This Chapter: Homecoming/Rescue Operations
Next Chapter: Sea Trials/The "controversial" opinions.
Local Time: 0100 Hours.
April 14, 2161
Location: Martian Orbital Plane, Orbit of Deimos
"Akashi, I need those cutter drones on the far side of the wreck."
"Akashi hears you… sending drones now."
Her voice dragged out on the comms as Medusa unfolded more of her "hull" across the towed wreckage, a long, narrow and decidedly interesting stealth cruiser experiment. The slim vessel was shaped around its primary weapons systems, a rather enormous pulsed laser system, which had genuinely seemed to give those attacking it pause. If she remembered correctly, this would have been Atlanta's wolfpack.
"Do you see the array and its focusing equipment, Akashi? I feel we can confirm your hypothesis as to how they're getting the ideas for these, it's a primitive photon cannon assembly. Not very strong by our standards, but enough to at the very least cause significant damage to any unshielded fleet member. Based on Siren designs, I think…"
Akashi, floating in the midst of the Home Fleet, her tender drones extended, communications array wide and sparkling with emissions as she communicated back and forth with Medusa must have frowned.
"Akashi thinks this answers one question, but it asks more, how are they getting detailed scans of our vessels? Was this a blind faith experiment? If so, I would rather hope no information escaped the base, let alone survivors. Any more information could jumpstart our opponents' technology at levels we do not wish for them to have."
Medusa nodded, spider-like manipulators and pincers slowly peeling the former enemy vessel open like some kind of twisted, demented flower. She smiled to herself, examining deck structure, metallic support beams, and every component that must have gone into this design.
Her conclusions, when they came, were measured and deliberate.
"Akashi, check my work, but these welds are rather… inadequate, no?"
"Yes, nya, very poorly done. My drones are reporting microfractures across the hull too, she was barely space worthy and that was before, Akashi thinks, Nurnberg drove pinnaces into her engineering spaces."
"This is her work then, I had wondered, the precision of her boarding teams is once again proven."
"Yes, but look at the laser array, Akashi thinks it's much more carefully built than the hull."
Medusa "crawled" to the bow of the vessel again, long cuts in the hull had separated the stealth coating, armor plating, and exterior hull from the phased laser assembly, and the internals were currently displayed to the void, hull plating pieces drifting in concerted orbit around her hull, all the while taken from the enemy, formerly Frieden vessel.
Her form was opened, her hull splayed out like a spider in her web, snakelike manipulators and pincers moved to examine the phased laser assembly, pointing her scanning equipment, cameras, and small army of disassembler drones along the array.
"Yes, I agree with your assessment, the work on this piece is much more well done. Perhaps this was an experimental weapon that was repurposed into a vessel once its testing use had been expended?"
"Perhaps, but why choose to do this now? Did they have a suspicion about our awakening? I had thought Texas and Bismarck had taken steps to encourage disinformation spread across the world."
"Your prejudice is showing again, Medusa, the Germans of Earth are very different from the Friedens."
Medusa paused in her assessment, running tongue over teeth and feeling her blood pound in her ears from the statement. She was coldly logical, the sudden emotional response was foreign to her.
"I am having an emotional response that I did not expect."
Akashi perked up visibly, her ship wiggling a bit, prow turning to face the yards in orbit of Deimos.
"Remembered crew memories?"
"Uncertain. I will focus on my disassembly of the cruiser for now. Is there a status report from the wolfpack in the Hildas cluster?"
"They're using England to disassemble most of the debris around them, her additional bays are helping them break things down and utilize them. But until she's finished, they're on duty out there from the last report Akagi received."
"Fine. I'll just pick this apart for data until they haul more material back for me."
Akashi turned away from the wreck as Medusa continued.
"It's a decent enough showing for being built in the middle of nowhere, but it's a far sight removed from something fit to challenge the fleet. How would it hope to lower the Klein field, after all?"
She rambled to herself, continuing to peel apart the stealth vessel, studying internals, and the faulty places. By the time that she next looked up, the Home Fleet had moved on to other things, and one of the larger vessels was escorting Akashi back to the base on the surface of Mars. If she looked carefully, Medusa could see the faint emissions profiles of the human fleet that orbited far above them. Earth's fleet had crept back from the directly threatening posture they'd previously occupied, with Akagi's meeting with the diplomats upcoming, the government of Earth seemed willing to tone down how overtly hostile they seemed to be.
Or something like that, she wasn't sure.
Medusa stretched her back and popped it, a leftover from the formerly flesh and mostly blood body she'd had. Footsteps padding announced the only occupant aboard her hull besides herself walking into the bridge, with a mug of coffee in one hand, and idly rubbing at her eyes with the other.
Doctor Kathleen Wolfe yawned and moved to the small console set aside from the primary CIC, and sat down into the chair, groaning all the time.
"I said to wake me up. Why didn't you?"
Medusa's answer was clipped and emotionless to most, but she made a slight effort to inject some humor into it for Wolfe's benefit.
"I received orders from Akagi to take apart a hulk that one of the wolfpacks hauled into my docks. In the process, I forgot about the alarm I was meant to set."
Wolfe nodded for a moment, before narrowing her eyes.
"Was that humor? You do not forget, how could you forget, you are a linked intelligence, no?"
Medusa might have smiled, a small twitch of her lips, but she wasn't facing Wolfe, so the scientist would never know.
"Linked intelligence that was once something close to human, no?"
Kathleen tapped her chin, before sipping her coffee.
"Were you human? I've learned from observation some of the fleet were once human, having what they call-"
"Hosts, yes, but those hosts are almost universally dead or gone. The sole exceptions would potentially be Akagi herself, or some of the destroyers."
"What makes you so sure they're dead? Is this something like our hypothesis with Akagi's daughter? That you represent a gestalt made into something permanent through ritual?"
Medusa shrugged, and in front of her, another series of panels peeled away from the stealth cruiser, tugged by drones into bays open on the flanks of Medusa that contained scientific apparatus and dozens of smaller inspections, in addition to melting and breakdown sections.
"My host died the moment we merged, or at least, whatever was left of her died immediately upon our merge. There's nothing left of her but faint memories, impressions and emotions. But I know I am unusual, my host was significantly older than many others, and she faded away after ascertaining who I was. She was human, she was a fighter and a scientist, and at the end, when I awoke within her, she had nothing left to give save her body."
"Yourself?"
Medusa nodded.
"My memory has faded since then, you make the statement of us being "networked intelligences" and all that it could mean. But my memory before my experimentation with the technology within the structure Akagi has made our home is just as frustratingly limited as it would be for any other human. I also, despite being a networked intelligence, keep some of the more… irritating personality quirks and traits. Such as emotional responses and the frankly irksome nature of most of the posturing your species delights in doing."
Medusa paused in her tiredness, her monotonous voice stopping as she paused for a breath, before continuing by gesturing at herself.
"For example, I do not require breathing, my internal systems are not organic, they mimic it perfectly, but they are not organic in the slightest. Yet I mimic them unconsciously, as though I were human, I feel psychological needs for both water and food, despite the fact I need neither to sustain myself. If I speak continuously-monologue-too much, my own mind tricks me into believing myself to need to take breaths, despite my literal lack of anything resembling a need for oxygen to speak. I additionally find it fascinating that my taste preferences have shifted as well. I prefer raw metals to eating just anything, and while human food tastes good, it often fails to satisfy the psychological need to consume "real" food. I am certain you have seen the destroyers and the sweet tooth many seem to have inherited, correct?"
Kathleen nodded, sipping her coffee with a bemused expression as the monotonous ranting continued from her… friend? Was it weird to consider Medusa a friend? She was certainly odd, but no more so than any other incredibly old woman with enough PTSD to fund an entire building of therapists might be.
Although a part of Kathleen had to acknowledge that that was already quite a thing.
Was Medusa's monotonous nature a symptom of the things she had seen? Or was it a natural personality quirk?
"My hypothesis and many questions about my own nature aside, Doctor Wolfe, Are you with me?"
She looked back up at the screens and consoles of the area around her, noting with particular interest the sudden flushing of red at the ears of Medusa, who coughed politely, before turning her gaze to the banks of monitors that surrounded them.
"What do you make of the vessel in front of us?"
Kathleen chuckled and started giggling after a moment.
"Medusa, I may be an expert in cybernetics and something of a philosopher, but I am far from a naval engineer. Especially for technology like this, I can give you educated guesses, but little else."
If anything, seeing the woman's ears turn even more red, while her lips turned ever so slightly down, into an almost… a slight pout nearly set Kathleen giggling like mad again.
Medusa could be rather entertaining even when she wasn't trying to be.
"But, I can try if you would like me to. From what limited ability I understand such things, this appears to be a "components are fine, but the whole is flawed" situation. On the one hand and from my armchair understanding alone… Stealth craft in space warfare are useful, incredibly so, on the other hand, that's a pulsed laser array at the bow, right? Running all the way to the back?"
Medusa nodded once.
"See, if it's a stealth craft, my immediate, albeit ignorant thought, is a torpedo vessel, or a minelayer, emissions in the black are your real stealth-killer, as it were. So if I were to design such a thing, I'd fit it with missiles and torpedoes, with mines as a backup. A laser like this would obliterate your stealth from the heat emissions alone. However, from what I can tell, the laser array is built very well, but the hull is not so much. Hence my allegory of "components fine, whole bad."
Medusa nodded slightly, crooking a finger and bringing one of the many cameras on her hull to face the other side of the array.
"I think I can conclude this is an experimental craft. Whatever they were using this laser for previously, they were not doing so anymore when they mounted it into that craft. Perhaps they did not have the time, munitions, or expertise to construct a torpedo or missile bay. Thank you, Doctor Wolfe."
"You're welcome, M."
Medusa looked up at her, and Kathleen felt a minor pulse of fear run through her.
"M?"
She rubbed at her hair a bit.
"Just… a silly name, referencing an old movie."
Medusa arched an eyebrow, and the surprising expression, a break from her usual dull and straight faced, straight laced ways, caused Kathleen to actually giggle at her before the shipgirl spoke once more.
"You… James Bond? Really?"
Kathleen shuffled slightly.
"Yes…"
"Curious. Something to examine later, did you wish to continue asking me questions about my nature? Or would you like me to radio Musashi for pickup? I believe she is one of the few you have not spoken with as of the current date."
Kathleen's nervous laughter answered in the negative.
"I shall take that as a no, if I may ask, are you frightened of her?"
Kathleen froze for a moment before shaking her head.
"No, why would I be frightened of any of you? You've been nothing but hospitable and kind to me, allowing me to truly get a look at what has changed and even to speak with Akagi's daughter. It is… truly a thing of immense generosity you have given me."
Medusa leaned in, snakelike eyes narrowed as she looked up and down the doctor's form.
"You fear her. It is understandable, she is powerful, one of the strongest fleet assets in existence. To say nothing of the way she acts. Why do you fear her? Do you expect Akagi's words to mean nothing?"
Kathleen shook her head.
"It is one of your more, if I can bother your vernacular… irritating autonomic responses, I suspect. There is no reason to be afraid, if any of you wanted to kill me at any time you could do so. There's no point in getting worked up about it and yet… my own body causes a fear response. The idea of speaking with Musashi is terrifying, exhilarating, and exciting in equal measure."
Medusa paused for a moment, before she turned her head to one side and cocked it at an alarming angle.
"Curious… I cannot feel fear, nor do I remember what it once felt like. Would you mind describing the emotion further to me?"
Doctor Wolf sighed, and nodded, before she stood and began to pace while speaking.
"Alright so-"
Local Time: 0300 Hours.
April 14, 2161
Location: Martian Orbital Plane, Neutral Grounds
Assigned Objective: Diplomatic Meetings
Airlock doors hissed open, and Akagi, with Ayanami astride her, stepped onto the small diplomatic vessel afforded to her gracious host for this meeting. The gunmetal gray and darkly lit interior of the craft was shrouded in enough baffling and anti listening devices to interfere even slightly with her own EW capabilities. Not that it mattered, with Ayanami's hull lurking nearby under shroud, she could broadcast through her subordinate's much more focused arrays if the need arose.
Speaking directly into Akagi's mind, Ayanami's voice occupied a forced calm.
"Are you sure this is the correct course of action, Admiral?"
Akagi's response was quiet, subdued, her thoughts clearly elsewhere.
"Yes… we do need to engage in some diplomacy, at the very minimum, to assure them of our intentions in their war. If nothing else."
Ayanami huffed as they reached the end of the corridor and opened the door into the diplomatic quarter. Heavy bolts and shutters unsealed, and the wooden panelled room, warmly lit with what seemed to be paper lanterns had Akagi pausing for a moment to suck a breath in. A diplomatic ploy, to unbalance her, to remind her of a homeland long gone. It was almost enough to spike an ember of flame within her breast at the audacity. But the man who was busying himself with the last one looked up at her.
For a diplomat, he was sloppily dressed and strange of air, with stubble on his face and a belly that showcased far too much of a love of alcohol, yet he sat up straight and looked at her directly as the doors hissed open. Meeting her eyes with his own, he spread his arms wide and spoke in a voice that was strong and belied a spine made from steel.
"Agent Texas, at your service, am I to address you as a head of state or by rank?"
Akagi looked at him, and nodded to the latter statement.
"Admiral is fine, Agent. Did you have engine trouble on the trip out?"
The meeting was supposed to have happened almost 14 days ago, the ship having been absent until then. That Akagi was given the run-around indicated, at least to her, that no one knew exactly where Agent Texas and the diplomats had gone.
The man nodded once, rubbing the back of his head, before he replied sheepishly.
"New ship had to pull us out into the black long enough to strip out all the spooks' tech before they could eavesdrop on us. Then I had to pick up a few other people both for security and for well… documentation of what will hopefully happen here."
Ayanami tensed minutely, her hand slightly twitching, when Akagi asked for further clarification.
"Specifically… who?"
The man leaned his head back in his chair, placed his feet on the table, and shrugged.
"Well, spooks love their covert fucks, so I went and grabbed some guys from back home in the states to act as actual security for me, then allowed a few of theirs to stay on. The other people, here for documentation, are a court sketch artist, a stenographer, and a reporter with her cameras. They're here to capture this stuff and broadcast it live for the whole of Earth to see. You're gonna be back in the public consciousness, and it'll probably help your cause with Earth's government."
Akagi nodded, and Ayanami relaxed ever so slightly, before the man spoke up again.
"Although, I will say we need to get all the controversial shit out of the way right now, because by my estimate we only have a day or two before ONI points their big fuck off railgun in our direction. It probably won't kill you, but it'll piss you off if they fire it at us if you say anything particularly "offensive" towards them or Earth during that time."
Akagi chuckled slightly, before she took a seat at the table.
"Well done, who are you, really?"
The man smiled gently, before saying.
"Brian Hackett, Admiral."
"Well, Warrant Officer Hackett, I am glad to make your acquaintance, and I look forward to these talks of open peace. So, what world ending weapons are we going to point at each other to start?"
Hackett laughed shortly, a bark of both surprise at her address of his former rank and mirth as he shot back.
"Well, there's always the good old nukes, and I know our techs cooked up something demonstrably interplanetary just for you, so congratulations, you've lit a fire under Skunkworks' ass just enough that they're chomping at black budget government dollars to get a chance to test something new and improved since the last one. I heard through scuttlebutt that one of them apparently moaned that "it's not fair, just telling them now"."
Akagi's own chuckle was a slight, small thing, the barest hint of her lips twitching upwards.
"I suppose I can counter that by saying we could theoretically break the gravity on Earth with several of our more… esoteric weapons. Along with, as you said, nuclear weapons are sufficient enough to turn the upper crust to glass in large quantities, and we have plenty of those. Extraplanetary stations are of course of no matter in this conflict from a defensive standpoint, compared to the simple technological differences in our respective forces."
Hackett scooted forwards in his chair and focused his gaze intently on Akagi, before saying.
"Yeah, there was talk about that, and quite a bit of curiosity, too. What can you tell us? Obviously we've made leaps and bounds at some level since the end of the Siren War, but clearly not enough to stand up to you all in a direct fight."
Akagi paused, pursed her lips, and spoke softly.
"Do you remember the overarching theory of the Siren War's origins, Hackett?"
"Yes. That the Sirens and the Abyssals were corrupted experiments of some AI experimenter on a remote island was the initial one, though that failed when summonings started to work and you all came back from nowhere. Not to mention the fact several Sirens were reported as actually talking with captured human officers, where Abyssals would just eat or consume captives to augment their forces."
The retired Warrant officer steepled his fingers on the table, the air turning frosty as he thought for a moment.
"That was not the correct assumption at the end, right?"
Akagi nodded.
"At several points, the question of "what we are" has been raised, notably by my own flesh and blood, among others. The Sirens often stated they were a weapon to "sharpen humanity". That they embodied "the first knife" and would allow us to prepare as a species. While the Abyssals seemed born of monstrous grudges buried deep into the collective psyche. While it would have been easy to assume that these experiments into AI and biotechnology resulted in rampant development and the like, I believe there may have been some merit to the Siren's claims of "sharpening humanity" although why they did so in the way they did so isn't something I can speak with any real authority on. However."
She paused, and let her human appearance fade slightly. Her pupils turned from that deep red to a hellish, glowing color, sigils of her fleet of fog burning onto her torso, arms, and clothing as Akagi's skin faded to a greyish pallor.
"I believe that humanity and we are able to conclude sharply that we are no longer alone in the galaxy. That we were perhaps never alone in the first place, if you take anything back to Earth from this point onwards, it should be that we are not alone, and that anything out there may be hostile at a level similar to the Siren War. A growing hypothesis of mine and several among the fleet is that the Sirens were attempting to warn us, in their own way, and perhaps we should heed that warning."
Hackett stroked at his stubble and leaned back in his chair, blinking and shivering slightly.
"You know, they tried to prepare me for how that looked, and it is fucking terrifying regardless. And yet what you said just there is worse. Do you think we're in real danger in the short term or the long term?"
Akagi shrugged, before she said.
"I do not believe we are at current risk, but… in my honest opinion, with revelations from my scientists and operatives, we must be joined and separate as cultures before we truly seek to claim the stars. There is much blood between our cultures, and we must bandage our wounds with each other."
Hackett said carefully.
"And we have housekeeping to do before we could do that. I think, Admiral, that I need to get my superiors at the UN involved before anything else can be done. Especially given what you've told me just in the past few minutes."
Akagi smiled thinly.
"By all means, I am willing to wait, but I would ask one thing of you and your UN."
The man looked up from his tablet and cocked his head to one side.
"That being?"
"I would ask the UN to remove their forces from Mars and her Satellites, we do not need them during a time of conflict, and I suspect that you know this, as much as they know this. They do not need to be kept here, when they could be useful on the frontlines of your impending war with the Friedens, and after that, the Koslovics. Neither faction wants the UN to actually unify Earth, and they will escalate heavily if you do not stop them from doing so. The now four vessels hovering in Mars' orbit could be used to reinforce the Home Fleet while it undergoes an audit of personnel in the wake of our mission to Earth revealing the traitors amidst your ranks."
Hackett smiled at her.
"I knew I'd like you, I will see what I can get them to agree with, are you willing to wait as they transfer personnel? I expect Admiral Beck will be traveling over from her flag aboard Amagi to speak with you, while civilians from the UN will be headed your way as well. But it'll take time for them to get here, what do you want to do in that time?"
Akagi's lips curled up as her skin returned to its normal tone, and her markings faded away from her.
"This one finds such terms agreeable enough to declare a cease-fire between our forces, do you agree?"
Hackett only nodded, and clasped his hands firmly over her own.
"Thank you, for being wiser than so many of my colleagues."
Akagi returned the gesture, squeezing gently so as to not powder the man's bones.
"Thank you, for being willing to both listen, and engage with us diplomatically. I hope your colleagues will be the same."
"Admiral Beck is a shrewd lady, she'll pick up what you're putting down, if I had to guess they'll send Secretary-General Hood to negotiate, or one of her aides, and they're going to be our best civilian representatives."
Akagi stood, and Ayanami flanked her as they exited.
"Very good, Hackett, I look forward to meeting with your diplomats."
As the two women exited the ship, free floating across the empty black towards the shimmering "blip" that marked Ayanami's position and the cruiser Blucher at her side, who orbited at a far distance from the ship, far enough that any human would have been hard pressed to make the trip in a fully sealed EVA suit, let alone with their skin to the void.
To Akagi and Ayanami, though? This was nothing, a jaunt like this that let stellar radiation, dark matter, and the stuff of the void itself brush against their skin? To Akagi, it felt like bathing in silk and fabric of all types, feeling them cascade and splay out across her skin. In many ways, it reminded her of the experiences with pristine oceans back home, before the ash and blood and oil and metal of war spoiled them. As she floated, it was easy to close her eyes slightly, to dull down the world outside her until it faded into the background noise of space. Ayanami would wake her if something happened or the situation changed. Although the very idea that something would get past the Home Fleet's defensive cordon, drones, ships under shroud, and dozens of women more than willing to tear apart any attempt on their Admiral. At this juncture, she could… just take it in, let the subtle rhythm and pulse of the stars, this black ocean she commanded others within surround and hold her tight. This ocean was so vast, so much more unknowable, and so, so much more dangerous than she'd ever believed. The only way to survive, the only way to prosper in this future, was to ensure as many vectors of themselves, of the Kansen, could continue.
If her daughter was correct, if they were some form of thought construct or "attached being". Then humanity, their creators, ironically stood one of the higher chances of bringing them back, until they could summon successfully, they needed people to recreate them. They needed more of themselves, until every ship was brought back successfully, and every woman was restored to life in a form they could genuinely enjoy peace on. With the news of Baltimore being not just alive, but imprisoned in a testing facility on Europa, Akagi could begin to genuinely move. Baltimore, Texas, Bismarck, Chapayev. Four names on the ledger, one that was taken unjustly, three more that vanished into the mists of time. Every other named vessel had been accounted for, either scrapped or sunk or in her service. Including several just barely drafted or laid down, or those slaughtered in their shipyards by unjust humans or vicious enemies.
They could bring the last four home, Bismarck had left, and if Akagi's intuition was correct, she'd find a way to get to her, be it through normal means or more esoteric ones. Chapayev had been decommissioned permanently, if the reports of Baltimore's newfound existence were true… then Akagi would either launch her own attack, or she would ensure her assets were in place with the UN's attack to extract her beleaguered second in command, and bring her home.
The spacewalk was short, albeit delightful. As a hand reached out to take her own, Akagi opened her eyes and met those of Blucher, dark, short cropped hair and splintered eyes, both of which bore Akagi's symbol in their eyes. She caught her admiral's hand, and brought her in close. Blucher's demeanor shifted, a coy smile breaking out on her face as she spoke.
"Nothing of note happened beyond our Terran guests deciding it's about time they kicked off another few million kilometers. Good for them, too, I take it your errand was successful?"
Akagi nods, and Blucher, ever the least lucky of her sisters, takes a careful step down from her prow, and directs her attention towards the hull beneath Akagi's feet.
"Ship systems are green, and are within the 90th percentile of acceptable deviation from the norm of operations. I am ready at any moment to unleash death and protect you from all harm."
Akagi falls into step behind Blucher, and her subordinates motion is always measured, Akagi chuckles slightly, and when Blucher turns to her and raises an eyebrow, Akagi simply says.
"It's no wonder that you and Nimi get along so wonderfully."
Blucher does not stamp her foot, nor does she get offended, instead, with machined precision, she states simply.
"Of course, Ma'am? I get along with all my fleetmates, it is expected, and efficient to be friendly with them."
Akagi looks carefully around, and as Ayanami lunges from her shadow towards Blucher, alarm in her eyes, Akagi closes her own.
Blucher, like all fleet of fog ships, conducts spot checks on a routine and random interval. In this case, that interval is once every .5 seconds when not in combat, using exterior cameras and the barrels of her weapons. She is capable of turning them to analyze and vector multiple targets, often as part of these "spot checks" combat vessels will rotate their batteries to check all vectors. In the black of space, this is especially useful, giving early and potential responses to any incoming targets, even more so if an enemy vessel is running under a shroud. In this case, sheer bad luck is all that is involved as they combine to cause minor issues involving Blucher's poor mental model.
The random and interval spot check combine, Blucher's Dora turret rotates suddenly to full combat awareness and traverses smack dab into the forehead of her mental model. Blucher stumbles and grumbles, moving slightly around it, rubbing her fingers at the spot on her forehead as Ayanami catches her before she can fall.
"Ach… sorry Ma'am."
Ayanami has returned to Akagi's side, but is wincing in sympathetic pain as Blucher staggers just a bit.
"No need to apologize, truly… that luck of yours is something to be feared and respected in equal turn."
Blucher grimly smiled.
"Why do you think I allow such a small margin for error?"
"Have there been any reports from Musashi in the meantime I've been away?"
Blucher nodded.
"Atlanta finally reported in, confirming your reassignment decisions and saying she's cracked into another facility on Ceres. She's reporting experimental technology, one example of which was fed to Akashi and Medusa earlier, in case you wondered why they were disassembling something on Deimos. In addition, human transmissions were sent to Earth earlier from their fleet and the diplomatic vessel, likely amassing the UN for a briefing and the requests you made of them. Musashi asked if she is to expect changes in force dynamics and deployment of fleet assets over the next few days."
Akagi nodded, and as Blucher powered on her drives, she reclined on the top of the Anton turret, leaning back and listening quietly as Blucher continued.
"Medusa has reported that while the reverse engineering of siren technology has advanced several technologies, the most promising advancements the Nazis have made with this tech are predictably weapons technology, and while their pulsed laser arrays and minefield technology are advanced and can hurt us, much more than the other contributions we've seen so far. They are still never going to win in a straight fight, simply because we have advantages they can't counter without one of their EMP mines getting through our Klein Fields. And speaking on Klein Fields, Medusa and Akashi have an experiment they'd like to introduce to a Klein Barrier, and have suggested using Wasp as the testbed ship for the change, or Sovetskaya, provided we can begin to reconstitute and re-awaken her."
Akagi's response was languid, but direct. A single message was sent to Medusa and Akashi.
RE: Wasp as Testbed.
Ask her, if she says no, no.
The response sent, she leaned back, and waited until she was within orbit of Mars itself, as soon as the vanguard of airspace fighters formed up astride Blucher, Akagi stood up and moved to Blucher's small hangar bay.
The shuttle bay, like everything else aboard Blucher, was maintained to flawlessness, and recessed into the space her floatplane would have previously occupied, now it was a small, compact hangar bay, with a heavily armored, well armed pinnace. Aboard it stood the silent and eternal ranks of several dozen combat automata, borrowed from Musashi's stocks, based on the brilliant coloration and single, unblinking, sobbing eye on the helmet faceplate.
Akagi sat down in the pilot's seat, booted the consoles, and sat back as her mind extended into the Pinnaces systems. The controls here were a vestigial set, remnants from designed blueprints. They maintained it due to potential need, but not out of any expectation of use. Akagi's mind, herself, extended and flushed into the flyer's systems and without expectation, her authority was recognized and she took to the skies, heading down towards the base below. With aircraft forming an honor guard, and the intimidating form of Blucher hung overhead. She was safe, forever and permanently, truly the only thing left to do was command forces remotely, and check with her deployed assets. If anything had occurred within the system that needed her direct interference, she would step in. Beyond that, she had a daughter she'd missed most of the life of.
It was time to change that.
A/N: I did say we'd get lighter in tone, yeah? Diplomacy scenes are hard to write, I hope Hackett comes off as fun. The next few bits of Salvage are going to focus on diplomacy, and our fourth and final arc of this little story will be Prototype, for now, I hope you enjoy it!
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We also have a discord, and I'd love to hear from you all there!
Relevant Links:
: /user?u=38054869
Discord: /invite/v52c6Zd3Pz
Until next time, may the sea bless your sails!~
Ember, out!