As a new author in Fanfiction, I would like to present to you my very first story.

This Kancolle story will be set in an alternate universe that is similar to ours; on earth, world powers, existing and real life military tech and fake versions of real life countries. Why do this? It's because I find it easier to create a story in a world that is my own, not the one that I share with billions of people. In my world, I am free to do whatsoever I like. If I say that there are only three main continents, then there are only three main continents. And if I say that there's only five planets in the solar system with earth being more than just three planets ahead from the sun, then earth is more than just three planets ahead from the sun.

I'm unquestioned. None can argue with the way I set my universe because it is the way it is.

That sounded a little snobbish than I originally thought it would... but anyway, here are three questions that you might ask me:

So, why stick to real life weapons and military technologies when you've in fact created your own universe?

Answer: It will be hard for me to come up with styles, names and purpose of original let's say… ships. I can do that, but I don't think that it will be easy to do as I have to make a believable spec for said ship. The same goes for planes, artillery and other armed forces exclusive equipment or assets. Simply put, it's a waste of time and it will be hard on you, the readers, to understand my story if I start putting original ships and guns. Besides, creating a world with a believable way of living is pretty hard in itself. No need to complicate things.

I get it, but why Kancolle? Are you going to stick with the girls' original names?

Answer: In order… Kancolle's ideas of personifying war ship vessels into humanoid girls is interesting, and let's face it, who wouldn't be happy to see cute girls doing badass things like shooting a 64cm naval gun with smoke coming out from the end of the barrel? And yes, I am going to stick to their original name, but only the for the Kancolle verse's girls only. If I were to include other ship girls, then I will also use their real life name (i.e. USS Arizona, USS Enterprise) but minus the prefix. (So it will be ENS Arizona or ENS Enterprise i.e.)

What is this whole thing all about anyway?

Answer: This story is about war… and the fact that war never changes.


Hellingston is a city in North Emmeridia located in the province of Phalades. It is a peaceful city with a population topping at about 2,000,000 people. It is the most populated city in the province of Phalades, it being a major port city makes it a multicultural place where people gather to live. The city has two direct channels out to the sea, and ships constantly fill the ports. This makes Hellingston a perfect place for tourists and even locals to enjoy sea-food. The city is famous for its large, tower monument called Sanctum. It is to commemorate the founding of this city and overall province in general. Though there are other cities in Phalades, Hellingston is the most popular as well as populated one.

Aside from the local tourists' hotspots, this city is also home to an Emmeridian military base, from the navy to be more specific. It is located somewhere near a private channel, separate to the ones used by cargo ships and civilians. It houses the 4th Fleet of the Emmeridian Navy as well as the military personnel that serves within it. It is normal for off-duty sailors to walk around town and in fact, most of the men populace has experienced military training as per Emmeridian law for male citizens. The Emmeridian Navy's 4th Fleet is garrisoned in the Hellingston Naval Base and is responsible for areas near Emmeridian waters only. Due to the narrow area of responsibility, the 4th Fleet does not consist of many commissioned assets; only 14 ships, 125 aircrafts, and 1,600 personnel.

However, that all changed when they happened.


Hellingston, Phalades… 1230 hours…


He may look older than his original age, and that has been his pet-peeves ever since he knows it. So, just because he already has facial hair at the sole age of twenty does not mean that he's an old ass man who's in his thirties or shit. A rugged angular face with a sharp jawline is easily the most iconic feature that people would use whenever they are describing him. He wears a tri colored digital camouflaged hoodie with grey, black and white as its three colors. The not so young looking man is here with a purpose, a mission… an objective. He retracts his visors back to the helmet he is wearing to get a clearer view of the raider occupied military base just yards away from his position.

The city of Hellingston is no more. It lays in ruins and tatters. No more Sanctum monument, no more local seafood restaurants as they are all now the same piece of rubble on concrete lying on the ground. Buildings are crumbled or near the state of crumbling, the slightest blow of wind could no doubt topple them over in a mess of concrete and dust. Even the city's once blue and cloudy skies are now colored grey, lowering it into lifeless and dull.

He moistens his drying lips. His grip on the firearm he is carrying tightened.

Codename: Freedom, real name: Ferdinand Walther. He momentarily takes a break from his non-stop walking, as it is the only thing he has been doing for the past ten hours. He is tall, standing at about 6'8 with a lean athletic build that he gained from the short 3 years of serving in the Emmeridian military and survival in urban as well as forest landscapes. He was still young when he joined the regime, but it was worth the sacrifice and tears; no matter how shitty the world has become. The hoodie he has on him is as weathered as his shoes are tight, as it is always there to shield him from the harsh climate of the world. Underneath that hoodie of his is a sand-colored plain t-shirt with no distinctive features or whatsoever. A long pair of dark grey pants made out of parachute material has also done the same job as his hoodie of serving as his apparel, but unlike the hoodie, he does have extras. His hair is a messy mop of platinum that he often hides underneath his hood, because having a hair color like is somewhat inconvenient.

It's an open field between the military base and him. The raiders inside have no doubt equipped themselves with whatever firearms that they can find that were left behind by the sailors who used to own them, and it's likely that they've figured out how to use some of the vehicles inside. If that last point is true, then his job is going to be a lot harder.

The Hellingston Naval Base is not an exactly big base if you discount the actual ports and harbor. It is made out of the main command building, warehouse which is also a part of the harbor and ports, dorms for personnel, several meters square of field for practice, an airstrip with a command tower for planes, hangars for the planes and docks for the ships. If he put those together, then it's still a pretty big place all in all. He hissed a slur of curses underneath his breath.

Trekking to Hellingston is not an easy thing. D.O point was all the way at the end of the city, bordering another city. Central Command said that they couldn't take the risk of dropping him so close to the objective even with a HALO jump. Job is fairly simple, if he is to ignore the major complications along the way. Get inside the base, stealth is not necessary but eliminating all raiders' presence will give him a bonus, follow the transmitter to find the beacon's signal, retrieve precious cargo and escape via jet. Yes, they expect him to steal a jet from one of the hangars and fly back home. Good thing is, he doesn't have to fly all the way across the sea to Fureisia in order to complete his mission, they have a carrier on nearby waters and he'll just have to land there and report to the captain of the ship for debriefing.

He is armed with a custom modded Bravo 18 AKM, which can be said is a hybrid between an AK and an AR-15 combined. Guns like these are rare to come by and he'd only found it recently just yesterday in an abandoned house. The Bravo 18's picatinny railing allows him to install multiple SOPMODs for this gun. This hybrid is equipped with an EOTech 512 holographic sight, a quickdraw handgrip, built in folded stocks, and is easy to wield do to its compact size. He wears a dark black ballistic vest carrier with four plates fitted into it to protect his front, back, and both sides respectively. The vest has multiple tactical pouches that are filled with 7.62×39mm FMJ cartridges. A Walther P99 is holstered on his hip, and his pants' pockets provide easy access to the .40 S&W Hollow Points that he stores there.

His original load out consisted of an M-4 rifle with standard ACOG and grip attachment, and a Beretta 92 as sidearm. Needless to say, he ditched his load out the moment he stumbled upon the gear he has now. The Bravo 18 he found in an abandoned house that probably belonged to a gun geek, while the Walther he actually found from the rotting corpse of a possible raider.

Ferdinand is confident that he is able to take out anyone he sees with little problem, so long as he's smarter, faster and more efficient than them. Raiders are people, but they're the scum that's risen from the bottom of the drainage. All's worth doing is killing them…

Still, infiltrating a raider occupied military base will not be easy, especially when he has no intel of the location. Command briefly told him that the base's surveillance system is dead, but it's highly possible that these raiders managed to activate them. He wouldn't count on waltzing his way in with guns blazing, looks like a stealth approach is needed after all.

Sighing, he resumes walking after a short standing rest. He makes his way closer to the base's wall where there are surprisingly no guards garrisoned nearby it or whatsoever. These guys are idiots… Ferdinand has to give it to the base builders, these metal wired fences are hard to cut. It's a good thing he packed a bolt cutter before being sent here. He slips through the entry way he makes quietly, his fast but quiet movements are the result of experience with missions of this type.

His objective is somewhere in the base, his ping-sensors which is integrated into his visors, allows him to see the current position of his cargo. And from the readings he's getting, he's closer to it than before. The Emmeridian government has fallen apart and it was caused by two particular events that also sparked international chaos. The first one is the Bulkan-Auropos War between the Bulkean continent and Auropian continent with Emmeridia being constantly pressed on by threats coming in from Northern Auropia. The main North Auropian forces are the Skolivia Union and its allies. The fascist alliance was powerful and Emmeridia united with Forlea and Weyles, which originated from Western Auropia, in order to stop the spreading of the fascist allies. The three countries became a major superpower in combating the fascist threats and there was a point where the Allied Forces managed to put the powerful Skolivia Union to a stalemate. However, in retrospect, it was most definitely Emmeridia that suffered the most. They were the main target of the Skolivias and were subjected to the harshest attacks and bombardments, even more than the Forleans and Weylesh combined. Emmeridia bled and it bled hard.

The climax of the war was the finale that ended it all. The final drop… literally.

The Skolivia Union had secretly developed nuclear weaponry and warheads that are way too advanced for that time. It was unclear how a matter this huge was kept a secret, but no one knew about it until the finally dropped the bombs on Emmeridian soil. It was nothing more than a tragedy, because no one expected it. Emmeridia ceased to be one of the world's superpowers when the bombs were dropped, it was reduced to the state that it is in now. A nuclear wasteland of local authorities striving for power. Forlea and Weyles backed away, cutting ties with the country for they also fear being subjected to multiple nuclear bombings. The Emmerdians were betrayed; they were left right just when they needed their allies the most. It was clear who the victors were, but in reality, no one really won.

Shortly after their victory, the Skolivia Union entered a massive power dispute over which states get to own the bombs and spoils of war. It became a civil war known as the Skolivia Civil War. The main leading state, Ectovania, is under harsh pressure from its own union; with so many of them threatening to retaliate should their demands were not met. Then, it became clear. Ectovania decided to play greedy and waged war upon its own people even going as far as threatening them that they will drop the nukes right on top of their heads. Since all of the nuclear WMDs were stored in Ectovania in order for the previous war, that got everyone cold feet. Slowly, other unions began to ally themselves with Ectovania, but those who opposed them still exist until this day. Civil War happened, and it happened quickly. Ectovania and its allies purged cities of people by setting it on fire, sending out elimination squads to massacre and pillage cities clean and many other brutal methods of showing their cruel power. The result of the Civil War leads to the disbandment of the Skolivia Union, separating them into countries. And to those who aren't allied with the New Ectonavian Fascist Party, they're constantly bombarded with threats.

The sad thing is, it was not even a World War, yet.

Four years after the end of the Skolivia Civil War, Emmeridia is still recovering. With the high presence of radiation due to the nukes dropped mainly on North Emmeridia, seeing as that is where the capital is at, people evacuated to the Southern region, causing overpopulation in some major cities like Santo Palos. The now abandoned and isolated North Emmeridia is closed off in order for safety reasons, surviving government figures are still attempting to find ways to clear several critical areas from the radiation. This is where local powers come in. Venturing entrepreneurs saw the unoccupied country as a very high business and profit making opportunity where they are able to exploit what's left of the destruction.

Radiation be damned, because those greedy assholes were willing to do anything for money. Through illegal means, people that have evacuated the North are now able to return in order to set up their own communities. Now these communities are dangerous, yet powerful at the same time. Though they are nothing when compared to the world's surviving government from untouched countries, people are flocking from all over the globe with the same aim of trying to find a very high business and profit making opportunity in the abandoned wasteland. Even though the government closed off the country, they can't always monitor the people that came in, making security very hard to maintain. North Emmeridia consists of 30 provinces, but there are now only five of them with five major rulers ruling over fifteen sub provinces constantly striving for power.

North Emmeridia is divided into five local powers, the East, West, North, South West and South East. These minor-powers are known as Communities.

Ferdinand manages to sneak his way into the hangar, having not encountered any human contact along the way. Is this place even occupied?

The broken structures of buildings are everywhere, ranging from piles of rubbles to larger debris. Hellingston is one of the few cities that weren't hit by the nukes directly, so all of the damages he's seeing must be due to the lack of maintenance done. Speaking of maintenance, there are no ships in this base, not anymore. The 4th Fleet is long gone, with all commissioned ships either at the bottom of the Mordetteranian Sea. He doubts that he'll find any good aircrafts in the hangars anyway, they must've used the good ones for the war. Phalades is one of the provinces located in the Eastern region of North Emmeridia and the ruler of this particular province is known to be an effective ruler who plans to clean radiation completely by letting foreign nations be involved.

The main building of the base is his main priority, as his sensors were directing him towards that particular location. However, it'd be unwise for him to just walk right into the place even with cover, who knows if that place's occupied? Still, he needs to do it. The sooner he can get this finished, the sooner he'll return and finish his contract with his employer.

Ferdinand stealthily makes his way to the main command building of the base. He's glad that he actually puts extra careful on approaching the building because he sees four figures standing right in front of the building armed with weapons. He hides behind the cover of a large concrete debris, peeking his head carefully to observe the figures while not getting detected at the same time.

He looks at the roof of the command building, seeing if they have any snipers posted. Thankfully, there're none.

His visors allow him to have a closer look of what the four figures are doing. He identifies them as raiders because of the unruly and makeshift apparel they are wearing. All four men are armed with assault rifles, M-4s. They must've found those guns from the armory, if not outside. There's also a built in shotgun mic build into his helmet, allowing him to listen in.

"'Ey Mark, the chief wants you to check the armory and make a list of what's inside."

One of the guards, Mark, looks at his buddy with an incredulous expression.

"Wah- again?! This's the fourth time this week! He had others check the damned place, why again?"

The third person shrugged.

"Who knows, just do the job else' ya' won't get paid."

The fourth guy scoffs.

"As if we get paid in the first place…"

"True that…"

Ferdinand sighs, to think that humans have been reduced to something as worse as this… oh well, there's nothing he can do about it. Hope that God'll correct his mistake by letting him blast their sorry heads dead to hell.

He needs to get into the command building, but no doubt that there will be more guards inside that narrow looking building. He'd take out the four goons standing like a fool in front of the building, but his Bravo 18 won't work in that kind of distance. It's either he gets closer or sneak his way to the back and find another entry point.

For some reason, Ferdinand settles with the second option. Those fucks ought to be thankful that they're spared. He makes his way around the building, extending his mission time but decreasing his chance of getting spotted. There's a backdoor, probably used as the exit for the sailors stationed here. And luckily, it's unguarded. He's really not surprised at how lax security is here…

With careful movement, he enters the command building. Looking it from the outside may have just make the building look smaller, but the inside is huge. He must be at the south wing of the building, seeing as this is technically the backdoor. The main lobby must be further away, and seeing the repetitive and borderline annoying pinging of his sensor, he can say that that's where he's supposed to go. So he's supposed to go through a hallway in order to reach the main lobby, he'll need to be careful.

Lowering his guard is the last thing he needs. The last time he lowered his guard, it nearly cost him an arm. A raider with shit aim suddenly got kissed by the goddess of luck herself, thankfully, the recoil of his own gun managed to let him dodge the shot aimed for his triceps. If he remembered correctly, that fuck was firing a .308, it would have been scary if the guy didn't miss.

As he is walking, he hears the sound of footsteps coming in from the other end of the hall. He mentally curses while diving to cover at the same time, hiding from the approaching group.

"Can't believe there's an underground storage area in this base…"

"Yeah… we've been here for like two weeks now, how the hell did we miss it?"

"I'ono… but it sucks that the chief's made us organize the damn place, good thing we managed to skip duty uncaught."

"Hmhm, true ta' that."

Sticking his back to the wall, Ferdinand slowly detaches himself while keeping his hands ready on the trigger at all times. After he's perfectly sure that the two raiders are gone, then he resumes his approach to his objective.

So there's an underground storage unit, eh? Something tells him that his objective will be right there, right in the middle of the room with people all over the place. He reaches the main lobby, and there's no sight of contacts or anyone for that matter. There's an elevator in the lobby, he would take the stairs but he's feeling lazy. Pressing the button, he waits while checking his six, making sure that no one's coming near. The universal 'ding' noise that the elevator makes when it arrives short lived when Ferdinand immediately enters the lift.

He presses the bottom most button, seeing as there's nowhere else an underground storage area would be. He holds his Bravo 18 with his left hand, holding it by the grip and he uses his right hand to take his Walther P99 in order to kill the elevators like, creating shadows. There's no elevator music, surprising.

The way down is quick, barely a minute. The door slides open with a ding.

"Hey, what're you doin' he-grrk…"

As soon as the door fully opens, Ferdinand is met with raider who is standing right in front of the elevator's doors. He lets his reflex do the work, reaching to the stiletto dagger he has strapped to his thigh. The raider is so surprised that he doesn't see the swipe coming, all that he knows is that he's already stabbed by dagger right through the neck.

Ferdinand twists the dagger he's stuck on the guy's throat, silencing him for real. The punctured man tries to flail free, but the pain and overall feeling of death gets to him first. He's bloody and limp form falls to the ground. Ferdinand kissed his own lips, seeing as he needs to hide the body now. Pulling the guy's leg, he drags him back into the elevator and simply dumps his body there.

Now he needs to double time, knowing that there's a body that could be found in any minute. His ping-sensor is getting wild, and is now annoying. He ends up in the other end of the hall, where there's a door with the plate that reads 'Underground Storage Unit' fixed on to it. Now why would a naval base have an underground storage unit…?

His employer told him about the nature of the mission. His cargo is what is known as a Ship Girl. It is essentially a robot, android or any other similar terms that would describe an independently thinking, acting cybernetic organism with an A.I installed into their main processors that works in the similar manner as the human brain does. They didn't go into detail when describing it, all that he knows is that it's kept inside a cooling storage device that keeps it in a state of cryo-sleep. Command told him that the existence of these girls is top secret, with only few and selected individuals knowing about it. These Ship Girls are originally from Fian, and that they had a lot of international scientists working on the project that created these girls. These girls are no normal girls, because they're not humans; but he is under strict orders to treat his cargo as one the moment he has activated it… or her, pardon him. The Fianese government is basically untouched, even during the war. They were in the state of isolationism, not really partaking in anything and were not looking to be involved with the war happening between Emmeridia and the former Skolivia Union. Emmeridia sought the help of the Fianese and promised them several territories in their countries, but this plea was made during the Bulkan-Auropos War. Ferdinand concludes that the Fianese must have already begun working on the production of these naval personnel, but the nukes probably caused the entire project to a firm halt.

Command said that no other countries knew about this Ship Girl business, and that this whole thing is only between the Emmeridians and Fianese. Command also told him of the importance of these girls and since they are technically Fianese-Emmeridian property, they must be returned to their respective owners. His employer, after all, is from the Fian and is probably involved in some Fian-Emmeridia joint military group. If that turns out to be true, then he's not surprised. They have their own carriers for god's sake, only countries own those!

He enters a dark, messy but overall untouched area filled with many wooden boxes as well as cardboard ones. He inspects one of the boxes and notices the Emmeridian Army's logo soldered into it. The contents of these containers must be military grade equipment, there're some of them opened through the use of brute force, the condition of the boxes are his clues, and it seems that the raiders here have been using the techs and equipment they found here to arm themselves.

His sensor directs him deeper into the storage unit, and he has yet to encounter anyone in here. Thankfully. After several minutes of following his sensor, he finally finds what he is looking for. It's a larger containment container, made out of metal from the looks of the surface. Yup, it is metal, confirmed when it's cold to the touch. What makes him stare in awe is the fact that it's taller than him alone, standing upright with the Navy's symbol painted in white to contrast with the container's dark. It looks more like a coffin when he thinks about it, with the way how it could easily fit a person inside with no problem at all. Visor's HUD begins acting up, scanning the condition of the container. It detects no radiation contamination or any structural damage that could cause any exposure from the outside air, telling him that this thing is basically untouched. Command told him that these containers were sent to Emmeridia long after the nukes were dropped, but only that. He observes the container closer, noticing the mechanism right on the side of it. It's a numeral input access layout with buttons, Ferdinand does not waste a second as he begins to input the code. He clicks his tongue upon seeing that it rejects his code. He tries re-inputting the code, and to his success, it opens, releasing a cold air that causes the hair of his skin to rise. The upper part, or front in a vertical position, begins to split into two, sliding open.

He can barely keep his jaw from dropping when the content is opened for him to see.

Inside, asleep, is a beautiful girl with the body, figure and height of a twenty year old female. She looks no older than him, well, it's probably because he looks older than her, but if he's to put her looks into age, she's no older than him. She appears to be shorter than him, but being in an elevated position makes her appear taller than she really is. Her complexion is soft and pale, really putting that Fianese origin look believable. The first thing he notices about the currently unconscious girl is her long white hair. Even if she's technically not human, they definitely have that natural color like feeling. In contrast to her white hair is her attire, though the upper part is white, he's guessing that it is some sort of traditional upper garmet, a kimono if he's not mistaken, and a red skirt that only reaches down to her upper knee area, a pair of archery arm bracers-not that Ferdinand would know-, a three fingered brown leather glove worn on her right hand, a pair of black thigh boots with accessories that reminds Ferdinand of the stern of a ship, a metallic chest plate that covers her front region, and a red headband with the symbol of the Fianese flag on the middle. She has her eyes closed and Ferdinand could tell that even with them closed, she is exceptionally beautiful.

"Shoukaku-class Aircraft Carrier, Shoukaku… huh?" he tastes the name in his mouth, feeling it weird due to his Emmeridian accent and pronunciation of a name that comes from a Fianese origin.

"Uuh…"

The sound of her waking up nearly makes him reach for his dagger. Slowly, he observes as Shoukaku wakes up from her cryo-sleep, her eyes blinking open showing him a pair or breathtaking hazel brown orbs that vaguely gives him the impression of an oak tree's bark. He watches in silence as she attempts to register herself to consciousness.

"This… isn't supposed to happen… why am I dizzy…?" blinking several times, she finally realizes that there is someone standing in front of her. "You're… you're not my admiral. Are you…? I'm sorry, I just can't remembering anything, my data is hazy and…"

Ferdinand silences her by putting his pointer just on the surface of her lips, catching her by surprise. "No time to explain. All that you need to know is that I was sent here by the people that made you in order to retrieve you back to and for them." Shoukaku seems slightly intimidated by the heaviness in his tone. She just doesn't show it.

"I-I see… then where are we? Are we not in Hellingston Naval Base?" she asks, confused with her eyebrows raised.

"We are, but you were sent here a long time ago and things changed. A lot. Long story short, nukes were dropped upon Emmeridia and you girls have been deemed lost or destroyed along with several of the population of this country." Ferdinand speaks in a whisper. "We need to get out of here asap, before they find us."

"W-Wait, 'they'?" Shoukaku finds herself whispering too.

"The raiders, bandits, thugs or whatever." Ferdinand informs carelessly. "Just follow me and try to keep low."

Shoukaku steps out from her container, before speaking again. "Then give me a moment to gather my equipment."

Ferdinand watches her carefully as she reaches inside a box compartment that is built inside of the container. She pulls out what Ferdinand assume is a bracelet. She does several body checks, making sure that her attire is fixed and that her headband is fixed tight to her head. She returns back to him, giving Ferdinand a nod.

"I'm ready." Shoukakyu says.

Ferdinand nods in response. "Good, but your clothing's way too bright." He places his Bravo 18 on the ground just beneath him, takes off his camouflage patterned hoodie and hands it over to her after taking out every magazine he stored inside. "Use this."

Shoukaku stares at the piece of clothing dumbly, trying to figure out what she's supposed to do with it. "O-Oh… thank you kindly…" she gives off a maiden like blush before wearing it.

Ferdinand pockets the magazines into his pants' pockets, and it's a good thing that it's enough to fit all of them in. He picks up his Bravo 18 back up from the ground, holding it to his chest. "Follow me and be vewy, vewy quiiite…" he grins. "We don't want to have the entire base on our tails now do we?"

"N-No…" Shoukaku whispers out, feeling nervous.

"Good, then stick close."

Ferdinand raises his visor, allowing Shoukaku to see his bright blue eyes

He presses a button that is present on the side of his helmet.

"Command, we're getting out."

"Roger that, Freedom.