Before we begin, I would like to give a big thank you to Microsoft's brand new Windows 11 for bricking my pc and giving me a small depression. :)
All of the stories' outlines got wiped so expect snail's pace updates since I now have to try and remember every single small detail that I planned for not just The Past Redefined but my other two fanfics.
I love my life :)
/ONI_SECTION_3/
/SYSTEM BOOTING…100%/
/EXPERIMENTAL UNVOCALIZED COMMUNICATION SYSTEM…100%/
/SCANNING FOR FRIENDLY UNITS…/
/SUCCESS/
/LOCAL FRIENDLY UNITS DETECTED/
/INCREASING SEARCH RADIUS…/
/UNSUCCESS/
/WARNING NO UNSC BATTLENET FOUND/
/PROCEED WITH UNSECURED CONNECTION?/
/YES_NO/
"Yes."
/RECEIVED/
/LOG IN ATTEMPT DETECTED/
/AUTHORIZATION?/
"Yankee-Oscar-Romeo-Kilo-Tango-Oscar-Whiskey-November."
/RECEIVED/
/CLEARANCE?/
"*heavy sigh*…Resin."
/RECEIVED/
/CHECKING…/
/ACCESS GRANTED/
/WELCOME BACK USER#SCV !$#/
"Grim, sitrep."
"Good morning, Enty. Did you sleep well?"
"Grim, sitrep."
"...Right. Hull integrity is at 26.2% so no combat for quite a while, obviously. The reactor room is compromised but thankfully there won't be a meltdown anytime soon. 84% of the total electrical systems are fried. Onboard automated factories are surprisingly intact, though the labs are a complete mess. The barracks are now all gaping holes due to Covies' torpedoes and stuff. Last but not least, it's safe to say that your slipspace drive is now just a piece of space junk floating aimlessly somewhere out there. To be completely honest with you, I'm very surprised that you're still alive after all that… Well, barely alive."
"Weapon systems?"
"*snorts* You mean weapons left?"
"…"
"*sigh* Still ice cold… MAC cannons are still busted, we only have 14% of the amount of missile batteries and point defense guns left."
"Hangar?"
"We've lost three Scorpion MBTs and a Warthog. There was also a small fire when the Warthog I mentioned exploded but it was quickly put out."
"Status on UNSC Soul of Amagi and UNSC Javelin?"
"Injured, obviously, though Amagi suffers way worse than Javy. Don't worry, they will live."
"Thank you."
"Don't mention it, Enty. So, your orders?"
"Start the production lines for battle plates and weapon systems. Start repairing the hull and medbay first, the rest can wait. Transferring all controls and access to rigging and ship form to you now."
"Roger that. Anything else you need?"
"None. Terminati-"
"Not even about the fact that somehow you're currently on 1941 Earth?"
"..."
"…"
"…Keep it brief."
AZUR LANE NAVAL BASE
PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII
DECEMBER 7, 1941
8:05 HOURS LOCAL TIME
It had just been almost two years since aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious last visited Pearl Harbor, yet the silver-haired lady still missed the place dearly.
She missed the beautiful lush garden beside the Royal Navy's dormitory building coupled with afternoon tea parties with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and other members of the Royal Family.
She missed the pink cherry blossom trees in the courtyard of the Azur Lane Academy, courtesy of Sakura Empire.
She missed the cheerful laughter of young, innocent kansens as they ran around playing with each other with seemingly no care in the world.
She missed the beautiful views of the islands as well as its friendly inhabitants who always had smiles on their faces as they all worked for a brighter future ahead.
Last but not least, she missed her Commander, Captain Thomas Adams. He's the bravest man that Illustrious had ever seen based on his records. The man was pretty handsome, too, and whenever she thought about the Commander, she couldn't help but blush a bit.
Although the Royal Isles was her homeland, there was something, some mysterious force in Pearl Harbor that made the carrier believe this place was actually her home, her true home. That was why when the higher-ups said that Illustrious, her protege Unicorn, and the main forces of the Royal Navy would be assigned to Hawaii, she and her protege's souls were filled with ecstasy. However, that cheery mood had begun to switch to slight confusion and then worry when the white-haired shipgirl saw that everyone was not acting like they always did.
The tension that Illustrious was feeling in the air did not help, either.
As she slowly and carefully maneuvered her ship form into dock, she couldn't help but notice how... deserted some sections of the base and the beaches were. Normally, there would be various shops and vendors by the seaside near the docks as well as humans and shipgirls interacting happily with each other. The beaches would also be somewhat crowded with off-duty soldiers and kansens as well as civilians.
Instead, what Illustrious saw were various sandbags and machine gun emplacements set up on the seaside walkways. The usually crowded beaches and surrounding waters were now void of any fun activity, as small PT boats and shipgirls went around patrolling the port and, by extension, the Hawaiian archipelago. On the nearby airbase, the silver-haired carrier also saw the silhouettes of Eagle, Royal, and some licensed copies of Iron and Sakura fighters outside their hangars, as if they were all getting ready to takeoff at a moment's notice.
A bit further from the airbase, Illustrious also saw numerous workers and manjuus hastily cleaning up some unused docks that were converted into storage areas. 'Aren't those the docks where kansens from Sakura Empire used to dock? I thought they separated from us two months ago. Why are they preparing them as if ships are about to enter those docks, then?', Illustrious thought in her head.
Lines of trucks with their engines still running were also seen waiting to be filled with the boxes, crates, and barrels. Once a truck had been filled with cargo and driven off to God knows where, another one immediately took its place and the cycle kept on going with no end in sight.
Something was off, that much was certain.
Walking down the ramp with Unicorn behind her, Illustrious saw two individuals were waiting for her; Prince of Wales and light cruiser Cleveland of Eagle Union. While the blonde Royal battleship was standing with a hand on her hip and a fairly relaxed stance, the other blonde cruiser's stance was anything but relaxed. Despite the distance, Illustrious could still see that Cleveland's eyes were darting back and forth in various directions, as if looking for some invisible threats.
Such behavior of the Eagle shipgirl, coupled with the unusual amount of security around the islands, was enough for the white-haired carrier to be on her guard, and Illustrious instinctively grabbed Unicorn's little hand just in case.
"Your Highness, coming out to greet me?", Illustrious greeted Prince of Wales. "To what do I owe that honor?"
"Please don't tease.", Wales replied with a chuckle. The blonde battleship sighed a bit, it looked like the effects of the lack of sleep had finally caught up to her. "Long time no see, Illustrious."
"Good day, Lady Prince of Wales". Illustrious then turned to Cleveland. "Good day to you, Lady Cleveland."
Said cruiser jumped a bit as her name was called but she regained her composure very quickly. The blonde then awkwardly laughed it off. "Haha... Sorry, didn't notice you there. Good day to you too, Illustrious!"
Another red flag was raised inside the silver-haired carrier's head. Even though Illustrious had only known Cleveland for a few short years, there's one thing that she was certain of.
The blonde cruiser would never display such behavior. Just what the heck was going on around here?
"Is something the matter, Lady Cleveland?", the carrier asked. Both Prince of Wales and Cleveland exchanged quick glances before refocusing on the newly arrived kansen before her.
Wales decided to take the lead. "Yes, Illustrious. Something did happen a few hours ago."
At that, the white-haired shipgirl's worry just multiplied several folds as she gasped. "Oh dear! How bad was it? Is everyone okay?"
"Well, it's not that bad", Cleveland piped up while scratching the back of her head. "Plus, everyone is okay so please, don't worry too much. Everything is under control."
Prince of Wales nodded in agreement. "I believe it would be best to see the Commander himself. I am sure he will be more than happy to share the details with you."
"Yes, let us go. Please lead the way, Your Highness.", Illustrious replied with a beaming smile.
Just as the group was about to turn and walk towards the car waiting for them, Cleveland noticed a purple-haired little girl hugging a toy unicorn close to her face behind Illustrious. The blonde cruiser flashed a friendly grin towards the girl, but instead of smiling back, the girl immediately jumped back and hid behind her guardian.
Illustrious, of course, noticed the interaction and introduced the girl. "Ah, I almost forgot. This is light aircraft carrier HMS Unicorn. I'm sorry, this is the first time she has ever gone out of the Royal Isles so she's a tab shy. I hope you weren't offended."
Cleveland immediately waved the carrier's worry off. "Nah, it's not a big deal". She then turned to the little girl, Unicorn, again and greeted her in a friendly fashion. "Nice to meet you!"
It took several seconds and a bit of hesitation but Unicorn managed to reply. "...N-Nice to m-m-meet you, too..."
With greetings out of the way, the group then resumed their walk. Though as soon as they entered the car and drove away, fifteen silhouettes of shipgirls with their riggings still visible behind their backs appeared over the horizon.
AZUR LANE MILITARY HOSPITAL
PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII
DECEMBER 7, 1941
8:10 HOURS LOCAL TIME
Of all the strangest things that Adams had the misfortune to face in life, what he was dealing with at that point easily took the cake.
After he went out to personally direct the preparations for a possible "Sirens attack", the Commander returned to the hospital to begin doing what he originally wanted to do: questioning the guest that had awakened. Behind that cool and charming personality that he showed every single day, Adams was actually a relatively strict and no-nonsense officer, which he only showed when duty called.
Right now, that strict and no-nonsense side of his was being shown as he questioned the shipgirl in front of him, the one whose name was "UNSC Javelin". Though, his façade was slowly falling apart to make way for bewilderment as the Commander trying to absorb the information being thrown his way.
"Correct me if I'm wrong…", Adams said while massaging his own temples to ease the headache. "… you're saying that you and your friends are literally spaceships from a far distance future. Am I correct?"
Seeing that the girl sitting on the bed before him meekly nodded without uttering a word, Adams loudly sighed. "Someone definitely must have spiked my coffee so now I'm hearing things…"
"…No, you're not hearing things, Commander", Javelin clarified for the third time.
"And you seriously want me to believe all that immediately? I'm not a kid, you know", Adams sternly retorted, causing the purple-haired destroyer to flinch a bit. "While I do admit that you were correct about the Sakura girls coming here even though we still don't know whether they came to attack Pearl Harbor like you said or not…"
Just a little over 22 minutes ago, the girls that were tasked to intercept the Sakura fleet had radioed back confirming the existence of said fleet and that they were escorting them to Pearl Harbor. They also mentioned that they came across Enterprise on the way back and that they had briefed the silver-haired carrier on the mess that happened last night. However, when asked about the existence of any Siren vessels in the area, they all said that they didn't detect anything; Enterprise also said the same when she was on her way back from Cook Islands.
At the very least, Commander Adams could be at ease knowing that his base wouldn't get bombed any time soon… hopefully.
"…that does not mean I will take everything you said at face value. The reason that I chose to believe you earlier was because your claim at least somewhat aligned with the reports from the intel spooks about the recent mass sorties in Sakura Empire. This time you claimed to be from the future, a future that is well over six centuries from now, and you don't have anything to back your claim up. Seriously, how can you possibly make anyone believe such a thing without showing any evidence?"
Over the past 30 minutes or so, Commander Adams had been asking Javelin questions about her as well as Amagi and Enterprise, and she had answered all of those questions to the best of her ability. When it came to evidence, Javelin had plenty of them, all stored within her neutral implant's database. Moreover, it was not like the destroyer was trying to hide it away from her former Commander; no, she really wanted to show the man some recordings she had, both as evidence to back her words up as well as to show Adams how far humanity had gone centuries after the Siren War.
However, when Javelin tried to bring up the holographic projector built within her left palm, she found that it was malfunctioned. According to the self-diagnostic nanomachines inside her, the projector was soaking wet with salt water which caused the unit to disconnect itself in order to protect both the projector as well as Javelin herself from electrocution. An easy fix; all Javelin had to do was to wait for the nanobots to collect all of the seawater particles and ferry them to the sweat glands to be converted into sweat. After the seawater had been extracted, the holographic projector would automatically turn itself back on.
The time it would take the nanobots to finish their job depended solely on the amount of seawater that came into contact with the projector. But knowing that she also had some minor scrapes on her hands, which had all healed up by that point thanks to the Siren implants, Javelin estimated the amount of salt water that got inside her hands through those wounds would not be small; and according to the estimated time of completion countdown on her HUD, it would take the bots about 12 more minutes to finish the job.
Javelin looked down dejectedly. Once again, the destroyer wished either Amagi or Enterprise was there to handle this situation for her.
…And once again, Javelin had proven herself to be a failure.
…Just like what her former friends said…
Seeing that the conversation was going nowhere, Commander Adams couldn't help but exasperatedly sighed. Just as he was about to start the whole process all over but with a different approach, someone knocked on the door, interrupting Adams' work.
"Come in!", Adams said loudly, allowing whoever was outside the door to enter.
The door fully opened revealing an MP armed with an M1 Garand standing in front of it. He then quickly saluted the Commander before reporting. "Sir, Royal Navy's HMS Illustrious and HMS Unicorn have just arrived. Prince of Wales and Cleveland have picked them up and they are on their way to the hospital right now."
Commander Adams nodded. "What about the Sakura kansens? Any updates on them?"
"They and eight of our girls plus Enterprise are about to enter Pearl Harbor as we speak. Maryland took it upon herself to take them here. She just left a minute ago."
"Alright. Thank you, trooper. Tell the girls to wait for me in the waiting room when they've arrived. Dismissed", the Commander dismissed the MP with a nod and the man in question quickly saluted his superior before returning to his post.
Just as the door was about to fully close, another person suddenly barged in and slammed the door shut, surprising the two other occupants in the room and making them jump up a little. The mysterious person turned out to be Vestal, both Adams and Javelin quickly realized as soon as they turned their heads towards her. However, aside from confirming the identity of the person in question, they both also noticed that something was not right about the repair shipgirl.
Vestal's expression showed that she was pissed and was somewhat crying, judging from the tears on her cheeks and eyes.
Closing her eyes and taking deep breaths, Vestal raised the clipboard she was clutching in her right hand. "Javelin, this right here is the DNA results I just received from the forensics lab."
"…What's the meaning of this, Vestal?", Adams cautiously demanded, his eyes darting between Vestal and Javelin, who was shaking a bit in fear.
The lavender-haired repair kansen then opened her teary eyes and glared at Javelin, making the purple-haired destroyer involuntarily flinched. "I should have noticed since long ago but I was too busy treating you three's wounds so I got careless. In fact, I still have no idea why no one has even noticed those traits yet…"
"…such as your bright golden eyes", Vestal venomously spat those words out behind gritted teeth, which actually made Commander Adams flinch a bit at the amount of heat and hatred that the repair shipgirl was exuding. The man then turned to look at the bandaged girl next to him and sure enough, she did have bright golden eyes just like Vestal said.
Adams immediately grew wary of "Javelin" and backed off away from the destroyer shipgirl, ignoring the look of hurt in the girl's eyes. Although the eye color in question was not the reason at all considering plenty of people as well as kansens had them, it was the fact that Javelin's were very bright.
Almost as bright as the golden eyes that Elite Sirens had.
Vestal then took a few steps forward and tossed her clipboard onto Javelin's bed. "Care to explain why your fingerprints are the same as those of Royal Navy's HMS Javelin?"
When Vestal first received the report from the forensics lab, she couldn't… no, she refused to believe what she was reading. Of the three people wheeled in last night, they managed to identify two of them, HMS Javelin and USS Enterprise. When asked, the forensics officer also said she did not believe as well as want to believe those results, either. In fact, that whole department was literally thrown into a mini chaos because of those simple results and that they chose not to let a single piece of information relating to these mysterious kansens slip unless told otherwise by Adams himself.
Believing that the forensics department had somehow messed up, Vestal ran the test herself. But after multiple attempts, they all showed the exact same results.
One unknown kansen, HMS Javelin, and USS Enterprise.
However, aside from showing the identities of the three visitors, the test results also revealed something disturbing; something that made Vestal feel horrified, angry, and disgusted.
The repair shipgirl then walked and stood in front of her Commander before suddenly summoned her own rigging and pointed all of her weapons, which were all anti-air guns, towards Javelin. Vestal knew full well that her anti-air guns wouldn't do much if not any damage against the bandaged girl before her in the event what she was suspecting turned out to be true. However, at the very least, her gunfire would be enough to buy Commander Adams as well as most of the people in the building to evacuate.
"While you're at it, explain why your, as well as your companions', blood samples contain Siren DNA in them, too."
AZUR LANE MILITARY HOSPITAL, COURTYARD
PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII
DECEMBER 7, 1941
8:45 HOURS LOCAL TIME
After arriving at Pearl Harbor, Akagi along with her entourage and Eagle Union shipgirls were immediately picked up by numerous MPs led by Maryland. While many people, both soldiers and civilians, welcomed the kansens of Sakura Empire with open arms as they drove by despite the fact that the two alliances were now formally rivals, there still existed many who eyed them with mistrust, fear, and even resentment.
It was totally understandable, in Akagi's opinion. After all, in the minds of the people who did not belong to the Crimson Axis, the black-haired carrier and her comrades were basically their enemies for doing something as simple as using Siren technology to strengthen themselves and, recently, using captured Siren vehicles to fortify their numbers.
It was just that; kansens of the Crimson Axis only employed the use of captured Siren equipment in order to have an edge against the enemy of mankind. It was not like they had turned their backs against humanity in hopes that their lives would be spared when the Sirens knocked on their front doors. They still frequently ventured out to eradicate Sirens, participated in humanitarian missions in places where Azur Lane could not reach, as well as answering requests for aid both inside and outside their usual areas of operation.
While pretty much everyone in the Crimson Axis alliance could say with their heads high that their top enemy was still the cursed Sirens and that they hadn't strayed from the ultimate goal of being the swords and shields of humanity, a certain pair of kitsunes could not do the same.
They did, after all, shake hands with an Elite Siren behind everyone's back out of their own selfish desires.
However, the circumstances had been drastically changed. If her sister, Amagi, was truly alive, she and Kaga would no longer need to be Observer Alpha's puppets anymore. Although she was not openly showing it to everyone around her, Akagi was feeling very excited and anxious internally. On one hand, the kitsune carrier was feeling excited because she could finally get to see her dear sister again after three years of separation.
On the other hand, though, she was feeling anxious because, based on her spy's description as well as small talks with Maryland during the drive, Amagi's condition was not good at all. Akagi knew full well that beside Akashi, her country's repair shipgirl, Eagle Union's Vestal was also a very skillful repair shipgirl and doctor. While the black-haired carrier did not doubt Vestal's expertise at all, the fact that the lavender-haired repair shipgirl did not come to the courtyard to greet her, her Kidou Butai, and even her nemesis, Grey Ghost or Enterprise, was enough to make Akagi feel somewhat unease.
She just hoped that she was only imagining things and that the Gods had answered her silent prayers.
"Have you told Citrus to get to the designated pickup point yet?", Akagi silently whispered to Kaga so that no one else could hear their little conversation.
The white-haired kitsune didn't answer. Instead she just nodded her head ever so slightly to signal a "yes", which was enough to satisfy her half-sister's query.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Akagi steeled herself and followed Maryland towards the front entrance of the hospital. The MPs standing guard outside immediately saluted the kansens as they walked past, a gesture which was also returned in the forms of a quick nod or a two-finger salute by the shipgirls. As they approached the entrance leading to the emergency ward, one of the MPs there walked up to Maryland and stopped her.
"Sorry ma'am, but you can't go in there. Commander Adams ordered you girls to wait for him in the waiting room. Misses Illustrious, Unicorn, Prince of Wales, and Cleveland are also there right now."
"Thanks for letting me know", the redhead battleship replied with a nod. She then turned to the shipgirls standing behind her and said. "You heard the guy. Let's go."
Some of the Sakura kansens frowned a bit when they heard the name of the blonde Royal battleship. When the decision was made that Sakura Empire and Iron Blood were to leave Azur Lane due to their contradicting ideologies and establish their own alliance called Crimson Axis, many of the high-ranking kansens and officers of the Royal Navy were not shy sharing their thoughts on said nations, none of which sounded pleasant at all. Prince of Wales, in particular, just flat out called every shipgirl, service member, admiral, and officer from Sakura Empire and Iron Blood "traitors".
While some people such as Akagi, Shoukaku, Prinz Eugen, Bismarck, Nagato, and some cool-headed officers and admirals were able to simply shrug off the insult, others did not. Although these individuals did not and would not show it outwardly, they all had some kinds of resentment towards the people sitting on top of the Royal Navy's chain of command.
On the other hand, although they also voiced their own disagreements about the path that Sakura Empire and Iron Blood chose to go, Eagle Union was at least a lot more open-minded than its ally. There still existed some jabs here and there between all three nations, but at the end of the day, the relationship between them was cordial enough that they remained trading partners, with shipments of weapons, raw materials, and goods coming in and out of each country's ports every day.
To be completely honest, Akagi would rather spend an entire YEAR staying side-by-side with her arch-enemy Enterprise than with any of the high ranking Royal Navy shipgirls based on their countries' relationship alone. Though, as the kitsune carrier thought about it, the silver-haired carrier hadn't done anything wrong to her that made Akagi calling her like that. More confusingly, this hatred of hers had already existed even before the split of the original Azur Lane.
If anything, she should be glad to be standing close to her.
Stealing a glance at the silver-haired carrier, Akagi couldn't help but get somewhat mad at her, as if the shipgirl next to her was nothing but an eyesore. Enterprise, aside from her speech about using Siren gears two months ago, hadn't done anything wrong to neither Sakura Empire nor its close ally, Iron Blood.
Yet, there she was, secretly fuming at Enterprise for no good reason at all.
Thus, the black-haired kitsune had to wonder.
'What is wrong with me?'
"Here's what we're gonna do, UNSC Javelin or whatever the hell you are.", Commander Adams sternly said. "I have some guests waiting for me so whatever proof you wanna show me has to wait. For now, I will give you the benefit of the doubt and accept what you say. I will also have my men stay inside this room to keep an eye on you. You try anything stupid, and they will shoot at once. You can be a goddamn Siren in disguise for all I know."
Javelin couldn't do anything other than nodding her head in agreement. At the very least, she had managed to somewhat convince Adams and Vestal to not have her be executed on suspicion of being an agent of the Sirens.
After being demanded by Vestal, Javelin had spent half an hour explaining the whole thing about Siren DNA running in her veins. Lucky for her, it was a topic where she could provide evidence to back her words up, namely the neural interface located on the back of her skull. Upon seeing such a peculiar device, both the repair shipgirl and Javelin's former Commander seemed rather interested in it. To Vestal, she was very interested in the science behind the interface as well as all the medical marvels involved that allowed such a thing to happen. To Adams, he was interested in the fact that maybe in the future, service members of all branches would, supposedly, have these state of the art machines fused within them in order to enhance their combat effectiveness. From the perspective of a high-ranking military officer, such advancement was an absolute win.
But then again, the supposed "Javelin" in front of them might have been bullshitting to save her skin. For now, Adams and Vestal would take her words with a grain of salt until "Javelin" or her friends could provide more concrete evidence.
Adams turned his eyes to Vestal. "You can get back to your duty now, but remember to keep an eye on her and her friends. Be safe, Vestal."
The repair shipgirl didn't reply; instead, she just nodded to show that she had acknowledged Adams' words while still keeping both of her eyes on the supposed "Javelin" before her. Then, with their eyes still glued on the purple-haired destroyer, both Adams and Vestal slowly walked out of the room. The lavender-haired kansen quickly saluted her Commander and walked down the hallway towards the other rooms, while Adams walked up to the nearest pair of MPs and gave them some instructions.
After he was done giving the order and the same MPs went to carry out their task, Adams let out a heavy sigh and proceeded to his next destination: the hospital's waiting room.
The relationship between Crimson Axis and the Royal Navy's high-ranking members was an open secret at this point following Prince of Wales' unladylike speech. By the time Commander Adams had taken a disciplinary action against the blonde battleship as punishment for her VERY poor choice of words, the damage had already been done.
Thinking back, Adams should have had the kansens from Sakura Empire and Royal Isles waited in separate rooms instead. While it may cost the Commander more time giving them the rundown on all the events that had taken place since two in the morning up till now, at least he would not have to deal with all the back-and-forth that usually took place whenever these specific kansens saw each other.
Adams just hoped that his secretary shipgirl and the Sakura girls hadn't done anything stupid while he wasn't there.
Opening the door which led to the waiting room, Commander Adams was pleasantly surprised to see that the kansens inside were acting pretty civilized, aside from the noticeable distance between the Sakura and Royal girls. The pair of Eagle girls, on the other hand, chose to sit in between them, probably to keep the others in check. Considering how quiet the room was, the Eagle shipgirls, who were Cleveland and Enterprise, were doing a damn good job. Adams made a mental note to treat the two to dinner that evening as thanks for saving him the headache.
As soon as they heard the sound of the door being opened, every kansen in the room turned their attention to the door. Seeing that it was their Commander, or former Commander in the case of the girls from Sakura Empire, the shipgirls all stood straight up and saluted the man, to which he saluted back with the same amount of respect.
"Commander, Sir!", the shipgirls all said at the same time.
"At ease, girls.", Adams replied with a friendly smile. As soon as the kansens dropped their salutes, Akagi, followed by Kaga, walked up to her former Commander. With a gentle smile and a loving gaze, the black-haired kitsune said.
"It has been quite a while, Shikikan-sama~."
The man in question chuckled in return, "Long time no see, Akagi". He then directed his eyes towards the carrier's sister, or half-sister, and said. "It's nice to see you again, Kaga."
"Likewise, Shikikan-sama."
After the exchange of pleasantries was done, the smile and the loving gaze on Akagi's face disappeared entirely, as if someone just flipped a switch inside her head. The look on her face at that point showed that she was serious now and that she would not tolerate any nonsense from anyone.
"Is it real?", Akagi coldly asked, her tone of voice caught everyone in the room by surprise.
Having recovered from the initial shock, Adams coughed into his fist to regain his composure. He understood exactly what the kitsune meant, but instead of directly answering her question, the Commander opted for another option.
"Please return to your seat, Akagi. I'm about to brief you all about the whole situation."
Not satisfied with that reply, the black-haired kitsune frowned and stood there unmoving. Kaga then tried to convince her half-sister to drop it and do what Adams just told her to do, only to receive no response.
Seeing that everything was going nowhere, Adams sighed. "Look, I promise that we'll go see her right after the briefing, okay? It will be very short."
Akagi stood her ground for a few more seconds, her fiery eyes fixated on her former Commander's, then sighed and dropped her frown.
"Fine.", she curtly muttered and went back to her previous seat, with Kaga followed closely behind.
What happened next was a very short summary of all the wacky things that had happened in the last six hours or so. Throughout the summary, the Commander purposefully avoided mentioning the names of the patients to keep things simple. He would do it when they started visiting each of them later.
Some questions were obviously asked, but over half of them were left unanswered due to the unavailability of information. For the shipgirls whose questions were not answered, they all understandably felt somewhat frustrated and unease, mainly due to the implications that there might be an entirely new faction out there based on Adams' descriptions: The otherworldly vehicle that these people came in, the otherworldly weapons that they possessed, and the otherworldly words that may or may not be the name of this possibly otherworldly faction.
However, out of all those questions, Akagi's trumped them all.
"Are you sure it's 'her', Shikikan-sama?". While the Royal and Eagle kansens were utterly confused at the question, the rest of the Sakura shipgirls immediately directed their eyes at Adams at once. Looking into their eyes, the Commander could only find one thing.
Hope.
The man in question sighed heavily before truthfully answering the black-haired kitsune. "I haven't seen 'her' with my own eyes yet so I cannot guarantee that it's truly 'her'. But based on the reports and what I've gathered here and there, it's very likely that's 'her' lying in there."
While the Sakura shipgrirls perfectly understood what their former Commander said based on all the wide eyes and small gasps of shock, for the others, it just made them even more confused than before. As if on cue, both Enterprise and Illustrious stepped up to Adams and, with an elegant demeanor, the Royal carrier asked.
"Pardon me, Commander, but I believe I speak for both of us when I say that I fail to understand who this 'her' is. Would you mind enlightening us on this matter?"
Just like with Akagi earlier, Commander Adams also avoided directly answering the question and motioned for everyone else to stand up instead. He then turned to the two white-haired carriers and said. "It's best that you all see them for yourselves. Follow me."
"…and that's pretty much it."
"Is that so?"
"Yep."
"Which timeline are we in right now?"
"From my observation so far, it's most likely the last one, 'Eternal Light'."
"Elaborate on 'most likely'"
"So far I have yet to confirm the existence of neither Orochi nor our Ashes friends. What I CAN confirm though are the Japs girls' deployment to Hawaii, the Brits living on the islands, Azur Lane HQ, the incoming Brit fleet led by Queen Elizabeth, the Siren-loving cults here and there all over the globe, and the fact that all nations are currently at peace. So yeah, I'm willing to bet this is 'Eternal Light'."
"Very well."
"Oh by the way, our destroyer friend, Javelin, basically messed up the timeline by preventing the attack on Pearl Harbor, so I think we might be having a little crossover between 'Eternal Light' and 'Slow Ahead'."
"…"
"Enty?"
"How are Soul of Amagi and Javelin right now?"
"*chuckle* Which Javelin?"
"UNSC."
"Just messing with ya. She's alright and is making a quick recovery. All she needs is some rest and she'll be back in action in no time. Amagi is also making a quick recovery, though she still needs extensive medical treatment. As for you, young lady, why did you disable your self-healing nanobots? Compared to the other two, you could have fully recovered by now due to the amount of implants Sec-"
"Enough. I have my own reasons."
"…Very well. I hope that won't bite ya in the ass later on."
"…I can handle it."
"*chuckle* Sure you can, Enty. Sure you can."
After meeting up with repair ship Vestal to ask for her clearance, the group of kansens led by Commander Adams began walking down the hallway that led to the emergency ward. At first, Adams was about to lead the girls to visit the Javelin look-alike first, but after seeing for himself how shaken up the kansen was as well as how anxious the Sakura girls were, Adams decided to go to the unknown shipgirl's room, the one that may or may not be Amagi herself.
As for Akagi, she was, for the first time in a long while, dead serious about this whole situation. When Azur Lane was still whole, Akagi had a tendency to tease or rile other shipgirls up as well as throwing herself at the Commander whenever he was within her range. For a while, nobody really knew what her problem was aside from her compatriots. They also had a term dedicated to ones such as the kitsune carrier, which was "yandere". Naturally, words started to spread and Akagi quickly became the base's resident Crazy or Yandere.
However, the current Akagi was leagues different from the usual Akagi that everybody knew. She wasn't wearing that arrogant yet calculating and scary grin on her face; her eyes were sharp and focused and not even once had those eyes glanced at the Commander that she loved so much beside her; the way she carried herself showed that the carrier had zero interest for irrelevant things around her and that she only wanted to get to the destination as fast as humanly possible. She only wanted to verify whether this supposed "Amagi" person was really her sister or not.
If the kansen in question turned out to be the Amagi that the black-haired kitsune knew and loved, then she would do everything within her power to transport her sister safely back to Sakura Empire. Politics would definitely be involved, but Akagi didn't care. As long as the kitsune carrier got to be reunited with her battlecruiser sister, everything else was irrelevant.
If she was not, then Akagi would make sure to give everyone involved a painful lesson for having the guts to deceit her.
Standing in front of the door which led to their destination, Commander Adams hesitated for only a second before knocking the door three times out of habit. The man did not expect to receive a reply at all and was just about to open the door when suddenly, a sweet, gentle, and tired feminine voice answered from behind the door.
"Come in!"
The Commander and every Sakura kansen immediately recognized whose voice that was and to say they were shocked would be an extreme understatement. Adams quickly pushed the door open and what he saw made him frozen in place.
Despite being covered in white bandages from her waist up and that she had to have her top removed, the chestnut brown haired kitsune woman still looked as beautiful as ever. Under normal circumstances, the Commander's face would have turned as red as a tomato seeing a half-naked woman, despite her upper body having already been covered in bandages, in front of him, but this circumstance was anything but normal. On the bed in front of him sat the person that should not have been alive at that moment.
Yet, her features were unmistakable.
That gentle and warm smile that could comfort anyone in distress.
Those eyes that spoke of great optimistic attitude towards life.
That beautiful physique.
All doubts within him, as well as every Sakura shipgirl, shattered at once. Despite being covered in numerous bandages and with some parts of her body missing, sitting on the bed in front of them while using the wall behind her back as support was 'her'.
IJN Amagi, battlecruiser of the Imperial Navy.
With a warm and loving smile, the badly injured carrier greeted every single person that was standing dumbfounded before her. "Pleased to meet you, Commander Thomas Adams, Akagi, Kaga, Souryuu, Hiryuu, Shoukaku, Zuikaku, Enterprise, Cleveland, Prince of Wales, Illustrious, Unicorn."
After a very emotional reunion with the formerly deceased carrier, the Commander and the shipgirls that accompanied him were given a gigantic amount of information that literally floored everyone there. Amagi first spent quite some time telling everyone how and when exactly the Siren War was going to end; well, WAS SUPPOSED to end to be exact. Due to how far-fetched the kitsune's stories were, doubts were obviously raised. However, when battlecruiser Amagi, or "heavy carrier Soul of Amagi" as she was now called, presented the much desired evidence in the form of some sort of transparent, out of thin air, high-definition, colored films, those skepticisms were greatly reduced. From then on, everyone started to take Amagi's tales way more seriously.
By the end of it all, the reactions from the audience in return were mixed: some got angry at the Sakura shipgirls, others were shocked. However, none of the people there were more shocked and angry than the girls of Crimson Axis themselves.
They were shocked because had they attacked, thousands of lives including soldiers, sailors, airmen, innocent civilians, and even shipgirls would have lost their lives. But worst of all, even though he was no longer their Commander directly, Thomas Adams would have been among those that were supposed to die that day. Even worse than that, their action would have led to a war of unimaginable scale, and this war would have been fought by humans against fellow humans and shipgirls against fellow shipgirls, not humanity against the Sirens.
A World War.
And they were angry because there was nobody else but themselves to blame for that future, a future that was fortunately prevented just in time.
As for Akagi, she felt sick. Just a few days ago, she and her half-sister, Kaga, thought that they had finally found a way to revive their eldest sister. She knew something was fishy when their mortal enemy suddenly appeared and gave them such a tempting offer, and that all they had to do in order to bring their "sister" back was to simply attack the Azur Lane until the damned Cube was potent enough.
Had the attacks that they needed to carry out were simply small skirmishes like the kansens of both alliances always did then there would be nothing to worry about. However, now that the truth had come out that they had to actually KILL humans and shipgirls, she couldn't help but get angry.
Angry at herself for being too naive.
Angry at herself for ALMOST becoming a monster.
And finally, angry at that whore named Observer Alpha for having the audacity to trick her.
Akagi made it a personal mission to be the one that would claim the head of Observer Alpha, but first she would have some fun with that little whore before killing her off.
And the kitsune would enjoy every second of it.
Being the people of honor, the kansens of the Imperial Navy still formally offered everyone in the room their sincerest apology despite not having committed such a heinous act yet. Unsurprisingly, Prince of Wales berated the Sakura girls quite harshly mainly due to bad blood while the other members of Azur Lane just stood there and watched. Even though they were being assaulted with countless insults from the blonde battleship, the Sakura kansens still kept their heads down and did not utter a word for it was, in their opinion, the lightest punishment that they could ever hope to get.
Thankfully, Commander Adams intervened and managed to talk his secretary ship down. Even better, he even managed to convince the girls of the Azur Lane faction to drop the hostility since their Crimson Axis counterparts did not drop any bombs, shoot any guns, launch any torpedoes, or kill anyone. That was why yelling at them for something they did not do was just uncalled for.
Just as Amagi was about to continue on with her stories, mainly about the future where humanity finally expanded upon the stars, the kitsune carrier suddenly remembered something. With a tone as cold as ice, she spoke.
"Before we continue. Akagi, please give me the Black Mental Cube."
Everyone stiffened up upon hearing those words. During Amagi's story about how this war was going to end, she also mentioned that object as well as Sakura Empire's "supposed" superweapon. After hearing about how much of a threat Orochi was, for the first time in a long while, kansens of both alliances agreed that, with Amagi's consent, the destruction of Orochi was a must and that the Imperial Navy of Sakura Empire would be the one to destroy it with the help of one of the "space shipgirls", as Cleveland affectionately dubbed.
Akagi flinched after hearing the tone of voice that her sister used to address her. Nonetheless, the black-haired kitsune gave a small nod and respectfully answered. "As you wish, Onee-sama."
Akagi then opened her left palm, allowing the aforementioned object to manifest itself and hover on her hand. The eldest kitsune immediately snatched the cube out of her sister's hand as soon as it finished manifesting with unfathomable speed, surprising some of the people there.
Amagi then stared only at the Cube. With a grin on her face and eyes full of hatred, she said. "There you are, you little shit."
Everyone was stunned after hearing such a vile word coming out of Amagi's mouth coupled with the fact that the tone she used was dripping with venom. To the ones that had known Amagi for some time, they could and would swear on their life that the chestnut brown haired carrier would never use such a word or even the synonyms of it. The Amagi that they knew was a woman whose form spoke of gentleness and elegance, which was why it was so shocking when the Amagi before them swore.
Tentatively, Shoukaku walked up closer to the bed that Amagi was sitting on and asked. "A-Amagi-sama?"
No reply. Amagi's eyes were still glued to the black object in her right hand. Just as Shoukaku and her sister Zuikaku were about to further approach the injured heavy carrier, the kitsune suddenly spoke.
"You are the source of all sufferings that are yet to come. My doppelganger, my body snatcher… my torturer. But guess what, you damned, cursed vixen? I am now one step ahead of you."
With all of the strength she could muster, Amagi squeezed the Black Mental Cube in her right hand, much to everyone's gasps of surprise and alarm. The Cube started to slowly crack with a few tiny pieces broke off and stabbed the kitsune's hand drawing blood; but Amagi did not care. She just kept applying more and more force into her grip despite everyone yelling for her to stop.
Akagi, although she respected Amagi's decision and did not wish to interrupt her, could not bear seeing her sister hurting herself like that. With eyes full of tears, the black-haired kitsune carrier yelled.
"ONEE-SAMA, PLEASE STOP!"
Her pleading came too late as her sister finally broke the Cube into tiny pieces within her fist. Amagi then slowly opened her hand and let the mixture of blood and pieces of glass fall onto the white bed sheet and the floor below. The glass pieces quickly dissipated like they were made out of vapor, but the blood that came out of the carrier's hand did not.
Akagi, Kaga, Soryuu, and Adams rushed towards Amagi's bed at once to check on her hand. However, instead of finding some gashes caused by those sharp glass pieces, they found that the kitsune's hand was still intact, only dyed in a shade of crimson red due to the blood.
"...What the hell…", the Commander muttered, utterly astonished at such an impossible thing as he and the other shipgirls around him continued to inspect Amagi's hand.
"Remember what I said earlier about the augmentation done on my body? This is one of its perks: self-healing.", the heavy carrier explained. "I am a bit… special, in a sense. Since I'm a de facto leader of my Battlegroup, the procedures were a bit more extensive compared to other kansens."
'That explains why her hand healed so fast' was the thing that appeared in everyone's mind after hearing her explanation. The room then got into an awkward silence as nobody was willing to say anything; that was until a small purple-haired girl with a small unicorn plushie said.
"Um… sister Amagi?", Unicorn shyly asked. Seeing that the person in question nodded with a gentle and warm smile on her face, the little carrier continued with a bit more confidence. "Can you… um… continue with your story? Unicorn and U-chan want to hear more."
Amagi giggled. She always had a soft spot for little children. The kitsune carrier remembered the nights when she used to read bedtime stories to children in some orphanages on various planets whenever she was allowed to get planetside. She also remembered this one time when she and some kansens held a big concert on Mars, Amagi brought a young boy, who was a big fan of the shipgirls, on stage and joined in the fun.
The heavy carrier sighed in content at those wonderful memories. Perhaps she and her fellow UNSC friends and friends of the past could do something similar after ending this war.
Amagi turned to look at Unicorn then her eyes scanned the others in the room. Finally satisfied with whatever she had in mind, the kitsune finally said.
"Find somewhere to sit, everyone. For what I am about to tell you will be long. Very long."
FUTURE SNEAK PEEK:
"Can't believe there will be a day that I fight side by side with a Siren.", the Eagle Lieutenant muttered with an amusing smirk. Next to him, a Sakura Private and a Northern Sergeant also chuckled after hearing the man.
In return, said Siren smiled and replied. "I have a better one. How about fighting side by side with a friend?"
She then presented a fist towards Miller, waiting for the man to fist pump her. The Lieutenant laughed and returned the gesture. "Yeah. I could do that."
