Shiranui was rolling the one mystery listening device which she left untouched when she infiltrated Admiral Mako's room in order to use it in future investigations, thinking about who could have planted them before her as she was being showered in the morning rays of the rising sun while she sat on a bench located next to Yokosuka's harbor on the 18th of May.

Perhaps it was the ship girls in the laundry room who planted them, or the ship girls and sailors who were tasked with cleaning the Admiral's room on occasion, or even a ship girl who was supposed to patrol the Staff Building, but sneaked into Admiral Mako's room when the time was right in order to bug her clothes.

Or perhaps…

Perhaps it was a member of the Infiltration Fleet who pulled off a feat similar to hers in the dead of night, infiltrating the Admiral's room like she did and planting this listening device.

Sure, she would say that it was impossible, but if that was so, she accomplished the impossible and managed to listen in on the Admiral's meeting on the 8th, and even managed to retrieve them without (much) fuss.

But even when she factored in the ship girls and sailors who were on duty and excluded everyone else, it didn't manage to narrow the list down much since almost anyone on guard duty on any day could've planted the listening device.

It was possible to get someone to dismantle this listening device and study its inner workings in order to triangulate the position of where it was sending its audio signal to, but that would mean taking the risk of bringing someone else into the circle, and she didn't trust anyone else not to out her and Shigure to Admiral Mako.

It was a tougher task to ask of someone to investigate into the listening device without them asking how she found it in the first place.

If she couldn't answer them, they wouldn't take her request seriously since they wouldn't know of its importance, but if they were to know of its importance (bugging the Admiral's clothes was a big deal, after all), they'd question how she found out about this when she wasn't part of the laundry, security or cleaning detail, and she would get herself in trouble as a result.

'What to do with you?'

Rolling the miniature listening device around in her gloved hand, Shiranui could see that Kagerou was joining her since she asked her name ship sister to find her here, and she mentally recounted the fact that Shigure was slated to fully recover by today as she pocketed the listening device while Kagerou greeted her, sitting beside Shiranui as she spoke.

"Yo, Nui-Nui.

What did you want to talk about today?

The note you left me sounded rather ominous, so I headed here immediately after breakfast."

Shiranui nodded, feeling a little nervous about what was to come as she tried to speak to her beloved sister without giving anything important away.

"Well, I was just worried for the future of our sisters after uncovering what the Abyssals were up to on Aogashima Island.

Yukikaze, Kuroshio, Maikaze, all of them, I'm afraid that they're not ready to face the new Abyssal Beasts and the modern war vehicles which we've discovered."

And in classic Kagerou fashion, her sister leaned in closer and snuggled with Shiranui as she patted her on the crown of her head, earning her short-lived ire as Kagerou cooed.

"Aww, Nui-Nui…

I knew you secretly cared about our sisters, even though you're so cold to everyone!

Although you're quite close to Shigure-chan nowadays, so I'm sure congratulations are in order…"

Kagerou looked away and closed her eyes, cheekily smiling as she wiped the tear beads from the corners of her eyes and spoke thankfully, all while Shiranui stared back at her with a confused, suspicious narrow-eyed look.

"I mean, I was always worried that your mental hard-on for me would blind you to the possibility of love for anyone outside of our ship class, and I'm so glad that you've found a significant other in Shigure…"

And Shiranui's face exploded into a furious blush as she vehemently denied being in a relationship with Shigure while she spoke.

"No.

Nononononononono…

I am not in a romantic relationship with Shigure.

We are in a platonic working relationship, and there is nothing romantic about that."

But Kagerou tilted her head in order to lean in close to Shiranui, knowingly looking up into her eyes as she asked about their Aogashima Island sortie.

"But I bet her ass felt real good in your hands when you carried her piggyback style on Aogashima Island, right?

And you two looked really romantic in that bridal carry, not to mention she's essentially half-naked with her naked torso only being covered by bandages?

Bet you curse the invention of the fire-resistant underwear which we wear now, hmm?"

Shiranui's face was now a crimson red as she felt as if her red-hot face was ready to let off some steam via a nosebleed, but Kagerou pulled away as she burst out laughing and heartily smacked her on the back, speaking reassuringly.

"Oh, Nui-Nui!

I was just teasing you about Shigure-chan, but to think that you'd react so strongly to any mention of romance between you two…

I almost feel guilty for pushing your buttons so easily, but you really are too stoic for your own good, and it's refreshing to see you express some emotions once in awhile.

And I'm starting to think that there really is something between you and Shigure, you just aren't ready to admit it yet."

Shiranui inhaled slowly in order to calm herself down and cool down her blush as she chided her sister, looking at Kagerou with a rare look of contempt while Kagerou took everything in stride.

"Please don't do that, Kagerou.

Even if you're my sister, I do not take kindly to anyone 'pushing my buttons'.

And for the last time, there is nothing between me and Shigure."

Nodding, Kagerou shifted the conversation back on track as she looked towards the ocean and answered Shiranui's original question.

"Well, I don't think there's too much we need to be worried about.

Sure, I know that we're probably going to face off against modern war vehicles, but here's the thing, Nui-Nui.

I don't think that they'll be innovating too much and creating war vehicles of their own, because we've done the researching and prototyping on their behalf, and even if they try to upgrade their designs, the humans can eventually catch up.

I mean, they're now using human-level technology and not Fairy-level technology in their vehicles and weapons, so the humans will play an integral role in Apocalypse since the Abyssals can't use their old strategies on land anymore.

And even if they try and copy the designs of every army and air force in existence, I don't think what comes next will be entirely hopeless, since we have mankind standing behind us; They have tanks, UAVs, ICBMs and MLRS to even the playing field.

The Abyssals will be the away team who's fighting with impressive imitations of their technology, and they know that it'll open them up to exploitation of existing weaknesses which they can't completely engineer away."

Shiranui nodded, feeling rather reassured by Kagerou's words as she thought about things from her sister's point of view, understanding that the Abyssals had learnt a lesson from the American Blitzkrieg that mankind's ground and air-based combat vehicles had come a long way since World War 2, and technological upgrades allowed for more coordinated plans which would give the Abyssals a run for their money.

Sure, they would be able to copy their designs and perhaps even add upgrades of their own in order to gain an edge over them, but human ingenuity and perseverance as well as the march of technological advancements were nothing to sneeze at, and it was clear that mankind stood a fighting chance even if the fight was brought to them.

Kagerou continued,

"Anyway, I understand your concern for us, your sisters, but I know that Admiral Mako is working on it, and our gathered intelligence should be enough to convince everyone of how real this threat is.

And we have the land assault training session in two days, so everyone will be learning of how to handle another land assault campaign so that we won't be completely caught off-guard.

But it feels rather lonely to be the only ones to know about this, hmm?"

Shiranui nodded, feeling rather lonely since she couldn't share information about and discuss Apocalypse with anyone other than the Infiltration Fleet and Shigure, although she could feel that rumors of unexplained occurrences around the world certainly made others worried about what was to come next, since it was a full ten years since the Abyssals tried something new.

So while she knew that Apocalypse was a secret, the many ship girls of the world were experienced enough veterans to know that this was likely the longest calm before the greatest storm.

Yay…?

She nodded, and looked away as her expression settled into the usual frown and she responded to her sister.

"Well, we understood what we were getting ourselves into when we accepted the responsibilities of being in the Infiltration Fleet, this amount of stress isn't going to break us and we know it."

Kagerou nodded in order to signal to Shiranui to move onto the next topic on her mind, knowing that calling the upcoming large-scale battle the Battle of Twelve Navies was dangerous, because although it rolled off the tongue easier compared to the Battle of Sagami-nada Sea, it was heard from a classified meeting and would draw her seniors' suspicion if they traced its usage back to her.

Best to wait until its usage became more common, before referring to the battle as such.

"There was something else on my mind.

I was also concerned about the upcoming Battle of Sagami-nada Sea, and how one of our sisters might be volunteering to be on the front lines.

Especially Yukikaze, because even though she's talented and lucky, I think she believes that it's because of these traits which means that it's her duty to fight in tough battles where her sisters likely couldn't survive.

I don't want to lose another ship sister like we did with Amatsukaze."

Kagerou's smile dimmed as the both of them remembered how Amatsukaze was sunk because of Shimakaze, and Kagerou leaned in as she asked in a genuinely curious tone.

"Do you still hold a grudge against Shimakaze-chan for what happened?"

Shiranui looked away as she nodded sullenly, because it was entirely Shimakaze's fault that Amatsukaze had to step in to save her from the Abyssals, and she also disrespected her sister when she claimed that Amatsukaze cheated in their race.

It was surprisingly difficult for her to let it go, and although she could respect the Shimakaze-Class destroyer's natural abilities, it was her difficult personality and hubris as the fastest destroyer in the IJN which made forgiveness difficult.

Although she had to give it to Shimakaze, that even someone like her was surprisingly capable of learning humility from Amatsukaze's death, and even though she sought to keep as far away from her as possible in the Aogashima Island sortie, she could see that the scantily-clad destroyer had toned down the lone-wolf act and at least tried to work with others.

Not that it would change her opinion of Shimakaze in the near future, but she could at least try to put aside her grudge in order to work with her when the occasion called for it.

Kagerou could see that Shiranui had never, and likely wasn't going to let her grudge go anytime soon despite doing her best convince her otherwise, looking away as she gave her opinion of how their sisters might be sucked into the fiercest large-scale battles of the very near future.

"Well, I do share your concerns.

As the name ship and elder sister of every single one of our sisters, I know what it's like to worry about the wellbeing of you all when a storm like this brews on the horizon.

And I agree, the more proactive trouble magnets of our class might be inclined to join the front lines, but I think that our sister ships aren't as deficient as the Kamikaze and Mutsuki-Class destroyers in terms of stats, although with the latter's Kai Ni, you could make a decent case debunking that notion.

With the ability of hindsight, our Admiral understands our strengths and weaknesses from our past experiences and knows how to best equip us for the situation."

Nodding, she understood how the Kagerou-Class's weaknesses in terms of radar, Anti-Sub and Anti-Air capabilities could be remedied by adding complementing equipment, and they weren't tied down too much by any particularly lacking stats compared to the weaker destroyer classes.

She responded dryly,

"Well, the only way we can guarantee their safety is to join them on the front lines, don't you think?"

Kagerou lifted an eyebrow as she looked to Shiranui, asking worriedly,

"You know, I'm actually a little worried that you might be influenced by Shigure's suicidal tendency to charge into dangerous situations purely for the sake of others.

I can empathize your concern for our sister ships, but do you really think putting yourself on the front lines would improve matters any?"

Shiranui shrugged, relaxing her expression in order to express her concern for her sisters, who were all ranked a very close second behind Kagerou in her heart (she didn't want to think about Shigure; shut up).

"You know that you all mean the world to me, and I'd rather die than see any one of you perish at sea."

But she felt a hand clamp hers tightly, and she looked down to see Kagerou's gloved hand holding hers as her expression darkened beyond anything she had seen thus far, Kagerou chiding darkly.

"Don't say that.

You also matter to us, and to me.

I don't want you to die and sink either, so please…"

Shiranui blinked, before her eyes narrowed and she acknowledged Kagerou's concern for her wellbeing as she responded with a clearer mind.

"Alright, I suppose.

But what about you?

I understand that as our name ship, you might feel as if you need to be there to defend every single one of us, but you also need to understand that you don't need to feel that pressured to defend us all; we're all veterans here."

And Kagerou's expression softened as she gave Shiranui a radiant smile and answered genuinely regarding the lengths she would go not just as a name ship, but as their elder sister in order to keep them safe.

"Oh, don't you worry, Nui-Nui.

Despite what my behavior would lead you to believe, I do take my responsibilities as your elder sister seriously, and not even Death can stop me from coming back in order to watch over you all and keep you all safe."

Shiranui blinked at the amount of conviction expressed in her tone, and Kagerou followed up with a rational explanation of her words, looking away wistfully as she continued.

"I mean, we've all been revived as ship girls, and I promise I'll come back to you, even if I die.

That's what the docks are for, right?

The last thing I want to do is to leave you alone in this world, especially when a storm is brewing on the horizon."

Shiranui nodded, and she could see that living for several years in the modern world had helped Kagerou become wise beyond her years, her wizened look showing as she spoke about how she felt about things, her smile being nearly wiped off her face as she faced the ocean horizon.

"You know, being with you all again really made me happy.

More than you realize.

I want to keep you all safe, and perhaps like you, I may be throwing myself under the bus in order to accomplish that, but I think that as name ship, I have privileges that you don't.

That's why I'm going to be on the front lines of the Battle of Sagami-nada Sea in order to protect our sisters, and you're not."

Shiranui narrowed her eyes as she tried to follow Kagerou's chain of logic, which was something which was difficult in and of itself since she only utilized logic which made sense in her mind.

"So…

We both have the same aim of protecting our sisters, but since you're the name ship of our class and hence the eldest sister, you can prohibit me from doing the exact same thing which you're going to do, and that's to fight in the most dangerous area of a large-scale battle.

Did I get everything right?"

Kagerou nodded energetically, and Shiranui's expression scrunched up as she pointed out how fallacious some of these arguments were.

"Alright, that is just plain wrong.

First, just because you're the eldest sister doesn't automatically qualify you as the strongest sister; Yukikaze could qualify for that as she was the sole survivor as well as a rare drop due to her raw talent.

Second, while it is true that we have to respect your decisions as the eldest sister, if you're making a stupid decision as you're sometimes prone to doing, we have the right to veto that decision, as demonstrated in the past.

Lastly, that's kind of hypocritical of you to say that I should value my life, and you go off to fight on the front lines without sparing a thought for us, even if you're really doing it for our sake."

Kagerou nodded understandingly, and when Shiranui looked to her for a justification to her points, Kagerou simply raised a finger as she spoke.

"All valid points, but I am still the Kagerou-Class's name ship and your elder ship sister, so I have the right to ignore all those points.

So I suppose my response can be simplified into this.

'Kagerou-Class, Kagerou-Class, nyeh, nyeh!'"

And Kagerou defiantly stuck out her tongue at Shiranui, who inwardly face palmed at how immature her Kagerou could be in allowing the power to go to her head sometimes, hearing Kagerou try to get in the last word.

"After all, we don't call our ship class the Shiranui-Class, do we?"

Shiranui couldn't hold it in anymore, and she rolled her eyes for real as she pointed out.

"Well, they sometimes do, just so you know.

And how you behaved just now is a reason why they should just make it permanent in calling us the Shiranui-Class.

After all, one of us here doesn't have to fall back on the 'I'm king because I'm wearing the crown and you're not' defense."

Kagerou blushed a little at that as she looked away, trying to get the conversation back on track as Shiranui was a little taken aback at the mood whiplash between serious and joking from one moment to the next.

"A-Anyway…

I admit, I was crafted and transferred in later than the rest of you, but you know that I'm more than capable of holding my own in battle.

I understand that not a lot of our sisters are in the active fleet roster since none of us have our Kai Ni remodel, much like the Yuugumo and Kamikaze-Class.

So the fact that I'm actively participating in sorties with the Infiltration Fleet should say something about my ability, right?"

Shiranui conceded the point with a nod, acknowledging the fact that Kagerou had persisted in her efforts to learn more skills despite not yet possessing an available Kai Ni remodel like the rest of the Kagerou-Class sisters.

And while she had often complained about a lot of the other destroyer classes receiving Kai Ni remodels amongst their ranks while none of the Kagerou-Class destroyers had implemented Kai Ni remodels (researching into them was a continuous effort, though), she never let it get her mood down for too long.

She spoke,

"I'm sure that we'll get our second remodels one day, but for now, our skills will suffice.

And you did surprise plenty me when you displayed an affinity for nighttime infiltration, despite your relative inexperience."

Kagerou smirked, ruffling Shiranui's hair and earning her short-lived ire again as she commented idly.

"Well, I did participate in several battles in my time, such as the Battle of Tassafaronga, which was a night battle which we won handily, and I gues night infiltration operations would be my area of expertise and interest, so double lucky.

So I can safely say that I'm not a complete night battle idiot like Sendai, I do like the darkness, because it's where we shine and when we're at least risk of being spotted and fired upon by larger ships, balancing the scales somewhat.

Don't you think?"

Shiranui lifted an eyebrow as she saw things from her sister's point of view, seriously asking her about whether she was going to participate in the Battle of Sagami-nada Sea.

"But I'm asking for real now.

Are you really going to participate in the Battle of Sagami-nada Sea and place yourself on the front lines, and if our sisters, especially Yukikaze, are all there and you feel a need to protect them?"

Kagerou lost her smile as she nodded, looking especially determined about protecting them this time as she spoke.

"Yes.

I'm not saying that I don't want all of you to grow into your own, but I understand that Yukikaze feels things which she doesn't share with us, mainly that she has to carry our ship class because she alone has the talent to do so, which I'll admit, she genuinely does.

But…"

Kagerou looked down, Shiranui softening her expression as she saw how Kagerou looked concerned about the lone Kagerou-Class destroyer who survived the war, speaking candidly.

"I won't say that I empathize with what she went through, because I'm not her.

But while Yukikaze-chan feels the guilt of surviving while we sank in the war, I feel the guilt of leaving too early all the time, and leaving everyone to their fates without being there to improve the odds of their survival, or even to reassure everyone with my continued presence in the world of the living.

And while I don't want to die like any rational ship girl, my desire to protect you all, my younger sister ships, and make up for everything which I couldn't do back then, that supersedes my fear of death.

Besides, our capacity to be revived after death kinda puts a dampener on our human fear of being killed, right?"

Kagerou then broke out into a radiant smile, Shiranui's breath being taken away by how her sister ship could be exceptionally passionate about protecting them when the mood presented itself, and factoring in her past where she was sunk relatively early into the war, Kagerou certainly had the motivation and conviction behind her will and desire to keep them safe, and was the epitome of the Kagerou-Class hardheadedness.

Nodding reluctantly, Shiranui could feel that there was nothing she could do to change Kagerou's mind in wanting to back Yukikaze up in the Battle of Sagami-nada Sea, and she attempted to compromise as she asked.

"Well then, do you mind if I join you in battle?

I don't have a defined role in the upcoming battle thus far, and I wouldn't mind sailing with you into battle in order to watch your back…

Kagerou teased,

"Well, that was your favorite pastime, right?"

Shiranui blushed a little, but she managed to stumble through the rest of her sentence without much fuss.

"Would you mind if I joined you in battle, alongside you and Yukikaze?

She's dear to me, and I don't want her to be the only ship girl who feels as if she has to carry all the burden simply due to her past and talent."

Kagerou nodded, considering the notion for a while since Shiranui was her blatant favorite, and it was a while before she acquiesced in light of Shiranui's abilities,

"Fine.

I suppose I can trust you to handle yourself on the battlefield, since you've been on the Infiltration Fleet for a while now and know what to look out for."

Shiranui nodded, sharing Kagerou's concerns about what came next, namely the Battle of Sagami-nada Sea and especially Apocalypse, since it was a storm unlike any other in its size and ferocity, and Shiranui wanted to be prepared for everything.

She loved her sisters more than anything in the world, her friends and comrades coming in a close second.

She knew of Project Psyche, Apocalypse and knowledge of what the overall strategy was regarding the Battle of Sagami-nada Sea in advance, and she had to start moving and positioning herself correctly in order to be more involved in the action.

Joining her sisters at the forefront of a large-scale battle would allow her to watch over them and hone her skills even further, and winning this battle would allow her time to think about how best to insert her and Shigure into Project Psyche without letting others in on the fact that they learnt about it through underhanded means.

It was in the early evening hours of the 20th of May, and Admiral Mako looked back at the various world leaders who hailed from various countries, and while she knew how hard it was for them to coordinate such a large meeting while time zone differences meant that some of them would be sleep-deprived, but hey, politicians should be used to working in the dead of night when working on an international scale, so whatever.

And receiving an encrypted email about an Abyssal land assault campaign that was Apocalypse had them talking to each other in hushed voices, Admiral Mako understanding why they were reluctant to even entertain the mere thought of it for fear of what it would entail.

The president of South Korea (she never bothered to remember the name of every country's leader, save for the leaders of the powerful countries like America, Russia, etc) spoke, and Admiral Mako was thankful that the Fairies had installed a language translator for them to use when conducting overseas meetings so they wouldn't have to bother with the language gap.

"Admiral Mako.

Surely you can't be serious about a planet-wide assault from the Abyssals?

I understand that you've recently found evidence of this 'Apocalypse', but why now, of all times?

The Abyssals wouldn't want us to find out about these plans shortly before they pull this off, because if we pull together in order to form a retaliation plan, even a month or two would make all the difference in pushing them back, so could this be a red herring of sorts?"

Admiral Mako lifted an eyebrow as she responded, understanding South Korea's concerns since they were considered extremely vulnerable to an Abyssal land assault simply because they were surrounded by ocean and were located beside an unfriendly ally up North, leaving them in between a rock and a hard place.

"Look, we've been receiving more and more information that there's going to be another world war coming on the horizon.

After all, the Abyssals have often expressed their desire to wipe out all of mankind, but even they should understand that they can't achieve that with naval power alone."

Leaning forward while looking at the mostly-silenced crowd of leaders who knew that this was her show, she laid down her own chain of logic which led her to conclude how the Abyssals might have been up to more than they thought.

No need to reveal everything to them, though; just enough to win them over.

"Think about it.

They've been releasing three Five-Year Plans in a row, and then ten years of nothing.

I understand that we've been enjoying the peace and the somewhat stable equilibrium between our ship girls and the Abyssals, but don't you think that this is the ultimate calm before the greatest storm, no?

You really think they'd be sitting around, twiddling their thumbs while hoping that pushing the oceanic frontier is going to get them any closer to their ultimate goal of human extermination?"

A good number of them looked away abashedly, having hoped for exactly such a thing in order to ensure the continued existence and well-being of their people, and Admiral Mako decided to clue everyone in on the the talk between the 8th Fleet and the Southern War Princess, and the leaders of major countries who had received a copy of the converted memory file in their emails as a sneak peek had been asked to keep silent in the email's footnotes to make sure everyone was on the same page.

"I'd like to show you an exchange between my 8th Fleet and a downed Southern War Princess, and from here, you'll see that these concerns might not be as unfounded as you may think."

The Southern War Princess (SWP) was downed, having lost an arm which halved her firepower, was completely surrounded by Admiral Mako's ship girls and was speaking condescendingly to them.

SWP: [You really thought that we were gonna sit around, dwindle our arms and hope that ocean superiority alone is gonna help us conquer all of Earth and wipe out those blasted humans?

Fuck no.

We were so fucking worried that you all knew what were doing behind your backs, but turns out, you're just as ignorant about things as I am, as much as I hate to admit it.

And I suppose... in a sense, you made me feel something other than overwhelming hatred for those shitheads you're protecting.]

Akashi (A) flicked her hand and summoned a karambit, pressing it against the Southern War Princess's throat as she asked coldly.

"And what might that be?"

SWP: [Pity.]

A: "Next question.

2013, 5 of May, 1050 hours.

You were testing a weapon on the abandoned Wotje Island, which was part of the French Polynesia, in the Pacific Ocean.

You wiped out the island, likely in an attempt to erase all the evidence of the weapons test along with it.

What were you testing?"

SWP: [Railgun.]

A: "What for?

Using them in war is fine and dandy, but it'd be safe to assume that you have it installed on the Flying Dutchman as its ace in the hole, right?"

The Abyssal Southern War Princess burst out into laughter as everyone who pointed their cannons, firearms and weapons at her bristled in fear, the Abyssal mocking.

SWP: [Oh, that's just hilarious!

Did you think we were at your level, content to allow our railguns to sit on large warships and fire them occasionally like goddamn trebuchets?!

Hell no!

I heard talks about them upgrading it and reducing its weight so much so that they could mount it on a tank to serve as a tank destroyer, last I heard.

Or was it a bunker buster?

I'm sorry, I often sleep through these progress update reports.]

A: "Next question, why did you rebel and head for the Japanese mainland?

Don't you fear the wrath of your superiors, call-sign 'Superstar' and 'Brainiac'?"

SWP: [Well, now.

Looks like your intelligence isn't completely shit... heh.

I didn't care anymore, y'see.

New management came in, and drastically changed everything.

Convinced those who were even higher up the food chain that we needed to prepare for a real land invasion this time, and subsequently, a World War.

They got what they wanted, and they were researching and mass-producing new Abyssal units and weapons for almost an entire decade, but only recently did they ramp up their production rate.

The problem...]

The Southern War Princess's battle aura flared up dangerously, everyone bristling in retaliation for a probable last-ditch suicide attack as the Abyssal continued.

SWP: [...is that they started shifting the focus onto them instead of us Princesses three years ago, and that was when 'Superstar and Brainiac' started using their ranks as Secretary and Commander-in-Chief to actively boss us Princesses around, despite being fucking light cruisers!]

Admiral Mako shivered after finishing that video, envying the ship girls who managed to face off against the Abyssal Princess without dissolving into a frightened wreck, and while she couldn't join them in battle and see how she would fare, feeling afraid of their strongest units was probably not a good indicator of how she would hypothetically perform.

Everyone was now speaking in hushed tones again, and she could see that everyone was now more accepting of the possibility of a land assaul.

Now, she had to try to get them to accept the possibility of fully committing to the cause with absolutely no hesitation, because anything less would likely result in needless casualties.

She got their attention by pressing the speak button again, gaining everyone's attention by trying to get them to hear of the recording of Woxanne, the Abyssal high command's spokesperson who visited the 8th and Backup Fleet and spoke about things to come.

"I'd also like to show you a rare occurrence of an Abyssal spokesperson, named Woxanne since it's a Wo-Class Abyssal, speaking to us and warning of things to come.

I'd like to note that the reason why they choose to speak about their recent activities with us is because it's considered declassified and unimportant even if we were to learn about them now, so I'm concerned about how far they've gone in their preparations to think that letting us know about their plans now isn't going to change anything.

But I'll let you be the judge of that."

Before playing the memory file of the Abyssal representative who carried no weapons but spoke for the Abyssals as a whole, the Wo-Class taking up the screen as Admiral Mako watched the converted memory file along with everyone else.

She suddenly appreciated the Fairies' efforts to convert ship girl memories into MP4 format for them to view, something which was rather difficult to accomplish when ship girl memories were stored and maintained on higher-technology platforms, and it took a fair amount of effort to make their memories compatible with mankind's current-level technology by filtering out almost all their sensory input on a millisecond-by-millisecond basis save for visual and audio recollections, all without misrepresenting or changing the overall message of the converted memory file.

God bless them.

Woxanne (W): [There seems a slight misconception about the situation at hand.

You believe that learning about all this, and more, will give you an advantage over us, but please understand this is us giving you all a sporting chance.

As much as we Abyssals wish to wipe out all of mankind for the greater good of Earth, we understand that you ship girls do not deserve to get steamrolled if we were to simply attack everywhere all at once…

That's why I will say this, courtesy of my superiors who sent me.

World War 3 will happen, whether you want to or not.

Like how the sun will always rise from the East, nothing you do will prevent this war from coming to fruition.

It'll happen by the year's end, and from there on, the Apocalypse will be fulfilled.

The war will never end unless we Abyssals are either victorious or dead, and should it be the former, we shall usher in the end of an age for all of mankind.]

Ise was almost reaching for her katana, asking the Abyssal in a tense voice.

I: "How're you going to do that, hmm?

Last I checked, we have 7 billion humans living on this Earth.

You can't possibly kill them all."

The Abyssal's chuckled, speaking coyly.

W: [Hm, like you said…

'And why should we tell you what we know?']

Before waving off the jab as she continued speaking, looking unafraid of being killed since she was a source of information and couldn't be touched.

W: [Just joking.

My superiors, Superstar and Brainiac…

They told me that this was a declassified topic, so I suppose what I'm feeling right now is magnanimity…]

Woxanne's expression became faintly smug, lightly mocking.

W: [Yes, I feel magnanimous enough to share this information with you all.]

Kiso pulled out a 14 Cm Single Gun cannon, threatening the Abyssal with a point-blank shell.

K: "Hmm, seems like being the spokesperson for the Abyssal high-command seems to have granted you quite the attitude and a sense of humor.

Let's see how they hold up with a 14 Cm shell through your head."

[Die Endlösung.]

And it took awhile for the shaken ship girls to respond, but Maya eventually shouted at her.

M: "Hey!

Did this bitch say they wanted to reenact 'The Final Solution' on everyone?!

Fuck this!

Fuck you!"

Maya only had one working arm and was significantly damaged because of the battle with the Southern War Princess, but she still managed to use her still-working left arm to give Woxanne a nasty left hook, standing over the crumpled form of Woxanne as her expression darkened and she roared.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU ALL PLANNING?!

TELL US!"

Akitsu Maru kicked the downed Wo-Class in the diaphragm, pointed her Benelli M3 Super 90 shotgun in Woxanne's face and cocked it threateningly, speaking.

AK: "Talk, or else."

But Akashi ordered them to step away from the coughing Wo-Class as she pointed out.

A: "Step away, the both of you.

She said that she was going to tell you anyway, and kicking her in the stomach and making her cough incessantly isn't going to help things!"

The two ship girls reluctantly backed away from the still-coughing Woxanne, who was sprawled on the ocean surface, the repair ship asking.

A: "Well, I assume that your superior 'Brainiac', AKA Yuubari is the one who planned it, right?"

Nodding as she cleared her throat, Woxanne spoke with a ragged breath after being unexpectedly beat up by the ship girls.

W: [Yes, although you humans had a hand in helping us come up with an early draft and demonstration during the Nazi occupation of Europe from 1941 to 1945.

We improved upon the efficiency of the extermination process and the theoretical speed in which we 'process' humans…]

Using air quotes to get her point across, Woxanne wanted to wrap up the conversation before the openly-hostile ship girls attacked her and tried to lynch her.

W: [... and this will be what awaits all of mankind when we kill the last ship girls.]

Shigure then asked.

S: "How long before you wipe out every single human on Earth?

I mean, if we were to lose?"

Everyone turned to face her and shot her judgmental looks as Shigure seemed to shrink from the backlash of asking such an insensitive question, but Woxanne looked down at the Shiratsuyu-Class destroyer as she pondered the question, eventually answering.

W: [Interesting.

Shigure of Yokosuka, member of the 1st Fleet, here in a battle against an Abyssal Princess.

Perhaps to get stronger in preparation for what comes next, hmm?

Well, as to your question…]

Woxanne stroked her chin with her gloved hand as she considered the question, before giving a chilling answer concerning the final phase of their plans for mankind.

[Based on the latest meetings that I had the honor of attending, the usage of hydrogen bombs to make our jobs easier and taking into account the theoretical amount of casualties in World War 3 should reduce it to anywhere from 30 to 50 years.]

Admiral Mako was greeted with the uproar of several countries, especially the European ones, upon hearing the name-dropping of one of mankind's worst atrocities, and in order to preserve order in this teleconference, she muted everyone with the 'mute' function on the teleconference app, leaned back, and simply waited until everyone realized that anything they said couldn't be heard by everyone else before they simmered down and listened to her.

And after changing to a computer window of her base's records to double-check her resource levels, she reopened the teleconference window and unmuted everyone when she saw that they had calmed down a little, speaking into the microphone and addressing them patiently.

All adults, but still so much like children…

"The sheer amount of dedication to secrecy until this point likely indicates the preparation of something which will be unlike anything we've went up against thus far.

They've kept this a secret for nearly a decade, and every year which we've failed to uncover their actions has emboldened them, to the point where they believe that we are at a clear disadvantage and gave us a 'sporting chance', and that was only for our ship girls' sake.

And true, we've found scraps of information in the past which alluded to something bigger going on behind the scenes, but you've got to understand this."

Citing an example with America's problem with the evolution of warfare, from fighting Nazis and Japs to fighting terrorists who hid in plain sight, Admiral Mako cited the evolving nature of war and how they weren't seeing the bigger picture here.

"This isn't a traditional enemy in the sense which you can send spies into the enemy's ranks in order to eavesdrop on them and relay important information to you.

Just as wars have evolved from fighting one particular country with clearly-defined territories and a flag to rally against, into fighting a decentralized, well-hidden organization which relies on unconventional, guerrilla tactics to strike at the general populace, this is another form of warfare unlike anything which we've seen thus far.

They lurk at the bottom of the ocean where we cannot reach, and that serves as the ultimate defense against us and our attempts to spy on them.

Remember James Cameron's attempt to dive into the Challenger Deep with his Deepsea Challenger, and how that had to be cancelled due to the potential risks of an Abyssal simply pulling a wire and dooming him?

Our war machines and ship girls need to deal with the Abyssals and the forces of nature which conspire to work against us at that depth, and we all know how potentially disastrous that can be."

She could see that everyone was becoming convinced of her argument, and although there was still a ways to go, Admiral Mako knew that the Abyssals' ultimate plan, their 'Final Solution', so to speak, put everyone on edge.

She was only worried that they were playing into the Abyssals' hands, to be the prey that thinks it stands a chance of winning because it thinks the opponent is being overconfident and viciously fights back, but upon realizing its futility, would fall into despair.

Was that their real goal, to give them false hope only to crush it underneath their steel treads, wiping them out by eroding away at their wills?

"We can't properly estimate the upper limits of their innumerable manpower especially at lower depths because of their underwater sonar blockers, and because we can't accurately detect what they're up to down there, they've previously restricted all their prototyping and manufacturing on the ocean floor to maintain secrecy.

At least, that was until they became confident enough of their vehicle's performance and probably even upgrades to field-test it, knowing that we would have to play catch-up."

She could hear the president of Mexico asking about just how the Abyssals could learn about these things when underwater, and if they would continue with the World War 2 theme if evidence of their activities on Aogashima Island indicated otherwise.

"To my understanding, ship girls work on a World War theme, and so do the Abyssals…

But Aogashima Island shows that it's likely an M270 MLRS wreaking havoc, so are they truly going to stick with their World War theme all the way?

And how did they get the information on how to design and construct one, anyway?"

Admiral Mako lifted an eyebrow, citing the internet as the one haven of information which was available to all, and while that was a boon to mankind, could also be exploited by the Abyssals despite mankind's attempts to up their security.

"Well, they certainly wouldn't want to put themselves at a disadvantage by facing our M1A1 Abrams with T34 tanks, right?

They'd get crushed, and they know that playing too heavily by this theme when they're going up against both ship girls and humans would handicap them, especially when the latter has come a long way since then and don't have to play by the World War 2 motif.

And besides, do you know about the existence of Wikipedia?

It tells you a lot of things about the design, armaments and specs of weapons, so they could have simply went online to gather information about our weapon designs, and they bet you they have engineers who can extrapolate our technological progress to make up for any lack of information about these weapons to achieve similar, if not superior performance.

And unlike us, they don't require patents and thus wouldn't mind incorporating the best weapons and war vehicles of every country into their arsenal."

Pressing a button on the screen, she shared the reports and pictorial evidence of the Flying Dutchman, a harbinger whose presence heralded a new age of warfare as she continued on about her theories.

"Although I must admit that the Flying Dutchman is based off the Nagato-Class of battleships, but as you've seen in the converted video which we've sent you, the Dutchman's got upgrades and is capable of ambushing naval ships with the firepower of a battleship, as well as vertical-launch missiles and Abyssal reserves.

We're also concerned that it might have additional weapons in store, and that human naval fleets might be on its shit-list, so any one of you who possesses warship fleets, be extra cautious when sortieing as the Dutchman can and will sink them in order to cripple our human naval power."

She could see the presidents of the countries with the largest human warships armadas in the world, namely the USA, China, Russia, UK and even her good ol' Nipponese prime minister speaking to aides standing beyond the screen, and she was glad that progress was being made; people were doing as they were told, and things were getting done.

The president of China, Zhang Bing Wen, asked, a gruff yet professional voice emanating power and control over the situation as he patiently asked.

"And why was this not brought to our attention sooner?

Perhaps if we had had started preparations by a month or more…"

Admiral Mako shrugged at the insinuation, understanding that the bigger countries had a bigger say in these kinds of situations and, most of the time, echoed the thoughts of smaller countries who usually kept silent and followed suit, since this was not unlike a children's classroom where certain kids held more sway over others as a result of their wealth, charisma, intelligence or some other trait which led other children to gravitate towards and follow these 'powerful' kids.

She had proved in the past that she, the Admiral trying to help them, was not to be fucked with.

Now to lead them in the right direction…

She answered bluntly,

"Well, I didn't want to be laughed out of the discussion if you all called me a fearmonger or attention whore because of my lack of evidence.

Sure, I could cite The Flying Dutchman as an example, and show you all the plans of Apocalypse and provide a somewhat solid case.

But you gotta admit, unless I provided concrete evidence of their field test and recent activities, which the Abyssals are sadly leaving like breadcrumbs for us, the hardliners in your government are going to just write me off for whatever reason they can come up with, amirite?

I wanted to get everyone on board ala the Paris Agreement in order to ensure we don't get wiped out, and I certainly wouldn't want the politicians of your respective countries to hold you back with 'lack of evidence' as an asinine excuse, hmm?"

She only got a simple eyebrow lift and a cold, acknowledging 'hmph' in response, but she also knew that the Chinese president was supposed to act aloof to the Japanese in these political situations due to their bloody past together, and the current Chinese president was at least cooperative enough to understand her reasons for trying to find more evidence to convince and sway everyone to her cause, even if that entailed a shorter time for counter-preparations as a result.

The president of America, Robert Miller, looked concerned about facing another land assault which would be costlier than the previous Abyssal Blitzkrieg as its consequences would be more far-reaching than ever before, and how best to stop this.

"Admiral.

If everything is as you said, then I surmise that the fallout of this 'Apocalypse' will be far greater than… than the American Blitzkrieg.

If this is the next stage of war which we prepared for, but never saw come to fruition at the time which we predicted and thus dismissed out of hand, how are we to make up for lost time?

Is there any way to stop this world war from coming to fruition, unlikely as it may be?"

Admiral Mako shook her head, sadly believing in Woxanne's words about how this upcoming war was pretty much inevitable.

"I'm afraid not, sir.

This is all partially because of our inability to gather intelligence on them and take the fight to them while they hide underwater.

And although they may be at a disadvantage when taking the fight to us on land and in the air, but we, too, are even more of a disadvantage in the long run because we haven't found any way to gain access to their turf in order to turn the tables on them.

Personally, I think your country should raise your readiness level from the usual DEFCON 4 to DEFCON 3 from here on out, and I suggest other countries do the same with their respective alert systems and start shaking up the army and air force.

Take no chances, sir."

And she got a nod and a tired sigh from the most powerful man in the United States.

She knew president Miller well because of Japan and America's close ties nowadays, and she spoke to him enough times to know that he supported their cause wholeheartedly because their success would ensure the continued well-being of not just Americans, but the people of the world as well as the ship girls.

In a world where everyone always played an angle or had secret agendas, President Miller once explicitly told her in private that he appreciated how Admiral Mako didn't slow down to play political games with anyone and often made situations simpler by causing support for all the right causes to snowball, forcing other people's hands in situations like this where she held down the speak button, overriding everyone's right to talk as she spoke into the microphone.

"Look, if you think I'm doing this to get attention from you all or whatever, don't even bother.

Realistically speaking, I don't give a shit about you all and the games you play.

I don't give a shit about your petty land disputes, your dick-measuring contests with the size of your armies and air force, or even your little vendettas and secret alliances that change with every passing day, not unlike a high school's cliques and melodrama.

What I give a shit about is the continued survival of the people who make up the people of this Earth, as well as the lives of your families; your wives, your children, your children's children and all the citizens of your respective countries.

I want to save them from being wiped out by 'Apocalypse' or prevent them from being stuffed into a gas chamber at the end of it all, and make sure that enough of us remain after the dust settles in order to convince ourselves that our sacrifices have all been worth it.

What comes next will engulf everyone in another World War, and this time, it won't just be the ship girls' fight while we get sidelined, because every human being on Earth is an acceptable target; No Geneva Conventions, no likelihood of a ceasefire and certainly no end to this horrid war unless we push them back, or die trying."

She was met with silence, everyone soaking in the fact that an Admiral who cared nothing for the inner workings of even her own country's political system was dropping the truth on everyone indiscriminately, and she was only concerned with saving as many human beings and ship girls as she could, regardless of nation, race or whatever.

Anyone who tried to compromise their own survival by getting in the way of that goal for whatever petty or insane reason would be steamrolled, and they knew it.

Good.

She cared not for their little games that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, speaking in a no-nonsense tone as she pressed on her keyboard and clicked on various icons with her mouse.

"I just want to get this on record with a poll via teleconference.

In our movement to counter 'Apocalypse', does every country here pledge to give their all to repel the Abyssal invasion and extend their aid to one another regardless of history, agenda or political position which is not unlike a disaster relief effort, should any country or group of countries be invaded by the Abyssals?

That we should strengthen not just our own forces, but actively work with other countries without bias in order to achieve a common goal of winning the Abyssal War and assuring the continued existence of all mankind and ship-girl-kind?"

Knowing that some countries might somehow still vote 'no' for some asinine reason, or might try to discuss and implement conditions to benefit their own country, decided to keep things short by simply getting everyone to agree on banding together to fight the Abyssals by hoarding the speaking rights via holding down her 'speak' button.

"Oh, by the way, I don't take 'no' for an answer, so feel free to discuss matters with your aides until you vote 'yes' before we end this teleconference.

From there, I'll list down and proceed to negotiate with you all the terms and conditions on a case-by-case basis in which you will fulfill in order to fuel the ship girl war machine.

The Abyssals have made their first mistake in allowing us a sporting chance to fight back, but it'll take the combined effort of everyone in order to successfully repel them.

Anything less, and we're already dead.

Time's-a-ticking."

Releasing her hand from the 'speak' button, she transferred her hold to her feet as she raised her legs onto the table and placed her heels on the 'speak' button before overlapping her legs in order to weigh down on the button, essentially overriding everyone with pure silence on her end just as they began to speak in order to voice their desired conditions or try to get a favorable word in edgewise.

Having silenced them all with her 'speak' button, she watched them all mime speaking as she broke out a Kubota sake bottle and took a hearty swig from it while she watched them all grow frustrated when they knew that they could do nothing but vote 'yes' to a wholly reasonable cause of fighting a global Abyssal invasion and averting the extinction of mankind, all while those who had already planted themselves firmly in the 'yes' camp included the U.S.A, China, U.K., Germany, Japan, France, Russia and most of Europe, amongst other major world powers.

Everyone had to fall in line and agree to fund the ship girl war machine for the sake of self-preservation, and she saw that more and more countries eventually agreed to her simple conditions of fighting as one people (on paper, anyway), the condition which elevated their dire situation to B-movie status where the world unified against an alien menace.

Ah, it's good to be the king, or in her case, the queen.

She leaned in as she started listing her general conditions which most countries would follow before she went and fine-tuned them to each country on a case-by-case (technically a country-by-country) basis, amongst them were several which she knew a few countries would find difficult to uphold.

But there was no other choice.

If their fates weren't chained together before by virtue of simply being human, they certainly were now when Apocalypse promised the deliverance of death to every human in existence as equals.

"Alright, guys.

Here's what we're going to do in order to not-die…"