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Vale City, near the South Shore Gate, Gayput 55 Treichleam, an hour before lunch (Tōkyō time: Thursday 5 April, an hour before midnight; Anádyr' time: Friday 6 April, two hours after midnight)…
"So, wait a minute! These new shipgirls are from a former enemy of your nation who troops are still occupying your LAND?! And you want to be FRIENDS with them even after all that?! That doesn't make sense, Hatsue!"
The Silent Blizzard shrugged before sipping her coffee, then she gave the leader of Team NDGO a "what can you do" look. "Personally, I don't get it at all, Nebula-chan," Fukushima Hatsue admitted as people listening to this conversation — including one remarkably calm Hazel Rainhart, who was seated at the bar of this lovely coffee shop located near one of the many city gates — all blinked as they tried to understand what was happening. "According to the original treaty between Kōmei Tennō's government and the government of Tsar Aleksándr Vtorój signed in 1855, we would have possession of the southern three main islands of the Kuríl' chain — Etorofu, Kunashiri and Shikotan, plus the Habomai-guntō — while Russia would have the rest as a way of openly accessing the Pacific Ocean from ports like Vladivostók and Magadán." Here, the adopted native of Maizuru pointed to the islands in question on a holographic map being projected from her PAA, then the two Russian seaports she mentioned. "Any treaty after 1855 was considered illegitimate when we lost the Greater East Asia War in 1945, but as far as the government then in power in Moskvá at the time was concerned, all the Kuríl' chain was to be taken over by them."
"And because of this 'cold war' that followed that war, Nihon couldn't pursue any sort of action to reclaim those islands, right?" Gwen Darcy wondered. The four members of the Shade Academy team had been tempted to bolt from Vale altogether when the mass attack on the city and the Beacon Academy went down on Gaysaw evening — even if they were pretty much experienced, all four were typical Vacuan rich girls who always looked down on "country folk" — but rediscovered their collective courage when legions of Robot Masters deployed by "fellow countryman" Isaac Thomas proved to be too much for the legions of Grimm spilling into the city that evening. And while they were more than free to travel back to Vacuo in the wake of that attack, the discovery of the truth behind the Wise Lone Sage and his presence on Remnant had convinced them — as such had also persuaded their countrymen in Team BRNZ among other groups in the Vytal Festival — to remain behind and gather as much intelligence about their new friends and allies against the Grimm. Given the whole thing about shipgirls alone…!
"Hai, that's right. These days, just because there's no official peace treaty between Japan and Russia, trade is still strong and anything concerning what we'd call the 'Chishima-rettō' is kept pretty much on the back burner," Hatsue finished before she perked, then looked over. "Ah, some relief for Akemi-chan and Taeko-chan finally! Oi, Okimi-chan! Over here!"
Walking into the coffee shop at this time was a teenage girl in a solid black skinsuit with the same bared shoulders and arms the Silent Blizzard possessed. Said skinsuit was trimmed with dark green belt and boots, the symbol on the chest of the reborn third of the Sentoku-type submersible aircraft carrier had a stylized 402 splayed over the image of red ash tree leaves; the goroawase variation of Nakamura Okimi's hull number could be read in kanji as 塩地 ("Shioji"), which was the local name of this central Chinese relative of various olive plants worldwide. "Ah, Hatsue-sempai!" the pretty girl with the tanned skin, brown eyes and brown haired somewhat styled like that of Hatsue's older sister Fujiko called back as she came over to sit at a chair immediately provided for her by one of the locals. "Mayako-sempai's wondering if you're going to attend Roman-san's funeral."
"I heard that the Dai-Jūkyū-tai are providing the honour guard," the reborn destroyer noted.
The Mighty Blue Oak of the Nine Kingdoms, E-r'bebyatome ("I-402"), shrugged. "Well, we don't want to be unfriendly to Neo-san given where she'll be going back to after that's done, Sempai," Okimi warned. "After all, with the situation concerning poor Teitoku in Tomobiki and those stupid aliens, especially the oni witch that claims Teitoku as her 'husband' of all things…!"
Hatsue laughed. "You mean the lady that started the whole modern metahuman thing on Earth, right?" Octavia Ember asked. "She's Shirayuki's, Hinako's and Chikage's half-sister, right? When are you going to rescue her anyway?"
"Depends on what sort of chances we get to sneak in there and get Tariko-chan out of that place," Hatsue admitted before she gazed in amusement at a fleet mate she'd never work with as a warship. "And you're calling her 'Teitoku'?!"
A shrug responded. "It was Tariko-san's other-self who made those human names for our other-selves, Sempai!"
A trilled hum responded. "True…!"
Atlas City, the main military base, that moment (local time: Gayput, an hour after lunch)…
"Ah, Taichō…?!"
James Ironwood smiled. "Yes, Commander?"
The Bitter Fruit Lover, E-dulo'obake ("I-58"), now known publicly as Hashimoto Momoko looked to the south beyond the edge of the floating island hovering a couple of kilometres above ground level. "Um…is it safe to have this thing FLOATING over that city we saw as we towed you guys in, dechi?!" the adopted native of Yokosuka who could have seriously changed the ending of the Second World War had she ambushed USS Indianapolis before she delivered the Little Boy atomic bomb to Tinian Island then asked. "Yeah, I felt the anti-gravity field around this place when we helped you land and all that…"
"Multiple redundancies, Commander," the greying commander of the local military and huntsmen forces said before he gazed over at the shuddering Manta pilot, now being looked over by Momoko's fleet mate Inaba Mira. "You alright, Lieutenant?"
A groaned dry heave escaped the younger man. Given that a Manta would take over a half-day to travel the distance between Vale and Atlas, that the two subgirls had been able to pull his craft at hypersonic speeds to hasten the journey — naturally, using their PAAs to shield the airship from heavy air friction — it amazed Ironwood that the younger man was having just a mere freakout. "Trying to, sir…!" he gasped before another drive heave escaped him, he dropping to his knees.
Mira chuckled in amusement as she squeezed the shuddering man's shoulders. "I don't think we should try to imitate someone like Shimakaze anytime soon, Momo-chan," the Farmer of the Six Eastern Harvests, E-ramlo'osuto ("I-36"), wryly noted.
"Who was she?" an amused Weiss Schnee then asked, crossing her arms.
"A destroyer, but super, super, SUPER fast, dechi!" Momoko explained as two medics with a stretcher came over to help the pilot, then she nodded as Ironwood waved the two subgirls, Weiss and her sister Winter towards the nearby reception building. "Could you imagine what she'd be like as a shipgirl, Mira-chan?! You'd think she'd break warp speed, dechi?!"
The subgirl with the grey hair in twin fluffy ponytails shrugged. "Easily…" she admitted before frowning. "She'd be lonely, too, I'd think. She was the only one of her class of ships, remember?" As Momoko nodded, Mira glanced around. "Get any major flying yōma about these parts, Taishō? If Sempai could get away from Sano-wan and wants to visit…!"
"You all said that Captain Itō can't do that at this time," Winter reminded them, recognizing automatically who Mira spoke of.
"Hai, Winter-san, but that was before the ships of the Second Russian Pacific Squadron started coming back as shipgirls a couple hours ago," the adopted Yokosuka-jin advised. "Since they had nimmibs — normal folk with magical genes in them but didn't get their own magic; they're normally dumped out into normal society to 'remove the shame' of their existence! — they'll be WAY more sympathetic to the gamájun than those jerks that Sempai's crew have killed over the years."
"And Sempai herself, not to mention Naomi-chan, dechi!" Momoko stated. "How many was it again?!"
"About four hundred, I saw over the PAA."
The locals all winced. "Wouldn't that provoke some sort of retribution from the Russian magical government?" Weiss wondered.
"Nah! Not with Múrometsa-gensui still alive and around, dechi."
Ironwood smiled as he drew out his military ID to show to the guards protecting the main entrance to the reception hall. As his and Winter's identification were checked — along with Weiss' Beacon Academy ID card — the two subgirls were then given guest cards to hang off their belts before being allowed inside. "Isaac told me about this Marshal Múrometsa," he mused as they walked into the heated building. "She gladly supported the revolution that transformed Russia into the Soviet Union, then helped lead in the defence of the nation from that dark wizard Grindelwald who tried to bring down the secrecy statute protecting magicals from normal people. Most magicals on Earth in Europe don't know who to fear more, either her or Marshal Yomigawa who led your own nation's forces in that time to free neighbouring societies from European domination."
"Well, we'd support Yomigawa-gensui first, naturally!" Mira admitted before she perked, then she stood to attention and saluted.
Ironwood noted that before he perked, then turned to nod greetings to the middle-aged woman in civilian clothing that had been waiting there alongside the members of Team FNKY. "Councillor Camilla," he politely greeted.
"General," Anairis Camilla politely answered before she smiled. "Weiss. Winter. Good to see you two back here. How are your friends, Weiss? I heard that Yáng Xiǎo Lóng was severely wounded by Taurus in that attack."
"She lost her right arm, Aunt Anairis," Weiss answered with a reassuring smile. "Isaac was nice to provide a prosthetic for her to get back into the game, but with the OTHER option now available…" Here, she winked.
A hearty laugh answered. "When that gets out into the general public, it'll be a RIOT, never mind how our Faunus countrymen will react to the news!" Camilla answered before she focused on the two subgirls. "Are you two…?!"
"From Earth and adopted of Yiziba, Camilla-giin," Mira affirmed as she and Momoko lowered their arms. "I'm Inaba Mira-shōsa, the living kami of Tennō Heika Gunkan I-36, now Nihon-koku Gunkan Miimu. My half-sister and fleet mate, Hashimoto Momoko-shōsa, the living kami of Tennō Heika Gunkan I-58, now Nihon-koku Gunkan Gōya. At the request of our effective overall forward commander here on Remnant, Isaac Thomas-sensei, we came to your city to both keep an eye on Weiss-chan here — given that her beloved teammate Blake Belladonna-chan is now Gifted as one of the Named of the Forge — as well as scout around to ensure that the yōkai queen whose been plaguing all on Remnant can't cause additional issues here."
"Well, if what the general and the captain here — not to mention the others who came back from Vale in the wake of that attack — have reported to us concerning what your adopted countrymen have done so far, it's a damned good thing," Camilla said. "We in the Council are still trying to absorb those bombshells Mr. Thomas was so nice to pass on to us through the general. Much that there has been speculation about the One Above the Gods throughout our history, the idea of someone like that being an alien of all things…!" Here, she shrugged. "Much that people have the right to know these things — as militarized as we've had to become over the last few decades, there are still basic human rights such as freedom of speech here — I hope that…!"
Both subgirls laughed. "Don't worry about that, dechi!" Momoko assured her with a wave of her hand. "We're submarines, Giin-san! We can disappear…" — and with that, the reborn last of the Junsen Otsu-gata Kai-ni fleet submarines vanished before appearing next to a wide-eyed Neon Katt, she then holding up two fingers from behind the felinoid Faunus' head — "…and we can appear anywhere whenever we want to, dechi!" she added as Mira pulled up her PAA to take a photo of the scene.
Neon's teammates were all gaping at such a show. "Damn! Can you guys teach us that?!" Flynt Coal demanded.
Laughter escaped the others at that comment…
Sano Bay, that moment…
"Továrischi, to absent friends! Za váshe zdoróv'e!"
"To absent friends indeed! Kampai!"
"To those on eternal patrol! Cheers!"
Magically-sculpted glassware was raised in toast before the assembled shipgirls of the Second Pacific Squadron sunk at Tsushima in 1905 — along with two friends who had been captured by the Japanese later, then eventually sunk as targets after the Great War — along with one reborn American fleet submarine, one more modern missile cruiser and the seventh carrier of Operation Z drank from the lovely caravan tea that had been prepared by a small flock of eager gamájun chicks who were happy to see to the reborn sea spirits' needs; given it was now past the halfway mark of the middle watch, most of THG Yonaga's senior staff were asleep. Also present in the cave set aside for Itō Yoiko were four visitors from Hogwarts in Scotland, one of whom was also representing the Oko'otalomur'be-tuotae ("Cosmic Mage Guild"), one of Yiziba's two largest groups of welders of the "pure chaos". "My friends, please be seated," the Ice Warrior of Eternity then bade. "We have much to discuss indeed this evening."
"Spasíbo, továrisch," the reborn flagship of the Vtorája Tikhookeánskaja Èskádra and spiritual adopted daughter of Russia's greatest field commander ever, Agnéssa Vasíliovna Ignátsiusa-Suvórova — on Yiziba, she was the Fallen Knight of the Peninsula, Suvórov Uole ("Knjaz' Suvórov") — replied as she took the seat opposite her host before smiling as a grinning Nebesyákh' Bélogo topped up her cup. "Spasíbo, little one!" she said as she reached over to gently stroke the young girl's head feathers, making her squawk in embarrassment. "Is your mother aware you're up this late?" she then playfully demanded.
"Oh, leave her be, Mládshaja Sestrá!" Izumi Jung said as she tapped her own teacup to that of her fellow squadron-mate who had also been captured and recommissioned by Japan, Natsúmi Dmítrijevna Fjól'kerzhama-Rómanova, the former BS Imperátor Nikoláj I. On her capture and repair in 1905, the old battleship was renamed THG Iki and would serve until 1915, when she was expended as a target…only to return as the Healing Empress of the North, Nikoláj Eke-tenenetagu ("Imperátor Nikoláj I"); several gamájun elders had been quick to sense potential healing capabilities in the adopted native of Gátchina outside Sankt-Peterbúrg (birthplace of her namesake emperor) and wanted Natsúmi to remain there for the time being to better develop same. "Much that being forced to isolate themselves from the kuláki mertvyekróvi is understandable, the young are full of vigor and curiosity! Besides, we can't let Jóiko Khirósiovna here have all the fun in rendering those animals heads shorter!"
"You guys are damned lucky, you know that."
Eyes focused on Dyan Morton, who was gently sipping her own tea; much that she'd prefer coffee, given that both Russians and Japanese were generally tea crazy, she had gone along for the ride. "Oh, that's right," the reborn coastal defence battleship Admirál Ushakóv — now Vesná Fjódorovna Miklúkha-Ushakóva — trilled out. "You Amerikántsy had to deal with this stupid law of yours passed not a couple years after you threw the kovárnyj Anglicháne off your lands. What was it called again…?!"
"Rappaport's Law," Naomi Haight-Ashbury provided, making people gaze at her. "Yeah, by the time the Second Big Bad Scene hit the planet, most magical squarebloods…" — she smirked as Yoiko and Dyan both laughed at that weird yet acceptable insult — "…were so determined to keep themselves hidden from normal folk that they just left themselves way open for when old man Grindelwald teamed up with Uncle Josef on Rügen, then most of the Magical Congress in Manhattan got measured for cement overshoes a couple months after Pearl went down." As the Russian shipgirls felt their new American friend telepathically send them images of gangsters from the Roaring Twenties dumping people whose feet were frozen in concrete blocks to drown in large bodies of water, the adopted Californian added, "Gave Papa Franklin the chance to gut that all out with a Magical Executive Order to shape up or ship out, then asked Mackenzie King up in Canuck-land to send the Foresters down to keep it all clean."
Dyan perked. "Oh, the Canuck soldiers with the coonskin caps, right?" she asked, pointing to her head.
"Same cool dudes, Dyan!"
"And the Korolévskij Polk Kanádskikh Lesnikóv were involved in helping keep the peace in the Ródina after this insane revolution came down on people's heads over a decade after we were sunk, Jóiko?" Agnéssa asked.
"The same, much to the eternal pain of the International Confederation of Wizards even to this very day, Sempai," Yoiko snidely replied, making the Russian shipgirls all laugh in delight. "Were it not for them, thousands of magicals and their normal relations would have been cut down even worse than what would sadly follow once that maniac Stálin took charge of the country in the mid-1920s." As her guests sneered at the thought of such a lunatic getting such levels of power over normal people — they had been given detailed telepathic briefings by various gamájun elders concerning the last century of history for what had been born of the lands of the Russian Empire that once spanned from west of the valley of the Wisła all the way to Cape Dezhjóva not far from the very cove they now were visiting — the adopted native of Maizuru added, "It was by a miracle of sorts that Hitler turned out to be so incompetent and refused to listen to his own generals that Russia and the other Soviet republics were able to gather the strength to drive the Nazis back on the long walk to Berlin…or for the magicals, the long ride to Greifinswald."
"And, from what my own grandfather remembered, it was a long ride indeed."
Eyes locked on Pythía Xenofón, who was seated next to Khioníja Stepánova, with Sybill Trelawney and Luna Lovegood on the right side of the reborn workshop ship; the Greek seer's older peer from Beauxbâtons, Michelle de Garencières, was to Pythía's left. "And you were accepted into Durmstrang, Mistress?" the Far-Seer of the Guild wryly asked.
An amused chuckle answered her. "Grandfather was a halfblood even if he was an alumnus of Samothráki, Luna," the native of the magical quarter of Komotiní in western Thrace explained. "By the time it got to my generation, I was 'pure' enough to attend Durmstrang. My grandfather's 'blood treason' was kept quiet from the recruiters of course since I wasn't Russian…"
A chorus of laughter, cheers and raised glasses of tea in salute escaped the shipgirls present at such a cunning deception played on the pureblood-centric magical institution located in the far north of Norway. "Speaking of which, Luna-san, what of this rōnin Voldemort that plagued the magicals of Britain not so long ago? Given what I've read of your team leader's girlfriend…!"
Much to Luna's delight, her current divination teacher hadn't shivered even once on hearing the battle name of one Tom Marvolo Riddle. "Oh, he's out there somewhere. As to the 'where', I can't say; he's likely using a type of ebony mesonium shielding to keep himself totally hidden from any sort of scrying even by the Department of Mysteries in London. Never mind that the government under Northumberland Avenue near Whitehall wouldn't want to admit that 'You Know Who' somehow survived what Rose's mother did to him on Hallowe'en evening in 1996." As people nodded, the Far-Seer sipped her tea before one of Nebesyákh's friends refilled the cup. "Spasíbo!" she declared. "Still, with Thérèse's soul mostly rebuilt from those horcruxes Tom made to keep himself tied to this life…" — here, she shrugged as the gamájun in the cave hissed out in disgust on hearing of THOSE things — "…it shouldn't be too long before he's rendered easily mortal for Rose to see struck down finally."
"A prophecy I doomed the poor child to all those years ago," Sybill lamented, shaking her head. "At least Tariko was there to help 'him' when he was still Harry. That he chose the Gift of the Warlock to become Rose…!"
An amused chuckle escaped the lone French witch present. "That will definitely upset a few apple carts in London, oui?"
"No great loss, Professor," Luna lamented…
"Krásnyj Oktjábr'…!"
Eyes locked on the reborn KMT Kamchátka…
Anne Arundel County in Maryland overlooking the Severn River (five kilometres northwest of the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis), that moment (local time: Thursday, two hours before lunch)…
"So, not everyone can make it?"
"Sadly not, Jack," the balding, silver-haired man with the military-trimmed moustache and beard lamented as he patted his host's shoulder. "Kírja volunteered to keep watch over things at Hanford this Easter season; at least old Sásha will be here soon." At Jack Ryan's curious look, the man known officially on Florida state records as Mark Ramsey shrugged. "Something happened there a week ago that has all the departments monitoring that place literally up in arms. Don't ask me what, though."
The sixty-one-year-old former Marine, college professor, investor and CIA analyst/director — these days, the native of Baltimore lectured part time at the United States Navy Academy whenever he wasn't called in to advise various government departments on international relations in this vastly-changed post-Cold War world — nodded in understanding. "What rumours have you heard?"
The man born Márko Aleksándrovich Ramíus just before the start of the Great Patriotic War shrugged. "Well, you know that shortly after their Giftings, both the Academician and Doctor Renaissance took intensive tours of every atomic power plant and storage site in the United States, even the secret ones out in the Pacific. Made quite the impact there as well."
Ryan nodded. His expertise in international affairs didn't delve into the metahuman realms while he worked at Langley, but his late father remembered the actions of the War Hawks and the Liberty Legion during the Second World War, so he knew some things. "Found ways to drain off all the radiation from all the decommissioned reactors according to what friends at the White House told me. Massive use of mesonium energy injection to suck up all that radiation to allow things like old reactors — like the ones that used to propel the nuclear navy that Hyman Rickover wanted us to build — to be recycled finally."
"Yes. And the Philosopher, the Academician's friend in Russia, is doing the same thing over there as well…"
"More talk about mystery men, Márko?"
Both Ryan and Ramíus laughed as the former's wife Cathy came in along with one of the nine other Soviet Navy officers who had gladly defected in the late fall of 1984, bringing with them one of the most dangerous weapons systems ever devised by modern man, the Project 941.2 Ákula-class stealth-capable atomic-powered submarine rocket missile cruiser TK-210, known commonly as Krásnyj Oktjábr'. Born Svjatosláv Ígorovich Perejáslavov and having served on the submarine as its torpedo officer, he now lived as Doctor Sven Gordon, a family practitioner affiliated to Johns Hopkins Medical Centre in Baltimore. Having helped save the lives of both his captain and fellow defector Geórgij Mikhájlovich Kamaróv from the gunshots that a GRU officer disguised as a ship's cook fired to try and stop the defection and the loss of Oktjábr' to the Americans thanks to his having taken interest in medical literature from a young age, Perejáslavov went to medical school and got his degree before moving to Baltimore to start his practice. Only in recent years — with the Cold War long done and the need for such profound secrecy concerning the effective theft of a multi-billion rubl' missile submarine in the mid-1980s — had the long-suffering Cathy Ryan learned the truth of the younger man's friendship with her husband. "It's something Sásha warned me about…ah, thank you, Sláva!" the native of Vilnius explained as a cup of tea was handed over. "On Saturday just before dawn, some sort of strange energy buildup occurred in the Hanford East Site, where decommissioned ship reactors are placed. Both Sásha and Kírja were on shift when it happened, then discovered that the only set of C1W reactors placed there had gone missing."
Ryan blinked. "The Long Beach?"
"The first atomic missile cruiser, Jack?" Ramíus' old executive officer Vasílij Samuílovich Borodín wondered.
"She's the only one that was ever outfitted that way, Vasíl; all successive cruisers received destroyer-type reactors since they were built on smaller hulls," everyone's host explained. "Haven't been to the White House for…"
The doorbell rang. "I got it, Jack!" Kamaróv called out before heading to the door, opening it before a grin crossed his face. "Sásha! Robby! Sissy! C'mon in! Tea and coffee's already being served!"
"Hey, George!" Robby Jackson declared as he warmly clasped the hand of the Oktjábr's old navigation officer before he shifted himself as his wife Cecilia moved in to hug the man before Kamaróv went and embraced his ship's old chief engineer.
"Hello, everyone!" Aleksándr Rogvolódovich Mélekhin bellowed out like a typical grandfather — he was Ramíus' peer age-wise, having matured on the dockyards of Múrmansk during the hectic years of the Great Patriotic War, learning how to maintain and upkeep such vessels on his own before taking formal training to become the Soviet Navy's most respected nuclear engineer by the time of his rise to captain first rank, which would NEVER give him command of a ship — as he came in, slipping a carry-all bag from his shoulder before moving to embrace his old commander, then his hosts. "I bring messages from Hanford and our friends at the White House." At the surprised looks from the others, Mélekhin added, "Straight from Leo McGarry."
Ryan nodded. "Which means the President authorized things. Both for me and everyone here?"
"Yes," the old engineer declared. "First, some tea and snacks to relax, then I'll brief you…"
Somewhere in the depths of the North Atlantic Ocean north of Puerto Rico, that moment…
Khólodno, khmúro…
I mráchno v dushé…
Kak mog znat' ja shto ty umrjósh'…?
How long had she slept…?
In this dark, chilly night of the deepest place in the oceans that was close to American sovereign territory, she had been safe from discovery by the nation of her creation thanks to her noble captain's planning…
…and matching cunning plans by intelligence officers of the nation she had been built once to destroy in an awful first strike scenario that no sane person in the 1980s wanted to see happen.
Especially her wonderful spy-turned-helmsman, dear Iván Èmmétovich…!
V oktjabré, v oktjabré
Raportújem my náshi pobédy.
V oktjabré, v oktjabré
Nóvyj mir dáli nam náshi dédy…!
Such a sad time that was. Afraid of flying thanks to the loss of his parents in an airplane crash years before — never mind the training accident that cut the man's career in his homeland's naval infantry so short! — and bearing the wounds acquired in defence of the then-heir and heiress of the British throne from Irish bandits when on a working vacation in old London, a defence that would see his beloved wife and innocent child nearly KILLED by said bandits in a later attack…!
…yet he had been more than brave enough to avenge the death of an allied officer — a wonderful Englishman who gave up his life to save both her captain and navigator from a worthless GRU spy infiltrating her crew, a beast no different than that pig zampolít Pútin who DARED question her captain's competence when they commenced that voyage! — and save her brave officers from being immolated alive in a melting corpse of a missile submarine, gutted by one of her own rockets…!
Saljút ottsám i náshim dédam,
Zavétam ikh vsegdá verný.
Tepér' nishtó ne ostanóvit
Pobédnyj shag rodnój straný…!
How long…?
Yes, everyone was coming together at Iván Èmmétovich's home near Annapolis to celebrate the anniversary of the day she sailed from Norfolk to be scuttled, almost two years after she made the American coast, avoiding a huge dragnet of attack submarines — many of whom were commanded by students of Márko Aleksándrovich himself, the adopted sons of his beloved late wife Natál'ja Bogdánovna Padórina, a wonderful woman effectively MURDERED by a drunken doctor's incompetence; they loved her as their own mother, so why didn't they join in Márko's desire for revenge against the madmen controlling the State…?! — who had been made ineffective thanks to her special "caterpillar" magnetohydrodynamic drive system, something that sounded like a faint seismic event even to the advanced sensors of American and allied submarines at the time…!
How long…?
Eh…?
What was old Aleksándr Rogvolódovich telling everyone…?!
The Ryan residence outside Annapolis, ninety minutes before lunch…
Robby Jackson was agape. "Man, I always thought that the snipes talking about that sort of thing was just some old sea story…!"
"There's our proof," Jack Ryan finished for his old friend as he stared at the image of one CAPT Ellen Michelle Naomi Haight-Ashbury USNR in her traditional flower-decked jumpsuit, the redesigned badge of USS Long Beach — complete with her new "single-list unified" hull number CGN 160 — over her heart, the eagles of her rank at her collars. As both Jackson's wife Sissy and Ryan's wife Cathy tried not to automatically coo in the normal grandmotherly way over such a wholesome looking girl, the man who topped out as Deputy Director (Operations) at the Central Intelligence Agency in the mid-1990s before retiring full-time from the spy business in the wake of an atomic scare at the Super Bowl in Denver as arranged by Islamic terrorists who got hold of a lost Israeli tactical nuke — what that nearly had done between America and Russia had nearly torched off World War Three, which was far too much for Ryan to take — shook his head. "And she's not the only one who's come back?"
"Nowhere close, Jack," Aleksándr Mélekhin said, shaking his head. "This started the middle of last month when young Suiki in Japan — you know of her, yes? — well, she was making use of a wonderful gift Doctor Renaissance gave her, a specially-built umbrella that allows her to fly and protect herself from harm. She was travelling about on spring break over the Solomons battlefield when her powers sensed out the — 'kami', the Japanese call it — of one of the destroyers sunk there, the Fubuki."
"First true modern destroyer," Davíd Anatól'evich Bulgánin, Krásnyj Oktjábr's old sonar officer, provided.
"Yes, Davíd. And this is what she became…"
The old engineer tapped an icon on the modified iPad he used for personal work — such more than secure from all sorts of eavesdropping, Ryan knew — to produce the image of a very cute teenage girl. "Christ! She looks like Sally did that that age!" Sissy Jackson breathed out in disbelief. "Look, Sásha, I don't understand this kami stuff at all…!"
"Think of all the mesonium pumped into the biosphere thanks very much to our Canadian, Australian and New Zealander friends via their special battleships destroying those soul-sucking creatures that got loose during the world wars, Sesílija." Even if the Russian officers all spoke perfect English after decades of practice, they often slipped into using their native pronunciations when addressing good friends by name. "With all that mesonium being fused into Fubuki's hull, somehow, someway — perhaps your old Jesuit teachers might understand this better, Jack — the memories of ALL those who helped design, build and crew her were flash-photocopied into her structure. When the Great Crystal of Power allowed one of the Second Healer's synthezoid creations — the ones she created to destroy the Goa'uld all those years ago — to metaphysically absorb the Fubuki's hull into itself to create this girl, all those memories came together to create a living soul, one that now calls herself Fukushima Fujiko."
"And she's not the only one who's undergone this, Sásha?" Cathy asked.
"Six others of her class have returned, Ekaterína, plus we have Naomi here, and a long-missing aircraft carrier from JAPAN who would have been involved in the attack on Pearl Harbour hadn't Lord Túndra of all beings on this planet got in the way!"
Stunned silence fell…
Sano Bay, that moment…
"Holy damn! I REMEMBER that whole crazy scene!"
Eyes locked on Naomi Haight-Ashbury, including the small number of THG Yonaga's senior officers — and yes, Fujita Hiroshi himself — who had come to this cave when word got out that the reborn KMT Kamchátka was experiencing a vision of some sort, something that could lead to the first actual PROPHECY being uttered by a shipgirl blessed with seer abilities. "I was part of the ONI staff in Washington, just out of the Academy, when this went down," Brent Ross added, making people gaze at him. "The story we first got from the Soviets was that an attack submarine full of kids of senior Party members got lost in the mid-North Atlantic on their first voyage, so the Northern Fleet laid out a massive rescue force to find them. But because it was so huge, we had to put ships to sea to keep watch over everything, which caused some incidents to happen back then." As amused snorts escaped his friends, Brent then gazed at the Cosmic All-Seer. "You were part of New Jersey's group back then, right?"
"Yeah, man, we had old Kírov and her gang right in front of us, acting as bold as a bunch of red squares as you could get!" the adopted native of her namesake city in California affirmed. "Didn't get into any knife fight and all that; from what we later found out, the boat had a reactor accident and sank off the Carolinas, most of her enlisted crew and junior officers being picked up by the Pigeon with some DSRV help." Here, Naomi smirked. "Then we find out the 'attack boat' was a BOOMER…!"
"Yet if what this information concerning the Krásnyj Oktjábr' your friends in Washington are now letting you see is true, Naomi-chan, the seamanship this Ramíus and his friends showed in getting past their fleet mates to deliver such a craft into the hands of the United States compares to what the crews of our older friends here showed before Tsushima," Fujita concluded. "They are samurai, all of them," he breathed out. "An act of vengeance no different than what the Forty-Seven did all those years ago…!"
"As is Ryan-sensei if what his involvement in this affair indicates, never mind his actions before and after this event."
Eyes locked on the Ice Warrior of Eternity. "He is a godly man," Khioníja Stepánova declared, nodding at Itō Yoiko's words.
"Easy, Khioníja…" the Far-Seer of the Cosmic Mage Guild gently soothed as she projected some of her magic into the reborn workshop ship's mind. "Don't let your powers run away from you like that. You are in control…!"
"Da, Iván Èmmétovich Rájan is a godly man indeed," Khioníja's old squadron flagship declared, making eyes focus directly on Agnéssa Suvórova. "Dealing with these murderous pigs from Ireland — da, they had the right to fight for their freedom from England, but to try to murder a CHILD to make a political statement of all things?! Pah! — then trying to stop those ungodly missiles from flying because other 'freedom fighters' were prepared to launch a WORLD WAR to see a tentative peace in the Levant destroyed?! The man deserved to be made your PRESIDENT for such actions, Naómi Evgén'evna!"
Ogawa Gorō gazed on the adopted native of Moskvá. "You're not angry at what Márko-san and his crew did?"
"Net, Goró Naójukovich!" the reborn Knatz' Suvórov spat out. "You Japanese use this term — 'rōnin', da? — to indicate those who have fallen from honour and no longer serve a noble! The so-called 'government of the people' created by that eunuch Lénin and his clique were rōnin…and it was people like Márko Aleksándrovich and his friends who were the true knights of the time, true samurai as the Generál-Admirál here just addressed them as!" As Fujita blushed at being called "general admiral" — which in the Imperial Russian ranking system, was the equal of what today would be called a "four-star" flag officer — Agnéssa shook her head. "What's worse, this Krásnyj Oktjábr' was built to unleash ARMAGEDDON! Márko Aleksándrovich and his comrades did the whole WORLD a great favour in denying their 'esteemed leaders' the use of such a blasted thing!"
"God was indeed at their sides when they moved to defect to America," Izumi Jung breathed out, nodding in understanding.
Grim nods echoed from all around them…
"She is awakening…!"
Eyes locked on a paling Khioníja…
North of Puerto Rico…
Èj! I v pokhód, i v pokhód!
Nas volná morskája zhdjót ne dozhdjótsja.
Nas zovjót morskája dal'
I pribój…!
If she could, she would cry out with a mixture of agony and anticipation.
She understood the strategic necessity that had driven dear Márko Aleksándrovich and his friends to do what they did…
Much that there were those in the Soviet Union in the 1980s who loathed the concept of launching an all-out war against the "decadent" West, there were those who would gladly take whatever advantage they could get and use it.
She had been built for such a deadly purpose, Márko had explained to Iván Èmmétovich when they pulled into Norfolk…
Yet to believe…
Yes, ships had souls. Any sailor worth their salt knew that!
But to believe that somehow, the many battles waged on dark sea monsters during the Great War and the Great Patriotic War by the Istrebíteli Drakónov from Canada, Australia and New Zealand had caused THAT…!
And it was enough for the immortal soul of the Great Crystal of Power, the source-point of all mesonium in Existence, to lock in on, then allow the creations of the second incarnation of the Crystal's first defender to be reborn…!
And reborn as…!
As…!
Wait…
Could SHE do that…?
Saljút ottsám i náshim dédam,
Zavétam ikh vsegdá verný.
Tepér' nishtó ne ostanóvit
Pobédnyj shag rodnój straný…!
What place would someone like HER hold in this new, strange world…?
Russian by birth, she was American by spirit…!
Did the people back home know the truth of what Márko, and his brave officers had done…?
How would they react…?
Ty plyví, plyví besstráshno,
Górdost' sévernykh moréj,
Revoljútsii nadézhda,
Sgústok véry vsekh ljudéj…
Wait…
WAS someone like her needed…?
True, the first American nuclear surface warship had been reborn…and God help her, what a strange one she was…!
And this aircraft carrier from Japan of all places, trapped in a cove in SIBERIA by Lord Túndra himself…!
Was there a…?
Ah…!
AH!
There WAS need of her if what was going on outside Tōkyō itself indicated anything…!
Not to mention…
V oktjabré, v oktjabré
Raportújem my náshi pobédy.
V oktjabré, v oktjabré
Nóvyj mir dáli nam náshi dédy…!
Ugh…!
What were THOSE things doing on this Remnant planet…?!
No…!
No, the Wise Ones were right!
That planet must be PURGED…!
NOW she had a true mission…!
Tene lomher'buo, Olívija Márko-myam Ramíus…!
V oktjabré, v oktjabré
Raportújem my náshi pobédy.
V oktjabré…
Nóvyj mir…
A new world indeed…!
The Ryan residence outside Annapolis…
Someone's cell phone rang. "Yes!" Aleksándr Mélekhin called into his set.
"Sásha, it's me!" bellowed from three time zones away. "Our reactor…!"
The old engineer paled before tapping the control for speakerphone. "Everyone's hearing you, Kírja!"
"What's happening, Kírja?!" Márko Ramíus demanded.
"Our reactors, my Captain! They just vanished!" Kiríll Ivánovich Surzpój called from the main observation office located near Trench 94, located in the middle of the Hanford Reservation north-northwest of Richland on the Columbia River. "It just happened so suddenly. Everything was quiet one moment, then one of the caskets glowed and vanished…!"
Shit! If it's that crazy Russkie coming back, someone's gotta birddog her…!
"Bózhe moj…!"
"Shit!" Robert Jackson snarled as he held out his hand. Once Mélekhin passed it over, he called out, "Commander Surzpój, this is Admiral Jackson! You got some speakerphone available over the trench so I can talk to whichever dolphin's coming back?!"
"You're on, Robby!" another voice called out, one Mélekhin recognized as that of retired captain Patrick Mannion, who had served as combat officer on USS Dallas when the Krásnyj Oktjábr' came across the Atlantic in 1984; he would come over to help Ramíus and his crew pilot the ship on the final sprint into Norfolk once the non-defectors were well clear.
Jackson nodded. "Decommissioned United States submarine moving to be Gifted, this is Vice-Admiral Robert J. Jackson, United States Navy: Name and hull number!" he barked out in a voice he rarely had to use even as a flag officer.
A shocked awk answered him. A-a-Admiral…?!
"It's Pogy, Robby!" Mannion then barked out.
Tene lomher'buo, Geraldine Winter Stott…!
Jackson chuckled. "Thank God for the Conservator…!"
I…wait, I'm named after my first CAPTAIN…whoa, what…holy SHIT…!
Nesu…ME-RONEKR'OTEMER'BEM!
"God-DAMN…!" Mannion croaked out…
…then the whooshing sound of wind whipping past someone flying echoed over the phone!
"Admiral Jackson! United States Ship Pogy, SSN-647, reporting for duty!" the voice of who now would be known as the Atomic Explorer of the Deep Currents, Me-Ronekr'otemer'bem ("Pogy II"), called out, her voice echoing both the southern Californian of her first captain Commander George W. Stott Jr, added to the western New Jersey tones spoken at her place of construction in Camden across from Philadelphia. "Sir, even if the Red October's officers did defect, can we guarantee…?!"
"Chill, Pogs!" a new voice cut in. "We can calm our comrade down!"
"Huh…?! Beachy…?!"
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"Pat! What happened?!" Jackson demanded.
An amused chuckle escaped the other retired officer. "Well, Captain Haight-Ashbury came in, grabbed Commander Stott, then they teleported away, Robby. If you're with Jack and Cathy right now, you'd better call the White House…"
Jack Ryan chuckled. "We're going to do just that, Pat!"
North of Puerto Rico, that moment…
Nesu…TOSIR'BETA YAKRONUSE!
Silence.
More silence.
Still more silence.
Then…
"Hmm…overcast and warm…just like the captain promised it'd be when we 'made port' in Gavána…!"
Thinking of that, the Atomic Maiden of the Final Apocalypse, Tosir'beta Yakronuse ("Krásnyj Oktjábr'"), then snickered as she sensed the housekeeping elements of her new "hull's" brain move to speedily process the memories of all those who had planned, built and served on her — yes, both Soviet and the small group of Americans who got the chance to take her apart and analyze her systems once she was safely in the hands of the "main enemy" as people in Moskvá would call them — from the day of her conception as the seventh of the Ákula-class submarine rocket cruisers to her final scuttling years later. As she felt the presence of one of her adopted people's wonderful "personal administrative assistant" hand-held devices slip into the starboard pouch of her black-and-dark blue skinsuit uniform, Olívija Márkovna Ramíus automatically reached into same to pull the device out, she also noting said device link telepathically into her mind to ascertain what she needed to know. Grateful to the many geniuses who crafted such a remarkable device — and if what her captain and crew had spoken of to their delightful hosts indicated anything, three of those geniuses lived in this incarnation, two of them American and one Russian with Karelian ancestry — she then thought of what her present status was vis-à-vis the Great Show of Life itself, both on Earth and back on Yiziba.
Blinking on seeing a cartoonish version of her as a human being — long red hair square-cut to mid-back with a twirling bang sticking out from her forehead, crimson brown eyes peeking from a fair and mature face, somewhat curvy and muscular as befitting her being the largest submarine of any type ever built, she dressed in a form-fitting skinsuit coloured non-reflective black with dark blue boots and belt, the central sigil of the Order of the Red Banner on her upper chest and the pennant number П1143 in white on her upper thighs; Dear God, did the Ródina actually build THAT MANY submarines before me…?! — appear on the holographic screen with information now pouring in concerning the status of the world around her, that of her crew in America and some of those who made it back to Japan, not to mention other dóchka flóta like herself…!
"Ah, good morning, Captain!"
Olívija yelped in shock before looking to her left…
…then she gaped on seeing the smiling young man riding a BROOM of all things hovering in the sky just a couple metres off. "Ah, dóbroje útro, továrisch!" she replied in Russian before moving to speak in English.
Said rider, who was in the uniform of the San Juan Sentinels, one of the regional quidditch teams that played in both the American national league as well as various international Caribbean tourneys, smiled as he pointed to her neck. "If what I've heard about adopted Yizibajohei like you says anything, those suits of yours have automatic translation spells — is that what you'd call them on that planet? — to make you be understood by anyone you'd meet and let anyone understand you in return!"
That made her stop before she blushed. "Ah, spasíbo, továrisch! So, um…what are you doing so far from shore?!"
"Just enjoying the morning sea air before the game this afternoon, ma'am!" he assured her. "I'm a chaser with the Sentinels; that's a quidditch team based out of Puerto Rico. You're a shipgirl, right?! Spirit of a warship made human?!" At her nod, he then hummed. "So, how the heck did a Russian warship get all the way out to HERE of all places?!"
Olívija chuckled. "My officers and captain felt it necessary and just to defect to America, then presented me along the way as a nice Christmas present to your country." As he gaped at her, she then looked at her PAA. "Bózhe moj! It's 2012 already?!"
He considered that before nodding. "Oh, they scuttled you in the deep trenches here, right?!" At her surprised look, he smirked. "I'm no-maj-born, with normal parents. Uncle and grand-uncle served in the Navy. When'd you come over here, Captain?!"
Perking at being addressed by military rank, she then blinked on remembering that her jumpsuit collars displayed the four gold stripes with gold star of a second-rank captain in the Soviet Navy there; such would look like an American naval captain's insignia from a distance. "Oh, it was late 1984, in fact! I just felt it when my officers — they're meeting up with friends who helped them settle into America after they defected — reported to their helpers about dóchka flóta like myself…!"
"Hey!" a new voice called out as Olívija tensed, she automatically holding out a protective hand towards the young player. "Anyone seen a crazy Russkie submarine sneaking about with their caterpillar drive around these parts?!"
Another voice then breathed out, "Jeez, Pogs! Scare the girl square, why don't you?!"
Gasping, she spun around to the north…
…before a scream of delight escaped her as she lunged over to snare the just-arrived reborn attack submarine in a bear hug below her hips, then dance gaily around in mid-air, that making Winter Stott shriek. "COMRADE POGY!"
The quidditch player watching this blinked before he gazed a question at the Cosmic All-Seer, a shipgirl who was VERY well known among American magicals now. Seeing that, Naomi Haight-Ashbury winked. "They chilled out together once!"
Staring at the two reborn submarines as Winter tried to bash Olívija away, he wryly smirked. "Er…yeah…!"
To Be Continued…
WRITER'S NOTES
Kōmei Tennō (birth name Osahito, 1831-1867) was the Heavenly Sovereign of Japan from 1846 to his death at the end of the Tokugawa Bafuku ("tent government", AKA the Tokugawa Shogunate) which ruled in his name; when his son Meiji Tennō (born Mutsuhito, 1852-1912) assumed the throne on his father's death, the government reforms that fell under the umbrella term Meiji Restoration began. The agreement between Tokugawa Japan and Imperial Russia referred to by Fukushima Hatsue (THG Hatsuyuki) in the first scene is the Treaty of Shimoda of 7 February 1855, which opened the former nation up to foreign trade and formally ended the period of national seclusion (sakoku, literally "chained country") from outside contact.
Teams NDGO ("Indigo") (Nebula Violette, Dew Gayl, Gwen Darcy and Octavia Ember) and BRNZ ("Bronze") (Brawnz Ni, Roy Stallion, Nolan Porfirio and May Zedong) first appeared in "New Challengers…" (volume three, second episode). Anairis Camilla (first name taken from her voice actress) first appeared in "Cordially Invited" (volume seven, eighth episode).
Translation list and source language (all Russian save when noted): Aleksándr Vtorój — Aleksándr the Second; Chishima-rettō — Thousand Islands; Dai-Jūkyū-tai — Short for Dai-Jūkyū Kuchiku-tai ("Nineteenth Destroyer Division") (both Japanese); Za váshe zdoróv'e — Literally "to your health"; Mládshaja Sestrá — Younger sister; Kuláki mertvyekróvi — Literally "tightfisted dead-bloods", a local way of saying "staleblood purebloods"; Kovárnyj Anglicháne — Perfidious English; Korolévskij Polk Kanádskikh Lesnikóv — Royal Regiment of Canadian Foresters; Wisła — Vistula (River) (Polish); Zampolít — Political officer; Istrebíteli Drakónov — Dragon Slayers; Dóbroje útro — Good morning.
The list of new shipgirls for this part begins with Japan:
Nakamura Okimi-shōsa DNTK (Tennō Heika Gunkan I-402, later Nihon-koku Gunkan Shioji [SK-402])
She resembles fan art of her done by Chibi Ōsaka, which can be seen at Pixiv under ID #121380807.
Now, from Russia, starting first with the shipgirls of the Second Pacific Squadron mentioned by name here…
Kapitán Pérvyj Ránga Natsúmi Dmítrijevna Fjól'kerzhama-Rómanova RIF (later Taisa DNTK) (Bronenósets Imperátor Nikoláj I [pennant 006], later Tennō Heika Gunkan Iki [ZS-7])
Kap1 Agnéssa Vasíliovna Ignátsiusa-Suvórova RIF (Èskádrennyj Bronenósets Knjaz' Suvórov [pennant 024])
Kap1 Vesná Fjódorovna Miklúkha-Ushakóva RIF (Bronenósets Beregovój Oboróny Admirál Ushakóv [pennant 092])
Natsúmi resembles her near-namesake Kurobe Natsumi from Sempai ga Uzai Kōhai no Hanashi. Agnéssa takes after Agnes Claudel from Kuro no Kiseki. And Vesná takes after Kamisato Ayaka from Genshin Impact. Note that like Japanese capital ships in this universe, Russian capital ships are classified according to when and how they were constructed. A Bronenósets ("Armourclad", type prefix BS) is most often an iron-hulled warship, not the steel hulled vessels that would later get the term Èskádrennyj Bronenósets ("Squadron Armourclad", type prefix ÈB) applied to them; in effect, a squadron armourclad would be equal to the British "pre-dreadnought" designation. A Bronenósets Beregovój Oboróny ("Coastal Defence Armourclad", type prefix BBO) is a non-oceangoing version of a standard armourclad. All ocean battleships are given pennant numbers from 000-049 in the unified list system used for Russian/Soviet capital ships, with coastal defence ships falling into the 080-099 range.
Now, a truly rare subgirl to appear in fanfiction…
Kapitán Vtorój Ránga Olívija Márkovna Ramíus VMF-SSSR (Rakétnyj Podvódnyj Kréjser Strategícheskogo Naznachénija TK-210 Krásnyj Oktjábr' [pennant P1143])
She resembles Olivia, a normal version of the zombie idol VTuber Kureijii Ollie from the second batch of Hololive's Indonesia division, which first appeared in 2020. Her rather LONG type-prefix (shortened to RPKSN) means "Strategic Purpose Underwater Rocket Cruiser", which is the Russian term applied to all ballistic missile submarines worldwide. Soviet/Russian submarines most often never get names; they are given effective pennant numbers based on their purpose and class. All nuclear submarines received the pennant superior K for Kréjser ("cruiser") thanks to their long range; the Project 941 Ákula ("shark") class got the TK designation for Tjazhólyj Kréjser ("heavy cruiser") due to their sheer displacement of around 23,000 tonnes surfaced/48,000 tonnes submerged. Olívija's old pennant number is based on the real seventh of her class which was cancelled in 1986; it was the potential existence of this craft that inspired Mr. Clancy to bases his fictional boat on that series. Naturally, Olívija's home service is the VMF-SSSR (Vojénno-Morskój Flót Sojúz Sovétskikh Socialistícheskikh Respúblik, "Military Maritime Fleet of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"). Her new pennant number unites her with all Russian/Soviet submarines which existed or were planned to exist since the start of the Twentieth Century…and YES, by the time it would have got to Krásnyj Oktjábr', over ELEVEN HUNDRED submarines (Podvódnaja Lódka, pennant superior P/П) had been built!
And from the United States…
Commander Geraldine Winter Stott USN (United States Ship Pogy [SSN-647])
Winter takes after Aria Wintermint from the 2016 online comic series The Crawling City, though her hair would be a darkish gold shade matching the skin and scales of her namesake fish, also known as the menhaden (genera Brevoortia). As the second of her name, Winter got the "Me-" numerical prefix to the Yizibajohei translation of her ship name as her battle name.
The Royal Canadian Foresters (RCF) were first introduced in Magic and Canada. Greifinswald and Samothráki are the names of two "minor" national magical schools not accredited with the International Confederation of Wizards created by Fred for his various stories. Greifinswald ("Griffin's Woods") (first mentioned in the Wizards and Avalonians side stories to Phoenix From the Ashes) was originally the national school for the Duchy of Pomerania which existed from 1121-1637; the school would remain in operation after Prussia took over the territory, only to be closed at the end of World War Two. Samothráki ("Samothrace") is Greece's national school, located on the island of the same name in the northern Aegean Sea.
The story surrounding Jack Ryan, his wife Cathy Ryan, and the crew of the missile submarine Krásnyj Oktjábr' ("Red October") runs pretty much as depicted in the early novels written by Tom Clancy (1947-2013), including The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, The Cardinal of the Kremlin, Clear and Present Danger and The Sum of All Fears; this would span the period from 1982-1991 in this universe. Some tweaks to the stories of some of the people who appeared in those stories have been made to better fit the mood of this whole series; for example, all Red October's officers who wished to defect survived, while Royal Navy Lieutenant Owen Williams (who appeared only in the novel) was the only one to be killed by GRU agent Ígor' Arkádievich Lóginov before Ryan struck him down. As political dramas like The West Wing are a part of the background of this series, the Ryanverse plays a small rôle…save for the return of the most dangerous weapons system built in the Cold War as noted above. Note that given names and patronymics here which weren't mentioned in the novel are Fred's creation.
The lyrics and translation to Hymn to Red October (Gimn Krásnovo Oktjabrjá) can be easily found on-line.