Author's Note
This here's my second try, and I have a beta-reader to help me this time around.
I'll try my best to do better this time, and try to write in a way that would flow better this time, and I will try my best to believe in my own writing abilities.
I'd like to thank every reader who gave me constructive feedback and wrote reviews pointing out everything that I did right, and I'll try to do better this time.
"Shigure, of the Shiratsuyu-Class Destroyer class, and previously from the Kure Naval Base, reporting!"
"At ease, sailor.
The Admiral is away on business, but I'll show you around.
My name is Hiei, let's do our best from now on."
Hiei replied whilst looking through the transfer papers as Shigure cut down her saluting hand in a crisp, smooth, and practiced motion, as her previous base had taught her.
According to the papers, the Kure Naval Base in the South had expended a little too much resources in the development of ship girls, a major venture after months of expeditions and stockpiling by an Admiral hell-bent on defying the mostly luck-based construction mechanics through a mass construction spree.
Although he had gotten the submarines and rare ship girls he needed, a lack of fuel and ammo meant that he had to trade some ship girls with other admirals for extra resources so that his resources wouldn't hit dangerously low levels.
Although it sounded like a violation of ship girl rights, the other bases around Japan, and by extension, the world, was always in need of more ship girls.
That, and the constructed ship girls were not against the idea, as it was simply a relocation of manpower, and so long as the ship girls were not needlessly scrapped or abused, they were fine with it.
And one destroyer was sent over to the esteemed Yokosuka Naval Base to boost their already humongous roster of ship girls, even if it was by one more ship girl.
Shigure.
A barely teenage young girl with black hair tied in a braid down her back and two long strands down the sides of her face, along with a black, white and red sailor uniform and fair Japanese skin.
On her back was a metallic backpack of sorts that had two protruding barrels, jutting upwards and reached slightly above her head that could be re-positioned at will, swiveling down to rest on Shigure's shoulders and form shoulder cannons.
An ahoge hung down the crown of her head, 'not unlike the lure of an angler fish', as her previous admiral commented in a harmless, teasing tone as she departed for Yokosuka Naval Base.
Facing her was Hiei, an auburn haired, older teenage girl wearing a miko uniform, with an emerald-green skirt and thigh highs.
She sported a winged hairband unique to the Kongou-class Fast Battleships, golden-shaped paddles that were sticking out the ends of the hair-hand that was holding down her hair, and her sapphire-blue eyes shifted through the transfer papers quickly.
Her hair was swept down and backwards and loosely resembled a pixie cut. Her back straight and shoulders pulled back, she exuded an air of authority and pride that Shigure would later learn to associate with the battleship and heavy cruiser class of ship girls, who carried the pride of Japan, and the main bulk of the burden of war on their shoulders.
Hiei turned away as she held the transfer folder in one hand and gestured towards the base,
"So, shall we?
We can get some dinner at the canteen after this.".
Shigure followed her senior into the base of operations. Along the way, a map that was handed to her by her impromptu guide showed her the layout of the ship girl base.
They were headed towards the Administration Office that was located near inland, beyond the ship girl barracks located in the heart of the triangular-shaped base.
This was so that the ship girls could easily access the armory, located to the West, the harbour and the training range located to the south-west and south-eastern end of the base respectively.
A medium sized reinforced building a distance away, behind the armory and adjacent to the barracks had a red cross symbol on it, signifying the medical bay and the docks that was designed to resemble a Japanese bath house.
To the right of the barracks was a canteen, and a slight distance behind, close to the training range, was the research and development facility and the port where a couple of cranes stood, hanging around and currently at rest due to the lack of construction or orders by the main office or cargo ships coming in with cargo to be unloaded.
They stood, silent, waiting and ready to activate at a moment's notice to fulfil their purpose.
The dormitories for the sailors and personnel managing the base was located some ways off to the North-Western end of the base, the sailors accessing the base through the shuttle buses that were parked nearby and awaiting the end of their day shifts to ferry its passengers back.
Due to the possibility of an Abyssal attack on the base, Hiei pointed out several pods lined up along the sea, the outskirts of the base had been reinforced with 'sentient' turrets to hold the fort to shoot down anything that possessed an enemy signature.
In a sense, Hiei commentated, the base was the size of a small town, capable of a turtling defence and defending itself from almost every known threat out there.
Shigure noticed her choice of words and wondered how they were going to defend against something not classified under 'known threat'.
She left that question well alone.
As she observed the view around her, she could make out several ship girls coming back from the training range and headed in the direction of the canteen. By the Development Hangar were sailors carting weapon parts and crates into the open hangar door. Several ship girl weapon packs could be seen by her android eyes, identifying them by their classes.
"The sailors on this base are friendly," Hiei commented as she noticed Shigure looking at them.
"Most of them are volunteers, a large number of them from the mainland.
We hire them as we can't keep a base this large running through ship girls alone.
They understand the nature of our duty, and often put up with our more… well, eccentric quirks and habits as we go out there to fight the Abyssals."
Moving past the barracks, she saw the ship girls of several ship classes gathering and talking to one another. Colourful hairstyles and outfits all contrasted with the worker on the base, who were issued uniforms that matched their respective jobs.
Shigure looked around the ship girls, some of them wearing their various unique uniforms and were close to others who wore similar uniforms. She wondered how to recover from the false assumption her senior had made.
"Errm, that wasn't what I was trying to say. I just…"
"I get it," Hiei dismissed with a wave of her hand.
"New base, new vibe. Don't worry about it.
Just trying to let you know of how we look out for each other here, in case things were different in Kure. From what I heard, it shouldn't be.
We're also close within ship classes as well, 'cause when we're out there, we only have each other to depend on."
The duo made their way across the light cruiser barracks, the base barracks being one of the largest buildings in the base. Out of the corner of her eye, she could spy what seemed to be a small establishment, neatly constructed and located behind the barracks, named the Shinsengumi, from what characters she could make out on the signboard.
'We only have each other to depend on.'
The weight of that last line had resonated with Shigure, who reflected on the two sorties that she was sent on in her previous base.
She had to learn how to work with ship girls of different personalities, from the quiet Wakaba to the friendly and casual Suzuya, among others. They worked well with each other, and no one made things difficult for anyone else to get the job done quickly and efficiently.
That's what you learnt from the longest ongoing war in recent history.
Hiei elaborated on the base turrets upon Shigure's inquiry, which could be deployed to lay down cover fire to deter the enemy while the ship girls prepared to sortie at the harbor. Anti-Air turrets could shoot down Abyssal planes, while the Cannon and Torpedo turrets could engage the Abyssals.
Created with the aesthetic style of the old turrets of World War 2, but with modern ship girl technology.
They were programmed by the previous engineer, Yuubari, to sense Abyssal signatures, and had come in useful several times in the past when the Abyssals had punched through their lines through sheer force and numbers and tried to scout out the location of the base.
When asked about what happened to said previous engineer, Hiei slowed down to a stop away from the barracks, which Shigure followed suit.
And after a few seconds, when Shigure was debating whether to apologize for asking such an insensitive question, Hiei slowly turned around and gently put an arm on her shoulder, her voice was understanding, yet her eyes was tinged with a trace of sadness, looking through her and the tired voice echoed by one who has experienced loss.
The slight slouch of the shoulders, deflation of her posture, and the shadow that clouded her features a clear indicator that Shigure had stepped on a conversational landmine, and really wished she hadn't blurted out that question.
"She's not here anymore."
A lingering silence that stretched on for far too long left a sour taste in Shigure's mouth, who was inwardly cursing herself.
Who comes out and asks 'Hey, what happened to the last guy?' in the middle of a war, where people could die, or sink in this case, in less than a day of arriving at their new post?
She would have face palmed herself right then if it didn't make her look silly.
Before she could kick herself further mentally, Hiei seemed to recover her bright persona, the light suddenly coming back to her eyes, and straightening her back as she looked down patted Shigure's shoulder.
"It's alright!
It's natural for you to ask, since you're new here and all.
The current developer is Akashi-san with my sister, Kirishima, as the assistant, and Akashi also doubles as the Chief Medical Officer of the Fleet!
If you're injured, or want an upgrade, she's your go to girl!"
Hiei boasted as she turned away to continue their journey with her usual gait, seemingly recovered from that faux pas. Shigure hung her head, looking down at her feet in shame and wondering who she was going to piss off next, before trailing behind Hiei.
They reached the Administration Office, more resembling a cross between a hospital and a school building than a military office. A two-floored building that certainly saw damage during its lifespan, where a clock sat atop its centre, with an assembly ground in in front.
The building clearly led to a small garden in a spacing seen through the glass doors, and if she squinted, she could make out the tranquil land housed within these buildings, as if built around it to protect what little sacred land that was untouched by the horrors that lay beyond the ocean's horizon.
Several rooms in the building were lit with activity, she noted, with certain rooms being used either as labs, if test tubes and chemical flasks stacked by the windows were anything to go by, or as classrooms filled with destroyers, likely to educate them on naval tactics, a detailed history of the Abyssal war or even about the technology of the modern age and how they were to fit into society.
She considered asking to be enrolled into some these classes. Knowledge of tactics and the modern world was understood by all ship girls to be critical to success, while the learning of history could at least help learn of the enemy maneuvers.
Anything to give them an edge, no matter how small, against the enemy.
The sheltered walkways to its side led around the building. The edge of the one side of the building was surrounding by scaffolding, likely a restoration of the affected area.
Due to the explanation of Abyssal attacks by Hiei just now, it was easy to assume the damage done to the building was likely to have been the work of at least an Abyssal heavy cruiser class, who could outrange most other ship classes.
The debris by the floor below the scaffolding hadn't been cleared completely, as a small truck carrying the larger pieces were brought on board by the neatly arranged buckets carried by the diligent sailors maintaining the premises, the human caretakers of this base almost omnipresent everywhere she looked.
Hiei reminded,
"Come on. Let's meet up with the Coordinators and drop this file off."
As they approached the door, two adult ship girls exited, wearing metallic headdresses with antennas pointing backwards atop jet black hair, and another pointing forward atop light auburn hair.
Metallic collars held up their sleeveless shirts struggling to contain their well-endowed 'assets', revealing their firm abdomens and a little more skin than Shigure was comfortable with while looking in their direction.
The duo noticed them, and the cheerful auburn haired girl waved her white gloved hand, the other folding her arms while wearing black, finger-less elbow gloves and stood upright, a picturesque form of seniority.
If matching uniforms were anything to go by, and according to the limited data pre-programmed into her, they seemed to be sister ships.
Hiei waved back, noticed Shigure's discomfort, and whispered to her,
"Let's move. You don't want to know how much Mutsu's miniskirt reveals when she starts sashaying."
Which caused Shigure to fight back a slight blush.
Shigure couldn't help but agree as she followed in Hiei's footsteps. How could any ship girl, no matter how brazen they were, wear miniskirts that covered less than a few centimeters of skin?
Coupled with their thigh-highs, garter belts, high heels and their beauty…
She was going to need to get used to this.
"Hey Hiei, is this the new girl? Shigure, was it?
Welcome, I'm Mutsu!"
Short auburn hair coiled down and tickled her exposed cleavage as she bent down to offer her gloved hand to Shigure. Her vibrant green eyes looked into Shigure's ocean blue pupils as Shigure reflexively snapped out of her trance and noticed Mutsu's outstretched hand.
She tried her best to maintain eye contact as she returned the gesture.
Shigure noticed as Mutsu straightened up, that while she was 1.22 meters tall, Hiei was 1.85 meters tall, which made her a fair bit taller due to her status as a fast battleship. Mutsu and company were 2.03 meters tall, which made Shigure feel quite intimidated by the towering, silent guardian that was the black haired woman beside Mutsu, intimidating her through sheer height alone.
Mutsu swung over and slid her arm around the side of her sister ship, oblivious to her commanding aura, inadvertently causing her chest to press against her sister's arm.
"This is Nagato, the Second-in-Command in this base!"
Nagato stood silently, studying Shigure with focused red eyes, not condescending in nature, but seemingly with genuine interest in her abilities.
Finally, when Shigure started to feel like she was wilting under her intense stare, she unfolded her arms and bowed (she really tried to maintain that eye contact) and introduced herself simply.
"My name is Nagato.
Welcome to the base. We have the theater prepared to brief you on the current situation."
As Mutsu unhanded her, Nagato turned her back to them and walked into the base, a silent cue to follow.
Nagato walked ahead, regal yet matching the pace of the group. Hiei and Shigure walked side by side, the destroyer secretly struggling to keep up with the larger pace of the battleships as Mutsu trailed behind.
The floorboards, made of wood, were tailored to support the weight of the ship girls, creaking underneath the massive weight of the Nagato and Kongou-class battleships, while it barely made a peep under Shigure's weight.
The evening sun radiated a light hue of orange through the windows, something that escaped Shigure's observant eyes as she was starting to feel a rumbling in her stomach, a recommendation made by the ship girls of Kure to travel on a light stomach.
'You don't want to empty your stomach on the off chance of the rough waves making you sick.'
Although the journey had been fairly smooth sailing off the coast of Japan, she was grateful for the advice of the various ship classes when she set off. By the calculations of the Kure Base's secretary Ooyodo, she would be in Yokosuka in time for dinner, so it was unnecessary to stockpile on fuel.
She'd miss them, but she knew this was where she belonged now, so no point in getting too sentimental.
Coming up on a door that the nameship of the Nagato-Class opened while Shigure noted the extra effort to try not to simply crush the handle of the door with the titanic strength that she possessed as a reincarnated battleship, Shigure saw nothing but pitch-black darkness within that made her freeze up slightly at being herded somewhere without light, but Hiei placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she whispered comfortingly in her ear while looking her in the eye,
"Don't worry, it's just a movie theater, and we'll be with you the entire time."
As she exhaled a breath that she ahd no idea she was holding out of a slight trepidation of the unknown, nodding thankfully at the Nagato-Class battleship's courteous move of holding the door for her to enter the movie theater.
The small theater was actually rather well-lit from the inside, and it was the entrance that was left unlit as Shigure entered, noting everything from the tough looking long steel benches that were lined up five-in-a-row for them to sit while facing the projector screen.
There were a few lamps to illuminate the place and to plunge it into darkness later, and the projector screen that was the closest thing they could use as a clear platform to project images on hung on the wall at the far end of the room, as well as the small electronic box that was hanging on the ceiling, looking to be the primary source of illumination as it shone a plain blue screen on the projector screen.
This setup was likely often used by the base to try and educate ship girls and newly recruited human sailors alike about the war, seeing that the seats were well-worn and that Shigure figured it was easier for them to simply sit them all down together and watch some sort of prerecorded video about the situation behind the war instead of trying to spend time teaching the ship girls about the various functions of the ship girl HUD and get them to stand around idly, watching a video in their own ship girl minds while the newly recruited human sailors stood around confused and oblivious to the entire situation.
Shigure sat down on the bench, feeling two enormous presences making themselves comfortable beside and behind her, Shigure looking up to see that Hiei was sitting down beside her while Nagato had plopped down on the bench behind them, folding her arms and nodding mysteriously to her as the steel bench creaked underneath her weight.
Hiei winked at her as she leaned in to whisper to Shigure in an encouraging tone,
"There's no need to be afraid.
We're here."
Shigure gulped, exhaling again as her body relaxed somewhat, again feeling somewhat reassured that she wouldn't be left alone in the dark, despite the lamps currently staying on as the projector made a barely audible buzzing noise upon starting up.
The sources of illumination dimmed, and Shigure inhaled sharply as she prepared herself for a history lesson about the war that the ship girls had to be resurrected in order to fight a war to protect all of mankind.
A ship girl logo, the complicated character '艦これ' in a golden font surrounded by a pair of green leaves assembled to resemble a crown while being held together by a shining gold anchor at the bottom of the symbol, representing their advanced race and lingering for a solid five seconds before fading to black.
he next scene had Nagato herself appearing on screen next whilst standing before a green screen as she narrated.
"Greetings, everyone.
I believe that you may have a few questions about the war and how it all started, but perhaps a quick introduction of the events that occurred ever since the start of this war might answer a few of your questions.
In 1994, a Japanese cruise ship off the coast of Okinawa spotted a school of Abyssal destroyers, each about the size of a goblin shark as the fishermen captured one, which made waves through the government upon noting its unique biology."
Shigure nodded at the image of various Abyssal flitting through the screen behind a stoic Nagato on-screen, noting that the one or two Abyssals that she had fought and observed at a safe distance were rather alien-esque in appearance, and their designs were sinister, carrying weapons around and touting them as though ready to wipe out their mortal enemies on the battlefield, the ship girls.
The recording of Nagato continued as she continued to look into the camera and therefore at her, Shigure gulping at the intensity reflected in the battleship's eyes as someone who had to lead the Yokosuka Naval Base whenever the Admiral wasn't around.
"For several months, Abyssal Cruisers and Destroyers appeared throughout the Japanese Archipelago and a fair distance off the coast of the United States of America, Germany, and India, which was important in helping us keep the knowledge of this invasion contained, away from the eyes of the world aside from a few internet rumors, which were heavily censored.
As the world governments confirmed that such enemies were not the work of any terrorist organization or country, we tried to bring them down with everything short of a tactical nuclear strike, for obvious reasons.
It took around 7 ICBMs, or a full shelling by battleships, destroyers and carriers to destroy a fleet of Abyssal destroyers and cruisers due to their ability to submerge in the time it takes to get a lock-on on them, which meant such meant such methods were impractical for a battle of attrition, especially the speed of response which was difficult for even a conventional destroyer to achieve in order to hit a human-sized Abyssal, which first popped up around August 1995.
We were starting to get desperate around the development of Abyssal battleships in 1997, when we made a breakthrough."
"The Research and Development Branch of the Ministry of Defense made contact with the Fairies, little deformed humanoids who claimed to have the answer to the Abyssal threat, and introduced the then-foreign and seemingly arcane concept of ship girls, to combat an unconventional enemy through unconventional means.
The first destroyer summoned was the name-ship Mutsuki of the Mutsuki-Class."
The screen now changed to show the blueprints of a prepubescent ship girl like Shigure, the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer noting Mutsuki's weapons and the rigging shaped a little like a backpack, the destroyer having her arms raised horizontally and slightly at an angle like the Vitruvian Man, her weapons also on display beside her and available for viewing from the front, top and side angles.
"With their guidance, we spent our resources on small-scale construction efforts to create a fleet consisting of a few light cruisers and destroyers.
The rest of the world followed suit, due to us 'leaking' our secrets to get the other countries to cooperate, and to simply close the gap in terms of the number of ship girls compared to the innumerable enemies that spawned from the depths.
During the first few months of sorties, we had to stick to guerrilla tactics due to the disparity in numbers and managed to hold the line for several years.
In 2003, the decision was made to go public due to the Abyssals stepping up their game, and secrecy was getting harder to maintain."
Cue a cut to a live footage recorded from some sort news channel, the date clearly stating the date on that day to be February 23 2003 as Nagato herself was talking on the screen behind Nagato.
It was slightly surreal, not the entire 'sunk ships reincarnating into girls to fight against aliens' feeling, since that the wonder that previously consumed her had already petered out after exactly 3 hours, 22 minutes and 12 seconds of her being in a state of awe upon coming back to life, but rather the fact that Shigure was sitting in a room with Nagato while watching a recording of the same battleship on screen before her, while a smaller screen behind the on-screen Nagato was showing another Nagato talking to the press.
It was quite the headache, simply trying to make sense of it all as Shigure shook her head and focused.
"When we went global, the backlash was initially great.
Not exactly from the governments who were unaware of the ship girl program, but mostly from the public, enraged that we were sending girls, some looking to be teenagers and children, out to fight what seemed like aliens.
The Abyssal Princesses came soon after that, a being more powerful than even that of a battleship that we weren't prepared enough for and made quick work of us despite our best efforts.
When the media got wind of that massacre, there was an uproar to give us ship girls some form of rights and at least some form of protection that made sure we weren't being sent to our deaths if it wasn't necessary.
Around the latter half of the year, after a number of protests, and us ship girls threatening to rebel, the government relented and granted us ship girl rights, and a means to report our Admirals to the proper authorities if we were being abused or neglected, in which there'd be a formal investigation and a court martial if necessary."
The screen now changed into a horizontal straight line, grabbing Shigure's attention as she saw what was a timeline of events after World War 2, showing slightly more familiar images of war and death that all ship girls felt was a natural part of their life, the highlights now displaying the events on the white timeline as the names of the major events were typed in capital letters above the accompanying image.
Nagato was shifting her stance as the extreme left of the line went skipped back in time to showcase a mushroom cloud, Shigure noting the impressive effort on the battleship's part not to look uncomfortable.
"This is but a simple timeline of major events that took place after World War 2 to get you ship girls up to speed on world events.
Starting after the dropping of two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to signal the end of World War 2, the world has moved on and made significant progress in terms of improving the livelihood of humans all around the world.
But even then, they still committed a few blunders even after the war's end, starting with the Cold War that would've wiped out most of humanity with the stockpiling of nuclear warheads and a dangerous game played between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Smaller wars have occurred between the Soviets and Americans and the ugly side of mankind occasionally raises its head, what with the Korean and Vietnam War, along with the Khmer Rouge, the Great Chinese Famine and the 9/11 Twin Towers incident.
The Iraq War and the War on Terrorism to combat extremists in the Middle East was... unfortunate, but it was a chance for ship girls to experience land combat as well as aid human soldiers in battles, which helped spare the human lives that would have been sacrificed accomplishing but a fraction of what we were capable of."
The timeline's point of interest shifted to the right as various images were projected behind the Nagato-Class battleship, Shigure hungrily lapping up all this new knowledge of the world and its events as Nagato continued.
"Some of the accomplishments that humans have achieved after World War 2 was sending men into space by the now-defunct Soviet Union, and eventually to the moon by the Americans.
Technological advancements also meant that citizens of the world are now more closely connected to each other than ever before as mankind became more modernized, any one of us now able to get in touch with a citizen of another country via a simple call.
Others, like breaking the sound barrier, the invention of computers and the internet after that, the ending of slavery and mainstream discrimination as well as different countries like Africa, India and Singapore gaining independence, the establishment of equal rights for women and the growing acceptance of minorities are all a part of what humans are truly really capable of."
The screen behind the on-screen Nagato blacked out, and Shigure was slightly surprised at that as Nagato looked right into Shigure's eyes, the destroyer now really seeing the genuine concern and camaraderie that the stoic battleship allowed to seep through her demeanor, something that would resonate in those who had fought in that war more than half a century ago, but might pass over over the heads of the young human sailors as Nagato wrapped up the video.
"And that all would have continued, until the Abyssals showed up to disrupt the peace on a global scale.
Their motives, sadly, are unknown besides the complete annihilation of mankind and likely the assimilation, or what we call 'Abyssalization' of all ship girls, an Abyssalized ship girl suffering a loss of her own identity and free will, and forced to turn on our own sisters and former comrades.
We've kept them at bay, the war having gone on for quite a while now.
I ask of you all to rise to the call once again, and fight for humanity once more.
We all should strive to expand all possible efforts in aiding the war effort, be it expeditions or sorties, all to bring an end to this war at all costs.
But in order to do that, do take some time to relax, for there is no immediate need for you to jump back into battle so soon."
Nagato's face softened a touch as she regarded only the ship girls this time, asking of them to learn to appreciate this second chance in life, and all the opportunities it had in store for them.
"Get back in touch with your sister ships and comrades whom you fought alongside with in the war, and take advantage of your ability to communicate with them to get to know them better in this life.
This is still a war after all, and despite our best assurances, there's no telling when any one of us might perish in battle.
And there's another matter."
Nagato's expression now hardened slightly again, Shigure seeing that the ship girl on-screen was now looking more like a parent who had to give a serious talk with her children that were the rookie ship girls, and almost knowing that there might be some resistance upon this next point being brought up.
"I won't be so audacious as to simply ask of you to let go of whatever grudges you may have against our main enemies, the Americans, at the drop of a hat.
But know that the Japan of the present has close ties with America, both politically and economically, and our hatred of them that may have existed in the past does nothing except to blind us to the concepts of international teamwork and acceptance, something that is essential in this war to even hope to win against the Abyssals, who are an international menace and their numbers too great for any one particular country to handle.
Put aside everything you previously knew about this world and how we are to fight wars, and accept this new life as a chance to start anew, make new friends and find new comrades to sail into battle with.
And as one ship girl to another, welcome back."
Shigure could barely see a ghost of a smile flicker over the usually-stoic battleship's face, something that caused an unrecognizable feeling to well up in her chest as one of her comrade-in-arms that doubled as a commanding officer officially welcomed her back, sitting in the darkness as the screen slowly faded to black, trying to take in everything that she had learnt.
The world had moved on after the war, away from the atrocities of the Nazis and Japanese to move forward and attempt to build a more peaceful world.
They had certainly fumbled in that quest, but their accomplishments and progress had been nothing short of miraculous, Shigure barely able to comprehend how a human, frail beings that they were, was able to reach the seemingly untouchable moon.
And the Abyssals that they were called upon to fight and defend mankind against.
A complete mystery other than their mission to invade and wipe out all of mankind, and the endless hordes of Abyssals that spawned from the depths to accomplish their one goal with no definite end to this war in sight as their enemies lurked deep beneath the ocean where mankind feared to tread.
Shigure sighed, feeling thankful for each breath which was a sign that this wasn't all some sort of twisted dream that might fall apart at any moment, where she'd be back at the bottom of the sea, chillingly alone and yet somehow strangely at peace with her final resting location.
Being escorted by Hiei and Nagato out of the theater as the lights started to come on slowly, basking the room in a warm light of increasing intensity as she kept her thoughts to herself and tried to go through everything in her mind while trying not to stumble over the bench legs, exiting the theater and re-entering the somewhat more relaxing afternoon corridor as the sun shone in through the windows, Mutsu rejoining them as Shigure connected the dots and guessed that the second Nagato-Class battleship likely controlled the projector to play the video.
Heading into the Admiral's office after walking up a flight of steps and entering the third door on the left, Shigure thought that the office looked rather tame, yet revealing a few things about the Admiral without ever having to see her commander in person.
The window on the left side of the room shone down on the Admiral's desk and empty chair, perpendicular to the window. A map of the world's oceans with marker arrows and magnetized ship cut-outs adorning the wall to the right of the room, and a crayon-drawn laminated banner written 'Sixth Destroyer Division' hanging above the seat.
The childish drawing was drawn in bright crayons, and was attempting to portray a grinning girl with an eye patch and with what seemed like cat ears on the bottom right of the banner with purple-colored crayons.
The well-worn sofa beneath the global map seemed to unfold into a bed and was littered with scribbled notes, construction orders stamped 'APPROVED' or 'DENIED', with Red Bull cans and instant-coffee packs as seen through two transparent garbage bags, one wrapped around the other to prevent whatever liquid contents that remained from seeping into the floor.
Nagato turned to send a pleading look to Mutsu, who giggled, stepped forward, picking up the trash bag and headed out.
Nagato rounded the desk, also having stationery scattered through every available square inch, and apparently onto some shorter drawers adjacent to it, except for the laptop on the desk.
From set squares to compasses, to the two stamps she observed earlier. Nagato moved the laptop and placed it in an available drawer, then eased herself into the Admiral's seat, lowering her elbows onto the table and adopting the Gendo Pose.
Shigure stood at attention in the middle of the room, while Hiei placed the folder she held all this time in between Nagato's elbows on the table and made herself comfortable leaning against a wall, hands in her pockets.
Nagato shifted, trying to make things easier for the destroyer, which held an air of consternation and coiled muscles around clenched fists.
"As you watched the video just now, we're fighting the Abyssals and holding the line, but we're gathering our forces that have been sent all around the world to consolidate our forces to prepare for a retaliatory strike.
We've got the back-up and full support from the public and government. They donate whatever whatever surplus resources they have to help out in the war effort, which makes things much easier for us."
Pointing to the map in the room as all eyes were drawn to the heavily annotated diagram, Nagato continued.
"Right now, we've established a Safety Zone around Japan, which means that our economy is holding up right now due to ship girls guarding the supply lines from America off the Russo-Japanese and Alaskan coast, and in between China and Japan in the Sea of Japan."
The lines that indicated the supply lines were marked in green, hugging the coast of Korea and sliding down the Gulf of Alaska into American seas, and connecting China to Japan via a few transport lines.
Several lines led from Singapore in South East Asia, stopping by a few Indian ports and into the Suez Canal that led into Europe, coupled with the lines connecting Eastern Canada to the United Kingdom to supply the German and Italian front.
Whereas the blue contour lines surrounding them likely indicated the ship girls' area of influence, indicating a strong presence in the Indian Ocean, the Alaskan, American and European coasts and circling around major coastal countries like South America and Africa, near the Andes mountain range and radiating from coastal Europe, in contrast to the red lines, circling most of the isolated areas further into the Pacific Ocean and surrounding Greenland, the epicenter of the Abyssal menace right in the heart of the Pacific.
A few lines streamed down the center-line of the Atlantic Ocean and snaked around the South African and Northern Russian continents to occupy the Antarctic and Arctic Oceans respectively.
Nagato provided commentary to the sight in front of Shigure.
"Right now, we've defended our supply lines in the Indian ocean well enough to give our supply lines leading to Germany some breathing room, as the Abyssals have been hitting up some English coasts and need the help.
The Americans have protected their coasts, but until the Germans can push back the Abyssals, they'll continue to sail up the Atlantic and down the Arctic to push forward the two-pronged attack they've been running with to assault the American and European coast.
We were also planning to push back out into the Pacific, and head down South to scout out the Abyssal bases in the Antarctic.
The Americans have expressed an interest to coordinate a two-pronged attack with our advance into the Pacific, but it's still in the works.
The human race depends on us to hold the line, seeing that we are the most effective way to combat the threat out there.
I don't want to sound bleak, but during the course of this war, we've mostly had to play catch-up and be on the defense.
An enemy which doesn't express any clear motives, remorse, any hints of an origin and their true end goal despite our best investigative efforts, except …"
With a chest-heaving sigh and gently gripping the arm-rests, the chair skidded back across the wooden floor as Nagato sluggishly rose up to move over to Shigure, as she deduced by the creaking of the floorboards.
As Nagato approached and looked down to address her, Shigure looked up and noticed the stress lines on the edge of her eyes that contrasted with the natural beauty of all ship girls, and the slight sign of exhaustion that lied behind the prideful and piercing eyes of the battleship.
"It's alright though.
These things, right now, are beyond your capability to handle. Leave them to us.
Right now, you should go and get some dinner.
Take the time off to get to know the ship girls and Fairies here, and Hiei will show you your room before lights out. We start training tomorrow and starting Fleet drills tomorrow."
Shigure looked down and acquiesced after a while, wanting to know more, but the pang of pain that shot through her stomach and Nagato's insistence finally persuaded her and replied with a meek,
"Yes Ma'am".
Hiei took that as her cue to get off the wall, taking her hands out of her pockets and put a hand on Shigure's shoulder to guide her out of the office. Silently walking away from the Nagato-Class battleship, Shigure passively listened to the Kongou-Class battleship as she prattled on about something or another.
"Well, now that we're done with dinner, let's show you to your room in the barracks.
You must be tired, after sailing straight from Kure.
I know that my sister and the Admiral well enough, so my best guess is that the Admiral would want to meet you, and my infatuated sister ship would be clinging onto her..."
Leaving Nagato alone with her thoughts, standing alone in the room as she looked back at the map wordlessly and taking in the situation, the last thing that Shigure could see before the door closed itself behind the duo, cutting off Shigure's view as she lowered her head and nodded listlessly to Hiei's one-sided conversation.
Dinner was a relatively simple affair, everyone in the base at least mildly curious as to what kind of ship girl Shigure was, seeing that her World War 2 counterpart was relatively well-known for being a lucky ship, Shigure looking down and trying not to draw too much attention to herself
There were girls like Maya who were clearly stronger than the rank-and-file ship girls, the heavy cruiser possessing toned muscles on a lithe body, with a turquoise green beret and a sleeveless girl scout uniform that complemented her biceps and supple, rounded shoulders.
She radiated strength through her cheerful demeanor a pride that was likely earned through hard work as she flexed her impressive, bulging muscles like some sort of bizarre bodybuilder's mating dance to awe Shigure, Hiei giving her look that simply told her to just go along the more colorful personalities quietly.
They were loud and eager to know about their new comrade, but could also sense her quiet nature and eased off the inquisition whenever she seemed overwhelmed.
The other kind was like Hibiki, a quiet, Russian-Japanese girl with a vacant attitude and a sharp eye for character, quietly observing her. Sporting a schoolgirl uniform with bleached hair held down by her black sailor's hat, the canteen was silent as she came up and asked Shigure a question, and watched her response.
"You can't protect everyone all the time, Shigure-san.
The war we that sunk us all proved that.
Now that you're here, are you going to fight to avenge those who have sunk?"
Shigure was quiet as the crowd waited with bated breath for her response.
Finally, she replied.
"I don't believe I currently have any right to say this, but I'd rather fight for those who're still alive.
I'll get stronger, of course, and I do remember and honor my sunken comrades.
But the dead don't seek vengeance, and I don't think my friends are so weak as to need me to protect them." Smiling down from her seat, her head tilted as she retorted.
"But don't let that stop you from asking for my protection.
I will become stronger than you, after all."
A chorus of "OOOOHHHHHHHHH" s reverberated throughout the room, as Hibiki brought her black cap down to acknowledge Shigure with a nod, as well as to hide her smirk as she slipped away, a faint
"We'll see about that." was made out through the cheering of the dispersing ship girl crowd.
Hiei explained as they ate their food, that girls like Maya had been upgraded twice, the first level of upgrades being Kai, and the second being Kai Ni.
To achieve such a level required not just the existence of a second remodel that was available, but also hard work and a good battle record achieved through hard work and the blood, sweat and tears of the ship girl.
If the Admiral was confident enough to 'invest' in the ship girl's second remodel, they could access a power that elevated them above rank-and-file ship girls.
Not that Kai was an insignificant upgrade, Hiei noted. It was a major step up from being the 'default' model, in which ship girls could reach a skill cap, and be frustrated seeing their growth plateau.
Kai was a cheap enough upgrade and meant that a higher skill cap could be achieved and unlocked new possibilities, in which Kai Ni was more expensive than a Kai upgrade, but could reach limits that she claimed Shigure couldn't even begin to fathom right now.
Nodding at that, she noted two other females approaching, one of them having her hands wrapped affectionately around the arm of the other, the ship girl in question being a young female adult with two buns atop her brown hair with an ahoge, two loose braids hanging down her forehead while wearing a black skirt and thigh-highs.
She wore a miko uniform with her metal-winged headband like her sister ship Hiei and was certainly rather expressive of her love for the other female adult, Shigure noting out the corner of her eye that Hiei wasn't hiding her jealousy of the white-clothed female, Shigure coming to the conclusion that Hiei likely loved her sister ship in more ways than one, seeing that their uniforms matched almost to a tee.
It was the white-clothed female adult that she was observing, the destroyer having been unable to sense anything from her despite already figuring out that she was the Admiral, since there was a certain 'feeling' that all ship girls exuded to distinguish themselves from a human, some weaker signatures fainter than others who were stronger.
The woman standing before her had the signature white trousers and coat of an Admiral, the coat hung over her shoulders like a cape draped over her exercise top that was covering her decently-sized bust.
Her toned and sleek body was partially obscured by her coat and top, but Shigure could see her firm abdomen muscles exposed beneath her top, which indicated the Admiral's physical prowess which Shigure personally didn't want to be on the receiving end of.
Her short hair was tied up in a bun behind her head, atop which sat a black and white officer's cap with the insignia of the Japanese Navy proudly emblazoned upon it. Her epaulets displayed four stars on each shoulder, which meant that she was of a very high-rank.
Admiral Mako raised her hand to hand-wave away Shigure's attempt to get up from her canteen chair to bow down to her, chuckling as she commented on her being here.
"Oh, don't worry about greeting me with a bow all the time; I'm not so good with such stifling customs, and I personally make it a mission to meet any ship girl newcomers.
Admiral Mako here, your commanding officer and the leader of the Yokosuka Naval Base."
The Kongou-Class battleship jumped up and glomped the Admiral, cheerily announcing with a fair bit of English sprinkled into her Japanese.
"And I'm Kongou, Hiei's sister and Admiral's one true lover, DESU!"
Admiral Mako cooed as she patted Kongou's head, reminding her about her relationship with all the ship girls.
"Don't be like that, Kongou-chan.
You know that you're not my only girlfriend, right?
I have Yamato, Nagato, Ashigara and Musashi, amongst others, as my other girlfriends, and it wouldn't be fair to them and lill' ol' me if I only have one girlfriend and reject the others, right?
And besides, I love all ship girls, especially those that are in my base, so you know that I strive to express that love for them in every way I can, hmm?"
Kongou closed her eyes as her eyebrows furrowed, releasing one hand to clench determinedly as she conceded.
"Aye, when you put it that way, I see your point, Admiral Mako!
But I won't give up on our relationship so easily here, and I'll make you accept me as your first wife with my Burning Love, desu!"
And Hiei couldn't take the scene anymore, hurling herself on her sister and inadvertently shoving her weight onto her Admiral as she exclaimed,
"Onee-sama, don't always look at Admiral Mako!
I, too, want to be in a relationship with Kongou Onee-sama as well!"
"Ahh, Hiei, be careful, desu!
The Admiral can't take the weight of two battleships..."
The trio eventually fell onto the floor, an entanglement of limbs as Hiei hugged her sister ship tightly while Kongou hugged her own Admiral in turn, while her Admiral was struggling whilst trying her best to push herself up despite two fast battleships weighing her down as a few ship girls rushed over to help them up.
And Shigure was sitting there, unblinking with her dull eyes staring off into space as she tried to wrap her head around this next tidbit of information that she learnt about her Admiral and the ship girls of the Yokosuka Naval Base.
A lesbian Admiral who commanded one of the most powerful bases in Japan, if not the world, and casually spoke of a polygamous relationship with some of the most powerful ship girls of Japan, especially the revered battleships of the Yamato-Class and the Nagato-Class.
Sure, she could feel that the Admiral was genuine in her words and her love for them was undeniable if the tone of her words were anything to go by, as well as the way she softly and fondly patted Kongou on the head, but Shigure was still unable to process this fully as she had only one word to respond to the commotion before her.
'What.'
As Shigure stood up and they both deposited their plates near the sink near the canteen door, Hiei commented about the base and what time should they be back in the barracks.
"We usually set curfew at around 10 pm, so the bedrooms will be mostly empty at this hour.
Don't worry. You'll meet your team tomorrow. They'll be there for you, as will I and my sisters."
The entirety of the walk to the barracks was spent in silence, Shigure content to let the fuel and various human foods digest in her stomach, starting to feel the exhaustion that came with spending a large part of the day sailing, and the impact of having to deal with a new base and new friends, while Hiei decided that Shigure must've been exhausted and perhaps a little overwhelmed by today's events and revelations, and was perfectly fine to let the comfortable silence linger.
The fluorescent lights that gently lit up the corridors that they walked along were surrounded by mayflies, circling around the light source in a chaotic dance, oddly fast and energetic for little beings with a lifespan of less than a day. The comfortable and quiet chirping of crickets, camouflaged and hidden within the recesses of the base, served to fill the air between the two ship girls, both quietly retiring into the night.
Hiei stopped in front of a door, a nameplate etched '白露', indicating the Shiratsuyu-class destroyer bedroom that lay beyond the 2-paneled, simple mahogany door in front of them.
"Well Shigure, this is it."
Shigure quietly opened the door as Hiei stood back.
The destroyer bedroom was rather spacious, clearly accounting for the number of the sisters Shigure had. Double-decker beds stood in silent vigil, lined up in rank and file to ensure simple navigation in the dark.
The ambient light from the corridor shone into the room, illuminating the space before her as she spotted the window at the end of the room that was open to allow fresh air in.
If she looked close enough (and she really didn't wish to, she was quite tired from today's events), she could see the individual removable name tags pasted onto the bed frames, likely indicating the names of her sisters.
Shigure didn't wish to turn on the lights to interrupt anyone's beauty sleep or startle anyone in the room, so she dragged herself onto the nearest bed, plopping down on its comfortable sheets and looking up to Hiei for affirmation.
The battleship, now in the room, lightly chuckled, and nodded to the destroyer, noting.
"You're tired, I get it.
Good night, Shigure."
"Good night, Hiei-san."
Turning her back and closing the door with nary a peep, Shigure was left supine on the bed, finally getting some time to collect her thoughts in the darkness shortly before deciding to leave the thinking and worrying to tomorrow.
Right now, she needed some sleep to rest up and prepare herself since meeting her team tomorrow was going to be quite an experience, if the colorful personalities of today were any indication.
Not that she had anything against her fellow ship girls, having worked with quite a lot of them during her 'lucky' streak during the war. It's just that she hadn't had the time to properly get acquainted with being a ship girl.
The previous base simply told them of their basic functions, and shoved a weapon, identified as a 12.7cm Twin Gun Mount, into her hand before teaching her how the wars of today was to be fought.
They must've sent a message to the bases that took in the transferring ship girls to fill them in on world history, the Kure Naval base more focused on securing their supply lines down South East Asia that went through Singapore into the Bay of Bengal. Then the transfer order came to simply sail to Yokosuka, not 3 hours after she came back from her first two sorties.
She sighed.
All in all, it wasn't so bad being resurrected as a ship girl.
At least they had some rights as sentient beings, and Admirals now had some semblance of accountability, preventing them from going overboard with their commands.
She and the newly created ship girls back in Kure had all survived their sorties, mostly because they were in protected waters and were engaged in simple skirmishes by guided by more experienced ship girls to teach them the ropes.
She couldn't help but think back to Nagato and Hiei, the burden of war surrounding them and weighing them down, and was visible through the chinks of the armor that was their personas, likely due to carrying the burdens of the war and heavy responsibility that was the safety and well-being of the ship girls under their charge.
She wondered if she would eventually look like that, with stress lines, a ton of regrets and guilt weighing her down, and a thousand-yard stare acquired through the loss of those closest to you.
After all, that was how she pretty much felt the last time she fought in a war.
It was the last thought that ran through the little destroyer's mind as she allowed the darkness to envelop her, her mind drifting away and Shigure eventually falling asleep to conclude today's events.
