LOCATION: SASEBO NAVAL BASE, NAGASAKI
No POV
It's already early morning as the morning mist covers the base, Iwo Jima was already up wanting to train a little with her equipment that she'll use during her trail. She heads to the docks to grab her equipment so she could practise, Chitose soon woke up to notice she's already gone. She does know where she could've gone and decides to check the docks, since she never had sortied with her riggings.
Haida on the other hand to was getting ready to show what she was worth, and like Iwo Jima she's also testing her rigging when Shigure noticed her getting out of bed, as for Yuudachi well she's still asleep.
Iwo's POV
I was preparing to hit the ocean when I heard someone call me.
Chitose: "おはようございます、リギングを試してみませんか？" (Good morning, heading to try out your rigging?)
Iwo: "ええ、よろしければ教えてもらえますか？" (Yeah, if you don't mind can you teach me?)
Chitose smiling: "もちろん。" (Of course.) She gets her rigging and we hit the water together. "動き回ることから始めましょう。自分が前進していると考えて、ゆっくりと始めましょう。" (We'll start with moving around, think of yourself moving forward let's start slow.)
I start to think like she said I think of myself walking on the beach, and propellers at my heels responding to it.
Chitose: "順調です。今度は方向転換します。スケートをしているときに考えてみてください。" (Good you're doing well, now we'll go onto turning, think of it as you're skating.)
I nod my head in response, I start to think of skating like she said, my rudders at the heel of my shoes were turning slowly.
Chitose: "それでは、もう少し速くしましょう。" (Now then, let's get a bit faster.)
I started to do things a little faster, increasing the output of my engine, decreasing my rudder shift time. She smiles at the fact I was progressing quickly.
Chitose: "基本が終わったので、武器を狙ってみましょう。" (Now that the basics are over, let's aim for a weapon.)
There were guns on my rigging near my island, I think of pointing them in a direction, and they respond to my thoughts pointing at the sky.
Chitose: "最後に、航空機の打ち上げと回収です。" (Finally, is the launch and recovery of aircraft.)
The rigging I was equipped with was a bow and quiver filled with arrows, as well as an arm flight deck with the label 闘機 (Fighter), I place the arrow on my bow, pulled it, then shot my arrow revealing a flight of fighters. They moved into formation and circle above us, after a while I thought of them landing on the deck, one by one they moved into a landing position moving my right arm up so they can start landing. Once they've landed, they turn back into an arrow, and I put it back.
Chitose: "さて、テストに移りましょう。学んだことをすべて1つにまとめます。練習機を使ってストライキをシミュレートします。遠慮なく撃墜してください。" (Good, now on to the test, combine all that you've learned into one. I'll use training planes to simulate a strike, don't hesitate to shoot them down.)
Iwo: "はい。" (Yes.)
She begins to pull the strings on her aircraft, I was amazed at her skill before coming back to my senses. I quickly launched my own planes for cover, they shoot down while they could before my cannons started firing like a volcano erupting. Some managed to break through it and launched they're ordnance, I managed to evade every single one of them with my quick decisions, even as there were attacks from my port and starboard, as well as from above. I was exhausted from it.
Chitose: "よくできました。準備は万端だと思います。" (Good work, I think you're more than ready for it.)
Iwo: "ありがとうございました。" (Thank you.)
Chitose: "たぶんその後、日本酒を飲もうか？" (Maybe after that shall we have some sake?)
Iwo: "ええと、確かに大丈夫ですが..." (Um, sure all right but...)
Chitose: "はい、今夜お届けします。" (Ok, we'll have it tonight.)
Iwo nodding her head: "わかりました、それは約束です。" (Ok, it's a promise.) The sun just rose on the training ground that we are practicing on, and it was beautiful, we un-equipped our rigging, bought ourselves a drink and we enjoy the morning light shining on us.
Haida's POV
As Iwo was training
It's already morning, I got out of bed got myself changed before I left, I accidentally woke up Shigure.
Shigure: "おはようございます。" (Good morning.)
Haida: "おはよう。" (Morning.) She begins to speak in English since I still haven't got used to it.
Shigure: "What are you doing up this early?"
Haida: "Well, I want to go practice with my rigging. Do you mind helping me out?"
Shigure: "Of course, let me get changed." After getting herself changed we headed to the dock, once we arrived, I noticed a pair of turrets walking around that looks like mine. "Are they yours."
Haida: "I think so?" As soon as they heard me, they came to hug my legs. "They're definitely mine." Just then a figure walks in on us while we were distracted by this revelation.
???: "うーん、この時間に何をしているの？" (Umm, what are you doing up at this hour?)
Shigure: "おはよう、秋月。" (Good morning, Akizuki.) So, she's Akizuki.
Akizuki: "おはようございます、時雨" (Good morning, Shigure.) She looks at me. "Oh, you must be the new girl who just got here right?"
Haida: "Right." She shakes my hand.
Akizuki: "Nice to meet you, I'm Akizuki."
Haida: "I'm Haida."
Shigure: "良いタイミング。彼女の砲塔に射撃を教える方法がわかりません。手伝ってもらえますか？" (Good timing. I'm not sure how to teach her turrets to shoot, maybe you can help?)
Akizuki responding to Shigure: "もちろん。" (Sure.) She turns to me. "Come let's begin our training."
Haida: "Sure." We proceed to the training grounds, looking at my rigging I'm not sure where those little guys would go. After equipping our riggings, we head in the water, while our animated turrets are training together.
Akizuki: "Let's start with movement, think of yourself walking forward." I think of myself walking forward into the light, slowly I hear my propellers at my heels turning.
Akizuki: "Good now let's try turning, think of yourself skating." I nod at it, I thought of myself ice skating back home. At that thought, the rudder at my heel start turning.
Akizuki: "I think our Choujuusenchihou-chan are ready."
Haida: "Choujuusenchihou-chan?"
Akizuki: "That's what I call my turrets, they basically mean 10cm long gun."
Haida: "Then how about I call mine in similar fashion."
Akizuki: "What's your gun caliber?"
Haida: "12cm."
Akizuki: "Then, how about Oojuunisenchihou-chan?"
Haida: "I like it." I went to get them on land. "Then, Oujuunisenchihou-chan I'll be in your care." They nod their heads.
Akizuki: "Now let's have them shoot at this target." She points to it.
Haida: "Ok oojuunisenchihou-chan it's time for you to shine." They nod, getting to aiming the barrels on top of their heads before they fire, they missed the first time despite that they weren't discouraged and tried again scoring hits.
Akizuki: "Good, let's try again." This time their target was further, and again they did bracket fire. "Ok let's go to anti-air warfare." Her Choujuusenchihou-chan released a balloon that remained in place, my turrets did their range finding, loaded proximity fuzzes and fired scoring hits even though they were a little short.
Akizuki: "Your shoots we're low how did you still destroy it?"
Haida: "Proximity fuze shells."
Akizuki: "I see, then it's time for our main weapon torpedoes. Since your rigging is like mine, we'll have to bend a little to fire." I bend forward a little with my entire torpedo launcher rotating in sync, as soon as I adjusted, I fired with them all hitting their target.
Akizuki: "Well it's all done but we'll need to get you a new torpedo and launcher."
Haida: "Why?"
Akizuki: "1. Your torpedoes are easy to detect, 2. Your torpedoes could be slower than ours, and finally your torpedoes don't hit as hard as ours." I think about what she said I responded.
Haida: "Ok, I'll have them swapped." After a few more minutes of training, we saw the sun rise.
No POV
With the sun going to rise soon, the Admiral of the base has returned from a conference in Tokyo, her name was Misaki Akeno a very young, beautiful and skilled tactician but is particularly fond of having carrier battle groups.
Misaki's POV
Mutsu gesturing her to carry the bags: "お帰りなさい。" (Welcome back.)
Misaki giving the bags: "ただいま、私が行っている間に何かが起こりましたか？" (I'm back, anything happened while I was gone?)
Mutsu: "はい、あなたが留守の間、2人の新しい船の女の子がいます。" (Yes, we've got two new ship girls while you were away.)
Misaki: "転送されましたか？" (Transferred?)
Mutsu: "いいえ、どこからともなく現れました。" (No, they just appeared from nowhere.)
Misaki: "名前ですか？" (They're names?)
Mutsu: "ハイダ、そして硫黄島。" (Haida, and Iwo Jima.)
Misaki: "ハイダは大西洋で活動していませんか？" (Isn't Haida operating in the Atlantic?)
Mutsu: "はい、しかし私の推測は重複しています。" (Yes, but my guess is a duplicate.)
Misaki: "それなら、彼女もここにいるとは言わないほうがいいですよね？" (Then we best not tell them she's also here, and the other?)
Mutsu: "よくわかりませんが、彼女の談合によると、彼女はアメリカ人です...しかし。" (I'm not sure, but according to her rigging, she's American... but.)
Misaki: "それは何ですか？" (What is it?)
Mutsu: "自分で見た方がいいと思います。" (I think it's better if you see it for yourself.)
Misaki: "サプライズとして保管していますよね？" (You're keeping it as a surprise, right?)
Mutsu smiling: "はい。" (Yes.)
After a while Mutsu leaves her so she can put her things down first. Once I arrived at the training area, I saw two figures sitting down enjoying the sunrise. One of them being Chitose, and the other never been seen before. I've seen many carriers over my career, since before the war began but none of them was as beautiful like her. I move over to them.
Chitose: "提督、おかえりなさい。" (Admiral, welcome back.)
Misaki: "ただいま、 彼女は誰ですか？" (I'm home, who is she?) Chitose was about to say her name, but the other wants herself to say it.
???: "あなたは司令官、私は硫黄島です。 始めまして" (You must be the commander, I'm Iwo Jima. Nice to meet you.)
Misaki: "同じく。" (Likewise.) We shook hands.
MEANWHILE
LOCATION: PEARL HARBOR
IN THE ADMIRAL'S ROOM
A man could be seen sitting behind what could only be called literal mountains of paperwork. He was John S. Lewis, the admiral in charge of the Pearl Harbor base.
JOHN'S POV
John: WHY THE FUCK ARE THERE SO MUCH PAPERWORK?!!!!
I screamed while angrily leaning back in my chair. The paperwork was so numerous, I've spent 2 days resolving them non-stop. Nevertheless, today is the day it will end, there's only 2 more papers I need to work on.
A bit more...
I signed the paper and brushed it aside.
Finally, the last one...
I picked the last paper up and was about to turn it around and signed it when the headline caught my attention.
Special mission?...
At 6 AM yesterday, a large rumble and a faint explosion was detected from Midway Atoll. Immediately after that, the corruption energy of that area suddenly spiked up. Later that day, a U2 spy plane was able to capture a picture of the eastern island missing a half and a large fleet of weird ships before being shot down by an unknown aircraft...
Mission: Send a fleet in to investigate...
Threat level: High...
Special notice: Stay at roughly 7km away from the island for safety reason...
John: This looks pretty serious...
Suddenly, someone knocked the door.
John: Come in
Then, the door opened and a blond haired girl came in.
???: Carrier Enterprise, reporting for duty sir!
IMAGINE HER CARRYING THE SAME GUN AS HORNET
The famous Grey Ghost huh?...
John: At ease, I'm John Lewis, admiral of this base. You can call me John
Enterprise: Yes sir!
John: You can drop the formality now. So, how was your trip from the west coast?
Enterprise: It was honestly a bit scary, I'm not used to travel without an escort. But I managed to detect and avoided combat with them
Just like a ghost...
Then, I chat with her a bit about her experience, her accomplishments and how she feels about her current form. After that, I informed her about the mission and gave her the key to her dorm.
John: So from now, I hope we can work together. See you in the mission
Enterprise: Yes sir!
And she left the room.
4 HOURS LATER
LOCATION: MIDWAY ATOLL, EASTERN ISLAND
MIDWAY'S POV
I was standing on one of the new defensive turrets, looking out at the sea.
So I gotta face them again...
On the afternoon of yesterday, I found out about a device underwater in the middle of the atoll.
FLASHBACK
After sensing a familiar energy radiating from the device, I picked it up.
This feels... weird...
Suddenly, the device synchronized with the black cube inside of me and started glowing.
What the?!...
I started hearing something. I looked left and right but nobody was there so the voice must be transmitted directly to my head.
???: Checking synchronization... Complete... World of origin: #177013... Identified: Terminator...
I frowned when I heard that name, it's the name when I was mind controlled by the Sirens and turned against my allies.
???: Checking authorization... Checking complete... Transferring access
Access?...
Suddenly thousands of purple portals appeared around the island.
Shit!...
I immediately activated my riggings. From afar, I could also see the Midway Princess launching her aircrafts. Then, out of the portal, black ships with menacing red lines started appearing, ranging from the Pawn destroyer up until the infamous Orochi. There were roughly 25 battlegroups that appeared.
???: Relinquishing control... Complete... You have full control over the fleet, Terminator...
What?...
Immediately after that, the device stopped glowing.
Midway: Hey!
So what now?...
Based on what I just heard, I now have full control over these 25 battlegroups.
MP: *on radio* Lord Midway! Enemies spotted all around!
Midway: *on radio* I know Princy. They're not going to attack, they're not a threat. Recall your aircrafts
"Princy" was the name I chose to call her after the vaporization of half the Eastern island which resulted in her becoming my subordinate that morning.
Princy: *on radio* Roger
Earlier today, I've upgraded her with a mental cube. At first, I intended to use a black cube but it failed to fuse with her so I have to use a normal one instead. Nevertheless, the cube significantly increased her durability and firepower while at the same time, reducing the corruption power by more than half. The cube also contained data from the Iowas and Forrestals so now, her 8 inch guns were replaced with 16 inchers while her flight deck now consisted of 2 angled deck capable of using my UAVs. But the most significant upgrade was her new ability to sail.
Midway: *on radio* Now we need to inspect those ships, come with me
Princy: *on radio* I'm coming
FLASHBACK ENDS
I looked through the binoculars at the newly built base on the Sand island where the whole Siren fleet was moored. After their sudden appearance yesterday, what seemed like robots also appeared and quickly turned the Sand Island into a full fledge fortress complete with production facilities, a shield generator, docks, airstrips, defensive gun turrets, anti air guns, etc. The turrets and anti air guns were based on blueprints of modern Siren and human weapons I brought in my ship, these improved turrets were also refitted onto the Siren ships, increasing their capabilities further. I've also decided to shut off the red lights on all of them since they served no purpose other than to intimidate the enemy. Instead, they will all be repainted with normal naval camouflage. The aircrafts on the carriers were changed to the multipurpose UAVs like me to increase their firepower and simplify logistics. All of those were finished yesterday and today, work started on the Eastern Island.
Only the shield generator left and it'll be all done...
I jumped down from the turret and laid down under one of the gun barrel.
Another world, another battlefield. This time, I will destroy them all...
MEANWHILE
No POV
It's already approaching noon, and after their trail, they were both combat ready so now they're having a party to welcome them. Now Misaki's getting them into their fleet.
Misaki: "Now then it's time for you two to be a part of a fleet, I've decided already. It'll be Iwo Jima, Amagi, Jinstuu, Haida, Akizuki and Suzutsuki."
They all gathered greeted each other, spent most of the day getting to know each other better. Once night fell the bid farewell, and tomorrow they're moving into their new rooms, for Iwo Jima she had one last thing to do before going to bed and that was having a drink with Chitose, which she promised to this morning.
Chitose's POV
It's already been several hours since she went out to know them better, now I'm just waiting for her to come back for a drink. A few moments after sunset, I heard a knock on my door.
Iwo: "入って来ます。" (I'm coming in) She opens the door just as I was prepared to drink.
Chitose: "おかえりなさい、飲む準備はできましたか？" (Welcome back, ready to drink?)
Iwo: "はい。" (Yes.) We sat down at our table, and I began pouring us in the Ochoko that I bought earlier.
Chitose: "おめでとうございます、あなたの新しい艦隊に入ってください。" (Congratulations, on getting into your new fleet.)
Iwo: "ありがとう、でも本当にあなたとあなたの妹と一緒に出撃したいです。" (Thanks, but I really would like to sortie with you and your sister.) I knew she was a little disappointed not being able to sortie with us, but I want to reassure her that even if we're not in the same fleet, she'll still see us again someday.
Chitose: "私たちがどこにいても、世界の海は私たちをつなぎます。だから、いつかまた会えると思います。" (No matter where we are, the world's ocean will still connect us. So, we'll see each other again someday.)
Iwo: "そうです、また会えると思います。" (You're right, we'll see each other again someday.) We toast to her getting into her fleet, and us being reunited one day.
Iwo: "次回お会いする時、またお酒を頂けますか？" (Next time we meet, can we have Sake again?)
Chitose: "もちろん。" (Of course.) We began drinking our Sake, I'm surprised that she can still go after her first sip. So, we drank down the whole bottle. I soon passed out after drinking my last cup.
Iwo's POV
I'm still standing after that last cup of Sake, Chitose on the other hand was out cold lying down on the floor. I carry her off the floor and into our Tatami where I lie her down, got her changed into her pajamas, and covered her up nicely. After that I disposed of the bottle and got myself changed too before turning off the lights. I thought to myself 'May we meet again one day be it on the high seas, or on solid ground.'
I turn off the lights, pulled it up slightly as to make sure she doesn'tcatch a cold, tucked myself in with my body facing her I thought of one lastthing before heading to sleep. 'You've been a great mentor to me over the past two days since I came here, I'll make you proud put there.'