The following event for the Modern Kansens was a whirlwind of confusing information. First, they knew they were ships; now, they were humans representing their namesake ships. After calming themselves, they familiarized themselves with their new bodies. The sensations, including pain, were a whole new experience.
They all started as babies, learning to crawl before they could walk and run. Their muscle memory needed significant time to adapt to their new bodies.
In everyone's Ship's CIC (Combat Information Center) aboard their respective ships, they gathered and looked at the large screen, where everyone's face could be seen. Their eyes furrowed as they meticulously observed one another, noting their features and added ones.
Maya's dog ears caught curious attention. Lafayette was barely visible, his height betraying him greatly. Lucas, Arizona, and William glanced at one another, noticing their number were few. Of course Lafayette was a boy.
Enterprise gazed at everyone, who seemed to be familiarizing themselves with their comrades' faces. After a lengthy meet on the monitor screen, it was time to greet. She took a breath and sighed before starting the meeting. She ordered them to introduce themselves in front of the screen, starting with her.
"I see that all of you are confused right now..." she said, her hands clasped. "Before we could start this meeting, please introduce yourselves first, to let everyone familiarize themselves with each other's faces and names."
She introduced herself first in an introductory tone, since no one seemed willing to start. "The name is Enterprise, or USS
Enterprise CVN-80. For a momentary loss of contact with PACOM,
"I would assume command till we make contact."
She gestured for the next person to introduce themselves. Bunker Hill stood from her seat and faced the camera to introduce herself in her generic, strict Secretary undertone.
"The name is Bunker Hill, or USS Bunker Hill CGN-76."
Her face didn't show any concern, contrasting with the expressions plastered on the faces of others on the screen panel. She was defined as stoic and strict, especially with those reading glasses.
Essex started to look around the monitor screen, waiting for the next one to introduce themselves. Her eyes darted left and right. No one followed. She sighed and introduced herself instead.
"Guess I'm next," she said to herself before getting up.
"The name is Essex, or USS Essex LHA-12." Her lips twitched along with her brows, as she tried not to scream in total embarrassment. Her delivery had a slight screech.
Lucas was next. He stood from his seat with a salute and a monorobotic undertone as he introduced himself.
"The name is Jack H. Lucas, or USS Jack H. Lucas."
He represented himself as a Marine would, with discipline and professionalism.
Lafayette was next, but with difficulty. He stood, but his stature was low. He stood on the chair for the rest to see. The scene was cartoonish, as the rest held their chuckles and twitching lips. Lafayette's struggle was a comic relief in the dimly lit CIC, thick with tension.
The stoic facades of Lucas and Arizona cracked, their lips twitching. Essex was losing it, her voice cracking. Enterprise, Belfast, and Bunker Hill stayed silent for the small man to introduce himself.
"Umm... The name... the name is Lafayette, or USS Lafayette."
Lafayette stuttered as he introduced himself, sounding like a grade schooler.
Maya was next. She stood from her seat and made a quick bow, her face flustered with embarrassment. Her doggy-ears twitched and got most of the attention.
"The name is Maya, or JS Maya of the JMSDF (Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force)."
She quickly sat and covered her face with her hands to hide from the embarrassment. Her doggy-ears started to move. Then followed a Japanese shriek.
Everyone saw it and did not question any logic behind it, because they were already in a shit situation. Asking about the logic of the dog-ears would only add to more questions.
Belfast was next. She stood at her seat with grace and made a quick bow while lifting the edges of her skirt.
"Greetings, the name is Belfast, or HMS Belfast. It's good meeting you all, Ma'am and Sir."
She introduced herself as a "gentlewoman" with elegance. She carried the ethics of the Royal Navy and its Royalty. She might look like a maid, but beneath the maid suit, there's a dark secret.
Lucas and Essex muttered to themselves, "Damn." "British," Arizona uttered.
Denver was next, introducing herself with her cheerful self. She wanted to paint a tone lighter than tensed and depressed. Her childish smile beamed like fluorescent light.
"Hello, there friends... the name is Denver, or USS Denver SSN856. And it's nice to meet you all," she said with a wide smile.
She introduced herself with cheerful and blooming colors. The rest went along with her cheerful antics.
Essex, Lucas, Maya, Lafayette, and Arizona had the same reaction to Denver's cheerfulness. "How the fuck did she become so cheerful in a time of crisis!"
Unbeknownst to them, Denver was putting up a front to lighten the mood.
Arizona was next. He stood up and greeted them, clearing his throat, his posture stiff and tall.
"The name is Arizona, or USS Arizona. It's nice to meet you all," he said in a stern voice, following his sharp personality.
William was next. He looked into the eyes of everyone on the monitor before introducing himself. He stood and tipped his cap like a nonchalant old man.
"The name is William, or USNS William McLean T-AKE-12."
"An old gentleman," Lucas and Arizona both uttered with blank faces.
Everyone shifted their attention to the edge of the monitor screen for the last one.
Laffey opened her eyes and introduced herself. Not standing or showing any formality, she just said, "Laffey," with a cold tone and her typical stare and glowing red eyes, followed by an intimidating aura.
Essex, Lucas, Maya, Lafayette, and Arizona were sweating beads after looking at Laffey's red eyes with her murderous gaze and hearing her cold voice. They all gulped simultaneously.
"The hell with that?" Arizona's mind screamed.
"A death glare, right now?" Lucas thought.
Essex stretched her sleeves as the sweat stuck to her neck. "A warning glare?"
After everyone introduced themselves, Enterprise started the meeting.
"Okay, I think that is everyone," she said, clasping her hands. "Does any of you have any idea why we are here? And why we are humans? Does anyone have a clue or hypothesis?"
Everyone was silent, still shocked by the revelation that they were 2 humans, not ships, and their inability to contact PACOM or any other Earth-related contact.
Bunker Hill read reports about her findings. "According to what I gathered, we cannot contact any US Military Command or any Allied Bases. And even Military or Civilian Satellite or anything related to
Earth. However, I intercepted a high military coded message from
Northeast to our current location." She paused. Everyone listened. "The crazy part is that... it is similar to US Navy WW2 Naval code." Everyone was dumbfounded, even Enterprise, but not Laffey. She also intercepted the encrypted message.
"So that's maybe one of the reasons why we can't contact the High Command, but still doesn't answer the other question. Why we have a human body," Enterprise said, putting her hand on her temple and sighing.
"So... in a nutshell, we don't where we are... and we are lost?" Lucas spoke.
Enterprise looked at Maya. "Maya, do you have any idea why we are humans?"
Everyone on the monitor screen looked at Maya. In her head, her thoughts raced to find an answer. She started to feel uncomfortable, trying to give a proper answer to Enterprise's question without sounding silly or stupid.
She was having a mental breakdown, crumbling her hair in anxiety. She wanted to say they were Isekaied, but the premise was embarrassing from an American friend's POV. Enterprise saw this and told her to stop. She was glowing like a tomato with dog-ears and a wig.
"That's enough, Maya. You don't have to answer it if you don't know the answers to it."
She turned her attention to the screen. "Alright, does anyone have any idea why we are humans?"
Denver raised her hand like a kid in elementary school. Enterprise saw her in the monitor. She motioned to her.
"Okay, Denver, tell us what you got in mind."
Denver's eyes lit up, and she answered in a cheery voice. "I think we are being 'Isekaid' to another world as humans to fight Aliens and Axis Powers."
Everyone's jaw dropped at Denver's theory. Enterprise had a confused face. Maya was turning red from embarrassment at some dumb "Anime" logic of Isekai. Bunker Hill and Laffey didn't give an F, but the suggestion did raise eyebrows.
Lucas tried to counter Denver's theory. "Bullshit! I think we're in a
'Final Countdown' situation."
William countered Lucas's blabbering. "So... can you explain why we have human bodies?"
Lucas's brain stopped functioning for 10 seconds, as if lagging, before making a retort at William's statement. "Wormhole and...
Space Time Magic," he said, then smiled awkwardly like an idiot.
"Your stupid crew watches too much fucked-up anime, that your brain is so fucked-up too," Arizona yelled at the monitor screen.
"Shut your mouth, asshole, your own crew is too serious to even think humor existed!" Lucas shouted back.
"Why you!"
Minutes passed as the meeting at the Military Communication Lines became nonsense blabbering between the three grown-up men arguing like kids shouting in a Zoom call. The situation in the comms became more and more awkward as they threw theories like men throwing stuff on the wall to see what sticks.
Essex was literally dying from muffled laughter at their blabbering, so much so that she couldn't hold it and burst out laughing.
Bunker Hill pinched the bridge of her nose at the awkward and totally stupid conversation.
"We're not in a fucking 'Star Trek' franchise," she muttered to 12 herself in utter disappointment.
Enterprise listened to the awkward conversation with visible popping veins in her forehead. The conversation diverged out of the situation as the men threw random stuff.
As she was about to snap, someone spoke, making everyone shut their mouths. "Shut up!"
A low volume voice with a cold tone was heard through the screen.
The three men looked at the direction of the voice.
It was Laffey, staring at them at the monitor screen with her red ruby eyes that glowed like the eyes of a "Terminator." Silence permeated, as beads of sweat dropped from their foreheads.
It was an awkward, lengthy silence before Enterprise spoke, breaking the silence and tension. "Alright, people or ships... whatever you wanna call yourselves."
She pointed at the monitor screen. "Bunker Hill, Arizona, and Denver, I want you to be careful at activating your Nuclear Reactors. And use only the Backup Generators for powering your ship and submarines. We can't start it until we can safely activate it. Listen carefully, we don't want to have a Chernobyl and Fukushima disaster in the middle of nowhere. Do you copy?"
The three responded, "Yes, Ma'am."
Getting teleported into an unknown world was bad enough, and a Fukushima and Chernobyl disaster was not in anyone's mind. Their location and position were unknown, and the only way to find out was to explore the whole new planet for friendlies or hostiles.
"And also, Bunker Hill, I want you to resume your investigation on these 'weird signals.' I want the details, and find out where we are." "Understood," Bunker Hill responded with a slight nod.
"Lucas, Maya, and Laffey, watch over the sky and horizon for any potential threats, and find out how are we gonna operate and sail our ships."
"Roger that/Hai/Affirmative."
"Lafayette and Belfast, watch out for any underwater threats. We cannot just sit by and wait for miracles. We've been in Fleet exercises for situations like this, lost communication and had to defend for ourselves. I want all ships open for potential hostiles." Her voice boomed at the screen as she gave commands.
"Roger that/Right away, Miss Enterprise."
"Okay, that's all folks, you're all dismissed." Belfast and Maya made bows, and the other US Naval Vessels returned salutes. The monitor screen turned black as the meeting cut off.
After giving the order, Enterprise leaned back in her chair and sighed heavily. Being sucked into an unknown world was not enough. Being human was more complicated than being teleported to any dimension. Her body was slowly transitioning to these feelings, stress, and tiredness.
As she let out a sigh, she looked at her computer screen. An A.I. figure of a woman appeared. Her image was A.I. generated, like a hologram. She asked the ship's onboard A.I. about the ship's status.
"Cortana, give me the status of my ship and the onboard Nuclear Reactor?"
(Cortana is the name given to the ship's onboard A.I. by the officers who work on Enterprise's CIC; they are also fans of Halo.)
An A.I. image with feminine features appeared on one of the holographic tables where holographic projection was available.
After appearing at the holographic table, Cortana started to scan and calculate the radiation levels of the ship's Nuclear Reactor and its Core. A few minutes later, the calculation was finished, and Cortana spoke in a robotic feminine voice.
"According to my latest scan on your reactor, there are no damage to the reactor, and the radiation from the core itself has tripled the original radioactive readings."
Upon hearing this, Enterprise almost fell out of her chair. Tripling the radioactivity of the nuclear core.
Enterprise quickly leaned forward, her face darting towards the holographic screen, and asked for a second confirmation.
"What?! Is it safe to Activate the Reactor?"
Cortana responded. "Yes. It is safe. The higher radiation is also helping the lifespan of the Nuclear Cores, and could go for more than the intended decades."
Enterprise asked again in disbelief. "How many years would you think it would take for me to refuel my Reactor Cores?"
Cortana calculated the Reactor Core's lifespan. "About 50-60 years. According to my latest calculations," she added.
Enterprise fell back into her chair with a dumbfounded expression as she mumbled to herself. "I just got my midlife refueling and overhaul last year. DARPA and DOD will lose their nuts after hearing this."
(DARPA is the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, and DOD is the Department of Defense.)
"Those were just mild calculations; the lifespan could also expand to a century. The radiation ain't just nuclear, but something else," Cortana added.
"A century more?... who would do as such," she murmured in contemplation.
After returning to her senses, she recomposed herself from the mountain of information that Cortana dumped on her.
She got up from her chair and fixed herself, straightening her tie and uncurling her jacket. She started to walk out of the CIC and headed to the Carrier's Bridge or Island.
After getting to the Bridge, she opened communication with Bunker Hill, Arizona, and Denver. "Bunker Hill, Arizona, and Denver, how was your reactor?"
The comms were suddenly filled with shouting and blabbering coming from Denver and Arizona; they were talking about their nuclear reactor doubling its lifespan.
Bunker Hill answered the comms with a calm voice. "My reactors are in good condition to start, and no damage reported." Enterprise sighed in relief. Before she could talk to the comms, Bunker Hill continued to talk about her findings.
"About the encrypted message, here's what it says: The fleet that was sent to intercept the Sakura Empire's fleet at Midway Islands that were missing for four days has appeared in the Barents Strait closer to Alaskan waters. It is now currently heading back to Pearl, the heavily damaged ships are now enroute to Bremerton, Washington, for extensive repair. Date: June 6, 1942."
"So basically, we're in the middle of WW2, and what is this 'Sakura Empire'?" Enterprise whispered to herself.
"So what are the plans now, Ma'am?" Bunker Hill asked Enterprise on the comms.
She rethought the information gathered for a bit, and then spoke. "Our plan now is to sail to where Pearl Harbor is and make contact with Earth, but before we can do that, we need to figure out how to make our ships work and sail under their own power again." Everyone listened to the comms and agreed.
~Time skip~
The lengthy time skip consisted of them making attempts to start their ships. It took them a long time to get started. They could manually operate it, or use their thoughts to take control of the ships. A human mind wouldn't have sufficed to control one ship, luckily for them, they were Kansens. A ship in a human form.
'Sailing a ship is now easy to learn (Everyone did a brainstorm at that one). But the question of predicament is now, how do I fly my own Planes?' Enterprise thought, massaging her aching head.
She glanced outside the Carrier Bridge superstructure and saw her planes, ranging from jets to propeller-driven planes and rotary craft. On the starboard side of the flight deck, F/A 25
Hellcat/FAXX and its drone Wingman were parked alongside.
She was on her ship's bridge, thinking about how she would launch a plane off her deck. Unbeknownst to her, the more she thought of launching the plane, the plane started to move on its own, like it was alive, and positioned itself on one of the EMALS (Electromagnetic Aircraft Launching System).
The sound of roaring engines sounded as flames protruded from its rear. The front landing gear shuttle hooked itself at the catapult. Everything was connected, only waiting for the signal to launch.
Her deep contemplation was cut off by a jet engine roaring. She didn't know how, but the jet itself was hooked to the catapult.
To her surprise, the planes parked on her deck suddenly popped up with status bars above them. The status bar showed the planes' HP/Life, MP/Fuel, Armament, and status of deployment.
It was a surprise for her, this simplistic approach helped her in maintaining an air-fleet. Each plane's call-sign was registered to her data; she just needed to give an order, and the planes followed.
Each plane contained the data of its previous Pilots and their personality, and battle tactics. Their call sign popped above as their identification. Only Enterprise could see those status bars as the planes were all connected to her.
"Cat 2: Launch."
The EMALS at Catapult 2 catapulted the plane off the Carrier's deck. The magnetic rails propelled the shuttle with 3 – 4 G's of acceleration. The jet retracted its landing gear as it soared through the skies uncontested. Its wingman followed in tight formation.
She smiled, seeing her birds fly in the sky, with a glint in her eyes. She glanced at one of the parked aircraft, and her eyes darted to the propeller plane with a circular disk on top.
She commanded the parked E2E Hawkeye (Airborne Early Warning Radar) at the deck, as it slowly positioned itself at the Catapult. The plane took off smoothly on the EMALS as the rails hummed with electricity.
Enterprise smiled with satisfaction. She carefully activated her Two Nuclear reactors and started doing ship sea trials alongside her escorts. Now safe with the Nuclear Reactor activation, she sailed beside them as they did the typical US Navy Ship sea trials.
She and the other Ships were starting to get the hang of controlling their Ships because they were ships before, but the human body still had limitations, and it was playing a big factor to them being Kansens.
Especially when Enterprise tried to launch an entire squadron of planes, the mental toll of controlling multiple aircraft made her almost collapse.
Lafayette's ears rang like having tinnitus for such a young age. The slight misalignment of his sonar frequencies almost made him deaf.
The Aegis Kansens got their hairs on their skin standing as their Aegis Combat System detected a hostile Seagull flying near. That prompted a response from Laffey, as her CIWS Phalanx targeted the bird and painted it in a red mist.
Underneath, Denver and Arizona were carefully doing Ship Trials on their respective Submarines. They were careful not to submerge too deep without any knowledge of Human limitation, while trying to control a Submarine underwater.
"Man... we can dive deeper than this," Denver spoke in boredom, as she dove at the depth of 300 feet.
"You want to go deeper, dumbass, without having prior knowledge of being a human first. And we have no means of rescue inside a Sub, yeah, good luck!" Arizona rebuked her.
"Just saying, I mean above surface we're basically visible," she stated.
The Modern Nuclear Submarine's silhouette had greater visibility than a WW2 Submarine if viewed from above. Of course, safety protocols. They were in another world, and the depths might be unknown to them.
After their sea trials and familiarization with weapon systems and control of their ship, they set their sights on their destination that led to the unknown, but beyond that unknown was Pearl. Their only hope of making contact and finding out about their peculiar situation.