Author: Within this month, uploading chapters will be slower since I have to deal with real life responsibilities. Also the Summer 2018 event will be on late August so my focus will shift during that time.
NOTE: Tirpitz's sinking in Norway will be discussed in the next chapter. Also someone will get badly hurt...along with a bit of foreshadowing.
An old enemy comes back...
Concerned about what recently happened, Tirpitz's hands tensed up just by looking at what Sasebo's admiral gave her.
"Here I thought there's no evidence of past left..."
The envelope contained a copy of her records and several photos. What concerns her is not the photos in the present, but of the past. She is alarmed to see there are still photos of her back when she was an active ship girl.
"So what are you planning to do now?"
Ark Royal, who is just sitting and casually reading a book, ceased her current activity and approached the admiral. She picked up a photo, one from the past.
"If someone like those traitorous humans find out...it will be big trouble" Tirpitz took the photo Ark Royal is waving
"Why is that?"
"There's the issue with the certain Russians. I've found things they wouldn't want getting out. They'll have me killed as soon as possible"
Tirpitz knows very well how" those from the Union" tend to think, so she knows they wouldn't hesitate to have her killed at the sign of the slightest suspicion.
"I'm surprised no one found out who you are for the past six years. I mean how come no one suspected you back then? I know I would have"
Ark Royal cited how she would have suspected about Tirpitz's identity if she worked for the Japanese. Which loosely implied the Japanese navy are either ignorant or their guard must be light.
"Saki - Sasebo's admiral said someone sent it to her...along with a severed head. Not a single shipgirl in her base saw who left the package"
"Wait - did you say severed head?"
"Yeah" Tirpitz nodded
The admiral responded as if the fact a severed head inside a box isn't something to be surprised about. Then again, death isn't a new concept to Tirpitz as she had witnessed it countless times and experienced it herself.
"I had Tashkent find out the identity of the dead guy"
"Did your destroyer found something?"
"She did. Apparently it's some guy working for the Union. The same Union who - Ah forget it"
Tirpitz didn't continue what she's about to say, knowing Ark Royal is present.
"Basically they're horrible people who are worse than Abyssals. Not just them, but my traitorous superior who died before I got more information"
While Tirpitz resents some humans due to their selfish and greedy nature, much like her Abyssal self, she still trust humans as much as she trusts her shipgirls.
"So what are you going to do next?" Ark Royal crossed her arms
"I have to make sure this information doesn't get out. If it does, I'm screwed..."
"Being an admiral sure is stressful, huh"
"Dreadnought Princess is still out there, rampaging in the open seas. I have to deal with her while dealing with this"
As Tirpitz rests her back, already stressed with two major problems, she felt a sharp headache.
"Tirpitz?"
"It's fine. Just a headache..."
She ignored the pain, thinking it's her mind reacting to her current situation and problems.
Later...
Straightening her back, Gangut walks by and happens to see Bismarck enjoying the sea breeze.
"Hey, Bismarck" She waves her hand
"Oh, Gangut? What's up?" Bismarck places her hands on her hips
"Have you seen, Tirpitz? Been looking for her for a while now"
"Ah. She said she's going out for a while to talk to Sasebo's admiral"
Bismarck tilted her head and scratched her head.
"She's been going out lately...even though she's not the type to do so frequently"
Gangut walked closer towards Bismarck, with her hands tucked in her skirt's pockets.
"Tirpitz is an admiral now so it's probably about business in the navy"
"I know that, but don't you think she's been acting odd lately?"
She expresses her concern to Bismarck since she thought the older sister could probably understand.
"I don't know about that, but I guess she's been acting differently lately"
"Do you know why?" Gangut asked
Bismarck placed her hand on her chin, recalling a recent memory. She overheard Tirpitz having a suspicious conversation with Ark Royal.
"If anything, it's probably about an operation or something. Tirpitz is always stressed about her duties"
Bismarck didn't bother mentioning about it as she lacks details on what is it about.
"Tirpitz does things without really explaining. Even though she's the type to know what she's doing, I can't understand her sometimes..."
"You and I both" Bismarck chuckled
In the past, Gangut never personally met Bismarck, but heard a lot about her from Tirpitz.
"You two sisters resemble each other. So I'm surprised no one ever asked if you two are related" Gangut smirked
"It's probably she can be cold and serious most of the time no one noticed it" Bismarck laughed
As they share a friendly laugh, the two enjoyed the peacefulness and nice weather.
"You're Tirpitz's partner back in Russia, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Tirpitz barely talked about her time in Russia. Whenever I would ask her, she would dodge the question"
"..."
Gangut's mood turned serious when Bismarck mentioned about Russia. She's trying to hold down her own emotions.
"Did something happened in Russia? I have feeling something bad happened so she doesn't like talking about it"
"..." Gangut's lips is shaking
"Gangut?"
"She went through...horrible things...because of me"
Gangut weakly mutterer, her tone clearly both furious yet filled with sadness.
"Horrible? Gangut, did something happened?"
"..."
"Gangut!"
Bismarck grabbed Gangut's shoulders, with the latter reluctant to answer Bismarck
"Bismarck, the truth is-"
"Comrade!"
Tashkent interrupted their conversation as she showed up, cutting their moment.
"There are you are, comrade Gangut! I've been looking for you"
The Russian destroyer laughs as she pats Gangut's shoulders, confusing the two. Her appearance is suspiciously timely and sudden, as if it's on purpose.
"Tashkent?" Gangut is confused
"I'm sorry for interrupting the moment, but I have important business with you, comrade. So we must go now!"
Tashkent quickly grabs Gangut's wrist and drag her away, displaying unusual strength for a destroyer. Even if Bismarck is confused, she thought how Tashkent is like putting up a fake smile.
"What as was that all about...?"
Bismarck just scratched her cheek when Gangut dragged the confused Russian battleship away.
"T-Tashkent, slow down...!"
A few seconds later, Tashkent stops and let go of Gangut, but she doesn't face her.
"Comrade, that was a really close one, you know. You might have slipped unnecessary words"
Tashkent turned her head around and brightly smiled, but Gangut can tell it's forced.
"What? Tashkent?"
"You should be careful on what you're going to say. The last thing the admiral wants right now is her older sister finding out unnecessary things"
Tashkent tilted her head as her hand gestured in a random manner, as if she's joking.
"Why so?"
"Let's just the admiral is currently preoccupied with several problems and the last thing she needs is a headache..."
"I still don't get it" Gangut grunted
"It means think first before you first, comrade Gangut. It will probably save your life"
Tashkent's expression grew grimmer and darker, stating a serious warning to Gangut.
"...?!"
"Now then, I have an expedition to attend to~"
Tashkent walked away, leaving a shaken and speechless Gangut who just reacted by clenching her fists and biting her lip.
The next day...
Nagato, leading the main fleet, sorties around the area of Sea of Japan. It's because of the frequent Abyssal attacks lately, shipgirls of the naval districts are always actively sortieing.
"That's..."
About 28km north of the fleet, they can faintly see smoke rising up to the sky. The location of the thick, black smoke is one of Japan's supply point.
"A large ship?"
Nagato's radars detected the presence of a large ship, but can't exactly identify it.
"All ships, ready your main guns!"
The large, single ship detected is unlikely to be a shipgirl, so Nagato deduced it's an enemy ship.
"Enemy ship spotted. It's the Dreadnought Princess!" Zuikaku reported
"No other Abyssal are spotted. Dreadnought Princess has no escorts"
"In that case...CarDiv 05, launch preemptive airstrike!" Nagato ordered
"Roger that!"
With a nod, the crane sisters each took an arrow and pulled their bows, releasing the first wave of bombers.
"Hahahaha - huh?"
Dreadnought Princess enjoyed bombing the harbor when her radars detected a large amount of aircraft's heading her way. She turned to see aircrafts over the sky.
"Grrr! Ship girls!"
Dreadnought Princess opened fire, swatting the bombers above. Bombers dove towards her, dropping their payloads left to right. Even if the bombs only does minor damage to her, there's too many for one Abyssal battleship to handle.
(Aaaarrgh! They just keep coming!)
She turned her attention towards the shipgirl fleet aiming their main guns at her.
"Fire!"
"Let it rip!" Montana raised her hand
The battleships Nagato, Montana, and Maine all opened fire, with most of their armor piercing shells landing directly at the target.
"You think you can beat me that easily? Don't screw with me!"
Dreadnought Princess let loose her cannons as her 'pet' roars.
"Pya! She's angry" Sakawa dodged an incoming shell
"Don't let your guard down!" Yahagi reminded her
The fleet engaged the lone Abyssal, but even so...Dreadnought Princess can hold on her own despite the punishment she's taking.
"Tch! She's a tough one. She's tanking every shell I shoot at her"
Nagato admitted at how resilient their current opponent is. Still she kept firing, hoping one attack can penetrate through that thick armor.
"Keep blasting them to shreds, Kratos!" Dreadnought Princess grinned
Dreadnought Princess showed to the shipgirls what sets her apart from other Abyssals. Her terrifying firepower and seemingly impenetrable armor are the reasons why no one had succeeded in defeating her, not even the "ace of the U.S navy"
"I got you now!"
Seeing an opportunity, Dreadnought Princess quickly took it to open fire once again.
"Kyaa!" Maine is heavily damaged
"Maine!"
With the brief loss of focus, Nagato got struck by the shells too. Two shells scored a direct hit on Nagato, moderately damaging the Big Seven battleship.
"It's time to sleep with the fishes, shipgirl!"
As Nagato stands up, Dreadnought Princess readied her main guns, but as she is about to fire...
"...?!"
A shell landed on her monstrous rigging, damaging one of her turrets.
"Kratos!"
She worried for her monstrous rigging who screeched upon being shot. Furious, she turned to look at who shot her.
"You bitch!"
The one who fire at her is Battleship Water Demon, a fellow Abyssal battleship who can match her might on equal level.
"That battleship was one of the damn shipgirls who sunk me so she and those shipgirls are my prey!"
Battleship Water Demon cracked her knuckles, her thirst for blood boiling. Dreadnought Princess feels the same as shooting her like that is a challenge to a fight.
"How dare you ruin my fun? Because you hurt my Kratos...I'll rip you to shreds!"
Ignoring the shipgirls, Dreadnought Princess changed her target and aimed at Battleship Water Demon instead.
"Just the right timing. We'll see who's the stronger battleship!"
Battleship Water Demon gestured in provoking Dreadnought Princess to attack which the latter did. While the two Abyssals are occupied with shooting at each other, the ship girls are just there, confused and dumbfounded.
"Impossible. That's...Battleship Princess..." Nagato is couldn't believe her eyes
"It looks like she changed. Evolution? Abyssals are capable of such things as much as us shipgirls are capable of remodelling" Yahagi thought
"Flagship, what should we do? Engage or retreat?" Montana asked
"With their firepower and armor, we can't take them on both. It's a certain death if we engage them both"
She looked at everyone who are all damaged from the fight until Battleship Water Demon showed up.
"While they're busy trying to kill each other, we will retreat"
"Understood!"
By the flagship's order, the shipgirls starts retreating. They managed to evade certain death from two powerful Abyssals. Unknown to them, a certain submarine shadowed them.
Maizuru Naval district...
After successfully returning , Nagato reported to her admiral about the sudden turn of events.
"Battleship Water Demon, huh. Not only we have one problem, now we have two!"
The appearance of those two in the same area will prove to be an obstacle not just to her, but to the rest of the shipgirls.
"Still...you said they were attacking each other?"
"It was Battleship Water Demon who opened fire first. Then they started shooting at each other"
Nagato confirmed. As much as it seemed impossible, it's the truth. Not all Abyssals "cooperate" with each other, so there's always a conflict.
"If they're this disorganized, then it's a good thing for us, but the fact the two of them are in within this area...will prove to be a huge problem"
"..."
"I'm just glad you girls somehow escaped...even if it's a bit odd..."
"We didn't know why they fought each other, but we didn't stay long to find out"
Tirpitz shrugged her shoulders as she sat on her chair to relax her back.
"Those aren't going to be our only problem. There's someone else..."
"Who...?"
"Central Princess...has started to move"
Fully aware of what Central Princess is capable of, Nagato reacted.
"Enterprise fought her, but her fleet was forced to retreat after sustaining heavy damage. Central Princess doesn't move unless it's necessary. So...what could have forced her to come out in the open?"
"Admiral?"
"I fought her a long time ago, once. Not as a shipgirl...but as a monster...an Abyssal"
Tirpitz's hands tensed up, resenting her memories as the beast of the north, the Abyssal that wreaked havoc in the Atlantic for four years.
"Even as an Abyssal, I lost to her...but I evaded capture when the Home fleet arrived"
"..."
"The first and last person to sent her running away in a humiliating defeat is the first shipgirl"
"The first shipgirl? Didn't she disappeared thirty years ago?"
"Yeah. That's why it's a bad omen when the most powerful Abyssal comes out in the open"
Nagato gulped, admitting even she doesn't want cone face to face with Central Princess herself.
"Anyway, since it's still uncertain if Central Princess will come out again or will she stay hidden for a long time again so we can rest easy...for now"
"I understand..."
Nagato nodded, understanding what her admiral wants to say, just by looking at her. As Nagato leaves the office, Ooyodo enters the office with an envelope.
"Ooyodo?"
"Admiral, you have a mail..."
Ooyodo hands over a neatly white envelope with an odd stamp at the back.
"Who sent this?"
"The sender is unknown, but it was directly addressed to you"
"I see. Thank you..."
Ooyodo saluted before she leaves the office. Alone, Tirpitz opens the letter and upon reading the scribbled words, she almost dropped the piece of paper.
"So it was you, huh? What game are you planning...?"
Tirpitz held herself back from crumpling the letter, restraining her emotions. The mere thought of what the "sender" wanted to say to her, made the German battleship tightly clench her fists.
...Arkhangelsk?
EXTRA
In the dead of night, slow and rhythmic footsteps echoed in the empty pier. Other than the footsteps, muffled whimpering and groaning can be heard along with sound of dragging and struggling. A young woman with medium length grey hair easily drags around an unknown foreign looking man whom she obviously had tied up and gagged.
"I was right to make a gambit. It was part of my positional play after all~"
Lifting him on his feet, she had him standing up at the edge of the pier, centimeters away from falling into the water. She then removed his gag to allow him to speak as she clearly couldn't speak with him with incoherent noises alone.
"Arkhangelsk, how can you betray the organization?!"
The shaking man spat those words at Arkhangelsk who has no interest at what he's saying.
"Betray? Hahahaha. How can I betray if I was never loyal in the first place?"
Despite her "boredom", she answered him directly...and honestly.
Her hand tightly clenched the man's collar, the only thing preventing him, whose feet are barely clinging on the ground, from drowning to his death.
"W-what?!"
"Don't you get it? I may be a dog, but I'm one hell of a ferocious dog. I can't be tamed that easily"
Arkhangelsk couldn't hold back her smile and her emotions as she had been itching loosen her grip, but she knows she can't do so just yet.
"W-what are you planning, you traitorous shipgirl?"
"The board had been opened. I had to move a piece forward so it would create a blockade. I wonder how she will react with the initiative I made"
Her victim doesn't understand what she had just said, but not that she cares whether he understood it or not. Arkhangelsk tilted her head, humming and looking at the side.
"You made a mistake wen you tried to get a fool's mate. That's not a very good tactic"
She finally loosened her grip, something she'd be meaning to do a few minutes ago. She watched the man struggling from his bindings as he drowns to his death.
"Now that we're in the middlegame, things will get more interesting"
Arkhangelsk kept speaking in a cryptic manner, but to her she's speaking in terms of the "game". She took a deep sigh of relief, a thorn has been pulled out the moment she finished it.
"A pawn are expandable, but I cannot not a single one to reach the other end of the board"
With her job done and one menial piece sacrificed for the later parts of the game, she walked away...only to stop after a few meters. She turned her head and crossed her arms.
"How odd. I'd never thought she'd sent a mere destroyer after me. No...rather...you went out on your own, didn't you?"
A figure is forced to step out when Arlhangelsk is already aware of an uninvited guest following her. She dislikes being followed and she gets easily annoyed by it.
"Russian destroyer...Tashkent, one of Maizuru's strongest destroyer. A seemingly loyal Union shipgirl when in reality, your loyalty lies to your beloved admiral"
Arlhangelsk laughs, mocking the Russian destroyer whose heart is racing right now. She knows how strong is Arkhangelsk and what she's capable of, but made the choice of entering the danger zone on her own.
"The admiral ordered me to avoid direct confrontation, but I can't simply do as you please...Arkhangelsk"
Tashkent faced Arkhangelsk directly, showing the battleship she isn't afraid to take on a ruthless and bloodthirsty killer like her.
"None of those idiots in the organization even realized you're passing information to Tirpitz right under their noses. Hahahaha they sure are stupid"
"I can never place my allegiance to the people who threatens my admiral and my comrades"
At first, Arkhangelsk softly laughs, but she broke into a maniacal laughter. She finds Tashkent caring for the one she cares about simply amusing.
"Hahahahaha! You reminded me of someone I know. Too bad she's dead though"
"I have business with a certain human. It took me a long time to find someone who never existed to begin with"
"A human?"
"Well this human possesses the power that was thought to be impossible. I needed that power for a checkmate"
"What do you want, Arkhangelsk?"
Arkhangelsk smiled, refusing to directly answer that. Rather, she changed the topic and turned the tables.
"...say, you know about the truth on why Scharnhorst sunk, right? Not to mention that A-150 Project shipgirl sunk for the same reason, right? That battle devastated Tirpitz, but she doesn't know it was a set up"
Guilty of it, Tashkent remained quiet. With a sinister yet sly facial expression, Arkhangelsk hummed before she spoke again.
"Those from the Union. It was their doing why the allied fleet was no longer at the target location. If the fleet wasn't so stupid, that Project shipgirl wouldn't have sacrificed herself"
Much like Arkhangelsk, Tashkent is aware of the truth behind the tragedy that cost the life of someone important to Tirpitz. Arkhangelsk toys with Tashkent's regret.
"You knew about the truth. Then...why did you remain quiet about it?"
"..."
"Well I can understand that. Tirpitz will never forgive the person who got her two of her closest friends killed. Even if it's a human..." Arkhangelsk laughs jokingly
"..." Tashkent still remains quiet
"Rather...you know what will happen if Tirpitz were to discover her beloved former admiral was the one who discarded her in the first place. That will surely...break her heart"
"You know nothing about my admiral, monster!"
"I still have a payback to settle, little destroyer"
Tashkent's lips shake when Arkhangelsk spoke out the truth and the possibilities. Arkhangelsk knows how to play the game more than anyone.
"What do you want from my admiral?"
Arkhangelsk smiled once again. After a moment of silence, she leaped forward, swift enough to unable Tashkent to defend herself in time. She grabbed the destroyer by the throat and pinned her against a container.
"Something she should have done a long time ago"
The deranged battleship replied, slowly strangling Tashkent. She shows little mercy, even to a Russian destroyer.
"For that to be happen, I need that clueless human for this board game"
"...K-kkh...! W...why?" Tashkent could barely breathe
"...because I have to make a certain beast come out"
"I...I...won't let you...do as you please, you abomination of an Abyssal!"
Tashkent struggled even if she has little to no chance of breaking free from Arkhangelsk's grasp. With an absolute grip, the Russian destroyer's struggle is rendered futile.
"I admire your love for your admiral...but I won't let anyone stand in my way"
Determined to accomplish her goals, Arkhangelsk is willing to go all ends to get what she wants. She pulled out a military knife and pointed it's edge towards Tashkent. Despite her vision dimming down, Tashkent can still see the serious intent and ruthlessness in Arkhangelsk.
"...not even a shipgirl"
"Ad...miral...I'm sorry...I failed..."
As Tashkent loses space to breathe, with the air going to her lungs became more constricted. She begins accepts her fate as she is cornered and facing seemingly "certain" death. She closes her eyes as Arkhangelsk raises her hand and drives the glinting blade towards her.