"So, how'd this happen?"
Admiral Haru was up and about, circling the American carrier and was ogling her impressive three sizes while Nagato was pinching the bridge of her nose while seating herself in the Admiral's seat.
Shigure shrugged, really wanting to be anywhere but here as everyone left her with the responsibility of reporting their results to Admiral Haru and the Coordinators in order to update their fleet roster, several ship girls docking after sustaining injuries while others were occupied with other matters.
She was the one ship girl who was completely uninjured, and it was up to her to report the results of their sortie to Admiral Haru, and she assumed that Akashi would discuss the classified revelations with the Admiral some time later.
On the way here, she could feel everyone's eyes on her and Saratoga while they made their way across the base, Shigure taking the time to point out the basic layout of the base to the silent Saratoga while they tried to ignore the amount of attention they were attracting along the way.
Entering the Administration Building and meeting the power couple Admiral Haru and Nagato, Shigure hailed them and greeted them with a courteous bow which Saratoga mimicked before Shigure introduced the two parties.
"Saratoga-san, this is Admiral Haru and Nagato-san. Admiral, Nagato-san, this is Saratoga-san, an American carrier who spawned after our battle with the Southern War Princess."
Admiral Haru's eyes and expression lit up with unbridled desire while Nagato's face blanched after connecting two with two and remembering the American as a participant of Operation Crossroads, making for quite a dichotomy between the duo as they made their way up towards the Admiral's Office.
And here they were.
No doubt everyone was going to gossip about her being with an American ship girl, and how Saratoga's presence would create waves throughout Yokosuka as a result.
And she hadn't even gotten breakfast or a good night sleep to be anywhere near focused enough to deal with this.
She exhaled through her nose and conveyed Akashi's theorized explanation, fighting back the urge to yawn as she rubbed the eye bags underneath her eyes.
"Akashi-san theorized that the Southern War Princess's erratic movements had thrown the spawn system into disarray, and dropped Saratoga as a result.
A possibility was that they intended to drop a carrier, but instead of an IJN carrier, the system made a mistake and gave us an USN carrier instead. She sent out an SOS signal when we engaged her, but through the 8th Fleet's efforts, we've 'convinced' her to come with us."
Nodding downwards at Saratoga's destroyed submachine gun.
Admiral Haru hummed, clearly liking what she saw as she asked Nagato.
"Hmm, Nagato, how about getting in contact with the San Francisco Naval Base and tell them that we've got a USN ship girl here? Just to, y'know, let them know that Sara-chan's SOS signal was a false alarm as well as to help her get in touch with her American sisters and friends."
Nagato lowered her hand as she responded dryly.
"Already did. I understand if she wishes to talk to her USN comrades on the other side of the Pacific."
Saratoga perked up upon hearing the possibility of getting in touch with other American girls, asking hopefully.
"Oh, can we send a radio signal across the entire Pacific Ocean to send a message to them?bTechnology is more advanced than I thought!"
Everyone gave her the look, in which she drew back a little from the ensuing silence as she asked politely.
"U-Um… Are we not using radio waves to communicate with them? Mail, perhaps?"
Nagato hit a few buttons on her keyboard in order to get the Americans online, answering simply.
"Well, technology has improved to the point where we can instantaneously get in touch with them, and we can see them on this little contraption here. Although you need to keep in mind that it's in real time, so there's a time zone difference..."
Turning the laptop to make it face Shigure, Admiral Haru and Saratoga, they were greeted with the sight of an Admiral who wore the Admiral peaked cap and trousers with a white singlet on the other end of the line, looking to be in his early thirties, was lean and well-built and possessed short auburn hair, blue eyes and sharp cheeks as he leaned back in his recliner couch on the screen.
Beside him were two females, both equally tall and towering over the seated Admiral as Shigure extrapolated from environmental cues, shadows cast on the background and the estimated height of the American Admiral to assume that the blonde was about Yamato's height, while the dark-haired girl was close to Nagato's height.
The blonde's hair was long and silky, and her blue eyes had yellow stars in her irises. Her leggings were styled after the American flag where her right leg had red-and-white vertical stripes, while her left leg was blue-and-white.
Her radar display was on the crown of her head as a cap of sorts, with long silver long gloves with dark blue fingerless hand-gloves at the end, with white stripes adorning her cuffs.
Her corset was a similarly-colored steel with the numbers "6"' printed on it in white fonts while her shoulderless upperwear exposed her ample chest and was tied in a knot beneath them, and her thick belt held up her blue-and-white mini-mini-skirt.
Her collar, like much of the battleships on this side of the Pacific, was made of steel and was styled to make sure that she had enough room to turn her head.
The other ship girl was dressed rather conservatively, although this did nothing to diminish her beauty or cover up her curvaceous figure, a long royal purple dress hugging her sleeves and legs and unfortunately (or in Admiral Haru's case, fortunately) highlighting her hourglass figure which was further accentuated by the metal corset that she wore.
Her collar and the cuffs of her long-dress were white with a purple stripe adorning it, and she had a blue neck ribbon holding her collar together.
She had short black hair much like Haguro, and sported a white headband to hold it in place.
The Admiral on-screen waved to the two of them, brusquely introducing them in accented Japanese, something which briefly surprised Shigure before she immediately learnt to roll with it.
"Hey, Sara. I'm Admiral John Felix of the San Francisco Naval Base, and this here's Maryland and Iowa. Sorry we couldn't get your sister Lexington, she's out on a mission right now."
Shigure could feel Saratoga deflate a little at that revelation, but she chipped in to console the American.
"U-Um, Sara-san? To my knowledge, you American carriers are capable of going on night operations, so it's not out of the question for Lexington-san to be out on a sortie at this time of night. Besides, there's the possibility that she might be asleep at this time of night even if she wasn't out on a sortie."
Saratoga turned to give her a thankful, tired and a tired nod, but before she could say anything, Admiral Felix did a double take and rested his gaze on Shigure as he commented.
"Yo, Haru, I ain't stalking your base or anything, but I was sure that you didn't say anything about a Shigure being in your base here. Is she a newcomer, too?"
Everyone's gaze shifted onto her, Shigure freezing up before stepping forward to give Admiral Felix a respectful bow as she introduced herself to the American trio.
"I-I'm Shigure, a destroyer of the Shiratsuyu-Class! It's an honor to meet you!"
She raised her head to find Nagato giving a small nod of approval, while Admiral Felix was smiling warmly as Maryland also bowed towards her, her palms on her laps as she leaned forwards and greeted in fluent Japanese.
"Greetings, Shigure-san. I am Maryland, a battleship of the Colorado-Class."
Iowa freely waved a hand as she casually greeted in a mix of Japanese and English.
"Yo, Shigure-chan! Iowa here, of the famed Iowa-Class battleships! Pleased to meet ya!"
Stepping back to continue the conversation, Admiral Haru told the Americans about the false alarm concerning Saratoga's SOS signal.
"Before my 8th Fleet brought her in, Saratoga sent out a distress signal, which was ultimately a false alarm. Part of why I'm calling is to let you know that it's a false alarm."
Admiral Felix simply nodded in response while adding.
"Yeah, we caught it on the satellites, but noted that the USN signature it came from was surrounded by IJN signatures, so I wasn't too concerned. Although now that you mentioned that it was your 8th Fleet bringing her in, I can't help but think her SOS signal was somewhat justified..."
Admiral Haru could only cock her head in order to concede the point, before Saratoga asked in a concerned voice.
"Please, I need to know. Are we being treated well over there? I mean…"
But Admiral Felix interjected to let Saratoga know that as ship girls who had served their countries well in times of war, they were granted rights as sentient and sapient beings who were capable of comprehending their own existence and making choices for themselves.
"Well, since y'all served in a war before this, we certainly treat you all with the respect you deserve and is one big reason why most of us don't run our bases like normal naval bases. We know that you're experienced enough as soldiers to know what lines not to cross and we trust you all to behave yourselves. Besides, you ship girls have like, a Declaration of Independence drawn up to officially state the rights that you deserve, not just as weapons of war, but also as tested and verified humans with comparable, if not superior intelligence to us humans."
Saratoga exhaled and nodded upon hearing that, Admiral Haru leaning in to notify both parties that they were going to let Saratoga into the viewing theater to get her up to speed on the Abyssal War.
"We're gonna get Saratoga up to date in the viewing theater, and I think that we may need to fill her in on the American variations, if she sees that her sister looks nothing like her."
Both Saratoga and Shigure looked confused upon hearing that, and Iowa leaned in to explain the American ship girl phenomena which was discovered about a year ago, pressing a few buttons on the laptop on her end as she did so.
"Yo, Sara. I'm a Mark ll Iowa, a variation of the Mark l Iowa that America has been accustomed to. The picture of the Mark l Iowa should come up on your screen right about… now."
The screen was then partially covered up by a portrait of a dark-haired woman whose hair reached down to her hips, partially covered by a white sunhat with a black ribbon tied around it.
Her uniform was a navy blue, reaching down to her thighs with white frills underneath the hem of her skirt along with white stripes reaching around her dress.
Her puffed sleeves were short, and revealed slender arms which carried a similarly-colored umbrella in one hand, and she was wearing white, laced thigh-high stockings and some sort of cross between a sandal and high heel.
Her expression was demure and meek in contrast to the bubbly and radiant Iowa before them, and Iowa explained.
"This here's the Mark l Iowa who was built in good ol' America while I'm the Mark ll Iowa who spawned near Guam and was in Japan before being sent here, and I swear, the difference between us in terms of personality is like Heaven and Earth. But in terms of performance, there's virtually no difference between our stats, and despite all our engineers and Fairies trying to understand how this phenomenon came about, possibly as a form of Abyssal interference or error within our software, almost all of us have thrown our hands up high and admitted, 'We don't know.'"
Maryland nodded as she leaned in to join the conversation, explaining the situation.
"This phenomenon was discovered after the Japanese found the first Mark ll Iowa in Japanese waters and sent her over to America to be studied…"
Saratoga narrowed her eyes as she cocked her head back, slightly suspicious of the term "studying" in this context, and Maryland raised both her arms to placate Saratoga as she added hastily.
"A-All non-invasive, and done by the Fairies, of course. They were scanned extensively in terms of hardware and software, and were cleared of possible Abyssal interference or were potential Abyssal spy units, and were simply a variation in personality to achieve the same ends. It's a newly discovered phenomenon in the course of our twenty-year war, where overseas American drops like you, Saratoga, are all exclusively Mark ll variants, and this phenomenon has yet to happen in America where we all receive Mark l drops. But the difference in personality does nothing to affect the performance of the ship girl, which is what we're ultimately concerned with. But Saratoga, even if Lexington may not share your uniform and your looks, please understand that your sister still loves you very much…"
"I understand."
Saratoga waved her hand to politely interrupt the Colorado-Class battleship, remarking about the bond she had with her sister ship and how a mere difference in looks wasn't going to change that.
"The love I have for my sister ship and my American comrades is beyond skin-deep, and even if we look a little different, it matters not. All I need to know is that my comrades and sisters are with me in the present, and that's enough."
Admiral Haru inquired, offering the carrier a chance to see what her sister ship Lexington looked like as a ship girl.
"You wanna see a portrait of what your sister looks like? Might help tide over that feeling of nostalgia…"
But Saratoga shook her head, content to leave things as they are right now as she commented.
"No. Simply knowing that she's alive right now is more than enough for me.
Thank you, Admiral Haru, Nagato-san and Shigure-san. I was greatly mistaken about you lot, and to allow me a chance to get in touch with my comrades and countrymen is the most that I dare to ask of you right now."
Admiral Haru nodded her head as Maryland and Iowa smiled while Shigure heard Admiral Felix respond warmly.
"Saratoga, the Japanese are nothing like their old selves, and I can personally vouch for Admiral Haru's trustworthiness and ability to lead."
But his expression hardened as he leaned in towards Saratoga, and asked her for a very important favor as his two battleships remained silent in the face of his serious demeanor.
"But I need you to listen to me, Sara, and don't say anything until after I'm done. I need you to stay in Yokosuka. I can't say when we can bring you over to America anytime soon seeing how things are turning out, so you may have to stay in Japan indefinitely until there's a lull in the war. The girls in Yokosuka need all the air-power and firepower for the battles that lie ahead, and they need a good ol' fashioned American bird carrier to help them out. Can I task you with the responsibility of following Admiral Haru's leadership and helping out the Japanese ship girls to the best of your ability?"
Shigure looked back to see an ashen-faced Saratoga standing at attention, but she was looking down silently and was grimly considering the possibility of never knowing when she was going to sail back to USA, if ever.
Nagato chipped in with a suggestion to help her out.
"You don't have to feel like you're pressured into accepting this, Saratoga-san. We can charter a Lockheed C-130 Hercules to fly you over to America—"
"No."
Saratoga's face relaxed as she nodded in response to Admiral Felix's request, giving Nagato a polite smile as she explained herself.
"If my superiors deem that I can be of more use to everyone here, I'll gladly accept the task and the responsibilities it entails in order to protect my newfound friends here."
Looking down at a slightly surprised Shigure and giving her a warm smile, Saratoga continued on.
"After seeing what the Abyssals are like through your eyes, Shigure-san, I understand how they are a global threat. It's understandable that I wouldn't be able to go home immediately, and I'm prepared to stay here and help you all."
Admiral Haru and Felix nodded while Maryland and Iowa exhaled in relief, but Shigure could see that there was an attempt by the carrier to conceal the sadness within her, not knowing when she could go home and forced to eat, sleep, live and fight with IJN ship girls, her past enemies who likely harbored a few grudges against her.
She had to deal with all this while her people and comrades were an halfway across the world and she was the only American here, and was told that things were going to go from bad to worse here and that despite their best efforts, they couldn't send her back to America where she truly belonged.
But a knock on the door was what interrupted the transoceanic conversation, Admiral Haru opening the door to find Hiei, who was wearing two hospital gowns, one that left her back and bum exposed and the second split down the front to covered her exposed rear and was a coat of sorts.
Hiei was no longer wearing her headdress to prevent complications in the ER, and a fretting Haruna followed behind while Hiei rushed in to hug a tired Shigure, crying out.
"Shigure!
You're alright!"
While Haruna explained to her Admiral whilst bowing apologetically.
"My apologies, Admiral Haru, but Haruna was unable stop Hiei nee-sama from leaving the hospital. She wanted to find Shigure-san after the night operation so badly…"
Shigure returned Hiei's hug with all the strength she could muster, but the two Kongou-Class battleships must've noticed a conspicuous presence in the room, Hiei looking up ask innocently.
"Nagato-san, who's this?"
Shigure could hear Nagato's patient and authoritative voice boom behind her as she released herself from Hiei's hands, seeing the looks on both Haruna and Hiei's face turn from questioning to slightly afraid.
"This is American carrier CV-3, Saratoga."
Silenced ensued.
Eventually, Hiei tried to recover as best she could by greeting the American.
"Ah, w-welcome. I'm Hiei, and this is Haruna, my sister ship. We're both from the Kongou-Class of battleships, and it's great to have you here."
Haruna eventually gave Saratoga a warm smile and performed a proper Japanese bow to welcome the carrier to Yokosuka.
"We welcome you to Yokosuka, Saratoga-san."
Admiral Haru took this as the time to vacate the room, Shigure noting that Admiral Haru gave Nagato the tiniest of nods and a look, which Nagato understood and nodded back in understanding, ushering them out by clapping her hands and gesturing.
"Come on now, Admiral Haru's got a busy day. We'll all go to the viewing theater to get Saratoga-san up to date on the Abyssal War."
Shigure, Haruna, Hiei and Saratoga were silently ushered out of the room, and the last thing Shigure could see behind her was Maryland and Iowa leaving Admiral Felix behind to allow them to talk confidentially.
The door clicked shut behind Admiral Haru, and Admiral Felix took off his Admiral hat to toss it somewhere as he sighed and asked.
"Alright, Haru. What's up?"
Admiral Haru turned the laptop back to face her seat as she seated herself on her own seat, feeling herself sink into the cushion after Nagato, Musashi, Mutsu and various other ships had sat down on it in the past, flattening the cushions and weakening the springs.
Perhaps she should get it replaced one day.
"Well, not much. Other than a large-scale battle that requires five or more navies from Kanagawa, Chiba and Eastern Shizuoka combined to win, discovering the plans for the next Abyssal land assault which will lead to a full-on World War 3, and discovering the secret origins of the ship girls and unraveling the mysteries of this universe, nothing much."
Admiral Felix let out a low whistle as he leaned back in his recliner couch, resting his legs on the armrest as he commented.
"You know, I genuinely can't tell if you're kidding or not with the last two, but I heard reports of an abnormal amount of Abyssals gathering around your area, so I believe about a third of your words since the first one's likely true."
Admiral Haru sighed as she removed her peaked cap and tossed it onto her desk, sighing as she rubbed her eyes and commented.
"You know about the Flying Dutchman and how it wrecked my ship girls?"
"Yeah, if I'm not wrong, that's why Hiei was in a hospital gown, right?"
Nodding, Admiral Haru revealed as she leaned in and whispered conspiratorially into the laptop.
"That was a sneak first look at 'Apocalypse', a plan they've got to start World War 3. Don't worry about intel leaking out; I got Nagato to set up a secure connection because I knew that I was going to have this conversation with you anyway. Saratoga's appearance only added a conversation topic and Hiei's intervention provided me a lucky exit, so there."
Admiral Felix lifted an eyebrow as he commented.
"So what do we know?"
Admiral Haru leaned in as she typed on the keyboard, sending an encrypted email to his inbox which he received, lazily getting up as he extracted the contents within and scrolled through the contents, eyes narrowing the further he got down the list of pictures as he finally asked.
"When?"
Shrugging, Admiral Haru leaned back as she admitted the limits of her knowledge.
"From what Akashi told me before she went to tend to the injured, it'll happen by the end of this year."
Scowling, Admiral Felix counted on his fingers, before noting harshly at how unfair this was.
"That's too soon; we won't have enough time to prepare for a full-scale war when they've already got their army on our doorstep."
"And that's why they're 'giving us a sporting chance',"
Admiral Haru returned the scowl as she looked away at nothing in particular, grumbling.
"It's because they want the ship girls to have a fair chance of winning, because the Abyssal high-command treats this like a game. And where's the fun in a game if you steamroll your opponents and dominate the match?"
Cue a sharp inhale from Felix, who closed his eyes as he cussed.
"Fuck, man, that's messed up. They're simply playing with their food at this point."
And a slow, methodical exhale to calm himself down, considering the situation in the confines of his office before asking his good friend.
"What do you need?"
"Guns."
Haru replied, meeting Felix's gaze as she stated bluntly.
"We need all the Anti-Abyssal firearms we can get our hands on, and who better to make them than good ol' Uncle Sam?"
Nodding, Felix added as he predicted how the conversation was heading towards.
"Let me guess, you want me to dig up the mothballed 'Mud-skipper' plans to prepare for the incoming invasion? But they were drawn up half a decade ago, they'll be pretty outdated against an up-to-date Abyssal invasion."
"I don't care. Outdated plans are better than no plans."
"What'll you do about this, in the meantime?"
Looking out her window at the morning sun, the sight of the Yokosuka Naval Base and the frontier that was the ocean before them, Haru only responded.
"Gather more intel about 'Apocalypse'.
Otherwise, I'll either prepare for the upcoming large-scale battle or help forward Project Psyche."
Now raising one eyebrow, Felix leaned back on his recliner couch, causing him to sink into the furniture likely because capital ships often used his room much like Admiral Haru's secretary ships did.
He sounded interested in this new development, noting as she scratched the tip of his sharp nose while crossing one leg over the other to make himself comfortable.
"Well, I assume Project Psyche's part of 'discovering the secrets of the ship girls' thing, right?"
"Yep. I plan to explore and study the soul of a ship girl and try to draw more power from it in order to power new Anti-Abyssal technology."
Felix shook his head, smirking as he commented on the Project.
"Geez, Haru. I know that there're less invasive ways to worm your way into a ship girl's heart, right? I mean, you've done it like, what, eight times already?"
This caused Haru to smirk in turn as she retorted.
"Nine, really."
Sighing, Felix fell onto the reclining couch in a supine position as he bemoaned.
"Aw, man!
Here you are, in a polyamorous relationship with nine ship girls, and I'm here, struggling to confess to both Hornets. Even my parents are pushing for me to get together with them already!"
"Yeah, that's why you should transfer your frank and beans to me, because I obviously have more use for it than you do, fucking workaholic pussy."
The both of them now had genuine smiles on their faces, Felix giving Haru the middle finger as he tried to hide his smirk and tried to steer their conversation back on track.
"Look, my assumption is that this one-of-a-kind procedure is dangerous, and it's the 'perma-death' kind of dangerous.
So how're we going to find a ship girl who's going to survive the procedure?"
Admiral Haru shrugged as she got on her laptop to scroll through the list of her ship girls in another computer window as she commented.
"Well, my engineers Akio and Kousuke said it was better for a ship girl who had a strong will, so that narrows it down… somewhat. The odds of survival aren't pretty, although it's not entirely hopeless, so it's best that I select an expandable ship girl."
Felix lifted an eyebrow as he grimly agreed with Haru's thinking.
"Cold, but it's practical. Can't have a capital ship dying on us if Project Psyche goes south now, right?"
Haru sighed as she nodded, silently scrolling through the list of ship girls as she forced herself to look at her own girls with a cold, utilitarian mind to determine which ship girl had the best odds of succeeding, yet wouldn't affect them too much in terms of manpower and firepower should they die in the process.
And eventually, some of the life came back into her eyes as she found two possible candidates for the Project as she commented.
"I'm not 100% certain, but I think I've got my candidates."
Her computer window was resting on the portraits of Tenryuu and Tatsuta.