Chapter 1: A Curious Assignment

May 6, 20XX

Exactly six months ago to this date, they struck back. We thought they were finally declining, losing, but we were wrong. At exactly 0600 hours, ship spirit task forces and naval bases all around the globe were attacked by large forces of Abyssal ships. The lightest casualties, the loss of all cargo and navy ships and half of the ship forces; the worst casualties, one surviving ship girl with a barely functioning engine out of an entire base of 1000 souls.

It was madness. Global trade ground to a halt as shipping lanes were overrun with the demonic Abyssals. World leaders scrambled to calm their nations as navies everywhere mourned their fallen and feared their own safety. There was no one who wasn't affected in some way by this. No one was sure of what to do next, except us. We knew what to do, but the question was would it work?

The US Navy, though not quickly, attempted to rebuild our forces. With over half of our conventional forces destroyed, there was no way we could effectively protect trans Pacific and Atlantic routes, so we turned to summoning. It didn't work. In ceremonies where we should've summoned 5-10 girls, we would get one; two if we were lucky. Everything seemed hopeless.

Of course this was when my department was created and I was promoted to head of the department. Well, technically "Ship Spirit Consultant" but my job is basically running the Department of Ship Spirit Expansion. We specialize in summoning ship spirits and it's my job to lead that process as the ship girl liaison. Of course you already know this, as this is the only thing I've been writing about for months, but on the anniversary of that day and after that failed summoning yesterday, I felt as though I must write something-

The shrill ring of the telephone interrupted the rhythmic scratching of pen on paper. Placing her pen down and closing the small notebook in front of her, she picked up the phone.

"Enterprise, speaking."

"Ah, E, Admiral wants to see you in his office, ASAP," a female voice answered on the other line.

"Alright, five minutes."

"Got it. See ya then, E," and the call ended with a click. Enterprise placed the phone down with a yawn and stretched her arms above her head. I guess my writing will have to wait, she thought as she let her arms fall back down.

After grabbing her cap and her half empty cup of coffee, she set off to her admiral's office. As she walked down the hallways, she felt an eerie quiet though the building. It wasn't uncommon for the day after a failed summoning to be quiet like this, but she had a sneaking suspicion that the Admiral had given most ship girls the day off. It was understandable, but Enterprise wouldn't take a day off until she solved this. There was something missing, but what could it be?

Before she noticed it, she had made it to the Admiral's office. She quickly checked over her uniform and fixed her already-perfect dirty blond bun, then gave a quick knock to the wooden door.

It creaked open to reveal a monstrously tall woman with the build of a boxer and her short black hair tucked back under her cap. Even under her baggy NWUs, Enterprise could see her hulking form. Compared to Enterprise, the girl looked about the same age, young 20s, but she was considerably larger, in height and everything else. Her cool gray eyes, complete with dark bags and red veins, stared down at the carrier girl for a few quiet second before breaking into a cheeky grin.

"Damn, E. When you say five minutes, you really mean it," she said with a booming chuckle. Enterprise rolled her eyes.

"Is the Admiral in?"

"Yeesh, so cold to not even respond. He went off to the head but he'll be back in a sec," the secretary said as she stepped aside to let the carrier in. Enterprise strolled in and sat down across from the Admiral's desk. She observed his secretary as she rubbed her eyes and poured a cup of black coffee. She plopped down at her own small desk at the side of the room, overflowing with stacks paperwork so high her name plate was almost obscured. Enterprise could just make out the words Commander USS New Jersey, USN under the shadow of all the paper.

"Didn't sleep well last night, Jersey?" Enterprise spoke as the other woman chugged the steaming cup. She placed the cup down and gave the carrier a sad smile.

"Yeah, Wisky couldn't sleep either, but you know who we failed to summon last night, not that I really thought she'd come back but..." New Jersey trailed off as any trace of a smile vanished from her face. Enterprise suddenly found her feet more interesting than the secretary and began to make detailed mental notes of her boots. What did Jersey expect? A summoning of an already summoned but sunk ship never worked. However, Enterprise couldn't bring herself to be mad at Jersey's remarks; she understood what the battleship was going through.

"Ah, Captain, you're here already," a voice sounded from the doorway. Quickly, Enterprise shot up to give her Admiral a salute, the battleship following suit. The graying man returned the salute before waving the two at ease.

"So, Admiral, what did you want to discuss? I have notes of last night's attempted summoning if-"

"That's not it," he interrupted with his usual calm voice. "I need to discuss transfer orders with you."

Enterprise and the eavesdropping battleship struggled to keep their jaws from falling to the ground.

"S-sir? Am I doing that b-bad at this job?" she stuttered, unable to make sense of these new orders. She knew she had been unable to re-summon girls but she didn't think that counted as a reason for a transfer.

"No, no not at all. These aren't so much orders as they are a 'research mission' of sorts," he explained, "I know you're experiencing troubles with your newest 'project', so I talked with Admiral Ito over in Yokosuka and he's offering you a trip over their to do some research and study their findings on summonings."

She breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't failed her job, but she was being offered an opportunity to study ship summoning over in Japan, the origin of reincarnated ship spirits. Several years ago when the Abyssals first appeared, Japan had revolutionized naval warfare when they had announced the existence of a "ship girl" program. All over the world, people heard of human girls that had be "summoned" with spirits of old warships and scoffed at the idea as a waste of resources, until the girls had begun to defeat Abyssal forces and shipping lanes freed up again. Then other navies scrambled to summon their own girls, following the example of the Japanese. If there was anyone who could help Enterprise solve this problem, they would be in Japan.

"I'm going," she said, "Whenever you want me to be, I'm ready, sir."

"Well, that was quick," Jersey joked with a cocked eyebrow. Enterprise shot a quick glare at the dark haired battleship and turned to the Admiral again.

"As enthusiastic as you may be, you still need to be brief on this mission." A quick nod from the carrier and the Admiral continued. "Because of the nature of this assignment, you will be traveling as a foreign intelligence officer, and so the Department of Ship Spirit Expansion is now jointly overseen by the base here at Pearl and ONI. Don't worry, it's only superficial. You're still my subordinate."

"On this assignment, you'll be allowed to access all declassified and some classified materials on ship spirit summoning as well first hand accounts of summonings," he paused to look for something on his desk.

"Ah, Jersey, do you have- Ah thank you," he said snatching the manilla envelope from his secretary. He handed it to Enterprise and continued, "All the specifics are in here, so please read that tonight. I'll call Yokosuka and let them know you're coming. When would you be ready to go?"

"Tomorrow, sir, if possible."

"Alright, I'll see what I can do. But in the meantime, read over that. Plan on recording lots of info on summonings and if possible, the Abyssals themselves. They've been using new tactics ever since that day that have been extremely effective against us, but the Japanese aren't fairing so badly. Something tells me that those Japanese may have info we don't-"

Both the Admiral and carrier jumped as Jersey slammed her hands on the admiral's desk. Her steely eyes stared at him with a new-found fire.

"I'm going, too," she stated, her voice determined, "If I can't go fight those Abyssal bastards, I want to know how to destroy them. And if Japan knows how to do it better than me, I wanna know. I'm going."

"J-Jersey, are you sure you-"

"Sure as I'll ever be. I can't sortie and help my girls, but I still want to do something. No offense , Admiral, but I'm not really one for desk work."

The Admiral gave a small chuckle and placed his hand on the battleship's shoulder.

"I understand. It must be tough for you to not be able to sortie with the rest of the girls. It must be hard for the both of you," he glanced at Enterprise, "And I know you two still want to help. This is your chance to. I know you'll both find what you're looking for."

The two ships smiled at their Admiral. Moments like these always helped the girls calm down. If she had a father, Enterprise thought he'd be like the admiral.

Jersey practically picked the man up in a large bear hug, shouting "thank you" over and over again. The Admiral laughed and hugged her, patting her back in a fatherly manner. Enterprise raised an eyebrow.

"You play favorites, Sir," she snarked. He laughed as the battleship set him down, a large smile plastered on her tired face.

"What can I say? I'm a Jersey boy, born and raised. I can give you a hug too of you'd like."

"No thanks, sir, but I appreciate the sentiment."

"I could hug you."

The carrier stared at the battleship with her best pokerface. Jersey shrugged and muttered an "I thought I'd offer".

"Anyway, you girls go read the file and pack. Plan on leaving tomorrow, so you both can have the rest of the day off to prepare. When you get the chance, Jersey, send your sister in. She can cover secretary while you're away. Is that alright?"

"You got it, sir. I'll send Wisky over when I get back to my room," the battleship said as she attempted to make her desk somewhat neat.

Enterprise rose from her seat, the enormity of her mission just beginning to sink in. She was traveling half-way across the world and was going to be allowed a look at the most extensive researched and most sophisticated ship summonings in the world. Even though no one had ever achieved it, she might finally crack the case on re-summoning sunken ship girls. Suddenly, the manilla folder in her hands felt like the weight of the entire fleet.

She turned to the disgruntled battleship, still straightening out the papers on her desk. The carrier glanced at the Admiral to find him amused at his secretary's futile attempt. Enterprise sighed.

"Hey, Jersey, you coming?" she asked, slipping mild annoyance into her voice. Jersey turned to her and cocked her head, questioning. "We have to read this, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I guess that's the only copy," she said with a bit of embarrassment as the Admiral stiffed his chuckles by filling out paperwork.

"We're off, sir. I'm assuming you'll tell us when we're leaving by tonight?" the carrier said as she and Jersey snapped to attention. He nodded as he rose and returned the salute.

"Let me know if either of you have questions. I'll see you before you leave, but good luck, girls."

"So they're pretty much giving you free reign then?" Jersey asked as the manila folder lied open with its contents read and spread over Enterprise's desk.

"That's what it seems like, though I can't imagine they'd let a foreign officer roam around on her own through classified material," the carrier said more to herself than the battleship who'd asked the question. "Maybe they'll assign someone to follow me around. I'm sure they have girls on restricted duty, like us. Although, they may not assign someone to you because most of your work will be with other ships."

"...It feels nice to actually be doing something again," Jersey said as she leaned back in her chair. "Not that I don't like being the secretary, but I miss doing actual 'warship' stuff."

"You're not going to be doing 'warship' stuff. You're going to Japan as an intelligence officer who is going to study their information on the Abyssals and the tactics used against them. You're not going to sortie, you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah I know, no need to lecture me," Jersey grumbled with a small scowl.

"...And because you're being sent on such short notice, you're being assigned as my subordinate," Enterprise said with a grin splayed on her face. Jersey almost fell out of her chair.

"What?! I won't stand for this! Yeah, you're a Captain and I'm a Commander but you're not my commanding officer!"

"We're both in the 3rd Fleet, aren't we? And what do you call a higher ranking officer in your own fleet?" Enterprise smirked. Jersey groaned and slowly rose from her chair.

"Fine, whatever, m-ma'am, oh God help me," she rubbed her eyes, "Anyway, I gotta go talk to Wisky. I'll see you at dinner."

The battleship made her way out and gave a wave behind her.

"That's no way to say goodbye to your superior, sailor," Enterprise shouted.

"Bite me, you damn sadist!" she slammed the door, leaving little cracks in the wall around the frame. Enterprise chuckled as she reclined back in her chair.

"An intelligence trip to Japan with Jersey, huh? Well, this will certainly be interesting," she said aloud as she reached for her journal. She had to add to her daily entry.

A/N: Hello, everyone! I'm Mori and thanks for reading the first chapter of my fic! If you couldn't tell, this story will center around Enterprise and New Jersey, two of my favorite warships ever. I'm not entirely sure where this story will go, but I do know updates will be very infrequent. I'm betting on Christmas break where I can churn out a couple new chapters. In the meantime, I'm always open to constructive criticism and it's been a while since I last wrote seriously, so by all means! Also, if anyone would be interested in beta-ing this that would be great. I already have someone lined up, but it would be nice to have a fresh opinion. Thanks so much for reading! Please bear with me!