The Fleet in the Fog

Repulse frowned as she docked her ship under the hastily set up underground dock that had formerly been a massive cliff that had been dug out and reinforced with nano-materials. Nano-Materials. The very thing that made up all of their equipment. As long as they knew what to make, they could make anything from food to other Fog ships with ease. Her dark grey eyes scanned dozens of nano-forges, creating nano-materials from physical matter into a silvery sand like nano-material, that made up half of the entire underground dock. It was going to be moved later on, but as of now they needed to create more space via turning their base of operations much larger and better defended. Akagi was on the dock itself off of her ship directing numerous smaller drones shaped like spiders using nano-materials like web. Repulse on the other hand, was using incoming resources to 'birth' another Fog ship, or specifically a submarine.

110 meter long submarine that could also serve as a light cruiser due to its two turret mounted cannons that had the same power as a heavy cruiser's photon cannons. A relatively unknown submarine, Repulse took pride in her work by building it along the lines of a light cruiser and a submarine. It would have its own mental model, no doubt, but unlike other submarines; the Cruiser Submarine Surcouf had less torpedoes than other submarines, but made it up with its cannons on topside. And it being made into a Fog Submarine?

"Did you hear? It seems that my destroyers finished their scan of this 'Griffonia's' Navy." Akagi said out loud as she watched the bare frame of a new submarine being built within several white rings 'leaking' nano-material in a pre-determined pattern.

"How can I 'hear', Akagi? Your destroyers didn't send their data to me nor Vampire." Repulse answered as she was manipulating dark yellow 'strings' of energy in a manner that of a puppeteer. Not looking back, she accessed their current digital 'pool' of data and searched for the most recent entry. "...Akagi, why the hell do we have recipes?"

"Hmm? Oh, those?" The Japanese based Mental model smiled as she put the finishing touches on a powerful sensor that was being built into the wall. "Just downloaded them before coming here. I heard from Hyuga that the best way to make friends is buy cooking for them."

Repulse shook her head in despair as she felt the underground base's sensors come online. It finally felt secure seeing as there was no ships in the nearby region. Of course, they would still build defenses for both anti-land, anti-naval, anti-air, and anti-infantry. While they could fend off boarders for their ships with Klein fields, a harbor of any kind would not be able to defend itself against infantry. A small team of skilled soldiers could easily take over a dock they needed.

"Hmm..." Vampire, building more destroyers next to Repulse, decided to cut in with her usual stoic look. "Griffonia's Navy seems rather small compared to what Equestria had."

"I know. It seems so strange, doesn't it? Their heaviest ship seems to be a heavy cruiser and even in their dry docks, there aren't any battleships." Akagi said with a frown as she reviewed various images and scans taken by her escort.

"Not really, it seems that they rely more on their Aerial navy." Repulse commented as she brought up several large images of airships. "Helium... I didn't think helium based blimps would be used as warships of all things..."

"But seeing as their entire race is a hybrid between an eagle and lion that can fly reliably, it isn't strange to see airships being used in favor of naval craft. Unless they can drop kilo-ton bombs on us, we'll most likely down them all in matter of hours using out close combat laser systems. Hell, a single fighter of mine could probably down a dozen in them in a single fly by." Akagi boasted as she looked at her carrier-based aircraft.

Modeled after World War II Japanese Zero fighter craft, the normally green/white aircraft had Akagi's red sigils on its body and wings where several laser systems were mounted alongside an underslung corrosive torpedo was mounted. It possessed a dull grey coloring and the 'cockpit' had a bright red core. It was for that fact that Akagi, while not as large in terms of ship size, had the processing ability of a battleship. Having to control dozens upon dozens of fighters in the air while operating her own 'ship', it was what made Fog Carriers especially dangerous.

"Don't get cocky, Akagi. Hyuga underestimated Iona in the past and was sank. Don't make that mistake." Vampire scolded the relatively young mental model. Carriers were introduced after the humans and the Fog had found reason to coexist. Well, not complete coexistence. The Fog was considered a nation upon themselves seeing as they had laid claim to many islands that had been converted into their docks.

"Ugh. I know that. I'm just saying that airships of those kind is only going to give us an advantage, even if they come in hundreds." Akagi countered as she continued to move the spiders accordingly. "Hmm?"

"What now, Akagi?" Repulse said with annoyance in her voice.

"I thought I 'saw' something on sonar..." Akagi placed her construction on hold and focused her own 'ship' based sonar and sent a ping. Her eyes widened briefly and sent the results of the sonar ping to Repulse. Said Battlecruiser's Mental model frowned before sending her own sonar ping out.

"Vampire, would you be a dear and bring that small submarine in here? I'd like to know who in this world has the capability to build a sub of all things." Vampire glared at her 'sister' mental model and took control of a docked destroyer and sent it underwater. "The visual signature matches none of Equestria's or Griffon's design ethics. So I think it's safe to assume that it's an entirely new species or some kind of 'magical' vessel they developed."

"Hah! I found it first, so I get to talk to them first!" Akagi cheered as she jumped up and down several times. Repulse shook her head at Akagi's childishness and sighed. She wished at least Haruna or Kirishima was here to back her up...

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Midnight Dream had the brightest smile she had ever yet in her life. Oh, she had to undergo necessary screening, tests, and other trials in order to be enrolled back in; but it had all been worth it when she was accepted again. And even better was that her father couldn't pull her out of service because she was at the age of nineteen and was now considered an enlisted sailor. Oh course, she had to get used to some of the newest developments in the modern navy, but it was easy enough to learn.

But what really got her was the knowledge of Repulse and Vampire. Compared to what the modern navy had at their disposal, she was sure that those... mental models' ship was certainly powerful. While not sure how powerful, but she could tell that it would take a lot of ships to just sink that battleship. If there was one thing she had wanted to see was those 'missiles' in those built in 'launchers'. It sounded like fireworks, but she wanted to know how they worked completely.

Fidgeting on the bed in her private room, she looked out the dark outside and sighed.

Where did they come from? What were they? And why were they here?

Jumping off her bed in annoyance, she sat on the bed and thought how she could meet them again. If they were indeed the ship as they had claimed, then shouldn't they have a living captain? Or did the mental models fulfill that role? What were those ships powered by? She saw no steam, no exhaust, and definitely had not felt or heard energy flowing through that ship. And what did those large cannons fire? She certainly didn't smell much sulfur, but she could tell that the cannon had seen some heavy use. And not only that, how did a ship of that size just sink beneath the ocean like that? The water pressure should have crushed any other ship and the size would make it utterly impossible to navigate, but she didn't hear any report of debris; so she safely assumed that the ship she had been on had the capability to travel underwater as it had traveled above. Not to mention that she noticed that they had seemed to favor going to the Chaotic Continent. Why, she had no idea; but it was something she had wanted to find out.

The only thing that held her back was that she was now an enlisted sailor of the Royal Equestrian Navy.

Perhaps she would meet them later? Seeing as they traveled by water, she really wanted to meet them again. And most likely ask how their ship worked.

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