It had been a few days after the successful test of the Tachyon Railgun, the effects from the test have started to appear in the form of energy lost by the submarine. It was now running its engine on low output and surfacing slowly to use it's periscope.
The crew had to shut off the air conditioning too, which made it more worst for the Propulsion Officer who was in the engine room. Every so often she had to go out and cool herself if not take a rest in her room from the heat.
They had to wait for Izumi to recover back all the power used up to fire the WMD, and for every minute they spent in the Atlantic equals to the numbers of Fog Patrols they might encounter.
The blue steel cuts through the ocean surface, and the periscope finally operates and looking out for any signs of Fog presence.
"How long till the energy recovers?" the Captain shortly asked, keeping his eyes on the periscope.
"An hour till we could normally cruise.. 2 hours for another use on the Tachyon Railgun-"
"Let us not depend on the railgun this time. It's too risky if we end up stopping the engine every time."
For now, there was at least a reason for Hiyou to not use their secret weapon simply because of it's impractical problem but that could be fixed if a solution could be brought upon it.
The submarine was almost there, the exit from the English Channel and the most peculiar thing that they did not expect were the U-Boats. They were not there, or anywhere nearby the exit points and that scared the Captain.
"What is the Fleet of Fog planning to do this time?" he mumbles to himself.
"Maybe they're afraid? Since we've shown what the railgun could do. That would be an obvious answer to this."
The Chief gave his opinion while arranging the payloads of the submarine as usual, Haruhiko shook his head at that.
"Not afraid. They are willing to let us through because they could eliminate us for another time. It's not a matter of who has the biggest stick.. it's how many you have."
The XO's words held a significant meaning to Hiyou, there was truth in it but the feeling was different to this situation. It felt dangerously quiet and serene.
A faint ping suddenly registers to the system, Izumi carefully scans around and the periscope spots the source of the new trouble.
A line of Fog Destroyers and Light Cruisers sending active sonar into the depths, another ping came from the other directions. Tallying about a hundred ships converging on the I-417's position. As if choreographed to do so.
"Should we engage?"
"No. Lower periscope and dive slowly. Prepare for an immediate emergency retreat. Use whatever power we managed to get from the short break. Get everything loaded with active decoys and passive decoys." Hiyou gave the most logical solution to the problem, it was too risky charging head-on without proper firepower against hundred ships that could overpower a single heavy cruiser moreover, a Fog submarine.
The Fog knew where the I-417 was, but not directly which explains the active sonar spam into the depths. But Hiyou could be wrong after what happened when they entered the English Channel, the Fog was capable of faking their attention and cornering the submarine.
That was exactly the case now.
Hood observes her prey, taking note of its every action, it's heading and current depth. She didn't want to scare it off, not yet.
The battlecruiser sails with her fleet, keeping contact with the vanguard ships that were being decoys. She prepared a surprise for the Fog submarine and her crew.
As soon as the I-417 exited the Channel, an electrical field catches them and this alerted Hood that the mice had been caught.
"Propulsion offline..! All systems are failing! They were waiting for us." Haruhiko tried his best to bring up their control over the submarine but the trap had a tight grip on them already.
"Erebus.. Terror, tow them back to base. This would be a great gift to the Chancellor." the battlecruiser ordered her two Monitors to pull the submarine with them while it's movement was restricted.
"I can override the main control of the propulsion for a few minutes only."
The Propulsion Officer reports to the Bridge and Hiyou gave the order for an emergency high speed withdrawal.
"Commence Supercaptivating Thrust! Bring us out!"
The submarine regains control of it's engine and the thrusters went to max before the Monitor ships could lock her, the I-417 zooms off to a distance the moment they noticed the engine output. Hood was particularly shocked to see the target slip away from her grasp.
"What.. just happened?" she had been briefed about the submarine but now she was fully aware why the entire European Theatre was at a disarray with this newcomer.
The hunter had been bested by the prey, she could not accept this humiliation being a ship with prestige amongst Bismarck's officers. The Hood presses on with her fleet in search of the submarine. After all, the whole Atlantic was her playground and she knew every nook and cranny of the ocean.
A French Fog Destroyer saw the scene from a distance as she disables her stealth coating, sailing away from the area at full speed being one of the fastest destroyer for the French Resistance.
"This is Aigle, I have information on the I-417. Requesting attention from the Flagship." the mental model of the destroyer reports in to her chain of command while holding her hat in place due to the high speed she was going at.
The Resistance had taken an interest in the Japanese Fog submarine ever since it's appearance, it was able to slip through various scenarios created by the European Theatre and this was crucial information for Richelieu in fighting back Bismarck.
While the I-417 was keeping Hood busy, the Resistance prepares for an attack to take back the ports of the English Channel. Gibraltar was too far to initiate operations so it became imperative that they expand their territory for more control.
The Atlantic boils hotter than ever with the future battles inbound, that being the arrival of ships from the Pacific. The Civil War needed more participants and the gates of war finally opened for the Atlantic. Was it a mistake for Yamato to send a submarine? Or was it the submarine that did not make the cut?
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A/N: I had intended to make this a long chapter but I finally settled for a shorter one. It took me long to publish this since the semester is coming to an end so I have to finish the knots for a month or two. I'm hoping that I could continue this story further in the future because it would be bad to stop here. (I hope it won't) but it actually depends on the current readers I have, I'm not saying that I need more.. it's just that I might have to switch to another story because one may have different inspirations with the passing of time.
Not to worry for now! I'm still doing this so pray that I could make a good chapter next. I particularly need to pay more attention to the Ghost Ships of Pearl.
Enjoy the short chapter if you will. Magic, signing out!
~Iosef_Stolin
~RainMoe1945
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Arpeggio of Blue Steel: Butterfly Effect
FanfictionA Fog submarine was sent by the Supreme Flagship back into the past to meet a boy that will change their fate and the Fleet of Fog. This is their story of the Fog and Mankind, and the effort to unite both. But, there are always those who tries to st...
