John could see the huge ship carrying the admiralty coming closer to port. The waiting was unbearable for the man; "Please just let's get this over with." The commander thought as the ship was slowly edging closer to the Azur Lane base. These last couple of days, a lot had happened, Shoukaku and Tsubaki spent the last few nights in the Sakura Empire building along with Zuikaku. While John didn't mind having the home almost to himself, he still missed his wife and daughter. Zuikaku META was now able to move about thanks to Vestal, her wound had healed up well due to the repair ship's treatment, however the META ship would need to stay inside John's home while the inspection was going on, she would be free to leave once high command had left the base.
John also called in all leaders of the various factions yesterday for a meeting. He had to explain what was happening today and that the base needed to be in a good state for the inspection. He also told all the leaders that there was a META currently on the base and to let their factions know. This shocked all the leaders bar Enterprise and Bismarck; they knew of the META's existence but had kept it quiet. He explained to the various leaders that they were to let their faction know but not speak of it today while high command was around. "I hope nobody says anything about Zuikaku META. If anyone does, it's all over for all of us." The commander thought. John knew he took a risk telling them, but he trusted everyone under his command wouldn't say a thing.
John also sent Shoukaku, Zuikaku, and Tsubaki away from the base this morning. High Command didn't know about his daughter's existence, and he was planning to keep it that way. He would message them when it was safe to return; the last thing John wanted was for the Admiralty to know he had a daughter and that she was half-KANSEN. Either scenario sent chills down the man's spine. "Are you okay, Commander?" A voice asked John from behind him. Turning around, John could see Enterprise; she was his secretary for the day while Shoukaku was away. John said, "I'm fine, Enterprise. I just want this over and done with. The sooner they are gone, the sooner things can return to normal." Enterprise knew what the man meant; her commander was missing his family and didn't want to have to send them away this morning. Also, with a META on the base, the KANSEN knew John had too much to lose if High Command found out; he would lose everything. "It will be fine, Commander," Enterprise said, trying to comfort the man.
John knew he had done nothing wrong, but with recent events that had occurred, he knew he was taking a gamble by keeping this META here. It was all the evidence that the admiralty would need to destroy every KANSEN, which could possibly include Tsubaki. The huge ship high command was about to make port in the docks of the Azur Lane base. John was getting more nervous. Eventually, after what seemed like forever, the ship made port, and a huge ramp came down from the ship. Many people of all ranks then started exiting the door where the ramp was. In front of everyone else was someone who John knew, Admiral Robert Nelson. Once Nelson and his fellow admirals were on the dock, John walked up to them with Enterprise, and both of them saluted them. "Greetings, Admiral," John said to his superior. "Welcome to the Azur Lane; the base is ready for your inspection whenever you're ready, sir."
Nelson saluted him back. "Thank you, Commander Grey. You and me need to talk in your office. Everyone else will take charge of the inspection, I trust you know what we need to talk about correctly?" Nelson asked John. John knew exactly what Nelson needed to talk about; the METAs that had attacked several bases recently. John had a feeling Nelson was suspecting him being behind these attacks. John knew none of his shipgirls were responsible, so with this in mind, John, along with Enterprise and Nelson, headed to the HQ while all the other admirals and their staff started to inspect the base.
Kowalski was among those individuals who were inspecting the base; he had asked Nelson to transfer him here. Nelson agreed on one condition – to complete a weapon that he and his fellow scientists were currently working on. Kowalski knew it would only take two or three weeks to complete, as they were in the final stages of development and testing, and once that was completed, himself and several other scientists would be based here. Nelson also asked the man to keep an eye on John and the KANSEN, and report any suspicious activity should the Azur Lane pass the inspection today; if the Azur Lane didn't, there would be no need to transfer here, it would no longer exist.
"I should thank Predator the next time I see her. Now, where is this child? She has to be here somewhere. Kowalski thought to himself. The scientist was looking for the commander's daughter ever since he was told that John had a daughter that was half-KANSEN by Predator. The man became obsessed. He wanted to find out her capabilities; he believed she would surpass all other KANSEN, but he wanted to see first-hand what the girl could do. As he was conducting his inspection, he couldn't find hide or hair of the girl. "Dammit! Where is she? You can't hide her forever, Commander Grey! I will find her sooner or later!" Kowalski began searching different facilities more frantically, which caught the attention of several officers who were carrying out their own inspections and looking for any evidence.
After some time, Kowalski became increasingly frustrated; no matter where he looked, he found nothing. He wasn't as concerned about carrying out the inspection as the rest of the officers; he didn't care what anyone else found. He only wanted to find the girl. "Damn you! Grey! Just you wait! Your daughter won't be able to evade me forever!" Kowalski realized that she wasn't on base anymore; she must be off-base somewhere. Frustrated that he couldn't find her, he headed for the HQ building. He would have his own talk with John after he had finished with Nelson.
While all this was going on, Shoukaku, Zuikaku, and Tsubaki were in a small town several miles away from the Azur Lane. Shoukaku had left early this morning along with her sister and daughter. The three of them were currently at a cafe having lunch and waiting for a message from John that they could return home. The white-crane was constantly looking at her phone, hoping to see a message, but every time she looked, the KANSEN saw nothing. "Sis, I know you want to head back, but we have to wait." Zuikaku said to her sister. "I know, Zuikaku, I just want some normality to return, I just want this over." Shoukaku replied back in a tired voice.
Zuikaku could see that the stress of recent events was finally starting to get to her sister. First finding the META version of herself, then John and Enterprise potentially in an illicit affair (thankfully it wasn't true), the inspection, and finally Akagi trying to manipulate her own daughter. Speaking of Akagi, Zuikaku remembered last night that the Kitsune tried approaching Tsubaki right in front of both of them. "She's getting bolder," Zuikaku thought. "Akagi knows that Tsubaki likes her, and she's doing whatever she can to try and take Shoukaku's place." Zuikaku was able to get her niece away from her, but her sister confronted Akagi about what she was doing. The crane took her niece out of the room before any strong words were thrown around, but when Shoukaku found the pair of them after her confrontation, Zuikaku could see her sister shaking in anger. Zuikaku didn't know what was said between the pair of them, but the KANSEN could make a good guess.
The trio sat in silence for some time until Tsubaki decided to voice a complaint she had. "Mama, why can't we be with Papa today?" she asked. "I want to go home; I want to see Papa." Shoukaku sighed when she heard her daughter speak. She knew Tsubaki was missing her father. "Sweetheart," she said, "Papa is meeting some very important people today. I know we haven't been able to stay with him the last few days, but he has been very busy. I promise you, Papa will tell us to come home soon once he is done speaking to these important people." The KANSEN reassured her daughter. Tsubaki wasn't happy with what her mother told her. She really wanted to see her father again. The little girl had a pout on her face and began to sulk. Shoukaku knew her daughter wasn't happy, but with everything going on, all she, Zuikaku, and Tsubaki could do was wait.
Back on the base, Zuikaku, META was itching to get out of John and Shoukaku's home. She had felt she had been here long enough, and her wounds had healed well. She wanted to get out of there and start her own mission to begin looking for her Tsubaki. "I promise I will find you, Tsubaki," she said to herself. "I will not rest until I have found you; those monsters who took you will pay for everything that they have done." The META was telling herself. The urge to begin searching was getting more and more intense; she had enough of being stuck there, but the ship knew she couldn't begin right now - she had to wait. John had told her that the human high command would be inspecting the base today to look for any evidence regarding METAs, as they had been attacking human bases.
If high command saw her here, that would be an admission of guilt; it would be all the evidence that the admiralty would need to close down the Azur Lane and destroy all KANSEN here. Zuikaku META did not want to sign the death warrant of all KANSEN at the Azur Lane; she thought that it was cruel and unfair to destroy every single shipgirl. Because of these circumstances, Zuikaku META had to stay until they had all left. Looking out through the blinds of the window, the META ship could see many officers going in and out through various buildings and facilities; they were being incredibly thorough. Zuikaku META remembered from her timeline that the officers from high command were very friendly and trusting of the KANSEN, with what she knew now, she believed that because of her fellow META ships attacking the humans, that must have damaged that trust. "That's something else I need to look into," said Zuikaku META. "Why are the other META's attacking humans? I need to get to the bottom of it; there must be a reason why they are doing this." Zuikaku META would try to find out why other META ships were attacking humans during her search for Tsubaki; she believed they could be connected.
Pulling away from the blinds Zuikaku, META sat down on the bed; all this waiting was killing her. She needed out of here, and soon or else being here would drive her mad. As she waited, the META ship hoped that John wasn't getting interrogated too harshly.
John was being stared down across the table by his superior, Admiral Robert Nelson. Nelson was trying to intimidate John, hoping to get him to confess that it was his ships attacking human bases. However, John held his nerve; he had nothing to confess to. It wasn't any of the KANSEN under his command who were going around killing humans - they were simply defending themselves against the aggressive humans. "So, Commander Grey, want to explain why KANSEN are targeting naval bases?" Nelson questioned his subordinate.
John replied, "No sir, I have no idea, and I promise you, no KANSEN under my command are conducting these attacks." He knew that his reply might sound unbelievable, but he doubted Nelson would believe anything at all. He really did suspect him. "Well, that only leaves one suspect, Commander Grey. No one else has the technology to produce KANSEN unless you have given it to someone else? If not, who else am I supposed to blame?" Nelson said at John.
John looked over at Enterprise, who had been quiet this whole time; the pair of them really couldn't explain to Nelson why this was happening without it sounding strange. They doubted that Nelson would listen that this involved time travel or that the Sirens were involved either, this clearly was not looking good for him now. Nelson wasn't happy that he wasn't getting a response. "Fine, if you do not wish to talk, we will wait for the inspection to finish," he said to John and Enterprise. "Mark my words, Grey, if anything is found regarding these rogue ships, you will never experience freedom again, and every KANSEN here will be destroyed as a result." The admiral warned the pair in front of him.
Upon hearing this, Enterprise nearly went into a panic. "He plans to destroy all of us! He can't be serious! The commander has done nothing wrong! None of us have done anything wrong! How can he justify this? We have done nothing but protect humanity! And this is the thanks the commander and the rest of us get?" Enterprise was beside herself internally. She now understood why John was so worried about this inspection; he wouldn't just lose all the KANSEN under his command. He would lose his family as well if they found anything regarding the META's. Enterprise hoped that Zuikaku META would stay inside the commander's home. If the admiralty saw her, it would be the end for them all.
Hours passed, and nothing was heard in the room where John, Enterprise, and Nelson were seated. All three people were waiting for the results. Nelson was confident that some evidence would be discovered about the rogue KANSEN; then he could shut this place down. The Admiral believed he just had to wait. A knock at the door eventually broke the silence; it disrupted the tense atmosphere. Getting up from his chair, Nelson walked out to hear the results. The waiting for John and Enterprise was agonizing. Eventually, Nelson returned to the room, carrying a stack of papers. He was about to deliver the results of the inspection.
"Well, Commander Grey, it looks like we couldn't find anything regarding these rogue ships; you are cleared for the moment." The Admiral told Enterprise and John. Internally, they were both relieved; Zuikaku META hadn't been seen, so they knew they were in the clear. Nelson, however, spoke again. "But mark my words, Grey, should we find out that you are behind these attacks, we will be back." Nelson warned the pair. Kowalski then entered the room. "Are you finished, Admiral? I would like to speak to Commander Grey." The scientist asked. The admiral replied, "Fine, but don't take too long, Kowalski; I'm heading back to the ship." "Sir, I will escort you to your ship," Enterprise said to the Admiral. The pair of them then left, leaving John and Kowalski alone.
"Well, Commander, it seems you and I have something very important to discuss." Kowalski said to John with a very sinister grin on his face...