After spending enough time recovering and helping the Central Division, James, Akagi, Alexis and Alec headed back home. The journey was long but quiet, no one wanted to say anything as they all felt the same. They wanted to go back, partly because it was time to proceed with the next step in the war but mostly it was because they missed all the familiar faces.
When they arrived, James was immediately set upon on all sides by the children. They quickly scooped him up and took him away before anyone could even register what happened. Akagi merely sighed and wondered how those ankle biters knew when he was coming.
After saying goodbye to Alec and Alexis, she met up with Kaga who appraised her of everything that went on during the couple's absence.
Alexis would see how Blake and Marie were doing while Alec headed to the Resistance's Headquarters. Though their victory was in the rear-view mirror, it did not detract from that fact that humanity now controlled more than half of the world. Alec was positive that such news would be delightful to the stuffed shirts to hear.
However, when he went inside, he was greeted with a rude awakening.
After greeting the others and informing them what he did with the Central Division, Ingrid reached into her pocket and took out a picture.
"Care to explain what this is?" she asked, sliding the picture across the table to Alec.
The strategist reached out, took the picture and recognized the contents immediately. It was a picture of James, Friedrich, Warspite and San Diego sitting on a bench, their heads tilted back as they were sound asleep. Their bodies were covered in bruises and everyone around them were busy with work, yet the four of them were sound asleep.
Alec recalled how this picture was doing the rounds among the Resistance. In light of the pivotal role the four played during that last operation, everyone thought it best to let them rest a little while they handled the heavy leg work.
As such the picture of the four sleeping without a care in the world brought a smile to some and to others it was a sign of how hard each of them worked to earn that rest. There was special attention given to James because of his status as a human.
Given the fundamental difference in strength between a regular shipgirl and a human, you'd think that the leader of the fleet would rely on them more to do the job. But there was James as equally beaten and bloodied as the rest, indicative of how he was in the thick of it with the rest of them.
Alec smiled a little and remembered how everyone kept the noise to a minimum around them and resorted to tiptoeing when near them.
Unfortunately for Alec, the others in the room did not share the same sentiments as he did.
"It was a picture taken after the four of them fought tooth and nail to beat Alpha," replied Alec, putting the photo on the table.
"That's all well and good," said Damien, crossing his fingers "but the question here is, why isn't there a picture of the Valkyries as well?"
"What do you mean?" asked Alec.
"From what I heard," elaborated Damien "the Valkyries played a pivotal role in taking down that destructive cannon. In fact, the only reason the rest of the fleet could move and provide support was because of their efforts."
"Yet, no one is celebrating them, no one is talking about them. Everyone is only talking about James and his exploits."
"To me," said Lakshmi, throwing her hat in "it seems like James sidelined them for the mission because he was afraid they'd steal his glory."
"What?" asked Alec, suddenly growing wide-eyed at the accusation.
"The Valkyries are on the same power level as Omega and her ilk," said Byron "that's why when Alexis, Blake and Marie transformed, Alpha left. She feared their power. James also feared their power and that's why he sidelined them during the last mission."
"Yes and James feared their power so much he offered to train them and help them grow stronger," remarked Alec, sarcastically.
"It is a simple ploy," countered Damien "offer to help them, learn their weaknesses and plan on how to defeat them."
"The fact is," said Whitney, coming forward to emphasize the point "the last mission should have been the moment when the Valkyries made their debut and showed humanity that they are the heroes and not some fool waving a poker. Yet through cunning and intellect, James kept the attention off them and focused only on him."
"And please do tell me," said Alec, keeping up the sarcastic front "what does James gain from all this?"
"It earns him the people's adoration," replied Ingrid "he earns their trust which he then uses to manipulate them and through that manipulation he turns them on us."
"Before you know it," said Whitney, continuing the train of thought "he's taken power from under our feet and declared himself the King of the World."
At this point, Alec had had enough. He wanted to indulge them, see where their accusations were going, but this was the final nail in the coffin.
In response to their accusations, Alec now bent forward and with a calm and completely calculated voice he said "I'm out."
The others looked at him with puzzles expressions and confusion before Lakshmi asked "what do you mean?"
"Every time I come here expecting to hear a new strategy or a new plan to defeat the Sirens, all I instead get is hearing you whine and cry about James and his exploits," said Alec, his voice trembling with anger.
"Every time I think that you're going to do something for the betterment of the people, you always point the finger at James and accuse him of something," he continued.
"And I've had enough. I'm done listening to you whine, bitch, moan and cry about things rather than going out there and doing something."
"Here's a thought," he said, tapping the table with his index finger "how about you go outside a little and see what the people need. Then, you can start planning on how to help them, rather than watch what James does and judge him for it."
"Now you listen here…" said Byron, rising to his feet.
"Shut. Up," said Alec, with a voice that threatened bloody murder if the man continued his sentence.
"You're all free to do whatever the hell you want," he said, now standing up and pushing the chair behind him.
"Me on the other hand, I'm going to the fleet, because it seems as though the only one who gives a damn about humanity are the people not from this world."
"You… you can't just walk away from us," barked Damien and in response. Alec simply flipped him off with both middle fingers.
With a smug and content expression, he turned around and strode confidently out of the room. He had reached his breaking point and could no longer put up with their whining. He imagined the newborn babies that couldn't speak a single word cried and whined less than those morons.
'And they're supposed to lead the world after the war's over,' he thought, grimly. If they were the ones who had to rebuild things afterwards, then humanity may as well throw in the towel right now.
His train of thought carried him from the headquarters back to the island. There, he found Enterprise looking at the sky for some reason. As he came to ask her, he saw a large horse with wings on its back and a horn on its head descend from the skies. On it, sat a young girl with flowing purple hair.
"U-Unicorn?" he asked, referring to both the animal and the girl that rode it.
"Ah, hello there Alec," said Enterprise, greeting him before turning around and reaching out with both hands. In response, Unicorn (the little girl) extended her arms as well. Enterprise clutched the girl's hands and gently let her down.
"How did your first flight feel?" she asked.
"It was amazing Miss Enterprise," said Unicorn, eyes full of amazement and wonder.
The trio were soon joined by James who was now wearing a tiara made of flowers, a necklace made of paper and had crayon drawings on his face.
It took Alec all of one second to figure out that this was the work of the kids. Only the little sisters that James doted on and adored to no end could do this to him and get away with it.
"What?" asked James, not at all concerned at how he looked to the others. Then, he noticed how Unicorn and pointed at her with a questioning look.
"It was revealed during the latest check up that Unicorn matched the requirements for a retrofit," said Enterprise "and so, we went ahead and gave her one."
"How do I look big bro?" she asked, about to leap off and run to him, only to have her pet catch the back of her dress in it's mouth.
Before anyone could react, the animal tossed Unicorn onto its back, stretched out its wings and flew away.
"That animal has had it out for me for a while and now it can actively interfere," said James "but more than that…"
"My LITTLE SISTER IS GROWING UP," he yelled and fell to his knees in despair at the thought. "Pretty soon she won't want to play with her big bro."
"Isn't that a part of growing up?" asked Alec.
"IsN't iT A PaRT oF oh shut up Alec," chided James.
"James," corrected Enterprise.
"Sorry," he said, clearing his throat and returning to normal "I'm happy that she's growing up and maturing."
While it was a good thing to say, Enterprise and Alec saw the sullen expression on his face. He did not mean a single word that he said.
"That aside," said Alec "would it be okay with you if we have a meeting with the other leaders?"
Despite sounding like a child a few seconds ago, James returned to his regular self at the drop of a hat. It was genuinely amazing how he switched moods so quickly. He nodded to Alec and then asked Enterprise to gather the rest.
While she went and did as asked, James and Alec headed to the meeting room. They were the first to arrive, followed by the remaining girls.
"I wanted to have this meeting to discuss what's our next move?" asked Alec, starting the meeting.
The girls and James remained deep in thought at the question. As it stands, the Azur Sky and the Human Resistance now control two-thirds of the planet. While it was good progress for the war effort, it also meant that they now had a significantly larger area to cover.
"I think that right now," said James "we should focus on bolstering our troops and setting up defences along the borders."
"Why not go for Omega right now?" asked Richelieu "she's lost two of her three leaders, a significant portion of her fleet, and is on the defence. If we attack now, we could wipe her out."
"I second Richelieu's position," said Queen Elizabeth "we must strike while the iron's hot."
"Could being the operative term here," said James. But Richelieu seemed confused by his response.
"While it is a good idea to end this war as quickly as possible, the time to have launched a final assault was two or three weeks ago," said James "back when we just defeated Alpha and the Siren forces were reeling from the loss."
"We could have used that momentum to launch a final assault. However, given my terrible physical state and the fact that we couldn't use our three strongest fighters meant cancelling the plan."
"In the time since the attack, Omega had had enough time to regroup and reorganize her forces. Not to mention recouping her losses. If we go now, all we'll find is an entrenched enemy."
"I…apologize," said Richelieu, lowering her head.
"There's no need to apologize here," stated James "I'm glad you brought it up."
"I'd like to add my thoughts as well," said Alec.
"While we're busy raising up defences, I believe it is also essential that we create a third section for the fleet, one that will be comprised of humans armed with Anti-Siren weapons."
When the others looked at him in silence, Alec decided to continue.
"I imagine that the final battle will have the Azur Sky pitted against the Siren fleet, while Omega and James battle it out. But we're not considering the Sirens' third form of attack: the hybrids."
"With that large group in play, Omega or Gamma could use them to distract James or members in the fleet long enough to take advantage of. Hence, I suggest we train an army that can counter the Hybrids' numbers."
"That will take a significant amount of time," said Tirpitz, considering the thought. "Not to mention the time it would take to simply gather the recruits."
"I think I can get us started on the second part," said Saint Louis, raising her hand. "Over the last few weeks, there's been a growing number of humans who wished to join the Azur Sky and help the fleet. Most notable was the man who mistakenly pointed a gun at my liege."
"You mean Curtis?" asked James.
"Yes, I believe that was his name," was her reply "for the most part, I've been turning them down, but with your permission my liege, I can ask Curtis to begin recruitment."
"You have the go ahead," said James "now, we'll need to think of who's going to train them."
"I will," said Saint Louis, raising her hand "I've already become acquainted with some of them. I can use that to get the word out and begin training."
"Is there anything else we should discuss?" asked Friedrich and for the most part, almost everyone was silent.
Almost everyone.
"Actually," said Alec "there is one more thing I'd like to discuss. But, it's only with James."
James was about to open his mouth to voice his complaint, but the girls were a step ahead of him.
"Very well then," said Tirpitz, getting up, followed by Friedrich "we shall conclude this meeting for the most part."
With a nod of agreement, the girls quickly left the room one after another, till only Alec and James remained. The latter folded his arms and shot a dismissive look at Alec.
"You may not know this but I don't like keeping secrets from them," said James, now voicing his complaint.
"You'll understand after you hear me out," said Alec and rose from his chair "its about that 'thing' we discussed a little while back. The one about there being someone we couldn't trust."
James now relaxed a little and recalled the small conversation the two had. In that moment, the two recalled the events leading to that conclusion and it reaffirmed the conclusion James made.
"We could be dealing with one mole or two," he said, in a low and serious tone.
"First, we need to look at suspects," suggested Alec "the only ones who knew about the plan to destroy the Black Boxes were the faction leaders, the research team, the Human Resistance leaders, you and I."
James' silence meant that he agreed with this line of thought.
"We can at least remove the two of us from the equation," said Alec, and half expected James to come up with a dry joke, but there was no reply.
"We can also remove the faction leaders and the research team from the suspect pool too," said James and Alec gave him a questioning look.
"Do you genuinely think that one of them is working for the enemy?" asked James, shooting the question back at him "after all they suffered and had to endure?"
Alec could not fault James for his train of thinking. He was loyal, to them to a fault, but at the same time his loyalty was well placed. His time with the small group of shipgirls was clear enough evidence that they'd never betray their own.
"Which means…" said Alec, his voice trailing off.
"Which means…" said James, his voice doing the same.
The two looked at each other with an uneasy expression.
Through a quick process of elimination, the pair had reached the same conclusion. Alec lowered his head, disappointed at their current state of affairs.
"What's wrong?" asked James.
"It pisses me off that's all," said Alec "I always believed that when shit like this happens, world-ending threats, humanity would band together. They'd stop bickering, stop backstabbing, stop politicking and do what's right for the majority. Yet, here we are dealing with one, two or more two-face cowards who are actively selling out their own species."
James paused and considered his response. In the time that he spent on duty and saw many battlefield, he understood that the real world was not like the one in movies. Humanity does not band together in the face of a greater threat, there is no singular hero that emerges to unite everyone and good doesn't always triumph over evil.
Yet, he could tell that that was not the answer Alec was hoping to hear.
"We're seeing that Alec," said James and the latter shot him another questioning stare.
"If you look at the ground level, people are working together. Everyone is coming together, regardless of their geographic location. The majority are working together. It is only the minority that stands against us."
"And how pray tell do we snuff out this minority?"
"With the simplest method available," was the reply "we lay out a trap and see who comes biting."
In that moment, looking at the gleam in James' eyes, Alec genuinely wondered if James was more of a fox than Akagi.
00000000000000000000
Back at the room where the resistance leaders convened to have their meetings, everyone that was there still remained. They were all silent and reflected past events. They recalled the way Alec spoke, the defiant tone in his voice and how it infuriated them.
Each member of the group showed their anger in a different way. Some grit their teeth and others clenched their fists, but one thing was clear: they were livid. The fact that someone of low standing like Alec had the audacity to speak to them like that was the most disgusting thing they had ever seen.
"We need to do something about that arrogant display," said Whitney, finally breaking the silence.
"We need to teach him a lesson," said Byron and everyone agreed.
Now the question remained on how to do that. The group once again grew silent as they pondered the various nefarious tortures to inflict on Alec.
And then, Damien's head shot up like a bolt of inspiration had hit him.
"I got it," he said, and the others looked at him to continue.
"If you want to hurt Alec, you go after what he loves most."
In that instant, the remaining members in the room smiled a wicked smile as they all thought the same thing. And with that wordless agreement, they began plotting their wicked revenge.