"There's a good spot," Takao stated, pointing to a large, empty patch of grass just off of the dorms. I followed her gaze, but I wasn't sure if I followed her logic.
"Here?" I asked, glancing around. "Are you sure?"
She nodded confidently, but she looked to her sister all the same. "Atago?"
The younger sibling smiled and nodded in agreement with Takao. "Perfect spot," she declared. "Not too far from the dorms, good open space to lay the foundations down, but it's quiet enough back here to simply enjoy the peace and quiet."
I looked around yet again, wondering what I was missing. "But, uh…isn't everyone going to see…?"
"We put up walls, silly," Atago giggled, "It's open-air, but we still have walls up to protect everyone's privacy."
"Ah," I said, the last piece clicking into place. "In that case, I'll check our inventory for one of those building kits you mentioned, and if we don't have one, I'll see if we can get one from Akashi."
Both women's heads snapped around to look at me with incredulous eyes. "Akashi?!" they both cried out in unison.
I looked between the two of them, wondering what landmine I'd accidentally stepped on. "Uh…yeah…we've had some dealings here and there, mostly with resupply during Operation Siren. She can usually get what we need, for a price."
Takao and Atago shared a concerned glance. "And you're sure that's what her name was?"
"Absolutely," I nodded. "Akashi. Green hair, repair kansen, cat ears, loves money."
Both of them shared a resigned look. "That's Akashi alright," Takao sighed. "She hadn't mentioned she'd had dealings with Azur Lane."
Something just clicked and I held up a hand. "Hold up. Akashi works for the Sakura Empire?"
They both stared at me as if I'd asked a question with an obvious answer. "Of course," Atago answered. "Who did you think she worked for?"
I simply shrugged and said the first thing that came to my mind. "Money."
Takao and Atago shared another glance as the younger sibling giggled. "Well, you aren't entirely wrong, Commander. She'll use this cease-fire to get as much as she can from any side now that we're not at war."
"Now that doesn't surprise me," I chuckled. "And with any luck, this cease-fire will grow into something a bit more permanent."
"I'm sure you're saying that strictly in the interests of world peace, Commander…" Atago grinned slyly.
I smiled as innocently as I could and shrugged. "Not gonna lie, it'd also be nice if I didn't have to figure out how to avoid an international incident every time I wanted to see Takao."
Takao blushed and looked away, "S-sorry," she muttered, to which I shook my head and took her hand in mine.
"Don't be," I said softly. "We'll figure this out. Eventually." Her eyes lifted up and met mine, and she gave a soft smile. "In the meantime, now that you've gotten the tour, and we've got the spot picked out for the onsen, let's go get you two your visitor badges and I'll have someone show you to your quarters."
"Lead on, Thomas," she smiled.
We made our way back to HQ and through the halls until we reached my office. Just as I was about to knock, Bremerton swung the door open, a broad smile on her face. "Heya, Commander!" She happily chirped, "Wonderin' when you'd get here." Her eyes flicked to the two Sakura women flanking me and her smile grew. "And you brought them along, great! Got two visitor badges for them right here. Here you go…and here's yours," she said as she handed out the badges to each of them in turn. As they clipped the badges to their chests, Bremerton continued. "Now, these'll get you into low or no-security areas, but if you see a badge scanner colored yellow, orange, or red, not only will you not be able to get in, it'll log the attempt in the system. So try and stay out of those areas, okay?"
Both women nodded, Takao's expression solemn. "Understood. We would never wish to betray the trust the Commander has placed in us," she answered.
Bremerton gave a thumbs up and a wink as she stepped to the side. "Awesome! Now if you don't mind, Alabama here will show you two to your quarters."
The laid-back battleship strode forward, nodding to me as she passed. "Alright," she drawled, "Y'all come with me and I'll make sure you get settled in and real comfy-like." Takao gave me one last look as she followed Alabama down the hall. I smiled and gave her a little wave before I headed into the office. As the door shut behind I could've sworn I heard Alabama ask, "So…y'all like stuffed animals?"
No sooner than the door shut behind me than Bremerton's smile had vanished and she pointed over at the couch in the corner of my office. "Couch time, sir."
My own smile rapidly died and I leaned my head back and let out a long groan of frustration. "Now, really?"
"Yes, really!" she snapped back. She sighed and gestured to the couch again. "Commander, you've been gone for four days, imprisoned by the Sirens for part of that time, working with girls we were at war with until a few months ago, and you came back wearing a samurai sword. We need to talk about that, and now, while it's still fresh in your mind."
As much as I didn't want to, as base counselor Bremerton had the authority to request a counseling session at any point. …and as much as I didn't want to admit it, she was probably correct. I more than likely needed to sit down and talk all this out, even though I didn't want to. "Alright, alright," I grumbled as I sat down on the couch, getting as comfortable as I could. "So…where do you want to start?"
Bremerton pulled her chair from around her desk and sat down as she pulled up the notepad on her phone. "Well, for starters, let's talk about being missing for four days. How did the Sirens keep you there for so long?"
I took a deep breath as I calmly answered. "I was unconscious for most of it. The last thing I remember was Washington, South Dakota, Dace, and myself on patrol, just a routine mission, and the next, I'm waking up on the floor of one of Takao's officer cabins."
Bremerton kept her expression neutral and her tone professional as her thumbs tapped out her notes. I hated it when she did that. She was always so bubbly and cheery, when she switched to her professional counselor demeanor, I always found it a little unsettling. "Mhm. What about the rest of the fleet? And Takao and Atago? Were they unconscious for the same length of time?"
"Takao was, but the rest were unconscious for a shorter period of time," I replied, feeling the nervousness and anxiety beginning to build.
"Why Takao?" she asked softly as she leaned in.
"The Sirens placed she and I together because they had determined she was more likely to initiate combat or respond with deadly force in the event of an altercation between us."
"And how did they determine that?"
"...they ran tests on her and Atago," I said softly, fidgeting uncomfortably. "Wanted to see who was more conducive to violence against me. Since Atago was deemed to be the lesser candidate, they moved her over to the other side of the island, nearer to Washington and the others. That way if things escalated, it would be more likely that the two sides would not only engage, but get hits in."
Bremerton nodded again and made a few notes before she looked back up at me. I'm sure she could sense my discomfort, and she kept her tone soft but pressed on. I don't blame her, she had to know. "So…the Sirens captured all of you, ran tests on Atago and Takao to see which one of them would be more likely to kill you, and then put the two of you on a ship, isolated from everyone else?"
"Correct," I confirmed, then added, "Oh, and they made sure to arm us, too. She had her sword and I found an Eagle Union pistol just lying on the compass up on her bridge."
Bremerton frowned as she leaned back and typed a few more notes. "Where did she get the pistol from?"
"She didn't. She denied having it, and her small arms locker didn't have anything that looked like a Colt. It was all Sakura Empire pistols and rifles."
"So how did it get there?"
"Best guess, Sirens put it there."
She nodded a few more times and made another note. "And that's when you and Takao began cooperating with each other, I take it?"
"Correct." I braced myself for the inevitably uncomfortable conversations we were about to have.
"You seem like you two are close."
I sighed and nodded reluctantly, "We are."
"Would you say that it's a result of your circumstances or is it something more?"
"I don't know," I answered honestly. "It could be either or at this point, we've only known each other for two days. I hope it's something more, but that'll take time to find out."
"Is that why you brought them here?"
"No," I emphatically denied with a sharp shake of my head. "For starters, Takao was injured saving my life, and the least I could do is make sure she's okay. That…and for something else…"
When I didn't elaborate further, she pressed the issue. "And what would that be?"
I stayed silent for a long while as I wrestled with how much to tell her. Part of me wanted to tell her everything, to get it all off my chest and let it all out. To share this burden with someone beyond myself, Atago, and Takao. But that last little bit of paranoia was holding me back.
Then Takao's words came back to me, cutting through those doubts as if they were paper. "If you trust them, then trust them."
She was right. But first, I needed to make sure this stayed as quiet as possible for now. I fixed Bremerton with a steely glare and declared, "What I am about to tell you cannot leave this room. That is a direct order. I don't care about what your job as base counselor says, what regulations are, I am telling you that this information stays here. Do you understand?"
Bremerton nodded solemnly and sat up straight. "Yes, sir. You have my complete confidence."
I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and let the truth set me free. "We were set up. During our escape, we came across a transmission that someone had sent to the Sirens that gave them our patrol route. It was the same patrol route I filed with Naval HQ the day we left. And the ID codes attached to the transmission showed they were from Naval HQ directly. Someone at Naval HQ sent the Sirens my patrol route."
Bremerton couldn't have looked more shocked if I'd grown a third arm and started juggling chainsaws. Her mouth fell open, and she stared at me in utter disbelief and horror until her phone slipped from her hands and landed on the floor in a clatter. She jumped, startled back to the present as she quickly retrieved her device. "That…that's impossible…they wouldn't…" she began, trying to find the words. "...why?"
"I have no idea," I sighed as I collapsed back on the couch. "It's clear that the Sirens wanted us to fire on one another, to break this tentative peace, but I have no idea how that benefits Naval HQ or even an individual person. But the evidence was there, plain as day."
"How do you know it wasn't left by the Sirens to sow confusion and chaos among our ranks?" Bremerton asked as she dusted off her phone.
"Those codes are changed every few days using a new cipher," I began. "If the Sirens had cracked them, it strikes me as odd that instead of using it to issue false orders, or otherwise disrupt command and control, they bury it in a message that I might never see. Think of how many convoys they could've ordered into Siren ambushes, or sent the wrong shipments to the wrong places. With the codes to Naval HQ, they could have crippled our logistics within days. That alone could've given them the edge in the North Atlantic they needed."
She nodded slowly, her brows furrowed in thought as she digested this new information. "Then why didn't they just give the Sirens the codes themselves if they've already got someone on the inside?"
"It would draw too much attention," I quickly answered. "If they use those codes, we're going to see how they broke them or if someone handed them off. We'd find the traitor, and the Sirens would've gotten a victory, but it would've cost them the mole in high command. But if I wander into a Mirror Sea, a tragic misunderstanding leads to bloodshed and suddenly we've got a war back on our hands, nobody's going to suspect anything. The Sirens get their war and they get to keep the spy in their pocket. Win-win for them."
Bremerton leaned back as she tried to think of some other way to explain away Naval HQ's codes being there. In the end, she shut her eyes and shook her head. "Dammit," she sighed. "Who else knows about this?"
"Just Takao and Atago. They were there when I found the files."
"Did you manage to recover the files?" she asked hopefully.
A hope I dashed with a sad shake of my head. "I'm afraid not. Once the Sirens realized we were in their database, they purged it. Those two are my only witnesses, and even then, they can only attest that I saw what I believed to be those codes."
She looked grim for a second before it was buried beneath her cheery, can-do resolve. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to figure out this mystery ourselves! What's the plan, boss?"
For a second, the sudden mood swing took me by surprise, but her smile was infectious and I found myself relaxing in her familiar enthusiasm. "For starters, we need to start building a…counter-conspiracy, for lack of a better word. I want to keep it as small as possible. Even if we trust everyone on base, the more people who are involved, the higher the chance HQ will catch wind of it and we lose our mole."
She grinned and gave me a thumbs up. "Can do. So right now, it's you, me, and I take it we're including Takao and Atago?"
"Correct," I nodded. "Although what they can do is going to be limited for now as to not draw any additional attention to themselves." Washington's response from earlier popped into my head, and I asked, "Do you think anyone's going to have a problem with them?"
Bremerton thought it over for a moment before she slowly shook her head. "Not enough of one to actually cause a scene or defy orders over it. I think some people aren't going to be happy about it. Prince of Wales looked pretty put out by it, and I don't think Northampton and Hornet are gonna be pleased, either, but they'll get used to it. Or at best tolerate them."
"Good, good," I murmured. At least I shouldn't have to worry too much about that, then. "As for the rest of our little cabal, I wanna bring in Washington and South Dakota. They already have some idea of what's going on, considering they were kidnapped with me. They also need a debriefing, so this'll be a good two birds, one stone situation."
Bremerton began to make a note on her phone before she quickly deleted it, put it aside, and reached for a notepad and paper. When she caught my quizzical look, she grinned and said, "Ain't ya ever seen a spy movie, Commander? Nothing is ever really deleted from electronic devices. Paper still burns pretty good, though."
"Fair enough," I conceded with a smile.
"So who else?"
I exhaled slowly as I thought it over. "I think we'll need at least one more person, someone who's good with research. And who's running our small arms locker right now?"
She stopped scribbling on the notepad to glance up at me. "Oh, uhhh…Brooklyn, I think."
"Perfect," I smiled at the thought of the hyper-efficient and straight-laced cruiser. "We won't need to tell her everything that's going on, but she's just who we need for the first part of the plan. In the meantime, I've got to get some reports filed and messages sent while you go ahead and get started on bringing in Washington, South Dakota, and…who's going to be our researcher?"
She gave me an enigmatic smile. "I have just the person for it…"
While Bremerton was out rounding up our fellow conspirators, I finally sat down behind my desk and got to work on compiling my reports. As much as I wanted to call Naval HQ, to see who balked at my presence, who would react to certain things being left out of the after-action debriefing, and who would press for more information, even under these circumstances, it didn't warrant a phone call. The mere act of me requesting one would've likely tipped my hand. So I would file my report and wait for a response from Naval HQ.
In the meantime, we weren't going to wait for someone else to make the next move. We had the gun, and that was as good a place to start as any. Find out where it came from and we may be able to trace it back to its source.
And of course, there was the matter of Takao and Atago. I needed to get word to Chikuma, to apprise her of what was going on without alerting her superiors. Whether Takao and Atago wanted to stay may be rendered moot if a higher up like Akagi got wind and demanded their return immediately. I could argue the point, but given how fragile this peace is, I'd likely lose and they'd be shipped off back home.
Part of me wondered what would be harder to stomach, losing key witnesses or having to cut off contact with Takao. Somehow I doubted we could start video calling each other once she was back in the Sakura Empire, at least until this cease-fire became a more permanent truce. Normally, I liked to take things slow, but to be honest, before she left once more, I would want to know if this was going to be something serious, or an adrenaline-fueled infatuation. Which also meant I'd need to figure out a good first date.
With a sigh, I put my head down and got started. I had a lot of work ahead of me…
A/N-Conspiracies, dates, so much to do, so little time! Until next time, fair winds and following seas!
