Terminology Note : gekokujo - "Those rising from below," was a very big part of the Imperial Japanese system. Underlings consistently ignored orders/killed reluctant superiors and were rewarded for doing so if they succeeded in battle. It's why the country was so fucked up, and I felt the whole messy concept was important enough to Kaga's thought process to leave untranslated

Indy took a deep breath before diving down under the water. She followed the pier down to the rocky bottom, then quickly reached out and grabbed her prey. The crab latched on with one pincher, but she had her rigging on. It just made it easier to throw the crustacean into a sack.

With a quick push she shot back up to the surface. She tossed the sack up to where Z46 was standing. "Another one."

The destroyer looked at it and nodded. "Edible." She tossed it in a cooler. "That's twelve."

"Think that will be enough?" Indy asked. Some of the crabs had been a little on the small side she thought.

"Mni's caught a bunch of fish," Z46 said gesturing to where the heavy cruiser was spearfishing. "Any more and some might spoil."

Indy pulled herself onto the pier. "Did she check to make sure the fish aren't poisonous?" Mni was a genius at hunting, but her fishing skills focused mainly on the catch, not the specific fish being caught.

"No but she's caught two coolers full," Z46 said. "As long as she didn't catch any pufferfish it should be fine."

Indy nodded and walked over to her friend. "Hey."

"Yo!" Mni smiled sheepishly. "I got a lot of fish and a lot of bait. Figure Kaga can tell me which is which."

"I'll do most of it," Indy said. "Now let's get to the kitchen." She picked up the two coolers with her iron arms.

"Sure thing." Mni grabbed the crab bag from Z46. "I'll help where I can."

Indy carried the catch to the warehouse they'd converted to a kitchen. It had been easier to clean out then the actual mess hall. It was just a couple of fridges and a cooking counter, but that would do. "Could you start up a pot of water?" she asked Mni, as she began searching through for the best fish.

There were a lot of weird catches in Mni's coolers. But there were enough fish she recognized to make a good meal. "I think we can have a seafood platter," she said. A mix of steamed, sushi, and crab dishes should do. She looked at Z46. "Did we get any more food supplies?"

Z46 shook her head. "Just what we salvaged from the wild plants. They delivered a lot of rice with the ammo drops, but nothing else."

Indy grimaced. If this kept up she'd have to start flavoring things with crude oil. Oh well. You worked with what you had, not what you wanted. At least she had spices. And there were plenty of plantains from the jungle. She grabbed what she could and began to devise a menu.

"They give any reasons why they aren't shipping us food other than rice?" Mni muttered.

"No," Z46 said. "The pilots don't know anything."

"Nothing we can do," Indy replied. "Mni can you boil and shuck the crabs? I'll cook the meat after."

Mni grabbed some tongs. "Sure thing."

Indy worked gutting and preparing the fish, while Mni shucked the crabs one by one. Mni was a messy cook, but she was an expert at getting every speck of flesh off a carcass. In fact there might have been more meat then Indy assumed.

As Indy set the timers for the fish steaming, she started collecting the crab Mni had prepped. What spices would be good here?

Mni sat down and leaned back as Indy took over. "So, any word from the main fleet?"

"They've been hunting down the carriers that escaped. They've found three so far," Z46 said. "No real sorties past that. I think Admiral Nagumo is taking his time."

"Why?" Mni groused. "They want to throw around nukes. What's the point of faffing about?"

Indy scooped the onions she'd diced into a pot. "Make sure they're all dead?"

"Maybe." Mni sighed. "Anyway, that doesn't matter to us. How's dinner coming Indy?"

She put the lip on the pot and turned down the heat so it could simmer. "Prep is done. We can eat in an hour."

"Right, I'll tell everyone," Mni rushed out of the building. The other cruiser was always moving. Well Indy understood the feeling. The Siren attack had them all on edge, so they couldn't enjoy the island atmosphere. No reason to intervene though. Caution was probably good.

She just hoped no one attacked during dinner. She'd spent a lot of effort on this.

Kaga sipped her tea. "Impressive work Indy. I barely noticed we haven't gotten supply shipments in."

The heavy cruiser nodded, but her expression wasn't happy. "I hope we get a shipment soon."

"Same, but it's obviously a deliberate move. I think I'm being punished," Tirpitz said. "I'm sorry for involving the rest of you."

"Don't apologize," Victorious said. "You were right! Besides it's unseemly to be so petty. A commander should speak their mind openly!"

Kaga nodded. "It's too bad we're prevented from acting against direct orders. Otherwise we could perform a proper gekokujo and replace him."

To her surprise Tirpitz lowered her hat as if to conceal something. She wanted to press the matter, but the three Eagle Union ships were giving her stern looks. Cassin was the one to say it though. "Didn't the last time you took control from your bosses screw up everything?"

"I made mistakes," Kaga admitted. "But I feel taking over was not one of them. A leader must lead. The issue was the path I took."

Mni raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, forgive me but I don't buy it. Coups are bad."

"Frequently," Tirpitz said. "But in some cases, perhaps they are a necessary evil." The battleship was staring at her cup.

"I feel I must disagree," Victorious said, before smirking at the Eagle Union ships. "Though I feel my beloved colony ships might be a little hypocritical. What's that about revolution being wrong?"

Kaga and Tirpitz chuckled as Mni sputtered in protest. Cassin and Indy just accepted the point.

Still, even after Victorious' comment. Tirpitz looked pensive. Something was odd Kaga mused. Something from the battleship's past? But Tirpitz had always served loyally. For the small amount of time she'd managed to serve.

Not like Kaga. Or Akagi.

The memory of her sister settled over the meal she'd just finished. What had they been thinking? Had she looked after Akagi, like Amagi had begged her? Or had her idiocy damaged her older sister beyond repair?

Foolish to try to answer those questions based on a single version of her sister. Or for that matter a single version of herself. But she couldn't help thinking about it.

She drained her tea and stood. "I'm going to take a walk to clear my head."

Tirpitz looked up. "Want company?" The battleship obviously recognized her dark mood.

But this was something she wanted to think about on her own. "It's fine. I'll return in a bit."

She walked out of the building they were using as a mess tent and took a deep breath of the night air. The smell of the sea was all around her. A pleasant feeling. As nice as a continental port was, there was something about these small atolls that put shipgirls at ease. As close as you could get to sleeping on a bed and being at sea at the same time.

They'd spent a lot of time at sea, running about to finish the war they'd started. But thinking about it, she hadn't enjoyed those trips. They were a necessity. Fighting to accomplish their goal.

Except it hadn't been a necessity. And all they'd succeeded at was dying at Midway, leaving the fifth carrier group to fight the rest of the war. A waste.

The jungle ahead had a few paths cleared out to gather plantains, so Kaga followed them. The lush plants struggling against each other for every scrap of land on the island quickly surrounded her, blocking out the lights of the base. She pulled out one of her drone planes to use it as a light, when a flash from between the plants caught her eye.

Carefully she crept forwards, hands outstretched in the dark. Rough palm fronds pressed against her fingers, and she pulled them apart. The light appeared again as she moved the brush. Someone was here in the jungle.

Kaga took a step back, letting the palm fronds snap back into place. She was fairly certain all the other ships were back at base. But why would an enemy be on land instead of in the water? She decided to investigate further. One of her planes gently glided back to the base. If something went wrong it should warn the others.

She carefully pulled out a red flashlight to try to conceal her movements and did her best to follow the path towards the intruder.

Every crunch of leaves or snap of a branch seemed like thunder as she tried to get closer. But somehow her quarry didn't notice her. Eventually she got close enough to see the light. They were in front of a two story bunker. It was hard to see, but it looked like a shipgirl.

"It should be here," the woman muttered. "I remember this place. How could I forget?" Kaga frowned as the woman pulled out a plane drone and threw it at the door. The wood shattered loudly, and Kaga closed her eyes from the flash.

Now she was certain this wasn't one of them. They only had three carriers on base, and Victorious and Graf Zeppelin were both back at the canteen. With a bit of focus she had her plane fly down and signal the others to head this way.

Still Kaga wanted to know what the woman was looking for. She waited until they'd entered the building then moved to peer through the door.

The inside looked empty. No windows or furniture. And in the center was one of the new Sirens. Now that Kaga was closer she could see kelp strands in the bleached hair, and the woman's robe had barnacles sticking to it. Still something seemed strangely familiar to her. The woman paced forwards, shining her light about. "Where is it. It must be here. The walls? No..."

Perhaps this was a chance to get some information. Tirpitz and the others would be arriving soon. She stepped back and revved up her short takeoff dive bombers before stepping into the open door. "You know this is a restricted area."

The woman paused. "Kaga? Is that you?"

Kaga froze as the woman turned. She hadn't noticed before, but here in the half light the resemblance was obvious. "Akagi?"

"You know I have a hard time hearing, since I lost my ears." The other shipgirl turned back to the room. "Do you remember how we got further in? I think I was drugged at the time."

This wasn't possible. It couldn't be. That broken woman? Akagi? But all of Kaga's senses told her this was her sister. Or one of them.

Mni burst into the small clearing outside, followed swiftly by the others. The cruiser girl skidded to a halt, then pointed all her guns at Akagi. "Nice work. Now let's-"

Kaga held up her hand. "Wait!"

The others paused while Akagi turned around, revealing her shattered face. Victorious pulled out her bombers. "She's one of them. The Sirens that killed our friends! Why-"

"She's an Akagi!" Kaga snapped.

Saying the words banished the last doubts from her mind. The others froze, just as she did. Confusion pouring through them.

Akagi on the other hand smiled that twisted smile of hers. All the more terrifying with her shadowed face and eye of blue fire. "Ah, what noisy annoyances. Maybe I should remove them so they don't interfere?"

"Calm down Akagi," Kaga said. "They're on our side."

"Ah that's right. Sometimes I forget, Kaga." She turned around again. "Now help me find the entrance. They've hidden it somehow."

"Of course," Kaga lied. She stepped back to whisper to the others. "She's been searching for something here since I saw her."

Victorious was glaring daggers at the woman. "More importantly how is this possible? I suppose she looks somewhat like Akagi, and her mannerisms are the same. But she was part of that Siren group!"

"A wisdom cube mistake?" Tirpitz asked. "Well whatever the case this is a unique chance. We need to learn what we can about her."

Cassin shook her head. "Sure. Getting information out of a sane Akagi is just so easy. And how would she know about cubes? Even we don't know much about them."

"Maybe we can learn more if we help." Indy said. "Whatever she's looking for is important to her."

"There's nothing in there though." Kaga shook her head. "Just bare walls."

Mni nodded. "Inside matches the outside too. No hidden passages. Only weird bit is the discolored floor spot."

Everyone looked at her. Cassin folded her arms. "That's a pretty important 'weird bit.'"

"Who'd put a basement on an atoll!?" Mni protested.

"Someone with something to hide," Tirpitz said. She stood up. "Let's see what this Akagi is searching for. Kaga if you'd do the honors?"

Kaga walked inside. Now that she knew what to look for the differences in the two cement areas were obvious. She walked over to where Akagi was muttering to herself and pointed at the spot. "Perhaps there?"

"Ah!" Akagi smiled. "Thank you sister. Now let's open it." Akagi pulled out three planes and threw them before Kaga could say a thing.

"What the hell!" Mni sputtered as they all shielded themselves from the concrete splinters and dust. Kaga hoped whatever Akagi was looking for hadn't been destroyed.

Fortunately it seemed that her sister's casual use of explosives hadn't ruined everything. There was a hole that obviously had once contained a trap door, before the concrete and Akagi's removal of it. Even more miraculously there was a ladder next to the rubble below that seemed to be intact. Meaning they could get back up.

Akagi laughed and immediately jumped in. Kaga cursed and followed her sister. She wanted to make sure the other ship couldn't hide or damage anything before the others arrived.

She landed on the rubble with a grunt, then stepped forwards to let the others catch up. She looked up and froze, bile rising in her throat.

The wall in front of her was covered in trophies. Animal ears a size too large, bits of rigging, and even more horrid items all displayed for all to see. She heard a whimper from Victorious behind her, but her eyes were locked on her sister.

Akagi stepped forwards, smiling brightly eyes glittering. "At last I've found them." Her maimed sister carefully pulled down two cleanly severed fox ears and nine preserved tails. "Finally, I can be whole again."

Her stomach churned and she vomited on the floor. It was too much, even for her.

What the hell had happened here?