Akashi and Admiral Mako were loitering about in a hallway, the Admiral and Akashi both standing in the adequately-lit corridor as Akashi held a folder in her left hand while chatting with her commanding officer.
They were waiting for the right time to enter the Coordinator Room to start the meeting as Admiral Mako delayed the meeting a little to wait for Aoba, taking the time to discuss some matters with the repair ship to get a few things out of the way.
"So Junyou's in the docks, right?
She okay?"
Akashi nodded, having checked the light carrier's injuries before meeting up with the Admiral.
Junyou had been merrily sipping on her wine as she feasted on the snacks that were provided before her arrival at the docks to help facilitate her recovery, Akashi noting.
"Don't worry.
She's recovering quickly and the color's coming back into her cheeks, although I think that might be a result of the wine that she's sipping on while recovering..."
Upon being admitted into the docks, her teammates were very reluctant to leave Junyou alone, should the light carrier's condition take a turn for the worse despite the near-miraculous properties of the bathwater in the docks.
However, they eventually relented as Akashi personally reassured them that Junyou's injuries weren't that severe compared to what the ship girls of other fleets had to go through, the girls of the 1st Fleet wincing at the repair ship's blunt admission.
Akashi also notified the Admiral about Hiei's condition.
"Hiei's also in the docks to make sure that her arms recover properly after that cannon shell-catching stunt on the off-chance that her bones or muscles were injured in any way.
Even with her tremendous strength as a fast battleship, I shut her up by saying that those were large-caliber cannon shells that she caught with her bare hands, and she's no Nagato or Yamato-Class battleship.
She hasn't been remodeled, and I was afraid that she suffered minute cracks in her steel bones due to the overwhelming force behind the Ru-Class's large-caliber cannons, this being something that must not be left untreated."
Admiral Mako nodded in agreement, marveling at Hiei's successful attempt to catch a cannon shell fired from a slow battleship's cannons, this move being even more impressive in hindsight when one took into account the fact that she was a battle-cruiser, and thus possessed less armor to protect herself should she fail to pull off the move.
She asked the repair ship,
"So what about the others?
Anything else worth noting about their conditions?"
Akashi shook her head reassuringly, although she did explain the situation to Admiral Mako to clarify things a little, leaning back on the cool concrete wall and tucking the file underneath her armpit as she elaborated.
"Well, the Tenryuu-Class sisters, Shigure and Ayanami weren't injured in the sortie, although I must note that they strangely want to go on even more sorties to get stronger.
I've talked to them, and even though they all express varying degrees of enthusiasm about the future, they all pretty much said that becoming stronger is the only way to progress."
Admiral Mako rubbed her chin while contemplating the situation, wondering out loud to make sure that the repair ship could hear her.
"Well, I'm simply worried that they might not be able to handle what the Abyssals might throw at them, especially since the Abyssals haven't revealed any new technological advancements for nearly a decade now."
Akashi took out a hand from her skirt pocket to gesture questioningly, somewhat interested in the Admiral's thought patterns as she responded.
"So you really believe that the Abyssals have been cooking up something for the last ten years, and have been hiding it so well that we haven't found out anything despite all the intelligence networks of the world working to solve the Abyssal problem?
What else else could they come up with now that they've created the Princesses, which most people assume to be the epitome of Abyssal-kind?"
Admiral Mako shrugged as she turned away, shoulders hunched in thought as she speculated, dead serious about trying to predict what the Abyssals could be building underneath the ocean.
"Well, ever since World War 2 ended, there was the tension between the Americans and Soviets as they pushed technological advancements to the limit, and look at where we are now.
You never know..."
And after about ten seconds of awkward silence as Admiral held up her chin with her left fist whilst supporting her left elbow with her right hand, she snapped her fingers as she had a flash of inspiration.
"Say...
You ever wonder what's better than a nuke that operates on nuclear fission?"
She could hear Akashi's breath stopping behind her, but she could hear the repair ship trying her best to answer the question as Akashi clarified with a suspicious tone.
"I do believe the answer to that is 'a nuke that operates on nuclear fusion'.
But are you really sure that the Abyssals are that desperate to try and wipe us from the face of this earth?"
Admiral Mako shrugged her shoulders yet again as she considered all possibilities, citing the Abyssal attack on the American East Coast.
"I mean, the Abyssals invaded the American East Coast in, like, 2007, right?
They hid their true objective of stealing the American nukes behind the large-scale land invasion, which they successfully pulled off despite heavy casualties.
I'm a little worried that what us humans have created, the Abyssals can do better given enough time, and the lack of nukes flying around with each passing year does nothing to alleviate that concern."
She turned around to see Akashi nodding and conceding the point, simplifying her Admiral's concerns by summarizing.
"So you're worried about the possibility that the longer it takes for the Abyssals to introduce nukes into the equation, the harsher the fallout will be when they do, right?"
Admiral Mako nodded, although she tilted her head and raised an eyebrow as she tried to rein in her own imagination as she remembered another point that the Wo-Class made during the interrogation.
"Well, like the Wo-Class explained, they don't want to inherit a nuclear wasteland full of radioactive rubble and dirt, but I don't know..."
Admiral Mako took off her Admiral cap and scratched her head, wishing she had the answers to the various questions about their enigmatic adversaries, like how they were able to summon a never-ending horde of Abyssals and where they all spawned from, since the consensus was that they came into this world via some sort of portal deep beneath the ocean.
She wanted to know their ultimate objective and the primary driving force behind their deep-seated desire to eliminate all humans, and whether they had any chance of winning in the long run seeing that the Abyssals were likely going to introduce new technological weapons into the war.
"I don't have the answers.
I want to to solve the Abyssal question, but the first thing about a puzzle as complicated as this is having enough pieces on hand to even begin..."
"I believe I can help with that."
Both women looked at the approaching heavy cruiser, the LED light tubes that lined the ceiling of the corridor illuminating her silhouette and the dull copper helmet that shielded her mind from the radio waves in the environment.
The copper helmet was designed to protect her head, looking something like Magneto's helmet from 'X-men' as the front had an 'M' shaped design, the metal edge going up the sides of her face and followed the contours of her eyebrows to form an arch over her eyes and joined at the bridge of her nose.
Admiral Mako had looked through the design plans to confirm its construction with the human engineers of the Yokosuka Naval Base, and she knew that Aoba likely had to let down her hair before wearing the helmet to ensure maximum protection from any ambient radio waves, and her ponytail would only get in the way.
Aoba walked towards them, the short corridor allowing her to somehow overhear their conversation despite the helmet covering her ears, Admiral Mako's expression brightening upon seeing the Aoba-Class heavy cruiser attending this meeting and slowly coming out of her shell, Akashi remarking concernedly.
"Well, seems like our little hikikomori is finally breaking out of her little shell.
How're you feeling?"
Aoba nodded uncertainly in response, looking as though she was somewhat uncomfortable with stepping out of her 'comfort zone' that was the confines of her bedroom.
But the copper-shielded room was no different from a prison cell in Admiral Mako's eyes, and she was simply glad to see Aoba trying to get out more and socialize as she took a step towards the now-stationary Aoba-Class heavy cruiser and slapped her heartily on the back, merrily exclaiming with a genuine smile.
"Yo, Aoba!
Welcome back!"
Instead of the intended encouraging effect she wanted the action to have on the shy Aoba-Class heavy cruiser, Aoba instead shied away from the touch and looked visibly scared of the Admiral as she flinched at the intimate contact.
Akashi raised an eyebrow in surprise upon witnessing the heavy cruiser react so adversely to another being coming into contact with her, Aoba blinking quickly before recovering somewhat and looking down at her shoes, hanging her head and not looking anyone in the eye as she fidgeted on the spot.
Admiral Mako's smile faltered upon witnessing the consequences of a ship girl being cooped up in her bedroom with little to no contact with the outside world for years due to her condition, but recovered enough to mask her disappointment at her own crass behavior as she nodded towards the other end of the corridor, suggesting.
"Come on.
The meeting's about to start, and I don't want to be late."
"So, according to the movements of the enemy, we can safely assume that they're trying to slowly encroach on our territory."
The meeting was in full swing, the Coordinators of the Yokosuka Naval Base present and seated around the 'conference table' as Admiral Mako sat at the end of the occupied table, Akashi and Aoba distancing themselves from the Coordinators and sitting in a corner of the room behind their Admiral.
Kirishima took out an erasable marker and uncapped it to slowly draw a red arrow that stretched in from the Pacific, going around Southwest Chiba while headed for Southern Kanagawa and ended at the Sagami-nada Sea.
The Coordinators of the Yokosuka Naval Base looked down at a large map that was spread out on the table in the center of the room, updated after every sortie and information gathering session in order to keep track of the amount of Abyssals that they encountered within and beyond the Safety Zone.
Kirishima continued,
"They'll likely try to box us in, seeing the amount of Abyssals that were sent to try to keep us from advancing along this line..."
And another line originated from the spot of ocean roughly around where Choshi City was in the Chiba prefecture, drawn straight down on the map with a slight curve along the coast of Chiba to indicate Abyssal territory as she commented.
"Any other attempts to push out beyond this line has been met with resistance as evidenced by the 1st Fleet's sortie two days ago as well as the 6th Fleet's sortie even earlier than that, in which the 6th Fleet had to retreat due to the increasingly heavy firepower that the Abyssals brought to the fight.
We've also received several reports from fishermen along the Japanese coast and other bases in Chiba reporting a drastic spike in Abyssal sightings as further proof."
"I knew it, they were moving an entire armada deep beneath the ocean to try and engage several naval bases at once."
Admiral Mako grimaced as she leaned back and rested her left cheek on her left fist as she had her legs crossed, but her mind was racing with possible counter-moves to deal with this seemingly inevitable large-scale battle.
Musashi leaned as she pushed up her glasses, her expression of consternation also evident as she simply asked.
"How many?"
Kirishima pushed up her glasses as she made an educated guess as to how many Abyssals were going to participate in this battle, gravely responding.
"Too many for us to handle alone, even if we were to sortie every single ship girl in this base.
With the size of this Abyssal armada, they'll probably move in from the Pacific and try to push inland in a brute-force attack, trapping us in as they catch us in a wide net stretching to Oshima Island and overwhelming us with sheer numbers."
"Is there any way to fight back?
Maybe a frontal assault to meet them halfway?"
Musashi seemed somewhat agitated upon hearing this, trying to come up with a plan of sorts to try and respond to this upcoming Abyssal assault that threatened to bury them underneath the Abyssal version of a human wave attack, Yahagi politely noting,
"But they're coming in from quite a wide front.
If we try to push them out, it may cause us to stretch our forces out too thin, although it would be far easier for us to evacuate casualties this time due to the proximity to our base."
And Ooyodo recommended,
"Since this concerns most of the bases in the Chiba and Kanagawa prefecture, they'll have to help out if they don't want the Abyssals to succeed in their invasion."
Admiral Mako nodded, looking to Ooyodo as she revealed the few calls that she had made prior to this meeting to ensure the cooperation of as many naval bases as possible to maximize their chances of winning as she took the spotlight.
"Alright, I kinda anticipated this and I've already discussed things with Ooyodo to make some preparations before this meeting.
I've already called and discussed things with the Admirals of neighboring naval bases to prepare all the naval mines that they have.
We're going to utilize the Great Wall Defense for this one."
Nagato raised a solitary eyebrow and asked,
"We're going to use this formation to defend the coast?
I expect some sort of explanation for this, Admiral."
Admiral Mako shrugged and gave her explanation, already contemplating other matters at hand as she rocked her chair distractedly.
"We're going to build the wall of naval mines as a deterrent to stop the Abyssals from launching an underwater assault.
We'll do our best to coordinate our efforts to lay these mines such that they would never even consider trying to sail through them."
The chair plopped back onto all fours, Admiral Mako standing up from her metal chair and pushing it back, the legs of the chair scrapping against the floor as she picked up a blue marker to draw their defensive line.
"From here…"
From the Southwest Chiba prefecture, she estimated the distance and drew an unbroken horizontal line towards a position North of Oshima Island, the populated island that was to the far South of the Kanagawa prefecture to indicate the wall of naval mines.
"...to here."
Musashi asked, now lifting her regal exterior to express her curiosity about this strategy.
"How are we going to utilize this passive form of defense?
I know the basics, that the Anti-Abyssal naval mines serve as a passive form of defense or deterrence.
The Abyssals trigger the naval mine's Anti-Abyssal proximity sensors while underwater and cause it to detonate, forcing them to go around the line of defense to prevent loss of life."
Admiral Mako nodded, placing the capped marker on the table and leaning as she explained.
"We'll be using this defense formation as a means to force them to fight on the surface of the ocean, since things might get rough should they be allowed to attack on the ocean surface and from deep beneath the ocean.
We'll try to line these mines up in several rows to try and create a no-man's land, where the Abyssals will be forced to surface and sail over the mines if they want to continue with their invasion.
This is to force their hand, since they can't stay submerged when a wall of mines block their way, and they'll be forced to surface and go over the wall of mines."
Nagato seemed to follow her Admiral's line of thought as she anticipated the next move that the ship girls would make after the Abyssals tried to sail over the wall of naval mines.
"And is that where we will strike?
The moment when they surface is when they are most vulnerable, since the Abyssals need time for their riggings to transform from inactive, submersible riggings into active riggings for combat use.
We'll have an advantage in terms of position as they rise up from beneath the ocean, and we have the 'high ground', so to speak, as we sail on the surface of the ocean and can fire at the surfacing Abyssals."
Admiral Mako nodded at that, leaning in to note the positions of the Abyssals relative to the island of Japan as Musashi piped up with a question.
"And seeing they would be most vulnerable when surfacing, is it safe to assume that you'll be heavily utilizing carriers and battleships to try and destroy as many of them as possible in an opening strike?"
Admiral Mako looked slightly surprised at how the Yamato-Class battleship was able to arrive at a startlingly accurate conclusion, nodding with a slight smirk on her face as she agreed.
"Yes.
However, it's too much to hope that this opening strike will wipe them all out, which is why I'm still in the process of drafting up a strategy for the battle to come.
But the one thing I know is that things are going to go south the second they manage to get past the wall of mines to get up close and personal.
And that brings me to my next point."
Admiral Mako looked at the four battleships in the room, her gaze never wavering as she declared with a tone of finality.
"The training session that I told you battleships to keep a lookout for while I tried to reserve a spot on the training ground that was large enough to accommodate all of you?
It's done, and the training session will occur on the 10th of April."
The battleships in the room exhaled in unison, finally relieved that they were going to start training in order to improve on their skills which would undoubtedly come in useful in the upcoming large-scale battle.
But Musashi wondered out loud.
"Not that I'm ungrateful for this training session, but what else would we need to learn other than learning to accurately aim and fire our cannons?"
But Nagato was the one to answer the Yamato-Class battleship's question as she leaned in and explained.
"Well, despite us battleships possessing immense firepower to be used for shelling missions, it's not out of the question for us battleships to be engaged in close-quarters combat with Abyssal battleships or even Princesses.
In this large-scale assault, it's quite possible for more than one Princess to be recruited to increase their chances of success, and it is likely that they'll send out the strongest Princesses for something as important as this."
Musashi nodded as she leaned down to observe the map, looking as though she was trying to visualize how the battle would play out, and if the combined efforts of several naval bases could take them all out.
Admiral Mako nodded at Nagato's reasoning, explaining how close-quarters combat was a newly-revived aspect of warfare that had received its fair share of attention ever since warships were reincarnated into humanoid bodies.
"Oftentimes, fighting with the Abyssals who have unlimited resources means that we have to fight in close-quarters in order to conserve ammo.
It might seem dangerous, but no battle is risk-free, and at least when you engage the Abyssals in close-quarters combat, they'd hesitate to use their bombers and cannons for fear of friendly fire.
Coupled with the sheer amount of Abyssals that they're bringing to the table along with a couple of Princesses, and it'd actually be stranger if it didn't devolve into a physical brawl between you battleships and the Princesses."
Musashi nodded to signal her acceptance of Admiral Mako's reasoning, Kirishima raising her hand to try and get the Admiral's attention as she notified.
"Admiral Mako, I appreciate you trying to train us, but I'm afraid I might not be able to attend this particular training session because of that."
Several heads turned upon hearing Kirishima's grave tone, Admiral Mako nodding solemnly as she accepted Kirishima's reason for being unable to attend the training session as she muttered understandingly.
"I get it.
I suppose I can come up with a make-up session for you and Haruna, whom I also believe would be unable to attend this training session..."
Yahagi raised her hand upon hearing this, trying to clarify Kirishima's words as she finally stopped typing on the laptop that was open before her.
"I'd like to ask this question so that I can type this in the minutes of this meeting, but what do you mean by 'that'?"
Admiral Mako's expression shifted as she looked down at the table, her hair casting a slight shadow over her eyes as she elaborated.
"Yes, I suppose we can move onto the next topic of conversation by elaborating more on the 1st Fleet's encounter with the mysterious Abyssal Wo-Class that acted as a messenger of sorts for the Abyssal high-command."
Kirishima pulled out a file from her large white miko sleeves as she pushed up her glasses, opening the file to pull out pictures that were screenshots of the 1st Fleet's sortie and the Wo-Class, or 'Woxanne' as she called herself, Kirishima explaining the situation.
"The 1st Fleet had a successful sortie two days ago, but they encountered an Abyssal which had previously been in contact with the Infiltration Fleet on their recent mission to uncover a hidden Abyssal base on an island situated in Abyssal waters.
She wore the Abyssal symbol on her cape to indicate a neutral party of sorts, something that hasn't been seen before in this war as the Abyssals didn't see any use for ... diplomacy."
Mutsu looked rather intrigued, leaning in to look at the photos and casting a large shadow on the table as she was the only ship girl in the room that was standing, tucking her brown hair behind her left ear as she noted.
"Well, it's a good thing that Shigure stopped the 1st Fleet from firing at her to hear what she had to say, hmm?"
Nagato noted as she, too, leaned in with her hands entwined and before her face in a Gendo Pose as she remarked.
"Hmm, I'm interested in what the Abyssals had to say to the 1st Fleet.
You probably have some sort of transcript to record down what this Abyssal 'Woxanne' had to say, right?"
Kirishima spread out the printed screenshots of the 1st Fleet's memories for the Coordinators to pick up and scrutinize for details about the lone Abyssal, and a stapled sheath of papers was passed to the stoic battleship as the bespectacled fast battleship replied.
"For a chance encounter this rare, it goes without saying that we'd note down every detail about 'Woxanne' and every word uttered from her lips."
Nagato nodded thankfully as she picked up the transcript, flipping through and slowly scanning through the sentences as Admiral Mako explained the situation to the ship girls present in the room, now becoming slightly perturbed as she used her right hand to shield her mouth while leaning forward.
"We sent out the Infiltration Fleet to find a secret Abyssal base and interrogate a Wo-Class that was in an Abyssal fleet sent to patrol that area.
They accomplished their mission as the Wo-Class coughed up information about what the Abyssals might be up to, and the Infiltration Fleet let her go.
But now that the 1st Fleet has completed their sortie, it seems that the same Wo-Class had the Abyssal symbol imprinted on her cape, and she was sent out to observe the 1st Fleet in combat to determine their potential."
"And you believe this is a cause for concern because...?"
Musashi prompted, although it was clear from her tone that she understood that this was a grave matter and was something to be worried about, she simply didn't know what the exact cause of concern was.
Admiral Mako nodded as she elaborated for Musashi's sake, as well as for Yahagi's sake as she was typing the minutes to the meeting for future reference, where readers might need some context as to what they were talking about.
"Well, the Abyssal who introduced herself as 'Woxanne' contacted the 1st Fleet and told them that the Abyssal high-command have taken an interest in them, even more so when they hailed from Yokosuka.
And the interest in their potential is why Woxanne said that they'll be the first to fall at the hands of whatever the Abyssals have created."
Admiral Mako's expression darkened as she considered the risks of sortieing the 1st Fleet again when faced with the haunting risk of sending them to their deaths, continuing.
"They predicted the fact that I want to sortie the 1st Fleet more often in the upcoming weeks in order to help them gain more experience in a short amount of time, and they'll likely be lying in wait.
And when they encounter the 1st Fleet again, they'll likely try to destroy the 1st Fleet to make sure they never achieve their full potential."
Ooyodo looked down at the notes and the screenshots of the Abyssal symbol on Woxanne's back, noting.
"I heard the conversation between them, and what Woxanne said is disturbingly accurate.
The Abyssals are still piling on the pressure despite their attempts to consolidate their forces right underneath our noses, and it's not exactly viable for us to sortie other fleets to cover them for a possible threat that might never materialize.
But I suppose we can work something out."
Mutsu nodded as she suggested, trying her best to help their Admiral out in coming up with ideas and plans to deal with what the Abyssals might throw at them.
"We could do that thing we do to improve the response time of our fleets by allowing the backup fleet to sail at a distance behind them.
That means that if a problem arises, the fleet only has to cover half the distance instead of sortieing all the way from the base.
And should the situation not deteriorate to the point where the backup fleet needs to intervene, we can save on fuel anyway since the backup fleet would only cover half the distance."
Admiral Mako nodded upon hearing that, giving Mutsu a tired smile as she accepted the battleship's suggestion.
"Alright, I suppose we can sortie the 3rd Fleet using this tactic to improve our response time should the Abyssals actually try something, and I suppose that's the end of that.
We won't cower in fear just because the Abyssals threaten us like this, but I can't in good conscience allow the 1st Fleet to sortie without some form of protection after the Abyssals have taken an interest in orchestrating their demise.
And I think the next thing that's on the agenda is the stuff that the Infiltration Fleet discovered while infiltrating the abandoned Abyssal base, and the various schematics to unknown weapons."
Kirishima pulled out another file from her large sleeve as she spread out its contents for all to see, Akashi and Aoba standing up behind Admiral Mako to see what remained of the notes that the Abyssals had failed to eradicate, and thus allowed them a glimpse of their activities that occurred in the depths.
Kirishima explained the contents, having tried her best to decipher its contents with Ooyodo and relaying her findings to the women in the room.
"This file called 'Apocalypse' is something of vital importance, as it partially details an abnormally large amount of resources being transported deep beneath the ocean, where it's difficult for us to detect and keep track of.
And there seems to be scraps of what we assume to be the blueprint of a certain ship."
All heads in the room turned upon hearing that, Yahagi raising her hand politely as she clarified.
"I'd like to clarify that sentence for future reference, did you say 'ship' instead of 'ship girl'?"
Kirishima nodded as she laid her hand down on a photo of the ship's rudder and the name of the blueprint in question, the Coordinators only able discern two English alphabets.
'Fl...'
Kirishima noted with a concerned tone,
"The remnants of this blueprint somewhat matches those of the Nagato-Class battleships, despite the fact that a different title was used."
Nagato and Mutsu's eyes both widened, although Nagato was able to hide her surprise better compared to her expressive sister who leaned in to pick up the recovered photo, Musashi now fully invested in the recent discovery as she inquired.
"Why would they need Nagato-san's blueprints?
And should a blueprint be required for construction, should it not be a blueprint of her as a ship girl instead of a warship?"
Kirishima shrugged as she admitted the limits of her intelligence network while replying with a regretful tone, unable to truly answer Musashi's question.
"I'm sorry, Musashi-san.
It's been made abundantly clear that warships have been rendered almost obsolete in this war ever since our inception, so it stumps me as to why the Abyssals would want blueprints to a weapon that's already behind the times.
No offense, Nagato-Class."
Kirishima nodded slightly towards the two warships, Nagato nodding gruffly as Mutsu was silently contemplating the photo, hand-waving Kirishima's apology as a form of acknowledgement.
Admiral Mako was already considering the possibilities as she asked one question,
"That previous matter about them transporting mass amounts of resources deep beneath the ocean.
Have you tried crunching the numbers to see how much they had to use in order to create a life-size Nagato-Class battleship?"
Ooyodo stepped in upon hearing her Admiral touch on the topic of calculations, explaining the confusing anomaly.
"Well, Admiral.
It wouldn't be out of the question for you to believe that the transported resources were used to construct something resembling a Nagato-Class battleship, as we initially believed.
But even after accounting for possible modifications to a Nagato-Class's hull, we found that it never even came close to the amount of resources described in the partially destroyed receipts."
Admiral Mako grimaced at that, looking even more worried than before about the Abyssals' hidden activities in the depths as she roughly pushed aside the file to indicate the end of that topic, exhaling loudly as she huffed.
"Alright, no point worrying about this now.
Kirishima, Ooyodo, I'll meet up with you tomorrow outside this room to discuss the possibilities.
Let's not hold everyone up by fretting over this one topic, and address the last item on today's itinerary."
Kirishima and Ooyodo nodded resignedly as the Kongou-Class battleship collected the sheath of papers, Mutsu reaching across and placing her free hand on the table to support her body as she passed the photo to Kirishima, still somewhat occupied by the thought of the Abyssals possessing blueprints of their ship class.
Akashi was the one to lean forward, lightly tossing the file that was in her possession the entire time onto the conference table as its contents scattered onto the table, allowing a somewhat miffed group of Coordinators to peer down and examine the blueprints, notes and sketches.
Aoba leaned in, pressing down on her copper helmet as she stood over everyone and explained.
"Um, Akashi and I have been working on another project..."
A good number of ship girls either sighed upon hearing that or became slightly more alert as they remembered what happened to Aoba, the most glaring reminder being the metal helmet that she was forced to wear almost every time she stepped out of her room.
Aoba's expression darkened as her spirits dropped, but the fact that the Admiral gave the Coordinators the stink-eye to try to get them to at least hear the heavy cruiser out as well as Akashi's comforting hand placed on her shoulder did help her try to continue her explanation.
Aoba was looking down at her shoes and playing with her fingernails, unable to face any of the ship girls after having something so traumatizing happen to her and forcing her to isolate herself from the world, having no one to blame but herself for the onset of her own condition.
She was now speaking before a crowd that consisted of some of the most important warships in Japan, and she was almost unable get out a word out due the nervousness and hesitation within her, unsure of how she was to react should any one of them reject her ideas on account of her greatest failure.
But feeling another hand on hers caused her to flinch again, jumping slightly upon registering the human contact before looking down and realizing that it was her Admiral who held her hand reassuringly as she looked up and into Aoba's eyes before looking to the expectant group of ship girls and explained the situation.
"I've already given Akashi and Aoba the go-ahead to tinker with a ship girl soul to try and communicate with it.
And before you ask..."
Admiral Mako raised her hand to try and pacify the ship girls who started rising from their chairs as they sat up to question the Aoba-Class and Akashi-Class ship girls as well as their commanding officer, Aoba exhaling in disappointment as she withdrew and shrank back to stand behind her Admiral and treated her as a protective barrier between her and the Coordinators.
"The difference between this research project and Aoba's previous project is that she now has Akashi by her side, working with her and helping her out.
Akashi will do her best to predict and prevent any potential pitfalls that may crop up, but if we require any of your help, we'll immediately notify you."
Musashi was the one to ask the first question as she leaned forward with a dark expression on her face to regard her Admiral warily, questioning in an interrogative tone.
"Admiral, who's going to be the test subject for this project?
Aoba-san?
Akashi-san?"
The silent heavy cruiser shivered upon hearing the hard questions being thrown out so soon, looking away shyly as she refused to answer the question and forcing Akashi to pipe up defiantly with an honest answer.
"Aoba and I aren't going to be the first users as we're both too damaged psychologically to be viable candidates for test subjects.
Besides, after the machine's built, it will require the both of us to operate until we plan and implement future upgrades.
We'll need to convince another ship girl who's of sound mind to get in the machine voluntarily."
Mutsu narrowed her eyes, now losing whatever traces of cheerfulness that she previously had and now took on a grave expression that could rival her sister ship in her colder moments as she questioned in a no-nonsense tone.
"Akashi-san, is there a chance of permanent death should this 'machine' fail?
After all, we're talking about experimenting with a ship girl's soul, which is a topic of mystery and unanswered questions, and is a whole different ball game when compared to a ship girl's mind."
Mutsu now squared off with Akashi as they both turned to face each other, the repair ship unfazed by the taller Nagato-Class battleship's piercing gaze as Mutsu towered over her as a member of the Big Seven and looked dead serious about the undetermined test subject's prospects of survival.
Akashi finally answered as Aoba cowered behind her, the both of them determined to see this project benefit all of ship girl-kind in combating the Abyssals in their own way as she coolly looked into Mutsu's eyes and answered.
"We haven't started construction on the actual machine, but our best estimates currently range from 30 to 43 percent in terms of survivability, which will improve with each test subject."
A screeching sound could be heard as Nagato stood up abruptly, causing the legs of her chair to scrap across the floor as she, much like her sister ship, towered over the standing Akashi and a seated Admiral Mako.
Her gloved fists were clenched tightly, and her expression was a mix of disappointment, anger and hurt upon seeing her Admiral giving two damaged ship girls the go-ahead to develop a machine that could potentially kill a fellow ship girl, her dark hair casting a shadow over her empty eyes.
Her toned muscles were coiled and ready to strike, and she was visibly trying her best to rein in her temper, Mutsu's expression morphing to express concern as she looked ready to hold her sister back should Nagato's admirable self-restraint somehow fail her.
Aoba squeaked as she hid behind Akashi and her Admiral, attempting to hide behind them as Admiral Mako looked into her lover's eyes and heard Nagato speak in a voice that was far too even when compared to her pained expression, although the edge in her voice was notable as she spoke.
"Admiral.
I love you, and I do my best to try and stand by every decision you make.
But when you approve of a research project that might not only create another scarred ship girl like Aoba, or even kill them outright..."
Nagato raised an eyebrow in Aoba's direction, still looking into her Admiral's unwavering eyes as she continued.
"I, Nagato, have a duty to ensure the safety and well-being of the ship girls under my command to ensure that no one suffers because of my negligence and ends up like Aoba, or worse.
I want you to clearly explain to me what is it you intend to achieve by gambling with the life of a fellow ship girl in this research project."
Admiral Mako sat in her chair, crossing her legs and resting her left cheek on her fist as she met Nagato's fierce gaze with her steely eyes and responded coolly.
"Have you ever thought about why this war has to be fought?
The relationship of the ship girls and Abyssals, the origin of your souls and what allows them to power your bodies.
There are too many variables and unanswered questions about the very nature of this war, and I think that the one thing that can help us understand just what we're dealing with..."
Admiral Mako raised her free hand to point at Nagato's chest, making her point without any hesitation as she explained herself.
"Is the soul of the ship girl."
Admiral Mako looked to Akashi, who had her hands in her pockets as she took this as her cue to step up and explain everything, blinking aloofly even as Nagato's intense gaze focused on her, the repair ship explaining.
"It's been established that Abyssals, much like ship girls, possess souls that power their bodies from within.
Souls aren't created by the Fairies, as even they aren't that advanced to break the First Law of Thermodynamics and create a source of everlasting power.
So the question remains.
If the Fairies didn't create these souls, who did, what did they make it out of and where did it come from?"
Akashi looked into Nagato's eyes, the two of them now facing off as the entire room became dead silent, its occupants morbidly curious about the Admiral's ultimate goal in trying to dig further into the primary cause of this war, instead of fumbling around in darkness like they always did with the Abyssals being one step ahead of them.
"We're afraid that if we don't uncover this before the Abyssals strike again with whatever unholy weapons that they've built..."
Jutting out her chin towards Kirishima and Ooyodo, who were standing at the other end of the room with files in hand to indicate the obscene amount of resources that the Abyssals had been transporting deep beneath the ocean, Akashi continuing.
"We're just going to get overwhelmed eventually and not know what hit us.
We believe that the first step in trying to end this war is to understand the one constant that survives the cycle of reincarnation."
Akashi lifted a hand from her pocket to jerk her thumb towards her heart to indicate the miraculous source of power within them, Nagato huffing and interrogating.
"How are we to communicate with a ship girl soul?
To our knowledge, they don't possess sentience and lack any sort of valuable knowledge for us to learn.
They simply function as power sources-"
"Not true."
Aoba surprised everyone by speaking up all of a sudden as she still stood behind her seated Admiral, but was now speaking up and trying to get her point across as she refuted Nagato's argument.
"Studies have noted that this 'soul' provides a source of mechanical and electrical power for a ship girl to function.
T-This might mean that whatever's inside may operate much like a machine would in order to act like a step-down transformer to regulate this power output pertaining to the ship class it is installed in."
Aoba gulped, now moving into the realm of purely theoretical science that she couldn't easily explain when all eyes were on her, sweating a little under her copper helmet as she did her best to simplify the entire subject.
"Um...
A- And much like a power pack we don't possess the manual to and only use in order to power a ship girl, p-perhaps we can learn to 'communicate' with the soul via technological means.
This way, we can learn to draw on extra power to be harnessed i-in order to create new Anti-Abyssal weapons."
Everyone gawked at that, wondering about the seemingly-absurd goals of this research project.
Sure, it was mostly accepted by everyone that ship girls died and reincarnated as Abyssals and vice versa, but this was stepping into uncharted waters with only theories and assumptions to guide them forward, and the consequences of failure were dire.
But Aoba held her hands up as she tried to convince them of the project's viability and its future prospects as she stuttered.
"U-U-Um, it's not as useless as one might think.
T-Think about it.
The soul discharges seemingly limitless energy to fuel our ship girl modes and keep us alive.
And if we craft specially created Anti-Abyssal weapons, w-we may be able to bring about a new age of Anti-Abyssal weapons to push back the Abyssals.
P-Please give us a chance, Nagato-san!"
Aoba placed her arms beside her torso and gave the Nagato-Class battleship a respectful 45 degree bow to earn her blessing, everyone's attention now shifting onto the slow battleship as Nagato considered Aoba's words for a moment.
Finally, when it seemed as though the silence had stretched on long enough to make everyone feel rather uncomfortable at Nagato's lack of a response, the name-ship of the Nagato-Class nodding as she simply answered.
"Fine."
She sat back down without a word, although her taut jaw and dark expression was not lost on everyone as she glanced at Admiral Mako and added ominously.
"We'll talk about this later."
Admiral Mako nodded in relief as she exhaled sharply, looking extremely weary after the Coordinator meeting that was a roller-coaster ride of mystery, frustration and tension as she ended the meeting with a simple,
"Dismissed."
[...And that's the end of my report, Ma'am.]
Woxanne was kneeling down on her right knee and had her right fist on the steel floor, taking a knee as she lowered her head reverently when reporting to her superiors in the medium-sized room.
The room was about the size of a briefing hall, with several stylized tables and blocks of machinery standing at attention to the sides of the room, wires and tubes sticking out of each and everyone of them as they barely illuminated the bridge with the several LED monitors and light bulbs, the latter blinking on and off in the darkness like fireflies in the night.
Woxanne had her head down and could see the grooves in the floor that were to be used to move these control panels back into place to pilot the gargantuan vessel that she was currently on.
At the end of the room was a heavily reinforced window that was supported by a large grid of steel strips that allowed for a viewer to witness the sight of the deep ocean, but currently had a metal shutter drawn to act as a projector screen for the projector above Woxanne's head.
The six members of the 1st Fleet were projected on the screen, each photo looking as though they were posing for a passport photo along with their respective stats being displayed beside them, a few pentagon and bar graphs extrapolating and predicting how the 1st Fleet would grow and develop.
Two figures stood before the bright screen, enveloped in darkness due to the amount of light fixtures left inactivated on the bridge as well as the primary source of light that was the projector screen being situated behind them and failed to illuminate their frontal features.
One of them moved forward, Woxanne clearly hearing the metal boots softly making contact with the hard floor as her master slowly approached her with slow yet regal steps, Woxanne reverently closing her eyes as she saw the dark boots of the Abyssal leader stop before her, her dark cape stretching out the pitch-black shadow at her feet.
She felt her master's gloved hand reach down and affectionately ruffle her hair, Woxanne squeezing her eyes a little harder as she felt her ghostly hair tickle her eyelids and cheekbones, her master congratulating her with a satisfied tone.
[Well done.
You've accomplished both your objectives with flying colors.
You've contacted the Infiltration Fleet, observed the 1st Fleet in action and conveyed our message.]
Woxanne was humble about her accomplishments, citing the part that her master played by placing her in an advantageous position to pull off her mission successfully.
[It was nothing, Ma'am.
I followed your instructions to the letter, and that was it.]
[Ahh, don't belittle your own achievements, Woxanne-chan!
The symbol you carry on your back is proof that you're someone worthy of delivering the message of all Abyssal-kind, no?]
Woxanne nodded upon lifting her head slightly to witness the second shadow stepping forth with a spring in her step, almost skipping across the platform as an energetic and bubbly voice resounded across the bridge, Woxanne peeking up and noting the signature bluish-white circle in the center of her chest, visible through her uniform as it rested slightly above her cleavage.
Woxanne accepted the compliment as she simply declared.
[I have accomplished my mission.
I shall retreat to my quarters until you find another use for me, my masters.]
Woxanne rose wordlessly, her cape fluttering and revealing the capital 'A' on the back of her dark cape as she kept her head lowered dutifully as she bowed slightly whilst backpedaling, Woxanne finally turning as the sliding door hissed open to allow her to exit the command bridge as she heard the Abyssal secretary pout behind her.
[Oh, come on!
Stay here and chat a little more, please?]
The two figures stood in the middle of the room as the automatic doors closed behind the exiting Woxanne as a signal of sorts was sent through the entire bridge, causing the machinery that stood on the sidelines to slide along the grooves installed on the floor as the entire room buzzed with energy.
They reached the end of their predetermined paths on the floor and cleanly unfolded to form control panels that consisted of touchscreens, levers and countless buttons of unknown functions, even more LED screens gently lowering themselves from the ceiling as they powered up to display even more numbers, graphs and meters that were currently in the green.
But this was all ignored by the two figures as they moved towards the command chair in the center of the room, the seat unfolding from a pod-like module that was summoned from the depths of the platform, smoothly unfolding to form something resembling a massage chair.
The Abyssal secretary looked a little upset after seeing the Wo-Class leave so quickly and in such an abrupt manner, puckering up her lips as she waved her gloved hands about in in a circular fashion as she complained.
[Ahh, the Abyssals are good soldiers, but they're all like dead fishes in terms of personality!
What's it take for a girl to get some company around here~?]
The Abyssal commander noted in a droll tone as she glided over to the command chair, cape hovering above the floor as she remarked,
[Aww, do I not count as an Abyssal you'd like to be with?
You wound my heart, Sa-chan.]
[Moouuu, it's not that~!
But you're so smart that I sometimes can't keep up with what you're thinking, Yuu-chan!]
The caped commander chuckled a little upon hearing that, pushing her cape in as she sat herself down on the steel throne, the command chair coming to life as neon blue stripes lit up the chair, electricity starting to course through the circuitry within as the dark figure made herself comfortable, looking like a queen seated upon her rightful throne as she commented.
[I suppose, but being able to stay as my secretary ship for so long means that you should listen to your own advice and believe in your own intellect.
Now, shall we take care of what's on the memo before dealing with the 1st Fleet?]
Her secretary nodded eagerly as she moved over to a touchscreen panel, pressing the screen with her gloved hands before bringing up a few computer windows to indicate the amount of reports to handle, the first issue being the Princesses submitting even more complaints as her exuberant voice narrated.
[The Princesses submitted even more death threats and challenges to contest your rule over them, despite your little stunt the last time you met them all in a large-scale meeting.
But I think you are capable of, and I quote, 'choking a bitch' whenever you feel like it, right?]
The commander shrugged as she noted, already writing off these complaints as disgruntled subordinates who ultimately had to follow her instructions, no matter what.
[Let them grumble all they want.
I was the one who was chosen by the Abyssal overlords to lead the Abyssals, and I have delivered.
They may be discontent with the fact that a light cruiser's leading them, but they cannot deny that everything we've designed and built was only possible through my efforts.]
Secretary Voice nodded enthusiastically as she closed the computer window, bringing up the next issue to be addressed by the light cruiser duo.
[The preparations for the Battle of Sagami-nada Sea are well-underway as we're still recruiting and training up our fleets to improve our odds of victory.
And much like we expected, the Admirals of the naval bases in the Chiba and Kanagawa prefecture are already preparing themselves by fortifying their defenses for the upcoming large-scale battle.]
The caped commander nodded as she rested her cheek on her left fist, remarking on the situation at hand.
[Very well.
Continue on, and get the Abyssals to engage them at the chosen location as we discussed.]
But the Abyssal secretary sounded a little worried as she scratched her head, her ahoge forming something resembling a question mark as she wondered out loud.
[But Yuu-chan, won't the neighboring naval bases band together to fight and likely win, no matter how many Abyssals we send?]
[It matters not at this point, my dear.
'Apocalypse' has already been completed, and whatever scraps of information they scrounge up at this point likely won't help them as we've been mass-producing new units for more than half a decade to prepare for the main event.
Think of this as the appetizer, where we'll allow them to celebrate this little victory before we show them the overwhelming might of the Abyssals, and deliver unto them a taste of the despair that is to come when they witness our true capabilities.]
The Abyssal nodded as she hummed approvingly, closing more browser windows as the tone of her hum shifted from approving to distractedly whimsical as she settled a few of the issues that popped up on the screen, finally coming up on the last item on the itinerary that was the 1st Fleet's battle, combined stats and their calculated potential, the Abyssal commander commenting.
[The 1st Fleet of Yokosuka.
Woxanne has warned them of their impending demise, so I predict that Admiral Mako's going to sortie multiple fleets at once.
She can't leave the 1st Fleet as inexperienced ship girls when tough battles are coming up, but she won't leave them alone now that we've got them in our sights.]
Silence reigned in the room as the two Abyssals contemplated the situation, machinery buzzing and beeping behind them as background noise before the Abyssal leader questioned.
[Bring up the weather forecast.
When will it rain again near the Izu Islands?]
Her Secretary was actively typing on the keyboard as she obtained the desired information, the project screen now displaying a map of the Izu Islands.
They were small islands that were left alone by the Abyssals as they lay on the edge of the Safety Zone, populated by a handful of humans and sailors.
The next estimated date for precipitation around the area was around 12th of April.
And it was shaping up to be quite the torrential downpour, the commander nodding knowingly as she ordered.
[Since the ship girls will have likely found what remained of the secret documents before their encounter with Woxanne, I suppose it's only fair for us to reveal a few of our secrets to the world, starting with this.]
The commander rested both hands on the arm rest, sapphire-blue orbs that rested on the end of the arm rests lighting up and engulfing her pale hands in a cerulean blue glow, the luminescent wires trailing down the seat intensifying in their incandescent glow as the commander gripped the two power transmitters.
The room came alive upon receiving its master's powers as the entire vessel that lay beyond the bridge came to life with ominous and dull creaks sounding out in the distance along with the whirring of hidden generators increasing in pitch, the Abyssal secretary looking around in astonishment as she exclaimed excitedly.
[W-Woah!
Are we really going to use this?!]
Her leader simply grinned as she explained her thought process.
[Gather a fleet of Abyssals to launch a medium-scale surprise assault in the area.
The rain and turbulent weather will mask our presence as we approach, and we'll force the ship girls to sortie their Fast Response Fleet along with the fleets of other naval bases.
They'll be convinced that there's safety in numbers, and we shall shatter that illusion by slaughtering them all.
If the 1st Fleet is wiped out by us, then they weren't much to begin with, and we'll be rid of a potential threat.
If not, well...]
Her grin widened as she took on a interested, slightly sadistic tone as she finished her sentence.
[I suppose we'll have to get a little more ... creative ... in finding ways to break them.]
Her secretary ship was a little concerned as her ahoge was still in the shape of a question mark to indication confusion as she inquired.
[But what happens if Yokosuka decides to sortie its 2nd Fleet instead of the 1st Fleet to the scene?]
[Well, we'll crush them anyway and cripple them such that they won't be able to recover in time for the Battle of Sagami-nada Sea, hmm?]
The Abyssal secretary pondered her commanding officer's answer, before her body shot up in understanding as her ahoge straightened up to form an antenna as she exclaimed, her mouth forming an 'O' as she inhaled sharply.
[Wow, Yuu-chan!
You're so smart, Pyon!]
The Abyssal secretary slapped her gloved hands onto her mouth to try and hide her faux pas, cheekily commenting.
[Oops!
I did it again, Yuu-chan!]
Her commander only smirked as she acknowledged the activation of the titanic vessel that now pulsed with energy, commenting offhandedly.
[It's alright, dear.
There's no need for us to hide in the shadows anymore, not with 'Apocalypse' now completed.]
Staring at the portraits of the 1st Fleet to look into their blank eyes, the Abyssal commander grinned upon feeling the hype of revealing what she personally saw as her favorite weapon to the world, announcing through the PA system.
[All hands on deck.
Sortie The Flying Dutchman.]