"The pack did what they were instructed to do. The puppet has been cut from his strings." A white haired woman said as she stared at the island of Fiji from afar.

"So the public knows of their exploits?" A mysterious voice came through the woman's rigging.

"Yes. All attention has been diverted to the pack as opposed to supporting the insect. Next to nobody even knows he is here." The woman said.

"Good. Send a member of the pack to squash this insect." The voice said.

"Negative. He is surrounded by battleship bodyguards. And from the sirens I just heard, they found our submarines. We mustn't make a move too hastily. I will intercept him personally when he shoves off for New Guinea. Until then, I will keep watch." The woman said.

"You had better not fail, Lurker. If you do, hope that he kills you before the Empress finds out. Otherwise, she'll turn you into a spring roll and feed you to the masses." The voice said.

"Cool your heat sinks, Strategist. Don't be upset just because you lost three of those pathetic Kansens." Lurker said.

"They made a mockery of me! And that damned repair vessel killed a good number of the pack I had in Pearl. If you see them, I want them sunk." Strategist said.

"Yeah, okay. I'm gonna go back to doing my job. Bye~~" Lurker said as she cut the connection.

"Now, how are you faring, insect?" Lurker asked as she sunk below the waves.

"Get these subs on land yesterday. I want the bulins scrapping it so we can lay down the keel of the Kommandant's new ship." Friedrich said as she put a hand to her ear.

"Put the base on lockdown, Friedrich. Anyone we don't know is to be considered a threat to the Kommandant." Odin's voice played on Friedrich's radio.

"Understood. I can see the cargo ship and Omaha making their way here so when they get here, I will put the lockdown into effect." Friedrich replied.

"Understood. I want you and Richelieu to guard the port. Your hulls will be enough of a deterrent." Odin said.

"Understood." Friedrich said as Omaha and the transport pulled into the harbor. Friedrich tuned her radio to address the fleet.

"As of now, this port is on lockdown. Any strangers are to be detained until properly identified and screened." Friedrich said.

The four hundred men including Taka disembarked the transport and immediately set to work unloading the surprising amount of Siren armor plating.

"Bulins, front and center." Friedrich yelled.

One by one, all 10 bulins came to form up in front of Friedrich.

"Bulin?" One of them asked.

"You now have the material we are going to use to build this command ship. I also have 4 captured submarines that we need to scrap for parts, wiring, and tech. Get on it, my children." Friedrich said as she pet all 10 of them before returning to her ship to raise the anchors further so the bulins could begin scrapping the captured submarines.

"So what is this ship?" Omaha asked as she walked over to Friedrich.

"Apparently, it will have the ability to more effectively allow the Kommandant to command the fleet. No way to lose communication, and the ability to deploy a repair team as opposed to having the bulins trying to jump from ship to ship." Friedrich said.

"I see. I wonder if he will appoint a Kansen to link to the ship." Omaha said.

"Maybe. We don't know if the ship will spawn its own Kansen." Friedrich said.

"True. So, what should I do?" Omaha asked.

"Assist the bulins. You seem to be someone they can work with." Friedrich said.

Omaha made herself scarce and went to assist in scrapping the submarines.

"Intrepid, my child. How is sweet little Mutsuki?" Friedrich asked.

"She seems to have run out of candy and is finding ways to entertain herself." Intrepid said, while sweating profusely.

"Are you okay?" Friedrich asked.

"The way she has chosen to entertain herself is by fiddling with the controls of the aircraft. I am about fifty miles from Niue now but it seems she is doing everything she can to drop the plane from the sky." Intrepid said.

"Can you patch me through?" Friedrich asked.

"Sure. I've tried to explain it to her." Intrepid said.

Friedrich nodded.

"Line is open." Intrepid said.

"My child. How are you feeling?" Friedrich asked.

"Mutsuki is bored." Mutsuki replied.

"I see. That is just the worst feeling. However, you are in an airplane. If you fiddle with the controls, the plane could crash. That would hurt a lot, little one. And it would make the Kommandant very, very sad." Friedrich said.

"Okay~~" Mutsuki said as she sat with her hands in her lap.

"Miss Intrepid said that you've stopped fiddling with the controls. Thats a good girl. When we return to Niue at some point, I'll bring you a gift." Friedrich said.

"Can it be candy?" Mutsuki asked.

"Of course, my child." Friedrich said as Mutsuki smiled inside her plane. Friedrich relinquished control of the radio back to Intrepid.

"There you go. Should be an easy rest of the trip." Friedrich said.

"How the... you know what? Doesn't matter. Thank you for helping, Friedrich." Intrepid said as she returned to focusing on the aircraft.

"Akashi." I-13 called.

"Nyaa?" Akashi replied.

"I completed most of my trials for this drone ship and the Control module. We can send the blueprint with the next aircraft the Shikikan sends us. That aside, we have a much bigger thing to worry about." I-13 said.

"What's that, nyaa?" Akashi asked.

"I found cubes. From where the last Shikikan's journal points. This is where his southern fleet went the day the weapon went off." I-13 said.

"How many cubes?" Akashi asked solemly.

"Six." I-13 said.

"There should have been eight, considering who was sent." Akashi said, her voice shaking.

"What were their names?" I-13 asked.

"Akagi. Pennsylvania. Helena. North Carolina and Belfast." Aksahi said slowly as she remembered the fleet that had been sent.

"Well... it seems that this will be Akagi-sama's final resting place." I-13 said.

"Why is that, nyaa?" Akashi asked.

"Because I am staring at what remains of her ship down here. Her cubes are not here. The wreckage has been completely desecrated. There are holes in the flight deck. Her hull is torn to shreds. Even if her cubes had survived... They'd be spent... wait." I-13 said.

"What's wrong, I-13-san." Akashi asked.

"I found her cubes... I was right." I-13 said as she placed two white cubes next to the pile of blue ones.

"What do you mean?" Akashi asked solemnly.

"She's gone, Akashi. Her cubes are spent. She sustained too much damage before that weapon went off. Her cubes couldn't keep up." I-13 said.

"Bring them back. I'm sure you have done enough tests for the day, nyaa." Akashi said as tears welled in her eyes.

"Understood." I-13 said as she surfaced her submarine and made her way back to the base along with the drone ship.

Akashi turned to the sky as the sound of planes filled the air. She dried her eyes and made her way to the airfield on base to meet the aircraft.

"Vestal. You seem to be doing a lot better. Did you manage to get your boiler fixed?" Phoenix asked.

"Yes. Thank you." Vestal said.

"So, where exactly are we headed?" St. Louis asked.

"We are headed for Suva in Fiji." Vestal said as she looked at her map.

"So we'll be there in about two weeks?" Phoenix asked.

"I stocked my shelves with food so we could make the trip. I'm sure the commander has food for the fleet." Vestal said as the three girls looked across their decks at each other.

"Do we know how big this fleet is?" Phoenix asked.

"From what I heard from the Sirens back at Pearl... At least two carriers. Five battleships. And a handful of escort ships." Vestal said.

"I see. So we are going to be bolstering their escort fleet." St. Louis said.

"Precisely. And I will be able to help the injured and maybe even conduct the repair parties once we join up." Vestal said.

"If we survive long enough to get there." Phoenix mumbled.

The three ships steamed forward, away from the setting sun at their backs.