Horizon Atoll: Hearts of Steel

'Steel, Salt, and Second Chances'

Kade Bher had several days off, a brand-new VRMMORPG, and one very simple plan.

Relax.

Unfortunately, the good naval bases were already taken.

With most of the available roles claimed, Kade settled for Commander and accepted an assignment to Horizon Atoll—a forgotten Pacific naval station with crumbling docks, unreliable infrastructure, and a maintenance backlog that could probably give an engineer nightmares.

It wasn't much to look at.

But the harbor had potential, and the assortment of shipgirls gathering there seemed determined to make something of it.

Then the world shook.

When Kade opened his eyes again, something was terribly wrong.

There was no logout button.

The ocean was no longer just scenery. The people around him were no longer merely characters in a game. And somewhere beyond the safety of the harbor, an entire world continued turning, utterly indifferent to the confusion of its newest inhabitants.

Now, with an untested fleet, a naval base held together by stubbornness and questionable engineering, and a war that has no intention of waiting for anyone to get comfortable, Kade has a few things to figure out.

Starting with how to keep everyone alive.

After all, he only wanted a few days off.

Surely that isn't too much to ask?