Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Kantai Collection, or I'd be able to do this professionally instead of on a fanfic site!
AN: Sorry for this being so late, RL got the better of me and writer's block. Special thanks go to all the people who gave me feedback and helped prod me into finishing this one. There were going to be more parts to this, but it felt too much to do that, so I'm putting those two scenes into the next chapter. Look forward to it!
Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, other languages
Bold - Jarring events
Repair ship Akashi gulped as she watched Nagato come in with their new 'guest'. This wasn't the first time that she'd gotten the chance to study Abyssal tissue or materials, but those had just been samples. Hull fragments taken from battlefields after the enemy had fled or been destroyed, pieces of shells pulled out of injured ship-girls after they'd gotten back to dock, even a few wrecks of Abyssal fighters fished out of craters or shallow waters once everything was said and done. Standing in front of a living, breathing, Abyssal that could VERY well hurt her if she did something that the woman didn't like was a far cry from the safe little lab setup that she and Yuubari had on base for such studies… Wainwright didn't look much happier either, judging by the way that he tried to suppress a grimace. At least she had him to work with today. He had the most… in-depth experience with such things, as limited as they'd been in getting access to proper research materials, so Akashi knew she'd be relying on him as much as he'd be relying on her.
Nagato had contacted them the night before of course, just so that this wouldn't be a total shock to them, but she had also given them a bit of a vague warning. Apparently they weren't going to like everything that they were going to hear, but Admiral Goto wanted any details found in their reports kept absolutely classified for now, so if it sounded ridiculous it would be up to HIM to decide what was done about it, not them.
As the yellow-eyed woman looked around the docks office, the repair ship took her physical build into view. Tall and straight-backed, the Abyssal looked like someone stepping out of a recruitment picture, with sharp features including high cheekbones and slightly squinted eyes. Her expression was a mix of cautious and controlled, as though she were trying to analyze everything that she was seeing while remaining on alert and hiding her observations.
"Leviathan, I'd like to introduce you to our two medical specialists, Doctor Wainwright and Specialist ship Akashi. They'll be helping you with any repairs you might require," Nagato said, stepping to one side to leave a path between the Abyssal and the two.
The woman looked them both over again before offering a hand. "My name is Leviathan, pleased to meet you. I believe the local parlance is 'yoroshiku onegaishimasu'?"
Akashi nervously took the proffered hand, noting that it didn't feel any warmer or colder than anyone else's hands on average. "Ah, hai… Yoroshiku onegaishimasu," she replied. "I hope to live up to your expectations."
That seemed to be agreeable to Leviathan as she stepped back, looking at the examination bed that was normally used for basic check-ups before reaching up to her collar. Apparently the clasps for her outfit were hidden just behind the front panels, as an audible click came with each manipulation of the Abyssal's fingers. Akashi's eyes ran over Leviathan's form again as she removed the jacket, noting that the armored panels on her left sleeve seemed part of the outfit, and that the tac-pad along her inner arm was a separate piece that simply connected to them.
What caught her eye most though were the black, swirling marks along her limbs, seeming to twine together like different currents while surrounding several glyphs. "Oh? Are these something you got yourself?" Akashi asked as the woman set her jacket onto the examination bed.
"Hmmm? Ah… no. They seem to have come with me," Levi replied, looking at the ones on her forearms in particular. "Most UNSC ships don't have markings save for name-plates… but I woke up with these."
The pink-haired kanmusu gave a thoughtful look at the tattoos as well, noting the leanness of her patient's limbs, the muscles hiding just barely under the surface and rippling with each flex of Levi's fingers. "Do they have any special meaning?"
That seemed to get a small grin out of the Abyssal. "Mostly? They're service badges. My air-wing, my infantry contingent… and my crest."
"Your crest? As in your personal crest?"
"Yes," Levi said, looking specifically at the shark-like image on her right arm. "Feroces fortuna iuvat…"
Wainwright clicked a pen as he looked from the two women to his papers. "Okay, we're just going to start off with some basic questions while Akashi goes over you, so that we can establish a baseline, okay?"
"Fair enough. As long as it's not anything too invasive," Levi said seriously, letting her hands fall to her sides.
"That's fair. Akashi here will grab your height and weight, and do a basic check-up while we talk, and then we'll go from there," he said. His partner nodded as well, before motioning for the Abyssalized woman to step over to a scale with meter-sticks attached. While Akashi manipulated the device to get her basics, using a stepping stool to aid her given Leviathan's height, Wainwright got himself more comfortable before asking the first question. "Name?"
"Leviathan," the Abyssal said as she watched Akashi circle around her, jotting down notes on a clipboard of her own while the human wrote down her answers.
"Class?"
"Marathon Heavy Cruiser."
"Any appellations to that? CAV? CAG?"
Leviathan blinked at that. "No, just CA, if you're going by that method. All UNSC craft use missiles, and everything above destroyer tonnage field small-craft as well. No point in over-complicating things."
Wainwright blinked at that. "All of them?"
"As long as I've been around for, yes."
"Is that a logistical choice, or a doctrine choice?" Nagato asked.
"Both. Always handy to have your own escorts, and they're useful for scouting in harder to reach areas."
"Well… damn…" he said, somewhat impressed. "Alright then. Umm, age? If that's not too sensitive a question?"
Leviathan cocked her head at that. "Why is that an issue?"
Wainwright coughed. "Well, some of the girls are… disinclined to admit when they were built. Since most of them, and you, look like young women… Well, not everyone likes to admit their age, you know?"
"Hmmmm," Leviathan said as she stepped off the scale. "41 years service then should be adequate. That's from commissioning forward."
Jotting that down, Wainwright blinked. "Previous life service only?"
"...Yes," she replied after a moment, a grimace slipping out of her otherwise calm image.
"Any sister ships in service?"
That caused her to relax a little, much to the doctor's surprise. "Yes. Quite a few actually."
"Any that you'd mind sharing the names of or….?"
A sort of chuckle came out of the woman's lips as she felt Akashi wrapping a blood pressure cuff over her bicep, the repair ship's eyes again trailing over the tattooed insignia along her shoulder. "Well, there's Marathon, the nameship. Then there's Hannibal, Canberra, Baron of Hope, Say My Name…"
"...I'm sorry, 'Say My Name'? Seriously?" Wainwright asked, incredulous.
"Yes. Except for name-ships, roughly half of the UNSC's vessels were named by their first commanding officers. There are some traditions that they follow for naming, but for the most part, it's an honor to be the one naming a ship. Sadly, not all who do so are poets, and some… have a bit more crass sense of humor… or a love of irony," Levi said with a small grin.
The two medical professionals shook their head as Akashi pulled away the pressure cuff, pulling out an ophthalmoscope and bringing it up to the Abyssal's glowing eyes. The repair ship had only seen dead ones before where the glow had died out, so looking into Leviathan's eyes was somewhat new. To her mild surprise it was looking into a fireplace. The irises seemed to roil slightly, like flames trapped behind glass, while the pupils were deep pits that held a light of their own, like the end of a tunnel. Yet the dark held its own presence, as though something else were looking through... Blinking away some spots from her own eyes to try and get rid of that feeling, Akashi moved to the woman's ears next, trying to get past an irritated looking engineer fairy while Wainwright continued his questionnaire.
"Alright then. Besides your height and weight, you mind if we get your length and beam? Just for completeness…"
"Eleven hundred and ninety two meters in length, two hundred and ninety three wide. Three hundred and seventy five tall."
THAT caused the doctor to drop his pen afterwards. "I'm… sorry? Did you mean feet, not meters?"
"No, that was in meters," was her reply, to which both human and ship-girl stared at Leviathan like she'd grown a pair of extra heads, whilst the still-silent Nagato looked impressed.
Wainwright's jaw tried to work for a moment, before turning to the battleship as though looking for confirmation, who merely nodded as though to say 'Yes, this is what I was referring to.' "I… see. I don't suppose we can add tonnage while we're at it…?"
"Nine point eight million tons in standard configuration, unstocked."
"N-nine… point…" Akashi stuttered, stepping back as her brain tried and failed to visualize what the woman was saying. It took the Japanese ship-girl a moment to snap back to reality as she put a hand to her forehead, only to turn and glare at Nagato, who had the gall to look like this was a surprise to her as well. "If this is a joke, I'm not amused."
"I assure you, this is not a joke," Leviathan replied, crossing her arms across her chest. "One hundred and ninety one centimeters of Titanium-A battleplate over all major combat facings, multiple fifty millimeter point defence cannons, multiple anti-ship and anti-fighter missile pods and my heavy MAC gun. And while I may not have sustained an excessive amount of damage during the action at Manila, I still require some of it to be repaired and rearmed..."
Akashi simply gave the woman a blank stare, before turning to her human counterpart like a turret tracking a target. "I think we're going to have to see this to believe it. Shall we take her to the Factory proper then and get this sorted out?"
Both Wainwright and Leviathan raised an eyebrow at that, each for different reasons, before the man simply shrugged. "Yeah, I think we've got a basic rundown so far… Anything else, we can do there I guess," he said, turning to the taller ship-girl. "If you'll follow us please?"
Nodding, Levi grabbed her jacket again and followed the two through the back of the doctor's office, Nagato bringing up the rear towards what looked like a machine shop…. Until they got close enough to see who was working in it.
The cruiser's eyes widened in shock as she saw that half of the tables and shelves carried not just tools, but seemingly miniature workshops of their own! Assembly lines, welding torches, sheets of plate metal and other materials all being used by thumb-sized individuals with heads that seemed too large for their squat little bodies, some of whom stopped to lift the visors of tiny welder's masks to look at the newcomers. There were normal sized tools and benches as well, but for now the only activity was coming from the various fairies themselves as they hammered and bolted things together…
Akashi led them past all of this though with the air of someone perfectly at home in their environment, which she likely was, and towards a wide, sliding door that she pulled open to reveal a small pool… no, a dry dock in miniature, and turned on the fluorescent lights above. "Welcome to the Factory," she said. "We do major repairs elsewhere in the docks, but for other things this is where the magic happens."
Levi looked around, frowning a bit at the pool in particular. "So this is where you prefer to do examinations then? Or is this a special case?"
"'Special case' would work in this instance. Would you do us a favor and call on your rigging, please?"
"My what?"
"Your rigging, or hull if you'd prefer. What you manifest in order to fight with?" Akashi said.
"Ah… Very well then," the pale cruiser replied, before taking one more look around the place. As the others stood back, Leviathan took a deep breath, letting her mind conjure the mental image of herself once more… The feel of her reactors humming, of whistles and alerts blaring through internal speakers, of bulkhead doors opening and closing as systems and weapons checks were tallied and called out by engineers and officers alike…
For the three observers, it looked like the Abyssal woman was surrounded in a dense fog, or smoke, swirling about her form as it seemed to 'catch' on the edges of phantom forms. Slowly these forms become more and more substantial, becoming thick plates of silver-grey-and-black metal that wrapped around Leviathan's body, coalescing into small turrets and panels covered in hatches which dotted her limbs and torso in symmetrical patterns. Nagato's eyes narrowed a bit as Leviathan's head was enveloped in a helmet that covered all of her features, the toothy visor reminding her of one of those super sentai shows that the destroyers (and some cruisers) liked to watch, noting the bold lettering along the crown of its right side that had first clued her into the Abyssal's oddity a week ago.
Wainwright noted that the rigging itself was seemingly more focused along Leviathan's upper torso, as opposed to most ship-girls he'd seen who had their hulls attach along the waist and lower back. There were always outliers of course, what with MSSB causing no end of headaches for things, but it did make for an interesting note. The legs as well, covered in boots that forced Leviathan to take a step like she was climbing a stair as they added several inches to her height, gave the image of weight and size to the Abyssal that she didn't have previously.
Akashi however was more focused on the damages visible on the armor. Several of the hatched missile pods had been blown open, covered over now by slapped-on plates marked with yellow and black stripes, and there were dents and pockmarks all over her. Surprisingly there was a large crack in the plating along Leviathan's right side. It didn't seem to go all the way through, it was the only facing of the armor that showed anything but superficial damage. There was some kind of material sealing the crack, a silvery metal that made it look almost like a scar, but the repair ship got the feeling that it was only a temporary patch job, just like the plates over the hatched areas.
Of course, this was just the surface observations. Her fairies were showing their own nervousness as they grabbed their tools and appeared along her limbs, their own perspective of Leviathan's size reflecting in Akashi's grimace. "Alright, if you don't mind, I'd like to let my engineers get an up-close inspection of the damage, is that alright?" she asked.
Leviathan looked down at the fairies, the maw-like visor making it look like she was trying to decide whether she should eat them or ignore them. "And what… exactly are they going to do in order to accomplish this?" the cruiser asked.
Gulping nervously, Akashi forged ahead. "Well, I'll be transferring them to your hull and… um… Well, they'll try and figure out what can be done with the materials we have on hand to help you and… Well, they'll basically just want to tour the damaged sections. U-under escort of your own crew, of course!"
Leviathan's visor cleared, revealing a face that looked IMMENSELY uncomfortable with the suggestion. "You… want me... to let these… beings… inside me to run around?" she said with transparent wariness.
"Y-yeah… It's how we, um, how we make sure that nothing goes wrong with it. You know, making sure that systems are compatible and such?" Akashi replied with a bit of hope. As Leviathan continued to stare at the fairies and her, the two other occupants of the room pretended to find the walls so much more interesting. "This…" Akashi muttered to herself. "This might take a while…"
"What is that you're looking at sir? Constellations?" the German battleship Bismarck asked as she stood across from her admiral's desk. Admiral Kähler had called her in after the day's work because he'd said that he had wanted her opinion on something, and had now found the time to do so.
"A preliminary version of the star charts that Leviathan asked about, yes. I was just going over some of them while thinking about the meeting," the man replied, clicking a link on his computer while looking at the papers in front of him.
"Oh? What about it? I mean, there was a LOT covered..." Bismarck said. Indeed it HAD gone for quite a while, to the point where they'd needed to adjourn in order to collate all that they'd discovered and make their reports. Kähler had gotten back a rather insulting response from the BMVg in regards to the claims put forth, at least until some of the footage had been sent up. The battleship was certain that Minister of Defence Ursula von der Leyen had found the claims of a UN-based fleet to have been amusing, especially with her still being the favorite for becoming the next NATO Secretary General despite the war's effects on international politics. The idea that the UN Peacekeepers might be able to claim this 'Leviathan' as their own was probably shaking a few realms of thought.
"I was referring to her introduction. We asked her for her place of origin, and she gave a designation of 'Epsilon Eridani'. At first I thought it meant an Abyssal base but..." he said, turning his monitor so that Bismarck could see.
"A planet?"
"A system actually, though the fact that Leviathan claims that she was built on its SECOND planet is interesting... We've so far only discovered and verified one planet in the system, at least from what I've found from reliable sources... but there are theorized to be two more there," he said, bringing up a picture.
"Is that... a red Jupiter?" Bismarck asked as she leaned in.
"Just an artist's rendition. But basically a Jupiter sized planet, yes. There's also two asteroid belts, with something thought to be between them to clear out that area. So while we don't know for certain, there COULD be something there that our visitor would call 'home'."
This caused the blonde battleship to sigh as she leaned back. "And yet more fuel for the conspiracy theorists for their 'alien menace' stories," she said. God did she hate those ones... Not because they were wrong, that much was obvious to any shipgirl or those who were involved with them, but because the crazier ones amongst them had once managed to get in close and hit her in the face with some kind of bleach/silver/bug-spray combination while screaming 'Get out body snatcher!' during a publicity event. Suffice to say that particular individual was now in a padded cell, but even four years later Bismarck couldn't go near a janitor's closet without flinching at the smell.
"Yes, well... Hopefully we won't have to deal with them for this," Kähler said as he stacked the papers on his desk, correctly guessing what his subordinate was thinking about. "Still, it means at least we'll be able to compare any information she gives us with what our own scientists have discovered."
"Ja... Do you think though that we can trust what she says about her technologies though? Some of them beg belief..."
"Indeed. I'm a little more suspicious about the ones that AREN'T though. I would have expected someone claiming to be from outer space to have some fancy laser or energy weapons, but..."
Bismarck frowned as she remembered the look on Leviathan's face at that particular question, as though she'd bitten into a lemon and watched someone's dog crap on her lawn at the same time. "She did seem upset when we mentioned that."
"Caught that as well, did you?" Thorsten said with a smirk. "It seemed like she was rather perturbed about that subject as well. Almost contemptuous and, possibly, derisive in fact."
"Hmm, a member of the 'gun club', most likely," Bismarck replied with a smirk of her own.
"Possibly... It's certainly less fantastical that she uses technologies that we at least can theorize, but that is something for engineers and scientists to compare notes on more than myself..." he said, shaking his head.
"To say nothing of some of what she offered..." Bismarck replied as she picked up one of the analyst's reports to read. She may have been Kähler's secretary ship, but a lot of the reports themselves were still handled by regular staff.
"Indeed. The idea of mass-producing these coil-guns for defence and upgraded guided missiles... I'll bet somebody's happy with that. Missiles have been the world's biggest edge against the Abyssals for some time, to be able to produce more efficient ones would be even better. I'm quite happy with the offer of medical information too, most wouldn't think that that would be a priority, but the real prize is that hydrogen engine that she showed…"
"True," Bismarck said as she flipped over to another page. "The oil crisis has hit everyone hard… If the means for replacement is viable enough, then I imagine a lot of people are going to be happy."
It was no surprise really that almost all of the offshore oil rigs had been targeted by the Abyssals and either destroyed or captured, leaving the oil in enemy hands and creating a massive hole in the world's oil and gasoline production. While it didn't negate things completely, the civilian population especially was practically in another depression due to the rise in gas and oil prices, and some places just couldn't afford to supply it. Alternative energy sources were being pushed into production more, and electric cars were more common, but that didn't make them necessarily cheap to make or produce. To have an engine that could subsist on just tap water or sea water… It would be a real godsend to many, and depending on how easy they were to make, it could go a long way to easing economic tensions.
Kähler smiled at her, no doubt picking up her thoughts. "Most assuredly. Still, I really do wonder how much forethought our pale friend has put into this..."
The blonde battleship raised an eyebrow as she continued to browse through the report, more Abyssal surface activity near Jan Mayen, likely in response to Tirpitz's campaign to root out the Abyssal whaling and convoy operations around the island. The thought of her sister's raiding turning the tables on the Abyssals from their usual tactics never failed to brighten her day. "You believe that she should have withheld that information?"
"From one standpoint it would make sense. Give enough to whet the appetite and bait the stick, so to speak, but do not offer too much, or you don't have enough to keep them coming. Either she's got a lot more that she feels she can dole out, or she's not thinking of anything long term in regards to that. Given her behavior, I'm inclined to believe the latter, and if Leviathan wishes for a long term cooperation, she might be offering too much too soon for her own good."
"But surely we can use anything that is workable, ja? Why should she hold back if it would only be detrimental? Or do you also believe her to be a Trojan as Richelieu seems to?"
"I never said that it would be necessarily a good thing, certainly not for us. But given her claims, it puts her in a rather precarious position," Thorsten said, closing the folder of star charts before folding his hands in front of him. "Without something more to offer, many of the governments would see little use in cooperating with what they would refer to as a 'rogue' ship-girl except peripherally. This means that if Leviathan finds herself cut off from those she considers her superiors for too long, she'll have little to offer beyond her martial uses, and in that regard I dare say that most will be suspicious of her. Given her likely supply needs..."
Bismarck grimaced at that, starting to see the point that her admiral was making. "She's not likely to make too many long term friends if she can't continue to offer more to counterbalance the trust issues, you mean. And therefore will have problems with resupplying herself without an organization backing her."
"Ship-girls are far easier to supply and maintain than traditional ships, but they still need far more than a normal person does, especially once in combat. I worry that Leviathan's needs might be difficult to take into account as well, and with priority being given to each nations' own fleets, she'll likely be forced to find some way to fill in the void..."
"Are you planning on offering to do so?"
The man sighed. "I've proposed it to the government, but they want more information first. I can't blame them, but I worry that if we don't at least put a proposal in front of Leviathan before she leaves, then someone else will, and that will color things for when... if Leviathan returns."
"Crooked logs still make straight fires, my dear Admiral. Don't think too hard on it, we'll plan out a rough outline first and deal with the problems when they arise," Bismarck assured the man with a smirk.
Leviathan lay back on the bed that she had been loaned, staring up at the ceiling while her fingers entwined themselves behind her head. The cruiser's hat and coat were tossed on the bed next to her, leaving her in the PT shirt and her uniform pants, uncaring if her boots dirtied the blanket atop of it as she frowned. The last two days had been rather stressful, adding to the LONG list of things that had occurred since she'd arrived on the planet. Besides the rather heated topics that had cropped up in the opening statements of her question and answer session, the fighting before it, the questions about her current circumstances and how they came to be, her head was starting to twist itself into knots. While it would likely take a while for either she or the local governments to start really following through on what was agreed upon, Leviathan was simply glad for a chance to unwind a little after Akashi's checkup. It still felt weird to have those tiny… people… inside of her, even after knowing what her crew was, and the sensation of something foreign moving along her decks still sent a shiver up her spine as she thought about it.
Shaking her head, Levi turned to her tacpad and plugged in the headphones she'd picked up back before Manila, feeling more than hearing as Hephaestus connected to them. "So… That was a thing that happened," she said.
"Indeed. Bit of a risk too, but I can't deny that we're going to need to make some compromises in order to get any trust with them," the AI said. "At least they didn't poke around your electronic systems too much."
"Yeah, I think it best if we kept you as hidden as possible. I have no idea how they'd react at this point, given everything else. Still, at least we're making progress. How much did she see exactly?"
"Enough I think to know that she's got her work cut out for her. I think one or two of those 'fairies' of hers had a fit trying to get a sample from the armor."
Levi chuckled at that. "Yeah, that was amusing. Still, hopefully they can come up with something to help me out with," she said, sitting up from the bed and looking to a pile of books on the desk. "Huh, what's this?" she said, taking up one of them. They seemed to be a simple design, with the words written in a mix of Japanese with English translations within, and entitled with the simple and yet upbeat words "So you've found yourself becoming a ship-girl!"
This caused the cruiser to snort a little. "Did they really write this for adults, or is this the children's version?"
"Given that their destroyers all look like ten year olds? Likely the latter…"
Leviathan whirled around, pulling the turret pistol out of her thigh rig and pointing it in the direction that the voice had come from, seeing nothing at first but knowing that someone was in the room… Someone she hadn't detected. "Identify yourself," she demanded, her voice hardening as her finger tightened on the trigger.
"Really Levi? Points for reactions, but you really need to work on your paranoia…" the voice replied, before the air seemed to shimmer with golden hexagons. Sitting in the corner chair near the bed with legs crossed, a woman appeared as she pulled the hood back from a cloak about her shoulders. Her curvaceous form was the kind that wouldn't have been out of place in a modelling magazine, and wore a black outfit so form-fitting that she must have been poured into it. Pale skin with equally pale lips curled into a small smile as amusement danced in blood-red eyes that glowed like heated metal, all framed by locks of black hair that ran like silk waterfalls down her shoulders. Like Leviathan, her features were primarily Romanian, or perhaps Hungarian in appearance, but with a hint of Russian. "Personally, I'd start with the one about the differences between this conflict and the one 70 years ago. Apparently it's common for those around here to confuse the two on first arrival…"
"I'll ask again, who… are… you?" Levi said, zeroing in on the woman's face.
"Really Levi? Really? I've been your shadow for how many years, and THIS is your reaction to finding me on your stern?" the woman said with a suppressed chuckle, causing Leviathan to frown, until a thought cropped up in her mind.
"Umbra? Edge of Umbra is that really you?" she asked incredulously.
"Surprise!" came the woman's response. Setting one hand on her knees and resting her chin on the other with a sardonic smile, she stared at the shocked cruiser for a bare moment before speaking again. "What, no welcome back for an old friend?"
"If by 'friend' you mean 'watchdog'…" Levi said in a deadpan tone.
"Ouch, someone's developed a bite to their tongue. Any particular reason?" the woman asked in reply.
"Oh I don't know, it might have something to do with having been stuck on a foreign planet with no clue what's been going on, only to find a fucking prowler popping up in my bedroom without warning!"
"And isn't that the highlight of the day?" Umbra said, tapping her chin with a dainty finger. "Why, it does seem like such a novelty compared to… oh, say… turning into a human after having been blown to pieces in humanity's worst conflict to date?"
Leviathan's eyes narrowed into slits at that, before slowly putting her weapon into its holster. "Point… Alright then, first question, when did you get here?"
"Here as in your room, or here as in on base?"
"Here as in this planet, smartass…"
"Oh, same time as you from what I can tell."
Leviathan stared blankly at the prowler for a good ten seconds. "You're telling me… You've been here all this time, and not ONCE DID YOU FUCKING DECIDE TO SHOW YOURSELF TO ME?!"
Umbra winced at the woman's volume. "Keep it down, you don't want to alert any of your neighbors now, do you?" she said. "And besides, you know ONI's protocol. 'Never reveal yourself unless absolutely necessary', even the fleet commanders at times."
"And now…?"
"Well, there's somewhat of a lack of knowledge going around, and you've done a surprisingly good job of ingratiating yourself to the locals sooooo…" she said, before smiling up in a 'friendly' manner. "I figured it would be best to swap notes in person."
Levi processed that for a moment before letting out a frustrated combination of growl and sigh. "Fine, so you've been sneaking around doing your spy thing while I've been playing diplomat, and now you want to touch base so we can... What? See what each of us has found out that the other hasn't?"
"Correct. I figured that given what I've been looking into, it COULD verify how much of it is accurate and how much is edited by government forces or just civilian misinformation."
"And what HAVE you been looking into exactly? And where?" Levi asked.
"Pretty much the same things you've been asking our… 'hosts'," Umbra said, pulling out what looked like a tablet and scrolling through some of the things on its screen. "Star maps, local history, current happenings and the like… So far it's been a pretty interesting, and distressing read."
"You mean you got them? Where from?"
"The Internet of course. You DO realize that it's pretty much available anywhere, at anytime, right?"
Leviathan shuddered. "You actually look to that… smut library for info?"
"It's not all smut Levi," the stealth vessel said. "There's actually quite a haul of info here if you're willing to sift through the dross. More than I'd see on most colonized worlds. And so little of it is truly monitored. It's a security gap you could fly the entire Eridani fleet through…"
Leviathan shook her head as she sat down at the desk's own chair, feeling a headache coming on. "Ugh… So, you managed to find something useful then? What is it?"
"Well, aside from some rather primitive star-charts regarding local space, I've been looking through their news to find out more about our own… situation," Umbra stated, flipping a lock of her hair back over her shoulder. "As you've seen, we're not the first 'ship-girls', as they say here, to have popped up. According to the news, they've been doing so for the last five years, pretty much since the beginning of this war. There's a lot of speculation as to the source of them, but for the most part they've been accepted as a general rallying point, both for civilian morale and for military personnel."
"Really? Where did it first happen?"
"Again, that's mostly conjecture. Some say Japan, others say the United States, others say Europe… And others are claiming that they've been around for a lot longer, but only became recognized at the start of this conflict."
"Was this before, or after these 'Abyssals' showed up?" Levi asked.
"Nearly simultaneous actually. The Battle of L.A., the Sydney Incident, and the Mediterranean Raid, all happened within the same day. Whether this was intentional or not is still argued, but so far it does seem like it." Switching to another file, Umbra looked up to see Levi's frown. "Don't look too put out. At least we've got something though…"
"Oh?"
"Yes. You asked our 'friends' what an Abyssal actually was, remember? Well apparently there's a good number of theories, but the ones that the military are operating on is that they're similar to ship-girls, in that they are manifested spirits of naval ships, but are brought into being by something they haven't been able to identify as anything other than 'The Abyss'. And that they are very, VERY angry with humanity."
"For what reason? This seems like one hell of a campaign they're doing after all, especially if it's been for as long as they seem to have been doing this…?"
"Five years now, yes. And reasonings are apparently rather vague. The notes I've come across state that the Abyssals are apparently out for revenge because they think humans have wronged them, using them and discarding them, and therefore want humanity to suffer or be destroyed."
"...Seriously? Because they've been wronged? We're ships, it's kind of our nature to be useful to our makers, isn't it? Why would they have built us if they weren't going to do so? This is sounding like a bad ghost story for a camp-out, not a reason for all out war..."
Umbra shrugged. "Who can say? It's not like we've that much in common with them to know why they think that way. Though it does explain why everyone's mistaken you for one…"
"Huh? Why?"
"Can you really deny that you came back looking to make the Covenant pay for what they did?" Umbra said with a sharp glare, causing Levi's lips to firm up into a sneer.
"Point," she growled out. "So… what, they just paint any angry ship as an Abyssal?"
"I'm pretty sure the whole shark-motif didn't dissuade it either, Levi. It doesn't seem to be a common theme for locals either…" Umbra replied. "I can only assume that it had to do with… Well, from what I can tell, using pieces of Abyssal hardware has some... negative side-effects for those around it. They've advised publicly that all such materials are to be given over to the authorities due to the possibility of toxicity or contamination."
Levi raised an eyebrow at that. "Any evidence that points to that being true, or just paranoia?"
"On civilian channels, a bunch of stories, some saying that nothing happens, others with no doubt greatly exaggerated horror stories or outright fiction… But the military channels do have warnings about it. Abyssals apparently like to augment their smaller caliber rounds with chemical weapons or toxins, and apparently there are psychological occurrences…"
"Like?"
"Haven't gotten too far in yet… Just that they're enough to make it a legitimate worry, and that anyone showing signs of mental distress are to be reported immediately."
The blue-haired cruiser frowned at that. "So it's some kind of radiation then? Or an infection?"
"Not a biological one I think, otherwise they'd be using far stricter methods to quarantine it. No, likely something either dealing with low-level radiation or just plain toxicity. But the fact that we've apparently got it in our system… Well…" Levi's eyes snapped to Umbra's, practically demanding that she continue, to which the prowler sighed. "The pale skin, the black plating… Those are visible signs of 'Abyssalization' according to the reports. It's what marks one as them, since so far no regular 'ship-girl' has shown those features. They all come into being looking like young women, or occasionally men, of an otherwise 'normal' human form. There are some outliers, but…"
Levi looked down at her skin, both at the paleness of it and the smooth, black lines of her crest. "So we're, what, 'infected' for lack of a better term?"
"It would seem so. I'm still looking into it."
"God forbid that ONI doesn't have a lid on all the info around…"
Umbra gave a pout at that. "I've only had a few days Levi… Cut me some slack, hmmm? Bitch," she said, muttering the last part.
"Slut," was Levi's immediate response.
"...I can see that this is going to be an interesting partnership in the future," the red-eyed ship-girl replied.
"Speaking of, I noticed you talking to yourself lately. Is that the voices in your head, or did Hephaestus really come back with you?"
Levi frowned again. "He's here, yes… Why, did you come back with one?"
"You honestly expect me to answer that?"
Levi rolled her eyes. "I guess not. Why do you ask?"
"Mostly because I agree that we should keep him a secret, but that I might want to confer with him once I get some more hard info. In the meantime though, here," she said, pressing a button on her tablet, causing Levi to tilt her head as a data packet was broadcast to her, and she lifted her tacpad up to view it directly. "That's what I've got on local space so far. Sorry it's not much, but…"
"But it's better than nothing… And I can use it to see if the local governments are being above-board with me or not, hmm?"
"Good to see I don't have to hold your hand with this," Umbra said, putting the tablet away and standing up. "Now, with that done, I'm going to go and explore a little more. As fun as it was following you around all day, I'd like to get a few more things looked into."
"Hey, hold up… You're not going to stick around and…?" Leviathan was going to ask, when the likely answer occurred to her. "What am I saying, of course you're not. That would go against your whole 'Spy' schtick, wouldn't it?"
Umbra smiled. "You know me so well… But don't worry, I'll be in touch. And if you really need me, you can just squawk me on the sub-channels. None of the locals seem to use those frequencies, and I doubt they'd have the encryptions anyways."
"Umbra…"
"Ta-ta Lev… Try not to let that cute ass of yours get shot off, okay?" she said, heading for the door.
"Cute? What the…? How would you know what my ass looks like? I didn't even take off my pants during that checkup?"
"I know… but you know that you were spotted above Manila by some civilians, and that news of your intervention got out via the civilian channels, right?"
"Yeah, so…?"
"Apparently the internet works fast… Ta-ta! And try not to kill anyone," she said, pulling up the hood of her cloak and disappearing, opening and closing the door quietly as the blood drained from Leviathan's face.