Abyssal Stays Home [KC SI]

[Naron]

Day 1

Captain's log, don't know which year. And this is how far I can take the Star Trek reference because I only watched like three movies. I am not boldly going anywhere either, at least not anytime soon.

How to start? This is my personal log, so I kind of doubt anyone else will ever read it. If you just found this in my corpse, well, I guess congratulations? If you killed me and took it out of my captain's quarters, fuck you.

Anyway, to summarise my current situation: I used to be a human until I woke up on some deserted island for some reason. Do not ask me why, I do not know. All I know is that I am not human anymore. Or a man. Being perfectly honest, the last part bothers me a lot more than the first. Being an Abyssal is not that different, although the dysphoria may just drown it out.

I guess that makes me transgender now. As much power as I wish them, I really did not need to experience their struggles firsthand. I spent the last two weeks trying to come to terms with this, but I still feel wrong in my own body. The tits do not help that when each one is almost the size of my head. I can not ask my crew to take them off, either; for some reason some genius decided that each part of the female form represents an important feature of warships on a shipgirl. Which is what I am now, kind of.

So when I said I am an Abyssal and not human anymore, that is what I meant. Funny how that used to be fictional where I am from, not that I know too much about the setting; I guess I need to learn as I go.

From what I figured out so far, the Abyss calls forth memories and ideas of ships that were meant to be but never lived. On top of that, it answers the calls of those who died unfair or honourless deaths and lets them rise again to take revenge on humanity for abandoning or scuttling them. Most actually existing ships come back on humanity's side, though. So just about as I remember it.

Nobody told me that here, by the by. Abyssals get racial memories or something like that, where you just know something the moment you wonder about it.

What I do not know is what the Abyss is or where it came from. I find it a little suspicious how quiet my instincts are on that; maybe it is self-aware. But there is little I can do about it right now.

Truth be told, I am bored. That is why I make this log to begin with: I have little else to do while my research runs through. The first two weeks I took long walks around the island. Tried to get used to my new center of gravity and being fuck-huge tall. And the dysphoria, but that is a work-in-progress. I still want to deck whoever decided it must be shipgirls instead of shippeople. Damn perverts.

Thinking about it, this should be the last time I bring it up. Reminding myself of it will only be upsetting and I doubt I want to read through my own ravings on it later. So this one's for you, future me.

Back to the matter at hand, there is little to do on this island. It has a nice size and my sensors found ore deposits toward the center, but I have little else. No hidden treasures, no ships, not even interesting animals. No other Abyssals, either. I am alone here with my thoughts; it was nice enough for the first two weeks, but I will probably go insane if I do not keep myself busy. Assuming that is still a thing for Abyssals, of course.

I can not really sally out, though. You see, while shipgirls conform to existing ship types, Abyssals have a thing called Installations. There is a bunch of them but they are all mostly groundbound; they can take to the waves, but it takes a lot of fuel to move them and most can not defend themselves from raiders. Like me. I have no weapons installed.

Then again I think I am happy about that for now. I do not want to go into firefights, so what I got works much better with my preference to bunker down. It is also a cheat skill to end all cheat skills in a world that approaches the non-magical, assuming the Abyssals and shipgirls are the only thing science can not explain.

I am a resource generation platform.

I just wondered if there are others like me, but the Abyss says no. Apparently I am unique, which is probably why humanity still stands. Only I can create resources, any resources, ex nihilo. My stores are gigantic and constantly fill up, even if just by a trickle. They will continue to do so for as long as I live. Steel, gunpowder, rare metals for electronics, fluids and gases. You name it, I have it. The entire periodic table, including stuff like Uranium. Wait.

Apparently my tech-tree does have nukes buried somewhere deep down. I need to go over it more carefully. But yeah, I got that too. It feels a bit like an RTS-game, making factories and improving my techbase while attacking the enemy.

Only there is no enemy around right now and I have a constant influx of resources. So I can follow my favourite strategy: teching everything out before doing anything else. Well, maybe not everything, I may want to do stuff before the next decade or two. Or more. There is a lot more to that tech-tree than I thought. But the point stands, I will hunker down here and build a base. If I am lucky, nobody will find it and I can just keep doing that. It may sound boring, but I like being at home... and I do not have a home right now, so I should probably make one. I am sitting at the beach writing this while some of my initial techs go through. You know, the basic stuff: lesser Abyss spawner blueprint, the first package of research speed enhancement, and enhanced armour plating.

Now that I think about it, this may be what the Abyss wants from me: to improve its techbase and spread this tech around so they can roll over humanity. It definitely gave me the right tools to make me do that, at least. I am just not sure if I want humanity to go extinct. The Internet would be nice to have.

...

Ah. There was the racial memories again. Maybe it is more like a direct line to the Abyss, though? Either way, I felt some odd urge to extinguish humans just now. As if in response to my thinking I would rather have them alive. A little surprising that I noticed it, but those thoughts feel kind of odd. A bit like my calls of the void; you know those moments of intrusive thoughts, like when you stand at a ledge and wonder for split-second if you should jump? Or drive your car into oncoming traffic? Like that.

Thinking about it a little more though, I may not be a shipgirl, but I am an Abyssal. A unique Abyssal that can eventually build nukes among other, more esoteric stuff. If they ever find out, they will stop at nothing to destroy me. Sympathetic or not. That is... honestly a good argument to side with the Abyss.

If you are a human reading this, then sorry about that. I do want to live, too. Guess that makes me your enemy by nature. I will need to think about it some more and try to check this is not the Abyss goading me.

But this should be enough for a first entry. I am stuck like this anyway and there is little else of interest happening right now. Maybe I take a small dip before finding a good spot to dig down.

---

Well... yeah. Those of you familiar with my past projects may notice that this is nothing like my usual fare. I do not write, read, or even look at SIs normally, much as I do with basically anything written in first person. When talking with friends on Discord about it, I could trace that back to my very first pieces of creative writing from over a decade ago. They were bad. Really bad. So bad I still cringe today when thinking back at them.

Then someone jokingly suggested I should write one of these as a way to 'work through the trauma'. Somehow that stuck with me and I figured I might as well. If nothing else, it will serve as a decent writing exercise. I am not deep in Kantai Collection, so expect some freestyling with what lore or metaphysics there may be.

 

[Naron]

Day 2

I thought about the other thing. Fighting humans and all that. At this point I am pretty sure that it was my own reasoning and not the Abyss manipulating me. I am not actually sure if it can do that to begin with, to be honest. On the other hand, weird soul voodoo is already going on, so I can not rule it out, either. What I know is that humans and their shipgirls will be scared of me or hate me on sight.

I am not throwing shade, by the way. This is just how it is when my side, or, well, 'my' side is trying to genocide the species.

I had to take a minute off writing to let that sink in. Having been German before waking up like this, the irony is not lost on me. I am also preemptively locking up all research branches that lead to poison gas. We will not go there.

With that settled, back to the subject at hand. I am stuck like this until further notice, but also like two metres tall and deathly pale; trying to blend into human society is straight out, even if I got off this island without some fleet or scout spotting me. I am absolutely staying right here. Preemptively attacking anyone does not appeal, either.

I went around to explore some more after writing that entry yesterday; there are a number of laboratories in my rigging, enough to finish the basic techs. My crew is sizable at around five thousand, considering I recall that Bismarck had about two thousand. Most of mine are builders and scientists, though. I have two hundred guards and a complement of soldiers, but yeah. Either the Abyss lucked out when giving me this setup, or it knows exactly the couch potato I am. Now if only it gave me a couch, we would be golden.

Anyway, my builders set to do their thing; however Fairies the size of my hand could start and finish a house-sized factory overnight. Soul voodoo magic, I am not going to ask. I also question the Abyss's design choices, considering how that thing is all black steel, spikes, and a bunch of discoloured tentacles swaying in the breeze.

Now in any RTS, you would start building low-tier units to protect yourself and scout around. Or you are me and do not do that; I built this factory for mining drones, not combat drones. The first one is walking out as I write this; looks a little below half my size, more like an octopus. It walks on four pseudopods and has sturdy-looking maws on the rest. Here is to hoping the Abyss knows what it is doing.


Day 3

Well, mining works. Somehow. The drones just eat into the rock until they are full; all the stone is spit out as some weird goo, the other resources get digested and refined in their bodies before their half dozen Fairies carry it to me. Still weird that these things can just walk in and out of my rigging, even if it looks something like a cross between battleship and oil platform.

One upside of this approach is that the goo my drones create as a byproduct works something like mortar. I fast-tracked some extra processing power for them so they can comprehend the order, then sent them to dig proper rooms. All that goo evens out holes and dulls sharp edges; once it dries it is pretty solid to walk on. Step one of my new underground base is complete. Of course the rooms are not perfectly cubic in shape, but I can get used to having them be ellipsoid. The drones do not like biting off tiny pieces only.

I do not really need light in there, either. Ordinarily I would, but I found another tech option near the top: night vision.

You know how Abyssals have glowing eyes? Yes? No? I do not even know if this is canonical or made up, but my Abyss here tells me it is a thing. That is the night vision, a basic Abyssal property to find their way in the depths. I do not have it by default for some reason; now I may just be humanising the Abyss with this, but I thought it seemed confused that I did not have it. If that is true, then I guess something went wrong when I arrived. Maybe it was an unintended tradeoff for my resource generation power. Nothing else is missing, ignoring combat strength I did not want in the first place.

I was mulling it over for a bit, but night vision is just one of the first steps on an entire sub-branch on my tech tree. It is all about self-improvement in the literal sense. Considering that the resources I am mining will be exhausted eventually, I will spend them all on improving my own capabilities. There are upgrades to resource generation speed deeper down and I want them.

I also started talking to my drones a little more. They are a bit like dogs, if less excitable or playful. They work most of the time and follow simple orders. That may not be a good sign for my mental health, though.

I do have blueprints for proper Abyssal spawners in reach, maybe that would be a good investment right now. But making more Abyssals, the sort that can think and talk, eats a ton of resources. Or rather tons, actual tons. Those are resources I can not use on research!

I need to think it over some more, but for now I will take a walk around the island. Little else to do, really.


Day 4

I am starting to find a rhythm with these entries now. That always works for the best. As of right now, they will be made in the evening before I go to sleep. That way I can actually go through the entire day.

Speaking of sleep, one thing my conversion to an Abyssal fixed is that I no longer lie awake in bed for an hour after turning in. Somehow I can consistently fall asleep in a few minutes at most despite not having a bed. Or anything beyond some sand or rock. Also, do not sleep on sand; getting that everywhere sucks even for an Abyssal.

At least my body is hardy enough not to mind the ground. I really did not want to invest resources in creature comforts just yet. I am still on the fence about making other Abyssals, too. The Abyss itself tries to nudge me that way, but I disagree; it left me my free will, so it will have to accept what I decide.

Huh. I felt some flash of acceptance the moment I finished that thought. I guess the Abyss agrees? That little nudging is gone, too. Nice, a hurrah for competent superiors!

Which brings me back to wondering what the Abyss actually is. It does not say, even though it seems to take a decent amount of interest in me. It accepts my wishes and lets me do as I want. Maybe this is a test for now, to see how well I can do when working on my own? I do not really know the state of the world either, so maybe I am a last-ditch effort after the Abyssals were effectively routed. It does not tell me about others, either.

A lot of boundless speculation will not really help me right now, though. I just have to keep on going and see where I end up. Today was calm, much like the last few days; that ore vein we found is about exhausted, though. I still have a bunch saved up because the first few technologies are fairly cheap. Not to mention the two weeks I was indisposed for reasons I am still salty about, but whatever. I will need every bit of these resources later. Curiousity got the better of me and I made the mistake to look at tech prices. Some of the highest level stuff eats enough resources to build an invasion fleet with.

Then again, it is stuff like lasers and point-defense cannons that can shoot down supersonic projectiles. Anything outside actual space travel is in there somewhere.

Now I have to decide how to build my base. An island is technically just an outcropping of rock through the entire ocean, meaning I could constantly dig down. But I did not study the right subjects to know if that actually keeps the whole thing stable. Then again, I can probably reinforce such a tunnel with stone goo and Abyss steel. Do I want to risk that? Not right now.

Come to think of it, I have no idea where I am. It is kind of chilly here, mostly from the ocean winds. There are no maps on this island and I found no trace of human presence. No lost tools, no bones, nothing. For all I know no one ever set foot in this place.

On second thought, it does not actually matter. Being somewhere in the middle of nowhere is actually better than somewhere well known. That way I can stay hidden for longer, maybe even indefinitely. My luck is pretty decent, or at least it was before this little adventure here.


Day 5

Slow day today. I had the drones dig a little further down before spreading out. Research continues apace, too. I mix stuff like improved armour plating and gunpowder mixtures together with general improvements like blueprint generation or oil refinement.

The longer I work on this, the more I realise I really am an entire industry in the form of a person. I may have to relocate underground just to get enough space for all the stuff I need to build later. Good thing the ocean floor is past what most warships can reach. If I could find the Mariana Trench, I would set up shop down there.

On second thought, I saw pictures of the stuff crawling around down there. Not sure I actually want that.

Being efficient is harder than I thought it would be. I like the surface too much, it is what I am used to. But I will be found sooner or later if I stay up here. On the other hand, I always liked the concept of underground dungeons. Blame Dungeon Keeper on that one, assuming the game exists here.

This gets me back to something else I thought about: do I, or do I not create other Abyssals? I still do not want to because I like hyperfocussing on research, but I feel I probably should make one. Specifically one and only after I looked into stealth techs. It, she will be a scout to find more resources and maybe a larger place to dig my facility into. This island is okay for a start, but I will need more room eventually. An archipelago would be good, an actual mountain the best. Nobody will expect the Abyss to hide so far out from the sea!

I just imagined the expression some lone hiker would make after being confronted with Abyssals in the mountains. Nobody would ever believe them. I can not stop grinning.

But yes, I need to mull over some more. These log entries help sort my thoughts, writing always did that for me. I have a lot of them, but putting them into tangible words unfurls whatever twists and turns they take in my head.

In other news, I start to grow tired of not having food. I do not actually need any because all my needs are met with steel and fuel, what little I need of that on land, but I still remember food and want some. It has been about three weeks and all I can find are a number of small critters that I am not going to kill myself. There would be little meat on them anyway. A few wild fruits and such were around too, but those are really bitter. Probably poisonous too, but I am an Abyssal now. I even tried eating some of the plants out of curiousity, but they just taste bland. It sucks.

I really need to stay disciplined, else I may just research how to make sweets instead of investing resources into something worthwhile.

Plans for tomorrow are up in the air, but I will probably build that spawn pool for my scout. Having that does not mean I have to grow anything in it, after all.


Day 6

I built the spawn pool. Well, 'built'. I have no idea why that takes up resources when I am technically just leaking black sludge out of my entire rigging until it fills the basin. That stuff is pure Abyss. I could bathe in it if I want to, though. Other things, erm, not so much. I tested with a piece of wood because trees can not run away. Dissolved in seconds. The dead fish I found ashore on my walk went the same way.

Should I feel disgusted by the sizzling and dissolving matter? No idea, the slimy fish was more upsetting because I had to touch it. At least I could wash off that gunk easily in the spawn pool. From what the Abyss lets me know, I just throw resources in there until it reaches critical mass for the ship type I want. It seemed confused when I thought about just throwing stuff in there to see what happens.

Then I threw stuff in there to see what happens. Mostly wood, stone, and sand. I had a bunch of the excess from digging thrown in there as well. The pool definitely swelled up some, but it does not feel like reaching critical mass yet. I have some sort of instinct for that, a gut feeling. I do not really want to deforest the entire island to make up the difference, though. Considering that I have so much steel at hand, I will probably dump some of my reserves in there tomorrow.

Fingers crossed it is not a chimera. I really do not need an "Eeeeedward" moment.

Moving on.

I saw a plane pass by in the afternoon. Far too slow to be a combat jet, more like a passenger plane. The Abyss nudged me to shoot it down the moment I saw it, too. Means that there are definitely humans around. They also found a way to travel by air without being shot down. It may be that the Abyssals are actually being pushed back or on the brink of defeat. From what shreds of canon I recall, they were winning there.

I guess it does not really matter in the end. I am not planning to wage this war myself, at most I will act as an arms dealer except with technology. Maybe I can link myself into the Internet if I find one of the cables going through the ocean? In fact, if it still exists I could hold the Internet hostage to get some leverage!

But I guess those are thoughts for later. I have yet to meet any humans to begin with. Does it count as being scared if I know that will not go well regardless of circumstance? Maybe I am just paranoid, but in this case I rather take too many precautions than too few.

I also need to figure out when to start producing actual combat units. It has to be someday, preferably when there is no outside pressure. On the other hand, I still like just researching. Maybe if I can improve my resource economy to the point I can divert some stuff without slowing tech speed. But I need to claim new ground for that.

The ocean floor would have the most unclaimed resources. The Abyss agrees. All signs point to going lower. I think I mentioned this earlier, but I like the surface. Maybe it is because I used to be human, but I do not want to live below.

But in the name of efficiency, I guess I will at least try some sort of exposure therapy. Dunk my head under water to get used to breathing in there or something like that. People can get used to a lot after all.

Or I send someone else to grab resources from the depths. Let them set up a second base to supply me. Are Abyssals I make loyal to me? Abyss says no, only the mindless ones like my drones are.

And there we are once again at the old question: do I trust someone not myself with a vital part of my plans? The answer is no, not really. Even if I created that person, I like having control of my work in all parts. That way I can set my own pace and all issues are on me. Less frustration that way.

But the idea still has merit. For now I am good on resources for the most part, so I can shelve the topic until it becomes relevant. Maybe if whatever sapient Abyssals I make later turn out trustworthy.

On that note, I think I am starting to pack-bond with my drones. It may be because there is no other living being around, but they start to become kind of cute. I started talking to them, though I am not yet at the stage where I give them names.


Day 7

It is a chimera.

 

[Naron]

Day 8

Okay, so. I did not really have the energy to write anything yesterday. Maybe I jinxed it the day before or something.

Either way, good news and bad news.

The bad news is that I got a chimera out of the pool. She is hard to describe in a few words. Think a fish that grew teeth and legs as well as a dozen tentacles across her back. Quadrupedal, with scales of stone and wood. I think her teeth are stone, too. The tentacles looked and felt more like roots from up close, completely dry instead of slimy like one would expect.

The good news is that she behaves. The Abyss went 'wtf' at me and still has no idea what to make of her, but so far she was a good girl. She can not speak, but she understands me at least to an extent. I do not think she is sapient? So far her responses made me think of a reasonably smart dog, really. A scaly, two and a half metres tall, six metres long dog. Yes.

Maybe there is room for growth in her head, but only time will tell on that end. She is docile and follows orders. So at least I do not need to train her or anything, I have no idea how I would go about that. Silver linings. She is also pretty good at fishing; those root-tacles can sharpen into speartips and elongate at will. I have no idea how to actually prepare fish though, so I just fed them all to her. I tried baiting one of the drones with food too, but it was not interested.

Curiously, she, I named her Hydra after the lovecraftian deity, seems to act as some sort of focal point for the drones. They make room for her whenever she passes by, she always has the right of way, and all the stuff they excavate is delivered to her instead of me now. She brings the collected resources to me afterward.

I may have accidentally created a super drone or something like that. Hydra does not really act like a queen or even just a superior to them, though. I saw her try to play with one of them, only to get disappointed when it just kept working.

Considering it like this, maybe I should try throwing only drones into the pool next to figure out what I get from them?

On the other hand, I kind of like the batch I have now. I need to make more and order them in there. But that would be a drain on resources. Do I actually need some sort of improved drone?

What happens if I throw a shipgirl in there?

Abyss says I get a full Abyssal for free. Neat, but not helpful; neither do I have any shipgirls, nor do I have the capacities to sink one and survive. Even if I put aside the pragmatic concerns, I do not like being the aggressor. I will leave them alone as long as they leave me alone. Now if only I could communicate that and be actually believed, I would be golden.

Enough useless wishes now. Hydra seems fine doing her own thing, mostly exploring the island, swimming below the surface, or lying by my feet like she does right now. I meant it when I said she reminds me of a dog. I just need to be careful not to turn into some sort of squealing dog parent constantly calling her a good girl.

Everything turned out better than expected, but now I am back at the drawing board in terms of my actual goal. Do I make my scout, or not?


Day 9

I looked through blueprints for hours today. There are a number of different improvements, but Stealth is in the cards if I give it another two days. The Abyss says it takes a few hours for new Abyssals to gestate, the proper ones I mean. Mindless stuff like those drones can be built in droves, but sapience takes time to do right. Makes sense to me, the human mind is a complicated mess after all.

Now I wonder how Abyssal minds are structured. Are they like humans or is there some significant difference? What do they use as a base? The Abyss itself is silent on it.

Anyway, I fast-tracked some research to push me toward the better stealth package. Improved speed lies on the way too, so I know what my little scout's specialty will be.

I also noticed that Hydra has some spacious compartments, though little weapons in terms of cannons. It would be funny to mount some huge fuck-off gun on her back, at least if I had one of those. It will be a while until then. But she will be fine unless she runs into shipgirls exactly, her armour belt is hardier than any regular sealife can pierce. And she does have two guns; I have no idea about calibres and do not really care to know, but those should be good enough in a pinch.

Maybe I should learn about naval weaponry, considering how important it is. Not like I have much else to do. But it is boring, so maybe later.

Anyway, the beginnings of a plan are forming: with Hydra being able to transport resources and my drones to excavate them, I really only need that scout to find more deposits. With just a little luck she will pay for herself in a matter of days. I will only make the one, though; Hydra reminded me that every unit requires upkeep in terms of steel and oil to keep them running.

But... maybe that super drone would be useful here, too?


Day 11

Did not write a log yesterday. At first I thought about it, but nothing really interesting happened. I will probably keep skipping these slow days in the future.

Hydra continues to do her thing; I did not notice her getting smarter yet, either. Stealth is getting close and I dumped a bunch of newly fabricated drones into the pool until it was filled to capacity. The Abyss churns and seems more intrigued than appalled this time, at least from what little I get in terms of impressions.

The plan is to test if I can get a better drone out of this and prepare my scout tomorrow. Thinking about it, I should stop talking about a drone when she will probably be intelligent; Hydra is no drone either, a

Oh boy, she came out just now! I had to stop writing for a bit because I got the ping! By the time I finished jogging over to the spawn pool (no more running until I stop stumbling because the tits unbalance me), she was already out and looking around. A bit chubby, perhaps more like stocky, and clad in midnight black. I checked, she does not have an ounce of fat on her; it is all pure muscle. Her skin is the same deathly pale tone as mine, though she is more than two heads smaller.

She looked at me the moment I walked in, too. It was a little eerie, really. At least until she started talking in one of these high-pitched, cutesy anime girl voices.

I am still not sure what to make of her first few words. They told me a lot yet so little at all.

"Mi-Class Drone Commander at your service, Princess."

Anyone who knows the reality I was dropped into will know how important that last word is. Abyssal Princesses are the big movers and shakers. Why the Abyss decided not to tell me I am one is up in the air; that new girl immediately called me one, though. I asked for confirmation just to make sure.

That aside, she is exactly what I hoped she would be, a commander type for my drones; excavation and mining are her expertise, but she also has a mind for logistics. Meaning that I can leave directing the drones for maximum efficiency to her.

It was a tiny bit weird talking to her at first. She seems a little too demure for my liking; I double-checked with the Abyss that it does not impact free will and that she has it. Maybe her being made out of those mining drones is the reason, or it is just a coincidence. Whatever the case, she mostly just went along with whatever I said.

Also, I checked: there was no Mi-Class before this one emerged. The 'Mi' stands for Mining and now declares a type of Abyssal focussed on excavation. It seems the Abyss somehow never thought about giving the non-fighting types much in the form of sapience before. This taught me that it still evolves; perhaps my purpose is actually to help the Abyss advance further than it could on its own?

Whatever, it is getting late now and speculation is for later. My new commander wanted to get right to work; she is full of energy, what with being newly born. I considered sending her to bed, but decided to let her do as she wants. I did tell her not to overdo it, though.

Tomorrow I need to pick a name for her. Really should have thought that through beforehand.


Day 12

Now that I think about it, I doubt 'making friends' is supposed to be this literal. Not that there is much choice in the matter here.

Do underlings count as friends? Whatever, some stuff happened.

First of all, I barely stopped myself from naming the Mi-Class something silly; she is now called Orion for no particular reason. I just like the name.

Secondly, Orion was up all night and doubled drone efficiency. I was directing them on my own before, but I am not purpose-built to understand how to use them best. I was also doing like ten other things in-between, so that makes sense. Unfortunately, there is not much use for the drones right now; we mostly finished excavating below this island, at least as far as I wanted to go. Orion mostly went through the entire complex and improved the masonry.

She also got to meet Hydra once I woke up. That was... kind of disappointing. I guess I hoped that my adopted eldritch horror would make her panic, but she just beamed and complimented me on making such a formidable creature. Hydra preened throughout.

I am not entirely sure how to feel about the fact she almost started devouring the fish Hydra caught raw. Orion seemed so happy about it, the food that is. As if she never... ah. Newborn, now that makes sense. I need to be careful there. How much does the Abyss actually give its own in terms of racial memories?

Orion knows her job, she can speak and walk and do all the things a human learns growing up. I need to see tomorrow what else she knows.

But that is for tomorrow. After that exciting morning, I forced myself to finally commit and throw all those juicy resources into a Ka-Class submarine. Like I said, I want a scout. Specifically one that can find me things on the ocean floor. She came out in the evening, peering at me from the sludge without really surfacing at first.

Where Orion was matter-of-fact and calm, this one seemed to vibrate with energy. "Ka-Class ready for duty," she said. "What's my job? Who do I stalk?"

I tried to coax her out of the spawn pool first, but she was hesitant. Maybe submarines do not like the surface? If so, I should probably add some sort of bay; assuming I can add a floodgate so I do not accidentally submerge everything.

Bays are a good thought, actually. They have repair baths for shipgirls, do I need something like that? The Abyss says yes, but only once someone gets damaged. Just great, another thing I need to divert resources into; and I probably want this one sooner rather than later.

Still, she eventually came out of the pool and let me look at her. Smaller than Orion and lithe, not to mention as pale as the rest of us. I can probably leave that out from now on; all Abyssals look like corpses, skin-wise. This time I thought of a name beforehand, but figured it did not really fit this little bundle of energy. After some scrambling, she is now Sapphire. Not very creative, but I did not want to leave her hanging too long.

I just realised I am pack-bonding again. At least this time the lot actually makes a social group and not just a herd of drones.

Once named, Sapphire came along on a tour without much fuss. She was definitely more timid on land, though. Maybe I should submerge some of the lower areas? Not like I have trouble breathing underwater, I just do not like it. My self-imposed practice helped with that, but I stopped doing it a few days ago.

Which brings me to another thing to consider: how much of my human self and sensibilities should I try to keep? I can definitely get used to this, even if I will never enjoy it; especially the body, but we already had that covered before. But the change in diet, being underwater, being opposed to humanity? Where is the line?

Sapphire actually asked me something that brought me to this. Maybe the one question I was not prepared for: "What's your name, Princess?"

Orion was too business-like to ask about that. Or maybe she just did not care. Hydra probably never even considered the question, even if she could speak. Sapphire wanted to know, though. And I had no answer for her. My old name does not really work here, does it? But do I want to give it up? How far can I push this before I start forgetting who I am. More importantly, do I want to hold onto being someone I used to be? Should I embrace who I become now instead?

Why can these things not be easy?

I told Sapphire that I will get back to her once she completes her first mission; that is to map out the area surrounding our base. I told her explicitly that this is a scouting mission and to not attack anyone, even if she gets the opportunity. I also told her to watch out specifically for ore of any kind, or oil, whatever resources she could find.

She seemed happy enough about the task. Orion was across the island, restless because she had no real work to do. I really hope Sapphire will find something.

Now to think about who and what I want to remain or become.


Day 15

Some slow days. Orion took to riding around on Hydra's back because she is bored. I had to wrack my brain for children's games to teach her, but most of them were not much fun. Tag or hide and seek do not really work with two people, and Hydra is not smart enough to play either. Orion got a little interested in hopscotch, though. She took to it with an innocent curiousity you would not expect.

Thankfully, Sapphire returned today with a well-filled map of our surroundings. She found some nice resource deposits, too. I topped off her fuel and gave her some extra fish as a reward for a job well done, then I sent Orion out with all but one of our drones to start excavating.

The good thing is that I had enough time to think. Sapphire was only the first to ask for my name, but keeping the old one in this form feels kind of weird. I am different now than I was then, there is no changing that ever. So I might as well take a different name now, if nothing else to signify it. The Abyss is not forcing me, I made doubly sure of that. It seems indifferent to whatever I decide in that regard.

So once we settled at the beach, with Sapphire relaxing submerged up to her head, I told her.

"Dagon. That's my name. Tech Administrator Princess Dagon."

Her response almost had me laugh, had it not been so earnest and peppy: "It sounds kind of weird, but okay. I'm at your service, Princess Dagon!"

I think I like how easygoing she is. It sets a nice juxtaposition with Orion's down-to-earth behaviour. And yes, I went back to Lovecraft for my own name; Dagon was the first of his pantheon I ever read about and somehow stayed in my mind the easiest. It feels kind of fitting to name myself after another terror of the depths.

The 'Tech Administrator Princess' stuff is bogus I made up, too. The Abyss had nothing to do with it beside telling me that all princesses have some sort of title. I tried to hit what I do without immediately giving everything away. Also no mention of my resource generation ability, that would immediately turn me into public enemy number one if any humans heard it.

Either way, I delivered my first headpat that afternoon. Sapphire was pretty confused about the gesture, but I think she liked it. Then she went swimming with Hydra; I have the feeling those two get along better than either of them with Orion. Then again, I guess I make the second taciturn person on the island, so she should be fine.

Things are pretty relaxed right now and I can expect an influx of resources soon. Immediate shortages are no longer a concern in any way, shape, or form. Now I need to get a better idea of the area, tech into stealth for Sapphire's safety, and maybe research that doom cannon for Hydra.

Here is to hoping everything stays calm until I can find a better location for my main base.

 

[Naron]

Day 16

Today I found out I made a mistake, but it hopefully did not ruin anything.

Specifically, I did not consider that the drones and Orion have little transport capacities. So I woke up to a steady stream of drones delivering resources to the main depot.

As one can imagine, that is not really something I want when obscurity is the name of the game. So I woke Sapphire and sent her over to tell Orion to stop harvesting ore while I figure out a solution. Hydra has decent capacities, but I am not sure if she will actually listen to orders not to attack anyone. In addition, I do not think she is meant to be a transport ship.

Which brings me to the issue at hand: do I shell out for another ship? Or do I try to bootleg something cheaper?

One advantage of writing these log entries is that I actually have to think things through, instead of just going with the flow as I often do. Bootlegging is a short-term solution, getting a proper transport up and running helps more in the long term. At the same time, the more ships I build, the more upkeep I need to pay. Sure, I just upgraded my resource generation ability, but that is not going to ever carry an entire fleet.

Good thing I played Factorio, that game teaches you how jumpstarting an economy is nowhere near easy. Especially with hostile locals potentially everywhere you want to expand to.

Anyway, I am going to lump the materials for a transport into the pool in a moment. She should be ready tomorrow morning. Then I am going to call Orion back so she can install a floodgate into the island, hidden beneath the waves. That should help hiding my movements if anyone comes by.


Day 17

Well, would you look at that. My Wa-class transport woke up about the same time I did this morning. She is kind of chubby and her rigging is an actual metal ball that only her upper half reaches out of. Somewhere in the middle between outgoing and taciturn, I guess. I called her Ionia, once again for no real reason beyond it being a name I thought of. I really hope I can keep everyone's names straight if I ever start building more than one of each type.

If nothing else, she was as ready to start working as the others. Her voice is on the deeper end, though I did not hear much of it before I sent her off to support the others.

The rest of the day was me trying to figure out how a floodgate works in practice while Sapphire watched. This gets especially fun if you do not know how far exactly the wall reaches. I still have not started giving orders, but at least the stream of drones delivering stuff stopped. I am keeping a few of them here for this project.

In retrospect, I should probably build the first gate further inside, then just make a room until I hit the outside.


Day 18

Hey, guess who is an idiot?

If you guessed me, you are absolutely right!

Only I would be dumb enough to stay in the room my drones are excavating, despite knowing the sea is on the other side. I had them build the floodgate into a hallway going nowhere and made doubly sure every nook and cranny is reinforced with that fun goo. Then I made doubly sure the schematics I researched actually work as intended. Sure enough, the thing opens and closes perfectly fine. It is, however, not automatic yet. Elbow grease is a requirement, not that any Abyssal lacks that.

Anyway, back to me being dumb. Even though I have not been human for about a month, I guess I still have the old instincts in there. The moment one drone hit the isle's wall, water broke in and filled the entire room. It went so fast I thought I was drowning for a few seconds. Until I remembered I could breathe just fine, that is.

After that little scare and while still miffed at myself and the world, I ordered the drones to widen the gap and smooth out all edges. Then I had them build the second floodgate. And then I swam outside to see how deep I actually set this thing. Fifty metres below surface level ought to be enough.

Something else I learned: if I do not put on my rigging, I do not need even a fraction of the fuel to move. Otherwise I would have chugged a lot of oil just moving around in the depths. The downside is that I can not use my engines, so I was basically swimming. And another hooray for soul voodoo nonsense; it stops me from either sinking or ascending to the surface unless I want to do either.

Thinking about it some more, I should probably build another one of these floodgates, opening to the other side of the island. But right now that would be only in case someone finds me, finds that entrance, and specifically tries to lay siege to me instead of just bombing everything to oblivion or forcing their way in. So yeah, no. I could live without these twinges of paranoia.


Day 19

Sapphire seems happy with the new installation, though I am far less so. Then again, that is on me. I should have considered what to do with the water beforehand. Right now each use of the lower gate floods some more of my base. The lowest layer is already full and was immediately claimed by my scout. She can have it as her domain, I do not really mind.

But yes, I need to install a drain of some sort, and quick. At least I am more than good on resources after Ionia made her first delivery. She handed everything over without a word, then topped up her reserves and loaded some extra for Orion's team. And then she swam back out.

While I had my own drones dig out another chamber, I got to thinking. I need water for a bunch of stuff anyway, right? And sea water has a lot of salt. Salt is a resource. Also, still water grows stale over time; I do not think I want Sapphire's grotto to just sit there for long.

So I went to the drawing board to make this a bigger thing. I have manpower, or rather dronepower, aplenty. It barely costs any resources to install pumps, but the heating grid is a little bit more fiddly. At least the Abyss threw me a bone there and told me there is a way to transform the soul voodoo nonsense into other forms of energy. Read, I do not need to build a conventional generator for electricity.

The plan is to pump all the water from the floodgate room into a holding tank. From there it goes either into processing, the grotto, or a spacious bath. The last two I want to pump back out on the regular, mostly because I do not know what else could be added into it that I do not want in processing. And in there I will heat the water until it turns to steam. That can be used elsewhere or dissipate to the surface, but also leaves the salt behind.

It does sound ambitious, but I think I can do it. With the power of the Abyss and a mental tech base on my side, at least.


Day 22

It took a while, but I did it. Sapphire was not happy when I first pumped the water out of her grotto, but she did not make a fuss even before I explained. She did not really get the appeal of a bath, either; I think she was thinking of a repair bath instead of a regular one. Then again, the Abyss tells me there is little difference between the two unless someone is damaged. And I am not supposed to 'waste' the healing effect on lesser Abyssals like my drones.

I am not sure how to feel about that. On one hand I kind of get the idea; making a new drone after cannibalising the damaged one is probably cheaper than repairing it. But I do not really want to? Probably the pack-bonding again.

But yes, we have a proper secret entrance now. More than that, it also feeds into a bath and salt production, which means I now have seasoning... for food I do not have. That is the next step on the agenda. One of these days I have to try convincing the Abyss to let me use soul voodoo nonsense for synthesizing food. I already have all the chemical elements, food is just specific combinations of them. I think.

Which reminds me that I hit something neat today: my personal improvements contain a module that lets me convert any material into any other, even if the rate is inefficient at base. Fun how I get stuff for free that any chemist would kill to obtain. I turned some steel into several kilos of gold and had my drones chew it up, then bling out the entire base. I also had them make bracelets for Orion, Sapphire, and Ionia. And a golden collar for Hydra, that took some work to fit between her tentacles.

Again, the girls were confused. But if I am already going to be stuck here, I will do it in style. Mind, just gold looks a little bland, but Sapphire already got interested in carving after I tried and failed at it; for some reason she was a little skittish when asking about it, but now I find her adding details to the gold fillings around the base whenever she is not on a mission.

Maybe I will add some silver and bronze soon to mix it up? Then again, gold is the colour of winners. And I plan to be a winner.

Excavation below the sea goes well ahead of schedule, or so I would say if I had drawn up any schedules. Orion has more than paid for herself already. Same for Sapphire. And here is where the counting people as resources falls flat because I do not know if Ionia had any effect in that regard. Nobody reported sighting humans so far.

Then again, there was one time last week when Hydra got upset at another plane and tried to spear it with her tentacles. She did not even get close to reaching it, but that did not stop her from trying until the plane was long gone; then she remained aggressive for hours.


Day 23

Guess I jinxed it.

The bad news is that shipgirls came by near here. The good news is that I finished the stealth-upgrade for Sapphire earlier than that. She spotted them, but they did not spot her.

Further bad news is the conversation we had afterward. She was jittery upon return and reported her findings; a convoy passing by, at least ten transports guarded by twice as many fighting class ships. And despite being just one submarine, Sapphire insisted she be allowed to ambush them. I told her no, of course. That I am not risking her or the base for a cheap shot.

"Then build more ships!" she all but shouted back. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. She was too, covering her mouth and all. That was the first time any of my girls tried to tell me what to do, none of them even tried for advice before.

I am a little upset that she took that tone with me, but not angry. One of my better traits seems to have remained: I do not stay mad for long outside of very special cases. Thinking back on our conversation, I believe there is more to this. It may fit in with these other snippets of odd behaviours I noticed, but I need to think about it some more.

Regardless, I explained my reasoning to her then; full frontal assaults are not what I prefer doing. I rather stay hidden and build up my technological advantage as much as possible; any ship I build will take resources and chug up even more to be maintained. If I open fire and a single message makes it out, my presence will become known. If no one makes it out, that still makes the area suspicious.

"So we're just doing nothing?" she asked back. That is what my explanations boils down to, even if it is oversimplified. Sapphire was still not happy. "But we have to destroy them all, Princess!"

Now that, as you may imagine, confused me. I only realised what was so odd about it after the fact, though. Sapphire stalked away in a huff and kept moping in her underground grotto for the rest of the day. I tried to coax her out with some soft stones to practice carving, but she is giving me the silent treatment.

While I mull that entire thing over, I need to figure out what to do next. I still do not know where in the world I am. Is there any sort of mountain in the area I can get to undetected? Should I even try to make landfall anywhere?


Day 24

Ionia came to me during her break; as busy a bee as she is in ferrying resources, she seems to appreciate taking a little time to just walk around the island or relax leaning against Hydra. Today she accompanied me on my own walk. We did not really talk, but it was nice enough to have her around.

The one time she spoke up, she relayed a request from Orion; my drone commander was asking for permission to automate resource excavation and build a minor base with depots and everything. She wants to either return, or excavate another deposit Sapphire found on her scouting runs.

I had to mull that over, but the presence of shipgirls made me realise that backup plans are never a bad idea. So I had Ionia carry back the message to go ahead; I took some time to draw up a plan of what I wanted, but left the details and layout to Orion. Maybe that gets her to do her own thing; less micromanaging for me can not be bad. I will let her build a dry base below the ocean floor, complete with floodgate and everything. She will do the same thing at every other deposit. Those will serve as my emergency shelter in case this main base is found.

Not that I have much stuff here yet. Maybe I should build some more factories or research labs? Yes, that sounds more like it. Maybe a refinery later, once we are getting raw oil?

Or maybe I should do the opposite? Keep resource refinement decentralised in case of an attack, making this more of a summer home sort of deal. I am definitely not separating all my factories from where the stuff they need is stored, even I can tell that is dumb. But it may be good to create a number of dedicated facilities, maybe by ship type? And then I make one or two based on research.

Okay, I think I have this figured out. I just need to pass the news to Orion once Ionia gets back. Sapphire is still moping in her grotto, so I am just leaving her be until she comes out. I feel a little bad to effectively ignore her, but I do not want to stick my head underwater for any longer than I must. We already established that Abyssals have free will, so she might as well decide to sink me if I force the issue and upset her too much.

Thinking about it, now that is a slippery slope if I ever saw one. I must be careful not to grow paranoid of my own forces. It is true I do not like saying no, but giving in to everything does not a good leader make. And it just occurred to me, but I technically fill a role akin to a parent for them all, do I not?

Well. I remember my parents telling me that ignoring it worked best when I threw tantrums as a child. But can what Sapphire does be qualified as a tantrum at this point?

Whatever. I will give her another day to come out on her own, otherwise I pump the water from her hidey hole and talk to her myself. In the meantime, I need to better understand her point so I can address it; Sapphire is a submarine, so in traditional fantasy terms that makes her the rogue of the team. She sneaks around and backstabs her enemies from nowhere. But despite that, she is still a fighter. I am not.

Maybe that is the disconnect between us. She sees enemies to be destroyed, I see issues to be avoided.

But how do I get my point into her head without trampling over hers?

On top of that, I just realised the irony of my situation. Shipgirls were sighted and posed no problem whatsoever because they never spotted us. No, the only real danger I am currently dealing with is... does it count as teenage angst when she is only a week old but looks like a teen?

Perhaps I can actually get somewhere if I find the girl some hobbies to keep her busy? She did like carving stuff from what I saw. But what can I have her do beside patrolling on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere?

Somehow, I get the feeling I am not going to reach any sort of satisfying conclusion tonight. Better get some sleep and hope for inspiration to strike when I am busy doing something else; it has a habit of doing that. I also need to look over my tech tree for anything I could keep her busy with. If only my brain would stop considering to bribe her with sugar, we would be golden.

 

[Naron]

Day 25

Sapphire came to me this morning. I am not entirely sure, but I think she expected some sort of punishment for hiding away two days long. At least I could subvert expectations that way, considering that I just shrugged it off.

"Walk with me," I told her. Ionia got back earlier too, so I had her come along as well. There were questions I needed answered.

Like this one: "Why is it so important that we kill all humans and shipgirls?"

There was silence afterward. Neither knew quite what to say; when I looked back to them, they were staring at each other as if trying to silently discuss it. Sapphire opened her mouth several times, but faltered before a single noise came out. Ionia was just confused.

The answer Sapphire finally gave me was unsatisfying and really telling: "Because we gotta. Don't you feel it?"

And there was indeed that little nudge from the Abyss. No stronger than before. I only realised hours later what I missed in that regard. Maybe it took talking to the girls to figure it out, too.

"Not really. Truth be told, I could not care less about destroying humanity."

Somehow, it felt blasphemous to say out loud; both girls with me gasped in surprise, Sapphire even threw a hand over her mouth in shock. To say I was unimpressed is an understatement, but I thought about what to say to them for hours. "My first priority is to stay alive and enjoy that life. This includes the lot of you, too. You are not dying anytime soon."

Which is really the crux of the matter. I feel responsible for them and that means I will not just use them up like resources. Unless I must, I guess. But considering that Sapphire's answer boils down to 'But we're made to destroy them, nothing else matters!', I have the feeling she would happily throw herself into death for me.

I kept quiet for a while after that, but ultimately shook my head. "At my current level of power and advancement, we do not stand a chance if they send any notable force our way. Building more ships is not enough; if I already go into a fight, I want a flawless victory. We can talk about fighting them again in the future, but right now we will keep hidden."

That had her grumble, but she acquiesced in the end. Ionia was quietly listening with a soft frown. "I think I understand your reasoning," was her comment. "My duty is to transport materials. If there is no place left to deliver them to, I am bereft of a duty and adrift. But Sapphire's duty is to sink ships, Princess. What is she to do when you do not allow her to fulfill it?"

I admit I had no real answer to that. I also underestimated how thoughtful Ionia actually is. All I could do in that situation was to tell them I will think about it, and that I had new orders. At least being out and about will help them pass the time.

Ionia is delivering my new orders to set up a proper drone factory in Orion's current position on top of the depot, but not create anything yet. I really need to tech up on communications soon. Sapphire is still out on patrol. I reasoned with her that her duty under me is to be my eyes below the waves; to scout my domain and keep me informed of every intruder or oddity she can spot. She was not entirely convinced, but also not opposed to the idea.

Which brings me to the issue I spied: these nudges the Abyss gives me? They are a lot stronger with the girls. I do not think it is on purpose, I just have decades' worth of memories and learned behaviours in my head. These girls are brand new, basically newborns with adult minds and bodies. But even if they are mature, they do not have any memories beyond what the Abyss gave them and their experiences here. So what is just a little nudge to me is a burning desire for them.

The Abyss is equally interested in my thoughts on this, but I do not think it can or wants to change anything about it. Eradicating humanity is what it wants after all.

Time and experience may give my girls the opportunity to put this urge aside. For now I need to hope we do not meet any more shipgirls. Maybe it was an error not to consider these racial memories and nudges before; it neatly explains why Abyssals are so hostile to humans, though. Not to mention that I now know for certain there is no way to get peace. This war only ends if one side eradicates the other. Humans are spiteful if nothing else, they will not forget the many lives lost.

Well, I guess I could try becoming king of the Abyss and broker for peace then. Chances of that working are miniscule. If what I heard about the setting before is any indication, Abyssal on Abyssal violence is a thing as well. And the Abyss just confirmed that. Princesses generally get along well enough while negotiating, but differences in opinion have led to firefights before when things got heated. That would not go well with me being unarmed.

Besides, conquering the Abyss poses the same problem as destroying all humans: I do not want to. This sounds like way too much work and will make me a ton of enemies on top. No, thank you.


Day 27

I got over myself and took a proper bath today. There was no incentive before, considering Abyssals have no real body odour. At this point I was curious, though.

My verdict: it is nice enough. I also talked to Sapphire when she joined me partway through. She ended up brightening a bit over her scouting mission, maybe that talk about duty helped her more than I thought. Here is to hoping this holds, I think I prefer her peppy over pouty. She went back to carving, too.

In other news, Orion finished setting up our first offshoot base. She moved on to another deposit with her group of drones, safely hidden in the depths. I do not get much in terms of resources right now, but I am still good for a while with what I have. Ionia's deliveries are spaced out more, so she spends more time with Orion until enough extra was mined to fully load her.

Next on the agenda is nothing, really. I have no idea what to do next. At the same time, I do not want to just wait for things to happen to me. Anything that could happen has the potential to be bad or worse.

So my next techs will go into weapons research. I was musing over putting a big cannon on Hydra's back. That is the plan for now, but I will also drive up my resource generation as far as I can. The more I get for free in a day, the better. My Fairies work around the clock, much more efficient than any human crew could ever be. I still do not know if they are actually aware or just constructs. The Abyss does not quite know, either.

Either way, I am doing well. My tech base will be fairly solid before long.


Day 35

It has been almost two months now. I think I got more used to being an Abyssal. Somehow I doubt it will ever be actually comfortable, but I will live.

Nothing really happened the last week, though. I mostly just went through the motions. Still no convoys or shipgirl patrols, but no other Abyssals either. The Abyss at least coughed up that there are others out there. Either I really am somewhere in the middle of nowhere, or they try to stay hidden just as much as I.

This is the opposite of a complaint, by the way. I am perfectly happy not having any neighbours to be mindful of. Sapphire keeps scouting under her again improved stealth capacities, Orion builds factory after factory. I authorised another batch of drones for her entourage after she requested that, so her building speed has risen further.

In retrospect, letting her do what she wants was the best thing I could have done. Orion builds these outposts and puts drones inside to keep mining whatever is in reach, then moves on. It is tempting to make another ship just to keep an eye on resource extraction, but I refrained for now. Upkeep and all that.

For now I have Ionia tour the depots and went harder on my tech base; first item on my bucket list is getting my generators to their maximum output. I am already a good way along, enough to have a B-team of scientist Fairies study Hydra's big cannon. Still no sign of growing intelligence with her, so she is probably stuck at "smart dog". In that case I might as well make her a very scary one.

Resource-wise, a number of lighter cannons would be easier to research and build. In this case I decided I want the heavier one. Sure, it falls flat against a bunch of stuff, but I am not building a fleet anytime soon; I want to have at least one huge gun to scare people with. Hydra and Sapphire together should be enough to deal with singular intruders. Anything else will just roll over us anyway.

Besides, this is a precaution; my plan in case of enemy contact is to evacuate and vanish into the sea. As much as I do not want to be underwater, I will use it to hide if I must.


Day 40

I got done installing Hydra's huge gun. She seems oddly happy with it, prowling around and playing at being an apex predator. It covers the entirety of her back and is adjusted with the tentacles that were just hanging around otherwise. I let her shoot it once just to test that it works; the result was impressive enough. The water splashed at least a hundred metres high and Sapphire heard it from deep underground.

Here is to hoping nobody was in the area.

All that aside, communications are done as well. I make sure to call Orion once a day to get progress reports and just talk to her; we may not be human, but I think she should get some more exposure to people as well. At least Sapphire seems to have grown more mellow recently; I can not test how that plays with her instincts without any shipgirls around, but I am hopeful.

Speaking of Orion, she has been a busy bee; I have factories ready for about half the existing Abyssal ship types, as well as my own Mi-class. They lie dormant while Ionia keeps emptying their steadily replenishing stocks of resources; all of those are funnelled into my own labs and the extras I had built into the island base.

Come to think of it, maybe I should give this place a name. Just calling it 'this island' gets stale. It does not need to be fancy or unique, but I do not want to be silly and call it 'Home' or something like that.

Ah. Haven. That sounds fitting but not dumb, at least to me.

Anyway, Haven is continuing to grow. Sapphire carved lines and patterns into most of the gold I laid into the inside, so I gave her some silver to add to it. She seems happy spending her free time carving or playing with Hydra, but we are starting to hit the limits of her capacity; the area scouted and mapped is getting big, more than a single submarine can patrol within a few days.

Either I finish expanding the area under my control, as far as one can call it that, or I build more ships. Improving Sapphire's specs was a stopgap to that end, but it can no longer keep up.

I am good on resources for the moment, though. So there is no real reason to make another sub. Definitely not for any other type of ship, considering my focus on stealth.


Day 42

We are close to the two months mark. Time sure flies.

And of course it is today of all days, the answer to everything, that Sapphire made contact. Thankfully no hostiles, but maybe I would have preferred that. She was so excited to meet that other submarine at the edge of our territory, she talked about it through our entire bath. Ionia seemed just as stumped as I while Hydra kept vying for pets. That was weirdly domestic in retrospect.

So yes, another group of Abyssals is entering this area. I had Sapphire exchange map data with the other sub; curious thing was that the other side do not seem to have improved communications. She had to rush back to her Princess to report. At least there were no attempts to encroach on our marked territory yet; I do not think I could bluff with what little I have.

Then again, I have Hydra. That might work.

Right now I am a little anxious about meeting this new faction.


Day 47

Everything went better than expected. The other Princess, Frostbite, requested parley via that sub Sapphire already knew. The poor girl had to swim halfway here before stumbling over Ionia on a supply run. I think the fact Ionia could radio it in tipped her off to our comms tech, but nobody said if she asked.

Anyway, I understand it is customary to meet at the border between one's territories. Considering how much fuel my engines chug, I decided to invite Frosbite to Haven instead. I also told that sub in person why, with Hydra being my backrest when I met her. And just in case that would be taken the wrong way, I offered to cover the fuel Frostbite needs to come here and back to her own territory.

Maybe that display was a little overkill. She was definitely intimidated by my pet eldritch horror. Or maybe because she saw my specs; I displace more weight than Bismarck. If you do not know that is all research space and resource storage, you would be very worried about the amount of firepower I have. I guess bluffing is a possibility after all.

Communicating all this back and forth took a little while, but Frostbite accepted and came over with a small escort of destroyers.

Sapphire led them to my quickly built throne room over land, partway through that blinged out main base. I told her not to reveal our underwater entrance, partly for safety and partly for the image. Abyssals do not respect each other as a matter of course; a weak Princess is worthless, so I displayed strength as best I could.

But really, I always wanted to sit on a throne. My verdict is that I need some pillows.

I had Hydra dozing nearby, too. She upset the gaggle of petite destroyers following their Princess by her mere presence; even Frostbite gave her a long, discerning look. Or maybe it was the huge gun on her back.

Anyway, things ended well despite me bullshitting my way to victory there. I got up once they had time to take in the sight and met Frostbite halfway. Shaking hands with an Abyssal was an experience, even if I am one myself; her grip was tough as steel for obvious reasons.

"Be welcome," I started. "I am Dagon, the Tech Administrator Princess."

She already knew that, but this was the first time we met face to face. I think my voice wavered a bit, but she did not react to it. There was no subservience or anything from her, though; just a nod and a faint twitch of the lips.

"Thank you for having us. I am Frostbite, Battleship Princess."

In retrospect, the way she said it makes me think there are several Battleship Princesses. And the Abyss just told me this is correct; some titles are unique like mine, but most are not. It does not really matter in the end, though; I invited Frostbite to a separate room for a proper conversation, the only one I spent time furnishing with wood. Good thing I can generate that, too. Sapphire showed her destroyers to the baths for a rest and I sent Hydra to play outside.

Frostbite went straight to business once we sat down. No chit chat, no nothing. I appreciate that a lot. We were in there for no more than an hour, talking over how we expected to interact with the other. I told her I am mostly just consolidating my current holdings and gathering resources, she revealed that she is still establishing herself nearby. Turns out her previous base was bombed to hell, but she and her escorts fought themselves out. They repurposed a destroyed human airbase not too far away as their lair.

I told her to expand in the opposite direction of my holdings then, not like there is a premium on territory here. She agreed readily enough; I am glad arrogance is less of an issue with Abyssals, or at least those I met so far. She could have easily taken offense. Or maybe that is because I am also a Princess?

Either way, she seems perfectly fine coexisting without bothering the other. The one thing we had to argue about was technology; they noticed my improved comms, just like I thought. It makes sense she wants to get her hands on that. I needed a while to mull it over, at least until she said to name a price. Then things got easier.

I have not agreed to anything yet, but I am considering the matter. I could try to get a ton of resources out of this, at least as much as I paid to research communications to begin with. But asking for too much will probably upset her. I could easily gift this one to her too, but that may make me appear weak.

But honestly, I am not cut out to be a businessman. I rather be nice. If it ends up biting me in the ass, so be it.

 

[Naron]

Day 48

I thought it over after closing the log yesterday, and this morning as well; paranoia is really the only reason to try charging Frostbite tons of resources. As I said, I would not make a good businessman.

Frosbite stayed the night because we both figured there were additional talks needed. Her own sub went back to tell her fleet about the delay. The destroyers relaxed some as time passed with nothing bad happening. I did not really have rooms prepared for anyone, though; it has been two months and I still sleep on the ground or in the baths. Suffice it to say this has been rectified after researching carpentry techs.

Mind, I doubt this was necessary; Frostbite seemed perfectly fine sleeping on the beach with her escorts because Abyssals are just built different. But I have other sensibilities. And now that I can lie in a proper bed myself, I realise how much I missed this. Another hooray for cheat skills that let me make foam mattresses and pillows from my own abundance of materials.

Anyway, I had my Fairies prepare an information package and gave that to Frostbite this morning. To say she was surprised is an understatement.

"I'm the Tech Admnistrator Princess," I told her with a little grin. "And I have no reason to screw you over. So the first one's free, we can keep in contact and negotiate over anything else you might want."

Really, it was the pragmatic choice as well. We spent a week passing messages back and forth just to set up a proper meeting. This will cut down on the hassle tremendously. Frostbite took it with grace, only to immediately ask what else I could offer. I admit I expected her to at least think it over first.

Looking at my current tech, there were a few things I could give her. The usual stuff like fuel efficiency and engine improvements, sure, but I decided to also offer her the Mi-class blueprint and a general upgrade to mining efficiency. I had to mull over prices while she suffered from decision paralysis, though; in the end I went for two thirds of their research costs while generously rounding up to get nicer numbers.

Then she asked about Hydra. Almost flippantly, at that. "What about this one? Why are its blueprints a secret?"

I could only shrug. There technically is a blueprint for Hydra, but it has no name beyond a number of question marks. Not to mention that it requires a bunch of regular living matter and I do not know if one can substitute Abyssals for that. And if I already thought about throwing humans into the spawn pool for a little while, then others will absolutely get the same idea.

"Sorry," I told her in the end. "Hydra was an experiment. I'm still not sure if I want to see more of her kind. She isn't actually sapient."

I then had to explain the difference between sentience and sapience to Frostbite, who soaked up the new knowledge like a sponge. Just another reminder that Abyssals do not have an education or any real life experiences; nothing beyond the waves, their kin, and the battles against humanity.

An idea just presented itself to me. I do not know how feasible it is, but if I can find any cables nearby, then maybe it can be done. On the other hand, would Abyssals even want to learn about human stuff? Outside of how to use it to their advantage, that is?

On second thought, do I care? I want the Internet back, too.

Regardless, Frostbite ended up taking the Mi-class. I had to improvise a price for the blueprint because it was effectively free through experimentation. She also took mining efficiency on my recommendation; doubling up on resource throughput gives her more tools to work with, after all.

We parted around noon with another handshake. I gave them some more fuel to make it back and saw them off from the shore. It was a pleasant meeting, all in all.

The rest of the day was quiet beyond the buzzsaws in my factories.


Day 50

There was one little snag in the communications plan: what I researched so far is enough to cover my own territory, but not to reach as far as Frostbite's. So I researched these nifty relay stations and had Sapphire take some drones to install one. Then I also built a comms station below Haven, complete with comfy chair to sit in while I talk to people. It is voice-only for now because nobody else actually has a proper setup, they just answer comms with their rigging.

But now that I have the basics set, I am good to go. There are enough resources in my chosen territory to last me a good while. More will come in from trading with Frostbite; it does not really matter if each purchase is a one-time thing, either. The influx just covers technology my resource generation can not pay on its own.

Knowing that, I went and had Orion build a number of scanners that we then installed at the edges of my budding realm. They are so far beneath the sea that nobody can find them, they only react to shipgirls and Abyssals, and they will immediately inform me if someone or something enters their reach. I tested that with Sapphire to make sure. Then I adjusted her patrol routes to prevent constant pings.

My little squad is still busy setting up the remaining scanners; I do have quite a bit of territory under my name by now. Maybe now would be the time to build some more ships, but I still do not like the prospect of them. I definitely have the factories by now, Orion keeps working hard. Two dozen small bases spread out across the ocean floor speak of that. No sign of internet cables yet, though.

I asked her if she wanted something as a reward for her constant work, but she was more puzzled than anything. "Isn't having so much work reward enough?" is what came back over the comms. My once-German heart approves, but I still think she earned herself something.

Unfortunately, I do not actually know what Abyssals might like. We do not need to eat by necessity, though we like to consume resources in a manner similar to food. The first time I had to slurp up oil was weird, let me tell you.

Anyway, I went to ask Frostbite what she does to reward good work; she was also confused, so no help from that end. I did try to explain how rewards can work as incentives to continue hard work and to behave. She seemed thoughtful when I cut the connection, but that does not have to mean anything. Honestly, talking to Abyssals is pretty easy once you figure out that they do not think in terms of common decency or kindness. Efficiency and progress toward the war always work in getting the point across. Their norms and values are different, but not something I can not work with. I just need to make sure I do not actually tell them about any of the war crimes they could commit with my tech.

Looking at the poison gas research there; it is still sealed and will stay that way until the end of time.

Anyway, I am going to mull over potential rewards for now.


Day 51

Today was calm, but I had a thought upon re-reading some earlier entries to refresh my memories.

I made up the title "Tech Administrator Princess" last month, but Frostbite accepted it without issue. When interacting with the Abyss about it, even the Abyss acted like that had always been an Abyssal title. Thinking more about it, I realise that it incorporated the thing wholesale about as soon as I chose it. The Abyss just runs with whatever I came up with.

I am not entirely sure how to feel about that. Is this the reason I am here? To improve the Abyssal tech-base so they can win their war?

If nothing else, this would be an interesting solution to solve a standstill or something. I still can not get anything on how the Abyssals fare globally; need to call Frostbite about that, maybe she knows something.

Either way, I guess this is fine; my improvements are mostly economical and I am definitely not giving anyone the blueprints to my laboratories. Although a war does run on its economy, I will not just stop doing what I do. Reminder for myself, future me, and whomever else may come to read this: by all accounts, humans will want me dead on sight. In fact, I will be public enemy number one if my capabilities become known.

So yeah, I do not have much attachment anyway; or maybe I am just apathetic. Looks like the Abyss did well in picking its target, too; assuming this was targeted and not just a coincidence. Maybe it just grabbed whoever roughly fit the specifications. Or maybe this was not the Abyss at all and I am attributing a degree of power I should not; if it could drag people into alternate universes, then the Abyss could also have accessed a timeline where the Abyss wins and copy its strategy. At which point the Abyss wins anyway and forever, so yeah.

I should not waste too much time thinking about it. The facts are that improvements I make or research become generally accepted by the Abyss, though it does not share them in my stead. Or at least not yet. And it just told me that trading tech is my main draw as an ally, which will make me research more; should I die, the Abyss will release everything suitable I researched to the other Abyssals.

Okay, one: this is smart.

Two: this is worrying.

The Abyss has not lied to me yet, but it did just tell me that my death will be the catalyst for global Abyssal upgrades. So it could make other Abyssals kill me once my research reaches critical mass. It says it will not, but maybe I should be a little more careful.

Then again, trying to threaten the Abyss will not work. We have a good thing going and get along, as much as you can get along with random surges of information and nudges toward specific behaviour. The Abyss is not a person in the conventional sense, more of a higher being or a hivemind. I am not working against it, even if I do not exactly do the thing it wants the most.

In the end, I can only trust that it keeps its word as long as I play nice, too.


Day 53

I finally figured out the thing with rewards. It may be basic, maybe clichéd, but whatever: sweets. I can make sugar just fine, same as all the other things I need. I fast-tracked some research to get myself a proper kitchen, much to Ionia's confusion. Sapphire is still out.

I am not a baker by trade, but I do like baking on occasion. I need to get eggs and milk from somewhere for cookies and cake, though. For now I practiced making caramel; not my favourite, but a start. I really need to get my hands on proper recipes to work with the other things I have.

And there is one advantage of human civilisation: they got all the goods. Mind, I doubt anyone would actually deliver to Haven even if I could order things, but they got them.

Ionia was my guinea pig for the caramel, seeing that I had her here; she was blown away and ate the whole lot. Which tells me that Abyssals seem to have similar reactions to sugar as humans. Good to know. I also praised her for working so hard, then sent her on her way; she may be more on the taciturn side, but today Ionia was positively glowing.

I put some more caramel on and wrote down the recipe just in case, then went to call Frostbite; I remembered to ask about the war effort, too. She was a little surprised I did not know anything, but accepted my being new and in the middle of nowhere well enough.

"It is a standstill, last I heard," was how she summarised it. "The Abyss rules the waves and many coasts, but they claim dominion over land and sky." Or something like that, I forget how exactly she worded it. Point is, Abyssals on land are very much like fish out of water. They have trouble fighting on solid ground without extensive training. That makes sense in a way: they are beings of the sea and based on ships.

Frostbite also told me she was happy with the new Mi-class template; she made three and her economic strength is skyrocketing. She also asked me to look into technology or blueprints that let the Abyss advance on land; I could not make any promises, but told her I will look through my options. I actually did that and found precious little; the Abyss has no idea how to do that. Unless I make up my own stuff again, Abyssals will have to make do otherwise. There was a number of airplane upgrades I might want to look into. Higher altitude, fuel efficiency, load capacity. All the fun stuff that would let them hit further inland from the sea.

But that is still not my priority at the moment.

On that note, I was thinking: I still do not like the idea of making a giant fleet, no matter how prudent it is to protect myself. But the Abyss gave me a nudge toward something different; there are elite types. Special classes that act as something like Hero Units. Ungodly expensive to build, but with the power to match their price tags. They are called Demons and, if I got this right, having even just one in your forces is a sign of prestige among the Abyss.

The difference between Demons and Princesses is a bit odd, though. They seem to be on the same level of power. Some can lead fleets without a Princess. Actually, it seems the Demons act as natural second-in-commands. They can even take over if their Princess is slain before them.

The Abyss added a little more for me to know: Demons and Princesses are interconnected; a Princess that loses her fleet becomes a Demon and a Demon that leads a fleet long enough becomes a Princess. However, only Demons can be called forth from a spawn pool, Princesses are sent by the Abyss itself.

Good to know.

Also, I put in an order for two Demons. Quality instead of quantity.

They take a week or so to complete, but I am fine with that. A Battleship Demon and an Aircraft Carrier Demon, the hammer in the face to Sapphire's knife in the back. Which reminds me that I need to check if I can retroactively upgrade a girl to Demon status. She deserves it, not to mention it will keep her alive if a fight does happen.

Just not right now; I am not out of resources, but any more would start cutting hard into my science budget. And as we all know, the march of science is unstoppable.


Day 54

Made proper caramel candies and let Sapphire have a whole plate. She was over the moon.


Day 55

I thought about it some more: what stops me from selling these candies to other Abyssals? They have no idea about recreational stuff, so this might get them to mellow out.

Or how about I do not do that? There is a lot I can give them in terms of food knowledge, not that much of it is possible while sea-locked. But the candies, I could keep for my own faction. A reward for my girls, a treat offered during meetings, and a gift given to allies. It may not make me immune to any attempts on my life, but having something they want may give me some extra leeway.

There is a joke there about offering free candy to a bunch of girls.

Anyway, with how Sapphire almost gives bedroom eyes to the bag of caramels I carry around, I figure other Abyssals will enjoy the stuff as well. Now I just need to figure out how to get some to Orion without the delivery girl eating them all.


Day 56

I sent Ionia out to deliver a bag of caramels to Orion among the other things she wanted. Sapphire went on patrol with gusto, too. Maybe I was onto something when I figured out the candies; she now has a reason beside 'doing her duty' to work hard. If this is a pattern, the Abyssals may mellow out some if I get enough into rotation. That or other sweet stuff.

I do not know enough about sociology to make any judgements about the sort of society the Abyssals are, but it really does not feel healthy for them to be so focussed on war. Even if they were born for it, as the Abyss just reminded me. That may just be my human sensibilities speaking, but there is so much more in the world than battle.

I just need to figure out how to give them something akin to a culture without putting a torpedo into the big plan. Assuming I can do that last one, the Abyss will not be happy if I do it. And really, it has been a lot nicer than I would have expected going into this. Ignoring the 'turn me into a woman' thing, but that was out of its hand. So I have no real reason to bite the hand that feeds me.

As an aside, my original point was that only a third of a bag of caramels made it to Orion. Ionia lost candy-privileges for the next two weeks and I sent Sapphire to bring another bag over. I am unsure if seeing what happened to Ionia or pure discipline stayed her hand, but she did not snack on it. Probably a mixture of both.


Day 57

She found cables! We found the Internet!

 

[Naron]

Day 59

Okay, no real entries the last few days. I was scrambling to get this sorted and did not want to half-ass the full thing. Also too giddy to actually sit down and write things; I rarely have that.

The short of it is that Sapphire found an internet cable near the edge of my territory. I gave her explicit orders not to damage it in any way, then told Orion to get there and build an outpost. This took priority over everything else.

I imagine my girls were confused by the frantic pace I set. Internet research was given priority so I can interact with the cable properly, too; I know a good bit about software, but hardware is more of a weak point. Thankfully, Abyssal soul voodoo provides once more. My scientist Fairies reverse-engineered the cables from Orion's scans, then we built an extension and an intersection. It is not actually done yet, we still need to connect the stuff, but that is fine. I already have basic computer setups in my comms center, so they should be able to build one from there.

Come to think of it, what do I do for an operating system? I doubt they ship Windows here. Though this goes to show again how ridiculous technology really is. We really stand on the shoulders of giants in every discipline. Or is it 'they' now, considering I am not human anymore?

I guess it does not matter in the end.

I am already preparing more treats for Sapphire; Orion seemed partial to the caramel, but that could just be her being taciturn. Reading her is harder than Sapphire. Ionia remains somewhere in the middle.

At least Hydra is simple to understand, though I do not give her any sweets for safety purposes. Do not feed your dog chocolate, do not give your pet eldritch monster sugar. I may be worried for nothing, but there is no reason not to be careful. Hydra does not seem to care for the caramels either way.

Tomorrow will see our cable-extensions being installed while my scientists put together a proper computer setup and a basic OS. I just need enough to interface with the internet and download another one... probably Linux in some form; that one is freeware after all, even if I have less experience with it.


Day 60

Well, the connection stands. I have a computer. The OS will still take more time. Abyssal Fairies were not meant to delve into the abyss that is software engineering. I could give them some pointers to the concepts I recall from lectures, but that is all the help I was.

Sapphire returned as well and got her reward; another full bag of caramels. I figure I should be sparing with big ones like that, but finding the Internet deserves one. It probably helped drive home to Ionia what she did wrong, too; she still has her candy-privileges revoked after all.

This is going slower than I like, but maybe I should temper my expectations. My scientists create outright miracles with how fast they research new technologies. I am still giddy, but it started to normalise by now.

Also, I tried a caramel of my own after all. Still not my cup of tea, even in a new body. Too sweet.


Day 61

While I have nothing new on the internet situation, my Demons finished gestating today. They came out at the same time, as if the first waited for the second.

Let me tell you, Demons are different from normal shipgirls. Not only are they taller, they also have a palpable aura of strength. It is a little similar to when I talked with Frostbite, though the Abyss denies doing it on purpose. It seems to be a side-effect of the dense soul-voodoo used in their creation. And yes, I will keep calling it that for lack of a better term; it perfectly describes what goes on here.

The battleship looks similar to me, though she has an actual hourglass figure. I think. Never quite understood how that looks like, but I can see the general shape. She is a bit shorter, too. More like 180 centimetres instead of my two metres. Her sister is slender instead, but no less tall. They made quite the pair, even freshly born.

The carrier took a knee about as soon as they waded from the pools; the battleship bent at the waist to bow. It felt a little odd, none of my other ships acted so reverent to me when we first met.

"We have arrived, Princess," was what the carrier said first. "Aircraft Carrier Demon and Battleship Demon at your service; whom are we to destroy?"

She kept her eyes on the ground until I told them both to rise. The battleship's mouth remained shut, though she wore a faint smile of some sort. I do not think she said more than ten words this whole day today. Shy, perhaps? Or introverted? She is definitely not mute.

"We don't have anyone to fight right now," I told them. "You two are the guardians of my territory, that's your job. Anyone who tries to take it or attack us, you destroy them."

A twin response of "Understood" was all they gave me in return, though. They are both quite serious. At least I learned that Ariel's voice is pretty soft.

Ah, right. Names. I had to think a bit; there was a shortlist of names I made in preparation, but these two were different than what I imagined my Demons to be like. The battleship I thought would be more like Frostbite, queenly and proud. Perhaps boisterous. She is none of that, at least not so in my face. She likes to stay quiet and in the background but keeps having some sort of serene air about her. Thinking of demons also made me think of angels, so I named her Ariel.

The carrier was a bit more difficult. She seems to like her knightly spiel, taking a knee to greet me every time; Ariel stopped bowing after I told her she does not need to, but her sister keeps doing it. I thought about grabbing a name from the arthurian myth but decided against it, that feels a bit too cheap. Her name is Jeanne now. No points for anyone who can guess how I got there from King Arthur via pop culture associations, that is too easy.

In retrospect, I realise it is slowly becoming a habit to meet my new ships as they come out. That is fine, though. It gives all of them something more personal. I am also pack-bonding again, I guess.

Either way, I got twins just like I wanted; they look quite alike outside of their body types, both with the same pitch black hair and piercing red eyes. Even the horns on their head are the same, winding around the sides to almost meet in the back like crowns. I am incredibly glad about not having any of those, it would be horrible to maneuver my head around.

They somehow fill the cliché of the active and the timid twin; Jeanne is the former, Ariel the latter. Maybe they distributed extrovert and introvert energy exclusively instead of sharing evenly. Jeanne took an interest in the kitchen and my baking supplies, Ariel in the laboratories. I guess it is good for them to find hobbies early? After all, I do not expect to be attacked often.

The rest of the day was spent introducing the twins to Haven and the crew. Ionia was reverent upon meeting them, Sapphire exuberant. In fact, Sapphire gets along well with Jeanne so far.


Day 62

It was a little weird to have Ariel watch me cook; I bore with her attention for a bit before waving her over and teaching her some basics. She really does not talk much, but is an attentive audience. And knowing that there are people out there who can mess up even simple dishes, I made sure to point out that shortcuts are not a thing in the kitchen. You do not put something in the oven at double temperature for half the time and it comes out well; it will be burnt. If you have no experience with a dish, get a recipee and adhere to it.

Speaking of getting stuff, that fledgling OS is working. I used it to access the internet today, but that took several hours and was frustrating; at least my Fairies learn a lot faster than any human would, so they could fix issues in good time. My playing around with the machine definitely attracted attention, too; first I only had Ariel watching but, over time Jeanne, Sapphire, and Ionia all joined in. They asked me what exactly I was doing and I told them they will see. Then Jeanne and Sapphire were quietly chattering among each other.

We finally managed to get access and download all the files we need. My teams are examining them over night and adjusting the hardware to prevent issues.


Day 63

Guess who has the Internet under his fingertips?

Indeed, it is I!

It took some more fiddling today, but we finished setting up a fully operational computer that directly connects to the Internet. I set up a few things while four Abyssals and the Abyss were looking over my shoulder. Web browser and a proper directory were first, though I do not know what to do with this yet. I admit I had a bit of decision paralysis.

In the end the first thing I really introduced them to was Wikipedia. An incredible amount of human knowledge, all easily accessible. I am not entirely sure, but I do not think they really knew what to make of this. They were definitely not as enthused as I expected them to be.

But no matter. I got the setup done and checked on other stuff.

Apparently, Frostbite skirmished with shipgirl forces in her own territory; some girls made it out, meaning that her position will be known soon. She bought upgrades for fuel efficiency and armour from me, focussed on stretching her stockpiles as far as possible and keeping her veterans alive.

I wished her good luck and to call if she needs anything else.


Day 64

The Internet was a mistake.

On the upside, Ariel had enough initiative to approach the computer on her own; she was already browsing when I got up. On the downside, she looked up Abyssals and found porn. That was a conversation I do not want to repeat. At least, thankfully, sexuality does not seem to be something Abyssals have; thank the Abyss for small mercies.

It turns out Ariel and I are rather similar in that she thinks a lot, though. When I asked what she was looking for, she told me it is about getting an idea of how humans work; so that she can understand our enemies better. She started with biology and moved on to pop culture. I am faintly worried she will get absorbed, but at the same time I have no reason to deny her. If my Battleship Demon turns out to be a nerd, so be it. Although Jeanne may tease her mercilessly about it.

I also just got a message from my science team; maybe the Internet was not a mistake after all. Their access to so much human scientific knowledge cut down time and cost for a lot of my tech trees. Turns out you do not need to reinvent the wheel if you can steal it from elsewhere. Although, is it stealing if the data is freely accessible? I do not think so.

Then again, they probably do not expect Abyssals to browse around here.

While Ariel was busy filling her head with knowledge, Jeanne explored the island with Sapphire and Hydra. My little submarine showed her new friend all the interesting spots she found before.

I also talked to Frostbite, who is about done with her preparations for battle and just waiting for the enemies to come her way. Which also reminds me of something she said; it was just a mention of her weather interfering with comms because she actively makes the storm worse. That reminded me of the other thing I knew but forgot about Abyssals: Princesses control the weather. Yet I have clear skies here and had them since the day I woke up.

The Abyss says weather control is instinctual and does not limit to storms or rain. It is actually in one of my self-improvement tech trees, though the base form was already unlocked by default. Never really noticed, or maybe I just skimmed over it because there was so much to look at.

That bears investigating.


Day 65

We had rain today. The first one I saw in almost three months. I just needed to will it into being, though saying that does not really do it justice. It is easier and harder than that, more like a muscle you never realise is there until you try to use it on purpose.

I spent most of today perched in a little hole in the wall my drones dug, practicing. First I made soft rain, then transitioned to a downpour and back. I could probably have transitioned quickly, but kept the changes slow in case this actually did something harmful to the atmosphere. Abyss says it does not, though the Abyss also does not know everything.

My girls were watching me at first. Everyone except Ionia vanished once it became clear I was not doing anything interesting. Ionia herself stayed to watch the rain with me, though. Another beloved pastime of mine that I could finally indulge in again.

I probably could have walked through the rain as I was without risking illness, but this was enough for now. I think Ionia enjoyed it too; she only left once it was time to head out for another job. I made certain to disperse the clouds in the evening, though.

Truth be told, some part of me aches a bit from the exertion. I need to repeat this practice to get good at it. Maybe the constant changes to the weather are what made this harder; either way, I once again confirmed that I have all the powers of an Abyssal Princess. I just never realised I unconciously kept the weather stable by not telling it to move.

Saying it like that makes me appreciate a little more how powerful an ability this is. Demons have a more localised form of it too, but they can not override a Princess.

Thinking about the matter a little more, this is actually an incredibly useful tool; from what I recall, Abyssal Princesses always have a heavy storm around their strongholds. Me not having one means nobody will suspect me here. Maybe that is why the previous shipgirl convoys did not notice me? But on the flipside, not deploying a storm means regular human fighter planes can aim for Haven if they do find me. It is a bit of a tightrope I am walking.

The plan is to keep upgrading for now; I have to wait for how Frostbite's battle goes either way. Honestly, I am not sure which result I prefer. If she wins, shipgirls will keep operating in the area; if she loses, they will think the local Abyss destroyed and move on. But I like Frostbite; she is a nice neighbour to have, down-to-earth and no-nonsense. Also willing to build combat forces where I rather stockpile my resources for tech. And she is a customer, too.

Analysing costs and benefits does not really help me here, I know that. Maybe if we never met, but I talk to her basically every day of late.


Day 66

I thought of something right before falling asleep. Maybe it was a bad idea to do, but it sounded good to me at the time: handing out more tech upgrades for free to help Frostbite would send a torpedo into my own business position. You can not 'lend' a technology unless it is in a specific device.

But what I can lend are troops.

So I called her up and asked if she has the resources to support two more. There was silence for a time until she said she would appreciate whatever I could spare. In retrospect, me not saying who I was going to send probably made her think I was being cheap there. I definitely surprised her when she asked me to name a price, though: "Nothing beyond whatever the twins need, fuel, ammunition, and any potential repairs. I won't complain if they get damaged, but you better not let them sink."

Yep, I just sent her my Demons for free. What Frostbite does not know is that I have effectively infinite resources, so I can easily give her a freebie like this. She got more interested when I told her they are a battleship and a carrier, if young.

All Abyssals know how to fight, though experience makes them better; that is how I even got the idea. If those two are supposed to be my guards, I want them to be as good as possible. They both took their deployment with grace, too. A simple nod from Ariel and a fanged grin from Jeanne. I also told them to get along with Frostbite, but not tell her anything vital about our troops, or lack of them as it were.

Sapphire was... not happy when I refused to let her go as well. I told her that I specifically do not want to risk her life because she is so much easier to kill than those two. She barely did not throw a tantrum, I think... just clenched her fists and ran off.

Jeanne had watched and shook her head at me after the whole scene. "Just remember, Princess," she told me before sallying away. "We are of the Abyss. Giving our lives to help kill them all is our purpose. To advance the plan, to protect the Princess. I appreciate that you want us to survive the ordeal, but denying our purpose to wage war wholesale is impossible."

Those words still repeat in my head even now. What do I do about this?

 

[Naron]

Day 67

Sapphire was back to brooding this morning. I probably should have expected that, but I actually need her in the field. Just in case any scouts come our way.

I wanted to talk to her about fighting and my stance on it, but Jeanne's words are still echoing in my ears. It is true I think differently from them; I do not think my perspective is wrong or bad, but that can easily be bias. This subject is so difficult because war is not a good thing. I forgot who it was attributed to, but I like the quote about it being a continuation of negotiations in a different form. In the end though, that does not change what it does to people. Or humans, rather.

Maybe that is the crux of it? How close or far from the human mentality are shipgirls? How far do Abyssals deviate from that? War changes humans with few exceptions. But Abyssals are born for war. The Abyss concurs with that if nothing else; they have the mental fortitude and mindset to walk through what humans would call hell and shrug it off.

Perhaps my plan to make domestic Abyssals was doomed from the start. Or it just takes more time than I have at the moment. I need to gather my thoughts and have a few words with Sapphire. Ionia and Orion are fine as per usual because they are 'civilian' models without direct combat applications. I guess I can not quite relate to them being born with a purpose in mind; humans only have the purpose they make for themselves after all.

It still feels wrong to even consider allowing anyone into battle. I already worry about Jeanne and Ariel.

Speaking of those two, Frostbite called earlier and called me insane for sending her two Demons as support; after apologising for doubting me when I said I would only send two ships, she called me insane again for making both together. I gather that this is overkill by the fact Frostbite only ever had one Demon, once, who fell when she was chased out of her previous stronghold. But as we all know: there is no kill like overkill.

I am sorely tempted to make more Demons right now, but I need to watch my resources. I absolutely will have my scientists look into upgrading regular Abyssals to Demon status, though. The Abyss itself seems curious about my rationale, but I feel it is a solid idea; if I build a normal Abyssal who ends up surviving a number of engagements and becomes a veteran, making them a Demon is prudent to make them stronger. Or if I want Demons but do not have the resources at a given moment. That one goes more for people not me with the resource cheat, though.

Either way, tomorrow I need to talk to Sapphire.


Day 68

It seems the Abyss was cooking up something as well. I woke up to a new line of tech, starting with Abyssal Conversion. Reading up on it, this branch of the tree covers converting an existing Abyssal into a Demon; upgrades lower resource expenditure and time spent, the base amount is the same seven days as a regular Demon.

That gave me food for thought as well. I needed a few minutes to consider the implications, but then I made up my mind. As much as I dislike it, I can not always keep my girls from danger; this conflict does not allow it. What I can not afford is going down the slippery slope to try and end it faster; the road to hell is paved with good intentions after all.

So I pumped the water out of Sapphire's favourite grotto and walked down there. She was sitting in a corner, decidedly not looking at me. She did not move when I asked her to come along, so I ordered her. As rebellious and upset as she may be, she did not refuse an order from her Princess.

I took her outside to the beach where we could look onto the sea. The endless cresting of waves has something calming to me. What I told her feels kind of cheesy in retrospect, so I am a little reluctant to relay it word for word. But what it boils down to is that I care more about her safety than any gains made in battle. That I hate the prospect of losing any of my girls.

She raised a good point with the twins, I admit. Maybe it was hasty, but Frosbite is among the people I want to keep around. I also told her that I made Demons specifically because they are that much hardier. That their roles were supposed to be the hammer to Sapphire's dagger. That I figured they could do with actual combat experience because they are the most likely to fight later. I also apologised for not considering her feelings.

It took me a while to actually say that; I do not apologise often.

It almost hurt to see that fledgling hope on her face. "So can I sally too?" she asked me then. Maybe I really underestimated how much she wanted it. I am normally someone who just goes along with others, but this time I stayed strong and told her no.

"Not for this engagement. We need to do some preparations first. Also, some ground rules that I really should have thought of before sending the twins out."

Her disappointment was immeasurable, but a reminder that this was no longer a complete no kept her attentive. So I laid down the law, which was basically just two rules.

First, do not die. Come hell or high water, do not die. Even if it means you can not destroy an enemy or you need to retreat, your own survival has the highest priority. No amount of defeated enemies is worth your own life. I think I grew more animated than normal when I talked about this to her, more fervent even. Perhaps that finally got through to her why I am so careful.

Second, protect your allies and work with them. No running solo where it can be prevented, no using each other as dispensable fodder. Demon or no Demon, this does not fly. I did not say it then, but if I actually catch any of my girls doing this, I will remove their battle privileges. I do not care if the regular Abyssals can be built on a factory line, I do not condone treating lives as numbers. This is a situation where I give them enough rope to hang themselves with; consequences are not stated beforehand because I want to see what they do without such a threat looming over them.

One could argue that an exception can be made for mindless Abyssals like drones, but sacrificing those just sounds like a gateway step toward becoming an asshole.

"Do you understand?" I asked Sapphire once I was done talking. She had a bit of an odd look and nodded quickly. Whether she actually understood is unclear, but I will see in time.

"Good. Then we will now convert you into a Submarine Demon."

That was when the severity of the situation started to slip. Sapphire sputtered in surprise, eyes wide and a little blush on her cheeks. She certainly did not expect that. I grinned at her little display.

"I already decided I won't go for legions of ships. Quality is the name of the game here. The only ones I produce from here on will be Demons, and you will join them, now that I have the resources to afford it."

She snapped to her feet and stood at attention. I would not have been surprised by a salute. "Yes, Princess! Thank you!"

She only came down from her high when we were at the spawn pool; Sapphire swam inside, only her head visible while I merrily dumped steel and other metals in. She was almost timid when speaking up again: "Actually, I had no idea this is even possible. Aren't Demons born as Demons?"

"It wasn't possible until this morning," I told her with some cheer, mainly about her dumbfounded look. "And technically, what you said is still true. From what the Abyss tells me, it's not a refit but rather a rebirth. You will still be you coming out, with all your memories and character intact." And if not, I will tear the Abyss a new one for lying to me.

That was when I finished with the rare metals and the pool began bubbling. "Now duck under, I'll see you in a week."

In retrospect, I am not sure to be flattered or worried about the blind trust she had in me and a thus far untested process. Maybe a bit of both. Sapphire vanished underneath and dissolved; it is a bit like turning from caterpillar into a butterfly.

I just realised I put my only scout out of commission for a week while my neighbour expects hostiles any day now. I am such a genius.


Day 69

Ey, nice!

Not much to say outside of that, though. I remembered to call the twins and tell them the rules as well; they took it with grace, but Ariel had an important question for me: how do their allies count into these? Should they flee a losing battle even if it throws Frostbite under the bus?

I had to think about that one for a bit. Like I wrote before, I like Frostbite. But I can not order her to follow the same rules as my girls. It is a special case, but an important one. When I called back, I told them in basically these words: "If it comes to this and Frostbite insists on making a stand, which I doubt, you drag her away kicking and screaming."

I really do doubt she would make such a choice, too. Frostbite survived a previous wipe by fleeing with her small core of veteran escorts. If she were the type to fight to the last, we would have never met. But at the same time, something may make her choose to face certain death if in a similar situation; expecting logic to prevail in highly emotional situations is an exercise in futility.


Day 71

I made certain to count the days until Ionia gets her candy privileges back. Almost forgot to tell her with tension running high. Then again, being presented with a piece of caramel once she returned got me that sweet little smile of hers; she seems to like the stuff a lot more than I anticipated. Just realising she can have it again made her all but glow.

Come to think of it, she also said she was craving sweets more as the days wore on. I researched this a bit today and now I have to worry. Sugar is not supposed to be addictive like tobacco or alcohol, but does that hold for Abyssals? If what I perceive as a little nudge to kill humans is a nearly unignorable desire for the others, would the effect of food they have no frame of reference for not be amplified as well?

I tried synthesizing meat based on what formulas I could find, but it just did not taste right after cooking. The only other sources I have on this island are fish and some tiny critters I do not want to hunt. And Abyssals, I guess. But I will unseal the poison gas research before I resort to cannibalism.

Maybe I can sell the concept of an infiltration unit to the Abyss, so I can get someone capable of going ashore to buy groceries. But that is such an incredible risk I am not sure I even want to try. At least the Abyss is interested in the idea.

Either way, I need to cut back on handing out candy until I can reliably make other foodstuffs to balance my girls' diets. At least nutrients or lack thereof are a non-issue because we are all Abyssals. Accidentally becoming a drug lord was not on my bucket list, no matter how well it would work to keep people dependent on me.

Maybe I am being paranoid and the girls just react more strongly because they never had sugar before, but I refuse to take risks here. Say no to drugs, folks!

Addendum: I just got a message that fire was opened in Frostbite's territory. I think I can faintly here the echoes outside, too. How nice that they have to show up overnight when I am trying to sleep.


Day 72

Today may have been the weirdest day yet. I have been an Abyssal for close to three months, but this was new.

First I was wide awake with worry for half the night, waiting for word from Ariel and Jeanne. Then the relief upon hearing they were fine, though Ariel took a few shells to her armour belt. Nothing penetrated and her escorts kept the enemy bombers away, thankfully. From how they told it, Frostbite's doctrine consists of grouping battleships in clusters of three with one designated leader, then surrounding them with escorts. Jeanne was her only carrier, but the sheer amount of planes she sent kept the opposing carriers busy enough.

They sunk several cruisers and destroyers, but their opponents fell back upon realising they were evenly matched. What they sent would have been a lot harder to fight without my two Demons in the mix; Frostbite still lost a number of her own girls. The escorts dutifully threw themselves in front of any torpedos that would have hit her battleships.

It was a dry recounting from Jeanne. Even now I have to appreciate that determination the Abyssals possess. I am not sure I have that myself. But then, neither am I 'expendable' nor am I devoid of personal experiences. Abyssals have not naturally evolved, maybe they just do not have innate self-preservation instincts? Or theirs are less pronounced. Princesses definitely have one if Frostbite is any indication.

The Abyss just tells me these instincts are optional; some Abyssals have them, some do not. It just becomes more likely as their power increases. So I was basically right.

None of this was the weird part, though; that came in the morning.

I woke up around my usual time despite going to bed at like four. Perks of being Abyssal, I guess. I even felt pretty rested, knowing Jeanne and Ariel were fine. So I went on my morning walk as always.

Guess what I found at the beach?

I can not describe the feelings I felt when I saw a small form curled up in the sand, just far enough to not be caught by the tide. First I thought it was one of Frostbite's who swam for safety, but I felt the truth about as soon as I registered her torn clothes and bruised body. That was a shipgirl.

It could have been a minute or ten that I just stood there, trying to figure out how this could happen. The constant nudges to dismantle the girl while she slept did not really help there; I kept losing my train of thought because of them. She was injured, but very much alive.

In retrospect, bringing Hydra to kill her at once would have been the prudent thing to do. Letting her live is inefficient, not to mention dangerous. Her presence will constantly rile up my girls. If she returns to her home base, humans will learn about me.

But looking down at her small form in the sand, I could not do it. Maybe part of it was spite at the Abyss telling me what to do. Either way, I picked her up and carried her inside instead. She was even smaller than I thought at first, not tiny like a submarine but definitely petite. Maybe she could have gone as a light cruiser, but I pegged her as a destroyer. I was right on that, by the way.

My mind was awhirl at the time. I did not even think about the possible repercussions when I put her in the repair bath. She must have been exhausted, not waking from either being jostled around or the warm water. The strips of cloth that were left of her rigging faded as well.

The reality of my situation hit me at that point. I sat with my feet dipped in the water for at least an hour, trying to decide what to actually do with this girl. I have no holding cells here, I do not really want to keep any prisoners, and letting her go back sends a torpedo into my operational security. Killing her was not an option either, even if I thought long and hard whether maybe it should be.

Then she woke up. After groaning and sinking deeper into the bath, she muttered something in Japanese; that was my first sign it would get even more difficult: I do not speak Japanese. Just German, English, and Abyssal via racial memories. Moreover, this girl started to look familiar.

It was a weird moment, really. When she opened her eyes to figure out who found and recovered her, we just stared at each other for a few long seconds. Then she rubbed her eyes, blinked, looked around, then stared hard at the water as if trying to solve the world's greatest mystery.

Then she screamed. It was high-pitched, with some screeching involved as well. After that it was scrambling around the room and as far away from me as possible, spreading water on the smooth floor in the process. I am not sure what she thought to achieve hiding in the corner opposite to the door, but panic makes everyone do stupid things.

She babbled questions in Japanese, I got that much from her tone. The few things I picked up through pop culture were nowhere near enough to figure them out, especially not in real-time. I had to scrounge together this knowledge to talk to her; at least she paid attention when I cleared my throat. And what I said at least cut through her panic, even if it was basically "I no Japanese".

Maybe it was the giant Abyssal talking to her in badly accented Japanese; I sounded mighty stupid there. Stupid enough to replace her panic with confusion.

We did not get much talking done after that, beyond that she speaks English and that her name is Akatsuki. At which point I realised why I knew her in particular; her hair is more black than the purple I recall and the sailour outfit was already in tatters then.

She is understandably paranoid, but also still weak. With my Demons staying with Frostbite in case of a second attack, I tabled the issue. There is still a lot to figure out and I need sleep, so I will continue this in tomorrow's log. Good night.

 

[Naron]

Day 73

Okay, I turned in a little earlier so I can write down my thoughts about this entire clusterfuck. And that is what this was, no way around it.

First off, Akatsuki is physically similar, but not quite like the one I vaguely remember from game art. Makes sense, I doubt any of this fully aligns with what they put into a game.

Secondly, her English is thankfully good. We could at least talk to each other, not that there was much talking at first. Most of it was scared questions about who I am and where she is; I am not sure if me being quiet was reassuring or scaring her, back there in the bath. Yesterday is less fresh in my memory now. I told her that I found her on the beach and tried to get her back into the bath. She did not want to.

Suffice it to say, I only had a vague idea how to act around a clearly terrified girl. I did not want to scare her, but she would not really calm down, either.

In the end I told her to breathe. Maybe that helped a little. Then I think I offered to answer her questions if she comes back into the bath. She complied then, even if she stayed skittish and sat down as far away from me as she could. I wonder if that fear is a normal reaction or Akatsuki is just more prone to it. Maybe the absence of her fleet added to the initial panic.

Either way, that was when I learned her name. I offered mine first, if just to get her to open up. Then she asked her questions again, one after the other.

I tried to answer as best I could, though I could only shrug when she asked what would happen to her now. I really did not think that far and still do not know what to do; hence this log, I need to sort my thoughts.

"But you're an Abyssal?" is what she said when I told her to finish repairs first. "Why do you help me?"

That hurts a bit in retrospect, but I just took it without much reaction. "Is it wrong?" I asked her back. "Wanting to help?"

She did not really have anything else to say to that. Then we had an awkward silence that lasted several minutes. You know those that get worse the longer no one says anything? I went through dozens of things we could talk about and disregarded them all. Asking where she is from could have been taken as trying to squeeze information out of her, and so on. Most subjects could have been taken that way.

I eventually asked her to stay here while I attended some other duties, which worked for an hour or two. I already made calls to Frostbite and my girls, then went to the kitchen to make a snack. I was halfway done when I heard Akatsuki shriek, followed by a gurgling bellow.

I think I wrote yesterday that this was surreal. Imagine my face when I step out into the hallway, only to have a damp and naked shipgirl slam face-first into my tits. Said shipgirl is being pursued by a four-legged pseudo-shark with a dozen squirming root-tentacles. You could not make this up if you tried.

I caught her in my arms and barked at Hydra to stay down; that at least got the latter to grind to a halt, but Akatsuki was trying to fight me off. I needed to take a half hour in the bath myself after; the only reason she gave me no more than bruises is that she was still so damaged.

When she stopped struggling and fell limp, I held her at arm's length. Hydra growled until I threw her a sharp look. After setting down the destroyer, I told my first ship to go outside and patrol. Then I shuffled Akatsuki into the kitchen to chew her out; there was a good reason I told her to stay in the bath. I can not stop Hydra from roaming around.

She was so shaken that she even mumbled an apology. I only realise right now that she was probably trying to escape what appeared like captivity. Well, so much for that.

So after taking my new batch of candies off the heat, I stuffed one in the surprised destroyer's mouth and marched her back to the baths. When I told her again to stay in there, she complied.

That was most of what happened yesterday, really. Repair baths take a good, long while to repair even a small ship. Akatsuki stayed in the bath all day while I bustled around, trying to figure out what to do.

I still do not know, by the way.

Jeanne and Ariel are slated to return sometime tomorrow. My time is running out; I can order my scaly, barky fish-dog down, but not them. Their instincts are the same.

At least today was calmer than yesterday. I visited Akatsuki three times in the bath, partly to check she is still there and partly to check on her. She is nowhere near fully repaired, but the worst of it is gone. From what I coaxed out of her, she got hammered by Frostbite while protecting her own flagship. We did not talk much about the nearby battle; she refused to part with anything about her fleet, I wisely said nothing about my own contributions.

Sometime today, I got this insane idea to solve my food issues through her; try to set up some sort of trade where I pay her resources to go and buy groceries. But the logistics of that alone are a nightmare. Not to mention what her superiors would do if they found out; or worse really, if she tells them. There is an argument to be made for betting on greed, to just give her several bars of gold to hand her superiors and hope I can buy them. But I do not want to keep buying them either.

Like I thought yesterday, killing her immediately would have been the best choice. But seeing her slumped over in the tub just tugs at my heartstrings. I can suspend these things if I do not see anyone, I do not feel much of anything for whoever Frostbite sank or lost two nights ago. But this girl right in front of me is a different matter entirely.

She asked me again why I am doing this, but I still had no real answer. I could go and throw her into my second spawn pool, the Abyss tells me that would yield results; but it would also destroy the girl.

Can I go back to hiding from my enemies instead of accidentally sheltering them? That was nicer. I do not like sitting between a rock and a hard place like this.

Hydra took to prowling around my base. I do not know how much Akatsuki saw of it yesterday, but she definitely will not see any more. At least it is clean and looks nice, what with the gold and silver ornaments I have everywhere.

There was one odd moment where I had Ionia standing in the door, telling me that there was an enemy in the baths. She must have come back without me realising, so I told her not to worry about it; I put the girl there. I also asked her to keep this to herself, which earned me a simple nod. It is hard to tell what Ionia thinks. At least she does not have the same urge to kill, due to being a transport ship.

I still do not know what to do.


Day 74

I let her go.

Maybe it was not the correct choice, but I feel it was the right one. I could find enough reasons to justify myself, but none of them are true. Chances are good I will be dead if anyone but me reads this, anyway.

Something I firmly believe in is that the moments that define us do not depend on others. What says the most about us is what we do when there is no reward to be found, when nobody is there to witness or judge our actions. I doubt I will ever be all that good about doing the right thing, but at least this once I wanted to.

So I woke Akatsuki and gave her some simple cloth I synthesized, then led her out to the beach. Hydra was told to stay back inside, just in case she tries using her cannon. I gave Akatsuki a full tank of fuel and told her to go.

She was so utterly confused, it would have been funny if I had not felt like I was making a grave mistake the whole time. "You just let me go?" is what she asked, standing there forlornly. I know I am plenty tall now, but she felt even smaller there.

"Just go. It would be nice if you didn't tell anyone, but I'm not dumb enough to believe you won't." There was some morbid humour in my voice. Maybe I should have killed her, but that window of opportunity has long passed. "I don't want to be involved in this war any more than I have to. Now go."

It still took her a few seconds to get moving. She applied her rigging before her feet hit the water, standing evenly upon the waves; it was mostly just patched over, but it will definitely hold. She looked back several times, probably not quite believing what happened. I just stood there at the beach, feeling weird until she left my sight.

Afterward, I lay down in the sand to think. The dread has faded by now, though I still feel I made a mistake. Hard choices are named like that for a reason. But I guess it makes sense with my general philosophy of not being first to strike. I will give Akatsuki and her commanders enough rope to hang themselves with; if nothing comes of this, great. If Haven is being carpet-bombed in two weeks, I may have to reevaluate a few things.

Ariel and Jeanne returned a few hours later, both perfectly healthy and brimming with energy. Well, Jeanne at least. Ariel excused herself after a short debriefing; I caught her on the computer later. A budding nerd after my own heart.

Jeanne was the one who asked me about my days here, though. "Have you considered what I told you in regard to Sapphire?" was one of her questions as well. Maybe I underestimated how much thought she put into that particular subject.

Either way, I took her to the bubbling spawn pool and told her she had a point, but that I still hate the prospect of losing anyone. Hence why Sapphire is currently undergoing metamorphosis to become a Submarine Demon. Suffice it to say, Jeanne was just as confused as Sapphire herself about that one until I explained.

While I had her there, we also discussed turning Ionia into a Demon or some equivalent. Jeanne was unsure if that made sense, same as I; we asked our transport's opinion on the matter later, but she simply shrugged. Seems she does not care too much.


Day 75

Today was nice for several reasons. The first is that Sapphire came back to us new and improved. The other is that Orion finished assembling all the bases I asked her to. It has been two months since she was back at Haven, but now she is finally home.

That was actually the first thing happening today; Orion already announced that she completed the mission last night. She returned around noon, upon which I introduced her to the Demons she had yet to meet in person. Jeanne seemed amused by her curt greeting; Ariel returned it softly before thanking Orion for her hard work.

The moment introductions were over, my little workaholic asked me what to do next. So I put her to work learning interior decorating on the Internet; I want my base properly furbished, and anything I can offload onto someone else is good. She took to it without issue, though a rotation on the computer had to be figured out; Ariel likes using it. I will need to make a few more in the near future.

Then Sapphire emerged from the spawn pool with a whoop; this time it was not just me, but also the Demons there to greet her back. She was not the least bit intimidated of them anymore, cheerfully splashing Abyss goop as she waded out. "Submarine Demon ready to roam! I return to your side, Princess!"

She seemed so enthusiastic, like how she was at the start. Getting this upgrade must have meant more to her than I thought; at the time, I was a little worried she lost something during the metamorphosis. Some probing told me that she still remembered her name and the past months, though.

Honestly, the other surprising change was her body. Sapphire shot up something like twenty centimetres and her eyes gleam aquamarine now. Also, where she was lithe before, she is now stacked. What does a submarine need engines that big for?

Well, not my problem. Though I do envy that she seamlessly adapted to her new center of gravity after stumbling exactly once. Jeanne and Ariel greeted her as their sister and Sapphire was over the moon. Then she spent a while squeezing details about their deployment under Frostbite out of the twins.

I left them to that and did what I lacked the focus to do the past few days: consider new techs on the tree. I am starting to finish the generic stuff and my pet projects; comms got another upgrade to become more stable through bad weather, too. Now I need to pick a direction to develop into; a little preparation will not be amiss with my cover probably broken.

With that in mind, I started working on stealth upgrades for Sapphire and cost reductions to various ship types. There are a number of redundant systems that can be optimised away, various little corners the designs are improved in as my R&D teams pour over their blueprints.

I still do not like the prospect, but I know myself. If they do attack me, I will fight back.


Day 80

All was calm the past few days. I made more computers and Sapphire is back to scouting the area; her speed improved a lot, I notice. And more than that, she says merely becoming a Demon has bumped up her stealth a good bit. Her hull did not, though. I do not like to rely on her ability to stay hidden as the sole defense she has, but so be it. I make her the sneakiest girl in the world, just like I keep improving Ariel's hull and Jeanne's aircraft.

Maybe it would be a good idea to give my ships some more firepower, too. I can see laser weapons toward the end of the tech tree, but it will take actual years to get there. Most of the early stuff went quick and cheap, but things take longer and longer to research now. Even with the upgrades that lower research time pushed close to the highest level. The one upside is that I have more time to generate the resources this will guzzle up like nobody's business.

Outside of that, I had a face-to-face meeting with Frostbite today. She was a little surprised that I offered roasted fish; not some sort of delicacy by any means, but Abyssals do not even cook with fire. They do not cook at all. So it certainly impressed my fellow Princess, even if it was just fish with some of my salt sprinkled on.

I have to admit that I underestimated how sharp Frostbite actually is, though. The moment she saw Sapphire and had to be re-introduced, she asked for the tech to evolve Abyssals into Demons. No surprise beyond a moment of shock, no hesitation, no confusion. She up and went for the prize. From the 'negotiations', I gathered that having Jeanne and Ariel there reminded her how much of a game-changer Demons are. Her Mi-Class excavators also amassed enough resources to consider making some for herself. The main point Frostbite considers is that her forces are just about at capacity for her holdings; any more and she can not field them all without destroying her stockpiles.

"Refitting my veterans into Demons will neatly sidestep the problem," was how she summarised. I had to agree, too. Demons are mainly expensive in their creation, but they do not take up much more on fuel or ammunition than other ships.

Either way, once I got her reasoning, I decided that is a tech I can not charge for. The Abyss just handed the method to me after all. Frostbite was clearly befuddled when I told her that; turns out I am the only one who knows how to use it yet. The Abyss can impart knowledge selectively. She also seems to consider me 'blessed' in some form, seeing that I get preferential treatment. And I kind of get it?

Thankfully, me wanting her to have the knowledge had the Abyss pass it onto her. Frostbite blinked at me and nodded thoughtfully. "Not a refit, but a rebirth," she muttered, then asked me if the process left the original ship's personality intact. I did not realise just then, but I think she relaxed once I confirmed that. Was she worried about her own girls not staying the same?

Abyssals may take more after humans than they themselves suspect. Even with different instincts and morals, they still band together and care for each other. I asked Frostbite straight up earlier: "You seem to care for your girls, yet you will send them to war without hesitation."

Her response was illuminating. I need to think hard to get it back together properly.

"War is what we were born for, Dagon. From the smallest to the largest, the slowest to the fastest. Submarine, destroyer, cruiser, carrier, and battleship. Everyone does their part, everyone is appreciated. Those closest to us are missed, should they fall. But we will not fear death, for it will only deliver us back into the Abyss's embrace. I see now you think differently from me and I accept that. I will not criticise you for as long as you do likewise."

That was a fair point all around. Maybe that is the difference between a civilian and a soldier. When I asked her what will happen once there are no more humans left to fight, Frostbite got thoughtful. "I do not know" was her answer. Then she changed the subject and went back to talking trade for other tech.

I guess we both have stuff to think about tonight.

 

[Naron]

Day 81

Thinking about what Frostbite told me took a while. I did not get as much sleep as I would have liked, so I will keep today's entry short.

Quite frankly, this is culture clash; maybe more than that because I am still human in mind if not in body. The Abyss has refrained from remaking me as an Abyssal. I imagine it defeats the purpose of this exercise.

At least I finally start to understand why I am still me. It is the same reason Abyssals still resemble humans and shipgirls, instead of being fully monstrous. The Abyss was born of human cruelty and callousness; or rather, its hivemind was. It continues to be human-adjacent and adapts human concepts for its own use. Abyssal shipgirls conform to similar types than human ones. Only the barely sapient or fully mindless creatures are completely inhuman.

My role in this is to be the Tech Administrator. I remember I picked the title myself, but it definitely fits what I am supposed to do. The Abyss gave me everything I could ever ask for and more to industrialise its adapting nature. Through me, it pulls upon more and more of humanity's technology, adapting it for itself step by step. Ingenious, as well as incredibly dangerous.

I am the linchpin of a war that is on the cusp of turning bad. Not sure if that is flattering, though. The moment I die, everything I researched will go to every other Abyssal. The longer I live, the more I can research. I am a living, self-compounding bomb of knowledge.

I am also surprisingly calm about this. Then again, do I necessarily have to care? Humanity has no idea of my significance and neither has the rest of the Abyss. I will be fine unless I let something slip.

There is still some worry about some sort of self-destruct to set off the spread of tech, but what was true before still is: thus far the Abyss was really good to me. I am not going to start distrusting it out of paranoia. We both know it can earn even more tech in the long run by letting me do my thing, too. I will need at least decades to complete everything, let alone whatever new things may be added over time.


Day 84

I had a few calm days to interact with my little fleet and talk to Frostbite. We shared bits about our respective philosophies; I can tell Frostbite does not agree with me, but she is respectful of my stance as long as I offer her the same courtesy.

I decided to talk to my five ships as well after some thinking; their input was interesting if nothing else. The warships each have little qualms in regard to battle or killing. They listened to me, but respectfully disagreed for the most part. Mind, I already knew any moral argument would not work, so I followed up with practical concerns. Stealth is more relevant than victory until our cover is broken. Even then, we are still better served researching further because I am the only one in this faction who can do that.

Yes, I know. I just talked about not letting anything slip in the last log entry, but my ships are my ships. I told them to keep this secret with their lives and they readily agreed. Then I explained my intended role, sans my originally being human. I am happy that they believed me regardless of how wild it sounded, but I have to remember not to start bullshitting them. I also left out that everyone else will get my techbase if I die, just in case.

In addition, Ionia gave me a knowing look the whole time I talked about staying hidden. I guess I deserved that. At least the girls are more amenable to my preference for stealth now; Sapphire apologised too, for pressuring me away from 'my duty' as she called it. I told her it was fine, but she took an actual hug to calm down.

This also reminded me that I can hug any of them whenever I want now; I still feel awkward and like I am bothering them, but still. Progress.

Otherwise, I traded more tech with Frostbite. She told me that some of her scouts found another human convoy dodging around her territory, but aiming straight for mine. I turned down her offer of striking their flank after Sapphire spotted them earlier today.

Because quite frankly: this is not just a convoy. Half a dozen battleships and assorted escorts, two aircraft carriers keeping fighter screens up the whole time. I worried a little that they would wheel around to invade Frostbite's domain. I also kept Sapphire ready, in case they came for me. But they just passed through.

There was one weird thing, though. Some of those airplanes were cruising over Haven when the convoy passed by. I told everyone to bunker down and stay out of sight, glad the original factories were already relocated inside. The scouts found only an empty island.

I can not tell if this was just a routine check for potential harassers or if Akatsuki talked. They are leaving the area as I write this, though; if nothing else, I should be fine for now.


Day 90

Nothing much to say. There was another attempt to root out Frostbite, but she has her own Demons now. Two of them plus my three made for a nasty surprise. Sapphire gushed about how she snuck around below enemy lines without ever being spotted. She definitely made me proud, even if she ran out of torpedoes in her enthusiasm and had to retreat. Double-tapping each of her marks was just sensible as far as I am concerned.

I feel compelled to make these small entries after a few days, but life is good and nice lately. The girls are each starting to pick up hobbies. Orion got interested in interior decorating and from there sewing. Jeanne likes to cook. She started trying to make meals out of the small selection I figured out how to synthesize by now. Although I also noticed her planes scouring the area for ingredients and fish.

Jeanne in particular seems curious about my tech powers as well; I caught her studying physics on the Internet yesterday.

Meanwhile, Ariel is just rooted to the computer; she got upset that it did not do everything she wanted and began learning how to code. So I pointed her at some tutorials, with a warning that she will need math for that. She did not mind and generally seems to love absorbing aspects of human life. She also got into playing games recently. My battleship is a nerd, now confirmed.

Sapphire is still happy carving with whatever materials I can give her. Between her and Orion, my home base looks more like a castle than a cave. She recently got interested in painting as well, but even more so in working with Jeanne in the kitchen. Only that Sapphire is more about baking than cooking.

Ionia is the least interested in picking up hobbies like these. I still think we are somewhat similar, so I had my Fairies build her something like an e-book reader; an integrated one she can take along while ferrying resources. She seemed content with that, but I am still waiting to hear anything concrete from her.

I am mostly just glad the girls all picked up a hobby or two. I know they get a little stir-crazy with nothing to do, same as me. Something else they share with humans. Having something to pass the time helps alleviate that.


Day 99

Frostbite complained at me.

The week before last, Sapphire visited her submarines again; she does not mind the visits, but it turns out that the talk of hobbies spread. Sapphire thankfully did not say anything about us having the Internet, but a number of Frostbite's girls were interested in all these ways to pass the time. Now they are badgering their Princess as much as they dare to let them come play with Sapphire.

Suffice it to say, she is less willing to spend so much fuel on playdates; I only have to supply one or two after all, she has a good bit more. She calls me generous to let my girls come over whenever they want, still unaware I am literally cheating.

At the same time, even Frostbite herself seemed interested in all the things I know but she does not. She is no fan of idle time, either. The Abyss never even realised that it can improve stability by providing anything in regard to entertainment over our racial memories. Though I get the impression that some Abyssals came up with simple games to play elsewhere; most of them were just sunk before these things could spread. They constantly reinvent the wheel.

Well, I guess I know what I am doing the next little while. Some preparations need to be made, then I will pay a first visit to my fellow Princess's domain. That will hurt my reserves, but if I make like Prometheus and bring them games they were since denied, I figure I should do it in person. And after writing this I have to hope I did not jinx myself to a similar fate; I would prefer not to have a bird eating my liver every day for the rest of eternity.


Day 109

It took a while to prepare everything. I mostly looked up rulings and put the pair of Sapphire and Orion onto the detailwork; making boards and cards, preparing figures and tokens. I carefully printed rulesets on waterproof paper and ink. And over it all, my scientists kept studying a particular tech I spotted and immediately grabbed.

If I go to see Frostbite, then I will take as much worth out of it as I can.

That said, teleportation completed yesterday.

It is called Abyss Transference, but effectively is what I said first. I need a station to send and one to receive, each of which is damned expensive; the maximum range is limited, but far enough to reach Frostbite. I can increase it later with more research. More to the point, a single teleportation chamber can target any other in range. There is an upgrade to use them as relays, meaning I need only a single teleport to reach any destination.

Like I said though, a single station is incredibly expensive. I have enough stockpiled to build two, but only barely so. Orion already set her drones to build my station here. On second thought, maybe I should send her and Ionia on their own to save fuel? I could not use Frostbite's station to get back anyway, unless I stay for three days or so.

Also, yes, I am planning to gift Frostbite an expensive teleportation device. All in the name of spreading some humanity among her troops. It will help us if we can just send envoys and convoys through there, too. Transfer is free after the thing was built.

I am definitely going to build another at some hidden spot, just in case. But that is for later.


Day 110

Much to my surprise, she did look that gift horse in the mouth. When I asked her permission to send Orion over to build something, she wanted to know details. Once she had the details, well. At first Frostbite was blown away by the concept; she only calmed down after a discussion about its limitations and reach. Her strategic planning never stopped, though.

She also refused to let me foot the bill.

"After hearing of such a thing existing, I want to trade for it either way. As kind as it is of you to gift this many materials, I will provide my own. Send your ships and name your price."

That was that, I guess. It is nice to have a good neighbour like her. The cost for that particular set of blueprints was steep, but Frostbite hardly even hesitated; I have not gouged her on prices yet, after all. We agreed to send the payment over the teleporter while Orion personally hands over the blueprints. This also allows Frostbite's own Mi-Class girls and drones to help out, reducing construction time from three days to one.

Maybe I should have more builders. But I keep thinking that when I build something big every once in a blue moon.

I am sending Orion out tomorrow morning.


Day 111

I am incredibly happy that Ariel reminded me to send an escort with Orion. She ran into another convoy soon into Frostbite's territory; were it not for Sapphire sinking their transports from within their midst and sending them scrambling, they would have sunk Orion. As in, she came so close to being destroyed that Frostbite estimated two months until she is fully repaired.

That was too close for comfort; I think I was near a panic attack when Sapphire radio'd in that they were under attack. She dragged Orion all the way to Frostbite's main base for the other Princess to check her over.

I did not talk much with Orion, but neither of us is one for many words. I appreciate her presence, not to mention that she was the first shipgirl I built. Losing her would have been bad. I do not think I even care that Sapphire sunk several shipgirls and will probably bring heat in our direction. I am just glad Orion will recover.

One downside of this is that she can not build in her state; Frostbite was sparse with details, so I do not even want to imagine how Orion looks right now. With the most experienced drone commander unavailable, we are back to an expected two days of construction time.

I sent Ionia and Ariel to pillage those sunk transports. Whoever went after my girl will pay back the damages in their resources.


Day 112

Okay, first off: it was Americans.

How I know this? Ionia did me one better and recovered not just the contents of their loading bays, no. This insane girl used her improved engines to tow back every single sunk ship, one by one. I saw the flags on what was left of their rigging. Did not even really register that human shipgirls can be transports before seeing them.

Then again, the sight was not pretty; Sapphire did precise work slicing right through their achilles heels and lower backs. That was my first time seeing actual corpses, too. The memory of how still and plain odd they were makes me shiver a little.

At the very least I now know roughly where I am. Japanese ships come from one side, Americans from the other. We are somewhere in the Pacific ocean, hopefully not near Pearl Harbour. I have no idea what the place looks like, or if it is still under human control, but that would be a bit high-profile for me to be comfortable around.

I have the wrecks in storage right now; their payload was a number of various things including foodstuffs, which immediately went into the freezer. I can synthesize a decent number of things, but my science teams should be able to do it better with the actual materials at hand to test on. Yes, I am still on the hunt for good food. My diet consisted mostly of nothing for over four months now; I never liked fish much and caramel was always too sweet for my tastes, too. So any progress on that end is great progress.

In other news, Orion continues being a workaholic. Instead of taking it easy in the baths, she abused radio to start instructing Frostbite's construction crew remotely. My fellow princess commended her spirit, completely collected despite coming so close to death. I just felt exasperated when I heard about that.

At least this cuts down construction a bit; not as much as if Orion was there in person, but it shaves off a few hours.


Day 113

They will complete the gate tonight. I already agreed with Frostbite that we will run a test with drones tomorrow, just to make sure it works as intended. Then I will pay her holdings a visit, introduce all the things I prepared to her fleet, receive the payment for Frostbite's new tech, and take Orion back with me when I return. Frostbite did offer to see to her recovery, but it just does not feel right to keep Orion away from home. My repair bath is just as suitable for her to stay.

This brings me to another matter I was thinking about. Thus far I ignored any techs to improve the spiritual power of our repair baths. There was no reason to when not expecting any battle, but that skirmish reminded me how times have changed.

I am not entirely sure how to feel just yet, either. I should be angry about almost losing Orion, but at the end of the day she will recover. My emotions have already mellowed out, as they usually do. I still do not want to jump into the war just like that; any chance to get along, no matter how miniscule, goes out the window if I turn around and start attacking. This was clearly an attack of opportunity, not them targeting me in particular.

It has been one and a half months since Akatsuki left Haven. I do not know exactly how long naval expeditions need to prepare, but at this point I feel somewhat certain it will be fine. Either she said nothing, or they decided to at least wait and see.

On another note, I decided to use the sunk transports as a resource base for Ionia's rebirth. She told me she does not need to be a Demon, but I asked her to undergo the process anyway. If nothing else, it will make her more durable. Orion will get the same once I am done figuring out if doing this while injured will affect her. So far the Abyss says no. With the resources I saved on not funding that second portal, I can afford ascending her as well.

I put Ionia into the pool just an hour ago. She did not say much beyond "Good night" while the half dozen dead transports dissolved around her, then ducked under the surface.

A few small things need to be prepared tomorrow morning, like cooking fresh food, but then I will leave Haven for the first time since becoming an Abyssal. I am a little excited, to be honest.

 

[Naron]

Day 114

Today was interesting; I visited Frostbite just as planned, my three Demons following right behind. I left Hydra behind though, to hold down the fort just in case. Not that I am so sure she even understood much of where we went. Still about on par with a smart dog, if less clingy.

Frostbite herself was not much of a hostess, but that applies human standards again. She waited for me when I came through at eight like we agreed on, flanked by her own Demons. She has three of them now, too; her surviving escorts from the original domain, two destroyers and a light cruiser. All three are veterans.

We exchanged greetings and everything, then she showed me around. I could definitely see the remains of a human airbase in some spots; Frostbite kept the foundations and built her own stuff on them, although the important structures are dug into the earth. I admit it took me a while to spot any of that, though; the constant cover of clouds and light drizzle distracted me a bit.

Being in another Princess's domain was educating, too. I could actually feel my own power over the weather for once, though more in the sense that I did not have any control here. There was no reason to try fighting Frostbite for it, but I could feel some sort of presence all around me. Is that how all Abyssals feel near a Princess? The Abyss says yes, though the effect is lessened to regular ships. Demons have a weaker aura of the same sort as well and can apparently exercise some limited control, but only if they are outside of a Princess's domain or get permission.

I asked some questions along the way, but Frostbite's base is pretty utilitarian; I do not want to call it spartan, mainly because I doubt the lack of furnishings and such is by choice. It will be if she keeps to it now, but that is up to time.

We met a number of Frostbite's ships as well, which was just weird. As in, I did not expect a whole flottilla of semi-recent destroyers to take a knee. Same for the two battleships that curtsied, or the one that bowed respectfully. That may have been the first time I actually felt prince-ly and not just like the one in charge. At least nobody was offended or confused when I told them they do not need to do that.

"Your actions are no secret," was what Frostbite told me about that after it happened a few times. I guess she noticed my discomfort? "My fleet knows well where the improvements that keep them alive stem from. Your Demons have saved a number of them by their presence also."

I did not really consider it from this angle before, but it does make sense. Then again, I also do not quite agree that I am to thank for what the girls do. Although I would take the blame for any misdemeanour, so maybe that is a fallacy? I need to mull this over some other time.

What I do know I am responsible for, at the least, is today's events. I already saw some hints of Sapphire's influence on the tour; some girls were skipping stones and better at it than I ever was. Others had squares drawn in the sand to play hopscotch. It was often half-hearted, but the interest and light sense of competition were there. I guess that it makes sense in retrospect; Abyssals do not have that same drive to win over each other, they have other priorities in their nature.

After looking around and meeting some of Frostbite's girls, I went and started playing Santa. It is a few months too early for Christmas, but whatever. I gave them chalk and tools, introduced the faster card games, and spread around a boatload of sandwiches. Not exactly in that order, the food came first. And it was a little funny, too. At first there were only a handful girls once I got to work, but within a few minutes the entire fleet showed up. Even Frostbite was surprised and then stumped by the food.

It is still sad that Abyssals normally do not get to enjoy any of these things. I held back on the sweets here just in case. Even accidental drug dealing is a big no-no for my sensibilities. Not that I really needed it, even just some basic sandwiches with synthesized butter and pillaged ham had them eat out of my hand. Metaphorically speaking, that is.

It took a while to convince Frostbite that I am still working on that 'technology'. Thinking back to that, I could swear she was pouting at least once. Maybe the adage is still true even for Abyssals; the fastest way to a woman's heart is through her stomach.

When I shared that one with Jeanne, she got confused and asked why I do not aim for the chest instead. Then I had to explain what that actually means to prevent any actual misunderstandings. I am not sure I like the thoughtful look she had afterward.

My own ships are well-respected here, too. Being Demons and supporters probably helps with that. I noticed that destroyers have a habit of gravitating toward battleships and carriers; submarines mainly stay among each other. Capital ships are more free in who they approach, though they seem to feel more comfortable with some escorts around.

I asked Jeanne and Ariel right before writing this entry if they want a proper escort as well; they told me yes. Which means I will make a Destroyer Demon after ascending the rest of my little fleet. But I digress.

I only had enough time to share some of the games I prepared; the playing cards already circulate among Frostbite's fleet, though. We agreed to meet up again tomorrow to continue; even the Princess herself took interest in playing UNO. I think I will definitely take a chessboard tomorrow. My reserves contain a solid mix of different games, some of which I shamelessly copied from the Internet. No Monopoly, though. We do not need an Abyssal civil war.

One other curious thing I just noticed: Ariel is on the computer again. It is pretty late already, but she has this faint smile on her face. Which reminds me she is the most introverted of my lot. I had a little conversation about her social battery and it turns out my hunch was right; she did get exhausted about interacting with others sometime around noon.

My own social battery is better than hers, but I definitely should have noticed earlier. So I told her in no unclear words that she is free to leave if she starts getting tired of being around people. Unless there is combat to be had, I will not scold her for wanting alone time. Then I gave her a little hug and left her be.

Speaking of hugs, Orion got one of those too; as big as I could make it without aggravating her injuries. Then I all but carried her back to Haven; she is now hanging around the local repair bath.


Day 115

Ariel approached me this morning and asked if she could stay behind. I let her, so it was only Jeanne and Sapphire coming with me to Frostbite's domain again.

Today I spread board games, introduced a few more card games, and tried to sell them on some more dishes. It is pretty hard to make something to feed a fleet without the majority of portions going cold. Maybe I should tech into those stasis fields to keep cooked food fresh. No matter how much the Abyss insists that is not what they are for.

Human ingenuity means using things in a way they were not designed for, after all. Most of the time it is dumb, but sometimes you get something entirely new and useful.

The second day of bringing enlightenment to the Abyssals convinced Frostbite some more, too. She seems more drawn to the complicated games, planning strategies and approaches ahead of time. Card games are nice enough to kill some time, but nothing for her to really sink her teeth into.

She actually thanked me today, for giving her and her fleet so much without asking for any recompense.

Sapphire and Jeanne were having a blast, too; it seems they easily integrated with some of the groups and played the various games.

Which brings me to another observation: Abyssals form social groups. It is the continuation of the thing with destroyers liking to crowd around capital ships; most of it seems to be instinctual, but some is also personal reasons. I did spot a couple of escorts and submarines staying on their lonesome. For tomorrow, I am printing them some books to read.

Likewise, most battleships seem to enjoy having destroyers and cruisers around. Ariel is a clear exception, but even Frostbite has a soft spot for the escorts. Light and heavy cruisers all like their own class the most, though they get along just as well with transport ships. The Mi-Class I introduced is integrating into this social setting, most comfortable with the transports but fine interacting with anyone. They seem more matter-of-fact than the other ship types as a rule, though. Then again, I have four of them in total to base that observation on. It can just be a coincidence.

I am happy with today's progress either way. Frostbite's fleet does not defer to me, but they accept me just like their Princess. I am not sure if they could reject me at all, come to think of it. After all this, they definitely seem to like me though.


Day 116

And there was the other shoe. I really should have known better.

Ariel stayed back home again, as did Hydra. I finished explaining games and fed a bunch of hungry mouths, nothing bad happened there. If anything, the loners were surprised when I approached them; Frostbite was also intrigued by the concept of books, but thankfully all Abyssals come out with the ability to read. It would have been a nightmare to teach them that.

The bad stuff started around noon. Actually a bit earlier, but I only found out when Ariel radio'd in that Haven was under attack. From my reconstruction, she never checked the scanners and forgot she could use radio due to surprise.

First a group of regular bombers laid waste to the island. My base was sturdy enough not to collapse from that, but the upper layer got caved in by the following bombardment. Ariel stayed inside, but Hydra was outside on the island.

By the time she reached out to me, the battle was already raging for a few minutes. Frostbite immediately stopped me from charging in and told her own fleet to ready for sortie. Sapphire and Jeanne were held back all the same, but they only stayed because Ariel kept sending updates. I know for a fact they would have run right through the teleporter if an SOS had come.

It was harrowing. Maybe if I ignored Frostbite and went right through, things could have been different.

When we did emerge at the back of two entire destroyer screens and a full complement of battleships, I could have cried. Even the lowest layer of my base had rubble everywhere. The highest layer collapsed outright, leaving only ruins of the few factories I had there. A handful of drones survived because they hunkered down inside.

My heart was beating heavier the longer it took to find Ariel. The sound of gunfire and screams at least told us she was still alive, calmly sending that she held the line when pinged. And that she did.

The repair bay and active spawn pool are halfway down my base, but some of the more delicate rooms are toward the top. Ariel guarded the only entrance with blazing guns, fighting off a group of landbound shipgirls and human strike teams; from what she explained later, the latter came first and the former followed when they realised there was an Abyssal inside.

I still almost had a heart attack when I saw her. If anything, Ariel looked worse than Orion; she took fire from everything attacking Haven, half her face and body melted to slag. She held the line anyway and started up a storm to stop the bombers from coming back. I took over from her once Frostbite told me to, meanwhile her forces streamed outside to take the fight. Jeanne's flight decks belched out more planes than I expected her to have, contesting the airspace with technological superiority.

The battle raged back and forth for the better part of an hour. Then Sapphire and her submarine friends finished sneaking through the floodgate entrance and behind the enemy. The flotilla was spotted once and had to retreat, but Sapphire remained undetected until she sank all three enemy carriers in rapid succession. Then she beat a hasty retreat, only to double back when the attackers' attention was rapidly taken by the other submarines nibbling at their trio of battleships. It was a duo soon after, then only one sounding the retreat once Frostbite and her Demons hammered into them.

We did not get all of them, but many. The rest of the day was spent taking stock of the damages.

The good news is that Ariel survived. She defended not just our home base from intrusion, she also saved her two defenseless sisters' lives. I stuffed her into the bath as soon as the guns fell silent, but the hug and thanks she got is nowhere near enough.

Hydra is gone, though. A couple of destroyers dragged her corpse back from where they found her, armour belt ruptured and ammunition cooked off. Going by the injuries on the corpses, my girl went down swinging; one of the sunk battleships and half a dozen escorts, both cruisers and destroyers, were torn apart by that super gun. With no other target in sight however, they just hammered past Hydra's defenses with brute force.

I was in a bit of a haze after the adrenaline wore off, or whatever equivalent Abyssals have. Frostbite helped me take stock. Her girls found all the wrecks and corpses, then helped my few surviving drones drag them back. I needed a while to get away from Hydra.

She tried to talk me into 'shaking it off' and things like that. Easy to say for an Abyssal who does not care for her subordinates. I told her to shut up... which may have been a little harsher than I wanted it to be. I am not going to apologise.

I had my drones dig a pit for the human corpses. After taking everything of interest, including their guns and whatever other paraphernalia they had on them, I poured gasoline over the mound of corpses and burned them all. Even if biological matter can be used to make something, I still do not want to go there.

The other thing is that I recognise some of these shipgirls. Even without the soldiers being Asians and Americans, I could recognise the battleship Kongou. One of the destroyers was Hibiki, too. Akatsuki was not among the dead, but I have no idea if she was just not here or retreated with the few ships that made it out.

I may still be in shock a little bit. At least I do not feel actually angry, just sad. Orion and Ionia almost died, Ariel almost died, and Hydra is gone.

All the remaining hulls are in storage for now; being what they are, it will take some time for them to even start decomposing. I need to decide on that soon, though. Frostbite left one of her Mi-Class girls here to help clean up; I think her name is Shallows, but I did not pay too much attention. My being bad with names does not really help there.

I think I start feeling that urge to wage war again. But right now it is hard to tell if that is me or the Abyss. Maybe both for once.

I told Akatsuki that I want to be left alone. A targeted attack on this island, with regular soldiers no less, means they knew without a shadow of doubt I was here. I cursed her earlier in my head, but I know it was not her fault; she did not make the decision to attack me. It just gets increasingly harder to separate the people who gave the order from those who followed it.

I need sleep.


Day 117

An idea came to me earlier today. I directed some of the drones myself and kept busy; Sapphire was out on patrol to spot whomever may come close. I also started animating the weather into a proper storm; with my cover broken, I may as well announce my presence. A third of the shipgirl corpses went to Frostbite as thanks for helping me without hesitation. She tried to reject them, but I insisted.

Which was around the time I had that idea.

"I'm probably going to keep relying on you to bring the firepower," is what I told her. "So making sure you're well-supplied is just good practice."

We had a bit of an argument then; Frostbite was not wrong that continuing to refuse building a fleet would get me killed. I still do not want to do that, though. Like I said, I had an idea; she was skeptical when I told her about it, or rather that I want to try something else first. Especially when I asked her to send girls around all nearby islands to grab whatever lizards they can find. Haven is devastated, so I will not find much in terms of flora or fauna here anymore.

She agreed, though. Which means I can return to my German roots, trying to drive the point home with shock and awe.

Once I have those lizards, I will make Godzilla.

 

[Naron]

Day 119

Is this an efficient use of resources? No.

Is it a good idea? Probably also no.

Will it send a message? Absolutely.

It has been two days since the attack; I have trouble putting into words just how Hydra's absence feels, but it is definitely felt. My girls seem to feel similar; Jeanne and Sapphire were more subdued, spending quite a bit of time with Ariel and Orion in the baths. Mostly to keep them company, at least until Ariel asked them to give her some space.

Outside of that, I set up Orion's ascension to Demon yesterday. I sold Frostbite as much tech as she can afford to fund my next big project, so I had enough resources to spare. The shipgirl wrecks were broken down and converted into an additional influx of materials.

The new stasis fields work decently well, too; Frostbite got a few samples to make sure she can catch the lizards I want and keep them fresh. I also tested them on Sapphire with her permission, but anything with a heavier metaphysical weight than some tiny animal is able to resist. So no flash-freezing any attackers, at least not on this level of the technology; maybe one of the expensive upgrades will allow that, but I have other priorities right now.

In addition to the other preparations, I had my drones dig a deeper spawn pool beneath the sea. The ones I use for my shipgirls are a few metres in diameter, this one is more like fifty metres.

I also spent time with my girls; having only three of them present gave me a bit of an idea. So myself, Jeanne, and Sapphire spent a decent amount of time in the kitchen. My synthetic food continues to improve, so we looked up a few recipes and went to work. Jeanne was in charge of the cooking, Sapphire took care of the desert, and I helped each of them where they needed me. That includes cleaning up and measuring ingredients so they could do the fun parts. I do not mind the busywork, and I like my kitchen clean.

Then we surprised Ariel with a meal fit for a queen. A battleship she may be, but she earned it after going above and beyond to protect Haven. I also started to look into waterproofing a computer somehow, so that she can go online from the bath.

Even still, there was this air of trepidation around us.


Day 120

Today was the day Ionia finished her metamorphosis. I am not sure I should use that word again because it reminded me of reading Kafka in school. Then again, I did not hate the book. Ionia is prettier than any sort of insect, too.

We welcomed her back together, Jeanne even propped up Ariel and led her over. They were just in time for an even chubbier Ionia to break through the churning darkness.

"Container Ship Demon, at your command," is what she greeted me with. Her smile was genuine, although it did not last beyond spotting Ariel. "Did something happen while I was out?"

I guess we were waiting for these words, or at least something like them. Sapphire got teary-eyed and I had trouble actually saying it; Jeanne was the one to fill Ionia in, still steadying Ariel. She probably blew her twin's not-quite last stand out of proportion, but I maintain that she deserves all the praise we heap on her. Ionia seemed to agree, considering that she thanked her as well. Word of Hydra's death did not affect her as much as the rest of us, excepting maybe Orion. Or she just kept it to herself.

After that, it was my turn to explain our next steps; come to think of it, that may have been the first time I actually spelled out the plan. Only Frostbite heard some of the broad strokes.

Suffice it to say, the girls seemed happy that we are hitting back. They were also confused about my unorthodox method to do so.

"This is not about destroying them," was how I explained it to them there. "This is about sending a message what happens if they mess with me. I have no idea how well it will work, but if the rest of the Abyss couldn't roll over them with superior firepower, we may as well try something new."

Honestly, it was a much better reasoning than I thought at the time. It is true, too; the Abyssals are still losing ground across the globe. The main stalemate stems from one side being landbound while the other is at home in the deep sea. If there was not this violent conflict going on, we might even be able to coexist well enough. Abyssals live where humans can not, humans live where Abyssals do not want to dwell.

Alas, we are at war and at least one side will not stop until the other is dead.

Funny how now should be the moment I realise I could try for forcing coexistence; unify the Abyssals under my banner and see about ending the war peacefully. Maybe I even have a shot, considering the Abyss itself is in my corner. Mind, it does not like the concept of peace with humanity at all. I like it more than war, but going out and finding all the Abyssal nests feels like too much work. I rather stay here and take care of my own business.

Not to mention I already tried being nice. Now Hydra is dead and Ariel out of commission for almost three months. Frostbite lost a pair of escorts in the defense of Haven, too.

So I sent Ionia out to get back to work; she is still bringing back resources from the various autonomous bases Orion set up. This week-long pause made the stuff pile up there. Sapphire escorts her everywhere, forcing a miniature storm to obscure their movements whenever they leave my zone of influence.

Speaking of, I need to invest into upgrading weather control. Keeping Haven and the surrounding waters obscured is a boon, but it could be bigger.


Day 125

The last few days were calm despite my constant storms. Orion returned as a Drone Commander Demon, good as new if not even better. She grew taller just like Sapphire, yet stayed as stocky as before. That should mean she has even more muscle packed away in her body.

The first thing she did upon emerging was to take back control of the drones; I had them clean up the upper layer of our home and started on building a citadel to get a new roof. And I will bling it out even more, just out of spite. Every lightning strike will have its shine refracted by ten thousand specks of gold, silver and various crystals. Spikes of obsidian will reach into the sky.

What is more, I steadily converted some of my unused materials into Uranium and other radioactive things. There was already a decent stockpile, but now I have a lot of it. I also went into researching biological weapons; that is, natural weapons. Not viruses. My labs focus on breath attacks, for hopefully obvious reasons.

Frostbite sent in a number of caught lizards as well, some of them alive. I am waiting for a second load that should come in tomorrow, then we will begin Operation Kingmaker. I felt something of such gravitas should have a proper name; this one is fitting enough, quite literal, and does not actually give away its purpose unless one already knows.

Business mostly returned to normal by now. It still hurts to think of Hydra, especially with her body yet remaining in stasis. I decided to make her remains the base of this new chimera as a final tribute.


Day 126

Orion approached me today. It was a bit of a surprise when she asked me to mount guns on her and her drones. Being caught off-guard like she did apparently annoyed her, or so she said. Now she wants to have an emergency measure to protect herself, she even went to draw up blueprints herself in one of the external labs.

Outside of that, well, Kingmaker is go. I placed first Hydra's body into the large spawn pool, then dumped several tons of uranium, a large number of dead and living-but-drowned lizards, and ungodly amounts of steel on top. This was followed by tungsten, once again out of spite. Even just a single ton of that stuff was brutally expensive to produce, but I gladly do it for the miniscule chance that my new creation's scales will be similarly durable.

Frostbite is still skeptical, especially because I am now more or less broke. So is she, though. She did not have to buy so much tech to deplete all her stockpiles, but did it anyway. Her support was invaluable to get this done. I also have some of her girls dropping by every once in a while. Some come to play games, others just want to poke the gestating king or throw more lizards into the pool.

On that note, there is a complementary creation growing as I write this. Well, not to the nascent king, but to my ships. The other reason I am pretty much broke is the Destroyer Demon currently gestating. I set her up right after finishing with the king. Throwing a kaiju at idiots is one thing, but Sapphire is not a dedicated escort. Ionia needs protection, as do Jeanne and Ariel in the field. Perhaps I should have made more than one, but I ran out of resources.

That aside, I also feel that I do not want to make too many ships. Upkeep aside, I want to know them, and I want them to know me; there will be too little time to interact with everyone if I make them in bulk. Maybe my stance will change later, but right now I do not want to risk becoming callous with the lives I create. I will not even consider sacrificing them as long as I know them well.

I just hope this new Demon will get along with the others.


Day 130

All is going as I hoped. Well, almost all; the king needs a while to gestate, which I probably should have expected. If that particular song is to be believed, Bismarck displaces around 50,000 tons of steel. I dumped many times that into my pet project.

Food for thought: ships are always treated as female due to superstition. Abyssals are also all female, physically. No, the body dysmorphia has not faded. I just got better at ignoring it. But I digress; if Kingmaker follows Abyssal conventions, would I get not a king but a queen?

I may be too bored if that is what goes through my mind at times like these. My Destroyer Demon will arrive in three days' time, far before whatever monster comes out of the other pool.


Day 133

She is here and I named her Hannah. No particular reason, the name just came to mind.

As became the habit recently, everyone stopped by to welcome her to our fleet. She came out with a little smile, slim and with squishy cheeks. It is a little odd how she looks the softest out of all my combat ships, but I guess someone had to take that honour off of Ariel.

Either way, there is little else of note happening. Hannah is more on the soft-spoken side, but seems to like being around one of the capital ships the most. Meaning myself, Ariel, or Jeanne. She kept our battleship company in the baths for a while, then appointed herself assistant to whatever we were doing. It was kind of cute how attentively she watched us.


Day 136

Hannah continues to be a sweetheart. She started carrying food and small amounts of sweets to Frostbite's base, to share with the girls there. She is also big on cuddles and goes for them whenever she can.

That makes my first physically affectionate ship. The others give or take a headpat or a hug on occasion, but Hannah is different. She does not like sleeping alone and rotates around to wherever someone else is, nestling into them. Tonight I have her here with me while writing this. It takes some getting used to.

Frostbite tells me this is more or less normal for destroyers, just like their penchant to being around capital ships. Hannah spends less time with Sapphire, though the two of them do not seem to hate each other or anything.

Despite that different behaviour, Hannah is a professional in the field. I sent her out escorting Ionia twice so far, but her conduct was exemplary. Ionia notes she feels perfectly safe with Hannah around. Good thing too, now Sapphire can go back to patrolling my territory.


Day 138

We had another raid today, but it went far different than the first. I was around to notice the scanners pinging me, for one. Sapphire also spotted the fleet coming our way half an hour out to sea. More than enough time to alert Frostbite and bring her entire fleet into my harbour. We welcomed them with overwhelming firepower while Jeanne and my storm won the battle for air superiority. The few bombers that made it through her fighter screen were shot down by Hannah and the other escort Demons.

They turned tail and fled the moment I had Sapphire backstab them again. And I let them go without further harassment; perhaps I am hoping in vain that they will eventually understand I only defend my home from attack.

Either way, our superior force sunk a few of their ships. Frostbite and I split them evenly between us for resources. They never spotted the spawn pool beneath their feet.

Now I just need to figure out what to do if they send more ships. This fleet was smaller than the last one. What if they join forces with the Americans? The Abyss does not have stationary gun emplacements, so all I can do is hope Frostbite's forces are enough of a deterrent. They do not know we can teleport between our bases, which is an effective trump card. It will be less effective if they get the idea to lay siege to both of us simultaneously.


Day 142

Nothing new on the front, at least not really. I talked a bit with Hannah, which taught me something curious. When I asked her why she keeps mingling with Frostbite's fleet, she told me this: "They're our allies by your will, Princess. So I want to get along with them. Not to mention that it is harder to betray someone you like."

My cute Destroyer Demon may be more devious than I gave her credit for.

Tabling that thought, I also decided that if I am already at war with humanity, I may as well pirate some movies. Not like I have money to buy them. I guess I could make some, but counterfeiting is a worse offense than piracy. I am also a being of the sea, so a pirate fits better; not to mention that merely existing is probably a greater crime under human law than either of the others. For an Abyssal, I mean.

Long story short, I watched some Godzilla movies with my fleet. We set up a little cinema room, except I can control the volume; all the upsides, none of the downsides like noisy randos or hurting ears. I also got across what I am hoping to spawn much better with this; some of the 'newest' movies do not exist, maybe not yet, but the franchise is older than the first Abyssals.

This had an unintentional side effect as well: I created a lot more interest in human commodities and pop culture. Especially Jeanne and Hannah were intrigued by the concept and wanted to watch more. So I got them into Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Another joy of being in this alternate timeline is that only six Star Wars movies exist. And that we are unlikely to ever see more.

Science Fiction seems to garner a lot of interest, too. I heard quiet discussion whether Abyssals could go to space; they asked me as well, but I could only shrug. A number of high-end techs are still hidden from me on the tech tree. Not that it stopped the discussion. Even Ariel joined in from the little bath container I installed for her; I thought she might like watching remote more, but this seems easier on her social battery.

I am not only filling their heads with information here, but I also make them accept that not all human things are bad. Which reminds me that seeing humans on the screen does not trigger the aggression like seeing them in person does. Silver linings and all that.

Maybe I should feel a little concerned that they cheered every time Darth Vader and the Nazgul came on screen, though.

Either way, I have a rabbit hole to drag my fleet into.


Day 169

Nothing of real note happened recently, but the funny number is back.

Kingmaker still bubbles along merrily and there were no further attacks. I spent the last few weeks putting on movie after movie, then switching to anime as well for visual media. Then I went back to books for the girls who would rather read.

Somehow, word spread to Frostbite as well; she was less enthused by the reruns for her fleet, but saying she was not interested at all would be a lie. Her girls loved the spectacle as much as mine did.

At least none of them called me out for trying to make something that exists in human media. Maybe it never occurred to them, or they were too distracted by the new experience.

Come to think of it, there was that one conversation I had with Ionia; her being the only one beside me who knew Akatsuki was here, she asked me if sparing the girl was worth it. I did not like how I had no good answer to that. It was not worth it, but I would probably do the exact same thing again. I just do not have it in me to be cruel when the person is in front of me. Hence Godzilla.

Now here is to hoping the king will hatch soon.


Day 180

Long live the king!

Today was hectic, I will get to the details in tomorrow's entry.

 

[Naron]

Day 181

Now that I spent some time with the beast, I can write a proper log entry. To start off with, it is not quite Godzilla. Although I got pretty close.

Size-wise, we are looking at something between forty and fifty metres in length. Eight metres in height. She is quadrupedal, more like the lizards I made her from than the inspiration. The spikes on her back are thinner and a little prehensile. I did not test her armour belt because I hate shooting at my own fleet, but it looks suitably thick. Dark, metallic scales cover her entire body.

The only weapon she came with was a breath attack, not atomic breath but some odd mixture of fire and lightning. The radioactive materials all went into a fission reactor powering the entire monster. I am currently building a dozen super cannons, the same type I originally made for Hydra. They will slot in neatly underneath some of this one's scales and spikes.

Thinking about it, it feels kind of lazy to keep calling her 'Godzilla' in my head. She visibly is not, despite the similarities. I have half a mind to name her that anyway, but no. Especially because she is female; I thankfully only had to ask, she is as intelligent as the rest of us. The form of her mouth makes speaking any human tongue basically impossible, but she can communicate via morse code. Which is apparently a cypher I can instinctively comprehend.

I think I will call her Reaper, for that is her purpose. At least I did not get punished for my hubris by creating something that will not listen to orders; Reaper is as loyal as the rest, if with a sense of superiority over anyone not me. Well, she is the fifty metres long doom lizard; a little pride is expected.

Everyone else was excited about meeting the new girl, too. Ariel came out of the baths to say hello, Hannah brought some morsels to feed Reaper, even Frostbite made an appearance to study the fruits of my labour. She seemed impressed, if less so by the clear lack of reverence on Reaper's part.

We had a bit of an impromptu celebration yesterday, today we went to work; I mentioned the cannons before, but she needs more than that. Frostbite and I workshopped whatever Reaper will need to be self-sufficient; she definitely has the space and we need to make sure it works. She will be on her own once I send her out. Anti-Air guns were an important consideration, same as some excavator drones and a workshop to make new ammunition or fuel. Frostbite also convinced me to add a repair bath. I am not sure how that can repair Reaper from the inside, but my Abyss-nudges tell me it just works.

What is this, Skyrim?

Well, at least the weirdness works in my favour here. Reaper can keep herself sustained, repair herself, and protect herself from any threat at sea and in the air. Except I forgot submarines. Only to remember those are less relevant right after writing this. Reaper's main purpose is to fight on land, where there are no submarines. Even at sea she can dive on her own.

But I think I will still add some mines and depth charges to be safe. My stockpiles are good again, so I do not mind spending some more. I can also use the time it takes to equip Reaper to improve comms; holding up a connection from here to Japan is still a far-off dream, but at least I can keep in contact with her for longer. Theoretically, I could let Ionia and Orion ride with her to install relays on the ocean floor. That is too much of a risk right now, though; I have no idea what is going on outside of my and Frostbite's territory.

In a perfect world, I would expand my sphere of influence by installing a teleporter at every relay station and forward base. That way I could immediately react to any threat anywhere. Practically, teleporters are damn expensive and I can not afford making that many. Ignore how many resources I am still pouring into my doom lizard, I am well aware of the hypocrisy there.

Anyway, it will be a while until Reaper is fully equipped and stocked up. I will not send her out without completely filled loading bays.


Day 184

Having Reaper around Haven continues to be a little odd. She mostly just lazes around in the sun, though her massive form attracts escorts like moths to flame. The odd image of destroyers and cruisers cuddling up to the doom lizard aside, I also learned that she is not just a chimera; she is classified as a Colossus Demon. The Abyss works quick on this, though I agree it is aptly chosen.

I also found where her tentacles are. Can not have an Abyssal beast without some, right? At first I figured it would be her spikes, but no, Reaper has them in the roof of her mouth. I found out when she opened wide to eat a rock, just because she could. The pseudopods shot out and dragged it into her maw. Nasty way to go, that.

Another thing I am pretty happy about is that she does not guzzle fuel like my own engines do. Her fission reactor takes most of that off the regular engines. Maybe I should look into getting one for myself, but I am hesitant on that. Two reasons for it, really: first is that I do not like the risk of it melting down from damage if I ever get under fire. Second is that if I do not have the ability to go out without sacrificing tons of fuel, I am not tempted to do so. I like staying at home anyway, so it works out.

Rereading that last sentence gives me a weird feeling. When did I start to think of Haven as home?

It is true that I do not have any other place anymore, but it still managed to transition from a shelter I needed to a place I like to be. It has been over half a year since I woke up on this beach. Maybe it is the girls living here with me, or that I managed to make it homely over time.


Day 186

It occurred to me that I actually need directions for Reaper. That is a bit of a problem because I still have no clear idea where I am. Frostbite was no real help when I asked her about it, though she agreed to send out some scouting parties.

Speaking of her, my fellow Princess is done establishing herself. She built up her forces again and trained them, put stockpiles for sunny days together, and bartered for more tech from me to improve her fleet. She told me she plans to expand now, find if there are other Princesses in the area. Her plan is to establish outposts across the Pacific, assuming no other has yet claimed a given area. Specifically, she had the same idea as I about the teleporter connection and comms relays.

We shared a little laugh when I told her that. Great minds do think alike. Though I could only wince after tallying up the costs for the teleporters alone. That will be a project for several years. I do not dislike the idea, though. Need to think about it some more.


Day 187

Today may have seen another mistake, but I can not say for sure just yet.

I mentioned our talks about expanding Frostbite's domain yesterday. We returned to them today, but that is not the potential mistake. No, it is that Frostbite caught onto me getting extra resources from somewhere. She said she ran some numbers and wondered why I said nothing about expanding my own territory; all the deposits will eventually run dry after all.

When she asked me point blank to buy whatever technology allows me to stretch my resources like I am clearly doing, I just put my cards on the table. Meaning, I told her about the resource generation ability. To say she was surprised would be an understatement. That single gasped "What?!" was probably the least composed I have ever seen her. I guess it makes sense, too.

Either way, I told her quite clearly that nobody else knows. We have known each other for a while now, long enough that I would tentatively call her my friend. I trust her with this, though I would never have brought it up on my own. Same reason my fleet does not know. Maybe Ionia or Orion put two and two together, but neither of them said anything. Frostbite was pretty cool about it and agreed not to say a word to anyone else. We both know how unprecedented and important my ability is.

At the same time we reaffirmed our relationship as partners. She is perfectly happy running security for me while I focus on driving forward technological development. Trading tech with her will give me some extra resources to work with, even once my mines run dry. I do not really want to expand further, my current territory is big enough; not to mention that I prepared it well enough.

I actually offered Frostbite to use my setup of factories for mass production, provided she brings her own resources to fuel them. I may have gotten a little carried away when I gave the order to Orion, but I do have facilities made for the majority of Abyssal ship types. Nothing has happened yet because Frostbite's fleet is still at capacity for her territory, but she agreed to make use of my dormant facilities once the time comes. I considered taking a little tax for using them, but decided against it. No sense gouging a friend.


Day 190

Reaper is fully equipped. I also managed to figure out where we are thanks to Frostbite. Turns out my ally made her base on a place called Wake Island; never heard about it before then, but the Internet told me where it is. Haven lies a decent bit away, but that did not stop me from charting Reaper's route to Japan. We are roughly halfway between them and Hawaii.

I gave them the chance to leave me alone and they did not. As they say, 'fuck around and find out'.

On a related note, these ten days of preparation were probably for the best. Else I may have actually painted a big, red 'Fuck You' on Reaper's flank to tell the Japanese exactly what I think of their recent stunt. It sounded funny at first, but in the end is a bit too childish for what is going to happen.

There is something ironic about the fact Reaper's maiden voyage carries her further than all of my other girls taken together. She took the fact with grace, though; it is difficult to gauge how a doom lizard feels, but her communications were always succinct and to the point. When it was time for her to head out, she simply sent "Your will be done, my Princess" and sallied forth.

It felt odd watching her go. A part of me worries that I will never see her again; with how persistent and imaginative I know humans are, chances are incredibly high that they will find a way to defeat Reaper. Alas, she will probably not be happy to be called back now; retribution was the purpose of her birth. Abyssals find that a lot more important than humans would.

At the same time, I have the feeling that she will be content even if she falls.

I do not feel like writing any more today.


Day 192

Frostbite started her expansion program, but that is not why I am writing a log today. Reaper got her first taste of combat. And I may have slightly misjudged her specs. Slightly. Very slightly.

She is still in comms range, which is why I even heard about her meeting a subjugation fleet coming the other way. We are talking about the full array of ships; half a dozen battleships and aircraft carriers, making a full dozen together, with at least five escorts per ship. Submarines as well.

Reaper sunk half of the battleships and carriers alongside their escorts before that fleet began to run. She reported minor damage to her armour belt, easily repaired with resources gained from gobbling up the wrecks of her enemies.

So yeah. Not only did she stop a fleet headed my way from ever arriving, she is also an absolute unit in terms of combat power. I apparently created more of a monster than anticipated. Once again I am glad that she follows orders.

Then again, if I could make such a creature, then someone else may be able to do the same. But worrying over that will not help me at all; the frankly ridiculous resource costs to make Reaper should at least serve to detract anyone who can not create material ex nihilo. Hopefully.

Moving on, I also realised that I should be able to keep track of Reaper once she makes landfall. As much as any government may try to censor her arrival, I doubt they will be able to keep quiet about a kaiju rampaging across Japan.

That train of thought brought me onto some silly ideas I may as well share for posterity: theoretically, if I so wished, I could start to report on Abyssal matters over the internet. Start a blog or set up livestreams. Silly nonsense, 'Ask an Abyssal', that sort. Maybe even get one of my girls into streaming, not like anyone would believe her to be an actual Abyssal. It was fun to muse how the entire human species would lose their spaghetti about it, but I decided against all of that. It just does not feel right. Not to mention that it is effort.

On top of that, I also dislike pressuring any of my girls into doing something they do not want. They would do it if I asked, regardless of their own wishes. And lastly, I can live without constantly having to prove that I am telling the truth. My stance is that this war could be avoided, yet nobody but me believes it.

Well, maybe there are some humans here and there. I imagine they are collectively seen as nutjobs.

So no, I am doing what I have done so far. No dreaming of empire, no stupid grasp for glory I do not even want. Some people may want to be some sort of ruling figure, I do not. Sometimes I imagine what I would do if in charge, but I feel we all do that. Things we would do differently, solutions we would provide. Sometimes I even feel I would do something to improve the world. But at the same time, I do not want to believe that everyone in power is a greedy asshole. That way lies a sort of depression I was thankfully never affected by. I rather believe that there are other reasons why the powers that be have trouble making things better.

And by that logic, me being in power would see the same roadblocks in front of me. Which brings us back to effort. I just keep doing what I can and am comfortable with. Who is going to criticise me? Humans?

Is that racist? I think not, we are at war and they attacked me first. My not being happy with them right now is perfectly justified.

And now I reminded myself of Hydra. Good night.


Day 199

Reaper reached the Japanese coast. I know because the Internet is full of reports about her; she made landfall in Chiba Prefecture. From what I read earlier, the JSDF went out in force to stop her. The pictures show only craters, not even wrecks. Like I thought, not a chance that could be kept quiet. There were even a few clips taken from phones that show Reaper bulldozing through a tank formation and eating them one by one. My girl is as resourceful as I hoped she would be.

Shipgirls failed to stop her and are now playing catch-up. The media calls it 'unprecedented', which makes sense. I intentionally did not look at the death toll; I know I will feel bad the moment I check.

The fighting grew less fierce and more frantic once Reaper made landfall because they are still reluctant to bomb their own cities. My girl seems to rampage less for now, she just looks around in interest. There is still a lot of collateral damage, but I asked her not to attack unprovoked for now. I am not being nice there, by the way. I figured it would be easier to keep them on the backfoot if they have to juggle tens of thousands of refugees. Evacuating civilians takes a lot more time and effort for them, not to mention that their deaths would only make the defenders more determined.

No, Reaper's goal is not to do as much damage as possible. My goal is Tokyo Bay, Yokohama in particular. I faintly recalled the IJN shipgirls are stationed there and confirmed this before sending her out. They came after my home base, it is only fair I return the favour.

Although I did not give Reaper orders beyond leveling Yokohama as a whole and to keep casualties down. She was not exactly happy, but accepted my logic when I explained. Going by the reports I read, it worked out for the most part. The defenders are more concerned getting civilians out than the threat contained. Reaper just keeps roaming the countryside toward her goal.

Now if only someone would realise that she can use their own GPS satellites to orient herself. I am not exactly laughing as they get theirs, but I do feel vindicated.

 

[Naron]

Day 200

Today was a bit of an odd day. All of us were at the fleet's communal computer, reading reports about Reaper's progress. Only Ariel was absent because she is still in the baths, but that should be over in a few days. Everyone else hung around me while I went through news reports. It felt kind of weird to do when I barely ever did the like before becoming Abyssal. Then again, this here concerned me personally.

I fully expected some sort of running commentary or jokes, or something at least. But my Abyssals are a bit less loose on this particular subject than a group of humans might be. Maybe apprehension added to it, too. Either way, it was mostly quiet beyond discussions of the pictures and headlines.

We get all of this somewhat delayed for obvious reasons, but it still gave us a decent idea what happened. Reaper followed my instructions, at least to the point that she did not swerve into Tokyo along the way. Going by how many the reports claimed could be 'saved' from the rampaging beast, she also allowed them to evacuate civilians en masse.

Hannah was still not convinced of that particular strategy, by the way; I think she feels the strongest due to being the youngest and thus having less other information in her head. Thankfully, Frostbite was around at the time to dissect the strategy better than I ever could: instead of just killing them all and making the defenders more stalwart, Reaper forces the JSDF to divert considerable resources into protecting civilians. That concept needed some explanation for Hannah, it never occurred to me Abyssals would find it alien.

The other nuance of this plan, which I told exactly no one, is that I am not comfortable with ordering a slaughter like that. It may be hypocritical after I remade Godzilla to let loose on the Japanese, but still. This feels like a separate line from sending my monster to destroy their main naval base. This way, if the refugees suffer further, that is on the human systems being unable to support them.

Admittedly, I am also curious if someone will clue in to that strategy and be callous enough to bomb their own civilians to get at Reaper.

From how the reports read, Japan is playing into my hands; shipgirls from across the various naval bases are withdrawn to the hub at Yokohama. They correctly predicted Reaper's path based on the lane of destruction she carves through rural Japan. A little sad for such a beautiful nation to get devastated, but they started it.

She is slower on land and further slowed down by occasional air raids, but the JSDF has trouble pinning her down. All the tanks they field only become reserves for her self-repairs. So does anything else made of steel or precious metals, mind. Her armour belt still holds just fine, so the tungsten alloy was definitely worth it.

She will reach Tokyo Bay tomorrow or the day after. I think I will keep Ariel on computer duty to tell us once something happens.


Day 201

Reaper's march through the Japanese countryside continues unabated. I noticed that Ariel is starting to grow restless in the bath, though I kind of get it; she has been in there for almost three months.

Even with Jeanne visiting her sister on the regular, Ariel is getting antsy and wants to return to duty. We had a bit of a talk about that, too. I spent some resources into improvements mainly for battleships; both for selling to Frostbite and to make sure Ariel will not end up like this again. Better armour belts, reduced fuel consumption, redundancies in their electronics. Next I will definitely improve repair bath efficiency and speed, though. That stuff is hideously expensive, which is why I stayed away from it at first. Then I was building Reaper. I am still far short on what I need to get that project started, but this is the goal.

It was nice talking to Ariel one-on-one. I still appreciate how far she went to protect Haven, as well as Orion and Ionia. At the same time, I got to see my usually serene battleship almost vibrate with unspent energy. It took some convincing to make her stay the final two days, just to make absolutely sure she is fine. I do not want some small chink to cascade into another catastrophy.

In other news, Hannah has become something of an ambassador with how often she visits Frostbite's fleet. She is polite and friendly, but I sometimes spot the edge of cunning underneath. We had a little talk as well and she freely dropped the mask for me. I did not even need to ask. In her words: "My duty is to my Princess and my fleet. I do not mind being around others if that serves your plans, I will even tolerate humans if I must."

I am not sure if she is a full-on sociopath, has some such tendencies, or is just overly devoted to the concept of her fleet. Can Abyssals even have sociopaths by human definitions?


Day 202

It happened tonight. We read all about it by noon, which is a small miracle considering the disaster it was for Japan. Even if it is inspiring in what happened, the result could spell the country's end if other Abyssals find out.

First off, the admiralty ordered every available shipgirl to Yokohama. This included two squadrons visiting from America who were greenlit to support the IJN girls. It was a massive fleet, though none of the reports say how many exactly. I recognised some of the names that were spotted patrolling Tokyo Bay; among them were the carrier Akagi and the super battleship Yamato. I am really grateful that all this makes international news... and for the auto translate function being somewhat accurate.

Second, the JSDF marched up in force; they brought anti-ship cannons, mines, bombers, tanks, and heavy weaponry for every soldier along the fortifications. Just marching up to them would have been suicide for anyone not Reaper.

According to the various accounts we cross-referenced, she came barreling over a hill and was halfway to the bay before the defenders reacted. Her armour belt ate the artillery and by the time she reached the water, several dozen shipgirls in the bay opened fire at her. She weathered that, too. Then she dove, effectively avoiding any more shells.

Turns out underwater mines do not work so well when the enemy can walk on the ocean floor. Maybe Reaper triggered some, but nothing of that nature was mentioned. I have no idea if the shipgirls throwing depth charges hit her, either. What it did say is that she then reenacted Jaws. Well, not in those words. But a doom lizard coming up below a shipgirl and dragging her into the depths evokes that sort of mental image.

I am once again a little intimidated by how smart Reaper is. She knew she can take her time to chew through the defenders.

After losing three ships this way, Yokohama called them all back into the shallows where Reaper could not hide. She then proceeded to wait for several hours before following. We discussed it and figure she took some actual damage that had to be repaired, or at least patched up. The psychological effect on the defenders was massive, though. Being tense for hours, just waiting for the invincible monster to emerge. And in the middle of night no less.

Reaper's dramatic timing was impeccable, too. By all accounts she showed herself again at the crack of dawn. Rose from the depths and swam straight for Yokohama base's docks. Several people say that the earth shook from the return fire. It must have been excruciatingly loud, what with how many ships were guarding the port.

I admit I was more than a little worried when we got to that part. Reaper was designed to take a lot of punishment, but it would have only taken one lucky shot of some sort to hit a weak spot or chink the previous battles opened. Yet none did. She emerged from the explosions with pockmarked scales and a single notable crack; the girls agree that must have been Yamato.

And in the silence, Reaper answered with her own guns. A single, living fortress spewing shells into the air to down as many planes as she could for a prelude. Then the big guns let loose on the defenders, too. I do not want to say it was a kill per shell after she got their measure, but the damage was clearly massive. And I have to give props to the shipgirls, too; their line held despite all of this.

Unfortunately for them, determination alone does not win a battle. It did not last long, either. Reaper kept coming at them while firing volleys of death; not even Yamato and the other battleships could so much as slow her down. They managed to crack Reaper's shell by the end, at least from the pictures I saw. But at that point she passed knife-fighting range, reached their battleline, and chomped down on the flagship, once again Yamato.

Once more, props to the defenders. I am almost certain that at last should have broken their morale, but they kept firing till the last capital ship was sunk. The JSDF proved just as tenacious; if they did not throw every piece of explosives on the isle at Reaper in the following hours, it must still have been close on that amount. There is something to be said about being stupid and just charging in, but Reaper was and is near Tokyo. They can not afford to back down there.

Alas, my preparations were more thorough. By the time the JSDF was recalled, only a handful of shipgirls were confirmed to have escaped the slaughter. Reaper is still busy leveling all of Yokohama after turning the naval base to rubble, though most members of staff and civilians were apparently evacuated.

However, the local commander remained at base; not confirmed dead, although the fact his dwelling was entirely burned to the ground should be indicative.

Suffice it to say, the world is in an uproar. From what else I read, Japan was one of the first countries to figure out how to summon shipgirls; their navy was one of the largest in the world, not to mention the most concentrated due to the country's small size. They still failed to defeat Reaper. Now there is worry and often outright paranoia going around about what will happen if the beast attacks other countries; they understand my monster can fight on land just fine, with all the advantages an Abyssal has over common warmachines.

I did not actually mention this in here yet, did I? Aside from the mentions of soul voodoo, but this falls in the same category. Abyssals and shipgirls both have some sort of conceptual defense against conventional arms. It is not perfect and enough firepower can punch through, which is what they tried with Reaper there. The effectiveness is severely weakened, though. She could outright ignore most of the bombs dropped on her from above.

Either way, anti-Abyssal doctrines heavily feature shipgirls for a reason. Conventional aircraft has trouble piercing the storms any Princess can summon; Reaper could have done something like that too, but decided against it for some reason. Maybe a show of power?

But here comes the fun thing: I know how humans work. The moment Abyssals are no longer a concern, the major nations have combatants still capable of shrugging off any conventional weapons. I am absolutely certain that a new struggle for global dominance would follow; it only takes one idiot in charge for that to happen.

As it stands, Japan was kicked to the curb. They lost most of their shipgirls, the JSDF got the beating of a lifetime, and a kaiju is still present in the area. My girl made me proud.


Day 203

Ariel came out of the bath today. She is finally back to full readiness. We had a little celebration with steak and cake. I can synthesize the ingredients well enough by now.

Today is probably the last time we all came together to read news of Reaper; she seems to be doing well enough. Though damaged, we know she has the capacities and resources to repair. What is more, she started weaving a storm over Yokohama to obscure her position. Tokyo Bay is completely cut off because Reaper patrols there, cutting off a profitable trade route.

Maybe I should feel a little bad about this after all? Up to Yokohama was fine with me, that was the plan. Now Reaper acts on her own ideas and seems intent to end Japan as a nation. Ariel just came in and told me her storm advances toward Tokyo proper. That madlass forces the Japanese to evacuate the most populated city in the world. Any attempt to deter her is swallowed by the storm and swiftly lost.

If I could establish contact, I would call her back.

I also wonder how valid an idea it would be to make landfall myself. With most shipgirls gone and the country in disarray, I may be able to slip through. Then again, I still do not speak Japanese. My engines also still guzzle fuel like nobody's business; the tech for switching to a fission reactor is some time away and expensive, not to mention problematic in case it blows up.


Day 205

I think I said something about an idiot in charge?

It took me all of yesterday to figure out why the internet suddenly died on me. Something went wrong with the cable, but I could set up something to keep getting data. Turns out that China went ahead and nuked Japan to take Reaper down.

Let me repeat this: they nuked Japan. Sent that bomb down almost in the center of Tokyo.

To say the world is freaking out would be the understatement to end all understatements. I have no idea if Reaper can survive a nuke and doubt it, too. But despite feeling a little numb about that, I am more dumbfounded by what in the world could make that lot decide on this course of action. The Chinese defend themselves at the moment, but whatever happened there will make some huge changes to the global scene.

Japan is reeling; I can not tell if they will collapse entirely, but this may have been the final nail in the coffin.

I went and asked Frostbite to expand in the other direction. As much as the Japanese deserved retaliation, this went out of control. As prudent as it would be to capitalise, I know what my ally would do to all the people there. So no, none of that.

At the same time, I am not sure how to feel about China. The assholes killed Reaper. I was never warm on them, but that is more the people in charge and not the Chinese population. And even if I wanted to retaliate, China is less accessible to Abyssal forces unless I build another Colossus. Which will probably lock me into a circle of wasting resources on a great beast that gets nuked by the next great power.

Alternately, I do nothing. From what I read, China made themselves incredibly unpopular with that move. Japan alone will hate them for at least a few generations, especially if the country collapses now. The bombing of Tokyo cost many times more lives than Reaper's march did, not to mention most of them were civilians. If I retaliate against China, they may ride a wave of sympathy and manage to get out of the hot seat. If I do nothing to them, it will be the rest of the world to judge them.

And I can still figure something out if they do make it out of this unscathed.

So to recap: Japan lost Yokohama and the majority of IJN shipgirls to my Colossus Demon; I then lost my Colossus Demon to a nuke. Japan also lost Tokyo to the same nuke. China lost Face with basically everyone, and everyone lost their minds over this entire affair.

I guess that is not too bad for my first foray into naval warfare?

For now I will hug my emotional support Hannah, though.


Day 206

Still moody, much like everyone else. I stood outside in the storm for most of the day. Ariel joined me for a while, as did Sapphire. They caught on well enough not to really talk to me, but I feel a little better now. Some people say rain and storms bring down their mood, but I appreciate them; the rain most of all. It just has something calming to me, watching the droplets fall and little waves ripple in puddles.

Outside of that, I had to explain what nuclear weapons are to Frostbite and the other Abyssals. I also made it very clear that I will not make any no matter what happens, which I only had to say because they asked me to make them; otherwise I would just not have said anything on the matter. I am not a good liar, so I generally just omit things I do not want people to know. A bit like a certain bunnycat.

The world as a whole is still reeling. Hannah took to reading a lot of online news, in her own words to learn more about how humans work.

This gave me an idea, though; it helped distract me, too. I never really made more sound systems so far. Now we have a bunch, and headphones, too. It was nice to put on some songs I heard in the past, they remind me of home. That is, the time before I became an Abyssal.

I got the girls interested, too. So we spent the rest of the day looking up various genres to see who liked what.

 

[Naron]

Day 207

Good news and bad news.

The good news is that Reaper lives. She was already moving away from Tokyo when the nuke struck; the shockwave almost killed her anyway, but that Abyssal resistance and her own hardiness saw her through. She is currently resting off the coast of Japan to repair her systems and will make her way home soon enough.

On second thought, this is great news rather than merely good. We had another little party when the Abyss told me. It will never not be weird how knowledge just pops into my head, but I really could not care less today. This also neatly solves the moral dilemma of what to do with China; I can just do nothing and see what happens next. Still feel bad about Japan getting screwed over, but the nuke was far beyond any response I expected. So I am not taking responsibility for that.

Now for the bad news. They were not life-threateningly bad, but my sanity definitely was threatened today. I am honestly surprised it took so long, considering we had access to the Internet for a while.

Ariel stumbled upon more porn. And this time the others saw.

Although this is the only reason today was not a good day, it certainly contributed to making it a hassle. Having to explain this subject, again, to a bunch of human-adjacent beings that have no idea about any of it was more than a little weird. The only saving grace is that the Abyss thankfully took out all of it when appropriating shipgirl designs for its own use. No weird experiments, no sudden descent into depravity. None of that, thank you very much.

Honestly, it was nowhere near as bad as it could have been. The girls are a little fascinated with the subject, if mainly because it is so alien to them. At least we have the internet to answer whatever questions they have, which was a bunch. Last I checked on them before turning in, they were looking up all kinds of fetishes and laughing at them.

So yes, I really hope they grow bored with it soon and I can forget about this.


Day 210

Frostbite started building her first wave of forward bases. She made two more Mi-Class ships and I lent her Orion to help with the building; the poor girl was getting stir-crazy back at Haven.

Sapphire is out scouting as per usual, with my core of Demons ready for rapid deployment if she finds any threats. Battleship, carrier, and destroyer. Thinking of it that way, it all turned out quite well in little more than half a year. I have a working economy, my fleet is small but strong, and we may be looking toward a calm time ahead. That is, assuming nobody else decides to come knocking.

I also may have accidentally caused World War 3, which would be deeply ironic for reasons of my German heritage. But again, I take no responsibility for the nuke. I just sent the kaiju.

Anyway, I still have no complaints about Frostbite as my neighbour. She comes by every other day to meet for tea and discuss expansion plans. We also go over technology I am planning to research; now that she wants to expand the teleporter network, it will be prudent to improve their reach. Those techs are not cheap, but they will save us literal tons of resources in the future. Improved repair speed has to go on the backburner again, though I doubt Reaper would benefit much from it in her state.

The first few mines Orion once dug are running dry, too. Ionia told me as much after making today's delivery, hence why there was a lower turnout. Soon enough I will have to rely solely on my own generation and what Frostbite gives me. It feels not quite right to put this in her hand, but I can not really do much about it beside expanding.

Or can I?

It just occurred to me that I can transmute one element into another and that every common rock counts for that. Same for the ocean. Why did it take me this long to realise?

So yes, I have a fallback plan for such a time that our mines run out. I just need to be careful where I take the materials from.


Day 211

Did a test run of the transmutation thing, it works like a charm. I filled my loading bay with sea water and transmuted it into steel. That is resource issues resolved.

In other news, I noticed that Ariel made accounts on several websites. She even has an E-mail account now. One site is a web forum like where I used to hang out, though not the same one. Nothing I recognise, and I will not go to check if any of those has an equivalent here. I know Youtube exists at least.

Point is, Ariel talks to people online. I am not monitoring her, but she tells me that nobody figured out her being an Abyssal so far. Just some comments on the profile picture being herself, read an Abyssal. Not the weirdest thing in the world, though. Going by what Jeanne let slip to embarass her sister, Ariel looks up a lot of the things that come up in conversations.

As far as approaches to learning go, this one is pretty nifty.

Which reminds me that progress is good on lowering Abyssal instincts. Sapphire said earlier that she is starting to get used to our calm lifestyle. At first she constantly felt the need to go out and fight, especially when I would not let her. By now that feels less and less important to her. Then she gave me a cookie she baked, the first that came out well enough to give someone else.

This tells me that Abyssals are capable of becoming domestic and settling down. It may be a long-term concern, but I was wondering what will happen when the war is over. Assuming the Abyss wins, there will be no humans left after all. An Abyssal civil war would suck. I get the vague idea that no more Abyssals will spawn on their own once humanity is gone, but the Abyss does not seem to have a solid grasp on the aftermath either. Good thing I am here to stop it from dropping the ball and trying to end the Abyssals after their job is done.

That was something I worried about, yes. Although I doubt it will come up by now.

Frostbite seems to appreciate the idea as well. I was a little reluctant to share it with her for a while, but our discussion on base Abyssal nature turned out quite cordial. She says she feels no pressing need to keep waging war, especially after all the other pastimes I introduced. Hence why she plans to spread them along to every other Abyssal she meets along the way. I could only agree with that stance.

I still have trouble comprehending that I gave them proper civilisation. Did I make the comparison to Prometheus before? I really hope this ends better for me than it did for him.


Day 216

I really can get no more than a single week off. Though today was especially wild.

It started when Jeanne called in about a single shipgirl having crossed into my territory; she tripped the sensors. Sapphire has standing orders to act as a shadow unless I give the green light for harassing anyone, that is why the intruder was not immediately sunk. Good to know she adheres to it even in unusual circumstances.

At first I was mighty confused why one lonely shipgirl would come this far out. The survivor of a convoy that got hit elsewhere was my first thought, but a single call to Frostbite told me different; she had no contact with any fleets this week.

Then Sapphire radio'd in with the fact she was tailing a destroyer. Not even a capital ship or some special unit akin to a Demon, but a by all accounts normal destroyer. Although this confused my fleet more, it managed to clear some of my own confusion. I told Sapphire to get me a better description; she is a sneaky girl, so I was not worried for her safety. She can run away faster than anyone else in case someone spots her.

Thing is, she was not. Or if Akatsuki spotted her, she did not attack. Yes, the wayward destroyer came back and set course straight to Haven. I still have no idea what went through her head to do this, but there she was; she came here of all places after somehow surviving not just the raid on Haven, assuming she was involved, but also the battle at Yokohama.

I had Sapphire tail her to make sure she was aiming for Haven; once we could confirm that, I had a decision to make. This time my fleet was home, so I could not really hide it anymore. But at the same time, she was no real threat, not when any single one of my girls could annihilate her. Yet a warship's firepower in the form of a girl could still be troublesome to me personally.

All I knew for certain was that just sinking her felt wrong. Time gave me some distance from losing Hydra, even if it still stings; even if it was Akatsuki's doing or fault, killing her when she can not conceivably harm me still left a bad taste just thinking about. Call it naive, but I am not that sort of bloodthirsty.

Yet it was also true that she posed a risk. I discussed the issue with my girls while we waited, not really surprised that they were all for sinking her. It took a bit to convey my curiousity for why she would come all the way out here on her own; at least pointing it out gave them pause as well. We went and figured out a few safety measures.

I know I considered trying to keep this under wraps as long as I can, but at this point insisting on some silly ideas to keep conversation away from their ears felt even dumber. So I admitted to housing Akatsuki before; suffice it to say, Jeanne was particularly unhappy with me. Ariel frowned a little, but said nothing.

Much to my own surprise, Hannah came through for me. She made a reasonable but also worrisome argument that humans, and by extension shipgirls, can be swayed by good conduct; hence that my being kind to Akatsuki may well allow to flip her alignment or obtain information from her. While I appreciate Hannah's shrewd sense for manipulation, I really had to hold myself back from denying this rationale.

At that point my returning guest was only ten minutes out and I put the plan into motion. The storm dispersed, revealing Haven's still ravaged self with one change: where there were a little hill before, there is now a gleaming citadel; obsidian mainly, threaded with gold and silver. It looms ominously in the storm, but with sunlight it shines like a gem.

I also sent out my trio of Demons to welcome Akatsuki. Sapphire never revealed herself.

What exactly they said to her, I do not know. I asked them to be polite, so Hannah probably acted as their spokesperson there. Whatever was said however, Akatsuki agreed to give up her ammunition as a courtesy, to be returned by the time she leaves. Hannah's fairies searched her rigging for any hidden stockpiles, but found nothing.

Then they brought her into my newly fashioned throne room. Nothing too fancy, just a bigger room with an elevated platform at the end. Now that I could make proper pillows, sitting on a throne was not so bad either.

I honestly have no idea what went through Akatsuki's head when she came in. Alone, without weapons, and flanked by a pair of Demons. The windows around us grew dark when I called back the storm that I only lifted as a courtesy to my guest. She cowered a tiny bit, but somehow found enough courage not to even hesitate. Ariel swerved away to stand by my side while Hannah remained next to her. Looking down on Akatsuki like that made me feel bigger than I was. I am not sure I like the feeling.

Hannah then made a show of taking a knee before me. Our guest did not follow suit, something almost defiant in her features. I could only roll my eyes and told my Demon to get up. Then I got to business asking Akatsuki why she came back here.

"I need to know" is what she answered, voice quiet. "Why did you do it? I know it was your monster. You said you don't want to fight, so why?"

I thought her eyes quivered for a moment there, but she stood tall under my attention. Something about it gave me pause; I knew she was disarmed, but right then Akatsuki still felt like someone dangerous.

All I could give her was the truth, though. "I could ask you the same: why did you pass on word of this place? I meant it when I said I'm happy to live and let live, but I will not roll over if people come to kill me first. That should be obvious."

I wanted to say more, but stopped myself. I am so used to giving reasoned arguments for both sides that it sometimes takes over, but talking to Frostbite gave me some practice only representing my own position. At least my girls kept out of it.

To say Akatsuki was upset would be an understatement.

"I won't say that's wrong, I can't. But so many people died because of you. I thought... I thought you might be different."

I could only arch a brow at her. "I ordered Reaper to destroy Yokohama Naval Base and told her to spare civilian lives where possible. Why do you think so many could escape her? My retaliation went only against the fleet that came for my home."

Akatsuki's mouth was flopping like that of a fish; she was so out of her depth here, I am not even sure how she imagined the conversation to go. That I would start gloating about having tricked her? How did she expect to get out alive if I actually had?

Some prodding revealed at least one thing: Akatsuki herself had no real idea why she came here. Maybe she wanted someone to hate properly instead of being so confused. Maybe she subconciously understands her own admiral was the one who caused the disaster. She did not even hear about the nuke until I told her, at which point she called me a liar again until I showed her the news articles and outright information war currently going on.

At that point she just collapsed into herself; even Jeanne winced a little at the sobbing pile of destroyer on the floor.

I had Ariel carry her into one of the guest rooms and tucked her in with a platter of sweets nearby. A drone is standing guard outside of the door, though its only purpose is to alert one of us if she tries to leave.

We discussed what to make of this afterward. None of the girls really understood Akatsuki's behaviour, though neither did I. It was a dumb thing to come all the way out here when her country needed her. Dumber still to sail into Abyssal territory on her lonesome. Had anyone else spotted her, she would be on the bottom of the sea now. Sapphire and Jeanne still made an argument of whether we should sink her; I overruled them for the same reasons as last time I had Akatsuki here, but it was far easier than I expected.

We also agreed to keep this within the fleet if possible. Frostbite and her girls generally announce themselves before coming over, so it may work. They are busy at the moment anyway, and I see little of them.


Day 217

Little happened today. Akatsuki has a bout of depression and stayed in bed all day. I asked if anyone wanted to keep her company and even got a volunteer, though not the one I expected. Meaning Jeanne. Despite her talking about killing the shipgirl in her sleep, she agreed to stay around. Maybe it was worry that Akatsuki will try something bad if left unsupervised.

Whatever the case, she behaved. In fact, she even got a little bit out of Akatsuki over the day. Turns out her entire division was destroyed during the attack on Yokohama. Same as all her sister ships. She really, really wants to blame me, but can not bring herself to; same as with her admiral. The other thing Jeanne learned is that it was indeed that guy who gave the order to stamp me out after receiving Akatsuki's report. The little destroyer tried to explain how I might be different, but he did not want to take chances.

She was not around for the attack on Haven, but heard word of the return fire the Japanese forces received. From what Jeanne tells me, Akatsuki blames herself for not trying harder to stop it. She also blames herself more than me for Yokohama and the following nuke. That is a lot of blame she puts onto her own shoulders.

I went and talked to her this evening because it took some time to formulate a proper response. I really did not like what I saw, that listless blob of a girl curled up under the covers.

So I asked her straight-up if she is considering seppuku, that is suicide to atone for her sins. She only twitched, but the lack of a denial really says more than anything else.

There was a statement in a game that stayed with me: 'people who say they want to die want to live more than anyone. It is those who stay quiet and silently fade away that seek death'. Or something like that.

I do not like the implications here.

 

[Naron]

Day 218

There is nothing nice about a depressed destroyer, except this alliteration. Akatsuki is still on suicide watch, but at least she did not actually try. I will have to take her outside tomorrow, at least on a little walk or something.

It should be noted I do not and have never suffered from depression. I did research the subject a little for my writing before, though. So while I am no expert, I have a bit of an idea how to interact with this. I can only hope that this is only a passing bout and not something permanent; both of these do in fact exist. Then again, is it even possible for a shipgirl to develop clinical depression?

These are all good questions that I am neither equipped to answer, nor interested in answering. All I care about at the moment is the nearly unresponsive girl taking up one of my guestrooms. The same girl who is supposedly my mortal enemy.

I think it says something that even Sapphire stopped asking me to finish her off.

The one good thing about today is that Reaper entered radio range and contacted us to report her survival. I already knew because the Abyss told me, as much as it can 'tell', but it was good to hear from her either way. The girls brightened up over these news, too.

Going by her report, Reaper will need about a year to fully repair everything. I still neglected repair speed, but even that is unlikely to help much; plus, well, I do not expect much fighting from now on, so making her combat ready as fast as possible is not a priority. There is so much else to do.

She will need another few days to return, our estimate is around three. Which will be an experience, what with Akatsuki here. She may not blame me, but if my guess is even halfway correct and shipgirls can have nightmares, then Reaper will feature prominently in hers.

I need to figure something out before then.


Day 219

She is still perfectly ready to hole up in her room, but I got her to come outside for a bit. I even dispersed the storm so she can have some sunshine. It was still somewhat heartbreaking to watch; Akatsuki has so little energy at the moment, as if something sucked it all out of her. Little more than a wreck was left behind.

We talked very little; I know that it is bad for her to stay inside of her own head so much, but I am not much of a talker. It felt too uncomfortable to turn into a chatterbox when I got no responses at all. At least that helped to not stick my foot in my mouth regarding Reaper.

I also insisted that my guest eat properly; at least that got a proper reaction out of her. It seems Akatsuki did not really register the fact we have food here, much less real meals. If nothing else, she all but devoured the lunch Jeanne cooked for everyone. Then an entire cake Sapphire made. I think that is progress? At least it was more of a food coma than a depressive haze that she ended up in.

I have to say, though: Sapphire and Jeanne turned into a great duo in the kitchen. I ate almost as much as Akatsuki because their daily practice paid off so well. Also because I can; Abyssals do not gain or lose weight from regular food. Well, I guess we technically do, but what is a few kilograms when our displacement is measured in thousands of tons?

Regardless, today saw some progress on the Akatsuki front. Then Hannah figured me out.

I do not know how long she knew by that point. She approached me rather openly once I was on my own, it was so casual I thought it was just another routine report at first. She adjusted well enough to tell me straight-up instead of beating around the bush, too.

"You do not actually wish to eradicate humanity."

It was not even a question. I am not sure what gave me away on that end; Hannah had no idea why she was the first to understand that without me outright saying it, either. At least she was not mad or felt betrayed by it, if a little confused.

I believe I mentioned before that I am a bad liar. I was also raised not to lie, so I had no real inclination to deny anything. I told Hannah she was right and then asked what she thought of it. Thankfully, she just shrugged in response and said she does not mind. "I will have to adjust my own operating parameters, but I will remain in line with your desires, Princess."

She is oddly demure for a Demon; from what the Abyss lets me know, those are generally more individualistic. Hannah breaks the mold, maybe because she is an escort type instead of a capital ship. She has no qualms going along with whatever I say. It may relate to the other thing she told me, though. When I asked if it was really fine with her just to make sure, she said something like this: "While I feel the urge to destroy them, I refuse to let something not myself define me. I follow Princess Dagon's orders because I so wish. And even if we tallied up the importance of these two outside forces, your word weighs far greater."

So yeah. My little destroyer refuses the Abyss itself for me. I felt more than a little touched hearing that and gave her a big hug. It really means a lot more than she probably imagines.

Unfortunately, we both agree that the others would not understand my desires like Hannah does. Ionia and Orion may because they lack the instincts. I will go and talk to each of them soon, one on one. Hannah agreed to try talking to Akatsuki; maybe another destroyer can empathise better.


Day 220

Reaper will be back tomorrow. I am both relieved and worried in equal measure.

We got Akatsuki to eat with us again. Whatever Hannah is saying to her seems to help. Not only that, but I am also learning a few more things about the Abyssal emotional range; all my girls show signs of pity, some even dote on the forlorn destroyer. They are definitely capable of rejecting their instincts when due impulse is given. I imagine part of it is the various experiences I stuffed into their memories, but the rest should still be their being semi-related to humans. The Abyss did not take that out.

Or rather, it just told me, at first it did. The result was something that could not sustain itself on a stunted emotional range. It ostensibly worked, if only in the sense that it went after humans and killed them. It was just not good at strategy or self-improvement. Kind of expected that half a human mindset with some alien bits slapped on would fall short of a full human. We, or rather they, grew to become the dominant species based on this ingenuity after all.

I went and asked about making something completely inhuman, which feels like the next approach. The Abyss can theoretically do that. But, and this is hilarious, it is too lazy to do so. Why reinvent the wheel if it can just copy a working chassis to fill with Abyss stuff? It varies the components from time to time in an emulation of evolution, but has yet to find an improvement beyond fixing the biological stopgaps that humans need to function.

That is one way to find out I am infertile. Then again, I do not really care much; if we are being technical, my girls could count as daughters anyway.

Back to the subject at hand, the general air of hostility toward Akatsuki has completely lifted by now. They have not suddenly become great friends, but they are polite to each other; I can appreciate that. Our guest talked a lot with Hannah today, though Jeanne joined in on occasion.


Day 221

Reaper returned as predicted. I directed her to a little cove beneath the waves to stay hidden from Akatsuki. She did not like the prospect of an enemy being in our base, but I somehow got through to her. The girls each went to welcome her back on their own time.

Akatsuki's recovery continues apace as well. I may be a bit too hopeful there, but she might just bounce back entirely with some more peace and calm.

Thing is, none of us has much of an idea what to do with her afterward. Not even Akatsuki herself. She already admitted she had no real plan when she came out here, that she honestly expected to die along the way or by my hand. That was my reminder she is a Japanese warship and holds traditional Japanese values. Honour is big for her; she not only failed to protect her 'liege', but also failed her mission and lost her sisters.

The fact she is recovering at such a rate is a small miracle in itself. I am not sure if I can attribute it to her nature as a shipgirl, or if this says more about Akatsuki as a person. Either way, I hope she recovers fully.

We talked a little and I let her wander around in the sun for a bit; it is a nice change of pace if nothing else, having the constant storm gone from time to time. She mostly spoke with my fleet, though.

I went to have a little meeting with Frostbite as well; the first teleporters are fully constructed and forward bases took up steam. Her drones excavate and more resources stream back into her stockpiles. Orion reports nothing out of the orinary, though no contact was established with other Abyssals just yet. It is a first step toward naval supremacy that we may desperately need in the future.


Day 223

I am no longer sure about Akatsuki's recovery. Not because she had a relapse, but because she got weirdly introspective since yesterday evening. Maybe it was something one of the girls said to her; from how it sounded when she explained, they talked about the events leading up to Reaper's creation.

Then she came to talk to me less than an hour ago. Specifically, to ask about an alliance against the Chinese.

Her words are still floating through my head.

"I acknowledge that you are not the one to be blamed for what befell Japan. It was more my own failure to convince the admiral than your rightful retribution. But what is unforgivable is the events that followed, the nuke deployed on my home by a foreign force. If you are willing, I wish to ask your help in punishing them for their actions."

At least writing this down helps getting it out of my head. Suffice it to say, I do not like where this is going.

From what Akatsuki explained afterward, she mulled over her next steps. There is precious little she can do for Japan, being just one ship. Yamato was sunk at Yokohama, the closest to a symbol for the nation now gone. Japan does not have the resources to summon her again, what with most of Tokyo having turned into a crater. At the same time, Akatsuki can not just turn her back on her home; she already declined not one but two offers to join my fleet. Neither of them was given by me, for the record.

By her logic, which I can follow, all that remains is revenge.

I like to think I am not a vengeful person myself, even if Reaper's existence would say otherwise. I am definitely a spiteful person, though. I understand where Akatsuki is coming from; some of my favourite stories feature vegeance in one form or another. But I also know where that kind of thinking can lead.

That is why I tried to talk it through with Akatsuki; I reminded her that violence is a cycle. She may get her satisfaction and hurt the Chinese, but then those she hurt will hit back and maybe kick the already downed Japanese further into despair. But at the same time I understand that letting go of these feelings is no easy feat, either. It is not an easy position to be in.

Akatsuki was thankfully calm during our conversation. She let me say my piece and offered her own thoughts on the matter. She even agreed on the nature of violence, yet refused to back down. According to her, her people are already doomed; the Chinese can do precious little to make that worse. But the international outcry and sanctions are nowhere near enough of a punishment for her liking; she wants to see China bleed.

I guess that is fair enough. I am more detached from the situation than she is.

We also talked about my involvement in such a retaliatory strike. I have a small fleet and no intentions to make it bigger. I specifically plan to stay out of this and let the humans figure themselves out; one point Akatsuki had to agree with is that an Abyssal invasion would lead to humanity closing ranks. It may allow China to sweep this under the rug while everyone is distracted fighting an outside threat.

This was also the one and only time I actually had to refuse an answer; Akatsuki asked me why I keep only a small fleet. I almost slipped up there before remembering that she will carry this knowledge back with her. So I told her that is classified; she can not know unless she actually joins my fleet.

We did not reach any consensus tonight, but it was still a productive discussion. I have to include the others in it tomorrow, at least for brainstorming.

In regard to tech, I am making good progress on improved teleport range. The few small upgrades I can fit in at the sides are not particularly relevant; general good stuff like a bit of fuel efficiency or improved weather control for my Demons and me.


Day 229

We spent most of the week talking things over and slacking off, really. The world slowly calms from events in Japan, but humanity is still focussed on their own; that means I have time to just do whatever and see what happens.

Unfortunately, Akatsuki caught wind of the fact I have access to the Internet. She finally remembered how I originally proved the nuke incident to her. What is more, either she did not realise the implications of an Abyssal being connected to human knowledge and news, or she did not mention them. Maybe she actually does trust me? Or she was too distracted absorbing every scrap of information she could get about Japan's state.

There was a bit of a relapse, but she kept bouncing back afterward. From what Hannah reported, Abyssal attacks are down to a record low; the Abyss confirms that, having spread my sense of waiting and seeing everywhere. Let humanity fight themselves for now. I am not entirely sure how to feel about that, but I guess I should not complain.

I just had to take a break because Ariel came in with news. Turns out the US launched a surprise attack on China. They had to, I am pretty sure; not a political expert, but I think not acting after one of their nominal allies got a nuclear warhead dropped on them would have been disastrous for public perception.


Day 230

Welp. There we have it. World War III. More and more countries are getting involved.

Now the question is how many nukes we will see. Akatsuki was pretty pale when we discussed the matter as a group, she may have been wondering the same. At least she gets her wish that China is punished.

She took me aside after breakfast, though. Asked if I have anything that could help with the radiation, or with protecting from nuclear warfare. I did not, though some dabbling in fission research for Reaper's reactor gave me an idea of what techs there are. I told her I will give it some thought.

The girls are doing fine otherwise; they are less excited about the prospect of war than I expected, though. I am unsure if this is their opinions changing, or just the fact they are not involved. At least the Abyss is pleased, though recent events are more people being stupid than me having done anything.

I had Orion here as well today. She took a mandated break; read, mandated by me. A workaholic she may be, but I will not allow her to just keep on working if I can prevent it. At this point I do not even need to have another ship drag her away from work; she acknowledged herself that taking breaks is conductive to better results. Progress.

Honestly, everyone was home today. I spent a little while walking with Ionia and played a game with Ariel and Jeanne. Then Sapphire took me aside to help bake another cake for everyone. She really grew to love the kitchen, the oven in particular.

It was nice. I need to recharge my own social battery now, but spending time with everyone like this more than makes up for it. We had fun together. Even Akatsuki managed to forget about the war for a bit.

I will need to speak with Frostbite, too. She has not heard the news yet and should adjust her paradigm accordingly. If nothing else, we should have an easier time securing the sea as long as we avoid the Americans crossing over.

This will take a lot more time to think through properly. For now I need sleep.

 

[Naron]

Day 240

We got into a bit of a rhythm this last week and a half. Everything remained calm just like I thought it would. Akatsuki settled in well enough, though Hannah tells me that her fellow destroyer is starting to brim with energy. They did some live fire exercises together, but the action did not help bleed off that excess.

I can tell she grows more and more anxious the longer she is away from home; Japan needs her, is what she told me when I asked. Her depressive episode has thankfully passed, but I asked her to wait anyway. I may not be responsible for the mess this ended up being, but I still feel bad about not helping when I can; the thing I want Akatsuki to wait for will be finished tonight. But I will get to that later.

Equally important is that Frostbite sighted US convoys at the edge of her territory earlier today. Her expansion continues apace and she thankfully took my advice not to attack them; the heavy shipgirl escort aside, all those ships were moving toward mainland Asia.

I also introduced Akatsuki to Frostbite yesterday; trying to hide the girl just became more of a chore than I was comfortable with. My fellow Princess was not amused at first, though I could talk her around before she actually met and killed the girl. Their interaction was kind of frosty, though. At least she no longer needs to hide in her room.

"What exactly is your goal with her?" was what Frostbite asked me later. I could only shrug, well aware there is no grand plan.

"I'm not the sort that can look people in the eye while hurting them. Akatsuki is a bit of an odd case at this point, but having her is no real risk."

I need to check if I thought something similar the first time I let her go, but I think I was well aware what might happen. Either way, Frostbite was not convinced, but agreed to play along. I am the Tech Administrator Princess after all. In her words: "Your approach and mine will differ because we have different priorities. I will accept your wisdom, though I do not share your optimism."

Or something like that. Which is a fair argument to make. She is the military arm to my science division, solving problems with violence is what she does. I guess it says a lot about Abyssals that we do not have any civilians outside of our transports and drones. The latter can not even count anymore because Orion installed guns in every single one of mine; a practice that was emulated by her peers in Frostbite's fleet.

Sure, drones with guns are nowhere near as powerful or effective as a proper warship. But it is cheap to mount a cannon on top of an existing drone, and any firepower is infinitely more dangerous than no firepower. Especially if a Mi-Class or other commanding ship coordinates volleys from thirty of those cannons.

I do not expect to need any of this in the near future, but you never know. Hence why I will never even think about telling Frostbite to slow down on manufacturing warships. Her fleet keeps swelling as she gains more territory, though she only adds a handful of ships at most. Most of her resource income goes right back into expansion. The slowly growing teleport network means that she saves great amounts of fuel on transportation. What is more, even in case of an attack she needs only a pittance of fuel to rally her entire fleet and pour out onto wherever the front line is.

That said, I talked to her about another mean paradigm that she thinks has potential: let an enemy fleet enter her territory, then hit them in the front and the back via teleportation.

Being the only ones with access to that technology really makes it a game changer. It would probably be one even if others had it as well. As is, nobody even knows we have it. That and Frostbite's sizable fleet should be enough to fight off any future assault.

And that is enough about theoretical attacks I doubt will ever come. Back to the thing my labs are inventing for Akatsuki.

It took a while even when I fast-tracked this particular line. I had to ask Frostbite to chip in once as well because it is reasonably pricey. But when it is complete, it may just be the thing Japan needs most right now. Well, maybe not most, but it will help a lot. I can not feed however many refugees there are at the moment, though the UN is already doing what they can from what I heard. No, I am putting together an anti-radiation device. A machine that can clean its surrounding area of radiation, including in living organisms, to no downsides. And it only uses a minimum of soul voodoo, which is still my favourite term.

'Minimum' meaning that it needs an Abyssal holding it to keep working; something about our nature recharges them. Right now my scientists are figuring out how to extend that to human-aligned shipgirls, which is apparently easier than they anticipated. Either way, this will be my gift to Akatsuki; it will allow her to cleanse Tokyo and her people.

It also has absolutely no combat applications, I made sure of that. Humanity can have it, reverse-engineer it, they will not learn anything new. Actually, they might. I can not even guess what insane ideas a human scientist might come up with. What I know is that there are no combat applications gated behind this technology on my tech tree. So I doubt they will come up with anything in the near future, if they even try.

And just as I wrote this, I got the report that the device is done. Tomorrow will be interesting.


Day 241

Well. To say Akatsuki was impressed would be a great understatement. She started jumping in joy and tackle-hugged me once I explained what the Radia-Gone does. Yes, I gave it a silly name, such is my prerogative as the creator. My science Fairies do not count, they are technically a part of me.

The girl was ecstatic to even just receive one, but I gave her three. Using them is as simple as breathing; each device is the size and approximate shape of a football. The round one, not what the Americans call a football. Press the button on top to turn it on or off, then hold it while walking around. I tested on some leftovers out of Reaper's reactor just to make sure, it works fine.

It got a little less nice after that, though I should have expected it. Akatsuki insisted on heading out immediately to share this with her country. She was so excited I could not bear holding her back.

There was just one issue: we do not know it for a fact, but it is unlikely there are no Abyssals between Haven and Japan. Whatever luck had her make it here in one piece, I highly doubt she will make it back as well. So I decided to give the escort an escort; 'no' was not an answer I took on this one. The girls themselves were a little confused, but accepted well enough that I refuse to go through all this effort only to have Akatsuki sunk before it can be used.

Which is why Ariel, Jeanne, and Hannah all went to accompany her. No Abyssal will shoot at three Demons passing by. And if some human idiot tries, they are more than capable of defending themselves and her. I gave them enough supplies to cross the entire world if they must, just because I can.

I also quietly put repair speed on the research queue after all. I do not really want to consider the worst case, but if it does happen, then Reaper will sally forth once more.

Either way, I saw the girls off in the afternoon; we had a hearty meal first, anything else would not have felt right. I stayed at the beach until they were out of sight; that made me think once more, realising the downsides of being almost landbound. Then I went for a swim without my rigging, just to spite whatever convention made it so I only guzzle fuel with it on.

At least Frostbite's growing teleport network will let me get places without depleting my own reserves. It is less bad after researching several steps of fuel efficiency, but still prohibitively expensive. I am not sallying unless I must, which becomes less and less likely.

For now I will enjoy the quiet. Sapphire is on patrol duty as the only remaining warship, Orion and Ionia are frequently out to assist my partner. Reaper just slumbers below the sea. Meaning I have Haven all to myself.

I do get some alone time most days, but this is pretty nice. Usually there is always something happening; it feels a little too calm without anyone here, though. I will recharge my social batteries tomorrow and then think about what else to do.


Day 242

Turns out some plants survived the bombardment of Haven. Or rather their seeds did; they are slowly starting to sprout. So I am spending today and the next few days doing some terraforming. Frostbite did not mind giving me some plants and animals from her own isle.


Day 243

Frostbite is a bit of a bitch, making me catch those things on my own. I am a research platform, not a sparrow!


Day 247

Haven is coming along nicely. It will take years for the trees to grow back, mind, but I uprooted some from elsewhere to start the process. The animals seem happy enough, at least; I put a few of the prominent species here. The plants will do nicely with my citadel looming over the island; they should make a better look than the barren rock. Maybe it will even look a little inviting.

Anyway, the busywork felt good. I focussed on it almost exclusively and got a lot done. Though some of it was my home crew of drones; they smoothed out a few craters and connected bits and pieces. I also found out that they can do sand instead of stone sludge.

It feels strangely nostalgic to be alone with them, like the first days. I am not sure to be surprised it has only been nine months since I woke up here, or that it has already been that long.


Day 250

Akatsuki reached Japan today. I know it for a fact because there was a media hubbub. Word got out that she was seen approaching in a group of Abyssals, who swerved away far off the coast. Though I saw separate reports of my girls staying close enough to look at Japan for a little while.

Honestly, the main reason there is commentary in the international media is the connection; people speculate wildly what the Abyssals have to do with the unexplainable machine that reliably clears out radiation. Akatsuki carried it through the outskirts of Tokyo while hooked up to a Geiger counter. Works like a charm, confusing and amazing the world.

As it turns out, shipgirls can be resummoned; I know that because I saw a picture of Akatsuki with her sister Hibiki. And I know for a fact that Hibiki was sunk during the assault on Haven. The two carried the devices through refugee camps, clearing the radiation even from the people there.

There was no mention in the journals I checked, but I imagine a number of groups are salivating over these devices. Here is to hoping Akatsuki took my advice not to let any of them leave her possession until their purpose is fulfilled. I am not going to send them more just because they broke those.

Then again, beggars can not be choosers. The existence of these devices is already public knowledge, even if everyone speculates about their workings and origins. A number of people have already guessed the correct answer, if not the circumstances; there are some wild rumours that Akatsuki defeated an Abyssal Princess in single combat to gain access to her powers. Sapphire and I had a good laugh about that one.


Day 251

I am getting a little worried now. On one hand, Akatsuki seems to do as I suggested and keep the Radia-Gone closeby. On the other hand, she has been carrying them across the country in precise patterns since her return to Japan. It has been over thirty hours and she shows no signs of stopping or slowing. Her sister helps, but nobody seems able to convince her to stop or let someone else do it.

It is definitely too early to tell, but so far nobody tried to take the devices away from her either. At least there are no mentions of such a thing happening. Then again, there is actually a livestream following her around after confirming there is no danger of radiation in her vicinity. Four or five people keep switching the camera between each other over the hours, intent on documenting her progress.

It is a pretty calm stream, all things considered. There are a lot of people and I have no idea what anyone is saying, but Akatsuki seems to be warmly received wherever she goes. Sometimes she turns around to wave at the camera; I can see the shadows under her eyes, but she still does not seem ready to take a break.

Hibiki does argue more with her as time goes on, though. They were talking back and forth at least three times over the last hour. Which tells me I probably spent too much time watching this today. At least Akatsuki is doing well.


Day 252

Second verse, same as the first. Akatsuki is still going strong. From what I saw, people took to feeding her as she walked. It is kind of cute to watch an old lady pop sweets into her mouth and wiping it with a napkin, even as neither of them stops walking.

The international response continues to be baffled, though news of the war are also trickling in. I am honestly not looking at that because I do not want to. The minutiae of what happens there are not conductive to my mental health. I know ignoring it will not make it go away, but this is an issue I refuse to engage with.

The quiet is starting to bother me, though. I have Sapphire out patrolling less to keep me company. Reaper moved to nap on the beach and the storm hides us all from view, so anyone coming at us needs to get through her first. My Colossus may need a ton of repairs, but she can hold long enough for Frostbite to mobilise.

Something else I noticed is that Sapphire makes decent progress with her carving hobby. She looks up some guides on the Internet and seems to take a lot of mileage out of them. Maybe I should get back into drawing as well, I definitely have the free time for it. Writing is kind of covered with these logs, though I write too little here to qualify for my previous pace.

It just occurred to me that if another version of the old me exists here, I may be able to find him via the works I know I wrote. But even if those are the same through whatever divergent experiences he had, I do not think I want to meet myself. The Abyss is silent on the matter, not that I expected an answer.

Moving on, I rather forget this entire train of thought. Sapphire is getting pretty good, so I am pondering to let her refine the carvings along Haven again. My citadel is looking nice, but a more personal touch would be even better. Maybe I can synthesize some paint as well, though I am not sure how well that would stick to the walls.

Haven is really starting to feel like a home of late. It has been for a while, but the feeling was odd.

Maybe I should be more sorrowful about the people left behind in my old life, but there is really nothing I can do. I do not even know if the Abyss took me along after death, abducted my body and soul, or just made a copy of my brain to stuff into this new chassis. Then again, copy-paste sounds like the easiest approach and I already know the Abyss is as lazy as I am.

It also just confirmed that this was copy-paste. So I do not need to worry about being gone from my previous life. I still miss them, but that is alright. Simply move on along.

I went to distract myself for a bit and checked the livestream again. It turns out that Hibiki finally called it quits and manhandled Akatsuki into a bed. She was out like a light the moment her head hit the pillow, but from what I saw her sister takes no risks there; she is still hugging her tight. At least Akatsuki will get some proper sleep.

Also, some people are poking and prodding the Radia-Gone. Nobody tried to take it so far, they are just curious what it does. The glowering destroyer may play a part in this, though she does not stop people from being around them. It was honestly interesting to watch, even if I did not understand anything they said. Shipgirls are somewhat divorced from human norms in that sense, perfectly willing to let others be near. Not like they could hurt them anyway.


Day 253

The Internet is still the same. There is so much art of the two destroyers in bed, and most of it is porn.

Nothing else of interest today, I just wanted to have it known some things will never change.

 

[Naron]

Day 255

My girls radio'd in today. They encountered no problems and are en route to Haven. They were not followed either, though I guess a wandering storm is hard to miss. Then again, they said they occassionally make it disperse, both to throw off pursuit and because Ariel came to like the sunlight.

Good thing Abyssals can not get sunburnt. Considering how pale we all are, that would happen right quick if we could.

Akatsuki is still doing her thing, though she now takes occasional breaks. Hibiki and a battleship called Yashima support her, each of them carrying another Radia-Gone. The Internet still goes on about where the devices came from, but so far nobody tried to take them off Akatsuki; I guess this is a case of not looking a gift horse in the mouth. I saw some theories about actual divine intervention, too.

Those people will be so disappointed if they ever find out.


Day 258

Had a longer discussion with Frostbite today. She is getting annoyed by the constant sea travel passing through her territory. Especially now that she managed to make contact with another Princess. Her name is Briar and she is an Airstrip Princess controlling Hawaii. Also about as landlocked as I.

I should probably note that Frostbite's expansion is nowhere near Hawaii yet. Her scouts met Briar's scouts and exchanged information, though no tech. We face a similar problem to when we first met and it will take at least a week to pass a single message.

Funnily enough, Frostbite told me she now understood perfectly well why I just gave her the radio tech for free. Having it makes waiting so long an even greater annoyance than it was before. Hence why she changed course; right now her builders focus solely on a line of outposts aiming toward Hawaii, close enough to contact Briar without need for any relays. This will still take time, but we joked that it is faster than just exchanging messages.

Not to mention that we can link up with another Princess. If she then does the same as Frostbite, we may actually be able to link up Abyssals across the globe at some point. Going by how far out her own scouts were, she definitely seems to hold a sizable territory. They did not know what was going on and were looking for American ships, we have not told them yet.

That may just be a headache and a half to deal with.


Day 259

The girls came home. We had a little celebration for their first complete sortie into human territory, though Jeanne insisted that it was nothing grand. She is right, but I felt like celebrating anyway. They went all the way and returned without needing to fire a single shot. Another Abyssal scout watched them for a time, but did not attack; that poor girl must have been so confused.

Hannah told me about how she formed an accord with Akatsuki along the way; with them both being destroyers, the girls got along quite well. She also made sure to remind Akatsuki not to let anyone take the Radia-Gone away.

She also said that her sort-of friend was deep in thought for most of the journey. There was some sort of plan brewing in her head, but she never said what it was. Ariel and Jeanne agreed on that one. Only Hannah decided to prod and pry a little, but it did not work out.

They took the news of Briar with good cheer, too.

Meanwhile, Frostbite is stockpiling resources while focussed on only a single outpost at a time; her growing territory and numerous mines on the ocean floor make her more and more rich in that regard. She will have to restructure her logistics network soon, though. I offered to help and hope I actually can; if we manage to cover most of the Pacific, then Frostbite will rule the largest singular domain in the world.

We have the slight advantage that there are no civilians living in that territory, else distributing resources would become a real nightmare. I already asked Orion for help with this and she agreed, then Ionia volunteered to assist as well. Those two may not be warships, but they are definitely willing to do their part.

We will be busy until at least the end of the year, but I do not mind. It is actually pretty nice to do things again.


Day 261

Maybe Akatsuki went insane after all. I still do not know how to feel about today and neither does anyone else. Except Hannah, she had a giggling fit when she saw that speech her friend made. And she had a big smile on her face the rest of the day.

It has been one and a half weeks since that girl returned to Japan. There is still a lot of ground to cover, but she and her sisters in arms actually made a decent amount of land habitable again. Volunteers are cleaning up the rubble and rebuilding has slowly begun. Today she decided to break her silence, requested to hold a speech on live television and livestream.

I already knew something was up when the Internet exploded about it, but had to wait for a full translation. And while I could say a lot about what she explained there, it will be easier to just copy the transcript for posterity.

"Sisters and fleetmates, brave soldiers of the JSDF, people of Japan and of the world. I am Akatsuki, first of the Akatsuki-Class destroyers and former member of Destroyer Division Six. For the last ten days, I have worked to undo the horrific injustice we suffered by the hands of our unexpected enemies. Many times I was asked which unlikely ally may have given me these wondrous tools to do so; whether a kind angel descended from the heavens to grant me this boon, or whether the kami smiled upon me."

"Today I wish to reveal to you the truth and beg your understanding. I remained quiet too long. My story begins weeks before the day of the kaiju's emergence upon Japan's shores."

"During deployment against an Abyssal Princess far out to sea, we were suddenly beset by a great amount of opposition. Elite units and Abyss Demons struck our force, sinking a number of ships and almost destroying me as well. We were dispersed like still water if a rock were dropped in its midst. I do not recall crawling ashore. Perhaps the kami did indeed smile upon me that night, for when I woke I had been saved."

"However, the woman who saved me was not one of ours, nor of our esteemed allies of the USN. Her name is Dagon and she is a Princess of the Abyss."

(There was a long pause here, probably because people lost it.)

"Neither is this a joke, nor an embellishment. I was saved by an Abyssal. Of course I was scared at first, well aware that there can be no friendship between us and them. Or so I believed at the time, at least. Dagon allowed me to use her repair baths and was overall a kind if, distant host. She asked me no questions about Japan or the IJN, made no attempt to torture me for information. I have no complaints and only praise for her conduct. Once the brunt of my damages were repaired, she freely parted with enough fuel to see me home and let me go."

"My admiral did not believe it when I told him after my return. I understand to be wary, I too could hardly believe what happened to me. For a month I was examined in any conceivable way to find something nasty, an infiltration device, any sort of mental effect. Every single test came back negative; no changes were made to my ship self and no contraband was found. The admiral still did not believe we were dealing with a potential friendly. The USN offered a flotilla currently on loan to Japan to assist in ambushing this new Princess. I had seen no other beings bar two during my stay. Based on this, they deemed Dagon easily handled."

"Of the entire fleet that went to subjugate her, only a handful of ships returned. I was never made privy to what exactly happened that day and do not dare speculate. What I know is that it was not her who attacked us first."

"When I asked of Dagon why she showed me kindness, she asked me if it was wrong to want to be kind. The day she let me go, she said she wants to be involved in the war as little as possible. In this we forced her hand, just like any of us would retaliate after being attacked. The monster that destroyed Yokohama was of her making. I knew the moment we first heard of it. A message made for all of us fools to leave her be, or suffer the consequences."

"Many may curse the beast for the events that transpired, but I respectfully disagree with such a notion. Dagon herself told me that she gave her monster orders to leave the civilian population alone, to only destroy Yokohama Naval Base. Neither was it her who brought forth the true catastrophe; this monstrous act rests on the shoulders of humans and humans alone. I refuse to let them avoid punishment by blaming their actions on the one Abyssal we can work with."

"After the destruction of Yokohama Naval Base, I went to confront her with my emotions awhirl. She showed patience and once again kindness I still believe I did not deserve. In the end, she even up and created these anti-radiation devices for me to take back. What happened to Tokyo sickened even her."

"I understand the confusion and worry many of you must feel. For a time I felt the same. But I have seen no adverse effects whatsoever over the last days. Again and again I expected falsehood, only to be given truth and kindness. At this point I believe in her goodwill, and even if I did not, we as a people do not have a choice anymore than to trust. Trust in those who came to help, be they human or not. We must trust them for Japan to live."

End of quote.

So yeah, Akatsuki went for broke there. I listened to the audio broadcast too, there was a lot of emotion packed into her voice. She spoke from the heart, which made me feel a little fluttery. I had no idea she puts so much faith in me. Even if she is right that Japan needs outside help after that nuke, I remember enough media to know the Japanese are a proud people. They may very well decide to shun an Abyssal's help and rather wither away from the radiation.

Then again, the Internet seems to have its own civil war on the subject. There are a bunch of hardline groups declaring that such a thing as a kind Abyssal can not exist, but a number of people seem tentatively interested in the story as well. Considering Akatsuki's presence, her clearly being a shipgirl, and the fact the radiation is indeed gone from where she worked, they have a foot in the door. Not to mention that she all but called out China for being bigger assholes than the Abyss in this instance. A bunch of people jumped onto that bandwagon as well.

Ironic, really. I want no part in this, but my actions probably did more in terms of weakening humanity than any other singular Abyssal across the globe. They do remain quiet these days, too. Probably biding their time and stockpiling resources in the unofficial armistice. Which was also caused by me, now that I think of it.

Either way, Akatsuki is currently being investigated again. If the news are to be believed, she fought tooth and nail for Hibiki and Yashima to keep working while she carried her Radia-Gone to a lab for examination. Props to her fleetmates on that end, too: they kept going without any visible hesitation. Hannah says that Yashima seemed uncomfortable holding the Abyssal device in the pictures, but I could not see it.

I have to admit that I am incredibly curious how this will shake out.


Day 263

From the news that came in today, Akatsuki was cleared a second time. No Abyssal corruption, no nothing. The Radia-Gone is fine as well, which I could have told them too. Humanity is more divided than ever at the prospect of a 'good' Abyssal.

There were a number of interviews with Akatsuki asking more details about me and Haven. She tried hard not to tell them where exactly I am, probably to prevent another incident like the last one. Not a word about my fleet beyond that they are all kind and that yes, it was them who escorted the destroyer back home.

Lines are drawn in the sand as well. A lot of people who suffered through Abyssals categorically refuse to accept my existence, which I am not blaming them for. Others play devil's advocate about the matter and a few seem actually convinced. None of the world's nations has made any comment on the matter yet, but a lot of journals note them looking at Japan. The land of the rising sun is a hotbed of change these days.

I am a little tempted to send my fleet for a vacation, but that is a risk I am not sure I want to take. Maybe later. Much, much later.

For the time being, I will just enjoy my free time and play some games with them. Cooking with Jeanne is fun too, same as baking with Sapphire. Everyone eats while we watch the news or Ariel translates journals for us; turns out she started learning Japanese. I am not sure if that is because of the situation or because she is turning into a weeb. I do not think I care, either.


Day 266

People sure turn around if you give them an olive branch. Akatsuki's work slowed down some because the area she has to cover is so large, but she still works tirelessly. Rubble is being cleared and rebuilding continues. The earthquake yesterday did not help those efforts, but the Japanese take it in stride. I guess they are used to it.

Those directly affected seem more and more inclined to follow her lead in regard to me. Akatsuki still has not told anyone where they can find me though, which is prudent. She kept quiet on my access to the Internet too; maybe she forgot over her work, but I feel like this is something one would keep in mind. Either way is good for me.

Ariel hangs around on a number of online messageboards lately; she took to compiling short reports of what people write about the situation and my involvement. The hostile sentiment begins to dissipate with each day nothing bad happens. I have the feeling there is a sense of dread among those boards, though; they probably expect the other shoe to drop one of these days.

That aside, Frostbite made good progress on our connection with Hawaii. She passed along the comm tech and calling Briar is now easily possible. I actually had a chance to speak to her today; she seems a bit more high-strung than either of us. More outgoing, though not overly friendly. Considering where she is based gives me an idea why that is; the USN probably harasses her on the regular, which would make me grumpy as well. At least we get along fine.

Maybe Briar was actually mellowed out by the gifted tech. She seemed a little wary, but expressed interest in trading for more. I agreed to do so, if only after the connection is established. Then I gave her the teleporter blueprints as a freebie, though I sadly could not see her face. After that she became a lot friendlier and agreed to build one of her own on the main isle as soon as she is able.

Frostbite asked me afterward if it was wise to do this when we barely know Briar. She had a point, but in this case we get more out of it than she; she would figure it out before long anyway. Like this we can have Briar build at least one of the stations, saving Frostbite resources. It makes for a nice gift, too. I had some trouble conveying this in just a few words at the time, but my friend understood in the end. She still has reservations and keeps an eye on things, though. I do not mind, she is my security after all.


Day 280

Connection to Briar is established. She built two teleporters in total, probably in part to keep her territory as her own. Frostbite's final station is placed outside of it, using hers as relays. We both went to meet the Airstrip Princess, each with our entourage of Demons.

Briar is tanned. Not dusky brown or anything, but her skin has actual colour instead of being pale like ours. She says she often suspends her storm to fake out the Americans. They never know which part of the archipelago she hides in. The shallows are full of mines and other traps while carriers hide everywhere to spew bombers and planes.

I think she immediately figured out that I am not a military commander, but took it in stride. I gave her a little booklet with the technologies I can offer at the moment. She is still poring over it now; Briar is not flush on resources, especially after building those teleporters. She is definitely more outgoing than Frostbite or I, though.

Akatsuki is still going strong, too. No real news there. There is a steady stream of refugees returning to wherever they used to live and helping with the rebuilding. Hats off to them and the volunteers that help out, too.

 

[Naron]

Day 292

Japan is slowly getting back to her feet. I am under no illusions that it will take less than years, maybe decades, for them to fully work through what happened. But the radiation is fought back day after day and people can turn to rebuilding.

War with China is also ongoing and actively encouraged by Akatsuki. I am still not looking closer into it and told my girls to not apprise me of anything that can not turn into a threat for us. All Ariel and Hannah told me is that the Chinese are trying to justify their actions as Reaper having forced their hand; that the monster had to be stopped before it could attack another realm. Read, before she could attack China.

They also tried to vilify Akatsuki for being in cahoots with the Abyss. It did not quite work. That the Japanese do not give a damn was expected, sure. But it seems people across the world are appalled at the attempted victim blaming, even many of those who are absolutely certain that I am up to no good. I would not say it backfired, but it definitely shifted the lines people have drawn.

Reaper was just laughing when someone told her the details of what her actions caused. Appropriate, I guess?

That aside, Frostbite and I were talking to Briar some more. Turns out she has seniority in terms of lifespan, at least if we do not count my previous life. But where Frostbite loves forming her force into a hammer that smashes through any obstacles, Briar is an ambusher and fond of laying traps. She favours carriers and submarines to facilitate that; her girls were interested in Sapphire when I brought her, even more so when Sapphire brought cake.

Food continues to be my go-to in terms of improving relations. It worked just as well on Briar and her fleet as it did on Frostbite. The Airstrip Princess is still a little wary, but mellowed out a decent amount over the last weeks. I am honestly glad for it because I never liked walking on eggshells around other people.


Day 295

Getting to know Briar a little better, she is not exactly a battle-hardened veteran, though that is more due to her nature as an Airstrip Princess. An installation rather than a warship, similar to me. That is not to say she does not know her stuff, she is just more detached from it than Frostbite. Both are far better strategists than me, not that they had any need to use their abilities recently. From what she tells me, her territory has been left alone for a surprising amount of time.

So far she expected the Americans to mount some sort of major offensive. It surprised her when I explained the ongoing war and where all the shipgirls are probably funnelled. She was dumbfounded by the concept of humans fighting humans.

"I should have guessed, really. Abyssals fight Abyssals on occasion, too. It just never occurred to me that our enemies would be the same as us."

I do not know for certain why I remember those words of hers so clearly. Rethinking them, maybe it is the outline of understanding in there; to find commonalities with others lets us relate to them. I explained the concept of closing ranks to her, relating right back to the fact all Abyssals will stop infighting if confronted with human forces.

From what I surmise and what the Abyss tells me, Abyssals fight each other mostly over resources. If they do not like each other, they just stay out of their territory. The knowledge of their enemy keeps them from needlessly attacking each other. There is no such thing as personal feuds, outside of the occasional scraps between princesses. Maybe the lack of commen knowledge works to their advantage here. Maybe they will develop this kind of thing in the future.

Either way, Briar holds herself and her fleet to a high standard. They run drills at least once a week, oftentimes more. She also has a number of her girls maintain the active traps and mines on the regular. Hawaii is a real death trap, which explains how the US still did not get it back.

I managed to surprise Briar by asking if my Demons could join her drills; they have precious little practical experience, so any extra helps. We worked out a little trade where I funnel some new techs to her in exchange for the training. Sounds perfectly fair to me. Frostbite had no issues with that, either. She offered her own holdings to hold those drills, which is free of mines and shallows that need to be minded.

The first one will be tomorrow. I think I will go just to see how it goes.


Day 296

That was certainly interesting. I could not really add much to the exercise itself, but I think I learned a bit. Frostbite and Briar quickly worked out a hammer and anvil sort of strategy, similar to what I did with Frostbite before but on a much larger scale. There is a big difference to one submarine coming from behind and twenty of them doing the same. Even a submarine Demon can not make up for these numbers.

The work seems to have relaxed Briar some, too. We had tea afterward. I recommended the Mi-Class blueprints for her first payment; a dedicated ship type to maintain her traps should work better than having her warships do so. Some of them got quite good at it, but they all remain skittish about doing that sort of work. Briar agreed after meeting Orion and some of Frostbite's engineers.

Frostbite's expansion also continues apace. She now works to fill up the area surrounding our bridge toward Hawaii, mainly to not get blindsided. Briar offered her nautical charts to make the process go more smoothly.

It may be a little early to say, but I think the three of us will get along well. Though my fellow Princesses seem to rub each other the wrong way on occasion; Frostbite gets a little agitated by Briar's bluster, Briar in turn gets offended by Frostbite's lack of reaction to her grandstanding. This thankfully just leads to some bickering.

The girls were pretty happy about the drills, too. They told me that they felt a little tense of late; this helped them work out the stress.


Day 300

That is another big number I reached. Most of a year has passed since I woke up here. I am honestly happy with my life at the moment, excepting the thing with Japan. Akatsuki is still going strong there; the fact nothing bad has happened with my devices over months is convincing more and more people that I am genuine about helping, too.

I went to visit Briar a few more times, too. We have a different dynamic than I have with Frostbite, but I like her. Yes, she grandstands, but I honestly do not care too much; little of it is about belittling us and most about putting herself up. Considering how her fleet almost worships the ground she walks on, I imagine she earned the right to have some pride.

Talking to her fleet was interesting, though a number of Briar's ships needed some time to get over their wariness when confronted with another Princess. I coaxed them out of their shells with sweets. Sue me.

Speaking of the sweets, balancing diets around other foodstuffs seems to have done the trick. No deep dependencies I can see, though destroyers and submarines seem to love sweet foods in general.

Briar seems to have gotten used to me by now. It is just as well we get along, considering that we are effectively neighbours by extension. Maybe we can even be friends in the future, I would like that.

But first I need to see how bloodthirsty she actually is; an ally who attacks humans at the first opportunity may sabotage this new opportunity slowly opening up. Akatsuki continues to remind people of my goodwill every once in a while and seems to have convinced even some of the remaining shipgirls of my character. Hannah confirmed my read of the situation: the wind blows toward opening communications, though the Japanese interim government is still debating about that. They are busy with the rebuilding, so that might still take a while.

Maybe, just maybe, we can interact peacefully after all. I can not really do much about that beside waiting, though. So I spend my days in a pleasant routine; some interaction with my fleet, visits to Frostbite and Briar, games, movies. It is not that different to how it used to be, just with more people involved.


Day 306

Well, that was unexpected. I think I mentioned that Briar is getting around to Frostbite and I? Today she suggested a proper alliance. Us three Princesses working together, pooling fleets and territory into a greater whole. The Abyss seemed to like it, though it has been fairly quiet of late in terms of prodding.

She sprung that on both of us over tea. It was half a request and half a proposal, with charts and plans drawn up, yet a certain fervour to her words as well. Briar definitely surprised me with this, especially so soon. It has only been one and a half months since the first time we spoke. Maybe that is my old sensitivities, considering how fast Abyssals can form connections? I asked if some other force was putting pressure on Briar, but that was not it.

At the end of the day, she does not need a proper alliance; she just wants it. I do not want to speculate too much because I really do not know, but maybe I underestimated the impact Frostbite and I had? Briar may have been lonely, with only her fleet and no peers that do not care for her grandstanding.

Either way, we agreed to think it over.


Day 307

I tested something and gave Briar a big hug today. She basically melted into it, so she just might have been lonely after all. Mind, she also complained all the way about the indignity, but I have some practice at tuning these things out.

Anyway, Frostbite and I agreed to her offer after talking it over between us. Now there are three Abyssal Princesses that rule the Pacific; maybe we will find more in time, but I feel three makes for a good core. A triumvirate, so to speak. Not that that ended so well for anyone but Caesar, but we are not in Rome either. I can not call it a triumvirate, though; that specifically talks about men. Checking the internet for a female version gave me 'triumfeminatus', which sounds like shit. So I dropped the attempt to be cute with latin.

From now on we form the Council of Three. Short and concise, if not all that creative. I honestly do not care much for it. Briar is our main tactician, she and Frostbite provide the bulk of our combat strength, and I support them from the back. Not with money, but with technology and resources as needed. I guess that makes me the Crassus in that comparison. Considering how the story ended for all three of them, I should probably stop here.

Either way, I gave each of them a few new toys to celebrate the formation of our alliance. Some nifty upgrades for Briar's planes and submarines, as well as the big gun for Frostbite. I really need to give it a proper name, so I guess Colossus Cannon will be it. That thing is not actually the size of Reaper, but definitely bigger than any other weapon in our arsenals.

Frostbite already decided to build three of them around her main base, turning the place into an inassailable fortress. Briar was curious, but decided against building any because emplacements do not play well with her hit and run strategies.

We have a lot of prep work to do now, though. Thus far it is only us Princesses who know, so word has to be spread. Frostbite is planning to use her large influx of resources and start expanding in Japan's direction, too. Our self-set goal is to secure the entire Pacific and unify the Abyssals here.

I faintly remember writing something about this being an unattainable goal some time ago. Goes to show how much I know. Then again, that was about me doing it; in this case it is mainly the other two doing the unifying while I sit in the background. That feels a lot more doable, not that they seem to mind taking center stage.


Day 309

Today we gathered our fleets to announce our alliance. It was all formal-like when Briar started, being the oldest. Then Frostbite took over with her matter-of-fact summary of what this meant for the shipgirls. They did not seem to mind occasional rotations into other territories or cross-training, neither that they would take orders from each of us. Frostbite was sure to make it clear that the orders of another Princess can be refused if they contradict their own Princess's orders. We had to hammer that out when I suggested pooling our fleets, mainly because I worry about someone making my Demons commit war crimes.

When it was my turn to speak, I kept it short. Most of the girls present were not mine, though most of them knew me by now. I was never that good with names and forgot most of theirs, but I remember their faces well enough. I am also not much of a public speaker, if perhaps only for a lack of practice. I actually made some notes for this and practiced in my room a few times. It felt incredibly weird, but it helped.

While Briar spoke of glory and Frostbite of changes, I went over opportunities; goals we could reach for. Unity among the Abyssals, expansion and improvement. And peace.

I debated with myself for a while whether I should bring that up, but in the end I decided to be up-front about it. After checking my theory with Frostbite and Briar, they found it odd but agreeable. So I told our combined fleets as well.

Suffice it to say, there was an uproar when I said the words "peace with humanity".

Briar and Frostbite helped me calm the girls down; my own fleet helped too, they may have suspected something like this already. Then I laid out the idea: if us Abyssals control the seas across the globe, then humans are no longer able to build ships, much less sink or scuttle them. What fleets remain afloat can be retired and no more souls will be lost at sea. These are the 'crimes' that the Abyss originally manifested to punish. The dishonourable end of warships, the many sailours lost to the merciless waves.

But if humanity can no longer commit these sins, need we really eradicate them? Why not coexist so that we can partake in the many marvels they created and will continue to create? I made sure to explain that all the nice things I shared with everyone were human inventions, from food to games. That gave most of them pause, much like it did their Princesses. It also neatly solves the question of what happens if we win and there are no more humans left; there will always be humans, thus the Abyssals will forever retain their purpose.

I think I at least got them to consider the matter with this reasoning. The Abyss itself did not contradict me yet, else I would have felt some sort of instinctual revulsion to the idea. Mind, I did at first. But it vanished once I thought through my reasoning. Does that count as a sort of divine mandate?

I should not think too much about this, lest I turn megalomaniacal. Maybe it will be possible to get out of this war after all, with my friends and fleet by my side.


Day 310

My own girls wanted to talk more about this supposed peace. They did not say anything yesterday because they did not want to undermine my speech and needed to think it through as well. Today we sat down and had a long conversation about what we each want.

Hannah already figured me out before, she just thanked me for finally putting the goal into words.

Orion and Ionia were both partial to the new paradigm; they are the closest we can get to civilians and can do their job regardless.

Sapphire was a little miffed, but she kind of guessed where the wind was blowing. She told me in no uncertain terms that she did not trust humanity to keep up such a peace. She is wary even with Akatsuki still fresh in mind; only time can cure that, assuming things go well.

The twins seem to have formed a united front; Jeanne spoke for both, explaining that they do not agree, but will follow my lead on the matter. They also wanted to know if I can not reverse engineer all human achievements, which would invalidate my strongest argument. I told them yes, but that it would take ages because I am only one person. Not to mention that I rely on whatever the Abyss did to give me access to these tech trees. It did not say. Ariel finished their part, saying that she grew fond of all the human things we have now, even if she still dislikes that they are human things.

Then there was Reaper. I thought she might take it the worst, but was pleasantly surprised. She relayed only a few succint words: "They will cower for fear of consequences as long as I stand. I shall follow the Princess's lead."

She did not even seem angry or upset. Maybe she started to like lying around and dozing in the sun, though; being in repairs does not really give her much chance to move around after all.

Either way, that is that. The Council of Three will keep expanding for now. All we need to do is figure out how to get that peace we want.

 

[Naron]

Day 317

The last week was calm, at least for me. Frostbite and Briar told me that they had to wrangle unrest among their fleets. There was no violence, but a lot of heated discussions about whether to support or reject my stance on humanity. Even the Princesses themselves still needed this long to make a proper decision.

Thankfully, Frostbite came around after our past experiences. Briar is still sceptical, but willing to give it a shot. They both think this is going to end up a catastrophe, but I have their support. All they want is to see success of some sort. Which is why I told them about the situation with Akatsuki today. It completely slipped my mind that neither of them knew it just yet.

Frostbite was not happy that I kept everything from her and I got a stern talking-to about safety precautions. It felt kind of odd because I am a head taller than her, not that she cared.

That aside, hearing about current events in Japan at least intrigued the pair. They let me speak until I told them everything I know. Them being smart was a double-edged sword today, though; they both wanted to know how I got so much information about an area so far away. Considering that we were already sharing so much today, I also let them know that I am using the Internet. It took some explaining to convey the idea. Then I showed them the computers my scientists put together.

I think they are staying the night. Just went to check and yes, they make their best nerd impression glued to the screens. Makes sense, I guess; having so much information at your fingertips can be intoxicating for someone who just got introduced to the concept. It was a little different for my fleet, but I put that on them not being in charge of formulating strategies, or being unused to constant battle.

Either way, I guess we are having a sleepover. Need to go fetch some snacks and pry my guests away from the computers.


Day 322

Things went more smoothly with my fellow Princesses after I introduced them to the Internet. They do come over every day to do research, though. I have one of my girls with them at all times, to answer questions or fetch me to do it if she can not. They have become more open to the prospect of peace.

At the same time, Akatsuki continues to work herself to the bone in Japan. At this point some worry that she may die from overwork. As ironically fitting as that may be with Japanese culture, nobody wants that. Really, nobody. Not even her opponents on the political stage want the lone shipgirl harmed. From what Ariel and Hannah could put together for me, she has risen to be some sort of national heroine. Not so much for undoing the radiation, but for braving the uncertainty of facing an Abyssal and 'convincing' her to lend aid.

I guess she is the little destroyer that could.

Either way, Japan seems in favour of opening talks. The 'war' in China seems to be stalling out for some reason, I am still not looking at the details. Threats of nuclear warfare fly this way and that, mutually assured destruction and the like. I am already researching if there is a way to stop nukes, but there is no real way beyond shooting them down before they can deliver their payload. Or to prevent them from being launched. My scientists are unlikely to come up with another solution and China is too big to just search for the launch sites.

What a downer to end this entry on.


Day 328

Look at that, humanity can solve some of its own problems. Pissing off the entire world eventually comes back to bite you; in this case, even Russia turned against their nominal ally China and joined the US forces. This really is the weirdest timeline imaginable.

Moreover, that is really all I needed to know about the conflict, now I will go back to ignoring it.

After talking it over with Frostbite and Briar, we decided to be a little proactive in case Japan does seek to talk with us. Well, me, but we are a council now. Where I go, my friends follow. So Frostbite's expansion will focus on extending a teleportation relay all the way to Japan. It may be dangerous to extend ourselves so far without securing the territory, but our combined fleets are strong enough and humanity is busy elsewhere. The IJN is in shambles anyway.

Not to mention that this means Akatsuki does not have to reveal Haven's exact location to the general public. Maybe it is a bit of a futile consideration at this point, considering there will be paperwork about where her previous assignments took place.

Actually, thinking about it that way, it only takes one other idiot with a nuke to kill me. Haven is so far out to sea that this will not hurt any humans. Considering that I was just berated about safety, I better be careful.


Day 332

Relocation complete. Technically. I had Orion dig deeper and reinforce the citadel with an alloy of the same steel we have on living Abyssals. Reaper fired a volley from her five remaining Colossus Cannons and could not penetrate it. I brought over our entire combined fleet to do much of the same, to a similar result.

I had to pour a ton of resources into this, but it paid off. Then I did something similar for Frostbite on Wake Island, considering that is her base and known as an Abyssal stronghold. Also close enough that a nuke to Haven would still hit the island.

So yes, we now have structures that are about as durable as Reaper's armour belt, if not more so. They do not really help if someone walks in the door, but that is not their purpose. Briar wants one too, but we are out of resources to spare for that. Not to mention that Hawaii is far less likely to get nuked. Nobody knows she is part of our alliance, nor where she lives. Even if I introduce her. If she was not nuked yet, then it will not happen unless people get desperate.

The other reason is that she prefers to stay mobile; she has no real main base we could reinforce. An early warning system would help her more, so she can just up and leave through the teleporter with her fleet. I can build that kind of thing by now and will hand it to her tomorrow.


Day 333

Installed the system for Briar and explained what it does, she is happy again. She also told me that she is considering to go and build a proper bunker around the teleporter, just to keep it safe. We do not have the resources for that right now.


Day 339

Things are moving on humanity's end. Akatsuki finished clearing away the radiation around Tokyo; toward the end they even started ferrying her and the other shipgirls around in helicopters, to get at the nuclear fallout in the higher atmosphere. Nobody really believes they caught all of it, but people are hopeful.

More than that, Akatsuki held another speech about cooperating with me. That she wants to introduce me to her people so they can see for themselves what sort of person I am.

I am a little scared of that. Like I noted before, it only takes one idiot with a big red launch button to kill me if they know where I am. At the same time, just sending Frostbite in my place does not feel right either. Akatsuki wants me there. If it is an honest attempt to establish contact from others, sending a substitute would send the wrong message. If someone uses the chance of an Abyssal Princess being in the open to strike, then I sent my friend to die.

So no, I will have to go there myself. I guess this will be humanity's true test; if they refuse to give this a chance to blossom and kill me, then every Abyssal across the planet will gain access to the entire tech base I built. It is nowhere near complete, but the upgrades to weaponry, engines, and armour alone will change the game. Add to this that Briar and Frostbite will be furious and yeah. If I do die, I am taking all of humanity with me.

That is spiteful enough of a consequence. I am still shaking, but I can do this. There is still time, too.

Right now Akatsuki is arguing her case before a committee of not just Japanese leaders, but also some UN representatives. She has a solid base of supporters by now, but not everyone is comfortable with the prospect of meeting an Abyssal face to face. Even her sister Hibiki remains skeptical, though interviews I read tell me she has not spoken out against Akatsuki's plan. She mostly just wants everyone to be careful. Other shipgirls seem to be more on the fence than against it, too.

I should figure out some plans for if I do have to go visit them. The teleporters are still being built, but we make steady progress. No way I guzzle down all my stockpiled oil just to make my way to Japan and back.

But who do I take along? Too many warships will make me look more like a conqueror, rather than a potential ally. No warships is stupid, even I can tell that much. Maybe Orion? Ionia? They are civilian ships, though I am not sure humans can tell the difference. I doubt they even saw a Mi-Class before.

I need to think this over.


Day 340

I spent today talking to my fleet and allies. Right now my job for the council is to find more Internet cables and connect the other Princesses. So while I am using their submarines to scour the ocean floor, I talked over the situation with them. Just as I thought, neither Frostbite nor Briar like the situation. It makes sense not to trust humans to be sensible when considering recent events in Asia. They do not know us and fought a war of annihilation with the Abyss for about ten years.

Talking my friends around to the fact I have to go took a while. They took my agreement that if something bad does happen, coexistence becomes impossible. I did not like it, but neither of them would budge on the matter. Though they are willing to let me go now.

Then we talked over who could accompany me. I told them my considerations about too much and too little firepower, which both agreed with after some additional explanations. Turns out Abyssals have issues comprehending the concept of 'too much firepower'. Especially a Battleship Princess. I guess that was to be expected, considering that she is the superior firepower.

Either way, we settled on Hannah as my escort. My being a shipgirl makes any lone actors non-issues. If such an actor is also a shipgirl, then a destroyer Demon should suffice in taking them down. If it is an organised effort that does not kill me immediately, the Council warfleet will stand ready to interfere.

I am also taking Orion to help rebuild Tokyo some as a gesture of good faith, as well as Ionia with partly filled storage. A humble gift of resources, as is appropriate when visiting another. I just thought of that last one, it really has been a while since I had to think of manners in human terms.

Now to start preparing.


Day 349

Everything continues apace. My girls were not enthused when I told them the plan, but they agreed well enough. Orion insisted on taking a dozen of her drones along, which I agreed to after some thinking. I am just going to have them and Orion hang back to announce them, so they do not scare people too much.

Sapphire insisted that I promise to stay safe. She also sat down to carve me some jewelry from the gold and silver she has left over, something to impress the humans with. It was a sweet gesture, but I do not feel well wearing so much bling. I settled on a golden ring as well as a silver bracelet and tiara. It still feels weird to wear them, but a few accessories should be fine for a Princess.

Thinking of it that way, I should ask Sapphire to make matching tiaras for Briar and Frostbite. It does not feel right if only one in the Council of Three gets to wear something like a crown.

Now I feel weird. I never wanted to be some sort of king. But at the same time there is really no way around leading by now. Life works in weird ways. At least I get a shot at actually helping people.


Day 354

Akatsuki's fervour bore fruit. She convinced enough people to invite me onto Japanese shores for a meeting with the interim government and the UN, who will be hosted there. The girl herself was tasked with delivering the invitation.

I sent Hannah to intercept her a few hours from shore. My acceptance should have reached Japan by now. The date of my arrival is set ten days from now, for the sake of both sides. We need to finish the teleporter relay, they need to actually prepare to receive what amounts to a foreign dignitary.

This will be interesting. I have never been to Japan before. I doubt I get the chance to do much sightseeing, but it would be nice.


Day 363

Preparations complete, just in time. I am slated to arrive tomorrow. Hannah is ready, Ionia loaded up with resources and some consumer goods like food. Orion already selected which drones she will take.

My hands are shaking, but the nerves will pass. They always do when the time comes.


Day 364

This was interesting, if a little terrifying. I do not think I have social anxiety, but I am no extrovert and met a lot of people today. Hannah took some of it off me, but that only went so far.

At least people were suitably surprised when the two of us surfaced near Tokyo Bay. There were not many civilians present, but a decent number of JSDF personnel and all nine IJN shipgirls. The seven survivors and the two that were since re-summoned. Akatsuki shook hands with me first, then the rest took formation around us to guide me to the coast. There were a lot of cameras pointed our way.

The language barrier was a bit of an issue, but we managed with Akatsuki translating for me. They said I will have a trained translator assigned to me by tomorrow, so I am not too worried there.

Overall, there was a strong sense of wariness; I did not see many civilians for a while, and the Japanese were not particularly happy when I asked them about bringing a few more girls and some building drones. They relaxed some with the gifts Ionia had on her, but I imagine those are still getting screened right now.

Then again, nobody attacked or even insulted me yet. I heard the occasional whisper, but nothing bad.

Hannah is fine as well. I have her cuddled up to me and fast asleep right now. They apologised a bunch of times for not having better accomodations, but most of the big hotels were destroyed with Tokyo. I do not mind this one much, this is the first time I ever had a futon, too. A lot of new things today.

Anyway, today was mostly introductions to various people whose names I ought to remember but forgot. Hannah probably does recall, so I will have to rely on her. Some preliminary talks with various people and ignoring a whole lot of reporters trying to get so much as a word from me. A full honour guard of shipgirls deterred them from pressing the issue, at least. For now.

Orion vanished at some point during the day. There was a bit of hubbub around it, but I got through to the Japanese to just direct her to where they were currently building; they remained on edge even afterward. Akatsuki had to argue for a while to get them to accept this; I doubt it was hard to find Orion, considering she had a dozen drones trailing her. They sent two shipgirls in her direction as well, one of them Hibiki.

I think it is good enough that they are willing to extend some trust. We just have to show them that there are no hidden agendas in play here. Maybe I went a bit too fast with Orion, but she is getting antsy after months spent building the same base layout time and again. This is more of a vacation for her, building infrastructure instead of outposts. I think she is still at work, actually.

I am meeting more people tomorrow. Time for bed.


Day 365

Well, nobody tried to kill me yet? I am not sure if the heavy security is to protect the people or me, maybe it is both. Either way, today was a lot more relaxed. I guess me and mine not attacking anyone gave Akatsuki's side a bit more credence.

I answered a few questions by journalists today, too. There was no real time for any in-depth explanations, but I think they got something interesting; particularly when one asked me why I as an Abyssal suddenly seek peace. I just asked him the same I asked Akatsuki back then: "Is there something wrong with wanting peace?"

I have an idea what sort of headlines there will be soon, but oh well. Just got to keep going. Things are looking good so far.

 

[Naron]

Year 21, Day ???

Okay, this is a little awkward. I completely forgot I had this log. A bit like putting something down in your room and then forgetting it was there. From what I recall, a lot happened and by the end I did not remember to write anything down.

I feel strangely nostalgic after rereading the whole thing, that first year sure was a turbulent one. Thinking back to Hydra makes me feel a twinge of pain, too. Her loss was never truly forgotten.

I guess this will be the final entry. A lot happened, but there were vast stretches of business as usual or nothing particularly interesting in-between. I do not feel like picking this back up properly, I just want to give it a proper close.

My introduction to the Japanese and by extension humanity went decently well. There were some hiccups later on, though nothing outright harmful. Orion helped rebuild the devastated areas, so people quickly warmed up to her for the sheer throughput of her little drone squad. I forgot the exact order of events by now, but there were a number of speeches held. No idea how I made it through those without royally messing up.

The war did not end overnight with this, but the Abyss helped keep everyone else from sabotaging me. It took humanity a long, long while to accept my claim to the oceans all around the world. There is still some resistance even today, but a lot of people have decided that the separation is not a bad one. Shipping companies were already crippled by the war, though they tried to protest a lot. Cruise liners are long since out of commission, the remaining human ships have been decommissioned or turned into museum pieces. Some exceptions were made for fishing and the like, but any trans-continental traffic is up and gone. A side effect of this is that the whale population recovers.

At some point I explained why the Abyss originally rose up against humanity, which probably helped my position a lot. Humans can not live in the sea to begin with, so they slowly parted with it as Abyssal territory. The question of transporting goods was answered by a simple trade interaction where we teleport the stuff from one continent to another. I never allowed that technology to leave Abyssal hands, no matter how much humanity wanted it. We have peace now, but having that would screw over so many businesses that I do not even want to consider it. I told them that they should research it themselves if they want it so much.

Speaking of research, I have no idea if any of them ever figured out what my original purpose was for the Abyss. At this point I sometimes trade upgrades based on soul voodoo with them for other goodies. Soul voodoo. I forgot how much I liked that word. It is still perfect to describe some of the things going on.

There are still shipgirls, too. Over fifteen years of peace have not changed that. They live mostly civilian lives by now, if unaging just like us Abyssals. Both sides go on maneuver together twice a year, just to shake off the rust and catch up.

I saw Akatsuki last week, actually; we became good friends over the years. She introduced her son and daughter. Turns out non-Abyssal shipgirls can get pregnant. I already knew she had children for a while, but this time she brought them along; they are both sweet, if a little too mischievous for my liking.

Humanity is still divided among each other, but they have their issues just like we have ours. China broke apart and was gobbled up by its neighbours. I am still not paying too much attention to them, but at this point it is because I am busy with other stuff. The Council of Three has completed its self-declared mission to unify the Abyssals across the globe, which made us their ruling body by default. That is a lot of Abyssals to look after. Far less than there are humans, but still a sizable number.

Right now we are building a proper city where Haven used to be. I offered my original staging ground as the base for something bigger. From the ocean floor into the sky it will reach, spreading for a good long while into all directions. This is not to house all the Abyssals, but an experiment to offer them all a real place to belong. A capital, so to speak.

Frostbite and Briar are both doing well. Honestly, Frostbite was the last person I expected to take a human spouse, but she did. They have been married the last six years and seem happy with each other; that is probably the safest human in the world, being the darling of Frostbite's original fleet. At this point all the girls of our core navy belong to all of us, though none has forgotten her origins.

Briar mellowed out some over time, though she never lost that superior demeanour of hers. These days she reserves it for game nights or such, where her perfectionism has her trounce almost everyone and she deserves to gloat a bit.

My own girls are still with me, too. We recently finished establishing a proper governing apparatus to look after all the Abyssals, each of them helped out with that.

Orion spends most of her time working as always. That one has never really changed. She visits every few weeks to spend some time with us, though. I can tell she enjoys those quiet hours as well. They just can not keep her. Humanity loves her, though we had to agree on a limit to how many buildings Orion is allowed to work on per year; else she would drive a bunch of construction companies out of work.

Ionia was decommissioned. At first she asked me to break her down into raw materials once the teleportation network was fully established, but I convinced her otherwise. She found a different purpose in science and has been refitted with laboratories, similar to my own setup.

Sapphire is my shadow more than anything else. She is not so much worried about my safety as she just prefers being with me. A loyal companion from start to finish. I would not miss her for the world. The first warship I built, it really has been a long time since then.

Ariel went completely askew to everyone else; she lives on the mainland these days and went into E-Sports. I think she just managed to put together an all-Abyssal team for whatever game she is currently involved with. Jeanne, after initially teasing her twin to hell and back about it, went along with the madness. She seems to have taken a liking to management; meaning that she manages Ariel's team and a dozen others. She helped out with the council's government apparatus when I asked, too.

Hannah has a hand for propaganda, which I am not sure I want to further think about. She is my public speaker these days because I prefer my quiet. She visits various human states as well to learn more about them. Her desire for knowledge never quite dried up. She was the last of my shipgirls excepting Reaper, but we are just about as close as I am with any of the others.

Speaking of Reaper, though. Her career change was about as surprising as Ariel's. I do not know exactly how it happened, but she accepted a gig acting as a kaiju for a movie and made it big in the industry. There were a handful of Abyssal actresses last I checked. Also cooks, office workers, models, there is always one or two who are interested in a given job. It is honestly sweet to see them each finding something to get invested in.

What I personally worry about is my age. Not because I am getting older, but because I am not. How long will life be interesting for me when I may just live forever? I do not ascribe to the school of thought that finds eternal life awesome. The Abyss assures me I can stop whenever I want to, though. Which is a bit of a relief. The same goes for any of my girls.

We need to pass legislation against building any more Abyssals, too. All of us are physically immortal, so the population will never lower without violence involved. Better to nip that problem in the bud.

Overall, I am happy with how this all turned out. At this point I doubt anyone will ever read this log, but it will make a fine memento for myself. Just a reminder of my own beginnings.

I have never told anyone except Frostbite about my resource generation ability. This is a secret the two of us will take to the grave.

But that is still a long time off. For now there is work to be done. And then I can slack off with a book or four.


-Dagon, Abyssal Tech Administrator Princess