"No change on the front.'' Admiral Elmo Zumwalt responding to a reporter's question as to the situation on the battlefield against the Sirens 14 May 1975.

If there is one thing Akagi can say about this Third Siren War, it is that it is being fought with unimaginable intensity. The scale of the clashes exceeded anything she had seen and the firepower on both sides was astonishing. The numbers of KASENs and sailors were constantly shrinking and growing. What surprised her most was how often they set out on expeditions and in what poor condition the returning fleets were.

In a word, there was a stalemate at the front and neither side was able to change anything about it. This was obviously a change from previous wars, where humanity tried desperately to do anything and any victories were paid with huge losses.

At first she thought that her skills would be of no use in this war, considering that on her first training with the squadron she was assigned to, she suffered a surprising defeat at the hands of Long Island. But it turned out that the commander thought differently and with surprising perspicacity showed everyone how Akagi should fight.

First of all, Akagi should not try to fight under the conditions under which the KANSENs fight, they are not Kanmunsu. She should take advantage of the fact that she is actually a ship in a human body which has gained a chance to live like a human.

The KANSENs fight hard, fast and mercilessly, using their future technology, which is embodied in their construction and the ships they control, to bend the laws of physics to their own need and will. They fight with their rigging as infantry squads on the water rather than as Kanmusu, who use modified ship combat tactics.

The greatest advantage of the Akagi is the fact that its planes are used by constantly learning fairies that are ghosts or echoes of the original crew of its ship and the death of such a fairy does not reset its abilities and each of them fights differently and thanks to their smaller scale, despite acting like a full-sized counterpart, they are able to effectively destroy their opponents despite the fact that each of them is faster and more agile and better armed.

Carrier-type KANSENs, on the other hand, are forced to control all of their planes simultaneously, making each of them controlled by the same person, so you only need to know how one of them fights to effectively hunt down the others. The same goes for Sirens, which, while powerful, are mostly mass-produced ships with no style, making it easy for both Sailors and KANSEN to destroy any of them. There are simply a lot of them and they have a lot of dangerous toys to make it difficult.

Thanks to his fairies, Akagi is also able to judge many events more effectively by simply discussing with them and the advice they give, and the fact that he simply has all the skills of his crew and learns new things easily. KANSENs, on the other hand, have to learn like ordinary people everything they need to know to steer a ship, and unfortunately, like ordinary people, they have different learning rates, sometimes very different from one version of KANSEN to another. One is eager to learn new things and it comes easily to her, while the other does not like it and finds it very difficult to learn.

In short, the KANSEN are like the clones from the Grand Army of the Republic from Star Wars. At first, the different versions seem identical, until they start talking, for example, revealing their own separate character from the rest of the clones. Speaking of Star Wars, Akagi was surprised to learn that they were going to release Revenge of the Sith in that universe, the movie is due out in a few months and as she noted many of the girls and sailors in the 20th Fleet are eagerly awaiting its release.

Yes that's right they have the sixth Star Wars installment in 1978, in this world the first installment came out in 1948. What's more it was directed by George Lucas. When she first saw the film she thought she was dealing with a remake of the original and not a 20 year old film that came out some 29 years earlier than it should have, she preferred not to think about the fact that Lucas was born earlier.

She remembers like yesterday when the girls at her welcoming party, right after the obligatory greeting her and asking her a series of questions about what her world is like, played the movie. The fact that she is from another world was announced by the commander on the 3rd day after her arrival. Needless to say, he added in a distinctly fatherly tone after saying she was from another world.

''So my little girls, are you going to behave well to our guest is that clear?''the look he then cast on some of the girls gave a clear answer as to which of them were the troublemakers on this base.

But back to the video, it looked just as she remembered it but with a much better quality of, well, everything? It felt like when she first saw A New Hope.

''I see you like the movie, don't you Akagi?'' asked Eugen, ''It looks like the first time she's ever seen Star Wars'' said Cleveland with a smile as she looked at Akagi's expression of amazement. Akagi hearing this quickly shook her head ''No, none of that, it's just'' She paused not knowing what to say. ''You just saw a familiar movie, or a similar one in a big better quality as if it came from your nostalgia for that movie?'' She nodded in surprise at Javelin.

Akagi nodded in agreement to Javelin ''Yes that's right, that movie as I already know it, is also in my world'' Cleveland looks at her in disbelief ''Is that so? Then tell us what the ending of the movie is.'' Akagi, ignoring the bets the rest of the girls were placing, thought for a moment before answering ''It ends with Luke Skylwalker, with the posthumous advice of his master Obi-Wan Kenobi, blowing up the Death Star using the Force and without the targeting computer of his X-Wing.''

The dropping of Cleveland's jaw and the crying of those who lost and the laughter of those who won bets were the answer to her smile when she said this. It should be added that Eugen fell off her chair and Enterprise choked on her Coke when she realized she had just broken the bank. The only thing that surprised Akagi was the laughter of the commander, but not the usual kind, rather the kind of laughter that belongs to the person who says I told you so, or I knew how it would end and that's why it amuses me.

But that was one of many strange signs connected with the commander in these three months since she arrived at the base. Well you could say it's just a coincidence, except that every time she does something typical of Kanmus and unusual for the locals she always hears laughter from afar. What surprised her about this laughter was that she had heard it before! Before she came here. Without knowing why, she immediately knew it was the commander's laughter.

When asked if they heard their foster father's laughter when Akagi heard it, the girls said, ''I don't hear anything. Are you alright Akagi?'' And just speaking of that. The fact that many of the girls in the 20th Fleet, though not all of them, had their father as their commander surprised her greatly. What's more, the effect of this was very quickly apparent especially if one sees comparisons of the girls of the 20th Fleet compared to others when it comes to dress.

Where the standard KANSEN pattern wears a more revealing outfit, here it is more subdued and less revealing though, as she noted, well thought out and well designed for the battles KANSEN fight. Not any armor of faith, but decent concealing clothing that effectively protects against injury. Akagi was curious what they were made of. The only exceptions to this were submarine battle dresses, which for obvious reasons had to be designed for long periods of time underwater, though even here many of the girls wore clothes similar to divers' rather than swimsuits.

From what she learned, these outfits were tailor made by the commander and his wife and became the so-called uniform pattern of the 20th Fleet. The first girl to receive the new outfit was Graf Spee and Akagi quickly realized why. The original outfit, to put it lightly, was strange. Spee's current outfit from 20 Fleet is simply better, instead of the bizarre outfit partially exposing her breasts. Spee now wears a decent black hooded jacket with a red interior. She doesn't wear a skirt like in the beginning but regular pants similar to fishing pants.

Moreover, the whole outfit has a lot of pockets where Spee keeps various things she needs. Her two main pockets and the large side pockets are where she keeps her snacks, mainly chips that she shares with others. Underneath her zippered jacket she has a red sweatshirt perfect for the North Atlantic conditions and the crazy weather of the Dark Zone. As accessories she wears a silver-colored belt on her hip where various useful accessories are often seen in battle and a smaller black belt from a small bag down her back.

Around her neck she wears her scarf, though this one was sewn as a gift by the commander as she lost her first scarf. In itself, it differs from the original in nothing but the material.

The whole thing has been made so that if she needs to, she can easily use her attachable tail which, along with her gloves, makes her look like a nicer version of Battleship Re-Class.

Needless to say, at first when she was practicing with it, she mistook it for the real Re-Class. How she was able to mistake it for a monster that creates a terrifying aura, she doesn't know and doesn't want to find out.

Back to what happened during those three months. At first she thought she wouldn't be released much because of how much she devours such as food or other resources like bauxite to replenish her equipment. The one who allayed her fears was Stanislaw Malutki, the logistics officer of the 20th Azur Lane Base and Naval Port New Nowosiółek assigned on behalf of the Rzeczpospolita.

''Miss Akagi, honestly don't worry about our resources'' he said to Akagi in an amused tone. Akagi looked at him ''But what do you mean? We are on an island and we get resources from convoys and you don't worry.'' Malutki looked at her from his desk more seriously. ''Did you know how often we sail here?'' Akagi nodded. In the last week she went into action 34 times. That's as many as she usually does in a couple of months. ''You see, resources flow through the port here to America and are sent constantly to maintain this advanced position. All the time Warsaw sends here tons of raw materials and new ships from the shipyards of Gdańsk, Królewiec or Ryga are constantly coming here. KANSEN are also coming here all the time to replace seriously wounded or killed people from all over the world. Besides us, mostly Americans and British come here who also care about this piece of rock after the neighboring islands fell 20 years ago.''

Akagi nodded at that and Malutki continued ''Add to that the fact that besides eating as much as all the carriers put together you consume relatively few resources to maintain you. In practice, in terms of resources consumed by you, you cost slightly less than 1 Destroyer Squadron. Just give you resources and you'll replenish the entire battle group you lost. And our KANSENs need to have their ships replenished just like the original. It's a good thing that at least technology has advanced so much that the cost of replenishment has gone down a lot.'' Then Malutki smiled at her ''So you have nothing to worry about and now go don't let the Hipper wait with his rigging.''

A shiver went down Akagi's spine remembering how this very nice girl can be grumpy when it comes to fixing rigging. Akashi and her complaints that she has her hands full are partly a joke with what Hipper has to do regularly. Fortunately, she has a couple of other people to help besides Vestal and Akashi, of course. They are the Bulins. They are little girls of great strength, and she herself had the misfortune to feel it when she accidentally dropped a wrench on the floor in the workshop. Bulin, to whom she had dropped the key on the floor, made it very clear with the strength of his hand clamped on her wrist that she should never do that again.

When she went to Vestal, all she said was, ''Did you know how much the Bulins value their tools, Akagi?''Then, without a word, she took the ointment for such a situation and rubbed the sore spot. ''They are always like that?'' she asked quietly groaning while pain dragged from the lubricated area. Vestal nodded ''Yes, they do. Therefore, if someone holds Bulin's tool in their hand and they haven't gotten up yet it's a sign of great trust on Bulin's part.'' She wasn't surprised why.

They had enough strength to hold even the strongest battleships of her world and she had seen for herself here how they could single-handedly pull huge ships with no problem. These little nibbles could repair even the most battered ship back to the way it came out of the shipyard. She knew that her Akashi and other repair ships from her world would literally kill to get even one of these.

Bulins are exactly one of the reasons she was able to keep fighting. They were able to repair her and her rigging to like-new condition without much difficulty.
Sometimes she had the feeling that they, along with the port's medical repair staff, were able to repair even the things that the repair bath, despite its vast capabilities, could not.

Just medically, here, because of the lack of technology, a completely new way of repair had to be developed from scratch specifically for her. There was no bath to fix after a certain amount of time had passed, they just had to find a way to fix it. In a way Akagi went back to the beginning of the Abyssal War, back then girls had to be repaired differently and the bath itself was the result of several years of hard work in finding a faster and more efficient way to do it.

To this day she remembers how back then Akashi was de facto on the verge of a nervous breakdown, if she wasn't already. To this day she still has nightmares associated with it, and sometimes she could be heard screaming at night that she was sick of the constant repairs in the endless wave of injuries. It goes without saying that later in the day she seems sort of absent after such a nightmare and all her work stands.

With all the other shipgirls' craziness, it seems insignificant but at the same time extremely sad that the girl who did the most of them all has the least free time and no medals or other honors for what she does. Akagi knew all too well how much Akashi was getting tired day after day of fixing them all.

In her opinion, Akashi should get a long vacation and a lavish bonus for what she did for them all. Without her they would never have defended Japan in its darkest hour.

Port 20 Fleet
August 20, 1978
14:56

Pier

Akagi looked out to sea with melancholy. Three full months had passed since she was kidnapped by, what her new friends and allies believe to be, Sirens. That time passed like an arrow when, not wanting to be useless, she joined the Third Siren War. During those three months she saw fleets leave and return with fewer numbers.

She remembers the first time she saw the cruelty of that war when the first KANSEN or Hazelwood she met returned to port badly wounded and currently lying in a coma in the hospital. And this happened two weeks after she arrived. From what she learned she was ambushed by the girls of the 19th Fleet and was the only survivor. The mermaid who did this was Tester, as was later deduced from the data brought by Hazelwood.

Another painful loss for her was the loss of her sailor friends from ORP Sprytny who were killed in one of the battles to drive the Sirens from the human islands they occupied. No one survived from the ship along with their entire flotilla. These sailors won her friendship very quickly, being the first people from this world with whom she made friends.

The amusing Commodore Jan Kowalski, the kind and feisty Petty Officer Karolina Nowak or the sullen but extremely friendly Captain Andrzej Karolak on closer acquaintance. Now they either rested at the bottom or worse are victims of one of Syren's projects with humans. She had seen enough of them herself and only the fact that she had seen something similar in her world made her not vomit.

One thing to say, the world she came to was so much like her home and yet different. It was full of joy and colors, so that even the most frivolous girl would say something wise and sometimes sad or scary.

She was worried about those she met and, as she noticed, she was overly concerned about the war. But most of all she missed her home, which she knew nothing about. She was afraid that she would come home and not know it or that it would not be there. And who would be to blame? Her! For disappearing when they needed her most.

Akagi shook her head, banishing those thoughts from her nightmares. More and more frequent, as it turns out. More than once she wakes up with screams of despair at night when she experiences a nightmare in which Fubuki shows her what happened at home while she was gone. ''Look what happened AKAGI-SENPAI!'' Fubuki says in an accusatory tone from her nightmares. ''Where the hell have you been!'' she shouts with venom in his mouth to her.

And what she sees are her friends attached to tables straight out of mad scientist movies. Screaming through their dreams and being brutally woken up by machines and tortured by them. She sees how Fubuki, without a fight, lets herself be tied to one of them and all he says is with tears in his eyes to her ''Akagi? Akagi!''Suddenly Akagi is pulled out of her thoughts.

After all, Fubuki doesn't speak any other way to her than Akagi-Senpai. Suddenly, she feels a slight bump on her back. ''Akagi! I'm talking to you!'' She turned around and for a moment she saw Fubuki looking at her angrily. To realize that this Fubuki doesn't look like her Fubuki and definitely doesn't have so many western looking features. And she doesn't look 20 years old either.

''And it's you Ola, I'm sorry I was thinking about my house.'' Ola looked at her with compassion. ''I see, you miss him a lot, don't you?'' She said in an understanding tone. Akagi slightly nodded her head. She had the opportunity to get to know Ola well during those three months. The biological daughter of the commander and his kind wife was an extremely kind, funny and cheerful person who did not lack hard work.

''You're probably waiting to go home,'' she said calmly looking at the sea before adding cheerfully ''So we'll do our best to find the culprit and kick his ass to open the way home,'' Ola finished by raising her fist in the air. Akagi giggled at that. She liked her temper and her willingness to solve problems with violence. As she said, ''What Asterix and Obelix taught me is that every problem can be solved by violence.'' Of course she doesn't do it as often as it seems, but she has that kind of talk.

''I don't think it would work that way Ola.'' Akagi replied with a smile. Ola rolled her eyes at that. ''Oh hey there, it doesn't matter how but what are we going to do.'' Akagi nodded her head in agreement to stop after a while. ''Ola, I have a question, can I ask you a question?'' Seeing that her friend was getting serious, Ola didn't answer with a joke, but replied ''Sure, what is it?'' Akagi turned to her ''As you know, I'm doing a little investigation on your dad and also on the reason why I was kidnapped.'' Ola nodded

''That's right. Why?'' She answered calmly with a curious look on her face. ''And I'm so interested that I'm just now wondering why your parents and siblings sometimes call you Buki?'' Ola raised her eyebrows ''Didn't you guess?'' Akagi slightly shook her head at them. Ola smiled at that and replied, ''That's because my middle name is Fubuki! My parents or siblings sometimes call me by my middle name, mostly mom and her family call me that. My dad often shortens my name to Buki as a joke. He says it reminds him of the name of one of the Mummies'' she finished with a giggle.

Akagi looked at her and did something that Ola had not expected, namely, she made an anime-like move and, knocking her head with her fist and sticking her tongue out obliquely, said, ''I'm so stupid that I didn't think of that.'' Her hesitating thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the camera shutter and Akagi's burst of laughter.

Ola looked at her with feigned anger ''So there you go, our Miss Hungry Man has learned to make people laugh, huh?'' Akagi said through tears, shaking her head. ''Not at all, I just couldn't help myself not to do it.'' Ola waved her hand at her in disbelief, causing another fit of laughter. ''Now why are you laughing, what's so funny about my disbelieving face?'' She said tilting her head. ''I'm sorry Ola, it's just when I saw your face you looked like an older version of one of my friends from home.''

She raised her eyebrows again Ola ''Who exactly?'' Akagi looked at the sea ''Some clumsy but hardworking friend with the same middle name as you which is Fubuki.'' She didn't notice how Ola looked at her with fear for a moment and then furrowed her eyebrows. ''I understand, and I was very much like her then?'' Akagi nodded without taking her eyes off the water.

''I understand,'' she said in a strangely hushed tone. Akagi noticed that and when she wanted to ask about it, both girls' phones rang. ''Oh, the old man seems to have a combat task and it's serious'' said Ola after she saw that it was a signal to everyone. Akagi nodded and added to her ''Let's not keep the commander waiting for us'' Ola answered and together they rushed towards the assembly square.