16. Once again.
Since the Cylon War, Kongou had been busy sharing her maternal responsibilities with her old friend Choukai. Gunzou was there, too, but his responsibilities as Fleet Admiral kept him busy for so long as months. This new conflict had not been a surprise, at least for her. The old flagship of the Black Fleet had always been an analytical and mischevous being. She often had a detached and cynical point of view of the universe, a cruel entity always ready to make your life miserable.
Right now, the Admiralty had recruited her again. She missed the combat and the feeling of a good fight. She asked and begged that Choukai could remain behind with their son. Little Gunzou, well Gunzou was a young adult of twenty-three years old. He was considering a career in the Space Navy, but for now, Kongou had achieved a partial success, convincing him that this is not the best time. The battleship knew the list of human and cores lost in battle. It was a real, long, and costly war, and she didn't want her son in the middle of this mess. Little Gunzou will remain onboard Anna, the safest place close to Earth.
Her sisters were ready to set sail, accompanied by Rodney, Richelieu, Hood, Repulse, and Barham. Twenty-five heavy cruisers, ten light cruisers, and forty destroyers were a little fleet for this war standards. A secondary scout force was based on the battlecruiser Alaska and six destroyers.
Kongou experienced a restlessness that she had not felt for decades. She understood that even heavy battleships were victims of the machines. She had researched thoroughly some aspects of mankind, and she found that many people left recorded messages just in case they didn't come back. It was hard to even consider the chance of not coming back since she wasn't affected by fear like humans, even if her emotional plugins affected her. It was a surprise when she learned from Kirishima that they had left personal recorded messages for Maki.
Right now, Kongou and her sisters were in the docking ring of Anna. The friendly and sweet brunette, almost a copy in real life from a certain old movie, had accompanied Gunzou to Kongou's hatch. A long row of sailors were there, greeting Kongou and saying goodbye to Anna and Gunzou while they carried her duffel bags to the ship. Haruna, Hiei, and Kirishima were there, too, to say goodbye to their niece.
Gunzou, for the first time in his life, was scared of her aunts and mother attitudes. He, at last, asked, "Mum, why are you so worried. It's not as if you are going into a suicide mission."
"Son, this war is impredictable. Our enemies are hard liners about killing everyone different from them. I'm sorry if I am scaring you, but your father is behind enemy's lines, and we are going to kill a star system."
The boy opened his eyes as big as saucers when he listened to his mother. He sighed deeply, and he said, "So you left Choukai behind in the eventuality something goes wrong." Haruna spoke before her sister could say something, "Gunzou, we are warships. We fight, and sometimes, we sunk. That's the reason Maki is safe with Alex, and you are here with Anna. As parents, our duty is to speak to both of you as adults. If something goes wrong, there is family behind you and Maki. Don't forget that. Now, we must leave you."
Both mental models gave Gunzou a long hug and bid him good luck. Hiei did the same, adding some affecttionated words of farewell to him. Anna followed the mental models and waited close to her own hatch. Kongou fixed her amathista eyes on her son and hugged him. She only said, "Haruna was always better with words than me. But she is right. War is a risky business, and nothing is sure. Even if had his eyes a bit wet, Gunzou said, "Don't worry. You teached me well, and Choukai is here too. Just be extra careful, okay?
Kongou nodded and went into her own hull. He hadn't listened to Anna, which was behind him. "Gunzou, do you want to bid farewell to your family from the main bridge? The space doors are below the bridge," Anna asked. "Sure, I would like to see them," the boy said. He didn't know why, but he couldn't shake a bad feeling in his guts.
As a former flagship, Kongou was chosen as the Seven Fleet Commander. Her mission parameters were quite simple, she must find infrastructure and destroy it. If she didn't hurry up, she would meet Gunzou before. Nine stars are still occupied by the machines due to the probe left by Atago reported enemy presence.
She decided to attack one of the worlds close to the border. It would limit the possible routes for reinforcements and left always a way to withdraw to Federation's space.
It was a long time since Kongo had a human crew. Her exile had been lonely, but now, she had a complete staff, and her bridge felt alive again with voices and jokes. She remained alone, sitting in an elevated chair reserved for the ship master.
She took her first decision. She sent her first order of this mission, "Fold." The little fleet emerged from the fold into the void, close to the system designed Nu. A blue star with four gas giants and a pair of rocky planets was waiting for them. One of them was a hellish place like Io, a nightmare of lava pools and active volcanoes. It was too close to the star, and the temperature peaked to five hundred degrees in the night. The gas giants had lots of small moons, but the real prize was the other rocky planet. A ring world surrounded that planet. The surface of the ring provided more living space than ten planets.
For obvious reasons, the new target was named "Halo" by the video games fanatics in the bridge. Kongou smirked, and, trying to improve the mood, she added, "I hope certain parasites are not there." Many people frowned, but more laughed. Kongou opened comms to her fleet and called for a meeting, "We found activity. Due to tactical restrictions, we only have a four standard days old picture. The ring is a tempting target, but it seems hard to believe it doesn't have strong defenses. Its function is unknown, too."
Rodney said, "They don't need space to live or grow food. The idea of building ring worlds has been explored a long time ago, but the main reason was to have living space... or move the industries far from people." Her captain, a young officer, transferred from Lexington four days ago, added, "I'm analyzing the spectrometric data from the ring. The structure doesn't add too much information, but the space surrounding the Halo shows intense heat signatures and inorganic dust. It looks like a minning operation, planet sized, to me."
Everyone peeked into the data, and Hiei added, "Good instinct. I believe you found the real function of this "Halo." I must add that they can devastate a planet in months or less. It's an innovative way to obtain resources fast."
The captain of the battlecruiser Hood, a friendly and jovial man from Scotland, said, "This thing must have a very strong shielding and armor. It is too valuable for not having protection. I believe it is like fighting against the twins' shields."
A general feeling of disappointment invaded the meeting. Hundreds of cubes were impotent against the battlestation's shield. This monster must have even stronger shields, and probably its surface could be full of weaponry.
Richelieu was now changed into a full heavy battleship after she lost her old hull. She really wanted a bit of payback after her defeat. She said, "It's an eating planet machine. We could give it an indigestion."
Everybody looked at her. Hood'mental model, a tall blonde with blue eyes, suggested, "I have Stingray in my hull. She can approach the ring hidden and release stealth mines. When the ring reached the mines, they will jump inside. I suppose if they are minning, they have big hatches to absorb mineral or rocks."
Kongou finished the idea, "We could blow the ring from inside. It should be more vulnerable. It sounds like a decent plan. Stingray, what do you think?
The little mental model, a nice looking teenager - like all her sisters looked like - evaluated the idea, looked at her officers, and replied, "It depende on the fact that the new dimensional layer we are using is untested against the disruptor taquion pulse they used to find Iona. But I think the risk is acceptable."
Kongou frowned with her answer. The risk was high. It doesn't matter what Stingray wanted to say in front of her seniors. A bit of bravade was okay, but she was going alone into a place with unknown defenses. She sighed deeply. Finally, she made a decision. "Stingray, there is not blind side with this ring wolrd. Don't approach directly to the planet. Take a good look before you do something. If the tactical situation is good, proceed with Hood's plan."
Stingray nodded with a serious expression on her face. She knew she and her crew would be alone and surrounded by enemies. "I will make some planning, and I will fold close to the magnetic Pole of this gas giant. From there, I will dive and approach the ring," she explained and cut the line.
Submarine Stingray.
The little bridge of the submarine was fully occupied with the mental model and her four specialists. They can't fold inside the dimensional ocean, and that's was always a weak point. So, she and her crew chose a point behind one of the two gas giant's moons. Hopefully, the moon mass could shield her from any machine sensor. The real problem with this tactic was the numerous unknowns she will face. Armed satellites and patrol ships were her bigger fears. It was doubtful if she could dive and hide fast enough.
After fifteen minutes of frantic preparations (and last-minute letters from her crew, transmitted to Richelieu), she took command of navigation control and folded to her destination.
Stingray defolded behind the moon, almost one thounsand kilometers of distance from the surface. Her presence remained undetected so far, and she dived fast. She orbited the moon, slow and silently, while she prepared to move near the planet and the Halo.
She would need a few hours to reach her destination. Stingray needed to coordinate her entry with the planet rotation, so she was patient. Six hours later, the little ship initiated a long maneuver to place her hull close to her target. So far, she couldn't say if she was detected. Her periscope, her only link to the normal space, was too easy to be located by the machines.
Out there, the inmense ring was surrounding the planet. Several huge columns of material were being aspirated inside four gigantic orifices. Some kind of gravimetric vacuum cleaner was being used to remove the planet mantle.
Perfect, she thought, smiling. The crew looked at the huntress smiling, and they knew the mission was progressing in good shape. From both sides, four circular doors opened, and long rows of stealth mines were launched to the dimensional ocean. Slowly, the mines moved to zones with strong gravitational distortion, assuming they were in concordance with the columns of ascending matter.
Stingray left the orbit and reached the free space again. She couldn't fold again, so she rose above the ecliptic and left the star behind. She couldn't do anymore. Five minutes later, the mines made their reentry to normal space, and the column of aspirated material pulled them inside the ring. Their program was simple. Go inside and blow everything to hell.
Inside the first chamber, the mines, loaded with big corrosive warheads, detonated. It wasn't a real detonation, just a kilometer wide sphere of nothing. Nothing, because inside the sphere matter ceased to exist. The chamber colapsed, the matter current was disrupted, and the delicate systems collapsed. System after system, a cascade failure affected the ring. The mantle stopped being aspirated, and minutes later, a second set of mines with nukes detonated. This time, the surface of the ring was pocketed with explosions. Long columns of plasma leaked from the ring, and secondary explosions weakened the structure. At last, one section broke into pieces, and the ring collapsed slowly into more fragments, falling down on the surface.
The system started to be searched by the machine's fleet. They knew that one or more submarines were hidden in the star system. This time, however, the taquion pulse was not working. Stingray ignored her own success, but she continued putting distance between her and the star. She knew that Kongou would start her own combat run soon.
Fast Battleship Kongou. Bridge.
Kongou, the captains and mental models were glued to the screens. In fact, the mental models only simulated to obtain information from the screen. The data flow was more, more rich, and complete than a simple screen.
They observed how the ring broke into pieces. Haruna said, "I really hope that no life was present on that world." Many officers nodded, but the ring pieces falling down on the poor planet meant that it doesn't matter anymore. The surface was a complete disaster, the atmosphere saturated of dust and electric discharges. The gigantic pieces of the ring were resting on the ground, forming true walls of kilometers in height.
"Time to kill them," Kongou said. Each ship acknowledged, and the fleet folded close to Nu-one, the first rocky planet closer to the star. Evidently, this star system was used as a source of resources. The planet surfaces were marked with craters and long trenches, evidence of minning activities.
The machines had a small fleet protecting their properties. Fifteen cubes and forty-five spheres were the only defense. In this particular case, the fleets had equivalent strength. That means a lot of tactics and maneuvering to overpower their enemies, and that requires time.
Richelieu, Kongou, and Hiei, escorted by four heavy cruisers and ten destroyers, advanced against the fleet protecting the two orbital installations. Adopting an elongated prismatic formation, with the battleships making two big triangles, they fired their mass drivers against the orbital stations. The cubes and spheres accelerated fast to meet them, and when the distance closed to one light second, the weapons fired.
For the first time in a long time, Kongou's crew felt impacts on her shield. Her crew was a bit... new. She watched how the people tried to focus only on the screens in front of them. From time to time, they took a fast look to the main screens, watching disappointingly just a small point of light. The silly ideas of space combat, mainly from space movies, were still in human brains. One light second, the distance between Earth and the Moon, made a ship close to the Moon a mote of light.
The ion trails of missiles began to draw her trajectories among the ships. In a few minutes, they got close to their targets, and the old game between a missile and the antiair defenses began again. Several missiles were lost to the defenses, but a decent number impacted the cubes, weakening the shields.
Aboard the battleship, Kongou was commanding the next steps in the battle. They were closing fast, and since the numbers didn't favor them, it would be a battle of firing passes among fleets. The cubes, more massive and slower, were at a disadvantage in this kind of battle.
"All ships, transfer weapon command to mental models!," Kongou said with a serious expression. The cubes had fired her own missiles, and they achieved good shots on her and her fleet. In an instant too brief to be perceived by human brains, both fleet crossed paths. Richelieu had left a cube dead in space, a blind ship without bearing and propulsion. Kongou perceived how her own shields received several beam impacts and her hull suffered the kinetic transfer.
The bridge frowned when her hull groaned, but she said with a big smirk on her face, "Easy guys, nobody is going to sunk this battleship!". The obvious reference to the old movie made several guys laugh a bit, and the accumulated tension relaxed a bit. Both fleets made a big arc to fight again. The cubes tried to follow them at the beginning, but the girls were faster.
Two more firing passes happened again, and Kongou was worried. Two spheres and one cube were mauled, and this time, she killed one of the spheres. Why are they repeating the same maneuver again and again?
The answer came during the fourth pass. This time, Richelieu received a strong impact from nowhere. It wasn't a beam, torpedo, or missile. Kongou understood the reason. Bismarck had warned her, "they are not creative, but they copy our strategies and tactics." The machines had mines.
A powerful explosion shook her, and her shocked expression was enough for the bridge crew. Something really bad had happened to the hull. The sudden flow of red screens on a bridge is never a good sign. Kongou felt it, a deep wound on the port side. It had perforated several decks, but the worst news was the main energizer. Her engineer chief opened a virtual screen on the bridge, "Kongou, we are losing the energizer. I will have auxiliary power in two minutes, but until then, it is only the main power backup."
"Chief, do your best. We need everything to survive the next minutes," a very serious Kongou said. She looked at her officers, "All hands not necessary to fix auxiliary power must be close to the lifepods."
Her officer couldn't accept a defeat so easily. The XO said, "We are not dead. Not yet, Kongou."
"They had focused their fire on weakened units before. It can happen again," she replied sadly. "So everybody to the lifepods, now. I can fly my own hull alone, get ready with your space suits," she added. The consoles shut down, cutting the access to the officers. Resigned, they bid their farewell to her captain.
I'm alone, again, she thought. Hiei and her sisters were trying to speak to her desperately, but she closed the access ports. Cold down, Kongou. You know it could happen. A bit of hope came back when the auxiliary power sent energy to her shields. Now, her only weapons would be missiles and torpedoes. She dismantled a couple of turrets to obtain nanomaterial and began to fix the hull.
She observed with satisfaction how Richelieu destroyed completely a cube approaching her. It was, however, impossible to stop every enemy ship. Slowly, beam after beam rained on her shield. The heavy cruisers made every effort to crush the spheres, and they were doing a decent job. Her shields were losing integrity, and a few new holes were decorating her hull. Three cubes changed course, and it was obvious they were to focus on her. She emptied her launch tubes and scored several impacts on a couple of cubes, but it only delayed the unavoidable.
Her shield collapsed. Kongou screamed, "All hands, abandon the ship now!" The crew, already close to the lifepods, ran to the little pods. Tens of lifepods left Kongou and tried to get close to the other two battleships and heavy cruisers. She kept firing every weapon to protect the lifepods. More impacts reached the hull, and the damage began to pile up. Kongou knew this could happen, and she thought in both Gunzou and her sisters. Her own death seemed a sure conclusion, so she closed her sensor arrays and waited.
Fast Battleship Hiei.
"She doesn't answer to my calls, I don't know what to do. She is not going to resist nuch more," Hiei was speaking to her sisters. She was sharing her visuals of Kongou with them, and they frowned what they were seeing. Kongou was leaking gas and a cloud of hull fragments. Her hull violet sigils were flashing sporadically, a sign of lack of power.
The sure end of the battleship Kongou happened suddenly when two cubes focused all their weapons on her already weakened hull. Hiei and Richelieu, together with the cruisers and destroyers, fired furiously on the agressors, but Kongou was too damaged. A missile impacted close to the main energizer, and the singularity was released from its containment. Battleship Kongou disappeared in a strong flash of light.
It seems death is a very personal experience, Kongou musited darkly. She felt she was being pulled up to some kind of origin, or source. Suddenly, she could feel how her memory was compiled and transfered along her consciousness. Many voices were with her, but she didn't understand what they were.
"Welcome back, my daughter," Gretel welcomed her.
Kongou was genuinely surprised. "So, every mental model came back to you, mother?"
"Right, my dear Kongou, we are united by a quantum link. We can't be truly separated, even after our physical destruction," Gretel explained.
"And now?," Kongou inquired, thinking in both boys and her sisters.
"You and my daughters are part of me. So, you will be together with us."
Both entities fused together, and the long fight of Kongou ended.
Hiei didn't register or care when her weapons killed one of the cubes, and the heavy cruisers did the same to the other one. Richelieu, being the senior surviving officer, announced, "We have lost Kongou. I am taking command of the fleet. Now, kill them all and get out of this cursed place."
Her elder sister died. Hiei couldn't do anything to help her.
The fleet fired their mass drivers against the orbital installations, and they pursued the few cubes and spheres remaining. The Alaska battlegroup folded close to the enemy fleet and attacked them. Alaska, an overpowered heavy cruiser, didn't waste time to launch a heavy broadside on one cube. Her victim lost shields, and her destroyers launched a mix of torpedoes and missiles, killing the cube.
After ten minutes, the defensive flotilla was eliminated. The fleet joined in one fleet and dedicated their full attention to each planet. Finally, Richelieu lost her already short temper and used her twin SGCs at full power against one planet. The white lances of supergravitons reached the surface and vaporized a long tunnel going through the planetary core. The beam penetrated deep inside and reached the surface on the other side of the planet. Free from the mantle restriction, the magma was released through both holes. A violent cascade of a white-reddish incandescent lava overflowed, and an ocean of molten rock began to cover the planet, destroying everything.
Many captains and mental models would have questioned her decision, but the loss of Kongou put that objections into a tiny box.
Hiei, Haruna, and Kirishima were in what a human could describe in shock. The inner cold logic of their cores was still there, and they modulated a bit of their stress, changing it into a cold, depressed look. The crews understood the situation better than the girls since losing family was something expected, especially in a long war like this one.
Hiei was desolate, thinking how to inform her niece about the loss of her mother. Sure, Choukai will be there, and she would do her part as family. Her mental ramblings were rudely interrupted by a screen requesting her attention. An external comm, free of her inspection. She walked to the console and accepted the comm. She was shocked to watch on the screen the smirking face of her deceased sister.
The screen waited a few seconds, and she watched to her sister, "Hiei, I think you can understand that if you have received this video, I was already sank. I hope my crew is safe and my sinking, glorious. I must leave my responsibilities as Gunzou's mother to Kotono. Of course, - and then Kongou winked to her - there are no obligations about the big boy. I don't think he will take this loss very well, but I hope Kotono could be useful about that. Tell, Maki, Haruna and Kirishima that I love them, too."
If Hiei were human, she would be, probably on her knees and crying. However, the core took precedence and avoided the stress answers. Hiel left her room and went back to her bridge. For her crew, she looked for many days as a doll without a soul. The fleet folded back to Forge to lick their wounds.
Starbase Alexandria.
Haruna touched the palm reader, and a chime sounded. The door opened and retracted inside the wall, and a worried but serene Maki appeared. "Haruna, Kirishima, what happened?" were her first words.
"It was a battle, Maki. It's sad, but these things happen. Kongou fought well, but a stealth mine struck her. The damage was too much," Kirishima explained slowly, her core colder than deep space. Maki's face crumpled, and tears welled in her eyes. Both mental models hugged the tearful young woman and went in the room. The first question from Maki was obvious, "Gunzou and his father know?"
Haruna explained to her child, "As a Fleet Admiral, Gunzou will know soon, but he is too far from us. Little Gunzou will know through Choukai. Kotono is still here, but her place is where the Yamato is. He will need time."
Maki nodded. "Please, tell me." Haruna could see her daughter watching and suffering the loss of her loved aunt. The sisters exchanged a glance before beginning, their voices low and steady as they recounted Kongou's final moments. A flickering hologram of Kongou's last will appeared, casting a pale light across the room. Maki watched in silence, her shoulders shaking as she mourned the aunt who had been a steadfast presence in her life.
"Poor Gunzou. Both of them," she said finally. "Kongou left a last will on video. Little Gunzou will be left under Choukai and Kotono care," Kirishima added.
They continued chatting and remembered anecdotes of Kongou. Finally, Maki dropped as a stone, and she slept. The stress on her designed body was too much, and she needed to rest.
Planet Earth. Atlas-02, Anna.
Anna was, as always, in her own bridge. A priority one coming from Alex wasn't any novelty, but the content made her cold as a stone. People around her noted the change. "Anna, what is wrong," her weapons specialist asked. She replied, "We lost Kongou." One of her aspects went to the hotel ring, where Choukai and Gunzou were living. She stopped the data distribution, sending a warning to any mental model to shut their mouths. Many cores have been lost and cried for, but the relationship with this human being was quite particular. Anna-342 reached the room where Choukai and Gunzou lived. She sighed, and she activated the chime. Choukai said "Coming" when she detected Anna's presence through the door. Weird she came here, Choukai thought, a bit worried.
The door opened, a serious Anna greeted her. Choukai sensed something was wrong. She only asked, "Who?"
Anna replied, "Where is Gunzou?"
"He is in the gym. He will be back in thirty minutes," Choukai replied. "We lost Kongou. A mine damaged her in the middle of a battle. She couldn't recover and she died. I'm sorry, Choukai."
Choukai nodded. As a warship, she always knew this could happen. Nothing is sure in battle, but she considered that she would be the logical candidate to die, being just a heavy cruiser. Kongou? She was like a cockroach. She was hard to kill, and she always survived. They didn't speak anymore. Quantum communication replaced the voices, and Choukai learned fast what happened.
Anna left Choukai alone. The cruiser requested private time to organize her feelings. Simulated or not, they made her logical responses...weird. Time passed, and Gunzou came in. He observed Choukai sat in the coach, and she said, "Gunzou, please take a seat. We need to talk."
Gunzou felt a knot in his guts. Someone related to him suffered. "Mum, what happened?"
Choukai took his hand, and slowly she said, "My dear boy, we lost Kongou."