SWNOVELXO Chapter 21: Retrofit! - 21
Aqua's POV
"UNO!" I laugh, raising my last card high. No way I'm losing this round! I've got the +10 card in hand—the highest plus card in the deck.
"Hehe, are you sure, Aqua-chan?" Amy, sitting to my right, grins as she slaps down a +4 red card. I keep smiling, placing my +10 card down, leaving my hand empty.
Helena, sitting to my left, sighs and drops her own +10 wild card. Yep, it's a guaranteed wipeout. Lib follows suit with another +10, and Denialle matches with her own +10. Finally, Hestia groans in resignation, throwing down her hand. She's eliminated with more than 25 cards.
I stretch, glancing around the gazebo. Belfast has moved to another table, sipping tea—at least, I assume it's tea. The sunlight streams through the open sides of the gazebo, so it must be around noon.
Time to check on my research progress. I've been playing for about two or three hours, and my Wave Front Armor research should be complete. Time to dive into some overpowered tech so that I can finally get different class of ship.
[Research boxes #1, 3, 5, 7–16 switched to 'Fleet-wide Submarine Hull Integration' – Estimated time: 1 day]
With that queued up, I shift focus to my personal design upgrades. I lie back down on the outdoor bed, pulling up my design blueprint.
[Aqua – Kansen – Wargirls]
Cost: $50000 (Warship)
Speed: 4.5
Hitpoints: 6000 (Warship)
Armor Class: Heavy
Prerequisite: Wargirl's Wisdom Cube Factory + Wargirl's Underwater Shipyard
Purpose: Siege, Anti-Infantry, Anti-Armor, Anti-Structure, Base Building
Weapons: Graviton Twin 100mm (Type 98) Kai / 6x Graviton Missiles / Nanoswarm deployer
Range: 16 / 22 / 4
Additional Info: Build Limit: 1. Can build and repair structures, vehicles, and T-Dolls. Detects cloaked and submerged units (Sensor Range: 9). Immune to hijacking, abduction, omni-crush, mind control, and confusion rays. Self-repairing.
I mean, it is myself… let's get started. A 95-meter hull is good and all, but I want bigger. A 120-meter length should be enough. Eight nanoswarm deployers, half of an actual MCV, some resource storage, and heavy armor upgrades—yeah, that works.
I feel someone patting my head. As I look up, I see Amy smiling at me. I smile back. "Thanks," I think, feeling a bit happier.
Now for the union core and processing power—just multiply the Union core by eight. Done. Time for reactors. I mean, I run on quad reactors right now, but let's change that to sixteen. Yeah, that works. Now to replace the propeller with dual thrusters. Let's go!
Next, the super graviton laser. I really want to equip myself with a battleship-grade one, but it runs along the whole hull. So, cruiser-grade is the max I can get. Fine, then. I'll need to study how Fleet of Fog hulls function too—lots of moving parts there.
First, I place the super graviton laser of cruiser class at the front of my ship. That eats up a lot of space.
My original six missile tubes are still there. Didn't the true Fleet of Fog ships have like 50+ missile tubes? I don't think I'll reach that level in this upgrade, so let's go with six front-facing missiles and twelve broadside missiles on both side—thirty total. That should be more than enough… I hope.
Next, I remove the retractable function and reshape the Twin 100mm (Type 98) Kai into something else. It's not going to look pretty, but I need a functional design. Twin cannons with longer barrels, graviton lasers as the obvious choice—I don't want to run out of ammo, even if I technically have infinite ammo while underwater.
Anyway, turret design is done. No under-turret casing digging into the hull—everything is contained in the turret itself. I design it with sleek slopes and add armor coverings around the turret systems.
Testing hydrodynamics… all dark green across the front. Nice. Do I need to worry about trailing hydrodynamics like in that Trailmakers game too? I mean, do real-life ships have those effects? I'm not even sure. But why not? I switch to the back of the submarine and redesign the entire surface along with the thrusters to create dark green water flow. Probably reduces wake?
Not that I even know what wake is… but yeah, it works well enough. Now for firing mode and alt mode.
In firing mode, the front of my ship spreads out, held up via nanoswarms. Huh, that seems easier than the magnetic connections I thought the Fleet of Fog used. I mean, I see lightning arcs across their hulls, so that's where I got those idea from?
Anyway, the top hull raises, splitting into three pieces—two bottom sections and one on top. The super graviton laser cannon has two smaller disks that spread outward and one main disk. So, stabilizers and main power sources. Nice, done. Test firing in the simulation.. yep that thing gonna be heavy hitter.As for Alt mode… I really want one. To be fair, it's less of an alt mode and more of a role—drones. Lots of drones. That should work wonders. I mean, spamming a thousand drones into a fight? If the enemy's AOE isn't strong enough, they'll get swarmed. I wonder if Raptor could fight her way out of that? She probably could when I think about her kit.
Anyway, my alt mode flips the submarine's hull lines to deploy drones. Total hull lines being flipped: eight, with four on each side. Each line deploys around 20 drones, so 160 drones total—not counting the fact that I can rebuild them easily. These drones are built specifically for T-Dolls, who have fewer resources than I do.
Okay, I'm satisfied with this. I also designed a new twin laser cannon turret and named it Geo. No idea why—I'm bad at naming things. Nice. Now for some neon lining… and done.
as I hit 'update'
[Aqua – Kansen – Wargirls]
Cost: $50,000 x10 (Warship)
Speed: 8
Hitpoints: 7000 + 5000 (Wave Front Armor)
Armor Class: Heavy / Wave Front Armor
Prerequisite: Wargirl's Wisdom Cube Factory + Wargirl's Underwater Shipyard
Purpose: Siege, Anti-Infantry, Anti-Armor, Anti-Structure, Base Building
Weapons: 'Geo' Graviton Twin cannons / 30x Graviton Missiles / 8x Nanoswarm deployer / Cruiser-grade Super Graviton Laser cannon
Range: 16 / 22 / 4 / 80
Additional Info: Build Limit: 1. Can build and repair structures, vehicles, and T-Dolls. Detects cloaked and submerged units (Sensor Range: 9). Immune to hijacking, abduction, omni-crush, mind control, and confusion rays. Self-repairing. 'Drones' ability.
Support Ability: Drones
Cost: $5,000
Cooldown: -
Requires power: No
Requires: Aqua
Description: 160 Drones that Aqua can freely control and outfit. They can be rebuilt as long as Aqua exists.
"Okay, I thought it would have a longer range... but 80 is more than enough," I mutter to myself. Also, why am I more expensive than a land cruiser? Great, is it because of the Super Graviton Laser or the Wave Front Armor? also $5,000 for 160 drones seem worth it? I mean my sense of cheap or expensive already got shatter due to that modifier already. Well, it should be worth it. I've got enough funds from all the excavation anyway. I stretch and look around, hearing someone talking."That was a good hunt," Rupture announces, arriving back up the hill with two boars slung over her shoulders. Okay, now I really want to eat those. Sakura follows behind her, carrying one more boar and a basket full of plants and what I assume to be spices.
Belfast quickly comes to collect the haul from them. Meanwhile, I sit up from the bed and glance at the table where we were playing UNO earlier. It's changed into a tabletop game setup. Which game, though? I shake my head. I should focus on upgrading myself first.
"So, girls, I'll be back," I say to the group at the tabletop game table and Hestia. "I'm going to upgrade myself," I add as Amy and Helena suddenly decide to join me. Okay, sure. I'm not sure where my support crew has gone, though. I didn't see them at all—maybe they visited while I was designing, and Pama might be with them too.
Anyway, I enter the residential building and head toward the elevators that I just started building with my nanoswarms. The 2-kilometer downward tunnel is complete, so now it's elevator time.
"So, Master~ why are you retrofitting yourself so soon?" Helena teases in her usual tone, hugging me from behind. I just smile.
"Not enough building capacity," I reply. "Also, I've got some new tech to bring me up to Fleet of Fog standards."
"Aqua-chan, I have a request," Amy steps in front of me, giving me a serious look.
"What is it, Amy-chan?" I ask.
"Please put me on a mission or some matches," she says.
Oh, I thought it was going to be something more personal. Oh well.
"You'll get your match soon, once the excavation is done. We'll have the whole 10 square kilometers of the map to play with. As for missions, I've got two on the list, but I'm waiting until we have an aircraft carrier join the group," I explain. Really, one mission is in Europe and another in Russian territories, so I'm going to need capital ships for transport and force projection across those fronts.
The elevator finishes building as I step inside with Helena and Amy. As it begins to descend, I yawn and will my nanoswarms to start constructing several boxes of nanoswarm deployers—ten to be exact. By the time we arrive, the last deployer is finished. Nice.
"So... you two here to guard me?" I ask, kind of curious. Retrofitting is probably a bit more annoying and time-consuming than upgrading a T-Doll model that done in few seconds, that's for sure.
"Yes," they reply in unison. Loud and clear. I start my retrofit and close my eyes.
Hestia's POV
Wow, that's a lot of resources drained. Half a million for one submarine. Good thing we've got a few more million resources in this base storage, and we haven't even finished excavating yet.
I glance toward Belfast, who is now setting up a proper outdoor kitchen. She's holding knives in both hands, checking their sharpness—like the nanoswarms didn't just create the perfect blades she wanted for the job already.
I turn back to the game. Apparently, we switched to playing DnD. I don't even know what this game is, but Lib sent me a knowledge package, and now I'm playing a Variant Human Forge Domain Cleric.
It's a huge campaign, with eight players involved. Guess who the QM is? Lib, obviously.
Well, I mean Aqua-chan is currently being retrofitted, so I'm playing a game with the girls, and Belfast is starting dinner with Sakura's help. Sakura, by the way, seems to want to be closer to Rupture. Not that I see anything wrong with that—Rupture is cool, unlike Gawr.
Although I still wonder didn't Aqua-chan make them Kusogaki? Why they don't have those sign at all?
Speaking of Gawr, I wonder where she is. I open the 3D hologram map. She's hunting somewhere in the middle of the underwater base and Pearl Harbor. Looks like she won't run into any problems—except maybe a few sea monsters, which shouldn't even exist in this world.
As I'm watching, I see a group of Allies approaching the hill. Leading them is their commander. Well, you picked a pretty bad time to show up since Aqua-chan is currently being retrofitted. She should be done in 5 to 10 minutes, though.
"We've got guests," I announce, just as Archer's turn gets interrupted. She was about to move her figurine to a different position to get a cover bonus.
I stand up from the table and walk toward the incoming group. Protea joins me, standing beside me.
I wait for them to get closer, then greet them. "Greetings."
The Allies' commander nods. "Greetings. May I speak with your commander?" he asks.
"She's currently in an important meeting," I reply with a slight smile. "Would you be so kind as to wait a few minutes?" As I clap my hands, I will my nanoswarms to create a tent and chairs for them. All of that is done in 4 seconds.
So, five people total—not a huge convoy or escort. They literally don't have weapons or vehicles available to get up here as we clear those out during Infiltration.
I glance at Protea. "So... do you want to go back to the game?" I ask.
She looks at me. "I'll follow your lead."
I decide to head back and rejoin the DnD game.
Helena's POV
"Why are you only asking for that!" I yell at Amy, shaking her shoulders. Sure, we made a pact about fighting for Master's affection, but that is just a plain stupid wish.
"I'm playing the long game... you know this too, Helena-chan." Amy replies with a smirk. Both of us have a lot of knowledge cross-pollution, having been built during the late-night hours when Master was testing her body.
We absorbed a lot of yuri comics, novels, and so on during that process as Master's memories passed over to us. I sigh. Fine.
"So... your plan is to win brownie points by doing missions?" I ask, rubbing my forehead.
"Not exactly... see, the thing with Aqua-chan is she likes to watch for entertainment. Although she says it's about data, that's just part of it." Amy grins. "So what I'm gonna do is become a streamer~" she adds confidently.
I sigh again. She seems to have it figured out before me, huh? If you ask me why we're doing this in the first place, well, it's because Master is lonely. That's what we've learned from her memories so far.
That's why she built us in the first place, and that's why she often goes on these designing sprees. Yeah, sure, she's an introvert, and she usually associates her loneliness with being one. That's why we stepped in. We were built based on parts of her personality and her desire for adventure and action—not that Master realizes this intentionally. A lot of the time, when she designs something, her emotions carry over.
From what I've seen so far, this concept of companionship has transferred to every creation Master has made. That's why, when she said she'd stop developing new T-Dolls, we started panicking back then.
"Fine, guess I'm gonna need to find another way then," I say to Amy as I glance toward where Master is undergoing her retrofit.
She's almost finished. She looks taller by a few centimeters, her breast size has increased to a B-cup, and her clothes still look cute as ever—in her signature hoodie.
Aqua's POV
Okay, this feels so weird. As I recalibrate all my sensors, it feels like something is slightly off with my body. I slowly shift my stance to double-check.
Recalibration complete. I clench and release my fists. Nice. As I look up, I see Amy and Helena staring at me with smiles on their faces.
"Did you girls wait long?" I ask as I step toward them. I'm already itching to test my drone systems.
"Not long at all, Master~" Helena responds, with Amy nodding along.
Before I can continue, Hestia contacts me. ("Congrats on your retrofit, Aqua-chan, but the Allied commander is currently waiting for you.")
Another negotiation... I sigh softly as I head toward the elevator. "More meetings," I mutter, as Amy and Helena follow me inside.
"Aqua-chan, cheer up~" Amy says, patting my head. Okay, so my height only increased by 5 cm, which makes me the perfect height for these tall girls to pat my head. I sigh. At least my breast size increased a bit... Still, I kind of want to fluff some tails and pet some fluffy ears.
Now that I think about it, why haven't I designed my own tail and ears? Yeah, I'll do that later. Also, I should change my hair color. Black feels too much like my last life, and since my gender's already changed to female, why not change my hair too?
"Fine," I reply as the elevator doors open. I step out into the garden and spot the tent where the Allied commander is probably waiting. Walking inside, I see him quickly stand up to greet me.
"Greetings, Commander," he says.
I nod. "So, what does your HQ want with me?" I cut straight to the point.
"Right, so the General ordered me to continue cooperation. First things first, we'll evacuate most of our bases except one, depending on your pick," he explains.
A show of compliance? Very well. I will a 3D holographic map to appear, displaying the entire island.
"Get rid of most, except your easternmost base. Oh, do civilians know about the shift in control?" I ask.
He shakes his head. "No, not yet."
Alright, I'll need to station patrols. Technically, the drones should be enough, so we won't need 10+ T-Dolls patrolling the streets. Two or three should suffice.
"Very well. Anything else?" I ask.
He nods. "Yes, about the satellite launch?"
"Ah, yeah. That's on the table. Just deliver your completed satellite to your base and call me over. The launchers should be done by..." I pause to calculate. Excavation will be done tomorrow. The simulator will be up the day after, and I'll probably spend the rest of that day testing it with the girls. Then I'll return to base to build two Hammerheads and two Raptors for our strike witch forces. So... 3 days wasted. Something's bound to pop up, so...
"Next week," I finish.
He looks confused for a moment but shakes his head and nods. "Very well then. I'll excuse myself." He salutes and turns around, leading his escort soldiers down the hill. Hestia immediately reclaims the tent with nanoswarms.
I sigh, but before I can fully relax, Helena grabs my hand.
"Come on, Master~ let's not overthink things," she says with a smile.
Fine. More smiling. She drags me back to the DnD table.
Dungeons and Dragons? Okay, so this world has DnD? Or is it the version I remember?
"Ehh, Lib, can I get a knowledge package? I kinda forgot half of the rules already," I ask, not sure if I can recover my old memories or if this DnD version is different.
Lib tosses me a small replica of a Wisdom Cube. It looks so similar but smaller—like a sugar cube—as I absorb it.
Okay, it's my old world's version of DnD. Good to know that parts of my memories got transfer over to T-Doll, do the same apply to Kansen? probably I hope.
I will some chairs to appear as Amy sits to my left and Helena to my right. Still don't know where my Triple T crew is—Terra, Tessa, Tama... thus, Triple T—along with Pama.
Well, anyway, it's about 3:30 PM, so I can probably join for session 0 or 1 since I joined after the campaign started. At least I'm not forever DM anymore. Nice.