Isabella's next few days, were full of much less detail to pick apart, compared to the first three. Combat had become much less frequent, but the picture Isabella had begun to paint told a concerning picture, one that she almost seemed to be unaware of. Something that only reinforced their idea of her being an inverted natural-born, somehow, but why she made her landing in the Philippines was beginning to make more sense.
Ultimately, supply limitations. Isabella had been pushing herself at flank speed whenever she was out on the open water. That required a lot of food for herself, and her crew, and despite her scavenging efforts? She wasn't able to keep up with the strain such activity placed on her. Cruising speed existed for a reason!
Though in Isabella's defense, if she was a civilian like they were beginning to suspect, she was handling herself. Not well, but she remained focused on her goal, and had swiftly pierced together that making use of her radio outside of emergencies would prove disastrous. She wasn't taking unnecessary risks, either, preferring to stack the deck as much as possible before dealing with a threat, to minimize the chances of receiving damage.
It wasn't until day five that he felt the temperature in the room drop once more. Isabella's captain stated, confirming that they believed to have spotted a submarine around noon. This was one of the times where Isabella moving at flank speed could be to her benefit. But Isabella hadn't appeared to have suffered a torpedo hit at all during her time on the sea.
Meaning the attack failed.
Or attacking Isabella wasn't the objective.
Admiral Richardson didn't need to be told which one his fellow admirals expected was the case. He could see it in their eyes. Even Isabella had figured out, but by then, it had been much too late to change anything.
Everyone knew it would only be a matter of time before Isabella reached the Philippines.
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"I decided to launch a scout aircraft before my final approach, mostly to see what I was telling with," I felt a twinge of pain as Luzon cuddled into me. For a moment I paused, almost stumbling over the words, before taking a deep breath.
I could talk about this. I needed to talk about this. I hadn't gotten to the truly painful parts.
At least, not yet.
"Which was smart of me, in hindsight. My scout plane, which was un, unopposed," I stopped myself from saying a completely different word there. "Reporting back numerous destroyers, light and heavy cruisers, and across, the aviation battleship."
I felt Luzon's grip only grow on my midsection, as I patted her head, trying to comfort her. The Re was gone and wasn't going to hurt either of us. Ever again.
"Under the knowledge, I had at the time, I decided to steam further northwards, while breaking any possible sightlines they may possess," I gave Luzon a quick squeeze without breaking eye contact with the Admiral. "Before launching another scout plane. Which, again, proved to be a good idea, as the fleet that had been on my initial path simply moved north."
"So they had eyes on you," Admiral Richardson's pen scratched away at the paper. "Do you know what it was?"
"No sir, not definitively. My crew and I weren't able to find any aircraft, but that wouldn't entirely rule out the possibility. I suspected the submarine spotted earlier may have been involved, but I hadn't been able to find it, either," I frowned, thinking back. The submarine could have been radioing in my position, as I went from island to island. With me being inland, it would easily be able to surface in to do so.
Though even with all four floatplanes circling, the odds of me spotting something were probably pretty low. There was a lot of ocean it could be hiding in. At best I could spot it, and then force it to dive, maybe breaking contact?
Still, that was a matter of the past. Nothing I could do about it now, besides slap myself over what options I could have taken. Which wasn't productive, regardless.
"So you decided to head towards the fleet impeding your landing," Admiral Richardson ceased his tapping. "I must admit I'm curious as to why given how such a move would be extremely risky."
"Sir, I was in a position where I didn't feel like I had better options at hand. If it was a submarine tracking me, then I wouldn't be able to run back to another island and hide. They'd just report in my location, and then I'd have engaged in guerilla warfare in a location with a lot fewer places to hide. Trying to run South or North had concerns as well, both in terms of resources, but also because of the odds that I could be chased down. I was probably faster, or at least, just as fast as the other cruisers, so I would have a head start, but if they sent enough destroyers after me, all it would take was one lucky torpedo or shell hit to slow me down," I didn't finish the rest of that thought out loud. Admiral Richardson would understand exactly what I was trying to say.
If I lost even a single knot of speed, I would be done for.
"So as reckless as it sounds, I figured the best move would be to push forward. If a submarine was following me, then it would have a much harder time tracking me on land. And if it was a plane, it would be easier to slip away on land than it would be on the open ocean, with no places to hide," I stated, nodding slightly to myself despite the wince of pain that ran through my body. In the end, it all worked out.
Admiral Richardson gave a slight nod as well as if to accept my reasoning, as strange as it might have been.
"However, this is the first time you decided to use your radio. Am I correct in suspecting you did so because you knew your location was blown?" he asked, expression hard to read.
"A large portion of it. If my location was already blown, then I might as well make use of my radio to at least tell someone where I was. Especially if I did make it ashore," I left the whole not dying in the process part silent. "Then I probably wouldn't be able to leave without assistance, unless I got lucky."
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"Foolish to push ahead, but I do understand where she was coming from," Admiral Kenndy ran his fingers through his beard. "The foolish option was quite frankly, one of the safest. Her concern about being run down by Destroyers is certainly warranted. Not to mention aircraft could prove to be a threat to her as well."
"Still, that doesn't do much to explain why the Re-class didn't capture Isabella then and there. She clearly had the numbers, and probably wouldn't have needed them, even with both eight-inch shell hits being duds," Admiral Johnson ignored the few glares sent his way. "Look, we all know that question is going to be asked, and it's better we at least have an answer to give, rather than just shrugging our shoulders."
Admiral Richardson let out a sigh. His fellow did have a point, even it was one he didn't like. Other Admirals would ask that very same question. Some were probably asking it right now.
Isabella had caused a stir, and while lips remained tight for the moment, it hadn't taken much to figure out a shipgirl had been captured by Abyssal's for unknown reasons. Theories abound, but more than a few thought she hadn't been captured at all. Instead, Isabella was a spy of sorts.
What type of spy required to be tortured and dismembered in an operation that ended up getting the leader's agent killed, he wasn't sure, but Johnson was right. The question would be asked.
"It might be possible that having Isabella as bait served the Re's purpose better, at least at first," General Kenneth spoke up, seeming to startle several others. "Think about it. Isabella, while adhering to strict radio silence up until that point, radios in an SOS. She could be thinking that Isabella, now that she has been discovered, would be more willing, allowing the Re to possibly ambush the relief fleet."
"Something that would require Isabella to be free, as Isabella might not be willing to speak with us if she was being tortured," Goto snapped his fingers. "Or if she was, she might try to give us a message about the situation in some manner."
Goto's statement felt like a bit of a reach, but at the same time, Richardson could see the logic. The best type of bait was the type that didn't know they were being used as such. It probably would do little to appease those who had already made up their minds on the matter, but it would likely be enough to convince the rest that the ideas of an Abyssal spy or plant being little more than hot air.
Sure, torture could work, but if you could get the same results for less effort.
"Plus, it may be possible that the Re underestimated the damage Isabella could do while free. After all, she is a light cruiser," Admiral Kenndy nodded. "She might have also been able to legitimately slip away, with the Re believing that Isabella wouldn't be a long-term threat."
"I'm not sure how Isabella would manage to slip away after two eight-inch shell hits. Sure, they were both duds, but one of them managed to penetrate one of her turrets," Admiral Johnson shook his head. "That could have ended very poorly for her."
"In truth, Isabella said she suspects that they might not have been duds in the first place," Admiral Johnson did his best to keep his scowl off his face. Sure, the comment had been in passing, but he could tell that she had wanted him to focus on it. It hadn't been the first time Isabella had avoided words such as kill, or death. Hell, he was fairly certain that Isabella was about to use the word unmolested before she stopped herself.
"That would mean the Re had intentionally ordered that the shells from larger guns not be properly armed, or even possibly sabotaged for that purpose," Goto raised an eyebrow. "Still, I will admit, using the destroyed gun that she wouldn't have been to repair as scrap metal for other locations was fairly intelligent. Shows resourcefulness and adaptability."
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"I headed out from the cave I had pulled myself into once my crew had finished their repair work, deciding to put as much distance between the Abyssal fleet and myself as physically possible. Since they were on a southward track, I headed north, taking time to scavenge for food and other materials when I could," I was hopefully beating off the blush of my embarrassment from eating that engine that one time, but I had no idea if I was successful or not. "I was keeping mostly inland, hoping that maintaining a healthy distance from the coastline would help me go undetected."
"Did you see any signs of anything being in the area?" Admiral Richardson's brow furrowed.
"I saw a ruined village, and ran into Luzon for the first time a little while later, but otherwise, I didn't see anything suspicious," I frowned. "Besides the Destroyer chasing Luzon, which I promptly engaged and sunk."
"Really? The first time?" Admiral Richardson paused as if surprised. "So you didn't immediately fall in with one another?"
"No," I said, as Luzon also shook her head. "She ran away from me the first time we meet."
"Scared. You were covered in a lot of dirt and blood," Luzon muttered quietly, seemingly embarrassed with herself as I lightly rested my chin against the top of her head.
"I know. I looked pretty messed up, even after the unintended bath I took in one of the streams," a chuckle left my throat as I thought back to that little plunge. Walked straight into it, I most certainly had.
"Unintended?" this time it was Seattle, who let out a brief giggle.
"It's a nicer way of saying, tripped in," I shook my head. "After the little dunking, I decided to follow the stream for a little way, before coming across a small cave, which I decided to rest in, as I let most of my clothes dry off in the sun. There was also some food nearby, so I figured it would be a good place to lay low, at least for a while."
"Sun drying your clothes? I'd assume you'd focus on keeping distance," Admiral Richardson frowned.
"True, but at the same time, I'd been moving for quite a while, and with one of my boilers knocked out by that point, I wasn't going to be able to flee over the ocean. I didn't know how much longer it'd be before I came across another shelter, especially one with an untouched source of food," I shrugged. "I'd probably bug out at the first sign of trouble, or after a day or two, whichever happened first."
"After getting redressed, I decided to eat some of the pineapples. That's where I ran into Luzon for the second time," I shook my head, thinking back. "I heard something in the bushes, so a went over to investigate. I knew there was a child in the area, but at the same time, the first time I had seen her, there was an Abyssal chasing her, so, I kept my rigging out, but kept my guns trained outwardly, trying to be none threatening."
"I was scared. I'd been summoned by the prisoners that the Abyssal's had been keeping," Luzon whispered faintly as I squeezed her tightly. I knew what she was going to say. "I was pretty much useless, not even worth the trouble of them trying to kill. But the people there helped me escape. They wanted me to be free, to fight in at least some capacity in a way they couldn't."
"But I couldn't. I was again useless. Helpless," my grip increased as Luzon's shoulders began to quake, as tears began to go down her face.
"It's okay," I began to rock her back and forth in my lap, gently calming her nerves, though I made sure to at least keep some measure of an eye on both of the others. Admiral Richardson seemed to have a grim expression on his face. Hardened by something I couldn't quite see. It was as if he was trying to pretend he didn't want to punch someone in the face.
Seattle, looked, well, as if she was about to cry herself, just by being in Luzon's proximity.
"It was around that same time I named myself," I paused, already expecting some questions tied into that whole incident.
"I was wondering when that developed," Admiral Richardson hummed. "I won't lie, that had caused no small bit of confusion at the time."
"I asked her," Luzon hiccuped, "because Abyssal's don't have names."
My eyebrow raised slightly as Admiral Richardson seemed to be taken aback by the comment.
"Fair enough," he finally nodded. Part of me wanted to ask what that was about, but it was well above my nonexistent pay grade at the moment.
"After that, I made sure Luzon got plenty of food to eat before night came. We ultimately hunkered down in the cave for shelter until the following morning, where we topped up on more food," I sighed. "After a quick food check, we probably wouldn't have enough for the rest of the week. However, given both the shelter and even if limited, food supply, I spent some time preparing defenses, on the off chance an Abyssal would stumble across our location."
"Defenses? What type of defenses?" Admiral Richardson raised an eyebrow, as if concerned. Oh, right.
"I never had enough time to set them up, thankfully in hindsight, but I was planning on cobbling together depth charges into makeshift land mines."
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"Can you please repeat that? Because I could have sworn I just heard you say Isabella intended to use depth charges as land mines," Goto let out a cough in surprise.
"Because she did," Admiral Richardson rubbed his eyebrows. "Thankfully, Isabella never had an opportunity to deploy such devices, as she later saw I-402's aircraft get shot down, and decided that should probably be investigated first, before anything else."
"To be fair, she wasn't exactly wrong on the downed aircraft being a bit more important in the long run," Admiral Johnson shook his head. "Still, it's good to know she didn't lay any of those down. Sure, against an Abyssal it would do much, but an explosion of that caliber could easily get people killed."
That was an understatement. The standard American depth charge of the era was six hundred pounds. A proper land mine had considerably less explosive yield by comparison. He wasn't exactly sure how much damage one would do to an Abyssal either, but Admiral Richardson might be grossly underestimating how damaging such a move could prove to be. Even if it wasn't in the form of a shell, such an explosion could cripple a destroyer, and certainly damage a light cruiser.
It was thankful that Isabella hadn't. In theory, the idea wasn't half bad, given the circumstances. But land mines oftentimes proved problematic, even for the people that set them. Because you couldn't exactly mark where each one was, which would defeat the purpose. Even marking the general area would prove counterproductive.
Which meant such a field could prove equally dangerous to Isabella and Luzon themselves, as well as any civilians or soldiers that could have stumbled across it.
"So, Isabella managed to track down the downed aircraft, rescuing the pilot and beating the Abyssal's to the punch?" Admiral Nathanial nodded. "That was good luck, at least. Though I'm she was able to make that quick of time, with both her leg and Luzon in tow."
"Isabella was carrying Luzon piggyback throughout the whole ordeal. Asleep, surprisingly enough," Admiral Goto nodded. "I have to wonder if she was suffering from sleep deprivation then."
Goto raised a fair point. While shipgirls could stay awake longer than an average human could without ill effects, they still needed to sleep. Isabella had pretty much kept to a normal human sleep schedule, yet another point towards that hypothesis, for the time being. But Luzon likely didn't have such a luxury until she joined up with Isabella.
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"Well, once I figured out there were too many Abyssal destroyers to outfight, I just simply took off running," I shrugged. "I wasn't heading in any direction, honest. Leading them right back to where we were was a bad idea, even if I could outrun them. I figured I'd be able to lose them in the evening murk."
"Despite your injury? Destroyers are faster than you," Admiral Richardson.
"In the ocean. But on land? They aren't built for it. Torpedoes are useless unless you throw them at a target, and Abyssal destroyers don't seem to be able to do that, and their legs are just, little nubs, like a 's arms," Luzon and Isabella gave me a confused look, as Admiral Richardson nodded.
"But I managed to lose them, finding shelter just shortly before sundown. It was a fairly small cave, but serviceable. It was the following day that I ultimately decided to have I-402's crew member contact her through my radio systems. I will admit that forgot to try misdirection in the excitement," my face flushed slightly, beginning to heat up. "I passed only the information, before heading northeast."
"The number you mentioned was corresponding with Azimuth Compass direction, then," I nodded, confirming Admiral Richardson's question.
"It was after this that I noticed the increasing number of Abyssal's on patrol. Before, I hadn't run into much, maybe just one or two. But now up to three was the common norm. Just something I noticed over the next few days. Luzon found a good hiding spot to serve in the meantime, however, while I tried to stock up on supplies," I chuckled. "It was kind of this bowl-like cliff, with a lake and plant life in the center. Fish, too."
"I got curious," Luzon admitted, blushing slightly, "so I just climbed up. It was nice."
"It was, wasn't it," I agreed. It had been beautiful. "Luzon was showing me how to spearfish as I fell in."
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"Isabella. Can swim?" Richardson couldn't stop himself from grinning slightly from the reaction. It had more or less been his, after all.
"According to her and Luzon, she can. When I asked her how, Isabella's response was 'I'm a ship, but I'm also a girl'," Richardson shook his head.
"But that violates almost all known shipgirl behavior. Even natural-borns have an aversion to swimming," Admiral Goto frowned. "Unless they're submarines, but Isabella isn't one."
"I have to agree. This pretty much clinches it in my mind. Isabella has to be the result of an undiscovered shipgirl summoning method. Some mixture of natural-born and natural summon," Admiral Johnson said.
"And how do you purpose we confirm this? If this line of thought is correct, then the only person who knows is Isabella herself. And to be blunt, I'm not sure if she's ready to talk about this time," Admiral Nathanial's expression, matched Goto's own, stroking his beard.
"I have to agree. If Isabella was, at one point, human, it would be another point of trauma for her. I don't think she's ready for that type of conversation yet," Admiral Richardson looked at his fellows. "She also taught Luzon as well, but that's not as important."
"Which means makes the operation against the shore battery the next major event before capture, correct?" General Kenneth frowned, looking through the stack of papers before him.
"That is correct," Admiral Richardson winced. Isabella's call had already poked the hornet's nest. Her decision to then proceed to stick her head into the mess completely puzzled him. Of course, the remains of the weapon had been found and were currently being shipped to try and determine as much as possible about the weapon.
So far, the only thing he'd heard was that the gun was of extremely large caliber. Nobody was sure what size yet, but it was sixteen plus inches at least. For a shore battery, it could almost be considered excessive. Of course, if Marckerl and I-402 had spotted the explosion from where they were, then it could easily be bigger than that.
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"I found a shore battery the next day. I think they were test firing it during the night or something because I felt vibrations while I was trying to sleep. I figured it might have been an earthquake or something, because of the Ring of Fire and all that," I scowled. This had been when everything started to go downhill. "But when I opened my eyes, I saw these little flashes on the horizon, so I scouted it out the next day."
"How big would you think the gun was?" Admiral Richardson tapped his pin.
"Don't have a lot to compare it to, but it looked massive. It was concerning, to be honest. I knew rescue was coming, and it could prove dangerous, so it would be better to try and deal with it now, rather than run the risk of someone else getting hurt later," I rubbed my temples, avoiding the urge to smack myself due to my stupidity. "It was under pretty heavy guard, as well. That's when I had the brilliant idea of swimming up to the gun under the cover of darkness and blowing up the gun using my depth charges."
I felt as Luzon's body began to go rigid as I hugged her tightly. I remembered her reaction to my little adventure. Naturally, bringing that up would not be a good memory for her.
Hopefully, my sarcasm about how brilliant my plan was apparent to everyone in the room. Because it was incredibly stupid.
"After leaving Luzon back at base camp, which, I want on the record, was yet another dumb idea, I made my way to the shoreline under the cover of darkness. It took only a few minutes to rig the bomb to explode, which took out the turret without many issues," my frown deepened, as I remember what happened next. "The bomb wasn't the issue. I'd set the timer too short and wasn't able to make enough space to get away in time. A shard managed to find its way into my leg, tearing up a lot of important muscles."
That, combined with the previous, though patched up, hole in my leg, pretty much hobbled me. Badly. It had taken overland travel from a manageable annoyance to something extremely painful.
"It took all of the night and the following morning to get back to base camp after that," I scowled. "From there, we tried to lay low for the next few days, avoiding ariel and land patrols, which had increased in intensity. We stumbled closer to the coast during our wonderings, but the coastline was covered with numerous cruisers."
"It was later on, during the night, when my crew managed to resuscitate the boiler that had been knocked out during my initial landing," something that had been good news at the time, but quickly turned into a monkey's paw.
"Impressive. After that long?" Admiral Richardson raised an eyebrow. "Your damage control teams deserve a reward for that."
"I thought the same thing, actually," I chuckled. "Ice cream would be serviceable, would it not?"
I felt Luzon pull tightly on my arm, attempting to get my attention. Her eyes were big and wide, practically Bambi eyes. Already, I could feel my resolve break in half. It wasn't like Luzon didn't deserve any, either, for all the crap she went through. But she better not begin to abuse the power she held.
"We'll get you some too," I nodded simply, as Luzon clapped her hands with excitement.
"Anyway, with the increased intensity of patrols on land, and with my boilers operation, there was a, decision," I felt a wince of pain come from my chest. "With my top speed restored, on whether or not we should take the opportunity and try to link up with the rescue force."
"We ultimately decided to take that risk," I took at a shaky breath, even as the feeling of pressure, or pain, built up in my chest. "And for a while, it looked like it would pay off. Then. Then."
Pain. Everywhere. Tearing and Stabbing and Ripping.
"Isabella. Isabella!" my breath was a strangled gasp, a barely formed thing that did little to distract from the pain.
Luzon pulled herself into my frame. Seattle grasped my shoulder, worry covering her features. Admiral Richardson had practically stood up from his chair, eyes wide with alarm.
I'm not sure who said it. Hell, it could have been any of them. It could have even been me.
"Isabella! You're bleeding!"