Air and Sea I

The empress had time to eat a very light early breakfast before heading to the war room, taking a deep breath along the way as her door guards saluted while she walked past. Before she finished entering, Melsia and Donovan happened to walk by further down the hallway and notice her after speaking to Morlan before they would head to their bedroom for a small nap. "Empress Selene, I was wondering if we could have a chance to speak about interconnecting the trade routes between Sweet Water Harbor and the high elven city, Esa'Nore. I hope I said that right, Elsei might think I'm insulting it" Donovan said. The dev was just about through the door when she stopped and looked at both of them.

"Uh… sure, but, later. I have a very important meeting I have to be in for a little while, I'm sorry."

"Oh, of course! I didn't mean right now, later, when you have time available." Both magistrates bowed and headed off after looking up at the doorframe placard, with the auburn-haired woman sighing and continuing inside, the doors sealing shut as the interior seemed to show the exact same old-fashioned map table in the middle. What no one knew about just yet was the bookshelf slid open in the middle of the room on the left side, revealing an elevator to the situation room hidden away below it. Inside was a fairly large CIC, high end monitors and holographic screens. Her staff, at least the ones connected to the military and intelligence gathering, all sat down around a circular table with the empress.

"Alright, so give me a heads up on exactly what's going on. I've checked what I can through ornithopter footage, but you all probably have had more time to review the numbers. What are we looking at and how many?" she asked them.

"Ma'am. As of 0200, the merfolk have mobilized with hostile intent towards Sweet Water Harbor. We have reason to believe the removal of the toxins emitted from the purification process of the drug Scooze has something to do with their brazen attempt to engage, though that is just a theory. However, they have brought large aquatic combat forms, aka Grand Krakens, to the battlefield, along with various other sized creatures we do not yet have enough data on. Their range is still 50 klicks out" her Secretary of Defense informed her.

"Isn't there another echo we're getting out there? Something larger than these Grand Kraken?" she asked. Will and the others looked at each other with their glowing optics, flickering ever so slightly as if they were blinking.

"We have no real data on it just yet, as it's doing its best to keep a fair distance. We're unsure if it's even a part of this."

"Don't we have decent enough sensors?"

"Water makes a poor medium for most scanners to probe through at the deepest level, especially with minor debris and refuse. Oceans aren't as clean as everyone likes to believe, as well as micro echoes from small fish to sort through. Sound propagation is still a very efficient method of determining where things are along with topographic satellite imaging, though we're about to deploy some deep-sea beacons to catch the creature off guard." Selene checked through the data being provided to her Hud at the same time watching the massive monitor in front of her and a holo projection. It showed her naval fleets now moving forward and away from Sweet Water, to maintain a safety range and stop a kraken from destroying buildings.

"Ma'am, their numbers are in excess of four hundred thousand, though that was after the initial missile and torpedo barrage" Will commented. She checked the casualties they suffered, a little over 19,000. The second volley was already being launched, with white lines showing in the water and smoke in the air while their payloads were sent out. The merfolk weren't stopping, they seemed determined to hit Sweet Water.

"Is it possible they think we're still the pirates that first started polluting the ocean?" she asked them.

"Doubtful ma'am. They've seen our ships, scouted us before with no attempt to communicate. For all intents and purposes, it looks like they're just in it for the kills."

"How are the merfolk going to get on land exactly? Do they create legs from their flippers through magic?"

"Unknown, though it's possible they just rely on the other aquatic races with legs to reach their prospective targets, then cart captives off to them." The empress looked down at each of her staff.

"So, everything is prepared? There's no complications?"

"There is one complication ma'am. Shields don't work for the submarines, nor do they work on the underside of a naval ship, at least below the water's surface." Selene openly gawked.

"It would have helped if someone warned me about this ahead of time so we could have gotten some R&D to fix that issue" she grumbled out, wondering why she didn't get the memo about this before.

"The main issue is that if the shield emitters were used, they'd displace the water around the vessel, making any sort of travel absolutely useless. The chances of them working in an emergency situation might compound the issue, sinking the vessels." Will brought up a diagram of a ship engaging its shields, promptly submerging itself and incapable of moving anywhere with the engines not touching the fluid.

"At the moment ma'am, there are two different forms of emitters that are capable of being used. You are installing repulsion emitters, while the currently not available plasma emitters are the second form. As you can tell, repelling matter or energy is problematic in the water or any thick medium beyond air, space being the other viable option. Plasma, while just as effective, tends to cause difficulties with sensors, and by that I mean you can't see anything beyond the front of your nose."

"Yeah, I decided not to go that route with the design because of that very issue" she replied. The dev was well aware of the tech being theorized by even Earth a long time ago, it just wasn't going to be as powerful as science fiction movies would show. Without at least some opening in the field, the plasma shields would utterly protect the object inside, but no one could see out of it or fire back. It might be an interesting backup system if the repulsion emitters were damaged and need to be repaired, but for all intents and purposes her choice was felt to be the right one.

"Well, regardless of that choice, either one would cause issues in the ocean, either boiling away water or pushing it away from the ships. For the most part, they're going to have to rely on the other defensive systems installed. By the way, the science division was already notified of the situation, there wasn't much they could do in such a short period of time. One of the science leaders, Robert, devised a plan to make the shields encapsulate the water around submarines in a second layer and temporarily create a bowl under the ships. More testing is required before it can even be put to use, as experiments so far were a failure. Another issue is the surface vessels won't be able to target below the surface well enough to bring their main guns to bear due to trajectory, so most of the damage will be done by torpedoes and two stage missiles, high pressure water jets, short range lasers and marines with spear guns and specialized Flechette ammunition." Will informed her.

Selene thought about all the different tactics the merfolk could use, attempting to bypass the subs and go for the underside of the ships above, though they did have depth charges and hunter pods they could drop, not including the scuba autos, aka "Frogmen." There were also specialized limpet mines set along the underwater mountainside sweeping down, with multi harpoon systems that would be explosively launched out. Proximity mines were already set up as well, old fashioned explosives based on Industrial Era tech. It still worked, though the minefields were dismantled back on Earth. At least with hers, they had IFF trackers.

"Ma'am, have some faith in your navy. They'll make it out of this one" her Secretary of Defense, now named Dominic or Dom for short. Her Director of Intelligence was now named Grey due to the fact that not everything was good or evil, light and dark; sometimes she was going to need them to do a little dirty work behind the curtains. Selene even knew the name could be used for a man or woman's name, as a friend of hers back on Earth had a sister named that.

"I've always had faith in them. I'm worried I'll actually lose some of them regardless of if we win." The empress brought her hands up to her mouth and just took a breath, clasping her fingers together as they watched the screens. She immediately initiated {Golden Army} just in case. It would at least keep her from losing any soldiers to the massive creatures. Mass could be a big factor in damage, not just weapons; she didn't yet know if the grip of a kraken could use enough force in a crushing grip to buckle the hull of her ships. There was a pretty long cooldown for it, but she felt it might be needed, assuming nothing else came along for this day underwater. As long as the fight was on land or in the air, the dev was pretty sure she could do without the ability available.

Should I pull out the big guns hidden under the castle? My staff didn't think it was necessary to even prep those just yet. I didn't listen to them before, now… I'll see what happens.

(Recommended Song: R Armando Moribito – Sea of Atlas (feat. Julie Elven & Tina Guo))

"Visual received" the Admiral of the fleet said over coms. Civilians watched from as far back in the city as possible, the massive ships heading away from the harbor to defend them. Five cruisers, 19 destroyers, 38 frigates and a good 50 corvettes with attack boat assistance. Underwater there were at least 18 submarines and 50,000 frogmen with marine support above. Gilford saw a little girl waving a small flag with the Clockwork Empire's symbol emblazoned on it towards the fleet. Marines locked and loaded, setting up in guard shacks on the decks of each vessel. The cruisers moved in with their escorts, another volley of missiles and torpedoes launching. Frogmen hung from the sides and kept next to the defense fleet to keep boarders from attempting to climb with portable pressure nozzle packs. Artillery along the mountains provided long range fire, dropping rocket assisted munitions straight down once the rounds reached a certain range.

All submarines dove, warning klaxons blaring as they got ready to fight. Merfolk were detected heading for them, just a wave of red blips encroaching, with some rather large support behind, sharks, giant lobsters called Chuul and even eels. The four Grand Krakens charged forward, their webbed fins helping them propel faster as they seemed to snarl with their gaping maws, though it appeared they weren't exactly immune to each other's close proximity. On occasion they'd butt heads and roar at each other underwater, one launching up through the ocean's surface, getting a missile slammed into its back for showing its head before diving back down. Smaller creatures shot forward and dove to attempt to engage the submarines. "Verified close scans confirmed, Aboleths have been detected."

"I'm a bit fuzzy on all monsters, what's that?" Selene questioned.

"Large demonic eels ma'am. Almost all are of the evil alignment." The digital outline that was sent over a holographic display showed her what one looked like, at least the basic shape. Her mouth fell open a little as she laid eyes on it along with the krakens, their tentacles and mouths. It reminded her of some old alien movie from one hundred years ago, the pointed teeth and the way the head was shaped. It at least had eyes though, a row on the top of the mouth.

"Now I'm glad I never had a yacht built…" she muttered out. Nia was escorted out of the mayor's home to a safer point as Erilyn finished latching the ships down in the harbor, telling her crews to run. She turned around to see two Clockwork Frigates head out, the last of the defense line coming up behind their bigger brothers. Bad weather had attempted to form via magic from the invading force, though luckily the naval fleet had other plans and dispersed it quickly with [Disperse Weather] spell beacons. That advantage would not go to them.

"Contact, contact, we're engaging."

2nd Air fleet dropped their own depth charges down ahead of the navy, firing cannons where they could. Fighters dove down for CAS runs, only to suddenly find out there were what looked to be winged electrified barracudas launching from the waters to come up to meet them. "Verified bogeys, Taltorix."

"What's a Taltorix?" the empress asked.

"We've recently checked on any new hostile lifeforms that could be on this planet compared to, well, any other that might have been thought of in a magical fantasy world. We found some books being sold in Sweet Water that had something like that in the pages, though mostly considered a myth."

"You mean this is a brand-new fantasy monster?"

"An electrified barracuda with wings ma'am, roughly the size of our fighters or a little smaller. They mostly hunt gryphons or giant eagles flying low for food." Anti-air vehicles stationed along the ridge of the Kaldanas Mountains provided support as the sky was filled with ribbons of rapid fired projectiles, lasers and ferrous buck shot. A copious volley of missile fire soon followed. The citizens of Sweet Water were awe struck at the firepower being used against the as thought of unstoppable underwater denizens. Two destroyers veered off to the left of the battle in an attempt to provide flanking capability with a frigate wolf pack, with the limpet mines being detonated to perforate the underbelly of a kraken.

"Hotel Vegas Tango has been hit, Hotel Vegas Tango has been hit. Still in the game." It wasn't enough to deal with the massive creature, but the explosives definitely wounded it with the wall of harpoons slamming against an unprotected area. Merfolk grappled two frogmen autos and tried to pull them down into the deep, however even though they didn't have shield capability, there was still other equipment they had available. Both used micro ball bearing canisters on their backpacks filled with dispersible reactive pellets along with auto harpoon shoulder mounts followed by BUFF jackets to rapidly ascend back to the surface.

"Need Spookys diverted to Frigate Wolf Pack 4, FPF requested. Bring down the brimstone." Three gunships circled overhead, a constant barrage of firepower erupting from their weapons layered along the sides down below to any sort of boarders away. An Aboleth tried to ram one of the ships, knocking it around a little before it was taken out by a close fired torpedo from a defending sub. The water was starting to run red with blood, sharks coming in to figure out if they could try and clean up in the cloudy sea… getting their teeth and fins blown out for their trouble.

A Taltorix chased after one of the fighters only to have it bleed speed and roll, sliding behind the winged monster and unleashing a volley of Vulcan cannon rounds, holding back on rail fire due to the range actually allowing to accidentally hit the city nearby if it over penetrated. "Cruiser 1-7, evade! Evade heading 2-7-0!" Selene's heart jumped into her throat as a Grand Kraken came up from below somehow and rammed, sliding a tentacle along the bottom and trying to roll the much smaller ship with its grip. It was doing its best to keep upright, depth charges dropped with a sub attempting to assist, water jet cutters and lasers trying to function in short range defense. Its escort was busy keeping a wave of merrow back and five Aboleths, with a shark trying to launch up into the air and land on a frigate.

Carbyne plating should be able to hold against that thing, right? The crushing pressure it can bring down on a much smaller vessel couldn't break through that with all the tech keeping the structure fortified... I hope. Then of course, if I remember right, a kraken could destroy an older fully armored galleon with a much smaller body. These things dwarf my ships right now… 325 meters at best up against 1,500… even with [Golden Army], they take time to rebuild…

"No…" the dev involuntarily dropped her jaw and covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes going wide as the cruiser couldn't get away fast enough and capsized, rolled like a bath toy. Emergency klaxons went off as the kraken broke the surface and roared above its supposed kill, but two of its ilk seemed to be busy in the rear. Apparently, one of them had angered the second one by attempting to take its trophy, a submarine that blew ballasts and rocketed away to the surface. They were fighting each other instead of the steampunk navy it appeared.

"Cruiser 1-7 isn't out of the fight just yet, it's trying to regain control" another automaton in the room reported. The empress slowly stood up and leaned over the table, thinking of some god to pray to get that cruiser back into the fight. They needed the firepower against those massive monsters now that they were fighting above water, even if the main guns were somewhat useless without the enemy staying on the surface or close to it. Empress's Conviction sent a bomber squadron down and carpeted the kraken that did its best to try and break through the belly of the cruiser, being chased by Taltorix in hot pursuit. The escort had enough time to send one destroyer to fire all front cannons at the kraken, blasting off multiple tentacles and angering the hell out of it. "Enemy kraken two is diverting towards destroyer 2-4."

(Recommended Song: Epic Score – Breached Airlock)

The huge creature dove and shot towards the destroyer, coming up below yet again and lifting the ship up, keeping its stronger weapons from getting a shot in. Marines on the decks latched their feet to the floor to keep stable as they tried to fire over the sides, doing only superficial damage to the hide of the monster. The dev could see through cameras that the bow hull plating was shimmering with the armor and internal protection equipment trying to keep its structural integrity.

Come on, break away… break away from them…

"Structure is barely holding for destroyer 2-4." That was saying a lot for a 200-meter ship versus a 1500-meter amphibious mythical monster. Spare armor paneling shifted internally for the hull to reinforce with, doubling up where the kraken was trying to crumple as the lower decks pressurized. "Air frigates attempting to assist, volley inbound." A hail of missiles slammed into the kraken's back, allowing the destroyer to dip back into the water as the creature backed off for a moment and roared at the sky. There were chunks of its flesh missing, meaning the fleets were doing damage, they just needed a little more time to deal with the bigger threats.

"The merfolk are acting as a meat shield for the bigger threats…" Selene muttered out. Artillery fire from the mountainside struck hard, causing the kraken to turn and charge straight for the cliffside, where the far smaller tanks were set up. Their shields would hold, but they didn't have the mass to not be flung around once the thing reached them, like a child digging through a closet and throwing inconsequential things out of the way. The only ones that would keep going would be the Very Heavies and the X Heavies, massive walkers firing where they could at the encroaching enemy as they latched down into the ground, giant four legged and eight-legged assault autos dropping incredible firepower onto the ocean.

(Recommended Song: Epic Score – You Must Overcome)

"Cruiser 1-7 is gyro stabilizing, brace, brace." The 325-meter ship rolled as if by magic, internal systems righting the vessel with pressure jets on both sides and a specialized gyro stabilization system as it slammed back into the water right side up. It locked on to the kraken and fired, all autos on the deck still there, not even knocked over. "Switching to rails, take that thing down!" the kraken had enough time to realize it was still on the water's surface and its main advantage of surprise was gone, the ship waiting for just the right moment to use the main guns and get a shot. Hefty chunks of the creature were blown off, the trajectory of the rounds aimed away from the city. The monster roared in pain and thrashed, but it gave the escort enough time to bring their own weapons to bear, all firing as well. The overwhelming barrage tore apart the abyssal monster, then all guns turned towards the other three.

"They're crumbling, circle the wagons, keep them occupied." Most of the Aboleths were taken out now by the submarines, giving them that extra space needed to turn and assist against the bigger threats. The three, however, turned into two as one of them had beaten down its brother, sending it into retreat, broken. "We've got this, keep pushing." The last two couldn't get near the cruisers again, with the subs firing off a salvo of torpedoes. "Left flank is falling apart for them, go! Go!"

"Come on… come on…" Selene whispered as strike after strike slammed against another kraken, tearing away its flesh, the cruisers linking up for unified cannon volleys. Although it wasn't as impressive a death as the previous one, the second fell thrashing and wailing as it slowly sunk into the water. The third one somehow flipped and swam as fast as it could back into the depths, making that two of the creatures abandoning the fight somehow. The remaining merfolk were swiftly routed and cleaned up as any air support was wiped from the skies with fighter support, the waters around taking on a red tint from so much blood poured. Surprisingly, none of them attempted to retreat, as if something was guiding them towards their deaths. Sharks near the surface were so much meat for the grinder, as without any appendages all they could do was try and bite or body slam. They had won, though it could have come at a cost if the naval ships hadn't been able to pull away from the heavy hitters.

"Ma'am, we've got a sensor lock on what the largest ping was. It's a Leviathan."

"Isn't that a… a… some sort of… isn't it a sea dragon? How big is it?" she asked.

"Correct ma'am, just a little over 2100 meters. You'll never believe this; it was sending signals out, a bio electric aggression aura as it were. The range would normally be about one mile from previous intel, though we're unsure if that's the same range for this one on this planet. That field would also be around their lair, not around the creature. It's already been proven that not all knowledge from pre New World can be considered fact here."

"So that damned thing got this whole army together, somehow managed to get them to work alongside each other in some sort of blood lusted fugue? I wonder if the pirates knew about this from the beginning and had it happen to them… hell, I wonder if Artinia knew about this… how the hell do they keep assaults like that from coming to pass…" she replied, interested in what their defensive plans were. The Scooze toxins might be the only way to keep them at bay. "Wait, why did the two krakens abandon the assault? And where is that Leviathan now?"

"It's possible the pirates didn't survive the engagement ma'am; for all we know, they could just sacrifice the harbor and rebuild afterwards; no telling what they do with the civilians, bring them along or let them die. Could explain why the buildings were ramshackle before Juliet's construction crew rebuilt the city.

Both krakens are heading away from the area, their lairs being an unknown; intel suggests that the aggression field can't take full hold of something that large, being somewhat close to the Leviathan's size; it also only works on aquatic creatures, sending them against land based species.

The Leviathan is heading away from the northern ocean. It doesn't seem to be in a hurry, just going off to another body of water, maybe near another continent. The sea is a big place, it'll take time to try and find him, or her" Dominic replied.

"What the hell was its goal?"

"Unknown, though it might have had something to do with keeping the merfolk, merrow or aboleth as the case seems to be, locked down given his or her capability. The thought process for that thing may very well never be figured out, though it doesn't seem to live nearby; the possibility of it roaming might be a viable hypothesis." The dev sat back down and just stared forward, blinking. They had won, though it appeared that the races attacking were all being used by someone else via an aggression field. Her eyes darted from one point to another as her mind took in what had just transpired and what that could mean. Two of the grand kraken had escaped from the battle.

"So, in theory, those merfolk aren't necessarily suicidal to us unless that swimming disaster shows up. Is that an activated ability or is it just riling up everything as it passes by?" Her staff acknowledged what she was thinking.

Get hunter subs out there and find that thing. As for the krakens… could use an orbital strike on it, they're still in the area for at least a few more minutes… no, that could cause a tsunami for Sweet Water, never mind then.

"Ma'am, by their nature, a leviathan is neutral, which could mean they weren't doing it necessarily to be evil, just… they didn't care or didn't know. There either is no commitment to good or evil and it just does what it does, or it tries to keep a balance between its actions. We're leaning more towards the former."

"So, the sea dragon could have known and didn't mind that it was sending other races into a frenzy, or was just passing through and didn't turn off its aquatic grand crusade beacon?"

"It's possible. We won't know what their reasoning was until attempting contact, which, might not be worth the effort with all things considered."

"Agreed. What's the chances of finding it?" The thought of the creature setting other aquatic races to war against her empire just because it wanted to mix things up a little, not even caring about the lives lost, was frustrating. The other idea of it forgetting to turn off the aggression field as if it had a switch, as if it had forgotten to turn the oven off at home, might have been more logical than expected.

"The oceans are vast around here. Given it doesn't suffer from exhaustion… we might never find it again unless it comes back for a second attempt." The empress lightly slapped both of her palms onto the table with her fingers outstretched, at least relieved that the fleets survived. Sweet Water was safe, for now.

The navy fell back to required patrol routes and security positions as an all clear was given to the citizens of the city they protected. The people were allowed to head back to their homes, no longer in any danger, though security forces lined the beach nearby and kept watch for any stragglers. They were cheering, seeing the strength and might of the empire looking out for them. "No damage to the city, infrastructure untouched. Correction… superficial damage to the right second and third pier, easily repaired by the end of the day" Dominic reported.

"I'd like surveillance in the surrounding waters in case that thing decides to come back. As for the merfolk, or merrow given they are two different races… it was either them or us. Now that I know about this aggression field and its effects, I hope they don't expect an apology for grinding up their troops" Selene ordered.

"It might be possible to use Lazarus Systems in the future, provided we can prove their involuntary cooperation in this engagement. The problem is, by all accounts, previous knowledge states they're by nature evil and insane."

"It seems, then, that I don't have to worry. Now, if they come with their leader unarmed and not batshit crazy, I'll consider opening negotiations. Until we have a reason to speak to them for valuable resources or access to some unknown magic, there's no point to try and talk or attempt to bring back their fallen. All in all, no longer an issue for the time being." Her staff agreed, as it had now been shown she had learned from the previous actions with their southern neighbors, now almost completely gone. The entire west coast was now under control of the Clockwork Empire, minus the few villages still being… sterilized. As she got up and checked the time, the whole event had taken about three hours, with preparation time factored in. To the dev, it felt a lot longer, almost the whole day in her eyes.