A lone Osean carrier stirred in her bed, blinking away her blurry vision as she awoke. Kestrel felt slightly stiff having crashed onto her bed once she'd gotten some chow in her and took a shower. This morning there wasn't the weight of a gaggle of destroyers on top of her stomach. She had to admit though, she was a bit disappointed to not have them around. Then again, her bed wasn't big enough for five people.
Kestrel was still stuck wearing the clothes borrowed from Kongou, and while she liked the bagginess of the shirt the shorts were…uncomfortable to say the least. Maybe she should buy her own change of clothes at her first opportunity?
With what money though? She was entirely broke!
That was a problem. How was she supposed to pay for her food? Yeah Yokosuka was letting her eat free for now but she didn't want to keep taking advantage like this! But what could she realistically do?
Well she could enlist with the Japanese Navy and get on their payroll, that was an option. And the best part was that her meals would be free, and coming out of combat she would likely need all the food she could get her hands on. That and she was already on one of their bases, so that made it relatively convenient.
But she was still and Osean carrier, not a Japanese one. While she had effectively betrayed her country and gone rogue before she was sunk, there was some part of her that balked at the idea of joining up with another navy. What if she found a way home? She doubted the Japanese would bee willing to part with her so easily.
Maybe she should think on this more after breakfast or something, or maybe go to Admiral Goto about this? No, he'd probably try and sway her decision in his favor, and right now she wanted someone who was more of a third party.
She got out of bed and quickly donned her now clean uniform and stepped out of her room. She wasn't alone in the hallway as she saw a cheerful looking cruiser bouncing down the hallway. Or well, her upper works were bouncing under the blue jacket she was wearing.
Seriously, did all Japanese Shipgirls have such massive stacks or was it just hers that were unusually small?
Or maybe it was just her lack of actual stacks because, y'know, reactors. That might've had something to do with it. Was that even how this worked or was she getting lost in this analogy? Okay stoppit Kestrel, FOCUS!
"Pan-paka-pan~!" The cruiser sang, throwing one hand up in the air in an energetic wave. "You must be Kestrel, yes?"
Kestrel blinked at the cruisers cheery disposition. "Uh, yeah, that's me."
"Great! I'm Heavy Cruiser Atago! It's nice to meet you!" The cruiser said cheerily with a giggle. "I was just coming to tell you that Admiral Goto wants to see you. Said it was about you staying on base."
Kestrel groaned. That was the conversation she was hoping to avoid until she came up with an idea of how she was going to proceed. "Did he say at all what about specifically?"
"Hmmm. No, I don't think he did." Atago said, her cheerful smile never leaving her face. "But don't worry, I don't think he'd force you to leave if that's what you're worried about!"
Kestrel sighed. No she wasn't worried about getting kicked off base. She was worried about being asked to pay for food with money she didn't have and getting roped into the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force to pay off her debts. She didn't think Goto was the type of man to pull something like that but she only knew him for two days at most. Probably not even that, actually.
Might also be lingering paranoia brought about by the Grey Men infiltrating Osea talking. She had no real idea.
"Yeah, okay I'll get over there." Kestrel said with a nod and smile that she hoped covered up the fact that she wasn't looking forward to this at all. "Well time to face the music!"
"Great!" Atago cheered. "I'll go with you since the Admiral also wanted to talk to me about an assignment."
Kestrel smiled as Atago fell in step beside her as the two made their way to Admiral Goto's office. Maybe with the cheerful aura that Atago radiated the meeting wouldn't go over so bad.
-[]-[]-[]-
Kestrel and Atago were walking down the hall to Admiral Goto's office, with the busty cruiser humming a chipper tune as they went. Kestrel, in the time it took to get here, had decided that whatever happened in that office, she would bite the bullet and deal with whatever came her way. So now her face had hardened into an impassable mask of determination. She would get through this, and she would figure out a way to pay off her debts to Japan!
Of course, all that termination went out the window the minute the two heard the telltale sounds of feet thudding against the floor as a certain battleship came charging towards Admiral Goto's office. Any doubts were shattered the minute Kongou uttered the cry of: "TEEEIIII-TOOOO-KUUUUU!"
Now, Atago had spent quite a while on Yokosuka Naval Base, she'd come back almost a year and a half ago and was just in time to see the onset of Kongou's 'infatuation' with Admiral Goto. Thus she had the good sense to get out of the battleship's way.
Kestrel, by comparison, only had two full days on base under her belt and, of course, didn't know what this meant. So instead of stepping off to the side and giving Kongou her space, Kestrel instead turned around to see what all to commotion was.
Mistake.
Kongou slammed into Kestrel with all the force of a Battleship-Class Shipgirl travelling at flank, her head impacting the carrier's ribs. Kestrel was knocked onto her back with Kongou landing on top of her as their combined momentum slid them across the floor. Goto's office door served no purpose ins slowing either of them down as their heads crashed straight through, splintering and snapping the wood and tossing the lower part of the door flying into the front of Goto's desk.
Goto buried his face in his hands, exasperated but not at all surprised that this had happened. He'd been dealing with shipgirls for long enough that this had become the norm. Didn't make it any less infuriating having to deal with it.
"Aw, come on!" Akashi shouted, throwing her arms up in the air in frustration. "I just replaced that door!"
"I'm okay!" Kongou mumbled into Kestrels chest as the supercarrier groaned from the impact of a battleship that didn't seem to fully follow the laws of physics.
"Good morning to you too Kongou…" Said Kestrel. "Now would you mind getting the hell-"
Kongou cut Kestrrel off by somehow managing to fling herself from a face down position, into a flying, spinning cannonball directly at Goto while simultaneously shouting: "BURNING LOVE!"
Goto, with cat-like reflexes built by literal years under his belt as a shipgirl admiral, merely ducked beneath his desk and let the excitable battleship go flying past over his head and smash through the window behind him. Kongou hit the ground outside with a mighty thud and a ample dust cloud.
"I'm still okay!" She said after recovering from the two-storey drop to the ground.
Kestrel, still lying underneath the door, was having a hard time figuring out just what the hell happened. After a few seconds of trying and failing to figure out the how, what and why, she merely stated: "Y'know, I'm just going to delete this from my memory and pretend it never happened."
"That would likely be for the best, yes." Nagato, who Kestrel just noticed was also in the room, said as she massaged her temples.
Kestrel reached up and turned the doorknob, opening the door and allowing herself to get up. "I'll take it this happens often?" She asked as she dusted herself off. She didn't bother trying to put her game face back on, figuring that the surprise tackling by Kongou had ruined any effect it might have had.
"You have no idea how often I was admitted to the hospital until I figured out how to duck in this chair." Goto replied, straightening in his seat.
Kestrel winced. "I am so sorry."
"Don't be." He reassured with a dismissive wave. "If I couldn't handle it I wouldn't be sitting in this chair."
"Right, should've figured." Kestrel said before clearing and standing at attention. "You wanted to see me sir?" Taking a quick glance to left and right Kestrel noted there were a few shipgirls she hadn't met before. One was a pink-haired girl with what looked to be a lot of cranes all over her superstructure, and another two who looked like destroyers, and finally a girl with a blue skirt and archery gear who had the flight-deck of a carrier.
"I did Kestrel." Goto stated. "I'll admit, I'm a bit strapped for time, so I'll get right to the chase." Kestrel nodded. "I've spoken to admirals in the other navies committed to fighting the Abyssals. You came up during the meeting, and I made the others aware of your situation." He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Needless to say, you've gotten quite a few offers of employment."
Kestrel blinked. "Come again, sir?"
"I've gotten offers from Canada, the United States, The European Union." He said. "Looks like everyone's hoping to add a supercarrier to their shipgirl roster."
She chuckled and smiled. "Well I'd be lying if I said I wasn't flattered."
"Indeed." Goto agreed with a nod. "Which is why I called you in." He placed a large manila folder on his desk. "In this folder you'll find every offer I've received over the last few hours, including one of my own." Kestrel picked up the folder and opened it to the first offer from Goto himself. "I'll ask you to look them over and get back to me on your decision by tonight."
"Tonight sir?"
"Tonight." Goto confirmed. "I'm afraid we don't have the luxury of waiting. I need to know if I can count you on the JMSDF roster or if you'll be heading to another nation. You have until 1800 hours to come to a decision. Understood?"
"Uh…understood sir." Kestrel replied hesitantly.
"Is there a problem?"
"No. Not really." Kestrel admitted. "I just thought you'd try to convince me to join the JMSDF instead of giving me a bunch of offers from other people."
"Kestrel, you aren't a Japanese ship so I can't in good consciousness force you into the JMSDF. Not to mention that should any shipgirl appear outside their country of origin that she be returned home. Since we can't do that with Osea, I figure this is the best option."
"Thank you, sir." She held up the folder. "I'll look these over and get back to you tonight." Goto nodded in response. "Will there be anything else sir?"
"No Kestrel, you're dismissed." Goto admitted. "Besides, I have a briefing to go over. If you see Kongou on your way out-."
"I'm here!" Kongou cheered, suddenly appearing next to Kestrel.
"GAH!" Kestrel shrieked. "How the hell do you do that?!"
"Do what?" Kongou asked, looking genuinely confused.
"Keep spoofing my radar like that! Did they give you a stealth coating or something?"
Goto couldn't help but chuckle as Kestrel attempted to get a straight answer out of Kongou, who only seemed to be able to give her half-answers as even she didn't seem to fully understand how she was doing it. Working with shipgirls, while some days taxing, was never truly dull.
"I honestly don't know what you're talking about, dess." Kongou said earnestly, looking slightly worried for Kestrels sanity.
"So you're sure you don't have an electronic warfare suite that I don't know about?" Kestrel asked again.
"No, I'm pretty sure that I don't."
"Then how in the-. Y'know what, screw it. I'm gonna go read over employment offers." Kestrel said, throwing up her arms in frustration. "I'm not gonna question any of this."
-[]-[]-[]-
Kestrel was now sitting in the mess hall, pouring over the folder of employment offers she'd been given. Admittedly she could've gone anywhere else, but for some reason she'd started thinking of food on her way to find a reading place. So now she was munching on a few carrot sticks while she went over the offers again for the fourth time.
True to Goto's word, there were employment offers from pretty much every country that was participating actively in the Abyssal war. The United States, Russia, Canada, The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and of course, Japan.
She had to admit, a lot of them had some pretty good offers. Most included the promotion to a brevet rank of Lieutenant Commander or its equivalent, though beyond that the offers differed. The United States was essentially offering its considerable resources as a bonus, meaning she wouldn't necessarily need to worry about overstepping her bounds when it came to food and materials. Canada's was much the same.
Russia's offer seemed similar on paper to the United States' admittedly, though she very much wasn't keen on the idea of going to a country that shared many similarities with Yuktobania. Ture she'd served alongside many Yuktobanian ships before after the Battle of the Ceres Ocean, but she still wasn't comfortable with the idea of signing on to their parallel here.
Japan's offer was, on paper, the absolute worst out of all of them. Sure they could boast having, at least currently, the single largest and most experienced Shipgirl fleet afloat but beyond that they couldn't bring much to bear. Not to mention they were pretty much the closest you could get to being in enemy territory and suffered for it with constant attacks. Strangely enough, this one made her list for exactly those reasons.
The last offer was rather peculiar. Britain, France, Germany and Italy had all collectively given Kestrel an offer of employment, essentially allowing her to operate as a free agent under their collective governments, and would stationed in one of the four countries depending on need. It didn't hurt at all that, combined, they fielded the largest fleet available to back her up. The bad points for her was that she'd largely be restricted to the North Atlantic, and from what she'd managed to dig up they typically dealt mostly with submarines and occasional raid from destroyers and cruisers. She wasn't sure exactly sure how useful she could be there.
Kestrel sat back in her seat, gnawing on the carrot stick between her teeth as she mulled over her options. As far as she was concerned, she had only three choices at the moment between the USA, Japan and the European Countries. On the one hand, she really liked the model the Europeans were using in regards to her service as it didn't tie her to one government and essentially meant she was still an Osean carrier acting as a volunteer force.
On the other, she was pretty sure she'd be doing nothing as her own applications to the kind of combat they were facing in the Atlantic were fairly limited. She'd be sitting on her hands for long stretches of time and, as mentioned previously, she wasn't exactly chomping at the bit for that.
She'd much rather be engaged in the Pacific, where there were decidedly more operations undertaken by large fleets against the Abyss. This was the kind of fight that Kestrel was built for. Downside was, she'd have to sign on with either Japan or the United States, and either meant that she wouldn't be an Osean Carrier anymore. That severely rubbed her the wrong way.
She'd disobeyed her country to save it, not because she was leaving it to fend for itself!
Kestrel, having finished her carrot stick, laid her head down on the table with a frustrated grumble. She had to pick between plenty of action, plenty of resources, or remaining an Osean carrier. Out of those three, she had no idea which one to pick.
She sat like that for what must have been an hour, her thoughts going around and around in circles as she tried to figure out just what option to take. She tried going by elimination. She couldn't figure out which one to eliminate first. She tried going by which one she preferred the most and again reached a dead end.
"Hey, fancy running into you here!" Kestrel recognized the voice as Zuikaku's. For a refreshing change of pace, her radar had detected the carrier coming. She just hadn't really cared, figuring they'd just walk by.
Kestrel raised her head to look up at the carrier. Well "up" being the keyword here. Zuikaku…wasn't all that tall, so sitting up in her seat Kestrel could nearly get to eye level with the smaller carrier.
Zuikaku still showed a lot of the damage she'd taken during the fight. Her right hand was bandaged up tightly and held in a sling. Her face was dotted with gauze and medical tape, and she had a patch over her left eye. She wore a set of teal pyjamas and a grey zip-up hoodie instead of her usual uniform. She wasn't yet back to combat ready yet, that much was obvious.
"Hey Zuikaku, thought you'd be at the docks working on those repairs." Kestrel said in greeting.
"You recognize me?" Zuikaku asked, tilting her head in confusion. She was pretty sure that Kestrel hadn't really noticed her when they arrived back at Yokosuka.
"I recognize your voice."
"Even through all the static?"
Kestrel raised an eyebrow at the smaller Armored Carrier. "You guys have a battleship on base that can teleport short distances and break the sound barrier when she so chooses and that's the thing you're questioning?"
Zuikaku gave a chuckle. "So you've met Kongou huh?"
"Pretty sure Kongou met me." Kestrel refuted, rolling her eyes. "I still have no idea what's happened the two times I've seen her in action."
"Yeah, she's like that." Zuikaku said, taking a seat across from Kestrel. "So what are you doing?"
"Figuring out where I'm gonna go after this." She said, flipping through the American offer once again. "Not making much progress there to be honest."
"Huh. I woulda thought Goto would try to bring you into the JMSDF." Zuikaku commented.
"Technically he has tried." Kestrel said, holding up Goto's offer. "In his defence, it's one of the final three choices I've picked. I just can't narrow them down past that."
"What are the others?" Zuikaku asked, prompting Kestrel to slide the three offers she'd picked across the table. Zuikaku took a minute to look them over, and in the meantime Kestrel went back to her plate of carrot sticks. When she was finished reading them over, Zuikaku looked ack up at Kestrel. "So what's the problem?"
Kestrel explained her position of wanting to be in the thick of the action, not have to worry about how much resources she was consuming, and not have to revoke her position as an Osean carrier. "So yeah, that's why I can't really choose." She finished, propping her head up with one arm.
Zuikaku hummed, looking over the three offers in front of her again. "Yeah I could see how that'd be a problem." She admitted. "I mean, it's not like you could just pick all of them, right?"
"Yeah that would-." Kestrel paused. Wait a minute. Why couldn't she pick all of them? As far as she knew there was no real reason she couldn't and Goto hadn't specified she could only pick one. "Zuikaku?"
"Yes?"
"You're a frickin' genius!" Kestrel suddenly leapt from her seat, grabbed the proposals, and bee-lined it for the exit, moving far faster than a ship of her tonnage had any right to. Zuikaku was left staring at the retreating carrier, wondering just what she'd said to have excited Kestrel so much.
"I wonder if all Oseans are like that?"
-[]-[]-[]-
Goto poured over the current intel the subs on deployment were sending in. Iku'd once again spotted a large Abyssal fleet though based on their heading and the evidence of battle damage, he'd concluded that they were likely the remnants of Kestrel's intervention two days ago.
For some reason though, they hadn't turned right back around deeper into abyssal territory and were instead wandering aimlessly on the open sea. Evidently they felt like they still had the firepower to risk staying out in the open like that.
Or more likely, they were staying there trying to get something out of their ill-fated run at Japan if the replenishment convoy that had just restocked them was any indication. Another thing that helped him come to that conclusion was that they were parked right in the path of one of the sea lanes to America, essentially cutting off that route to any convoys while they were there.
He'd need to dislodge them sooner than later, and for that he'd need carriers. The Abyssal carriers hadn't been spotted throughout the entire battle two days ago, and they were likely still out there somewhere.
That would mean recalling more carriers, either from Sasebo or Kure, or waiting another five to seven days for Zuikaku and Akagi to finish their repairs and rejoin the fleet. Unless his offer managed to convince Kestrel to rejoin the fleet. He had a feeling she was the kind of person that wouldn't really sit still for too long and would be looking for action. Hopefully he'd been right.
Then he heard them. The footsteps. The thundering footsteps of someone running full tilt towards his door. Correction, the footsteps of a shipgirl running at flank towards his door. This would make it the second time Kongou'd tried her Burning Love Tackle on him today. He prepared himself to duck, until he noticed something peculiar about the footsteps.
There was no hollering of "TEITOKU!" as you would hear when dealing with Kongou, and the footsteps themselves sounded way too heavy.
So when the footsteps slowed to a stop just outside his newly repaired door, he found himself confused and more than a little curious. He was still prepping to duck below his desk in case Kongou had decided to change tactics.
There was a knock at the door.
"Come in." He said.
The door opened and Goto tensed.
Kestrel's head poked through the doorway and he relaxed. She was grinning from ear to ear, and looked the happiest he'd seen her since she'd arrived on base.
"Goto, I've made my decision." Kestrel said, opening the door and stepping his office, closing the door behind her.
Goto straightened himself in his chair. She was a good eight hours early, and Goto had his fingers crossed that he'd hear the answer he wanted. "Glad to hear it Kestrel. So who are you signing up with."
"Well sir," Kestrel began, placing the folder down onto his desk. "I'd like to sign on with Japan…"
Goto smiled. "Well that's great to-."
"…and America…" She cut him off. "…and the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russian and Canada."
Goto blinked. He was silent for a few seconds as he stared incredulously at Kestrel's beaming face. For some reason, what she'd just said had caused his brain to slam on the brakes and take a few seconds chugging along to try and make sense of it. Eventually he came to his senses enough to say: "Come again?"
