A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. It's more of an A/N update than chapter and classes are really taxing right now.

-4-

En Route

The fourth and last F-15J of the 203rd Tactical Fighter Squadron detached from the hose of the aerial refueling tanker and pulled into formation with the other three fighters and the Kawasaki C-1 transport. Inside the transport sat ten soldiers of the 1st Airborne Brigade and Suzuri. A large wooden crate along with several smaller boxes of various sizes sat securely at the front of the cargo hold. There was also a small pet carrier with nothing in it except a folded pink towel.

Suzuri was on her laptop going through the PowerPoint that Aoba had assembled. It was a well thought out presentation and almost professional if there were not for the bits of clipart and anime pictures that showed up occasionally. Suzuri went ahead and deleted the unnecessary pictures. She couldn't blame Aoba though. The girl the heavy cruiser had chosen could not be any more than eighteen years old. The Lieutenant Commander continued to edit the slides. Her finger froze when she came across a certain section with a very eye-catching title.

"The American Shinkaisei-kan"

Suzuri ran her hand down her face with a deep sigh.

It seems that suspicion was still going around. There was no doubt that some of…no…most of the returned spirits would accuse the Americans.

Aoba herself shouldn't have any grudges to hold. She made through the entire war and had the peaceful honor of being scrapped instead of scuttled or blown to bits as a target ship. Although, she did witness her comrades get picked off one by one before she became a hulk sitting on the floor of Kure Harbor.

Maybe she does have a reason to be upset.

As for many others, grievances run deep. Especially if the American Kanmusu Suzuri has yet to meet is a certain aircraft carrier.

Suzuri removed any slide related to connection the Americans and Shinkaisei-kan. Even if the evidence Aoba had shown was damning, accusing the Americans would not help persuade them to convince them to join the fight.

She continued go through and edit the slides when an alarm sounded. One of the pilots shouted in panic.

"I'm spiked!"

Forty thousand feet below on the Kamchatka Peninsula, sirens were blaring. Personnel ran to their stations and prepared themselves for an Abyssal assault. Weapons systems were being woken up and pointed towards the sky. Among the sea of Russian Army camouflage, there was one wearing Russian Navy BDUs. A woman, who was off to the side, was shaking like a leaf.

What have I done?! What should I do?! What should I do?! Innocents are going to die because I am too clumsy!

Her heart buzzed as she began a cold sweat. She relaxed a little when someone spoke up.

"These radar contacts are too big to be Abyssal aircraft. Should we-" the radar operator was soon interrupted by a powerful voice.

"Everyone, wait!"

All heads turned to see two women standing in the room with the door open behind them. Both women wore heavily inspired and modified Imperial Russian Navy uniforms.

The one that had shouted the order had dark hair tied in a bun. She wore a blue, high collared, double breasted jacket with long coattails, white trimming, and gold buttons. The color of the fabric between the two columns of buttons was white. She wore blue pants and black boots. Around her waist was a brown leather holster with a MP-443 Grach in it.

The second woman had light blonde hair, also tied into a bun. She wore the same style of uniform except hers was predominantly white with blue trimming. The gold buttons, black boots, and leather holster remained the same.

The two women were Pallada-class protected cruisers, Pallada and Diana respectively. While Diana had chosen a woman of pure Russian blood, Pallada possessed one with a trace of Japanese in her veins.

"Everyone, stop what you're doing!" Pallada commanded. "Those are Jap Defense Force planes you are targeting."

She looked around the room and saw the quivering woman. She let out a soundless sigh.

"Disengage the SAMs and get me in contact with those planes." She turned her head and spoke to her sister ship. "Diana, see to Kamchatka."

Diana approached the reincarnation of the repair ship Kamchatka. Yes, the one that sailed with Aurora on the ill-fated voyage that would end at Tsushima.

At this time, Kamchatka was huddled on the floor with her hands on her head, still shivering with fear.

"Come on," Diana said kindly, gently pulling the repair ship to her feet and slowly led her out the door. "Pallada will take your shift. Right now, let's get you to bed."

"I'm sorry," Kamchatka softly wailed with tears. "If I wasn't so clumsy… If I only spoke…"

"Don't worry, don't worry," Diana soothed. "We can work on your communication when you wake up."

This time Pallada let out a huge sigh of relief. It could've been worse. If the battleship Oryol was here, she would have 'accidentally' launched the missiles somehow.

"How did you know that the planes were human?" the radar operator asked. "I thought you didn't have radar."

"Lützow woke us up and told us about Japanese aircraft overhead," Pallada replied. "All the while, she was asleep."

"Lützow?" he asked.

Historically, Lützow was the last of the Admiral Hipper-class German heavy cruisers. She was sold to the Soviet Navy in 1940 and was never a complete cruiser. She acted as a floating battery for most of the Second World War before being turned into a barrack ship. When Lützow's spirit returned, she selected a woman who was a German orphan. Luckily, her reincarnation came back with full combat gear and equipment. Her time as a barrack did sneak in some surprising side effects, however.

"Petropavlovsk," Pallada clarified.

"And she was…sleepwalking?"

"You'd be surprised at what she can do while asleep. Once she went for a walk, brewed some coffee, and woke up when she was in the shower."

The radio operator successfully reached the Japanese aircraft and handed a headset to Pallada. She spoke fluent Japanese into the microphone.

"JASDF aircraft, sorry for the scare. We had some communication problems down here."

"Thank you for clearing that up," answered the pilot on the other end.

"Now, where is it you're going?" Pallada asked.

"Eilson Air Force Base, Alaska."

"We have a flight of MiG-29s up. They will escort you to the border."

The pilot confirmed. Pallada took of the headset and settled in for the rest of Kamchatka's shift.

A/N: A labor of love is what this is. I really want to see this story to the end and I have planned out most of it. I got the beginning, middle, and the end. It's just a matter of making the roads to get there. If everything goes to plan, the next chapter will be Suzuri's presentation to the Americans. Of course, that's if I don't sneak in another mini chapter.

As some have already caught on when it comes to the names, I use italics when referring to the actual ship while using unedited font when referring to the Ship Girl. Also, I use a translator for when the characters speak a foreign language. Out of the languages I know, (besides English) German is my best and that is still a low bar. I'm not an expert at languages and don't claim to be.

Now onto what I want to talk about.

First off, as demonstrated in this chapter, all of my personifications will be female. I am aware that some cultures refer to ships as male, but I've been referring to them as female ever since I learned about the Titanic. It's a bit of personal preference.

As I stated in the last chapter, I am taking a different approach to the official characters. When I first got into Kancolle, I was wondering why and didn't like how some of the characters dressed and acted the way they do. Now, I won't change every character as I do not have the time or energy to do so and some of their looks and personalities grew on me.

However, at the moment I will change these two.

First off are the Germans, specifically Bismarck. I never really liked her outfit. To me, it is way too skimpy. Maybe it is because she doesn't wear anything but panties below the waist. I don't like that. And this is coming from someone who absolutely loves the Strike Witches franchise. I just don't like that type of fanservice. So when Bismarck gets introduced, she will be wearing something different. Same goes for Lebe, Max, and Eugen. I really like Graf Zeppelin's outfit though. Oh, and another thing. At times I may use the feminine version of some of the German words for some of these Ship Girls as they are female. Example: "Prinzessin Eugen" and "Gräfin Zeppelin".

The other is Iowa. Oh, Iowa. I don't even know where to begin. Her clothes, her personality, her figure, those freaking star eyes…she is a stereotype and a damn trollop. That is how I see her.

Iowa was one of my first OCs I've ever created for Kancolle and I will be using my image instead of the official representation. Unlike Bismarck who would only have a change of clothes and maybe personality, when Iowa is inevitably introduced in this story, everything about her will be changed just short of changing her gender.

Also, I will not, ABSOLUTELY NOT, include ships that never, AT THE VERY LEAST, had their hull laid down. So those H-classes, super Yamato-class, Montana-class, basically everything in the World of Warships Russian tree...Nope. Sorry. They do not have a home here.

Amagi, Tosa, Kentucky, Illinois, I-404, I-405, Ibuki, and other vessels like them have a much higher chance of making it into the story than those paper ships.

Anyway, sorry for the short chapter, but the next one should be longer. See you guys and gals there. Until then, take care.