Operation Rumor Mill

by DeltaDestroys01

A codebreaker and his ship girl companion are tasked to hunt down and destroy siren superweapons that are holding humanity in a deadlock. Though these superweapons are secretive in their own right perhaps something more sinister will get to humanity first? Or maybe there is a link between threats? Rated M to give myself breathing room in the creative process; adult themes mainly.

9. Chapter 9: The Celebration

I would really like to thank the people who have favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. I wish I could meet all of you. But enough of that let's get on with the show.

Disclaimer: I don't own Azur Lane or any other properties I make references to.

"We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing, but let us not forget for a moment the toiles and efforts that lie ahead."

-Winston Churchill

Chapter 9: The Celebration

In the few minutes that it took for the fleet to return to the Nashville, the ship girl in question had recovered from her bout of euphoria and still with a smile that reflected a mixture of relief, satisfaction, pride, and a pinch of smugness turned toward her commander. She said, "Now what did I tell ya?"

Commander's own relief showed through his expression. He had to admit, "You said I was being dramatic and that everything would be alright. But I gotta say that in this circumstance I prefer being wrong."

"No kidding," she said. Suddenly Nashville's expression turned serious, but to Commander's eyes it wasn't a "let's get down to business" type of serious but an apologetic sort. What would Nashville have to apologize for? She didn't keep him in the dark very long. "Uh well, you see… This is kind of hard to say. I wanted to say that I was sorry for ever doubting you."

One of Commander's eyebrows rose, and he asked, "What do you mean?"

Nashville took a breath and she explained herself, "In those first few days that we were sailing together I could tell that you are a talented codebreaker, but you having nada in the way of naval combat experience didn't make me too confident. I wanted to say sorry for doubting you back then. But I gotta say that in this circumstance I prefer being wrong. Your plan came together almost perfectly, and I know that if you can keep that up, I have nothing to fear. Thanks."

Commander had a sobering experience. Neither of them knew what they were doing, or what they were in for. They just had to figure it out and so far, so good. He responded, "Yeah, no problem Nashville. Thanks for saying that. It's all cool by the way, no hard feelings here. I'd have been a bit, um, concerned too if I was suddenly ordered to follow a novice in my field." He did that joking smile to lighten the mood and quipped, "Way to stoke a guy's ego."

"Oh hush," retorted Nashville, playfully slapping his shoulder, "You'll get too big for your britches, and where will you be then?"

Commander shrugged, "Beats me. You do have a point though. But you didn't do so bad yourself, especially when you consider this was your first surface action. My favorite part was that moment right after you said, 'The fastest guns on the sea!' and your fire rate like, doubled. We gotta come up with a name for whenever you do that ability. You know, like a professional wrestler's signature move."

Nashville almost lost it laughing with that last sentence. Though she tried to fight it she ended up laughing as she voiced, "Like a professional wrestler's signature move? You gotta be kidding me."

"I kid you not. But seriously, what do you want to call it?"

"I have a few ideas but what would you call it?"

Commander brought his fist to his chin and hummed. He said, "Well, 'the people's elbow,' is already taken so not that. Um. Something cool but not edgy. Hm. How about, 'raining fire?' A step above continuous fire but calling it something like, 'storm fire,' is super edgy. What do you think?"

Nashville laughed a bit and then said, "That's a lot better than what I had in mind with, 'super continuous fire.' So, 'raining fire,' should be alright. Just, please don't yell it out like some wrestling announcer in a battle."

"Okay, fine. I won't yell it out. I wasn't going to do that anyway." He lied about that last part. He totally would have yelled it out during a battle. Then more practical things came to mind, "So, can you do it on command, or does it have to, 'charge,' somehow?"

Nashville was able to say, "It charges with time. I'll let you know whenever I can do it."

"Sweet. That's all I ask about it." Then Commander checked the radar display and saw that the return of the fleet was imminent. He turned to say, "We should go meet the fleet as they board." Nashville nodded and followed him off her bridge.

They descended the steps onto Nashville's deck, on which they didn't wait ten seconds before the united fleet leapt from the ocean's surface onto the deck and their riggings dissipated into the mini wisdom cubes to fly to the storage on the stern. There were smiles all around and pats on the back a-plenty. Nashville advanced through the fleet towards her sister and she threw her arms around her. Compliments were exchanged and like Commander, Honolulu was most impressed with the display of firepower from the light cruiser. Things like this were occurring throughout the fleet but eventually their eyes turned toward their leader and they fell silent. Some expected that they would be critiqued by the commander, others knew better. A smile spread across his face and he was able to announce to the collective, "I couldn't have reasonably expected that to have gone better. You lot did excellent. All of you. Not only did you do your jobs, you accomplished them with distinction. And in so doing, we, or rather you, have been able to defeat a numerically superior enemy that outclassed us in just about every way. You should be proud of yourselves. I am."

Denver corrected Commander by saying, "We defeated them Commander. You're one of us. I think all of us agree that we couldn't have done this without you." Nods manifested and variations on the phrase, "here-here," was voiced.

If Nashville had her time of personal celebration right after the battle, now was Commander's time. While he didn't cheer a big grin crossed his face. He was honored that they would even think that. He said, "Ah shucks. You're gonna make me cry."

Charles Ausburne took this opportunity to declare, "Crying isn't for friends of justice! Come on Aulick, we gotta make the commander feel better! It's for justice!"

Charles Ausburne was known for being speedy even among destroyers and for her strong principles of justice. So, she charged at flank speed to the Commander. To bad she wasn't known for foresight. And so, a small destroyer girl flung herself full speed into a pouncing hug aimed for Commander's midsection. Despite bracing himself, he wasn't able to stay standing and rather comically skidded across the deck for a few feet on his back with Charles Ausburne on top. The still observing fleet were shocked that such a thing just happened and didn't or couldn't react. Charles Ausburne then asked, "There ya go Commander. Feeling better yet?"

He really didn't. Or rather, he never felt bad in the first place but now, "I've been rammed," strained out of his lips. The wind had been knocked out of him. The fleet now started to laugh at the display, but more at Commander's reaction to it.

Aulick was able to finally catch up to her sister and explain, "He was alright from the beginning Charlie. I think he was just saying it."

Gears turned in Charles Ausburne's head and she looked up at Commander who was still in her embrace on the ground, "Were you just saying that?"

He responded, "Yeah, I was. I was just happy and used an expression."

"Then I gotta make it up to you! It wouldn't be justice to knock you around with no reason!"

"Don't stress over it Charles Ausburne, it's alright. Justice doesn't have to be so rigid when forgiveness is involved."

Her eyebrows scrunched together, and she asked skeptically, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," then both stood up. He was now able to look at the fleet. Many of them were still giggling at what just happened. He inquired, "Is there anything else that needs to be said right now?"

"I want a hug too," said Laffey, who seemed only semi-conscious with drowsiness. She hobbled over to the officer and wrapped her own arms around Commander then she said, "I'm used to being alone…But I think I like it better when you're with us, Commander…Mmm…Zzzzzz…"

She somehow started to fall asleep while leaning on the commander. He said, "Now now, Laffey. It's not time for a nap just yet much less right here."

She let out a breath and then stopped leaning on Las Vegas as she stood under her own power again. She now asked, "Can I take a nap in a bit?"

Commander chuckled, "I saw when you and Aulick blew up that battleship. I think that an afternoon nap is just fine for doing that."

She nodded and stood back a few steps. Commander looked back and asked, "Is there anyone else?" referring to hugs and the like. Squadron one didn't ask for anything. Denver wanted a high five. He did and complimented her own contribution in leadership and covering the destroyers. She beamed at the praise. But then Commander asked a final thing as they all stood on Nashville's deck, "Our options for celebrating is kind of limited at the moment so is a nice meal good for everyone? At least until we get back to base?" Affirmatives came back. He then thought of something, "Is there any sort of repairs or resupply that needs to be done in the off chance that we get attacked or see more action?"

Indianapolis answered for them all, "Nobody was damaged enough… Just a meal and some rest are fine."

Commander shrugged, "If it works for all of you it works for me. So, what do we want to eat?"

It was put to a vote. And as votes often are in the Eagle Union, it became rather spirited. Fortunately, good wills were maintained throughout, and nobody's feelings were hurt. The vote came back. It looked like a Texas-style barbeque was on the menu.

Commander smiled. They made a good decision. He said, "Okay then. It will probably take a while because that's how it goes. But in the meantime," he looked at Nashville, "Could you please set a course back for the Gulf of Gonave? We might as well get back into position while we await Admiral Slade's orders. And finally," he addressed the group again, "I'm going to need some help getting what I have planned together. Any volunteers?" Naps and other personal celebrations were put aside, and everyone volunteered. Commander's smile grew wider.

And so, a few hours passed, and the fleet toiled away in the galley to fix something suitable for a victory celebration. It was a classical case of too many chefs in the kitchen, but nobody minded, for such an occasion and activity served to remind all of how they yet lived. And lived they did, once the jobs were divided among them, so that all were included, they passed the work in light-heartedness. Even once it came time to wait for the meat to cook the fleet did not divide, deciding to share how they experienced the battle. Even though everyone had witnessed the occurrence, hyperbole passed among the group, each member remembering their own epic moments and those of others. Time passed, and the food eventually finished cooking. Manners and speeches forgotten, they feasted as they sailed to the Gulf of Gonave, and finally they separated once all was eaten and cleaned.

As they were finally approaching the entrance of the gulf the radio picked up a message. Nashville was able to read this one on her own because it came from an Azur Lane source. Even though she could have read it on her own she felt the need to inform Las Vegas before doing so. They both looked together as the message was decoded. It was orders from Admiral Slade. In it she confirmed the successful completion of her fleet's task and that the enemy carrier fleet had been totally sunk. She gave orders for the secondary fleet to return to South Point and for Las Vegas to act as fleet commander until her own fleet arrived in a few days. It didn't say anything about losses or anything else irregular, so the duo was to assume that things had gone well. Before Commander gave the order to sail for South Point, he confirmed from Nashville that the message had at least come from the expected direction with her huff-duff. He gave the order to set course for Miami. As her hull changed direction in the water Commander informed the fleet aboard via intercom. As stealthily as they had arrived at the gulf they would depart and try as they might, the Sirens could not find the fleet that had done so much to severely damage their operations in the Western Atlantic. Thus concluded the first instance in which the Sirens were haunted by fleets that arrived as ghosts, fought as demons, then vanished as mirages.

XXXXXXXX

They arrived at Miami much the same way they left, with all ten of the ship girls in control of their own hulls. They were able to tie-in without any sort of ceremony but those that had stayed to guard the base awaited on the docks. Congratulations were given out then everyone again gathered around Commander, expecting something. He had no idea what they wanted, so he stood there. Probably like a deer in the headlights. Nashville couldn't help him even though she wanted to because she was just as ignorant. Finally, Nevada chuckled. She advanced towards Commander's side and threw her arm around his shoulders and said, "Do you have any orders for us, Mr. Ranking Officer sir?"

Only now did Commander recover enough to speak. He asked, "Did Admiral Slade send a message ahead of us?"

"She sure did," responded the battleship, "she gave orders that you were to act as fleet commander for the day or so between your arrival and hers."

"Okay then, you were asking for orders a second ago. What usually gets ordered?"

"Usually a debriefing and then to organize repairs and resupply."

Commander thought for a moment and was able to conclude, "Rear Admiral Slade would be able to give a much better debriefing than I would, so I'll keep that to a minimum." He looked around to the nearly twenty ship girls assembled and said, "Considering what the Sirens fielded against us, the second fleet, it went quite well. Three battleships were sunk and over two dozen smaller vessels joined them on the bottom with no losses of our own, excepting moderate damage. We still don't know the state of the main fleet. So, all in all, I'd give this operation an eight out of ten so far." And then he added off-handedly, not thinking his words through, "Pretty good considering this was my first fleet battle."

Nevada's arm slipped off his shoulder and gasps erupted from the assembly, except for Nashville. "This was your first battle?!" asked Honolulu, whose tone denoted alarm.

"Well yeah, I mean kinda. We sunk a few subs on the way here but nothing like what happened yesterday." responded Las Vegas, "I told West Virginia that about five weeks ago now I had a desk job and was just a lieutenant junior grade. I figured word would have spread by now. But I guess not."

The revelation had struck hard for all present. Commander was expecting that all manner of censure was bound to come his way for his lack of experience. He was spot on, but a few others noticed this impending onslaught too. Of all people that would come to his defense it was Northampton. To the crowd she made the case, "I, and a lot of you, have seen things go wrong before. We've seen them go so wrong that some of us don't make it back," she halted. Commander wondered if it was because she wasn't used to speaking to so many at once, or if someone she knew was one of those that didn't make it back. Then she took a breath to continue, "But when we could have run for our lives or made a suicide run Commander Las Vegas led us to victory and nobody got left behind. The fleet made it safely back. I think we should trust him, even if he is new to all this."

Ship girls somehow were always able to surprise Las Vegas, no matter how much he tried to understand their patterns or surmise what made them tick. Despite outclassing him in almost every way, including what was most vital in war, experience, they were willing to acknowledge what they believed to be good work. Surely all of those present had enough leadership know-how to run laps around the fledgling codebreaker turned sailor, yet still they followed him, and backed him up even when he wasn't expecting any. He couldn't put in words how happy this made him. It seemed that normal humans had a thing or two to learn from ship girls about humanity. He questioned if he was the first to see this. He sure hoped not.

He now noticed that Northampton had turned toward him. He managed to get a hold of himself and said quietly to her, "Thank you, Northampton." The edges of her lips curled into a slight grin giving him the impression that she doesn't smile that often. His gaze was cast from one end of the crowd to the other and he asked, "Does anybody have anything to say before being dismissed to do what they were doing before or go for repairs and resupply?"

Charles Ausburne declared unto the whole earth the following: "We little beavers, the champions of justice, will follow Commander Las Vegas anywhere so long as it's a just cause!" Aulick nodded with her sister.

Memphis followed suit, "He's met my standards. I vouch for him."

Indianapolis said, "Me too."

Cassin and Laffey looked to each other and nodded before Laffey spoke for them, "We're with you Commander.

Denver grinned broadly and happily concurred with her fleet mates, "Yeah Commander, we got you."

Nashville smiled her characteristic smile and said, "I think it's pretty obvious what I think." And she shot a thumbs up to her commander.

All eyes turned to Honolulu, who had stayed quiet thus far. She took off her hat to look at it and remember what it represented for her. She thought of it's journey, of the hands that it had passed through or the heads it had adorned, before passing to her from the only officer that she respected in the whole navy since she had become a ship girl. It came to her from a Captain Jordan Hayler, grandson of her commanding officer from all the way back in World War II. To her it represented devotion, promises kept, and courage to do what was right. Las Vegas reminded her of him, and she found herself respecting Las Vegas as if he was Captain Hayler. And once that realization came to her, she knew what she wanted to say. Her hat returned to her head and she said, "You all know about my problems with the navy. And I tried to find fault with Commander Las Vegas. Believe me, I tried. But he's proven me wrong at every turn. I'll follow him and his orders, even if he can't tell port from starboard. I promise I will."

The remaining ship girls of South Point had to decide if they believed the comrades they had fought alongside with all these years. One by one they came to the same decision. They would trust their sisters-in-arms. Approval rippled back and forth. Commander grinned from ear to ear and said, "Thank you, all of you. You're all dismissed to go as you were."

Those who had stayed on base left to go back to what they were doing, except for Nevada, who had some business with Las Vegas. He asked her, "Do you have something?" She nodded. "How urgent is it?"

"It's a few intercepted codes. So, I don't know."

Commander rubbed his chin. He said, "It'd be safest to assume it's urgent then." He turned now to Nashville and asked her, "Do you need any help with resupplying or anything?"

Before she could answer Honolulu informed him, "The manjuu usually handle what needs to be done."

He turned his attention back to Nashville and asked, "Is that alright with you?"

"Yes sir. It's alright. You should probably get on the code just in case it's important."

"Okay then," said Commander, "If you do need any help for anything you can just radio me. But in the meantime, I think that I'll be in the fleet commander office." He looked to Nevada to confirm. She did. He finally gave his goodbye to Nashville, "Catch you later."

He started walking away with Nevada in tow. For some reason, watching them go together made Nashville uncomfortable. But the reason why escaped her.

XXXXXXXX

As they walked Commander was able to fill Nevada in on the more exact details of what had occurred during the battle. Nevada didn't offer commentary as he began the description starting with them intercepting the Siren fleet message and ending with him saying, "Victory is ours, ladies."

But once he was done Nevada had only a few things to say, the first was a compliment, "I think you did a great job, young man." Her saying that made her sound soooo much older than she looked, not that Commander would ever say something about that. Nevertheless, he accepted the compliment. But then she asked him in a tone as non-accusational as she could, "Were you ever scared?"

Commander didn't have to think hard to remember. He recalled, "Right after we intercepted the message and we found that I couldn't decipher it, Nashville and I had a moment of trying to figure out what to do. In a manner that I'm sure wouldn't surprise you, I tried to approach the problem logically, but in a flash, I realized that we might die if we sailed into battle. I was terrified then."

"What made you get over the fear?" inquired Nevada. She was curious as to what kind of answer would reflect the man walking beside her.

Las Vegas chuckled and then said, "Nashville snapped me out of the worst of it. But I didn't really ever let go of it. I guess, focusing on the job at hand got me the rest of the way."

Nevada grinned nostalgically and replied, "You're a lucky guy to have Nashville with you, especially if she cares that much about you," then the super dreadnaught looked off in the distance and confessed, "I wish I could have comforted my crews back then like I could now."

Commander then had to know, "Did you ever get afraid?"

She looked over to the young officer and saw bits and pieces of every sailor that had ever served aboard her. She saw some optimism, some pessimism, some fear, a vast well of courage waiting to burst forth, and a desire to do the right thing. She answered, "I was scared all the time. In the same way you were. It came and went like the tides, but it never truly went away. But, as soldiers, completing missions is our divine duty. Do you agree?"

"Yes, I agree. I don't think I could have said it better, in fact."

They approached the command building and as Nevada led the way through the door and up the stairs, she had to acknowledge to herself that she was glad that the commander had been afraid. She had to admit that she was one of the oldest ship girls in the Eagle Union Navy, having been launched in mid-1914, but with this, she felt she could see through those foolhardy ship girls that said they were never afraid. Everyone should be afraid of the business that they've found themselves in. "War is hell," as they say. Those that say they aren't afraid are either sick in the head or lying. She was relieved that Las Vegas was neither of those.

Her musing carried her to the office where she opened the door and let Commander in. She went to sit down at her appointed desk, and she said to him, "Well seeing as how you aren't actually the fleet commander, you can't sign off on anything. Not that I have any idea how you would sign anything, anyway, being technically nameless. So, your job will be simply to supervise and help out with anybody should they need it." She thought for a few seconds before she said, "I suppose you could send some ships out for a commission, but they won't be back before the Rear admiral does."

"What's a commission?"

"It's a mission with a few varying objectives that you send ship girls out on. They're very routine. And gathering the rewarded supplies from completing them does a lot to help alleviate the cost of this base and it helps the people at large feel like we're helping them. I personally wouldn't send any out until Rear admiral Slade gets back, but it's up to you."

Commander deferred to Nevada saying, "I'll take your advice on this one, you have tons more time at this than I do. I guess that just leaves me with sitting in a big chair and deciphering a code or two. I am going to be in that office, right?" and he pointed to Slade's office. Nevada nodded and was clearly amused by the question. He continued as he approached it, "This is weird. This will be the first time I've had an office all to myself."

Nevada quipped, "Congratulations. You're moving up in the world," but then her tone turned business like, "I'll radio the messages to you over Navy VHF 52, the same one Eldridge used the other day."

"Awesome. Thanks for your help, Nevada," and he entered the office. He sat down to get his job started. The messages came and a glance showed all of them to be low-difficulty intercepts. This shouldn't take long. He started from the oldest and the first few caved without any difficulty. But then he got to the messages from yesterday to find that the Sirens had finally updated their low-security cypher. Looks like he had a few days of cracking to get through before doing anything else. This irked him just a bit because all these delays were sidetracking him from his actual mission. Oh well. He got the feeling that this superweapon was a blockade-class from it's method of attack alone so it wasn't going anywhere. It could wait, he just had to get to it sooner rather than later lest more people die to it, or worse, to the Heralds of the Deep. He still had to analyze that sonnet. Jeez. Where was his high school English teacher when he needed her?

He was going to get started on cracking the new code, but something came to his mind as he was finishing his mental to-do list. He had promised that he would try to get better conditions for the ship girls of the Eagle Union. He should send a message to Supreme Commander Roscoe to see if anything could be done. It wasn't as sure a chance of success as he would have liked, but it was the best he could do. And if there ever was an opportune time to do this, now was it, right after a victorious battle. It was also an opportunity to inform him of the security leak with how the Siren fleet had managed to send him a message with an Azur Lane cypher. He began drafting his message to Grayson Roscoe, only sending it a few minutes before Nevada poked her head into the office to let him know that the office was closing for the day.

XXXXXXXX

Nashville was still bothered by watching Las Vegas walk away with Nevada, but that was secondary to the problem at hand. Her resupply had gone well, if not a bit protracted because she fired the most shells, and the manjuu were touching up her dazzle camouflage, but right now she was alone on her bridge for the first time in what felt like forever. To her it felt empty, even though this was the prime moment for her to tackle something she really didn't know how to do: write letters to her other sisters. So here at Las Vegas's chair she sat, pen and paper in front of her. Honolulu had told her how the navy does censor the more secretive things that they write though, like location and upcoming battles and the like. It made sense though, the Eagle Union military has been censoring personal mail for a very long time, but it still didn't make this any easier. So, on one part she didn't know what exactly to say but for the other part she knew she couldn't say hardly anything about what she's doing right now, but these came together to give her something she had only ever heard about before, something called, "writer's block."

She forced her pen to the top of the first page and wrote, "Dear Brooklyn," Then she moved to the next line hoping that what she would write would come flowing from her pen. It didn't. It wasn't that she had no ideas, quite the contrary, she had many, but was having a constipation of them with no idea what to say first or in what way. So, she moved onto the next blank page and wrote, "Dear Phoenix," and on the last, "Dear St. Louis," hoping to get herself a few moments more. She returned to the letter addressed to Brooklyn. She asked herself aloud, "What am I doing? What do I want to do with this?" A few moments thinking returned the answer of, "I want to introduce myself and tell them a little about who I am."

She thought of how they would respond to seeing a letter from their long-lost sister. They'd have questions. She thought of a couple that they may have had, and she got started writing. She wrote:

Hi Brooklyn. You've obviously seen who this letter is from already, so I want to say that yes, this is Nashville, your sister. I'm alive, and I'm like you. There are so many things that I want to tell you, but I know that I can't hope to get it all past the censors. So, I'll tell you the most important stuff. The first is that I love you. I know that the last time I saw you we were both just ships, but even having never met you in the flesh I know that I love you. It's what sisters do.

I bet that you have questions. So, I'll try and answer a few. I've only been a ship girl for a bit over a year now, so I'm sorry that I wasn't there to look out for you and the others during the war that ended a few years ago. I've been on my own solo missions for all this past year, and I didn't meet any other ship girls until a week or so ago. So, no fleet assignments and I didn't even know that we could send letters until Honolulu told me about them. Speaking of that I've been able to meet Honolulu and Helena. It's great, but I still wish that I could see the rest of you in person too. I'd love to tell you what I've been doing or what I am doing but I can't. But what I will tell you about is my commander. He doesn't have a name per se because of the secrecy of what we're doing so I call him, "Las Vegas," after his home city. I can go on about how awesome of a commander or even a human he is but it's enough for me to say that he's my favorite so far.

Nashville went on to give the appropriately vague gist of her experiences thus far about how she had been able to meet Honolulu and Helena and how she's so happy to be alive right now. These first few paragraphs would be easy enough to copy into all three letters but from there she dove into the more personal reminiscing with each of her sisters individually. She found it easier to write the longer she went on, but she started to run out of paper for each of them, so she was able to bring each of them to a close by saying that she hoped to be able to meet them in person soon and her last words on each were, "Love, Nashville."

But there was still something missing from each. She had to think on what that could be before she realized that she had to include copies of the photos that she had taken with Honolulu, Helena, and Las Vegas. She'd have to find a way to get copies. Nonetheless, with the ordeal over she leaned backward in her seat and felt tons better now that she had gotten all that off her chest. She only hoped that this wouldn't be the only time that she was able to write her sisters. With that her thoughts turned darker. She knew that such things didn't help her in the slightest, so she stood from the seat and looked to the clock on her bridge. It was nearing time for dinner. That was a relief, nothing like mess hall cuisine to get your mind off things. She left her bridge having folded her letters and put them in envelopes, but not sealing them.

She found that Las Vegas was already at the mess eating and chatting with a growing crowd around the chosen table. She certainly expected Honolulu but now the rest of the second fleet had taken to occupying the same table. He had saved her a spot next to himself and that made her smile. She grabbed her food and sat down next to her commander. Greetings were exchanged and she started to eat. He told her about the code delays that would make them have to wait a few more days before they carried on with their mission. She was okay with that. Then at some other point she asked Commander if there was any way to get copies of photos to send in letters for her other sisters. He thought for a moment and said that there had to be some photo paper in the abandoned offices in the command building and the printer was easy to come by. So, they were able to print the photos and get her letters sent off that night.

XXXXXXXX

The next day started and proceeded in a way that wasn't unexpected. It took until late morning for the main fleet to pull into the harbor. And according to the customs on the base all the ship girls plus the commander was assembled to meet the fleet while they tied-in and disembarked. However, before they left their hulls it became apparent to Commander that Rear admiral Slade's operation hadn't been nearly as clean as his. The main fleet had left twelve strong and they returned with the same strength. But some of the ships were heavily damaged. He looked at some of the ship girls that he knew to ascertain their damage.

Helena was missing a turret of her secondary battery and there was a swath of her hull that was charred. Fortunately, she was still afloat and sailing under her own power. He noticed Nashville and Honolulu rush off to her berth. He didn't follow, feeling that what would occur with them would be best handled by family. Lexington though, wasn't so lucky. The most obvious problem was that she was being towed by Pensacola. Beyond that she was missing a sizable chunk along one of the front corners of her flight deck and bow all the way from the deck to under the waterline. Commander had the feeling that her whole flight deck wasn't doing so well. He saw tugboats manned by manjuu pulling alongside her. Eldridge seemed undamaged, and this filled him with relief. Hornet was pretty well scuffed up and had a few places along her hull that was indented by what Commander guessed to be near misses by bombs. West Virginia had a moderate list to starboard and that complicated the entry into her berth, yet she managed. Among the escort Helena was the most damaged, while the rest had fairly superficial wounds. But the damage made sense though, after all, aircraft carriers typically target capital ships.

The main fleet finished tying in and slowly the ship girls started gathering around Admiral Slade. Before she started talking the Brooklyn sisters had arrived and Commander looked to Helena, who gave him a weak smile. Her person wasn't injured, and the relief of that made him smile and nod back at her. No words were spoken at the time, but Las Vegas could tell that she was happy he had kept his promise to her, and she could tell that he was glad that she was okay too. A hand tugged on the hem of his shirt. Eldridge seemed just as fine as ever. She wanted so desperately to get a hug from the commander, but the admiral was watching. She instead motioned for him to kneel, which he did, and he said, "It's good to see that you're alright."

"Eldridge happy…Commander's alright too."

"How did the mission go?"

"…Scary."

Commander's adopted a concerned expression for the young girl, and he asked, "Do you want to tell me about it?" She nodded slowly and Commander then said, "Later though. We have to listen to the Rear Admiral." She nodded again and the officer stood.

The last to arrive was Lexington and Pensacola with the latter supporting the former on her shoulder. Lexington herself was pretty banged up with cuts and bruises along her exposed skin and face. Still her expression was calm, as if it all never happened.

Slade cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. She ended up having little to say, "We'll get some lunch and then we'll convene in the mess hall for the debriefing at 1300. You're all dismissed."

The crowd saluted and Commander turned to Helena to try and start speaking with her, but mid-turn Slade got his attention with, "Commander Las Vegas," and he looked her way, "I assume you don't know how to make the proper report for a sortie?"

"No, ma'am."

"Then come with me, we'll get it out of the way quickly before getting something to eat."

"Yes, ma'am," replied the commander simply. Slade started walking off with West Virginia and Nevada. Before he followed, he looked to Helena and asked, "You okay?"

She nodded yes and said, "I'll be alright."

"I'm glad," and he looked to the sisters plus Eldridge then continued, "I guess I'll catch up to you four later." And he walked away to follow Slade and her entourage.

Nobody spoke until they entered the outer office in the command center. Nevada began her turnover to get West Virginia back up to speed with the base, while Slade led Commander into her office. They sat down and she asked him, "So, before we get onto the documentation, what happened with the second fleet? I saw some damaged ships on my way into the port."

Commander had spent some time over the past two days trying to come up with some way to talk to Slade about this. He had a plan that involved him bringing it up gently, but Slade just threw that out the window. It looks like he had to give the story. He recalled, "As we were waiting off Gonave Island we detected a message from the enemy to the north. It was a main Siren fleet code so we couldn't decipher it. There was a bit of deliberation and it was decided that if it was a Siren fleet it would be steaming to join up with the carrier fleet that would be engaged by your force. We left the gulf and cut off the enemy fleet off the southern coast of Cuba as they were making way to reinforce the carrier fleet, just as we assumed. We engaged them and sank them with no losses of our own. The worst damage was a slow leak on Memphis and Northampton is short a few secondaries."

Slade didn't look angry at this action taken by the commander like he had half expected. It seemed the other half of his expectations held truer. Slade was handling this business-like. She asked, "What was the composition of the enemy fleet?"

"Three battleships, and twenty-seven smaller warships mixed between light and heavy cruisers with destroyers."

Slade stared intently at the commander and she said, "While you did abandon your position in the gulf against orders, I commend you for taking the initiative. If the Siren battleship fleet had linked up with their carriers all of us would have been in deep trouble. As I'm sure you've guessed by the state of the main fleet as we entered port our victory was hard won. But I don't want to think what would have happened with an enemy fleet of fifty against our divided twenty-two. Now tell me, why didn't you radio the main fleet once you made contact with the enemy?"

"We were following orders ma'am," defended Commander, "You had ordered us to maintain radio silence. Well, that and us radioing would have tipped off the Sirens, who were posing as a human fleet, that we were on to them. And there is one more huge thing that you need to know."

Slade leaned forward a bit and said, "Go on."

"Once the second fleet was nearing position to spring the trap that we had set for the enemy they radioed us with the standard Azur Lane cypher to try and order us away. The enemy has broken our codes."

Slade narrowed her eyes for a moment and then inquired, "Have you already told anybody about this?"

"The second fleet knows, and I've already informed the proper authorities so that we can get started on designing a new cypher."

Slade rubbed her eyes a bit and sighed, "Do you have any idea how much time it will take to have the new code developed?"

Commander shrugged, "That's something I'm not too sure on. I never worked in the division that developed these codes. But they have some talented people there. Working overtime, I think between three and six months is the most reasonable. But that's cutting out the time for the inevitable investigation into finding out how much of the code has been broken by the enemy. I have no idea how long this investigation will take, but I'm certain it won't be put off. But in the meantime, I advise caution when communicating for the foreseeable future."

Slade propped her head on her hands and said consolingly, "Well, at least we won both battles."

Commander chuckled mirthlessly, "Yeah, I guess we did. And nobody had to die to win them either."

"You're right. That doesn't always happen though," she sighed, "Let's just say that a year ago, there wouldn't have been room for Nashville to dock."

"War sucks," stated the commander.

"War sucks," concurred the rear admiral, "but we should get started on the paperwork."

So, they did. Fortunately for the newly minted commander, it wasn't as convoluted as he had feared. It turned out to be more time intensive than anything if for no other reason than the requirements of remembering the exact timing of events. As they worked Commander was able to fill Slade in on the actual strategy employed by the second fleet. She was most impressed with the idea of the division into two squadrons. But as the papers were winding down Slade had an insight about the commander. Normally for what she was thinking you wouldn't inform the man in question until much later in the process, but she felt that now was better timing, she asked, "Would you be opposed to some sort of official commendation?"

"Like a medal?" confirmed Commander. Slade answered that such was the idea. Commander thought for a few seconds and responded, "A month and a half ago I would have been thrilled but right now, my mission will become that much harder with fame and glory. So, I appreciate the thought, but please don't bother."

"Huh," said the admiral, "Men who shirk glory. Now that's a dying breed."

Commander agreed, "I believe you." Then conversation naturally tapered off as both started putting the finishing touches on their reports. Commander finished a little before Slade and he excused himself to go the mess hall for lunch.

He arrived at the mess hall and got himself a plate of his favorite spaghetti before sitting down among his usual companions of Nashville, her sisters, Eldridge, and now the second fleet plus their sisters. It was a far cry from what the eating situation was a week ago, and he liked that. He had to focus on eating more than speaking though, courtesy of his arriving late from writing his report. But once he finished, he found that he was only a few minutes from 1300 as Slade had ordered. He placed his food tray in the correct place and returned to his seat to await the admiral.

She arrived, attention was called, and after the rounds of salutes, she permitted everyone to be seated. As the debriefing carried on Commander was pleasantly surprised that this was more of an occasion to present synopses for the battles rather than the serious play-by-play breakdowns he was expecting. She had him stand up and present the general chain of events of the battle against the battleship fleet. He avoided embellishments, or he thought he did, because those that had remained here on base and with the main fleet were hanging on the edge of their seats, impressed with the plan that had been concocted to send the enemy to the bottom.

He sat down, eager to hear what had happened to the main fleet that had caused so much damage to some of the ship girls. The battle started out as expected for the main fleet with them launching strike aircraft towards the enemy's anticipated location. They were able to find the Sirens without too much problem and this alerted the Sirens to the fact that their plan to lure out the humans hadn't worked as they wanted. The first wave was only moderately effective in that it had damaged a carrier and sunk a few escorts, who then picked apart the wave. The main fleet were able to launch a second wave before the first Siren counter appeared overhead. It seemed normal and was dispatched with quickly, even though Hornet suffered a near miss. But then this was the part of the tale that alarmed the commander. A bit after the Siren wave had been shot down a huge thunderstorm appeared overhead. Cracks of lighting went back and forth between the clouds. Only brief respites of the rain allowed launching or recovery of aircraft. The second wave was much more effective at it's job, sinking one carrier and whittling down the escort fleet. But then the second Siren air attack dove out of the storm clouds over the main fleet. They dropped bombs, and this did damage some of the main fleet but what happened next could not be explained by Slade. An enormous bolt of lightning struck the bow of Lexington and nearly sheared it off.

Slade took this moment to caution those of her fleet about these freak lighting storms that could apparently legitimately threaten a warship. But while she was talking a few members of the secondary fleet turned to look at Commander. Many of them thought, "So, he wasn't crazy." Commander though, had locked eyes with Nashville and they shared alarm over their foe stepping it up to target ship girls now, instead of just cargo ships and unfortunate normal warships. They had to get a move on with their operation, or things would eventually go south in the Caribbean Sea.

He started paying attention to Slade again and she spoke of how while the air attack was still being dealt with a second bolt of lightning snaked downward towards the fleet only to be diverted into the sea. Again, Slade had no explanation. But soon after this last bolt of lightning, just as fast as the storm appeared, it disappeared, and the rest of the Siren attack force was shot down but not before damaging more of the main fleet. Commander retreated into his mind trying to make sense of all this. He set up a timeline of the events in his head. First Siren attack destroyed, storm appears, second Siren attack, first bolt hits Lexington, second bolt hits the water, storm retreats, second Siren attack destroyed.

But what could this mean? He noticed something. There were Siren aircraft in visual sight of the main fleet whenever the superweapon attacked. It started to come together. The first enemy wave found the main fleet and called for the big gun which sent a storm, but that first wave couldn't do the targeting because it was shot down. The second wave arrives and now the superweapon can be aimed. This superweapon is targeted visually, at least it's lightning bolts are. It explains that submarines must be it's, "eyes," when it goes for merchant ships or other individual targets. Okay cool, but why did that second bolt miss? It was clear to him that the bolt missing had something to do with the storm clearing up before the second wave was dealt with completely. Maybe the superweapon ran out of charge? He doubted that, it missing the shot scared it off. He found it morbidly funny that it chickening out probably saved his fleet from it's wrath. But still, what could possibly make a lightning bolt miss a multistory tall behemoth of steel on the flat open ocean? He looked beside him. Eldridge. She diverted it, somehow. And she's just the type of person that wouldn't offer this sort of information without cause, ergo Slade's ignorance.

Nashville saw that her commander wasn't paying attention to Slade's story and was about to tap him on the shoulder to get him to focus. But she then saw what he was looking at. He was looking at Eldridge. Then it clicked for her. Las Vegas thought that Eldridge made the second lightning bolt miss. She was inclined to agree. Suddenly, this operation felt a lot more possible. But she tapped his shoulder regardless. He looked her way and she gestured with her chin then nodded to agree with his assessment about Eldridge, then she subtly pointed to Slade to tell him where his attention should be.

He tuned back into Slade's story just as a flight of B-25's from Hornet smashed the fleeing fleet after first sinking the second carrier. With that information, Commander knew that he had to have Hornet in the fleet when he went for the superweapon's hole. But further planning was interrupted when Slade asked the commander, "Okay then Commander. After every sortie we like to select an MVP as a sort of competition among the ship girls here. So, tell us, who was your fleet's MVP?"

He thought a bit on the feats he had seen during the battle. He thought of Memphis's torpedo marksmanship stopping those two heavy cruisers cold. He thought of Nashville's raining fire. He considered Denver's leadership. But then he thought of the battle's turning point. He found that Laffey and Aulick happened to be close to one another, so he asked, "Laffey, Aulick, which one of you landed the torpedo that detonated the first battleship's magazine?"

The two destroyers in question looked at each other and in an instant Aulick pointed at Laffey. The latter nodded sleepily. So, Commander said to all present, "For landing a torpedo that sank the first battleship marking the turning point of the battle I say that Laffey was the MVP."

A brief round of applause and congratulations were heaped onto the destroyer. She accepted it saying, "Mm…That was okay."

Then Slade gave her own MVP, "It should come as no surprise given how the battle went in the second half that Hornet was MVP for the main fleet."

The same applause and congratulations went Hornet's way, who declared, "Ahahaha! That felt good!"

The briefing didn't last much longer after that. With Slade now back on base, she could resume her duties as fleet commander and leave Las Vegas to focus exclusively on his progress in cracking the new Siren code. He would have loved to keep strategizing for the battle with the superweapon that was coming up, but he still hadn't been able to get a sonar buoy over it's hole. So, let's not jump the gun. But for now, he had a code and an opportune moment to talk with Eldridge.

As the crowd dispersed, having been dismissed by Slade he leaned over to Nashville and said, "Could you please verify the chain of events with Helena as you and Honolulu are no doubt going to be helping her with repairs?"

Nashville nodded and said, "No problem sir. I would have done that anyway. But what are you going to do?"

"Finish my code," he said, and looking toward Eldridge to get her attention, "and maybe talk with Eldridge a bit to see how the operation went."

Eldridge nodded and so did Nashville. He said his goodbye to the Brooklyn sisters, and they left. By the time that another five minutes had passed, it was only him and Eldridge in the mess hall. Mr. Bond came out and was booted up, he found his place and began to plug away to finding the solution. He moved one of his arms out of the way as Eldridge once again climbed onto his lap.

Commander started, "I really want to repeat what I said earlier. I'm so happy, and relieved, that you're alright. Especially after what happened."

"Glad Commander…is okay too."

"So, could you please tell me what was scary to you? Maybe I can help somehow."

"Fighting always scary…Lightning made it…scarier," and she leaned backward into Commander's chest seeking a closeness that she had gotten used to. She had hoped he would give her a hug, and she was extra careful to not shock him.

She got her wish, and his hand left the holographic keyboard to wrap around the destroyer escort. Her own arms when over his and he asked, "Did you redirect the second lightning bolt?"

She nodded and said, "Yes, but… the first one…hit Lexington."

Commander spoke softly yet deliberately to make sure that Eldridge heard and understood him, "You did a fantastic job. And don't worry about that first bolt. You didn't know what it was, and didn't do anything wrong by not knowing, but then you quite possibly saved everyone in the fleet. They might not know it, but I do. You're a hero Eldridge."

The young girl started to quiver again in his lap, not accustomed to any measure of praise. Sniffles led tears as Eldridge basked in the warmth of her friend. Her electricity did not go out of control at any moment and Commander stayed exactly as he was until Eldridge had stopped crying. She asked, "Commander, knows…what happened?"

"Let me check in with Nashville before I say anything more on this," and his arms returned to the keyboard to type out a basic message to send to his companion, "She did do what we thought she did. I think she would be invaluable when we go for it. Do you have anything against her joining us when we do go for it?" He hated being vague, but secrecy was the key right now.

Nashville responded quickly, "Let's get her in on it."

"Cool, thanks," typed Commander in response.

He sighed and looked down at Eldridge and then looked around to make sure that they were alone. He still didn't feel completely comfortable with bringing children into combat, but if Eldridge was willing and able to help, then he wouldn't fight her wishes. He said, "Nashville gave to go ahead. But if I am to tell you what it was, I'm going to have to require you help with it. I know it might not seem fair, but this is very important to the war that it stay as secret as possible. So, Eldridge, will you help us in our mission?"

The young girl didn't have to think at all, "Eldridge, will follow…Commander, anywhere."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said rather than the characteristic nod.

"Okay then," and Commander took a breath, "There's something out there. A Siren superweapon that is shooting these lightning bolts and making huge whirlpools that are sinking ships all over the Caribbean. It's killing people and hurting the war effort. But it isn't the only one. Our mission, given to Nashville and me personally from the Supreme Commander of Azur Lane and the Chairwoman of the Crimson Axis, is to find all these superweapons around the world that are forcing this war into a stalemate, and destroy them by any means necessary, so that the war can finally start going in humanity's favor, so that there may one day be peace. Do you understand?"

Eldridge looked fearful but she had promised that she would follow the Commander. She nodded and asked, "Commander, scared?"

"I am scared. But if we don't do this, then not only will this war drag on, but it will go worse and worse for humanity. We have to do this, even if we're scared."

She repeated herself, "Eldridge, will follow…Commander, anywhere."

He had to smile at the girl's faithfulness. "Thank you, Eldridge. I can't thank you enough," he said but then he had some more things to tell her, "please remember that this is a secret, so don't tell anybody." She nodded and Commander continued, "Once I get this code broken, which I suspect will be sometime tomorrow, Nashville and I are going to where the superweapon is hiding so that we can scout it out. We won't fight it but once we come back, we'll be taking you and a few other ship girls so that we can go destroy it. And once we do, if you can redirect the lightning bolts away from the fleet, you will have made the operation all the more possible."

Eldridge nodded understandingly and asked, "Commander, thinks…we can win?"

"Absolutely," said Commander. He succeeded in convincing Eldridge with his one-word pep-talk.

A few minutes passed in silence until Eldridge asked, "Eldridge, stay?"

He smiled and answered, "Sure thing. But this will take a while. So, make yourself comfortable."

And so, the day continued with the destroyer escort in the presence of the codebreaker. People came and went through the mess hall as he worked, and once dinner came, he was able to check up with Nashville and her sisters. Helena was fine but she would be in repairs for the next two weeks or so. Nashville confirmed that Helena didn't have anything to add onto the already given chain of events. The day finished off and everyone parted to go to their quarters for the night. Commander had a strange mixture of apprehension and excitement to finally get on with his mission as he went to sleep.

Greetings friends. It's good to see you again. Well, courtesy of a super snowy day cancelling all my classes where I am has allowed me to get this out a day early. I hope you liked it. I sure did. And I gotta say that in hindsight, I wish that I did more to make a mentor type character with Nevada over these past few chapters. Oh well, what's written and posted is written and posted. I'm also absolutely stoked to get onto the superweapon itself with the next chapter, because that is what you and I signed up for. Is it not? By the way I mentioned a character that Honolulu knows and while the character is made up, the actual ship was commanded by a man surnamed, "Hayler." Anyway, I see a few comments that need some responding to so here we go.

Thanks for your review SomeRand0m. I'm so glad that you like what you see so far. When I set out to make this story, I had hoped to try at least one thing different and an OC kansen was the decided upon method. There are other things too, but you know, spoilers. I'm so happy that you like Nashville. I do too. It's a relief to know that the pacing isn't wonky with what's coming out. In all honesty though I'm trying to follow the rule of, "show, don't tell." Will there be romance? Yes. This is an Azur Lane fanfic. I'm just moving at a pace that is a slower to where the advancing relationship is coming out naturally as I'm typing. If that makes sense. Jealousy will definitely come up with some of the more cavalier kansen we meet as the characters go around the world. I'm glad that we agree on the "world vs. Sirens" point. I'm trying to fix the navy's views on the kansen right now, but you probably got a sense of that from reading the chapter. I can't wait to write the rest of the story. But there is one more thing. You asked if there was going to be more permanent members of Las Vegas's fleet. I'll only say that telling you would be a spoiler. I will tell you though that as I was outlining this story before getting started, I considered giving him a whole fleet of OC kansen. I saw problems with it in a practical mission sense and with writing to avoid tropes. So, the idea of a larger fleet failing became Operation Argonautica. And just in case you're wondering, the OC's (along with Nashville) would have been USS Cabot, HMS Venturer, KMS Z33, and IJN Arashi.

Thanks, morestories211pls for writing a review. I see that you have noticed how much support Commander and Nashville give each other. Their interactions is probably the most fun thing to write. I look forward to moving forward with the relationship between our two main heroes. I'm also glad that you acknowledge what I had intended as a set-piece when Nashville landed the shot at more than ten miles. I thought it was cool, and I'm happy that you seem to think so too.

That's all I have to say right now. Take care, friends. If you are having a bad day I hope it gets better, and if you are having a good day I hope it get even better.