When humanity left its cradle world to explore and colonize new worlds. They had thought they would get a fresh Start. A new beginning from all the old wars, bickerings, and grievances of old Earth. And for a time, this was true.
In the 2300s, humanity was plunged back into war. Not with itself, not planet versus planet, not even against aliens or rival nations, but the past brought into life.
The Abyssals, twisted manifestations of battles and ships from the past, appeared on every planet with an ocean, regardless of nationality, race, religion, or any other form of human difference. Hundreds of cities burned and broke as the Abyssal rampaged through the seas and skies while the defenders of humanity put their resistance wherever they could.
But in the form of the Kamusu, the shipgirls, did humanity receive a chance to fight back on even ground? Spirits manifested from the past fighting against the Abyssals. Human and shipgirl forces fought across every world, moon, and colony, beating back the Abyssal metre by metre, kilometre by kilometre, island after island.
By the end of the 24th century, the Abyss had been beaten back at the cost of half a billion of lives. But the Abyss swore vengeance against both man and kamusu.
It is now the year 2632, AC and humanity is at an edge. The third Abyssal War rages, not against the abyss that humanity is familiar with, but now against the abyss of aliens.
Having recently toppled the alien megacorporation Minimar Specialized Industry, the United Nations Allied Forces now find themselves in a war against the vengeful spirits of the aliens they defeated. It is a war humanity is not ready for.
And now, humanity is forced to defend several alien species freed from MSI, all of whom remain defenceless against the Abyss, while defending its borders.
The 7th fleet of the United Nations Allied Forces has launched a brazen raid into Abyssal helf space, hoping by time for the arsenal of humanity and its allies to be built up.
It is here we start our story, with a young Corvette Spirit
3000 Lightyears Away from the Tribune System
Rota System, 2632 UNC
"Warrior Command, This is Sarsfield, no hostiles in sight. Continuing sweep."
"(Comms) Wilco Sarsfield. Keep up the good work."
And with that last report, Sarsfield stretched her back.
Sarsfield was a corvette Kamusus of the 192nd Light Patrol Squadron (both spirits and steel hulls) that was currently gliding through the void spread across many hundreds of thousands of kilometres.
They were on patrol duty for the UNAF 7th fleet that had sain an Abyssal Shipyard Princess. A hard-fought but necessary victory. But now the 7th was resupply and rearming, leaving it fairly vulnerable to an Abyssal strike.
That was why Sarsfield was here, sailing out to patrol the void to make sure nothing was going to sneak up on them.
"Jeonbuk, this is Sarsfield. I'm done my sweep, heading to join you."
"(Comms) Copy that Sarsfield. There's nothing here anyway. Heywood and Piaui are also done by the way."
"So I'm last, on my way!"
The Corvette spirit lit off her impulse drive thruster, pushing herself in a new direction. While her guns and missile turrets swivelled to cover herself in all directions, Sarsfield was content to sail serenely.
She took a sigh of relief and stretched out, it would be a fairly serene day.
"(Comms) You're looking relaxed," Jeonbuk reported.
Sarsfield cracked open an eye. She could sense her sister nearby, just floating in outer space.
"Is it too much to ask for a break?"
"Nope, just like to keep you on your toes."
She flipped her body so her rigging drives could slow her down more effectively and decelerate. Maybe not the most fuel efficient but it was fast.
She continued her deceleration burn right until her velocity had nearly been halted and Jeonbuk was in sight.
"Hi Jeon! How's patrol work!"
"The usual. Boring." Jeonbuk shrugged.
"(Comms) But it is important work." Another voice the radio stated.
Sarsfield looked up to see two more Corvette spirits decelerating towards them. "Hi Heywood, Hi Piaui!"
"Sars, Jeon! You're back! How were your patrols?"
"Empty for now, which is good," Heywood nodded. "It's been empty for now."
"So when can we head back? I'm spent?" UNSV Piaui added, stretching out her back.
"Soon, as soon, as soon as the last of the patrols report in," Heywood nodded.
"I'm bored, can we go join someone else?"
"Jeon! No! Are you just persistently wanting to get-"
"(Comms) All Patrol units, all Patrol units. This is Warrior Command. Shunt to alert status Yellow. Be advised destroyer UNSV Ascot and Vigil 7 have encountered several flights of Abyssal fighters. All units within the vicinity of UNSV Ascot, move to assist, how copy?"
"Ascot? Abyssals?" Jeon's eyes widened. "They're not far!"
"So what's the hold up-"
"One moment," Sarsfield held her hand up. "Warrior Command, this is Sarsfield of Vigil 11. We heard Ascot's distress call. Requesting permission to engage."
"(Comms) Affirmative Sarsfield. We are greenlighting your request to engage and destroy the Abyssal force accosting Ascot's patrol group. Good hunting and stay safe girls. Warrior Command out."
"That's it then, the war is back on," Sarsfield primed every single combat system. Shields, Impulse thrusters, Lasers, missiles, everything was coming online.
"So, guess this it then? Back to Abyssal hunting?"
"You right Jeon. Come on girls, Ascot needs some help. Let's bring some to them!"
And with that, four Impulse Drive Engines lit up and four shipspirts ventured further into darkness. It was a signal that humanity's war with the Abyss was back on.
()
Stellar Wiki…Zhan-Hao Class Corvette
The Zhan Hao class Corvette, named after UN/Korean Admiral Josuha Zhan Hao of the Third World War, was a corvette design of the United Nations Space Force used from the Oum Crisis to the end of the Second Abyssal War. It's emblematic of both the United Nations and human design, and its style and design are carried on by corvettes succeeding it.
The Zhan Hao is designed in the fashion that defines human military vessels from the Post-Oum Crisis to the present: a narrow triangular hull with a utilitarian look. It has a length of 210 metres, a width of 70 metres, and a displacement of 500,000 metric tons. Its primary power plant is a deuterium cold fusion power plant with a Secondary fission power plant capable of providing plenty of power.
The Zhan Hao's primary propulsion comes from a single high-speed Impulse Drive Thruster and a pair of secondary plasma engines. This allows it unprecedented speed, capable of crossing a medium-sized star system in just under a day. Its primary FTL system is a Lawerence Industries Generation 3 HyperSpace Drive, capable of travelling the Cosmic Hyperlanes between Star Systems. However, after the Earther-Colonial War of the 2500s, most UNSF ships were retrofitted with Cosmic Jump Drives capable of FTL outside of hyperlanes with a range of ten lightyears.
The Zhan Hao's primary protection comes from a single small energy shield generator. This provides modest protection against primary radiation and energy-based weapons such as lasers and plasma. However, these shields are notorious for being fairly ineffective against Kinetic weaponry, missiles, and smaller energy weapons mounted on strike craft. As such, the Zhan Hao is also layered in Plasteel armour, which can compensate for the energy shield's deficiencies. Later models of the Zhan Hao were fitted with crystal-forged armour plates, which were fused to their hull to provide additional durability.
However, it's not the end of Zhan Hao's protection, it also has a unique Amoboe-derived Bacterial Regenerative Hull Tissue dispenser. This odd technology inserts bacteria through the ship's hull and armour and can slowly repair the vessel even in critical situations. While it cannot fully fic a ship in a reasonable time frame, this….quirk allows the Zhan Hao to survive situations larger ships couldn't.
The armaments of the Zhan Hao are varied enough to counter most threats. It's equipped with a pair of Gamma Ray Pulse laser turrets, a pair of turreted anti-ship missile launchers, one turret of Flak Artillery, and one Guardian Hybrid Plasma and Kinetic point defence Turret. These weapons are split, with three turrets on the dorsal and three on the ventral sides. This diversity of armament allows the Zhan Hao to combat most threats. However, the Zhan Hao is noticeable in not specializing in destroying specific threats and it is generally agreed that a Zhan Hao should operate alongside more specialized classes like Frigates or more corvettes. The Zhan Hao also has 8 Blue Pulse Laser nodes of a last-ditch anti-missile and fighter defence.
The Zhan Hao started out as a joint production project between the Pacific Rim Coalition and the United Nations Allied Forces, with a modest few dozen being produced before the 1st Abyssal War. When the Abyssal did appear on almost every terrestrial world with a major ocean, the Zhan Hao was among the space fleets that relieved defending forces with pinpoint orbital laser and missile strikes.
Since then, the Zhan Hao has continued production, becoming the standard corvette-class vessel for the United Nations Space Fleet. Constant upgrades and doctrinal changes allowed the Zhan Hao to remain a formidable threat even when the Second Abyssal War, a space and maritime war, occurred. Many classes of the ship were present in the Earth-Colonial War, where it outmaneuvered, outran, and outranged its colonial counterparts.
However, by the 2600s, the Zhan Hao had steadily been phased out of UN service and relegated to anti-piracy operations and colonial garrison work. Some squadrons of the Zhan Hao fought in defensive actions against Minimar's Specialized Industries where they fended off mercenary groups. One notable wolfpack survived the war under the UNAF 6th fleet during victory parades over Earth, only for the Third Abyssal War to kick off once the UNAF declared victory against MSI. During the opening stages of the Third Abyssal War, humanity finally realized the Zhan Hao was completely obsolete and the ships were either scrapped or turned into museum ships. The Zhan Hao succeeded with the multiple classes of vessels in national fleets but the true successor was indeed the Marcus Olsen Class, named after a South American Admiral.
However, the Zhan Hao class would not face its true end as Kamusu spirits of the class began rising and summoning during the Third Abyssal War. This fresh arrival of spirits and firepower provided the UNAF precious time to regroup and defend the former vassals of the Minimar Specialized Industries, now independent and with extremely battered militaries. Wolfpacks and squadrons have been charged with the defence of humanity's new allies, striking at targets to buy time for the former MSI vassals to build up their defences.