"Waaa! Watch where you're firing that thing!" Downes shouted, crouching on the deck of the Union battleship and throwing up her shield. The large caliber round from Maryland's rigging deflected harmlessly and sailed into the ocean.
"Says the girl who just decided to board my vessel in the dead of night?" Maryland teased, walking up to Downes and helping her to her feet. "What's going on, fire-eye? Feeling bored?"
"Other than you taking pot shots at me? More than bored," Downes complained, walking with Maryland to the railing of her ship so they could look down at the glassy, dark water that reflected the light of a crescent moon above. "I'm tense as hell. After that dust-up with Spruance and getting down here just to play clean up and escort? Doesn't sit right at all. I want to fight."
Maryland sighed and acknowledged her point. "We all want to fight, Downes. But those carriers destroyed the Neosho, killed Sims, and almost took out both Lexington and Yorktown without ever having a visual. This isn't a game anymore."
"You're talking to the girl who skated up to a Sakura fleet and took down red foxy hand to hand," the destroyer defender herself. "I know what death looks like and how powerful Sakura carriers are."
"Then maybe you should be thankful things worked out the way they did," Maryland offered. Downes glanced her way with a hard look.
"That doesn't sound right coming from you, Fighting Mary."
"Doesn't matter, it is what it is. At least Commander Thorson isn't letting this time go to waste. We've been talking about these things over the last several days."
"You and all his other favorite ships," Downes snarked. Maryland slapped her on the back.
"Oh please! What do you think we do over on the Yamashiro? He's been getting us all together to talk strategy. Having so many battleships is a huge risk, especially when you consider what we just sailed up on a week or so ago. Think about it, Downes, whole naval groups trading fire and sinking the enemy without ever firing a shot. Like I said, they never even got a visual on one another. We are speaking with the commander every day so that when Akagi, Kaga, Hiryuu, Soryuu, Shoukaku, or Zuikaku come for us we can survive long enough to fire back," the fiery haired battleship explained.
"I'm sorry, you're right. I should be thankful. I'm just…agitated," Downes admitted.
"I know we haven't known each other long, but I've got an ear if you're open to it," Maryland offered. "Tennessee's busy?"
"Belle's my best friend, but there are some things you just…" the destroyer trailed off, sighing heavily. Maryland rested a hand on her shoulder and steered her to one of her secondary batteries. The two women took a seat and relaxed, looking up at a star-studded sky devoid of man-made light pollution.
"This isn't like you, Downes. What's going on?"
The destroyer heaved a deep breath and steadied herself. "Before we left…Ooshio-"
"Cute little shrine gal with the green kimono and black ears? Short, chubby, and shy?" Maryland asked for clarity. Downes chuckled and nodded.
"Opposite of me in every way? Yeah, that's her. She…she said she loved me," the destroyer confessed. Not even the steadfast Maryland could help but gasp quietly.
"She…you mean like confessed confessed? As in-"
"I love you. Yes, as in that," Downes confirmed, hanging her head. "I've never even been with a man, and by man I mean the one specific man who made me realize I'm a woman and not just a walking explosion fetish. How could I possibly answer her? I told her I'd think about it and give her a reply when we got back but…I've been doing nothing but think about it for days on end and I'm no closer to anything!"
"That's…oh boy," Maryland breathed deeply. "Well, at least you know what you have to do next."
"What do you mean?" Downes wondered as a light wind ruffled their hair. Maryland's ponytail hung down to her deck.
"You said it yourself, fire-eye. You need to spend a night with Thorson. Doesn't sound like that should be an issue given, well, you know."
"The fact that he's a bit of a man whore? Yeah, I guess. Is that bad?" Dowes asked nervously. Maryland shrugged.
"You're asking the wrong girl, Downes. He's an attractive guy, no question, but I don't think much about this stuff. He seems a solid commander, concerned about his ships and constantly thinking about the next advantage in this war. That's what I care about. You'll have to make him aware that you need him, at least this once I think. Yamashiro isn't shy about it and neither are Penny or Arizona, to be honest. They just have their own way about engaging with him from what I can tell. You should see him at the capital ship meetings, looks like a sailor on his first day of training! But enough about that, you're right. I don't think you can give that gal a real answer until you know enough about yourself. If that's what it takes, you want to do it, and no one gets hurt, what's the harm?"
"Other than being the first destroyer to have sex with the commander?" Downes offered with dread.
"Alright, fair point. There are definitely some of you that should never be alone in the same room with him, but look at you. You can go toe to toe with me and Tennessee. I don't see why it would be that kind of problem. Besides, you and I both know this war is only going to get worse. Even if it's a no…don't you think she deserves an answer?" Maryland proposed.
"I'm scared," Downes admitted glumly. The battleship smiled and hugged her gently with one arm, silently glad she didn't have to deal with such conflicting emotions.
"When has that stopped you before?"
Her words had Downes searching her eyes. She nodded at long last, standing with clenched fists. "I gotta go, Mary. Sorry for bothering you…and thanks."
"Anytime, fire-eye. Go knock him dead…just not really."
Downes groaned at the image and hopped over the railing to the water below, headed for the flagship instead of her own boat. Maryland activated her rigging and radioed ahead. "Oh, you're awake? Yeah, just a heads up, you and Thorson should expect a visitor soon."
\-
"Walk me through that one more time?" Thorson demanded as Downes stood nervously before him in the captain's cabin of the Yamashiro. The shipgirl herself was on the bridge, chatting with some of the other Sakura ships in the fleet.
"I…I need to have sex with you so I can give Ooshio an answer to her confession!" Downes stated rapidly, not giving either of them time to breathe. Thorson shook his head silently before sitting roughly on the bed, motioning that Downes should take a load off and join him. The mind of a shipgirl remained as opaque as ever, but he could never claim his life was dull.
"Downes, if you wanted to do it you didn't need to concoct such a story," he murmured, not meeting her eyes. "I remember that morning when we had that chat about who and what you are. You've matured so much since then. I'm very proud of you."
"Damnit Commander," Downes muttered, pressing her thighs together and balling her hands in her lap. "I'm being serious here."
"Ah…alright?" Thorson replied quietly, taking a moment to collect his thoughts. Out of all of his destroyers, it was true that Downes was among the more serious and dedicated. Pranks and jokes were much more the territory of Yuudachi, Shigure, and Yukikaze. "In that case I think it's best that you do what you think is right. You know I do what I can not to play favorites and you know I wouldn't sleep with you or anyone else out of pity. At this point I'm not sure what else I can say. Most of the battleships would have me dead to rights if I started something," he admitted with a self-effacing chuckle. Downes joined in.
"Yeah, you're right about that Commander! Ah darn, it was so much easier when we were just chatting and having fun in Surabaya. Soon as the word love gets thrown in everything just goes crazy and my cube goes all nutty."
"It's the same for us humans, Downes. You're a woman. Confusing and powerful emotions is part of what it means to be one," he reassured her. She reached out for him briefly and he took her hand in his before she could second guess herself. "If you just want to talk it out tonight, we can do that."
"Shut up you," she whispered before tackling him backwards and smashing her lips against his. Thorson 'joined her in battle' almost immediately as the two of them reached under jackets and shirts to run their fingers over tender skin and solid muscle. Downes gasped as Thorson brushed against her chest. "No...fair!" She huffed, finding that playing with his nipples elicited little to no reaction. Thorson smirked at her.
"All's fair in love and war," he quoted sagely, causing Downes to growl and tear his shirt from his body.
"Your first mistake then was goading the Tiger of the Union to battle, Commander," she teased, feeling her cube sing and scream with excitement and nerves. It was almost as thrilling as taking down Naka with shells and bullets flying everywhere. She pawed the air with her hand, the other tugging at his belt. "Gao~!"
Thorson and Downes tumbled over and again, onto the floor and back onto the bed as sense and sensibility were abandoned and the basic instincts of man and woman took over. In the aftermath Thorson would readily admit it was inevitable after everything the two of them had been through together. Downes writhed and called his name beneath him as he kissed the sensitive scars that joined her new limbs to her body, and she was merciless in turn, pinning his arms down and taking her satisfaction until both were drenched in sweat. Thorson didn't mind one bit. "That's quite the view," he gasped appreciatively as Downes' body finally gave out and she collapsed into his hold. "Your training shows."
"I'm so glad you…liked it…" she panted against his chest. "Thank you, Commander. I think, I think I can face her now as a woman. I love you, so now I understand how she feels about me," the spunky destroyer explained. Thorson nodded, running a hand through her short, white hair.
"Love you too, Downes. Guess we're in it for the long haul," he agreed.
"Hell or high water, sir," she promised affectionately.
As if to test Downes' conviction, fate delivered both at once. "Tono-sama! Yamashiro is ready for…oh. Oh my. Yamashiro thought she smelled something interesting coming from her cabin. Tono-sama, I hope you're not too worn out to tend to me as well. I would be so sad if you took another flagship so soon!" The feline battleship made a show of sniffing the air around her. "Hmm hmm, Yamashiro smells gunpowder and the sea, how intoxicating!"
Downes, still joined at the hips with her Commander, looked at Yamashiro like a deer caught in the headlights, horror slowly creeping across her reddening face. The two of them stared at one another as Yamashiro began tittering, covering her mouth with her hand in a futile effort to stall an onslaught of laughter. "Oh tono-sama, Downes-chan, you should see your faces!"
"Downes…ch-chan?!" the destroyer spluttered.
"I'm sorry, I just can't help it sometimes," the buxom battleship explained as she closed the door to the cabin and unceremoniously undressed herself. "If I didn't know tono-sama loved my body so much I would be jealous. Everywhere Yamashiro is fluffy and soft you are muscled and powerful!"
"Commander, help!" Downes pleaded in a whisper, having absolutely no idea how to conduct herself around a woman who seemed very much aware of the fact that Downes and Thorson had bedded one another from the get go, not to mention the commentary on her own body.
"Yamashiro, take it easy on her, please?" Thorson ordered gently. She bowed at them both, showing off her pendulous rack.
"Of course, tono-sama. Yamashiro sometimes forgets that the Union is very uptight about these things. Serving in your fleet means sharing or finding love elsewhere. It is something I have long come to terms with. I am not like Ooshio, of course, but that doesn't mean I should not appreciate the beauty of the human form. The gods grant you strength and speed thanks to your hard work, Downes-chan. I would be remiss not to compliment you," the battleship insisted as she joined them on the now far too crowded bed, coaxing Downes off of Thorson and allowing the nervous ship to settle between the two of them.
"Uh…Yamashiro?" Downes squeaked, looking at Thorson like a caged animal as Yamashiro's well-manicured fingers explored her body for a moment before settling into a hug.
"Yamashiro-"
"Tono-sama, you had your fun. Now please let Yamashiro indulge in a bit of fancy herself. After so many nights together you cannot blame me for imagining what it might be like to be a mother…"
Downes' eyes opened as wide as they could go as she was suddenly relegated from Thorson's lover to surrogate offspring. "Wawawawait! That's definitely too much!" She tried.
"I'm sorry, Downes," Yamashiro cooed, her breath warm against her neck. "Just relax and stay with us tonight. If this is too much for you, I am afraid that you will only break young Ooshio's heart. She is a tender little thing who has apparently trusted you with a deep secret."
"How the hell did you-"
"We speak often as fellow shrine maidens. Nagato-sama is gone, and Fusou-nee cannot be allowed to stand alone," was all Yamashiro would reveal on the matter. "But sleep now. We have long days of sailing ahead if we are to return home in time to refit and repair before our foes move again."
"She's right on that count," Thorson agreed, knowing he'd been pushing his ships, especially his battleships, to the limit in an effort to return to base and prepare for whatever fleet action the Union was planning. Due to his altercations with Spruance, no matter what he knew he would be in the position of reactionary, without intelligence from Hawaii beyond whatever Brooklyn could risk smuggling out. It was imperative to return as quickly as possible. He cast a glance at Yamashiro so she knew he was speaking to her as well. "Downes, you don't have to stay."
"I…it's ok, Commander," she stuttered. "Damn Yamashiro, how did you get this fluffy on rice and fish?"
"Downes-chan, you are so feisty! I cannot control my retrofit!" Yamashiro giggled as the destroyer tentatively reached behind her to poke at her squishy belly and hips.
"G-Gao~!" Downes 'roared' bravely, allowing them all to unload tension with much needed laughter. Despite Yamashiro's unexpected behavior, the three of them did eventually drift off, with Downes waking to find herself snuggled up not against Thorson's broad chest, but Yamashiro's plush form. It was impossible to return to her ship without waking them both, so instead she gave Thorson a final kiss on the lips. "Thank you both. I…am not sure if I ever want to do something like this again but I learned a lot about myself."
"Happy to help!" Yamashiro cooed as Downes slipped on her leather jacket. "See you for breakfast!"
"Yeah, see you," she said quietly before leaving the two of them in silence. Thorson rolled over in bed.
"Are you sure all that was wise?" He questioned. Yamashiro gave him a coy look as she worked her way down his body, indulging in both the discussion and practice of love.
"Ooshio was not wise to confess to Downes, but she was brave. Downes appears to be quite brave herself. It is Yamashiro's duty to look after the younger shrine keepers, tono-sama. And it is my pleasure to look after you…" Yamashiro and Thorson were quite late to breakfast that morning as she assured him there were no hard feelings about Downes' first time.
\-
"Yorktown, are you sure about this?" Lexington demanded worriedly. The two women stood together on an Australian dock, where their ships were undergoing repairs.
"We will need every plane available to us," Yorktown demurred, as if to say the choice was out of her hands. "The signs are clear that the enemy is massing for an attack. If they sail east towards the Union I must stand with my sisters. We don't know how long before the Sakura realize we've cracked their codes. Now is the time."
"I'm not disputing any of that, but your ship!" Lexington worried, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes as she looked over the cranes and supplies on dock.
"She can sail and launch aircraft. It is my pilots that will bear the true brunt of this battle," Yorktown replied sadly. "I will…no, I must do everything I can to support them. We have seen the future of naval warfare firsthand, Lexington."
"Yorktown," the elder idol sighed in resignation. "Be safe and please try to find a shard before you go to battle. I can already feel the difference, even with my ship in this sorry state."
Yorktown looked with suspicion at the rifle that was now a constant companion for her comrade. "I will consider it. At the end of the day it is irresponsible to rely on that which we don't understand. But I am grateful to all of them for saving your life."
High above, Grim let out a shrill cry, heralding the departure of the Yorktown and her escorts. "I'm sorry I can't be there with you," Lexington said, embracing Yorktown as the Hammann and other ships began pulling out of port.
"I am too, but such is war," Yorktown replied sagely as her eagle familiar circled lower to eventually find a place on her shoulder. "Goodbye, Lexington. May we meet again."
"I know we will," The other carrier affirmed, saluting as all able ships departed to join up with the main Pacific task forces. It crackled in the air and over the seas like electricity as the sirens looked on with glee. War was coming to the Union.
\-
"Finally, time to crack some Union skulls!" Hiryuu said excitedly, emerging from the shield of the Sanctuary to feel the sun on her face. Her jacket billowed behind her in a strong wind as the first and second carrier divisions, along with a full escort and invasion force, departed the Sanctuary.
"Could you at least try to sound less bloodthirsty, sister of mine?" Soryuu replied over the radio, checking on their escorts. Elsewhere in the formation, Sendai could be seen at the command of the 11th and 19th destroyer divisions. The 19th was short Ayanami, left behind in the Hall of Sculptures.
"Where's the fun in that, nee-san? Ouch! Hey, anyone else getting a headache all of a sudden?" Hiryuu asked.
"Tone, Chikuma, Haruna, Kirishima?" Soryuu asked.
"Negative," they all replied, leaving a scowl on the elder rabbit carrier's face as she winced in pain. Whatever had happened to her sister upon departure was happening to her as well, though in the wake of the pain her mind felt refreshingly clear.
"Understood. Nagara, status?"
"Tenth destroyer squadron and division ready and able!" The light cruiser reported as a pause filled the static. "Nowaki, wake up!"
"Zzz...wha? I mean fourth destroyer division ready to set sail!" The little one snapped to attention.
"Seventeenth destroyer division ready!" Came the chorus from Urakaze, Isokaze, Tanikaze, and Hamakaze.
"Escort fleets are ready to deploy, your grace," Soryuu reported to Kaga and Akagi.
"Wonderful. All ships, advance on Midway!" The brown-furred kitsune ordered gleefully, practically chomping at the bit. "She may not have killed any of our own, but that Union bitch needs to be put in her place after that little stunt she pulled in Tokyo."
"Third battleship division, ready and willing," Kongou and Hiei chimed in, the two step-sisters standing sternly on their bows as the leaders of the Midway invasion force. Behind them came the 4th and 5th cruiser divisions, with Maya taking Atago's place under the 4th's banner. They were joined by Yuudachi and Akashi's old destroyer and support groups. At the rear of the force came minesweepers, transports, cargo ships, patrol boats and thirteen submarines in three divisions from the sixth fleet, along with Houshou, the first carrier. Despite her sisters' zeal, the matronly woman could only look upon her fleet from her flight deck and despair. Shipgirls and men alike by the hundreds and thousands sailing off under Akagi and Kaga's order to take the fight to the Union in its own backyard, and technological advancement had left her impotent to make a difference on the battlefield. She lowered her head and prayed to the rising sun in the east.
"Wherever you are, Nagato-san, watch over the daughters of the Sakura…"
\-
"Admiral Nimitz sir, urgent reports for you from Coral Sea and the codebreakers!" A midshipman called out, practically barging into the Admiral's office at Pearl Harbor. The shipyard was again a bustling war machine where one would be hard pressed to find evidence of the earlier Sakura attack other than the handful of battleship hulls left behind. The Admiral looked up calmly from his desk.
"I'll take it. What news?"
"Sir, Lexington and Yorktown engaged the enemy's fifth carrier division at Coral Sea. Reports state that the battle was effectively a stalemate, but we drove them back from the landing grounds and Port Moresby remains in Allied control. Lexington took severe damage but was salvaged thanks to the actions of one Commander Thorson. I had to look him up with the OSS but he was formerly assigned to Admiral Hawkins and disappeared following the attack on this base, sir."
Nimitz looked up from the naval charts he'd been studying, the fan overhead slowly moving dust and air around the office. "That explains where my ships have gone. Interesting."
"Ah, yes sir. The Yorktown is on her way to regroup with the main task forces now and she reports combat ready."
"Good. And what word from intelligence?" The Admiral pressed. "Certainly Yorktown's status doesn't merit such breathless urgency."
"No sir, it's the Sakura. They're coming. Target AF has been identified. They're still using the old JN-25b code we partially cracked months ago. We sent an un-coded radio broadcast and they took it up hook, line, and sinker," the sailor reported, handing over the stack of intelligence.
"Ah, the old water purifier message. So that's it then?" The Admiral concluded.
"Yes sir, I've never seen Rochefort as confident as he is about this one. The Sakura will attack two primary targets on the morning of June 4th, Midway Atoll and the classified Azur Lane facility just to the south. Rear Admiral Spruance has designated Thorson as AWOL and a threat to the Pacific fleets, sir. Your orders?"
Nimitz calmly flipped through the papers given to him as the sailor stood at ease with his hands behind his back. Every so often he would skip back to something he'd read previously or look down at his chart of the Pacific. "This is the same Commander Thorson who salvaged the Lexington and drove off the Sakura's fifth carrier division? The one who was present when Rear Admiral Doorman was lost at Java?"
"Yes sir, one and the same. Two ships who claim to serve under him are docked here with a merchant marine convoy, and we have independent reports on Java Sea from Phoenix and Langley." Nimitz glanced up at the sailor's words.
"We have no remaining undersea cables to that facility…alert Spruance immediately, we will muster every ship at our disposal and crush them here and now. And send one of those ships to me."
"Yes sir!" The sailor saluted and sprinted from the office to relay Nimitz's orders back to station HYPO and the rest of Pearl Harbor. The Admiral cleared his desk and began to write, preparing several copies of the same message. A short time later there came a faint knocking at his door.
"You may enter," he called. A beautiful woman with glasses, long strawberry blond hair, and a decidedly non-standard Union uniform entered and saluted.
"CL-40, Brooklyn reports as ordered, Admiral Nimitz."
"Tell me, how quickly can you deliver a message to this Commander Thorson of yours?" Nimitz requested, clicking a lighter in his spare hand. If he had a personal opinion on the Commander, it was not evident from his tone.
"Just under two days, sir."
Nimitz hummed briefly to himself before extending the sealed envelope to her. "There will be no messages by radio, no missives that could possibly be intercepted by the enemy. You are his only warning. I would set sail immediately, Brooklyn. They are coming for him."
"Sir, yes sir!" Brooklyn saluted before snatching the papers and sprinting from the office. Admiral Nimitz stood and gazed over the map. In red pen, he'd marked a small area of ocean south of Midway.
"It would seem the time for a great gamble is upon us. An enemy so feared they would treat him with the same importance as Midway itself…let us hope you reach him in time, you curious creation named Brooklyn."