Hamlet: Act I, Scene 5, 159–167
To cross the Atlantic alone was a calculated risk for a ship. On the one hand, a single vessel was less likely to attract the attention of any passing Abyssals than an entire fleet or convoy. On the other hand, it meant that if they did come under attack, there would likely be no help for hundreds of miles around, meaning all but certain destruction. Fortunately, this particular lone ship had a valuable advantage: sheer speed.
Unfortunately, all the speed in the world was of little help when your enemy has been expecting you, as Edsall would soon discover.
A single active sonar ping. That was all the warning she would have received, assuming she had even been equipped with sonar. As the destroyer sped along, an eruption of water and foam in front of her as something ominously large breached the surface. Before the misty curtain had even begun to drop back down, a swarm of huge, rubbery black tentacles shot out from behind it, aiming to snatch and ensnare the ship girl so she could not use her speed to flee the scene.
After all, their owner enjoyed a captive audience.
“Good afternoon, my dear. You are USS Edsall, I presume? The one who gave my dear little Ri such a scare back in Norfolk? I see they’ve been quite generous with your overhaul, haven’t they? A pity they didn’t bother to include any weapons. Not that they would have done you any good, of course. Ahhh, but where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself: I am the Cold War Princess, Abyssal Hime-class Ballistic Missile Submarine, the one and only one of my kind in the Abyssal Fleet. Which is really one too many, all things considered, but then again, where’s the fun in a war when both sides don’t have the power to destroy the world on a whim, hmmmm?”
“Now then... we have much to discuss, you and I, and all the time in the world to do it in. So why don’t you make yourself... comfortable. This little chat doesn’t end until I decide it does, and whether or not it ends with you back on your merry way across the Atlantic, or with you sinking to the bottom, is entirely up to you. Heh heh heh...”
