3834/Black Ship in the Harbor

Black Ship in the Harbor
Date of Scene:	21 February 2016
Location:	Great Ocean - Southern Loop
Synopsis:	A mysterious black ship emerges near Hikari Seaport from within a tremendous fog. The vessel proves itself to be INCREDIBLY well-armed, but not invincible. But the depths of the sea hide terrible things indeed.
Cast of Characters:	William Pauwel, 941, Wo, Nagato, Shigure, Gaonoir, 939, 945

---

William Pauwel has posed:
    It's a brilliant blue day in the waters of the Pacific. The sea is as glassy and flat as a polished mirror, and the sun shines mightily in the sky overhead. There's nary a cloud up there to give that sun any guff, just an endless expanse of blue above and below, occasionally pockmarked with islands that rise out of the horizon in the distance.

    In other words, it's a really great day to get out there and cause some trouble. Or maybe a day to spend at the beach, hitting around a volleyball or disobeying orders from your direct superiors to not let the resource-guzzling super battleship anywhere near water.

You know, whichever.

    But then, in sudden defiance to the otherwise immaculate weather this afternoon, something... strange emerges. It appears as a great swath of nonsense-signal squatting like an enormous cat all over conventional sensor readouts. Certain shipping routes have seen their ships sail into the disruption and then immediately fail to report back. Vessels disappear, their radio signatures vanishing into the roving field of white-noise.

    Optical confirmation suggests that there is, in fact, some kind of... strange, grey, impenetrable electronic cloud drifting over the surface of the water, obscuring its source from view. All that can be seen is the silhouette of some enormous vessel lurking within.

This can only mean one thing.

It's time to go poke it with a big stick.

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Marshal Mel Brock is on her way from her neck of the Multiverse to Njorun when the Union flags a sensor disturbance as 'mild incident potentially meriting Elite investigation'. She's set up a link to the Union's networks to forward these things to her; she figures the (relatively) light stuff is a good way to get more comfortable going out and interacting with the Multiverse at large. So there's a shrug on her part, and a couple minutes later she's deploying in the Firestarter's Chaser vehicle, following the nav information to get through the labyrinth of warp gates to somewhere close by.

    When she lays eyes and sensors on the great big EM cloud herself, she swears under her breath. What the hell about this is 'mild'?

    Fingers dance across the console, then take the yoke, and the red Chaser banks around to approach at an angle, so she can get a longer, closer look without actually flying into the cloud.

Wo has posed:
    Abyssal patrols and transport expeditions, like their fleet daughter counterparts, are constant and ongoing. A sight familiar in the seas by now, if not necessarily the sleek, whale and shark-like black shapes of their Abyssal cousins, a group of destroyers was escorting some Wa-class transports back from acquiring fresh supplies for the forces back at the local forward base. It was going off completely without a hitch, and with the weather so fine and not a radar hit for at least a dozen miles, they were staying well clear of other traffic today. It was a relaxing outing, and the large dog to small car-sized destroyers were gargling and buzzing between one another. It was almost like small talk...girls talk? Sounds almost like distorted giggling could sometimes be heard to pass between them.

    Then something happens to break the mood. It starts off with a strange radar return just off the horizon, which while it causes them to pause their banter, doesn't seem to really draw their attention at first. False hits, and mistaken ones, are fairly common to encounter. That it remains, and seems to be growing, and is an extremely confusing signal, causes some of them to begin growing visibly nervous, their gliding over the water becoming erratic, and the buzzing between one another growing anxious. The one in the lead, a particularly large I-class glowing with a golden aura, does not seem as shaken, giving a commanding buzzing tone, as it radioes what it is seeing back to the local forward supply depot.

    That is where a particular Wo-class carrier had been seated, looking out at the ocean, with a certain Tsu-class light cruiser operating a radio set with her enormous gloved hands. Somehow. How she managed to fit the headset over her helmet is another mystery. The Tsu-class raises her head slightly, then gurgles something. The carrier also glances over, "...they en-countered something?" An uncertain mumbling follows. "--I see. We will, move to - re-inforce them. We cannot afford, in-terruptions." Both Wo and Tsu, having removed her long range radio gear, descend onto the water, and begin making way toward the site of the reported anomaly.

Nagato has posed:
    Having a supply route from a multiversal entity such as the shipping route that failed to report is a benefit to the Fleet Daughters. In return for goods, the fleet provides protection for them. This time, Nagato's out in full force, the might of the full on battleship sailing alongside a previous convoy. This one was important at least to the Fleet, it contained the monthly supplies for them, but on word of the missing shipping route, and confirmation with the escorted fleet, Nagato breaks off from the group and starts heading in the direction towards the missing fleet.

    There is one passenger on board the Nagato right now, an echoed voice emitting from the hull of the battleship. "Gaonoir, I'll need your assistance in the air please." the voice is still stoic, "I have a single launch rail that's empty for your use or you can take off from my deck." Now with the battleship moving towards the location, and picking up the radar pings of the odd contact. Something was bothering her about this, what could cause ships to just go missing in the ocean? Ships just don't go missing unless they're being sunk.. and this is something Nagato's not goign to have any more of on her watch.

    "This is Admiral Nagato of the Hikari Combined Fleet." she calls over open radios, "I need the status of what's going on and time reports of the missing fleet." a pause "I am here to assist with investigation and defense if nessecary."

Shigure has posed:
    The Fifth fleet were out in full force, escorting a different convoy on a different route, one that was originally heading right for the cloud of interference. "Yamashiro, do you see that?" asks Kuma, her voice echoing metallically from within the hull of her Ocean Fit-Out. "Aye flagship, turn to 0-2-5, lets keep distance." "Agreed, Fifth Strike to Hikari Actual, come in please." a discussion tracks back and forth, and after a brief discussion, the five craft of the Fifth Strike Force peel away, leaving the transports on a relatively safe course into friendly waters, local ships approaching to take over escort duty.

    When Nagato pings coordinates, the fleet adjust course to arrive in formation around the Flagship, Yamashiro taking up point alongside Nagato, Nowaki trailing behind with Chitose and Shigure taking point with Kuma, forming a Double Line formation. "Fifth Fleet, changing flag to Battleship Nagato. We are at your command, Flagship." says Kuma.

Gaonoir has posed:
Some people might find riding around in a craft that one previously knew as a humanoid being .... but really with all the weird forms they can take this was just another daytrip for a Digimon. Or at the very least, it was just weird in a familiar sort of weirdness as far as Gaonoir was concerned.

"Heh. Been a while since I've actually been launched out of something." The dark-furred canid made a little stretch as he got to his feet, and a short salute with one gloved paw even if he's not entirely sure Nagato can 'see' it in the current state of affairs. "You got it, Admiral. Just have her warmed up and ready."

As he sprinted off for the launcher shadowy energy started to gather around him, shifting forms mid-stride with little trouble, so by the time he's reached the launch rail he's already fully evolved. Jumping onto the launching device, he gave his bomber scarf a swat out of his way, pulled his visor down, and crouched on the launcher much like a runner would at the starting line as the jetpack-esque engines on his back emitting a heated glow as they fire up.

Once they start nearing the location the launch rail is activated and rapidly vaults Gaonoir to take-off speed. Not that he really needs to assistance, it's likely he used the launch rail just for it being an oppritunity to do so. Either way, it gets him into the air quickly over the gathering fleet.

Graf Zeppelin (939) has posed:
     As a solo unit, it didn't take Graf Zeppelin very long to mobilize and launch from Hikari. In due time, she arrived at the source of the interference. "Hmn..." The Carrier mused faintly to herself, offering no eloquent verbal response. Her cold, blue gaze swept the area, catching sight of the fifth fleet reinforcing Nagato.

     Very good.

     She kicked it into high gear and sped across the water, join in the Fifth Fleet's formation. "Graf Zeppelin, reporting. I am at your command, Flagship." She spoke in a calm and even tone, looking out towards the cloud of... what was that out there? "Do we have information on this disturbance, or are we going in dark?"

Lima Ultimos (945) has posed:
It's a sea! A very big sea! Seas are good. They're the one place where pirates can truly be themselves, raiding boats, sailing across the waters, accidentally losing men to sharks. Which is why the ghost ship, the Coma Navaja, is sailing across the waters at a positively abnormal speed, causing waves as it ripples through. Fog surrounds the ship, but unlike the rest of it, the fog is absolutely normal! The Coma Navaja isn't actually doing anything at the moment, though the brigantine does seem to be keeping a lookout for other ships.

And then, there's a massive vessel, even larger than the Coma Navaja, seen from afar. One of the ship's lookouts slides down the mast, running up to the helm. "Captain, we found something mighty big! It's a ship, and it's bigger than any other one we've seen out here! It's causing weird things to the weather!" The captain of the Coma Navaja, Lima Ultimos, the Revenant Spaniard, just laughs and grins, as he begins spinning the wheel. "Good work, Leroy! Get back up to the mast, we be going to take a look for ourselves!" Shouting to his quartermaster, Lima Ultimos spins the wheel even faster, causing the ship to almost turn around entirely in the span of a minute. "Tigerbabble! Get ready for parley! Let's be seeing what this ship be about, and if they be wanting a fight!" Tigerbabble simply sighs, before heading down below deck.

"Alright, crew! Full speed! Let us see what's happening!" With a cheer from the crew of 100, the ship takes off once again at breakneck paces, going to go meet a giant boat. This can't go badly at all.

William Pauwel has posed:
    All these disparate naval vessels gathering in one place, you might forgive someone for thinking that there was a major oceanic dispute unfolding on the high seas. Or at least, one could be mistaken in assuming that an engagement was an imminent eventuality.

For a stranger in a strange land, such a mistake is even more easily made.

If it truly is a mistake.

    Those with eyes in the sky would see it first. A widening of the electronic fog immediately surrounding the vessel. It washes out in a silver-gray wave, a nightmare of white-noise made manifest as a raw physical PRESENCE that seeps into every nook and cranny it can reach. The very air in the region within its grasp seems to humm and vibrate, raising a chaotic chorus of electronic nonsense that could make sense only to the ineffable mind of a sunken god.

And within, from the thinned, widened mist, a great vessel lights up with five-dozen angry red eyes.

    It's visible now, parting the fog with its upturned prow. It bristles with turrets, some vaguely spherical and hollowed out on one face like jet black eyes without pupils. Others are larger, and festooned with a bank of strange two-pronged barrels that crackle with angry red lightning.

    A great mast-bridge towers over its hull, overlooking a series of strange cylindrical containers flanking it in threes at four corners. Its aft deck is strangely empty, as if it had acted as some kind of landing area, or perhaps something else. There are... no visible crewmen. The ship is empty, but its activity is undeniable.

As is its fury.

But this is no Abyssal.

    As it emerges, it produces a... noise. That's the only way to describe that sound; a high, digital, bestial keening, like nails on the chalkboard of the brain. If it has meaning, it's obscured by dozens of layers of encryption or the madness of the infinite ages since it has last needed to communicate. The eyes on its hull light up, burning like hateful red stars.

It hasn't opened fire yet... But the atmosphere of tension and malevolent intent is impossible to miss.

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir mutters as he taps the side of his visor a few times, trying to sort out his sensor code from the ambient disruption the fog is producing. There's some irony in the matter of him being the one getting interference, but there's not really time to mull over the fact. Eventually things start to sort out as the digimon's scanning ability begins compensating for the white-noise.

That he can -feel- the manifestation of the distortions is the really weird part. Is this what other digimon feel when he evolves close to them? No wonder most of them think of him as some kind of freakish creep. Not that their opinions matter to him, either.

"There's definately something in there, and it's -big-," he mutters, and pulls up with a flare of engines to get a higher vantage point over the fog. Of whatever is lurking in the midsts of it.

The view he does get is enough to make even the experience enforcer take pause. "What the fragmented null..." Another tap and his sensor-visor zooms in, sweeping over the length of the 'ship'. It's placements, the tower, the deck.. an empty deck at that. Lots of guns, and lots of eyes.

".. Yeah, this ain't gonna be pretty."

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Oh, that... that sounds very angry. And it is very big, and if it opens fire there could be a lot of problems, both for the responders and, probably, for anyone within several miles.

    So Mel switches on her vehicle's external speakers, and swerves into a flight path that matches the ship's direction. "My name is Mel Brock. I'm about 95% certain you can understand me to some extent, so I would appreciate it if you'd confirm for me whether or not you can communicate through verbal language. I'd like to negotiate your presence here."

    A cop's gotta try, right? She doesn't expect it to work, but she's gotta try.

Wo has posed:
    The Abyssal destroyers, though the large one with a golden aura -- that the fleet daughters, if they see it, would recognize as marking it as a highly developed flagship -- had managed to calm them down, are now trembling, for lack of a better term. While they have no scout planes in the sky, lacking the launch capability, they nonetheless sense the uncomfortable sizzling in the air. It's sort of an unfamiliar kinship that they experience. This is not comforting, reinforcing, like their shared song. It's something terrible! They huddle around the transports, even as that wave of electromagnetic disturbance threatens to overtake their position. The gold one barks, in its own static-laden tone, what is likely an order. ...the others hesitate, before breaking off with the transports they are guarding, and moving away at full speed.

    The golden destroyer turns back to the cloud disturbance. It seems she's willing to head in alone if she must -- but that proves unnecessary. Cruising in from her same approach vector, she's joined by the Wo-class aircraft carrier and Tsu-class, which arrive just in time to reinforce her line and, hopefully, screen for the main expedition detachment to clear the area. "Good work -- until now," comes praise from Wo, settling a black gloved hand against the smooth, but weathered, black exterior of the large I-class. All three then turn their eyes, both visible and not, toward the shape emerging from the chaos. At a far distance, it could almost be mistaken for one of their own, but there is no Abyssal-style presence felt here, aside from the appearance. With an unspoken order, the carrier gestures her command staff forward, the jaw of her flight deck-slash-hat hinging open, and the roar of jet turbines issuing from within.

    A wave of air superiority fighters is launched, ahead of a flight of dive bombers, in short order. The Tsu-class light cruiser, and the golden I-class, advance ahead of Wo into the swarm of static, levelling their guns and beginning to open fire with 6 and 5 inch guns. If it is a danger to their expedition forces, then it needs to be ended swiftly. There is something else noticed, now that she has aircraft in the air, as well. ...what are 'they' doing here?

Nagato has posed:
    Some brief commands over the radio and Nagato's turrets start to turn in the direction of that very angry looking 'ship'. Hearing Mel over her speakers, an affirmative noise is given and Nagato waits, "All ships, hold fire. Wait for their initial attack." and with quick transmissions, she gives Gaonoir some access to the Fleet radio. Inside the ship, Nagato's holed up in one of the rooms, the visions she's getting from around the area are distorted and not clear. "Mmm... Chitose, scout planes." she orders, more vision is nessecary and a clearer bit will be good.

    Upon her own deck, the launch rail is fitted out with a scout plane of her own, launched and moving to follow near Gaonoir. It's just a simple plane, no weapons, but a old style WW2 camera to give vision. "Alright, show us what you have." she mutters, before calling out to Mel's ship. "Mel Brock, this is Admiral Nagato. We're here to provide backup if your negotiations fail. Northern Force fleet shall back your efforts in negotiation."

    Though, upon mention on her radio's... Nagato's plane hovers around the area and she calls out. "Abyssal ships. There's no time for negotiation now, they've fired. All ships, prioritize Abyssal surface ships first, carrier-class abyssal can wait a moment. Gaonoir, ready anti-aircraft defense." a pause, "Hold order..."

    On a tighter band, direct towards the Wo-class... "Wo." is all Nagato says, though with an order given to Shigure to signal...

Shigure has posed:
    Well, that's not the stuff of nightmares. No siree.

    The Fifth Fleet, if they're afraid, don't show it on their external hulls. At orders from Nagato, the ships hold formation, Kuma's launch rail swinging out to relase a Type 0 Scout as standard protocol.

    Chitose's launch rails angle out as well, loading and launching Zuiun bombers with torpedo loadouts to take up holding pattern around the fleet.

    Wo's launch doesn't go unnoticed, as Shigure's radar mast swings to pick them up. She relays the findings then awaits orders, turrets swinging up to high angle, just in case. The radio mast comes alive next, and a tight beam communication tries to breach the interference. "Abyssal Fleet, this is Destroyer Shigure of the Combined Fleet, please state your intentions in this encounter. Repeat. Please state your intentions." Her searchlights also flare, flashing light-sentences, just in case the radio doesn't go through.

Graf Zeppelin (939) has posed:
     ....That's a big ship.

     Not that Graf Zeppelin is surprised. It looks hostile. Those cannons look ready to fire. From within the the ship, deep within, seated and in command, she frowned. "...Hostile intentions assumed. Preparing armaments." She spoke clearly, her turrets training on the mysterious black ship. And her flight deck raised several planes, ready to launch at a moment's notice.

     Talk over the radio of Abyssal presence gives the girl pause. "....Sister is here..." Is all Graf Zeppelin mumbles. She doesn't say anything further and holds her fire, waiting to hear what the next command will be. She would trust that Nagato would make the right call when the time came. Whatever that call may be.

Wo has posed:
    There is a realization that, with a fleet of their current size, they aren't equipped to deal with all of the Elites that appear to be on Nagato's 'side', at the moment. Wo bares her fangs a little in frustration, and while she doesn't alter course or her plans, yet, the shelling almost seems to hesitate for a moment. The Tsu-class gargles, and the I-class buzzes, as they do. While the transmissions are a bit garbled from the interference, enough still gets through, owing to them not being in the deepest parts of the veil, to interpret. Wo radioes back directly, "This a-nomaly, is presumed...to have threat-ened, our expedition for-ces. Whether, it leaves...or is sunk, is up to it." In a more compact form, the I-class flashes its search light eyes to convey the same overall message. The use of 'it' is also conspicuous. The Abyssal planes enter into a brief holding pattern, as though tensely awaiting an answer.

Lima Ultimos (945) has posed:
Well, it looks like the boat wants a fight! That'll make things easier for the Coma Navaja. Sailing up a bit to the side of the Black Ship, the boat pauses, as the men run to take the cannons. No one fires, however, as Lima Ultimos shouts to...his boat. "Alright, girl, let's be trying to negotiate! Do what ye do best!" The Coma Navaja starts loudly creaking, before the creaking starts being directed towards the side facing the Black Ship. While it just sounds like an old boat making noises, these Boat Noises are actually rather intelligent. There's no words to them, because boats don't talk, but if the Black Ship understands Boat Noise, they roughly mean 'what is your intention, we are probably going to shoot you, no hard feelings...unless you have better ideas?'

The Coma Navaja waits roughly one minute for a response. If no response comes that indicates the Black Ship is willing to do something reasonable, Lima Ultimos will shout, "Alright, lay it on her!", and the crew will begin firing the cannons. Dozens of powerful cannonballs will launch from the Coma Navaja, attempting to rip through the Black Ship, before the ship begins to try and speed up again to get distance. Hopefully, it doesn't come to this!

William Pauwel has posed:
    For a moment, a singularly beautiful moment, the vessel seems to stop to consider the craft hovering overhead. Its only response to their words is a rattling of metal and the low groan of an ancient battle-hull sailing to war once again. Its reply, in the language of ships, is a tired litany of anguish and enduring, pained fury. Its sixty eyes seem to dim briefly as if it were closing them in contemplation. It's only when the Abyssals obliterate any hope for a peaceful encounter that it becomes clear...

It was not the curiousity of apes that caused it to pause.

    It was an alien, calculating awareness. A channel of thought not unlike a scientist examining a dangerous pathogen through a microscope. It was not thinking about peace.

It was planning a strategem.

    The red eyes suddenly blaze to life once more as if torn from their reverie by a tight, hateful hand. Dozens of the smaller apertures seem to narrow, their light intensifying and focusing into pencil-thin beams that somehow /bend/ as they enter the mist, twisting and sweeping through the flight of Abyssal fighters and bombs directed at its position. A pair of 6 and 5 inch shells smash into its hull and then sink into the briney deep. The remainder slam into a wall of... hardened light. A barrier system!? Cannonballs pound into its frame from another direction, leaving another series of dents in its hull before the remainder is again swallowed up by whatever stopped the Abyssals' shots.

    Another shrill cry tears through the fog. Its turrets come alive. The pronged cannons swivel in their mounts, acquiring targets even as the light of their barrels doubles and then triples. With a crack of sixty-six-times-six million joules discharging at once, it unleashes a half-dozen slugs of solid, magnetized matter downrange at the Abyssals and their Kanmusu counterparts.

Its flying foes receive somewhat less conventional treatment.

    The spherical 'turrets' come away from their housing, darting through the air like unusually rotund multirole fighters. From the aperture in their shells, they begin filling the sky with roiling, irradiated blasts of vermilion plasma. They dart and divert through the fog as they fire at Lima, Mel and Gaonoir, unleashing one shot before relocating to charge another.

And all the while, it keeps right on saturating the battlefield with those weird, bending lasers. Light isn't supposed to TURN like that!

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Okay, talking is not happening. The moment the Abyssals open fire, Mel banks the Chaser and goes into a sidelong dive, already communicating with Nagato. "Yeah, that's about how I expected this to go. Watch yourselves, you've got mass driver fire incoming! I'm gonna see what I can do up here." The crimson vehicle twists and dives before swerving around again, shimmering blue as attacks get close enough to trip its shielding, before coming out of its descent just over the water. There's a few sizzling scorch marks on the craft - one of them deep enough that it looks like some of the hull has been partially melted by a more-than-glancing hit - but it's still performing just fine, and having the water under her means less directions to avoid lasers from.

    She has a plan, though. Pushing the craft up to nearly full speed, there's a distinctive 'THOOM' as a craft meant to reach orbit on its own power shoves right through the sound barrier. The crimson bolt hurtles right out past the giant ship before decelerating hard enough to strain Mel against her restraints; she swings around, pops up, and starts a pass right over it, low enough to be within the EM fog.

    But therein lies the secret. She's loaded up a small torpedo to fire off as a sort of 'bomb' as she passes above it, but her main plan is to reach out with her psychic power, forming a 'solid' barrier in front of her craft - a barrier pointed forward, like a V around her ship, with the surfaces also angled up. A lot like a snow plow, trying to outright shave away some of that fog and make an opening for everyone.

Nagato has posed:
    Energy shields, why did it have to be energy shields. Turret loading noises are loud on the fleet Flagship as shells are changed out for something by an invisible crew while the lasers and railgun volley slams right into the Flagship, scorching the deck and destroying the launch rail. A small pained noise is made and the turrets traverse to aim at the Black Ship. "All cannons, fire!" the loud rapport of eight shells being fired from four turrets is followed by a plume of fire and smoke, with the eight shells reaching a high angle.

    Once those shells reach up, they explode and start raining down hot shrapnel against that energy barrier, the last time they were up against one, the Sanshiki seemed to work just fine against it, so Nagato is testing that theory again. "I'll have to find a way to better peirce energy barriers... it may end up having to upgrade the fleet as a whole..." she mutters, speeding along in formation.

    "Mel Brock, I'm not sure what a mass driver is but we're joining in the fight. If you can find a way around this shielding, relay it to my fleet, we'll be able to help penetrate the enemy vessel with our Type Ninety-Fours."

Shigure has posed:
    Well, with that out of the way, Kuma's turrets traverse into position, barrels gleaming in the light as they lock their target in... the Black Ship. Shigure's do the same, angling down to take a surface trajectory instead of a high angle. Nowaki follows suit, and Yamashiro's main guns follow too, the six turrets of the Fusou-class Dreadnaught turning and elevating. "Fleet ready to commence shelling, Flagship." comes the soft tones of the other Battleship, echoing and metallic from within the hull.

    Then all hell breaks loose. A laser curves in and smashes through Kuma's port-side hull below the waterline, making her begin to list before it starts to seal itself. "Damage control! Flood ballast!" she cries out, obviously in pain, before she opens fire, 15.5cm shells lashing out in retaliation. Shigure launches her own attack, rapid-fire 10cm shells flying from her turrets. "Must get closer... we're out of position for a torpedo attack..."

    Yamashiro's cannons roar to life, unloading the AP shells already loaded. She then hmms, and the turrets clank and whirr, "Load Type 3 shells. Air-burst, 25ft from target. Full saturation spread. Take aim. FIRE!"

    The cannons clank and finish reloading, then roar to life again, lofting Type 3 'Sanshiki' shells which detonate into flowers of shrapnel and white-hot magnesium and tungsten to shower the Black Ship.

    Chitose remains the only vessel not firing directly, her AA battery fully out of range, and wouldn't put a mark in a Destroyer, let alone whatever THAT thing is. That isn't what her primary offense is though. Her Zuiun, those that survive the sudden Homing Laser attack, turn and settle in on a high speed, low altitude attack run, waiting until they're about a click away from the Black Ship, before dropping their torpedoes and peeling away, returning toward their carrier.

Gaonoir has posed:
"I think that counts as indescriminate!", Gaonoir barkss harply as the Black Ship starts unloading ordinance. And then some of the actual turrets, launching them into the air like ball shaped aircraft even as they're opening fire. "Just a suggestion, but MOVE." His own jetpack roars to life, two plumes of energy erupting behind the Machgaogamon as he launchs into a twisting weaving motion to try and evade the weird-ass lasers.

Fortunately attacks that like to flip off convential physics is something digimon are naturally accustomed to. That experience he has to work with while dodging bending lasers and plasma blasts at least. A few shots still get a little too close for comfort, leaving scorch-like marks in his flight suit armor.

"Okay I don't know what the null you things are, but enough is enough." Pulling out of one of the swooping turns Gaonoir pulls up into a hover, sensor-visor locking onto the nearest grouping of now hovering turrets. "Time to cut down on the air traffic." Jaws clench tightly, little motes of digital energy crackling around his fangs as his entire body arcs back a bit, as if taking in a deep breath. And then--

"HOOOOOOWLBACK CANNON!"

--Not only does he howl much like his canid form would suggest possible, but the resulting sonic shockwave carries a crackling discharge of his own disruption effect in it, like someone used a bass boost to fire a high energy EMP at the spherical airforms.

Lima Ultimos (945) has posed:
Well, it looks like the boat is mad, and not going to negotiate. Time to destroy it, then! Especially since it has cannons and lasers and OH MY GOD, KENNETH DIED. He'll be mad when we resurrect him. The Coma Navaja is getting blasted by lasers, causing men to be knocked back and the hull some damage that it can luckily heal from, though that doesn't help much in immediate combat. It's time to do a very well-thought, ingenious plan that can't go possibly bad.

"Alright, brace yerselves! We're gonna ram her!"

At Lima Ultimos' cry, the ship gets some distance, before turning back towards the Black Ship. Aiming directly for her hull, the Coma Navaja slams forward full-speed ahead, intending to strike directly at the broadside. Crew members desperately try to hold onto the ship, while Lima just laughs and laughs, holding onto to his wheel so that he isn't sent flying off. He probably doesn't realize that he's now more likely to get hit by anything anyone else fires, including these psychic bombs, missile fire, and torpedoes. Well, that's just the risk of it!

Graf Zeppelin (939) has posed:
     Those were lasers.

     Then this was simple. Basic Evasive Manuevers!

     ...Wait a second, lasers aren't supposed to curve like tha- BWAM. "Tch-!" Graf's deck from struck by several stray lasers. "-Running damage control on deck. Fight Deck is operational. Proceeding with bombardment." The turrets on the front side raised up. "Three...Two.....One.... FIRE!"

     With that, each and every turret exploded, firing shells outwards in an upwards arc, aiming to descend and impact the enemy ship's deck. But she didn't stop there. Several planes launched, going airborne. Circling the skies above, evading laser fire from those funnels, they veered downward after a point, letting loose with heavy artillery fire. Specifically aiming for the turrets firing those damnable lasers.

Wo has posed:
    It would be easy to be dissuaded, as the shells glance off some kind of barrier. Fortunately, this I-class destroyer and Tsu-class light cruiser were a bit more tolerant, and durable, than the average stock Abyssal. Instead of a sound of deflation, there are only grumbles and buzzes of frustration; though on Wo's will, they hold further fire. While they wait for communications with the fleet daughters, and to behold the unusual sight of another ship sidling up to 'speak' in a way that is almost intelligent to even the Abyssals, it actually gives the unknown vessel time to consider all of the inputs, and formulate a response. Obviously, Wo should have just stuck with her gut, and continued firing without further consultation, but it's too late for that, now.

    The Abyssal fleet is no stranger to energy beams, but they aren't quite used to them...bending. Or railguns, yet, for that matter. The standard manga-style bolt of non-existant lightning flickers through Wo's awareness, and she calls for evasive action. The maneuvers are a bit different than they would be for more standard projectiles, but the sum result is the same -- the Abyssals' formation is momentarily scattered, as they all break away. The I-class, too smart for its own good, momentarily sinks lower into the water to let one slug graze overhead. The Tsu-class isn't quite as evasive, and opts, probably unfortunately, to partially block and deflect the incoming shot. Not having the benefit of an energy shield, she has to rely on her armor. Which, when the sizzling vapor clears, has held, but her deathly pale skin is visibly splintered and cracked, and oozing what looks like congealed oil. One of her arms' gloves is also ripped up, though the turrets seem to remain functional.

    The Wo-class, on her part, has to deal with it on two fronts. Her aircraft are a target of those tightly concentrated beams aimed into the sky, and they dive and swoop to attempt to avoid it. But, these beams are...beams, and jets are jets. Two fighters and bombers each get caught up in the tangle of beams and, instead of smashing into the see trailing smoke as is usual, seem to more or less have their damage 'cauterized' before spiraling down. Like that video of a laser shooting down a mosquito. The remaining fighters attempt to harass those flying spherical turrets with strafing fire from their growling cannons, while the dive bombers shift into a steep descent, dropping their payloads before climbing back and trying to limp back to their carrier. They wing wag at the (for now) friendly Gaonoir, as though to signal for cover, if it can be provided.

    ...and, if Wo survives for the aircraft to return to, that is. At this rate, nothing is a given. She's a bit of a 'larger' target profile than the light cruiser and destroyer. As much as she tries to minimize that exposure, her armor still takes a solid strike, similar to what happened to the Tsu-class. The fracturing and splintering cause her to visibly grimace, but she remains upright, and even joins the light cruiser and destroyer in returning fire. Rather than the conventional shells that those two use, her flight deck's twin turrets level, and then channel her pain into a red beam weapon of her own, through her clenched teeth. Is that other strange ship aiming to ram it? Have they gone mad?

    Even if they are suicidal, she'll welcome the distraction as a chance. She signals something wordlessly to the I-class and Tsu-class, that gurgle confirmation, before moving into a defensive position in front of her again. In a sight that would be familiar to some present, black metal plates begin assembling from the depths around and beneath Wo, and welding together with red-hot seams. Whatever this process is, it could likely be interrupted, if the Black Ship can spare enough processing power from being slammed into by a pirate ship.

William Pauwel has posed:
Many things happen all at once.

    Gaonoir's roar shakes the fog and stirs the sea to a violent roiling mess. The Black Ship rocks on twisting and turning waves as a pair of its orbital units shatter as they're literally shaken apart. The others... Had the foresight to use their kin as shields and quickly pick up the slack, firing at the digimon with blasts of that corrosive, vermilion plasma.

    Reciprocating fire pours in from the shipgirl menace. The Type-3 shells smash into solid disks of hardened light as they streak down overhead. Whatever this vessel is, it does't seem to have anticipated the shots to split into a rain of high-speed molten shrapnel. Plumes of black smoke twist from its hull as the sub-munitions strike home. Other shells of similar caliber fire in its direction. It sees them, and immediately directs laser-fire to tear into the shells before they can have a chance to close in and deploying their devastating cargo.

    Foreign aircraft keep up the assault. Bombs smash into and through its shield, exploding across its deck before the remainder are disintigrated by point-defense fire. A few of its red eyes wink out under the assault, but it has identified its priority targets now.

Carriers identified.

Opening Fire

    Six of its railgun mounts pivot in their turrets, acquiring the relatively larger 'signatures' of the Wo-Class and the Graf Eisen. Three bolts each, focused in concentrated bombardment at their position. With that much kinetic energy, even an ocean impact would cause a shockwave of high-pressure water. But in all this...

Well, it hasn't /missed/ the Coma Navaja, but it seemed to have discounted the vessel's viability of an actual threat. Ramming maneuvers can be easily dealt with. Its remaining six turrets turn, not even bothering to acquire a target as they open fire. Lasers curve up and over from the other side of the ship. It looks as though the Ghost Ship is a sitting duck...

And then SOMETHING comes in from space like a bolt out of the blue.

    A shuddering pulse smashes through the field of white noise. The Black Ship seems to recoil at the disruption to its countermeasure field, the ripples of Mel's telekinetic dive roil through four-dozen beams of light. Suddenly they seem to veer off into oblique angles, flash-boiling patches of ocean and sailing harmlessly(?) out into the sky.

And then the Coma Navaja makes contact.

    The ghost ship, supernaturally mighty as it is, smashes into the black vessel's hull. Its strange, ebon armor groans as it crumples in, as if... as if the ship had been hollowed out, somehow.

Its eyes flicker for a moment or two... and then slowly darken.

Is... is that all it took?

Lima Ultimos (945) has posed:
As the Coma Navaja smashes into the Black Ship, the crew cheers, as Lima Ultimos does a little jig. "Aye, and they be thinking we'd die! Good job, team!"

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    As the Chaser reaches the stern of the ship, Mel pulls up and banks around, letting her psychic plow dissipate and putting her entire focus back on piloting. She swings her craft around and brings it to a hover, just in time to see the Coma Navaja slam into the black ship. With the fog peeled away, a lot of its control over the lasers is gone, and the ramming tactic seems to have done some serious damage. But she's not taking chances.

    A couple switches are flipped, and the Chaser begins unloading all its remaining space torpedoes (all three of them) in a single rapid-fire volley. This time, they're not being dropped as bombs, but fired as proper missile-like weapons.

Shigure has posed:
    Chitose is spared from counter fire, recalling her Zuiun and launching a fresh wave, just in case. "I've got a bad feeling about this..."

    Kuma, still listing a bit to port, starts falling out of formation. "Boiler 3 is flooded... I can't maintain formation Flagship..."

    Shigure takes up solo point, maintaining aim on the target as things go suddenly very quiet.

William Pauwel has posed:
Is it really over?

No.

Not by a long shot.

    Lima and his crew would notice first. The black ship's flank groans unnaturally, its frame deforming and twisting away. At first it might seem like it's just the result of ships grinding against one another on the high seas. And then /something/ pushes back out. Something... Colorful.

    It's like watching a technicolor skeleton unfold out of the enormous vessel. Something that should NOT have been able to fit inside that boat. Its tendrils are many and ossified as it squeezes out of its shell like some kind of terrifying hermit crab. The thing has no discernable anatomy. It has spines that jutt outwards like the shell of a massive, evil sea urchin. Brightly colored fronds and anemone-like tentacles wave in the breeze and... crackle with angry electricity.

More shots stream in. The fronds bristle and then FLASH, unleashing a shockwave of concussive, bioelectric force that meets the incoming fire and knocks maybe eighty percent of it out of the sky. The remaining rounds pound in, eliciting another high-pitched wail.

But...

It unfolds completely regardless.

A massive, horrifying /thing/ from the darkest depths of a sailor's worst nightmare. It's like some kind of disgusting hybrid of octopus and coral reef, wearing an entire battleship like a conch-snail's shell.

It regards the vessels gathered with cruel intelligence.

And then its spines begin firing like /horrible biological missiles./

Lima Ultimos (945) has posed:
Well, that failed, Lima Ultimos thinks as the ship batted into by tentacles and spine missiles. Larry and Joe die next, knocked backwards and only carefully caught by the mast. The ship is rocked back and forth as the hull is pierced, the Coma Navaja wailing in agony. Time for round two!

Spinning the wheel around, Lima Ultimos gives a small prayer to the Lord, before pulling back on the wheel. Suddenly, the waves below the Coma Navaja ripple, as the brigantine just /takes off/, jetting into the air above the black ship. And then it spins again, to position itself above the other ship. Lima Ultimos lets go of the wheel.

CRASH

The Coma Navaja proceeds to fall directly onto the Black Ship, sending crew members flying from the impact, and sending Lima Ultimos backwards. He climbs back up to his feet, and then walks towards the edge of the ship, drawing Corpserot, his magical cutlass. "Jesus, take the wheel! Alternatively, ye can do it too, Tigerbabble."

And then, Lima Ultimos dives off the ship sword first, heading to impale his blade directly into the monster. He'll be okay. Maybe?

Shigure has posed:
    Kuma pushes back to speed, sheer force of will dragging her back into formation. She turns broadside as the Fleet shifts formation to Line Ahead, Nowaki slotting in between Yamashiro and Chitose. Shigure in front of Nagato and Kuma at the lead. "All ships, ready ripple fire, maintain contant bombardment until threat is passified!" calls Yamashiro, her turrets turning and locking in on the Hermit Reef, before opening fire again, each cannon firing in sequence along her entire broadside, the first cannon reloading and firing again about 12 seconds after the final cannon fires.

    Chitose orders her Zuiun to intercept those biomissiles, the floatplanes firing machineguns and cannon to try and interdict... some even flying themselves into the missiles in a kamikaze-style assault to protect the ships. Their pilots floating down on little white parachutes.

    Nowaki, Kuma and Shigure turn their torpedo turrets into position, readying a spread of torpedoes. "Fish in the water, check my bearing." says Shigure as she unloads eight Long Lance torpedoes into the water. Nowaki follows with another four, and Kuma with another six.

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Aaaand of course her remaining torpedoes were just rendered useless. With the EM fog cleared out, Mel can sense it just before it emerges. Something huge and alien and full of an incomprehensible sort of hate. "Ohhhh, fu-" Before she can finish her swear, a spine smashes across the side of the Chaser. The shielding blunts some of the force, but warning lights are already flickering, and she knows full well the thing is going to be a liability from here on out.

    So she taps in a couple commands on the autopilot, ordering the red craft to start gaining altitude and also to fly /away/ from the engagement, and speaks into her radio. "Cover me. I'm about to do something /really stupid./"

    And then she opens the overhead hatch and hauls herself up and out into a freefall.

    A spine goes sailing by, and the psychic reaches out telekinetically to /grab/ it from the air. Even with a hundred tons of force, catching the thing rocks her entire body with a shudder of pain. But she hauls it in, slings it under herself, plants feet on it, and begins 'carrying' herself almost straight down through the hail of spines towards the Reef Creature below. If she's going to hit it, she'll have to get closer first.

Wo has posed:
    That large signature would grow visibly large to accompany it. As the strange techno-evil-ship's threat calculations finished, the final welds would complete the bulk of the outline of a full-sized carriers, the remaining Abyssal aircraft in the sky expanding in size, and shape, to match that of manned jets. Their cockpits are blackened over, however, similar to their almost corroded-looking airframes; it's uncertain if there's a pilot inside, perhaps some spooky skellington. The carrier they're bombers are now returning to is, itself, a weathered black shape, full of crumples, and points of damage that almost look like they're oozing molten metal. The same metal that is likely forged continuously in that burning furnace, that is within...well, the carrier's toothed maw, where its bow would normally be.

    The Tsu-class light cruiser and I-class destroyer notice the strange vessel's guns levelling at their flagship, and buzz a split-second warning ahead of her being fired upon. They do their best to absorb some of the shockwave, but more or less get plowed right through and cast to the side, bobbing helplessly in the waves that ripple out from the sheer force being directed. Wo, on the deck of her newly formed carrier's body, grabs onto a rust-coated railing and braces. What remains of the still mostly full force shot slams into the side as the carrier quickly turns, and vaporizes an enormous hole, exposing bulk heads and inner framework, as well as what almost looks like unfurnished quarters and cabins. While the ship lists slightly, it remains afloat, the fresh damage causing molten metal to drip into the sea and flash solidify into slag, while causing steam to boil up.

    The air wing touches down, a bit unevenly, but managing to be arrested, before elevators hoist up fresh bombs. The cruiser and destroyer scramble to regain their own footing, as the steam finally parts to reveal that the composition of the enemy has...well, been greatly altered. "...Wo," the carrier's humanoid self wonders, as she sets her eyes upon it? It almost looks kind of beautiful, in its deadliness. Yet, it's unlikely to be pleased to have its home taken away, and they'll need to help finish this. Now armed with more considerable defensive batteries, the anti-air guns on the carrier track and fire upon the incoming bio-missiles, the Tsu-class light cruiser raising one bank of her guns and joining in the defense.

    The golden I-class, however, has other ideas. With silent permission granted, she surges toward the beast, opening her jaw to expose her five-inch gun which squeezes off shells as she approaches. Then, once she's in range, if she doesn't get cut off immediately, she turns, loosing four Abyssal torpedoes into the water. Yes, even they have mouths.

Gaonoir has posed:
If there is one thing the Multiverse has taught Gaonoir already, it's that sometimes you have to look past the standard battlelines. Right now typical enemies were allies against a common threat. That's all that matters.

"HEY BALL BRAINS! OVER HERE!" Considering he's already got their aggro from smashing a few of their spheres, it shouldn't be too hard to get more of their attention on him, right? Right. Sure enough they're already coming back to fire at him with their plasma shots.

But that's okay, if they're shooting at him the other aircraft have a chance to pull back to their respective carriers.

Focused fire is actually a bit harded to dodge about that widespread bending lasers, and between a few evasive manuevers Gaonoir resorts to just punching a couple of plasma blasts with his gauntlets. Burning vermillion tongues like across the metal surfaces as the impacts dispurse the energy, damaging the exterior of his body. Though the extent of is hard to tell, as where the exterior appears as if breaking up from the corrosiveness, there's only the murky blackness of the Dark Digitron beneath to see.

Others are still firing on the Black Ship trying to make it sink for sure.... Except instead of sinking it comes back up to reveal the REAL monstrousity that it is. And here he was just joking about that Gigaseadramon/Cthulu fling.

"Well, this just got uglier. Literally." Gaonoir snarls, clenching one gauntlet. "Looks like some horror that would crawl out of the Dark Zone." Still got the remaining air-spheres to worry about, too. Makes a knucklecracking motion of one fist against the opposite palm, and both of his arms start to crackle with the same sort of dark digital miasma that ripples beneath his wounds.

"Whatever this monstrousity is, it's going down!" He launchs back into motion, while his sensors lock onto as many of the remaining spheres as it can. He pulls up, clenching fists at his sides, the Dark Digitron energy massing around them until it almost looks like he's got a pair of black energy gauntlets worn over his already oversized metal ones. With that, he launchs towards the spheres.

"TENEBRAE HURRICANE!"

The attack call refers more to the speed, but it's just as furious as any storm as Gaonoir charges at the speheres with such a raging flurry of punchs that there's dozens of shadowy afterimages left in their wake. That, thanks to his shadowplay powers, are just as dangerous as the his actual fists, if one can even tell the difference.

But Gaonoir isn't just trying to punch down the gun-spheres. He's trying to punch them either into each other, or send the spheres hurtling back at the octoship the originated from!

Nagato has posed:
    "What in the world..." she mutters "This... is.." she coughs, "All units, line ahead formation, broadside attack with Sanshiki. Torpedo bombers load up. We're going in close to assist the strike." though it seems that with the orders given, torpedos are out in the water, Nagato gives a nod towards Yamashiro and starts her own sequential fire with Yamashiro's, timing it to where there's at least one shell from the two battleships in the air at all times.

    With this going, Nagato ponders a few things and with Chitose's anti air and Gaonoir being her own anti air support, she makes a call... a tight beam, encrypted radio transmission to the Wo-class. "Wo, I will need your Tsu-class to fire in sequence with Yamashiro and I. If we can keep it busy with shelling, it should leave opening for my carriers and your bombers."

Wo has posed:
    The sound that is transmitted in return to Nagato almost sounds confused, for a moment, then considering. "Tsu -- return to, standard shells." A confused gurgle can be heard even over the closed channel, as though seeking confirmation. "--co-operate with them, for now. I have e-nough anti-air, to hold out." Then a wary affirmative, as the sounds of shells being exchanged and reloaded can be heard coming from the Tsu-class' two banks of turrets along her arms.

Graf Zeppelin (939) has posed:
     Success.

     The bombarbment opens up the black ship's defenses, and the combination of shelling, ramming, lasers, and all other manner of artillery tear into the hull. It's a thing of beauty. In fact, Graf begins to chuckle lowly. "Hmhmhm..." That's rather ominous. But as they say...

     Success is short lived.

     It's not over. The craft begins to warp....change. It's grotesque. Inside the depths of her ocean fit-out, Graf Zeppelin frowns deeply. "....Hmph. So this is how it will be. Resuming bombardme-" She doesn't finish that line. Because she is targeted. A high pressure blast of laser rips through the air, and right into the hull of the ship.

     It pierces through, causing fires and explosions on all levels. And the edge of the blast gets dangerously close to Graf Zeppelin's real body. "Tch-! Damage report! ...I don't care! Get the weapons systems operational again! Hurry!" Fairies scuttled around on all levels, scrambling to put out fires and reload the turrets. Only a few were left operational. "Unload all shell! Do not let that monstrosity by! Go go!"

     And with that, the planes still in the air veered back around for another round of fire. And from the ship, the remaining turrets exploded, sending what remaining shells they had towards that abomination.

William Pauwel has posed:
    So it turns out that the deep sea is full of approximately all the horrible things, and that these monstrous creatures have all come together in a single amalgamation of purest nightmare. But this world has an answer for nightmares.

/Superior firepower./

AND CRAZY SKY FIGHTERS.

    The Thing From the Deep shrieks as shells and bombs smash into its calcified hide. Spines and chitinous armor fall away in clumps, exposing a hard, riged technicolor core beneath. A daredevil ghost pirate leaps down onto its shell and starts STABBING IT WITH HIS SWORD. Corpserot's namesake begins afflicting the seaborne thing- but it doesn't really decay so much as begin to bleach white.

    In the sky, Gaonoir unleashes his fury. The remaining orbs still listing in the sky shudder under his onslaught and shatter into so many pieces of twisted metal. Their broken shards that rain down on the creature down below, even as what's left of his assault pounds into the terrible /thing./

    Mel descends like some kind of fantasy dragon-knight. She leaps boldly at the thing's spined shell like a flea leaping into a proverbial sea-dog. But the spines aren't just long, perfect cones. They're awful, jagged things that shiver and scrape at her on her descent with their barbed, toxic shafts. But even so close, the thing isn't defenseless. Little eyelets all across its shell begin to leak choking, corrosive fumes. Fronds of coral-growth and brightly colored anemones wiggle and twitch, charging for another electric blast.

And then Torpedos from Abyssal and Kanmusu alike blast into the creature from beneath the waterline. The link connecting it to the Black Ship ruptures in a spray of corrosive ichor. The entire thing starts to list as the water around it begins turning from crystal blue to some awful green-yellow that congeals to staunch its own bleeding. The creature shrieks as it begins launching spine after spine. Its tentacles thrash to sweep away whatever might still be in the water. Enormous apertures like ink-jets open across its midsection where its spined shell meets the waterline. More of that corrosive liquid sprays out in great gouts at anything else that might still be in the water.

And that electrical charge keeps building and building and building...

Nearby, the Black Ship slowly rocks in the waves.

Lima Ultimos (945) has posed:
Lima Ultimos is now craving seafood. He is going to claim dibs on the meat, because it seems there is no loot. STabbing Corpserot into the shell, he falls backwards as the beast shakes from the destruction of the ship, quickly grabbing one of those spines to pull himself back up. Corpserot is slammed into one of the spines as he dances around, incredibly agile. And then, eying the Coma Navaja, he signals a hand. "Aye, turn her over! Blast it to pieces!"

On queue, the Coma Navaja turns sideways, the crew hanging onto the cannons and ship with dear life to not be sent flying off. Luckily, the dead have already been moved below deck, so they're safe. Being an extraordinary pirate crew, the Coma Navaja's cannons are aimed, loaded, and fired, blasting left and right from above into the monster. Though he SHOULD be getting pelted by friendly fire, it would seem Lima Ultimos knows exactly where each shot will hit, diving left and right out of the way, striking his blade down when he gets a chance. Eying all the meat, to make sure there'll be enough to take home afterwards. And most importantly, he's having a blast. Anyone who can see him will notice the pirate is SUPER enjoying almost getting murdered by a monster here!

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Mel is no fool. She's taking the entire trip downward to focus on defense; the barbs and sharp edges graze against an invisible, hard 'shell' of telekinetic power that the psychic keeps close to herself so as not to increase her profile too much - and so that she can put more power into it to protect herself. But even her barrier isn't going to help with that corrosive mist. She stalls herself out before she can land, floating back upwards a good dozen or so meters. Well, that's fine. For what the PsiMarshal has in mind, she doesn't have to be standing on its shell. She's close enough as it is.

    She'll have to apply only the bare minimum amount of lift to the spine to keep it - and thus herself - in the air. Because she needs every ounce of telekinetic power she can muster otherwise. So it flutters a little, but at the same time, the lower edges of her coat begin to flutter in an unseen wind. Flickers of shimmering purple dance upward around her form. She lifts her right arm upward, curling her fingers into a fist, cocking her elbow as if preparing to drive that fist downward into the strange beast. Nearby, above and to her right, there are more of those shimmers of purple light; faint, fleeting, they nevertheless manage to just /barely/ outline the vague shape of a much larger fist in the air.

    When Mel swings her fist downward, a hundred tons of telekinetic force is unleashed straight downward in a thoroughly ridiculous psychic 'punch'. It is followed by a second. And a third.

Gaonoir has posed:
Gaonoir pulls back from his assault as the monstrousity starts to flail from the attacks, not wanting to risk those barbed spines if he can avoid it. They look extremely painful even if the toxin wouldn't be extremely effective on him. Maybe. Again, we would rather just not find out.

Unfortunately in avoiding jerking spines and noxious fumes, he gets right in the path of one of the thrashing tentacles. The appendages slams into him like a giant fleshy whip and the force hurtles him away from the monster. He bounces tumbling across the surface like a skipping stone several times before managing to get his feet back underneath him. Then he's just sliding as the friction between the surface tension and his metal feet bleeds off the momentum, until enough of it is canceled that he can fire his jets back to life and launch off again.

Though instead of taking to previous height over the battle, the Machgaogamon comes screaming horizontally across the waters, massive rooster-tails churning up behind him. Unlike a real aircraft it only takes the digimon a matter of moments at full burn to reach his top speed, and that 'mach' in his species name isn't just for sounding awesome.

One large metal gauntlet is clenched into a fist and reared back. It's not until the last moment that's he's practically slamming into the monster

"Knuuuuckle...

That Gaonoir swings full bore, the technique transfering all that that energy of Mach 2 flight into the explosive force of his punch!

"CRUUUUUUSHAAAAAAAAH!"

Wo has posed:
    The I-class that had rushed in to launch its torpedoes pays dearly for it. While it is certainly fast, the creature it just attacked is enormous, and full of so many spines. One of them being fired off scores a large gash across the top of the destroyer's hull, exposing softer, greyish flesh beneath the outer armor, and leaking more of that oil-blood that Abyssals seem to favor. Moreover, while it is some kind of undead creature in itself, it is not completely immune to the toxins that it can inflict, and it begins to slow down in its cruising speed as it buzzes in confusion, right before a flailing arm bats it straight out of the water, to splash down onto its side a hundred or so meters from the point of launching. It bobs up and down a few times, but its hinged jaw moves a few times, as though it were more stunned than anything.

    As far as Wo is concerned, Lima Ultimos can have the meat, which is probably poisonous, anyway, and the lovely corals that comprise its outer and inner skeletal structure. She's more determined to have this removed from harassing her fleet any further. Refueled and rearmed, the dive bombers once again take off from their carrier, a bit unsteadily with how the creature's thrashing about is causing wave swells to rise, in the increasingly goopy and gross waters surrounding it. It will take them some time to approach and loose their payloads, which is hopefully time bought for the uncomfortable allies that Nagato is providing to open up a safe approach. There also seem to be...people 'aboard' the creature now, that Ro is able to see with her fighters still in the air. It's not strange to see multiversal Elites closing in to melee range with gigantic horrors, but it's always a little strange.

    Hopefully, they would be able to secure their own means of escape, because the 'ground' they're standing on is likely about to become ground zero for everything, everyone has. The Tsu-class accompanying her has completed her switch to standard anti-surface shells, and awaits Nagato's signal to begin the shelling. Wo, herself, continues firing on all the airborne spines that she can, but some still get through and pockmark the carrier's hull, which now is beginning to closely mirror the damage on her humanoid body. An itchy, prickly sensation also captures her attention, as some of the short cropped hair at the back of her neck begins to stand on end. Is it a side effect of their attacks...or was something about to happen? She can't really spare the firepower or divided attention at the moment to check.

Shigure has posed:
    The thing just doesn't seem to want to DIE! So much so that something /snaps/ inside of Kuma. Those spine-missiles slam into and embed in her hull, dragging her slower still as she sinks lower in the water... but she doesn't sink. She turns, breaking formation and gunning as much of her remaining power as she can, firing her turrets, and when in range, bringing the machineguns into play. From within the hull, comes a bestial battlecry, a wordless roar of defiance as the Light Cruiser follows Lima's ship's example, aiming to shove her entire Ocean Fit-Out down the things 'throat'.

    "FLAGSHIP!" cries Yamashiro, her bombardment faultering as the Cruiser breaks off and goes on a suicide run. "Switch to Type 94, focus fire on the main body, away from... impact point."

    Shigure grits her teeth somewhere deep inside her Ocean Fit-Out, and turns her guns skywards to clear out those spines, shooting them down as best as she can with a mass amount of flak shells and machinegun tracer fire. Nowaki, stoic as always, does the same, while Chitose orders her Zuiun on a final attack run. "God's Wind. Bail out before impact." She says, solemnly.

Graf Zeppelin (939) has posed:
     No.

     Not again.

     She's taken MORE THAN ENOUGH damage. and so, after exhausting her ammunition, Graf Zeppelin focused the rest of her attention on directing her launched planes to fire on any and all airborne spines that she can. Her real body was already reflecting serious damage.

     She was going to need a good amount of time in the docks after this.

     While her planes focused on the spines above, the ship below focused entirely on evasive manuevers. Veering through the water, the damaged vessel found itself passing by Wo, of all combatants. "....." They were assisting each other at this moment. They were technically allies. For now. Pursing her lips for a few second, she eventually spoke up, opening a radio line directly to Wo.

     "It has been some time, Sister. ...I trust you have not sustained critical damage?"

Wo has posed:
    Unlike the ocean fit-outs of the fleet daughters, Wo remains on the deck, or at least the island and interior, of the cobbled-together ship beneath her. It is for that reason that Graf Zeppelin would quite easily see Wo, herself, as in the humanoid form, too focused initially on the battlefield to pay any mind to an ally, even if a temporary one. However, the radio contact manages to break off that concentration, for a moment, and she regards the other, passing standard carrier with golden eyes for a moment. Her face is a bit pained from battle injuries, but she still manages to project an expression of almost callous strength.

    Then, just like that, it falters. The normally mask-like visage splinters almost as certainly as her starkly white skin is cracked. There is a genuinely startled look, for the briefest of moments, before her eyebrows furrow deeply. "You...," skipping niceties for the time being, over that same radio channel. "How much -- do you re-member?" To refer to her in that same familiar term they used to use, there was no mistake. She honestly shouldn't have even been able to remember that much. A gargled buzz of a reminder from the elite Tsu-class, that has become something of her secretary over the last many months, snaps her out of it. "--I've had -- worse. Co-ver my bombers. The final app-roach, is ready." This was no time to be having a freak out. She'll have plenty of time for that while she and her forces are limping away from this.

    With that, and the supporting shelling from Nagato and Yamashiro, and the crazy ramming attacks of Kuma and that strange ghost pirate ship, and people and Digimon just getting up close and personal...hopefully this thing is distracted enough that her bombers can maneuver in close enough to drop their payloads, down any available gullet or maw or whatever openings this thing seems to be presenting.

William Pauwel has posed:
How much firepower does it take to kill an entire coral reef?

Apparently, this much.

    The creature shrieks as Lima keeps right on jabbing at its frame, turning entire swathes of its organic hull to lifeless, pale chalk. The Coma Navaja opens fire, blasting away more and more of the few spines that are still anchored to its back.

    Simultaneously, the Abyssals and the Fleet Daughters keep up the bombardment even through the Reef's own fusillades. Spines that are already airborne are torn to shreds by defending fighters, while refueled and reloaded bombers unleash their full payload into the monster, transforming its shell into a perforated mess of a pincushion.

But even so. Even so the thing is still moving, still thrashing.

And then it gets punched.

    Not once. Not even twice, or three or four but five times or more. Mel's telekinetic fists smash into its shell, crumpling its body and crushing the prismatic brain-coral core. Gaonoir rushes in with a devastating, hypersonic strike. All his kinetic energy is transfered all at once, sending cracks through the beast's substructure. Between the two of them, the beast's spines are blasted into the air like a barracks full of claymore mines cooking off all at once.

It's exposed.

It's vulnerable.

And then Kuma hits it with Kuma.

    The creature unleashes one more keening scream as her prow cleaves straight into its core. Arcs of electricity leap across its ridged surface as the color begins to leave its heart. Finally, finally, with a battleship lodged in its most critical part, the thing is slowly dying.

But...

But it still has enough power to drag them all into the abyss with it. What anemones and fronds still intact bristle dangerously as the air around it begins to buzz with electric fury. Like capacitors coming done, it releases its energy and--

*BLAM*

A single hypervelocity shell smashes through what little bit of its body retains its technicolor brilliance. The rainbow fades at last as the beast finally dissolves entirely into chalk-dust.

    Behind it, the Black Ship rocks slowly in the waves, listed to one side and sinking slowly into the sea. One of its eyes glows red dimly against the fading fog. One of its barrels smoulders and crackles with dwindling power.

At long last, the beast has gone still.

But... Where did that thing even come from? What terrible sea did the Black Ship sail out of?

It still floats, if barely, its eyes dimming as its life fades away.

Lima Ultimos (945) has posed:
As it dies, Lima Ultimos salutes, before calling up to his ship. "Alright, bring er down! We're gonna harvest this meat, atleast the parts that aren't dead, and we're gonna have a feast! Seafood for everyone!"

Following that, the ship will lower next to the corpse, and proceed to begin removing meat, so that they can cook it. Delicious, delicious, delicious sea monster.

Wo has posed:
    With finality, the Tsu-class finally halts her shelling. She seems to gurgle something in questioning to the Wo-class on the deck of her carrier outfit. After a moment of consideration, there is a shake of the head, and in compliance, newly joined by the re-steadied I-class, they begin unloading more shells and torpedoes into what remains of the monster's super dreadnaught hideaway. In the end, even the Abyssals present aren't thinking it's worth the risk -- and it can find its own peace, or lack thereof, at the bottom fo the ocean. Scuttling what remains seems honorable, and smart.

    This does free Wo, still clutching that weathered railing, to stare back at the now departing Graf Zeppelin, as the remaining jets return from their sortie and make for the elevators, lowering them deeper into the interior of the vessel. She'll get to the bottom of that, later.

Gaonoir has posed:
Even with the most of the force transferred into the punch itself there is still enough recoil to actually knock Gaonoir backwards from his own strike. Heels skim the water for a few meters until his jets lift him into his usual hover.

The creature is dying and sinking, for real this time. He turns his head away, looking for something else. Or should I say, someone else... there.

Gaonoir skims to where Kuma rammed into the monstrousity, looking for a spot to grab onto her/her ship and pull her back up before the thing drags her down to the depths in it's dying keel. "Com'n you. As awesome as that was, it ain't worth being dead and sunk for."

Mel Brock (941) has posed:
    Even with the ability to psychically defend herself, Mel's not foolish enough to stay that close. She drifts backward out of reach, preparing herself for whatever it's going to do with all that built-up electricity after being so thoroughly battered by a combined assault, but a single thunderous report silences the forthcoming blast.

    Quietly, Mel turns to look at the black ship, a furrow appearing on her brow for a heartbeat. "...Containment. Thing was doing its final duty," she murmurs. It just picked a bad place to go.

    Finally, she lets herself drift down to the water, sending out a call signal for the Chaser again. Until it gets back, she's content to just float in the water and wait. No point exerting herself.

Shigure has posed:
    Kuma doesn't slow, doesn't even faulter as she cleaves into the core of the monster, the very heart of the beast. Her hull is crumpled, large gashes along the prow as she's stuck inside of the beast's belly. She can feel it... she's starting to sink as the monster begins to dip beneath the waves. "Not yet... Kuma is not done yet." she growls softly, transforming back to Land Fit-Out to drag herself clear of the carcass... and then Gaonoir grabs her and pulls her free, the girl's uniform in tatters, and her rigging spewing smoke and leaking fueloil from multiple points of damage.

    The rest of the Fifth Fleet breathe a collective sigh as the thing /finally/ gives in and dies, though they wait for Nagato's orders to stand down.

Graf Zeppelin (939) has posed:
     To Wo, Graf Zeppelin only says one thing.

     "...I wonder about that."

     And then she proceeds to head off, assisting with the remaining anti-air fire until finally...finally it's over. Her planes return to deck and Graf Zeppelin breathes out a slightly pained sigh. "....." And then with a flash of light and a splash of water, the Ocean Fit-out collapses. In it's place, is the German Carrier in human form, with a severely damaged Land Fit-out. Wo is spared one sidelong glance, and then she turns away, speeding off after the rest of the fleet.

     They can deal with their issues another time.

Nagato has posed:
    Once the shelling dies down, Nagato gives the order to cease fire and the speakers?? on the ship come to life. "Allied ships Mel Brooks and Unidentified Fog Ship, thank you for your assistance in this. I shall relay the coordinates to Hikari Seaport for refuelling and repair services if you need." and the radars turn to rest on Wo and her crew... words don't seem to be exchanged verbally but the two know what's going on. "The other ships in the area are not a threat, allow them to retreat peacefully."

    Nagato pauses just slightly and continues, "I shall wait here on expectation of allied ships to help clean up and perform rescue operations. You're welcome to assist."

William Pauwel has posed:
    As the remains of the horrible, mutated coral /thing/ begins to sink into the waves and the Abyssals begin bombarding the dying husk of its host, the sea seems to return to some semblance of its usual, beautiful self. Aside from the wake of the vessels sailing over it and the explosions rocking the broken super-dreadnaught, the sea is peaceful and glassy as it ever was.

Of course, the sun is setting now, so that's a slight change.

    At last, one of Wo's shells hits something important within the Dreadnaught's superstructure. Its keel snaps in half and it slowly sinks into the waves, its largest eye flashing one last time before winking out.

But...

Before it goes down completely...

A message.

    A set of coordinates blips out from the sinking vessel on all frequencies. A simple message directing anyone who cares to look to an inoccuous location on a very distant world... Along with a single string of tones.

                             . . . - - - . . .                              

And with that the vessel disappears into the waves, there to rest for all time.

Or at least until the next batch of Kanmusu rise from the depths!?

Gaonoir has posed:
As they're flying back to the other fleets Gaonoir looks down at Kuma's battered form in his arms.. and it occurs to him how, had something like this happened earlier in his life, he probably would of just left someone to go down with the enemy. What happened to people after the battle wasn't part of his concern, if they weren't strong enough to survive the fight themselves.

Yet here he was, being an airlift. For a fellow combatant that had more than proven themselves. These days Gaonoir realized how much it took, in mind and body alike, to make a dedicated all-or-nothing assault like that. Mad in rage or not.

Funny how things change.

For someone that was just punching holes in a giant sea abomination with huge metal fists he's surprisingly gentle as he sets Kuma down on Yamashiro's deck. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure we did," he replies to her radio murmuring, before stepping back so no one gets caught in his backwash and taking off again to rejoin Nagato.

Though as he's doing so, that mysterious message bleeps across his visor. He grimaces a bit. "Well gee, -that- ain't ominous," he growls under his breath.

Shigure has posed:
    As Kuma is set gently down on the deck, she wavers for a moment... before flopping down, unceremoniously, face first onto the decking, resulting in a resonant CLANG.