Ise POV

My eyes slowly opened and I lightly rubbed them. I stretched like a cat and sighed; that felt gooooood. I looked at the clock and it read 8:05; I need to get up soon but I could lay in bed for a few minutes. As I lay there my mind began to wander. For three days I had the same... dream? I'm not sure what to call it. I don't remember much of it once it ends and it usually ends very abruptly. The last time I had it, which was two days ago, I remembered more of the dream than ever but even then I can only recall vague pictures and a distinct feeling of dread. Just thinking about it sends a shiver down my spine and I'm not sure why.

I grabbed my phone and clicked on Akashi-san's number. It rang a few times before she answered.

"Ise-san! How have you been?"

"Good, what about you?"

"I've been good," she sounded a little tired.

"Are you alright? You sound tired."

She sighed, "I'm fine, just a rough couple of days."

"Abyssals?"

"Yeah. They've stepped up their raiding attacks on convoys and have tried to raid the coastline. Aoba-san's fleet sortied yesterday to intercept an abyssal fleet heading for Shizuoka. They destroyed the fleet but Kiso-san and Nagara-san were so heavily damaged I can't believe they made it back. They're resting now but they still need extensive repairs."

"Thank the gods they made it back. I'm not interrupting anything am I?"

"No. Besides, if you were we wouldn't be talking right now."

"True. I need to ask you something. What do you know about IJN Ise?"

"You're talking about the ship, right?"

"Yes."

"I know her displacement, speed, armor, and armament but I got all of that from you. I know very little about the ship herself. Why?"

"I had this same dream for three days straight but I haven't had it for the past two days. I can't recall much of it other than an a dreadful feeling and a flight deck for some reason."

"A flight deck? That's strange. Hold on... Ise-san I'm going to have to cut this short."

"What happened?"

"Something happened during a summing. They need me ASAP; I'll call you back later. Bye."

"Bye." The call ended and I placed my phone back on the nightstand. I sighed in frustration. I can remember everything I did in the interwar years and what I did in WW2 up to 1943. After that, it's like my memories are being suppressed and I can't figure out why. I could look up the history of my ship but even the thought fills me with cold dread. It's frustrating; I'm a battleship I face the abyssals without fear but the thought of looking into the history of my ship causes me to freeze!

I growled and slammed my fist into the nightstand.

CRASH!

"...Fuck."

I heard a groan and looked over to Fuso-san's bed and saw her shifting around. She rolled over and looked at me sleepily. "Ise-san... what did-"

"Don't ask."

She rubbed her eyes and nodded, "Alright." She pushed the covers off her necked body and stood up. "I'm going to get dressed." The door closed behind her and I smiled. I knew that if she was awake she wouldn't have given in so easily. Fuso-san does not do mornings well but you would never know unless you saw her when she first wakes up. A few minutes later the bathroom door opened and she stepped out; her hair was fixed and she looked like she had been awake for hours instead of minutes. She nodded at me and walked out.

I tossed the covers off and swung my legs out. I looked at the nightstand and sighed, "Need to get a new one but that can wait." I stood up and entered the bathroom. I exited the bathroom a few minutes later and checked the time. "If they're on time our reinforcements should arrive in ten minutes," I mumbled. I put my phone away and headed for the docks.

After a short walk through the base I arrived at the docks; Fuso-san and Commander Shuko-sama are already here. I walked up beside Fuso-san, "Do we know what we are getting for reinforcements?"

Commander Shuko-sama sighed, "No. I couldn't get the number of ships or their type." The roar of an engine drew our attention to the skies. Three black dots are quickly closing in; my spotters identify them as Zeros and they break as they fly over the base.

"Judging from that there is a carrier or carriers in the force. You recognize their markings?"

"No."

A few minutes later I could see the silhouettes of a fleet. As they drew closer I heard Fuso-san gasp in surprise.

"Yamashiro?"

"Who," Commander Shuko-sama asked.

"That's your-

"BIG SISTER!"

I heard a splash and turned just into to see a blur leap out of the ocean and charge Fuso-san. The blur slammed into Fuso-san and wrapped her in a hug which Fuso-san returned.

"I'm so glad to see you!"

Fuso-san pulled away slightly and lightly kissed her sister on her forehead. She blushed and tried to pull away but she didn't give it much effort.

"Big sister, you're embarrassing me," she wined. A few destroyers started to giggle but stopped when Fuso-san glared at them. One of them ducked behind her sister who then hid behind a carrier.

"It's good to see you, Yamashiro."

I watched with a smile but I felt a pain in my heart.

"...Why the long face big sister?"

My eyes widened and I turned to see Hyuga walking towards me with a smile. She wrapped me in a hug, "It's so good to see you."

I returned it a second later, "It's great to see you, Hyuga."

"I'll give the four of you time to catch up. Yamashiro-san who is the leader of this fleet?"

"Shokaku-san is the leader of the Fifth Carrier Division while I am the leader of taskforce Fuji. With destroyer squadrons eight and eleven we form the Fifth fleet."

"Alright. Shokaku-san come with me, the rest of the fleet can explore the base. Don't cause any trouble. Yamashiro-san, Ise-san, Fuso-san I expect you at my office in seven minutes."

I pulled away from Hyuga and looked her over. She has long silver hair that reaches her mid-back and her eyes are amber in color. She wears a kimono that exposes half of her midsection and a belt with a gold engraving holds it closed. Her skirt leaves her hips exposed but closes up a little further down and a red bow is wrapped around her hips, "You look good."

She smiled, "Thanks, you look good too. How have you been?"

"Save for having to fight the abyssals, I've been good."

"Yeah, I've been briefed about them but I haven't fought them yet."

"Nervous?"

"A little," she sheepishly answered.

"There is nothing to be nervous about; trust me, you'll be fine."

"Thanks."

"So, you're Ise-san."

I turned to Yamashiro-san. She had blue gray-hair with a flower ornament in it and red eyes. She wears a short kimono with an intricate river pattern and the sleeves reach down to her knees. There are two bells at the bottom of her kimono which have small bows directly above them. Rounding out her outfit are her thigh heights.

"And you are Yamashiro-san. It's nice to meet you," I bowed and she did as well.

"It's nice to meet you too, Ise-san."

As we were greeting each other my sister and Fuso-san were greeting each other as well.

"It's great to meet you, Fuso-san."

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, Hyuga-san."

"So, with introductions out of the way, we need to head to Commander Shuko-sama's office."

"Aww, you're leaving already."

"Sorry Hyuga, Fuso-san and I are the leaders of our taskforces and the Third fleet as a whole."

"Fiiiiiiiiine, but you better come find me after you're done."

"I promise," she smiled and nodded.

"Come on Yamashiro."

"Yay! I get to spend more time with my big sister!"

I waved goodbye to my sister and we headed back into the base which is far more active than it was a few minutes ago. We passed personal and Kanmusu alike on our way to the Commander's office.

'Knock, knock'

"Come in."

"Sir, sorry for being late."

"Don't worry about that, I know how important family is. Now that you are here we can get started."

"The invasion of Taiwan, or operation T, is to commence on the twenty-third. Submarines will be dispatched on the eighteenth and will form a ring around the southern tip of Taiwan. On the twenty-first the Fifth and Third fleets will depart; they will be combined until hostile surface ships are spotted. Once they are spotted the Third fleet will detach and engage them along with taskforce Fuji and destroyer squadron eight. Once we have command of the sea you will bombard the abyssal positions before and during the invasion. The submarines will be in position by this time and will alert us to any abyssal fleet trying to reclaim command of the sea. Any questions?"

"Taiwan is the 'front door' to the South-East Pacific, where the abyssals first appeared. From a previous report by I-29, we know the abyssals have a large fleet base at Magong harbor; they have likely reinforced the fleet stationed there. That's not even counting the fleets they could pull from their territory. I don't mean to sound ungrateful but can we expect more reinforcements before the invasion," I asked.

Commander Shuko-sama sighed, "I don't know."

"Sir, this is going to be a highly dangerous operation. The more Kanmusu we have the better."

"I know, I explained this to Admiral Goto when he ordered taskforce ten back to Yokosuka. He told me we would receive reinforcements but taskforce ten wouldn't assist in the invasion of Taiwan."

"Did he explain why?"

"When I asked he said I wasn't 'high enough in rank to know.' It is not that difficult to tell that a major operation is in the works but only high ranking admirals know anything about it. Unless it directly affects us we won't be informed about the details, right now we will focus on retaking Taiwan."