Phnom Penh, Cambodia:
We traded in the ferries without incident at the private military docks, before boarding a lent Genpaw transport truck that was to take us to the Japanese embassy, the Commodore, Mr. Pheakdei, had accompanied us with a quartet of armed marines, three of which sat in the back, seated as far away from us as they could manage, a hard feat, with how much space our Rigging took up.
Lao looked across from where she was sitting at us, "Alright you four, we're just going into the embassy to make the call to Chitose's superiors while I contact my own in the Vietnamese embassy nearby, stick with us and act casual, and for god's sake don't wander off!"
I simply gave a thumbs-up as the others nodded seriously, none of us spoke Khmer, and Giang and his father were with the rest of the refugees making their way here by land, so we'd have to rely on the Frigate for translation.
The Genpaw reached its destination after about twenty minutes, and we got out of the covered truck, only to be rushed into the building. I caught a glimpse of the roads to either side and saw that they'd been closed down, red traffic fences manned by Cambodian soldiers keeping foot traffic away, there were curious onlookers further down the street, and I could hear more than a few exclamations as we were spotted.
We entered the embassy building, and I took a moment to let the ventilated air cool my skin, the place was pretty fancy, the furniture looked like they were old antiques, with a weird swirly design that I had to assume was a cultural aesthetic here. The receptionist was busy on the phone as we walked up to the front desk, but went white as... well, us I guess, and hung up once he caught sight of my girls. He gave another one of those weird little nod prayer-bows and spoke as he looked at Anne.
"I a-assume you are the... party I was told to expect?"
Oh lovely! English!
"Yup! We won't be long, just need to make a few phone calls!" I said cheerily, before Lao or Chitose could say anything.
The man startled a little, looking around at the girls, who hadn't spoken, before putting both hands on his desk and leaning over to finally see me. I waved up at him, smiling brightly.
"Hi!"
Kanmusu Naval Base, Tokyo.
With Admiral Keiko:
Keiko sighed as she read the report on her desk, the fleet going to Vietnam had relayed a message back, they had run into Abyssals south of Taiwan. Shinano and I-8 had been damaged by a pack of enemy submarines, now I-8 couldn't dive. Shinano was better off, her Battleship armor having shrugged off the majority of the damage, and she'd been helped in plugging the leaks by the American escort Carrier Iowa had dragged along with her.
That was a relief, to lose Shinano would have been a major blow so early in the mission, not to mention how the girl would feel to be done in by a submarine again.
"Hey, Admiral! you got someone on the phone! How do I switch it over?!" Came Shimikaze's voice, calling out from the next room.
The Destroyer was minding the desk today, as Houshou was taking a well-deserved day off, taking the opportunity to go out on a date with a man she'd been slowly getting to know at her restaurant. It was good for the woman to be able to explore a relationship, without Kaga and Akagi being nearby to breathe down the poor man's neck.
"You press the R key, then wait for the recall tone. Do you hear it?"
"...Yeah?
"Ok, dial my desk-number."
Keiko waited a moment before quickly picking up the phone on the first ring. "Hello? This is Admira-"
"Admiral!"
"Chitose!? Oh thank god, do you know how worried I was when I called Xuyen and an Abyssal Princess answered?!"
"A what!?"
"When I called the office a Princess calling herself New Jersey answered the phone, she mentioned you by name, and I was worried you gotten yourself sunk or worse-"
"I'm fine though really! You don't need to wor-" Two people can play the interrupt-game.
"-And I didn't even know you were alive until I saw a video of you on youtube getting shitfaced in Cambodia!"
"YOU WHAT!?"
Keiko heard another gasp over the phone line, "Admiral's swearing!"
"Shimikaze! You don't have to be on the line anymore, hang up!"
"But this is entertaining!"
"That's an order young lady!"
"Urg, fine." There was a click, Keiko waited a moment, before continuing.
"There's a Youtube video floating around the internet of your Abyssal friend Georgia singing drunk on a stage, it was taken by her Fairies, and I recognized some of your flight crew in it drinking from a shot glass, so don't try and say that you weren't there too."
"T-There's a perfectly good explanation for that-" Another voice, one Keiko recognized as Georgia's, drowned out Chitose.
"My crew was video-taping me?! I'll squish those little aresholes! AGGH this is so embarrassing... how many hits did the video get?"
"USS Georgia, its good to hear from you again. Four-hundred thousand-plus, if you include the views from the videos that were taken down."
"Sweet." There was a fumbling noise, and Chitose's voice came back over the receiver.
"Admiral, I am so, SO sorry, please don't tell my sister!"
"You can tell her yourself, she's on her way as we speak." Keiko allowed herself a smirk at the Tenders' noises of distress at that revelation, "There is a strike force coming to Vietnam to retrieve you, and hopefully destroy the Battleship-Princess in the meantime. Iowa was looking forward to facing her sister, last I heard."
"Iowa is coming!? How?!"
"She was on-base resting from convoy duty, I... MAY have shared the recording of the phone conversation I had with New Jersey with her. She was quite eager to join the hunt for her errant sister, and brought a small fleet of volunteers with her, the last report had them South of Taiwan, help is coming, Chitose."
Chitose sighed over the receiver, "That's... That's fantastic news Admiral. The people here, they really need the help."
Keiko understood. Her eyes slid across her desk for a moment, and she was reminded by the stack of papers on her desk that she had other business that could be handled right now. "I assume you're near a computer? Specifically a fax machine?"
"Yes? OH! right, the papers, umm, excuse me for a second, I'll go and get the fax number, Georgia, hold the phone for a minute would you?"
"Aight." There was a pause.
"Sooo... got a link to that video?"