AN: It's funny what a picture can spark.
I originally wasn't planning to expand this story beyond this initial chapter, but after some thought I decided to finish this story for the NaNoWriMo challenge. Sadly, I came up a little under 2000 words short, but I didn't want to drag out the story.
And yes, this means every chapter is written. No chance of this dying before completion! Expect releases on a M-W-F schedule until it's complete.
Enjoy!
~o~
"Another failure."
"We can't continue doing this. These are resources better spent on other shipgirls, shipgirls we can actually summon."
"Agreed. Though, I wonder…"
"Hm?"
"Why doesn't she come? Is it because we scrapped her instead of turning her into a museum? Is it simply because she's tired and no longer wants to fight?"
"I don't think it matters why she's not coming. What matters is one, inescapable fact that we need to accept."
"Enterprise is not coming."
~o~
The year is 2019. Shit is fucked.
July 7, 2016 is a day that will live in infamy, for it is then that the creatures known as the Abyss announced their presence to the world. Taking the form of women with chalk-white skin and monsters and machinery attached to them, they attacked without warning, without any reason anyone could discern. Norfolk, Malta, Hawaii, and Singapore fell within hours, caught completely by surprise. And though the Abyssals quickly left Norfolk, it was clear everywhere else that they were here to stay.
The navies of humanity tried to fight back, of course. But with half the US Navy, the most powerful on Earth, sunk on the first day, it was all they could do not to be annihilated in their retreat. The Abyssals were endless, and something about them interfered with targeting and detection systems, even aside from the fact that most naval weapons were not designed with human-sized targets in mind.
Luckily for the world, salvation had also delivered itself on that black day. Newport News and the vital shipyards there escaped destruction as a towering blond woman with glasses and backpack sporting nine 16" guns appeared on the water to drive them off. And days after that, two more women carrying battleship guns arrived at the head of a convoy of Hawaiian refugees. Wisconsin, Missouri, and Arizona thus became the first of the kantai musume, or shipgirls.
Japan led the way in research into this new phenomenon, their Shinto traditions easily accepting their existence and offering tantalizing hints on ways to call them. Within a year, the majority of the ships of World War II had been summoned; by 2018, all were summoned, tactics had been developed, and the line had been held.
Despite the success, four stretches of ocean remain the domain of the Abyssals. Malta and the surrounding waters are the province of the Island Siege Empress, spewing out battleships and swift cruisers to attack the shores of Sicily and Tunisia. The Suez Canal is closed, unlikely to reopen any time soon. Opposing her are the shipgirls of Italy, France, Turkey, Greece, and the UK's Mediterranean Fleet, and it is all they can do to contain her. The North Atlantic is the domain of the Submarine Empress. Airpower keeps her forces away from the coasts, and massive convoys are run across the Atlantic, bearing vital goods to Europe and escorted by the shipgirls of Germany, Canada, the UK, and the USA. Submarines are the threat here, and SSNs have proved invaluable in aiding the shipgirls. The Central Pacific is ruled by the Harbor Empress, striking at the convoys running along the North and South Pacific to Japan and Australia, respectively, and sending periodic forays towards the West Coast of North America and Japan. And finally, the Fortress Empress sits on her throne in Singapore, ruler of a domain that stretches from Sumatra and Borneo to the highlands of New Guinea; an area of land and sea that once held 200 million people, and now only holds ghosts.
The Re-class battleship sitting on a beach in Oahu with her hood down knew very little of this. All she knew was that Honolulu looked very pretty being taken over by nature, and that soon she would be going on the Hunt again.
She wasn't worried, at least, not about herself. She was a Re-class, the most feared Abyssal type on the high seas that wasn't an Installation. And besides, she was the Hunter. The only one to walk away from more than one Hunt. She knew what she needed to do to survive.
Her tail suddenly perked up, turning to look at something behind her. The crunch of footsteps on sand followed soon afterward. The Hunter didn't turn around, instead letting the Ta-class battleship come to a halt next to her.
[Who'd you bring?] the Hunter said after a moment.
[Two Ne-class,] the other battleship replied. [They're waiting at the mouth of the harbor.]
The Hunter nodded. A small force, but fast and with heavy firepower. A good combination for the Hunt. [When were you all summoned?]
[Just last week!] the Ta chirped, suddenly cheerful. [Oh, I can't wait to take on the Grey Ghost! I'll be the best of my sisters once we beat her!]
The Hunter resisted the urge to sigh. Newbies. The Empress probably didn't want to keep burning scarce veterans on the Hunt. Instead, she stood and stepped out into the surf, her hooves quickly gaining purchase on the surface and allowing her to steam away from the beach. The Ta followed shortly thereafter, still grinning widely.
[So!] the battleship said. [Any advice for me?]
[Don't let her get close,] the Hunter intoned. [And don't expect anything you do to actually kill her.]
[Aw, but that's just what they told us in the briefing!] the Ta whined.
[That's because it's the best advice you can get.]
Silence fell over the two battleships as the Ta pouted and the Hunter lapsed into her usual silence. Luckily for her sanity, the two heavy cruisers were similarly quiet, and as they moved out from Hawaii she ran over the information given on the Grey Ghost's whereabouts. She'd hit a supply convoy heading out to the Marianas garrison not even a day prior, typical behavior for her, and would likely still be there once they arrived in the region.
The next three days passed quickly, broken by periodic and unsuccessful attempts by the Ta to socialize. This eventually sent her into a sullen silence, and by the sunset on the third day the Hunter was seriously considering telling a story just to snap her out of it. A ping on her sonar, though, caught her attention.
[I have an underwater contact,] she reported.
[It's probably one of our own submarines,] the Ta replied dismissively. [Ignore it.]
While that idea made sense, the Hunter's instincts were screaming at her. Something was wrong.
[Huh?]
All eyes turned to the trailing Ne, but while the Ta and the other Ne were looking at her face, the Hunter's eyes were down to the heavy cruiser's ankles, where a slim, white, red-clawed hand was gripping one of them.
'That's new,' some part of the Hunter's brain noted, and she opened her mouth to shout a warning, only for the hand to yank down and drag the Ne-class underwater. She raised her tail, depth charges loaded, but the Ta grabbed it before she could fire.
[What are you doing?!] she demanded.
[Trying to kill our target, you fool!] the Hunter snarled back. [That heavy cruiser is dead, and you just cost me a chance at damaging her!]
[But-!]
The other heavy cruiser's protest was cut off by a figure bursting out of the water and grabbing her from behind, claws pressed to her throat. The Ta hesitated. The Hunter didn't, her tail firing both guns at her obscured target. At such a short range, she couldn't miss, but with her opponent mostly obscured by her impromptu hostage, both shells hit the heavy cruiser, penetrated, and detonated, carving two large chunks out of her torso and leaving her slumped over, dead.
The Grey Ghost - for that's all she could be - promptly shoved the dead heavy cruiser off to the side and into the water, and manifested a massive slab of razor-edged metal in her hand. Golden eyes locked on the Ta-class battleship, and the Abyssal flinched, taking a step back and aiming her shaking guns at the figure before her.
[A-All batteries, fire!]
Eight heavy guns barked, and the Grey Ghost moved. Four shells went wide, smacking harmlessly into their opponent's wake. Three hit the raised slab in her hand, exploding to no effect, and the last was obscured by the resulting cloud of smoke.
A shaky grin appeared on the Ta-class' face as she observed the smoke cloud. [Ha… hahahahaha! She's dead! I killed her! I can't believe everyone else had so… much…]
The triumphant rant trailed off as the smoke cleared, revealing the Grey Ghost untouched except for a few rents in the metal slab she carried, which was now swinging for her torso. Stunned, the Abyssal battleship only barely managed to catch the edge of the slab on her arms.
Of course, it promptly carved through her arms and most of her torso anyway, so that didn't help.
As the Ta slipped, bleeding, beneath the waves, the Grey Ghost stood, and the Hunter had a chance to observe her longtime nemesis. She wore a white sailor top with a black tie, baring her midriff. A black half-cape, trimmed in gold, covered her shoulders, and a miniskirt of the same design brushed against her thighs; all three articles were frayed and tattered on the bottom edge. Long white gloves with gold stripes covered her arms, tipped with red claws; a red gorget made of Abyssal teeth protected her throat; armored boots with gold seams covered her calves; and a black, armored hat with gold seams and a peeking Abyssal eye completed the ensemble. The metal slab was revealed to be a flight deck, a bright yellow 6 emblazoned on it and rimmed by a red metal sponson all along its edge, razor-sharp and sporting sixteen twin 3" mounts of the type used by I-class destroyers for anti-air. Her skin was pale white, not the chalk of Abyssals but much lighter than the shipgirls she'd seen, though her thighs had the appearance of metal plating instead. Long red hair, half drawn into a ponytail held with a star-shaped tie, cascaded down her back and front. And then there were her gold eyes, quite at home above the confident smirk she sported.
The two eyed each other for a long moment, before the Grey Ghost spoke up.
"Are you going to try and fight me?" she asked.
[No,] the Hunter replied. [I like being alive.]
The shipgirl nodded. "Smart. Alright, go in peace or whatever. I've got bigger things to worry about than you."
And with that, she ducked underwater again.
[Definitely new,] the Hunter muttered. [Seriously, when did she learn to do that?]
The Hunter filed away the mystery for later before turning around and steaming away. Yes, this was how she survived hunt after hunt: by being smart enough to know when to just walk away.
~o~
Enterprise surfaced near the coast of Sarigan island, the three Abyssal corpses stashed away in an underwater cave for future repairs. Well, aside from an arm taken from the Ta to patch up her flight deck. One quick climb up the sheer cliffs of the island later, she walked over to a palm tree set back from the rocks and surrounded by grass, and slumped against it, her flight deck dropped at her side.
Almost immediately, her fairies swarmed out of her, most heading for her battered - again - flight deck. Miniature welding torches came out, cutting into the arm and cutting out armor plating for reuse. More could be felt inspecting a gash in her side where one of the Ta's shells had nicked her. But one instead stood on her shoulder, glaring cutely at her.
"Hey!" it barked.
"I know, I know," Enterprise sighed, raising her hands up. "I'm running out of time."
Said hands were shaking uncontrollably, and the carrier could feel a hundred other minor aches, tears, and other sundry bits of damage spread throughout her. Her damcon fairies had worked miracles over the last three years, but without a proper shipyard they could only slow the accumulation of damage, and many of those miracles had had… side effects.
As if on cue, a shudder wracked her body, and she hunched over with a grunt of pain, her hand shooting up to cover her face. Her jaw clenched as the desire to maimburnkill ran through her, red creeping into her vision.
"Before we're through with them, the Japanese language will only be spoken in Hell!"
After an eternal ten seconds, the moment passed, and Enterprise drew her hand away, noting the sheen of red blood covering it.
"In more ways than one," she muttered.
A small hand pressed against her jaw, and she glanced to the side to see her shoulder-fairy looking up at her with warm concern. "Hey," it said softly.
A slight smile spread over her face. "Don't worry, we'll muddle through," she said, reaching out to pat the fairy on the head. The fairy huffed and crossed its arms in a pout, but notably didn't protest.
"Hey!"
Enterprise glanced down to her side, where instead of a bleeding gash there was now smooth metal, waiting for skin to grow back to cover it.
"Good job, you guys!" Enterprise said, shooting a thumbs up at the spot. A frisson of satisfaction ran through from her fairies, and the carrier leaned back against her tree. "How long do I have?"
Her shoulder fairy hummed thoughtfully, tapping its chin. "Hey," it finally said after several minutes.
"Four months, give or take three and a half, huh?" Enterprise repeated, gazing out over the ocean. "Time to check up on Guam again, I think."
~o~
Fleet carrier Zuikaku strode through the halls of the Yokosuka District Headquarters, heading for the office of Admiral Goto. All around her, the noise of the human and shipgirl personnel of the District washed over her, utterly unchanged from a few months prior. She appreciated that. Civilians - and even sailors from other districts - had a bad tendency towards hero worship, and while fun at first, it had quickly gotten annoying.
And the worst part was that she couldn't claim, even in private, that it was undeserved hero worship! She had, after all, been the last carrier standing for half of Operation Lexus, something that practically begged for comparisons to Enterprise.
Zuikaku grimaced at that. The Enterprise comparisons were the worst part of it. The legendary carrier had never been summoned despite numerous attempts to do so, and the public - at least in Japan and the United States - had been quite desperate to find a substitute. In the US Navy, the younger Hornet had ended up stepping into that role, and by all accounts she did a good job with it. In Japan, it had been a dead heat between her and Hiryu, but Operation Lexus had tipped the scales entirely in her favor.
Still, as long as she stayed out of comments sections on the internet, she didn't have to deal with it if she didn't want to. And with that thought, she reached the Admiral's office and pulled the door open.
The Admiral's office was split into two rooms, an outer waiting room where secretary ship Ooyodo was sitting at her desk doing her work, and an inner office where Admiral Goto worked. As Zuikaku walked into the outer office, she saw Atago, Nagato, and Yahagi sitting there as well.
"Heeeey, Zuikaku!" the blonde heavy cruiser chirped, waving, as the carrier sat down next to them.
"Admiral Goto isn't available yet?" she asked.
"The Admiral is… occupied with another appointment," Nagato replied, her brows drawn into an annoyed scowl.
The question of who that appointment was with was answered as the door was flung open, a flushed, frazzled-looking Admiral Goto holding it that way.
"Out!" he shouted, jabbing his finger towards the outer door.
"Oh, FINE, Admiral," fast battleship Kongo sniffed as she pranced - pranced! - out of his office. "But don't think you're RID OF ME, desu!"
The minute the battleship was gone, Admiral Goto slumped to the floor, head in his hands. Zuikaku let out an 'oh' of understanding.
"So Kongo was distracting him again," she said.
"Yes," Nagato grit out.
The room lapsed into an uncomfortable silence, Zuikaku and Atago soon fidgeting in their seats, that lasted until Ooyodo cleared her throat.
"Admiral, your 2:30 appointment is here," she said, not even looking up from her work.
"Right," came Admiral Goto's reply, muffled by his legs. He slowly stood up, his expression despondent, and then he slapped himself in the face. As the four shipgirls waiting watched in shock and more than a little horror, his expression melted into one of careful neutrality, and he turned his attention to them, beckoning into his office. "Shall we?"
"S-Sure," Nagato replied. Goto nodded, and walked into his office, and as the quartet stood she shot a fearful look at her three comrades. "I just saw that, right? The Admiral just slapped himself into sensibility?"
"Yes, you did," Yahagi bit out. "And now, we are going to go in there, and we are never going to speak of this again. Agreed?"
"Agreed," Zuikaku and Atago chroused.
With that pledge, they filed into the office and sat down, waiting for Admiral Goto to re-organize some papers that had clearly been scattered by Typhoon Kongo.
"Alright," the Admiral said after a few minutes. "Well, first, I have some bad news. It's being suppressed, but I doubt it will remain that way for long, and I think you should hear this from me." He paused, seeming to collect his thoughts. "Two days ago, Britain and Ireland fell to the Abyss."
Once again, silence descended, the four shipgirls in front of him staring in shock and horror with wide eyes and dropped jaws.
"What," Zuikaku finally managed to get out after a few minutes.
"H-How…" Atago breathed, looking close to tears.
"The Home Fleet was understrength, with most of their force committed to Operation Royce," Admiral Goto explained. "The Abyssals ambushed them in Scapa, and very few of them escaped. The Germans and the Channel Fleet only bought enough time to evacuate a few hundred thousand people, and the latter's casualties were horrendous."
"And with Britain gone, we need to start clearing the Central Pacific ASAP so we can reinforce Europe," Yahagi divined. "So, the Marianas first, or Minami-Tori-shima?"
The light cruiser fidgeted in agitation as everyone in the room stared at her. "A-A samurai should know of such things to best advise her lord," she said defensively. "And Fubuki uses me to bounce ideas off of."
"Well," Goto said after a moment, shaking his head. "You're right. We're pushing to the Marianas. The details are being finalized, but expect a deployment comparable to Operation Lexus. The Americans will also be making another push west to catch the Abyssals' attention in the Eastern Pacific."
"If it ain't broke don't fix it, huh?" Zuikaku chuckled.
"Precisely. X-day has been set one week from now," Goto continued. "Since you're the leaders of your respective ship types, I expect you to help prepare your comrades for this operation. It will be higher intensity, but lower duration, and will likely require specialized training; accuracy in fire support will be essential." The Admiral reached down, retrieving several manila envelopes, and passed them out. "These are the details. Familiarize yourself, and familiarize your division mates. Dismissed!"
Zuikaku, Nagato, Yahagi, and Atago all stood and saluted with a bark of "Yes, sir!", before bustling out of the office. The group soon split up, Atago and Yahagi heading for the cruiser dorm and Nagato and Zuikaku heading for the dorms jointly shared by the battleships and fleet carriers. Still surrounded by the bustle of the base, they kept quiet, neither willing to speak both due to secrecy and the magnitude of the information they'd been given.
"Goddamn," Zuikaku breathed out as they passed out of the public parts of the base, tension flowing from her shoulders. "Britain. Fucking Britain. We haven't suffered a loss like this since the Black Day."
"Yes, which makes this operation even more important," Nagato stated. "More than the military value, the world needs a victory, a large one, if we are to ensure it does not fall into despair."
"Yeah…" the carrier agreed, her eyes shut. "Still, why did it have to be the Marianas. Shokaku and I have bad memories of that place."
"You'll be able to handle it," Nagato stated, much like a child would state that the sky was blue. "And I believe you will be stronger for it."
A grin spread over Zuikaku's face at that. "Heh. Believe in me that believes in you?"
The battleship turned and threw her a mock glare. "Gurren Lagann is a very good show, and can be very wise."
"I'd never say otherwise," Zuikaku assured her, the line accompanied by a hearty slap on the back, which sent Nagato pitching forward. "Oh, uh… sorry."
"Apology accepted."
~o~
Enterprise yawned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she steamed towards Guam. Abyssal activity around the island had been mostly normal for the last week, forcing her to stay out at sea and awake the whole time, but for some reason the Abyssals had cleared out since the previous evening, giving her an opportunity to get in close.
By the time Guam was in sight, she still hadn't seen any Abyssals, and while that was somewhat worrying, her instincts told her that she could safely get closer. Apra Harbor soon came into view; still no Abyssals. Taking a deep breath, she steamed into the harbor itself, a growl of anger bubbling up from within her at the sight of nature taking over the former Naval Base Guam and the port to the north.
"I probably shouldn't've expected the Abyssals to maintain the island," she muttered. "But it still pisses me off!"
Grumbling, she pulled herself up onto one of the concrete piers, her foot hitting something that wasn't a rock. Glancing down, her eyes widened at the sight of a can of Spam.
Enterprise fell to her knees, eyes shining, and she reached out and poked the can. Then again. Once she was convinced the can was real, she grabbed it and tore the top of the can off. The sight of glistening pink meat-like substance greeted her, and with another yank she tore off one of the sides of the can before emptying the whole thing into her mouth, heedless of the fact that it was almost certainly three years old.
Flavor exploded over her tongue, salty and savory. She began to chew, slowly, both due to the size of the hunk of meat and also a desire to savor the flavor. Having subsisted on a diet of raw fish, Abyssal guts, and straight bunker oil for almost three years, even Spam was the next thing to heavenly.
"Oooohh…" she moaned, meat juice and saliva dribbling down her chin. "So gooooood…"
Finally, she had to swallow, though it came in flavor-lengthening bits. Sadly, no matter how she stretched it out, the outcome was the same: no more Spam.
"Aww…" Enterprise whined, glancing around. "I wonder if I can find any more cans…"
The buzzing of a propellor plane caught her attention, and she glanced up to the sight of a Japanese Aichi E13A floatplane, as her recognition fairies dutifully informed her. She flinched, hand shooting up to her face as those words flashed through her mind again.
"Before we're through with them, the Japanese language will only be spoken in Hell!"
Luckily, the plane was also accompanied by the distant thunder of battleship gunfire, which served to snap her out of her fugue before it could get any worse.
"We won the War," she muttered to herself. "I don't need to be hostile to them."
Even to her, the words sounded hollow. But if there were Japanese ships nearby, they were her best bet to get out of this and get some proper repairs. She'd just have to keep a lid on her other persona, like every other time it'd surfaced.
With her resolve set, Enterprise hopped back onto the water and steamed out of the harbor and towards the sound of gunfire, constantly scanning the horizon and wishing she still had her long-broken radar or any SBDs.
After an hour of steaming, she was close enough to the action to get an idea of what was going on. There was a large battleship duel going on, and then close in front a wild furball joined by period puffs of flack.
Of more immediate importance was a smaller battle going on about fifteen miles distant that looked to be a cruiser action of some kind. That seemed like an eminently better fight to get involved in than the roaring gun duel on the horizon or the swirling fighter-on-bomber action in the sky.
Slowly, Enterprise crept towards the fight, a pack of Abyssal heavy cruisers trading 8" shells with their Japanese counterparts. Said Abyssals were also totally occupied by their fight, and as a stray Long Lance nearly blasted her foot off, the carrier had to admit they had good reason to be so focused.
Not that that would stop her from taking advantage of their distraction, of course.
The first heavy cruiser, a Ri-class, was messily bisected before it even knew there was a threat coming. The other heavy cruisers pivoted around - and promptly ate several 8" shells each. Between the incoming fire and Enterprise tearing them all superfluous new orifices, it wasn't long before the heavy cruisers were so much scrap sinking before the waves.
That just left the Japanese cruisers and destroyers slowly steaming towards her, and for a moment Enterprise believed she could go without losing control.
Then she actually got a proper look at them, and it all went to hell.
"Before we're through with them, the Japanese language will only be spoken in Hell!"
The words flowed through her head, stuck on repeat, and she slumped to the ground, one hand propping her flight deck against the water, and the other clutching her face.
'No! Not again!'
And to her horror, the first set of words were drowned out by another, a mantra pounding in her skull, trying to get out.
"Kill Japs. Kill Japs. Kill more Japs."
Red swarmed into her vision. Her muscles tensed, jaw clenching into a tight snarl. As her helmet slid over her eyes and she felt blood flow from her eyes, she had time for only one more thought.
'I'm sorry.'
~o~
Ashigara examined the strange shipgirl that had saved them a lot of trouble. Yes, she had been instrumental in breaking up the Abyssal cruiser force without the expenditure of more of their limited torpedo stock, but many of the details of her appearance were deeply alarming. The preponderance of red and black in her clothing contrasted with extremely pale skin, what looked like Abyssal parts were scattered across her body, and of course, there was the iron slab simultaneously masquerading as a sword and a flight deck.
When she suddenly hunched over, Ashigara's concern ratcheted up into outright worry.
"Gnnnrrrrrrrr!" the mysterious shipgirl growled, a wild, feral growl that sent shivers down the heavy cruiser's spine. The odd hat on her head slotted down over her eyes and began glowing red. The gold trim and seams on her outfit suddenly shifted to red, and odd spots of purple spread over previously red surfaces. But the worst part was the combination of murderous rage and panicked guilt Ashigara had glimpsed on her face before the hel- no, mask, slipped over her face. The Japanese cruiser tensed, ready for combat.
She was not ready for the carrier to suddenly sprint forward, sword raised in an overhand chop. Myoko, her target, frantically threw her rudder to port, and while her body got away, the strike chopped off one of her shoulder-mounted 8" turrets, along with the poofy sleeve it was attached to. Nachi and Haguro immediately fired salvos, but the sword came up again, sweeping through the firing arcs and catching the shells and harmlessly detonating them.
With her sisters engaged, Ashigara frantically ran through her options. The strange shipgirl was clearly too fast and too well-protected with her flight deck to easily stop her through gunfire, an assessment confirmed by her continued survival against three heavy cruisers firing as fast as they could. Kitakami was out of torpedoes, and she didn't relish the idea of pitting thin-skinned destroyers against an opponent capable of cleaving through heavy cruisers. She grimaced as the only option came to mind. This was going to hurt.
Surging forward, Ashigara swept past Nachi and Haguro, and as Myoko dodged out of the way of another attack from the strange shipgirl, she came to a halt inside the swing and grabbed the carrier's wrists.
Both shipgirls' turbines surged as they pressed against each other, madness-enhanced strength matching against strength magnified by protective instincts. It was a stalemate.
Ironically, it was not her sisters that delivered the blow that she was waiting for. Instead, it was a stray Val, from Akagi judging from the unit markings, that dove in and dropped a bomb right on top of her opponent's strange headgear, smashing it to pieces. The carrier pitched forward, eyes vacant and the red bleeding out of her outfit. Ashigara caught her, wincing as the action jostled muscles and turbines that had been straining to match her opponent. She also made sure to grab the flight deck, making note of the gold 6 on it.
"I'm sorry, but…" Kitakami said as she steamed up. "What the fuck was that?!"
"I don't know," Myoko said, sounding rather shaken. "Maybe it was an Abyssal experiment gone wrong?"
Ashigara shifted her grip on the strange shipgirl, gratefully passing the flight deck over to Haguro as her youngest sister passed by. "I know what's going on here," she announced. "Call Yokosuka. Tell them we've found Enterprise."
Ignoring the shouts of surprise, Ashigara took a closer look at the carrier in her arms, seeing details she hadn't been able to at a distance. And the picture they printed was not pretty.
"Don't worry," she whispered, stroking Enterprise's cheek. "You're safe now."