I tried my best to get to some sort of an agreement with Musashi. I really gave it my all. Seven times i tried to talk to her. Tried small talk, attempted to talk about her feelings, or flat out asked what her problem was. She either ignored me, walked off with a glare, or told me it was none of my business. By day four, i had given up trying to confront her... and instead tried to learn more about the problem.

I googled Musashi, read the Wikipedia page four times. Digged up every info and every trivia page i could, and read the official reports of her service history- whatever wasn´t destroyed. Then i began with the TV documentations... CG-crap with a bored narrator, rattling down what i had already heard about... then, finally, i found myself watching a marathon of movies in one of the hobby rooms down in the main section, which just happened to have a comfortable couch and some nicely sized TV... at four in the midnight, it finally happened- i spoke the first word with Musashi again ever since her introduction.
„What on -earth- are you doing, watching this in the middle of the night..?" Seems as if this got her attention, because she was standing there, staring in disbelief with her arms crossed in front of her massive chest.
„Watching history. Or what people make us believe is history." I answered, taking a sip out of my coffee cup. „I realized i had little to no idea who you are, Musashi. I just heard 'Yamato class battleship' and freaked out. ...lately, i`ve been wondering, and did some research."
„...And? Did that satisfy your curiosity?" She glared again, piercing me with her look. I had to shield myself from that and keep talking, else we would be back to square one.
„There´s about a million movies about Battleship Yamato, and a few dozen about Carrier Shinano... but Battleship Musashi is limited to some text, a few rare photos, and hearsay from eyewitnesses. ...why did they never make a movie about you? Why is there so little information, and pictures about you? Why do people make thousands of models and fanpages, even a 1/10 scale replica of Yamato, but no such thing about you?"
Musashi closed her eyes and sighed quietly, shaking her head.
„Its pointless to think about that. Yamato was the first, the pride of the fleet, the flagship of the entire country. There´s a reason she was called Yamato, afterall. I, myself, always stood in her shadow."
„But you did so much more, and your final battle was just as dramatic and lengthly... you were the bigger and stronger ship, and you accomplished the same things she did..!" Was it working? I couldn´t tell, but we were talking, and that was a first.
„It doesn´t matter anymore. It's gone and passed by. Who would care that i, Musashi, fought in the Leythe Gulf to bring victory to the fleet, and ensure the survival of my comrades, when Yamato´s story is much more marketable?"
„Me. Because you´re standing right in front of me. You´re right here, you´re that very ship that did her best out there, and that history just... forgot about. Not just me, everyone should care what you´ve accomplished- and suffered through. More bombs, more torpedos and shell hits than any other ship has ever sustained, and you kept on fighting...! Why won´t anyone remember this, but they do remember a ship that never left the port until the end...? Bismarck sunk on her first mission, after just one ship it sunk, and she fought just as hard as you do... Everyone knows the name Bismarck." Biting my lip, i took another sip of coffee, and looked back to the monitor, where the battleship Yamato was about to be attacked by american aircraft. I almost didn´t notice it, but someone sat down next to me... someone with a lot of mass, who`s glasses reflected the screen.
And for the faintest moment, i could see a tear running down her cheek.
We didn´t speak for the entire time, but i could feel that the pictures on the screen made her re-live that day in the Leythe Gulf once more.

The next morning, I was woken up by someone nudging my side, and upon opening my eyes I noticed it was Musashi, still there- from the looks of it, she just woke up too. The TV had turned itself off, but the DVD player was still on, going through its third run of the disc by now, silently.
"Admiral. Its morning, you should get to work." She reminded me sternly. Still, I couldn´t help but feel glad she at least talked to me by now. Nodding, I adjusted my cap and stretched my back, before getting up with a bit of a groan.
"You`re right, its probably time for the fleet operations… I need a coffee, though. Do you want one too?" I looked back to her, before she glared to me with a huff, getting up swiftly.
"I respect you now. I will follow your orders, within reason. That does not require such a familiar tone, Admiral!" Leaving me behind, she went over to the door and forcefully pushed it open, taking a step outside- only to receive a bucket onto her head which dumped warm chocolate all over her body.
"Wh-whaaaa…?!" She brought out, and I didn`t find the breath, but the same was on my mind. Sobered up and awake now, I hurried over and pulled the bucket off of her. "A-are you okay?! Where did that…?" My question was answered, when Shiranui stood there and lifted a hand.
"Apologies, Miss Musashi. Shiranui`s special chocolate bath was intended for the Admiral." Oh, you little… She was going to get yelled at later. For now, I took Musashi`s hand and tugged her along, despite her protests, she was unable to see through chocolate smeared glasses and eyes… reluctantly, she followed along and I brought her to the nearest bathroom to wash off. I`m pretty sure she left a visible trail of chocolate behind, too.
"That accursed destroyer… making a mockery of me! She`ll feel Musashi`s wra…aaaaah, its going down my b-baaaack!" She squeaked out, her head tilting back as if trying to prevent it, but she only made it worse.
"Oh, don`t worry, she`ll be cleaning this place with a toothbrush by the end of the day…" I grumbled, opening up the door to the bathroom and guiding her over to the sink and turning on the water. "Here, clean your face off, and take a shower. I`ll excuse you for the fleet operations." Silently, she nodded, and began to rinse the candy off of her face, muttering something quietly, before speaking up a bit louder.
"….It's still not as bad as the base I came from."
While I secretly snacked off of her shoulder, I turned to her with a blink. "Hm? I can`t imagine Moran´s base being any worse than this… "
She nodded. "In a base full of destroyers, being the only battleship means you`re the odd one out. They do not like… different ships. Destroyers are envious of almost everyone… but when it comes to battleships, their envy becomes jealousy and sometimes hatred. That Shiranui… I do not believe her when she says she intended it for you. The prank… fits too well for me."
"….you think its because of your skin, right? Hn… and she already did prank me yesterday.." I responded, picking up more and more chocolate from her shoulder.
"It's only natural. Look at your ships, then at Musashi… i´m not fitting in."
"You`re special, I give you that." She twitched, I noticed that, and her skin briefly touched my finger.
Turning, her crimson red eyes glared back at me, without the protective shield of her glasses. "Special, for the wrong reasons. Being special and being an outcast- that's two different things."
Looking into her crimson-colored eyes, I could tell she meant that- being an outcast. But I could tell she was overlooking something, as well-
"Musashi. You´re not the only battleship in this base. Mary and Bismarck are there, too… they´re even foreigners. I don`t know how much truth there is to this whole Destroyer thing, but you`re not alone here… more than that, you outnumber the destroyers four to one."
She stared against the mirror for a few moments, then raised an eyebrow and looked over to me, a bit out of focus due to her removed glasses. Cute.
"Four? Pardon me, but i`ve counted three, including myself."
A light smirk crossed my face.
"No, Musashi, four. I`m on your side as well."
She glanced at me briefly, before her eyes turned a bit softer. …then she glared again.
"Could you stop… eating me? Alas, I have to wash myself. Unless you wish to inspect that too, Admiral…"
….i have to be honest, I would`ve said yes if she wouldn´t have looked at me like that… so, I nodded and left the room, still tasting some chocolate in my mouth…
…so, she was nice under all that armor, but she kept bunkering up. I made a wish back then, a wish that I would manage to heal her heart, and see her smile at least once.

Back up in the office, after my fourth coffee, Bismarck gave me a nod and handed me a letter, signed by the naval headquarters, before proceeding on with her work in another room. Mary saluted me briefly with a smile, and I responded in kind, before sitting down to open it.
My reaction to reading the letter must`ve put her off guard. It wasn`t often I choked on my own breath, seeing a piece of paper before me.
"Whats wrong, Admiral?! Should I open a window?" She asked, but I shook my head, and put the letter aside again, tossing the envelope into the trash.
"No need for that, Mary… Its just a family matter."
"A family matter? What do you mean…?"
I looked back at her- of course, she wouldn`t understand. Ships only had sisters, afterall, no real family.
"My mother and father took shelter during an Abyssal attack in Malibu, where they spent their vacation. The shelter was hit by 36 incendiary shells. No survivors." I pressed out, holding back my desire to gag and throw up all over my desk. Under it, my fists clenched into steel, as I was trying to bend the support beams of its frame in anger and frustration. "You probably don`t know what a family is.."
Mary held up her hand in protest. "A mother is someone who gave birth to you, the father is someone who created you. That much is whats written in the dictionary. So, they were both killed by the Abyss?"
I gave her a nod, trying to remain calm through all of it. "Yeah. Now me and my sister are the only ones left of my family- my grandparents are already dead, and my brother died when the Abyss first hit. …Now those bastards took all of them, but me and her."
Mary tilted her head, before shrugging. "Admiral… what do you think, for what kind of reason do they attack us?"
"Who knows." I answered truthfully, but bit my lip as I was a hair away from yelling at her. "Nobody knows for sure. They just appeared and shot at us, no questions asked."
She shook her head, looking at me quite intentfully. "That's not what I meant. I asked what –you- think their reason is, not what other people think. You must have made up some sort of story for yourself, right?"
A fairy began to look at me, before others gathered on my desk as well. Seems like they were interested, too… if I didn´t know any better, I would`ve guessed Bismarck listened in, too.
"Well… the shipgirl technology is based on them, right? They came from beneath the sea, and some of them carry regular ship equipment, repaired a bit… crudely. So… if there`s a different method for turning a regular ship into a shipgirl, then maybe… they`re the shipwrecks of the past."
Mary tilted her head, but I continued on.
"In the war, before and after ships were treated pretty badly. Bombed, set on fire, blown to pieces in nuclear tests, scuttled for weapon tests… sometimes we fire at our own ships to see how those new weapons fair, sometimes to see how we can sink enemies more effectively… if they don`t know that, or if they know and don`t like it… what would you do to someone who killed you? Pay him back in the same way, is what I would do."
Mary nodded slowly, placing her hand on my shoulder. Seems like she was beginning to understand, but..
"Something doesn`t fit in, though. There are only so many shipwrecks, but the Abyss keeps coming and coming. Either there´s new abyssals being built underwater, or they restore themselves to full strength even after sinking… whichever one is true… we`re not going to win this war with just violence alone."
"Why? We ´re doing fine so far." Mary gave off, but that's just the point. I looked back into her brilliant green eyes, and shook my head slowly.
"We`re barely holding our own at this point. And if this keeps up… Forever, always sinking the same ships that keep coming back- sooner or later we will definitely lose. There`s no telling when, but you can`t defeat an enemy that keeps standing back up when you knock him down. Besides.. in the history of war, only a handful of wars were ended with violence. Exterminating your enemy takes a lot more effort than simply beating him down and making up with him. If they would only ever talk to us, we could find a way together, but… they just aren`t interested in talking."
"Is that so…" Mary muttered, sighing a tiny bit, but I had already noticed something I wasn`t aware of before.
"Mary… your hand is very cold." I looked back to her, and slowly started to smile. "…Did you come here to talk, or to kill us?"
From the sound of things, Bismarck was quite shocked in the other room, and she quickly came over to stare as she was about to say something, but I held her back for now by raising a hand.
"Mary… our munitions have been sabotaged, the fifteen and eighteen inch shells, respectively. …the sixteen inchers you use, however… they were untouched. You often go out alone, but you don´t go very far, as if you only want to meet someone out of our reach… your eyes and statue fit that of an Abyssal, and Akashi told me your chassis isn`t standard, even for US ships. And finally… the US command has not sent out any ships to our base, they responded minutes after I sent them your papers for confirmation. …I`ll ask again, Mary, what do you want? Do you want to talk?"
Against my hopes, she slowly shook her head as she gave up, and smiled bitterly.
"My purpose is to sabotage you, and hinder you from becoming a nuisance in Midway Princess`s plan. Admiral Nimitz isn`t aware of this, either." This let a cold shower run down my back, and I stood up, slapping down on my desk as I looked at her.
"Then why did you even ask me about my opinion, if you`re just here to kill us?! I`m right here, go ahead!"
"Admiral!" Bismarck protested, and reached for a handgun I didn`t know she had… a Mauser 08, commonly called Luger. She pointed it at Mary, who did nothing in return.
"I asked because I don`t know this myself. Why am I here? Why are we fighting this war? What is the purpose the Abyss is trying to archive…? It all seems random and pointless. You humans can`t win, but we`re not trying hard enough to win… we`re just sending out the same ship types over and over with minor improvements, trying to face an ever-changing response from you. If neither side can win, whats the point in fighting a war?"
I nodded in response, and gave Bismarck a signal to lower her weapon, which she did only with reluctance. Looking back to Mary, I gave her a nod. "That's pretty much the way I see it, too. Still… nobody else ever talked to us. Without that, peace can`t be made.."
"Peace?" Mary blinked. "I don´t think I ever heard Midway or the others use that word… no, the Abyss isn´t interested in that. They would have mentioned it, if they would."
"Damn. …Well, that brings us back to square one.. but at least it feels good to hear the opinion of someone else for once."
Maryland, or whatever her real name was, looked at me in a manner that awaited a response, and I gave her a surprised blink instead.
"What is it?" Was my question for her, and the answer came in form of another question.
"Aren`t you going to get rid of me now? Destroy me, or scrap me?"
The thought never crossed my mind, but… yes, I should do that. Not just because she was an abyssal but also because those people destroyed my family. But somehow… somehow It didn`t, perhaps because Mary was right there in front of me, talking like this… and because of the things we could learn from her, of course.
"No, why should i? No one got hurt from your sabotage attempts so far… and one side has to start with the diplomacy. As you said- they aren´t interested, so we will have to begin with that. If you want, then you could be an official member of our fleet."
Bismarcks glance of disapproval aside, Mary seemed tempted for a second, but then she shook her head.
"No, I can`t do that. Midway has me in her grasp. If she calls I will have to follow. I cannot join your fleet if I am a member of Midways fleet…"
"But you could stay here." I cut in, interrupting her with a determined glance. "Stay here until she deems your operation to be over… we could fake some sabotage attempts to please her, and you could stay. Or maybe you ask for permission and its an official cultural exchange…?"
Suddenly, Mary started to laugh out loud.
"Aahahaha! Permission for a cultural exchange?! Admiral, you`re something…! Midway Princess doesn`t care about that, she doesn`t even care about the war in itself- all she wants is her 'Kingdom' that she keeps talking about… Midway Station!"
That… didn´t sound good. Midway was still the most important outpost from here to America, and that Princess seemed pretty damn desperate to get it. He didn´t have to be a genius to figure out that their current owners would not be okay with this change of events. Still, what she said next surprised me.
"If I may- I would like to continue on as we were. I`m Maryland, under your command, and you give me orders. From what i`ve seen of you so far, you`re an admirable man, and a great leader." The Abyssal in disguise bowed lightly.
"Ja sure, praise him more…" Bismarck muttered, rolling her eyes.
I gave her a nod in return, smiled, and put a hand under her chin to raise it. "No need to bow down before me. Let's continue to do our best, together. …Bismarck, please keep this to yourself. I`m not sure how the others would react to an Abyssal in our ranks. We`ll tell them another time."

Reluctantly, the german nodded with a salute, and stood straight until I dismissed them both. One leaving with a smile, the other with a frown… and as I was alone again, the stinging feeling of loss returned to me in full, undiluted strength. I was… alone now. A sister was out there, but we never met. As far as I knew, I had no one else.

My sister, huh. I had known of her for a while, heard she was stationed at Henderson Airbase, something to do with the whole planegirl project, but until now, I never considered to visit her.
Now, though…
"Bismarck- I won`t be in the office tomorrow, I need to be elsewhere on a private matter. Could you handle things for me here in the meantime?

The next day, I assembled the fleet in the lobby after packing the most important of my belongings into a suitcase, getting ready to meet my sister at last- but first, I gave them some final instructions.
"Tenryuu, Musashi- head out to the Eastern Solomon Islands, intelligence reports there`s an Abyssal repair facility of sorts.. i`d like you to investigate and destroy it if possible, but don`t take any risks- if the resistance is too great, leave it be for now and report back, they`ll send a bigger fleet." I explained to the two warships, while Tenryuu grinned and nodded to me, Musashi gave off a grumble.
"This Musashi, you underestimate her greatly. I can deal with a lot of threats at once- I am a Yamato-class, afterall."
"Hey, if you think you can take them on, go ahead. But if there`s more than two dozen ships, leave it to a bigger fleet… you`d get swarmed, or attract even bigger fish." A smile crossed my face, feeling warm after we finally broke the ice and talked… even if it was in this tone. "Trust me, Musashi. I know what i`m doing. As for the rest of you- Bismarck will be my substitute for now, Mary can assist her- Maruyu and Nui-chan go on a cruise through the resource stations."
"H-hey, wait a minute. Why do I have to babysit the submarine?!" Shiranui suddenly spoke up, uncharacteristically loud and clear, and seemed a bit distressed. "I`m sorry about the chocolate, okay?"
"If you`re sorry, then make it up by carrying some extra drums." I responded to her with a sly smirk, and I could swear Musashi and Tenryuu grinned just briefly. "Anyway, Unryuu- you´re still on kitchen duty, but I put in a request to build some planes for you. So, hang in there, it won´t be much longer until you can shine." The response was a smile that made my heart melt, and I swallowed dry, before saluting them all. "I will be back in the evening, until then- call me if there´s anything up."

Soon after, I found myself in a vertical-takeoff passenger jet – the only way to travel with relative safety as long as the Abyssals pointed AA guns into the skies. Starting vertical, getting very high up and then flying off with Mach-speed was the way to travel these days. It had its upsides and downsides, of course, and accidents happened frequently, so I was still a bit nervous. Not as nervous as I was about meeting my older sister, though. As far as I know, she was about a year or so older than me, she was given away when my family couldn`t support her… or so I was told. Seems like she was born straight into the military- the one they gave her to was an institution of the JDSF.

It wasn´t until i actually arrived at the Henderson airbase that i found out what a difference was gaping between ship- and planegirls. The layout of the base, for instance, was completely different- it more or less resembled army barracks, with a hangar opposing the main building and a large, open area stretching out beyond. In the distance, i could see a large, obviously man-made lake, mock-up tanks, fresh craters. It looked like thats where they would be training during drills... it didn´t exactly remind me of the friendly, ex-school building i was used to, but a cold and strict military base... just as i was about to approach closer, a voice came up just outside of my field of vision.

"Its not much. It would be far bigger and better staffed if we had a larger budget. But that won´t happen until we score some significant impact on the war, and reduce the costs in general. For now, we will have to make due with this. I assume you`re used to something better."
Turning to the side, a woman was glancing at me- her slender body was supported by a modern-looking cane she was propping up on, her uniform- a grey pencil skirt with matching grey blazer, golden accents and insignia over a white blouse with a moss-green tie- instantly told me this was no planegirl. The uniform was too expensive, too well-kept... she had been out of combat for a while. Despite this, i couldn´t help but notice she carried a firearm on her hip, in a strapless holster- it looked like a pistol at first, but then i noticed the barrel, the frame and the overall thickness of it was far too big- it seemed like a severely shortened semi-automatic shotgun, with a pistol grip. Huh. Maybe i should get something like that, seemed like it might hold back an Abyssal at point-blank range.
It was then that i looked up into her face- a stern, analyzing glance behind thin-rimmed, square glasses, amber eyes trying to figure out my whereabouts- if i was worthy of her time. The face looked a lot like my own, except smoother, without the stubble i sometimes left on, a strict, slicked back hairdo with only a few black bangs coming up front. Her gloved hand tapped the cane on the ground, as if expecting an answer.

"My own base isn´t that good either, its a repurposed school, barely big enough to support 20 people at best, but it works... for now." I answered, looking into her eyes once more, before swallowing lightly and attempting to break the ice that was building up. "You´re... my sister? You´ve got Mom`s cheeks."
"And your face was... graced with father´s chin." She retorted, giving a light nod, before extending the hand that wasn´t holding onto anything. "Akiha Yamamoto. Marshal of the planegirl airforce, Commander of the 4th planegirl wing. This is our home base at this moment... officially called Henderson Base, although Henderson Airport was closed down years ago."
I gave back a smile, although i received none, i still felt somewhat accepted by her- this was far better than my bumpy start with Musashi. A gesture of hers later, we began to pace around the base as she gave me a tour.

"In total, we currently have fifteen planegirls stationed here. The entire fourth wing consists of twelve, plus three from the fifth wing that are currently here on an exchange program to improve on the performance and combat effectiveness of the girls. In the event of an attack, we`re able to deploy in less than thirty minutes, and arrive at the target in four point two minutes if its less than 1000 kilometers away. This far, we have only had two missions- both involved escorting shipgirls."
"Makes sense." I replied to her, my hands folded behind my back. "The enemy is seaborne, so an attack on land isn´t going to happen. Navy and Airforce do make a good combination, too."
"In theory." Akiha responded, glancing ahead. "In reality, planegirls and shipgirls... have their differences. Try as you might, they don´t get along. Racisim, so to speak. ...the planegirls are envious of their armor and firepower, the ships of their speed and mobility, and either one is making the other look bad."
I rolled my eyes at this revelation. It sounded too stupid to be a lie, though... shipgirls could really be like this. "Thats childish."
"It is, and we have anything but time for something like this. The airforce is expecting results- if none follow, they´ll shelf the project away at some point, and the planegirls will become scrap- or at best,, they´re remade into ships." From the tone of her voice, i could tell that we thought alike there. That was geniune concern, hidden under the slate of duty. "Either way would put me out of a job, and i don´t think any of them will like it."

While we approached the barracks, i gave her a look from the side. "Its not often i hear a commander voice concern about what their girls like or don´t like. Most still seem to think of them as mindless weapons."
"Because they´re senile fools, of course. Times have changed. War, its very essence, has changed- we`re no longer fighting giant hulks of metal, but small, man-sized targets that are even more intelligent than we are." Akiha`s reasoning and intelligence surprised me more and more. "The war they are used to is gone, and will likely never return again. Tactics, strategies, paradigms, doctrines they all need to be rewritten for this new era of war... this is no longer men against men, army against army. Soldiers might be involved, yes, but their role has moved into the background. The shipgirls, and planegirls dominate the battlefield- and if we don´t treat them well, with respect and the necessary care, they might one day turn their weapons against us."
...Wow, that... hit me in the guts.
"Then what. Do you think you can switch them off before that happens? Pull a lever and make them all behave? Throw some tear-gas and beat them into submission? No. When that happens, it happens and there´s no stopping it." She finished up, leaving me speechless for a few seconds, before i came up with an obvious response.
"Then we´re finished."
"...I`m glad to see we`re on the same page, brother. Lets pray that day never comes."

Upon entering the barracks together with Akiha, we were greeted with a sight i didn´t exactly see the first time. Five girls sat around in what passed as a livingroom, as sparse and spartanic as the decoration was, the TV seemed okay, as the five were watching it closely- some reports of the war, earlier ones i`d already seen. But they were so much into it, i decided not to spoil it to them what happened- its almost like as if they were watching a movie of sorts. After a minute or so, Akiha loudly cleared her throat in annoyance, trying to get their attention... as soon as she did this, they practically jumped up from their seats- a lanky, average-sized blonde with long open hair in a green jumpsuit, a short dark brown-haired girl which reached to my waist, at best, and yet didn´t seem childish- more like a dwarf of some sort. The third was a tall, glaring persona, a bit more curved than the other two with a long, neatly tied black mane that ended at her thighs, mustering me with her critical eyes. The fourth looked more lazy than anything else, her hair untidy and wild as she gave us a lackluster salute- what intrigued me most about her hair was the colors, as it seemed to be dirt blonde in base color, but with white and black stripes in it. She too wore the same jumpsuit as the first one, while the other two had a dark grey one on. Finally, the fifth was another dirt blonde one, standing tall and grinning at me with a challenging, almost fear-inducing expression, her hair was kept in a short, sideways ponytail, and she wore the green jumpsuit. Akiha took a few moments, glancing at them for their misbehavior, before introducing them to me in order.
"These are our aces- YF-22 Lightning, air dominance fighter. A-10 Thunderbolt, a heavily armed attack bomber. F-4 Phantom, an attack bomber capable of dogfighting, same as IDS Tornado, although Tornado is more specialized in dogfights than bombing. Finally, F-14 Tomcat, the defender of the fleet- a short ranged, well armed dogfighter with plenty of potential- if she would ever use it well, that is."

"Pleased to meet you all." I gave them back, giving them a salute with a grin, which eased up the mood a little bit- Phantom kept staring at me, though, and i could swear she gave it a dismissive sigh.
"Girls, this is Lieutenant Commander Shichiro Yamamoto, in charge of the Okinawa naval base. He`s our guest for today- behave well around him... DONT get into arguments about navy versus airforce, i`m warning you. If you get into a fight with him, you´re grounded for two weeks." This threat of Akiha had them swallow and shiver in unison, as if being grounded meant the biggest punishment imaginable... maybe it was, they were airplanes afterall. Not being able to fly was... probably quite scary. "The same goes to you, Shichiro. Should you start a fight with my girls, you`re gonna get yourself court martialed, is that clear?!"
That was my turn to snap back and salute. "Y-yes ma`m. I`m not here for that, anyway. I was just here to see how you do and- "
She cut me off with a light sock in the guts. "Thats enough, right there. We`ve prepared a few things for you. In an hour and a half, there`s going to be a training drill- just for you to see, so you can tell all your navy friends how amazing the planegirl force is...! And you girls, you give your very best today to make sure he doesn´t have to lie! Got it?!"

"YES MA`M!" It came in unison from the five, before they lowered their salutes at last as Akiha gave them a sign to be dismissed. "There. I`ll need ot take care of some paperwork first- required for each training drill. Go ahead and... try to be civil." Akiha mentioned to me, before heading off, giving me a pat on the shoulder as her cane clicked on the ground with each step, same as her heavy boots.
Well, here i was, left alone with those five girls... i might as well do as she told me, because there sure wasn´t going to be anything else going on in the next hour and a half. Phantom, however, already turned her back and went to the TV, as Thunderbolt blinked a few times, not sure what to do next, until she joined in.

"...Man, she is harsh." I muttered to myself, looking back to where Akiha had disappeared to. While i meant to keep it to myself, it seemed like the remaining three had heard it.
"She is, i guess. Are people less harsh in the navy then?" Already, someone broke the taboo of navy vs airforce... it seemed like it was Lighting, and Tomcat as well as Tornado seemed taken aback by this.
"Not specifically. Some of them can be pretty harsh, but especially some younger commanders are a bit more lax. Akiha´s right- war is changing in its very core, and given that the weapons we wield aren´t mindless machines, we should start treating them with some more respect." I answered, catching myself as i idly put my hands into the uniform pockets. "I´m trying my best to give my fleet the biggest freedom possible, while keeping them together as an effective unit at the same time."
"Freedom´s good. Freedom and democracy, yeah." Tomcat joined in, nodding a bit, receiving a glance from Tornado. "But too much freedom can be dangerous, you know!" The fighter-bomber said, hitting her on the head- the hit was returned, and they were soon grumbling at each other.

"Eh... well, if it prevents scenes like this..." Lightning muttered, looking at the two briefly, then back to me. "...Well, since you just arrived, how about i give you a tour, or something, to pass the time."
Again, the two stopped, and blinked in surprise. Seems like something was going on...?
"Well, sure. Akiha just gave me a brief overview of the base, while heading straight here... and i`m not exactly that informed about you planegirls, so..."
"Oh, oh then i´ll tell you a thing or two as well! Lets.. lets go." She told me, before heading off on her own, straight back to where i had come from- the front entrance.
In the brief moment i remained there, i could hear the two planes mutter quietly. "...Since when is Lightning talking to strangers..? ...And this much, too... she barely talks at all normally.."
Dismissing that, i ignored it for now and headed off to catch up to Lightning, who seemed pretty determined in getting out of there.
As soon as i caught up to her, she started to go more slowly, realizing she left me behind as she darted out of the room.
„Well,... i´m.. not so good at this, but.. if you have any questions, just ask, i`ll answer if i can."
I smiled a little. „No need to be so stiff,... YF-22 Lightning, right..?"
„Just Lightning, please- our full model designations just... don´t sound a lot like names."
Understandable, i guess. Shipgirls didn´t have alphanumeric numbers either, which made them seem a little bit more human. Maybe that s what she was aiming for...
„So...uh, if you call me that, can i call you Shichiro too?" Huh, i wasn´t used to that. The shipgirls insisted on calling me Admiral, but... I gave her a light grin. „Sure, i guess that's fine. So.. i`m no expert in the whole airforce lingo. Whats that with air dominance, and dogfighting, and attack bombing all about..?"
Lightning beamed a smile to me, and started to explain as if she was talking about what she wanted for christmas. Seems like i hit a good spot there. „Ahh, well, dogfighting refers to two airplanes engaging each other with their own weapons- the whole dodging and attacking looks a bit like dogs going at each other on the radar, so that's where the name probably comes from. That requires a looot of skill, but it can be pretty fun if you know what you´re doing. Air dominance, that's my territory- it pretty much means shooting down every enemy plane in the area until we´re the dominant force up there.. only the most agile and maneuverable planes can do stuff like that. Finally, attack bombers are basically bombers who are still fast enough to engage other planes.. though they`ll pretty much defenseless against full-on fighters with good pilots. ...ah, that's a bit confusing, since we´re both pilot and plane." She chuckled at that, and i shot a grin back. Well, i got about half of that, but it wan`t really necessary to understand it all- i was in the navy after all, this wasn´t my forte.
The hangar looked just like that of a sports plane from the outside, but the inside resembled Akashi´s workshop, if anything. Several man-sized airplanes were put up on racks, one half-disassembled one was standing around in a corner, probably for stripping replacement parts from it. There were at least five different models, but Lightning proudly strutted over to one with a sleek aerodynamic profile, but a lot of sharp corners- with two distinctly angled tailplanes, angled air intakes, and quite large engines. ..one thing i noticed was that there was no window on them, but a hinge to pull them open. She was about to demonstrate why.
„This one´s my rig, right there! Its pretty much like a suit- it opens up, and we lie down inside it- the arms go into the wings, the legs into the fuselage, and instead of a window to look out of, we´ve got a monitor down there, corresponding with a set of cameras on the front, and two on the back. The suits draw the fuel directly from our bodies- and while we can manipulate pretty much anything just by thought, since we´re connected, we can move our arms and legs too, to get some better maneuvering done... and there´s a little space for missiles and bombs, right there where my belly goes. Yeah, go ahead and say it, that suit makes me look fat."
I gave back a chuckle. „Thats not nice to say to a lady. Besides, you look half my weight, that's hardly correct."
Lightning grinned a bit. „Yeah, you might be right with that...! We planegirls don´t have all that thick armor the shipgirls have, so we´re a whole lot lighter... instead, we´ve got a lot more fuel in our bodies, and we don`t use as much in our daily lives.I can run for about an hour and a half until i have to bail out from a lack of fuel." She gave the „suit" a pat on flat side. „Bailing out is pretty spectacular, too. The whole top half blows off, with some small explosives, and we´re torn out by the drag of the wind- then we engage a parachute and leave the plane up to its own mercy, without engine power."
…? That didn´t sound too good. „Lightning... you make it sound as if that happens a lot."
She nodded. Oh. No comment about that, but she didn´t loose her smile... still, i could feel some- heaviness, coming from that. As if she didn´t want to talk about it.
„Ah, well, so long as that system works, its fine i guess... but, there´s no undercarriage, is there..?" At least i didn´t see any, and nothing it would fold into. She brightened up a bit, nodded to me.
„Yeah, we don´t have that sort of thing. There´s a lot of fancy tricks for landing- you can land vertical, like standing up, or gently skit across a patch of grass.. the later´s not recommended. But usually we either get caught by a net like a drone, or we land on the water- the suit has sort of a self-inflating raft left and right of the bomb bay, which triggers when we get below fifty meters over water. So we`re kind of floatplanes that way. ...you guys in the navy have a lot of floatplanes, don´t you?"
I had to laugh at her enthusiasm, and nodded. „Sure, but none of them are your size. They´re all the size of my palm, you know. Still, you guys sound way more effective than they are- with them, you can be lucky if they manage to take out a single Abyssal."
Lightning grinned to me, balling her fist in a challenging manner. „I could take out five, six, or seven at once, Shichiro- don´t underestimate me!"
„I wasn´t going to!" A few little laughs like this later, and after we had taken a seat, everything was forgotten about the tour she was supposed to give me- instead we were just hanging around in the hangar, talking about the differences of shipgirl planes and planegirls... and real aircraft.
Finally, i tried to ask something i had been wondering about.
„Lightning... is Akiha always like this?"
„What do you mean?" The blonde gave back, tilting her head slightly.
„This. I came here to see her because our parents died yesterday, and she makes it seem like its any other day of the week. She left me standing there, saying she had paperwork to do, but we would have so much to talk about.. we never met, afterall, but we think a lot alike." I was genuinely worried about that woman, something didn´t feel right. That cane, too.. she was way too young to be walking by a cane.
„I´m not sure... she´s always been like this. Duty this, duty that, importance of duty, destroying the enemy, et cetera... she has no hobbies or something like that, in case you´re asking, its like her sole purpose for life is this base, and us." Lightnings comment there made things a whole lot clearer.
„I get it." I simply said, biting my lip, looking down. „I get it now. Me, mom and dad.. they aren´t her family. She was given away early in her life and didn`t have much to do with them, she never met me- you guys are her family. Those people that died yesterday are just another casulty to her."
The planegirls face paled, and she covered her mouth in a shocking realization. „She... she cares for us... like this..?"
„Thats the only conclusion i can come to when i think about this. It all fits in... and her strict behavior is explained by what she told me earlier- the airforce wants results, else this base and the whole project will be scrapped. So she´s desperately trying to make you guys stand out and fight better than the rest."
Lightning swallowed hard, and seemed like she was close to tears at this. Still, there`s one more thing i had to ask. „Hey... hey, Lightning. Stay with me, just for a moment longer. That cane.. what happened to her? She´s definitely not using it because of aging bones."
The planegirl composed herself, wiping her eyes and nodding lightly. „It was an accident in one of the few live battles we had... we were protecting a group of shipgirls who were escorting a corvette of Admirals and her.. suddenly, an Abyssal came out of the water and latched onto her leg, trying to bite her in two. The nearest shipgirl reacted and fired at it, but... the bullet went through the target and into her hip. She survived, but ever since she can`t walk very well... and has been wearing that huge gun in case it happens again."
„God damn it. That explains even more about her reactions earlier... she didn´t seem the least bit happy to see me." Looking down, i started to realize just how bad of an idea this whole thing was. But before i went into full-on melancholia, Lightning spoke up once more.
„I envy your shipgirls for having a commander like you... someone they can talk to like this. Miss Yamamoto never does this... she says she doesn´t have time for idle talk. Sometimes i think she´s just shy, but... that can´t be right. What i wanted to s-say is... you´re a very nice guy. ...I might be lonely when you leave again."
….I didn´t expect that, but for better or worse, a siren rang about over the airfield, reminding us that we spent the last hour and a half talking about each other, and completely forgot about the training drill.

A/N: Due to the length of this chapter, its going to be cut into two parts- so stay tuned for part two!
This here`s the introduction of the planegirls- i was thinking about a possible spinoff featuring them prominently. Would be great to hear some opinions on that in the comments.