With Georgia N' Friends:

We continued up the Bassac river, where it branched off of the Song Hau. Now that the flanking Strikeforce was out of the picture, we had basically a clear-shot to the border. Though Lao did warn us that there would be obstructions as we hurried to try and to catch up with the rest of the refugee fleet, which hadn't stuck around to see the end of the battle.

"Early on in the conflict, the Cambodians were concerned that Abyssals would pierce their way into the Tonlé Sap, their centrally located freshwater lake. It would give any Abyssal force the ability to basically gut the entire country, and annihilate one of the biggest sources of freshwater fish in Southeast Asia, so measures were taken." Lao explained, as we finally came within sight of the rest of the fleet as we rounded another bend in the narrow, snakey river.

"Well? Don't leave us in suspense!" I said from the other side of the ferry, in plain view. Lao had been serious about losing sight of me, she'd scrambled up the ferry past a surprised Hakone the two times I'd lagged behind the ship out of her vision, and while Ipersonally found it hilarious, I didn't like getting growled at by Chitose, who had to coax the Frigate back down again each time.

The Frigate continued after flinching away slightly at the sound of my voice. "The Mekong is too big, and couldn't be blocked, so they filled the entire area with emplacements and bunkers on the embankments, from the border leading all the way to the capital, the Special Military Region and elements of Region Two garrison the place, and trust me, it takes a LOT of men to guard ninety-plus kilometers of river effectively." Hakone, still tugging the car-ferry behind her, tilted her head to listen better as Chitose cruised alongside, curious as well as she asked:

"What about the Bassac? That's where we are, isn't it? The Frigate nodded.

"Yeah, that's the thing, the higher-ups in the Royal Cambodian Army, in their infinite wisdom, thought early-on that Abyssals couldn't step-foot on soil. So they seized several large low-draft river-cargo ships and cruise vessels and sailed 'em to the narrowest point in the Bassac river, where they were scuttled in a line across it and had their upper compartments filled-in with dirt." Chitose and Hakone gasped in horror, as Countess simply cruised along, eyes still locked ahead as she carried the inert Ta-class hull.

"T-That's horrible!" Hakone gulped a little. "Will, will we have to move the bodies?"

"Probably, yeah. The Cambodians used to keep a military outpost near the barricade, to keep people from messing with it and process anyone coming upriver, but when Can Tho fell they withdrew further up-river, to reinforce artillery emplacements just South of the Capital. We'll probably have to drag the hulks out of the way so the ferries can slip-by." I could tell by the expression Lao was making that she didn't consider that a task worth looking forward to.

Lao radioed ahead, speaking with the Junk-force's Commander, letting them know how the battle went as we fell in with the ad-hoc fleet. The civilians in the other ships, finally not having to worry about gunfire strafing the decks, were finally allowed to start coming out of their trucks where they'd probably been stacked like firewood for the past two hours in some cases. Many now sat on the roofs and edges of their sips, feet dangling in rows as food was distributed from the few boarded supply trucks via junks darting from ferry to ferry.

As we passed many darted back into their compartments, yelling things in Vietnamese I doubted was complimentary. A few stayed, either too emotionally wrecked to care or simply curious, simply sitting and watching as we cruised by.

"They'd be a lot less calm about your presence if I wasn't traveling beside you," Lao said as an aside, as she made her way over towards one Yabuta junk in particular.

I waved at one of the people to stay outside, a young girl I remembered running down the street earlier to catch the ferry. She waved back shyly as we cruised past, her legs kicking in the air as she sat at the edge of her vessel eating a paper bowl of rice.

I stayed with Chitose on the water as Lao hauled herself onto the deck of the Yubuta, disappearing into its cabin. "Hey, Chitose," I said to get the Tenders attention.

"Hmm, yes, Georgia?" I simply gestured to her left, and Chitose turned to look.

The sun was starting to peek out from the seemingly perpetual rainstorm we'd been stuck in, and it was... Well, it was beautiful. The rain that had been our constant companion for the past few days had lightened to barely a sprinkle, likely because of the distance we'd put between us and Jersey, and in the misty air left behind, a large rainbow had formed to our East, visible over the trees as the evening sun caught the moisture in the air at just the right angle. Chitose gave me a small smile as she turned back.

"At least something SOMETHING nice happened today, right?" I said, Chitose shaking her head as her grin deepened briefly.

"Only you could find a literal silver lining here, Georgia, I swear." I wasn't sure if that was an insult or not, so I just assumed she meant it in a good way.

Kanmusu Naval Base, Tokyo.

Matsumoto Keiko practically burst through her office building's front door, startling Houshou slightly as she sat at her secretary's desk. "Admiral! Are you... Do you need help with that?" The older (looking) Japanese woman shook her head, balancing a truly MASSIVE stack of papers against her chest.

"No! no Houshou, I'm fine, just... Get the door to my office, would you?" The Carrier got up from her chair to comply, opening the oak door just before Keiko, who could hardly see over the stack of papers, swept through the doorframe.

"What on earth could all this be? Surely this isn't ALL requisition forms... Did Shimikaze run into traffic again?" She said worriedly... Worry for any driver that hit the Destroyer, of course. The last time Shimikaze had run a red light on the sidewalk, she'd been hit by a light transport truck. The truck had been a write-off, and though the driver had been fine the legal paperwork the accident had generated...

"No no, a good amount of this is the forms I'm faxing off to Xuyen, with copies in Vietnamese, Japanese, and English. The Prime Minister and CIROC representative added several forms and waivers, after the representative finished shrieking at me for not bringing the Abyssal Submarine to his attention sooner. Haven't read it completely, but it's full of spook doublespeak I'm really not in the mood to try and decipher right now, a good amount is actual CODE, Houshou. I'll give it a go-over once I get ready to fax it out." Keiko plopped the giant stack of forms on her desk, next to her scanner as she sighed in relief, rubbing her hands as the joints popped.

"Oh Houshou, sometimes I wish I was a Kanmusu like you, then I'd never have to worry about my creaky joints ever again!" The petite Carrier simply smiled, as she prepared a fresh brew of finely ground coffee beans she'd acquired the day before.

"Then you'd simply have to worry about rust Admiral! And you'd never get a moment to yourself, filled to the brim with seamen like I am!" Keiko gave an unimpressed look as Houshou seemed to realize the unintentional double entendre, she put her hand up to her mouth as she gasped in embarrassment. "Oh my! I didn't mean-!"

"I know, I know, it's just you have absolutely no idea how many times I've heard that pun. You're right of course, I can't imagine having hundreds of those little fairy's running around in my body, the lack of privacy would drive me mad after a while." Houshou smiled at that, face still a little red from embarrassment, before a knock came from the open doorway's frame. Keiko and Houshou turned to see a smiling Kongou peering into the room.

"Admiral! I was just coming out of the repair baths when I saw you stumbling up the drive with a massive pile of forms! Is everything alright dess?" Keiko smiled warmly at the Japanese Battleship.

"Oh no, everything is quite alright, I'm just getting some letters of marque ready for Chitose. You've probably heard of her little odyssey through the rumor-mill, right?" The Kongou-class Fast Battleship nodded, as always, energetically.

"Oh yes, ne! I've heard all about it while I was in the baths for my broken turret! They say that she's in a sexual relationship with an Abyssal Submarine! I don't believe it personally, an Abyssal Submarine, really? The girls talk far too much... But what does that have to do with a letter of marque? I haven't seen one of those in a very long time, and even then it was in a museum dess!" Keiko's mouth worked silently for a moment in shock, before she tried to pretend that she hadn't just heard a rumor revolving around Chitose's theoretical sex-life.

W-Well, the Abyssal part is true, there's a nuclear submarine named Georgia with Chitose, as well as a few other Abyssal surface ships." Kongou gasped theatrically as the Admiral continued. "The letters are for them, basically, to give them some modicum of agency under Chitose. And to help cover ourselves legally, I'm having them sign on with the Japanese government as a Privateer fleet. With Chitose acting as our liaison." Keiko smiled nervously as she gestured inarticulately. "So you see, they are just-"

"Oh My Good Lord, the rumors were true! I HAVE to tell Hiei! Oh, our little Seaplane Tender's all grown up and found her Burning Love!" The Fast Battleship sprinted from the room as Keiko made to call out to her.

"Wait! Kongo I didn't mean-"

"BURNING LOOOOOOVE! Dess." And she was gone, having sprinted out the door in her hurry to spread the news.

"-Aaaah damn it, this is going to end in something stupid... stupid, hilarious, and expensive, I just know it." Keiko sighed, slumping into her seat as Houshou giggled demurely.

"You should have known she'd react that way, Admiral, the poor dear's never had the best attention span when it comes to the details." Keiko just grumbled as Houshou filled her coffee mug for her. The Admiral thanked the Carrier as she took a sip.

"This is a good blend, I'm glad we were finally able to get a shipment in. The Americans really came through for us on that last major convoy, we should get them something nice to take back with them." She let the warm liquid seep into her bones for a minute, closing her eyes. Before looking over at the phone on her desk. "I should probably phone Chitose, tell her to get ready for all the papers, goodness knows they'll probably have to replace their ink cartridges a few times to print all this rubbish off."

Keiko tiredly picked up the receiver, dialing the number to the military office in Long Xuyen, the phone rang once...

...

...

Keiko checked the clock, mentally doing the timezone conversion in her head as the phone rang the eighth time, it would be evening in Vietnam right now, surely they'd be in their office, right? It was odd that the secretary (who was a bit of a chatterbox, Keiko remembered) hadn't at least put her on hold yet-

The phone was finally answered, and Keiko wasted no time, speaking in English, as that was the only shared language spoken by the Commander there. "Hello! Captain Lu? I have some paperwork here for Chitose to give to some of her ally's, I trust that she's been well behaved so far?" The other end was silent for a moment, before there was a scraping sound, like a chair being pulled up, then:

"Chei̵f̴͔͐̽-Charlie is currently, i̷̖̩̇n̸͚̂̍ḏ̷͂ī̵̭ŝ̷̠p̷̹̃͂ö̴̧͍́͠s̴̖͝è̴͔̜͌d̷̹͇̍͆, at the m̶̊͜oment." That voice... That, that wasn't Georgia, the voice was older, and there was something even more, off about it, like nails scratching on a chalkboard. The voice continued as Keiko was momentarily struck-speechless.

"B̴͇̈̿ut I'm sur̴̦͕͒̈́e̵͔̥͛ I could carry on a message to... Chitose, was it? When I can find the little ẅ̸̥́͝h̶̗̿̚o̴̜̜͒r̵̝͔̕͘e̴̯͘ anyway. So please, by all means..." Houshou gasped, listening in from where she'd returned to her desk.

"...cont̷̞̯̋ḯ̴̜̳n̵̗̺̒̊u̸̡̫̒̓è̸̡̈́." Said New Jersey.