Thanks to all who have read, favorited, followed, and reviewed this story. Double thanks for sticking around this long to see what's gonna happen next. So, let's get into it, shall we?

Disclaimer: I don't own Azur Lane or any other properties I make references to.

"A wonderful chance which may achieve most valuable results. God be with you."

-Admiral John Tovey to a flight of Albacores launching to attack the Tirpitz on March 9, 1942

Chapter 29: The Price of Popularity

The journey back to Devonport was nearly as uneventful as expected. Nobody had mentioned it as they were leaving London but once they were firmly out of sight of any sort of civilization, a sudden flurry of individually flashed Morse code signals gave the union duo the entire Royal Navy fleet's request to board for the duration of the journey.

The answer was easily given. "All are welcome," was signaled to all who asked.

Those who boarded offered their thanks and greetings ranging from simple to Cheshire. Thankfully there was no pouncing this time, but a big bear hug was most certainly given to the codebreaker, much to Nashville's chagrin.

Nevertheless, in not much time at all, Nashville's bridge became a social hotspot with more than a dozen ship girls plus one man. Las Vegas was tempted to flex some of his authority as commanding officer of the hosting vessel to kick out the visitors that distracted his work of guiding them safely towards Devonport. He wouldn't kink them off Nashville's hull, he just considered shooing them to somewhere else to hang out. But he toughed it out for a few reasons.

Who was he to be the villain and cast out such revelry? He understood that all these women have had it hard for the last, well, he didn't know how long, but he felt it best to let them enjoy themselves. And from the various glances with varying levels of subtlety, those who weren't aware of Calico Jack's magic wanted to witness the process for themselves. The most subtle had been Sheffield, who spared a singular glance. The most obviously transfixed was Javelin. Because she was a destroyer, she often found herself on the lookout for submarines and as she felt Nashville's hull change course in the water to avoid dangerous areas, she was absolutely convinced that what the man was doing was indeed magic.

A few other destroyers had been watching in a manner similar to Javelin, but she was the only one that had the courage to talk to the recently knighted man, who to their knowledge dealt exclusively with ship girls of higher standing than them.

Javelin amazed, "I know what you're doing, but it's still so cool to see!" He was about to respond when she mused aloud, "I wish I could do what you do."

Javelin's words made his initial response die in his throat, and he was forced on a stroll down memory lane. He remembered relatively few specific instances from his childhood, instead more easily recalling feelings or routines. But among those specific memories, he remembered being twelve years old and having to talk with his seventh-grade math teacher about a test he had failed. He seemed to remember voicing his discouragement at one point with, "I can't do this. I wish I could do what you do."

He recalled Mrs. Daley look at him through thick spectacles, and she smiled. She then told him something that would leave an impression on the young boy and set him on a course for where he presently is.

He smiled at Javelin, and he repeated what his teacher had told him all those years ago, "But you can do it too. If you want it hard enough, and if you work hard enough, then you can become even better than I am."

When one considers what made them become the person that they are, often thoughts will turn to the people who made a difference in their tender years, be they parents, guardians, mentors, personal heroes, and even friends. Most will be able to think of at least one person that helped them become better, who believed in them when it felt like their strength or knowledge has reached it's limit, never to expand any further. Those believers are the unsung heroes of everyone's personal greatness.

This left ship girls in an awkward position. Having been constructed by human hands to be living weapons, they lacked many of the basic formative experiences that a normal human would have in their youth. Granted, through the efforts of sister ships and other associations of times gone by, most have adapted to having flesh and blood bodies far better than any earthly government expected. But for some, there were still voids that remained.

"You really think so?" tested Javelin.

"I'm betting on you," he responded sincerely.

Though she looked up to her captains and a few notable men among her crew, Javelin had always wondered what it was like to have a mother or father. While a few of the bigger ship girls fit the bill of what she expected a mother to be like, the other half of her wonderings persisted unanswered. Until now. Because something told her that this was the closest that she was ever going to get to having a father. So, she did what she had always told herself that she would do if she had a one.

With a big smile and watery eyes, Javelin stepped forward to give a hug to the still sitting man. The man in question had seen the change in Javelin's state and had a feeling that this was coming, so he elected to ignore the company of prying eyes, and he returned the gesture to the destroyer girl.

It's funny how much impact a few words of gentle encouragement can have.

A few of the onlookers had been touched by the display. Over time, and due to her native sunny disposition, Javelin had come to be seen as a sister by many who knew her, so her happiness was of a more infectious strain that permeated to all that she was around.

That happiness would persist among the crew and passengers aboard Nashville for the remainder of the journey to Devonport, and they would arrive at the base the next morning.

XXXXXXXX

Before the duo's passengers had disembarked to form their own hulls so that all could tie in at their normal docking places, Queen Elizabeth had requested to be made aware of when Calico Jack's fleet would set out to search for whatever they were hunting, for she wished to see them off personally. It was a simple and relatively painless request that was accepted without any issue.

Then Las Vegas and Nashville found each of those who they would bring along to hunt the Siren Superweapon and told them that the time was near. All promised to be ready when the time came.

But then once everyone was finally tied into the docks, the duo had to decide the proper order of things. The brief conversation to decide on what to do was pointless however, because they knew exactly what needed to happen. The computer needed to be repaired as soon as possible, or more people would die and their blood would be on the duo's hands. The hesitation offered the duo memories of the last time they had to prepare for a superweapon fight. The dread was oppressive, and it hung thickly during the moments of silence between the sentences both people forced out of their mouths.

But when no more could be said, and the hanging darkness threatened to become suffocating, Nashville watched the expression of her commander turn suddenly to hardened determination. She noted that instead of being filled with intensity to echo that of her beloved commander, she was filled with a great calm. She was assured that there was nothing left to fear, and that there was a way to win that would be found.

Las Vegas got to work immediately. And Nashville was right beside him the whole time.

Even though the man had appropriated a whole day to repair the computer, as it turned out, the task only stretched into the early evening. Once the final screw on the casing was replaced and Las Vegas set the desktop upright, he found himself looking towards his companion. Nashville's expression was difficult to decipher for the codebreaker. He suspected that she was possessed of a portmanteau of emotions, and he wagered that he looked the same way. They shared the wordless exchange of gazes for a few moments when Nashville observed, "Well. I guess it's time to look at some crazy people's computer."

"Yeah, I guess so," Las Vegas answered back. He picked up the desktop and moved over to a corner of Nashville's bridge that he hadn't had occasion to use before. In this corner was a small setup of computers connected to a separate satellite uplink that would permit access to the internet and it would also allow for the most secure communications that was aboard Nashville's hull, however Las Vegas didn't trust it in the slightest to be secure to the Sirens, but it would work for the significantly more primitive the Heralds of the Deep. The setup had been designed to function as a technological bubble that was isolated both physically and wirelessly from all of Nashville's other electronic systems, like the charting table, for example. This "bubble" offered an infallible safety should a hacking attempt be made from this avenue, and an extra monitor would serve perfectly to inspect the accursed device that Las Vegas just set down.

He plugged it in while Nashville pulled up two chairs and once both sat down, Las Vegas turned it on. The computer whirred as the internal fans began to cool the device and the startup screen showed up as one would rightfully expect, then the duo was dumped at a login screen that required a password.

"Hmm," disapproved Nashville of the predicament. "Do you have any fancy tricks this time to get us in?"

"Afraid not," he admitted. "Do you have any guesses that sound good to you?" What else could he say? While he was good with a computer and knew what makes one up, that knowledge doesn't automatically make him a hacker.

Nashville kind of expected this so she offered the first suggestion, "Try 'heraldsofthedeep.'"

"No good," informed Las Vegas: "password," he then typed in as he spoke. "No dice," he lamented after pressing the enter key.

They went back and forth a few more times with no luck, trying passwords with direct thematic ties to the Heralds themselves or ones an idiot would have on his luggage, like, "12345."

Seeing that this wasn't working, both people leaned back in their seats and thought in silence, trying their hardest to come up with something. Nashville was trying to come up with more things that might be tied to the Heralds themselves, but Las Vegas was trying to come up with a different angle from which to approach the problem.

He asked himself, "What do the Heralds of the Deep define themselves as?" Well, they were definitely religious—in a perverted kind of way—like most cults are. So, he decided to try out some general religious terms.

"faith," he typed. No.

"gospel?" No.

"testament?" No.

"covenant?" No.

"salvation?" No.

"damnation?" No.

This wasn't working. What's something religious that would be important to these people?

Las Vegas snapped his fingers and Nashville looked his way. "leviathan," typed and spoke the man, and he pressed enter.

The computer responded with a swirling icon and the words, "Signing in…"

The man pumped a fist and declared his victory by proclaiming, "Abracadabra!"

Nashville held up her hand for a high five, which was given, and then sounding impressed she complemented, "Nice job, Las Vegas. You've done it again."

"Yeah. Easy. It only took like thirty tries," he responded sarcastically.

"Out of how many words there are in English plus however many there would be if they tried something like put a '1,' after the word? I'd call what just happened magic."

Nashville's rebuttal was pretty effective, and Las Vegas was forced to agree that they did get pretty lucky. But while they were speaking, the computer finished signing in and the duo found themselves at the home screen that still was set to the default wallpaper. They shared one last glance and Nashville said, "Let's just get this over with."

"Good idea."

Then they began by searching the file directory of the computer. And to their surprise, it was incredibly organized with clearly labelled directories that were filed alphabetically. The first was the most interesting to Las Vegas personally. It was a file labelled: "Communications." Bingo. A brief inspection showed Las Vegas enough information that he was confident enough to being his own personal attack on the cypher used by the Heralds of the Deep, cutting out the need for anyone else to ever look at or know about the Heralds' latest breach. If there was a silver lining to this unpleasant task of searching a herald computer, being able to crack their code and read all their communications was it. This breakthrough made Las Vegas recall a lucky break during the cryptanalysis of the Iron Blood's enigma machine when U-110 and later U-559 were improperly skuttled by their crews allowing their enigma machines and code books to fall into allied hands. He briefly wondered if either U-boat ever became ship girls. But he got himself back on task because there were other things to inspect.

The next directory was labelled: "Doctrine." The heroes didn't get very far down this particular rabbit hole. It spoke of procedures and individual rituals but never was any reason given as to why any given ritual was performed beyond, "…in preparation for the next ritual." The duo found a smaller folder that had videos and photos of the abject depravity of these wicked people. They only looked at the photos long enough to understand what they were of before moving on in the investigation. Well, moving on is oversimplifying it. The duo had to spend a few minutes recovering mentally and emotionally, for what monster can look upon such brutal savagery and not be affected?

There was one last main directory. And it was labelled in a way that simultaneously made sense and didn't to the duo. "What's 'Knight Guardian?'" asked Nashville, even though she was pretty sure about what it was already referring to.

Las Vegas decided of offer some speculation. "I think that either 'Knight Guardian,' or just, 'Guardian,' is what the Heralds officially call the superweapons. But either way, we're gonna find out."

"Right," concurred Nashville. "Let's see what we're up against."

With that, the duo took the plunge into seeing exactly what had been wreaking so much havoc in the North Atlantic to cut the Old World and the New World off from each other.

They were struck with awe with the creature itself, and a few different revelations came forth that the duo had to come to terms with. First, these super weapons can be intelligent, for the Knight Guardian was capable of direct communication and even speech with the Heralds of the Deep. It even seemed amused by the antics of the strange humans. Two, it was from the Knight Guardian that the cultists in London had gotten their wisdom cube. Third, the beast was able to assume a human-looking form that looked exactly like the creepy darts guy from a few weeks ago.

"Nash," spoke Las Vegas, dumbfounded.

"Yeah," she answered, failing to conceal her alarm at this revelation.

"Maybe shooting first and asking questions later isn't such a bad idea after all when suspicious people are involved," he offered. He noticed that Nashville had paled, and her eyes betrayed her presently unnerved disposition.

"Yeah," she answered again, favoring monosyllabic words at the moment. She was quite shaken at the fact that she was so close to losing the man she loved to one of the most dangerous things out there.

"We've underestimated the Sirens. Let's not make that mistake again."

Nashville simply nodded and she watched Las Vegas turn back to look at the computer again. But she found her mouth open, and words formed to inquire, "What do the Sirens even want?"

Las Vegas sighed and recounted what had frustrated him ever since he became a codebreaker, "I don't know. Nobody does. I even doubt that the Heralds know." He paused and then continued, "But I'd bet money that the Sirens are after something; they're too calculating to have no purpose beyond waging war just because they can."

"Do you think we'll ever find out?"

"Before the end," foreshadowed the codebreaker. "Whenever that may be."

Without any more words, they got back to work understanding what the superweapon was exactly, how it ticked, and if there were any glaringly obvious weaknesses in it's "body." In all honesty, it seemed more like fighting the ocean itself than any one individual enemy.

But bit by bit, the duo managed to deconstruct the methods and tactics of the chaser-class superweapon they were to go hunting for and as the plan was coming together, they came to the same tactical conclusion:

"We need an aircraft carrier," they agreed at the same time.

And so, not having associated with many aircraft carriers in the Royal Navy, the duo set off to speak with the first one off the tops of their heads: Illustrious.

XXXXXXXX

Fortunately for the duo, Illustrious wasn't difficult to find. The reason was twofold. First, having situated herself in a veranda going along the dormitory of the Royal Navy ship girls, many had seen where she was, and directed the duo. Secondly, Illustrious did a very good job of looking like Illustrious, with her white dress and large sunhat.

Such distinct appearance allowed the foreign duo to immediately spot the aircraft carrier from where she sat, but unfortunately Unicorn served as the woman's shadow, and they were sitting directly beside one another. From the first visual contact, Las Vegas couldn't see what they were doing save that Unicorn was looking quite intently at something in Illustrious's lap. Soon after, and seemingly having sensed their approach, Illustrious stopped whatever she was doing with Unicorn and she looked up at the Union duo, offering a small albeit genuine smile.

Las Vegas and Nashville entered into the veranda itself when Illustrious offered the first greeting, "Good evening the two of you. How are you doing?"

"Doin' great," replied Nashville. She wasn't doing great.

"So far, so good," then answered Las Vegas. That was a lie. But he continued speaking for the sake of cordiality, "And how about yourselves?"

"Alright," said Unicorn. Las Vegas noticed that Unicorn was trying her hardest to conceal what seemed like disappointment, and based on the closed book on Illustrious's lap, the duo's malefaction was interrupting story time.

But there was another problem from this situation. The information to be discussed shortly is dispensed on a need-to-know basis, and Unicorn didn't need to know. So, Las Vegas prepared himself to be the bad guy by requesting that Illustrious speak to the duo in private.

"Quite well, in fact," reported the woman in white. Word had reached Illustrious quickly that Calico Jack had been looking for her, and it wasn't hard to guess why. He wanted to request her assistance in the same way that he had enlisted Duke of York, Belfast, and the others that went alongside him that night in London. She already knew her answer, and as easy as it would be to simply tell him and skip all the secrecy, a part of her remained curious about the man with no name. This was the perfect opportunity to sate that curiosity, but she felt that she couldn't properly probe the man with his companion in company as well, so she deployed her secret weapon: a weapon so powerful that no victim has been able to guard themselves to date.

"Unicorn, why don't you ask Nashville to read to you while I speak with Sir Calico Jack?"

Unicorn's countenance brightened in the cutest way possible, and she began her assault in earnest. She placed her toy alicorn under one arm and the other was used to snatch the closed book while standing up. She took a few steps towards Nashville before she spoke, "Would you please read to me, big sister?" The words came easy to the small girl because from the last time she had spoken to Nashville, Unicorn could tell that the woman with the funny accent was nice.

While Nashville did find Unicorn very cute, she was quite uninterested in doing anything that would leave her commander alone with the likes of Illustrious and those monstrously gargantuan boobs of hers. Nashville could easily picture occasions of Illustrious loosing things that were hiding right in front of her.

"Please," repeated Unicorn, recapturing Nashville's attention.

Nashville suspected that Unicorn was perfectly aware of how cute she was. And the light cruiser was equally convinced that Unicorn also knew how to use that cuteness to her advantage. With Unicorn's last word, Nashville found herself ever so slightly tempted to cave. But when she thought of the situation at large, the fact was that she and her commander needed Illustrious to cooperate for the upcoming battle. And there was no way to communicate to her commander that he should simply mention the agreement that they and the Royal Court made about separating them from one another or flash his writ of commandeering to get their way without anyone noticing and possibly getting offended. Besides, simply ordering people wasn't the kind of man she knew her commander to be, and she suspected that he trusted Illustrious enough to conveniently forget any sort of agreement. She hated it, but it looked like they would have to play to Illustrious's rules for the duo to get what they want. She looked over to her commander, hoping to get some order or maybe a suggestion.

Calico Jack had come to the same conclusion but a lot sooner than his companion. While Nashville was quite reluctant to leave the presence of the man she loved, said man was willing to humor Illustrious given the circumstances. He waited a few seconds as he was looking at Nashville hoping for some sort of distraction or noise to cover a brief order. A gust of wind allowed him to softly order her, "Keep watch." The gust of wind was brief, but it was just the right volume to keep either Royal ship girl from hearing his words, but Illustrious could read lips, and she frowned. But once the gust died down, the codebreaker followed on with, "Radio if something happens." Those two orders combined so that Nashville would be able to assure that the coming conversation was private.

"Yes, sir," complied Nashville, still not at all excited to leave her commander's side with Illustrious. It didn't even help if they were still in her sight. She turned her view to briefly linger on Illustrious and she shot her a look of disdain that made the aircraft carrier's frown deepen. When Nashville found her sight fall on Unicorn, the girl had her book open to the page she and Illustrious stopped off at and she was trying to find the right paragraph so that the story can resume without repetition. "Okay, Unicorn. Let's read over there," she said while pointing to a bench further up the veranda towards where more foot traffic was. She figured it a better look-out post. She chose somewhere a bit further away to make sure that the conversation between her commander and Illustrious couldn't be overheard by Unicorn. Too bad that meant that Nashville couldn't eavesdrop either.

Unicorn made an incredibly adorable noise somewhere between a gasp and a giggle and she plastered her face with a toothy grin. She walked off with Nashville and she was very excited to continue the story. Needless to say, Nashville didn't share in the girl's excitement.

Illustrious was able to look back at Calico Jack while Unicorn and Nashville were walking away, but she found herself watching the man while he watched his companion all the way until she sat down. Once he knew where Nashville was sitting, he looked back to Illustrious and with an impassive poker face he stated, "I suppose you think that was terribly clever."

This was the first sense that Illustrious got that he disapproved of what she had just done. Again, she frowned but she still defended herself while laying out her desires, "It was necessary. As much as you wish to speak with me, I wish to speak with you."

Calico Jack looked around and with a second's inspection, he found a wooden chair, which he retrieved and placed across from Illustrious. He sat down but with a softened expression on his face. This naturally mitigated Illustrious's frown. He sighed and began, "I want to apologize for lying earlier. Nashville and I aren't doing so well right now."

Illustrious's face betrayed sympathy for the man's plight. She observed, "So, you have found the information you require, but at what cost?"

"And there is more that needs purchasing. Knowing might be half the battle, but that still leaves a hard fight ahead." He paused and silence passed between them for a few seconds. He said, "You already know why we're here and what we want to talk about. But it feels impolite to waltz up and demand that you simply sit and listen to me rave about duty and whatever needs to be done. So, if I may, why do you want to talk to me? Or better yet, why can't Nashville have a part?"

"I'm curious about you, Calico Jack. And for better or worse, you seek Nashville's opinion too often for me know which thoughts are yours and which are hers."

He shrugged and admitted that Illustrious wasn't wrong. "I can see why you think that. But please understand where this is coming from. We both have equal stakes and with an operation that has significantly less personnel than most others, we have found a relationship that is much less rigid than commander and subordinate to be to our benefit."

Illustrious might not be a quite as insightful so to imitate Belfast's apparent ability to read minds, but still, she wasn't surprised in the slightest to hear Calico Jack's response. In fact, she found the accommodation that the duo afforded each other rather endearing. Even if that accommodation was only extended to people outside of the pair by Calico Jack and not Nashville. But Illustrious wasn't angry with Nashville for her possessiveness of Calico Jack because Illustrious still recalled the memory of that expression of iron will that the man had shown her that day on Nashville's bridge when he was knighted. Truth be told, if Nashville was even a little less possessive, the aircraft carrier would try flirting in this conversation as a way to begin gauging her compatibility with Calico Jack.

But Nashville is possessive, and Illustrious had decided to respect the light cruiser's affection and unspoken claim upon her commanding officer—even if "commanding officer" isn't the dynamic involved. So, she resigned herself to only getting Calico Jack's opinions instead of any sort of romance.

Illustrious nodded and said, "I understand the reasoning for your methods. And thank you for being willing to cater to myself for this occasion. Especially since doing so is contrary to the agreement we had made at Her Majesty's tea party the day you arrived."

"Of course," he said. "It always struck me as being more effective to compromise than to make demands. Even making concessions has a place. Well. At least for the relatively trivial matters such as a conversation."

"I was about to warn you of appeasement, but it seems that you understand the need to take a stand about some things."

"I should hope so," he observed. "I'm all for compromise, but I also feel like there is a pretty clear distinction between compromise and appeasement."

"True," concurred Illustrious.

But then an unwelcome silence descended between her and the codebreaker because of the unfamiliarity between them. Calico Jack didn't know how to move the conversation forward in a tactful manner, but he was saved when Illustrious made an audible sigh that caught the man's attention more fully. She made an earnest request, "Would you please promise me something?"

"What is it?"

"Would you please promise me to be completely honest? Even if you feel it would be offensive to me?" Calico Jack raised an eyebrow and his questioning look made Illustrious elaborate further. "I appreciate your consideration and I have even noticed that you often take a brief moment to consider your words before you speak so that nobody is offended. But this filter of yours, along with the filter that Nashville gives you, has made me quite interested as to the quote-unquote, 'real man,' that might exist right below the surface."

"So, you wish to discuss more personal topics that you think I harbor unpopular opinions about?"

"Yes."

With that admission, Calico Jack began to weigh his options. The easiest way out would be to simply decline. Doing so would spare him of any trouble that might come up from answering the questions. But at the same time, he really needed Illustrious in order to even have a change against the superweapon presently terrorizing the North Atlantic. It all came down to whatever Illustrious's intentions were.

It didn't take a genius to guess what Calico Jack was thinking about, so Illustrious offered, "Would you be more willing if I promise that what gets said stays between us? I would also promise to keep this brief."

That actually did make him more willing, but he still hesitated. He was suspicious of a front since not sharing information with Queen Elizabeth didn't seem like a common practice around here. Then he remembered that under the burden of all the circumstances, getting Illustrious's help was far more important than any pride he has. He responded, "If you promise discretion and brevity, then I promise honesty. But there are some things that I cannot answer."

Illustrious smiled. Though a beautiful smile, Calico Jack still found it lacking when compared to Nashville's. But what could he say? He was pretty biased towards his friend rather the woman in front of him.

"In that case, I promise to keep my questions and your answers a secret, and I won't even take too much time. But let us begin." The woman took a breath and dived right in with, "What do you want from us ship girls?"

At first glance, the codebreaker thought that the question could mean a few different things. Was she asking about the sort of expectations that he had for them when he worked with ship girls? Did she think that he wanted some sort of favor from the ship girls he met? Or was she convinced that he gave them some sort of special treatment in a patronizing sort of way?

It could be any of those things, or some combination of those. So, he sought to clarify. "Uh. I don't think I understand your question."

Illustrious didn't say anything immediately. Instead, she fixed him with a look that betrayed her own amazement that he didn't understand what she was getting at.

Calico Jack spoke again, "Sorry for being an idiot, but could you please like, draw me a picture?"

The aircraft carrier finally brought herself together enough to overcome the thickheadedness of the man before her and she pointed out, "You have become a popular man among us ship girls as of late. I don't know how aware you are of this, but you have become the hot topic of chatter among many of my comrades. A steadily growing number are even beginning to identify as admirers of yours. I wanted to know if this is what you've wanted all along."

The geek from Las Vegas took this as his queue to strike again. And in this circumstance, having found out that there is any secret admirer—especially multiple admirers—his ability to speak or even really properly respond fled the man. While it is true that he was aware of Cheshire's affections and that he had been in equal parts preparing and procrastinating the time for when he would decline her advances or her desires to make advances, he was still caught off guard in a way that was unknown to him from hearing this.

He had to make absolute certain that this was the truth because for how well he knew Illustrious, which wasn't very well, she could very well be pulling a prank. So, he took a few seconds to tame his flabbergast and the expression it imposed on his face, but then he probed, "You've gotta be joking. I've heard that I've gotten popular, but admirers?" He then paused only for a brief breath before he spoke to try and convince himself and Illustrious of it's impossibility, "It's gotta be a joke or something."

Illustrious honestly felt sorry for him. She shook her head and softly asserted, "I'm not joking."

In an attempt to gather if Illustrious was lying or not, Calico Jack fixed her with a probing stare to see if there were any tells indicating deception.

Seeing exactly what he was doing, but finding herself powerless, Illustrious began to shift ever so slightly in her discomfort and she couldn't force her eyes to meet his. Such body language didn't necessarily mean anything though. Being nervous doesn't make someone a liar. But her undoing came from the fact that the blazing force of his gaze is exactly what piqued her interest in him in the first place. A slight dusting of red adorned her cheeks highlighted by the paleness of her native skin tone.

And thus, the truth of the matter was revealed to the codebreaker. Not only was Illustrious not lying, but she was also among the admirers. In the face of the accidental turning of tables regarding embarrassment on this topic Calico Jack hummed. It was a quick hum, and most would think that it was dismissive. But Illustrious understood what it really meant. She had been found out. But fortunately for her, she was able to hide her face easily by looking downward slightly thanks to her large hat. She heard him sigh, but she kept looking downwards, now regretting not just giving him the answer to his own request for her help, so that she could get him going on his way and not have to deal with this.

Calico Jack spoke, "I'm sorry. What I just did was uncalled-for. I shouldn't have put you on the spot like that."

Now she looked up slightly and was able to peek out from under the brim of her hat. Based on the tone of his voice and the remorseful bend of his brow she found it in herself to respond to his apology instead of just telling him her answer to his request and asking him to leave. "It's…okay."

He smiled lightly and that allowed Illustrious to straighten up and recover from the residuals of her embarrassment. When he saw that she was now completely straightened up and her blush had fully retreated he began to answer her original question. "From the very first day that I met any ship girl—that being Nashville—I have maintained professional expectations. That being said, I would love to be friends with every ship girl—or really every human—out there. But it isn't reasonable of me to expect for that to happen. So, I do my job with the expectation and desire that everyone else does theirs."

Illustrious could tell that he was being truthful, but she felt the need to prod a bit further, "Surely that can't be it? You've never once hoped for or thought of having any sort of romantic relationship or shall I say, 'encounter,' with any ship girl?"

"I'd be lying if I said that the thought of something like that never crossed my mind. But…there's too much at stake to be entertaining distractions like that. Maybe some other ship girl commander in some other reality would be able to make it work and still keep up the war with the Sirens, but I'm just me. I'm no swash-buckling-prince-charming-hero. I'm just a guy who wants to get the job done and take care of the people who I have been appointed to lead."

Again, she felt sorry for him. He believed his own lie. Because him being a "swash-buckling-prince-charming-hero" is exactly what was winning him admirers. She wanted to comment but based on how Calico Jack was wringing his hands slowly, she could tell that there was more he wanted to say. So, she waited.

He didn't make her wait very long. He explained, "For most of the time that I have been responsible for my mission, I had thought that the oceans were the most dangerous place to be, for a few different reasons. But I always figured that if I just did my job and made the right calls at the right time, everything would turn out alright. But then the night of the London Incident happened, and I learned a few things. Nowhere is safe anymore. And I learned that I am not nearly as fearful for my own life as I am for the lives of those who follow me." He paused briefly to comb his memory and then continue with, "When I got cornered by those men in the Gilded Lion, one of them gave me a false promise that if I answered a few questions, they would let me get back to my quote-unquote, 'harem.'" Calico Jack chuckled humorlessly then said, "Naturally I denied the harem part. I denied it because it's simply untrue. But now I want to add on a second reason. Because nowhere is safe anymore, I am liable to be killed at any moment and I cannot in good conscience leave anyone, ship girl or otherwise, waiting for me when I would never return. So, I guess that the short answer to your question is that by default I keep it professional. I'd love to be friends. But I'm not willing to risk anything deeper."

Illustrious nodded slowly and allowed all this to sink in. Now she felt sorry for Nashville too. And Cheshire. And everyone else who admired the man. He was afraid of leaving anyone behind, but he wasn't privy to the fact that it was already too late for him to meet his end and not break someone's heart. He didn't want to break hearts, but by trying not to, he was breaking someone's heart. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Suffice it to say, she wasn't envious of him in the slightest. She spent a solid ten seconds dwelling on these thoughts before she finally offered him, "Thank you, for answering my question."

"You're welcome," he said automatically. But then another thought occurred to him, and he asked, "And do you think my popularity has anything to do with the fact that I don't see any other men walking around here?"

"I think that you're selling yourself short, but I do believe that fact plays at least some part."

Calico Jack pushed the question further, "How big of a part though? I can't be the only decent guy that ever has or ever will show up."

Illustrious's expression turned morose and that communicated that his last sentence was right on the money. She was unsure of the future. He followed on asking, "I know that the ship girls of the Royal Navy have a degree of autonomy, but do you know how resilient that autonomy is?" His intention was to see if Illustrious thought she and her follows would be allowed to leave the military after the war.

That was a pretty loaded question that had a rather extensive answer and while Illustrious was well on the way to gather up her thousand thoughts and form them into words, Calico Jack thought to instead make the question simpler. "Rather, what do you want to do after the war is over?"

Seeing where this was going, Illustrious took up the shorter question and replied, "I'd love to become a singer, like those Sakura Idols. But I also want to be an author." Then referring to what she was doing when Calico Jack appeared, she added on, "It's not just Unicorn who loves stories."

Calico Jack smiled and he said, "Those are great things to aspire for. Art and creativity are what gives vibrancy to this existence of ours." But his expression fell into a more level sincerity when he asked, "But will you be able to do this once the war is over?"

The woman looked off to the side as if to try and find something in the distance. She then looked back to Calico Jack and lamented, "While it's easy for me to find a pen and paper and I'm content to sing only to myself and those dear to me, I fear that the dreams of my sisters will never be allowed to happen. But most of all, I'm scared that Unicorn will never be permitted to find something that she wants to become."

"What do your sisters want to do?" he asked, not wanting to jump to conclusions as to how much freedoms will be afforded the Royal Navy ship girls once this war is over.

With love, pride, and sorrow, Illustrious's lips parted into a soft smile. She related, "One of my younger sisters, Victorious, wants to become a fashion designer. And then my other younger sister, Formidable, wants to start a rock band, of all things."

"I like that art is a common thing among you and your sisters. But…do you think that they'll be able to, or rather, allowed to pursue those dreams once the war is over?"

"I don't know," lamented the woman in white. "What we get told seemingly depends on the season and who's in office. None of us know what to think or what to expect once the war is over." She paused to gather herself and sniffle a bit, "Thank you for thinking of us like we're humans—perhaps that's the reason for your popularity. But enough of the right people think that we're weapons, so I don't think that we'll just be allowed to retire or be decommissioned."

The codebreaker remarked, "Nashville and I suspect that something similar is likely to happen with the ship girls in the Union. But with this sort of thing happening here, I have a feeling that this problem widespread."

Silence persisted again between the pair, and this let Illustrious stew in her present state. Her view again settled into the distance. Calico Jack knew what she was looking for now. She was looking for hope. This action filled the man with burning resolve. He felt affirmation for the promise he made to himself that he would do all in his power so that ship girls the world over can have normal lives at some point.

No noise was made but Illustrious naturally felt her eyes being guided back to the man in front of her. She saw it all. She saw the determination on his face that made her interested in him in the first place and she knew exactly why he was like that. He decided that he would help them—help her. It was like having a veil of darkness lifted from her eyes and for the first time in a long time, she dared to have hope for the future. She felt her eyes grow slightly wet, but she didn't say anything until after she wiped the corners of eyes with a finger. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Anytime," he quietly answered, and he let the conversation drift again into the sound of the breeze. The pair spent a minute appreciating the calm passing of time, but alas, it couldn't last.

Calico Jack asked, "Is that the only question that you had for me?" Illustrious nodded and he then got into his own business, "A fleet is already mostly assembled in order to go hunting for the something that's causing trouble in the ocean west of here. We need an aircraft carrier to even stand a chance."

"And you cannot tell me anymore until after I accept the mission?" confirmed Illustrious.

"Yes. As unfair as it is, that's what we're dealing with. But I won't force you to participate."

"How dangerous is this, 'something?'"

Calico Jack rubbed the back of his neck trying to work out a kink that seemingly developed out of nowhere. He said, "Losses are likely, and it's quite possible that all involved will die."

This naturally saddened the woman. She didn't want to lose any comrade. But most of the people that were in Calico Jack's fleet were her friends and that made it worse. It would feel wrong to abandon them to fate and whatever Siren devilry hid under the waves. Her decision was already made, and it had been for a while.

The man watched Illustrious sigh and say, "I'm sorry, but I cannot join you. I must look after Unicorn. I can't risk leaving her alone."

He nodded slowly, in understanding. It didn't surprise him that Unicorn was Illustrious's greatest priority. And he didn't say anything to try and dissuade the woman from her decision. But that still left him with the same problem of not having an aircraft carrier. He replied, "I understand why you can't come. It's alright. But do you know any other aircraft carrier here in Devonport that would be willing to take this mission on?"

This put Illustrious in an awkward position that she really didn't want to be in. She can skip out of the suicide mission in exchange for recommending someone take her place. But she didn't begrudge the man for doing this to her. He had a job that she could tell was wearing down on him, and he was just trying his best. So, she tried to think of someone that would be willing and able to rise to this occasion. The list of candidates wasn't particularly large, but she still carefully pondered this problem. Eventually, she decided on who she thought would be best for this task.

The man with no name watched Illustrious rise from where she was sitting, and he followed suit. She said, "I think I know someone who would be willing. Let's gather Unicorn and Nashville and I'll lead you to her. But I must warn you—she can be timid at times."

XXXXXXXX

The approach to Nashville as she was still reading to Unicorn showed to the codebreaker that this experience wasn't nearly as bad as she was expecting. And based on what Las Vegas was hearing from her reading, she was even altering her voice a little to mimic the characters. She read:

"'Well,' said Strider, 'with Sam's permission we will call that settled. Strider shall be your guide. We shall have a rough road tomorrow. Even if we are allowed to leave Bree unhindered, we can hardly hope now to leave it unnoticed. But I shall try to get lost as soon as possible. I know one or two ways out of Bree-land other than the main road. If once we shake off the pursuit, I shall make for Weathertop.'

'Weathertop?' said Sam. 'What's that?'

'It is a hill, just to the north…'" Nashville stopped rather abruptly, like she was being caught red-handed doing something that she ought not, and she looked up towards the approaching woman in white and her commander. She made to stand but she stopped herself before moving too far. She looked over to Unicorn to see that the light carrier was already looking at Illustrious with a beaming smile to show her thoughts of Nashville as a narrator. Nashville said, "Unicorn. Look here." The girl did as she was told, and Nashville pointed to the exact location where they had stopped on the page. "This is where we stopped. Remember it, and you can get going again easier."

"Okay then!" she chirped back, snatching up the book and standing up with Nashville. But Unicorn's speed was considerably faster, and she stood ready for when Nashville's own act was complete. Unicorn threw her arms out and took in the larger woman in a hug of gratitude. "Thanks so much, big sister!"

"You're welcome, sweet thing," said Nashville, smiling.

But then the hug broke off and both turned to the newcomers and while Unicorn approached Illustrious, Nashville drew close to her commander and quietly offered, "I didn't see or hear anyone paying too much attention."

"Thanks, Nash, for doing this. You're the best," he replied with equal volume.

At being called the best, Nashville felt light, like she was flying. I was a feeling that she rather liked. But to avoid plastering her face with some stupid grin, she asked, "Did we get what we wanted?"

Las Vegas still saw a stupid grin anyway showing that she was, in the end, happy to oblige. But moving onto her question, he shook his head. "No, but Illustrious will show us someone who might be willing to help us."

Nashville shrugged her shoulders and dismissed, "Alright." She wasn't beat up about Illustrious declining. In fact, since she didn't have any sort of biases towards any particular aircraft carrier, Nashville just wanted someone good enough to keep everyone else alive and hopefully someone who wouldn't ask to speak to her commander alone.

Illustrious cleared her throat to get the attention of the unionists. It succeeded and she beckoned them forth with, "Given the time of day, I suspect that I know where we can find whom we seek."

"Lead on, Miss Illustrious," beckoned the man.

And so they went, with Illustrious leading the group away from the dormitory all the way across the town set up for the Royal Navy ship girls. During the journey, the man with no name and a burning curiosity allowed his gaze to wonder. But while his gaze would usually focus on the sights and the general goings-on, he decided to instead focus on the ship girls themselves. Why? He was hoping to have some further confirmation of Illustrious's claim that he was the popular topic and frequent subject of secretive admirations.

At first, he didn't know what he was looking for. He wasn't versed in the slightest when it comes to the ways that women give signs of romantic admirations, so he felt rather silly as he was prying into others' business. Then he saw it. He happened to be looking into a bakery and sitting outside at a table was a trio of ship girls that he didn't recognize. He watched one of them look up and she noticed him. She said something. It was too far away for him to hear, but he was able to see her mouth and lips make the shapes for some words with an "L," an "O," and a "J," in that order. She said something involving the name, "Calico Jack."

His conclusion was supported when both other eaters that were seated with their backs to the walking group turned to look in his direction. But they did so differently. One full on turned in her seat to look over her shoulder, lacking any subtlety whatsoever. She knew immediately that the subject of her view was looking right back, and with a dear in the headlights look, she spun back to where she was looking originally, and she covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. The other who looked at the same time was much more subtle, she only turned just enough to allow the corner of her periphery to look at the man, but even from that angle, he could see her sheepish smile.

His mind scrambled to come up with some excuse that he was just making stuff up or that he was misinterpreting something. He wanted so desperately to be wrong on this. But he was rarely wrong, and that fact was reinforced when the ship girl who had seen him and pointed him out began her greatest efforts to fight back laughter at her companions' expense. Eventually, she managed to say something. He still couldn't hear her, but he saw her expression was one of teasing playfulness, and her mouth made shapes like an "L," and he caught the mouth movements for, "him."

"'L' him."

What's that even supposed to mean? "Like him?" "Love him?" He sure hoped not. But he slipped back into denial, and he looked away.

Similar things like what he had seen repeated a few more times as the group walked through the town and especially the plaza. He grew steadily more alarmed of how right he was. It was even worse when a few brave ship girls would seemingly scamper up, offer the briefest greetings and then scamper off before he could properly respond or even get a good look in order to aid recognition. He noticed that it stopped after a few ship girls did it though. He only briefly wondered why, but he didn't bother to question fate if it spared him of this.

Nashville was pissed. She didn't notice any of the sideways glances towards her commander, but she definitely noticed the hit-and-run greetings. It took once for her to notice that something was happening. It took twice for her to understand what was happening. And it took thrice for her to get mad about it. Number four was about to be scared off before the greeting was given with a death glare that clearly communicated, "Hands off my man."

The poor girl wasn't willing to speak to her crush at the cost of crossing a foreign light cruiser that can apparently rip a battleship in half if what the rumors say is true. But what ended up happening was this anonymous ship girl watched the foreign cruiser take a breath and close her eyes for a moment, with the aggression melting off her face. The new look communicated to the fourth admirer, "Please don't." Number four ended up walking on without saying anything, giving a small nod to Nashville as she went by. Nashville returned it in gratitude, and that was the end of that.

Nashville was again surprised at how angry she can get when stuff like this happens. It had been a long time, but she needs to start counting to ten in her head again to keep herself in control, and not let her emotions get the best of her and make her do or say something that she can't take back.

But not a moment too soon for the foreigners, Illustrious finished leading them out of the town and right into what seemed like a botanical garden.

It was like going into another world, but not at all in an unpleasant way. The codebreaker began to compare the experience of entering this "forest" in comparison to the Tulgey Wood from during the London Incident. The group remained on a well-tended path that was clear of tree roots. The soft sound of the breeze sang in duet with the songs of a few birds as the sun was setting in the sky. Speaking of the sun, there was light instead of the unnatural effect of the Tulgey Wood in swallowing all light. But the most welcome difference by far was the lack of fantastical monsters.

"We're nearing where she usually is," informed Illustrious.

"So, uh, who are we meeting?" asked Nashville as they were turning a corner.

"There she is," answered Illustrious, while she pointed to a blonde woman sitting under a plum tree. Then she looked over to Nashville and she said, "You'll find out in just a moment."

Drawing near showed that the woman in fact wasn't sitting normally, she was slouched over what looked like a sketchbook and the soft sound of snoring showed what she was occupied with.

The group stopped by her side and Illustrious crouched down to place a hand on the blonde woman's shoulder. "Glorious? Please wake up, now is no time for resting." Illustrious gently shook Glorious's shoulder and with a bit more volume she implored, "Glorious, please wake up. You have visitors."

While Illustrious was rousing Glorious from her slumber, Las Vegas was inspecting her attire. Glorious was adorned in a blue dress with a wide strip of white going vertically down her front. There were accents of gold and red on the dress that stopped part of the way down her thighs, and she had white thigh-highs. Glorious made a noise that sounded like a groan to show she was coming to. Las Vegas looked to her face and long blonde hair framed a soft featured face best described as "cute." Her blinking was revealing deep blue eyes.

Naturally, Glorious's attention fell on Illustrious first and her face denoted guilt from having been caught dozing off. "I am so sorry, Lady Illustrious, that you found me like this. How can I help you?"

Glorious began to make the motions of standing, namely bracing her hand on the tree behind her for balance and getting her legs underneath her. Only now did Illustrious respond with, "I don't need your service, but Sir Calico Jack does."

Glorious leaned forward slightly and her view shot over Illustrious's shoulder to get a full view of Calico Jack. Her eyes widened exponentially, and she shot up to her feet at a speed that had to be comparable to a rocket's exit velocity. "C-C-C-Calico Jack! I-I-I-I-" she stammered.

But unfortunately for Glorious, her rapid ascent to her feet had knocked Illustrious from her crouching position to fall right onto her rear and she made an "Oh!" in her surprise. The seaworthiness of the Illustrious-class aircraft carriers didn't necessarily translate to the land-worthiness of the associated ship girl, who was notoriously top-heavy.

Now Glorious was mortified for two reasons. First, she was figuratively caught with her pants down by Calico Jack himself and second, she had knocked over a member of the queen's court with her carelessness. Now in full panic she finished her stammering with an apology to Illustrious. "I-I-I am so sorry!"

So great was her panic that it effectively engaged her fight-or-flight instinct, and her embarrassment was making the flight option awfully enticing. Without thinking, she took a step backwards to find her escape cut off by her favorite plum tree.

Hoping to take control of the situation, the man among them took a few steps forward to place himself beside Illustrious. He stretched out his hand and offered calmly, "Need a hand?"

The sudden showing of at least someone who was calm allowed the storm of Glorious's emotions to calm down slightly and she stopped her straining, rapid-fire apologies. She fell quiet.

Illustrious accepted his hand with a smile and with a steady pace he pulled her to her feet. The woman in white found herself incredibly close to the man, perhaps only a few inches separated the brim of her hat from his face, and a few inches more separated their chests from one another. Her heart started to beat like mad and then Calico Jack took a step backwards to assume a respectable distance. The beating stopped and Illustrious reigned herself in. "Thank you," she said to Calico Jack, and then she looked over to Glorious, who looked like she wanted to die right now, and Illustrious said, "You needn't worry Glorious. No offense is taken. We have sought you out unannounced and I understand the surprise."

The desire for death withdrew from Glorious's countenance and she responded, "Thank you Lady Illustrious for your forgiveness."

"Yes, of course. But as I had said, it isn't I who needs your assistance, it is Sir Calico Jack who does."

Glorious now looked over to Calico Jack and she saw that he was smiling warmly at her. She felt like she was about to faint at the sight of the man that she had heard so much about. He was just like the rumors had said. Kind, calm, an air of mystery, and totally her type. He greeted her, "It's nice to meet you, Miss Glorious. I'm Calico Jack."

"It's nice to meet you too," she returned weakly, forgetting her spiel about being the glory of the Royal Navy.

Glorious now found her imagination running wild of all the things that she wanted to do with him and have him do to her. She was totally okay with him giving her orders all day long and even into the night. Such lustful thoughts served as plenty distraction that made Illustrious's words into nothing more than background noise.

Calico Jack found himself shifting uncomfortably under Glorious's gaze and he was able to positively identify her as one of the secret admirers. Well, not-so-secret admirers.

This time, Illustrious came to the rescue because she too noticed her comrade's lack of subtlety and she waved a hand to get Glorious's attention. The blonde's attention indeed snapped from Calico Jack to the woman in white. She said with a straight face, "Well, Calico Jack and his associate will speak with you about whatever their business entails. It's classified, I'm afraid, so Unicorn and I will now be off. Have a wonderful evening."

"Yes! Uh…same to you," bade Glorious.

Before she turned to leave, Illustrious requested of Calico Jack, "Please inform me when your fleet is to set sail. I wish to see you off."

"Not a problem," said he. "Have a nice night. And thank you for your help."

"You're welcome," she concluded, and she turned to leave with Unicorn in tow.

The light carrier had to offer her own farewell too, so she said, "Goodbye," with a wave, and her toy waved too. Then Illustrious and Unicorn went around the bend out of sight.

Now Glorious looked back towards Calico Jack and instead of finding the man directly in her sight, he was slightly obstructed by his partner, who was holding out Glorious's sketchbook to offer it back to her from where it had fallen during the ruckus. Glorious thought that this woman was quite pretty, with her bow, ash-blonde hair, and ruby red eyes. Calico Jack's partner introduced herself, "I'm Nashville. You dropped this while you were standing up."

"Thank you," said the aircraft carrier, accepting the outstretched item. Then she felt to introduce herself properly, "As you already know, I'm the Royal Navy's large crui…*ahem* ex-cruiser, now aircraft carrier, Glorious. How may I help you?"

Nashville had mixed feelings about Glorious. She had seen as clear as day that her commander was the subject of Glorious's romantic admiration. But still, Nashville tried her very hardest to control herself throughout all the exchange that she had just witnessed. Like how she had concluded with Cheshire, it isn't reasonable on her part to dictate the feelings of others, and the same applied to Glorious. So, she attempted to at least try and be cordial and pick up her sketchbook from the ground and then return it to her. Despite how much Nashville didn't like that Glorious was into her commander, she had to at least give the aircraft carrier a chance, and who knew? Maybe Glorious could be another friend? And besides, Nashville's own love for her commander would amount to nothing if they can't enlist the aid of an aircraft carrier and they end up dying to the superweapon that she now knew the form of.

Calico Jack also had mixed feelings. Glorious hadn't made a good first impression with her dozing off. But he was willing to overlook the relative clumsiness of the following twenty seconds or so because a slapstick part of him found the proceedings humorous and slightly endearing. And he reminded himself that the attractions of others are none of his business. So, as long as she can keep it together around him, he'd be willing to work with her. But he also recalled two things in Glorious's favor, namely that they needed an aircraft carrier to stand a chance of survival and she was the one that Illustrious recommended. He got the conversation moving. "As Illustrious had said, we would like to speak with you and perhaps even enlist your help if you're willing."

"Illustrious said that it was classified, yes?" confirmed Glorious with some embarrassment apparent in her voice still. She truly had been shaken up thanks to the past minute or so.

"That's right," answered Nashville. "And because of that, is there any place we can talk privately?"

Glorious noticed Calico Jack nodding while Nashville spoke, thus offering his blessing for the requested privacy. She thought for a few seconds and stated, "Not many know about this spot. I think that here is private enough."

"Excellent," responded Calico Jack. "Then let's chat."

But before he got started, Nashville suggested, "Maybe we should take a seat? This could take a while."

Calico Jack snapped his fingers and agreed, "Good idea." He looked at Glorious for her approval and he asked, "Would you like to?"

Glorious nodded quickly and consented, "Yes, Sir Calico Jack."

The trio found a suitable spot in the grass under the plum to take a seat. But as they sat Calico Jack requested, "Please don't call me 'Sir Calico Jack.' The title's too showy for my tastes." Being asked to drop the title was like a dream come true for Glorious, so she obliged easily with another nod.

Once all three were properly situated, he recalled his proceedings with Illustrious a little earlier and he remarked, "It feels rude of us to arrive unannounced and demand you only listen to our business and nothing else. So, what were you up to before we came? Well, other than taking a nap." Glorious grew bashful and while looking off to the side, she admitted that she had been drawing. "Really? That's pretty cool," he approved. Glorious returned her eyes to the man with her eyes lighting up at the fact that he thought her hobby was quote-unquote, "cool." He then asked, "Would you maybe be willing to share what you've drawn?" he entreated. "I promise not to be critical."

"Same," added on Nashville. "I've never seen any sketch art before." Nashville saw what her commander was doing in starting off with something unimportant like Glorious's hobby. In light of the travesty of an introduction that the carrier just endured, something to put her at ease was just what the doctor ordered. And while Nashville was playing along with her commander's plan to help Glorious relax, she was also legitimately interested in seeing some sketch art. Her viewing of the National Gallery had awakened a new awareness of beauty around her, and it made her want to make something beautiful, be it artworks or music.

Glorious felt somewhat pressured to share and she absolutely didn't want to risk having her self-appraised lack of skill be made apparent to her crush. But then again, the only way to improve her art was to get feedback, and they did just promise to not be critical. Fortunately, there was nothing in her art that was unbecoming. Gradually, confidence began to displace embarrassment and Glorious held out her sketchbook to Calico Jack while she said, "Please, tell me what you think. I want to get better."

He accepted the book and while Nashville was scooting closer to see alongside her commander, he said, "I'm not much of an artsy person, so I don't know how much help my critique will be, but I'll comment on what I can see."

The duo opened the book to the first drawing. It depicted a seagull who had made a nest on some platform. The lines of the drawing itself was crisp and there was no mistaking that it was a seagull. Calico Jack nodded slowly with approval, but Nashville was able to find words, "This is really good."

Drawing after drawing was inspected and found to be virtually flawless by the Union duo. Glorious's confidence grew further, and she shared the moments that inspired each drawing. Her happiness was apparent, and she even relaxed enough to begin laughing every now and then. Only occasionally would a flaw such as an eraser mark or a line leading to nowhere would be pointed out. She was able to take the critique in stride though and when the sketchbook was returned to her, she was beaming with pride and her earlier embarrassment around the foreigners completely forgotten. But once she took the sketchbook back, she was emboldened enough to ask what was on her mind, "Thank you both so much for being so nice about my sketches. But I was wondering…Well, ummm…I was wondering if what the rumors say are true?" Even though she was much more interested in hearing about Calico Jack, there had also been some tales about his companion, Nashville, and she like many, was curious.

The Union duo shared a glance of hesitancy to one another and noticing this, Glorious begin to backtrack. "Y-Y-You two don't have to answer that!" she retracted with her hands waving in front of her comically.

The duo decided without issue that in order to properly enlist the help of Glorious, they had to figuratively, 'throw her a bone.' And besides, this bone of answering a question or two was a lot less painful that what happened with Illustrious earlier. To finish the communication, Calico Jack gave his friend a thumbs up, and she answered for them, "What rumors are you thinkin' of? 'Cause we've heard some things, but probably not all of 'em."

Glorious sighed in relief, and she began her questions. "Is there really only two of you?"

Calico Jack answered, "Every time we've gotten help, which has been with every major action, there were witnesses to our getting help. But Nashville and I are the only people permanently assigned to this operation of ours."

"Does the Eagle Union know what you're mission is?"

Nashville shook her head and said, "Nope."

"Is your mission really from Supreme Commander Roscoe and that Axis Chairwoman?"

"It is," admitted Calico Jack.

"Are you double agents?"

Calico Jack actually laughed at that one. "No, we're not double agents. Part of our mission is helping humanity, regardless of nation."

Glorious wasn't smiling at that because she found herself thoroughly confused. What sort of thing is important enough to both Azur Lane and the Crimson Axis to foster this type of cooperation without attempts at spying? Glorious decided against asking this question directly with the understanding that her current questions are skirting the edge with classified territory. There were so many other little questions that she got back too. "I heard that you two can appear and disappear like ghosts. How do you do that?"

Nashville reported, "My top speed is forty-one knots. It's handy for a speedy getaway."

Calico Jack chimed in, "But that's only half of the trick. We have a nearly constant stream of intelligence that lets us avoid search radii of Siren forces."

"Aaaaaaahhhhh," acknowledged Glorious. "That makes sense." Then she paused for a second and belayed, "Wait. No. That doesn't make sense. It takes a crazy amount of preparation for anyone to safely sail from this port for any meaningful distance. What makes you two so special?"

Calico Jack shrugged and admitted, "I'm a codebreaker. We can read the Siren orders."

Now Glorious looked envious toward the duo. "Now that makes sense," she observed, wagging her head in frustration, "you learn the same things we do, just faster. But there are a few other things I'm wondering that concern one of you or the other."

Calico Jack raised an eyebrow and Nashville sat up a bit straighter, not looking forward to this for some reason.

Glorious asked Calico Jack, "While breaking their codes explains how you read the Sirens' minds, I heard that you can control the mass production ships. Can you?"

"I'm pretty sure it was a fluke. Don't count on it ever happening again. I encoded a message to look like it came from the Sirens, and I gave the mass production fleet a single order to disengage from the battle."

"Clever," complimented Glorious, "I've never heard of anything like it." Then she hesitated and laughed at herself, like she couldn't believe she was about to say something on account of how ridiculous it would be. "Now. I don't believe it's true, but can you really read and control our thoughts? Like, the thoughts of ship girls?"

Seeing the opportunity to play a prank, Calico Jack put on a big smile. Nashville saw through the farce immediately as one of his joking smiles. She rolled her eyes. Glorious was gob smacked. She didn't believe it was even possible. Nope. Not for a second. But now she was a believer, he really could read and control minds!

AND SHE'D BEEN FOUND OUT! SHE HAS A MASSIVE CRUSH FOR CALICO JACK!

Frantically she followed on, "What am I thinking of right now?"

A sudden pang of nostalgia of a seemingly simpler time struck the man and tempered his smile. He recalled that West Virginia asked him the same thing back in Miami. He said the same answer, "You're wondering how I'm going to answer your question."

Glorious gasped with horror. He was right. Technically.

Glorious's reaction was making Nashville feel sorry for her because the light cruiser understood perfectly what was distressing the aircraft carrier. And God knows how horrified Nashville would be if her affections became known to Las Vegas before she told him. But there was another dimension to this. She didn't know if her commander got the sense that Glorious is really into him or not, but she was, and unintentionally or not, he was playing with her emotions. A cruel move by any measure, Nashville saw fit to end his fun. She slapped his arm—lightly to avoid actually hurt him—aiming wipe his smile off his face. Then she spoke to console the panicking woman, "He's just playing, Glorious. He can't read minds, he's just guessed right. And he can't control minds neither."

Glorious made a big sigh that let all her panic out without causing any damage. Crisis averted.

Calico Jack was shooting Nashville an angry look and when she looked back towards him, she gave a look that communicated, "What's your problem?" With that, it registered how what he just did was very nasty to Glorious. And he was able to guess why. She wanted to keep her crush a secret. He had messed up. Big time. So, he had to own up to it. But seriously, what was his problem today? First Illustrious and now Glorious. Did he just have something out against people today? Or maybe this just went to show that he was still a novice when it came to women?

It's almost like people prefer to keep secret things secret. Unfortunately, codebreakers subsist on the truth.

Still, time to apologize. So, the codebreaker looked back to Glorious. She looked betrayed. And she was. She thought that he would be nice, but he didn't act like it. Or maybe he was only nice to some people? Her expression made him better understand the weight of what he just did, and he felt awful for it. Now he struggled to make eye contact with Glorious and he found his gaze fall to the earth. He confessed, "What I just did was unacceptable. Especially after having just met. I didn't mean any ill, but still, that doesn't excuse what I did. I'm sorry."

Glorious spent a few moments to consider his words. She could tell he was being genuinely apologetic. She found it in herself to respond with, "I forgive you." He relaxed right before her eyes and his own eyes were able to meet hers once again. Then she had to laugh at the irony of bad impressions, and she remarked, "I'll think of us as equal then. I admit that it isn't very glorious for the namesake aircraft carrier to be caught sleeping. But I have to say that you aren't what I was expecting."

Instead of asking a possibly self-gratifying, "How so?" he opted to respond with, "I don't know all the rumors you've heard, but the fundamental truth is that I'm just a man. Do I have some skills handy in a pinch? I sure like to think so. But I promise you that there is nothing supernatural or superhuman—at least on my part. It honestly feels like the name 'Calico Jack' and the associated rumors are talking about someone else."

Out of the ashes of offense, a rather peculiar camaraderie brewed between the two people. "I think I understand," ventured Glorious. "I struggle to be glorious at all times and in all things. I'm not dignified like Lady Hood or distinguished like Lady Illustrious, but my name is still Glorious. It's um…hard to live up to."

Silence persisted for a few seconds. And that was okay. Eventually, Nashville felt to throw her own thoughts out there, "Thanks for not telling us to beat it after what just happened. We really do need your help, and Illustrious recommended you."

"She did, didn't she?" realized Glorious. She was starting to break out of her funk, and she continued, "And I will listen to your appeal because that is what feels right to me. But would you please answer a few more questions?"

Both unionists had to smile at that. They both responded simultaneously, and Nashville said, "Sure thing," while her commander said, "Go for it."

Glorious took heart with the invitation to continue and she said, "Only two more things. First, for Nashville, I heard that you ripped a battleship in half?"

Nashville knew that the rumor came from the Battle of the Thames when she blasted that one mass production battleship to bits as she and her commander were making their escape from being surrounded. She stated what she saw. "Yes. But don't go gawkin' at me just yet. I have fifteen six-inch gunsssss…" She looked at her commander and asked, "How many centimeters is that?"

Well, there's 2.54 centimeters in one inch, so 2.5 times six equals fifteen and 0.04 times six is 0.24. "Fifteen point two-four centimeters," he answered.

"Thanks. But yeah. I have those but then we were really close to the mass production battleship and I was giving it a full broadside when my ability activated. And it didn't get ripped in half immediately, it took a few seconds to get through both sides. Or, uh, that's what I was told happened by the others coming to help us. It was a little too smokey for me to see with my own eyes."

"You make it sound so casual," accused Glorious. She was lowkey intimidated.

"It was pretty surreal," shrugged the light cruiser. "I guess I can't really treat it like a huge event because we were fighting for our lives at that time. I feel like I did what I had to do."

"Maybe that's how you feel, but it turned heads around here. It's a feat a select few are capable of imitating, and the rest who might be able to aren't willing to try and see if they can. But my compliments for managing to do it."

"Thanks," accepted Nashville, thus concluding that.

"One more question. And this time for Calico Jack. I was told that you know how to use a pistol, and that you never missed a shot at all during the London Incident. Did you ever miss?"

The gunfighter legitimately tried to answer the question and he hummed in thought for a time while he combed his memory. He reported, "The short answer is that I'm not sure. Some of the shots I know for a fact hit their targets, but a decent part of the London Incident for me was spent in the dark so I'm not sure about those. It's possible I never missed."

"How possible?" pressed Glorious.

Like he had said, he was relatively certain that his shots in the pub all hit their mark, and then he was certain about the Jabberwocky and in the cult hideout itself, but that left the Bandersnatch. Well, the tactic he cooked up with Javelin worked, so he obviously was able to hit the beast at least a few times. He opened his mouth as a way force his own commitment to a final answer and he voiced, "Eeeeeehhhh, I'd say that I'm seventy-percent sure that I never missed, all things considered. But it's a bit too morbid for me to go counting bullet holes and we were in a rush, so nobody can know for certain."

"I suppose that's the best I can ask for," Glorious conceded. But then a smile spread across her face, and she stated, "Well. I choose to believe that you landed every shot. Quite a bit more dashing if you ask me."

"I gotta agree with Glorious on this one, Commander," concurred Nashville. Then to Glorious she pointed out, "There's gotta be some way he kept up with ship girls during the London incident."

"Ah, shucks. I've gone bright red," chimed in the gunfighter sarcastically.

The mention of the London Incident by one of the unionists made Glorious bold enough to try her luck with asking, "Since you mentioned it, am I allowed to know what actually happened during the London Incident? Even if I'm not a knight or anything that might be allowed to know."

Nashville looked to her commander, not feeling comfortable giving this answer and a sideways glance showed that she was deferring to his judgement on this. He cleared his throat to signal a transition into business and he responded, "That's actually up to you."

"Me?" amazed Glorious.

"Correct," he affirmed. "We want you to participate in an operation whose outcome could very well dictate the future of the war."

"And this operation somehow has to do with the London Incident?"

Now Nashville was comfortable to answer. She said, "Kind of. Like, what happened in London is a byproduct of the mission we have. We just want you to be in one part of our mission."

Glorious was trying to make links with the information that she had been given, and failing this, she looked up to speak just in time for Calico Jack to beat her to it. "The London Incident was a tactical blunder that should have never gotten big enough to get into the press. If things had gone as planned, you wouldn't have ever heard that anything happened. But they did, and while the implications might not necessarily concern you, we would tell you the whole truth, mostly as a curtesy because every other member of the Royal Navy that has agreed to work with us knows everything."

Catching what was being unsaid, Glorious elected to say something other than she originally planned, "I'm gathering that the only way you two will ever tell me anything is if I promise to help you with your mission. Is this right?"

"That's right," picked up Nashville.

"How dangerous is it?"

Nashville again answered, "Very. We might all die."

Glorious grimaced and said, "I, uh…had a feeling that was the case." Then retreating into her own thoughts, she considered what had been said. She could do her part to finally get this war moving, and she could even find out all the information she wanted, at the cost of the operation being very dangerous. She had to ask a question that often affronts one faced with a challenge. "Why me? I'm nobody important and I'm not particularly powerful among Royal Navy Aircraft Carriers. Why do you ask me this when you could have easily asked Illustrious?"

"She had the same option that you do right now, and she declined participating," answered Calico Jack.

Glorious didn't have to think hard in order to guess why, "She was scared of leaving Unicorn, wasn't she?"

"Please don't look down on her. I gave her a choice and she chose," defended the man.

"O-o-of course not!" agreed Glorious. "I quite understand the desire to remain with someone. I have two destroyer friends that I love as if they were my sisters."

"Who?" inquired Nashville.

"Ardent and Acasta," lightly boasted Glorious. She then grew somber and proceeded, "They were with me in my darkest hour and remained beside me beyond my end and until their own ends." She paused, pained by a sad memory, but proud of her friends and she admitted, "Ardent and Acasta did the best they could, but I…I failed them." Blinking several times to clear the sudden and unwelcome appearance of tears, she continued, "I am far away from either of my sister ships, Courageous and Furious; separated by time. And the greatest reunion I feel that I can ever hope for is through black and white photographs. But, Ardent and Acasta…They're all I have. I would do anything for them."

Seeing that Glorious was still wiping away tears, Calico Jack pulled out his trusty handkerchief and held it out to the blonde woman. She accepted and while she was wiping and even blowing her nose, the man recalled, "I had the pleasure of commanding Ardent briefly the day Nashville and I arrived in England. If memory serves, she even managed to sink a submarine that day."

These words made Glorious begin to swell with pride for who was for all intents and purposes, her younger sister. But that pride wasn't enough to assuage the stinging fear in her heart. "I'm scared that one day the enemy will get lucky, or someone will make a mistake, and either Ardent or Acasta may sink. I don't know if I can live without either them."

"Well, do you believe that they would have a greater probability of survival if the front line should suddenly get moving?" he probed.

Glorious was indecisive for this question. She really didn't know. They could either waste away if the war doesn't progress anywhere, or they could go through greater danger with a moving frontline.

The codebreaker was perfectly willing to give Glorious all the time she needed in order to make a decision, but his companion was not. Nashville got her attention, "Glorious." She directed her attention onto the union cruiser, and that was Nashville's queue to continue. "I bet you're tryin' to think about the best way to save them. But I'll tell you the best way. End the war. My commander and me are putting together a fleet to finally get things moving so that someday this war will end, and we won't have to be scared that every time we sail might be our last. We need your help. We can't do this without you."

To try and add onto Nashville's momentum, her commander spoke up, "You know, I often find myself thinking that if it wasn't me in this undertaking, then it would just be someone else. And something tells me that you have thought of yourself the same way a time or two. But here we both are. There is nobody else. We're the best we've got. I believe that great forces are on the move in time and space, perhaps even beyond, and for the things important to us we must be able, but much more importantly, we must be willing to stand and do what needs to be done. Please, Miss Glorious. We need your help."

The words of the two people sank deep into Glorious's mind. Deep down, she knew that both of her visitors were speaking the truth. The best way to protect either Ardent or Acasta was to end the war; by her own hands if need be. And then she had to admit that from time to time, she did indeed think of herself as expendable. To find out that her crush harbored similar doubts of himself comforted her. Initially she had fallen head over heels for the legend of Calico Jack, but having met the person, she found that he was just that, a person. He was one with strengths and weaknesses, who has successes and makes mistakes, and that made her more devoted to him for some reason. She decided that the reason for this devotion is that his example serves as proof that the same glory is more in her reach than she had thought. Glory does not mean perfection, so she found hope that perhaps one day she will be worthy of her name. Finally, she saw the writing on the wall too. Time and space were stirring, and something had to be done about it.

Radiant resolve worthy of her namesake possessed Glorious, and she had her answer:

"Calico Jack, stand up straight, for your glory has arrived."

And with that, the final piece fell into place.

Hey there, it's been a while. How've you been? I've been well, for the most part. Thoroughly distracted for sure. *Insert standard excuse here. I can say for certain though that I am soooooo glad to finally have time to write and get any chapter done, even if the content of said chapter isn't necessarily what was expected. That being said, I'm really excited to get the next chapter going and see what happens. As I'm sure you can imagine, I've been planning what happens next for a very long time. But I'll leave the future for the future, I'm here to talk about what just happened. So, who here agrees with me that Glorious is totally an underrated waifu? Her character was much more fun to write than I initially expected, so I look forward to seeing her own part add to the story as we move forward.

But there's more that I want to talk to you about. More than a year has passed since I have published the first chapter of Operation Rumor Mill and this story has done so much better than I expected. I had approached it as a way to express all of the story tropes I liked and ideas that I wanted to see in an Azur Lane fanfiction and seeing all of it take shape has brought me more happiness in my day-to-day life than I thought possible. This happiness is due in no small part to you—my friends. Time after time, you have left me speechless with your kind and supportive words and while I may have started to write for myself, I will continue to do so for you and for me. Here's to a great year behind us, and to another great year before us.

Some of those comments have accumulated, so let's get going onto those, shall we?

Hi, KINGTIGERACE. It's great to see that you enjoy all the updates, and given the season, hopefully I won't be interrupting anything in posting right now. I hope that this chapter doesn't let you down.

Greetings, SomeRand0m. Nashville's morning was actually fairly intuitive to write. Like, I started the same way as I did the last time she got drunk in Miami, and I changed a single condition then ran with it. This change is that Nashville wasn't woken up my Las Vegas. Then the hijinks just started to roll. Good point about the normal dress vs. the towel embarrassment. I actually didn't think of that until after I had written it, so I had to come up with an excuse on the fly, so panties it was. You speak from experience, and I agree with you from experience. While you do make a good point about respect, what I personally hate is when someone thinks that respect should be automatic. Snotty university professors come to mind. I'm seriously considering kansen x kansen relationships. What I had ultimately decided on is that if I can naturally include them, then I will. That being said, I again agree with you on the best pairings and how to approach destroyers in the relationships. But I would add on one other pairing that I like: Illustrious x Littorio. The thing with Nash's and Las Vegas's future is that they are becoming intertwined more and more as the story goes on. Especially with LV promising to stay in the navy for her, I'm starting to transition from the friends into lovers. He may be dense, but I don't intend for my MC to stay that way forever. But yes, introducing family would be pretty wholesome. I'm not sure if I'll ever have drunk Nashville hurt Las Vegas. But now that I'm thinking about it, it would be good for drama. I'll keep that in mind moving forward. When it comes, the Northern Parliament arc will definitely be tense. It won't be just Gangut and Chapayev to look out for. I'm excited for Bismarck. That's all I can say. The master and maid interaction would be interesting to see. But while it's obvious who will win the bet, I'm more thinking of a master and maid/butler relationship to show up in the chance I have a classic slice-of-life cliché when one of them gets sick. Sorry, but you're going to have to wait until next chapter for the battle. I got way too far into the conversations without any progress towards Mordred for me to justify writing a 25000-word chapter. Please stand by. It's great that all of your relatives pulled through without issue. Thanks for being so kind about my fluff chapters. I do enjoy the talking as much as the action, so I'm always trying to improve. Thanks for sharing the stereotypes. It's honestly the kind of stuff that I was expecting. Thanks for telling me about the countries that you know. I'm sure that I'll think of something about how to handle places like Germany and Japan in the story. But anyway, it's been great to finally communicate with you again. I hope you've been well this past month and a half or so.

Hey there, HML-Ree. Sorry, but next chapter. I got too far into this one with nothing happening for the battle against the superweapon that I just decided to finish the chapter at around 15000 words. I hope that you stick around to see the battle though. I've been trying to build it up and I'm really excited to show how radically different this monster is to the last one.

Hello, DearUncleHermit. It's a real relief that I'm able to pace the conversations and relationship issues in a way to keep then engaging. Something that I really try to keep in mind is the fact that people do not speak English the way that people write it. People take short cuts or use slang, and so on. When I can get the dialogue to flow somewhat naturally, I'm able to get actions together. But another important thing that I try to keep in mind is the fact that people are able to communicate crazy amounts of stuff with a gesture or a hum or where they're looking. I most use non-verbal communication between Las Vegas and Nashville as a way to demonstrate their familiarity with one another. But that isn't always the case, like you've seen in this chapter. Thank you so much for your patience. These past almost two months have been insane for me, and I've found that I'm generally happier when I'm able to write, so I'm hoping that such long waits won't happen again. But well, no guarantees. I have to say, that man from Nintendo knew his stuff. Anyway, it's good to talk with you again. I hope you've been well.

What's up, Zander22122? Engineering is brutal, that's true. I totally respect your decision and I hope that you're happy with whatever it is you're doing now. It seems that I've got a minor case of severe brain damage because that reference was entirely unintentional. Nice catch though. You get an achievement/trophy. I can't wait to finally battle the next boss too. I promise that I set out writing this chapter with that in mind, but I was halfway through the conversation with Glorious and I already had like…12500 words? I just decided to save it for later. It's great to finally talk to you again though.

Whaddup, HeronLsL? It's great to see that you appreciate a slower chapter. It looks like you were expecting some action in this one, and I'm sorry for not delivering. My chapters more or less write themselves as I sit in front of my computer, and this one turned into another slow one. It's great that you like the relationship between the two main characters. I feel like a fairly common thing in AL fanfiction is that a relationship will be based upon lust, or something like it and I try my absolute hardest to have a relationship that starts as friends and then goes to lovers. Looks like it's working, so I'll try to keep enough sugar in the air. It's great that you noticed the "You're betting against the house," one-liner. I was hoping to make that into a catch phrase of sorts for Las Vegas. I do write Roscoe to be grandfatherly, even stereotypically grandfatherly, so it felt natural to have him give so much stuff to the duo. I'm honestly looking most forward to the use of hand grenades and giving Nashville her times to shine as a combat medic, albeit an amateur one. The superweapon is Mordred. Sorry if this chapter isn't what you were expecting, as I said earlier, I got too far into writing a slow chapter that I felt it most appropriate to save the battle for next chapter. I hope that you liked this chapter too. But it's good to finally chat with you again. I hope that you've been well.

Hey, xX-6throwaway9-Xx. Oops. I can come up with a hand wavy explanation for why Nashville didn't mention the Dragon Empery but that would be a lie. I completely forgot about them. I'll rectify that in the future. Thanks for pointing it out though.

It's nice to meet you, PurginInferno. Thanks so much for writing a review. But I also want to thank you for voicing your concerns about how the story will be handled. I'll definitely keep it in mind going forward. In fact, I want to thank you for helping me make a decision for the far future of the story. I was debating how powerful I'll end up making Las Vegas be, and I can see now that he should remain thoroughly within the realm of being possible for a human. But I must say though, for making the delay between the last chapter and this one so lengthy, it feels like I have failed about questions for when it will be updated. Sorry about that, but I sure hope that you decide to stay regardless. Whatever the case may be, I hope that I haven't made you regret anything. It means a lot to me that you would be willing to write a review and your feedback is valuable to me. Thanks again for writing. I hope to be able to hear from you again.

Well, it's not quite as late as it usually is when I finish a chapter and get it uploaded, but I think that I should go to bed regardless. Thanks for reading and I hope to see you lot again next time. Take care, friends. If you're having a bad day, I hope it gets better, and if you're having a good day, I hope it gets even better.