In Harm's Way

[Breakaway25]

Update, edited for continuity. No idea when further updates will come as I am approaching the end of my plot for the first arc, and I am planning on doing something for NaNoWriMo. So updates may be delayed as I try to knock that out.

 

[Skychan]

Okay I have to say that there is a bit of whiplash here.

In the first few chapters at sea the US navy seems to be pretty much ignorant of both the real extent of the threat, and of shipgirls existence in general.

Then once we get to Japan it feels as if shipgirls have been around for a while and are an accepted and well understood thing.

These two viewpoints are rather hard to reconcile. I loved the idea that this story was one of the start of the Abyssal war, when things were in confusion, but right now the story has a jekyle hyde kind of feel to it. One side or the other should have more information or less.

Either in Japan they should be less knowledgeable about shipgirls who have also shown up in the last 24 hours or so, OR in the USA they should have been sending information out to ship captains about shipgirls even if their own navy doesn't have any.

 

[Breakaway25]

It's a case of the Evans group has taken several days to turn around and run to Japan. Everyone appeared at roughly the same time, but while the American girls have been stuck aboard a destroyer, the Japanese have been spending that time getting up to speed. They already had facilities they could use, it was a case of assigning the people and getting ready.

Spoiler

Plus there's a reason the rest of the US Navy had no clue about the shipgirls appearance, one that will become apparent soon. Plus I decided to skirt around the whole baths issue. Couldn't come up with a logical explanation for that so I had to handwave it.

 

[Breakaway25]

Yokosuka Naval District
24 June 2020
1745hrs

Haruna was beginning to lose hope. She had been searching for Kongou onee-sama for an hour now, and there was still no sign of the older battleship. Just about the only place she hadn't checked was Commander Shimada's office, but she couldn't go in there. No, she couldn't bother the Commander over something so trivial. Maybe she could get Hiei or Kirishima to do it. They certainly didn't care about barging in on people.

Haruna was so lost in thought, that she didn't see the man walking down the corridor until it was too late. Next thing she knew she was sitting on the floor looking up in surprise. Then she saw the officer, the American officer.

'Stupid, stupid stupid,' she thought to herself, 'Why did I do that?' "I'm sorry," she blurted, jumping over to help the man to his feet," I wasn't watching and I should have been, I…"

The officer stopped her with an outstretched hand, then spoke in English, "Sorry, my command of Japanese is sparse at best.'"

"Oh," Haruna replied. 'Of course he would speak English, he's an American after all,' she thought, mentally kicking herself.

The man climbed to his feet, then dusted off his uniform, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, Haruna is alright," she replied, nodding emphatically. This incident had to be put behind them, luckily the man didn't seem angered by her clumsiness. If anything, he seemed tired. His expression was fatigue slackened, and his voice seemed to be strained. It was almost as if he was using all of his energy to simply speak.

"Haruna then," he said, "I guessed as much."

"Yess," she replied, "Haruna of the Kongou class."

The officer nodded as if he believed she was who she said she was, then said, "Lieutenant Commander Matthew Dover, off the USS Evans. Nominally the XO of that ship, but currently the de facto American ship girl commander."

"Oh," Haruna replied, realization dawning on her face. This was the man who had been in charge during that battle, the one that had ended with the… "Oh," she repeated, in a more somber tone. "How is the destroyer-san?"

Dover's expression darkened, "Better. She's sleeping right now, but the doc was able to patch her up."
Haruna looked down towards the floor. "That's good," she didn't really know what to say past, "I hope she gets better soon."

Dover said, "Yeah, you and me both." He suddenly looked as if the weight of the world had been placed on his shoulders.

'He really is their teitoku,' she thought, realization dawning. Dover had the looked like he was blaming himself for his destroyer being hurt. She wondered if she would feel that way if one of her friends was hurt, and then immediately hoped that she would never had to put that to the test.

"You mustn't focus on what you could have done, teitoku," haruna said, surprising at the words coming out of her mouth, "She's safe now. Isn't that all that matters?"

"Yeah," Dover replied, his lips curling into a wan smile, "I guess you're right. The trials life of an officer." He shook his head, then asked, "So, how long have you been back?"

Happy for the change in subject, Haruna replied, "A few days. Almost a week."

"Impressive they got this base up and running that fast," Dover pointed out.

"It was already here, and unused," Haruna replied, "But they had to kick out some sailors. I hope they found a new place to work."

"Still, even if everything was here, this place is very nice," Dover said, "Your government seems to have jumped behind you girls wholeheartedly."

"Anything Haruna can do to help," she said, a smile spreading on her face.

"That's what we need to win this war," Dover said, placing a hand on Haruna's shoulder, "All the help we can get." With a smirk he pulled his hand back, "See you around then."

Haruna couldn't seem to be able to reply. Instead she just nodded. Dover chuckled, then disappeared down the corridor.
She stood there for a moment, rooted to the sport. He was certainly an interesting man, and to be that devoted to his subordinates. Haruna wished she could meet more officers like him. She shook her head. Contemplating things like that could come later. Right now she needed to find Kongou onee-sama. She started off down the corridor again, peeking through every door she passed.

-[]-[]-[]-
​

NAVSTA Pearl Harbor

Bob Jeffery sat at his desk, staring at the girl on the other side of the room. A girl who was also a destroyer. Damn that just sounded even more strange the more he thought about it. Charlie, the name she insisted on being called, was sitting in a chair, a bag of fast food in her lap. The remains of at least a dozen hamburgers were lying on the floor around the chair, and she was happily munching on another. Jeffery had no idea how a girl her size was capable of consuming that much food, but then again, destroyer.

She didn't look much like a destroyer though, more like a young girl excited about a new situation. It reminded Jeffery of when his daughter was that young. She used to beg him to take her with him to the office. She wanted to see what daddy did when he wasn't home.

Jeffery's face took on a downcast look, and he turned to stare out the window. They still had no information about his daughter, and he was beginning to feel discouraged. "What's wrong, Herr Kapitan?" Jeffery looked up. Charlie had lowered her hamburger, and was looking at him with concern on her face.

"Trying to put things in perspective," Jeffery replied, then smirked, "And think about how much you remind me of my daughter."

"Oh," Charlie replied, her brows knitting in thought.

"Where are your sisters?" Jeffery asked, changing the subject.

"Off with Commander Riley," Charlie replied with a dismissive wave, "They wanted to explore Pearl Harbor, or something like that." Riley, the Halsey's skipper, had been voluntold to help keep track of the destroyer girls. He had brought them into the base, he could help take care of them, at least until a better solution was worked out.

"And why aren't you with them?" Jeffery asked, a bit surprised at his tone. Without thinking he had slipped into his inquisitive father mode. He really had to watch that.

"You see Pearl Harbor once, you've seen it a hundred times," Charlie explained, "And the base won't go anywhere, I can look around later." Her face colored and she added, "Plus I wanted to spend time with you, Kapitan."

"Why on earth would you want to spend time with a worn out old man like me?" Jeffery asked, letting out a dry chuckle, "No matter, I enjoy the company."

Charlie beamed in reply. Jeffery was definitely going to have to be careful around these girls. He had seen that sort of look before, and it had always broken his resolve in the past. If he wasn't careful, these girls would be running the base within a week.

"So, what do you need from the Navy?" Jeffery asked, trying to force himself back into focusing on his job.

"A place to practice," Charlie replied, "Information, and orders."

"Orders?"

"Sir, I'm just a ship, I don't know what to do on my own," Charlie stated, "Someone has to tell me what to do."

"I'll talk with the operations officer, but I think I can work things out," Jeffery replied, a sudden string of ideas rushing through his head, then another thought rose to the surface, "You were in DESRON 23, weren't you?"

"With Kapitan Burke himself," Charlie replied, a note of pride in her voice, "Why?"

"Because I think I know how to work this out," Jeffery replied, then reached into his desk. He pulled out a wooden name placard. It had been issued to him with this office, but he had always hated the look of the thing, so it usually sat in his desk.

With a mock flourish, he placed it on the desk in a way that Charlie could read it easily. She looked at the words printed on it for a long moment, then a large smile spread across her face as she read the legend, "CPT Robert A. Jeffery, COMDESRON 23."

"I think I know how to fix this," Jeffery repeated, a smile of his own spreading across his face.
The festive mood in the room was ruined by the sound of someone rapped loudly on the door. "Come," he barked. His adjutant stepped into the room, then held up a message form.

"Sir, the Admiral's aide just dropped this off. I think you'll want to see it." Jeffery nodded, then began to read the paper.

Yokosuka Naval District

Dover stepped into the office and looked around. The room certainly didn't look like it belonged to a base commander. It was small, with only a desk and a few being the only furnishings. There was a trim man sitting behind the desk, his white uniform immaculately turned out. The placard sitting on the desk was lettered in both Japanese and English, "CMDR Hisashi Goto."

"Commander," Dover barked, "You wanted to see me?"

Instead of a response from the officer, Dover heard something he hadn't been expecting, "You know, I never expected you to show your sorry mug around here." He looked over his shoulder in surprise, only to see Jack Shimada step into the room.

Instead of greeting the superior officer in a manner befitting his rank, Dover grabbed the man in a tight embrace, saying, "Jack, you sonuva bitch. How the hell are you?" The first time Matt Dover met Jack Shimada was when they had both been plebes in the Academy. They had been close back then, and had maintained a friendship ever since. Dover hadn't even known that Jack was still in the country. He had checked at the N-2's office after they had made it back, but the officer there said Jack had been reassigned.

"Better if you would stop trying to strangle me," Shimada quipped. Dover quickly let go of the other man, and held out a hand. Shimada took it with a tight grip and shook vigorously.

"Good, I see that you two have met," spoke Commander Goto, slowly easing himself out of his chair.

"We go back," Dover explained, "But what the hell are you doing here, Jack?"

"That would be my doing," Goto explained, "I needed some help with the intelligence side of things, and your Navy wanted a man inside this base."

"I help out with getting information," Shimada added, "Both on the girls, and the monsters." He gave Dover a questioning look, then asked, "Speaking of which, what do you know about the American girls that showed up?"

"My doing," Dover replied quickly, "They saved my ship and have been sort of latched onto me ever since. I guess I'm their CO for lack of a better term."

"One of them was hurt badly in the last battle?" Goto asked.

"Yes," Dover said with a sigh, "Nicholas, she took a torpedo. She is recovering though, in your baths."

"You have my condolences," Goto said, "We were fortunate to not have needed those facilities as of yet, but I do not know how much longer that will last."

"A hell of a thing that," Dover said, changing the subject, "Who would have thought that ship girls can heal themselves by sitting in a bath."

"We stumbled onto that almost by accident," Shimada explained, "A lot of the girls were pretty banged up after the first battle. They went to the bath to unwind, and came back free of injuries. So we guessed that it worked sort of like a dock for them."

"Guessed," Dover said, his expression darkening, "You didn't know?"

"Hell, Matt, the amount we know about these girls can be summed up in three words, Sparkly Magical Bullshit," Shimada snapped back, "It was a logical assumption, and it seems to have been proven."

"Dammit Jack, don't use my people as guinea pigs," Dover replied.

"Stop," Goto barked, causing the other two men in the room to freeze, "Lieutenant Commander, we have to make assumptions in these trying times. In this case, I am glad we made this one, because it will help us prevent further suffering in the future." He fixed Shimada with a look, "Commander, I understand you two have a history, but I would appreciate it if you didn't fight where others could hear."

"What do you mean by that?" Shimada asked, confused. Goto didn't speak, instead walking towards the closed door. He quickly pulled it open, causing the three girls who had been pressed against it to fall into the room. Dover was surprised to see that one of them was Lou.

With a quick, "Sorry, sir," all of them vanished.

"Privacy is next to impossible on this base, as you know well, Shimada," Goto said, his eyes twinkling with mirth, "Where is she by the way."

"In my office," Shimada replied, turning his gaze towards the floor, "Asleep on the couch." Goto was silent for a long moment, before he burst into uproarious laughter.

"Am I missing something?" Dover asked, confused.

"It is a long story," Shimada sighed, "One that I don't really want to get into right now."

"He's become emotionally involved with one of my girls," Goto said, ignoring the withering stare Shimada shot at him.

"No, she think's she's in love with me," Shimada seethed, "It's… complicated."

"Sounds like it," Dover said, crossing his arms over his chest, "Sir, if I may, you called me in here for a reason."

"And you want to know why?" Goto asked, raising an eyebrow, "Shimada?"

"Huh, oh right," Shimada reached into his pocked and pulled out a message form. Extending his arm, he held it out for Dover.

"What's this?" Dover asked, taking the paper.

"That was forwarded to me about an hour ago, and I think you need to see it," Shimada replied, "It pertains to you after all."

With a grunt and a nod, Dover began to read.

-[]-[]-[]-​

SPECIAL ORDERS 2203
TOP SECRET

From: Chief of Naval Operations

To: CINCPACFLT, COMFLTFORCOM, message to be forwarded at commander's discretion

Subj: Nature of KANMUSU type personnel.

Message Reads: Due to recent intelligence reports, it is the intention of this office to furnish general information for combat commands. Recent intelligence reports confirm the existence of KANMUSU type personnel. These reports come from US and allied commands located in Japanese cased commands.

KANMUSU type personnel are defined as follows:

1. Spirits of warships. This fact having been confirmed by several outside sources, is treated as legitimate.

1. Human females of around ten(10) to thirty(30) years of age. No reason is yet known as to why KANMUSU appear in this form, but all known examples fit this description.

1. Personnel with the capability to stand on the water's surface unaided

1. Personnel who manifest personally carried versions of naval caliber weapons. Specifically, the weapons that the specific ship carried in the past.

1. Personnel who have the capability to fight ABYSSAL type enemies with no perceived problems.

At the time of this message, all known KANMUSU have been of Japanese origin. Any and all further information as to the nature of the KANMUSU or further KANMUSU personnel not known to this command are to be forwarded to this office with the highest priority.

ADM Lee Wright,
CNO

MESSAGE ENDS

-[]-[]-[]-
​

"Well this changes things," Dover muttered, "But what the hell are Abyssals?"

"Working designation for the monsters," Shimada replied, "Calling them monsters on an official message doesn't really fly. Probably some intel weenie's pet name."

"Abyssals," Dover said under his breath. He repeated the word several times, trying to wrap his head around it. Their enemy finally had a name, and it seemed fitting. "So, Jack, What do I do about this?"

"You give them the information," Shimada replied, "Tell them that there are American kanmusu now, and then let the Navy decide what to do with them. The Japanese threw themselves behind the girls, I expect we will as well."

"Damn,"Dover swore lightly, "This war just keeps changing." He shook his head, then looked up at Goto, "By your leave, sir?"

"Thank you for your time, commander," Goto replied, then waved Dover out of the office. The Commander quickly stepped out, and began to walk back to his room, he had some reports to write it seemed. Reports that had the capability to change the balance of power forever.

-[]-[]-[]-​

Fleet Activities Yokosuka

Captain Macklin stared at the newest report with an expression of mixed shock and disbelief. He didn't even know how to understand what the hell he was reading. Girls who could… this had to be one of his officers trying to play a trick on the old man, it had to be. Probably some ensign trying for a good laugh.

Girls who were ships, what a ludicrous concept. With a shake of his head, he crumpled the report and sent it flying across the room into the trash can. He decided that he would let this one slide. It was only a little harmless fun after all. No sense getting worked up over it.

He shook his head again, "Ship girls, fah. What will they try next?"

 

[Sir_Braazmiir]

Nice chapter, but I have a question. What's happening with the many museum ships across the world, like Mikasa, Aurora, Georgios Averoff, and Victory to name a few. For that matter, what about the rest of the world?

 

[Breakaway25]

Nice chapter, but I have a question. What's happening with the many museum ships across the world, like Mikasa, Aurora, Georgios Averoff, and Victory to name a few. For that matter, what about the rest of the world?

Click to shrink...

Museum ships will be making an appearance I just don't know when(I am working Bama into this fic somehow, I guarantee it!)
As to the rest of the world, I'm rolling with the notion of not explaining things unless its relevant to the scene in question. Suffice to say, things are moving quickly all over the world, and will become relevant as the plot continues.

That being said, the last chapter ends my first plotted arc of this fic. Expect a couple fluff chapters before I get back into the heavy stuff.

 

[Deus]

Breakaway25, I still think you're a bit too fast on the information (intelligence department) there. Its been like, what? Two days in story and they instantly treated them without any kind of suspicion and accepted them as the legitimate deal without wondering if they are being decieved, it's as if every single sailor is naive. Sure that the Japanese may have a hand in it but at the same time that doesn't explain the sudden appearance of American Kanmusu in open water nor does it explain how did they turn from ships to girls with ship parts. At the least, fourteen questions might be asked.

 

[Spectre]

nice work Break. I especially like Helena's struggle with being a command ship given the rather illustrious command decision associated with her.

 

[Breakaway25]

Breakaway25, I still think you're a bit too fast on the information (intelligence department) there. Its been like, what? Two days in story and they instantly treated them without any kind of suspicion and accepted them as the legitimate deal without wondering if they are being decieved, it's as if every single sailor is naive. Sure that the Japanese may have a hand in it but at the same time that doesn't explain the sudden appearance of American Kanmusu in open water nor does it explain how did they turn from ships to girls with ship parts. At the least, fourteen questions might be asked.

Click to shrink...

Part of that is because I've been using only a few like minded perspectives to tell this story. Dover and Shimada were quick to believe that the girls were what they claimed to be, but they aren't indicative of the entire Navy. In both cases, it's a combination of a willingness to latch onto anything with the possibility of ending the war, and the fact that they have seen the girls operate first hand. But they are by no means the entire US Navy. Not everyone believes the girls are who they claim to be, or that they can be the wonder weapon that everyone wants. The only reason it seems that way, is that I haven't show the opposing viewpoint just yet.

In fact, the CNO's order is nothing more than an outline of the reported facts, and a plea for information. There is no concrete direction right now, everything is in flux.

I am going to show the opposing views, the conflict happening in the upper echelons of the military, but I decided to highlight the aftermath of the second battle. Show the effects on everyone of this new type of war. But due to the very nature of how I'm writing this, it's going to take time to set up in a meaningful way.

As to the ship/girl/ship thing, that is going to be a plotpoint in the future, but I was playing it off only for rule of cool at the time. Now I'm stuck with it.
I hate retcons, and I'm not going back to fix something I did even if I don't like it.

 

[Breakaway25]

nice work Break. I especially like Helena's struggle with being a command ship given the rather illustrious command decision associated with her.

Click to shrink...

That may or may not be influenced by the fact that I just finished Neptune's Inferno....
Yeah I like Helena history, and if you know my stuff in the past, I tend to highlight the lesser known ships. That and use the ones I like personally.

 

[Spectre]

That may or may not be influenced by the fact that I just finished Neptune's Inferno....
Yeah I like Helena history, and if you know my stuff in the past, I tend to highlight the lesser known ships. That and use the ones I like personally.

Click to shrink...

I try to do the same thing, though your works a lot better then mine...

 

[Shotbywolf]

Tex and lex would probobly sortie if Texas was attacked but not much else would wake those two constitution will no doubt wake as soon as something Happens to Washington or Boston Missouri will awake before Arizona sympily becuase of the symbolism of her hull sitting where it is in relation to arizonas remains but that just my idea use them if you want break if not then oh well

 

[Red october20k]

I hope one or both of ship's named Laffy make an appearance. The first one it took on a battleships and a cruiser before she sank and crippled one to boot. The other survived a heavy kamikaze assault. As well as surviving in both Atlantic and Pacific theaters.

 

[Breakaway25]

As to museum ships, I have tentative ideas as to how they will appear(I am going to drag Bama into this one way or another), but nothing concrete yet.
My list of future girls is rather sparse at the moment as I'm trying to avoid the character escalation my last fic suffered from. Don't really have much past the DESRON 21 and 23 girls and the two St. Louis class cruisers.

 

[Wolf of the Sea]

As to museum ships, I have tentative ideas as to how they will appear(I am going to drag Bama into this one way or another), but nothing concrete yet.
My list of future girls is rather sparse at the moment as I'm trying to avoid the character escalation my last fic suffered from. Don't really have much past the DESRON 21 and 23 girls and the two St. Louis class cruisers.

Click to shrink...

Tell me about it, that is a big pain keeping all of your characters in line, making sure you touch base with all of them. I really have no clue how writers like Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, and Rick Campbell do it. That takes a lot of talent.

 

[Breakaway25]

As a heads up to readers of this fic, I have decided to participate in NaNoWriMo this year with an original work. As such, updates to this may be delayed as I attempt to complete that project.

 

[Spectre]

Tell me about it, that is a big pain keeping all of your characters in line, making sure you touch base with all of them. I really have no clue how writers like Tom Clancy, Clive Cussler, and Rick Campbell do it. That takes a lot of talent.

Click to shrink...

its actually not that hard. The main thing is to not think of them as one big group but several smaller ones.

 

[Burning Baron]

Taylor Anderson, author of the Destroyermen Series, has a big character sheet at the front of his books, which is probably how he keeps track of them.

 

[Breakaway25]

Taylor Anderson, author of the Destroyermen Series, has a big character sheet at the front of his books, which is probably how he keeps track of them.

Click to shrink...

Nah he's just really good at remembering them.

Fun fact, the thing about Schrodinger's cat in Rising Tides, that came about due to a comment I made in his author forum.
He actually pulls a lot of ideas from that forum, the floating drydocks for example were due to a reader comment.

 

[Spectre]

Nah he's just really good at remembering them.

Fun fact, the thing about Schrodinger's cat in Rising Tides, that came about due to a comment I made in his author forum.
He actually pulls a lot of ideas from that forum, the floating drydocks for example were due to a reader comment.

Click to shrink...

mentioning Schrodinger in a thread that involves a story with Kongo in it. Your playing with fire man.

 

[Breakaway25]

mentioning Schrodinger in a thread that involves a story with Kongo in it. Your playing with fire man.

Click to shrink...

The battleship is both in the bed and not in the bed... At the same time!

 

[Breakaway25]

AN: The scenes in this update have been added into previous chapters. I wrote them afterward to fill gaps.

COMDESRON 15
Fleet Activities Yokosuka
21 June 2020

Captain Robert Macklin was in a foul mood. Not only had several of his ships been damaged severely, the report they had sent back made no sense. Monster battleships? What kind of insane excuse was that? This was so far from the norm he had no idea what to make of it. There had to be some reason for this report, and it was probably something he wouldn't like.

Macklin was tall in stature, who worked hard to keep his body in peak performance. He liked to joke that he was in as good a shape now as he had been while at the Academy. He had spent several years in ships, before finding his real calling, leading from the shore. Someone had to stay behind to tell the ships where to go and what to do.

But right now he was supposed to be leading this squadron, not constantly cleaning up after the captains under him. Macklin had done his very best to be supportive, and help the men under him. But then they go and do this? He half expected to read a report stating that one of his ships had been sunk, and then he would really be in the shit. There was no way he would ever get his star if that happened.

He sighed, then leaned back in his chair. There had to be some way of dealing with this, some way that wouldn't reflect negatively on himself or hamper his career. He would just have to figure out what had really happen and spin it for the admiral. Maybe he could find some way to make this not seem as bad. He looked towards his door and shouted, "CHIEF."

A second later Master Chief Eddy Riley stuck his head into the office. Riley was the squadron's command master chief. The highest ranking NCO in other words. He took one look at Macklin, then quipped, "You bellowed, sir?"

"Cut the shit, Chief," Macklin said in an exasperated tone, "Just go figure out what the hell happened to my ships."

The NCO stared at Macklin for a long moment, a look of disbelief on his face, "Didn't you hear, sir, about the monster attacks? It's all over the news."

"Not you too," Macklin groaned, placing his head in his hands, "Look, figure out something to tell the admiral that sounds better than, 'The ships got attacked by monsters'."

"Sir, the admiral already called to ask if we had any news about the monsters," the chief said. Macklin stared at the man for a long moment.

"And you didn't think that the little detail about the Admiral calling wasn't important enough to notify me?" Macklin barked. He was beginning to lose his patience with this man.

"Sir, we didn't know anything to tell him, unless you've heard something," the chief hedged.

"Look," Macklin said, biting his lip in an attempt to keep from screaming, "Get the Admiral on the phone. Maybe I can sort this out myself."

"Aye, sir," the chief said, then quickly ducked out of the office. Macklin didn't watch the man leave, he had better things to worry about. Like how the hell he was going to explain this mess when the Admiral inevitably came to yell at him about this. Damn, this was already shaping up to be one shitter of a week.

White House Situation Room
Washington D.C.
23 June 2020

Admiral Steven Davies was out of his element. It was a are day that he felt so out of place. It wasn't his first time visiting the President's personal briefing room, but it threw him for for a loop each and every time. He sat in one of the chairs, reviewing his briefing material, and trying to hide the fact that his hands were shaking.

He shouldn't feel this uncomfortable. He was an intelligence specialist giving an intelligence briefing after all, but this subject seemed so damned far fetched. When you looked at it, the idea of ships becoming humans sounded like something out of a cheap science fiction paperback, not something that was really happening.

Davies had read through the information Commander Shimada had forwarded to him over and over, he had watched the video files that had been forwarded to his email, and he had seen the dozens of first hand accounts vouching for the legitimacy of the claims. Even with all of the supporting evidence, he still had trouble believing this story. There were just too many questions, to many things that made this impossible.

However, he was able to see opportunity, and he would be a damned fool to miss this one. These girls could apparently fight the monsters, and in the end, wasn't that all that mattered? What difference did it make who they claimed to be, if they could help them beat back the monsters. He really had to come up with a better name for them. Constantly saying the word monsters to the President just seemed… wrong somehow.

A commotion in the room caused Davies to look up from his papers, just in time to see the President walk into the room. He jumped to his feet with the rest of the officers in the room in a pavlovian reaction.

The President waved them all down without a word, then proceeded to his seat. With a sigh, Davies stood up and walked to the screen at the front of the room.

"Sir, this is the current situation," Davies began, then brought up his first slide, a map of the world with several ships markers dotted around it. A distressing number of them were marked with a red X. It didn't take a genius to figure out what this map meant, "At this moment approximately 25% of our naval assets are either sunk or critically damaged, and that number is increasing by the hour."

"Monsters have done all this?" the President asked, not looking away from the map.

"Yes sir," Davies replied grimly.

"Tell me we have some way to stop this, Admiral," the President remarked, "Or else a lot of taxpayers are going to be pissed at all of us.

"That is what I what I want to discuss today, sir," Davies said, then took in a long breath. He clicked his remote to bring up the next slide. He was fixed by more than one confused look by the men in the room as the screen displayed a picture of the battleship Kongou, in her current state.

"Is this a joke, Admiral?" the Secretary of Defense asked, his tone indicating that he was not amused.

"This," Davies said, ignoring the jab, "Is the battleship Kongou."

The President let out a low whistle, "If that's what ships look like these days, I may just need to change my line of work."

"Sir, this young woman claims to be, for lack of better words, the reincarnation of the battleship Kongou," Davies continued, "The battleship that sank during WWII. She is, as well as several other ships who have returned in similar states, a kanmusu."

"Are you trying to tell us that a battleship, one that sank almost eighty years ago, has suddenly appeared, as a young woman?" the SECDEF asked, giving Davies a disbelieving look, "This is… well, beyond far fetched, Admiral."

"This information comes to us by way of our allies, the Japanese Self Defense Force," Davies continued, ignoring the quips, "They have collected a substantial amount of information about the kanmusu, from physiological data, to combat performance information."

"These things can fight too?" the President asked, quirking an eyebrow. Davies didn't reply. Instead he clicked the remote once more. The next screen showed a short video of Kongou, this time with her rigging attached. She skated back and forth through the frame several times, before settling in a spot at the center of the screen. With a loud cry, her guns barked as one, sending great tongues of fire lancing into the sky. With that, the video ended and the screen went black.

There was a tense silence in the room, as everyone attempted to process what they had just seen. Finally the President spoke, "So, all of these, kanmusu can do that?"

"Some, the battleships can at least. They also have destroyers and cruisers who equip different weaponry," Davies explained.

"This whole situation seems rather thin, Admiral," Davies looked across the room at the Secretary of the Navy. Then man was holdings his hands in front of his face, fingers tented, "To me, this sounds like a story the Japanese cooked up in an attempt to convince the world that they can win the war."

"Rob's right," the President announced, "What evidence do we have that this isn't just some fabrication in order to throw us off the trail?"

"Sir, this information comes from one of my officers in Yokosuka," Davies explained, "He vouches for its legitimacy."

"I guess the only other question I have now is, are there any of these kanmusu in our fleet?" the President asked, rocking back in his chair.

"Not at this time," Davies replied.

"Well then," the President continued, "I think we all have a lot to discuss. Let's get to it everybody." The room went silent again as the President shuffled out with a few of the bureaucratic types. Davies stayed behind staring at the rapidly emptying room.

The President had bought his briefing, not only that but had appeared to believe it? Would wonders never cease. His elation was short lived however, as the SECNAV walked up to him. "Do you honestly beleive this horeseshit, Admiral?"

"Sir, I do. My man in Yokosuka is top notch. If he says this information is correct, I am assuming it to be so," Davies replied, deciding to stick to his guns.

"Admiral, I still don't trust this," SECNAV replied, "It seems too damn convenient to me, but I'll give your man the benefit of the doubt. Look, go talk to the CNO. Let him decide what to do with this." Davies jerked a quick nod before the secretary continued, "But tell Admiral Wright this, my recommendation is that he ask for information. Not to do anything until we have more information, especially whether or not we have some of these kanmusu of our own."

"Aye sir," Davies replied.

"Good, now then you best get to it," SECNAV said, putting on a thin smile, "This is going to either vault your career forward, or send you out with your tail between your legs."

"Sir, that consideration never entered into my mind," Davies replied, truthfully.

A genuine smile spread over the SECNAV's face, he slapped Davies on the back, "That's what I like to hear, Admiral. Take care." The man quickly walked out of the room, leaving Davies alone with his thoughts.

-[]-[]-[]-
​

Fleet Activities Yokosuka

Captain Macklin stared at the newest report with an expression of mixed shock and disbelief. He didn't even know how to understand what the hell he was reading. Girls who could… this had to be one of his officers trying to play a trick on the old man, it had to be. Probably some ensign trying for a good laugh.

Girls who were ships, what a ludicrous concept. With a shake of his head, he crumpled the report and sent it flying across the room into the trash can. He decided that he would let this one slide. It was only a little harmless fun after all. No sense getting worked up over it.

He shook his head again, "Ship girls, fah. What will they try next?"

---

AN: A little in media res storytelling with this one. I've had these characters plotted for awhile now, but every time I tried to use them either I couldn't get the scene to work, or it just seemed out of place, so here's me trying to fix things.

Look at me writing 2k words for this in a day, and struggling to get past 3k with my NaNo story. I really need to get my priorities straight.

 

[Red october20k]

Suggestion why not turn this into your project for NaNo and your novel as a work in progress. Your muse is try to tell you something.

Captain Macklin sounds like another character by that name from W.E.B. Griffins book series about the marines in world war two. Great update by the way.

 

[Breakaway25]

Suggestion why not turn this into your project for NaNo and your novel as a work in progress. Your muse is try to tell you something.

Captain Macklin sounds like another character by that name from W.E.B. Griffins book series about the marines in world war two. Great update by the way.

Click to shrink...

Well I started this fic long before Nov 1, and I don't plan on capping it out at only 50k words. I'm doing an original thing which I may or may not post here once it's a bit further along.

And I'm surprised someone finally caught one of my blatant nods. But considering Griffin does not know that character enough to remember his name(In one book he's Robert, then John, then Richard) I figured it was justified.

 

[MagisterAurelius]

Ahhh government bureaucracy at its best.