1995.
The Omitter sits twiddling her thumbs thinking of many other one liners sure to strike fear into the heart of any who hear them.
"Hmm… maybe… nah… better stay way from Jojo references…"
She hears the clanging of the brig door opening. "Huh?"
She sees Kestrel and Weeker enter the room on The other side of her prison bars. They stand and the Carrier says, "We have more questions, prisoner."
The Omitter stands and holds out her arms, thinking of a line immediately, "Just so you know, I am not trapped in an Aircraft Carrier with a powerful Kansen! You are both trapped in here with me! Ahahahaha!" She yells while grabbing the bars.
After a solid minute of awkward silence, Kestrel asks, "We can leave anytime we want. You can't. Does anyone ever take you seriously?"
Letting go and looking down, the Omitter mumbles, "No…"
Weeker clears his throat to get their attention, "Ahem. Now then, you're going to tell us what the hell is causing all this interference through the comms. It's been happening ever since you were caught trying to sabotage this ship."
"Really? You're blaming for that? I can't think of a cool line to make you tremble!" The Omitter counters.
"Fair point, you are completely useless when it comes to speeches, but sabotaging communications on a military warship requires a completely different skill set, and judging by the technology used in your machine, you could be able to do just that, for all we know." Kestrel shoots back.
"DID YOU DISASSEMBLE MY RIGGING, YOU FU—"
"Settle down! Omitter, if that's actually your name, are there any others like you here? In this world, or even close to the ship? Could they be the cause?" Weeker asks.
Pouting, the Omitter says, "How should I know? I'm deep within one of the biggest warships ever built, I have no clue where my friends are, and I doubt any of them are losing sleep over not knowing where I am! I'm useless to them!" Tears start rolling down her face, "I've always been useless… I can't do anything right… I can't even sound scary…" she sits in the corner of her room and hugs her knees. She puts her head down and breaks down crying. "I'm useless… they hate me…"
Kestrel and Weeker look at each other. The Carrier whispers, "Maybe you should leave, sir. I'll talk to her alone."
The Commander nods, "Right… report any intel she gives."
"Yes, sir."
Weeker leaves Kestrel alone with the sobbing Siren. She looks at her and puts her hand around one of the cell bars. "Hey."
"Wha… what?" The Omitter asks.
"Come on, I'm sure your friends are looking for you. I doubt they'd leave you here in this world." Kestrel tries to comfort her.
"You don't understand… I failed… I… I was in charge of a stronghold I built near the North Pole…" Omitter starts.
Kestrel pulls up a chair to listen. "Go on… let it out."
"I… I had a script… but I can't remember who wrote it… probably me… on what to say to the enemy when they found me. I thought I would sound cool… but… but the shipgirls there just mocked me… and kicked my ass…" The Siren remembers.
"What happened? Maybe you'll feel better if you share it." Kestrel offers.
"…the Northern Parliament allied with the Eagle Union to destroy my stronghold. I caught them unawares… but being as useless as I am, instead of launching a surprise attack, I decided instead to use one of the really stupid corny lines to intimidate them… why I am I so dumb? So lame?" The Siren says.
"…Could you tell me more about your world? These factions?" The Carrier asks.
"…sure, I guess…" The Omitter gets up and sits on her prison bed. "Where did we leave off…?"
"You said that you created the Kansen in your world." Kestrel reminds her.
"Oh, yeah… in our world… there is this massive… thing… threatening humanity, but only we Sirens know about it. We created the Kansen to help humanity fight it, but we are testing wether or not they are powerful enough to win, so we fight them, and keep growing in power gradually to challenge them… when they grow powerful enough to beat us, we will join them and take on the bigger threat…" the Omitter explains, "But that doesn't explain how you exist here. Are there any other Kansen?"
Kestrel answers, "Only a couple others in my fleet that I'm aware of… but I'm not so sure if any other country has them…"
In the harbour of a massive city, a new Battleship has just finished construction. A scientist escorted by military personnel carries a secure box to the deck of the ship. The Captain asks, "So, this thing is supposed to make my new flagship even more powerful?"
The scientist answers, "Oh, yes, Captain. You won't regret allowing this, I'm sure. Please give me some room."
The Captain stands back and lets the man work. He unlocks the case and brings out a couple of bright blue glowing cubes. He sets them down on the deck and types in some commands in a laptop. "Please press the Enter key when you're ready, sir."
The Captain wastes no time in pressing it. Suddenly, the cubes sink into the deck as if it were made of water and the entire Battleship starts to glow the same blue. After a flash of light, they rub their blinded eyes and when their vision returns, they see a woman stood wearing what resembles an Erusean Naval uniform similar to theirs, but it's not exactly regulation.
She flexes her arms and fingers, looking at her new form, "Ah… it was getting cramped in that form…" she sees her Captain and adopts a proper salute immediately, "Sir!"
The Captain looks up and down at the woman. He turns to the scientist. "Doctor? Who is this and where did she come from?"
The scientist smiles and stands between them. "Captain, this is the person who will make your ship so much more powerful. This is a Kansen. She, in a very literal sense, is the ship itself."
The Kansen nods, "Affirmative, sir! I am able to control every part of the ship and deliver detailed analysis of my systems and diagnose any problems immediately, negating the need to put human lives at risk."
"Which would also get rid of their jobs." The Captain deadpans.
"…Uh…" The Kansen's salute falters. "I can… still have a human crew if you like, sir. It would just be safer to not bring them."
"Do either of you have any idea how ridiculous this all sounds?" The Captain asks.
"I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. When this ship sets sail for the first time, you can test her on anything she says she can do. Oh, where are my manners. I haven't even introduced both of you yet. Captain, this is Battleship Tanager."
He looks at Tanager, "Ma'am, this is Captain Mattias Torres."
Tanager smiles and shakes his hand, "It's an honour to be in your command, Captain Torres."
"Very good, Miss Tanager. Doctor?" Torres asks.
"Yes, sir?" The scientist responds.
"Do you have any more of those Cubes?" He asks as he looks out at the rest of the Aegir Fleet, standing between Tanager and the scientist.
"Yes, sir. We had anticipated the possibility you'd want every ship upgraded like this."
Torres smiles, "With this power, Erusea will finally, truly, have an Invincible Fleet." He looks at the Aircraft Carrier. "Let's start with the Geofon…"
Somewhere deep underwater, testing of two new Supersubmarine Kansen is underway. One of them, Folkvangr, radios, "Sister, it's time to test our attack capabilities."
Fensalir responds, "Okay…"
The two of them rise up to periscope level and observe the training targets set up for them. They make quick work of their targets and turn towards base.
"Sister?" Fensalir asks.
"Yes?" Folkvangr responds.
"Hitting targets is fun."
"I'm glad you're enjoying it, sister, but we're not playing. We're training to fight our future enemies." Folkvangr reminds her.
Fensalir asks, "Do we have to kill others like us, Folky? Do we have to hurt people?"
"Yes, sister. It's what we were made for. It is grim, but we must do as we're told. There is no point to having a weapon that does not function. I'm sorry, my dear Fen, but we have no choice."
"But… I don't want to…" the other Supersub complains.
"Keep that to yourself, Fen. I couldn't bear to see harm come to you for insubordination." Folkvangr warns. "Come. We must return now."
"Okay…" Fensalir quietly acknowledges.
Once back in port, the Dragonets both swiftly walk past any technicians and soldiers. They want to be seen as little as possible. Being designed as mobile underwater fortresses, they don't like being exposed and visible. Being very short despite being massive Supersubs as well as wearing little more than one-piece swimsuits doesn't help, either. Folkvangr hugs Fensalir close to comfort her. They go to their secret teacher, whose presence has not yet been revealed to the humans on base.
"Hey, Siren! We're here!" Folkvangr whispers loudly.
A Submarine-based Siren pokes her head out of the water out of view of anyone else. "What is it?."
Fensalir jokes, "Lurker of the lake, what is your wisdom?" Earning a silencing nudge from Folkvangr.
"Hehe… your sister is a funny one, but seriously, what do you have to report?" The Lurker asks.
"Some of the humans here seem more and more sketchy. Something is about to happen. Something big." Folkvangr reports.
"When?" The Lurker pushes.
"I'm not sure. It could happen next week or a couple of years or so. We should plan something soon." The Kansen answers. "We need more training and perhaps you can help us on our future training exercises."
"I would, but I can't risk the humans finding me and shooting at me. You need to tell them about me in a good light. Introduce me and tell them I can help them train you. I know you're worried about them, so just sus out the sketchy ones and tell the highest ranking one you trust." The Lurker says.
"Roger." Folkvangr nods. The Lurker winks at Fensalir, making her blush a little.
"Bye-bye, Lurker of the lake..." Fensalir says, waving.
In the Union of Yuktobanian Republics, in a port near the city of Okchabursk, two other Supersub Kansen whose vessels have striking resemblances to Folkvangr and Fensalir stand before a Yuke Naval officer as he briefs them on their new training exercise. Their Submarines, revealed to the public 4 years prior, may be very similar to the Dragonets, but they themselves couldn't be more different. They wear traditional Yuktobanian Navy uniforms, adorned with the mostly bright red flags of Yuktobania and their Navy and heavily modified to highlight their more… attractive qualities. Stood in the corner watching, a Siren Enforcer lurks. Invisible to the naked eye and silent, Concealment spies on the two tall Kansen for her Arbiter, who herself prefers not to engage in human interaction, just as her name, The Hermit, would imply.
The officer begins, "Ladies, your new mission is to get as close as possible to an enemy stronghold. The target in question will be given while you are on the move. The information will be coded to counteract interception, so you will need to decrypt it all under pressure and as soon as possible, and it will instruct you further. This is the location you will need to reach to receive the intel."
The Kansen sisters both observe the location on the map board while Concealment steals a glance at it as well. She memorises the board completely in a nanosecond. If she had a pencil and paper, she could redraw the map perfectly with her non-dominant hand blind-folded. She senses the briefing about to conclude so she makes her way to the exit.
Soon after, the Supersubs salute the officer as he says, "Scinfaxi, Hrimfaxi, good luck."
Both of them respond in unison, "Spasibo, ser!"
They both exit and Concealment follows them. When the three of them are alone, Scinfaxi suddenly spins around, grabs the invisible Concealment by the neck and pins her to the wall so that her feet don't touch the floor, the impact making her cloaking fail. "That's enough stalking us! Who the hell are you and what do you want!?" The Supersub demands.
Hrimfaxi stands with her sister and adds, "You will answer us, or you will be sent to interrogation. Trust us, our interrogator isn't as understanding and gentle as we are, intruder. Tell us everything, and we'll spare you the pain."
"… I never wanted to be sneaky here… I wanted to introduce myself to the humans here, but my Arbiter ordered me to do it like this. I don't know why." The Siren responds.
"What's your name and who is this 'Arbiter' of yours?" Hrimfaxi asks.
"My designation is Concealment. I have no other name. I am a Siren, created to serve humanity, like you Kansen." The pale girl answers. "As for my Arbiter, I have a blocker in my consciousness that prevents me from speaking any more about them. I literally do not have the ability to."
The Subs look at each other and Scinfaxi asks her, "Are you able to take us to her?"
"Yes. I will lead you while cloaked." Concealment nods. She's let go and they both follow her. Their training exercise doesn't start for another few hours, anyway…