Disclaimer:

All trademarked items in this fanfiction is owned by their respective copyright holders (A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, Aoki Hagane no Arpeggio by Ark Performance). The ones owned by me are future OCs, plot, and author's thoughts. This fanfiction is made solely for entertainment purposes and not intended for any material gain.

An Arpeggio of Ice on Fire

Chapter 1

"Sit-rep," a black-haired woman clad in a white dress seemed to call into thin air atop the deck of her ship. "Yamato Task Force, sit-rep."

"Jolly old mess that was," another woman clad in sweaters, miniskirts, and white lab-coat remarked. "I told you firing your super-graviton cannon while your Mirror-Ring Field was discharging was a bad idea."

"Can it, Hyuuga," yet another woman, clad in a form of naval uniform, said. "The antennas are relatively undamaged, but I can't get any radio reception whatsoever. It's as if the whole world has gone silent."

"The massive quantum anomaly we created might have something to do with that," Hyuuga chirped. "Do you need a hand, Yamato?"

"Much obliged. Can you take care of the sensor suites, Hyuuga?" The first black-haired woman, Yamato, said. "Amaha will continue to run damage control and propulsion."

"Understood, Supreme Flagship~" Hyuuga replied, her hands already tapping away at holographic pads popping up in front of her. "Oh lordy lordy… wait what? Yamato, did we get reactor breach in the tussle? I'm detecting absurd amounts of Thanatonium in the air…"

"No, there is no indications of any reactor breach whatsoever. Our citadel is pretty much intact," Amaha replied to Hyuuga's question. "A few of the weapon silos are compromised, but the signature of the airborne Thanatonium is more consistent with fuel-grade compared to weapons-grade…"

"I'm receiving hails from most of our Task Force," Yamato said almost off-handedly. "Yahagi, Isokaze, Hatsushimo, Fuyutsuki, Suzutsuki, Hamakaze, Kasumi, Yukikaze, Shinano, Akashi, I-400, and I-402 is online and recovering their bearings. I've placed a beacon for them to assemble around us."

"Tell the surface vessels to start filtering the air for Thanatonium particulates, too," Hyuuga added. "More fuel is always better. The subs can hold the stuff if the surface vessels run out of safe storage space."

"How much can we expect from air filtration, Hyuuga?" Yamato asked.

"Judging from the thickness of this particulate fog and the radar reading of this surrounding area? I'd say around 300-400 micrograms per meter cubic of air, easily," the brunette with a monocle replied. "That's enough for a week of propulsion on heavy use, or two standard supercavs after refining."

"Why, though…" Amaha muttered in disbelief.

"I don't think we're on earth anymore, Yamato. I checked the radar and sonar maps of the surrounding area against a copy of the world map and found absolutely zero match. That is statistically not possible," Hyuuga said. "Not unless we're on a different planet altogether. Besides, Thanatonium is not naturally-occurring… at least not airborne Thanatonium."

"Interesting… what do you suggest?" Amaha said as she tapped away at her holographic pads. "Engine output is nominal for the moment. Quantic shockwaves damaged one of our propellers and scrambled multiple reactor cells but it can be recovered with time and available resources."

"I guess we must prioritize repairs," Hyuuga remarked. "After that, build a satellite network. Those stolen military satellite blueprints would do nicely."

"We must anchor down for the moment, take stock of our damages before seeing what lies behind the fog," Yamato suggested. "After that, rebuilding and forays for resource will start. Everybody got that?"

"Yes Ma'am~" Hyuuga replied.

…

A long twenty months had passed since Gerion Lannister left the castle of Casterly Rock. His ship, the Laughing Lion, has been through so much. Her main mast held only the tattered remains of a sail. Half the remaining men choked to death on the first day they entered this accursed smoke, while the slaves seemed more content on sleeping with fishes than to forge onwards. Nature takes care of the remaining crew via krakens, starvation, and the weather. As a result, he was the last living man on board the Laughing Lion.

That is, until the drifting ship broke out of the pea-soup fog to a clear area. Gerion could barely saw past five yards in the fog, but suddenly he could see the Lannister flag atop the main mast clear as day. He then hacked out blood again, a routine plaguing him the past three days.

Bracing against the second mast on the cog, Gerion then spotted an odd white triangle against the background of blackish water. Summoning a burst of energy, he hobbled to the side and desperately shouted whatever nonsense his heat-struck mind could conjure.

His last sight was the small vessel sailing towards his ship, and he would not be conscious when he was rescued.

After a seeming eternity, Gerion Lannister opened his eyes. He felt like he wasn't lying on hard floor, but on a firm matress. The ceiling on the room is a clean off-white, while a strange orb of light provide illumination. A smooth cotton shirt and pants protected him from the slightly chilly air.

"Ah, there you are. I was afraid that the fog had caused lasting damage," a soft female voice said as Gerion tried to push himself up. "Your lungs were in an early stage of poisoning, but our scouts got you here on time."

"I… I thank you, madam," Gerion said as he finished siutting up and accepted a glass of water from the well-endowed woman. "Where… am I?"

"You are in our ship. Scouts from our fleet spotted your sailship adrift and devoid of sails," the woman said as she accepted the empty glass. "So many ships doesn't share the same good fate of being intact and floating."

"Those strange sails… it was your scout, then?" Gerion asked, having succeeded in propping himself towards the wall.

"Yes, it is," Hyuuga replied.

"May I have your name?" Gerion said.

"Call me Hyuuga. The 'u' is long," the brunette said, smiling.

"I see… I, Gerion Lannister, owes you my life," Gerion said, her gaze to Hyuuga's eyes piercing. "And I assure you that House Lannister shall see the debt paid in full if you can get me back to Casterly Rock."

"Hmm, a nobleman, then?" Hyuuga said jovially. "I'll see what I can do to get you back to… this port of Casterly Rock. I need to consult my leader about this."

"I see. I shall wait for your word, then," Gerion said.

"There's a guest room prepared for you," Hyuuga said as she gets up from the bedside chair. "You can rest there while I speak to my leader about this. Are you well enough to walk on your own? Try to stand, now."

"I… I think I am," Gerion said as he gingerly climbed out of the cot he was in. "I'd thought I'd be weaker after all those ordeal…"

"You are dead asleep for little over three days, I think," Hyuuga said as she proffered a hand.

"I did? That's…" Gerion replied as he tested his knees. To his satisfaction, they held his weight fine if a little sore.

"Quite usual, considering what ordeal you might have encountered before coming near us," Hyuuga replied.

"Lead the way then," Gerion said as he took a few careful steps to the door Hyuuga just opened.

"Well then, mister Gerion Lannister," Hyuuga said with some flourish. "I formally welcome you to the fortress-ship Yamato, the seat of House Kirino. I hope you enjoy your stay."

…

"Really Hyuuga. House Kirino. Really," Yamato remarked dryly as three women convened on a white room. A coffee table stood in the middle ringed by four garden chairs.

"You ask me to play by my ears, so I play by ear," Hyuuga grumbled. "I think we're dealing with feudal governmental system, so I introduced ourselves like one."

"How goes the exploration to adjoining lands, Yahagi?" the lady asked a third person by the table, a lean woman with hair done in a ponytail.

"We found several islands and islets within twenty miles, the map has been updated. There are ruins on some of the islands, and isotope dating seem to put them on the 400-500 year range. We even found remnants of ancient weapons on some larger ruins," Yahagi reported. "No extant human settlement of significant size and progress seem to exist around here, but I found undisturbed wildlife and recent signs of forage."

"Possibility of nomadic cultures, then?" Yamato wondered aloud.

"Within reasonable guess," Yahagi answered.

"There's also some Thanatonium in the water, in concentrations around twice of the airborne. With the amount we have gathered collectively, we can rest easy for at least five decades," Hyuuga said.

"How about nanomachine replenishment?" Yamato asked.

"To tell you the truth? Rampant. At least 20% faster than conventional rates back home. At this rate I can have enough non-grid nanomachines for Akashi to reconstruct my ship hull in a month or so, other resources permitting," the brunette said before releasing a short giggle. "I chalk it to all the dissolved Thanatonium in the water. All we need to do now is gather the mineral resources needed for our second set of GPS satellites."

"Good. We should find a suitable island for our production facility soon," Yamato said while tapping her fingers to the table. "Would you run the facility, Hyuuga?"

"Absolutely! As long as you allow science to happen," the brunette answered the question.

"Well then, now it's the matter of how we'll prop the notion of our 'House Kirino' up for our guest," Yamato said.

"A samurai-style noble house could be rather interesting notion to push…" Hyuuga added, a smile wide on her lips. "You do have much of the internet saved, do you Yamato?"

"Mostly on warfare topics, but yeah," Yamato said, grinning. "That particular server block will be made accessible to all of the fleet. Can you construct a disk farm for that?"

"Well, we'll see about getting a few islands prepared," Hyuuga replied.

"Can I play the 'loyal badass bodyguard' role?" Yahagi piped up.

A/N: There will be several Mental Models that has not appeared in AHnA canon, so I take liberties on how they will look. I will base the appearance of most of them from Kancolle, but with a few alterations here and there.