoculars. One was currently being used by a child, but he commandeered it anyway. Focusing on the object in the distance he saw that it was like the one that had been spotted in Japan weeks ago. Marble, Roman-style colonnades and a pitch-black center in which hostiles would come out of. The question that came up in his mind was why did they set their portal in the middle of the ocean (technically a mile from the coast, but still). The water was up to, if not exceeding, a hundred feet deep and would be suicide for the foot soldiers that were deployed in Ginza. Unless it was completely intentional.

As these thoughts left his mind, a wyvern left the GATE and started to fly towards the pier. It roared out in challenge as its rider kept it someway between them and the GATE. As it did, large barges that looked like triremes emerged. They started to row towards the shore as more wyverns emerged and started flying towards the city.

"Everyone, to shore!" someone cried out.

Panic immediately ensued as everyone ran towards shore and their vehicles, hoping that that would keep them safe. John stayed near a rail as he pulled out his phone and dialed his office. "Sir, we've got shit going down near Santa Monica pier. Those hostiles that hit Japan a few weeks ago? They're currently in the bay on ships."

XxXxXxX

The beaches of Santa Monica were in chaos as an invading army of orcs, humans, and minotaurs landed on the shore. They cut a swath in towards the center of the city. However, they were attempting to keep a beachhead so far successfully by having their 'dragons' flying overhead. Hundreds of ships landed and deployed their full crew numbering of two hundred each. This was not a scouting force, but an invading force. Commanders of the invading force started to lead their troops into the city's shores in which they landed to notice that this looked different from what city was described by their comrades who had opened a portal at Alnus Hill weeks prior.

One of the minotaurs was just stepping onto the sand when its head evaporated in a bloody mist. Meanwhile, almost a mile away the bolt of a high-caliber rifle was cycled and a bot piece of spent brass was spat out.

"One more heavy down," the operator reported.

"Locate another."

"How long until the cavalry gets here?"

"Airbase is still prepping strike craft. The John C. Stennis is routing her Super Hornets from her berth in Oakland, but they won't be here for a little while longer. Maybe twenty minutes."

"They going to link up with Warthogs for ground attacks?"

"More than likely."

"Going to be a tight fit if they get into the city. Logistics nightmare if they get any other civilian centers."

"Good thing that it's not our call then." He looked down his scope again. "Have another one 1100 yards out, left of the pier."

"I see him."

XxXxXxX

In this section would have been an extended battle sequence involving tanks obliterating minotaurs and other larger mythical land creatures. A-10 Warthogs strafe running the beach with their main guns. And F/A-18 Super Hornets engaging the dragons/wyverns with their AMRAAM missiles and Vulcan guns. There would have even been a scene where John would have teamed up with SWAT and National Guardsmen to defend civilians from the Imperial invaders.

XxXxXxX

For those of Los Angeles, it had been a long day. The first people to react to the invasion were the LAPD SWAT teams. Thanks to their arsenal they were able to sweep the streets and contain the invaders long enough for the National Guard to show up and reinforce them. The Air Force showed shortly thereafter with air support and with their Warthogs started strafing runs on the beach to take out as many of the enemy soldiers that were landing as possible. The Coast Guard arrived with their patrol boats, ships armed with 20mm autocannons and .50 caliber machineguns, and started to fire upon the landing ships. Many of the enemy soldiers drowned in the ocean as their ships went down and their armor dragged them to the deep. Many of the monsters also drowned as they were more land-based and probably never had to swim before in their lives. Those humans that did manage to get out of their armor and swim on the surface were picked up by both the Coast Guard and the Navy and were taken into custody and were transferred to larger facilities on land. Any enemy combatants that had surrendered on land were also taken into custody.

The overall decimation of the invading force had accounted for well over ninety-nine percent of all deaths that day. There had been civilian casualties in the low hundreds. Still more than zero, but only around a hundred of unprepared souls had perished. Most of them had been on the beach that couldn't get away from the first 'airstrike' from the dragons. Naval Intelligence had analyzed the difference between this force and the one that had popped up in Ginza, Japan. The one that happened first was more of an expeditionary force of raiders who, while they killed people, were focused on taking prisoners back to their lands. This was a full-blown invasion force with an intent to come from the sea. There wasn't an easy way to bring back prisoners so it was assumed initially that they were there to establish a beachhead.

An entire carrier group had been routed from San Diego that was in port previously to keep the GATE under surveillance. They had orders to issue one warning, if it wasn't heeded then they were to open fire with extreme prejudice. This information was conveyed to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President.

Interrogations took place in undisclosed locations with the prisoners. While their imprisonment was covered by the Geneva Conventions, that didn't mean that their interrogators were kind about it. They found that the language, when run through an algorithm, was similar to Latin and a synthesized translation program that got general ideas across but not nuanced ideas. The interrogators uncovered that they were from a land that was to the far west of the Empire and was under fealty to it. They were tasked with establishing a beachhead on the shores of the place that the expeditionary force had discovered. They were shocked to find out that they invaded a completely different country.

It was safe to say that they fucked up. They had a foreboding feeling that they may have gotten the Empire in even deeper trouble than before.

XxXxXxX

Three months later…

Itami Youji was not ignorant to the affairs of the world. While he didn't pay much attention to a lot of it, a few stories that made their way onto the international news because they were large enough and impossible to ignore. Everyone in the international community knew about the GATE in Ginza four months ago and how Japan was going to war. Then came the GATE in Los Angeles. This was international news. After all, it had been almost fifty years since the Vietnam War when the US military had a full-blown military mobilization. It had been almost twenty since the beginning of the War on Terror in the Middle-East where much a smaller, but no less powerful, mobilization happened. When you have an entire Navy carrier group rerouted from their area of operation to sit on a GATE and several retired yet still functional oil drill platforms retrofitted with military armament placed in an area around the GATE to keep an eye on it and gate off the GATE. Those in the news called it the Big Shell, something that wasn't missed on Itami as he did play Sons of the Patriots back in the day. Some friends in Self-Defense Force's intelligence department gave him a tidbit that a Virginia-class attack submarine had been moored one day in Los Angeles and approached the GATE's Big Shell and disappeared. It didn't take him long to speculate what this attack sub was planning. Even the USNS Zeus had been moored in the same Naval base but hadn't been moved yet. It was clear that the Americans were up to something, but no one knew what.

His Third Recon was preparing to go in and create their beachhead. The entire Self-Defense Force was ready to get revenge on those that had killed and stolen his people.

XxXxXxX

One mile outside Alnus Hill…

A man in Imperial civilians' clothing watched from afar as the garrison at Alnus Hill was slaughtered by older yet still powerful technology. The garrison didn't stand a chance. He reached into a hidden pocket in his poncho and pulled out a small brick and pressed a button on it.

"Nebraska, this is Metal 0-5," the man said into it.

"Go ahead, Metal 0-5," came a female voice.

"The Japanese Self-Defense Force has arrived on Alnus Hill. Both GATES in our world lead to the same landmass."

"Copy that, Metal 0-5. Return to the LZ."

"Copy, out." The man mounted his horse and started to ride west towards the westernmost coast.

XxXxXxX

Two weeks later…

The JDSF had been busy the previous weeks, but so was the US Navy. They had been building a new task force to establish a beachhead on the continent of Falmart. This contained a Nimitz-class carrier, six America-class amphibious assault ships, a dozen Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and almost thirty San Antonio-class amphibious transport docks. After a beachhead was established the USNS Zeus would be deployed to lay cable across the GATE.

John stood on the bridge of the Nimitz-class carrier as an Intelligence officer. He had been promoted for 'acts of valor' and was currently the head intelligence officer in the group. He looked out towards the Big Shell, as the media had come to call it thanks to the internet, as the group organized in either a single-file line or in sets of two due to the size of the GATE.

"Lieutenant?" the captain of the ship announced as he walked on the ship.

"Admiral," he replied as he turned and saluted the senior officer due to his station.

"We're moving out. Any news from our plants?"

"As previously reported, the SEAL team deployed two months ago integrated with their society seamlessly. They've placed IR beacons for our missiles to hit key military emplacements while minimizing civilian casualties. Per our previously discussed arrangements, they'll be active as soon as we pass through."

"Any suspicion that we're going to strike them where it hurts?"

"Unknown. However, as we've seen with the Japanese occupation of the location known locally as Alnus Hill, the locals east of us are far more on edge. It appears that news hasn't made its way this way yet."

"Task Force 44, move out," the admiral ordered.

To be continued…?

XxXxXxX

This is all I have for this one. As you can tell, it was a bit disjointed and there was that one section that was completely cut. Part of this was because I was sitting on this for a while and I really wanted to get this idea out there. This story deviated from what I originally wanted to do. The original idea was that I was going to have one of the old Iowa-class battleships be in the battle group and shell the hell out of this Imperial coastal city with her 16" guns. That was the original plan. I ended up with what I did in the end because of reasons.

I don't have much else to say about this one. One reason why I may not come back to this idea is that I'm not a real fan of the GATE series. One of my biggest reservations about the series is that it's kind of a propaganda piece rather than art. Don't get me wrong, I like my fake war movies that glorify the military like the first two Transformers movies or the Battleship movie (because who doesn't love watching 16" guns from Missouri firing?), but I realize that they're dumb popcorn flicks rather than art. Now Parasite? That's art. 10/10, would watch again. But yeah, I'm not a fan of GATE, it's nothing personal but it's just not my cup of tea.

Anyway, I hope you guys are doing ok considering the current world situation. I'm personally doing fine. It's just been a bitch with keeping myself busy outside of work hours since I work from home at the moment and of course, cabin fever starting to sink in. My state personally extended the stay at home order until the end of May, so I had to miss doing anything on my birthday last week since I wanted to really hang out with my friends that I haven't seen in a while. But again, hopefully, you've been keeping yourselves busy.

See you guys in whatever I decide to do next.