Kanmusu Naval Base, Tokyo.
With the Battleships:
"Oh, my. That went about as well as expected, Dess." Kongou said, watching with the other two Battleships as Houston and Houshou, respectively, tried to haul Gambier and Shinano back. Iowa scratched the back of her head.
"I love Gambier Bay, I really do, but the girl is such a scaredy-cat sometimes... I assume Shannon is the same way?"
Nagato looked at Iowa oddly. "Its Shinano."
Iowa cocked her head to the side. "That's what I said? Ah nevermind, so I heard Mutsu is taking my place for a while on convoy duty! How is the 'ol snail anyway? Haven't heard from her in a while."
Nagato shrugged. "She's doing fine, though recently she's been thinking of applying for a remodel to her bridge."
"Really?! What's she thinking of getting? updated radar?" Nagato shook her head.
"We haven't really nailed down the process for adapting American radar systems yet, not to the point it's safe anyway. Mostly she wants the superstructure repositioned." She leaned in towards Iowa and lowered her voice, "Personally I think she was getting tired of all the snail and slug comments." Iowa gasped.
"But I thought she liked those nicknames! Whenever I called her that she'd smile at me!"
"She was being polite, it actually really bothers her. Same as what you do to Yamato." Iowa reared back in shock.
"W-What?! But I love that little hotel!"
"See, that's it right there, you know she hates that name, right?"
"But why?! I thought it meant she was spacious and luxurious! And how she's always so nice! Like those high-class hotel waiters." Nagato shook her head.
"Its because she sat around doing practically nothing for most of the war, and service onboard her was likened to staying at a hotel." Iowa gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.
"Oh my god! She never said anything to me! Next time I see her I gotta apologize. She's always been nice to me." Nagato nodded as Kongou threw in her two cents.
"I for one think it's lovely that you two get along so well! It's always great to see Battleships from different countries! Why I remember just a while ago I was talking to Gangut! It was nice having someone on the base older than me ne!" Her smile dimmed a little, "Shame she sank in the Bering sea, she said she'd bring some Russian tea back with her, ah well, I'll just have to wait for her to come back dess."
"You know she was probably referring to vodka, right?" Iowa said, trying to lighten the mood, it worked, but not the way she expected.
"YOU are the last person to talk! I still haven't quite forgiven you for boiling Gatorade and calling it tea! That was an absolute travesty ne!" Kongou said, stamping her foot for emphasis.
...
With the Carriers
"Noooo! I don't wanna siiiiiink!" Gambier wailed, clawing at a bemused Houston as she physically dragged the Casablanca towards the rest of the bird-farms.
"Oh come on Gamby! They aren't gonna hurt you! And even if they tried Iowa is like, right over there. You think she'd let you get sunk?" Bay ducked her head.
"I g-guess not, you're right..."
Meanwhile, Houshou was leading Shinano back by the hand, the enormous Carrier looking chastised.
"I'm sorry Houshou! It's just... She crept up on me!" The petite secretaryship simply smiled.
"Oh I know you think the big bad Americans are scary, hon, but just look! I'd say she's more scared than you are!" The Shinano-Class Carrier looked over to Bay, who was visibly trembling as Houston left her to the tender mercies of Akagi, Kaga, and Chiyoda, who immediately began bombarding the poor woman with questions. "Oh dear, looks like we'll have to rescue her from those three's curiosity."
"Ok," Shinano said quietly, letting herself be led to the group.
"So, you're a Casablanca? I heard your class was the most numerous ever built, you must have a lot of sisters then?" Chiyoda asked before Bay could properly formulate an answer through her stuttering Kaga butted in.
"I heard that you know the Thach Weave maneuver, may I ask if you could demonstrate some time? It would be quite beneficial to the Carrier Division, I could teach you some concentration techniques in return." She said monotonously.
"Now now children! leave the poor thing be, she's clearly uncomfortable with all the attention." Houshou said, coming into the conversation with Shinano trailing behind, who was doing a fairly poor job of trying to hide behind the small carrier. "Now, I do believe introductions, PROPER introductions, are in order, wouldn't you agree?" She arched an eyebrow at the trio of Carriers, who at least had the decency to look bashful.
"I'm sorry, My name is Chiyoda, the second ship of the Chitose-class light aircraft Carriers, at your service. Though right now I'm still in my Seaplane Tender configuration." she nodded her head as Kaga stepped up, only the smallest of frowns showing her chastisement.
"Planned Tosa-Class Battleship, later realized Fleet Carrier Kaga, I hope we can get along well." Then Akagi stepped up.
"Hi! I'm Akagi, I was planned as a Battlecruiser, but honestly, I like being a Carrier better, it's nice to meet you!" She stuck out her hand. Gambier flinched back from it, before hesitantly moving forwards, grabbing the hand to shake she finally responded.
"H-Hello, I'm Gambier Bay, Casablanca-Class escort Carrier, I-I'm glad to be working with you all... I, uhhh... I Um, was told to give a few planes to Shinano to look at?" Houshou nodded, stepping out from in front of the Carrier before nudging her forward.
"H-Hello, I'm Shinano, um, only s-ship of the Shanano-class Carriers, I ah, was supposed to be a Yamato but...Things happened." The massive ship-girl bowed nervously, before taking a look at the FM-2's Bay had held out to her. "I um, thanks, I'll see if I can strip these down and get my machine shops working on parts for more."
Houshou chuckled at the awkward pair, before turning to look as Admiral Keiko made her way across the parking lot. "Looks like the Admirals here for the final briefing!"
The ships stopped their conversations, and Tenryuu finally managed to tear DesDiv 6 away from swarming the unfamiliar American Destroyers as the Admiral stopped in their midst.
"Alright girls! I've given this brief before, but this is the first time everyone's been in the same place, well, almost. Where are the subs?" Bubbles chose that moment to begin trailing up from underwater, before several heads popped up next to the pier. One of the Japanese subs, for that's what they were, climbed up onto land, she was a large girl, larger than average for a submarine anyway. She gave a salute.
"Here Admiral! We were just waiting to see which surface ship spotted us first!" She turned towards the Americans, "I've seen some of you girls before, though I don't think we've ever been introduced, I'm Shioi, or I-401 if you prefer, the girls next to me are the Maruyus, I-58, I-26, I-8, and finally the twins I-14 and I-3. It's a pleasure to meet you all above the surface for once!"
"W-What's that supposed to mean?" Gambier said in the background.
"Good! Now that everyone is acquainted, I'll continue. As stated in previous briefings, the Seaplane Tender Chitose met with and managed to convince an Abyssal Hime to, at least nominally, switch sides-" There were gasps from a few ships, mostly the ones who hadn't been paying attention in the previous briefs. "As it is now, this is a rescue mission, we lost contact with Chitose two days ago in Southern Vietnam, during which time I received a direct communique from Vietnam's 'Battleship-Hime', apparently New Jersey." Iowa's face screwed up at that, but the woman remained silent.
"Her forces are semi-well documented, though her apparent ship-roster is prone to rapid change. She is known to favor Battleships, and eschews the use of submarines and smaller Carriers. I doubt that you will have to confront her directly, but in case you have to extract Chitose from enemy hands I expect this Strikeforce to be able to deal with her fleet at a comfortable range as long as her Wo-class Carriers can be suppressed." Keiko began to pace.
"The Secondary objective, including the details NOT covered in previous briefings, is to secure the friendly Hime, along with any naval assets she may have. I don't need to say that an Abyssal willing to freely cooperate is unprecedented. she has valuable insight and information that could help the war effort immensely, and that's not even mentioning who she IS." She looked towards the Americans, "I'm sure you are all familiar with USS Georgia? Or have at least heard of her?" O'Bannon raised her hand.
"That's the Virginia Battleship, isn't it? But she's active right now as a Kanmu-"
"The OTHER USS Georgia." There was a short pause at that, the Japanese ships mostly looking confused as the silence from the Americans grew from a confused one into one of shock, then dread. Shinano, stood next to Gambier, nudged the much smaller Carrier.
"Who's that?" Gambier craned her head up, trembling like a leaf.
"A-An Ohio-class Nuclear submarine, she went down with all hands 7 years ago, they never found the wreck."
"I take it most of you do, well, somehow, Georgia has returned, and while she undoubtedly IS an Abyssal, thankfully enough she is almost certainly not in possession of Trident 2 Ballistic Missiles." The was a collective sigh of relief, "For now." Aaand the tension was back. "Which is why recovering her is top priority next to rescuing Chitose." She stopped her pacing, coming to rest in front of the group.
"Now, are there any questions?"