Drake leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the table as he watched the television in the situation room of the USS Raw Screams of Liberty. This was the only American carrier that would be present for the Battle of Okinawa, and it was one of the four new Liberty-class vessels. Drake had been aboard Glorious Tears of Liberty at Los Angeles, but other than that, this was only his second time aboard a carrier. In command of the vessel was Admiral Belle, Drake's old instructor. The carrier task force as a whole was under the command of Admiral Helmholtz of Germany and his flagship Brunhild, which was the largest and most powerful carrier in existence.

Also present in the situation room with Drake was his fleet, though the ship girls in his fleet now consisted of the standard carriers and not his normal warships.

"It appears things aren't going well over there," Kaga noted as she watched TV along with Drake.

"Yeah…"

Depicted on the television screen were images and footage of Okinawa, and as Kaga said, it was chaos. Riots and protests had broken out after the Japanese government ordered a mandatory evacuation of the island, and though Japanese officials were still trying to force people onto planes in order to get them to the mainland, there were plenty who didn't want to leave their homes. Many complained that the government was being too hasty and too cautious, and even some of those who did take the Abyssal threat seriously were instead angry at the government for allowing the Abyssals to get this close. Instead of leaving like they were ordered too, these annoyed citizens stayed behind as a protest, but some of those who refused to leave decided not to do things peacefully instead turned to looting empty stores and buildings. Therefore, Imperial Army personnel were sent to quell these dissenters, which in turn only made them angrier. All in all, it was not a good situation on the ground. The only thing that could calm things down was if the International Fleet managed to drive the Abyssals off from Okinawa.

"In addition to the unrest on Okinawa, international financial markets have also experienced instability," the Japanese newscaster on screen continued. "The Nikkei has been hit the hardest, but indexes such as the Dow Jones and Footsie have also suffered. Experts believe that…"

"Heh, looks like they don't have much confidence in us," Drake joked.

"Indeed. I am not quite sure what those 'indexes' refer to, though," Kaga admitted.

"Eh, not really that important," Drake just said. "If we lose this battle, the stock market will be the least of our worries."

"Rear Admiral Drake, please report to the bridge," a voice over the PA system then called out.

Drake sighed to himself as he got up and made his way up towards the bridge. As usual, he preferred to stay in the situation room rather than the bridge, but that meant that he had to walk all the way up there every time he was needed by command.

When he arrived at the bridge, he found Admiral Belle waiting for him. He saluted, and she returned it in her usual professional manner.

"Rear Admiral. There's been a development," she started. "Two Wo-class carriers have been spotted dangerously close to our fleet."

Drake was surprised to hear that. "What are they doing so far out from the main Abyssal fleet?"

"That's what we want to know. Command has instructed us to send out a scouting ship girl force to see what they are up to, and destroy them if need be. Since you're commanding the carriers, I'll leave that to you. I've marked the coordinates of where the Wo-class carriers were last seen on the map, and you should be able to detect them through radar once you get close enough. Sortie as soon as possible."

"Yes, ma'am," Drake replied with a salute, then headed back down to get his fleet ready.

The rear admiral returned to the situation room and told Kaga about the Wo-class carriers.

"They only sent two carriers?" Kaga asked for confirmation.

Drake nodded. "Yeah. Maybe they're planning to do some recon with their planes? Either way, we're supposed to chase them off. I don't want to sortie our entire force in case this is some sort of trap, so I was thinking of sending three carriers. That should be enough to achieve air supremacy over two regular Wo-classes, and if it escalates beyond that, then I was just planning on retreating anyway."

"That sounds fine," Kaga agreed. "Who are we sending?"

Drake scanned the room for a second. Most of the carriers were busy talking to each other, with each group segregating themselves based on nationality. The order to deploy out to the East China Sea came almost immediately after Drake had formed the carrier fleet, so they did not have any time to train together. This meant that the fleet members were not nearly as used to each other as they should be, but there was nothing Drake could do about that.

"I want you to lead the sortie," he told Kaga. "And I am also sending Zuikaku and Intrepid with you."

Kaga frowned. "Are you sure that's wise, sir?"

"Those two still seem to hate each other, but they need to learn to at least tolerate one another if they're going to fight together," Drake said. "And since this sortie isn't really an actual battle, it's the best opportunity for that."

Kaga stood up. "As you command. I will go get the fleet ready, then."

As Kaga went to inform Zuikaku and Intrepid of their orders, Drake stood up and decided to pay a visit to the rest of his fleet, namely his escorts. Thankfully, the escorting ships were the same destroyers and light cruisers that he normally had in his fleet, so he had familiar faces to work with. The escorting ships were currently in the docking room setting up their equipment, so Drake headed down the ship's passageways until he reached the large open space where ship girl equipment was stored and where the girls could be deployed from in a matter of seconds if need be.

When Drake arrived, a ship girl clad in white and gray who was sitting on one of the couches present in the waiting area immediately stood up and saluted.

"Sir," she greeted formally.

"At ease," Drake returned her salute. "Uh… Suzutsuki, right?"

"Yes, sir."

Suzutsuki, and Akizuki-class air defense destroyer, was assigned to his fleet specifically for this operation, though she normally operated out of Sasebo. Given that Drake's fleet was full of carriers, it was decided that one of the air defense destroyers be put under his command in order to help shoot down any enemy planes that aimed to attack the carrier forces, so here she was.

The rest of the fleet soon noticed his presence as well, so they began walking over, wondering if he had new orders for them.

"Is something the matter, sir?" Amatsukaze asked. Drake had designated her as the escort fleet's flagship since she did so well in the last sortie.

"Not really, I just came down to see if everything was going all right," he said. "But some of the carriers are going out to investigate a couple Wo-classes that have wandered into our fleet's territory. We don't really need escorts for that, so none of you need to worry about it."

"Why would enemy carriers wander right into our massive fleet?" Sendai asked, tilting her head in confusion.

Drake shrugged. "Scouting, maybe? Who knows. Either way, we're just going to chase them out or sink them if they refuse to leave."

"It could be a trap, sir," Yahagi pointed out.

"Yeah, which is why we're not going to chase them out too far," Drake told her. "But like I said, it's nothing you all need to worry about. Is the equipment almost done?"

Amatsukaze nodded. "We should have it all set up in a few more minutes."

"All right. Usually the ship's crew does it, but I guess since we're so close to the Abyssal fleet, Admiral Belle has increased the number of people on watch duty," Drake said. "Anyway, you can get back to work. I'll be heading back up soon anyway."

Most of the escort fleet dispersed after that and went back to their duties, but one of them lingered behind. Drake was about to leave as well, but he stopped mid-step when he noticed that Shigure was still standing there, an unsure look on her face.

"Did you need something?" he asked.

"U-um, I…" She appeared hesitant to share her thoughts, instead choosing to look down at the ground. "I, um, it's nothing…"

Drake gave her a look. "You sure about that?"

Shigure was about to indeed tell him that it was nothing again, but then she remembered their conversation back at the hospital. Drake had told her that she could talk to him about any issues that she was having, so she stowed away her fears and decided to voice her thoughts.

"I… I was wondering if… We can actually win this battle."

The American admiral paused. That certainly wasn't the sort of attitude that people were supposed to exhibit before an important operation, but it was understandable nevertheless.

"I, uh, I'm sorry!" Shigure quickly said once Drake didn't reply immediately. "I, I didn't mean to sound like I didn't believe in our forces! I just -"

"It's all right," Drake interrupted. "This is going to be the biggest battle of the war so far, so I can't really blame you for asking. But to answer your question… I think we can. The fleet that's been assembled here has the best officers and sailors in the world. Although we haven't come up with a set battle plan yet, the High Admirals are working on it right now, and I'm sure it will be fine."

"Oh… I see."

"You don't sound convinced," Drake smirked.

"Oh, I…" Shigure wore a sad frown as she looked away. In spite of talking with Murasame a few days ago, she didn't really feel any better. "It's just that… The last war I fought in, things didn't end up going very well. And even in this war, I almost sunk in my very first battle…"

"Yeah, you've had a lot of failures in the past, haven't you?" Drake said, his expression firm. "Make sure you don't forget them. Don't forget how you were helpless, and how they made you suffer. Don't forget the pain and the blood you shed… Don't forget any of that, because you need to learn from it. If you can keep all that in your mind during the battle, you won't make the same mistakes. The whole point of failing is so you can succeed next time. Me and you both… Yeah, we've had a lot of failures. But I can promise you that as your commander, I won't fail again. As for you yourself… Well, that's up to you, isn't it?"

Shigure remained silent. Oh, she could remember her past failures. No matter how hard she tried, there was no way she could forget them, even though her sisters had tried to reassure her. However, was it true that she could learn from them? Was it really as easy as her admiral made it sound?

"A fleet is still made up of individuals," Drake continued. "I can do my part, but you have to do yours too. So if you're asking if we can really win… You need to ask yourself that first. Can you learn from your past experience?"

Shigure didn't know if that was a rhetorical question, but she answered anyway, almost unintentionally. "I don't know… I don't know! When I fought the Destroyer Princess, I knew in my mind that I didn't want it to end up like Surigao. But even then, I still couldn't do anything… I was determined to win, but I still… I still…"

"Yeah, I've read the combat report," Drake stated. "You were by yourself back then and up against an Abyssal Princess. What did you expect would happen? You can't achieve the impossible. But do you remember when we fought the Submarine Princess? We won that fight, and you were one of the last ship girls left floating at the end of the battle. That battle proved that you are strong. Don't look to situations where success is nearly impossible in order to convince yourself otherwise. If you always remain stuck in the low points of your past, you'll never be able to claw your way back out of those holes."

The blue-eyed destroyer thought over her admiral's words. Was it really true that she was being overly-negative? That was the same thing Murasame had said to her… But she had to admit that the Admiral did have a point. She was one of the final two ship girls left against the Submarine Princess, and she had contributed to the success of the battle. By herself, she always ended up running away or dying… But with this new fleet? Perhaps there could be a new beginning for her.

"Admiral… I understand," she finally said, smiling at him. "I won't run away by myself this time, and I won't try and fight by myself either. Together, with this fleet… I think we can win as well."

Drake grinned at that and patted her on the head. "Yeah. Let's send those Abyssals back to the bottom where they belong."

Kaga squinted off at the distance as she sailed along the rich, blue waters of the South China Sea. Surely the Abyssal carriers have noticed our presence by now? But I don't see them moving on our radar…

She took a moment to glance back at her two comrades, Zuikaku and Intrepid. Both ship girls were sailing behind her, as far as part from each other as they could be without breaking formation. As expected, they wore looks of annoyance on their faces at having to sortie with each other.

Kaga abruptly stopped, causing the other carriers to stop as well and look at her.

"I'm going to send out a few planes to warn them off," Kaga told them, slinging her bow off her back.

Aiming her arrow at the sky, Kaga fired and watched as the projectile split off into three fighters. The planes zoomed off into the distance and flew towards the enemy carriers.

"You think they'll really retreat once they see the planes?" Zuikaku asked.

Kaga lifted a hand to her forehead in order to shield her eyes from the sunlight as she watched her planes depart. "Probably not, considering that they should be able to sense us and the planes on the radar already. It doesn't hurt to try, however."

"So then what? We bomb them if they don't run?" Zuikaku wondered.

"I suppose so, unless either of you two have any better ideas."

"Nah, let's do it!" Zuikaku said with an enthusiastic grin.

Intrepid rolled her eyes at that, but unfortunately for her, Zuikaku turned around just in time to catch her.

"What? You got some sort of problem?" the Japanese carrier demanded.

"I didn't even say anything," Intrepid spat back.

"Y-yeah, but you rolled your eyes at me!"

Intrepid smirked. "Oh? Is that enough to irritate you? What a baby."

"You two. Quiet," Kaga ordered. "We are on a mission right now, in case you have forgotten."

Zuikaku smiled smugly at Intrepid after that despite the fact that Kaga had told them both to shut up. Naturally, this only infuriated Intrepid even more.

"Tch. You two Japs sticking up for each other now, huh?" Intrepid said, distaste evident in her tone. "Don't know what the Admiral was thinking by sending me with you two. Maybe he's spent too much time in Japan after all."

"Oh, fuck off. No one wants to hear your whining," Zuikaku shot back.

Kaga, who was now focused on the live feed from her planes, was still aware of the argument going on behind her. She sighed to herself. I agreed with the Admiral's idea to take these two along… But perhaps this will only make things worse.

The Wo-classes soon came into view of the planes, and Kaga tensed up, wondering what the enemy carriers would do next. Kaga had her planes circle overhead the Abyssals, not wanting to fire upon them because it would be easier for everyone if the Wo-classes just left without a fight. Gunfire from fighters probably wouldn't do too much damage to the Wo-classes anyway, so Kaga continued to just watch the enemy as they stared curiously at her planes.

They don't appear to be preparing to leave… But why haven't they shot down my planes, then?

Sure enough, as soon as Kaga finished that thought, the two Wo-classes released a total of six sleek black Abyssal fighters from the huge mouths on their headgear. Kaga willed her planes to open fire, but since she was outnumbered, all her planes were easily destroyed after only shooting down one Abyssal fighter.

Kaga whirled around to the still-arguing Zuikaku and Intrepid. "You two, shut up already! The Abyssals have destroyed my fighters. Prepare for battle."

Intrepid and Zuikaku shot each other one last glare before pulling out their respective weapons.

Kaga held a hand up to her earpiece. "Admiral, the enemy has destroyed my scouts and has launched fighters of their own. We are now engaging."

"Roger that," Drake replied over comms. "You're cleared to sink them. Just don't chase them beyond our fleet's area of operation."

"Understood." Kaga then turned back to her fleetmates. "Send out a squad of fighters and bombers, but don't use too many planes right now."

The three carriers aimed their weapons at the sky and fired, filling the air with the faint buzzing of planes. After a few seconds of maneuvering, they managed to get more or less into formation and began flying towards the Abyssals.

"Should we sail towards the enemy too?" Zuikaku asked.

Kaga shook her head. "Our objective is to chase them out, so if we can accomplish that without putting our own bodies in danger, then that will be best. Besides, the closer we are to our fleet, the faster assistance can reach us on the small chance that we need it."

One advantage that a ship girl carrier had over a regular carrier was that she could engage in close combat, so Zuikaku's suggestion wasn't a bad one, but against only two enemy carriers, it probably wasn't necessary. Kaga knew that they could decide this battle from long range alone, especially since they had the numbers advantage in terms of planes.

After a minute or two, the enemy air force came into view. It wasn't visible to the carriers themselves, but they could see it clearly through the live feed of their planes, and they noticed that the enemy had actually sent more planes than they themselves did. As the air battle began to unfold, Kaga prepared to fire another shot.

"We may need a second shot," Kaga told them as she notched her bow with an arrow.

"Hold on," Intrepid said. "It actually looks like we're winning this battle…"

When Kaga shifted her attention back to her planes' feed, she saw that Intrepid was correct. The Abyssal air force had focused their attacks on the ship girls' bombers, destroying them all, but that meant that the ship girl fighter planes had free reign of the sky, resulting in the downing of every Abyssal plane.

"All our fighters are still intact," Zuikaku observed. "I guess we should just send more bombers up, then?"

Kaga nodded. "We'll have the fighters keep going and thin out any Abyssal planes that are defending the Wo-classes. By the time our new bombers catch up, the Abyssals won't have much air defense left."

The three carriers proceeded with that plan and launched more bombers into the sky, and by then their previous fighters had reached the area where the Wo-classes were.

"H-hey, they're running!" Zuikaku observed as she watched her feed. "They're not even bothering to attack our fighters; they're just running away!"

"Our bombers won't reach there in time, then…" Kaga knew her admiral had told her not to follow the Wo-classes if they left the area, but it would probably be a good idea to at least trail them with their fighters. "Fine, then. Let's just continue to follow them with our fighters."

The trio watched their feeds intently as the Wo-class carriers sailed away at full speed. The Zero and F6F fighter planes from the ship girls were still following closely behind.

"On my radar it's saying the Wo-classes have left the area," Admiral Drake said to the group after a few minutes. "Did you complete the mission?"

"Yes, but we are now following them with some of our fighters," Kaga responded. "Perhaps they will reveal the exact position of the Abyssal fleet if we continue to trail them."

"All right, sounds good."

The carriers watched in silence for a while before two large structures came into view. Kaga's eyes widened a bit as her planes recorded the Wo-classes sailing towards what appeared to be two very large, rocky platforms that jutted out of the water. The Abyssals seemed to be making their way towards the stretch of water in between the platforms, and Kaga guessed that the area in between the platforms was where a part of the Abyssal fleet was stationed. However, before she could follow the Wo-classes in, a large air group of Abyssal fighters suddenly emerged from the in between the platforms, zooming towards the ship girl fighters at full speed. The ensuing air battle was fairly short as the ship girl planes were completely wiped out, but they had gotten the information they needed.

"... The hell was that?" Zuikaku asked after their planes had been destroyed.

"It looks like the Abyssals have constructed more artificial islands," Kaga said, thinking. "It also appears that a portion of their fleet is ensconced in between those two islands because the Wo-classes headed straight towards there… Anyway, our mission is complete. We should return and report these findings to the Admiral."

"I see…"

Kaga had just finished giving her report to Drake, and the two of them were currently down below in the ship girl launching area, where the escorting ships were also still hanging out. This area of the ship was pretty much standardized across all large INFCOM vessels, and it also served as a sort of longue for the ship girls before they sortied. Drake sat on one of the white couches, sipping from a can of iced tea that the he had purchased from the vending machine nearby.

"So… What do we do?" Kaga asked.

Drake, still thinking about it, glanced over at the other ship girls. Most of them were just lazing around, and some of them were even taking naps. He noticed Shigure and her two sisters playing a game of cards with the new destroyer, Suzutsuki. Murasame appeared to be having fun, but Shigure herself was busy trying to help Yamakaze and Suzutsuki understand the rules of the game, as both of them looked very confused.

"What about Zuikaku and Intrepid?" Drake changed the subject.

"... I apologize, but I was not able to make any progress on that," Kaga said with a sigh.

"I guess that was asking too much, wasn't it?" Drake shook his head. "I'll try talking to them myself, but there's only so much we can do. More importantly, I think I know what to do about the Abyssal islands…"

"Rear Admiral Drake to the bridge, I repeat, Rear Admiral Drake to the bridge," a voice called out over the PA system.

"Admiral Belle probably wants to know how the sortie went," he said, standing up. "You should come too, Kaga. I'll explain it there."

The pair then headed up to the bridge, where they indeed found Admiral Belle waiting. The blonde admiral nodded to them as they entered, the scar on her face as prominent as ever.

"So I see the Wo-classes have been chased off," she started. "Anything else worthy to report? Did you manage to figure out why they were here?"

Drake told Admiral Belle about the incident Kaga reported, causing Belle to frown and cross her arms.

"So they've built more artificial islands…" she summed up, not looking too happy about that. "And? Did you manage to see anything on the islands themselves?"

"Yes, but only barely. They were very tall, more like large cliffs jutting out of the sea," Kaga answered. "Our planes could get high enough to overlook them, but they were destroyed by that large enemy air group before we had a chance to get a full look at them. We saw some structures atop the islands, but they were mostly bare."

"I see…" Admiral Belle then turned back to Drake. "Well, Rear Admiral? What do you think those islands are for?"

"I believe they are anti-air platforms, and that the Abyssal fleet has stationed their carrier forces in between those islands," Drake said. "Kaga said that a large air force emerged from within the crevasse, so it's logical to assume that the enemy is housing their carriers there. Furthermore, placing the carriers in such a location would be very advantageous for them because they are surrounded on both sides by protective anti-air platforms which can shoot down any enemy carrier planes attacking the Abyssal carrier group."

"... Seems plausible, especially considering the Wo-class carriers headed there specifically," Admiral Belle agreed. "That should indicate that the rest of the Abyssal carriers are also stationed there… As for the anti-air platforms, they aren't built yet, are they?"

"I think they're still under construction, given the observations from our fighters," Drake nodded. "If we can strike before they're completed, we will have the advantage over their carrier fleet."

"One thing, though," Belle began, "you're assuming that there really is a carrier fleet in there based on the large number of Abyssal planes that were spotted. What if it's not a carrier fleet, but rather a carrier Princess?"

Drake paused to consider that possibility. "... That could be the case, but even if that's true, our strategy won't change. If we send a huge air attack on that location, even if it turns out that there's only a Princess there instead of the entire Abyssal carrier fleet, then we can still easily sink the Princess, which would be a huge blow to their forces and morale."

"I suppose so," Admiral Belle said. "It's a good thing we went to investigate those Wo-classes, isn't it? Now we know the actual location of a part of their fleet instead of just making educated guesses."

"Yes. We should strike with our carriers and destroy them as soon as possible," Drake pushed.

"I think so too. We'll bring it up at the final strategy meeting on the IJN Bushido," Belle told him. "Which, by the way, starts this evening. I was planning on heading over there now, so unless you have other business to attend to, I'd suggest you come with me so we don't have to take another boat."

Drake didn't have any problems with that, so he and Kaga were chauffeured along with Belle by some sailors in a motorboat to the battleship section of the fleet, specifically to the Bushido, a massive Japanese superbattleship and the flagship of the operation. Fleet Admiral Umi and a couple other Japanese admirals were on this ship, but almost every other important admiral was to come aboard this evening for the strategy meeting.

"I've got business with Fleet Admiral Cassius and a few others before the meeting starts at five," Admiral Belle said to Drake after they were aboard the Japanese battleship. "You can do whatever until then. Just be sure to make it to the bridge when it's time."

That left Drake and Kaga alone, standing cluelessly in one of the ship's passageways.

"So… What now?" Drake asked. "There isn't really much to do here aside from wander the ship. Unless you have any better ideas, Kaga."

Kaga shook her head, so Drake just shrugged and began walking in towards where he hoped he could find some stairs that would lead to the main deck or something. The Bushido was actually not too different from the Freedom's Sacrifice, though it was a bit bigger and all the signs were in Japanese.

"Have you ever been aboard a Japanese battleship before?" Drake asked his secretary ship.

"I have never been aboard any ship save for the American aircraft carrier and our super jet cruisers. This is my first time aboard such a large battleship…"

"That goes for both of us, then. I don't think any American battleship is this big either."

The pair finally reached the hatch leading out to the main deck, but when Drake moved to open the door and head out to get some fresh air, his hand froze before he could touch the door. Due to the similarities of the interior of the ships, his mind flew back to the Battle of Tangier and his time aboard the Freedom's Sacrifice. On the other side of this door was the slumped over body of the ensign, riddled with bullet holes and bleeding out onto the deck.

"Sir, is something wrong?" Kaga asked.

"N-no, it's nothing," Drake replied, turning away from the door and pulling the rim of his hat a bit lower. "Maybe we should just go to the bridge instead…"

The hatch to the main deck suddenly swung open, and Drake nearly jumped out of his skin, half expecting it to the be the enraged spirit of the sailor he shut out coming to drag him to hell. However, he was relieved to see that it was just a Japanese seaman. By the look of his uniform, though, he appeared to be a very high-ranking one.

The Japanese officer paused when he saw Drake, then frowned. "What the hell is with you? You look like you've seen a ghost. Anyway, you're Rear Admiral Drake, right? That ship girl, Kaga, is your secretary ship, so it must be you."

"Uh, yes," Drake answered, gathering his bearings. "Who are you?"

The man's frown grew deeper. "Does this uniform not make it obvious? I am Fleet Admiral Kaigan of the Imperial Japanese Navy."

"Right…" So he's one of Japan's three fleet admirals, in addition to Miiro and Umi?

"I've actually been looking for you," Kaigan said. "You, an American, has somehow managed to gain joint control of one of our bases. As much as I dislike that, I suppose the Empress and the Ministry of War has a good reason for allowing this."

I doubt the Empress even knows who I am, Drake thought.

"Therefore, I would like to test you myself," the fleet admiral continued. "Come with me."

Before Drake could respond, Admiral Kaigan had already headed back out to the deck. Sighing softly to himself, Drake went out as well, with Kaga following behind. When he got to the main deck of the large battleship, he was surprised to see that a table had been set up in the center of the deck with two chairs on either side of it. Atop that table was a shogi board. To further add to Drake's confusion, he also saw Nagato, Kongou, Bismarck, and Iowa out on the deck.

"Admiral Drake! Help us!" Kongou immediately cried out upon his arrival. "We've been held here against our will and forced to play shogi all day!"

Fleet Admiral Kaigan sat down at the table and crossed his arms. "Yes, and these so-called 'ship girls' have proven themselves to be quite pathetic at the game. Those foreign ones don't even know the rules. I cannot believe that the world has truly chosen to pin its hopes on these girls over traditional ships, but unfortunately there is nothing I can do about that. I can, however, challenge you to a game, Rear Admiral Drake. Do you accept?"

Drake glanced at the shogi board. "Well, I -"

"You have to!" Kongou begged. "Fleet Admiral Kaigan said he'll let us go if you manage to beat him!"

Kaigan smirked. "It's true. If you win against me, I'll dismiss them for now. I've been sitting here bored all day since that woman, Umi, has taken over central operations, so I've been forced to play against these lower-quality opponents."

"Yeah, Captain! Kick his ass!" Iowa cheered.

"Please don't shout like that when I'm standing right next to you," Bismarck groaned.

"I'm not too good at shogi, so you're looking for the wrong guy," Drake admitted to Fleet Admiral Kaigan.

"Nonsense! Whether I like it or not, I've heard that you've actually been somewhat of a competent commander. You managed to sink the Submarine Princess, correct?" Kaigan brought up.

"Yeah, but -"

"Then take a seat, young man," Kaigan insisted.

Drake glanced at Kaga for help, but she only gave him her signature blank look, so he sighed again and just sat down across from Fleet Admiral Kaigan.

Kaigan grinned. "Good. Now, let's begin."

"That was… Disappointing," Fleet Admiral Kaigan frowned as he looked down at the shogi board.

Drake leaned back in his seat. "I told you I wasn't good at shogi. I barely even know how to play."

"Nooo! Admiral Drake!" Kongou whined, kneeling next to his chair. "How could you fail us like this, desu!"

"You shouldn't have got your hopes up in the first place," Drake shrugged.

"I expected more out of you, Rear Admiral," Kaigan shook his head. "I never thought the one who sunk the Submarine Princess would be defeated in a mere thirty minutes."

"Just goes to show that shogi isn't necessarily a good indicator of a person's strategic ability," Drake said, standing up. "Now then, if you'll excuse me…"

"Huh? You're just going to leave us here?!" Iowa questioned.

"Yeah… Sorry," Drake smirked.

"T-this isn't fair, desu!" Kongou whined.

"Quit your complaining, IJN Kongou," Fleet Admiral Kaigan admonished. "Come, let us play another game. You yourself aren't much worse than Rear Admiral Drake."

Drake and Kaga left the main deck and headed back into the interior of the ship, ignoring Kongou's cries for help.

"I can't believe a fleet admiral really has nothing better to do than play shogi all day," Drake said to his secretary ship as he began heading towards the bridge again.

"Indeed. Though perhaps his hours of practice is what allowed him to thrash you so badly, sir," Kaga replied flatly.

"Yes, thank you," Drake spat sarcastically. "Anyway, we've still got some time before the final strategy meeting starts. I was going to go to the bridge, but I feel like it would be weird if I just stood around there with nothing to do."

"We could go down to the ship girl hold," Kaga suggested. "Perhaps that would be more interesting?"

"Sure, sounds better than just wandering the ship aimlessly."

The two then changed course and began heading back below decks and towards the ship girl launching area. Since this part of the ship was the same on all vessels, Drake was able to find it without too much trouble. Inside the launching area were most of the battleship-class ship girls of the fleet, and many of them were lounging about or talking to each other when Drake entered. Upon the admiral's arrival, however, they all looked at him, which made him feel very awkward.

"Uh, don't mind me," he said, and the vast majority of them happily went back to what they were doing.

"Ah, Admiral, Kaga!" Haruna greeted them with a smile. "What are you doing here? I thought you were stationed on a different ship."

"Yeah, but there's a strategy meeting that I'm supposed to attend, so that's why I'm here," Drake explained. "So how're you doing in your new fleet?"

"Oh, it's all right… To be honest, I would prefer to fight with our regular fleet, but I like that I get to be in a fleet with my sisters," she answered.

Sure enough, where Haruna used to be sitting were two other ship girls who were dressed in a similar outfit to the one Haruna and Kongou usually wore.

"Yeah, being with your family is always nice," Drake agreed, thinking a bit nostalgically about his own, which, apart from his cousin and uncle, he hadn't seen in a while. "But Kongou's too busy playing shogi to hang with you, huh?"

"Is that where she is? She went to explore the rest of the ship with a few other battleships, but I haven't seen her since," Haruna said.

"Hey!" An angry looking blonde woman stormed towards the trio. She had on a white dress and a white beret, and a scowl marred her otherwise beautiful features. She stopped before Drake. "Are you Bismarck's admiral?"

"Yeah?" he answered, unsure of why she was so worked up about that.

"Well, you better teach her some manners!" the blonde woman declared. She had a prominent French accent.

"Why, did she insult you or something?" Based on Bismarck's previous behavior and constant arrogant attitude, Drake didn't find that hard to believe.

"Indeed she did! She had the gall to call me a 'hunk of floating metal better suited for running and surrendering than fighting'! Ca fait mal!"

"Oh… Well, you're better off taking that up with Bismarck herself. I'm her admiral, not her father."

"Don't tell me you're scared of her?" the blonde ship girl frowned.

"Hey, you're the one who came running to me, so I'd say it's you who's scared of her," Drake countered with a smirk.

The French battleship seethed at that. "Why you -"

"Um, Miss Richelieu, please calm down," Haruna nervously interposed herself between her admiral and the other ship girl.

"Is something the matter here? I heard shouting," Yamato, the gentle but fearsome Japanese superbattleship, said as she approached the group.

"Hmph. It's nothing," Richelieu simply replied as she walked away, causing Haruna to sigh in relief.

"Oh, Rear Admiral Drake and Kaga. Hello," Yamato greeted the two of them once Richelieu was gone.

Drake nodded. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" Glad to see she isn't nervous around me anymore…

"Ah, yes. I saw you at the war games meeting, but other than that, the last time we met was at the ball, no?" Yamato said, then glanced away as her cheeks reddened a bit.

Never mind then.

"So, uh, I heard you're going to be the combined fleet's flagship for this operation," Drake hurriedly changed the subject.

"Yes, sir. It's a big responsibility, but…" Yamato glanced at the ground, her expression a somber one.

"What? You don't think you can do it?" Kaga asked, curious about the battleship's expression.

Yamato cringed. "I'm sorry… It's just that Fleet Admiral Umi said that I will probably have to face the Battleship Princess, and…"

"Um, I'm sure it will be all right!" Haruna tried to cheer her up. "But Kongou did say that the Battleship Princess was the most powerful ship she had ever seen…"

That only made Yamato more nervous, and the superbattleship's expression fell even further.

"You really shouldn't be so worried, Yamato," Drake stepped in. "Don't forget who you are. You were the pride of the Japanese Navy back in World War II, and it shouldn't be any different now. If there's anyone who I think has the strength to face the Battleship Princess, it's you."

"Admiral Drake… Thank you for your kind words. But still… I'm just not fearless like Kongou, or stoic like Kaga," Yamato lamented. "I may be a superbattleship, but sometimes it feels like I haven't lived up to that title. Even back in the War, I was sunk before I could put up much of a fight. For a ship said to be the biggest and strongest in the world, I really underperformed. I'm not worthy of your praise."

"You're wrong," Kaga said, her tone as serious as ever. "I still remember when you were first launched, Yamato. Though we in the Kido Butai had great accomplishments in war and were lauded as unstoppable, even all of us felt our spirits lift when we heard that you had finally been completed. Even if you didn't accomplish much on the battlefield, that's no fault of your own. The war was practically over by the time you were put to use, and you can't be blamed because the admiralty didn't have the resources to send you on sorties. Though you may not have sunk as many ships as I did, your embodiment of the Japanese Yamato spirit and the presence of your guns in our fleet filled us all with a sense of pride, and if we didn't have that, then we had nothing. Never forget that."

Yamato looked a bit stunned at Kaga's words, but she quickly replaced her surprised look with a determined smile. "Thank you, Kaga. You are absolutely right. In this new life, I've already managed to do a lot more than I did back then, and I won't stop now. I'm going to prove that I'm worthy of your praise."

"Yeah! That's the spirit!" Fleet Admiral Umi cheered as she walked over the group.

"Fleet Admiral Umi? What are you doing here?" Drake asked.

"Looking for you, actually!" Umi said. "Were you planning to skip the meeting or something?"

"W-what? The meeting's starting? I thought I still had -"

Umi cut him off with a chuckle. "Relax, relax! It's a joke. You're right, it's still very early. However, since we had just about everyone gathered up on the bridge, we decided we might as well start early. You were one of the few still missing, so I decided to find you myself."

"Oh. Sorry," Drake frowned.

"Don't worry about it. We're obviously not going to blame anyone for not being early," Umi waved him off. "Anyway, it seems like you all were discussing some important stuff here, huh?"

Yamato blushed. "N-no, they were just helping me with something. I'm sorry."

"Indeed. I heard most of it," Umi nodded with a grin. "What they said was true, Yamato. I hope their words convinced you that we all believe in you."

"Yes, ma'am," Yamato nodded and smiled. "I won't disappoint you. Any of you."

"That's great!" Umi then threw her arms around Drake and Yamato, pulling the two taller figures closer to herself. "And when this is all over, let's all get drinks together, just like last time!"

Drake and Yamato blushed again at that, but both of them couldn't help but grin along with the fleet admiral's cheerful attitude as her merry laughter filled the holding area.