Intro

Z141011MAY

C O N F I D E N T I A L

FROM: USS SAMUEL J BANKS

TO: SICOHALE FIVE

INFO: COMPACFLT

O USS GERALD D FORD

SPECAT EXCLUSIVE //N65893//

SUBJ: UNIDENTIFIED VESSEL

REPORT UNIDENTIFIED RADAR CONTACT ABOUT 0900Z 14 MARCH. CONTACT SUBSEQUENTLY EVALUATED AS BB OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN TRANSITING INDIAN OCEAN. COURSE EAST SPEED 16.

VISUAL HELICOPTER CONTACT AT 20KM EVIDENCED UNUSUAL AND SEEMINGLY OUTDATED VESSEL DESIGN AND CHARACTERISTICS UNLIKE ANY KNOWN VESSEL IN ANY FLEET. VESSEL LIKELY TO BE UNOBVIOUS TOWARDS PRESENCE OF DDG 50 KILOMETERS AWAY.

REQUEST PERMISSION TO LEAVE CURRENT AREA TO PURSUE AND INVESTIGATE. BELIEVE VESSEL TO BE LINKED TO REPORTS OF VESSELS CARRYING UNUSUAL PAYLOAD TOWARDS HEARD ISLAND AND MCDONALD ISLANDS OVER THE PAST 3 YEARS. BELIEVE GOOD PROBABILITY TO SHADOW AND IDENTIFY.

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Z141021ZMAY

C O N F I D E N T I A L

PM: SICOHALE FIVE

TO: USS SAMUEL J BANKS

USS SAMUEL J BANKS Z141011MAY

OPAREA ASSIGNMENT //N45821//

REQUEST REF A GRANTED.

REPORT AS NECESSARY. VADM GALLERY SENDS.

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Z150349ZMAY

CONFIDENTIAL

FR: USS SAMUEL J BANKS

TO: SICOHALE FIVE

INFO: COMPACFLT

A. USS SAMUEL J BANKS Z141011MAY

1. ANOMALOUS CONTACT IDENTIFIED Z150330ZMAY. CURRENT POSITION LAT -49.19, LONG 101.49. COURSE 87 SPEED 20. HAVE TRACKED 17 HOURS WITHOUT BEING DETECTED. CONTACT EVALUATED AS BB GROSS SIZE, ENGINE CHARACTERISTICS INDICATIVE STEAM-POWERED VESSEL. VISUAL CONTACT EVALUATED DESIGN AS SIMILAR TO WORLD WAR TWO JAPANESE VESSEL.

2. RETURNING TO SHADOWING OPERATIONS. REQUEST ADDITIONAL OPAREA ASSIGNMENTS. AWAIT REPLY 0410Z.

Prologue

HEARD ISLAND

APRIL 29 2021

GMT+5 1130

A cold breeze blew across the snowy island, a barren white wasteland around twelve thousand kilometers north of Antarctica. The harsh weather had put off any sign of life until 4 years ago, the biting snow making the isolated island void of any sign of life.

And yet, starting from around May of 2017, the white dot was inhabited by people; workers, engineers, and even architects from shipyards, along with their various equipment. They were sent there under a blanket of secrecy, to work on a project that was equally confidential as their purpose on the island.

Over the past 4 years, various ships have been observed, carrying various amounts of equipment and items towards the lonely island. In the beginning, items included floating cranes, an enormous floating drydock, wood and concrete, food and drinks. After that, items got a tad bit more...interesting. Steel plates of various sizes and thickness, welding equipment, various sacks of gunpowder, what seemed to be weapons that were not yet assembled, radars, rangefinders and optics, a load of items that bear a uncanny resemblance to shells. Still, nobody questioned the purpose of such items, for the more sensitive cargo were always below decks, covered by large pieces of cloth.

Come early 2021, the number of ships heading off towards the island decreased significantly, although there were a few times larger vessels carried unusually large items that were blanketed by a thick cloth. Nobody paid too much attention to the vessels, and even the French and Australian Coast Guard felt no need to investigate an island that was so remote.

If one decided to use a 24/7 satellite software and decided to look at the island, although camouflaged by the surrounding waters, they would have seen a large blue blanket covering what looked like a floating drydock, in a lake southeast of the island. Recently though, some people had noticed something resembling a vessel had been docked in the lake. Although that had got a small amount of attention, nobody thought much about it. After all, people had found an UFO in Antarctica; surely this was another ridiculous claim?

However, this was far from a hoax; the vessel was right in front of Evan Anderson, who was observing from the southwest end of the lake.

"Sir, it's cold outside, do return to the dorm soon."

"Understood."

Anderson was the reason for the unusual activity surrounding the island. Since young, he had taken an interest in World War 2 vessels, particularly the Japanese battleship Yamato. He had taken to heart the significant dates of the vessel; when she was laid down, the date she was launched, when she was commissioned, the battles she took part in, and the date and location of her tragic demise during Operation Ten-Go. When he grew up, he dreamt of building a fourth Yamato; a vessel that was built exactly to the dimensions and statistics of the ship he had idolized so much, down to the forty-six centimeter guns, to the seemingly-impenetrable thick armor incorporated into the ship's design by the best naval architects and engineers of Imperial Japan in the 1930s, to the very keel which would later become the ship he loved so much.

He wanted to build an almost-exact copy of the Yamato using all available means (the original designs were mostly destroyed before Japan's surrender), and present her as the fourth vessel of the Yamato class. He wanted a vessel that would act as a living museum, being fully functional to give others the maximum immersion in history. He wanted himself and others to be able to relive history as if they were part of it. And the vessel would be donated to the Yamato Museum in Kure, certainly boosting the number of tourists to the museum.

And as of now, his dream was almost complete.

He was looking at the fourth and newest Yamato-class battleship, Kii, almost finishing her final stage of her fitting-out in the lake. One of his biggest problems was almost over.

The next problem was to get the ship to Kure.