"Admiral, I am bringing you the submarines's patrol report. Taigei-san just gave it to me", said a you woman with long black hairs and glasses as she entered a room which looked exactly like the office of someone of some hierarchical importance, a paper in hand.
The room was pretty spacious and had a varnished woord floor. Next to the door where the young looking lady stood by, was a coat hanger with a white coat with golden buttons and several military straps. At the top of the hanger was also a white cap with a black visor.
To the left wall, a large shelf served as a small library with a lot of books ardoning it. A large portion of them were about military tactics but a nearly equally quantity was about World War II records, tactics and history. Quite surprising, among those books were a few novels and even children and teenagers books.
At the opposite side of the room was a mountain of folder boxes and folder cases coutaining various documentations. The messy state of this part of the office contrasted to the small library with its neatly rows of books. But more than a lack of care, the disordely state of the documents transmitted more a sense of urgency and intense use.
Finally at the back of the room, next to a windows which showed a direct view of the docks, was a huge desk of light brown wood. The top of it was flooded by papers, documents, books and reports, so much that several pens were temporally lost under some sheets, requiring new ones which shared their fates no long after.
At the words of the young woman, an acknowledging grunt excaped the form of the person sitted behind the desk, on a expansive looking chair. The man was begining to age as witnessed his graying hairs. He was easily in his late fourties and could have started to go through his fifties. He wore a white naval japanese uniform given to those who ranked high in the japanese navy and the sets of medals on his right breast and stripes on his shoulders could tell anyone that he was the person in charge.
After finishing writing a final kana on a already blackened sheet of white paper, the man leveled his gaze to stare at the young woman who waited patiently during the few seconds which preceded her entry. Tired brown eyes met blue spectacled ones and at the sight of them, a small smile crossed the lightly wrinkled face of the Admiral.
"Thank you Ooyodo. I trust you already went through it ? Could you do me the favor as to give me the shortened version of it, please ?" said the man with a deep voice that was surprisingly gentle.
"Right away, sir" responded immediatly the woman before looking down to the document. "The submarine patrol under I-58 explored the vicinity of the waters around the naval base and even went a bit farther".
"I guess I can always count on Goya to always do a little bit of zeal in her work", lightly joked the admiral.
"Quite, sir", smiled Ooyodo before continuing her report. "As we expected, the submarines made contact with several alien creatures bearing sea-animals features. Those reported were respectively : Jellyfish, Anemona, Sea-cucumber and some kind of Sea-shell. One of them proved to be hostile and attacked I-504 on sight. She managed to evade the attack and the hostile immediatly gave up the chase. Others contact were made by sonar by I-58 but she decided against approaching them. At this occasion she discovered the exitence of an underwater structure which seemed to attract a lot of activity. Finally, the submarines collected the topographical datas of the sea floor. Those informations are waiting to be processed and will be available shortly".
As she finished her report, Ooyodo gaze went back to her commander. The man looked deeply in thought, as he usually was when he received a report. So the young woman waited patiently. It didn't bother her one bit. She rather appreciated that her admiral took time to really listen and ponder which information she gave him. It was better than having the impression that he just heard was she said without really listening.
After a while the admiral emerged from his pondering.
"With this report," he began, "I think we finished the first step of our special reconnaissance plan. You already transmitted the reports of Akagi and Kaga recon task forces from the landmass of the south. Earlier I received informations from the others recon missions of the rest of the carriers, seaplane tenders and light carriers around the central continent. The northern fleet transmitted their will to abort their mission due to bad weather, proposition which I accepted. It's seems the weather in these parts tend to be difficult and I don't want to risk to send so much naval assets in those unfavorable conditions."
"And the ground reconnaissance groups ?" asked Ooyodo.
"Most of the southern part of the central continent is already roughly mapped. Shiratsuyu and Harusame took the initiative to climb to the top of a tall mountain and since it will give them an overview of the area, so I let them do", responded the admiral.
"So the next step is..."
"Yes. More reconnaissance missions. Complete maping of the central continent. Contact with the local. The other officers are quite worried of the attention we will gather but I think it is finally time that we learn where we are and how to get back to Japan.
At those words Ooyodo felt a shiver go through her body. As everyone, she was impatient to do something about this situation. As incredible as it was, they quickly discovered that their base was displaced in another world. The earlier topographical reports proved it as these lands looked nothing like anywhere on earth, without even considering the denizens.
The situation was confusing and for all the military discipline the naval base had, chaos was looming during the first days of the occurence. Fortunaly the admiral and key members of the fleet kept their cool and managed to stabilize the situation. The situation was assessed, orders were given and everyone had their share of things to do to keep their minds occupied.
"Fortunaly, we have a large number of destroyers on stand-by. I plan to use a substential amount of them to scout the region. I also need to find someone to infiltrate the port city not far to the naval base and collect informations on the locals. We should also try to explore the two others landmasses. And finally, in case we were to stay here in a extensive ammount of time, we need to look for ressources to keep this naval base operational", said the admiral.
"Should the carriers keep helping at the reconnaissance missions, sir ?" asked Ooyodo.
At these words, the admiral made a difficult face. "I plan to keep the light carriers on duty but the standard carriers..."
Ooyodo let a light chuckle escape her mouth. "The standard carriers sure eats a lot. I guess that the same treatment applies to the battleships ? I hope Yamato-san won't be saddened to be relegated to the reserve once more".
The admiral face paled when Ooyodo shared the consequence of a more economic use of the fleet assets. While shipgirls essence was still that of a warship, the fact that they took human forms made their handling quite different that those of ordinary navy assets. Things like moral and contentment has a consequent impact on the fleet combat capabilities and even willingness to follow orders.
Fortunally for the headquarters and the fleet, the admiral was totally aware of this and was quite skilled to balance combat proficiency and care of the fleet members. It doesn't mean that everyone is always satisfied with his decisions and several members of the fleet were quite vocal to manifest their discontentment. However the admiral somehow finds a way to balance things out. And it was this ability that made him the supreme commander of the fleet.
"Who are you considering to send to the nearby port city, sir ?" asked Ooyodo, thankfully changing the topic of the discussion.
"Before making contact with the local, I want to know who and how they are. We already knows that humans exist from previous reports and I prefere swimming in known waters at first".
"An analogy the submarines can appreciate, sir", added Ooyodo.
"Quite, responded the admiral with a smile. For this infiltrating mission, I need someone who can blend easily in a crowd. So it's mean I have to discard all the exotic looking members of the fleet."
"I think we all know someone who is the epitome of normalcy, sir", said Ooyodo, picturing a young ponytailed girl with ordinary brown hairs, ordinary brown eyes, ordinary silhouette and a standard naval uniform. "Unfortunally Fubuki-san is currently escorting Akagi-san and they are not expected to return before a few days. Should we detach Fubuki-san from Akagi-san escort ?"
"That would be cruel for her condirering the importance she attaches at her escort duties with said carrier, answered the admiral. Fortunally for us, the Fubuki class is numerous and a large part of its members have the requiring physical attributes to fulfill this mission".
"Let's pray that Fubuki-san never hear why you are considering her and her sisters to carry out this operation, sir", sighed Ooyodo.
"Oh ? Why that ?" asked the admiral with geniune curiosity.
"Recently Fubuki is feeling quite insecure about her status of "special destroyer". Not only there is the matter of her looks but some destroyers insinuated that her younger sister, Shirayuki was actually more hard-working and reliable that her. I think I don't need to tell you why that rumor was quite a blow to her pride".
The admiral silently cringed for the sake of Fubuki. It was probably not something serious as to need his intervention but he could picture the lead-ship of the Fubuki class feeling down for quite some time. As to the culprit of the rumor, he could already hear the teasing tone of a voice calling him "master" instead of his proper rank.
"I will consider giving Fubuki extra responsabilities in the following operations. Knowing her, it should restore her pride quite a bit", decided the old man with a sigh.
"A wise choice, sir. I am sure she will appreciate. Now, about the next step of the reconnaissance operations..."
"Yes. I will consult with the other senior officers and together we will draw the plans and schedules. Expect an official announcement tomorrow or the day after".
At these words, the admiral put several documents in a folder before getting up with it in hand. He approched Ooyodo who handed him the submarine report and then made his way to the door. However before exiting the room, he stopped and spoke again.
"Thank you for the little bit of conversation Ooyodo. This mess kept me working more than usual and I admit that my mind was begining to spin for looking at all those numbers and letters. As for now, I can't offer you a treat at Mamiya's place since we are preserving ressources. All I can give you is more things to work with in the following weeks".
That said, the admiral finally exited the office in direction to the meeting room where.
Ooyodo felt a smile drawing itself on her face. The defensive phase was over and as a japanese warship, she felt better when her side had the initiative. Plus, as member of the information gathering and decripting office, she felt quite excited to this aggressive reconnaissance policy. Numerous reports will come and with them a clear picture of their situation will form. As the young woman adjusted her glasses, she vowed to unravel this world secrets.
A/N :
"Im not planning to make author's notes at the end of each chapters" he said.
First and foremost, I want to thank all those who reviewed the previous chapters. Once again I want to thank a Guest (probably the same person than the last time) for is encouraging words. You are actually the reason I wrote this chapter so soon after the previous one.
I also want to use this occasion to add things I forgot in my previous note.
For this story, I am heavily inspired by Argeus the Paladin, Kantai Collection/Hobbit crossover. For those who didn't see it, you absolutely should read it as it is of a quality that I will never reach.
Still on the subject of inspirations. For the monster girl quest side setting, I will mostly use the VN original triology but since the univers in the VN seems a bit lacking to me, I will also use elements of Paradox, the RPG version. As for the timeline, you will have hints in further chapters but if I'm not clear enough, don't hesitate to ask clarification.
For the Kantai Collection side I will mostly use references from the game, a little bit from the anime but also from the fandom.
The main difference between the game and the anime, in my sense, is that in the game, the shipgirls still remember their wartime service. In the anime, some shipgirls seems to vaguely remember their wartime life in dreams and such. This aspect bothers me for two reasons : first because I study history. Second because having the shipgirls have their wartime memories gives plenty of opportunities for interesting characterisations. And for those who are worried that I might twist canon characters, I still plan to keep them very close to canon and I think the two are not mutually exclusive, expectially with the game version.
Using the game and the fandom will also allow me to features characters that are often overlooked. After all, did you found I-504 or Shirayuki mentionned often in other fanfics ?
I also plan to features more used characters. We have already seen Fubuki and Akagi. Kaga was mentionned and it will not be the last time you'll hear of them.
So I think it's all for this A/N (I probably did forget something but whatever). I hope you liked this chapters. Share your impressions, suggestions and critics. Reviews seems to motivates me to write so don't hesitate.