It was well past sundown when aircraft carrier Akron pulled into New Orleans. Her patrol had been as boring as usual, but thankfully one of the techs back home had figured out a way to tie her iPod into her electrical system so the battery hadn't run down like last time. She was still happily listening to her latest pop-hits playlist – courtesy of the kitty-ear headphones Elly and the girls had gotten her last Christmas – when she lighted on the grassy courtyard.

The big carrier took a moment to steady herself. The breeze coming off the water was gentle and constant, but she always took a while to get her feet back under her after days in the sky. She yawned, her ears – both her the girlish ones on the sides of her head and the tabby kitty ones on top – popping as she acclimatized to the soupy sea-level air. She rolled her shoulders and stretched her pump arms, pulling her leather flying jacket taunt over her vast – but featherweight – bosom.

With a sigh, the airship smiled and idly pawed at her belly. Her appetite would never even approach the limitless gluttony of even the smaller surface ships – although she tended to be far pickier about what she put into her stomach than them – but she was still hungry. A quiet gurgle was all the urging she needed to set course for the mess hall.

Nobody disturbed her on her journey, which didn't surprise her. There were a few Marines still up standing watch, but anyone who didn't have a job to do was probably asleep by now. Akron didn't mind; she was used to being all alone over the Gulf. The airship trimmed her buoyancy a bit, taking all but the last scrap of weight off her heels. Walking everywhere was such a chore, she never understood how the surface ships could tolerate it.

A few moments later, the big carrier glided silently into the mess hall. Even this time of night, there was a full buffet on display for any hungry shipgirl needing to indulge in a little gluttonous feasting. But Akron wasn't your average ship, and the slop on offer – while unquestionably tasty – was so rich and fattening just looking at it turned the airship's delicate stomach.

With blushing apologies, Akron collected a plate and gingerly picked out the healthiest stuff she could find. After quite a lot of work, she'd assembled a mixed-greens salad with sliced tomatoes and an ice-cold coke. She was careful to make sure it was proper Coca-Cola though, with real sugar. Her delicate aviation-engines couldn't tolerate corn-syrup like an oil-fired boiler.

At last she had her meal – meager though it was by shipgirl standards. The airship rolled onto her back, resting her plate on her belly as she lazily costed nowhere in particular. She was two bites into her dinner when she noticed someone else had gotten peck-ish in the night. She must've been too busy building her salad to notice the newcomer's arrival.

"Hello," Akron waved in the newcomer's general direction and set her rudders for an intercept course. The newcomer waved back with a kind smile. She was a surface ship, judging by her immense plate load of buttered toast and generally boat-shaped figure. An exceptionally busty one at that, although unlike Akron, this girl's breasts actually obeyed the laws of gravity, at least to some minor extent.

"Akron, I assume?" said the gentle-faced girl with a smile. A slim pair of reading glasses were perched on her equally slim nose, and her hair was done back in a lazy ponytail secured by a thick black scrunchy. She probably couldn't sleep, given that she was in her pajamas.

"Mmm," Akron nodded and placed her tray on the table. She liked to eat while floating, but she was usually eating alone. "I don't…" She squinted. "Sara?"

The former carrier nodded.

Akron's ears twitched questioningly. "Um…you look good."

Sara blushed and bit her lip. "You…could say. I'm a battlecruiser now."

"Oh," Akron nudged. "That explained the big rifles."

"No, I always had those."

Akron blinked.

Sara snickered to herself. "I'm sorry, it's late."

Akron shrugged and picked out a particularly tasty looking bit of kale. "Couldn't sleep?"

Sara made a show of inspecting her pajama-clad figure. "What gave it away?"

Akron giggled. "Can I ask why?" She said. "Is it boy trouble? Are you pregnant?"

Sara smiled and idly pushed a loose strand of hair behind her petite ear. "Of course you…wait…what?"

"You know, pregnant!" Akron giggled. "When a ship and her admiral love each other very much…" she trailed off. Partly because Sara was already turning beet red, but mostly because Akron didn't have a clue what happened next. Oh, she knew what would happen next if both parties involved were people, but when one of them was a warship…who knows? Storks could be involved.

"What makes you think that!" demanded Sara, but the little smirk she was wearing couldn't quite be displaced.

"You and Stewart are so cute!" Said Akron, "All the girls back east are rooting for you."

"Well…" Sara blushed, clearly unable to come up with any reply to that.

"So," Akron peeked over her Coke at the book Sara was writing. The airship considered herself quite adept at reading upside-down writing – mostly so she could still read during stiff breezes – but whatever Sara was reading was written in really tiny letters. Akron disliked small letters. "Whatcha reading?"

"Summoning Reports," Sara spread out a few folders, revealing that she actually had several of the finely-lettered documents to peruse. "Every ship that's come back has filed one."

"And?" Akron lazily sipped her drink.

"So far – if we abandon Texas as an obvious outlier – New Jersey's has been the most explicit." The former carrier chuckled. "And I do mean explicit."

Akron chuckled. She'd read a few of Jersey's reports – and had promptly sworn never to allow the destroyers to know of their existence.

"I'm trying to get some…context for what I remember," said Sara. "It's just…shadows, really. Not as vivid Jersey's, like everyone else." She sighed, idly chewing on the end of her pencil. "But…I can't shake the feeling that there was someone in command down there."

"Deep Six?" asked Akron. The mystical admiral of the deep had many names, but Akron liked that one the most.

"Mmm," Sara nodded. "Davy Jones, if you want to be poetic."

"Nah, those movies sucked." Akron would sometimes watch movies on her iPod while on patrol. She used to solicit recommendations, but them someone tricked her into bringing the second and third Pirates movies, the Star Wars prequels, Catwoman, and Battlefield Earth.

Sara blinked, but continued onward like nothing had happened. "Whatever you want to call him, he was in charge down there, and he let me go…as a battlecruiser."

"Yeah, what's up with that?" asked Akron.

"That's the thing…I…" Sara shook her head. "I don't remember any of this, but I know it, if that makes sense."

Akron nodded. She couldn't explain it either, and she doubted any human would ever be able to really understand how a shipgirl remembered her summoning, but she knew the utter certainty that Sara was talking about.

"Right," Sara nodded. "He let me come back as a battlecruiser because he couldn't let me be a carrier." She shook her head. "Not wouldn't, couldn't. It was like he wanted to, but…someone stayed his hand."

Akron screwed up her face. "That…that doesn't make any sense."

"I know," Sara sighed. "And the more I read…it just doesn't make sense."

"Maybe you should take a break?" the airship shrugged. "Let your mind wander for a bit, maybe you'll stumble on something you'd never have thought of."

"I…" Sara glanced at her pile of documents. "I guess that'll work."

Akron leaned over and slowly closed the manila folder, then flipped it over and put it out of sight. "Better?"

Sara took a long breath. "Better."

Akron smiled.

"Akron," Sara blushed. "Um…I've been wondering…"

"Hmm?"

"Your ears…"

Akron smiled and obligingly presented her head for petting. Sara didn't hesitate to start. Before long, the mess hall was filled with the sound of gentle airship purring.

* * * * *

"Enjoying yourself?" queried Hiei as she took a seat next to Arizona. She tilted back a bottle of beer and took a healthy swig of the dark liquid.

"Mmm." Arizona sipped at her wine before giving her friend a proper reply. "I am. The wedding was beautiful. The atmosphere is pleasant. And everyone looks so happy that I'd be hard pressed to not be having a good time."

Hiei smiled and swirled her drink.

"I don't see you mingling, though. And I thought you'd have a line out the door of strapping young lads and ladies wanting to chat. Or try to dance the night away with." She grinned when Arizona rolled her eyes. Mutsu was having fun with John, well-wishers, and a mountain of destroyers, so it was on her to tease and torment the Standard.

She'd do it even if Mutsu wasn't busy, but this just gave her another excuse. Besides, it was fun. It was hard to complete with Mutsu though. She was just so good at it. Almost too good, honestly.

"I had the required dance with my escort before I threw him to the Wolf." She set down her nearly empty glass and tapped the rim lightly.

"Wolf?" Hiei paused. Shouldn't that be wolves? The Americanism was plural, right? There were a lot of single shipgirls out there anyways. The cruisers especially we – oh. Oh. "Ohhh ho ho~ Ari, you devil."

"…Wh-what?" Replied Arizona defensively.

"Do you have any idea what you did?" She scooted up next to Arizona and put an arm around her shoulder. This was too good. Far too good. She pointed into the crowd. "The Hungry Wolf of Yokosuka has been trying since the day she was summoned to find love. Trying and failing. She hasn't even been able to get a date."

They might be at war, but that shouldn't have to stop anyone from finding some joy. They'd just been part of a wedding between an admiral and a battleship who was also very much pregnant, after all.

"I fail to see how my actions are so special. He was plainly interested in her and she was looking at him like he was a slab of meat." Arizona huffed. There was a mix of amusement and her usual grumpiness in her voice, which only made Hiei's grin grow.

"I don't think you realize just how starved for romantic affection she is." Ashigara had friends and family, but her fortune with anything that involved love was firmly in the negatives.

"Then let them dance, be happy, and hope they can make something of it. There is no need to make a spectacle of it." She waved her hand dismissively, but Hiei could easily make out the smile trying to make itself seen.

"If Ashigara lets this slip through her fingers, she might lose her mind. Just look at her!"

Hiei hadn't seen the Wolf this happy in a very long time. She was a naturally outgoing and energetic woman, but the laughter on her face was on a whole new level. If Mutsu was seeing this, then she was no doubt grinning from ear to ear. Weddings were all sorts of fun.

…Wait a minute.

Oh, dammit.

Really? Was the universe really going to go to such lengths? Let the poor woman have a break.

Hiei's head fell again Arizona's shoulder and she groaned.

"Hiei? What's wrong?"

"Ashigara is on the patrol roster." Hiei set her bottle back onto the table. Well, at least this was better than usual.

"Oh…but they should still have some time before deployment, correct? Surely there's enough left in her evening for some more memories." Arizona reached into the breast pocket of her dress uniform and withdrew a golden pocket watch. It popped open with an audible click. She frowned a moment after reading the time. "I suppose not."

"Think we should intervene?" Hiei was so very tempted to do so. Not only because the battle hungry cruiser really needed a break, but also because she was a Kongo. Love powered her boilers just as a potent head of steam did. She just wasn't as vocal about it. Not in public, anyway.

"What do you propose?" Asked Arizona as she put away her watch. "There is no changing her deployment. We're only being allowed as much freedom as we are because we are part of the wedding."

"Nothing that drastic. A kick in the pants to make sure they exchange numbers or something. Knowing her, she's on cloud nine just having the chance to dance with someone and not even thinking about how to get ahold of the guy later." She snickered and sat up. "Her head's probably full of her own imaginary wedding right now."

"I think we could do that for her."

"I knew I could count on you." She clapped Arizona's shoulder. The prude of prudes the American might be, but her heart was in the right place.

Arizona simply gave another huff and stood from her seat.

"We don't have much time, so let's hurry."

"Shouldn't that be my line, Lag-wagon?" Teased Hiei as she fell into step alongside Arizona.

"Wha–where?! Where did you hear that name?" Demanded Arizona.

"From your other daughter. The speedboat." She shrugged with false disappointment. "Did you really think the entire base wouldn't know about a nickname a destroyer gives someone? Especially one like Shimakaze?"

"I do wish she wouldn't. Prudeboat is bad enough, thank you very much." Arizona pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation.

Hiei simply laughed while they maneuvered through the dancing crowds. She made a note that Ari hadn't denied Shimakaze being her little girl at all. It was an arrangement she wouldn't have ever imagined, but there was no way she'd complain about it. It was good for both of them.

And both ensured Jane had more siblings while giving even more avenues to harass the Standard. Very important things in the grand scheme of things. Without question.

She was quite happy to see everyone having a good time as they walked by. Some more than others and some in ways that didn't really involve dancing.

Hoel was regaling Hatsuzuki with tales of some sort of supreme God-Donut. A pastry to rule all others. It did sound incredibly tasty, but they had a job to do. She had to give Ari a bit of a shove to keep her moving past the destroyers.

She very nearly choked on a laugh when she caught sight of Chikuma and the impossibly stacked non-shipgirl haul away that Army guy who had been chatting with Jersey earlier. The scene in and of itself wasn't all too eye catching, but the fact he was being dragged out by his feet made it impossible to ignore. And it was really damn funny, too.

"Someone's in for a wild night. Hope he doesn't break anything."

"Pardon?"

"Oh, nothing. Just watched Chikuma drag someone out of the room." She turned her attention back to navigating herself and Arizona towards their intended destination. This place was more packed than she realized. It didn't help that their targets were slowly drifting away.

"The less I am aware of her inclinations, the better off I will be." Arizona stated flatly as they passed Naka's cameraman awkwardly trying to strike up a conversation with Nagato and failing terribly.

"Oh, there are plenty worse things she could be do-!"

Hiei dodged out of the way as a pair of little boys came barreling through the masses, heedless of where they were going.

"Hey, be careful!" She hollered at their retreating forms. Yeesh. Kids these days. At least her daughter put forth some effort to behave in public. Jane didn't always succeed, but the effort was there.

"This…could pose a problem." Arizona's voice held a tone of concern that made the hair on the back of Hiei's neck stand on edge.

"Please tell me this is a 'hahaha' kind of problem and not a 'general quarters' kind of problem." She was really hoping for the former. And as she laid eyes on the scene Arizona was bearing witness to, she mentally swore. "…a Pennsylvania kind of problem."

"She did so well at the wedding…"

Hiei sighed.

"Let's calm them down before someone gets hurt. We're already drawing an audience."

"I agree." Arizona took a step forward and almost immediately stopped.

"Please. Just…ten! Ten more minutes. Five, even!" Ashigara pleaded just short of shamelessly. Never before had anyone seen her so desperate. Her pride was little more than a memory. "Victory is so close. I can't let it slip through my fingers again! I have lost time and again. Please don't let me miss this chance."

Pennsylvania crossed her arms and glowered up at the heavy cruiser while Hunter looked on in a plain display of bewilderment.

"No. We have patrol. You drew the night shift, so suck it up and do your duty, sailor. Everyone else is, so there's no good reason for you to be the sole exception." Pennsylvania's crimson eyes narrowed in poorly veiled displeasure. "I will gladly force your compliance."

"One minute?"

Hiei palmed her face while Arizona did likewise. The sonarman really should have kept his mouth shut.

Pennsylvania turned her ire laden gaze towards Ashigara's date. He seemed to flinch, but did not fall to pieces. Hiei would at least give him that.

"Please, ma'am?"

The surrounding guests watched with baited breath as Pennsylvania turned back to the despairing wolf, ignoring the young man's request. Her gaze was merciless and her posture steadfast.

"We're leaving."

"Pl-eeeahowa?!" Ashigara's final attempt at bargaining was cut off thanks to Pennsylvania taking the matter into her own hands.

Hiei couldn't help herself and let a snort of laughter break the stunned silence. A laugh that continued to grow. Someone had better be filming this. She would never forgive the world if they weren't.

Her mirth caused the dam to burst as more and more onlookers broke into laughter and barely constrained chuckles. Arizona looked torn between joining them and giving in to a mild case of shock. She finally cracked when Hiei began using her shoulder for support.

"P-p-put me down!"

"I refuse." Pennsylvania stated mirthlessly.

"James, please. Help! Our happy ending!"

But the sailor was rooted to the spot along with many others as they witnessed Ashigara being carted away, held over Pennsylvania's shoulder like a sack of potatoes. She was only saved further humiliation thanks to her skirt not riding up to show off her aft to everyone with a set of functioning eyeballs in the vicinity.

"Jaaaames-!"

Hiei stifled her amusement just enough to allow herself the ability to form coherent sentences and approached the dumbstruck man. He seemed to return to reality after she snapped her fingers in front of his face a few times.

"That…really just happened?"

"Yep." She put an arm around the young sailor and gave him a playful punch to the jaw. "You'll have another chance. You did get her number right?"

His horrified silence was damning.

Hiei shook her head in disapproval as Arizona walked over and the crowd returned to their previous milling, dancing, and gossiping.

"I will wager he didn't get her number and Ashigara's curse remains?" She rubbed her temples as Hiei shook her head in the negative. "Mr. Hunter, I do apologize for my sister. But you should have struck while the iron was hot. You knew she was going to be deployed."

"Do you have to rub salt in the wound?" The sonarman groaned.

Arizona nodded.

"Harsh, Ari. Harsh." Hiei chuckled and released Hunter. "Just track her down when she gets back. Pull some strings. Bribe a politician or two. Get Oyodo some rare coffee. Something's bound to work. You're a submariner. Hunting is what you do."

"I…don't suppose either of you have a way of getting ahold of her that you're willing to share?"

"Nope. Not gonna make it easy on either of you after that little display." Hiei laughed with a sliver of fake wickedness in her voice. Oh, this night was just too much fun in all sorts of ways. But now she had to have some fun at someone else's expense. Someone who deserved it like no one else. "Take care, Mr. Hunter. Come on Ari. I have to do something very, very important~"

Arizona only had a brief chance to bid Hunter farewell before being dragged off into the crowd.

"What madness has taken you now?"

"I'm John's best friend, Best Man, and a whole lot of things. And it's my job to make sure he's incredibly happy with Mutsu and embarrass him at the same time." And this one would be one for the history books. She could see his reaction coming miles away.

"Hiei. This is his wedding day. One of the most important days in his and Mutsu's lives. What are you planning?" Arizona sounded genuinely worried. That was good. But not really needed. "Hiei?"

"You'll see." She grinned mischievously. If ever there was a doubt that she was a Kongo, she would just need to show that grin. Her best Kongo-class grin that only she and her sisters could pull off. An expression that promised mischief, mayhem, love, and reality-breaking shenanigans. "And Mutsu approved~"

"Please leave those of us with sanity out of this." Pleaded Arizona, despite not trying to fight off Hiei's grip in the slightest.

"You're part of the family, so you're stuck with us."

"Lord save me."

"I don't think His subordinate is available at the moment." Hiei released Arizona as they approached the table where the happily wedded couple were chatting with Jintsu and a division of destroyers. Her grin widened when John caught sight of her and froze. He knew what this look meant. Or didn't mean. They might know each other better than anyone else in the world, but not even he could fully discern a Kongo.

Mutsu gave her a wink and a smile. An action that made John pale. Mission start.

She straightened her suit jacket and snapped a salute that was crisper than anything she'd delivered in a very, very long time. All while wearing that smile. Her poise almost cracked when John slowly returned the salute. As if he wasn't quite sure how to use his hand anymore.

"Admiral John Richardson." She began, ignoring the crowd now gathering. If they thought Ashigara's misfortune was a spectacle, well… "I hereby announce my intention to do two things. The first is to congratulate you on your marriage to Mutsu Richardson. I wish you all the happiness and joy in the world."

"…And the second?"

"To embarrass the living daylights out of you." Her green eyes flashed as Mutsu gestured for the destroyers and Jintsu to stand clear. "Now pucker up, John!"

And then Hiei pounced.

* * * * *

"Sorry, what?" Heavy cruiser Maya blinked as her mind was suddenly wrenched from the lazily-orbiting float plane she'd thrown up an hour ago and back to her very surface-bound hull. Someone – Sendai, probably – had just said something to her, but she'd been too spaced-out to hear anything about the question beyond its existence. That in itself leant further credence to the 'Sendai did it' camp, as Maya had gotten very good at tuning out the impossibly loud traffic cone.

It wasn't even that she didn't like Sendai, she did. She even considered the neon orange ninja to be her best friend. Most of the other girls were too demure and…well, girlish for Maya's taste. But that didn't mean Sendai's constant bombast wasn't annoying sometimes.

"Maya-sama," Sendai made a show out of drawing out the honorific. Maya just rolled her eyes and adjusted her gloves. "You really need to learn to pay attention to things."

"Oh, but I do." Maya shifted the balance of her attention to her floatplane, keeping just enough on the surface to properly engage in a battle of wits with her best seagoing friend. "I pay attention to the important things. Why do you think I tune you out?"

Sendai huffed. It was hard to take her seriously when she pouted like that, not least because of how much shorter she was than the flagrantly treaty-defying Takao-class. "Well –"

"And let's face it," said Maya. "You're so stealthy you're easy to overlook."

Sendai's pout morphed into an odd combination of pride, frustration, and then more pride. Pride that her vaunted skills at SNEAK ATTACK had been complimented. Frustration that she couldn't turn that around on Maya without making it a self-diss. And then pride again that Maya had gotten so good at bants. "The student has become the master!"

"That from something?" Maya glanced in the light cruiser's general direction, but her eyes were a cloudy silver with her attention focused on her plane. She knew Sendai hated that.

Sendai's long gloved hand met her face with a quiet pomf. "Maya…if we ever get back to Sasebo, Jintsu is making you watch Star Wars."

"Psh!" Maya threw out her chest and let a hearty laugh rumble out from her boilers. "Like the quietest traffic cone could do a thing to Maya-sama~!"

"You don't know," said Sendai with uncharacteristic fear. "She's got an Admiral wrapped around her little finger."

"Really?" Maya gave the littler cruiser a sideways glance. "Last I heard he was pining for Mutsu's ample upperworks."

"That's what I was trying to tell you, Maya-Baka!" Sendai huffed like a beleaguered schoolteacher forced to wrangle a field trip of third graders, all of whom had consumed close to their own body weight in pure uncut cocaine. "Mutsu and Richardson got hitched!"

"Damn, I missed it," said Maya with utter ambivalence. She didn't so much detest girlish stuff as…well, she found it trying. It was half the reason her friendship with her sisters was distant at best. She liked Takao and all, Chokai was sweet when she wasn't being weird, and she was pretty sure nobody could dislike Atago.

But she'd much rather play Call of Duty in her Cheeto-stained underwear with Sendai for twenty-nine consecutive hours than go to some wedding. Being girlish just wasn't in her design, and formal wear clashed with her brash persona.

"C'mon, it'd be cute." Sendai giggled and swished her flowing scarf over her shoulder. She loved that scarf, and bragged to all the destroyers that she'd found it floating among the wreckage of an Abyssal battleship she'd defeated in an epic three-day night battle while patrolling up above the Arctic Circle. Which, Maya supposed, was a better story than picking it up during a beer-run to Walmart because she didn't want to look like an alcoholic.

"It's Japan," said Maya. "All they'd have is sake. Maybe." She didn't mind sake – as long as there was enough of it to get her properly buzzed – but it just didn't compare to a good Long Island Iced tea.

"You know Mutsu's got two on the slips?"

"I'm a cruiser," said Maya, "Of course I, the fuck, know!"

For a moment, the two warships stared at each other.

"Yeah…that doesn't really work," Maya shuddered. English had such a plethora of profanity for her to use, but the cruiser was still a novice at the art of obscene grammar.

"Not really, no." Sendai shrugged.

Maya sighed. "She'd be a couple months along by the time we reach Sasebo, won't she?"

"Mmm, at least," said Sendai. "Word is she and her admiral got to fucking…pretty much as soon as he admitted he liked her."

"Mutsu's a mommy…" Maya giggled at the mental image of proud, strong Mutsu tottering around with a bowling ball in her belly. Only for the image to quickly shift to her own figure doing the pregnancy-induced waddle. And then the cruiser noticed she was resting her own hand on her middle. She blushed and hastily moved her hand to her hip. "Wash is too, isn't she?"

"Mmm," said Sendai. "And Gale."

"Gale made Warrant, didn't she?"

Sendai nodded.

"Good for her," said the heavy cruiser. "She deserved something for all the suffering Kirishima put her through."

"You know 'shima's sidling up to Crowning now, right?" said Sendai.

"I thought he was still with Jersey." Maya sighed. Keeping track of everyone's relationships was never her strong suit. But it beat talking about what she was most certainly not doing with her hand and/or fantasizing about.

"Dude," Sendai rolled her eyes. "They broke up…like…months ago."

"I still say she's a riverboat."

"Stop saying that," said Sendai. "It's not going to catch on."

Maya flipped both pointer fingers at Sendai. A moment later she hastily switched to her middle fingers.

Sendai rolled her eyes again. "Poor girl, though."

"Who, Jersey?"

"Yeah," said Sendai. "She doesn't deserve to be alone."

Maya howled with laughter. "Jersey? Forever alone? Have you seen her aft?"

Sendai buried her nose in her scarf. "Okay, point." After a moment's pause she continued. "Think 'laska and Cameron are gonna make babies?"

Maya shrugged. "Nah. Least not for a while."

"But they love each other so much!"

"Exactly!" Maya waved her hand at the smaller cruiser in a dismissive way. "He's bow over screws for her. If he hasn't railed her until she can't even float yet, he's not gonna until they tie the knot."

"That's going to be one epic honeymoon," said Sendai with a lascivious giggle.

"I feel bad for her poor shaft galleries."

"Her?" Sendai laughed. "I feel bad for his pelvis. You know how Americans are with Dam-con."

"Yeah, well –"

"Speaking of Americans," Sendai's smile turned venomous.

"Sendai, no."

"How's Garrett?"

Maya scowled. "He's fine." Honestly, she wasn't sure why Sendai even needed to ask. Their quarters stateside weren't that big to begin with, and the light cruiser had never let a little thing like Maya and her boyfriend spending hours as a temple of carnal lust displace her from her Mario cart time trials. It was honestly unnerving how well Garrett and Sendai could hold a casual conversation while he was hips-deep in her bilges.

"You two gonna try for a little one?" Sendai teased.

Maya abruptly realized she was cradling her middle again and scowled. "Sendai," she ignored her blush, "Do you know how I know it's impossible to hate someone out of existence?"

Sendai rolled her eyes.

"You still exist," said Maya. "That's why."

—|—|—

The Raider Princess smiled as warm tropical air filled her ashy lungs. Her breasts swelled against the pebbly, face-hardened surface of her turtleback bustier, and she closed her burning electric blue eyes for just a moment. Her proud bow cut through the azure water while her tipple screws churned the calm sea into an icy gray froth. In her life, pointless and short as it had been, she'd never experienced truly being at sea.

She'd spent months working up and training, toning every muscle and fiber of her lithe body into the instrument of Aryan perfection she knew she was born to be. She was the fastest, most powerful battleship the world had ever seen.

She should have drained her foes white with fear as she painted the oceans red with the blood of their shipping. Should have punished their insolence and deprived their soggy island of its lifelines one by one, until hunger drove men to madness and women to eat their own children. Should have laughed as their hunger drove them to such desperation they begged to be annexed into the Reich.

It should have been hers. It should have all been hers. But the cruel strings of fate tore it all from her talons. What should have been a campaign of terror on the high seas that would stand in triumphant supremacy for generations was nine pointless days accomplishing nothing.

She'd been hounded across the frigid Atlantic, driven like the hapless merchants that were supposed to be her pray. She was the hunted!

Not anymore.

The Princess opened her eyes once more, taking in the sight of unblemished ocean extending in every direction as far as she could sea. The ocean was hers now. There were no cruisers shadowing her in the fog, no carriers scrambling to lay a trap for her… There was only her primal instinct: hunt and kill.

She licked her lips and idly ran her tongue across the razor-sharp obsidian shards lining her pallid gums. The thrill of the hunt coursed through her calcified veins and fueled her howling, ravenous boilers.

By her side, her demons cruised in tight formation. They were simple things, hunting dogs to drive her prey under the punishing gaze of her rifles. Their faces were featureless masks of gray skin stretched taunt over smooth, sun-bleached bone. A twisted maw of crooked incisors constantly oozing bloody oil was the only disturbance to their otherwise unadorned visages, and their eyeless gaze stared impassively at the horizon.

But the Princess knew. They were her demons. Birthed from her own frigid womb, suckled at her own icy breast. She could sense the thrill of the hunt coursing through them, burning like wildfire deep inside their armored bosoms.

"Soon," the Princess planted her gauntleted hands on her hips and let her talons sink into the stiff fabric of her greatcoat. "Soon you will have sisters, my demons."

As if on cue, the reconnaissance plane she'd launched hours ago signaled for her attention. The Princess closed her eyes and looked through those of her airborne spotter. It took her barely a second to get her bearings, and a second more to spot what her spotter had been so eager to alert her of.

A smile crossed her stony face as her turbines built up to flank. She would feast tonight.

—|—|—