Hi everyone. This is the first chapter of what I should call. Tri-crossover between Command & Conquer, Atlantis, and Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio. This is where the team will meet with the Leviathan. Before you will ask. No I will not destroy the Leviathan, but I have something in mind that will increase their survivability. Anyhow please enjoy.
Chapter 1: Faceoff with the Leviathan
-several days later after milo gets hired as linguist
Everyone who was on the expedition was currently on the ship. Including the now named Technology analyst. He was currently leaning on the railing at the front of the ship enjoying the sea breeze that the ship was generating with his assistant next to him.
"Aaaaaahhhhh. Doesn't this feel great?" he said.
"Yes, but personally I would prefer it better on my ship when I have full control of everything. That way I can get the best possible breeze with greatest efficiency." She replied.
"Yeah, then again we are not on your ship. So just take what you can get for now before we have to go down below." Hanzworth replied. Right after that they heard a man retching off the side of the ship. "Then again, there are some people who just can't stand being on a ship."
"Well if anyone were to throw-up on the deck of my ship. They would find themselves immediately overboard." she retorted. Hanzworth was going to make a reply when the PA system sounded.
"Attention. All hands to the launch bay. To whoever took the L from the motor pool sign. Ha. Ha. We are all very amused."
"Well then, that probably was Mrs. Wilhelmina Packard, the communications officer of the expedition." Hanzworth thought. "Well now, looks like we have to get going. Oh and by the way, you wouldn't by chance have anything to do with that? Did you?" asked a suspicious Hanzworth to his assistant.
"What ever do you mean?" she teased back failing to hide a sniggering grin.
"I swear. You have a serious thing for corny jokes. Why can't you be like Maya who has a thing for musical instruments? At least it was something that can be useful and soothing." replied Hanzworth. "Even if she only knew to play that one song on the piano over and over and over."
"Hey, take what you can get. You knew what you were getting when you chose me as your assistant." she retorted back.
"Yes, yes, yes. I know that." He replied with a surrendering gesture. "Let's just get on the submarine before we find ourselves left behind."
"Ugh, submarines. If there is one thing that I hate the most, that would be submarines. I swear they are like hidden nightmares in the water just waiting to pounce on you the minute you let your guard down." she replied while following Hanzworth to the elevator.
"Yes, I know how much you hate them. But we'll have to be on one if we are to have any chance of finding the entrance to the lost city of Atlantis." he replied when they came to a stop right behind a guy with a handcart of explosives.
"Attention. All hands to the launch bay. Final loading in progress." With that the elevator descended, until it reached the loading bay showing off the submarine for all to see.
"Well like what you see?" Hanzworth asked.
"Meh, I've seen better. Although the glass sphere is rather impressive." replied Norah.
"Well let's just hope that Mr. Whitmore came through with the revisions that we made with him." he answered.
-flashback sequence to several days prior
"Wait a minute. Are you asking me to redesign the Ulysses?!" yelled Mr. Whitmore to the duo that were currently in negotiations about their employment to the expedition.
"With all due respect Mr. Whitmore. We are not asking for a redesign. That would be asking too much out of your already limited time schedule." replied Hanzworth.
"Then what are you meaning that the Ulysses was and I quote 'not suitable for the task at hand'. Can you explain about that?" retorted Mr. Whitmore.
"What we are saying Mr. Whitmore is that the design probably doesn't have significant enough defenses against whatever technological threats that we may face during our search for the entrance. There was a legend about a certain Chinese emperor's tomb being laced with booby traps to prevent anyone from entering. And if the papers of the Thatches were to be believed the atlantians could probably easily have automated defense systems that use death rays or something to deal with intruders." replied Norah.
"Then what do you propose that we do then? Cancel the expedition because of some threat that may or may not be there?" growled Mr. Whitmore
"Quite the opposite my dear friend." smiled Hanzworth, "What we propose is that we do a retrofitting of a defense system that I have in storage. It may be rather taxing to the electrical system since this is an add-on to the original design, but it should allow us to safely find the entrance without being destroyed in the first shot."
Mr. Whitmore contemplated on Hanzworth's proposal. "When can you get the system to the Ulysses then?" he asked.
"If I rush, probably get it there by the end of the day. And if you were to have your engineers to work over time to splice the device into the electrical system. It should be ready for the launch day." Hanzworth replied.
"Do that then. Also you wanted to have your assistant Norah to pilot the aqua-evac that contains your mobile laboratory in the event of evacuation?" asked Mr. Whitmore.
"That is right and it is non-negotiable." replied Hanzworth.
"But why? I have crew that has been trained with the sub-pods. Surly they could pilot better than your assistant." Whitmore answered. He was rewarded by a very cold and menacing stare by the said assistant that said: Take that back or I will kill you.
"I'm sorry Mr. Whitmore, My assistant doesn't take well to people who belittle her piloting abilities. Also, I should tell you that she has a lot of experience when it comes to dodging torpedoes from several subs at the helm of a battleship." answered Hanzworth, "Although, she did get hit once by a torpedo. Of course that was from relatively close quarters."
"Don't remind me." growled Norah, "That sub was very lucky to be able to sneak up to me that close and fire off a torpedo, while also getting away in the confusion."
Mr. Whitmore was speechless at that considering that it was really hard for a battleship to dodge torpedoes due to its size. "An assistant, a strong escort, and now a crack pilot of a battleship. Just what kind of life did your assistant have?!" asked Mr. Whitmore.
"A rather short one so far my dear sir. But what we are asking is: do you agree to our requests?" Hanzworth replied.
"…..Alright." Mr. Whitmore sighed, "If she is as good as you say she is. Then I have no choice but to accept."
-end of flashback sequence
"Attention, all personnel. Launch will commence in 15 minutes."
"Whoa, we need to get on board now." Hanzworth stated. With that he rushed over to an entry port of the Ulysses. "Last one in is a rotten egg!"
"No fair! Wait up!" called a rather annoyed Norah.
-After finding their rooms and acquainting them with the layout of the sub. They head over to the bridge.
"Well now. I've gotta say this is a rather impressive feat of engineering." Hanzworth said when he entered the bridge with Norah in tow.
"Professor, or should I say Colonel?" yelled a man who seemed to be the commanding officer of the ship.
"Please, call me Lionel." replied Hanzworth, "I'm only acting as the technological analyst in the expedition."
"Oh sorry, just old military habit if you know what I mean." replied the man, "Anyhow, welcome to the bridge. I'm commander Lyle Rourke. Commanding officer of the Atlantis Expedition." the man Rourke saluted Hanzworth.
"Dr. Lionel Hanzworth, Technological research specialist and Colonel in the military, at your service." Lionel replied, "And this is my personal assistant and escort Norah Caroline."
"So this is the young lady that defeated my lieutenant." said Rourke, "It's not often that I get to meet someone who could best her in hand to hand combat." Said person was watching Norah with guarded gaze while Norah looked up, smiled, and waved.
"Not to be a bother. But did Mr. Whitmore did what I asked?" asked Lionel
"Oh yeas, the system has been installed and the activation button is right here. Just like you asked." replied Rourke. Who motioned towards a big red button on a panel. "Though I don't know if it is absolutely necessary."
"Oh believe me. If what we are dealing with is real. We're probably going to need It." replied Lionel.
-short while later Milo enters the room and is currently doing slides.
"The first slide is a depiction of a creature. A creature so frightening that sailors were said to be driven mad by the mere sight of it." The slide then shows a picture of Milo's visit to the beach.
"I think they would've been driven mad just because of how horrible you look there!" yelled Norah. That remark made a lot of people on the bridge to burst out laughing.
"I've got to tell you. That would be a good reason for them to go mad." chuckled Vinny
"I like the little mademoiselle. She makes a good joke." howled Mole.
Milo fumbles around until he finds the correct slide. "This. Ok. This is an illustration of the leviathan. The creature guarding the entrance to Atlantis."
"Great! All that's left for us to do is to find a pot big enough to cook that sucker for dinner." replied Norah. Much to the amusement to some of the crew, but not so much for Milo and some other people.
"Is she going to continue interrupting cause some of us here are trying to listen." said Rourke.
"Sorry, about that she has a thing for making corny jokes. But please continue." Hanzworth replied while making a glare that shut Norah up for the rest of the lecture.
-skipping over to when they found the ship graveyard.
"O.k. It's official. I'm turning on the system." Hanzworth starts walking over to the red button.
"Wait! Are you sure it is necessary? You said to Mr. Whitmore that it would cause a strain to our electrical system and shouldn't be turned on unless it is needed." said Audrey.
"Considering the lecture that Milo just given us and the huge graveyard of ships just below us. I think that there is something out there and I would rather have this thing on and nothing happens than leaving it off and get hit." retorted Hanzworth. With that he hit the switch. Immediately, there was a dimming of the lights and he could swear that there was some sparking of electricity when the device activated. This caused a load on the jury-rigged electrical system connection ports, but fortunately they still held. It was around this time that Mrs. Packard turned on the speakers of which everyone on board heard the strange wailing sound.
"What is it? A pod of whales?" asked Rourke.
"Nuh-uh bigger." replied Mrs. Packard.
"Sound's metallic. Could be an echo from one of the wrecks." said Helga.
"No it is not an echo. But whatever it is. It is big." replied Norah. With all three staring at her.
"What makes you so sure about that?" said Helga
"For your information. I have more experience than you in listening to hydrophones. Second, the frequencies that the sound is giving off don't give off the tell-tale sign of it being an echo. Therefore, it is something that is massive." replied Norah with a smug grin. Helga was going to make a remark when Milo spoke up.
"Is it just me or is it getting louder?"
Everyone listened intently on the sound until it finally faded away.
"Well. What ever it was. It's gone now." replied Helga.
With that Rourke calls out, "Helms man bring us about. Tighten our search pattern and slow us….!"
Bang! The whole ship shuttered from the impact. Alarms start blaring all over the ship. Audrey runs off to the engine rooms to check for damage. While Hanzworth calls out after her, "See?! Now what did I tell you?!"
The ship gets continuously banged when Rourke shouted, "Tell Cookie to melt the butter and break out the bibs. I want this lobster served up on a silver platter!"
"Load the torpedo bays! Sub-Pod crews' battle stations!" yelled Helga.
Everyone ran around to fulfill the orders until someone shouted. "Belay that order! Everyone stay calm except continue loading the torpedo bays!" Everyone turned around to find the speaker of those sentences and found who said it was no other than Hanzworth himself.
Rourke was about to voice his opinion when they were banged yet again landing Milo on the glass. Of which he cried, "Jiminy Christmas. It's a machine!"
With the leviathan staring at them through the window. Rourke finally asked, "Are you questioning my orders civilian?"
Hanzworth frowned, "No, I am just terminating some of your orders since you don't really know what is going on."
"What? The thing attacked us. We should be doing defensive preparation!" yelled Rourke.
"Which I've already did, by activating the system on the Ulysses." Hanzworth calmly replied.
"…What?" Rourke asked wondering what Hanzworth going on about.
"Let me explain. The system that Hanzworth had Mr. Whitmore install is something called the Iron Curtain." Norah piped up. "It acts like a great wall of energy that coats objects. Thus making them invulnerable to anything that is thrown at it. If you want proof you should get a damage report from Miss Audrey."
-several minutes later after getting the damage report from Audrey stating that the hull wasn't compromised even from the banging. The only problems were some minor concussions and some burns from the boiler rooms and engine rooms.
Everyone was currently looking at Hanzworth in awe. Probably since the system that he had installed probably just saved their lives and could prevent further damage from whatever the Leviathan could throw at them.
"Well Mr. Hanzworth. You have surly saved our lives." stated Rourke.
"But I can't talk to Marge now. Not with his system draining the power." huffed Mrs. Packard.
"Yeas, I'm sorry to say but the system is currently only a stop gap measure." replied Hanzworth.
"What do you mean?" asked Milo. Who was currently in awe that a fellow academic had created something like the Iron Curtain.
"He means is that the system can't hold forever." Norah replied, "The problem is that the design was never meant to deal with the energy demands of the Iron Curtain. The best that we could do was to splice the system to the power grid and hope that it holds as long as possible."
"Which leads up to our current situation of devising a suitable tactic against the Leviathan." said Hanzworth, "So this is how I propose we do."
-goes into his proposal of using sub-pods as decoys to draw attention from the Leviathan. Then quickly continue with search of crevice. When crevice is found determine if Ulysses can fit. If not use the Aqua-evacs to enter crevice with sub-pods in tow while using Ulysses with skeleton crew to draw attention.
"So that's the plan. Does anyone have any better ideas?" asked Hanzworth.
"Why wasn't I told about the capabilities of the device?" asked Rourke.
"Would you have believed me if I did?" replied Hanzworth. When he didn't get a reply from Rourke he said, "Thought so. Well what are we standing around? Let's move people!"
-sub-pods get deployed, Ulysses finds the crevice but finds that it is too big to fit. Everyone chooses who goes and who stays, and the rear doors get blasted open. Then we go to the Aqua-evacs.
"Alright Norah. Are you ready for this?" Hanzworth asked from the passenger seat of the No. 2 Aqua-evac that housed his Mobile Laboratory.
Norah sat calmly in her seat while holding her hands out. "Yeas, I am more than ready for this and quite frankly you can call me by my real name since no one else is in the cockpit." she replied.
"Yeas, Yeas. North Carolina but how well will you pilot analogue instead of digitally?"
She smiled, "Never underestimate the piloting abilities of a fast battleship of the fleet of fog. As long as I can impart some of my nano-materials to the ship's body I can steer it like my ship body. Of course reaction time would probably decrease by 0.01% but I can still deploy my klein-field."
"Good, do whatever you can so that we can live through this!" yelled Hanzworth.
"Don't worry." She said while fine streams of nano-materials coat the aqua-evac. "I'm your personal battleship assistant USS North Carolina!"
-with that everyone went off. The Ulysses managed to gain the attention of the Leviathan which started shooting lasers at it. It managed to hold off several shots before the system overloaded the electrical grid causing a short circuit. This caused the Iron Curtain to shut down and yeah. The Ulysses get blown up. However, the sub-pods and aqua-evacs managed to get far down the tunnel before the Leviathan started attacking. All in all only 3 sub pods and two Aqua-evacs managed to survive.
"I've got to tell you. That was a very crazy idea." said Rourke when they were removing the supplies from the aqua-evacs. "But I have to hand it to you. It worked and I'm grateful for that."
"Why thank you." replied Hanzworth
"Is there anything else that I should be aware of?" asked Rourke.
"Nope. Let's just hope that there wouldn't be any more unpleasant surprises waiting for us on this expedition." replied Hanzworth.
"We'll see about that." replied Rourke.
O.K. That was a lot out of me. So please review and give constructive criticism. Thanks!