Akitsu Maru sighed to herself as she pulled her pens out of her pocket and placed them on her desk, trading out the pens for what was to come. Since the start of the war against the Abyss she had only joined in on combat operations twice, both of them for the Admiralty Board, and both of them as support. The significance of being ordered on a solo mission by the R&D head Leo Yomi was not lost on her, but it did make her extremely nervous, and a bit paranoid about it.
The naval R&D department of the Japanese Imperial Navy was well funded, with the brightest minds in the country working there day and night to create weapons, armour upgrades and devices to aid in the war against the Abyssals. In addition to its great size and funding, it also had a small, but extremely strong and well trained fleet of ship girls who worked alongside the researchers to test weapons and the like in different scenarios. It didn't make sense that someone from that fleet would "accidentally" drop a shell prototype, or that they would just leave without picking it up; their fleet was too well trained for that, Akitsu Maru was sure of it.
Despite her paranoia about it though, she had been given a direct order from the R&D head, and had no choice but to see it through, despite her misgivings about the mission and the situation surrounding it. Grabbing a large metal box that sat beside her desk she turned to the entrance of the warehouse and began dragging the box out with her, it's metal casing making a horrendous grinding sound on the concrete floor.
For a normal human the box would have been nigh impossible to carry, weighing in at almost 500 pounds not including the box itself, but as a ship girl it was easy to move, it was just easier to drag.
"Hey Maru, I'm assuming that Yomi gave you some kind of, clandestine mission you can't say anything about?" The supervisor said as Akitsu Maru made it to the warehouses main entrance, and saw him standing in its doorway.
Akitsu Maru could tell that the supervisor was more than just a little bit annoyed at the situation, his tone said everything. He likely had directed Admiral Yomi to her desk and knew what was going to come of it. Akitsu Maru didn't like yanking anyone's chain, especially her own, but she knew that she could transfer supplies to bases faster than anyone else thanks to her ability to load her trucks without jacks, and to her lack of need of identification papers, her ID card being all she needed to travel freely. She knew the supervisor did not like that she was going to be gone for a while, but it couldn't be helped. "Yes, he ordered me on a mission. I'm sorry but I will be gone for a day or two, possibly more if the mission drags out." Akitsu Maru replied to the supervisor.
Her superior nodded, his eyes telling everything he was feeling before he even spoke. "Alright, we'll keep things going here and try to keep up with your orders. Just make sure you come back in one piece, alright?"
Akitsu Maru nodded with a smile to the supervisor; he and the other workers of the warehouse were some of the few people who actually treated her like a person. It might've been because he and most of the workers were married with families, or maybe just because they didn't think of her as a weapon, but it was a nice feeling, and she didn't want them to feel sad. "I don't intend to fail and will be back. Are you sure you will be able to keep up my orders though?"
The supervisor waved his hand, as if dismissing the idea. "We'll be fine. I'll just portion your delivery jobs off around the warehouse to those who are free. If it comes to it we can request some help from the next city over. Oh, and I'll drag your box back to your desk once you leave."
Akitsu Maru smiled at the supervisor, the simple idea of him carrying the box causing her to almost giggled to herself. "Are you sure? Even empty it's pretty heavy."
"It'll be fine. It's nothing some good old raw arm strength can't do. . . . I'll uh, grab others to help me if I need to though, so don't worry about me, I won't break anything this time."
Akitsu Maru visibly had to stifle a laugh, remembering when the supervisor first found her box. He had tried to move it by pushing it, but when it tipped it landed on his foot, 500 pounds of metal box and its contents landing on his foot and completely shattering all of his toes. He was out of the warehouse for almost four months before his doctor would allow him to go back to work. "Alright, I'll trust you then. I'll be going now."
"Good luck!" the supervisor called as he stepped away from the wall and walked past Akitsu Maru, into the depths of the warehouse.
Waiting a moment Akitsu Maru let out a sigh and walked out of the warehouse, crossing the large parking lot at its front and stopping at the edge of the warehouse dock. Before the Abyssal first appeared the warehouse was for holding trade items from other countries that had come by boat before transferring them onto trucks. With the Abyssal covering all sea routes though, and trade to other countries at a standstill, the only use docks outside of naval bases got was for watching the tides, or staring at the horizon as the sun rose or set.
Looking out at the far off blue horizon that almost merged with the clear cloudless sky, Akitsu Maru kicked over the box, allowing it to land on its side with a heavy thud that could only be recreated by dropping a ship onto a dock without chains. That was what the box held after all, the objects that proved her existence as a ship girl, her equipment. She barely ever wore her equipment because of her job, but being that it was hers and hers alone, she would never forget how to equip them, or how to use them.
Compared to other ship girls who had massive equipment that could crush a car, hers was smaller than even some destroyer's equipment. Her canons were small and were on an almost horseshoe shaped holder that attached around her belt, and the Scroll that allowed her to summon her scouting planes fit nicely on a loop also connected to her belt. If she was going on a mission with a fleet she would be carrying her usual pack that allowed her to resupply others, but as she was not with a fleet, her pack was unneeded, and lay in the box untouched.
Looking over herself and her equipment she was sure that both were ready, and after a brief moment of inaction, stepped off of the docks edge and onto the water. Her foot equipment, small metal rings that were clipped onto the edges of her boots, did their job and she stood atop the water like any other ship girl, a feeling that humans could never feel washing over her. Despite her like for where her desk was located in the warehouse she did enjoy the feeling of standing on water more. She was a ship girl after all, and there was nothing more natural that the feeling of water under her feet. Reacquiring the feel for it Akitsu Maru spun in place and dashed about a bit, making sure her skills were not rusty from lack of use. Once sure she was ready, she sped off into the ocean, away from the city, the docks and the warehouse, and toward her objective.
The oceans themselves were clear and calm, perfect weather for anyone that travelled upon the seas. Fish swam around beneath the surface; their scales glistening in the warm sunlit waters while a cool refreshing breeze blew about, letting the smell of salt waft over the water's surface. The sights and smell, along with the feeling was still familiar to Akitsu Maru, but at the same time, she hadn't felt them in so long that they were like coming home after having been gone for many years. With calm weather and no ill wind blowing it took Akitsu Maru only half a day to get to the location that Admiral Yomi had given her, the location where she would start looking for the missing experimental shells.
The only thing of interest in the area was a small sandbar with a single small tree upon it, the rest of the zone being completely free of any landmarks. Water swept across the shallow sands just under the surface, causing the single lone sandbar to be still and unaffected by the low and silent waves. Stepping on to the sandbar Akitsu Maru looked around, hoping the shells would be easy to spot.
Shells, even the smallest ones, were pretty large, so they would be easy to find as their size and composition would stop them from sinking into the wet sand. Sinking in the water was a different story though, and the more she looked, the more it seemed to become likely that the shells had somehow gotten into the water, meaning they'd be far harder to find.
Letting out a sigh Akitsu Maru stepped back onto the water's surface and began slowly following the arcs and ebbs of the sandbars just under the surface, if the shells were in the water, they would've gotten stuck on the sandbars more likely than anywhere else.
It took almost another hour more before Akitsu Maru dropped herself onto the sandbar with a huff. She had looked like crazy, but had found nothing that even hinted at the shells being here. It was as if they had floated off, but that was impossible with their weight. This was the only place they could be without her having to enlist the help of submarines to keep looking.
With a heavy sigh Akitsu Maru looked out at the horizon, realizing just how late it was, and how hard the searching would become. The sun was already halfway down the horizon and would be gone in a matter of minutes, and once it disappeared, it would get dark fast. The darkness didn't faze her all that much, and neither did the nighttime, it merely meant she had to be slightly more careful, and she was used to working in the nighttime. The problem was that metal shells would be far harder to see in the dark, and she did not really want to be in territory that the Abyssal had just recently taken at night, it was a bad idea and was just like asking to be attacked.
"My, are you new? I don't recognize you."
Akitsu Maru suddenly leapt to her feet and looked around for the source of the new voice. It wasn't a voice she recognized, and as she had either spoken with, or at least heard the voices of most ship girls, it worried her that she didn't recognize it. No one was over the waves around her, but as she turned to the tree behind her Akitsu Maru froze up, terrified by the person that stood beside the tree.
With skin as pale as her own, Akitsu Maru instantly knew it was an Abyssal ship, but as soon as she noticed the Abyssal clothing and physical shape, she recognized her. Airfield Hime, one of the more dangerous Abyssal Hime classes, responsible for many of the wars early losses due to her sometimes overwhelming air superiority, was standing right in front of her, a look of confusion and interest over her face. A look Akitsu Maru did not think Abyssals could exhibit.
Unable to answer due to her shock and terror, Akitsu Maru stood there and looked at the Airfield princess, looking her over and discerning what she could from her. She looked just like all the reports of her always described her. A one piece white leotard with metal accents and long white hair as pure as a fresh snow. But the reports always stated that the airfield princess, like all of Abyssal Hime's and Oni's, had a stoic and unemotional face that felt like you were glaring at a sword. Instead though, she looked at her with a mix of curiosity and a warm smile that made her feel strangely and uncomfortably welcome. Something she did not expect in the least.
Airfield Hime tilted her head as she continued to wait for Akitsu Maru's answer, but quickly got fed up and spoke up again. "I don't recognize you, are you new?"
Authors note: yaaa, another chapter! i totally forgot to say this in the forward, but ll of this fic is being beta read by my IRL friend and fellow fanfiction writer Nanashi wanderer. he's actually writing a kancolle fic as well, one that focuses on a special forces group and will be having stealth based missions. if you have the time then check it out, he's been writing fanfiction far longer than i have!