The soft sway of Bachata music drifted throughout the room of Drake's private office as the American reclined in his chair, a glass cup filled halfway with scotch in his hand. He stared lazily at the ceiling, his admiral's coat unbuttoned. It had been a day since the meeting with the Abyssals, and to be honest, Drake was still feeling like shit. However, he realized that he had a job to do, and so he resolved to push his personal troubles to the back of his mind and get on with his work. Though he decided that, Kaga had not shown up on this cloudy day, so Drake ended up just lazing around instead of doing any real work.
I wonder… Does she hate me now? Maybe she thinks I'm a weak, pathetic loser.
Though Drake wouldn't blame her if she thought that, he knew her well enough by now to recognize that she didn't see him that way. Even so, he wondered why she had not arrived promptly at the office like she usually did. He thought she might be sick, but if that were the case, he was sure that she would have called him or something to let him know beforehand. He briefly wondered if something so serious had happened that she was physically unable to call him, but then he realized that someone else probably would have told him if that were the case. Either way, Drake just wasn't up to the task of hunting her down today.
However, the door to the office then opened, and sure enough, there was Kaga. The carrier wore a brief look of surprise when she saw Drake, though that was quickly replaced by her usual emotionless facade.
"Admiral. You're here."
"I suppose I am."
He didn't say anything else, so Kaga spoke again. "I'm sorry, I thought you would be in the main office. I looked in there first, but then got held up when they explained the news about the Abyssals to me."
"... News?"
Kaga blinked in confusion. "The Fleet Admiral or Nagato didn't tell you?"
Yeah right, like I could show my face to them after yesterday. "No, I didn't go in there at all today. Is it important?"
Kaga entered the room and sat down at her usual seat beside Drake before explaining.
"We don't have many details yet, but it appears the Abyssals are gathering a massive force around Okinawa," she said. "Based on the level of activity and number of ships we've seen traversing that area, this appears to be a fleet larger than the ones at Tangier and Los Angeles combined."
"Another major operation?" Drake asked.
"It seems that way, sir. Also, the Princesses guarding Bethlehem have disappeared. It is possible that they will also partake in the next Abyssal offensive."
"That's something to look forward to," he spat sarcastically. "So what is their goal? Attack Okinawa? That's the only thing of importance in that region."
"Perhaps. Or they could simply be goading us into a decisive battle," Kaga posited.
Drake smirked. "Yeah, Fleet Command's not dumb enough to fall for something like that. The Abyssals know that they can only bring us out to fight if they're directly threatening something of value, which means they'll need to attack Okinawa. And if they're going to do that, we will have the benefit of land-based support as well as the entirety of Japan's naval strength. They're not taking that island without a fight."
Kaga nodded. "I assume that is why their fleet is so large. Nagato also said that if Abyssal activity continues to increase, then we may receive reinforcements from the Grand European Fleet and America as well."
"So it's pretty serious, then…" Drake took a sip of his drink as he leaned back in his chair and mulled the briefing over.
"It would be the largest battle so far in the war, so yes," Kaga agreed.
"Probably the largest in history if this battle actually ends up happening. The biggest before this was Leyte Gulf, I think," Drake mused. "But anyway, what are we supposed to do? Did they give us any new orders?"
"Not that I know of. It seems International Fleet Command has not decided what they will do as of yet."
Drake sighed lightly as he absently tapped the side of his glass with his fingernail. "Great. I wish they'd at least give us some more information other than just, 'There's a huge enemy force gathering off Okinawa.' That doesn't really tell me much."
Kaga didn't have anything to say to that, so Drake just decided he might as well start work now. He still had to write that report about the Abyssal meeting to send back to his own government, though Fleet Admiral Boston probably already received and read Miiro's report at INFCOM already. In addition to that, there were still the various daily logistical issues that needed to be dealt with, so Drake steeled himself to slog through them now that Kaga was here to help. However, when he started off by checking his email, he noticed he had received a message from INFCOM.
Curious, he opened it up and read it. The email seemed to be about the gathering Abyssal forces off Okinawa, and it pretty much told him nothing new now that Kaga had already informed him about the situation. The only extra thing it added was that the rate of Abyssal reinforcement to that sector of the ocean was abnormally rapid, and so INFCOM was working on an immediate strategy for a defense of Okinawa. It also made it a point to say that the other ship girl fleets would be assisting, and that if Okinawa were attacked, its defense would most certainly be an international operation involving multiple countries.
So it seems some of the complaining we did at that conference actually went through to them.
After reading that email, the gravity of the situation began to dawn on him. He seriously doubted the Abyssals would be marshalling such a huge force for no reason, so in his mind, a fleet battle was more or less inevitable.
I suppose now isn't the time to worry about other things, he thought, referring to his lingering anguish over yesterday's events. He was sure this upcoming battle would require the bulk of his attention.
Someone knocked on the door to Drake's office, causing Kaga and the rear admiral to look up. A moment later, Nagato entered.
"Sorry to intrude… I didn't know you were here, Admiral Drake. Did Kaga already inform you of the situation?"
"Yeah," Drake simply replied.
"Ah, right then." Nagato seemed to be avoiding his gaze. "W-well, I just came to make sure. Sorry to interrupt."
She closed the door, and Drake frowned to himself. Nagato was acting strangely, and he knew exactly why, but then again, that was his own fault. Prior to yesterday, his image to most of the base's members was probably that of a quiet but competent commander, but he was sure that everyone was present at the meeting no longer saw him that way. He again thought that Kaga was the exception, but that was because she already knew about his 'issues' beforehand.
Suddenly, the blaring of air raid sirens went off, causing Drake to nearly jump out of his seat. He looked at Kaga, who appeared to be equally as surprised.
"... The hell is that?" Drake wondered as he went over the window and cracked it open. He stuck his head outside and looked up at the sky, but he couldn't see anything.
Kaga joined him at the window. "Another enemy air attack?"
"Doesn't seem like last time, though," Drake said as he continued to try and locate where the supposed enemy planes were. "If it were someone like the Airfield Princess again, the sirens wouldn't go off until it was too late. I don't see anything in the sky, so I guess this is an advanced warning."
"What should we do?"
"Shelter in the basement, I guess. These buildings are all made to have underground bomb shelters, so we should just wait the raid out. Not like we can sortie in time to stop it," Drake answered, not eager to be caught in yet another Abyssal bombing run.
The admiral and his secretary ship went out of the office and into the hallway, where they found Ooyodo, Mutsu, Nagato, Miiro, and Genji all standing around as well.
"What's going on right now?" Genji asked with a deep frown. "Rear Admiral Drake, is it another air attack?"
"How should I know?" Drake replied.
"Can Wo-classes even fly their planes this far?" Mutsu asked worriedly.
Genji turned to Drake again. "Well? Or is this just another thing you don't know despite being the carrier officer for this base?"
"Again, I'm not a carrier officer," Drake bluntly pointed out. "But yeah, Abyssal planes should be able to reach here if the Wo-classes are close enough to the shore. If they're close to shore, though, they would easily be spotted, which is probably why the air raid sirens are going off despite their being no enemy planes in the vicinity right now."
"So an advanced warning…" Nagato summed up. "Can we sortie to stop it in time?"
"Probably not…" However, Drake then rethought his assessment and decided he might as well send someone out anyway. It couldn't hurt to try. "Actually, Kaga, go see if you can at least get your flight deck and arrows on in time."
Kaga looked a bit reluctant to leave, but she nevertheless nodded and ran out of the building to get her equipment. Drake began walking towards the staircase as well, trying to get to the basement.
"Where're you going?" Genji asked.
"Uh, the basement shelter? Unless you all want to stand up here where you have a much greater chance of being killed."
Genji blinked. "There is no basement in this building. How did you not notice that?"
Drake wore an incredulous look. "What? Why would they design these buildings without air raid shelters?"
"I wouldn't be privy to that knowledge," Genji rolled his eyes. "But I suppose we might as well head down to the lobby anyway."
The group decided to go to the lobby to avoid potentially being trapped upstairs if the building caught fire or something, and when they got there, they noticed that many of the people in the lobby also had expressions of fear, confusion, or both. A few sailors who were sitting by the Starbucks came over and asked what was going on, and as Miiro and Genji dealt with them, Drake slowly ventured towards the windows, wanting to see if the enemy bombers were visible yet. He himself wasn't feeling too excited about another air raid, but he was resolved not to act like he did during the last one, especially given yesterday's events.
When Drake peered out the window, he actually did manage to see something in the sky. His eyes widened as he thought the bombers were approaching, but he then noticed that something was different. The bombers usually flew a bit lower and slower, but these planes seemed to be moving fairly quickly. Also tailing the Abyssal aircraft were a trio of fighters which appeared to belong to the Imperial Air Force. The much larger fighters chased after the Abyssal planes, and the zoom of their engines came and went as the fliers came and went over the base with surprising speed.
"What the...? Those weren't bombers," Genji stated, having joined Drake at the window along with Miiro and the ship girls.
"Perhaps they were doing surveillance of the base?" Nagato offered, though she also seemed confused.
The sirens suddenly stopped, indicating that the base was no longer under threat of an air attack. Drake subtly let out a breath he had been holding, relieved that he wouldn't have to experience another bombing run. He then noticed Kaga, who was walking fairly quickly back to the Administrative Building.
"I'm sorry, sir," she said as she entered. "I wasn't even able to make it to the Equipment Building in time to intercept them. They did not appear to be bombers, though."
"I wonder why the Abyssals would scout this base if they're attacking Okinawa…?" Mutsu asked.
"Perhaps to gauge our strength?" her sister suggested. "Even if they're not directly attacking us, they know this base's forces would participate in that battle."
Whatever the reason for the presence of the Abyssal planes, Drake no longer felt like sitting in his office and doing paperwork after that, so he simply walked out of the Administrative Building. He wasn't sure what the others were planning on doing, but he didn't really care either. Ever since the meeting, Drake had felt the slow burn of frustration smolder underneath his collar, and right now, he just couldn't deal with it. Thankfully, his unique position in the Kancolle program meant that he essentially had no boss or commanding officer he needed to directly answer to on the base, so it wasn't as if anyone could stop him from doing what he wanted.
As he walked out onto the streets of the base, he heard someone following him. Pausing, he turned around to see Kaga, who also stopped when he did.
"Did you need something?" he asked a bit gruffly.
Kaga blinked. "No, sir. Did you not want me to follow you? I assumed you were going somewhere important."
Drake turned back around, frowned and continued walking. "I'm not even going anywhere in particular. You can come if you want or you can go and finish whatever work's left in the office. I don't really care."
As he continued on, he heard Kaga's footsteps resume, so he sighed to himself and slowed his pace so that she could catch up and wouldn't just be following him around like some sort of errand girl.
You know what? I could use another drink, the admiral thought as he changed course to Houshou's pub. Kaga wordlessly accompanied him, and when they arrived at the small establishment, they saw there were a few people already present.
"Hey, come on, you're a ship girl, you can take it," Zuikaku urged Fubuki, whom she was seated next to. The destroyer seemed to be staring a cup of what looked like sake.
"Um… I don't know…" Fubuki responded, recoiling slightly as she sniffed the drink. Shoukaku was also present, as was Shiranui and and a few other destroyers whom Drake didn't recognize.
"C'mon, don't be so scared!" Zuikaku egged on before noticing Kaga and Drake. "Oh, you two? What, you're taking a break already? Or did the air raid sirens scare ya?"
"Zuikaku…" Shoukaku sighed.
Drake ignored her and sat down next to Shoukaku. Kaga took a seat beside the admiral, and Houshou, who was wiping down a part of the bar on the far end of the room, walked over once she saw them.
"Ah, welcome," the motherly carrier greeted warmly. "Would you like something to drink?"
Kaga shook her head while Drake glanced over at Fubuki, who was nervously raising the glass to her lips.
"I'll have what she's having, I guess. Also get one for my secretary ship too, please."
Houshou nodded and moved off to complete their orders. Drake knew that it was probably too early in the day to be drinking, but he'd already had a glass today, so at this point he didn't really care.
"So, um, what were those air raid sirens for, sir?" Shoukaku asked him. "A false alarm, right?"
"There were some Abyssal reconnaissance planes doing a flyover," he explained.
"The hell? Are they going to attack the base?" Zuikaku asked.
"Let's hope not," Drake curtly replied.
"That's… Not very reassuring."
"Well, if you really want to know, then they're going to attack Okinawa soon," Drake told her. "So them flying over this base was just a scouting out of our forces, ammunition, and stuff like that. It's preparation for then."
"T-they're attacking Okinawa?" Fubuki cried out in surprise, overhearing the conversation. She blushed when everyone turned to look at her. "... Sorry."
"That's what it looks like," Drake confirmed, now that he had the attention of all the room's occupants. "Be prepared for the fight of your life. Looks like it's going to be a big one."
"Cheery news," Zuikaku sarcastically muttered. "So is that why you're here drinking?"
Drake smirked. "Nah, I've got other problems… But yeah, I suppose that's one more to add to the list."
"Um, I'm sure we'll be victorious in the end!" Shoukaku tried to cheer him up. "Right, Kaga?"
"We do not know their strength or their strategy. Success cannot be assured at this moment," Kaga answered bluntly, causing Shoukaku's face to fall.
Drake stifled a chuckle at Kaga's characteristic rejection and Shoukaku's reaction. For some reason, he felt a bit better now that he was out of the office and not doing work, even though he still ended up talking about the Abyssals after all.
"Hey, Admiral Drake!" one of the destroyer's who Drake didn't know called out. She had light brown hair and wore a similar uniform to Shiranui, so Drake assumed they were sisters. "Shiranui here says you'll buy us all drinks if we ask nicely! Is it true?"
"I never said that," Shiranui growled emphatically.
"Go for it," Drake replied nonchalantly. He hadn't spent much money since he was first posted here, so he could probably afford it. Given that he'd basically been doing whatever the hell he wanted today, there was no point in stopping now.
A few of the destroyers cheered at that, and Houshou arrived with Drake and Kaga's drinks.
"Quite kind of you, sir," Houshou noted after Drake's announcement.
He shrugged. "Might as well try and raise morale after what I just said about Okinawa."
Drake took a sip of the sake. He wasn't enough of an expert on Japanese alcohol to tell what flavor or type it was, but as long as it got the job done, it was fine by him. He glanced at Kaga out of the corner of his eye, and the carrier seemed to be looking at the drink strangely.
"What's the matter? Don't like alcohol?" Drake asked her, remembering that she didn't drink at the party aboard the USS Glorious Tears of Liberty either.
"I don't dislike it, but I prefer not to cloud my senses with it," she answered. "But since you already bought it… It would be rude to refuse."
"Er, you don't have to -"
Before Drake even finished his sentence, Kaga had drank the contents of the glass as if it were water, not even flinching as she did so. She placed the cup back on the bar, her expression as calm and stoic as ever.
"Wow, you drink like a hardened alcoholic," Zuikaku noted with a smirk.
Kaga gave her a pointed look. "Don't be jealous because you can't hold your liquor."
"I totally can!" Zuikaku bristled.
"Oh really?"
"Yes! I'll prove you wrong right here and now!"
"Uh, please don't get into a drinking contest," Drake interrupted. My wallet wouldn't like that either.
The two carriers calmed down after that, though they still refused to stop glaring at each other, resulting in Drake and Shoukaku being caught in the middle.
"Ehehe… I apologize for my sister, sir," Shoukaku said sheepishly.
Drake shook his head. "It's all right. I'm pretty used to this now anyway, unfortunately."
The American then felt someone tap on his shoulder, so he turned to find Shiranui standing there with her usual serious expression. The pink-haired destroyer held a piece of paper in her hand.
"Sir. Commander Keats left this behind before he left," Shiranui said, handing the folded piece of paper to him. "I've been carrying this around for a while, but I forgot about it until now. I apologize, but I looked inside to see if it was important. It doesn't seem to be very informative, though."
Curious, Drake unfolded it and read its contents, which was really only one sentence which appeared to be hastily scribbled:
22 MEN KILLED IN BRISBANE
Drake raised an eyebrow. "Uh… What does this even mean?"
Shiranui frowned. "I wouldn't know, sir. I thought you would have a better idea."
Drake rubbed his chin and leaned back in his seat as pondered the message. His first thoughts were that this was a code of some sorts, and this theory was the most likely considering the message was pretty much nonsense otherwise. However, he couldn't help but think of other possibilities as well. A terrorist attack? No, he would have heard about it on the news by now. A serial killer? Also probably would have been on the news. A cover-up of a failed US operation or an Abyssal attack? The possibilities were far and wide, especially since the message didn't even give a hint as to who those men were.
"I've got no idea what this is," Drake admitted. "However, I think it's safe to say that we probably weren't meant to see this."
He glanced over to the three carriers, who all averted their gazes. It was obvious that they were eavesdropping, so he supposed the message wasn't so secret anymore.
"Any of you know what this means?" he asked them since they had already seen it anyway.
Zuikaku shook her head. "Where even is Brisbane? Australia? The message is kind of creepy, to be honest."
"What, Keats didn't share any of this information with his ZuiZui?" Drake smirked at her.
Zuikaku groaned. "Please don't you start calling me that too…"
"I think it's cute, ZuiZui," Drake teased some more, enjoying her discomfort. He sort of understood why Boston found it so fun to call him 'Dick' all the time now.
"Going back to the message," Shoukaku cut in, getting them back on track, "perhaps it is a code of some sort?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought," Drake agreed. "Seems like a strange thing to use as a code, but whatever. Who knows what the SEALs are up to."
"So it isn't possible that the message is literal and that twenty-two men have actually been killed in Brisbane?" Kaga asked.
Drake frowned. "I mean… It's possible, I guess, but if that really happened, I would think it would be on the news by now. Unless it was part of a secret operation or something. Did any of you notice any of the SEALs acting weird before they left?"
Zuikaku, Shoukaku, and Shiranui shook their heads. Fubuki had also come over once she noticed her fleetmates talking about something, and her confused eyes were currently fixed on the message. So much for keeping it a secret.
"You don't know what this means either, do you, Fubuki?" Drake asked her, deciding it couldn't hurt to ask.
"No, sir. Sorry…"
"Eh, whatever," Drake concluded as he stuffed the note into his pocket. "I'll ask one of my superiors about it later. Not like they can blame me for reading something that was left here."
As much as Drake loved a good mystery, it was pointless to worry about something that likely had nothing to do with him when he would be facing much more real dangers in the near future. The admiral then sat around at the bar for a few more minutes before paying and leaving, deciding that he should actually get back to work at some point. Kaga dutifully followed.
When the duo re-entered the Administrative Building, something playing on the television that was mounted on the right wall of the lobby caught Drake's eye. He paused momentarily to listen to what appeared to be some sort of Japanese news report.
"... Approximately twenty-two American soldiers were reported to be killed in a blast caused by an electrical failure aboard a transport craft located in the port of Brisbane, Australia," the anchorwoman spoke. "As of now, further details are not known, but a joint American and Australian investigation will begin looking into the issue…"
So that's what it was? That's terrible, Drake thought, frowning to himself. It was one thing to die in battle, but dying in an accident like that while in military service was especially unfortunate. Personally he didn't think that it diminished their contribution to the military even if they died in that way, but even so…
"I suppose that question has been answered, then," Kaga remarked, also looking at the news report.
"Yeah…" Drake started, but then realized something: why would Commander Keats write something like that down on a piece of paper, as if it were an urgent message he needed to remember? He also seemed to have got the information about the accident a few days before the mainstream media picked it up, but was there any reason for that?
"But why would that SEAL commander need this information?" Kaga then asked after thinking about it some more, echoing Drake's own questions.
"That's what I was wondering too," the rear admiral replied, still staring thoughtfully at the television. "Maybe the soldiers who died were also SEALs? The news report didn't say. But even then, would Commander Keats really need to know that?"
"Perhaps those men were under his command as well?" Kaga suggested.
Drake scratched his chin absently. "Does Keats even command that many people? I thought he was just in charge of that squad. Those soldiers who died over in Australia probably aren't part of his squad, though maybe they worked together or something…? Anyway, an 'accident' doesn't really sound like that's all there was to it, but we don't have anything else to go off, so I guess we'll have to accept it…"
Fleet Admiral Wei walked into the dimly-lit boardroom, frowning as he took in the heavy atmosphere. Already seated at the large oval table in the center of the room were the other fleet admirals in the United States Liberation Navy: Cassius, Boston, and Van Dyke. The four fleet admirals were the only ones in the room, and they made full use of the space, sitting far away from each other as they waited at the table.
"Ah, am I late? Sorry," Wei greeted with an apologetic grin.
Boston and Van Dyke didn't bother replying, but Cassius sent him a disapproving look, indicating that he was in fact late.
Cassius cleared his throat. "... Now that everyone is here, I suppose we can get started. The first order of business should be the most obvious, and one that everyone here already knows about. We have recently recovered two new ship girls, namely the jeep carrier Gambier Bay and standard carrier Intrepid. Naturally, this addition more than doubles the airpower of our fleet and greatly increases our strike capacity. We still lag far behind Japan, but I believe that the addition of these new ships make our navy the second strongest in the world right now. The two ship girls are currently deployed in the Gulf of Aden under the command of Rear Admiral Wilma Blake, undergoing a brief training program while simultaneously serving to help curb the resurgent pirate threat in the region. Though neither one of the ship girls has come into actual contact with Abyssal forces yet, we still have plans to deploy them in the upcoming operation. Any objections?"
The other three admirals remained silent, so Cassius decided to change the subject.
"The British and Russian ship girl fleets have also gained new warships, but both of them seem to be destroyers. Those new additions are nothing to be concerned about in terms of a threat to our forces."
"But it's not like the UK or Russia were planning to attack us anyway," Wei pointed out as he lazily reclined in his seat, stifling a yawn.
Cassius frowned. "... Right, but we can never be too prepared. The Citizens Council has ordered us to draft up proposals in case of an attack by any other ship girl fleet, which we have done. I presume you've looked at those, Admiral Wei?"
"Uh… Yeah," Wei unconvincingly replied.
Cassius sighed, but decided it would be pointless to say anything else to his fellow fleet admiral.
"All right, then. Now, moving onto the upcoming operation -"
"One more thing," Fleet Admiral Van Dyke interrupted in his deep, raspy voice.
Van Dyke was a well-built man in his forties. He had brown hair peppered with flecks of gray, and he had a gruff-looking brown beard as well. His eyes were hard and cold like steel, and his solemn yet focused expression hinted at experience that went far beyond the average. The most mysterious of the USLN's fleet admirals, Van Dyke had become a fleet admiral immediately upon entry into the Liberation Navy. He was appointed directly by the new Citizens Council after the Great Churning and regime change had removed almost all of the previous military heads, and nobody knew where he came from or what his background was like. It was rumored that he was part of some sort of elite special forces group that helped put the Citizens Council in power, but there was no proof of that, so his actual identity remained unknown. Either way, like Fleet Admiral Boston, he clearly had some sort of previous military training, and sailors in the USLN who had seen Van Dyke spar liked to joke that the man could probably take out an Abyssal with his bare hands.
"The news of that business in Brisbane has been released to the public," Van Dyke continued. "Of course, the actual details have been redacted, and it has been presented as an accident caused by an engineering failure. The news report just broke today, so I don't know if any of you has seen it."
Admiral Cassius nodded, but Boston and Wei looked confused.
"Waaaait… What are we talking about again?" Boston asked, seemingly interested in the conversation for the first time.
"I also have no idea what's going on," Wei added with a smile.
Cassius sighed again. "Don't you two ever read the briefings you get?"
"I read them most of the time," Boston defended.
"Clearly."
"Damn, man, just tell me already!"
"Twenty-two Navy SEALs were killed in action during a reconnaissance mission in Brisbane, Australia," Van Dyke informed them. "That group was sent there in order to investigate sightings of an albino woman in that area."
Boston chuckled. "What, we hunting albinos now?"
"Think about it for a second," Cassius impatiently said. "That 'albino' is obviously supposed to be an Abyssal."
"Yeah, but I thought this happened on land," Boston shot back.
"It did, which is the strange part," Van Dyke answered. "Since the albino in question was seen on land, dressed like a normal woman, we did not initially assume that she was an Abyssal. There's also the fact that no Abyssal has ever wandered ashore before."
"Why did they call her an albino?" Wei asked, sitting up slightly. "As far as I know, the only pictures of Abyssals that have been released to the public are those of the more common type, like the I-class destroyers or the Wo-class carriers. Neither one of them look like actual albinos, except for maybe that the Wo-class also has fairly pale skin. I think it would be pretty obvious to tell the difference between an albino and an Abyssal, so how'd they get mixed up?"
"Well, the woman in Brisbane was reported to have pale skin, long, white hair, and red eyes," Van Dyke said. "So no, she does not seem to be a standard type of Abyssal. We think that she may be a Princess, given her appearance."
Wei narrowed his eyes. "So she looks more like a normal albino… But still, that doesn't make sense. If she looks like an albino, how did the people who reported her know she was actually an Abyssal?"
"They didn't. The few times she was spotted in public, she only got reported because people around her felt a strong, disturbing aura emanating from her. Outwardly, she didn't seem to be acting like an Abyssal or anything," Van Dyke told him. "Normally, feeling a 'disturbing aura' from someone isn't enough for the police to take action, but when you have multiple reports about that from different people, they naturally began to think that something was wrong. Luckily, instead of taking action themselves, the Brisbane police seemed to have passed the information up to the local government and asked them what to do about it. Someone in the Brisbane city council or whatever must have realized the thin link between Abyssals and the woman, because the information was then passed to the national government and then eventually to INFCOM."
"That does sound pretty lucky," Boston agreed. "If the local police had acted too quickly or didn't act at all, we wouldn't even know she was there."
Van Dyke gave a nod. "Ultimately we agreed to keep this sort of information limited to only the highest levels of INFCOM, as it would certainly cause mass panic if it were revealed that there was a powerful Abyssal roaming around on land. Then again, we also weren't one-hundred percent sure that this albino was actually an Abyssal after all, so we had to do some investigating of our own first. That was the purpose of the SEAL team we sent there, but apparently that didn't end so well."
"So what actually happened to them?" Wei asked.
"They were found early in the morning by a local dockworker over at the port of Brisbane. Their bodies and equipment had been completely eviscerated, so we don't know exactly what happened to them. Nevertheless, I think it's safe to assume that the Abyssal caught wind of their arrival and decided to eliminate them preemptively. Can't think of anything else that could do that to a squad of SEALs."
"Damn, that's fucked," Boston summed up as he crossed his arms. "So what are we supposed to do about this?"
Van Dyke's expression remained stony. "That is what we are trying to figure out. Obviously the Abyssal is more aggressive than we originally thought, which was surprising because she hasn't actually harmed any civilians. For now, the Australian government is trying to track her and place her under surveillance as covertly as they can, but aside from that, we don't want the local police force or anyone else getting involved with her. She has made no conspicuous moves as of yet, so we have no idea what she is after… Only that it can't be good."
Wei wore a thoughtful look. "Could whatever she's doing in Australia be related to the offensive the Abyssals are launching against Okinawa?"
"Unlikely," Cassius answered this time. "We've considered that possibility, but we can't come up with anything that the Abyssal could do in Brisbane that would have an effect on a naval battle near Okinawa. Right now, we're assuming that she is part of a different, completely separate operation, or that she's a rogue agent."
"It's best to wait until we can gather more information on this," Van Dyke said. "Until INFCOM comes to a further conclusion on the matter, we'll just have to wait."
"And just how is INFCOM going to come to a conclusion?" Wei asked, a mischievous half smile on his face. "Actually, this is something I've been meaning to ask for a while. INFCOM seems to get its orders from civilian governments like our Citizens Council or the Kaiser or even the Empress of Japan… But how are those governments so knowledgeable on the activities of ship girls and Abyssals? Isn't it our job to inform the governments about what's going on in the war? And yet they seem to be ones ordering us and directing everything we know about the war."
Boston gave him a strange look. "Uh, what? You do know that civilian governments have always ordered the military around, right? At least that's how it works here in America."
Wei shook his head. "That's not what I mean. Yes, civilian governments have always given us orders, but usually their orders are based on information pertinent to the war that we supply. However, the Abyssal War has been different because it's been the governments supplying us admirals with information and then ordering us to act on that information. For example, the technique used to repair ship girls? To decode Abyssal transmissions? To build and rebuild ship girl guns? All that was discovered by a 'team of international scientists.' And yes, that team does actually exist, but did they really come up with all that on their own? How could they possibly do that? They're only human, and the ship girls are essentially beings that are completely out of this world."
"Those 'Fairies' or whatever helped them," Boston pointed out.
"Yeah, but have you ever seen a ship girl's Fairy? They're microscopic, and they live inside their bodies. How could they direct an entire team of scientists?" Wei countered. "My guess is that there is some other organization, perhaps made up of a different kind of Fairies or some other being, helping out the world governments. It would also explain how all these governments came into power at the exact time that the Abyssals first started appearing…"
Van Dyke chuckled darkly. "Boy, I can see why they made you a fleet admiral."
Wei turned to him. "So do you know something about this, Admiral Van Dyke? You were the first fleet admiral appointed in the USLN, after all…"
Van Dyke smirked. "I only know what I've been told, and I think it would be wise for both of us to not overreach our boundaries. Either way, all I'm here to do is make sure the Abyssals are wiped out. Everything else is second to that."
Wei's eyes glinted momentarily before the fleet admiral leaned back in his chair, his expression reverting back to his usual easygoing, lazy one.
"… Yeah, guess it's too complicated to worry about anyway, huh?"
Cassius cleared his throat again. "Well, if all that is done with, then we should move on the main topic of the meeting, which is the Abyssal Spring Offensive against Okinawa. As you all know, or should know, at least, the Abyssals are planning a massive attack against the island of Okinawa in Japan. Unlike the attack on the Izu Archipelago, which was more of a test run, and the decoy attack on Los Angeles, this operation looks like it's going to be a real attempt to wrest control of a significant land mass away from us. The Abyssal fleet that is gathering in those waters is believed to be larger than anything we've ever seen before."
"Don't worry, I think we actually read the reports on this," Boston grinned. "INFCOM Headquarters seems pretty concerned with this too. I hear we're going to be reinforcing the Japanese fleets?"
Cassius nodded. "We need to use everything we can to defend against this. I don't think I need to state why it would be a disaster if the Abyssals were to take Okinawa. The entirety of the Grand European Fleet, Russia, and the United States are all going to be partaking in this operation. The Chinese will also be providing a few warships of their own, but since they have no ship girls, their contribution will be limited to that and the provision of some resources as well. Japanese and American land-based aircraft will also be deployed for this mission, though their effectiveness likely won't be a major factor. Needless to say, our main force will be the Kancolle fleets."
"Sounds like this is going to be tough to coordinate," Wei remarked with a grimace. "Who's going to be in command of the operation? Where is the headquarters going to be?"
"Right, I forgot those things weren't in the report when it was sent out… Well, since the operation does immediately concern Japan, it's been decided that the Japanese Fleet Admiral Reina Umi will be placed in overall command, though she will share strategic command with others, primarily myself, Admiral Helmholtz of Germany, Admiral Boucher of France, Admiral Shelley of Britain, and Admiral Bernini of Italy. Each one of those commanders will probably bring with them a few subcommanders as well as some standard warships of their own, and I believe we have a list of who and what is coming. As for where the headquarters will be, it has been decided that the Tokyo Bay Base will be the main base where everyone will gather and plan out the defense strategy before sortieing. Sasebo is technically closer to Okinawa, but Tokyo Bay has more resources stocked up thanks to us and is actually bigger than Sasebo, which will allow it to accommodate everyone."
"So… What about the rest of us?" Boston asked, referring to the three admirals who weren't going to Japan.
"I was the one ordered to represent the US, so I suppose you are needed in INFCOM while Admirals Wei and Van Dyke are to remain and defend the US," Cassius simply said.
"Report said that the attack would be imminent in the next week or two. What about the civilians on Okinawa?" Wei then brought up.
"They were told about the attack, but only just recently," Cassius answered. "At first it was unclear whether or not we wanted to let the information about a massive impending Abyssal attack get out to the public, but I suppose we have no choice in this case. The Japanese government is helping people evacuate as we speak, but it will be impossible to get everyone out in time, assuming they even want to leave. All the more reason why we cannot lose this battle."
Wei frowned. "So this is going to be the biggest battle of the war so far…"
"Yes," Cassius agreed. "In fact, this defense of Okinawa will probably determine the outcome of the rest of the war. We are throwing everything we can to stop this offensive, and if we fail… Well, let's just say that it is unlikely that we'll be able to come back from it."