201X
Yokosuka Naval Base
Yokosuka, Japan

The ship-girl USS Enterprise -Big E, Lucky E, The Grey Ghost, The Galloping Ghost, and fiancee of Japanese super dreadnought Yamato- is having a good day.

She wakes up to the very appealing sight of a pajama-clad Yamato with bed hair, enjoys a lovely mug of NAVY coffee courtesy Yamato, finishes all her reports & sent them to Admiral Briggs & Admiral Goto, chuckles at the sight of DesDiv 6 swamping a flustered Tenryuu with belated Mother's Day presents, practices archery with Zuikaku & Shoukaku, and accidentally brings coffee to the Kongou sisters' tea time.

Best of all, she does not hear any voices in her head asking for her help.

x-x-x

Those who have read my earlier stories know that this is the calm before the storm.

"Get on with it, Sheo," hisses DesDiv Murakumo. "You're wasting time that you could spend completing the story you promised Wolfsbane706."

Yes, dears.

x-x-x

At the end of a busy day, Enterprise and Yamato find a private moment to spend with each other in a park. They are holding hands and are about to kiss. And this time there are no heavy cruisers, overprotective sister ships, lewdmarines, or Kongou nearby to interrupt them.

Of course, that is when a spaceship crashes not fifty meters from them.

"Oh, for the love of Admiral Halsey..."

Rigging summoned and equipped, Enterprise and Yamato approach the wreckage with utmost wariness, all turrets tracking, CAP overhead, & dive bombers ready for launch.

Trapped within the twisted cradle of unearthly alloy is a humanoid creature in a skintight green-and-black outfit. His skin is magenta and utterly devoid of hair. His torso has been torn open, his ruptured internal organs visible through the gaping wound.

"Hold still, sir," Enterprise instructs the injured alien. "We'll call for a medic. Yamato!"

"Hai!"

"It is too late for me," coughs the alien even as Yamato fires a 12.7 cm signal round into the air.

"Don't you say that, sailor!" The vehemence in Enterprise's voice startles Yamato. "You can't give up! You must not give up! You have to keep fighting! Come on, tell me your name," urges the carrier. "My name is USS Enterprise. Tell me about yourself."

He rewards her with a weak smile. "I... am Abin Sur... Green Lantern of Sector 2814... listen, Enterprise," he warns. "The evil Sinestro... is coming... he seeks this..."

His mangled four-digit hand holds up a band of green metal stained by the purplish blood leaking from his injuries.

"What is it?" Yamato asks.

"A power ring of the Green Lantern Corps... fueled by willpower and shaped by imagination, it can do anything... it is one of the most powerful weapons in the universe..."

Abin Sur looks into Enterprise's red-brown eyes, peers through the windows to her souls, and seems to find what he is looking for.

"USS Enterprise, please take this ring of power," he begs. "Wield it on my behalf... stop Sinestro... protect Sector 2814... for me... and for the sake of your world and all you hold dear..."

Enterprise tips her head. "I'll accept it, but only if you promise to keep fighting," she counters. "Do we have a deal?"

"How stubborn," chuckles Abin Sur. "So like myself... full of fear... yet never taking the false counsel of your fears... you are truly worthy..."

He closes his eyes, which gets Enterprise to blurt out, "Stay with me, sailor!"

"I am... content... you will make a fine Green Lantern... no," Abin Sur corrects himself as he forces his eyes open once more to look upon Enterprise one last time. "You will be the bestof us, Enterprise... the greatest of this generation..."

His gaze wavers. The otherworldly light in his eyes fades. His hand drops into Enterprise's palm, the last act of his lifeless body being to deposit the ring in her hand.

"No..." Enterprise clutches Abin Sur's clammy hand. Her eyes water. "Not again..."

Yamato places her hands upon those of her love. "Enterprise?"

"It's just like before," whispers Enterprise. "In Pearl Harbor... and the War..."

She no longer has to hide her feelings of inadequacies regarding her perceived failures during the Second World War. Now she has someone who will gladly help to bear her burdens, someone who will lend her a shoulder to cry on, someone whose arms will hold her tight.

"You are not alone," Yamato gently reminds her beloved.

"Yamato... thank you," sniffles Enterprise.

The solemn moment does not last. A harsh grating voice intrudes upon the silently grieving ship-girls.

"Humans! Surrender Abin Sur's ring!"

Hovering above them is another humanoid alien. This one has slick raven hair, reddish skin, tapering ears, and a cruel mug. His outfit is similar to that of the late Abin Sur, but the green swathes are instead a sickly yellow. Swirling around him is a glowing amber aura not unlike those of the miasma that cloaked the Abyssals.

On his finger is a yellow power ring like that of Abin Sur's.

Devils don't come from hell beneath us. They come from the sky.

"Or suffer the consequences," casually threatens Sinestro.

Yamato's response is 27,000 pounds of rubber thermite and steel fired at 780 meters per second. The only reason Sinestro survives nine Sanshiki rounds at point blank range is because he already has a force field up.

"Mongrel! You will pay for that!"

As the furious Sinestro is engaged by Yamato's massive batteries of American-made-&-installed anti-aircraft Bofors & Oerlikons while the Combat Air Patrol of Vought F4U Corsairs of VF-10 Grim Reapers bounces the alien, Enterprise ponders the ring that Abin Sur bequeathed to her with his last breath.

She knows not the duties and responsibilities that come with the ring. For all she knows, it could be the one ring for a dark lord upon his iron throne in the black land where the shadows dwell, one ring to rule them all and find them and bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Enterprise was sure Abin Sur was a good man. But sometimes even good men acted cruel. For had she not done similar cruel things to everyone, even Yamato whom she loved more than both her Admirals, Admiral Briggs and Admiral Halsey?

What she does understand is the level of devotion that will be required by her acceptance of this new mantle. For her hands already bear two rings.

The diamond-studded golden ring is from Admiral Briggs. It is Enterprise's provisional partner ring, an artifact that strengthens her invincible power... and a source of nonstop teasing from Dakota & Chair Farce General O'Neill (double 'l', has a sense of humor) about the respected admiral & the most decorated carrier of the US Navy netorare-ing Yamato & Mrs. Briggs.

(Mrs. Briggs' cheeky reply was to legally adopt Enterprise as her daughter. But Dakota merely changed her tack from 'NTR-prise' to 'Big E-lectra Complex'.)

The other is Enterprise's silver engagement ring, the partner of which adorns Yamato's hand, the physical proof of their promise as lovers and friends.

x-x-x

"I, Enterprise, will take you, Yamato-"

"I, Yamato, will take you, Enterprise-"

"-to be my lawfully engaged fiancee, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."

"Now you may snog your fiancee."

"With tongue desu!"

"Ehehe..."

"Damn it, Dakota, Kongou..."

x-x-x

And Enterprise so happens to excel at defying death.

The latest explosion is particularly savage and entwined with a cry of pain. A familiar parasol rolls past her, burnt and tattered.

Enterprise beholds a terrible sight that stopped her heart and smothered her boilers.

Yamato is sprawled upon her right flank. Blood and oil stream down her pretty face and bare limbs. She strains to push herself up from the ground.

Her mighty Rigging has been reduced to shambles. Fires rage unchecked across the length, breadth, and depth of her Outfit. The starboard side is gone. Thick smoke issues from the empty barbette on the port side that is missing the triple 18.1" gun turret.

Enterprise's CAP is down to just Grim Reaper Leader. The fairy pilot has just crashed his burning Corsair onto Sinestro and parachuted onto the alien's head. He is now hanging for dear life upon a pointed ear, stabbing the flailing villain in his ugly face with a tiny Bowie knife while yelling "HEEEYYY!" at the top of his tiny lungs.

"Yamato!"

The love of her life manages to look up from where she lay. "Enterprise," the badly-wounded Yamato gasps. "Run..."

"No..."

Enterprise has fled from fights before. Discretion is the better part of valor. And she always came back for more and won the decisive rematches.

"No."

But she will not abandon Yamato. Enterprise had been forced to leave others before. She even left her own sisters -Yorktown, Hornet, & Wasp, and anyone who thought Wasp was not a Yorktown class could go to Hell- to die.

Never again. Not while she lived. Not while USS Enterprise has a plane to launch. Not while she has a gun, any gun, to fire at her foes, however small the caliber. Not while her engines could give her a knot of speed with which to ram the enemy.

"No!"

There is no time left to waste. Ship-girl weaponry will not suffice against this overwhelming enemy. Yamato is injured and helpless. No one hurts her Yamato and gets away with the unforgivable crime. No one.

Like many of her decisions, Enterprise makes this one on the fly. And like all of her choices, she will see this one true to the bitter end.

"Abin Sur... Admiral Briggs... Admiral Halsey... Yamato. USS Enterprise will engage the enemy!"

And so Enterprise slips the ring upon her index finger... and as it glows with a green light, she begins screaming.

"Enterprise!"

.

x=x=x

ENTERPRISE OF SECTOR 2814

x=x=x

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Sheo's Notes: A cross-over between Kantai Collection and the DC Animated Universe, where Enterprise takes up the Green Lantern Ring of Abin Sur.

I also drew upon Takamachi Nanoha of 2814 by Shadow Crystal Mage.

The relationship between Enterprise and Yamato is inspired by The Greatest Generation. YamaPrise~