[Depth 004]

//Man this book is gonna be long, just FYI.//

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["Human sea-faring vessels detected. Approximate range, 2.6 kilometres, speed, 27 knots. Search and destroy. I repeat, search and destroy."]

USS Kirk was not expecting a human convoy of all things to interrupt its planning process, but it was a situation that was becoming increasingly rare so this would be its chance to test out its weapons against a live target.

Simulations are just that, simulations. They couldn't provide the necessary... "feel" for combat that real battles did. Almost as if it was unconsciously and uncontrollably holding its true potential back in the simulations. According to records, many humans preferred to field-test their equipment before using it, even if they did advanced simulations. Maybe Kirk developed this nagging feeling too? This strangely compelling, silent whisper spoke of the things that it could and couldn't do in the simulations.

So, at full speed, it and another destroyed barrelled towards the incoming convoy of American vessels. The convoy came within view almost immediately for them, but the humans with their inferior eyesight couldn't make visual contact yet. Alas, they had radar and, surprisingly, an aircraft carrier! Now that's a surprise considering these ships were the first to be thrown against Fleet of Fog upon its emergence.

So seeing an American carrier of all things being escorted by some of their most powerful destroyers and cruisers was a bit of a surprise. But it was a pleasant surprise as this would allow USS Kirk to test out its anti-aircraft weapons as well.

-BOOMBOOMBOOM-

-BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT-

Sooner than later, the F-66 Vulcan fighter jets flew overhead at supersonic speeds, firing their entire arsenal of anti-ship missiles and high-penetration railgun rotary cannons against the two Fog warships. Alas, nought one made it past the crimson honeycomb energy armour that materialised almost immediately as a response to the threat. It protected against 100% of incoming attacks while active. The missiles exploded harmlessly against the force field, doing literally no damage to the ships. The tungsten shells fired by the planes did more, but hardly anything could be called "considerable".

Then, the fog warships brought their AA guns to bear...

-WHIIIIIIIIR-

-BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT-

While the WW2 era destroyer possessed an increased number of anti-air emplacements, the modernized USS Kirk possessed a lesser number but greater potency of the same kind of energy weapons they used widely across the whole fleet. Photon energy cannons, while the destroyer could fire at a reasonably brisk pace, the refitted frigate could fire an almost uninterrupted laser from its rotary minigun.

The pilots scrambled their fighter jets to dodge and move out of their effective range, but the energy weapons were fast. Too fast for them to dodge now. And so, one by one they fell from the sky like flies. Multi-million dollar fighter jets were being destroyed en masse while the destroyer escorts and even the CV itself were trying to aid them with a missile barrage.

Not a single scrape appeared on USS Kirk's or the destroyer's hull while they focused their AA on the planes and their main, albeit low-calibre weapons on the ship. The barrels of the highly advanced batteries came forth beams of glowing red colour, cutting through metal like a hot knife through butter and leaving behind a wake of destruction.

-POPPOPPOPPOPPOP-

Tens of hatches opened across USS Kirk before dozen highly advanced missiles were fired toward the American convoy. Some managed to get shot down, but none that lived missed. Explosions rocked the manmade vessels, and quickly, almost too quickly, the ships began sinking. People died by the thousands as they were either blown into bloody goo by explosions, turned into a paste by shockwaves or debris or literally drowned in the dead husks of the once-proud warships.

They all fell, consumed by the cold blue abyss in less than 10 minutes. What a shame... A crying shame that they didn't last a little longer. Then maybe Kirk could put its full armament into the battle, but even a literal small fleet couldn't put up much of a fight. No matter how many aircraft carriers, destroyers, battleships or cruisers humans sent against them, their fate would always be the same...

As the burning wreckages sank, a dot appeared on Kirk's radar. A survivor. How sad... Although, this young pilot who managed to escape death with quick thinking and a parachute certainly didn't appear as the smartest tool in the shed.

"YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT! HUNK OF JUNK FROM GOD FUCKING KNOWS WHERE!"

The man yelled, his body partially submerged in water as his uniform kept him afloat. But instead of trying to hide or appear dead, the man yelled. He yelled loudly, angrily with so much rage that as USS Kirk aimed its CIWS in his direction and listed to port to get a good shot, it hesitated.

A question ran through its quantum processor. Why bother? This question was not directed towards its own orders, but towards the everlasting defiance of the human race. It understood how important world trade and freedom were for them, but to irrationally go up against a literal and most certain death didn't seem to it like the smartest choice.

Why would they do this? Stress and despair are known for invoking strange behaviour in human minds, but this is far beyond anything Kirk anticipated. After all, fear is usually the key deciding factor for an organism's survival. So, this man... he wasn't planning on making it home alive, or at all really.

He was throwing his life away, needlessly, almost without a reason... just to hurl insults and profanities against a weapon that did not care. It wasn't a show of compassion from Kirk to allow the man to live a second longer, no, it was curiosity. It wanted to know why humans behaved this way. Why they were so adamant, so unbreakable about their resolutions that they would die for them.

Why even now, when Fleet of Fog has shown its overwhelming power, fleets of human warships still tried to attack them. They didn't even have photon weaponry or corrosive torpedoes. All they had was some railguns, a few high-yield missiles and nuclear warheads they couldn't use because of radiation. Even their vacuum bombs didn't do much to the Wave Force Armour protecting all of the Fog ships.

Three seconds passed, then, the CIWS gun spun and the man was no more...

...

...

...

"...Peculiar..."