Now it was about a day and a half until Frunze and the hybrids made it back to the fleet, but when they did the hybrids that Frunze took knew how to properly control their ships and their weapons.
Currently Frunze along with Diamond were on patrol near the American coastline. They were just below the horizon far enough away that only someone high up could see them, and while the human radar could detect them they didn't dare try attacking a heavy cruiser and a battlecruiser… yet.
Frunze decided to tag along as he wanted to see how the humans would react to his ship. Currently they appear not to be reacting too much directly.
For most of the patrol the two were silent to each other till Diamond asked something over comms.
sorry if I'm being rude, but Nitze told me that you lived on the mainland for a while. What was it like when you lived there?
it was… normal for the most part. Disguised myself as a college student so I could learn more about humanity
what name did you use while you were there?
Alexander Frunze
really? she asked in an unamused voice with a little disbelief. that is really unimaginative you know?
Phantoms like the Fog, aren't imaginative like humans are. We can become somewhat, but will never reach what humans can do. Besides at that time no one besides those in the Phantom Fleet knew of the Phantom Fleet he said.
still even if they didn't know you shouldn't use part of your actual name in your fake name. Like I wouldn't put Diamond if I did so
well I do know that now, after I spent so much time there. Hmm? Now Frunze paused as he got a blip on the air radar, Though Diamond didn't yet, because Frunze's radar was better.
seems like the humans are sending us a little friend to watch us Frunze said.
Now the blip was coming towards them. Currently it was about twenty five miles from them.
want to flip through the human frequencies to see if we can see what they are saying? Frunze asked.
sure, let's see what they're wanting with us
Now they started and after a while they found the frequency that the aircraft was using. And they caught them mid sentence.
*Hello Ranger, this is Ghost 1 message over*
*Hello Ghost 1, this is Ranger send over*
*contact from enemy forces. Enemies one, one captured friendlies direction west of my position at 48,280 meters, break over*
*roger over*
*enemies one times heavy cruiser, friendlies one times Battlecruiser over*
*roger out*
seems like they don't know what you're yet, Frunze Diamond said to Frunze on a different frequency.
seems so now he paused as he got a little idea continue sailing forward Diamond. I'm going to change my ship to look like a human ship, and break off from you towards the coastline. Chase me like I'm trying to escape. I want to see how they'll react
Wilco, Frunze
Now Frunze's ship had panels spread from the bow to the stern, and his ship lost its Phantom coloring as the panels spread, so that his ship looked human.
hey, Frunze how come you can make your ship look like a human one and still control it, when Fog can't without losing control of their ship?
it is just an ability all Phantoms can do, we use it to sneak around since we don't have the fog that the Fleet of Fog uses
hmm, that is very interesting, and would be very useful if the fog had it
It is Frunze said, then he started to turn away from her towards the coastline, and moved to thirty knots so that is looked like he was a human ship moving at flank speed Breaking off now, delay your pursuit for a second so it doesn't look like we're moving in formation
roger that, Frunze
*hello Ranger this is Ghost 1 message over*
*Hello Ghost 1 this is Ranger send over*
*friendly looks to be trying to escape from heavy cruiser break over*
*roger over*
Now Diamond turned her ship to 'chase' Frunze and sped up to forty knots to seem like she was trying to first warn Frunze, but of course this was just Frunze's small plan to see how the humans would react.
*The heavy cruiser is in chase of friendly. Requesting naval support over*
*roger wait out*
seems like they're sending some navy ships at us. What are we going to do? Diamond asked this in a curious voice, but didn't seemed worried by the ships that were coming.
I'm going to first ask for help, then when their ships arrive I'm going to reveal who I actually am. Perhaps they may not become too trusting to ships that seem in trouble if I reveal myself
a sort of psychological warfare I see
yep. Now let's see how they react
Now Frunze made his voice seem like that of an older man, and switched to that of the frequency that Ghost 1 and Ranger were on. He spoke in a heavier Russian accent to make it seem like he wasn't used to speaking English. He also spoke in a frantic voice so that it sounded like he was serious.
*Mayday mayday mayday! This is the Battlecruiser Frunze. We are being chased by Fog heavy cruiser. Requesting immediate assistance. We are moving east at thirty knots over*
*Hello Frunze this is Ranger, help is on the way. How many souls aboard and ammunition levels? over*
*727 souls and our ammunition is reduced to half. The cruiser is warning us to turn back or it will fire on us over*
*roger, follow its orders the assistance will arrive shortly over*
*roger out*
Now Frunze turned back so it was sailing along the coastline, Diamond soon followed suit now sailing besides his ship.
I don't think they'll be happy to learn who you are truly, Frunze Diamond said
Now Frunze changed back to his normal voice as he responded well this is just a small action to perhaps make them a little untrusting of ships in need. I'd do a bigger action if I had my own fleet of Phantoms
Now it was three minutes until three silhouettes could be seen coming from the coastline. By now they could
seems like your 'help' is here now
Now the new ships spoke to Frunze over the radio to get him to turn towards him, but he had another idea than they did.
*hello Frunze, this the destroyer USS Halsey here to assist you over*
Now Frunze decided to reveal who he was as they were only two miles from them. Panels again appeared from the bow to his stern, though now it was reverting him to his normal Phantom coloring. Then Frunze spoke in his normal voice to them.
*Hello USS Halsey, this is the Phantom Fleet, Battlecruiser Frunze. Sorry but I'm in no need of assistance*
There was a brief moment of pause before Ranger spoke over the radio.
*it's a trap! All units-*
Now their radio transmissions were jammed by Diamond and Frunze.
Diamond snickered a bit to herself at the person who said 'it's a trap' as it was still known as a meme at this time.
I never thought I'd actually ever hear someone say that Diamond said.
say what?
'it's a trap' it's a joke among humans. Anyways what are gonna do with them?
attack them of course, but let at least one retreat. It'd be best if the the ones who saw it first hand reported to what they saw
roger that, Frunze
Now they turned their guns to the human ships as missiles launched off from the human ships towards the two, which met heavy AA from the two. Though now yellow and silver beams of light stretched across the sky at the ships. The result was two destroyers lighting up like Roman candles. The missiles that now did make it through their AA hit their Klein fields, and barely made a dent in Frunze's, though did a little more damage to Diamond's.
looks like there's one left, and it isn't turning away Diamond said.
well then it looks like they'll all be destroyed, by their insistence of facing us even though they know the difference in power. It isn't courageous it is stupidity
Now Frunze launched a single small corrosive Missile at the last remaining destroyer. It flew fast and low to the water, nearly getting shot down by the CIWS and Anti air missiles of the destroyer, and looked like it was going to be a direct hit. Then something happened.
A missile flew in from the south and split into small rockets that peppered the missile, with the corrosive exploding, with the destroyer barely avoiding the destructive radius.
what happened? Diamond said stunned, as the missile that shot down the corrosive was clearly not from the destroyer.
probably another human ship. Be on watch for another ship. If we don't see another ship it might be a subm- now Frunze stopped as he got hit in the stern by a torpedo, but it wasn't any normal torpedo. It was a corrosive that hit him hard since he wasn't prepared.
His ship tilted to the port side as the radius expanded outwards. Then once it disappeared a part of his stern could be seen missing, but not much.
I'm fine, but that was a corrosive torpedo. Be careful your Klein field won't hold up as well as mine
roger that, turning on active sonar and preparing anti submarine missiles Diamond said
Now the destroyer that almost got destroyed started to turn away back towards the mainland. It did appear like it was trying to rescue anyone it could, though it still was trying to go about it fast before Frunze and Diamond turned their attention back to it.
Now as the two turned on their sonar they couldn't yet see anything yet moving in the water.
wait, I've got an idea, Frunze. If that it wants to save that destroyer then let's fire a missile at it. If the sub wants to protect it then it'll have to show its location Diamond said as she prepared a few conventional missiles.
do it then, but be ready if another corrosive is fired
roger that
Now two missiles fired off, from Diamond's stern, towards the destroyer. For a few moments it didn't seem like the sub was going to react, that was till they got a ping, as a missile was launched from underwater. It breached the water and flew in the direction of the missiles shot at the destroyer. Intercepting them before they could damage the destroyer.
there it is Frunze said two and a half miles to the south east. It is moving towards us, but I can't tell its speed.
Now Frunze turned since his stern was facing where the submarine was, it was mainly because he still did have a little of the Phantom directness of just charging forward. Though unlike how the Fog underestimates 401, Frunze understands how dangerous a Phantom or Fog can be when it is under the command of a human.
I think I already know who this is from what Nimitz told me earlier Frunze said.
Diamond well turned the other way since she wasn't expecting Frunze to turn around. Though now she said in a surprised voice, you do?
Now they both sent out a flurry of missiles off at where they were getting the sonar blip, and at least for Diamond it was nerve racking, as she didn't know what the blip was and she didn't even know if the blip was the actual submarine.
I do. It is the Ohio class submarine, Ohio. Sending you the schematics of it now so you know what we're facing. Be careful last I checked it had a weak supergravity cannon
Now they could see as the water was filled with air bubbles and the sonar was distorted. And when it cleared they could see four different blips. But now as they sailed along, Frunze pulled up a tactical screen and located where the four objects were.
wait what!? Diamond exclaimed a submarine with a supergravity cannon!? I thought they couldn't carry those. Only heavy cruisers and above ships could
it is a nuclear submarine. At least It used to be classified for the human kind. It has a much more powerful core than a normal submarine. It also has a mental model, and like I said, a weak supergravity cannon
uh- I don't even know how to respond
don't, let's just focus on Ohio for now. Inform your fleet of what is happening. I'm going to do the same for my own fleet
roger that. Uh... What are we going to do about those blips? There's four of them, and three are fake
well only one has a Klein field so we can use conventional weapons on the decoys now Frunze paused for a moment to think of what they should do, but it wasn't long till he spoke again. I'm going to launch rocket mortars to weed out the decoys. Prepare several corrosive torpedoes for when we see the true one. And don't wait for my order, once you see it fire. Also prepare missiles to intercept any torpedo it launches at us
roger that, Frunze
Now the two were sailing in formation with Frunze in front of Diamond, since his Klein field was much stronger. Now the RBU-6000 launcher at the front of his ship turned slightly and started to fire a flurry of missiles off at the four blips.
Now they soon impacted the water and started to glide off towards the four blips. They met no resistance as Ohio used the decoys as shields, but that is what Frunze wanted as the three decoys were destroyed. He figured that the captain perhaps wasn't too good as his decoys were immediately destroyed, but that was just what he thought. Now as soon the three were destroyed the two of them launched off several corrosive torpedoes at the remaining blip.
This time they did meet resistance from Ohio as missiles were sent to intercept the corrosives. All corrosives were intercepted before they could cause any damage.
There was a tense few seconds for Diamond as anti submarine warfare was mainly waiting to see if there was any hits.
all corrosives were intercepted before contact Frunze said calmly.
Diamond sighed a bit in frustration I always hate dealing submarines
well they're still visible. So then let's flood the sea with missiles, so that it is impossible to take them all down Frunze said as basically all of his missile hatches opened up and launched another flurry of missiles.
somethings never change do they? Still as direct as any other Fog or Phantom that hasn't been on land Diamond well did fire a flurry of missiles alongside Frunze.
I went on land to learn about your history, and about emotions. I didn't do a lot in the tactics department besides knowing how to lay traps, and how to see when a trap is laid
The blip that was now getting swarmed by missiles, was now slightly off their port bow. And was only about a mile and a half from them. Splashes could be seen rising into the air from underwater explosions going off. Some were near hits before they exploded, it seemed that Ohio was quite good in the defense department, especially since Ohio was an attack submarine. But something was now slightly odd. Ohio seemed to be moving slowly away from them towards the land.
is it trying to escape? Diamond said as more missiles were launched from her ship. Though she slowed down a bit as she was starting to run low on missiles and was trying to conserve them.
no… if it was trying to escape it'd go full speed. No… it's trying to lead us somewhere... Frunze responded. right into a trap
Really!? How can you tell?
if it was trying to escape it'd be going full speed, but it's not. It's going slowly like it's leading us. Probably into a cross fire of missiles Frunze well quickly surveyed the situation and decided what to do. Turn hard to port ninety degrees, and partially flood the starboard side of your ship. We'll fire on it with our main guns
Frunze already started to make the turn to port as his twin 130 millimeter turret turned to starboard.
so we're going to fire directly, how interesting Diamond said as her ship started to turn and all her turrets bore on the blip that was slowly sailing away.
Both of them partially flooded the starboard side of their ships, which caused them to tilt to starboard. Far enough that they could now fire into the water.
There was a moment of silence as the two aimed their guns at the target before…
fire! Frunze yelled over comms. Instantly his guns lit up and silver beams of light shot into the water at the blip.
There was a slight delay though before Diamond's guns followed suit, shooting yellow beams of light into the water. At first the shots were inaccurate so they just streaked past without doing any damage, but Frunze's guns were incredibly fast firing so much that it looked like it was just one constant beam.
Soon the beams made their mark and hit Ohio, but the expected result of the beams hitting the Klein field didn't happen, as they went straight through destroying it instantly. They had yet to realize it but the one that they had been just following and targeting wasn't actually Ohio, it was just a decoy. Ohio was actually on the seafloor in silent running and she was trying to lure them into a trap.
Now the two stopped firing and started to pump the water out of their ships. They were moving only at 14 knots in the direction towards the mainland.
huh… that was surprisingly easy Diamond said as she slightly lowered her guard.
it was… perhaps… too easy Frunze stated, slightly lowering his Klein field. It took him a few seconds to realize what had happened. wait, that wasn't Ohio. It was a deco-
Frunze stopped suddenly as several sonar pings showed up coming at them at high speed. Then they could see that all of them, about six total, were focused at Diamond, and they got thanotomium readings.
deploy Klein field at full strength now! Frunze commanded quickly.
what the? Diamond said as she was deploying her Klein field, though not at full strength nor fast enough.
Frunze tried to counter the corrosives as they sped towards Diamond, but only two were taken out, before four corrosive torpedoes impacted Diamond's starboard side at her stern.
Her Klein field almost immediately broke, and the explosive radius of the corrosives swallowed the entire stern section of her ship. Though thankfully Diamond was on her superstructure at the front end of her ship at the time, so she wasn't killed, but she was heavily disoriented.
Her ship reared from the explosion and after the corrosive torpedoes' radius shrunk the entire rear section was gone, but it wasn't over just yet. A second after the explosion stopped another explosion followed and it threw her from where she was, along with parts of her ship. It was happening so fast she couldn't even respond with screaming. One second she was on her superstructure, the next she was flying through the air in the direction of Frunze's ship.
In a matter of seconds her ship was sinking down into the water, and Diamond herself was now in the water. About a hundred feet from Frunze's ship and about hundred feet from her now sinking ship.
Frunze barely had time to respond to fish Diamond out of the water when he detected five more corrosive torpedoes coming for him. He responded in kind by launching flurries of conventional missiles to destroy them before they made contact with his ship. He raised his Klein field on again and went up to flank speed, which for him was about ninety knots.
stay where you're, Diamond. I'll send a helicopter to pick you up Frunze said as three corrosive torpedoes went off about three hundred feet from his ship, with the remaining two continuing towards himself.
ok. Though, I can't really do anything without my ship Diamond stated as she regained her orientation, and started to swim away from her ship, in case the remaining ammunition went off.
Frunze didn't respond as he just focused on taking out the corrosives sent at him. He turned hard to port, and was impacted by the remaining two corrosives. One hit him amidship, while the other hit his stern. Both lighting up his Klein field, not enough to over-saturate it, but still did quite a little damage.
Though now Frunze responded with his own volley of missiles at Ohio, launching six corrosive and about two dozen conventional missiles at the position that the torpedoes were originated from. Though he partially used this as a cover for sending a recovery helicopter to pick Diamond up, Frunze also sent a pair of Kamov K-25s to drop depth charges.
Once you're aboard my ship, we're going to withdraw. I'm not the kind of ship meant for ASW. Especially against Ohio with humans aboard Frunze said. Then several towers of water could be seen rising into the air, from the missiles that were intercepted. Only one of his corrosives making a glancing blow, and a few conventional missiles hitting as well.
roger that, Frunze Diamond said as she could both see the water towers and the helicopters that were flying above the water, one at her, and the other two at where Ohio was last detected.
Frunze was now just mainly trying to pin Ohio down, so that they wouldn't be able to capture Diamond. His ASW helicopters started dropping depth charges, some thanotomium ones, though mainly conventional ones set at different depths to explode. From what Frunze could see his attempt to pin Ohio down was working, as towers of water rose up into the air and it seemed that Ohio was currently on the defensive.
Now soon his rescue helicopter made it to Diamond and hovered above the water over her, dropping a ladder down near the water's surface. Almost instantly Diamond grabbed onto the ladder and started to climb up it. As soon as she made it solidly onto the ladder it slowly started back to Frunze's ship. And it only sped up once Diamond made it to the inside of it.
Now Frunze's ship was moving back out to sea at flank speed, followed by the rescue helicopter, with the ASW helicopters dropping the rest of their depth charges before turning back to Frunze's ship.
Now by the time the helicopters made it back to Frunze's ship they were comfortably over the horizon. The only way Ohio could hit them is if they had information from Satellites, but those were all shot down by the Fog. So now they were safe from battle.
Now as Diamond made it onto Frunze's aft deck, she could immediately see as he dematerialized the helicopters and made what looked like two smaller chibi versions of himself about two feet tall.
"what are those?" Diamond asked as the two chibis went and looked to be repairing the chunk of Frunze's stern that was destroyed by Ohio.
"they're a mental model like things that ships already with mental models can make" Frunze stated. "I can give them commands and they'll do it. Like guarding or scouting, or in this case repairing. If I put in more computing power they can do more complicated commands, but then other systems will suffer"
"huh… interesting" Diamond said as she moved away from the helipad, though had a slight limp, as she wasn't completely fine since she still had a human body and was tossed quite far. "Anyways, how did you know we were getting led into a trap?"
"Once we fired our guns and destroyed the last decoy, I guessed that either Ohio was floating still in silent running, or went onto the seafloor in silent running. Its decoy was trying to lead us directly on top of Ohio" Frunze now sat on the deck just above the deck where the helipad was. He seemed to be checking over the battle they were just in, to see what would have happened if they fell for Ohio's trap.
"And what do you think they were going to do to us, if we did that?" She asked as she sat down and leaned against the wall to the upper deck that Frunze was on.
"Ohio has twenty four large hatches on the dorsal side of her ship. They normally have 4,600 miles of range, but you can give a bigger blast if you give up that range, and normally for us those are corrosive missiles instead of nuclear. Considering how far she was from us, she could have given one of them a blast radius of 500 feet and be safely out of the blast"
"So how big could she make the blast radius with still having enough range to stay safe?"
"Hmm, assuming she keeps at least one hundred miles of range, the blast radius would be about two miles Frunze answered calmly.
"Two miles!?" Diamond exclaims "h- ho- how can it get so big?"
"Theoretically it can get as big as you want as long as you have enough thanotomium, and as long as you have a big enough missile to carry it"
"Huh… well can you make a room for me please? My body is all sore from getting tossed around"
"Sure, just follow the arrows" now a path of arrows appeared on Frunze's ship "though we'll be back at the main fleet shortly, so be ready to go out with someone to get a new ship for you made"
Diamond groaned a bit as she stood up. "Yeah… I know" she said before following the arrows.
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"What do you mean it was stolen?" The Admiral asked, while sitting behind his desk. He seemed agitated a bit, and was speaking in a semi yell.
"The data for the gun was stolen and the prototype was destroyed, sir" Theodor responded, who was standing up at attention.
"I already know that, Theodor, but that gun was one of those weapons that could help us defeat the Fog" he sighed heavily "do we at least know who was involved?"
"Someone must have had clearance, so whoever stole it must have worked here for a long time. We're currently searching for whoever was here when it was stolen, or for whoever was working on it is currently missing"
"Is anything salvageable? Anything that could resume the project?"
Theodor shook his head "no sir, all the data was wiped or stolen. The gun itself was exploded by whoever stole the data. And the only way we could resume it is with extra assistance from Ohio"
The Admiral sighed "I see… once she returns from her mission, I'll give an order for her to go to your group to assist with the project" now he paused for a moment as he thought about something. "Report to me if anything comes up on whoever stole the data. You're dismissed"
Theodor saluted and responded "yes sir" before leaving the room.
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Now an older man who looked to be of Russian descent was walking down a busy street in Astoria. He looked like a businessman, dressed in a sharp suit, and held a briefcase in his right hand. He had a gun on his left hip, but it was hidden so that it wouldn't freak anyone out.
As he was walking down the street he saw a shop with TVs in it, and they were broadcasting different channels. Some were of recent news, some were of history dating far back as the world wars, some were cartoons, but there was one that stuck out that made the man stop to look at it closer.
It showed an image that was apparently taken from the eastern coast that was spreading like wildfire throughout both the news networks and through what remained of the internet. It was a silhouette of a massive ship in the fog, but it didn't have glowing markings like the Fog. It also didn't look like a Fog would with dating back to the world wars. It looked modern, and appeared to have two superstructures. From the size and the silhouette it looked to be a carrier, but no one could identify its class.
The man chuckled to himself before walking past the TV display.
After a little ways walk he came upon a blacked out shop. Most people thought it was an adult shop so anyone who tried to go in would cover their face, but would find that they needed some kind of pass code to get in. But this man just casually punched in the code and entered the building.
When he got in it looked like an old restaurant that hasn't seen customers in a long time. There was a woman sitting at a table in the middle of the room. She had a large coat that covered most of her body. She had dark blonde hair and green eyes.
She had a serious face on before she saw the man enter, but once she saw him she stood up and spoke up in a happy voice, though it didn't seem to have genuine happiness. "Ah, Mr. Turgenev, it is a pleasure to see you again. I assume you have brought what was requested, of you"
Turgenev nodded, "that I did Ma'am" he said as he laid the briefcase on the table where the woman was. "Now sorry if I am being rude, but I'd like to discuss the payment for what I did"
The woman sat back down, and seemed to put on a fake smile "Ah yes of course. I can understand as a man such as yourself, that you have many clients who wish to do business with you. You shall receive your money soon, very soon I might add, but there is something I'd like to ask of you Mr. Turgenev"
"And what might that be, Ma'am?" Turgenev asked in a courteous voice.
"Well from what I've heard from my little birdies in the military, the navy has something very, very special" now the woman leaned forward with her elbows on the table. "They haven't given me a name exactly, but apparently the navy has a Fog in their possession. And that task you were sent on was something that could defeat the Fog. Now you understand how much the people hate the Fog" now she chuckled and soon it turned into a full laugh "haha, I mean look at Vegas, the people there are calling the navy cowards and wimps for not pushing back the Fog. They riot in the street pressuring the navy to act. And it only results in the navy losing more ships and men, but this… this project could turn one man into a Fog killer, and think of what an army could do. But the problem is that we need one more component to finish it"
"And what is that?" Turgenev asked. He also wanted to ask why she didn't just let the navy continue on with their own resources instead of stealing it, but he knew that in this business you shouldn't ask too many questions.
"That Fog the navy has is the key to it. But the problem is that it is in the navy, and they'll guard it much better than that which you got me, and we don't know the exact capabilities of it. But… we do know of something else that could work. We've heard reports that there recently were two Fog cruisers that sank in the fjords just north of here, from a battleship that was lurking in there. Apparently the mental models are weakened and still on the run from the navy. I want you to find them and bring them to me. They can help finish this project that the navy so kindly started for us"
Turgenev sighed a bit "now then Ma'am I should say this is much more of a task than you normally ask me of. Stealing from the navy is one thing, messing with the Fog when we don't have a weapon to counter them is another thing"
"I know, I know it is, but here if you do this for me I'll pay you double your payment from your last task, and I'll even give you an IOU to sweeten the deal a bit. What do you say?"
Turgenev thought long and hard on the offer that he was given, so much so that the woman had trouble keeping the fake smile up. But after a while he responded "fine I'll accept it, but I'll need assistance if you can supply it. One man will do"
"Great!" The woman responded with a little bit more genuine sounding happiness. "I'll get you my best soldier to help you on this task. And I'll give you the last known coordinates on the mental model when you receive the payment for your last task"
Author's note: so this is chapter five. Because of The recent holidays and the New Year, I'll only be able to get this out today. So I won't be releasing this with chapter six, though it is almost finished, probably another day or two.
