The Commander had called a meeting for his new task force. Like the first one, there was two ships from each of the major factions. From Sakura Empire was Musashi and Unzen, New Jersey and Kearsarge from Eagle Union, Hindenburg and Admiral Hipper from Ironblood, and finally from Royal Navy was Illustrious and Monarch.
"OK everyone, from this point on you're working together, this new group is Task Force Bravo, just like with Task Force Alpha, one of the points of this composition is to maintain cohesion between factions. But since most of you already know about this, I will skip ahead to the more important reason for this meeting." The Commander stated.
As he had spoken, Akashi and another ship-girl; Shiranui, both rolled a wooden box into the room with the help of some Manjuus. They quickly bowed to the Commander before leaving the meeting. Many of the Task force members raised an eyebrow at the box, wondering what could be inside.
"Before I reveal what is inside this box, I need to tell you something that is...rather disturbing about it." The Commander groaned a little before placing both hands flat on the table in front of him.
"There's no way to cushion the blow on this so I'll just come out with it: The Sirens gave it to me."
"WHAAAAT?!" Everyone in the room yelled at him. Hipper came forward and pointed at him accusingly.
"Are you insane Commander?! The Sirens just... gave you this thing and you KEPT it?! How do you know its not a massive bomb or something?!" She demanded, almost hysterical at how reckless this move was.
"It does sound very foolish my child, Why would the Sirens give us anything beneficial?" Musashi also asked, though much more calmly.
"Because the Sirens are just as worried about the Crimson Cube as we are, maybe even more so." The Commander replied. "Bismarck reported that her fleet was attacked by an infected high class Siren, that must be the reason behind the unusual behaviour of their mass-produced ships." He then paced back and forth in front of the box as he kept explaining.
"Observer Alpha herself came to me, she told me this high class Siren that attacked Bismarck's fleet was originally supposed to destroy the Crimson Cube, but she was quickly over powered and subverted. We know from our own experiences that kansen can also be infected, as seen with Cleveland, I-13...and now Akagi." His voice broke for a moment on the last few words. The kansen gasped with that revelation, many giving sympathetic 'Awwws' and 'Ooohs', as Akagi's relationship with the Commander was public knowledge by now.
"Oh no...I felt something horrible had happened but...Akagi has fallen?" Unzen asked softly. "I'm so sorry Commander..."
"She can come back! R-right?" New Jersey wondered out-loud, uncertainty colouring her normally confident demeanour.
"Vestal confirmed she brought Cleveland back from the Crimson Cube's influence, mentally she is clean, however she is still having problems removing that peculiar armour plating from her body, its anybody guess as to if she'll be fully liberated." Kearsarge interjected.
"So...you're saying we CAN come back from being infected? Doesn't sound too dangerous then." Hindenburg replied, an air of arrogance to her voice.
"It was Akagi who saved her." The Commander announced, bringing their attention back to him. "Akagi somehow stole Cleveland's wisdom cubes back from the Crimson Cube, she was extremely lucky to get away the first time, I'm not going to rely on that method again, so for Gods sake DON'T GET INFECTED!" He ordered harshly, pointing around the room at all the kansen. Many of whom were slightly taken aback at how assertive he was being.
"OK...don't get turned into cyborgs, got it!" New Jersey quipped, trying to keep up the cheerful mood, but earning a raised eyebrow from Kearsarge in the process.
"Commander...you still haven't told us; what's in that box?" Illustrious asked. Realising he couldn't put this off any longer, the Commander pulled open the box. Musashi went wide eyed seeing the item inside.
"Commander...is that...a water pounder suit?" She asked, frowning at him with suspicion.
"Yes, its Commodore Nico's suit, the Sirens have modified it to work without...well, whatever the fuck Nico was doing to it, it seems even they have standards when it comes to suffering." The Commander replied. "Their plan is basically for me to use this suit to get close enough to the Cube, and attack it directly, neither a Siren or kansen can do that since you will both get infected by the damn thing."
"But...doesn't this thing EAT humans? That's what Eugen told me..." Hipper pointed out.
"Yes...but hopefully that won't happen, now here's what we-" The Commander was interrupted by the doors to the meeting room slamming open behind the other ship girls, before a certain white haired kitsune stormed straight into the middle of the room, glaring right at the officer, her hands balled into fists.
"Why wasn't I invited to this meeting?! My sister is still out there all alone and you leave me out of the mission to save her?! I demand an explanation!" Kaga yelled to the Commander, who was stunned at the sheer audacity of her entrance.
"Kaga...calm down, we-" New Jersey started to say, before Kaga punched her square in the belly, forcing the air from her lungs in a hoarse gasp, as she doubled over from the sucker punch, Kaga then grabbed NJ by the arm, and with a screech of rage, along with a scream from NJ, threw the battleship across the room in a hammer toss. The Commander had to duck as the American woman flew over him and into the white board behind him, making a cracked imprint of herself in it.
"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN EAGLE UNION BAKA!" Kaga roared, drawing her blue paper planes. Her tails and eyes were emitting blue flames as her anger escalated. Most of the other ship girls backed off, clearly not wanting to get between a pissed off Kaga and her target. The only one who didn't, Musashi, calmly walked in front of the enraged carrier and folded her arms, unimpressed with Kaga's display.
"Stop." She commanded, her tone exuded a quiet authority, with no hint of anger or any other emotion behind it. Kaga growled, stepping up to her fellow kitsune, breathing heavily and holding a fighting stance. Musashi just raised an eyebrow, glaring back with a disapproving expression. As the stand off went on, the Commander helped a dizzy New Jersey to her feet.
"Stand aside Lady Musashi, I need a word with the Commander...now." Kaga ordered, her tone low, like she could snap again at any moment. Musashi wasn't phased by the threatening implication behind her words.
"No, you need to stop at once, I will not allow you to further harm anyone in this room, stand down Kaga." Musashi replied calmly. This just seemed to anger the white fox woman further, as she flicked her fingers to merge the paper planes into one big plane. Holding it like a push dagger, Kaga got ready to thrust it at Musashi. But the Super-Battleship was unconcerned with the weapon and just smirked confidently.
"You really think you can intimidate me my child? Did you forget our little talk from when you were first separated from your sister?" Musashi asked. Kaga gasped a little, her hand shaking a little with hesitation. "You're not helping her by acting like this, the Commander has his reasons for not including you, I'm sure he will tell you himself when he is available."
Musashi looked over her shoulder at the Commander, who nodded to Kaga with a determined look on his face. "I'm worried about Akagi too Kaga, we WILL find her and get her back, but you need to calm down before someone else gets hurt." He told the white fox woman. She looked between Musashi and the Commander as the two of them waited for her next move, she finally looked down, tightly screwing her eyes shut.
"I...I...I'm sorry..." Kaga's voice cracked, losing the fury it originally held. She choked a little as tears started to leak from her eyes and fell to her knees, sobbing with her face in her hands. "Dear sister...where are you...?" She quietly uttered as her flames died down and she dropped her paper plane, now normal paper again. Musashi kneeled down and picked her up, smiling once again.
"We will find her, please trust us to do so, I know you're scared for her but please control yourself, come with me to my room once you've calmed down, we need to talk again." Musashi told her. Kaga looked up at her for a moment, thinking about how to reply. After a minute she sighed and turned to leave.
"Kaga wait." The Commander quickly told her. The white fox woman turned back to him in surprise, watching as he vaulted over the desk to come over to her. "I need to talk to you, in private." He then looked around the room at the others. "Take a break girls, we'll go over this later on once things have cooled down." He ordered.
Apart from an annoyed sigh from Hipper and Monarch, everyone agreed and left the room. Musashi looked back before leaving, a little concern on her face. But a reassuring nod from the Commander made her smile before leaving. He and Kaga then sat next to each other, one looking on in sympathy, the other just looking dejected.
"Kaga you misunderstood my intentions: I'm not excluding you from the new taskforce, I need you for something far more important." The Commander clarified to her. Kaga glared back at him for that statement.
"What could be more important than finding my dear sister?!" She exclaimed.
"Helping me save her when we do." The Commander replied calmly. Before looking back at the suit in the box. Kaga looked on with him, a look of confusion as she tried to work out what he was trying to say.
Out at sea...
Warspite and her friends were still trying to get back to Azur lane. Verner was leaning on some railing near the bow of San Diego's hull, with San Francisco still watching him, swinging her bat around and spouting random catchphrases as she paced around.
"Bat outta hell~ Gets another roll~ mess with San Fran~ get a hole in your skull~" She sang, pretending to hit a home run with her bat. Verner sighed and looked back at her annoyed.
"I know you're guarding me and everything, but do you really need do keep saying juvenile shit like that?" He groaned to her. The heavy cruiser just smirked as she replied.
"Will you lighten up tough guy? You're lucky I didn't clobber you back on that island for eves droppin!" She retorted, pointing her bat at him.
"If you tried to 'clobber' me as you put it, we'd probably be scattered all over ocean, along with bits of that island, kind of hard to lighten up when you're strapped to a fucking bomb." Verner sardonically countered.
"You know you could just take it off now right? You don't HAVE to wear it." San Fran pointed out.
"And be completely at your mercy? Yeah no thanks boat."
San Francisco scowled at the insult and shoved Verner, he fell to the floor for a moment before rolling back onto his feet. "Who you callin a 'boat'?!" the kansen hissed with offence.
"That's what a ship is isn't girl?! A boat?" Verner spat at her, shoving her back. San Fran growled and raised up her bat.
"Apologise!" She ordered, getting into a fighting stance.
"Fuck you!" Verner drew his bowie knife and held it horizontal to block the bat. Startling San Fran for a moment, but she quickly recovered and swung the bat at him. The two of them yelled as their weapons collided, the sound of metal scraping wood buzzed between them for a moment. The two of them stepped back, then back towards each other, each time one was blocking the other's swing, but before either could land a hit...
"ENOUGH!" A massive sword suddenly flipped both the bat and the knife into the air, landing a few feet away from the two of them. Verner and San Fran both turned in surprise, Warspite was standing with her sword raised in front of her and between the two of them. "The pair of you are acting like complete tossers right now, I'm not having either of you risk hurting the other like bloody toddlers in a playground, understood?" She demanded of the pair of them.
"H-he started miss War-"
"I don't give a toss who started it! You're both cutting it out, NOW!" Warspite told the pair of them, swinging her finger between the two of them like a scolding mother.
"Yes ma'am!" They both replied, standing to attention. Warspite then picked up the weaponry and handed them back to their respective owners.
"Do this again and I'm throwing both of you in the brig." She warned the two of them before walking away.
"Man..." Verner started as Warspite walked out of earshot. "She's scary for a short lady." He stated with a chuckle.
"Tell me about it, I've seen taller women back off seeing her get mad." San Fran agreed. Verner looked back at her for a moment, before sighing and putting away his knife.
"Hey uh...sorry for calling you that, clearly its a bad slur or something to a...ship girl." He admitted. San Fran frowned at him for a moment, before shrugging and putting the bat on her shoulder.
"Huh, guess you're not all bad after all. Don't sweat it!" She agreed, lightly punching him in the shoulder. Verner winced a little since she despite the lightness of the punch, she was still super strong, which caught San Fran's eye. "Oops! Sorry 'bout that, I forget my hella strength sometimes." She stated, a little embarrassed. "And uh...I'm also sorry about my bitchy-ness before, I mean sounds like you've been through a lot before ending up on that island huh?" She added.
"Y-yeah I certainly did...I had no idea what to think of you guys while I was in training. Every admiral had different things to say about Azur lane." Verner admitted, going back to leaning on the railing.
"What do you mean?" The kansen asked curiously, also leaning on the railing with him.
"Well some of them praised you for defending humanity, mainly those who used to follow Fleet Admiral Riley, then there are the ones like Admiral Samson, who seem to think you're all loose cannons waiting to end the world or something."
"Well that's hella annoying, I just want to kick back and chill once all the Siren fightin's done, this Samson guy really think we want to just keep fighting forever?" San Francisco scoffed afterwards, clearly annoyed with the subject.
"Apparently so, after the whole thing with Red Axis, he has this theory that you'll all go back to fighting each other again and catch humanity in your crossfire."
"Well thats just dumb, we're not kill crazy robots or anything, just ships who happen to look like people, hell we ARE people, why do those chumps not get that?"
Verner just shrugged. "Most of us haven't even met a ship girl, so I don't know where they get their opinions from. I just follow orders."
"What about now?" San Fran asked, getting genuinely curious about Verner's real intentions.
"I uh...well...I'm not sure any more." He admitted. "I mean you pretty much had me dead to rights on that island back there, I thought I was a goner." Verner then wiped his forehead and slowly sighed. "Whew...i'm still shaking thinking back to it." He chuckled nervously.
"Wow...you boys have been fed some hella bullshit about kansen haven't you?" San Fran chuckled a little as she draped an arm around Verner's shoulders. He tensed up a little but allowed her to hold him, blushing at how close she got. "Well you can chill now buddy, we've already got a few kansen fans back at base, you're gonna fit right in! Hehee!" She added with big grin.
"Kansen...fans?" Verner asked, a little uncomfortable with how close San Fran was now.
"Oh its a long story, but basically..."
San Francisco then summarized the events of Commodore Nico's attack on Azur lane, while she didn't know as much as some other kansen since she was on commission for most of it, she had heard a lot of the story from Cleveland before she was infected. Verner wasn't sure at first, but a lot of what San Fran told him did correlate with what his old superiors had said, but without the bias that the anti-kansen propaganda had, he had no idea what to think any more.
"Wow...I was told that Akagi woman deliberately put him in a coma...of course it was that damn suit malfunctioning that did it." Verner groaned, being reminded he was still wearing a volatile piece of equipment had ruined his mood again.
"Hey...when we get back I'll tell to Puddin' to go easy on you, he'll want to talk to you about all this and since your...'friends' attacked us, he might be hella angry." San Fran warned.
"Wow thanks for the reassurance!" Verner sarcastically replied, making San Fran laugh a little.
"Hey I'm just being truthful!" She teased, before shoving him again.
"Oh you want to go?!" Verner playfully retorted, pushing her back.
"Come get me tough guy!" San Fran then ran off, beckoning him to chase her. Verner shook his head, but smiled and chased her, laughing with her.