Author's Note
Well, it's been about a year since I've started writing this story, yay me. /r/sarcasm.
I never thought I'd get this far, and although I personally prefer to take my ego and pride out of the equation and choose to let the quality of my work speak for itself, lately, I've realized that this might be an excuse for not having much self-esteem in the first place.
Not believing in my ability to write caused me to have a creator breakdown in the past by rewriting everything, and although it's gotten a little better (maybe), I still want to genuinely thank every single one of you readers out there for standing by me.
Nagato was sitting on the stage of Yokosuka's sports hall on the afternoon of the 23rd of May, the spacious sports hall housing all the ship girls of Yokosuka as they listened to Admiral Mako while she spoke to them about their designated positions in the upcoming naval battle, looking over at the end of the hall to see the Coordinators speaking to several senior officers which represented the JMSDF, JASDF, JGSDF and the USAF while they were surrounded by their posse.
The JMSDF officer wore a black suit with a white undershirt and black tie while he had a black and white peaked cap in his hand, along with six golden buttons arranged in a double-line formation on his guts, while the JGSDF had a grey suit variant with a blue tie and the JASDF had a naval-blue suit variant.
The USAF officer was standing alongside the JASDF officer and had a Japanese male officer beside him, the latter likely as a translator for the nuances of the Japanese language which few non-natives would understand, and both USAF officer and translator were wearing army-green slacks and zipper shirts, with their insignia where their breast pockets were supposed to be.
They all sported high-ranking designs on their epaulets to even be invited here in the first place, and to the left of their chests were military ribbon racks which were filled with distinguished service ribbons as well as a few pinned medals, earned painstakingly throughout their careers.
They looked to be in their 60s, and Mr. JASDF and JGSDF had slightly receding hairlines despite sporting crew cuts while Mr. JMSDF had some wrinkles of his face after looking to be the eldest of the power trio, and they all had knowing looks on their faces, Admiral Mako informing them of their roles beforehand in order to coordinate the deployment of fighter planes, warships and ground vehicles in time for the Battle of Twelve Navies.
This was opposite to the ship girls' M.O., who could train themselves up and be informed of their roles only a few days before the main battle to simply suit up at the harbor and head out at the drop of a hat, but modern war vehicles, especially warships, required up to a week or so of resupplying and refueling (not including repairs) before heading out again, so they had already warmed up the engines of their ground and air vehicles, and their warships were already moving into place as she thought to herself.
Going by the escalating severity of the impending shitstorm, Admiral Mako had likely shared with them vital information regarding Apocalypse and got them preparing for a possible land invasion as soon as she convinced them of the likelihood of its occurrence.
The human engineers Akio and Kousuke were leaning back on the wall at the end of the hall, speaking in hushed tones about what she assumed was Project Psyche while she saw that everyone in the hall was seated on the floor in cross-legged positions, and dimmed light rays shone down on them and provided illumination while the air-conditioners which were located above the entrances, along with the myriad of fans, kept the hall at a moderate temperature.
She already knew that she was part of the battleship's 7th Strike Group, not that Yokosuka's battleship fleet alone made up the entirety of the 7th Strike Group in the Battle of Twelve Navies, since other naval bases would send their own fleets so that the 7th Strike Group in the large-scale battle would consist of seven or more fleets.
As to the Battle itself…
The Battle of Twelve Navies was supposed to consist of over a dozen Strike Groups, and the ship girls which hailed from naval bases to the West and the North were going to be in the 11th and 13th Strike Groups respectively.
The 1st Strike Group, the only one to consist of two fleets, would be the front-line combatants and the main bait to draw the Abyssals into the naval mine formation.
The 2nd and 3rd Strike Groups were to be the Torpedo Squadrons.
The 4th and 5th Strike Groups consisted of carriers.
The 6th and 7th Strike Groups consisted of battleships.
The 8th, 9th and 10th Strike Groups were the backup fighters, smaller than the 1st individually, but outnumbering those in the 1st when the three backup Strike Groups were together.
The 12th Strike Group was made up of Yokosuka's 8th Fleet and whoever was unlucky enough to be grouped with them because they, being wildcards, were dangerous enough to be a force of nature all on their own.
The gathering today was to notify everyone of their roles in the Battle of Twelve Navies, although it could be accomplished by a notification board; this gathering was also for the Coordinators to iron out several contingency plans with the JSDF brass in case their plans fell apart.
It also allowed Admiral Mako to address several important details with everyone, like the disappearance of the submarines for the past month, and addressing the Flying Dutchman threat officially and explaining what countermeasures they were going to put in place to deter it from interfering in their battle, namely the combined might of the JSDF trinity.
Something else which Nagato knew Admiral Mako had to give the bird carriers a heads-up about was the no-fly zone above the naval mines, something Admiral Mako made sure other naval bases were notified of before the battle.
Due to her nasty little explosive surprise which only the the Admirals and the upper echelons of ship girls in Yokosuka alone knew about, they had to enforce a no-fly zone in the air directly above and around the naval mine formation, in case their planes were unwittingly knocked out of the sky because of the blast wave which was produced by the ungodly explosion on the ocean.
If the upper echelons of the ship girl knew of the trap that was to be sprung on the Abyssals, the leaders of the fleets were invited to an after-dinner meeting last night in order to give them a general idea of the plan flowed, but wouldn't be notified of the explosive traps which were currently lying in wait beneath the ocean…
The rest of the ship girl population would follow the flagships of the fleets which made up the Strike Groups, and while they would be less-informed than their flagships, they knew that as soldiers, they shouldn't demand to know of the larger picture or question their commanding officers about why, for their duty was to do or die.
Now that the land-assault training session on the 22nd was over and the ship girls had finished their dinner in order to refill their stomachs, Admiral Mako had the Coordinators gather the flagships of the fleets which would be part of the various Strike Groups.
For the 1st Strike Group, which consisted of two fleets as they needed more front-line combatants, the elder Inazuma was in charge since she was the oldest and most experienced ship girl behind Akashi, and Atago led the second fleet of the 1st Strike Group.
Abukuma and Kitakami, two dependable seniors, were in charge of the 2nd and 3rd Strike Groups, aka the Torpedo Squadrons.
Kaga and Hiryuu were to be the flagships of the 4th and 5th Strike Groups to deliver death from above.
She was the flagship of the 6th Strike Group while Yamato was the flagship of the 7th, and the 8th, 9th and 10th were led by Nachi, Kinugasa and Ashigara, since all three of them had a good head on their shoulders.
Akashi was present, and Nagato was frankly surprised at seeing her show up, but she appreciated her presence after considering the alternative that was disrespecting the Admiral by skipping this briefing, even if she knew of the plan and the surprise.
Right now, these flagships were gathered at the isolated harbor as the sun had already set before this, the Coordinators also present as she heard Admiral Mako speak to all of them about the battle while a lamppost illuminated the crowd.
"Well, hello.
If you're gathered here courtesy of the Coordinators, know that you've been selected as flagships for the upcoming large-scale battle, and I'll be sharing with you the rough outlines of my plan.
I trust you all to make your own decisions on the battlefield, but this is how I want the battle to play out."
Everyone turned to look around at the gathered seniors around them, and it was evident that even though Inazuma was vertically challenged when compared to the likes of Yamato or even the light cruisers, she was accepted as a senior who was older than others in some sense, having lived ten full years alongside their Admiral as her loyal starter ship and was a veteran, through and through.
Admiral Mako then continued,
"The Battle of Sagami-nada Sea, or as some you have taken to calling it, the Battle of Twelve Navies, will be occurring in a few days, and according to the increased accuracy of our Abyssal unit readings at the bottom of the sea within the Safety Zone, which is estimated to be located somewhere around here in these upcoming days."
Opening up the file which she knew Ooyodo would torrent to the others, Nagato saw that the region of blue which indicated the sea on the map had a rectangular region connecting Oshima Island to the tip of Southwest Chiba, and a red blob was parked right outside of that rectangle, adjacent to the Izu Islands and cutting them off from the Pacific.
"Fear not.
This green rectangular region you see on the map is a result of our fellow submarines, who have spent the last month or so planting naval mines in this region; It's why you haven't seen them around for a while, although some of you here might find it preferable."
Nagato could see that several ship girls present lifted an eyebrow in acknowledgement, because even though submarines mostly did their job behind the scenes, to go so long without seeing one peek their head out somewhere on the ocean or appear around the base might cause concern in some, but with this, those concerns were now put to rest.
Admiral Mako continued her explanation of her plans, speaking of the several white arrows which met the Abyssals halfway, as well as the locations of the JMSDF warships and JGSDF ground vehicles in real-time along with the highlighted air bases further inland, explaining.
"In the first stage of the battle, the 1st, 11th and 13th Strike Groups will triple-team the Abyssals before the naval mine formation, since the Abyssals will be forced to surface there.
Inazuma and Atago, expect support to come from the West and the North."
Three white arrows in the first slide, which represented Strike Groups, were labelled '1', '11' and '13' as they headed towards the Abyssals from Tokyo Bay, the West and the North respectively, and Admiral Mako continued.
"Along with the Torpedo Squadrons of the 2nd and 3rd Strike Groups, the carriers of the 4th and 5th Strike Groups and the battleships of the 6th and 7th Strike Groups, you will all be stationed further behind in order to provide support during this stage."
The supporting Strike Groups were positioned like the seats in an amphitheater, where the 2nd and 3rd Strike Groups were located at 10 and 2 o'clock in order to allow their torpedoes to cross-fire and catch more Abyssals that way, while the battleships and carriers were positioned in between 11 to 1 o'clock to damage the Abyssals at long range.
Admiral Mako continued, signalling for them to turn to the next slide which corresponded with the next stage of the battle.
"After which, we'll proceed to the second stage of the battle, the tactical retreat.
This is where we disperse like a receding wave, and the supporting Strike Groups are to cover the 1st's escape, especially the battleships and torpedo squadrons.
The 1st, 11th and 13th Strike Groups will be provided with smokescreen grenades to be used in their retreat, and they'll be ordered to perform incomplete combustion with their riggings in order to provide the mother of all smokescreens to block the Abyssals right where you'll see the black smoke symbol.
We've predicted that the weather will be rather favorable in these upcoming days, especially since it's summer, and the Abyssals will have to sit outside and endure our long-range shelling while we escape into the smokescreen, for fear of an ambush.
And when we're all clear of the area, we wait until they follow us in or piss off back into the ocean, that's if they don't fall for the bait."
Watching the white arrows of the 1st, 11th and 13th retreat beyond the green rectangle of naval mines, a smokey-black translucent wall now overlapped the naval mine formation and blocked the Abyssal horde from advancing.
There was another symbol on the ocean which was a simple boat hull with sails, yet everyone knew what it was since it was marked with an ominous, yet simple,
'FD'.
But it wasn't the focus of the briefing right now as Nagato saw that all the Strike Groups were now beyond the smokescreen, and the Abyssals were now advancing into the smokescreen, although it was now more of a best-case scenario since they couldn't predict what the Abyssals would do when the time came, and these were only plans for every possible scenario.
"Now, these are speculations on what the enemy would do, and this is the best-case scenario, but you all know not to expect the best, just the worst.
I'll be directing the battle in real-time, so rest easy.
Should the Abyssals advance and pursue the fleeing 1st Strike Group, we have the naval mine formation to force them to surface and go over the mines, and should they be sailing over the mines while still in the smokescreen, this is where we go to stage three, the bombardment phase.
Everyone will dog-pile all their torpedoes, shells and payloads onto the Abyssals on Nagato's command, and under the most ideal of circumstances, we can destroy a large portion of their invading forces with this.
And a warning for carriers…"
She could see another slide pop up on her HUD, showing a side view of the ocean which occupied the bottom half of the window along with the naval mines, the smokescreen above it colored in black with an approaching clip-art of a bomber plane, Admiral Mako going into detail about how potentially dangerous this stage was for all pilots.
"Look, this here is a no-fly zone because of the expected large explosions and blast waves which will no doubt ensue as a result of concentrating all our fire in the smokescreen.
And don't worry, I'll be notifying the others about this no-fly zone tomorrow."
An Abyssal drawing was standing on the surface of the ocean, positioned within the smokescreen and above the mines, looking oblivious about the bomber plane as the smokescreen was then occupied by a big, red 'X' mark and words saying,
'DO NOT FLY HERE!
REALLY BIG BOOM HERE!'
And as the dive bomber approached, instead of diving in and dropping its payload, Nagato saw that the bomber plane flew at a considerable height above the smokescreen, eventually pulling up in order to toss the payload into the smokescreen.
A torpedo bomber dropped its payload at a distance from the smokescreen before performing a bank in order to circle back to its carriers, and a jet fighter's JDAM missile flew in while the Strike Groups chipped in with their torpedoes and large-caliber shells, completely annihilating the Abyssal as its eyes were crossed out, and its tongue stuck out as it sank.
Admiral Mako pointed out that the smokescreen was a dangerous place for planes, bomber or jet, to be anywhere near it even without factoring in the naval mine surprise.
"Since we expect a lot of explosions and a large blast wave to radiate from here, if you're sending out dive bombers, please don't fly near the smokescreen, and instruct your fleets and every one of their bombers to fly at an elevated height and drop their payloads as if you're carpet-bombing the Abyssals.
The USAF and the JASDF will fire their JDAM missiles as per usual at a distance, but I gave them a heads-up to not get too close for fear of enemy attacks and collateral damage should they get caught in the explosion.
But to wipe out a large chunk of the enemy horde is the best-case scenario, and another scenario is where the Abyssals stay beyond the smokescreen and don't pursue us, and we pepper them with long-range cannons and torpedoes.
This way, they'd be turned off by the smokescreen and deterred by our naval mines, so they'll be delayed long enough for us to take pot shots at them with shells and torpedoes, and simply waiting for the wind to disperse the smokescreen would mess up the momentum of their invasion.
And this is the fourth stage…"
The next slide was simply every single one of the arrows pointing towards the Abyssals, circling the Abyssal horde and simply annotating,
'FUCK 'EM UP!"
And everyone was silenced as the Admiral spoke about the final phase of the plan, which in of itself was rather simple.
Dogpiling.
"The final stage of the battle is to simply dogpile the Abyssals with everything we have, and in this case, bring the fight to them when they're confused and crush them before they can regroup and consolidate their remaining manpower.
We hold nothing back here, and we throw everything we have at them until they sink or retreat."
Admiral Mako now seemed as if she understood that they would have a few questions, and the slideshow now changed to a simple white slide with a large Q/A in black fonts, speaking.
"I know that you might have several questions, and I'm pretty sure that one question might be,
'Can't the Abyssals send sacrificial units to set off the mines, thus allowing them a chance to slip through the naval mine formation?'
Good question."
The slideshow changed to another slide, this time of Abyssals staying out of the naval mine's increased area of effect due to shock waves propagating further and dealing more damage underwater, causing them nothing but trouble as they had to send sacrificial units to their deaths one by one, drastically slowing down their advance and withering down their numbers in the process.
"Well, with the aid of the manufacturing lines sponsored by the Japanese government, we've been able to keep our refitted mine-laying vessels busy by laying mines in a tight-knit formation without being too close to set each other off in a chain reaction should one detonate.
So even if they wish to initiate a brute-force attack from beneath and screw us from beneath, we can get the front-liners, AKA the 1st, 11th and 13th to retreat and regroup with the backup 8th, 9th and 10th Strike Groups in the time it takes them to break through the naval mine formation.
Shock waves deal more damage underwater, so they'd have to slow down their advance while already moving around pretty slowly underwater, especially since they don't want to any more Abyssal units to get caught in the increased blast radius, slowing them down enough for us to implement our contingency plans, which I won't go into full detail in the interest of time."
Now that the slide changed back to the 'Q/A' screen, Admiral Mako moved onto another question which she predicted ahead of time.
"And to address the elephant in the room, or the whale on the ocean, whatever you all call it nowadays, is the Flying Dutchman, and how we're going to enlist the help of the JSDF to help even the odds."
Everyone, including Nagato, inhaled sharply, because it was clear that the Flying Dutchman wouldn't be missing from the action, especially during such an important battle when it could be providing supporting fire with its frighteningly potent cannons and missiles.
"The JMSDF will have their submarines and destroyers patrolling the ocean for it to arrive, while the JASDF will try to engage it in the air and the JGSDF with their ground vehicles if it is within range, although we've predicted that it would likely position itself so that only the JMSDF and JASDF can approach it with their ships and planes respectively.
But with their M270 MLRS, Type 12 and 88 Surface-to-Ship missiles tinkered to target Abyssal targets courtesy of the Fairies, the JGSDF can and will provide rocket strikes on Abyssal units at any stage of the battle, along with the JASDF whenever they're available."
Showing the range of the land vehicles the JGSDF had on land as they were being moved onto Oshima Island and the coast of Chiba even as they spoke, Admiral Mako continued as the dots and triangles on the map, indicating the naval and aerial combat units of the JMSDF and the JASDF respectively, moved into place.
"When the Dutchman shows itself, we'll have the JMSDF destroyers and submarines engage it in battle before the JASDF, who will be split between performing bombing runs on the Abyssals and the Flying Dutchman, comes in to assist them.
We'll dedicate some reconnaissance planes dedicated solely to the task of tracking and calculating the flight path of airborne missiles fired from the Dutchman's deck in order to display warnings on your HUD and to highlight the area where the missile would hit and cause splash damage.
And if you ask why what do we do on the extremely off-chance that the Flying Dutchman sends out missiles in order to disperse the smokescreen, well…"
Clicking to show the map of Kanto again with the green naval mines, white arrows and red blob on the backdrop of the blue ocean, Admiral Mako continued,
"Should the Flying Dutchman appear and try to disperse the smokescreen by firing its missiles at the smokescreen, causing it to dissipate with the missile's explosion and shock waves, we are to execute a faster-paced variant of stage three and four, to the point of synchronicity, because the Abyssal armada cannot advance while its missiles are trying to clear the smokescreen.
The carrier-based Strike Groups will hang behind as you all coordinate with the 11th and 13th Strike Groups to initiate a three-pronged aerial attack along with the 2nd and 3rd's torpedo salvos, so here's how it's going to go in this case.
The Dutchman fires its missiles in order to clear the smokescreen, we coordinate our bomber planes and torpedo salvos such that we free up the main bulk of our forces to charge them and cross the dissipated smokescreen before they do.
Should they get distracted by our charge, they can't focus on the bombers and torpedoes and lose a portion of their armada, but if they focus on surviving the bomber plane and torpedo assault, they'll be too late to stop us from fighting them up close and personal, negating much of the firepower they've brought.
Not exactly the most plausible of scenarios, but should the smokescreen be compromised, we'll have to wing it and see how the Abyssals play their hand, but I'll there to lead you all in real time."
Everyone looked satisfied with the contingencies put in place for almost any foreseeable scenario, and although their Admiral was by no means an oracle, it was safe to say that she had done her best in trying to think up of how the Battle of Twelve Navies would go, Nagato and Yamato both noticing and leaning in as Admiral Mako leaned in to whisper in their ears, being her closest confidantes.
"And in the case of the last scenario, we won't be using the explosive surprise.
We'll be going with that only if we can bait them to us, and we won't be activating them if we have to resort to contingency plans.
I trust you two to lead everyone and pull off my plan to the best of your abilities, and if Nagato is to lead the Strike Groups, Yamato can be the one to judge when the right time is to spring the trap."
The both of them nodded resolutely, understanding that Admiral Mako was entrusting the two of them, essentially the twin embodiment of the IJN by virtue of being the name ships of the strongest battleship classes, with the role of leading them to victory.
And even though it was unprofessional of the Admiral should she act this way, but Nagato also suspected that deep down, she trusted them as her lovers to do their best, and that her feelings for them might translate into favoritism and play a part in choosing who to lead.
But then, she was in love with her battleships, three of whom were the most powerful ship girls in their arsenal in terms of firepower and prestige, so perhaps it wasn't entirely out of the question to default the leadership role in these cases to those closest to her anyway.
Looking back at Admiral Mako as she spoke to the crowd of ship girls while the Coordinators spoke to the human officers at the other end of the hall, Nagato felt herself start to tremble a little at the thought of stepping out into a battle as fierce, as large as this in terms of scale.
Controlling her breathing and folding her arms so that she wouldn't reveal any signs of weakness to her comrades, she thought about this warm feeling in her body.
This wasn't fear, she was sure.
It was almost out of the question for her to feel this way, because she was a powerhouse who couldn't be touched, and being the most famous ship in the IJN outside of the Yamato-Class, who was kept secret during the war as a 'secret weapon' (for all the good it did), this would mean that she wasn't afraid of being in the leadership position and being the flagship since she had her terrifying cannons at the ready to annihilate enemies.
No.
This was… excitement.
To be able to truly let loose on the battlefield, the sting of being shot notwithstanding thanks to her armor, and with her cannons being able to give even the strongest of Princesses a run for their money, she had always found herself secretly looking forward to a day like this.
Facing opponents who wouldn't simply break like toys when she introduced her fist to their faces, and to feel alive where the warship part of herself belonged.
And even when she understood that being a 'land ship' was for the best so that they wouldn't burn a hole in their resources if she stepped onto the ocean, but…
Living on land as a Coordinator for so long with only sporadic battles breaking up the monotonous day to day grind, as a veteran who had been through a few scrapes in her past life, prolonged periods of peace blurred the passing of days and made her restless for battle.
Perhaps the lack of battle dulled her senses, and because she felt no pain during her time on land since no coffee table leg, knife or mosquito bite could penetrate her skin even with her ship girl mode off, it was why she felt as if she was going through the motions of life without feeling afraid of anything, while being constantly wary of breaking everything around her.
However, she could certainly feel something physically in terms of pleasure, something Admiral Mako was quick to confirm shortly after they became an official couple…
Looking away from her Admiral with a slight blush on her face, she got her thoughts back on track as she leaned back on the steel seat, hearing it creak underneath her weight.
She wasn't sure if wanting to protect mankind from the Abyssal menace had anything to do with it, but she liked to think it did, because she was supposed to be a selfless warrior of mankind, and nothing like the 8th Fleet, who indulged in battles mostly to fulfill their blood-lust and to enjoy themselves.
Shameless, utterly shameless.
She disliked how the 8th Fleet fought only for themselves, and how they didn't even try and pretend as if they were fighting for mankind's best interests.
True, a ship girl was created with the primary purpose of fighting, not to leave behind descendants, live comfortably and die peacefully like humans did, and a ship girl's end was usually grisly with piercing- cold seawater embracing them again as they sank back into the abyss, but still…
To fight for the continued existence of mankind and its future generations was the greatest glory a ship girl could be bestowed with, but the ship girls of the 8th Fleet were instead selfish and chose to lead a hedonistic lifestyle by enjoying their sorties, something few ship girls even considered because of how inappropriate it was, to enjoy something so grim and destructive.
And the best counterargument they could give when she once asked them,
"Why are you the way you are?"
Was when she received this answer, paraphrased to encompass a single viewpoint which almost every 8th Fleet member shared.
"You only live twice.
We've sunk once in our past lives during World War 2 in gruesome or pathetic manners, so in this life, shouldn't we try to enjoy our time on earth, even if we're sortieing?
After all, no one cares how messed up we are so long as we get the job done, and our time in this new life is limited with relatively little chance of retiring, so why not live selfishly while we're still here, instead of angsting over the horrors of war and dying without truly living?"
She inwardly scoffed at their life views, having convinced herself that she was nothing like them simply because she looked forward to fighting in the Battle of Twelve Navies.
Just because she wanted to fight didn't mean that she was doing it for selfish reasons, and that was what differentiated her from ship girls in the 8th Fleet; she hadn't given up on the purpose behind the humans bringing them back from the void, and that was to defend the world selflessly from the Abyssal threat in the hopes of a better future.
However, she had to admit, even if she disliked how they only fought for themselves and for the present without sparing a thought for the future, they were truly a force of nature unto themselves in which the Abyssals were hard-pressed to try and counter, because they used extremely unconventional weapons and tactics, like Hayasui's flamethrower, and as the fleet oiler had once quipped, fire beat armor any day of the week.
They ranked as the top auxiliary fleets in the world in terms of performance at the expense of their infamous reputation preceding them and everyone fearing them to the point where others had to be ordered into working with them, and they had their own Strike Group since they had to be monitored that closely, they were a wildcard which everyone had to work around.
She craned her neck to look around at the slideshow on the unrolled projector screen which hung from the top of the stage, and she could see the ship girls arranged into small Strike Group fleets so that they could form up with the mini Strike Groups of other naval bases in order to form a dedicated Strike Group to fight in the Battle of Twelve Navies.
'1st Strike Group - Assault
Inazuma (Flagship 1)
Kagerou
Sendai
Yukikaze
Haguro
Myoukou
Atago (Flagship 2)
Chitose
Kawakaze
Furutaka
Maya
Shiranui'
'2nd Strike Group - Torpedo Squadron 1
Abukuma (Flagship)
Shigure
Jintsuu
Naka
Akatsuki
Kuma'
'3rd Strike Group - Torpedo Squadron 2
Kitakami (Flagship)
Murakumo
Hatsuharu
Ooi
Ushio
Choukai'
'4th Strike Group - Carrier 1
Kaga (Flagship)
Akagi
Zuikaku
Shoukaku
Junyou
Saratoga'
'5th Strike Group - Carrier 2
Hiryuu (Flagship)
Souryuu
Zuihou
Amagi
Ryuujou
Shouhou'
'6th Strike Group - Battleship 1
Nagato (Flagship)
Kongou
Hiei
Musashi
Ise
Hyuga
'7th Strike Group - Battleship 2
Yamato (Flagship)
Haruna
Kirishima
Mutsu
Bismarck
Takao'
'8th Strike Group - Backup 1
Kinugasa (Flagship)
Suzuya
Chiyoda
Shimakaze
Yuudachi
Hatsushimo'
'9th Strike Group - Backup 2
Nachi (Flagship)
Tone
Chikuma
Kumano
Fubuki
Kasumi'
'10th Strike Group - Backup 3
Ashigara (Flagship)
Ayanami
Kinu
Ikazuchi
Isuzu
Hibiki'
'12th Strike Group - Auxiliary
Akashi (Flagship)
Akitsu Maru
Kiso
Hayasui
Unryuu
Hatsuzuki'
Looking back at the crowd of ship girls before them, she could see that they now sat in their respective fleets which formed Strike Groups in order to discuss team dynamics, and she got up from her seat and tossed her file on the chair for Admiral Mako to look through, spotting her own fleet which consisted of her as the flagship, Kongou, Hiei, Musashi, Ise and Hyuga.
Sitting herself down along with them, she looked around at the battle-hardened faces of her comrades, all of which had seen their fair share of battle, even Musashi, who had endured a valiant last stand at Leyte Gulf.
She saw that even Kongou, who was known for being exuberant and outgoing, was also capable of cutting the bullshit and getting down to business as she leaned in with a serious expression on her face, asking Nagato respectfully.
"So, what's the plan?"
Nagato, knowing everything about how the battle should go, but didn't want to load them down with too many plans to think about before the battle as she simply stated.
"We stand further back during the early stages of the battle, and then when the time is right, and you'll certainly know when it is when the time comes, we'll sail forward and devastate them all at close range.
Just because we are battleships doesn't mean we should resign ourselves to standing back and fire at them with no chance of entering the battle like the days of old; after all, a modern age of naval warfare coupled with new bodies would mean that our doctrines would have to be heavily revised and updated."
Everyone nodded at that reasoning, understanding that the reasons why they lost on the ocean in World War 2 was not just due to falling behind in terms of technological advances and the inability to replace lost units, but their superiors also thought that land tactics could be brought to sea, and their command structure was too rigid back then, which didn't allow for lateral thinking and the ability to act alone and improvise.
The world learnt lessons from all sides, and one lesson from Japan was to 'soften up' command structures and get the ship girls acquainted with doing what they felt was right in order to win, especially since the ship girls were veterans and thus far more knowledgeable about what not to do, and even the Admirals back in the First Decade knew when to listen to their ship girls when they said,
'This is a bad idea.'
Something else which they had to get used to in order to keep up in a battle of doctrines was to think out of the box, because being reincarnated into humanoid bodies meant that a paradigm shift had to follow, lest the IJN make…
Well, not make the same mistakes, but make all new mistakes.
Humanoid steel bodies meant that torpedoes gained an another level to their deadliness, because despite the lessened odds of hitting a ship girl or Abyssal (a ship girl was smaller than a ship, presenting a smaller target), but because of the lessened contact with the ocean, blowing off even one of two legs was all that was needed to cripple and potentially sink them.
Musashi cracked her knuckles menacingly, looking forward to the fight as she boasted.
"This is the day I've been waiting for.
We will shake the heavens awake with the symphony of our cannons all firing as one."
Hyuga lifted an eyebrow as she agreed, speaking for everyone as she spoke.
"Well, that much we can agree on.
I take it we get the chance to get up close and personal with the Abyssals in close-quarters engagement, and not simply stand back as long-range nukers?"
Nagato nodded, turning to look everyone in the eye as she explained how they would get the chance to fight up close and personal.
And while this would have been a suicidal move in the past due to their speed being as slow as molasses, in the modern age, their humanoid bodies granted them extra maneuverability, the extreme example of this being the 8th Fleet who mostly ran and boosted around their enemies despite their boat slippers possessing low top speeds.
"Yes.
In the final stages of the battle, it will be a free-for-all as it's always been, and because we can't afford to waste ammunition and fuel, getting up close and personal can and will increase the accuracy of the former and save on the latter.
We'll have to physically run around with our riggings on, though, since activating our boat slippers will consume large amounts of fuel."
Ise then chirped, lifting her arms and flexing them in the classic bodybuilding pose.
"Oh, don't you worry about that!
I mean, we're super-humans and such; a bit of P.T. never hurt anybody!"
She then turned to look down at her left forearm, her expression softening into a concerned one as she used her right hand to feel up her left bicep as she commented.
"Besides, I feel like I've been gaining a fair bit of weight recently, so I certainly need the exercise."
Hyuga rolled her eyes, and Hiei looked down with a fair bit of concern as she spoke.
"Well, not that I'm a stranger to close-quarters combat in this war, but I'm not exactly what you'd call proficient in any particular martial art, if we need to learn those kinds of things…"
But Ise comforted her, being one of the most knowledgeable battleships about close-quarters combat which played to the strengths of the battleship as she explained.
"Oh, don't you worry.
As battleships, our abundance of strength is a boon since you don't require too much skill or training in order to harness your full physical potential right now.
However, it would prove to be very useful should you train up on how best to apply that strength in the most devastating of ways down the road.
So cheer up!"
Hiei, after looking at Ise as the aviation battleship gave her reasons, looked away while looking a little more convinced of whether her physical abilities could carry her through this battle.
Nagato thought a little more about Apocalypse as she tuned out the conversation, and how the ship girls would fare when they were on land, fighting alongside humans.
She had already discussed things with the Admiral, and agreed that amongst the ship classes, the light cruisers would likely be the ones to gain a newfound importance on land since they were amongst the easiest ship classes to manufacture when compared to the classes above it.
And while the number of destroyer classes outnumbered the light and heavy cruiser classes combined, their body builds weren't ideal for land combat where most of the handheld weapons and vehicles were created with an adult, or at least a teenager in mind.
To have the destroyers fighting a land battle in Apocalypse was a given, simply due to how many of them there were, but the focus would be on light cruisers who had a better chance of going up against Abyssal humanoids, most of whom were at least teenagers like the Tsu-Class, to the fully matured Ru and Ta-Class battleships.
And for situations where physical confrontation was inevitable, the heavy cruisers would also be mass-produced in order to provide some muscle to go up against the Abyssals while light cruiser and destroyers formed the agile but fragile speedsters, and carriers would be the long-range snipers who could hold their own in close-quarters combat while battleships would be the straight-up tanks due to their armor and durability.
Thinking about Anti-Abyssal weapons, she knew that everything about ship girls and Abyssals were all cut from the same steel cloth, and Anti-Abyssal weapons, like their riggings and shells, were filled with impurities much like how carbon was added to iron to make steel, only this was the next level.
This was done in order to increase their durability, so that was why when an Anti-Abyssal sword cut into Abyssal flesh, it didn't simply break apart along with the damaged Abyssal.
The reason why they didn't use these impurities in the ship girl creation process was because it was like plastification in a sense; the steel which made up their flesh and skin was flexible and alive, but should they add these impurities, it would render their muscles hard and inflexible, and while this was a boon to their weapons who would benefit from the added toughness, it was a bane to their flesh since they would essentially become no different from mannequins, and that was definitely not a fate anyone would wish on their worst enemies.
Their riggings and shells possessed a certain amount of impurities so that they could penetrate armor according to the amount of impurities within them, and their steel bodies, while capable of imitating the toughness of their riggings when their ship girl mode was activated, were still considered 'soft armor' in which its surface possessed minute flaws, stretched, squeezed and possessed certain areas of lighter armor like a suit of plate armor, which made it imperfect despite shielding almost their entire body (it was modeled off of the human skin, after all).
'Hard armor', which their rigging was made out of, was more dependable than their steel skin, and was far easier to repair due to the lack of living flesh, tissue and blood to replace or heal.
But without their riggings on land, they would likely have to resort to body armor like human soldiers, simply because the armor of light cruisers were were simply not cut out for protecting them from a lot of the hard-hitting firearms that were out on the market, although one consolation was that it wasn't likely for a single round to kill a ship girl outside of hitting a perfect head-shot.
She wasn't sure if that would make land combat less intense, where both sides tried to place their shots where they counted, or even more intense when both sides kept powering on even in the face of intense firefights, where entire clips could be unloaded into tougher enemies in order to drop them.
Regardless, she knew that they were at a disadvantage, and this was where guerrilla and urban warfare would come in handy in order to tip the scales back to a point where they could convince themselves that they could handle the Abyssals.
Everything was to be used, from landmines to airstrikes, and although the Abyssals could plan where to attack in order to deliver the most devastating of blows, it was still a new playing ground for them, and the humans would have an advantage in that they knew how to play to their strengths, to scurry about and evade where the enemy was strong in order to strike at where the enemy was weak.
Contrary to popular belief, the backbone of every country's war machine wasn't the tough-looking tanks or planes, it was the supply vehicles and the military personnel carriers which delivered the fuel, ammo and soldiers to the front line.
And while it was rather difficult for the defending side to attack these vulnerable auxiliary vehicles in a straight-up fight, urban warfare meant that these vehicles were open to attack as mobile squadrons could use many tactics, ranging from mining the roads to sneaking about in the sewers in order to strike at the enemy's auxiliary vehicles.
Looking over at the engineers Akio and Kousuke, she also remembered that the engineers from several naval bases were banding together in order to work off of a radar-blocking area-of-effect pikes, where placing several pikes would block any radio waves from penetrating the area which was surrounded by the pikes.
This prototype, which was used by the Infiltration Fleet some time ago to capture and speak with the Abyssal known as Woxanne for the first time, was deemed to be too unreliable when used in an urban setting due to the inability of the pikes to detect and coordinate with each other in case a thick enough wall divided them, but the radar-blocking concept was still entertained in the latest concept of a radar-blocking smoke grenade.
Ship girls and Abyssals alike possessed radar, and while they could use their radar in order to find their way through the harmless smoke which only blocked their vision, for humans, they had to block the Abyssals' radar in order to gain something resembling equal ground as both sides would be truly blinded, and the Abyssals couldn't cheat with their radar should a skirmish break out with the humans already at a disadvantage.
Harmless particle-sized deflectors which propagated everywhere while numbering in the trillions, they would reflect radio waves everywhere to the point where the only thing any ship girl or Abyssal would detect was a smokey haze which they couldn't make heads or tails of.
Nagato looked down, feeling rather uncertain about how they would fare should the Abyssals pull off their invasion for real, turning to look around at the ship girls who were oblivious of what came next.
And although she understood why the Admiral didn't want to distract everyone from the battle that was to occur in a few days, she wasn't sure if everyone was mentally prepared for a land invasion, since for most ship girls, they regarded the land as their 'safe zone', where they convinced themselves that the Abyssals couldn't touch them on land, despite evidence pointing to the contrary in terms of the American blitzkrieg.
It was a form of solace in their line of work, because while the ocean was where they belonged, it was also a place of life and death where teammates were lost and found, and although they were out of their element on land, it was at least safer in the sense that they didn't have to worry about being shot at or be constantly on the lookout for Abyssals.
And watching the cheery, yet solemn faces of the destroyers and light cruisers, whose enthusiasm was dampened slightly by the fact that the Battle of Twelve Navies was looming on the horizon and inched closer with every day, Nagato was worried that with the advent of Apocalypse, those smiles would be completely wiped from their faces as they slowly felt that there were no safe havens from the Abyssals' advance, and they'd be hunted down to the ends of the earth.
It would be downright disheartening to see them crack under the stress like that, and she strove to do better in order to try and protect everyone, although…
She narrowed her eyes and exhaled sharply as she thought about Sakawa, who was confirmed to be resurrected as the Abyssal secretary who worked for the commander-in-chief Yuubari, and how she, much like Tatsuta and Tenryuu of the New Wave fleet, likely had superpowers which put the previously dominant Princesses in their place.
She had already accepted that it was her fault that Sakawa sank, and she wanted to see Sakawa again, even if she was now part of the Abyssal high command and had devastating powers which were currently unknown to them.
Looking at Shimakaze, she also recalled the rumors which were about an Abyssal Amatsukaze and her Beast speeding across the ocean while producing hellish flames and vapor in her wake.
If Shimakaze was still able to look this carefree, pressure of the upcoming battle notwithstanding, then it was probable that those around her chose not to relay those rumors to her for fear of distracting her from the Battle of Twelve Navies, and having her obsess about her sunk cousin ship wasn't going to do her any favors in the heat of battle.
Unfortunately, as a capital ship and a Coordinator, she had to keep up with the news and the rumor mill on occasion in order to get the full picture, so unlike the Shimakaze-Class destroyer, who could afford to not know or even suspect that their dead had returned as their enemies, she had to know of those who came back to haunt them.
So far, those who were confirmed to have returned as Abyssals were Yuubari and Sakawa, and a strongly suspected one was Amatsukaze of Yokosuka, especially since the Abyssals had dragged her down into the depths as she gave her life to protect Shimakaze.
Thinking back about Sakawa, she was genuinely afraid of how the Abyssalized light cruiser would treat her, and what the Abyssals had done in order to keep her alive as there were talks of some sort of reactor being installed in her chest where the Armored Carrier Princess had shot her, and she, in a fit of rage never felt again since then, snapped the bitch's neck…
A sinking feeling plagued her heart as she looked down with a dark expression and a scowl, and the fact that she had folded her arms meant that her sizable battleship breasts squeezed together and upwards, feeling rather down all of a sudden as she stared down at her cleavage.
She had always prided herself on being a professional, never truly holding a grudge against anyone, and even though she knew that the Abyssals were out for mankind's blood, this was a result of the circle of life where ship girls protected the humans in this life, and as vengeful spirits in the next, they came back as Abyssals in order to haunt the living due to unresolved earthly desires and attachments.
Killing them was a sacred duty to help them pass on and was hence very serious business, which was why it was heavily discouraged for them to either enjoy the process of killing or make it personal.
But in that moment, she was overcome by a hateful, overwhelming desire for revenge which she never knew she possessed, pressing on in the face of bomber planes and glancing shots in order to pull the Princess down from her Beast, giving her one hell of a beatdown and putting her in a headlock, before pulling and hearing the satisfying crack of the Abyssal's neck as she crumpled onto the floor like a puppet with its strings cut…
She closed her eyes and exhaled again as she felt a shiver down her spine, trembling a little at what she felt back then, that sensation being crystal clear in her mind no thanks to her perfect memory as a ship girl.
It wasn't disgust at her own actions.
It was exhilaration.
Joy at making the murderer suffer by her own hand.
This excitement partially came from feeling the satisfaction of being given the chance to exert herself physically, since as a battleship, she was often relegated to a supporting role and could only provide shelling support from afar, especially when she stuck closer to the 'traditional' methods of naval warfare back when she was getting accustomed to modern naval combat doctrine.
Feeling so impersonal in battle when your rigging and boat slippers did most of your work for you, she always felt as if her superhuman strength was never put to good use, and that she had this growing itch deep within her which she always tried to ignore in the past, the ever-growing desire to feel truly alive as a fighter and not feel numb, never feeling pain and always feeling scared of breaking everything around her with her super strength, restraining herself and never getting the chance to go all-out.
The thing about being a battleship was that, unlike almost other ship classes who prioritized movement as one crucial factor in their combat doctrine, battleships and carriers prioritized standing further behind and devastating the enemies with long-ranged attacks, especially if you weren't entirely used to close-quarters fighting, ship-girl style.
While she was certain carriers had their own issues with adapting to modern naval combat, one problem for battleships was the difficulty for newly-crafted units to reconcile their newfound super strength with the lack of opportunity to utilize it in combat unlike other ship classes, leading to a mounting frustration which she felt back then, being so strong but so distant from where the battle was and having to heavily suppress her strength on land, earning her victories with the help of her cannons and never by the sweat on her brows.
The fact that she was supposed to constantly be a role-model to everyone and be the headstrong, stoic leader whom everyone expected to do no wrong didn't help matters, as living up to this image 24/7 was getting to her back then, when she overestimated her ability to solve her own problems by herself, and was too proud to let others interfere.
Sakawa's sinking unleashed a pent-up dam of repressed frustration at being so strong, to be capable of destroying everything and everyone in sight, but was expected to constantly hold back her strength in order to prevent herself from becoming the raging bull in a world of china/ceramic and to be this perfect leader around the clock, and feeling unfulfilled even when on the ocean, where she couldn't utilize her physical strength to earn her victories due to her lack of skill and possessing large cannons which did the job for her, negating her physical gift and rendering her impotent.
And yet, for all her strength, she was unable to prevent someone from dying because she was essentially a goddess of destruction, not of healing, and nothing she could do would be able to bring Sakawa back.
This was before she became Admiral Mako's girlfriend and before Mutsu was crafted, so even if she had restrained herself physically, emotionally and mentally, the last two for the sake of being a professional who expressed no weaknesses and became the immovable linchpin of the naval base (along with Admiral Mako), Sakawa was someone who she could open up to in order to express herself freely and spoil like a pseudo-sibling.
And the Abyssal bitch took it all away.
Tanking the barrage and the bombers, she felt more alive than ever as hatred, a feeling she hadn't felt towards anyone (even the Americans) up to that point, drove her on while she took in all the pain, the adrenaline rush and lust for revenge preventing the pain from paralyzing her as she did something truly unprofessional.
She executed revenge for the sole purpose of self-satisfaction.
It was as if the world itself and its expectations of how she should fight and behave made her physically, emotionally and mentally suppress herself at all times, and Sakawa's death was a release for all three.
Looking back, she wondered if she was projecting her feelings of self-loathing onto the Abyssal Princess, because she hypothesized that in hating herself for not being able to protect Sakawa, even though she had evaded the shell which pierced through Sakawa's chest and the Abyssal bomber planes which forced her to move, she must've rationalized in the heat of the moment that the Armored Carrier Princess was more responsible than she was for Sakawa's sinking by sending out the bomber planes and firing the cannon shells, and she responded in kind by defeating and executing her.
She felt powerful in that situation, looking down at the Abyssal who dawned upon the realization that targeting the battleship's favorite comrade and sinking her was one surefire way to set her off, and as she loaded up her cannons to fire it at the Abyssal's temple, she could see that the Abyssal, lying on the ocean with an oddly-twisted neck, was looking more and more afraid of what Nagato was about to do, expressing genuine fear at dying for real.
And she could remember her power-and-revenge-fueled mind only thinking in response.
'Serves you right, bitch.'
The rest was history.
It would forever be a moment of shame for her, and she confided in others like Ashigara, Admiral Mako and Saratoga about her inability to save Sakawa and the addictive feeling of holding a life in her hands, and she had relentlessly trained herself in order to be able to destroy anyone should the Abyssals try to get in close in order to negate her strength of firepower.
Blushing a little at her train of thought, she also now had Admiral Mako to help, um, expertly 'relieve' her of any resurgent feelings of unfulfilled frustration before they hit critical, so this problem was pretty much non-existent right now and wasn't an immediate concern.
And as to that feeling about being the goddess of destruction and tying it back to the repair ship who led the 8th Fleet, she disliked Akashi, or at least, the Akashi of Yokosuka, because of how she wasted her greatest talent.
She could heal others in ways no one else could , yet she chose to deal death to others with her medical knowledge, and although she respected Akashi's abilities and was grateful for her invaluable contribution to the development of Yokosuka as a ship girl base, she disliked how she warped her own talents and views to the point of being,
1) A nihilist in terms of her own mission as a medic (everyone was healed for the sole purpose of being killed and sunk again, so why bother?)
2) A misanthropist for hitherto unknown reasons (although Nagato suspected abuse and neglect, and likely even worse in her past)
3) A hedonist in that she and her fleet of deplorables had no qualms about with exploiting their increased resistance to substance addiction by indulging in recreational drugs, as well as killing Abyssals with the intention of enjoying themselves, not even pretending to do it for the noble and altruistic mission of defending mankind.
But back to the present.
Her greatest concerns right now were these three, which spanned from the near to distant future.
The first was the Battle of Twelve Navies, and this one she was the least concerned about since she was nothing like her past self; She had been through enough battles to know what she was doing, and she now had the right teammates backing her, looking around at Musashi speaking to Hyuga while Ise spoke to Hiei and Kongou as she stuck out her tongue, crossed her eyes and formed a 'L' with her right hand and brought it up to her forehead in order to lightheartedly taunt the Kongou-Class battleships for losing to her in that one training session.
The second was meeting Abyssalized Sakawa, and how she was to face the light cruiser when she was directly responsible for her sinking and had some history with her, but in this case, she wasn't sure what to expect, so in order not to scare herself silly with her own paranoia, she kept her concerns to herself and did her best not to over-predict what Sakawa's New Wave ability was and what her responses would be.
The last concern was the most alarming despite being the longest-term, and it was her deep-seated desire to enjoy the thrill of combat like the 8th Fleet did, a blood-lust which, if left unchecked, drove her to try and feel alive when she felt bullets and shells bouncing of her skin, the sting and pain reinforcing the fact that she was fulfilling her purpose as a ship girl.
To sweat and bleed and push herself even further in order to earn her victories, all while enjoying the adrenaline rush and feeling entirely at home in her element, which consisted not only of the rhythmic crest and troughs of the shifting ocean, but the whizzing of projectiles and the explosions of payloads around her which caused her heart to beat like war drums in her chest and validate her existence as a one-woman war machine, this was what she feared.
She wasn't a barbarian, she was a noble warrior who was called back into service to protect the world and was fighting for something greater than herself.
But some part of her spat at this false notion of selflessness, and perhaps it was due to living on this earth for a while now that she had some time to think about things.
True, she was a machine of war, and the odds of retiring were stacked against her due to the mortality rate of a ship girl, especially with the eventual advent of Apocalypse.
This pretense of killing and suffering for a greater purpose was, in Unryuu's words, an opioid of sorts, for every ship girl to convince themselves in every sortie that everything they did, whatever they endured, it was for the sake of helping mankind win this horrid war and ease the pain that they felt, that it was all for a greater cause.
It was like a belief of sorts that everyone but a handful wholeheartedly believe in, that a better world would emerge from their individual sacrifices, but the heartlessness of their world would plague a ship girl's mind in her final hours, that this 'promised world' wasn't going to include her.
Despite giving her all, being on her best behavior and making the ultimate sacrifice, unlike humans who were promised to be let into Heaven if they did the same, all a ship girl was greeted with was a cold reunion with the crushing depths, with nothing to show but a tear-jerking departure from this world without even able to say goodbye to their sisters and friends, all while mankind marched on with their daily lives, and this similarity to their fates back in World War 2 was theorized to be the turning point where ship girls turned into Abyssals, where their subconsciousness chanted,
'That's not fair.
That's not fair…'
[THAT'S.
NOT.
FAIR.]
Nagato exhaled tiredly as she felt another chill run down her steel spine, feeling older all of a sudden after entertaining such morbid thoughts for so long as she turned back to the crowd of ship girls surrounding her, speaking to each other in tones ranging from worried to casual to focused, and she reaffirmed her dedication to the cause of protecting not just mankind, but also her comrades with all her heart.
Sure, this happiness wouldn't last for long, especially when Apocalypse rolled around and shook up their world, but ship girls and humans were tenacious and nothing short of determined in their drive to win, and she believed that her comrades would stay strong in the face of overwhelming odds.
Sure, they'd crack every now and then, but as she demonstrated, no one was perfect, and they had each other to pick up the pieces and heal these cracks, and although they'd leave their marks, as veterans, they were built to be tough, although not invincible.
Not even her, as much as she liked to give off that impression for everyone to place their faith in, but if there was one thing she learnt in her time in this new life, it was that others placing their faith in her as a leader ran the risk of them not believing in themselves enough, and since she learnt the hard way that she couldn't protect everyone, she needed them all to be strong in order to brave what came next.