AZUR LANE HEADQUARTERS OFFICE
PEARL HARBOR, HAWAII
DECEMBER 9, 1941
9:21 HOURS LOCAL TIME
Two days had passed since Hawaii, or Azur Lane in particular, welcomed its new guests from the distant future. The tension surrounding the islands had decreased and the restrictions had long been lifted, though the civilian population was still somewhat on edge even after the military had confirmed these new guests were friends, not foes.
After all, a lot of people had seen with their own eyes the dramatic event that transpired that night. To make matters worse, tabloid journalists also joined in with their nonsense, if not downright outrageous, theories and accusations which only fueled the uneasiness within the population.
Shipgirls and members of the armed forces all harbored the same amount of animosity towards these so-called "people's press". On many occasions whenever the military issued some sort of statement, these particular journalists would somehow find a way to bend the truth so that it would fit their own twisted political agendas, whatever the hell those agendas were.
Not to mention those same people also actively went after the shipgirls when they were on shore leave. Wherever the shipgirls went to, there would always be annoying "journalists" waiting for them around the corner, ready to bombard the girls with questions regarding their private lives, which was obviously a big no-no, as well as various sensitive information about the navy. It was extremely irritating and creepy at first but as time went on, the girls learned how to ignore those obnoxious people.
For now, all the military could do was dish out made up stories to appease the local folks. At least the "highly advanced airborne shipgirls ambushed and shot down by Siren aircrafts and crashed onto the beach near Pearl Harbor" story was doing quite well in reassuring the people, even though some refused to believe it.
It was only a half-truth story that they released to the public. The select few who actually had full access to everything behind the scenes knew that should the real truth somehow get leaked, the ensuing widespread panic would certainly spiral out of control and human society might even end itself before the Sirens even had the chance to do it.
Humanity of 20th century Earth was not ready for the nightmarish things that were waiting for them in the far distant future.
Hopefully, no one would try snooping around too much. The last thing Commander Thomas Adams wanted was to have the blood of a civilian who was too curious for his or her own good on his hands. Though if a person was to ask some of the more sadistic kansens such as KMS Roon of the Iron Blood or IJN Taihou of the Imperial Navy, these shipgirls would one hundred percent say that they were glad those 'pests' no longer exist.
Speaking of the good Commander, the man was currently having a mild headache trying to figure out what to write in his report as well as breaking the news to his counterpart over in Sakura Empire. Adams could just simply have pictures taken as evidence but he knew for a fact that it would not be enough. For UNSC Javelin, it was quite fortunate that a Rear Admiral of the Royal Navy was tagging along with Queen Elizabeth's fleet to inspect the base. Compared to trying to convince people through mere words on a piece of paper plus some pictures, Adams found it way easier to do the same job though speaking about it directly.
Adams was planning to use the Rear Admiral's visit as well as the man himself to explain the unique situation to his superiors in Continental Eagle Union. He knew there were some Admirals in both his home country and Royal Isles who did not like him and would be more than happy to see him get booted out of his position as Commander of Azur Lane. Had Adams not had a Rear Admiral of an allied nation vouch for him, those old-timers would certainly have him removed from his position, saying that he had gone insane or something.
Crumpling and throwing the seventh draft into the bin next to his desk, the Commander wearily sighed as he stood up and stretched a bit. Loud cracking noises could be heard throughout his office, and Adams' face was filled with bliss upon hearing those popping sounds coming from his back. He then walked towards the big window to his left to take a look outside, and his mood soured a bit.
On the other side of the glass window were the usual sights of Pearl Harbor and the sunny blue sky, coupled with some teams of shipgirls who just returned from their reconnaissance and merchant escort missions. What really drew his attention was the fact that there was an honest-to-God and severely damaged spaceship hovering high in the sky far off the coast of Oahu where his base was located.
Even from this distance, the Commander could still see the name of the futuristic vessel as well as its hull number painted in white on its port side. "SOUL OF AMAGI", it read, and on its bow was the hull number "CV-073". There was also evidence of some sort of white-painted symbol near the bow, though he would most likely never know what it looked like since most of it was burned away.
The "Epoch-class heavy carrier", as Amagi called it, was quite literally covered in weapon systems, even if a lot of them were blown away during her latest battle alongside her teammates. Adams watched as some aircrafts, Pelicans as they were called, picked up the damaged cannons and flew back inside the crippled spacecraft via an open ventral hangar in the front to have them repaired. He found the idea of having an onboard factory to make and repair things a very smart idea as it would increase the chance of survival for damaged ships after a battle, especially when there was no repair vessel nearby to patch them up.
Bright sparks came flying out of various holes and deep gashes that littered the spaceship's exterior as flying robots, or "drones", flew around trying their best to fix the heavy carrier. Judging from the progress these autonomous engineers were making, Commander Adams estimated it would take a few months or perhaps up to a year to complete the necessary repairs of the hyper-advanced warship.
The Commander, plus many shipgirls stationed at Pearl Harbor, had offered his help in fixing Amagi's ship form, but was politely turned down. It hurt his pride a little bit when she said that there was nothing that he or anyone could do since the technology and materials needed far surpassed anything that Earth in this current era could offer; not to mention the fact that shipbuilding techniques had evolved so much that put the best shipbuilders over in Iron Blood to shame.
Commander Adams understood Amagi's explanation for her refusal, but then offered a security detail seeing how vulnerable her ship form was in that current state, to which she accepted. Personally, Amagi herself could fend off incoming hostiles of this era with her still operational point defense guns until backup from Hawaii arrived but she would not take any chances. Especially if said hostiles were Siren boarding parties.
No doubt the Sirens had already noticed Amagi and her friends' grand entrance and they were currently watching from whatever hole they were hiding in.
Since then, the area surrounding UNSC Soul of Amagi had been turned into a no entry zone and any attempt to infiltrate would be met with either jail time or deadly force. Human-operated ships as well as shipgirls would occasionally patrol the area at random intervals in order to avoid making their patrol patterns predictable for the Sirens or overly curious civilians who would like to take a closer look. Moreover, pretty much all searchlights within Pearl Harbor were directed towards the spaceship, making it the brightest object in the sky when the sun went down.
The massive spaceship was certainly a sight to behold. Azur Lane HQ had already issued a statement beforehand to prevent people from getting panicked at the sight of the behemoth vessel which, to be honest, did not look that dissimilar from warmachines designed and produced by the Sirens.
To most people currently living on 20th Hawaii, witnessing with their very own eyes the thing they once thought impossible and would only exist in science fiction comics turned into reality certainly fueled them with excitement and they all wondered what the future had in store for them. Not only that, the Soul of Amagi also served as an example of what mankind could achieve if they worked together instead of bickering and squabbling with each other. Commander Adams could already see that once the news of the futuristic vessel got out, people around the world would also have the same reaction.
However, there still existed some who eyed the floating spaceship with mistrust. These individuals somehow came up with the idea that humanity had lost considering a "Siren vessel", even though damaged, was hovering above their heads and the military seemed to have no intention of chasing it away. Some nutjobs were even stockpiling truckloads of guns and ammunition just so they could "do the job for the military when the Sirens begin invading their soil". There had even been some homeowners turned their houses into freaking fortresses. Those poor misinformed folks were the ones that were basically brainwashed by the very same manipulative tabloid journalists that had been doing more bad than good, which made Adams hate their guts even more.
On the topic of working together, the Commander usually found himself thinking about the fascinating conversation with Amagi back in the hospital. He and the shipgirls that gathered inside the heavy carrier's room were all amazed at the information disclosed by the kansen, even though some if not many of those "future events" would not even happen seeing that the arrival of the future shipgirls had technically altered the course of history.
The fact that even with bad blood between nations as a result of the World War, humanity still managed to come together and formed an intergovernmental organization called the United Nations with the aim to maintain a bright future never failed to put a smile on his face. Plus, it was that cooperation that saw the birth of 187 new nations from the lands that were once occupied by the Sirens as well as many achievements that benefited mankind greatly.
Adams and the girls were a bit saddened though when they learned that the world was basically split in half because of some petty political turbulence as a consequence of the World War. However, since that particular war had fortunately been avoided, perhaps things would change for the better in the future.
A knock on the door of his office followed by the feminine voice of his secretary shipgirl Prince of Wales asking permission to enter brought Adams back to reality. After receiving permission from her Commanding Officer, the Royal battleship opened the wooden door and entered before closing it behind her.
"Good morning, Wales." Adams greeted, to which his blonde secretary smiled and returned the gesture.
"Good morning to you too, Commander. I hope you had a good night's sleep."
The Commander smiled and nodded back in return. He then looked at the stack of papers in Prince of Wales' hands and grimaced a bit. "Let me guess. More paperwork?"
"Astute observation as always, I see." The blonde battleship giggled and went to put the papers onto Adams' table. She glanced at the garbage bin next to his desk and saw seven balls of paper inside of it. Curious, she took out a ball, uncrumpled it, and read its content.
The Royal shipgirl giggled in amusement after reading just the first few lines in the piece of paper. "You've been busy."
"...Yeah." the Commander replied with a sigh. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
"I know you will." The blonde battleship then walked towards where Adams was standing and stood next to him, enjoying the view outside the window with him.
Just like Adams, she and other shipgirls currently residing in Pearl Harbor were all amazed at the sight of the magnificent ship built to sail across the ocean of stars and other planets. The UNSC Soul of Amagi had been a hot topic among not only the civilian population of the Hawaiian archipelago but also the service members of all branches of the military stationed on the islands and it seemed like that topic would not die down anytime soon.
"Beautiful, isn't she?" Prince of Wales whispered in wonder. "Someone should take a picture."
"I'm sure Gridley is already having a field day." Adams joked, earning a giggle from his secretary.
Putting a hand on the glass window, the Royal battleship softly said as the story she and the others heard from Amagi two days ago began to resurface in her mind. "It's hard to believe how much humanity can achieve by working together under one unified banner."
"Indeed." Commander Adams replied, knowing exactly what was going on inside Prince of Wales' head.
FLASHBACK…
Amagi just finished telling everyone about the major events following the end of the World War and the Siren War. The reactions were varied and quite predictable among the audience that gathered inside her room, which was totally unsurprising to the injured shipgirl.
While the shipgirls originated from Eagle Union and Royal Isles behaved themselves quite well, some even showed hints of pride, the same could not be said about the girls of Sakura Empire.
The Sakura shipgirls' faces all shared the same mixture of shock and shame. The fact that the World War which they and their allies in Crimson Axis started resulted in two of their great cities razed to the ground and later occupied by foregin military forces following the end of the Siren War shook them to the core. They had always prided that their great island nation, blessed by Kami themselves, was strong by default and that nothing could ever stand in their way.
However, that arrogant thought was swiftly squashed away once they learned just how small their country actually was and that they must change their way lest they face total destruction.
At least the World War was fortunately prevented so the Sakura shipgirls could be at ease that nobody was going to hurt their beloved nation. They all made a mental note to have an audience with their country's upper leadership to try and find a way to change their country's ideology. It hurt their pride as children of Sakura Empire but it's something that must be done for the betterment of their nation.
On the other hand, Enterprise, Cleveland, and Commander Adams couldn't help but smirked proudly after hearing all the great post-war achievements their nation made or would make in the near future. Out of all accomplishments that Amagi listed, they found the fact that Eagle Union won the "Space Race" by becoming the first nation to put people on the Moon was the greatest. They still prefered that glorious milestone was achieved through international cooperation rather than by the efforts of a single nation, though, but they didn't really mind that. Maybe this time they could do it with international partnerships and share that moment with the rest of mankind; not to mention with the help of the future shipgirls currently resting in the base' hospital, perhaps they could even go further than just simply put a flag on the Moon.
However, aside from all that, the gathered shipgirls all had the same question for the future shipgirl before them. However, they were unwilling to bring up that subject since it related directly to their very own existence and, even though they would not admit it, they were all quite afraid of the answer. After five seconds of silence, aircraft carrier Enterprise steeled herself and asked Amagi.
"May I ask what is going to happen to us kansens once the Siren War is over?"
As if she had already expected that question, Amagi immediately answered. "Following the end of the Siren War, the world stepped into an era of long-lasting peace without any major conflict. To protect that peace, a decision was made in 1975 to make Azur Lane a part of the United Nations and the alliance changed its name to United Nations Security Council. From then, the surviving shipgirls of the wars mainly participated in humanitarian, demining, and peacekeeping missions across the globe. After 30 more years of continuous service, it was time for us to retire, leaving the job to human soldiers."
The last sentence certainly shocked everyone, especially Enterprise. The silver-haired carrier had always believed that her whole existence was to simply fight the Sirens and protect humanity, whatever the cost. She never really cared about other trivial things that did not relate to combat. Her meals had always been MREs and even when she had free time, she always spent that time training.
Which was why she could not believe that there would be a day that she would actually retire. She did not know anything else outside of the military and flames of war, and she's scared that she would be of no use to society once she got out of the navy.
"Um…" Prince of Wales began, drawing the attention of others in the room. "What happened after we retired, miss Amagi?"
"Well, not much." The heavy carrier replied with a shrug. "Some got married, some became politicians, some started businesses, some became idols, some became teachers, some re-enlisted in the Navy. In short, we all lived our lives in peace till the day we die of old age."
The other kansens all let out sighs of relief after hearing that. They now could rest assured that they weren't going to become burdens of society once the War was over and that they could still serve the world by other means.
"Let's move on, shall we?" Cleveland said, to which everyone nodded in agreement. "Personally, I would like to hear what Earth is gonna look like in the future. Can you please share that with us?"
"Certainly, Cleveland." Amagi smiled. "Sadly, the relevant proof of that question is stored within my ship form so I'm afraid you have to trust me on this."
"It's alright, dear sister." Akagi gently squeezed her sister's right hand coupled with a loving smile. "We believe you."
Amagi nodded back and patted her little sister's on the head. The heavy carrier then took a deep breath and said. "The history of future Earth is one filled with many complications and radical shifts in many aspects, so I shall compile the detailed version of it into packages so that you can read it yourselves when you have the time. Note that what I'm about to say it's the abridged version and there are shortcuts that I will take to make it easier to understand. Any questions?"
Seeing that nobody answered and they all had expectant looks directed towards her, Amagi acknowledged that as her cue to begin. "With the need to expand human habitation outside of Earth to prevent overpopulation combined with the rise of many societal issues in many countries and the financial weight of space travel becoming too expensive for individual nations to bear alone, in 2075 it was decided that a centralized civilian government had to be formed in order to ensure international cooperation in colonizing space and solving major problems on Earth. That centralized government was called the United Earth Government, or UEG for short.
"In the late 21st century and throughout the 22nd century, humanity expanded from Earth to colonize other worlds in the Sol system, including the Moon, Mars, the Jovian Moons of Jupiter, and several asteroids. 2090 and 2103 also saw the end of large-scale conflicts. Another great news that I'm sure Akashi and Vestal would love to hear is that gene therapy by the 2100s also functionally wiped out cancer.
"However, as new philosophies spread among these new colonies, new factions with militant ideologies rose to oppose the United Nations and its United Earth Government by attacking military installations as well as civilian areas that aligned themselves with the centralized government. Operating across the colonized worlds and orbital platforms of the Sol system, the Frieden movement and the Koslovics, both of which represented old fascist elements and resurgent communism of the 20th and early 21st centuries respectively, were the most prominent of these rebel factions. In a series of battles fought across the South American Rainforest, Mars, and the Jovian Moons, UN forces achieved many stunning victories, lending support to the adoption of a unified command structure known as the United Nations Space Command."
"...The UNSC." Prince of Wales muttered as she finally understood what those mysterious words she found painted on the wrecked aircraft and bulky gun stood for. "So you and your friends are part of this military faction, yes?"
Amagi smiled in return and complimented the blonde battleship. "Very good observation, Your Highness."
The shipgirl in question smiled back and offered her words of appreciation. She then motioned for the heavy carrier to continue which she did. "In the aftermath of the war which was known as the Interplanetary War, the Unified Earth Government rose to power as the dominant governing body of humanity's colonies with the UNSC serving as the principal military, exploratory, and scientific agency of the UEG."
"In April 2291, a team of engineers, physicists, and mathematicians led by Doctors Wallace Fujikawa and Tobias Fleming Shaw, God rest their souls, saw the groundbreaking invention of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, a device that allowed ships to travel slipstream space to traverse interstellar distances beyond Sol system. In the following decades, the UNSC began deploying vast numbers of colony ships to the nearest star systems and planets, giving rise to the 'Inner Colonies' of humanity. By 2490, over 800 worlds in the Orion Arm had been colonized, and the Inner Colonies, now major political and economic strongholds, began to increasingly rely on the developing 'Outer Colonies' for raw materials." The heavy carrier paused and moved to pour herself a glass of water from the jug placed on the wooden night stand next to her, an action that her little sister, Akagi, swiftly realized and moved to do it for her. After saying her thanks, Amagi slowly sipped the drink, the cool liquid working its magic soothing her sore throat.
The gathered audience immediately grasped the hidden implications when Amagi told them about the two separate kinds of colonies. Social segregation had always been a persistent problem that plagued every nation on Earth even before the appearance of the Sirens and only lessened somewhat when the war against the alien menace broke out. It saddened Adams and the girls greatly to hear that even after hundreds of years of progress, humanity would still find itself repeating past mistakes.
They could already tell that the follow-up information was not pleasant at all.
Just before Amagi resumed with her story-telling, a small hand belonging to Unicorn was tentatively raised. The heavy carrier smiled warmly at the shy shipgirl and motioned for her to say what was on her mind. "Don't be shy, dear. Ask away."
"Um…" Unicorn began. "What is… slipstream space?"
While Amagi still held her sweet smile externally, the heavy carrier was actually grimacing internally. She should have seen that question coming from miles away once she mentioned the slipspace drive. She never really understood slipspace travel aside from the commonly known fact that it allowed ships to travel really far distances in a short amount of time.
Oh how she regretted not investing more time and effort into learning the inner workings of a slipspace drive and its slipstream space.
Now that the Royal light aircraft carrier had asked that dreadful question, Amagi had no choice but to give the little shipgirl an answer.
"I um… apologize but I don't fully understand the inner workings of slipstream space." Amagi sheepishly admitted. "I can give you its definition though, if it's okay with you?"
"Ye-Yes. It's okay, Miss Amagi." Unicorn replied.
"Right, this is going to be confusing so if you don't understand, don't worry about it." Amagi told everyone. "Slipstream space, colloquially known as slipspace, is a dimensional subdomain of alternate spacetime consisting of eleven non-visible infinitesimal dimensions used for faster-than-light travel."
A quick look at everyone's face confirmed Amagi's earlier assumption that they wouldn't understand a word that she just said. Seeing that delving further into the subject would lead to nowhere, the heavy carrier sighed. "...Let's just move on."
After receiving nods of agreement from her audience, Amagi got back to her story-telling. "In the late 25th century, the vast economic inequality between the Inner and Outer colonies became a growing source of tension and rivalry, and public support for the UNSC began to slowly dwindle across the edge of frontier space. To prevent the risk of civil unrest, the UEG increased the UNSC's military presence in the Outer Colonies, but unfortunately this action only further deteriorated the situation across Outer Colonies that eventually led to the Insurrectionist movement, with acts of terrorism, piracy, and open rebellion occuring across the frontiers of human space."
"The civil war quickly spiraled out of control as more and more Outer Colonies allied themselves with the Insurrectionists. Desperate to find a way to better combat the rebels, the UNSC, with collaboration with the Office of Naval Intelligence, or ONI for short, reactivated the KANSEN program to summon us back into service." Amagi paused and projected a small blue hologram of her own ship form, the Epoch-class heavy carrier Soul of Amagi, from her hand and showed it to everyone, who looked at the miniature projection of a literal spaceship in awe.
"The new era of mankind also meant the new era for us shipgirls. Instead of having old 20th century ship designs like you have right now, we were equipped with our own spaceship forms." Amagi proudly said. The heavy carrier giggled at the sight of Unicorn innocently playing with the hologram by sticking her finger through it. "The Insurrectionists did not stand a chance against shipgirls in any confrontation. We also carried out humanitarian and peace-keeping missions just like we once did after the Siren War, with the intention of winning back the hearts and minds of the people living on the Outer Colonies."
"Wow…" Zuikaku muttered as she continued to look at the hologram depicting Amagi's ship form. Even though it was just a miniature model made out of literal light, she and the others could still feel the immense power radiating from the futuristic spaceship that they were yet to see. Seeing the symbol of absolute naval might before her, the Sakura aircraft carrier could not help but speak in a low voice. "Such power… I am so envious of you, Amagi-sama…"
However, instead of acknowledging the praise, the smile on Amagi's face slowly faltered and a grim look of sadness adorned her face. Everyone, minus Unicorn who was still playing with the hologram, noticed the heavy carrier's sudden change of emotion and they immediately grew worried.
Illustrious cautiously asked Amagi the one question that was on everyone's mind. "Is something the matter, Miss Amagi?"
PRESENT…
Adams and Prince of Wales continued to stand there at the window and enjoy the sight in silence. Just as the Commander was about to turn around and get back to work, the silhouettes of three people slowly walking along the docks, the one in the lead for some reason had their head slightly lowered, caught his attention, making him squinted his eyes.
When Adams finally realized who he was looking at, his expression softened considerably and his eyes were filled with sadness and sympathy.
"How is she?" Adams softly asked his secretary.
The blonde battleship was puzzled at first as to whom the Commander was referring to, but when Prince of Wales saw what Adams was staring at, her face also bore the same expression as her Commanding Officer. She walked back to the desk, searched through the stack of papers, and took out the one she was looking for before returning to Adams' side.
"Physically, UNSC Javelin is making a very quick recovery thanks to her enhanced self-healing capability... but her mental health is another issue entirely." Prince of Wales took a deep breath before continuing.
"In the past 24 hours, numerous psychological issues have been documented by the doctors and nurses that were assigned to look after her. She would usually experience mood swings even while talking with other people, and sometimes she would be caught staring at a random spot with the infamous 'thousand-yard stare'. It also says here that the poor girl sometimes became delirious and called people around her with names that, as far as I know, do not exist in our base or any other military installations on Hawaii. She also denied talking about anything relating to the Royal Navy or her past, as if she was actively trying to hide something. Vestal has taken the liberty to have UNSC Javelin moved to the psych ward for treatment once her injuries are healed."
A grimace was shown on Commander Adams' face as he mulled over the information given to him. What future Javelin was experiencing at the moment perfectly matched what human service members experienced when the Siren War first broke out, and the Commander himself wasn't a stranger to it at all.
To think that even after the Sirens were wiped out, humanity would once again find itself at war with another alien threat, one that made the Sirens look like mere kindergarten bullies, made him sick. Sometimes, Adams felt like mankind was destined to forever be the underdogs of the universe, constantly getting picked on by other more advanced species.
At first, Commander Adams and the shipgirls didn't fully understand just how much of a threat this new hidden enemy of the future really was. However, after seeing what happened in future Javelin's room as well as the extent of damage that was done onto Amagi's ship form, they finally had a somewhat clear picture of what kind of threat they would have to face in the far future.
They wished the heavy carrier had been exaggerating when she talked about the extraterrestrial threat and was not actually serious about it. To their great dismay, Amagi was NOT.
FLASHBACK…
Out of nowhere, a heart-wrenching scream cut through the somewhat peaceful atmosphere just as Amagi was about to unveil the piece of information that she did not want to talk about, making everyone turn their heads around in alarm.
Amagi immediately recognized that voice as that was not the first time she had ever heard it. Before anyone could utter a word, Amagi suddenly leaped out of the bed and made a mad dash out of the room, only the sound of her barefoots impacting the solid ground could be heard.
The fact that an injured person could run so fast shocked Adams and the shipgirls but they quickly ran after the heavy carrier. After asking a guard standing in the hallway for directions, they found themselves standing at the doorway of one of the other two guests' rooms, more specifically UNSC Javelin's room.
What was going on inside that room shocked them to no end.
The first thing that the Commander and the shipgirls saw was one of the MPs rolling on the floor screaming and clutching his left hand, while the other MP was trying his best to calm his friend down. Directing their eyes upwards, they saw Amagi kneeling on the bed and embracing the distraught "future Javelin". Both of them were whispering something to each other that the others could not hear, but none of them was willing to interrupt the pair's conversation.
The purple-haired destroyer was a sobbing mess. Tears kept flowing out of her squeezed shut eyes while her arms wrapped tightly around Amagi as if her life depended on it. Talking about the arms, both of those limbs of Javelin now sported some deep scratch marks with blood leaking out of the new wounds, staining the crisp, white bed sheets with the crimson liquid.
Commander Adams and a few shipgirls had a vague idea as to what happened, and a quick glance at the bandaged destroyer's fingers confirmed their suspicion. All ten fingers of hers were covered in fresh blood, meaning that the purple-haired destroyer had just clawed herself for some reason.
A few seconds later, a group of four doctors and nurses rushed in and the nurses immediately took the injured MP out of the room, his friend following closely behind. The Commander stopped the pair of doctors, one of whom was Doctor Merlot from earlier, just as they were about to check on Javelin, ordering them to give the futuristic destroyer and Amagi some space. The doctors reluctantly agreed then left the room to get back to work.
The pair of space shipgirls continued to embrace each other for another fifteen minutes before Amagi slowly and gently laid Javelin back down onto the bed. It seemed that the poor destroyer had cried herself to sleep as traces of tears were still visible on her cheeks.
The following silence in the room was heavy as no one dared to speak up. Seeing that neither party was willing to engage the other in conversation, Commander Adams was just about to tell everyone to leave when Amagi decided to break the ice.
In a voice full of sorrow, she began to speak softly. "In 2525, the Insurrection threat was preempted by the arrival of a new alien threat, one that was similar to yet vastly different from the Sirens."
"They called themselves the Covenant…," Amagi openly spat at the name with a scowl, making some individuals that were close to the shipgirl flinch as they had never seen her doing that. "...a massive religious hegemony of multiple alien species who viewed humanity's existence as an affront to their Gods."
"Throughout the Outer Colonies, the Covenant enacted genocidal campaigns against the human race, bombarding human colonies with powerful plasma weaponry that reduce the planets' surface to glass, a practice known as glassing." The heavy carrier paused and looked directly into the shocked eyes of the audience before her. "They killed EVERY. SINGLE. LAST. ONE of us. They did NOT care that you are a kansen and the fact that you are not entirely human, they did NOT care whether you are just a newborn baby or an old person lying on your deathbed, and they certainly did NOT care whether you are civilians or military service members. If you look human enough, you're already dead."
Amagi suddenly snorted in dark amusement. "To be completely honest with you, if the Sirens were to exist in the 26th century, perhaps they would side with humanity to fight against the Covenant."
"UNSC forces, occasionally supported by the Insurrectionists on some rare occasions, fought bravely, but our technology and numbers were extremely inferior compared to what the Covenant had at their disposal, meaning that even a close victory was far from guaranteed. We were often only able to win space-based battles using overwhelming numbers or asymmetrical strategies, but even then we would still suffer astronomical losses.
"The peaceful agricultural colony Harvest was their first target. Out of approximately three million people that called the planet home, only about two hundred and fifty thousand or more managed to escape." Amagi turned her attention back to the sleeping form of Javelin and caressed the destroyer's cheek; a sad smile formed on the heavy carrier's lips, accompanied by a single tear rolling down her cheek. "Poor Javelin was one of those fortunate two hundred and fifty thousand."
Prince of Wales and Illustrious covered their mouths in shock after hearing that last part as tears began to well up in their eyes, whereas Unicorn was openly weeping. Enterprise and Cleveland diverted their attention away from the sight before them as they couldn't bear watching their allies suffer yet at the time couldn't offer any kind of help.
Although they were doing a great job remaining professional and maintaining a look of stoicism, the Imperial Navy kansens of Sakura Empire were actually extremely angered inside. They could not believe that a civilization that was capable of traveling among the stars would resort to such barbaric and dishonorable practices in the name of religion of all things. Instead of cowering in terror at the brutality of the Covenant, the six Sakura shipgirls only felt furious at this new alien threat of the future.
As for Commander Adams, he only felt ashamed for having treated the future version of Javelin with such harshness when he last had a conversation with her. Thinking back, he should have stopped when the destroyer showed clear discomfort multiple times as well as the subtle body language that he failed to pick up on. Despite being warned by Doctor Merlot of her mental condition, the Commander still treated the questioning session as if it was an interrogation.
Essentially, Commander Adams had failed Javelin.
"Shall we…" Amagi said, making everyone turn their heads towards her. "Shall we continue at a later date? I… would like to have some rest…"
PRESENT…
"Make sure that whoever is going to be future Javelin's psychiatrist will keep their mouth shut about the information relating to the future of humanity." Commander Adams sternly said. "I prefer having Vestal as her personal psychiatrist, to be honest. At least she is someone we can trust will keep this whole thing a secret."
"I agree." Prince of Wales replied. Despite the fact that doctor-patient confidentiality existed and was protected by law, the problems that were tormenting future Javelin's mind were so big that they must not be leaked to the outside world. To make matters worse, tabloid journalists were trying their best to lay their hands on the "forbidden fruit", namely, the history of humanity in the 26th century and the genocidal threat that existed out there among the stars.
If the psychiatrist assigned to treat Javelin was a normal human, there would exist the potential of that physician being paid with loads of cash or worse, terrorized by those damned journalists to spill the beans. However, if that psychiatrist was Vestal, there would be absolutely nothing they could do to force her to reveal the dark and disturbing truth.
Commander Adams shook his head and returned to his table. Perhaps he could pull some strings to have Vestal selected as future Javelin's physician. This whole thing about the future was too big for human doctors to deal with and knowing how stubborn the tabloid journalists were in their quest of "finding the truth", letting human psychiatrists to treat the space-shipgirl's problems was a risk that Adams wanted to avoid.
But first things first, the Commander had a stack of paper to work on.
CREDITS: "The Templin Institute" on Youtube and the talented writers of Halopedia for the materials used in this chapter. However, if they want me to take this chapter down because of the use of their materials, I will do it and remake this whole chapter from scratch.
