Disclaimer: I do not own either Kantai Collection or Halo, nor do I gain any monetary funds from either them or this fanfiction.

Author's Note: Again, previous chapters were co-written by Carlos Andare.

I realized that Kure was actually part of the Japanese main ports, and that felt a little too close to other naval assets for me to justify it as a 'hidden' port for use, so I switched it out to Manicani Island in the Phillipines. Sorry for the confusion! My previous chapters have all been updated to show this as well!

Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, Japanese

Bold - Jarring events

Nagato tapped her fingers on the edge of the console, a frown on her beautiful face as her eyes narrowed at the display shown on the electronic map. She was NOT a happy kanmusu at the moment, having heard of Manicani's radio silence after a Mayday was issued. Part of the reason was the knowledge that critical supplies were supposed to have been brought in from the base that the USN and JSMDF had jointly built there, and the Japanese really needed them after the last series of battles against the Abyssals. However, the fact that they'd also had a summoning chamber set up there to act as a backup for the main ones in Japan meant that it had been a place of major strategic value. Its loss was not something that could go ignored, nor could the loss of any shipgirls berthed there be ignored...

"Mutsu, anything yet from the investigative team?" the secretary ship snapped.

"They're still a few miles out, but the drone will be coming into range in a few seconds. We'll have visual on the site then," came the reply from the short-haired woman. "I'm putting it up on screen 3."

Looking over at the displays, an addition that was more than welcome given some of the challenges that the Abyssals gave them in this war, Nagato's red eyes narrowed at the waves slipping past faster than one could blink. Modern technology meant that the world's navies had a hell of an advantage in terms of support against the Abyssals, but that didn't mean squat when the problem of FINDING them before they struck was still present. It didn't matter how much power you had if you couldn't land it after all, and when it all boiled down to it the Abyssals were just too damn good at disappearing and reappearing at will. Even the fleetgirls themselves couldn't spot them until it was too late, despite the seeming similarities between those fighting on both sides of the conflict.

On the drone's camera, the island was coming into view now, smoke curling upwards from multiple places on the shoreline. Some of them were only petering out, the means to sustain themselves long since reduced to coals and ashes as the battle had ended some time ago. The sight of multiple bodies in the water, mostly of the handful of fleet-girls that had been in port at the time, caused her heart to clench. A blonde cruiser torn in half, her stomach looking like rent metal as burning fuel pooled on the water around her as her bottom half had already sunk out of view, gazed sightlessly up at the sky while the shark-like form of an Abyssal destroyer burned just a few meters from her...

As the drone got closer, it began to slow down to a more cautious approach, just in case any other hostiles were still in the area, scanning for their signatures on its small sensor suite and coming back with only scattered ghost returns, no doubt left over from when they vanished. Abyssals seemed to be able to come and go as they willed, appearing in open seas with barely any warning and leaving the same way. They seemed to leave at atmospheric 'stamp' on any area they'd been in though, which made confirming their presence a lot easier, but that didn't do anything to allow them to track the black-hearted bitches back to whatever hole they swam out of.

Nagato's eyes picked over each detail that she could see, the various craters and shattered bunkers telling their grim tale to those who knew what to look for. Several regular humans were also dead on the beach, crabs picking at their carcasses before scuttling off. An AA-mount blown was to hell as well, its shell peeled open by an ammunition explosion that caused the barrels to warp and splay outwards. All in all, it looked like what you'd usually find from the remains of off-shore shelling, followed by in-close fighting to sweep out the survivors.

But there was something off... Not all the damage was consistent with that tale. The burning body of an Abyssal cruiser, her otherwise shapely form in a rictus of pain, was draped over a rock with multiple breaches in her back showing that she'd died from behind... running from something INSIDE the base. Two other bodies, one a destroyer and one an old ironclad, were similarly blasted, their bodies left behind to rust and rot...

THAT was unusual... Even when they lost some of their number, if the Abyssals won they usually took their dead back with them into the deep, much to the frustration of Global Intelligence branches, preventing others from finding out anything more. To see even these few were a literal gold mine to the secret squirrels, but it made her wonder...

"Mutsu, bring me the satellite photos. There was one that went above a little while ago, no?" she asked.

"H-hai! It was just a mapping satellite, but it did pass over on its usual pattern... Think there's something there?"

"Maybe... Bring it up will you?"

Sure enough, a few passes over the keyboard later and the photos in question were brought up, the top-down picture from the satellite not the best at determining much but it at least was two hours prior to the drone's arrival... The scene didn't look much different though. Still the same bodies around, the same blast markers...

"Damn... it must have finished faster than I thought," Nagato thought, gritting her teeth in suppressed frustration... Until she caught one detail that was different...

"Mutsu, the radio room... Zoom in on that if you would?" she said, earning a nod and a swift compliance from the battleship girl. Sure enough, as the picture zoomed in, there was something different... The sign of a figure covered in black chitin-steel as it was coming out of the radio shack...

The picture was grainy, as if taken from an old cell-phone yet, still clear enough to see the shape of the target's equipment. The sight of multiple small-caliber guns dotting the female's hulking form as it appeared on the display, looking around through a helmet as though scanning for something. Nagato furrowed her brow as crimson eyes noticed the stenciled number on the woman's head. "I don't think we've seen an Abyssal display its old number before... CA-684... Do we know who that was?" she looked at Mutsu as the other battleship shook her head.

"Ie, not off the top of my head. It looks like an American or British designation though, given the lettering. Maybe we can contact them?" the brunette suggested.

"Hmm... A good idea. Call Admiral Holloway, see what he has to say."

As Mutsu busied herself with the secondary line, Nagato looked back to the snapshot from the drone. Something didn't sit well with her about this...

"Are you sure? Nothing?"

"The only ones we have with that number are 2 destroyers and a Yard Patroller. USS Wedderburn, a Fletcher class, scrapped back in '72. USS DeLong, sunk back in 1970. And the patroller's still in service," Holloway answered over the secure phone line.

"Nothing else? At all?" Mutsu asked.

"Not from us. 2 destroyers from the Russian Northern Fleet, Simferopol and Othchayanyy, and a French patrol boat Capricieuse held that number... None of them were cruisers or had a CA designation at any point, and Capricieuse is still a steel-hull, she hasn't Returned."

The kanmusu frowned. "Nothing by the British forces either?"

"None that they've shared. Only other thing I've got access to is a Chinese tug... And that's still floating as well," he said. "If your Tango's really got that number on her then either it's a fake, or she's something new... That or somebody's covering up some kind of experimental that was covered in so much black ink that nobody's dug it up yet. Either way, I don't think I can help you much more here."

Letting out a sigh, Mutsu knew that she wasn't going to get any further than that. Even if the American Admiral was lying, she had no way of getting any more info... and she had yet to find anything in Halloway's character that suggested he would lie at all. "Very well Admiral. Thank you for your time," she said, hanging up after he'd said and done the same. Looking over at her waiting sister, Mutsu shook her head. "Nothing... Noone has any record of a CA-684 on any listing..."

Nagato grimaced. "Hmmm, then I guess we'll just have to deal with this as an unknown..." she said, looking back at the picture again, this time a printed hardcopy version. It wasn't much to go on, but it was all they really had at the time. "Very well, until we can find out what exactly she is, I'm tentatively designating the unknown Abyssal as a Ju-class. Given the western lettering I'm also going to say that she's likely a cruiser of some sort, but I could be wrong. She also appears to be lightly armed. With that many turrets, they can't be more than 8 inch guns, but likely she's got something more to her... likely torpedoes."

"You're sure?" Mutsu blinked.

"No, but it does seem likely... A small-bore, rapid-firing cannon would likely be better at tunnel fighting and clearing out a base than a slower and heavier gun. And with that many, she's likely some kind of escort, possibly meant for anti-air work."

Mutsu nodded. Nagato's instincts were well-honed, so it was unlikely that she was misjudging it. "Alright, shall I write up the report then?"

"Ie, I'll do it. The Admiral likely will want to hear it from me anyways," Nagato replied. As her sister left, the battleship looked again at the photo, those same instincts bugging her. "What are you... and why were you there?" she muttered...