"Enterprise, stand. We need you," Admiral Spruance urged. The silver-haired union carrier was in tears, collapsed to the floor of her bridge. "How bad is it?"
"Gallaher and McClusky targeted the Kaga and survived, somehow," she gasped. "So many are gone, so many. I doubt even ten will return to us here. Hornet and Yorktown saw equally bad losses. We had the altitude advantage, we had their fighters depleted. The war should be over! That commander, he tried to warn us, to warn me!"
"Enough! There will be time for that later, young lady," Spruance helped her to her feet, taking her gently by the shoulders before fixing her tie and straightening her cap. "We still have Thach and a couple squads of fighters. We have our escorts. We'll do what we need to do and win with what we have, you and your sisters and all the rest of us. There can be no defeat for the Union today. What is the enemy's status?"
"Thank you, Admiral," Enterprise whispered as she composed herself, trying to forget the feeling as she experienced the dying moment of so many men she knew and trained with. "Our pilots did not die in vain. Three of the four enemy carriers took hits, but from what I can tell at this distance they remain operational. They did not deserve to die like that."
"But they all knew it was a possibility," Spruance agreed, picking up the radio. "Now is not the time for tears. Now is the time to honor that sacrifice. All escorts, be advised that we anticipate a counterattack by the enemy. We wounded but did not kill their flattops. Continue to sail for Midway and keep all AA crews on full alert, Spruance out."
Sakura Main Fleet, Approximately 150 Miles NNW of Midway Atoll, 11:00 Hours
Kaga walked calmly along her ship, inspecting the damage she'd incurred during the bombing raid of the Union's main force. She knelt to inspect a crack on her flight deck, determining it sound enough to launch her aircraft as her sister radioed her.
"I still can't believe you let that plane escape, sister. It's not like you."
"You should worry about yourself, dear sister," Kaga simpered, no love in her voice. "This battle is far from over."
"On the contrary, ever-worried sister of mine, we are but one attack away from victory," Akagi insisted. "Hiryuu, Soryuu, status report!"
"I'm fine, Lady Akagi," Hiryuu reported, pacing nervously on her deck. She was the one flattop spared any damage during the main attack. "But my sister-"
"I am fine, Hiryuu," Soryuu panted, leaning heavily against the exterior wall of her command tower. Multiple bombs had detonated square on her shields, and her ribs were cracked and screaming with pain. She'd managed to save her flight deck, however, and new Zeroes and Aichi's were already waiting to launch into a proper wind.
"My, what a splendid example to us all," Akagi said sweetly. No one dared question or believe her. "All forces, we will turn west briefly to launch aircraft before continuing east in pursuit of the main Union fleet."
"Our target, your grace?" Hiryuu requested.
"You and I will attack and kill the enemy carriers," Akagi replied in a surprising display of prudence. Kaga muttered under her breath that a couple of the bombs must have 'knocked some sense into her'. "Soryuu will scout south, attacking the remaining installations at Midway. And you, my dear sister, will find your old friend and his base."
Unable to fault Akagi's divide and conquer strategy, Kaga began summoning a new wave of fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers to her deck. "As you command, sister." Thus the Sakura turned their fleet and launched the second major air offensive of the battle, a squadron of more than 150 aircraft splitting in two, with Akagi and Hiryuu's contingent headed east and Kaga heading south along with Soryuu. High above the cloud cover, peeking out briefly every so often, Royal Navy scout aircraft observed the goings on. To the south, Thorson's squadron of aircraft changed course, circling west in an evasive action before resuming their northward journey.
Union Task Force 16 & 17, 12:05 Hours
"All ships, open fire! Cover the air wings and work together! Enterprise, where are your Wildcats?" Atlanta demanded as hordes of Sakura aircraft descended upon them from the west.
"They're diving now, Atlanta, two o'clock high!" the carrier reported as her squadrons, accompanied by John Thach and the remaining fighters from Yorktown, descended from their elevated position above the task force to strike at the enemy formation.
"Understood! Northampton, shift your base of fire left! All main and secondary battery crews I want you feeding our Bofors instead! Don't give them an inch! Astoria, Vincennes, cover Yorktown!" Under Atlanta's command the Union AA machine sprang to life as the seven heavy cruisers and twenty destroyers along with her sent flak and bullets skyward. Unlike Pearl Harbor, the Union was ready to receive Akagi and Hiryuu, with bombers falling from the skies as brave pilots led the charge against the Zeroes. Far off across the ocean, still beyond the forward detection range of the Union's submarine divisions, Akagi found herself breathing heavily on deck, a bead of sweat dripping from her furrowed brow. The Union pilots were employing novel tactics against her, fighting in groups of four and two in order to cover each other and nullify the advantages of her Zeroes. Between the Wildcats and the immense amount of AA fire from fully loaded and operational escorts, a full victory was out of reach.
"Hiryuu, your only target is the Yorktown. I don't care how many you lose!" she ordered, setting her own sights on the Grey Ghost's other sister. "Get it done."
"Yes, your majesty!"
Kaga listened silently as her sister plotted the long torture and demise of their primary enemy in the Pacific, Enterprise. While part of her wanted to pick at Akagi and rib her for not being able to destroy an entire Union fleet single handedly, she would have also divided their air wings were she in command of the battle, and so she waited silently as the two attacking Sakura consolidated their forces and dived on their targets.
"Well, that's not looking good," Hornet considered, gazing up at a host of enemy planes. One by one they were falling from the skies in burning wrecks, but there was no doubt in her mind that she was about to take hits. "Captain Mitscher, you may want to hit the deck. Damage control, shut everything down now!" she screamed as dive bombers released their payloads. Two struck home, throwing up fireballs, smoke and debris as her landing deck was shattered and the systems below heavily damaged. Her ears were ringing as she collapsed to one knee and coughed up blood.
"Hornet!"
"Not now, sis. I gotta focus," Hornet gasped as Enterprise radioed her. The fires were spreading. Ammunition had detonated. Gas lines had ruptured. Her entire crew was in danger. The torpedo bombers were coming next. Akagi's planes had been cut to quarter force, but the damage was done and the killing blow on its way. "Captain… you need to get them out of here."
"Say again Hornet? What about damage control?!" Mitscher demanded.
"Not much point in keeping this rust bucket afloat if it will never launch a plane again," she mused sadly, watching the torpedo wakes come ever closer. "I need to go, Captain. Get them out of here before this thing sinks."
"Hornet…"
"It's been a pleasure serving with you, Captain. Take care of my sister, please." Her final request made, Hornet took a running start, shedding her hat and cloak before diving headfirst off the deck of her ship and into the water below. Every hand not engaged in trying to save their own life or stop a fire from consuming the vessel removed their caps at Mitscher's command. Enterprise was left to scream in vain as towering columns of water rose just short of Hornet's hull as fires continued to burn below decks. She didn't even have time to say goodbye before Hiryuu's attack struck the Yorktown.
As Enterprise's knees threatened to give way again, the battlefield fell eerily silent. She couldn't sense Hornet at all and Hammann had broken formation, steaming her way towards the gravely injured Yorktown. The realization that she was the last known operational Union carrier active in the Pacific fell by the wayside, however, as she and Rear Admiral Spruance surveyed the battlefield. A prodigious number of enemy planes had been destroyed, and few Union aircraft had been shot down. The escorts had come through unscathed, and the remnants of the attacking force had vanished into thin air. "What in the world just happened?" Spruance demanded. She could give him no answer, though she would later hear the story.
Sakura Main Fleet, 12:32 Hours
Akagi and Hiryuu had been forced to sever their connection to their planes by an ungodly sound, a swelling of barbaric European classical music from the south as a swarm of fully armed P-40 Warhawks led an accompaniment of Union floatplanes straight at them. The four carriers stared, dumbfounded, as Cleveland and her friends did their best to provide the most stunning rendition of Ride of the Valkyries in recorded history, to say nothing of abusing the power of their cubes. For Thorson's boats, Midway was still very much a delightful game. "How did they…" Kaga whispered, wondering how that many aircraft had evaded detection by her own planes. The answer came as three Fairey Fulmars banked and descended from the clouds. Their scouting jobs completed, Ark Royal sent them after three different ships in the escort fleet.
"What the hell are you all sitting around for?" Akagi demanded, struggling to get a third wave of aircraft into battle so soon after losing her second. "Fire!"
"Yukikaze, you're sure those are the right targets?" Ark Royal demanded, trying her best to keep her P-40's operational while diving on the three destroyers and conveying to Yukikaze the specifics of each. The snowy neko was closing her eyes tightly on board the Arizona as the battleship hugged her from behind, willing her to concentrate.
"Y-Yes! Those are them! Isokaze, Hamakaze, and Tanikaze, nanoda! Please be gentle with them!"
"It won't be gentle," Ark replied firmly. "But they'll survive until we get there. Attack!"
At Ark's command, her aircraft screamed into contact and exploded dead center on the three Kagerou-class destroyers. The shipgirls shrieked in pain as surface guns, torpedo mounts, and other fixtures exploded or burned. No aid could be given to them, however, as the main attack began in earnest. Hiryuu and Akagi had just managed to get fresh Zeroes into the air when Ark Royal descended upon them, shredding the light aircraft with overwhelming machine gun fire. In the chaos caused by the typically land based fighters, Kaga and Soryuu were forced to make a choice. Midway had been struck by Soryuu's second wave of aircraft, thoroughly defeated and disabled. The elder rabbit carrier allowed those planes to all crash into the sea, instead focusing on shielding and AA fire. Kaga cursed silently and followed suit, her second strike wing vanishing without having found any suitable targets. With the carriers occupied defending themselves, the woefully lacking escort fleet was left to pay the price for their sub-par anti-aircraft capabilities. The Union battleships targeted their counterparts, with Tennessee and California ganging up on Kirishima. Colorado and West Virginia attacked Hiei. Arizona was the lone exception as everyone picked out their targets, sending her planes instead at the last of Yukikaze's sisters. With Thorson's fleet still far off and unthreatened, they had the relative luxury of picking targets and going for crippling instead of kill shots. The Sakura battleships and cruisers were not treated so softly, with Haruna taking serious bomb damage and Chikuma left a burning wreck by Indianapolis, Portland, and Minneapolis.
"Do you see her, Arizona-san?" Yukikaze asked, doing her best to explain Urakaze. "She's short, likes purple, has super gross ginormous titties like Yuudachi-"
"My breasts are not gross! Shikikan looks at them all the time, unlike your mosquito bites, wan~!" Yuudachi protested from aboard the Pennsylvania. Like her partner in crime, she found the idea of sailing alone quite unappealing when head scritches awaited her on board one of Thorson's battleships.
"Let my sister focus on disabling that destroyer, then you can complain about your chest all you want. Besides, everyone knows you like your rack. Why else would you wear a shirt that lets everyone have a good look?" Pennsylvania lightly scolded her puppy as Arizona narrowed her floatplane attack on the last of Yukikaze's favorite sisters. The five of them had been named with the kanji for wind, and she wanted to do everything in her power to prevent them from becoming like Shiranui before the shells really started flying.
"I'm very sorry; I'm still learning how to do this!" Arizona exclaimed as her first float plane crashed into the sea just short of Urakaze. The second overshot, finally brought down by one of Soryuu's Zeroes. The third, however, smacked right into the ship, detonating both the bomb and the plane. The attack sent the shipgirl flying from her bridge and into the sea. Much like Arizona's attempt, the vast majority of Thorson's 'airforce' was lost to haphazard attack runs at odd angles, crashes, and AA fire. But that was a sideshow. The real battle was Ark Royal versus the four Sakura carriers. They may have had the numbers, but Ark had planes in the air, more machine guns, sturdier frames, bombs, more available targets, and most importantly, Akashi was at her side along with a couple of bulins massaging her aching body and ensuring she remained topped off with secret coolant.
On the bridge of the Fusou, the Commander and his shipgirl listened to Yamashiro read off the list of casualties. Yukikaze's wind sisters had all been disabled, and before their destruction Yamashiro's floatplanes had been able to confirm survivors in the wake of the Sakura fleet, left to drift as the rest of the fleet dealt with their own problems. Both Tone and Chikuma had been sunk, with severe damage done to Mikuma and Mogami. The battleships had managed to mostly shrug off the attack, with Ise, Hyuuga, and Kongou coming through completely unscathed. "Oh, and there goes my last little flying friend. Sorry, tono-sama, Yamashiro has nothing else to report!"
"That's more than enough. Thank you, Yamashiro. Fusou, your thoughts?" he requested.
"They know we are a threat, tono-sama. I cannot speak for any other portion of this battle," the elder battleship replied wisely. He nodded in agreement.
"Ark, you hanging in there?" he wondered. Akashi radioed instead.
"She pushed herself to her limits, nyaa! Akashi is performing restorative treatments now. Do not fear, Shikikan, she will be ready when we make contact again! Bulins, take her inside. Flight deck is not for sleeping, nyaa!"
"Shall I record that as a casualty, tono-sama?" Fusou wondered with a coy, feline smile on her lips.
"Fusou… you can't do that to me in the middle of a battle," he murmured desirously.
"Unless they turn for us we will not meet them in battle until tomorrow morning, tono-sama. And I did nothing," she insisted. With a small shriek of pleasure, Fusou found herself against the wall of her bridge for her troubles. "Perhaps I did do a little something?" There was stress, temporary relief, and the hope of victory all mingled together in his face as he kissed her. Fusou melted into a puddle of kitten, pulling aside her kimono and shamelessly accepting him right then and there, her tail erect with pleasure. Across the fleet, Tennessee growled like a caged animal as California burst into laughter.
"I don't mind at all, but for the sake of my sister maybe you should turn off your radio! Think of the destroyers!" California encouraged gleefully as Colorado and West Virginia found themselves blushing to the roots of their hair.
"Laffey has never heard such bullshit before, no no. She is an adult who will lay with the Commander, yes she will."
"Such behavior is unbecoming of a royal knight, Knight Commander! And watch your language, Laffey!"
"By the Fatherland… what a blitzkrieg."
While the momentary success of Thorson's air raid was enough to get him sheathed inside a very eager and willing Fusou, the girls of the first and second Sakura carrier divisions did not see things that way. Several escorts had been destroyed or damaged to varying degrees, and the unexpected air raid had forced them all to exert a significant amount of energy in an emergency Zero sortie. They'd been forced to down many of Ark's planes themselves, a trying task. As damage control and resupply efforts began, effectively halting the deathblow against Enterprise, Kaga travelled to the Akagi to speak privately with her sister.
"Soryuu reports that Midway has been effectively neutralized. But if he catches us as we're landing troops and ships…"
"You need not explain to me how dishonored we would be, sister," Akagi insisted. A thin cut graced her otherwise flawless left cheek and bruises could be seen on her legs. "I think I understand a bit of your obsession with him now. To think he would sortie floatplanes in such a way."
"He is disgustingly resourceful, I agree. The enemy task forces?" Kaga wondered.
"Their air power has been reduced to almost nothing, a handful of fighters at most. One of the Ghost's sisters is dead; the other was wounded by Hiryuu. Their escort fleet is large but can be dealt with in time," Akagi explained confidently. Kaga nodded sagely, wiping a trickle of blood from her nose.
"Perhaps this was always our destiny; this battle of Midway was never about Midway at all. We have an advantage sister, we should not waste it."
"You mean his distance from us?" Akagi clarified, Kaga nodded.
"We know the location of his facility. Unless he departed yesterday, in which case we likely would have noticed him during the attacks on Midway itself, we have many hours until he is able to find us. If we leave the battleships behind we can outrun him forever."
"Unless he detaches his own cruisers and aircraft. You are not bold enough, sister," Akagi criticized, though her boastful tone from earlier that morning was nowhere to be found. "We will replenish our strength and then all four of us will do as you wish. We will find his position, and then sortie every plane we can muster to send him to the bottom… along with every traitor who serves under him."
With Akagi putting her own thoughts into words, there was no further reason for Kaga to remain. "Then I will make my preparations, sister. The Union task forces?"
"We will simply maneuver south and west, a temporary retreat that will allow us to keep Midway within reach. They will not catch us," Akagi insisted. Kaga nodded.
"You have blood on your cheek, sister."
"And your lip is covered in it, sister," Akagi sniped right back. Their tails fanned out and lit with fire.
"So long as you remember why I allowed you to drag us all down this path, I will follow it to the end, Akagi."
"And so long as you remember that you could not stop me, there will be peace between us," Akagi told her with false politeness, the Pacific wind buffeting their skirts.
"What of the escorts we lost?"
"If they can survive until the battle is ended we will collect them. If not, they will feed the fish," Akagi declared nonchalantly. "There is no room for weakness in the eyes of the Creator."
"As you say, sister. Farewell."
"Be ready, Kaga. We launch our first attack at dusk. All ships," Akagi projected her voice via radio. "Change heading to the southwest. Focus on damage control and resupply. We have already achieved a great victory today against the cowards of the Union. Their carriers lie depleted or at the bottom of the ocean!"
Kaga gracefully stepped off of the Akagi's flight deck as her brash, brown-haired sister continued her motivational speech. "Only one, pitiful group of battleships lies between us and absolute dominance of the Pacific. We will defeat them and the human who commands them with ease, and the Creator will be forced to recognize our power. Take heart my sisters. The era of humanity is about to give way to our own glorious future. Make all necessary preparations. We make our first strike tonight!"
Azur Lane Main Fleet, June 5th, 01:42 Hours
Commander Thorson stirred from rest as the door to Fusou's captain's quarters creaked open. He was much more prepared for Minneapolis' disembodied head to address him this time. Fusou herself groaned sleepily and sat up, the sheets falling from her nude body as her hair hung loosely over her shoulder and his chest. He nodded at the Union cruiser. It was pitch black outside.
"Minnie?"
"I just got done speaking with that seer from the Sakura, the sickly fox girl. Her spirit senses it just as I do. The wind howls. They're coming for us, Commander."
As if conspiring with Minneapolis for dramatic effect, Cleveland's horn began sounding loud and long into the night. Her more advanced radar heralding what eventually had his entire fleet up in arms. By the time Thorson threw on his uniform and raced to the bridge, every ship in his fleet was sounding the alarm and every light had been shut down. All of his girls held their fire, but he knew they likely only had minutes remaining.
"All ships, status?" he ordered, pleased as his fleet assured him all systems were operational. Even Akashi and the bulins were actively scampering across her deck, manning her outsized complement of AA cannons.
"Commander, requesting permission to give away my position," Tennessee radioed.
"I assume you have something in mind beyond just noble self-sacrifice?"
"Screw you, sir. If I'm the only one firing they'll think I'm the lead element. That and I think I actually have a shot at taking some of them out. Cleveland, distance and elevation?"
"You think I know that?!" the light cruiser protested.
"Give me your best estimate! I'm not asking for a bloody miracle and it's not like I have a limit on shell count. Commander?!"
"Do it," he ordered. "Ark, status?"
"Loading my aircraft without bombs, Knight Commander. They'll be airborne shortly."
"But can you hit anything?" Thorson demanded.
"We're about to find out!" Ark insisted.
"Belle, are you really sure about this?" Downes wondered, shadowing her battleship partner as the tailing element of Thorson's fleet.
"Of course I'm not, short stuff, but it's better than letting them set the terms. Those idiots are as blind as we are… but we have better radar." Tennessee set about proving that proposition by firing her forward batteries at almost maximum elevation. Her ability to detonate her own shells in flight produced brilliant explosive displays against the cloudy skies above.
"They're getting closer," Cleveland warned, whispering as if keeping her voice down would prevent the enemy aircraft from locating her.
"Stupid piece of shit," Tennessee cursed, firing off another barrage and throwing up some AA fire as well. In the silence left behind her attack they could start to hear the aircraft engines above them, followed by the telltale sounds of diving bombers. Ark hadn't been able to launch in time, but the sky remained dark and what followed was a mess of noise, large explosions and splashes, but no reports of damage. Thorson felt his way towards Fusou's hand in the dark as everyone waited for a second attack that never came.
"So… what happens now?" he asked. Feeling what little relief she felt was allowed in such a situation, Fusou reached up and kissed his lips gently.
"We should be ready to fight at dawn, tono-sama. They have our location now."
Union Task Force 16 & 17, 02:15 Hours
"Thank you, Northampton," Enterprise whispered, taking the brightly glowing cube from the olive skinned cruiser girl, the lead of her class. It shone brightly in the darkness on her bridge, like Hornet's ever present smile. Neither of them was ready to accept the reality, but they went through the motions anyway, for one another's sake. Rear Admiral Spruance was still awake as well, poring over naval charts and trying to discern the next best move for the Union fleet.
"She saved hundreds, maybe thousands. I'm so sorry. There were too many," Northampton spoke softly. Enterprise embraced her.
"No one could blame you, or any of us. There is only one person at fault here, and that's me."
"Enterprise, what are you saying? That's-"
"It's not nonsense," the silver haired carrier insisted, wiping a tear from her eye and looking out across the black to where she knew the crew of the Hammann was helping take care of her grievously wounded sister. "The Sakura's great power that they wielded against us today… it could have been ours."
"What power?" Northampton wondered, brushing her long, dark hair out of her lime green eyes.
"The power that saved your sister. God only knows she's probably out there right now, part of the fleet that forms the Union's last hope in the Pacific. A bunch of obsolete battleships and their escorts without a single human crew member. Rear Admiral-"
"If we reach out to them we risk another attack by the enemy. We will continue to retreat south and east before angling towards Midway itself. Our guns can still do something if they decide to land there. I think the fact that they didn't come for us says all we need to know about the enemy's priorities right now, Enterprise." The Admiral's words stilled them for a moment, an acknowledgement that the great Pacific fleet of the Union was now reduced to evasive maneuvers and damage control. Enterprise took Northampton's hand in her own.
"Thank you for being beside my sister throughout her life and at the end. I will make sure you live long enough to see Houston again."
Spruance returned to his maps, unable to watch as the shipgirls of his task forces were finally able to mourn their losses under cover of night. Across the seas the clouds thinned slightly, allowing pale moonlight to filter through the cover and light the bow of the USS Houston. The sole occupant of the ship rested there, looking out over the inky sea as it reflected the creamy moonlight. The enemy was focused on them, not the other Union forces. The first strike had been impotent. They were steaming closer to Midway with each passing minute and would be ready to reclaim the atoll if necessary at dawn. Her main and secondary batteries practically hummed with anticipation as she thought of Fredrick Miles, and then her sisters, Northampton and Chicago. "I will see you all again, this time by my own hand. Ghosts cannot die."
"Foo says that you should not think of yourself in such a way, you are very much alive," Kasumi called out to her, having skated across the water thanks to the bit of light available.
"Hey there, little one. Couldn't sleep?" Houston wondered, walking over to where the small arctic fox girl has come onto her deck. True to form she was exhausted, and Houston gathered her in her arms.
"Is it natural for Union ships to be so nice to their enemies?" Kasumi giggled, relaxing in Houston's hold. She shook her head.
"You won't see us giving those carriers this sort of treatment, but you little ones? How could we resist? Dogs and cats have been our companions since we conquered the land centuries ago!"
"Miss South Dakota has been pleasant as well but she is not as outgoing as you are. I believe she still needs to find her purpose as a person," Kasumi proclaimed. "I will do my best to ensure the shield survives long enough to become a woman."
"That's a heavy burden for such a little thing. I'll help," Houston agreed, both of them gazing up at the moon. "I hope my sisters are alright."
"Foo, please go check?" Kasumi requested, sending one of her glowing spirits shooting out over the sea. Houston cocked her head.
"So… you really do have spirit friends? I'm not a native like South Dakota or Minnie, not sure I'll ever see them."
"Unless you become a ghost," Kasumi giggled, a hand to her thin lips. "Foo is very scared of real ghosts like Shiranui-san. I like your nickname though. If the enemy thinks you dead and then you live, it will be an advantage."
"You know, for a cute little foxie that plays around with spirits, you have a pretty ruthless idea every now and again," Houston laughed, sitting down against one of her main batteries and resting Kasumi in her lap.
"Foo says both of your sisters yet live, though one is in great pain. I'm sorry I cannot tell you more. The realm of the living is difficult for spirits," Kasumi tried to explain. Houston sighed and looked skyward.
"Does that mean you can find Nevada and Oklahoma out there?" she wondered idly.
"You mean the two nice blonde ladies with the funny accents? They are much less scary than Shiranui-san, but they can't talk right now," Kasumi laughed. Houston found precisely none of those words entertaining.
"What do you mean they can't?!" she hissed.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I forget sometimes," Kasumi gave a non-explanation, wiggling her black-tipped ears. "I did not mean to imply they went to the Creator or whatever that black maw is that the carriers worship. I just meant it's nighttime so they're sleeping."
"Kasumi, they're dead," Houston explained, her heartbeat slowing as she realized Kasumi's words were just that of a young woman who spoke in mysteries. It spiked again as Kasumi pulled back her snow white hair and woven blue talisman, opening her right eye. Unlike her left, which was a vibrant opal blue, her right was a solid white orb, devoid of iris, pupil, or even scar tissue. "K-Kasumi?!"
"Even dead Union ships are nice to Kasumi. Don't worry about the man you love, they will watch over him. I like his cooking very much."
Houston shook her head and closed her eyes. Kasumi was an adorable little thing, but eccentric didn't begin to cover it. Her words were too tempting to believe. "Let's make sure they remain at peace then, and stop the Sakura in their tracks."
"Mmm yes, I think that's a good idea too. Goodnight, Miss Houston."
"Goodnight, sweetie."