Apocrypha looked up from the book in front of her when she heard a soft knock at the door before Swiftsure opened it to peer inside. She offered the cruiser a reassuring smile before speaking to her. "What do you need, Swiftsure?"

"Sorry to bother you…" the Royal Navy girl started, glancing over her shoulder. "Um… Mobile is here asking for you. Would you like to see her?"

"Of course she'd want to see me!" Mobile yelled in the other room, making Apocrypha sigh in exasperation.

"Go ahead and let her in. We'll never hear the end of it otherwise."

Swiftsure nodded, opening the door between the offices fully. "Understood. Mobile, the Commander will -"

Before she could even finish speaking, Mobile had pushed past Swiftsure, and once again Apocrypha found herself being grabbed and pulled to her feet. At least this time, with enough experience with Mobile's rather… unique personality, she was prepared to follow knowing that Mobile wouldn't bother to wait. Despite that, she couldn't help but snark a bit at the silver-haired cruiser. "Y'know, I hate how you have a way of just barging in and dragging me around like a ragdoll. Do you do this to everyone?"

Mobile grinned at her. "Nope. Just antisocial weirdos. You're gonna come have lunch with the gals today." She paused, addressing Swiftsure as an afterthought. "Stay here like a good girl and tell Royalist sorry for the Commander here, would you?"

Apocrypha frowned, shaking her head. "Mobile, have a little tact. Swiftsure, I'm so sorry. I'm sure you could join us if you wanted to?" she offered, but Swiftsure immediately shook her head to decline.

"Thank you for offering, Commander, but not this time. I will be here when you return from your lunch."

Apocrypha gave another apologetic smile before allowing Mobile to lead her away, traversing the seeming maze of hallways until they reached a large cafeteria practically crawling with people. She was dragged along to a group of tables and chairs that had been haphazardly pulled closer together, apparently to accommodate the large group that sat around them. She already recognized Enterprise, Franklin, and Belleau Wood among the group, and since it was Mobile who had come to get her…

"Is this…?"

Mobile took that as her cue, gesturing dramatically to the group at the tables. "Commander, I'd like to introduce you to the finest in the Eagle Union: Task Force 58! Also known as Task Force 38 or the Fast Carrier Task Force. All the others kinda just shorten it to TF 58 or 38, though. Guess it's all kinda a mouthful."

"And she talks enough for the whole group," another of the women cut in, grinning when Mobile turned on her with a betrayed look. While Mobile was temporarily distracted to sulk, the purple-haired woman took the opportunity to introduce herself. "Name's Biloxi. Mobile hasn't taken a second to shut up about you since she got back. I'm looking forward to working together with you."

Unlike the way Royalist had said similar earlier, the way Biloxi made the statement felt genuine rather than a thinly-veiled threat. She took the offered chair when Biloxi dragged one closer for her, eyes scanning the bunch to see if she could recognize any of the girls by looks alone. A couple of the girls she recognized dressed similarly to Belleau Wood and she guessed they would be sisters, which she assumed would make them sisters to Mobile and Biloxi, too, though trying to reason that out in her head was still easier said than done. Another pair she was able to connect to Franklin by their similar dress, as well, and a glimpse of the name printed on one confirmed her suspicions. Essex.

That was another name she could recognize without anyone giving her a history lesson. She couldn't guess who the other Essex-class was, though, and she wouldn't even try to guess the names of the Independence-class carriers just yet. "You've got a pretty big group here."

Mobile laughed, pulling up her own chair and facing it so she could straddle it backwards and use the back to rest her arms and chin on. "This ain't even the whole group. Kearsarge and Oriskany - sorry, you probably know them by Hornet and Wasp. By the way, don't call them that to their faces, they really -"

"Mobile," Biloxi interrupted, trying to get her sister back on track before her explanation could turn into an entirely different tangent.

"Oh. Right. Anyway, they're out on some operation right now. Enty and Bell said it earlier, about taking their spots, but I think Ori was supposed to meet with Iron Blood leadership," Mobile explained. "So that's those two that you'll have to wait to meet. And that reminds me, Iron Blood didn't even send their main leaders, but I'd say the three they sent are much worse. Sure as hell give me the chills."

"Mobile!" This time it was Belleau Wood who stopped the cruiser from continuing on, silencing everyone else at the table in the process. With everyone silenced and now staring at her, the carrier sighed, sitting back in her seat again and closing her eyes. "Sorry you had to see that, Commander. She'll keep rambling on if you just let her and she's been complaining about that situation for months now. I think it would be better if you formed your opinions of the girls here of your own accord, so don't be afraid to tell Mobile to shut her trap if you need to."

"Hey! I'm just trying to give her fair warning! I wouldn't fuck around with them for all the money in the world."

"No, you're being a menace as usual." This voice was a new one, a blonde woman leaning her elbow on a table with her chin resting on her hand. "Do you ever shut up? I'm starting to think you enjoy being told that. Iron Blood is the least of our worries."

Mobile made a face at that remark like she'd just been forced to suck on a lemon, glancing toward the doorway like she expected someone to come walking through. But at least now she had stopped talking. The blonde sighed, crossing one leg over the other and sitting back in her chair, herself falling silent now while she sipped on a drink.

Another beside her smiled apologetically. "Don't mind Oakland. She's not the sociable kind. Oh! Battleship North Carolina, by the way," she introduced herself, holding a hand out for Apocrypha to shake.

Apocrypha was able to muster a genuine smile of her own as she shook her hand. "It's good to see there's someone normal on the task force."

One of the Essex carriers snorted, the one Apocrypha hadn't been able to guess the name of. "Oh, you don't have any idea. That's not a path you want to go down, trust me."

North Carolina started to ask something, the other task force members collectively scrambling to stop her, but it had all faded to background noise for Apocrypha. While the group bickered and teased each other, Apocrypha's gaze caught a figure walking down a hall. A figure too short to be like any of the shipgirls she'd met thus far.

Why is there a child here? she wondered, rounding the corner and searching the halls for the girl.

She spotted the figure turning another corner, breaking into a jog to try to catch up to her. "Wait!"

The girl paused in her steps, turning toward the voice calling from the hall she'd just been walking down. "Yes? Do you need something?"

Apocrypha stopped at the opening to the hall, surprised at the strange state of dress the girl was in. She was dressed in a light gray military uniform with a button-up jacket over an identically colored dress shirt and long skirt. A bowler hat with the white letters "US NAVY" written on a black band sat on her head, tilted backwards somewhat due to the presence of vertically-standing black-furred fox ears, matching her long, straight black hair.

It was a later-war US naval uniform for officers. Apocrypha could recognize it from her brief studies, but it was simply far too large for the girl.

A skirt that would have normally been knee length repeatedly brushed against the ground as it swayed with the girl's movements. The shirt and jacket were made for someone with at least a good few inches of shoulder width and at least half a foot of height, seeming more of a slightly oversized tunic. The sleeves were long enough to completely swallow the girl's arms, and the bowler hat, on closer inspection, was only prevented from becoming a blindfold thanks to the fox ears on the girl's head.

"Um… Are you lost?" Apocrypha asked. "This isn't really a place I'd think there would be children…"

She thought she saw the girl's lips twitch like she wanted to smile, light amber eyes twinkling with something akin to excitement, but no such expression manifested itself on her face. "I thank you for your concern, but no, I am not lost. I suppose you could say that I allowed my curiosity to get the better of me and chose to do some exploring on my own. It is not often that I have the opportunity to explore of my own accord. I was just returning to my quarters, though."

Apocrypha glanced over her shoulder, deciding quickly that the Task Force 58 girls surely wouldn't mind her bringing someone over for a bit. "Instead of walking around alone, would you maybe want to come hang out a bit for lunch? Looked like there was more food than the group could really eat, so I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

The girl seemed hesitant to accept, but eventually nodded slowly. "I suppose that it could not hurt if I joined you for a short time."

Apocrypha smiled, leading the girl back to the Task Force 58 group in the cafeteria. The bunch were still bickering with one another, but suddenly stopped when Apocrypha arrived with the girl in tow. All eyes were on the small girl with her, each of the shipgirls indicating varying levels of mixed hostility and fear at her presence.

"Is there something wrong…?"

"She's clueless," Mobile muttered, shaking her head. "Y'all, she's really this goddamn clueless. Who's gonna tell her? Wait, is that you I hear volunteering to tell the Commander what she's done, Intrepid? Thanks!"

"Nope."

"Not it either," Belleau Wood quickly chimed in.

"What's the problem?" Apocrypha repeated, confused at the reaction.

She got no answer but complete silence now, the kind of silence where if a pin dropped in the next room over, one would be able to hear it as clearly as if it was right next to their ear. But what she heard wasn't a pin dropping, but instead four sets of footsteps approaching. Even if she didn't know anyone here, there was a certain sharpness to the steps that immediately had her in a panic of knowing whoever was approaching was more than only a little angry.

She turned slowly to look, cringing at finding herself staring down four glaring women. The first and tallest two were rather close in height and not too difficult to piece together as sisters, both nine-tailed foxes - one a dark brunette with red eyes and the other a snow white with blue eyes, her mind likening them to a yin-yang symbol. The next one she noticed had lighter brown hair with thin deep blue streaks mixed within and honey brown eyes, while a smaller green-eyed blonde hid partially behind her, horns curling up from the sides of her head and slightly pointed ears left visible by her hair pulled into a fashionably messy bun.

The dark fox broke the silence, ignoring Apocrypha entirely in favor of the Eagle Union battle group gathered at the table. "Why have you taken Lady Nagato? Are you unable to accept the alliance so now you're attempting to take our leader as a hostage?"

Belleau Wood bristled at the accusation, narrowing her eyes at the fox. "As if we'd waste our energy. She was on our turf. I'd be more inclined to think you're trying to be clever and gather intel so you can stab us in the back. That is your style after all, isn't it, Akagi?"

Akagi laughed, the sarcasm dripping in the sound. "Lady Nagato would never stoop to wearing such ridiculous, ill-fitting clothes. It's clear as day the lot of you are at the center of this."

"I would caution you against making baseless accusations," Enterprise stated, remaining seated and for the moment still appearing to be the most unfazed of the group, but no less alert for trouble. "It seems to me that the Commander found Ms. Nagato wandering nearby and most likely invited her to join us."

"Oh, good job throwing her under the bus, Enty," Mobile hissed to the carrier when Akagi turned her glare on Apocrypha.

Apocrypha held her hands up defensively, taking a step back. "I'm sorry? I didn't know who she was. I kinda just thought… maybe she was some kid who'd gotten lost and wandered into the base somehow…? I mean, kids do dumb things, get lost…"

This time, it was the shorter of the brown-haired women who spoke up, somehow both defensive and condescending at the same time. "Lady Nagato is not 'some kid'! Show some respect for the leader of the Sakura Empire and learn your place!"

"Akagi, Zuihou, no more," the girl - apparently Nagato - commanded. "What Enterprise and the Commander stated is the truth. There were no malicious intentions behind the Commander's actions in bringing me here. Let us not shatter an alliance we have all sacrificed so much to forge over a mere misunderstanding."

The second woman immediately silenced herself, bowing respectfully to Nagato and uttering a quiet apology, but Akagi remained defiant. "A leader and flagship of Sakura Empire should not be seen in such disgraceful clothing, Lady Nagato. We will deal with the pests here while you return and change your clothing."

"I am fine in this," Nagato replied calmly, gaze unwaveringly locked with Akagi's.

Akagi seemed stunned at the words, groping for words but only managing to somewhat repeat herself. "There's no need for you to stoop so low as to address the Eagle Union's filth. Please, Lady Nagato, allow us to handle things here. We were entrusted with this task for a reason, were we not?"

"As I stated already, I am comfortable enough for the moment in these clothes," Nagato answered again. "Commander, you have my sincere apologies for the behavior displayed by Akagi and Zuihou. In order to keep the peace, I believe it would be best that we see ourselves out. Thank you for trying to extend your hospitality."

"There's no need for the fun to end here. Seeing as they stole away Lady Nagato, it's only fair we bring the Commander back with us in return," the white-haired fox purred, reaching for Apocrypha but finding that Mobile had already pulled her out of reach and into the midst of the Eagle Union task force.

"Go ahead and try. Let's see if history repeats itself with you sinking to the bottom of the ocean," Intrepid threatened.

"How cute," Akagi sneered, stepping toward the group. "The one who never quite pulled her weight is the one who's so quick to bare her fangs. You think that's going to scare us?"

"Why don't you find out?" Belleau Wood challenged. "We're doing exercises tomorrow and could use some targets to practice against. We could even use live ammo."

"What are you all even fighting about?!" Apocrypha asked in exasperation, pushing her way through to stand between the Eagle Union and Sakura Empire groups. "I've been here less than 24 hours and seen Augusta about ready to take the heads off of the girls from Vichya Dominion -"

"Because they're bad news," Mobile interrupted, holding her hands up in surrender at a look from Apocrypha.

"And now I'm dealing with you all ready to start a fight here over… what? What's the big deal?"

"Do you think Azur Lane was always 'united' like you see here?" Zuihou asked, genuine confusion on her face when Apocrypha turned to look at her. "Jeez, how desperate is HQ getting with these selections? Alright, here's the deal - you'll find two schools of thought here. There's the cowards like your friends here, Royal Navy, yada yada. Sirens are bad, nothing good can come from them and we're only studying them so we know how to defeat them. That's Azur Lane. On the other side, there are those of us in the Crimson Axis - Sakura Empire, Vichya Dominion, Iron Blood, Sardegna Empire. The Sirens are useful. Play your cards right, you can make use of them as pawns. Fight fire with fire."

"So after what Iron Blood did to the Polonia Commonwealth and Iris Orthodoxy, and what you did to the Dragon Empery and us, we're the bad guys?" Biloxi asked incredulously. "Explain to me how that ass-backwards thinking is supposed to work exactly."

"No, no, let them keep shooting themselves," Mobile snarked, smirking at Akagi and Kaga. "I've always wanted to get myself a fox fur coat. I hear it's considered pretty 'in' these days."

"Then you won't mind me taking a wolf pelt, right?" Zuihou countered. "After all, it would make a wonderful rug for my room. Maybe an eagle feather pillow while I'm at it?"

"Okay, enough!" Apocrypha pleaded. "I thought we were all supposed to be on the same page here in fighting the Sirens. I don't want this infighting and threatening each other. Mobile."

"Mhm? Whatcha need?"

At least she changed gears easily. "I need you to give Swiftsure a message for me, please. I'm going to go with the Sakura Empire for a while. If I'm not back to the office in about an hour, come looking for me."

Mobile shook her head. "I can't agree with that, Apocrypha. It's too risky."

Apocrypha raised an eyebrow. "Alright, then, answer this: What happened to the previous Commander here?"

"The Royal Navy -" North Carolina started to answer, but quickly was silenced when Belleau Wood shook her head.

Mobile sighed, unable to argue against that point, but glaring at the Sakura Empire shipgirls. "If anything happens to Apocrypha, it will be the end of all of you. There will be no mercy and not so much as a piece of scrap metal left from your worthless hulls if harm comes to her."

"As flagship of the Sakura Empire's Combined Fleet, you have my word that the Commander will be returned safe within the specified timeframe," Nagato assured Mobile.


"How long has it been now? It feels like it's been too long, hasn't it?" Mobile asked for the millionth time, once again invading every inch of Enterprise's personal space to check the carrier's watch for the time. She groaned loudly when she saw that it had only been some five minutes since the last time she'd asked, tapping a nail on the watch face. "Enty, I think your watch has gotta be broken. No way it's only been five minutes since last time."

Enterprise sighed, trying to push Mobile away. "My watch is perfectly fine, thank you. I'm sure the Commander is fine and just running a bit behind on time. There's no reason to panic just yet."

Mobile puffed up her cheeks before blowing out her breath, plopping down in her chair again to stare toward the doorway of the long-empty cafeteria. "I don't trust 'em. Stupid Sakura carriers, takin' the Commander like she's a toy we're all just sharin'."

Biloxi smiled, reaching over to pat her sister's shoulder. "Enterprise is right. She's probably just fine, and Nagato gave us her word. I think at the very least, we can trust her."

"Should've sent you with her," Mobile mumbled. "You sure seemed to hit it off with her, Biloxi."

Biloxi shrugged, smiling a bit sheepishly. "Was I playing it too cool or something? She's just normal. I think it's a nice change. We're just more people to her."

"Mhm… That's what scares me. And confuses the hell outta me. How can someone be afraid of everyone 'round her but so damn trusting at the same time?" she mused, furrowing her brow. "Reminds you of someone else we've had to save, doesn't it?"

"Oh." Biloxi shot a quick glance towards Franklin, suddenly understanding why Mobile had taken to being so protective of this particular Commander when she'd always been the first to complain about any little flaw in previous ones. "I guess I see what you mean now. But it looks like we've all been worried for nothing."

Apocrypha stopped in the doorway, surprised to see Task Force 58 still waiting around in the cafeteria despite the facility otherwise being empty. "Is something wrong?" she asked, only to find herself tackled to the ground by Mobile. "H-hey! What gives?!"

"Eleven minutes and nineteen seconds late!" Mobile yelled, still clinging tightly to Apocrypha. "Don't scare us like that!"

Apocrypha uncertainly returned the hug, awkwardly patting Mobile's back. "Uh… Sorry? It took a little longer than I thought it would to walk back over here. Can you let go, though? You're kind of crushing me, Mobile."

Mobile reluctantly let go, helping Apocrypha back onto her feet with her. "They didn't do anything weird, right?"

Weirder than your group? Apocrypha asked silently, but shook her head. "We had tea in one of their gardens. I didn't realize how different the different factions' areas would end up looking. I guess it makes sense, everyone wants to have a little piece of home with them even while they're away. And even if some of them were looking at me weird the whole time, they probably didn't want to do anything with Nagato there. She never even changed out her outfit, even though the carriers were looking at her weird for it the whole time."

"Well, I don't smell blood or anything of that sort," Belleau Wood interjected from her seat, apparently careless about the topic of the Sakura flagship's strange choice of outfit for the day. "It does appear that the Sakura Empire really was true to their word. What a surprise."

"They're more afraid of us than they'd like everyone to think?" Intrepid mused, but Oakland shook her head in denial of that theory.

"Katori might be. I wouldn't want to have been hunted by Iowa after already being wounded by Enterprise. But the carriers? They're not afraid at all. If they're going to do anything, they'll wait until all of the big names are present and they can try to take them all out in one fell swoop. Oriskany and Kearsarge aren't here, or New Jersey, Baltimore… They'll wait a while," she countered, getting to her feet. "But now that we know the Commander's in one piece, I'll be going. Exercise is still at 0700?"

"Last any of us heard, that was still the plan," Biloxi confirmed. "Commander -"

"Just Apocrypha, please."

"Sorry. Anyway, how do you feel about watching if you have the time tomorrow morning? I know you've already seen Mobile and Franklin, but it's not going to be often you've got this much of the force here to watch work through exercises."

Apocrypha nodded, smiling at the invitation. "I'll make sure I have the time set aside in the morning. I'd like to see everyone in action."

"Great. We'll see you then. You should probably get going before that Task Force 34 girl comes looking for you and you're missing, though."

Apocrypha waved a bit and headed back to her office, rolling the new information around in her head. Task Force 34. So that's the fleet Augusta is with. That explains what happened this morning between her and Vichya, she mused. More and more, she was starting to wonder just how much Augusta wasn't sharing with her.

When she arrived at the office, Swiftsure quickly stood at her desk, searching for something and producing a small envelope. "Algerie from the Vichya Dominion brought this while you were away," she explained, extending the article out for Apocrypha to take. "I hope it's no trouble that I took the liberty to open it before you. It appears to be an invitation from Dupleix to join them for breakfast and requests your answer as soon as possible. She's offered to arrange to have someone fetch you should you accept."

Apocrypha looked over the invitation, eyes skimming the words more for the sake of appearing to read while she considered her options. "Tell Dupleix that I'll take her up on her invitation. And ask Task Force 58 to move their exercise up to 0600. Is there anything else?"

"No," Swiftsure replied. "I'll inform Dupleix of your answer and TF 58 of the schedule change if that is all for your orders."

Apocrypha nodded. "That's all. Thank you," she said, giving Swiftsure a smile and passing through into her own office, gladly sinking into her chair to finally let her nerves calm themselves. She was relieved that today was relatively uneventful - she would still have dinner with Augusta and whoever else to worry about later, though - but if the exercise for TF 58 and the meeting with Dupleix immediately after was anything to judge by, she'd have no room to breathe tomorrow. And that didn't even account for still needing to meet the remaining factions' representatives…

"No worrying about that," she scolded herself, closing her eyes. For now, she'd just take the opportunity to rest while she still could, and steel herself for the next day. If she could get through this, she could make it. Or, at least, that's what she told herself. Only time, and the girls' opinions of her, would really decide that, but at least this was better than what she'd had before. When her mind and racing heart finally calmed, she opened her eyes again, grabbing her book from earlier to begin reading again.

There was work to be done, and she couldn't fail.