Petals of Soliloquy: Sakura Shenanigans

Chapter 8: Steel Nerves

As soon as Shikikan and Takao reached the Ironblood docks they were greeted by none other than the beacon of the Ironblood herself, Bismarck. She was idly spinning her flag around out of boredom when her eyes land on Shikikan and Takao, and Shikikan almost begins to back away as if just a mere look would offend her.

"Hm, you are our allies from the Sakura Empire, is that right?" Bismarck asks, continuing to spin her flag around.

"Yes, we are." Takao replies. "He is our new commander." She adds, pointing to Shikikan.

"I see." Bismarck says. "So that's who we saw commanding the Sakura Empire a couple of days ago."

"Wait you knew?" Shikikan asks.

"Our eyes are everywhere." Bismarck replies. "Well almost everywhere. Z2, what have they come here for?"

"They've come to discuss something they found with you." Z2 says.

"Something they found? Be a little more specific." Bismarck replies, looking to Shikikan.

"It's something that the Eagle Union has been trying to hide." Shikikan says, and that's when Bismarck stops spinning her flag.

"I see." Bismarck replies. "Well, follow me, we best do this away from prying eyes."

"Right." Shikikan says as he and Takao follow the mighty battleship into a secluded base, one that could easily pass for a normal civilian structure. Once they're inside they're greeted with a hologram projector room just like the one back in the Sakura Empire and already sitting around are a heavy cruiser and an aircraft carrier. The heavy cruiser sports long silver hair with some of her hair tied into twin ponytails while the rest stays down, and she sports a headpiece that resembles a pair of horns. Her honey eyes immediately land on Shikikan and she winks, confusing the new commander, but Bismarck immmediately shoots the heavy cruiser a glare.

"Don't mind her, that's Prinz Eugen." Bismarck says, "She's like that all the time."

"What? Are you really going to call me out just like that?" Eugen laughs.

"Yes." Bismarck replies in a matter-of-fact tone. "And that's Graf Zeppelin."

"Are you here to witness the fall of god?" Zeppelin asks. She shares Eugen's long silver hair, but she has magenta eyes and wears a peaked cap. Her outfit is much more conservative and she is seen fiddling with a small plane model, a giveaway to the fact that she was a carrier. "What, pray tell have you brought along?"

"This." Shikikan says as he loads in the picture that he took into the projector, and once it displays, Zeppelin drops her plane out of shock and Eugen spits out her drink.

"What in the world is that?!" Eugen suddenly shouts. "How in the world did that get past our scanners?!"

"That's what I was wondering as well, and then I figured out why." Shikikan says.

"So that was why the Eagle Union attacked so ferociously that day." Bismarck mumbles. "They usually never fight that hard... But why try to hide this?"

"Maybe it was because it wasn't intended to be found out so early..." Shikikan says. "I've never seen something like this before."

"Neither have I." Bismarck replies. "It's so... Alienlike, almost as if the Sirens had given it to them."

"The Sirens?" Shikikan asks. "I thought those were but legends."

"Those legends are very true." Zeppelin replies. "You must have never encountered them, have you?"

"I've encountered some strange, all black ships before I came to be the commander of the Sakura Empire." Shikikan says. "But I never thought those were Siren ships."

"Those are the very Sirens that we speak of." Zeppelin replies. "Now whether this bomb you found was given to the Eagle Union by the Sirens or they made it themselves, we're not very sure of that."

"We do appreciate you bringing this up though." Bismarck says. "We'll adapt our defenses to the best of our knowledge on this thing, you best do the same."

"Of course." Shikikan replies. "So even you have no idea what this thing is?"

"Nor why the Eagle Union is being so secretive about it." Bismarck says. "Hell, even the Royal Navy might not know."

"But that doesn't quite explain why it was just sitting there." Shikikan mumbles.

"Perhaps they didn't have enough time to bring it underground or something." Eugen replies. "I know we've sometimes had to leave stuff out there for the naked eye to see because we don't have anywhere to hide them."

"I guess." Shikikan says. "Anyways, that's all I really wanted to talk to you about. We best not overstay our welcome."

"May the seas treat you well." Bismarck replies.

"Oh and by the way Zeppelin, Akagi says hi." Shikikan says before he and Takao leave.