332Author's Notes: Okay, so... With the pandemic going on, I've been a lot busier at work due to it being an essential service, so I haven't had as much time to write. That said, I'm still working on it, and this is, technically, only half to a third of what the chapter was going to be. I SHOULD have the rest done in the next day-to-week, but in the meantime... You all have waited long enough for something more. Special shout out to those in the Admiral's Back Room for helping me out with things, as well as those who betaed for me! Enjoy! And as always, read and review!
"Disclaimer: I do not own either Halo or Kancolle, please don't sue me.
Italics: Names of ships, radio chatter, etc.
[Bracketed]: Abyssal speech
Small motes twinkled in the dark, swirling about in an endless dance while dark shapes moved between them. Little bubbles let off from underwater vents deep below swirled in the currents as Akuma and her warband swam along. Santou and Jericho were taking point along with three Ollumi-class destroyers while Akuma and Zaula took up a central position, the carriers they'd pulled into joining them tagging along behind. Around them all, other destroyers encircled them like pilot fish, keeping a wary ear out on their sonars and their ampullae open for electrical signals.
When the Taniwha sub had spoken to her and the Air Defence Princess of the returning convoy they'd spotted, the royal Abyssal had ordered Santou to gather together a force to hit it. It wasn't likely to be carrying anything valuable at the moment, but every hit to the humans' logistical chain counted. That, and Deep Command probably needed to lash out at something after the fiasco at Manila. Abyss knew that they were going to be feeling that one for a while...
Finding Akuma had been a boon indeed, but even she thought it was overkill to have an Imitheos along with them, especially when they were already bringing a substantial air force to help cover them. Still, it had been a spur of the moment decision, and it wasn't like she had gone and stepped on anyone's toes. The so-called Re-classes were just shy of being Demons themselves, operating on their own tempo and attaching themselves to different units based on their own whims… or the Princesses themselves. Sure, a full-fledged Demon could keep an Imitheos in line so long as they had a target or were willing to come down hard on them, but the serpentine sisters all seemed to have a strong independent streak, or so the rumor went. Now, that didn't mean that they bucked the chain of command all the time, just that they had a lot fewer restrictions on where they could go and what they could do. This was in part because of the 'Might makes Right' mentality of a lot of the Demons that led the war as pseudo-admirals, as well as the politics of the Princesses themselves, each trying to keep such powerful vessels under their sway, yet knowing that trying to use only the stick instead of the carrot would only result in those massive guns being turned back on them. Combined with the fact that the Imitheos were the first 'True' Abyssals to be built from scratch by their sisters instead of merely summoned into being, and it led to the aviation battleships being used as somewhat poster-girls for Abyssal morale. Proving their superiority and the constant advances that they, as a species, were making.
Fortunately for her own sake, Santou had found Akuma to have been a surprisingly easy-going Abyssal once you got past her aristocratic behavior and didn't poke at the prickly points of her previous life. Perhaps it was because she was still 'young' by comparison to other Abyssals, having barely had any time to exist as a steel hull at all, but Santou had actually found the super-ship to be rather impressionable during the first year that they'd known one another. Since then, Akuma had eagerly grown, becoming confident in her own power and tempering the otherwise vicious temper that could come out when someone crossed her. Nowadays Santou was happy to call the larger battleship a friend and comrade, rather than just a fellow warrior. Plus Santou was always willing to share the tuna rations now and then, which earned her points on its own…
One of the destroyers ahead suddenly perked up, its fin-rudders stilling as he listened to something ahead of it, until the others followed suit. Jericho nodded just as Santou picked it up herself on her hydrophones: sounds of screws moving at a steady pace along the surface duct, muddled by the thermal layer. Looking back, a mental nudge towards the others ensured that the pack's main body was also aware, and Akuma nodded in response. Santou went over the sound patterns again in her mind, but knew that she wasn't likely to be able to discern individual types this far out. It was lucky that they had picked it up this quickly though, as it allowed her to do what she was about to do more safely.
[Akuma, I'm sending a few of our scouts up to the surface, let them see if they can catch anything on passive radars first before we get into targeting range. I don't want us being sniped by some other new surprise if the humans are packing any…]
[Agreed. No sense in not taking precautions. You're the one in charge of this bunch, what do you feel the next move should be if it's confirmed to be our target?]
[Ideally, you and I can move ahead at flank to get in front of the convoy and force them to either change course, or better yet bunch up in surprise. We'll leave the carriers and other battleships to smash them from behind, while our destroyers act as both screens and harriers.]
[Speaking of the carriers, should we send up a few scout planes just to give us some better range to confirm?]
[No, I want to keep them as a surprise. If the enemy doesn't think we have sufficient air cover, then they may do something stupid, which will be to our advantage.]
[What about overcast? Did we bring any hydromancers? I didn't see any others...]
Santou frowned at that. [Not much there. One of the carriers can do a little, but she's not the best at it. Most we can expect from her is to make sure that the satellite feed is going to be iffy at times. Not enough of us to fuel a full storm sadly.]
[True,] Akuma said as she looked back. A lot of the more eldritch things that Abyssals could do depended not just on the individual's abilities, but on the number of supporting Abyssals around as well. The more you had, the more you could do, and Abyssals themselves seemed to either generate or at least channel whatever energies the Abyss gave that allowed them to manipulate the world in ways that were, in no exaggeration, pure magic. She herself could do some such manipulation, though not as much as most with the talent. Given that the Abyssals themselves had only been active for five years, it was actually something of a miracle in anyone's mind that they were already capable of what they could do, but most of that was something closer to instinct than anything learned. There were some Abyssals who were making it a focused study, but most of those dealt with the Taniwha or the less combat-oriented members of the sisterhood. Supposedly the Atlantic side had more emphasis on learning how to use the power of the Abyss directly for combat purposes, but she'd not spoken to any herself aside from Jaeger, who had only started recently, and Ritter, who preferred more physical methods.
Three of the Háfurs broke away and started moving upwards, being careful to stay out of the convoy's path so as to try and stay in their wake and minimize the chances of being heard or seen. In a few minutes, the battlegroup would have all the confirmation they would need...
"What do we got?" Settle said as he entered the room.
"Sir, unknown numbers, just a confirmation of Abyssal submerged units. They're shadowing the convoy right now. One of Gambier Bay's scout planes spotted a group of I-class before they dove," Lieutenant Andrew Richards replied as the personnel around them on the communication systems recorded and made updates they quickly handed off to be carried to other departments, such as the medical response and rescue teams.
"Any way we can get some air cover out to them and smoke them out?"
"Get them there? Sure. Hit the Abyssals directly before they pop up, strike, and submerge again? Not in time, no," Goto said from his chair next to the map display table. The look on his face was all Settle needed to see that his counterpart wasn't any happier to say it than he was to hear it. "Hell, if they're not blind or stupid, they'll probably even see that coming, if they spotted Gambier's plane before they dove. In which case, it'll be a race to see whether or not the convoy can find a safe port or if the Abbies get them first."
"Do we have anyone in the area that we can send to intercept? Anyone on patrol in the area that we can vector?"
"Wake's got an air patrol group coming in from their route, but they don't have the fuel to turn them around just yet. There's got a cruiser group 110 nautical miles out, but they're on the opposite side of the island, making them nearly 500 nautical miles away.. We've got another patrol group about 800 km from them coming from Guam's direction, but I doubt they'd make it in time. And really, that's assuming that they'll need to be there given what the convoy's got with it…"
"Right, but that's if we're dealing with a patrol. You know they started phasing out those dogfishes from long range patrols ever since they came out with the Ni-class. They use them mostly for screening or attack groups these days. One I-class I could see as part of that. But if you spotted a pack of them, that means they've got friends that they're scouting for," Settle said as he pulled up a seat and grabbed a tablet so that he could see the satellite feed himself. "And of course they're just out of range of Wake's missiles..."
Targeting with cruise missiles against Abyssal targets was generally more 'miss' on the hit-or-miss scale, but it could still be done if you had a spotting unit on hand to guide it in. And unlike aircraft, you didn't have to worry about it coming home in one piece either. That said, the convoy's own missiles should be more accurate, it would be more of a case of ensuring that they didn't get swarmed with numbers or out-ranged. As Settle looked at the feed again, he felt an old headache coming on before looking over at Goto. "What do you think? Cruiser division? Carrier group?"
"I'm betting cruisers, maybe some light carriers in along with them. They'll want to hang back and try to pelt the convoy from afar, maybe pick off one or two of the transports and sink them before backing off. If Gambier and Bataan can keep up a good CAP force, then they should be able to keep the worst at bay while the rest of the fleet keeps the enemy at bay. You might be right about this being a full attack group, but so soon after Manila… They can't have too many big hitters right now, not locally anyways."
"You sure on that? They've pulled fuckery plenty of times before, and they ARE closer to the Trench…"
"Yeah, but even they have to deal with recovery times. And I doubt they'd risk TOO much just to go after a convoy. Especially one that's leaving most inhabited waters, not heading towards it. Not only that, but they haven't pulled any offensives near the trench in months, just keeping a lid on it. If they were going to come out of there in force, they'd go after a tougher target, like the patrol groups themselves."
"IF they come from the Trench, then yeah. But if not? What if they're coming from the Marshalls?"
"Then I haven't a fucking clue. There shouldn't be anything that would draw them from out of there towards the convoy… at least not until it was closer to Hawaii. If they were trying to hit them on the way to Pearl, I could see it, but this far out? No."
"Hmmmm, well, I hope you're right. Either way this could be a mess. Can we patch in there?"
"Admiral Stephans is already on the line with them, sir. I'll see if he'll let us listen in," Lt. Richards replied.
Captain Scott Harris glared at the diminutive being standing on the console of his bridge on the cargo hauler Hibernia, willing the tiny humanoid to spontaneously explode. Said fairy dove behind the ship's navigational display before peeking out nervously, wary of the large man's wrath as it hid behind the old-fashioned compass it carried like a shield. Fairies were still one of those things that were only reluctantly made public knowledge, although it was never advertised or spoken of outside of those in-the-know or need-to-know. Supposedly the little things had some sort of sixth sense for finding the Abyssals when in close proximity, allowing one to at least be aware of an Abyssal force even if they couldn't do much about it. Most convoy captains, therefore, bribed the little things to stick around whenever they were found, hoping that they would act as good luck charms.
Harris didn't have that luck though. Whether the Abyssals just hated him or if the fairy in question was just that incompetent, he'd been part of several convoys that had been struck over the last couple of years, and not ONCE had the tiny tot ever so much as peeped a word before the Abbies struck! What was worse was that she honestly seemed to know of her curse and yet still acted like it shouldn't have happened each time! On top of that, she seemed to be constantly fiddling with his navigational console, making him have to reset the thing if he so much as turned his back for one minute! Harris had honestly been tempted to throw the little gremlin out the window more than once, and probably would have if it weren't for the fact that she had those damn puppy eyes…
Turning away from his personal bane, the captain moved over to the radio console and pulled the handset up to his face. "Barry, this is Hibernia, say again that last report, over."
"Hibernia, this is Barry, Abyssal ships spotted west of convoy. Be advised that we're falling back to investigate, over."
"Barry, this is Hibernia, roger that. Requesting update on course and speed for convoy, over."
"Hibernia, this is Barry. Maintain current heading, but increase speed to 20 knots. Further course changes will be sent as needed. Over."
"Barry, this is Hibernia. Confirming increase of speed to 20 knots, over."
"Hibernia, this is Barry. Speed increase is confirmed. Haul ass to Wake and keep steady, over."
"Barry, this is Hibernia, roger that. Stay safe and good hunting, over."
"Hibernia, this is Barry, roger that. Barry out."
Outside the window, Harrison watched as the missile destroyer USS Barry started to turn away from the convoy, along with two ship-girl destroyers which his displays had listed as Shirayuki and Hatsuyuki following in its wake. Turning to his first mate, the transport captain laid in orders to speed up along with the other three transports while their escort sniffed around.
