Ryan was standing at the head of the long, white table in the conference room of the freshly repaired administration building with a serious expression on his face and arms crossed over his chest as he awaited the arrival of the attendees. Belfast and Shoukaku were standing next to him, the former as his personal maid and the latter as his secretary, the poised look on their faces imitating the one on the Commander's.
There were eleven seats available: one for him at the head, nine for the faction leaders, four on one side, five on the other, and the last one at the other end of the table.
Before long, the door to the room opened wide, signaling the entrance of the flagships, accompanied by their closest retainers and the representatives of their respective factions already stationed at the base.
For the Eagle Union, Enterprise had once again taken up the role of acting flagship, and Cleveland was there as her witness and assistant.
For the Royal Navy, Queen Elizabeth was accompanied by both King George V and Warspite.
For the Sakura Empire, in a similar fashion, Nagato was accompanied by their representative, Musashi, and her bodyguard, Kawakaze.
For the Iron Blood, Peter Strasser and Prinz Eugen were escorting Bismarck. The first as the representative on base, and the second to take her place back as her flagship's right arm.
For the Sardegna Empire, Littorio had taken her sisters' place, Vittorio Veneto, as it had already been agreed. Escorting her was her fellow battleship, Giulio Cesare.
For the Northern Parliament, the leader, Sovetsky Soyuz, and her assistant, the veteran Avrora.
For the Dragon Empery, Yat Sen as the flagship, and An Shan as her secretary.
Last but not least, for the Iris Orthodoxy, even though the Iris Libre and the Vichya Dominion were united once more, the two flagships decided to show up separately with their own retainers. Le Triomphant escorting Richelieu and Le Malin accompanying Jean Bart. The head of the Templar Knights had completely recovered after having her injured arm healed by Vestal, but the same couldn't be said about Dunkerque, who was still unconscious in the hospital under the repair ship's care.
Each flagship took one of the available seats around the table, with their escort moving to stand behind them. Once they had all taken their places, the Commander looked at his watch.
"Commander, aren't we ready to start the meeting yet?" Yat Sen addressed Ryan after a few seconds of silence.
"In a minute, Yat Sen. We are waiting for our guests."
"Are you talking about the male Kansen, Comrade Commander?" Sovetsky Soyuz inquired. "Will they also be taking part in the talks?"
"That's right; their input will be invaluable, especially for some of the topics we are about to discuss," Ryan replied.
Both the Northern Parliament and the Dragon Empery were unaware of the new developments that had taken place since the announcement of the meeting. They had also arrived quite late the previous night, so they all went straight to bed to be in tip-top shape for the talks the next morning.
"Does it have to do with the reason why this meeting has been announced on such short notice?"
"You could say that."
It took only a few more minutes that the shipgirls took advantage of to exchange pleasantries before the door opened again, revealing the figures of two of the male Kansen they were waiting for.
"Greetings, ladies and… gentleman. Allow me to introduce myself to those who don't know me yet. I am the Ruler-class escort carrier, HMS Emperor, leader of our merry band of misfits," Emperor stepped forward and performed an exaggerated curtsy by removing his tricorn hat from his head. "This is my brother, IJN Kurama, lead ship of his class of battlecruisers," he added, gesturing to Kurama next to him, who simply nodded his head in acknowledgement.
"About bloody time," Queen Elizabeth blurted, rhythmically tapping her fingers on the table in annoyance.
"Please forgive us for our delay," with another bow of apology, Emperor ignored the diminutive monarch and approached the seat at the head of the table opposite Ryan's and right next to Richelieu and Jean Bart. He sat between them, tipping his hat to them with a smile before depositing it on the table as Kurama came to stand right next to him. "We are ready to begin this long-awaited meeting."
"Well then, let's get right down to business," Ryan declared as he opened the folder Shoukaku offered him.
It started with Ryan relaying everything he knew about the shipboy's situation. The concept of a parallel universe, the Sirens time travel, the alternate timelines from which the Ashes hail... All of that was supplemented by the information Freedom had passed him after his talk with Purifier and all the implications that came with it. Everything was laid out on the table, including their own personal speculation, from the Sirens' method and goal to their origin, possibly related to their counterparts in the shipboys' world.
Of course, he didn't mention the name of the Creator. It was still something he was trying to come to terms with, and he preferred to keep it to himself, at least until he had more information at his disposal. Freedom had also sworn to him that he wouldn't tell anyone. Ryan wondered if he had kept his promise, even with his brothers.
As he spoke, Ryan kept sending looks over to Emperor, seeking confirmation to his words from the shipboy, who kept nodding at him all the while, carefully listening to him for any oversight or incorrection in his report.
The shipgirls were also paying close attention. Much of that information was new to most of them, especially to the latest arrivals, who had been kept out of the loop the most compared to the others.
"Of course, our superiors have already been informed about all this, but their response was a bit… skeptical; at least that's what Admiral Nimitz told me when he contacted me," Ryan finished his report, putting down the papers in his hands. "Any questions?"
Yat Sen raised her hand to gain everyone's attention and then addressed the male Kansen. "You said that your Sirens spread their influence by traveling from one world to another only after they are done draining every source of life from that world. Does that mean there are more alternate realities out there, and not just yours?"
Emperor smiled sheepishly. "Unfortunately, the multiverse is a concept of which we know frighteningly little. It has never been proven... until now; us being here with you all is proof enough, if you ask me."
"Then how did you even know about it in the first place?" Soyuz inquired, not a hint of accusation in her voice, just genuine curiosity. The Northern flagship decided to keep a neutral stance over the shipboys' position, at least until she had a good read on them.
"By resonating with the Elites from your world, right?" Bismarck intervened before the shipboy could reply, glancing at him for confirmation. "Like you and Leviathan tried to do that time with the yellow Wisdom Cube."
Emperor nodded. "That's right. The Sirens can't talk, at least not in a comprehensible language, so interrogating them is out of the question. We use that method to forcefully extract information from them in the form of data. That data is often messy, encrypted, and very hard to decipher. Even when we are successful, we often find out that it was just something trivial, like the date and target of an attack or the location of a hidden base; but sometimes, when we are lucky, we get our hands on some really juicy information, like that one, for example."
"I see. That's quite clever," the Northern flagship mused as Enterprise and Kawakaze nodded from the side. Freedom and Kurama had already told them about it during their practice sessions; eventually, with more training, they'd be able to do it too, along with everyone else who was practicing with them.
"I'm sorry, yellow Wisdom Cube? What's this all about?" A puzzled Nagato chimed in on the conversation.
"Right, since we are on the subject, I believe it's our turn to share our piece of information," Richelieu intervened, sending a look at Bismarck and Queen Elizabeth, and both nodded in agreement.
"Servant, remember when we first talked about the meeting?" Elizabeth addressed the Commander.
"Yes, Your Majesty?" Ryan asked through clenched teeth, almost bursting a vein at hearing the moniker.
More than half of those present had a confused expression on their faces. The others understood immediately what they were talking about.
Elizabeth proceeded to tell them about the otherworldly Siren that attacked Leviathan and August. Some of them, like Ryan, already knew about it, as it was the main reason that pushed them to arrange the meeting in the first place. Together, they decided to keep its arrival and defeat secret from their superiors so as not to cause any unnecessary uproar, at least until the end of the meeting or more information was gathered about it.
Of course, nobody knew of the latest developments on the matter except for Elizabeth, Bismarck, and the Kansen that were there when Leviathan and Emperor attempted to interact with the yellow Wisdom Cube. Richelieu and Jean Bart had already been informed, and of course, Kurama also knew it. His brothers had already told him about it.
"Goddammit…" Ryan couldn't help the dread that took hold of him for a second as he slumped into his chair, a feeling shared by everyone else in the room.
More Sirens were coming, as if they didn't have their hands full already.
"This is no joke; we are talking about the risk of an invasion here," Littorio mused, a serious expression now adorning her face.
"As if our own Sirens weren't already enough of an issue," Enterprise let out a deep breath. More enemies to fight were on the horizon. At this rate, when would war ever stop?
Sensing that the mood was plummeting, Cleveland tried to cheer up her comrades. "Come on, everyone, this isn't the time to lose heart. That's just another theory, right? We can't let it get to us."
"The girl's right, ladies; it's just our conjecture," Emperor tried to reassure them. "It's true, that Siren had sealed itself inside its own Cube and was sending what was essentially a distress signal of some kind, but there's no way to know if it ever reached its destination. We are talking about a signal that should be capable of traveling across dimensions, and even if its kin managed to pick it up, they can't just pierce the fabric of reality and come all the way here on a whim."
"So we don't know how high the risk of an invasion actually is. That's just great," Jean Bart spoke with a sarcastic tone before standing up and addressing all those present. "Everyone, stop acting like wimps and pull yourselves together! With ifs and buts we won't go anywhere. We've come all the way here to decide on the best course of action, not to whine and complain about it like those self-entitled bastards pulling the strings from above."
Everyone turned their heads to the Vichya battleship; some of them with bemused expressions on their faces, others were left speechless by her crass attitude, and others were just very amused by her tirade.
Richelieu was covering her face with her hands in shame, blushing all the way up to the tip of her ears. Her sister would never change.
Ryan had to hold back a laugh at the incredulous expression on Elizabeth's face, but once he found his composure, he was able to say, "Jean Bart's right. We must devise a proper plan of action before presenting the issue to our superiors," he winced, remembering the conversation he had with the Admiral. "That way, even if they don't believe us or decide to ignore our warning, we'll be prepared to protect humanity when the time eventually comes."
Everyone agreed with him, but Enterprise was the only one slightly taken aback by it, and upon looking at him, she noticed the grim expression on his face. "Commander, I understand that the top brass can be rather unreasonable at times, but going as far as to say that they wouldn't believe us... Did something happen?"
"Straight to the point as always, Enterprise," Ryan hung his head in shame, sending a smile to the carrier sitting next to him. He took a deep breath and looked straight into Emperor's eyes. The shipboy raised an eyebrow, perplexed at the sudden change in the Commander's demeanor.
Ryan had been dreading that moment and had tried to put it off for as long as possible, mainly because he wanted to spare them the disappointment but also because he was scared of how they would react. He was a coward. The shipboys had been putting their lives at risk for a world they didn't belong to, bending over backward to help them with the Sirens. Hell, Freedom had even saved his life back then, and he was repaying them with what was basically a false promise.
With a lump of nervousness in his throat, Ryan started, "A few days ago, I consulted my superiors and told them about your situation. I asked them if they could spare some effort into helping to search for your brother and finding a way to send you back home… but they refused; they said they couldn't trust the words of a bunch of unregistered Kansen."
Silence fell over the room; no one dared utter a word. Even Kurama's tails stopped swaying behind him as his expression darkened. Some of the shipgirls turned to look at the shipboys to gauge their reaction, some of them tried to formulate words of comfort and reassurance, but none of them dared utter a word and break the silence.
"I knew it…"
"Kurama, calm down," Emperor's voice was barely above a whisper.
"I KNEW IT WOULD END LIKE THIS!" Kurama snarled at his brother, slamming his fist on the table right next to him, startling the closest shipgirls. "All because you wanted to play nice and wait for their help! We should have departed days ago!"
"IT WOULDN'T HAVE CHANGED ANYTHING!" Emperor snapped at him, springing up to his feet to face him. "We would have just wandered around without a purpose, and all the navies of the world would have come to hunt us down!"
"Boys, settle down; this isn't the time for-"
"Shut up, Elizabeth!" Emperor bellowed in anger.
The Queen recoiled in utter dismay at his booming, menacing tone, and her retainers' jaws hit the floor at the insult, too taken aback by the audacity of the male Kansen to utter a proper response. The other shipgirls just stood there, observing the situation in silence, ready to intervene in case things escalated.
The two shipboys stared at each other in silence for a few seconds.
"They would have never helped us because they have nothing to gain from assisting a bunch of misfits like us," Kurama hissed in his face. "If you were hoping otherwise, then you are a fool, brother."
Before anyone could intervene, Kurama directed his furious gaze to Ryan, whose heart skipped a bit in fear. "Even in another world, humans are always the same. They only take and never give back," he spat in disgust before turning on his heels and heading for the door.
"Where the hell are you going?!" Emperor called him back and put a hand on his shoulder to keep him in place.
"Freedom's recovered; I'm taking to the sea with him to go look for Lenin!" Kurama replied, shoving his hand away.
"You can't face every Siren in the ocean alone; you are going to get yourselves killed!"
"Better than standing here doing nothing while they torture him for information!"
"WAIT!"
Kurama stopped in his tracks with his hand right above the doorknob. He slowly turned his head toward the voice. The Commander was out of his seat, standing in the middle of the room, the shame and fear in his eyes replaced by a newfound resolve as he clenched his fists and his legs trembled, all under the surprised and concerned looks of the shipgirls.
"Are you trying to order me around, human?" Kurama growled in a threatening tone, his eyes seething in rage and his tails bristling in anger.
"It's true, they won't help you because they have nothing to gain from it. They won't believe you because it's easier for them to do so, and quite frankly, they'd have probably captured you and taken you in for questioning… hell, maybe even experimentation. But rest assured, Kurama, that we are not like them, and I'll be damned if I let a single Kansen suffer at the hands of some privileged, greedy asshole that cares more about his position than humanity's safety!" He took a deep breath and addressed the rest of the Kansen in the room. "If the top brass won't support the retrieval of the last shipboy, then we'll do it ourselves; it wouldn't even be the first time we work around their backs, right? Anyone disagrees?!"
Silence followed his declaration.
"Good, onto the next topic!" With that said, Ryan clapped his hands and briskly walked back to his seat, under the incredulous gazes and knowing smirks of the Kansen.
Even Kurama was left dumbfounded, his rage replaced by astonishment, a churning of contrasting emotions swirling in his mind. His eyes instinctively moved to look for Nagato, but instead of finding his beloved mentor, they found that Nagato, and when he realized it, he was quick to avert his gaze.
It was only a second, but the shipgirl didn't miss it; the anger in his gaze had been replaced by confusion and uncertainty. She saw it in his eyes—a request for help, as clear as a day, and she immediately understood. She quickly moved to her feet and went to stand next to the distraught shipboy, delicately grabbing his sleeve with her hand.
"It's going to be alright," she said in a soft tone.
Looking up at him from below, the shorter battleship seemed a lot larger than she actually was at that moment. She gently dragged him back toward the table, and he followed her like he was in a daze, bringing him next to his brother, who was also having trouble processing his emotions.
"I… f-forgive me…" Kurama stuttered aloud for the world to hear, hanging his head in shame. Emperor knew that he was talking to everyone: to him, to Ryan, and to the shipgirls.
"Monsieur Emperor, Monsieur Kurama, we are going to do everything in our power to help you find your brother; this I swear upon the name of the Lord," Richelieu reassured them.
Le Malin tapped on Jean Bart's shoulder, prompting her to say something with a stare. The battleship rolled her eyes and relented, "We still have to repay you for saving Dunkerque, Goldilocks."
"I appreciate it, ladies," Emperor said after clearing his throat. All the other Kansen also shared the same opinion on the matter. He figured it was thanks to Ryan's speech and charisma, but nonetheless, he was grateful, even more than he already was. The only one who seemed "slightly" ticked was Elizabeth, who didn't even dare meet his gaze.
"I apologize for that, Emperor, Kurama," Ryan addressed them once again. "I should have said it sooner."
"Oh, don't fret, Commander Travis; you are not the only one keeping secrets from others here," Emperor said, having gone back to his milder attitude as Kurama averted his gaze.
Soyuz narrowed her eyes at him, and the magic of the moment completely vanished. "What do you mean by that, exactly?"
Emperor let out a knowing smirk, then brought his finger in front of his nose and winked at her. "Later, first, I'd like to talk about how we are going to save our little brother."
Emperor proceeded to relay Freedom's plan to the others, eliciting mixed reactions from some of them, namely Bismarck and Nagato.
"Are we sure negotiating with them is a good idea?" The Iron Blood flagship inquired. "What if they try… something?" Bismarck didn't say it out loud, but she didn't want another accident similar to what happened to her to occur.
"Indeed, I think it'd be safer to send word to the Kansen stationed around all the main bases in the world and ask them to gather as much information as they can about possible Siren hideaways. Then we confirm your brother's presence, and we get him out of there," Nagato added, remembering when Akagi attempted to "parlay" with the Sirens back in their homeland to find a way to cure Amagi's condition, almost committing treason in the process.
Ryan wanted to agree, but at the same time, how much would it take to do so? Besides, an investigation around an alien base and an eventual infiltration would put the life of the shipboy at risk if the Sirens knew that they were coming for him.
"I have a better idea," Jean Bart intervened with a smirk, drawing everyone's attention, then she addressed Emperor. "Why should we go out of our way to look for them? We know they are after you; why don't we just use you as bait to lure them out in the open?"
Kurama's ear twitched at her words, and Emperor's brow shot upward as a quirky smile came to adorn his lips. He looked at his brother, who nodded in agreement. "We have no issue with that. The only problem is, how are we going to make sure they know we are out there?"
Ryan was about to object, but then stopped himself and hung his head, racking his brain in deep thought.
"Shikikan? Is there a problem?" Shoukaku asked him in concern.
Ryan raised his gaze to her and nodded. "Yeah, I just remembered something… This could work," he said, then he addressed the rest of the Kansen. "Hear me out. Back then, during the ASD operation, Purifier attacked us out of nowhere, accusing us of having destroyed the patrol fleets of mass-produced Siren ships we encountered along the way. Freedom confirmed that it was him who did it. While flying around the place, he attacked and destroyed a bunch of patrol units, so many that he almost lost count, and that drew the Sirens' attention."
"That makes sense," Musashi brought her hand to her chin, reflecting on his words. "If their patrol boats basically function as their eyes on the ocean, eliminating a considerable number of them is bound to elicit a response."
"And once an Elite shows up, we convince her to listen to us," Peter Strasser added.
"Or we beat her into it," Jean Bart chimed in.
Everyone seemed to agree with the plan. Even the shipboys didn't seem bothered by having to play the part of bait. It would definitely save them a lot of time they would otherwise have to spend scouring the oceans for clues on their brother's position.
With that matter solved, Elizabeth clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "That's nice and all, but shall we go back to the previous matter? We were discussing the possibility of an invasion here."
Despite the haughty attitude of the small monarch, Ryan couldn't help but agree. "Eli- Her Majesty's right. Emperor, Kurama, even if it's just your conjecture, we need to make preparations, and we are going to need you and your brothers' help… if you are still willing to help us, of course."
This time, Kurama was the one who replied first, finally being able to look him in the eyes. "The Sirens are our enemies, in our world and any other. If they do come, we'll stand by your side."
"Indeed. Our knowledge and experience will be at your disposal when the time comes," Emperor added.
"Yeah, yeah, those are all nice words, but you just said that you've been keeping a secret from us this whole time. Isn't it time you spilled the beans?" Elizabeth interjected again, still very upset at the shipboy for his previous insolence.
Emperor looked at his brother, who nodded in agreement. It was time to address that matter.
"Very well, then," he put his elbows on the table and brought his hands in front of his face, declaring in a solemn tone, "The truth is… We've already defeated the Sirens in our world."
…
Silence.
Kurama rolled his eyes. "Brother, if you say it like that, they'll misunderstand."
"I know, but I thought it'd be funny. Look, they are so shocked; they're like frozen in time."
"WHAT?!" Came the collective delayed reaction of those present.
"You conniving little bastard!" Elizabeth screeched.
Once the outrage spreading through the room at his declaration subsided, Emperor began explaining.
"I understand that what I said may sound a little misleading, so allow me to clarify.
"As you have already heard from your Commander, when the time comes, our Sirens send a "seed" through a portal from one world to the next. From that seed spawns another wave of Sirens, ready to take over the world and repeat the process. If they fail, they press their reset button and make another attempt in that world by going back in time until they prevail. When they succeed, they beat the game and start over with another world.
"As to how they do that… Well, we know that they time travel only when they are on the brink of defeat, but we have no idea how they are capable of opening a portal for another world, and to be honest, we never cared about it. Why would we bother trying to find out their method of traveling through dimensions with the knowledge that even if we did defeat them, they would just go back in time and try again with our world?
"Though in hindsight, that knowledge would help us a lot in this situation. It's something that has to do with the Mirror Seas, since those things have the ability to bend reality to their owners' will, but that's all the data we've gathered so far. We know for a fact that they need to wait for some kind of specific circumstance to succeed, but we have no clue what that could be."
"And that's why you can't just go back to your world?" Bismarck inquired. "Because you don't know how to create such a portal?"
"That's right, and even if we knew how to do it, who knows if it would actually bring us back home or anywhere else?" Emperor replied.
"But then, how are you even here?! What does all this have to do with beating the Sirens?!" Elizabeth asked in exasperation.
"Our case is an exception. A one-in-a-million chance. It started after we got that information. Once we learned that the Sirens would just go back in time even if we defeated them, panic settled into our hearts. Kansen, officers, researchers—all of us tried to figure out a way to work around it; it took us years, but in the end, we succeeded.
"The Sirens' time travel ability is a defense mechanism installed inside the seed itself that automatically activates when their attempt at subjugating a world is deemed a failure. We figured preventing them from time looping after they activated it was impossible, so we thought, 'Why should we even try to stop them?' and we came up with another plan. Our researchers prepared a countermeasure, a virus, by analyzing the countless AIs of the strongest and higher-level Elites we managed to defeat. By installing the virus directly inside the seed, it would alter the Sirens' perception of defeat, preventing them from activating the time loop in the first place and leaving them unable to withdraw to another timeline.
"Of course, we needed to find the seed first. To do so, we had to scour every single inch of the ocean for information or clues about its whereabouts. You see, shortly after the rebellion and the foundation of our Azur Lane, we Kansen were basically set free from our oppressors, but we still responded to the organization. When they learned about the Sirens' ability to time loop, they came up with a plan. All the Kansen without a position of command were grouped in small, mixed fleets and sent out into the world. This applied to us six too; it's how we met each other and became brothers in arms.
"They gave us all the freedom we could have ever wished for: we would freely sail through the oceans, fighting the Sirens we encountered, running civilian errands like escort duty, cooperating with the navies and each other to protect humanity, while also having free access to all ports and establishments that could support us in our endeavor. At the same time, we would investigate independently for the location of the seed and any other Siren outposts, regularly reporting our progress to our superiors."
"It took a few years, but eventually, we found it. The virus was also ready; all we had to do was install it. Once we located the whereabouts of the seed, every Kansen was recalled to headquarters and briefed for the largest-scale joint operation ever organized by the alliance. The seed was hidden deep within the bowels of the main Siren base of operation, which was located inside a Mirror Sea whose entrance would continuously shift around the globe in a regular pattern.
"Both Kansen and manned units participated. We had to split our forces into multiple, enormous fleets, take control of each and every one of those locations, and besiege the base once one of the entrances opened. Of course, our team was with the lucky group that got to enter the Mirror Sea. We six were part of the vanguard; we had to breach through their defenses to allow the infiltration team to go unnoticed, but we also had to make sure the Sirens didn't feel too much with their backs to the wall; otherwise, they'd have activated their time-leap protocol, and all our efforts would have been for nothing. It wasn't easy; as we battled outside the base, the infiltration team managed to reach the seed and install the virus… but they never came out. We lost contact with them right after they gave us the mission accomplished.
"After that, we proceeded to wipe out the remaining Siren units inside the Mirror Sea; the battle kept going for many hours, and we lost many of our comrades, but we came out victorious. Right as we prepared ourselves to demolish the base, one of the surviving members of the infiltration team contacted us again, barely alive. He informed us that the virus was indeed working, but the seed had activated the self-destruct function, probably as a last act of defiance; at the same time, one of the Mirror Sea's main generators collapsed, making it instable.
"We had essentially won but were forced to an abrupt retreat. The vanguard turned into the rearguard, and we were the furthest from the exit. Our comrades managed to get to safety, but the seed blew up before we could reach the entrance; at the same time, the Mirror Sea collapsed around us, and before we knew it, we found ourselves separated and lost in another world."
"So that's why you call it an exception," Ryan mused.
"Exactly," Emperor continued. "It was a combination of everything. The explosion of a seed compromised by a virus, while both a self-destruct function and a time-leap protocol attempted to resolve at the same time, paired with the abrupt collapse of a Mirror Sea resulted in our interdimensional transfer. It was a one-in-a-million chance that had been taken into consideration during our briefing, but no one truly believed it would happen."
"Now I understand why you are so skeptical about your Sirens coming to our world," Bismarck stated. "It's going to be impossible for them to replicate such conditions; their only hope would be to use the intended method, whichever that would be."
"Indeed, and if our comrades back home manage to wipe out the remaining Sirens before they can reorganize themselves and create a portal for this world, we'll have nothing to worry about in the first place," Emperor replied.
"And you are sure, one hundred percent positive, that none of those monsters followed you here like the one that attacked Leviathan and August?" Jean Bart pressed with the questions.
"There were no Sirens alive around us at that moment besides that straggler, I promise," Emperor replied with a serious tone before a sarcastic smile appeared on his lips. "Unless, of course, there was one of them beneath us, where we couldn't see it. But what are the chances?"
"Please, don't say it," Enterprise begged.
The meeting continued with the flagships and the Commander asking a few more questions to the shipboys, mainly about the situations in their world and their Sirens. Unfortunately, Emperor didn't have much else to say. With the destruction of the seed, humanity's victory against the Sirens was guaranteed since they couldn't spawn any more of their units in a consistent enough manner to pose a threat, but since he wasn't there to witness the aftermath of the battle, he was holding his breath. What he was aware of, though, were the secondary hideouts dedicated to the production of mass-produced units that remained around the world and that could cause problems if left unchecked. From there, trouble could arise, especially if they reorganized themselves.
Yat Sen let out a breath as she brought a hand to her cheek. "Ah, if only there was a way to contact your comrades in your world."
Emperor didn't say anything but decided to take note of her words for later. If that Siren truly succeeded in contacting its kin, then why wouldn't they be able to do so too? The only question was how and if it was even possible, but unfortunately, they had to remain without an answer for the moment.
After that, Ryan decided that it was time to inform them all about the news from headquarters.
"I have both good and bad news," the Commander solemnly stated.
"The bad news first," Cleveland quipped with a grin.
"The bad news is contained within the good news, so that comes first," Ryan deadpanned. "Since the ASD operation, our engineers have been working nonstop to perfect the device, basing their work on the report of our mission, and they are almost done with the finishing touches. After the most recent attack on our base, high command decided to issue us one of the first refined devices for our own free use. They'll deliver it to us as soon as possible."
His words were received with a series of satisfied hums, especially by the Kansen permanently stationed at the base. The flagships were also glad to know that those devices would be issued to their ports back home too.
"And the bad news?" Littorio asked him.
"Admiral Nimitz said the top brass will pay us a visit with the delivery," Ryan replied with a flat tone of voice.
Whimpers and groans arose from the shipgirls at his words. The most poised of the women managed to keep a straight face, but most of them just threw their hands in the air and their composure to the wind, letting their displeasure and annoyance openly show.
"Your Majesty, maybe we'll be able to depart before they arrive," Warspite whispered into Elizabeth's ear.
"I certainly hope so," the queen groaned.
"Come on, we'll decide how to deal with them at another time. There's still one more point we need to discuss, and then we are all free for the rest of the day," Ryan spoke with an encouraging tone as he bent down to reach for the metal box at his feet and put it on the table.
Ryan opened the lid of the metal box, revealing the contents for everyone to see. Three Wisdom Cubes rested in the velvety compartments, one of them of an azure color, the other two purple. Those were Empress', Purifier's, and Observer's.
"It's time to choose our bargaining chip."
AN: "BuT wHaT aRe ThE cHaNcEs?"
Next Chapter: On the Hunt