Author's Note: This came late because I was waiting for the Halo Warfleets book to come in the mail so that I could have some more hard factoids to work with for the story. That and between being sick and becoming distracted by what is essentially the other half of this chapter going on at the same time, THEN work and other projects nearing the Halloween deadline, it's been a bit difficult. Sorry for the wait!
Italics - Radio, Ship names, thoughts, Japanese
Bold - Jarring events

Louisville sighed as she sat down on a chair within the bunk room of Blue Ridge, leaning on a desk as her head rested in one hand. It had been a long couple of days since their deployment to Manila, and now she had to write it all up for her superiors in an After Action Report. Letting out another sigh, the American ship-girl decided to bite the bullet and open up the word processor on the laptop provided for her.

Starting it off simple, Louisville typed in the usual list of references where their orders had come from, authorizations and channels as well as attached copies of intel reports that had been sent to them before the mission to Manila itself had occurred, what ones they'd been given that was. Given how those orders had been altered halfway through transit though, it meant a good deal of additional information that she'd only just gotten the hard copies of once she'd gotten back with the others and their... guest. Attaching reference links to their digital counterparts was relatively easy, though again tedious. It was only when she got to the meat of the report that the American cruiser became pensive.

"At 20:40 hours on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, JMSDF Naval Base Yokusuka received reports of Manila City being attacked by Abyssal forces in full fleet strength. An emergency briefing was held, and units from the JMSDF and USN fleet assets stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base along with Task Force Blue were dispatched to the city by aircraft and overseas. (See attached briefing files for complete listing of units involved.) Poor visibility and rough seas due to unnatural weather formations was expected and taken into account, yet delays forced the fleet to attempt to detour around the Manila coastline. Storm effects continued to force the fleet to attempt a workaround, yet instrument failure resulted in ships being unable to navigate the affected region. (See Intelligence report 76248-B in regards to Abyssal Weather Manipulation in Large Numbers.) Arrival of water-borne assets as a result took several hours, in which much of the city was destroyed by off-shore and aerial bombardment, followed by enemy infantry forces making landfall."

"At 04:26 hours on Thursday, August 18, 2022, Combat Group Suisen (consisting of JDS Musashi, JDS Sendai, FGS Scharnhorst, USS Louisville, USS William D Porter) was given new orders enroute through encrypted communique to observe and contain a sighted Ju-class Abyssal unit operating in the area. Suisen was advised to not show hostility, but to defend themselves if necessary. (See attached communique R754OB.)"

That had been a moment that had worried them as well. Modern militaries didn't bother much with parachuting in troops, mostly due to the capabilities of modern AA gear. It wasn't until they'd actually been over the area and found that nearly all of the off-shore attackers had already been gutted that the five kanmusu had breathed a sigh of relief, though even then there was worry as to whether or not the then named 'Ju-class' would shoot them down. Setting her fingers back to the keyboard, Louisville resumed typing.

"Aerial insertion occurred at 05:08 hours, and Suisen made waterfall along the Pasig River east of the Malacang Museum. Two Ro-class destroyer-analog Abyssals and six infantry-analogs were sighted and dispatched along the riverside across from Malacang Palace. (Two 5" salvoes from William D Porter and two 5.5" salvoes from Sendai, with one 12.7cm salvo of secondary fire from Musashi were expended. Confirmation of kill-shot's identity yet to be verified through post-combat examination.)"

"Contact with the target unit (designated as Ju-class, unknown analog type) was made at 05:29 hours on Isla de Convalencia, when the Ju-class was engaged with an I-class destroyer-analog. Upon termination of the Abyssal destroyer, the Ju-class spotted Musashi and attempted to engage in dialogue. Environmental factors resulted in William D Porter unbalancing and accidentally discharging her weapon. The shell struck the Ju-class in the head (Frontal lobe area, possible location of primary bridge), resulting in a momentary stunning of the unit. Before disciplinary action could be taken, the target made what was assumed to be hostile approach. Scharnhorst discharged his weapon (Anton turret, 11" triple-barrel cannon) to negligible effect along the starboard flank. The author of this report was unable to determine if penetration occurred at the time."

"The Ju-class returned fire utilizing the destroyed hulk of the I-class, bodily throwing it at Scharnhorst and striking him amidships. Scharnhorst altered his trajectory to fire at the ground in front of the Ju-class in an effort to blind her, allowing William D Porter to gain distance while Battleship Musashi engaged in close combat and rammed the target. This attempt succeeded at stunning the Abyssal and knocking her to the ground, but did not appear to do much more than that. I attempted to flank the Ju-class while Sendai attacked with a Type-4 Anti-ship Kodachi, only for the smaller kanmusu to be bodily thrown at Musashi, dislocating Sendai's shoulder and forcing the battleship back."

"I attempted to strike with my own weapon (Mark 2 Anti-ship saber), hoping to strike at a non-lethal and/or disabling location. Target's anatomy did not visually present the usual analogs for kanmusume ship-based systems, and as a result I was unable to target specific systems such as rudder or propellers, making a guarantee of a crippling blow untenable. The target's symbiote-weapon (Unknown type, armored, serpentine form, possible derivative of Re-class battleship-analog) intercepted my blow, gripping the saber with serrated teeth in a mouth with split lower mandibles. The target then attacked with a kick, forcing me to roll and retreat while Scharnhorst recommenced suppressive fire."

Louisville paused in her report as she remembered that part. It had surprised her that Leviathan had done so, not because she didn't think she could do it, but because most kanmusu, and even their Abyssal counterparts, would have balked at the idea. All it would take would be one bad hit or a proper counter and a shipgirl would wind up with a damaged prop at the least! Leviathan though didn't seem to have that issue, though then again she DID seem far tougher than most Abyssals, and some of the Princess class made use of such tactics if they relied more on their symbiote-weapons platforms for movement, so it wasn't too much of a stretch. Though the presence of rocket engines on her legs should have had a similar vulnerability, no? The cruiser made a note of that on another word document, intending to add it to her personal comments later.

The American ship-girl continued to write up the combat's ending, noting what Leviathan had said when she had demanded a cease-fire. Including the search for survivors and the discussion about the one that they had been too late for got the cruiser to sigh, before pushing away from her desk. Looking at the clock, she saw that between her own writing and gathering the documents, it was already time for chow. With her quartermaster banging on the inside of her hull to remind her, Louisville saved the document and headed up to the wardroom for something to eat.

The Blue Ridge's wardroom was normally only for officers, but given how most kanmusu were given a brevet rank of Lieutenant or higher upon recommissioning, at least in the American Navy, it was pretty much a given that any ship-girl who wanted to eat could either grab from the officer's mess, or from the regular galleys. Louisville herself found that she preferred the officer's rations available, though she had seen the Taffies preferring to go down to the galley on their own off time. Presumably this was because there was more food available there for them to eat at any given time, a fact that caused many other kanmusu to choose it, but likely it was because there was more room down there for the little squirts to run around in. Only a handful ever ventured towards the goat locker, but even that saw some use with the girls due to McHale being a regular there when he was onboard. The little PT-boat had his own damn fan club...

"Ah, Lulu, good evening!" came a voice from behind the cruiser, who turned around and gave a smile upon seeing who it was.

"Ah, good evening Commander Maryland! I didn't hear you come in," the brunette replied as she saluted the other ship-girl, who in turn merely chuckled before waving it off.

"It's alright, I've asked you before to just call me Mary when we're off duty. I'm just checking in to see if the night cooks have prepared anything yet."

"Ah, same here then. Even a few days with only field rations will make galley food a dream..."

"Yes, I hear you had quite the little adventure," Maryland said. "Playing chaperone to our new 'guest' according to scuttlebutt. How did that go?"

Louisville sighed. "Definitely odd... Not at all what I was expecting when we got word of it. I'm still in the middle of writing up the AA report for it too."

"How's that going? You were away for a good part of a week. I know what most of the reports you gave while checking in were, but..."

"It was... different. I expected a lot more hostility to be honest. It surprised me that she seemed so..."

"Cooperative?" Maryland suggested.

"I was going to go with 'dedicated' actually. The Ju... Leviathan, was far more focused on the patrols and search for survivors than us. I'd almost consider it insulting that we were almost ignored, if not for the fact that I honestly shudder to think about what would happen had she focused on us."

Maryland frowned at that. "That's odd indeed. One would think that someone trying to defect would be looking to more likely to try and integrate themselves... Or maybe..."

"Maybe what?"

"Maybe that is what she's trying to do. Perhaps she's just trying to put forward a good image for the Admirals for when they judge her case?"

Louisville paused at that. "I don't know. It seemed more... personal to her. I'll admit I don't know much, but I get the feeling that she was doing it for her own reasons. Maybe a holdover from her previous life? We still don't know who she was really..."

"Hmmm, that's also a possibility. If she's a new type, and one only recently brought up, she could still have old habits. It'll bear investigating further I suppose. We'll see once we get back to port."

"Yeah, I'm not looking forward to that. Ooyodo's going to have a heart attack," the cruiser said.

"Oh, why? Don't tell me we have another heavy eater..."

"Well..."

Musashi cringed as Leviathan cracked open another jar of supplements, dumping them wholesale into a broken water cooler before upending the entire thing into her mouth, swallowing liquid and vitamin capsules down her throat with the occasional crunch of pills being snapped between sharp teeth. Slowly, the cooler's jug emptied, and the pale woman lowered the plastic container to wipe at her lips. For a second, it looked like the Abyssal-like shipgirl was going to eat the jug too, which might not have hindered her too much, but would have arguably tasted worse than what she'd already downed. Instead Levi discarded it in favor of a second jar of magnesium and iron supplements that she spotted amongst the rubble of a pharmacy...

"How can you... Just what have you been eating where THAT doesn't faze you?" Louisville asked incredulously as she watched Leviathan crunch yet more minerals between her jaws.

"Hmmm?" The cruiser swallowed her mouthful before answering. "Not much admittedly. This is only my second time eating... at least like this. I'll have to find more too, this isn't going to be enough..."

"And do I dare ask where that was? Or what you ate?" the American furthered.

"Pork and chicken mostly. A bar I found on the way. These though," she said, shaking the jar in her hand. "These are denser, better for resupply. Admittedly they're somewhat bland though..."

Musashi hummed to herself in thought at this, noticing as one of the Abyssal's aircraft came in to dock with Leviathan's rigging for refueling, and watched as the cruiser offered a tab to said aircraft like it was a bird even as it hitched itself to her hull...

"...You're serious? Supplement jars?" Maryland asked.

"I know... Most girls outside of the subs don't touch the things if they can help it, but she didn't even hesitate. And if she was telling the truth about that being her second meal in this life, then..."

"Then it must mean the poor girl was starving! And after a battle like that... How much did she eat?"

Louisville shuddered as she picked up a tray from a stack nearby. "Any chance she got, it seemed she was picking up something to chew on. I couldn't even tell how much she got out of it, but if anything, she probably had enough to keep even Akagi running for her patrols... Willie was worried that Leviathan might even try to eat her if she got too close."

Maryland grimaced. "Yes, I can see how that's going to cause Ooyodo issues. Poor girl... She's been stressing out far too much over her work."

The two settled into a quiet spell as they picked out their food, Louisville picking up some pasta with heavy meat sauce, while Maryland took four chicken breasts and a large salad, before sitting down at one of the tables, cups of coffee already in hand. Once they were seated, Maryland made a short prayer of thanks that Louisville joined in on before digging in. Louisville immediately regretted her choice of food though as she saw the Colorado class battleship eating with all the decorum of someone visiting the President, while she herself had to caught errant bits of sauce from splattering over her uniform by comparison. Thankfully, the purple-clad Commander was able to distract her by speaking up again.

"Do you think that Miss Ise is going to be alright?" Mary asked, setting down her fork, while Louisville grimaced.

"I don't know... I'm more worried that it's going to give Chikuma nightmares. That girl's taken it rather personally..."

"Survivor's guilt?"

"To say the least. She was right there when they... I think she believes that it's her fault for not being fast enough." Louisville sighed as she leaned back a bit. Hearing about the losses taken during the fighting and the injuries suffered was always bad, but once they'd linked up with the defence fleet, things had gotten REALLY nasty...

"Chikuma, calm down! There's nothing..."

"YOU! WHERE DID YOU TAKE HER!? WHERE DID YOU TAKE HYUUGA?!" A hysterical woman shouted as she ran up to Leviathan, hands clawing and grasping at the her armor while tears flowed down from red, puffy eyes. "WHERE IS SHE?!"

"Chikuma, please calm yourself and explain. What are you talking about?" Musashi intervened, pulling the green-clad cruiser away from the black-clad Abyssal before she caused an incident. She hadn't been blind to how the turrets on Leviathan had all zeroed in on the Tone-class girl when she'd charged forward, though it seemed that the larger ship-girl wasn't taking it as an attack yet, thankfully.

"Hyuuga... She... They took her. They took her down into the deeps... Right in..." Chikuma tried to say, her voice shaking with anger and grief while her fingers tensed against the armor plate beneath them, before snarling and looking up at Leviathan's faceplate again. "Where did you bitches take her?!"

"I don't know who your friend is, or where the Abyssals would be holding her, sadly. I'm not affiliated with them, nor do I know where their bases of operation are," Levi said, keeping her own voice even.

"LIAR! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU HIDING HER?!"

"Chikuma! Stand down! Now!" Musashi said, grabbing the distraught woman and pulling her back. "This is not the time for such things. It is regrettable that Hyuuga was taken, but for now there is nothing we can do about it..."

"How can you say that?! She was fighting her hardest... We'd have lost the ports long before if not for her, to say nothing of the others! And you just...!"

Sendai's hand squeezed the younger Tone-class girl's shoulder, forcing her to look her in the eye while giving her a knowing look. "It won't bring her back that way," the orange-clad cruiser said, her voice bereft of her usual cheer. "Besides, she's telling the truth."

Chikuma's lips worked to try and speak, her eyes flitting between Sendai and Leviathan, until she gritted her teeth and turned away, taking a few steps before speaking again. "Gomen... It seems I've acted foolishly..." she said, before walking away entirely. Tone gave an apologetic bow to them before chasing off after her sister, while Tenryuu scratched at one of her ear-horns.

"Maaaa... That wasn't what I thought we'd have as a 'hello'..." she said, while Leviathan simply watched the two sister ships leave, her visor hiding whatever expression she may have had.

"Hmmm... It wasn't her fault then..."

"Tell that to her though. Grief does funny things to people at times, and tend to take things like that rather personally at times." Louisville said, spearing her fork into her spaghetti and twirling it around, before popping it in her mouth.

"Indeed. So... I hear that your brother and Hornet are getting back together again," Maryland said to change the subject, knowing that she'd succeeded as it elicited a groan from the other ship-girl along with her forehead hitting the table.

"I don't know why everyone makes that joke when they get sent out on a sortie. YES, they're an item. YES, Hamp denies it at every chance. YES, Hornet acts as though she's heartbroken each time. We all know it's an act though, so WHY do people keep acting like it's funny?"

"Because our lives are like soap operas?" the battleship quipped, earning a disapproving glare from Louisville as she looked up. "In all honesty though, you have to admit that it is somewhat cute."

"It was cute when I first heard it yes, and even for the first few months of watching it. But it's been nearly 4 years! It's OLD now! People should stop beating the dead horse once the bones have ground to powder!"

"And North Hampton and Hornet should get a room, a priest, and a long honeymoon with a couple of shiplets as well. But that hasn't happened either, has it?" Mary said. This time Louis' eyes were wide in surprise, mouth gaping open in shock before the battleship noticed. "What? Just because I vowed myself to celibacy doesn't mean that I don't know how the shipyard works, you know?"

"That. Is. My. BROTHER! I do NOT need that mental image in my head!" Louiville shrieked, to which the commander merely giggled.

"Very well then, perhaps we can return to our first topic then. Did anything else of interest happen with our guest? I imagine that we'll be learning a lot about her soon, but I'd like to know it from those who met her first."

"Well... I'll admit that she has quite a crew with her, even if they seem to be as energetic as our own fairies. She's similar to Jersey too."

"How so?" Maryland asked curiously.

"She had a couple of them that she called 'gremlins'. Given how they were going around like ground forces, I think they were her marines. You know how they always hated the term 'fairy'. Even the Iowa sisters referred to their boarding and counter-boarding teams as gremlins. Some of the British too from what I hear."

"Ah yes. The Corps always had their pride, even as representations..."

"Tell me about it. And these ones seem just as thick-headed, if the one time we caught her dressing them down was to go by..."

"Oh?"

"Well, we didn't get to actually HEAR what she was saying, probably that Abyssal head-speak thing going on, but her body language was pretty clear..."

"You can't go warthogging in a Scorpion! What were you thinking?!" Leviathan hissed over her comms so as to try and keep it from her new 'allies'. The last thing she needed was her crew embarrassing her over something like this when she was trying to be professional.

"Ooo!" came the Marine's reply, his tiny arms up in a shrug.

"I don't CARE if it WORKED, you shouldn't have been able to do it in the first place! Could you stop breaking the laws of physics for just one day?!"

"Oo! Rah rah oo!"

"You dropped it from the... I'm going to have to sit you all down and remind you that using vehicles as makeshift bombs is NOT a primary tactic again, aren't I? That's supposed to be a LAST DITCH maneuver!"

Maryland let out a faint smile as she pictured the scenario in her mind. It was good to know that the Kanmusu Corps weren't the only ones who occasionally had problems. Admittedly, there were only a handful of times that any Abyssal 'Imps' were sighted, so behavioral studies on them were damn rare. If things went well, perhaps this situation would result in another breakthrough... or five.

"Those fighters of hers are no joke either. Fast things... Maybe some new type of Abyssal jet. You remember how they first showed up a year and change back?" Louisville said, prompting the elder ship-girl to frown.

"Yes, it wasn't fun to see that. Thankfully they seem to have more problems than human ones though. Something to do with having too much weight and not enough thrust due to being made to launch from underwater. Ours can still dance around theirs, and have more firepower."

"Well, we might have to change that... They latch onto her like remorahs when docking, which is a bit odd, but they're no slouches otherwise. She's got a full flight too, so I'm thinking that she really is some type of carrier equivalent, maybe an up-armored escort carrier. WAY too much armor for it though... And she does call herself a cruiser..."

"An Aviation ship? Scaled down versions of what the Japanese tried with the Ise class?" Maryland suggested.

"Who knows? The real kicker was her mentality. I know most Abyssals don't like us at all, but even the more militant minded ones sometimes blab or brag or taunt us with their supernatural abilities... They all seem to pride themselves that they still beat us out in THAT department."

Maryland nodded. "True, so what makes this Leviathan different?"

"Please... There's no such thing as magic, you know that," Leviathan said as she walked along a shattered road, pushing past the remains of an abandoned car as she went down one of the residential areas. It was only when noticed the lack of other footsteps that she turned to see all of the ship-girls staring at her with widened eyes.

"...What?"

"No... magic... how...?" Louisville stammered as she tried to understand Levi's words. "How can you say that?!"

"...Are you serious?" the space cruiser deadpanned, looking at each of the kanmusu around her giving her slack-jawed expressions. "Great. Of all the places I had to show up in, it has to be the one where superstition runs rampant..."

"Now I know you're pulling my leg."

Louisville held her hands up. "Cross my heart on this, that's exactly what she said. I know we all think she's a recent addition, but I'm starting to wonder just HOW recent if she's got all this and STILL doesn't think it's magic. I mean, I know it takes getting used to, but full-on denial like that?"

"That's not normal... Not for us and I'll bet my turrets not for the Abyss either. Maybe there's something else going on with her. What is she doing now anyways?"

"Last I checked, she was still up on the deck. She's too bulky to fit through most of the hatches, and I don't think anyone wants to risk pissing her off by hauling her down to the brig. We've got a full guard on her at all times though. Musashi and Houston are keeping within arms reach so to speak, and a full Marine presence there as well. Pretty sure that Scharnhorst volunteered as well, but was ordered to stay behind to keep up the coastal presence in Manila," Louisville said, taking the last bit of her pasta into her mouth, chewing and then swallowing it and setting her fork down. "How about the others? You know where they're at? I haven't seen Willie since we got back..."

"The Taffies are all out keeping an eye on the harbor with Sendai, and Miss Porter is with DesDiv6 while Tenryuu makes her own report to Yokosuka," Maryland said, popping a tiny tomato from her salad into her mouth, chewing and swallowing it before continuing. "The destroyers are all still tired out from the battle, and are in need of some downtime since they were in the worst of it near the start. Chikuma and Tone stayed behind with Taffy 3, so between them, the relief fleet from Yokosuka, as well as Scharnhorst and Sendai, they should have the area secured."

"It's going to be a lot of rebuilding..."

"That it is..."

Nearly a day after she'd come aboard the ship, Leviathan looked on as the port of Yokosuka Japan came into view, watching the soldiers and sailors moving to and fro as the Blue Ridge passed Tomaricho. It gave the cruiser a rather curious view as she spotted what looked like another blue water ship of positively archaic vintage, yet its bottom half was surrounded in concrete. A preservation perhaps? An interesting theory, even if it were to turn out to be inaccurate if she got a closer look... For now though, the sight of several armed men in full tactical gear along with several other men, and a few women, in duty uniform waiting at the port's large and wedge-shaped parking lot took her attention fully. Leviathan had remained in her armored form for the trip, not quite willing to drop her guard while she was still floating above what were most likely unfriendly waters, though she knew she'd have to switch out eventually. Being in this state was more comfortable for her, but it made interactions rather frosty... at least with the regular humans. The water-born ships, or ship-people, seemed to take it a bit more in stride, but they were still wary... and the full guard detail armed with anti-armor weapons were not the most subtle reminders of this either. Still, she WAS acting somewhat as a diplomat, in a manner of speaking, so the starship knew that remaining on good behavior was a priority.

"Nervous?" one of the ship-girls next to her spoke up, a blond in white with a set of cowboy boots and a revolver on her hip next to her two turrets.

"Not really... Though I'll admit that this is the first time seeing it from this perspective."

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"Visiting dignitaries on some occasions, parade maneuvers for boosting morale... Pomp and ceremony is still the same wherever you find it, it seems. Used to carrying people to and from them though, not being carried," Leviathan said as she looked on, the sun glinting off her visor as she did so.

"Huh. Well, they certainly rolled out the welcome mat for ya."

"That they have..."

As the Blue Ridge began to come to anchor, Leviathan made her way towards the forward gangway. The duty officer was already getting into position, and as the gangplank was set in place, people started crawling out of the woodwork, yet they all seemed to be waiting for her... Giving a small chuckle, Leviathan rose from her seat and walked towards the rail, her 'escort' around her at the ready. As she looked down onto the docks, she saw one person in particular standing in wait wearing a USN Admiral's uniform, a cane in hand as he glowered up at her. Beside him were two ship-girls in full rigging, one with white hair and a hairband, a bow in hand and flight deck hanging off of her arm, while the other was a younger looking redhead with a blue coat and a revolver in hand alongside her turrets. Smiling for a moment, Leviathan schooled her features then before descending down the ramp, her thruster/boots clanging against the metal. It was when she was halfway down, with Houston and Musashi behind her, that the cruiser changed...

White, mist-like tendrils began to bleed off of Leviathan's form, seeping from the plating that covered her as the other ship-girls took a step back warily. They watched, hands flexing and tensing on their weapons, holding fire due to the proximity of friendlies, yet pausing as they realized how... familiar the sight was. This familiarity became more obvious as the Abyssal's armor seemed to deteriorate, vanishing into mist and fading into thin air. Several eyes widened as Levi's helmet seemed to dissolve, letting a short ponytail of dark blue/black hair peek from beneath a grey cap with white accents featuring a silver eagle and shield flanked by four golden anchors and fretting, as well as revealing sharp features with Romanian hints to them beneath piercing yellow eyes that glowed from within.

Though she lost nearly a full foot in height, Leviathan's presence still commanded attention, as her outfit settled into form. A grey-white uniform with built-in plating across the chest and stomach fit sleekly over her body, while her left arm held a glowing tac-pad on the inner forearm and a sloping pauldron on the shoulder. Black panels covered the ship-girl's ribs while grey sleeves hid her arms, wrists encompassed by a set of white stripes. A holster holding a pistol sat on her right thigh, sitting over grey trousers that had a black inseam and white trim along the hems, while her feet ended in sensible boots that fastened directly to the pants. A series of ribbons were fastened beneath the symbol of the Eagle and Globe upon her left breast, the letters 'UNSC' stitched proudly for all to see. All in all, she could have passed for a naval officer in her own right, except for the lack of rank markings on her uniform.

As the crowd warily returned to a more relaxed position, Leviathan made her way to the bottom of the gangplank, where a line was marked along the dock. Looking directly at the officer across from her, the Marathon-class took him in with a critical eye. The man had some scarring along his brow, likely from shrapnel if she were to judge anything, and his glower showed that he was not amused at her little stunt if her interpretation was anything to go by. Standing at attention, Leviathan matched his stare with her own and spoke.

"UNSC Leviathan, requesting permission to come ashore," she said, awaiting the man's response. He looked a little surprised at the formality of the cruiser's tone, but rallied himself in return.

"Permission granted. Welcome to Yokosuka, I'm Admiral Settle, United States Navy. I hope your intentions here are good," he said in response, his voice lowered at the last part yet still audible.

Nodding to him, Leviathan stepped off the ramp in order to let the others down as well behind her, stepping up to the American, who refused to budge from his place. It was a good sign in her book. "I hope that we can all get along then. But perhaps we can continue this discussion in a more comfortable environment, hmm? I'm sure we have a lot to talk about..."