Anti-antithesis

Once the United States of America collapsed, the NUSA tried everything in its power to consolidate the old armed forces, yet they were too spread out to be effective. The first department cut was the Air Force, as a single cloud of Ones, even as few as a dozen, could ground any aircraft with ease. The second to go was the Navy, or at least, it was severely downsized. The antithesis very quickly ruled the ocean and made all conventional tactics useless. They had no guns pointed below the waves, and submarines simply were not agile enough to be effective.

Yet, if you look to the West Coast, you see dozens of Samurai vessels made of alien materials, emulating a proper navy, having been able to circumvent the problems of drydocks and R&D by simply buying ships that work.

-Anonymous poster on a Mechanophilia forum.

The interior of the ship was stunning. The pipes and wires were still exposed, yet the hallways weren't claustrophobic inducing nightmares. The floors seemed to be made of hardwood, which I figured would be a nightmare to maintain if I remember the manual I stole from a penthouse once. The walls also weren't just grey metal, but had textured hexagonal patterns and RGB lighting. The interior network worked like the Family's HQ, where there weren't signs or lines anywhere physical, but rather acting as AR guides. Which also meant we could decorate the halls as well liked.

The bridge held plenty of communications equipment, firing stations for the various gun batteries, and a spot for a navigational officer. In the center of the room overlooking everything was a large ornate chair that Morrigan designated as the captain's chair, with a war table just in front of it. I did note it had an option to shift into a seat compatible for Slitherian biology, which was nice.

Jill mentioned that it reminded her of a bigger version of the Enterprise's bridge, with plenty of room for fun shenanigans. She even discovered a scientific readout station, dedicated for extreme and specific Void Watcher equipment for antithesis monitoring and detection.

The control tower itself had three decks. Including the bridge, there was the officers deck and a simulation deck, which I found very interesting for later use. The officers deck included room for one hundred people to rest and relax, with bookshelves, gaming and Mesh stations, and lounging furniture. And that was separate from the rooms for my family and I, which was between the bridge and the officers deck, folded in space. Said rooms were predecorated, each with a king sized bed, desk, and bathroom, yet decorated with woods and gold and silk.

The main section of the ship contained the bulk of the sections designed for “human enrichment”. The mess hall, which was in the center of the ship, was combined with the hydroponics systems, which were set to be crewed by fifty people each, allowing for fresh food no matter how long the deployment lasted. The seating area could easily hold three hundred people at once, allowing easy access for the three shifts to eat without interfering or overcrowding each other.

The crew quarters were spread out into three sections along the length of the ship, with each section being both unique but similar. Each of the three sections held a Fabrication bay for making spare parts and munitions for the battlestations, a med bay, and laundering facilities. The differences in sections were divided between the Docking and silo bays, the engine room, and the torpedo and drone control bay. The docking and silo bay was responsible for vehicle maintenance as well as for feeding the missile silos. I did not pity the engineers who had to work on the shuttles, as I had once looked at their internals and immediately backed off.

The engine room people got to work with super advanced alien tech that was the reactor and gravitational engines. Thankfully, there was a proper observation room to the reactor and it was just as impressive as I hoped it would be.

A massive, multi-ringed structure that spun like a gyroscope, giving off waves of heat and radiation, all enclosed in a huge orb with a clear steel wall. They also had EVA suits to go outside the ship to work on the actual thrusters. Morrigan assured us that anyone we hired would be offered advanced Mesh classes to understand everything here. Roger speculated that these guys would probably be the ones with the highest turnabout rate due to how advanced everything was and how much new knowledge they could spread. Morrigan took that into advisement.

The last “working” section was the very front, basically in the ramming spear. The torpedo tubes were similar to the missile silos, yet this section also had twenty stations for drone manipulation and monitoring, with other stations for drone maintenance and testing.

There were three main categories of drones that Morrigan had set aside, bomb, scout, and gun. Bomb was obvious, useful for targeted strikes and for softening up hard targets. The Scout drones operated like the ones I used to use, being packed full of sensory equipment that connected to the Void Watcher systems in the command tower above. Very useful for underground or urban hive exploration. The Gun drones acted as small jet fighters, designed to work in tandem with ground troops or to guard civilian shelters while awaking evac.

From there, the bottom most layer of the ship closest to the Rail Guns, held a plethora of relaxing facilities and the drop pods stations. A few spas with massage chairs and hot tubs, a massive library, training rooms, the eight observation domes with various chairs and couches and pillows, and two swimming pools that opened up to the world below. There were options to make the glass one way, and I questioned Morrigan as to why that wasn't default.

Her smile was more provocative than normal. “It's because some people want to be seen.” was all she offered. Jill snickered while Cody rolled his eyes, and Cari simply shook her head.

There were four drop pod stations, with eight pods per. The drop pods could each hold twelve people and their gear securely, with some small point defences to assist in letting the troops exit. Each pod was reusable, however they had to be manually recollected, due to the railguns preventing cables from being attached for easy recall.

All in all, I was very satisfied with the Flagship. As we lounged in the officers deck, Roger brought up the biggest, most complicated and pressing issue. “So, if it's The Memo Class Heavy Cruiser, the Memo isn't its name, right? What are we going to call it?”

“I veto anything with the word Bastion in it.” I say. “Too many of those around for my liking.”

“Do we try to stick with a game reference?” Cody asked. “You know, staying on brand.”

Jill shook her head. “If it was just Victor, sure. But since this was designed to be used by so many others, maybe not.”

“What about naming it after something powerful?” Buddy chimes in. “Like Seraphim or Planetar?”

“Is this thing space worthy?” Cari asked.

“It can be.” Morrigan replied. “Engines are, but the hull needs to be pressurized and reinforced, plus I would need to install bulkheads to prevent explosive decompression.”

“The Hydra?” I offer up. “Ya know, ‘cause of how many guns this thing has.”

Roger motioned his hand in the ‘so-so’ motion. “But it only has one head. We are leaning heavily into the old dnd stuff for the PMC, so should we name it after a dragon?”

“I see your dragons and raise you one Kraken.” Cody says.

“Nope.” I say. “Hard veto on anything oceanic. I have no interest in ever touching the ocean. Did none of you read the reports of what happened in Seattle? That girl Mako was fucking bisected by a fish, and a few ships were gutted by it. Or the super Mantis Shrimp? Yeah, fuck the ocean.”

Cari poked my side, grinning softly. “Does that mean Leviathan is out?”

Buddy nods. “We should probably avoid anything related to the sea. Anything clever is probably already taken by any of the nautical Samurai. What about something mythological? Zeus is-”

“”No!”” Everyone else shouted, then we all laughed. Fuck that guy, naming anything after him was just asking for bad karma.

“But a God, huh…” Roger trails off.

“We could call it the Artemis?” Jill says. “Bad ass hunter with the least amount of problems associated with her. Plus, it leans into the whole ‘the ship is a woman’ aspect sailors of old believed in.”

“I like it, but what about Pandora?” I say. “The class is the Memo Class. What's more of a finding out than fucking with Pandora?”

Everyone nods and give murmurs of ascent, then Morrigan stood up, pointing her finger to the sky. “Very well! Since we are all in agreement. Henceforth, this Memo Class Heavy Cruiser shall be known as the MAF Pandora!”

“MAF?” Cody asked.

“Monster Air Force.” Morrigan replied chipperly. “If we are making a fleet, instead of a only having this one ship, then we need signifiers to let others know that it's not just random ships there to either help or fuck shit up, but our ships.”

“Speaking of ships.” Roger says, standing up as his augs flash. “We need to get out of here to make it to training on time. Buddy, is your SUV repaired yet?”

Everyone stands as Buddy nods. “As of ten last night. All anti-ambush measures finished up and good to go. Morrigan, do you mind if we use the golf cart?”

“Sure, it's the easiest way out since this thing doesn't have a gang plank and the Drop pods are not gentle on what they land on.” She said, moving out of the room. She stops and turns to us, a huge catlike grin spreading. “Victor, are you and Cari going to be joining us, or are you going to be breaking Pandora in?” Her eyebrows did a little wiggle dance, the implied message coming across loud and clear.

“I would love to give her a test flight, maybe hunt a few hives, throwing the concept of collateral damage to the wind.” I say, ignoring it. “But I should head over to the Family Building to talk with Black Log on some things. Cari, would you care to join me, or would you like to invite your friends over to let them know you are doing alright?”

I saw a flash of realization cross Cari’s face. “Oh, shit. Yeah, I meant to call Alice earlier, but then…” she blushed slightly as she cleared her throat. “Would it be alright if they come over?”

We all look at each other and nod, with Jill saying. “Why wouldn't it be? Shit, we still have unused bedrooms, if they want to sleep over or claim a safe room.”

I could see Cari's face crinkle in confusion which was very cute. After saving a few pictures of it, I gave her a side hug as we made our way to the hangar bay. “In case they need to ‘run away’ from home or avoid people they really don't want to see.”

“Oh. Like how we would all go to a club in the lower wards to annoy our parents when they tried to get us to go on a hike around Targ.” She said as she sank into a memory. “It was mother's idea, a place that uncles Jeane, David, and Damian would have had such a hard time finding, even with their AIs working together. The place stank of booze and grease, yet they were incredibly kind towards us, recognizing that we just needed a place to stay for a bit. I'm sure mother called ahead to let them know what was up. We should go, sometime.”

“What was it called?” Cody asked.

“Goddess, it was so long ago. Café… Novue? Noboru?” Cari rubbed her temple in concentration while I guided her safely into the hangar.

“Café Nobu Shite.” Buddy said, causing Cari to snap her fingers.

“Yes! That's the place.” Her face lit up in joy, then shifted to confusion once more. “How do you know about it? I didn't think you guys could go to clubs before.”

Buddy chuckled as we loaded up into the golf cart. “Easy. My teacher, Abigail, owns the place. It's a family business, of sorts, and she inherited it from her uncle once he passed in an incursion. She is planning on taking me there next week for, what she called, real world experience.”

“You better put that on the calendar, Buddy.” Roger says. “You know for damn sure we would show up to support you.”

“Hah!” Jill barked out a laugh, then reached over to ruffle Roger's hair forcefully. “You mean mess with him, right? But yeah, let's go clubbing next week. Who knows, Cody might even get lucky.”

We all chuckled as Cody's face grew red as he punched Jill's shoulder, pouting. Soon, we were out of the Pandora and into the garage, where Buddy, Jill, Roger, and Cody loaded up into Buddy's slightly bulkier tan SUV, and I called over my vehicle, a small, smooth light purple sports car with a silver stripe around its sides.

Before I get in, Cari gives me a kiss that devolves into something more intimate, then she pushes me back slightly. “Have fun in your meeting. I'll see you once you get back.” She said as she sashayed away, leaving me wanting more. Sighing, I get into my car and give Black Log a message.

[SwarmComand: Hey, Black Log. I have some things I want to talk to you about that could take a while. Are you free for me to stop by and chat?]

[OceanMine: Sure. I have several subminds active at once, so we can chat. Want me to let your secretary know you're stopping by, or want to brave the halls alone?]

[SwarmCommand: Nah, I plan on stopping by my office afterwards, but I foresee our talk going for a while. It would be unfair to her to have her wait for me for that whole time.]

[OceanMine: :ThumbsupJelly:]

Once more, I do my due diligence in pointing my audience towards another of my fellow's work, the amazing Deep Cleaning the Deep Sea. The author is someone I consider a friend, and their fiction is one I regularly read as soon as a new chapter comes out. She had begun releasing Book 2 as of now, and has amazing plans for Book 3, plans that I am excited to see realized. 

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