"You… I…" She was actually speechless. Tears again ran down her face, but this time of joy. "Thank you. Thank you!" Then her eyes widened. "Haruna! You have to save her too!"
"Is she going to fight me?" I asked.
The brunette battleship shook her head, "No, my sisters feel the same way I do. She'll surrender, same as me."
Figured it would be a knife fight in the dark, and historically it was a mess. But yay, nice to see the girls get a chance to sit out the war. Repulse will be thrilled - dess
The Fifth Battle of Savo was easily the deadliest action of my career. By the time the sun rose the next day, over thirty hulls had joined the thirty already resting in Iron Bottom Sound. Eleven of them were Allied. We'd not lost any major warships, but the destroyermen in particular had paid a steep price for our victory. But, combined with the Battle of Santa Cruz, what a victory it was. In the course of only twenty-four hours, the IJN's back was broken, and the tide finally and decisively turned in our favor. The Japanese had lost the war, and so began the long arduous march towards the home islands.
NOVEMBER 18 1942
D+68
0038 HOURS
The moment Kongo separated from her hull was unmistakable. Her hull had just begun to list to port when my new tea-mate suddenly collapsed bonelessly to the deck where she was sitting beside me. Then, for a brief instant, her body flashed pure white. When my vision cleared, she was still there, but missing the myriad of wounds she'd worn though our whole encounter.
Then her eyes snapped open and she sat up with a jolt. "Ah. What…? I'm… Alright?"
"Welcome to the SHIP club." I replied with a grin. "So, shall we save your sister?"
Her face became determined, "What do I have to do?"
"Can you have her teleport over here?" I asked.
She nodded, and then spouted a sentence in Japanese, no doubt in a private radio channel to her sister (At least, I hoped it was private). I really needed to learn the language. Maybe it still worked the same way it did for steel hulls, and I could get a fairy to do it?
Something to work on another time, because a moment later a second ship spirit teleported onto the deck. She glanced at me before noticing Kongo, who she quickly hugged while spouting rapid fire Japanese. I took the opportunity to look her over.
She was definitely Kongo's sister, wearing an identical outfit, though her skirt was red to her sister's black. She had long raven hair and bright amber eyes, and like Kongo had been moments before, was shot to bits with torn clothes and bleeding wounds.
Finally the two separated, and Kongo turned to me. "Wales, this is my little sister, Haruna. Haruna, this is HMS Prince of Wales, who we are surrendering to."
The younger sister quickly schooled her face and gave a small bow. When she spoke, it was with a Japanese accent, though with more than a few hints of Kongo's Northern English. She was completely fluent, of course. "Thank you, Miss Prince of Wales. Thank you."
"It's no issue." I replied, "Though, please, just Wales is fine."
"So, how do I…?" Kongo asked.
"Hand her something." I replied. "It can be anything."
The old battlecruiser blinked, then produced a steaming cup of tea. She held it out to her sister. "Here."
The black haired girl blinked, took the cup, and took a sip. She blinked in surprise. "Is that what tea tastes ki-"
Thud
She cut off as she collapsed to the deck. "Haruna!"
Before Kongo could crouch down to help her sister, Haruna flashed a bright white, just like her sister had. And like her sister, she snapped back up to sitting, wounds healed. "Nan-?"
"Haruna!" Kongo yelled happily, pulling her sister into another hug. "You're okay?" She asked, no doubt still speaking English for my benefit.
"I… I am." The younger sister replied. The two separated and she began curiously examining her body. "So, we're free of our hulls now? People can see us?"
I nodded. "You are. I'm afraid I can share too much, just in case…"
Kongo met my eyes. "We do. But you can trust us. I will not go back on my word."
I sighed and gave a small smile. "I know I probably shouldn't. But I do." I let my smile fall. "The others won't though. They won't have much choice though, between my orders and the fact that I doubt any of us could stop you if you tried to run anyway."
"We won't."
"I know." I muttered, attempting to stand. Kongo was quick to lend a hand, and then a shoulder. I coughed. With my boilers wrecked it was hard to breathe. "If anyone asks, I accidentally activated you by carelessly offering tea. If anyone finds out I purposefully activated you, the brass will have my head."
"Really?" Haruna asked. "Kongo said you didn't do things like seppuku."
I blinked. "You thought I meant-?" I snapped around to look at Kongo, "Do they actually…?!"
She frowned, "If someone is facing court martial, and it's severe enough, sometimes they'll let the defendant preform seppuku, ritual suicide, to 'maintain their honour'. Occasionally an Officer who has failed quite spectacularly may also do so. Stupidity."
"Bloody hell." I muttered. I turned back to Haruna, "No, we don't do that. I meant it metaphorically. I doubt I'd face a court martial, but I'm sure they'd find some creative way of punishing me. If it was an 'accident' then at least it will be lighter."
"Understandable, dess." Kongo replied. "As far as I'm concerned, you climbed aboard my hull to avoid torpedoes, and when I confronted you you were quite out of it due to damage and fatigue. We began chatting, and you unthinkingly offered a cup of tea. Then, after you realised, I offered to surrender providing you also captured my sister here."
"Aye, that'll do." I replied with a groan.
"So now what?" My fellow British built boat asked.
"We need to get to Savo." I muttered, looking out to sea. The battle had completely ceased by now. The lightning had stopped, as had the rain, and the sea was just beginning to calm down a bit, though it still seemed rough. "But there's still a fair chance some Allied ships are about. If they see you, they'll open up." I bit my lip. How could we manage this?
Then an idea popped into my head. "Alright, here's what we'll do."
I ended up towing the two Japanese battleships behind me in a raft, as I'd done to rescue my crew oh so long ago (Had it really only been ten months? It felt like a lifetime had passed). The sea was still choppy, but it was just calm enough to manage. Besides, I could only make five knots with all the damage I'd sustained.
But that was more than enough, as a mere ten minutes later we were climbing up the beach on Savo Island. It couldn't have been a comfortable ride for my two passengers, but we made it.
Unfortunately thanks to all the damage I'd taken, nearly thirty tons of water had flowed in in those ten minutes. It was cold and painful. But that was what I had to do, so I did.
The moment I dismissed my rigging, I all but collapsed again. Kongo was quickly at my side, helping me back to my feet. "Wales. Are you alright?"
"Not in the slightest," I groaned, "But I will be."
"Uhuh." She turned to her sister, "Get on her other side."
Haruna quickly slipped under my other shoulder, both sisters helping me walk. "You'll be alright Wales."
"Thank you." I muttered. "My girls should be at our usual place. Right, down the beach."
With the two battleships supporting me, I began to hobble east along the beach. The two were silent as they helped me walk. We remained as such until a small campfire came into view, the flames dancing in the slowly dying winds. Several figures were gathered around it. We came within twenty yards before someone noticed us and stood.
Relief was a sweet sweet feeling. "Howe!"
"Wales?!" My sister all but yelled, "You're alrig- Those're Japs!"
In a split second, all four of the girls around the campfire had their rigging out and aimed at the two Kongos.
"HOLD FIRE!" I roared as loud as I could. "Hold your bloody fire!" The four, including my sister, froze. Now I was able to recognize the other three: Sims, Jup, and Electra.
"Wales?" My sister asked, "What the hell is going on?"
I sighed. My girls were not going to like this. I just had to keep them from doing anything stupid. "Girls, this is Kongo and Haruna. I had to board Kongo to avoid a torpedo spread, and accidentally activated her. Luckily for us, unlike the rest of the Japanese, she's not insane and offered to surrender provided I did the same for her sister."
"Are you nuts!" Electra burst, "They're Japanese! You can't trust them! They're just setting up to stab us in the back!"
I mentally swore. Of course Electra would think like that. She'd been out fighting in the jungle with Boise the last few weeks. "What do you suggest we do then, Electra? We can't shoot them, because A: It's against the Geneva Convention, and B: If you try, they'll pull their rigging and kill the lot of us." I glanced at Howe's rigging and grimaced. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we're all shot to bits and between Howe and I we only have four guns."
Then, to my surprise, Kongo spoke up, "I understand why you wouldn't trust the Japanese. But would you trust a Brit?"
Electra blinked for a second, surprised at the accent, "Yea. What's that matter, Jap?"
"I was built in Barrow-in-Furness." She replied, letting her accent thicken into something a Northern English yard dog might speak with. "I was built by British men out of British steel. I grew up speaking English with British tugs and ships. My first friends were British. Just because I've served over thirty years in the IJN does not mean I forgot my roots. Do you know how good it feels to speak my first language with someone again, aside from helping my sisters practice? I am half Japanese, yes. And for many years, I was proud to serve my nation. But now? The entire country has been hijacked by madmen, my friends brainwashed into fools who cheer at the deaths of innocents. I am half Japanese, half British. And I know which one I'm proud to be right now."
She sighed, her almost righteous fury cooling. "If you cannot trust me as a 'Jap.' Trust me as an Englishwoman."
Electra almost seemed surprised. She sure hadn't been expecting that whole speech. She opened her mouth to talk, but was cut off when a spirit popped into existence between us.
Kongo's face immediately cooled. "Jintsu. Still alive I see."
The cruiser spun at the voice, surprise written on her face. It was clear that, whatever purpose she was here for, she hadn't been expecting her old comrade. "Kongo?"
"Surprised to see me?" The battleship asked.
The cruiser blinked, "I just watched you sink out there..."
"Yes, well. Thanks to Wales here, I'm like her now." The battleship snarked.
Jintsu's face pulled into a snarl, and she spat something in Japanese.
Kongo replied in English, face pulling into a furious snarl. "Bugger that! I am not dying for those Army morons who've turned us into a nation of monsters! That is not Bushido! They've taken the old ways and perverted them to control us! To turn us into an nation of fanatics willing to rush off to our deaths for their idioticdelusions! We were free! Democratic! We were going to help all our fellow Asians rise from being a backwards, poor continent! To turn East Asia into something on par with Europe and the Americas! And instead we're slaughtering them like cattle!"
There were tears in the battleship's eyes now. "You were there Jintsu! Remember the twenties? What fun we had running around Yokosuka with all our sisters, acting like idiots? When everyone was free? Before the Tokkō, before the Kempeitai?"
Jintsu wavered, "But, we had to." She replied, also in English. "The Western Imperialists want to keep us down!"
"That's not the fucking issue!" Kongo shouted, tears flowing, "This war happened because we started slaughtering the Chinese like cattle! Of course the Americans would embargo us! So instead of backing down, and realising they were being complete fools, the Army bastards doubled down, and got us into a war with the two most powerful navies on the planet! Did you see what just happened out there!? This is just going to keephappening! This is not a war Japan can win! There's no bloody way! And you know what happens next? Because those morons have indoctrinated everyone that we can never surrender, how does this war end!? To the last man. Those fucking idiots have created the perfect storm. This war only ends with an invasion of Japan which will see every man, woman, and child who can use a weapon die in a fanatical last stand."
She slumped against me, tears streaming down her face. "Those morons have made the total destruction of our country inevitable. I want out. And if you're sane, you do too, old friend. Count yourself lucky you'll still be here when this is all over, alive. I promise I'll come back, and we can share a drink."
Jintsu had a few tears running down her face too. "You really think…"
"Yes." Kongo replied with zero hesitation. "Unless someone manages a coup or the Emperor comes to his senses."
The cruiser face scrunched up, and she seemed about to start bawling. With one last word in Japanese, she teleported away.
My girls, for their part, seemed stunned. I hoped Kongo's whole tirade had changed their minds.
I sighed, "I hate this bloody war. Here, put me by the fire, if you would."
"Alright," Haruna replied for both of them. My girls stepped aside, and let the two set me on one of the logs we used for seating around the fire, before taking seats themselves. Howe and the destroyers exchanged a glance, before finally dismissing their rigging and sitting down.
"Where's everyone else?" I asked.
Jup shrugged by way of reply. "Dunno. I lost track of everyone. It was chaos."
"I hope they're alright." Howe muttered.
"You 'ope?" Electra spat. She glared at the two Japanese warships. "If either of them are dead, I swear- You know what, no! I am not just sitting here, and acting like these two are fine! That's a nice sob story, but-! I- Fuck! 'Ow do we know they're not just radioing all their buddies to come kill us?!"
Kongo gave me a glance. I just shook my head, and turned to Howe. "Your Huff Duff active sis? Mine got shot off."
"Yes? Why?"
I gestured at our two prisoners. "Have either of them transmitted everything in the last few minutes."
"No…"
Electra was glaring at me. "Why are you on their side!"
"I'm not." I replied, "I'm just willing to give Kongo here just a little bit of trust. Not like we have much choice. I'm not asking you to trust them. But they are our prisoners. Unless they pull their rigging, you are not to do anything. And yes that is an order."
Electra crossed her arms in a huff, clearly not happy. But she didn't continue arguing.
"Now." I began, accepting no argument, "Howe, please radio the PTs. We need a ride back to Henderson. And my radio is inop. Has anyone called our missing girls?"
My sister was the one to reply, "Yes. No response."
Dread gripped me, "Shit. Electra, Jup. You're both able to sail?" They both nodded, "Head back out there for SAR. Find our girls."
"What about the Japs?" Electra asked, glaring at Kongo.
"Just go, Electra. Let me worry about them."
She grit her teeth. "Yes, ma'am."
"You guys got fucked." Were the first words out of Nina's mouth when she pulled up to the beach to take us back to Henderson several hours later. While the Kongo sisters were quite a surprise, she and Lieutenant Kennedy dropped it the moment I ordered them not to raise a fuss.
The sun was just beginning to rise when we finally entered our bunker. Howe and I went straight to the baths while I tasked Sims with guarding our two PoWs in the living area.
Perth was awake when we both slipped into the water. "Mornin'. How'd it go? Where's everyone else?"
"Jup and Electra are performing Search and Rescue." I explained, "Hou, Express, Ennie and Boise are missing." My heart clinched. I'd done my best not to think about it, but now that I'd just said it out loud, it was as if it was suddenly real. I snapped, mind immediately going to worst case scenarios, tears running down my face.
"Oh God, please no. Please let them be alive. Please!"
Then Howe hugged me. "It's okay sis. They'll be fine. You're alright."
More tears were flowing down my face now, "Oh god, please!"
"Shhhhhh, it's alright Wales. Shhhhh."
Please let them be alright.
I ended up dozing off on Howe's shoulder. I was completely physically exhausted. I slept the sleep of the dead. Several hours later, I woke up to the sound of uneven footsteps.
In an instant, my eyes snapped open, my girls! Were they alive!?
First to round the corner was Jup, with Hou leaning heavily on her. My second was badly beat up, outfit torn and both arms ending at the elbow.
"Hou! You're alright!" I burst, waking everyone else.
"Yeah." She smiled through the pain, "Take more than six torps to kill me."
"Don't forget about me." A Cockney voice chimed in. There, supported by Electra, was Express.
"Oh thank god you're both alright." I spoke, before my heart clinched again. "Where's Ennie? And Boise? Did either of you see them?"
"Encounter?" Hou asked. "I don't know. You?"
Express shook her head, "No."
"And Boise?" I asked, now worried.
At the way Hou's face fell, my heart all but stopped. "Boise… She." She swallowed, trying to stay calm, but I could see the tears beginning to prick her eyes. "I saw her… She was dueling a Japanese cruiser. She was winning, but the Jap got a lucky hit on her bridge, knocked her unconscious. Then a Japanese destroyer-" She stifled a sob. "Four torpedoes. One… One… Touched off her forward magazine. She was gone in three minutes."
Jup pulled the cruiser into a hug as she started bawling. She and Boise had been like sisters. They'd been together in the Asiatic Fleet, and known each other for years. I couldn't imagine how Hou felt.
Though most of us were not immune to the tears either. Boise had been a friend to all of us. I knew I was crying. But through the tears, there was still some hope.
"Electra!" I barked, fighting through the tears, "Go. Find. Ennie."
The destroyer, tears streaming down her own face at the prospect of losing her sister, grit her teeth, replacing worry with anger. "Don't have to tell me twice!"
I could only hope she succeeded. One lost friend was enough.
Later that afternoon, I hobbled up from the baths to the command dugout. I needed to pass on a report, and manage some other important business. Luckily the bath had taken the edge off my discomfort, making it slightly less painful.
I was halfway through writing my AAR when a teary eyed Electra entered the door.
"No." I muttered, "No, nooo."
In response, Electra held up a small blue cap, the same type she was wearing. "She's gone."
I hugged her, and the dam broke, and our toughest destroyer cried.
An hour later, I felt emotionally drained. I'd lost two girls today. Two. Boise would never finish her memoir. Hou had cleaned up Boise's stuff from their shared room. The papers had been among them.
And Encounter. Dear sweet Ennie. God how I'd miss the pinkette. She'd never cook us all dinner again. Nor would she sail around the world with me, like I'd promised her. Oh god I'd promised her so much! And now, she was gone. Left to rest on the bottom of Iron Bottom Sound.
In their short time as proper people, all they'd known was war. I hoped that wherever spirits went when we died, that they were finally at peace.
"Ma'am?" I glanced up to see Lieutenant Anderson looking at me, concerned. "Are you alright?"
"No Leftenant. I'm not." I sighed. "I got shot to bits, everything hurts, I just killed a lot of people, and I just got two of my friends killed. No, I'm very not alright."
"Sorry, Ma'am."
"It's fine." I muttered. "Actually, Leftenant. Take a message for Halsey."
He quickly produced a notepad and pen, "Yes?"
"'Flag 79 to CINCSOUPAC. Combat ineffective, two operational destroyers. Request permission for withdrawal to Sydney for repairs, rest and resupply.'"
The twin battles of 5th Savo and Santa Cruz were the decisive end of the Guadalcanal Campaign. Within two weeks, the Tokyo Express had evacuated what few Japanese soldiers remained on the island, confirming an Allied victory. Furthermore, it was the final battle of the turning of the tide that had started back at Coral Sea. Never again would Japan perform offensive operations. So began three long years of island hopping. But first, I needed some repairs…
NOVEMBER 27 1942
1250 HOURS
My request to be withdrawn was immediately approved. With only Sims and Electra combat capable, we were worse than useless in the Solomons. Most of us had months of sitting in the baths ahead of us, myself the longest of all. I was going to be under repair for eight to ten months, and require an actual surgery by a repair SHIP, apparently.
It turned out, getting a SHIP repaired in a bath required the parts being repaired to be, well, fixable. When a turret or boiler was damaged beyond repair and needed a full replacement? Now that counted as a refit. And my machinery? It was totaled. Five of my eight boilers had ruptured and exploded, one was badly damaged by it's neighbor's explosion, and only two remained functional. My A and Y turrets were complete losses too.
Vestal was apparently being flown out as the only repair SHIP in the world, and I was not looking forward to her having to cut a hole in my deck to replace all my machinery.
God how I hated this war.
But that was for the future when we'd reached Sydney. Within a few days of my report, we'd been put aboard a troopship that had just dropped off more reinforcements, and headed for Esperitu Santo, two Japanese POWs in tow. Once there, we boarded HMAS Vampire for a speedy trip to Sydney.
The poor destroyer was understandably unhappy at having a pair of Japanese battleships aboard.
As for me, I wasn't moving around much, thanks to both my legs still being bad, content to spend most of my time on a deckchair on the small Aussie ship's stern with a good book. But I had to hobble down to the mess for food eventually.
It was something of a process navigating the destroyer, crippled as I was, but I managed to make it down into the hull. When I entered, I immediately spotted Kongo sitting alone eating her own lunch.
As soon as I got my own food, I joined her.
"Afternoon, Kongo."
She glanced up at my greeting, "Oh, hello Captain Windsor. You alright, dess?"
I shrugged, "As much as I can be."
"Sorry 'bout that." She apologized. She'd been the one to inflict some of my damage after all.
I waved her off, "You were doing your duty. Same as I."
"Yeah…"
"So," I began, "Everything alright on your end? Nobody's been harassing you?"
"No." She shook her head, "Just angry glares. And I don't fault them for that, dess."
"Good." I nodded, before digging into my lunch. She didn't have to know that was probably because I'd given strict orders to not just my girls, but Vampire and her Captain too, that nobody was to antagonize our two 'guests' under any circumstances. I may have done it because it was the right thing to do morally, after all, I trusted Kongo enough that I didn't expect her to try anything. But to everyone else, I'd had had to frame it as not wanting them to cause the Japanese SHIPs to snap and attack us all.
That was certainly everyone else's biggest concern.
But I wasn't worried. Kongo had given me her word, and considering her motives and feelings towards her own country, I trusted her to keep it.
"Captain?" The Japanese battleship spoke again a few minutes later as I ate. She'd started referring to me by my rank and name, as it had somewhat mollified my Task Force-mates. They didn't like her being familiar with me very much, for obvious reasons.
"Yes?"
She bit her lip, "Could I ask you a favor?"
My brow furrowed, "Depends on what it is…"
She produced a letter. "This is a letter addressed to Hiei and Kirishima, my other two sisters. It says that I and Haruna are alive as POWs and urges them to surrender to the holder of this letter. If you ever run into them, please do your best to talk them down and show them this letter. I… I can't lose them."
I gently reached out and took the letter. It was written in Japanese, obviously, and had what I had to assume was Kongo's signature. I knew exactly how it felt to worry for one's sisters."I can do that. If I ever see them, I promise I'll get them this letter."
"Just, remember," Kongo nodded, "I am a POW, not a defector. This letter, and my surrender are not treason, despite what somepeople back home may say. The other ships of the IJN. Many of them are my friends, or even family, despite our split in recent years. I will not provide any intelligence or assistance that may lead to getting them hurt or killed, and I will not betray Japan. But I will no longer fight for it either."
"I understand."
She gave a small smile, "Thank you, Wales. I wish there were more good people like you fighting this war. On both sides. Sometimes it seems like everyone else has given themselves over to hatred…"
"Isn't that the bloody truth…" I muttered.
Kongo's eyes stared off into the distance as we fell back into silence. After a few moments a smile appeared on her face, "Though, it does seem that Howe takes more after you."
I blinked, and followed her gaze. Much to my surprise, there was Howe and Haruna sitting together at a table across the room, sharing lunch and chatting away like old friends.
Pride swelled in my chest. None of my other girls would even consider speaking to the two Japanese SHIPs except if absolutely necessary. Not even Jup. But there Howe was, treating Haruna not as an enemy, but as just another person. I smiled.
"You've raised her well." Kongo spoke.
Raised her? I had in a way, hadn't I? She was still not even half a year in commission, and while that meant adulthood for us ships, she was still so very young. I was the one playing older sister and helping to shape her worldview.
"There's some luck there too," I muttered, "She hasn't as much reason to hate Japan as the others. Most of the Yanks lost someone at Pearl, and everyone else remembers the surprise attacks at the beginning. Most of us didn't have a very pleasant experience in the DEI. You should remember that. You were there."
"How could I not, dess. You blew out one of my boilers." The brunette gripped.
"You were the lead ship then?" I asked.
"Mhmm." She nodded, "I was flag, Haruna was right behind me. I was dueling you, Haruna was dueling Repulse."
"That was quite a battle." I muttered as the memories rolled through my head, "You put up a damn good fight."
She perked up, "That reminds me, if what I've heard is correct, you should have easily outfought me, but your gunnery was atrocious in that engagement. Why?"
I crossed my arms and gave her a deadpan look, "Well, someone got bloody lucky, and shot off my FCS in the first few minutes of the battle."
"I hit your directors!?" My once opponent burst, "Bloody hell! No wonder I was able to keep up with you."
I snorted, "You say that, but you didn't score a single penetrating hit the entire engagement."
She blinked, "What? But… I recorded twenty-one hits on you, between Haruna and I..."
"Thirty-two in total, actually." I corrected, feeling more than a bit smug. I may not have had much of an ego, or self-confidence. But that wasn't to say I wasn't proud of my class and design.
She blinked, "How much armour do you have?"
For a second, I debated telling her. Exact ship details were classified, after all. But, call me naive, I trusted her, and I really wanted to see her reaction… Mostly the second one though. "Just short of fifteen inches."
She stared at me. "Huh. And I'm guessing more than four inches on the deck, dess?" I nodded. She grimaced, "Damn. And here I thought I could've won that if you hadn't gotten lucky and hit my engines. The intel said I'd done significant damage."
I smirked, "Not even close. Us KGVs are the most heavily armoured battleships in the world."
Now it was Kongo's turn to smirk, "Heh, not even close, dess."
I blinked in surprise, "What?"
"No, you're the second most heavily armoured class of battleships." She explained.
"The Yamatos…" I muttered.
She seemed to wrestle with herself before deciding to speak, leaning in. "You know what, between us, maybe I am willing to commit just a wee bit of treason, dess. Musashi can go shag herself. They've got a sixteen inch belt. Twenty-six inches on the turret faces."
I balked. "Twenty-six inches!?" I blinked, suddenly realizing something, "Actually… I think our fourteens can pen that at point blank. I think Howe reported knocking out one of the Yamatos' turrets at point blank range during the battle."
Kongo shrugged, "Could be, dess. Either way, they've got a hell of a lot of armour."
"You don't say." I replied with no small amount of sarcasm.
She chuckled, "Sorry, wanted to see the look on your face, dess. Anyway, I'll leave you to eat, I have to use the head."
"Ah, the joys of being mostly human." I snarked.
Kongo shuddered in disgust, "Eugh, don't remind me."
Later that evening I was sitting in my usual spot on Vampire's stern, watching the sun set. I was alone, by choice. I'd been feeling a bit… melancholy.
I was pretty sure why. Grief had hung like a heavy blanket over me ever since the battle. And the guilt. So much damn guilt. God how I missed Ennie's smiles, and Boise's snark. Why them? Why not me? Why why why!
Logically I understood it wasn't my fault. As the commanding officer I was of course responsible for what happened, but I honestly couldn't think of anything I could have done to save them. Not in the chaotic mess that damn battle was. There was nothing I could have done. But emotions rarely assent to logic.
It was such a clear evening, I mused, the sun casting an orange glow as it met the horizon. So very different from that night. God, I'd been having nightmares again. Dreams full of rain, lighting, and gunfire. Of Boise and Ennie screaming at me to save them. Just as Hood had, just as my lost crew had, and just as everyone I ever lost did.
I found myself shaking. So many dead. Time and time again I had sailed into battle. Time and time I came back, scarred but alive. Again and again, I cheated death. How many times had I gotten lucky and avoided my end? If Boise and Ennie's deaths made one thing clear to me, it was the age old maxim, 'even in the most successful war, you will lose comrades'. I was not invincible, and neither were my friends, my girls.
How many of us would still be alive, come the peace? Would I even survive? The thought terrified me.
But losing my girls, failing them, scared me far more. My mind went back to Ennie and Boise once more. I'd never see either of them ever again. Tears ran down my face. It hurt. It hurt so much. Especially Ennie. She'd been like a little sister to me. And then there was Electra and Express. How many sisters had they already lost.
Why did I have to have such an overblown sense of duty? Why hadn't I taken John's offer after I'd activated?
Maybe I'd've been spared all of this.
The sun finally set and I sat there quietly sobbing for my lost girls.
DECEMBER 1 1942
0941 HOURS
It was a wonderful feeling as we sailed into the familiar Sydney Harbour, several days later. It felt almost like returning home. In a way we were. The harbour was as busy as ever with the tugs ushering the merchant ships about the place. Vampire of course headed straight for HMAS Kuttabul.
We were soon alongside the quay and the ropes were tied. We were the first ones down the gangway, Kongo and Haruna in tow. Much to my surprise, Commodore Leach was there to meet us.
My eyes were wide as I saluted him. He beamed, "Welcome back Captain Windsor, Ladies."
I glanced down at his no-longer-missing left leg, and the cane in his hand. He must've gotten a prosthetic. Hidden under his uniform pants and shoes, I couldn't even tell. "It's good to be home, Sir."
He glanced over my shoulder, brow furrowing. "And these are your… Prisoners?"
I nodded, and gestured at the two. "Yes, Sir. Japanese battleships Kongo and Haruna."
Kongo, for her part, dipped her head respectfully, "A pleasure, Sir."
By the way my adoptive father's eyes widened, he hadn't been expecting the accent. By way of reply, he just grunted. "Lieutenant Commander Windsor." He then spoke.
Howe perked up, "Sir?"
"Escort these two, wherever they go." He ordered, "Speaking of, if you two could follow me. The rest of you are dismissed. Head to the baths, and do whatever you need to to get back into fighting shape. I will expect damage and repair assessments by this evening. I also want to see you in my office at 2000 sharp, Captain."
The most jarring part of fighting a war, is coming back to the civilian world, and finding everything is still chugging along, business as usual. It feels as if you've traveled from hell back to another world. That's how Sydney felt. I'm sure Kongo and Haruna must've felt even more culture shock. But they were here. Alive. Because of me. Of course, at the time, I didn't understand just how big of a deal their capture was. And what it could do to my reputation.
DECEMBER 1 1942
1000 HOURS
Our quarters on base were the same as I remembered. Only now I was so very grateful to whoever had the foresight to have them built adjacent to the repair bath.
What I hadn't expected was the strange mix of happiness and nostalgia that filled me as I entered the living space with the rest of my girls. I was home. Which of course made me wonder when exactly I'd started considering Sydney to be 'home.' Then again, it didn't really matter. It was a nice feeling, and I wasn't going to question it. But there was also the prang of grief, when my eyes landed on the doors with Boise and Encounter's names.
With a sigh, I opened the door to my own room. It was just as I'd left it in August. Most of my civvies were in my drawers, while several of my dresses hung in the closet. A picture of Kay, Howe and I smiling in New York hung above my bed, and another of just Howe and I on the wall to the right above my desk.
It was home.
My younger sibling's small pictured smile was infectious as I began to unload my belongings. My uniforms and khakis went into the dresser, a few new photos Electra had snapped went into my desk, and a few new souvenirs went into the back of my closet until I could mail them to those I'd collected them for.
It was good to be back.
Until my eyes landed on the black and white photo hanging on the wall above my dresser. All of my girl's happy faces stared back. At the right were the three Sims'; Andie giving a small smile for the camera, Hammann beaming with her hands on her sisters' shoulders, and Sims looking annoyed at her boisterousness. Then to their left was Perth, hair immaculate and stern as ever. Next, my own sister, giving her trademark demure little smile, while I stood beside her, a faint but happy smile on my face. Then were Electra and Express, both mischievous as ever, while Hou had her hands on Express' shoulders. Finally, on the left was Jup, looking every bit the little sweetheart she was.
But they weren't the one's who'd caught my attention. Standing in between myself and my sister was Ennie, hand on hip, with a small confident smile. She looked so hopeful. And with her hands on Hou and Jup's shoulders, was Boise. Her usual self confident smirk on her face.
My eyes fixated on Ennie. She'd never cook again, or drink with her sisters. Neither would she ever look to me for guidance again, or fear what was to come. We'd never get into silly water fights on the beach, or have our fairies play football. She'd been a little sister to me…
Was I crying? I wiped my eyes. Yes, I was crying.
For just a moment, I considered taking the photo down. Looking at the black and white faces of my two lost friends… It was almost too painful to bear.
But I couldn't. A large part of me balked at the thought. I had to keep it. They were my girls. My responsibility. My friends. I couldn't just hide away the only reminder I had of them.
I just hoped they'd be the only ones I had to mourn when this damn war was finally over…
2000 HOURS
It was the beginning of summer in Australia, and the days were long. The sun was only just setting as I reported to Commodore Leach's office at 2000 sharp, as ordered. His office had been moved from its former place on the second story of the headquarters building, down to the first. No doubt a begrudging concession to his new disability.
Not that anyone who didn't know could tell he'd lost an entire leg. John was standing at his bookcase, a book in hand, when I knocked. "Come on in, Captain."
I gave a small salute to my adoptive father, "Sir."
He didn't even bother to return it, waving me off. "We're in private Wales, you can drop the act."
I immediately relaxed, "It's good to see you… Father."
He shelved the book he had in his hands with a small chuckle, "Still odd to be called that."
I blinked, "I thought you already had three children?"
He nodded, "But they all call me 'Dad', not 'Father.' We're not exactly an upper class family, Wales."
"Ah." That made sense. "I can call you that, if you prefer?"
He shook his head, "You call me whatever you like, Wales."
I smiled and pulled him into a hug. "Dad it is."
He'd tensed when I hugged him, but he slowly relaxed and returned it. When we separated he spoke again. "You probably should drop it for now though."
Now I was confused again. "Why?"
"We don't want you getting in the habit and making a slip." He explained, "If this got out, we'd be separated. You know how the regulations are about serving with family. Even if it's unofficially adopted like this."
I frowned. "I understand." I didn't like it, I didn't say, but I understood.
With a smile, Dad turned around and made for his desk. I found myself watching his missing leg, trying to detect its artificiality as he walked. His walking motion was actually incredibly smooth, though not unnoticeably… off. But with the cane, if I hadn't known, I would have assumed he just had a leg injury, rather than a whole missing limb.
"I see you got a prosthetic."
He sat down gesturing for me to do the same. "I did." A chuckle, "You want to see don't you?"
I shrugged, "I must admit, I'm more than a bit curious."
He nodded, and began to roll up his pant leg. The prosthetic was a simple thing. At the top was a rubber device for his stump to fit in, while just below that was a metal joint to mimic the knee. Below that was a simple steel rod that connected to a wooden foot. Said foot disappeared into his uniform shoes. "It's nothing fancy." He explained. "It's a bit limiting. Climbing stairs or ladders is a bloody chore, but I can walk. And that's what matters."
"I'm just happy you seem to be doing so well." I replied, smiling. "You seemed so sure you were going to be discharged."
"I will be, after the war." He replied, face falling. "They won't keep a cripple on in peacetime service. Even at a desk job." He shook his head, "Don't mince words, Wales. That stupid decision to head out with you ended my career."
"John… Dad…"
He shook his head. "It's alright Wales. I've had time to accept it. At the end of the day, I'm luckier than most in my shoes. I've had a good career. I may not want it to end, but it's not the end of the world. I have enough savings and a good enough pension that I can retire." A smile, "This way, I can spend more time with darling Evelyn, like she's always wanted me to."
I smiled, "I suppose I'll have to get your darling wife's approval, if I'm going to be your adoptive daughter."
He snorted, "Oh don't worry about that. She'll love you, prim and proper as you are."
Then, he collected himself, face shifting from 'father' to 'superior officer' "Anyway, it's getting late. We can continue catching up in the mess over dinner. But before that, we need to get to the point of why I wanted a private conversation. Everything we're about to discuss does not leave this room, understood?"
I subconsciously straightened. "Aye aye, Sir."
"Good." His brow deepened, "Then I only have one question. Did you purposely activate Kongo and Haruna?"
I froze. "No?"
The Commodore gave me a thoroughly unimpressed look. "Wales. I know you better than almost anyone. We both know, you are a terrible liar. Honestly, I'm amazed Commander Hampton hasn't caught on."
I grimaced. "Sir?"
"Did you, Wales?" He pressed.
I wasn't fooling him. I flushed, ashamed I'd even tried. Nothing for it then. I sighed. "I did."
John's face met his hands, and a deep sigh escaped him. "Sometimes I despise that overgrown conscience of yours, Wales."
On that, I would stand my ground. "I couldn't just leave them to die. Not when I could save them."
He sighed again, hands dropping and looking me in the eye. "This isn't an argument of morals. Yes, saving them was the right thing to do. Militarily, that was a colossal mistake. Winning wars does not mean doing the morally right thing. Hell, it often means doing morally wrong things." He sighed again, and continued, "Like I said, this is not to leave this room. Do not tell anyone that you did it on purpose."
I blinked. "You're not going to report it?"
He stared at me, unblinking for at least ten seconds, completely deadpan. "What do you think would happen, if it became widely known you'd purposely activated two Japanese ship spirits?"
I blinked. "Uhhh, I'd be punished?"
He sighed again, "Yes, yes you would be. Publicly, you'd be commended. Privately, your career would be over. You never seem to understand that not everybody sees things the same way you do, Wales. You always get caught up in your damned righteousness. Here, view this as if we're Nimitz back in Pearl, and he gets a report of exactly what happened. What does he see? Well, from his perspective, you took a gamble. You gambled the lives of two Japanese combatants, against… Probably a dozen allied ships, hundreds of sailors, yourself, your task force, and the strategic advantage of SHIPs. And, from any normal perspective, you took that gamble on extremely long odds. The Japanese started this all with a deceitful surprise attack, and are commonly known to fake surrenders. So much so that most allied combat units have stopped accepting surrenders and from the reports, doing so has significantly reduced their casualties. The odds of a Japanese ship spirit actually surrendering, and not faking it so as to be activated? Astronomical."
We lapsed into silence for a moment, my mind churning. Okay. So I'd taken a risk, and gotten lucky. What was so bad about that?
John answered my unasked question when he continued. "What does that tell Nimitz? That you are a commander who is willing to risk tens of thousands of extra casualties over the course of this war to save two enemies. If you'd been wrong, and not exceedingly lucky, she would have activated all the Japanese ships present, come off her hull, killed you, likely sunk several more ships, and given the IJN access to ship spirits."
"But she didn't." I argued, standing up. Just the insinuation that I should have left her to die… It made my blood boil. "I was right about Kongo! I couldn't just leave her to die!"
John matched me standing, with a scathing glare, his own anger up, "You should have! You risked too much! If this gets out that you risked so much out of compassion for our enemy, you'll be busted down to Leftenant and never be given a chance to command ever again! Nobody will trust you not to sabotage the entire war to save a few Japanese! Don't you get it Wales?! I'll be sacked, you'll be demoted, and Nimitz will demand an American ship he can trust not to risk thousands of lives for no good military reason in command of 79! If I'm not in command, and a British ship is not in command, the Admiralty will pull out of the agreement that formed 79, and we'll all be sent back to Europe in disgrace! And that's not even mentioning how much worse Admiral King's ridiculous Anglophobia will get!"
I stood there, vibrating with anger. How dare he suggest I should have let Kongo and Haruna die. That was… That was just… Evil! But at the same time… He was right. I always underestimated the hatred and racism towards the Japanese that fueled my own side. Their lives were completely worthless, as far as everyone around me was concerned. To risk so much, just to sate my conscience… That did make me look like a terrible, risk taking officer, didn't it?
God, this stupid fucking war…
I couldn't take it back. I'd never have been able to live with myself if I'd just left them. But I understood. It wasn't a good military decision.
I sighed, anger cooling, and let myself slump in the chair. "I hate you so much right now, Sir."
Dad's brow furrowed, his own anger at my ignorance cooling. "Why?"
"Because you're right. Logically, I should have left them to die." I met his eyes. "But I spoke to her for nearly half an hour. You've spoken to Kongo yourself. Is she not trustworthy?"
His eyes stared into mine. The moment seemed to stretch on, forever. Then, finally, he sighed, dodging the question, "Just keep it secret Wales. As far as anyone knows, you were wounded, in pain, and slightly delirious. You made an understandable mistake, and are being punished appropriately. Just never, ever, do something like this again, understood?"
I grit my teeth. "Aye, Sir."
"Good."
…
I blinked, "Wait, I'm being punished?"
DECEMBER 7 1942
2030 HOURS
If there was one thing I hated about the military, it was the paperwork. Commodore Leach knew this. So my punishment? I was to essentially act as his secretary, doing any and all paperwork I could do without his help. In short, that meant visiting his office every morning to pick up the paperwork, so that I could do it on the poolside while I sat in the baths.
Dear lord, it was so tedious and boring! And that wasn't even mentioning I had to do it all with just my thumb and pointer finger. I was still missing the other three fingers on my dominant left hand after all.
Luckily, by Sunday, I'd managed to get through most of the backlog, to the point that I was able to book a few hours of shore leave to spend in town with the girls. Even just a few days in the bath had been enough time for what little damage my screws and rudders had taken to be repaired, so I was steady on my legs again. My trashed boilers however were going to need an operation from Vestal to fix. She was supposed to arrive next week. Until then, I was just having to get used to a shortness of breath, and having no stamina worth mentioning. Anything beyond a relaxed walk had me huffing and puffing, my lungs feeling as if they were on fire.
But I was alive. Despite everything the IJN had thrown at me over the last year.
And wasn't that a thought? It'd almost been a full year since Repulse and I had activated, and everything had gone insane. A year. God, being an invisible spirit felt so far away, like some sort of fever dream in a different lifetime. I'd just done so much in the last twelve months. So many battles.
It was why I was actually looking forward to my long repair time. I needed a break. It did mean I was going to be sitting out most of '43. But honestly? That was fine by me. My girls needed the break just as much as I did.
It was after eight when Howe, Hou, Perth and I left the base for a night on the town. We all wore summer dresses. Even as the Aussie summer heat bled off after dark, it was still bloody warm.
Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the tropics?
I hadn't bothered with hiding my ruby eyes this time. My right hand was still missing, the stump swathed in bandages, not to mention the other bandages badly hidden under my dress. I was going to get plenty of strange looks tonight, eyes hidden or not.
That proved to be true as we headed into town, though less than I'd expected thanks to the dimmed brownout the city was under. Apparently the Japs had tried to infiltrate the harbour with midget subs while we were in the Solomons, and lobbed a few shells from their fleet subs. Apparently the civvies had been quite spooked by the nuisance raids, hence the extra precautions.
Like a few subs were any real threat to a full metropolitan area, defended by ASW nets and coast guns. Typical skittish Civvies.
That thought brought me up short. Was I… Looking down on the civilians? When had that happened?
My answer came as I glanced around at the other pedestrians on the sidewalk. They looked so… Calm… Relaxed. They didn't know the first thing about war. About what we went through.
There was a sudden bang. Before I'd even registered it, I reacted, spinning around to face the source, as did my sister, Hou, and Perth. I was a split second from summoning my rigging when I realised it'd just been a car backfiring.
My racing heart calmed, adrenaline slowly receding. Hou's eyes met mine. "Bloody…
"Yeah." My second muttered, "Fuck, that nearly gave me a heart attack."
"To be honest, I almost reflexively summoned my rigging." My sister spoke, meekly.
"I think we all were about to, mate." Perth replied. "Let's get going. The place is just past the next corner."
Before we returned from Guadalcanal, I hadn't known women weren't allowed in Aussie bars. After all, nobody had stopped us before. But, as it turned out, during our absence, the law had been changed. Something to do with Merchant Spirits nearly rioting over it.
Either way, we'd soon occupied a booth in the pub Perth had found. Once we'd ordered our food and drinks, Perth started. "So. Almost a year we've been at this now."
Hou blinked, "It is?" She visibly spaced out for a second as she checked a calendar internally, "Huh, I guess it is."
Did you have something planned, Perth?" Howe asked.
The cruiser shook her head with a small smile, "No, just trying to make conversation. You?"
I spoke before my sister did. "I was planning a small vigil for the 10th."
"The day you sank…" Hou muttered.
I nodded, "Yes. For my lost crew who went down with my hull that day."
My second shook her head, "Yellow bastards got us all good those first few days." A predatory grin snuck across her face. "Biggest mistake they ever made. Might be a few more years, but boy, do I look forward to sailing into Tokyo Bay."
The server arrived just then, placing down our drinks before scurrying off to deliver several more still on his tray. Perth grinned, raising her glass of beer. "I'll drink to that."
I raised my G&T, "As will I." The gin burned nicely as I took a long sip.
We ended up drinking long into the evening, slowly getting more and more drunk. But it was a good drunk. A happy drunk. Just four friends enjoying the evening.
God, how I needed it after the last few months. Luckily, I had plenty more R&R ahead of me.
Aww, that picture is cute, but the theme is sad... War never changes, it is violent, harsh and sad...
... Yeah Wales, didn't think of that aspect of things when you activated Kongo did you? This also a psychological effect of war, the "Us versus Them" and regardless of Wales' own views, she forgot about the bigger picture when she did go through with activating them. Not thinking how the humans would react to her actions. I'd say paperwork was a good punishment for her in this regard.
This brings up a good point, ship girls can forget that they are not simply humans and do spur of the moment actions that are frowned upon in wartime because of being associated with "the enemy". When one sees someone floundering, they instinctively want to drop everything to go help them, and I think Wales could've been in trouble for the "going to help" part... But I dont blame her for what she did at all....
I'm reminded of two viewpoints regarding warfare, that of the Veteran, and of the Unblooded, as spoken of by one of the most famed, and infamous figures of the United States' own bloody internal conflict.
"I confess without shame that I am tired & sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. Even success, the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies […] It is only those who have not heard a shot, nor heard the shrills & groans of the wounded & lacerated (friend or foe) that cry aloud for more blood & more vengeance, more desolation & so help me God as a man & soldier I will not strike a foe who stands unarmed & submissive before me but will say 'Go sin no more.'"
We'd not had the opportunity to celebrate Christmas last year. Things had been far too hectic in the weeks after the Japanese surprise attacks. But this year, we were stuck in Sydney for repairs. Home. We had all the time we needed to put up a tree and exchange presents. It was just a shame Ennie and Boise's losses were still far too recent for any of us to have moved on.
DECEMBER 10 1942
2043 HOURS
It was on a clear calm evening that Dad and I set up a few candles on the beach of Garden Island, to hold a vigil for my lost crew. It'd been a year since I'd been torpedoed and sunk. A full year. God, Singapore felt like a lifetime ago. So much had happened. So many sorties. So much time spent figuring out our limits.
So many battles.
I killed a lot of Japanese soldiers, sailors and ships over the last year. It weighed on my conscience, yes, but it was also frightening how much it didn't. I was getting used to the fighting. The killing. Numb. And that scared me.
I stared at the candles, their little flames flickering as they burned. A good metaphor for life. Bright, yet fleeting. Snuffed out so terrifyingly easily.
Just like Hood. Just like my crew. Like all the sailors we'd lost in the DEI, at Coral Sea and off Guadalcanal. Just like Ennie and Boise.
I was broken from my lamentations when I felt Dad's hand on my shoulder. "Wales? You alright?"
I blinked, and turned to him. "Yes? Why?"
"You're crying."
I brought my hand up to touch under my eyes. It came away wet. "Oh."
I'd hugged John Leach many times, since I'd become visible. Almost every time I was the one who'd started it. He wasn't a hugger. But it was a pleasant surprise to see I was rubbing off on him when he put an arm over my shoulder, and pulled me in.
Where would I have been without Dad? Despite the close friendships I had with all of my girls, I was still their superior. I couldn't be too vulnerable with them, barring my dear little sister. Between her, and John, they were the only two I could truly be vulnerable around.
And so, I let it all out. All the grief and pain from three months of non-stop fighting. Of losing two of my friends. Failing them. Dad didn't say anything, just holding me while I cried. My silent assurance that everything would be alright. God, knowing I'd never see either of them ever again hurt so much.
Why me? Why had I been the one to reincarnate as Prince of Wales? I was nobody special. And yet here I was. Why couldn't it have been someone else? Someone better suited to fight and lead. Someone better suited to deal with this war. This hell.
I was just a nobody, well out of her depth. All this fear, anger and grief. It was overwhelming.
And so I cried on Dad's shoulder. In pain, in grief, and for Boise and Ennie.
It really was amazing how much a good cry helped. Magic, though, it was not. I was still borderline depressed as I watched the candles flicker.
Dad had gone to get some food and use the bathroom. Leaving me alone in my vigil.
Alone with my thoughts.
This war… I hated it, with all my being. All this suffering, death and destruction. And it was all so pointless. All this because some evil idiots had hijacked their nations. I never hated the average German or Japanese soldier. I couldn't. They were people, just like me, doing their duty to their country. Rather, I pitied them. Deceived and used by those who'd seized power. Their lives a simple currency to be spent by men who didn't care about them in the slightest.
And that was what I hated the most. All those lives spent for pointless unachievable goals. I knew how the war ends. Not in a million years were the Axis powers going to win.
It was now clear to me that they, and especially the Imperial Japanese, were simply going to kill as many people as possible before they were finally defeated.
I hated it for so many reasons. How evil it was, how delusional. But what I hated most, was that knowing everything I did, my conscience would never let me shirk my duty. I wanted nothing more than to outright call it quits. Go back home to Liverpool, and live a nice quiet civilian life. Away from this horrible horrible war. But I knew I'd hate myself for the rest of my life, for having left my friends to fight on without me. Knowing without me, there'd be a few hundred more dead Allied soldiers or sailors.
My conscience was a twat.
The soft sound of footsteps on the beach broke me from my thoughts, and I turned to see Electra approaching me through the dark, her face illuminated by the candle cradled in her hands. ""Ey Wales. Go room for one more candle?"
I nodded and gestured at the collection of small flames. "By all means."
The brunette quietly approached, crouching to place her candle with the rest. Then, she stepped back, and sat down beside me. I put an arm over her shoulder, and pulled the destroyer into a hug. "I'm sorry, 'Lectra."
"You and everyone else." She muttered, before leaning into the hug. "But thanks. It's 'ard to believe she's gone."
I glanced down at her. Her face was sad, but she wasn't crying. She just seemed… Numb. "You okay?" I asked.
She took a deep breath and sighed, "Getting there. She's not the first sister I've lost." She sighed again, and let her eyes raise to the stars twinkling above us. "I just wish I knew why." She muttered. "Why Ennie? She was the best of us. Calm, compassionate, caring. She was the best of all my sisters. Why 'er? Why not me? I know I'm a sinner. I drink, smoke, swear. I don't pray nearly enough. So why 'er? Why not me?"
I sighed, "You're asking the wrong person." I replied. "I'm not exactly a believer any more. To me, it's just rotten luck."
We sat in silence for a few minutes before Electra finally spoke again. "I'm so fucking scared Wales." I glanced over to see tears in her eyes now.
"Of death?" I asked.
She shook her head. "No. I know I'm prolly gonna die fighting this war."
"Don't say that, Electra!" I snapped. "It's my duty to get you all home in one piece. I may have failed Ennie and Boise, but I will not fail any more of you!"
Despite her wet eyes, the destroyer gave me a skeptical look. "Come on, Wales. You said it yourself. That was bad luck. I can't see anything you coulda done different."
"I know," I muttered, a few tears pricking my eyes, "But the guilt is there, all the same." I sighed, wiping my eyes. "Then what are you scared of Electra?"
"You said the War ends in '45?" She asked. I nodded.
She sniffed and continued, "I… I have eight sisters, Wales. With Ennie gone… I only have two sisters left. Exmouth, Echo, Eclipse, Escort, Esk, and Ennie… They're all gone." She wiped her eyes. "I'm scared that… Fuck, at this rate by the end of the war there won't be any of us left!"
My heart clenched. The E's had lost that many? That was horrible. I hugged Electra tighter. "I'm so sorry, Electra. You don't deserve this. Any of this."
"Why is it never me!" She sobbed into my shoulder, finally breaking. "It's always my sisters! Why is it never me!"
I just held the sobbing destroyer, the same way Dad had held me, just shortly before, and helped the poor destroyer let everything out.
DECEMBER 18 1942
1835 HOURS
It'd been almost a month since we'd returned from Guadalcanal. A quiet month we'd sorely needed, after everything that had happened. It'd taken everyone a different amount of time to come to terms and process everything. Guadalcanal had been hell, for all of us.
But Jup and Sims had shown a return to their sunnier dispositions the week before Christmas, and I'd returned from my daily session in the baths to find a Christmas tree set up in the corner of out living room, all six of the destroyers happily decorating it with ornaments they'd bought in town.
"Where did you get that, Girls?" I asked as I entered the front door.
"'Ey Wales." Electra smiled. She'd been much more her old self since our vigil, though there was a lingering sadness about the destroyer now. "Jup bought it."
The J-class beamed, "Sims and I were doing a grocery run, and they were selling trees! I always wanted to have a Christmas tree, but we never had any room aboard…"
I chuckled, "Guess I'll have to do some Christmas shopping then. Can't have a tree without presents to put under it."
That got a cheer from all of the destroyers.
DECEMBER 19 1942
1250 HOURS
The next day, Hou and I set off into town, just after lunch. She'd admitted to needing to do some present shopping too.
We were just outside the gate, walking towards downtown, when Hou spoke up. "So, what are you going to get everyone?"
"I don't know." I replied. "Just going to browse and see what we find. You?"
She smiled, "Well, I'm going to get Sims a nice sewing machine. She's always complaining about the Navy issue one she has aboard. I'll get Perth a new surfboard, I think. Andie's been listening to a lot of your 'Rock and Roll'. She wants an electric guitar. I thought it was just a future thing, but I looked into it and there are a few early models around, so I'm going to get her one."
"Well, I can tell you now, neither the surfboard, nor the guitar are going to be cheap." I replied.
She winced, "I know. But it's not like I have much else to spend my pay on."
"Tell you what," I began, "Why don't we split it? Half and half. They can be from both of us."
The blond's golden eyes met mine. She considered it for a second, then grinned. "Sure. That works."
"Great!"
The two of us spent the next three hours going through various stores, browsing, and buying whenever we spotted something. Howe still didn't have much of a wardrobe, so I bought her a few summer dresses, and even ordered a beautiful red formal dress I believed she'd appreciate. We weren't twins, like Kay and I were, but our proportions were still virtually identical, so I'd ended up giving the dressmaker my own measurements.
For Jup, I purchased a canvas and paints. She'd muttered about moving from sketching to trying painting a few times. For Electra, I bought a very nice, if very expensive camera. She'd started taking pictures with a camera she'd had aboard at Guadalcanal, as something of a hobby. And she hadn't stopped since. To Express… Well, I was going to regret this. I bought our resident petrolhead a small teen sized motorbike. What could possibly go wrong?
As for the Yanks. I really couldn't think of anything to get Hou, so when we stumbled upon a quiet artist fellow who would custom paint small trinkets for a fee. My mind went back to the novelty mugs from uptime. So, while Hou was somewhere else, I had him paint a coffee mug. On the front was 'World's best 2IC', and on the back, 'Warning, do not speak or engage with before morning coffee'.
When I met up with Hou again, I was grinning like an idiot. "What's so funny?" She asked.
"Nothing. You'll see."
Luckily, she took the hint, and we moved on. I still needed presents for Dad and the Sims'.
That's when my eyes landed on a gorgeous painting of Liverpool for sale. I knew that river and shoreline anywhere. And so would John. He'd grown up in the port town, just as I. It would certainly look good on the wall of his office.
I bought it. I hadn't even thought about how difficult it would be to get back. Until I remembered I could just store it aboard myself. Like everything else…
Anyway. For the Sims girls, I soon found adequate presents. For Sims herself, I bought her a nice trendy dress. Pink, as she preferred. I was obviously getting Andie an electric guitar with Hou. And Hammann… I had no idea what to get the little hellion. She didn't have much in the way of hobbies, other than causing trouble and pranks.
Perhaps that's what she needed. A hobby to put her energy into. My eyes landed on a model shop. Why not?
The owner smiled as Hou and I entered, exchanging greetings before leaving us to browse. The little shop was well stocked, with all sorts of model kits and supplies. I'd never really seen the appeal. But now, as a ship? I could see it.
Of course, as it was wartime, military model kits dominated the shelves. There were Matilda and Crusader tanks, Spitfires and Hurricanes. But, tucked off to one side, were ships. And the very first two kits, front and center to show off the whole section, made me pause.
Hou spotted it too, and froze. "Oh. Huh."
It was us. A kit of HMS Prince of Wales and USS Houston. I flushed. I wasn't that famous was I?
The owner came walking back past us, a few more kits to stock the shelves in hand. "Ah, the warships caught your eye, huh?" He drawled in his Aussie accent. "Those two are the most famous ships afloat right now. They're all over the newspapers, beatin' the tar out of the Japs."
I bit my lip, fighting down my embarrassment. "I see."
His brown eyes met my red, and he paused. "Oooohhhh. I get it. You're some of the ship women, right?"
"Something like that." Hou replied.
He gestured at the model kits, "You met them boats?"
"Ships." We both corrected at the same time, sharing an amused glance.
Hou then smiled back at him. "Maybe once or twice."
"Well, if you see 'em again, give 'em my regards." He replied, "Lotta people around here pullin' for 'em."
"We will." I nodded. "I don't suppose you have any Sims-class kits?"
He smiled, "Right over here."
DECEMBER 25 1942
1827 HOURS
It'd been quite a surprise to realise every class of ship in 79 was famous enough now to have a model kit made of them. A quarter of the ship models in the store had been, well, us. I'd ended up getting everyone a model of themselves. Which was a bit weird. Like having a statue of yourself. But I've never met a ship who wasn't proud of her class and design.
We'd opened the presents earlier in the morning. I'd received a few trendy dresses from Sims, and a harmonica from Andie ('To play music with her'). Howe had gotten me a few new books, Perth a bodyboard so I could ride the waves with her, and Hou, jokingly, had gotten me a tiara.
As for the destroyers, Jup had (somehow?) bought me three giant bottles of both gin and tonic. While Electra and Express and Hammann had gotten me… well, a car (A CAR!). That had been very unexpected. And also made me realise I didn't have my driver's license.
Then, Jup and Sims had set to work making us a christmas dinner, with some help from Howe. The rest of us had set up several tables to make one long one for everyone.
Come the evening, the whole living area smelled like Turkey. Dad and Lieutenant Commander Anderson, or just Tom, asked us to call him just for this one evening, joined us.
We all ended up chatting away in the living room. I was sitting beside Howe on the couch, both of us with a glass of white wine in hand. My sister was a bit tipsy, and therefore far more talkative than usual. "I'm just saying," She spoke, "SoDak could stand to be a bit more polite."
"I'm not arguing that," Hou replied. "I'm just saying, she's not that bad. She just has an ego you have to respect. Otherwise she gets mad."
My sister scoffed, "I've seen more combat than her, and accomplished far more. If her ego's bigger than mine, she's just a twat."
I blinked at the uncharacteristic swearing. Oh yeah. Howe was plastered.
Tom spoke up, "I only met SoDak the once in Fiji, but she reminded me of a guy I went to Annapolis with. Ego the size of a state. We had this big group paper in the second year. Groups of four. He was in mine. What was his name again… Agh, I remember we all called him Dipstick behind his back…" He paused, then lit up as he remembered, "Deptuck! That was his name! Anyway, we all decide on the subject and the argument we were making. Submarine doctrine stuff. We wrote a good half of the paper and he didn't like it. We had this big argument. All three of us tried to talk him down. But his ego wouldn't let him. So, the week before it was due, he just dropped out of contact. Turned out, he'd gone and done the whole thing on his own, separately, because he wanted to do it his way. He was always like that. All about him him him. He ended up dropping out a couple months later."
Dad chuckled from the seat he'd occupied. "Ego is an incredible thing. I've met a fair few officers over the years who've been a bit too egotistical. Thing is, they're much more common in peacetime, where they can't do too much damage. But none of them ever get above Lieutenant Commander. This is the navy. Nobody can accomplish anything alone." He gestured at Howe and I, "Not even you ladies, for all your power. War is a team game. One of the Leftanants I knew between in the 30s, absolute narcissist, got court martialed for negligence. Idiot got his minesweeper sunk chasing glory. Teamwork is everything in this war."
"Well that's why this motley Task Force exists, isn't it?" Electra shrugged.
I was about to add my own two cents when Jup shouted from the kitchen. "Dinner's ready! Sit in everyone!"
It took a few minutes for everyone to get seated and served. I ended up at the head of the table, while Dad sat at the other end, as we were the two highest ranks. It may not have been an actual mess dinner, but there were some bits of etiquette we followed nonetheless. Jup and Sims loaded the table with turkey, ham, steamed vegetables and mashed potatoes. A solid meal, despite wartime rationing.
It was only after everyone was served and seated that everyone started glancing between John and I. Only when he raised his glass and inclined his head at me, did I realise what everyone was waiting for. So, I took my wine glass in hand, and stood.
I swallowed, and began to speak. "It's been a long year ladies and gentlemen. A long and difficult year. We've done a lot, in a very short time. I make it no secret that I hate fighting this war, but at the same time, without it, I likely wouldn't have met many of you. But here we are. I do not believe there is another group who has done more to help turn the tide against the Japanese than us. You've all fought like hell. Stood unbowed when it seemed the whole of the IJN wanted us dead and sunk. This is a deadly business we are in. We all know the risks. And some of us will make the ultimate sacrifice before this is over, just as Boise and Ennie did. But I swear, I will do everything in my power to bring you all home, again and again until victory means I no longer have to." I raised my glass, "So, a toast. To Boise. To Ennie. And to you."
"To Boise and Ennie!"
AN: Merry Christmas everyone! It's funny huh? Last Christmas I banged out three chapters set in New York set in the summer. Took me a year IRL to get through six months in the story. But hey, Lined up nicely for a Christmas Special! I wanted this chapter be very lighthearted and fun, but I realised that just wasn't going to work. Ennie and Boise's losses are still raw and most of the characters haven't worked through it yet. So any attempt to make the chapter 100% lighthearted just didn't work.
Anyway! Hope you guys enjoyed, I'm gonna go enjoy Christmas. And next time I can 100% guarantee we get to see the fun moment that is Kongo and Iku interacting, promise XD
Look this up if you get time: "A Death in the Family" by Type O Negative. It might not be a cup of tea for everyone, but it fits the first part of the chapter mood pretty well, and its easy to sing along to as well, for the most part anyway.
On the other hand, you have good family dinner on the latter part, which is always a good pick me up from somber to thankful that PoW does have friends to rely on still.
And don't worry about how long some updates are cranked out. Muses have their own schedule after all.
As New Years, 1943 approached, we finally began to put Guadalcanal and our lost friends behind us. Christmas, and a small private ceremony we held the day after, gave us some much needed closure (The girls and I have all agreed to keep the details of it private as well, and so I shall not be writing anything more about it here). We'd been through hell, but life, and the war went on. Luckily we had plenty of time to rest. Or at least, the others did. I had to deal with Vestal.
DECEMBER 27 1942
0840 HOURS
I found Vestal cleaning her new machine shop a couple days after Christmas. It was in one of the warehouses beside the quay, now loaded with machine tools and all the necessary equipment for her repair work. She'd arrived on the twenty-third, apparently, but had been busy for a few days with other orders.
"Hello Vestal."
The gray haired repair ship glanced up at my voice. Then she smirked, "Princess! How's my favorite posh shell magnet? You look like shit!"
I gave her a blank look, "You don't say."
She hung up the oily rag she'd been using to clean one of her machines. "Maybe you should try not getting shot? Just an idea."
"Whatever you say you old bint."
She snorted, producing a fag and a lighter. She quickly lit it, turning to business. "Rigging out, let's have a look."
I did so, feeling the familiar weight settling on my back, my whites replaced by my red uniform.
Vestal immediately winced, "Well shit. Didn't think it was nearly that bad." She stuck her fag between her lips and came around to crouch on my right, examining my Y turret and damaged rigging. "How many hits did you report again?"
"Unknown. At least ten of battleship caliber. Two torpedoes. So many smaller hits I lost count." I explained.
"Fuck," She muttered, running her hand gently over the metal. "I've been doing repair work for thirty years, and I've never seen this much splinter damage."
I glanced down at the dents and torn paint she was looking at. "Oh, that's not splinter damage." I said, "That's AA gun fire."
"Shit. Knife fight in a phone booth huh?" Vestal muttered, before standing and moving onto my turrets, "Well, at least the bath can handle all that. What do I need to have a look at?"
"A and Y turrets, and boilers one through six." I spoke.
"Mmmm." She hummed, sticking a couple fingers through the massive shell hole on the face of my A turret. "Yeah, looks fucked. Mind if I put a few fairies aboard to have a look inside."
"You're the doctor." I replied, and I soon had nearly a dozen of Vestal's fairies climbing aboard.
We spent a good while in silence while the fairies made their examinations, and the old collier-turned-repair-ship checked over my rigging.
Finally the fairies reappeared, and climbed back aboard Vestal. She pursed her lips. "Good news, or bad news first?" She asked
"Start with the good." I replied.
"Sure," She gestured at my Y turret on the right side of my rigging, all business. "Good news is, your Y turret is fixable. So are two of the guns. The baths can handle that. I'm only going to have to replace the number two and three guns. The barrels and breaches are completely fucked. That said, I don't exactly have any BL mark whatever-the-fuck fourteens on hand, so we'll have to wait for the new guns to get shipped all the way from Britain."
She glanced at my A turret, "As for the bad news, your A turret is completely unsalvageable. All four guns are fucked, the turret housing has four massive holes from various hits, your shell hoists are also fucked, and your flash protection in almost completely compromised. I'm gonna need to remove the entire turret and slot in a new replacement. I don't suppose the RN has a spare quad turret lying around?"
I winced, "Not that I know of." In fact, I was pretty sure they'd only built enough turrets for the five of us KGVs and not one more. They may have had to manufacture a new turret for me from scratch.
Vestal wasn't done though, "On top of that, as you mentioned in your reports, I have to replace your boilers and machinery in rooms one through three, and five through seven. Luckily, you mentioned that in your initial damage report, so your Admiralty has already had the necessary boilers and machinery shipped." She gestured to a row of six huge boilers stored against the far wall, along with their accompanying turbines and machinery. They were familiar. I'd wandered my engine spaces many times while I'd still been a steel hull. But seeing them outside of those cramped rooms in a large open warehouse, I was suddenly very aware of just how bloody massive my engines were. The boilers themselves were at least four times my height.
"Finally," Vestal continued, ignoring my staring, "I've also already got everything I need to replace your directors, and secondaries. Good thing the five-inch mounts are mass produced. And, I even brought you a new toy."
I blinked, "A what?"
She grinned, but didn't reply, instead gesturing for me to dismiss my rigging. I did so, and followed her over to something hidden under a tarp. It was about ten feet tall.
"What is it?" I asked.
Vestal smirked, and with a flourish, removed the tarp. "Princess, may I introduce you to the Mark 38 Director. The first director to feature a dedicated and integrated fire control radar. Much more precise and accurate than using a search radar for gun direction. They're going to be fitted to all the USN BBs eventually. Be a bit of work to jury rig it so it'll work with the fire control table of yours, but I'm pretty sure I can manage it."
I blew out a low whistle. "That would've been nice to have at Iron Bottom…" I turned back to Vestal. "So what's the plan then?"
She turned back to me, "Well, we'll start out by removing everything thats fucked. Your turrets, your busted guns, the boilers. Then I'll do what I can, so I'll start with your boilers, your secondaries, the new directors. We'll probably have to wait a few months for the turret and guns to arrive, so we'll do that when they get here."
"Alright. When do we start?"
I swear, the smile Vestal gave me was worthy of a mad scientist, "Right now."
JANUARY 1 1943
1340 HOURS
We didn't do anything particular for new years, beyond popping a bottle of champagne. I didn't even stay up until midnight, tired as I was from my recent surgeries. It turned out a good night's sleep was what I needed, as I woke up on New Year's Day refreshed and feeling better than I had since I'd once more been shot to bits.
Vestal had completed her part of the boiler installations on the twenty-ninth, and while I still had to spend a solid month in the baths for the boiler 'refit' to be completed, I was now able to breathe easy again. In fact, I'd also recovered most of my strength. And that wasn't even mentioning how much better the rest of my body felt, despite only being a month into my repairs. I could walk without hobbling, and most of my fingers were back. Thank god the baths tended to fix up one's human form relatively quickly, irrespective of damage to the ship side.
I would never take having a whole and healthy body for granted ever again.
I'd spent the morning in the baths, as usual, before heading to the mess for lunch. Once I'd eaten, Howe and I made our way to one of the on-base housing units. The front door had a pair of armed sailors guarding it, and all the windows had bars installed.
Not that a pair of rifles, some brick and steel bars would actually hold a battleship spirit, but it was all they had.
The two guards let us in without a word. We found Kongo and Haruna both in the living room clad in some of my extra summer dresses, reading. I doubted they had much else to entertain themselves. Both of the Japanese girls glanced up at our entrance.
Kongo smiled, "Wales, Howe. You're both looking well, dess."
"Repairs are a wonderful thing." I replied. "Shall we go?"
"Let's." The brunette replied, placing a bookmark in her book before standing to stretch. "I must thank you again for convincing your brass to allow us out now and again. I think we'd both go mad cooped up in here for weeks."
"It's no problem. I think the Commodore and the others realise you are only here of your own volition. Not like any of us could stop you if you tried to make a break for it." I replied, as the four of us made for the front door.
"True. I could have done without the 'refit' though." She grimaced.
I blinked. Refit? I resolved to ask in a moment, instead turning to Howe, who I could tell was itching to go. "Go ahead."
My little sister grinned, grabbing Haruna and all but dragging her off. Ever since she'd discovered her love of baking she'd been wanting to find a friend she could bake with. Jup and Sims were usually busy, and Ennie was… well, gone. But as it turned out, Haruna had also taken a liking to creating sweets.
Kongo and I chuckled as the two hurried off, bound for our quarters and small kitchen. I'd convinced Dad to allow Howe and I to allow the two 'prisoners' out in our care twice a week, within the confines of the base, of course. I'd pointed out it would keep them more content and less likely to cause trouble.
I turned back to Kongo, "Where to?"
"Garden Island?" She proposed.
"Sure." I replied.
The two of us set off at a casual walk, Kongo seemingly enjoying the opportunity to stretch her legs, while I simply enjoyed being able to walk without suffering any pain.
"So, you mentioned a refit?" I began.
Kongo quirked her head to the side. "They didn't tell you, dess?"
"No."
"They had that repair ship, what was her name…" She spoke, rubbing her mouth as she tried to remember.
"Vestal."
She nodded, "Yes, Vestal!" Her face darkened into a grimace, "They had her give Haruna and I a refit, dess. She removed our breech blocks and welded shut the bolts on all of our weapons."
My eyes widened. "They WHAT!?" That was horrific! Had Father ordered it? Or the base commander? They couldn't have known, I rationalised. Otherwise it would never have been ordered. After all, to us ships that was the equivalent of mutilation. It was like… cutting a prisoner's hands off so he couldn't fight back.
I was fuming. "I will have words with the Commodore."
Kongo shook her head, "What's done is done. Vestal was at least kind enough to knock us out and apologise profusely for her orders, dess. Besides, at least they have a guarantee we can't shoot up the city anymore."
"Still." I grimaced, "That's basically a war crime."
"I suppose it is." She agreed, seeming a bit distant and distracted.
I glanced over to see her gazing out at the harbour entrance, eyes tracking a particular boat, a confused look on her face. We'd been making our way along the quay towards Garden Island, the sea on one side and large warehouses on the other. This particular stretch was virtually empty at the moment, as the only naval vessel docked right now was Vampire, and she was docked on the other side of the base. Out in the harbour itself I spotted Jup and Sims heading out. They'd gotten my approval for some ASW exercises. There were also a dozen merchant ships forming up just inside the anti-submarine nets for some convoy or other.
There was another boat though. What Kongo had spotted was a submarine that had just entered the harbour and began to make her way to the base. Nothing too out of the ordinary, even if most of the subs operating in the region were based in Brisbane to the North. But then again, most Allied subs didn't have a big old hangar mounted to their sail.
"Wales, why is a… What would it be in English… a Type-B Submarine sailing into Sydney harbour unopposed?"
I smiled, noting the few dock crew that had begun to appear nearby. "You'll see." Iku and Kongo in the same place. Now this was going to be interesting.
The two of us watched as the steel gray submarine approached. A small tug met her near the dock, and with the small boat's help, she came alongside the quay. Ropes were thrown, and the dock crew made sure to secure her.
Iku herself was standing atop her sail, alongside an officer I could make out as Lieutenant Commander Salinsky, and a few lookouts. It took a few moments for the gangway to be lowered to her deck, but soon, men had begun to disembark, while a few trucks arrived, loaded with stores. It always amazed me how a dock that had been completely deserted a mere half an hour before could so suddenly be filled with men and material moving to and fro.
Of course, the purple haired spirit noticed us soon enough, and came walking over. I noted she was wearing her own set of officer's whites with Sub-Lieutenant's rank on her shoulders, and her hair was in a ponytail. "Captain." She saluted.
I returned it. "Sub-Leftenant. I see they gave you a commission."
"They trusted me enough, yea." She spoke, not even a hit of her former Japanese accent remained. She sounded like a native Aussie now, same as Perth. She glanced over at my charge, "Who's thi-…" She paused, eyes widening, "Kongo!?"
Kongo seemed just as surprised. She began snapping her fingers, "You're one of the I-boats… Uhhhhm." She lit up, "I-19. Iku, right?"
Iku snorted, "Wow, you actually remembered my name. Most of the surface ships never do." She darkened, "Not that most of them bother to even talk to us 'dishonorable submarines.'"
"You know I don't agree with Nagato and the others." Kongo pointed out.
"Yea." Iku muttered, "That's prolly why you're here, innit?"
"Something like that," Kongo replied.
"Anyway, it's HMAS Intruder, now, though I still like to go by Iku." The submarine reintroduced herself.
"You pick that yourself?" I asked.
The submarine opened her mouth to respond, before she cut herself off, eyes widening in panic. Then she was gone, having teleported away. I blinked, before sharing a confused look with Kongo. Odd. What had happened.
I only had about five seconds to wonder before the sub spirit was back, eyes wide, and a canvas satchel in her hands. She held it out, "Take i-!" She tried to say, before a second figure appeared out of thin air and tackled her.
Next thing I knew, the two were wrestling on the ground, the newcomer trying to wrestle the satchel out of Iku's hold. I couldn't get a good look at the new spirit, as the two wrestled and fought on the ground, beyond that she had black hair and was wearing some sort of swimsuit.
I stood still in shock. Who was she, and why was she attacking Iku? And what was in the bag.
I still didn't know when, after a few moments, Iku slammed her elbow into the other girl's face, freeing her arms. "Catch!" She yelled, and tossed the satchel to me.
I reacted just barely quickly enough to catch the flying bag. The first thing I noticed was that it was heavy. The second was that the black haired spirit had shoved herself clear of Iku, and then teleported away. And third, that she'd reappeared directly to my left, and in her hand was a pistol aimed straight at my face.
I barely managed to reflexively summon my rigging before she shot me. It wasn't strictly necessary. It'd take a .50 caliber round to actually hurt me, even with my rigging off. But even a pistol round would sting like hell and leave a nasty welt. With my rigging, I barely felt the bullet strike my temple. Nor the second or the third as they bounced off my face.
But I guarantee the sub spirit felt my fist impact her own face. Only four of my boilers were able to be run, and so I only had half of my usual strength. But even half of my hundred and ten thousand horsepower was enough to launch the spirit like a human cannonball.
If she'd been a normal human, my blow would've turned her into a fine red mist. As it was, she was a hullbound spirit, so I couldn't harm her without damaging her hull, but that had to hurt. Doubly so when she almost immediately slammed into the dockside warehouse, and smashed clean through the wall in a spray of brick and mortar.
Iku immediately teleported herself back upright and rushed over to the hole in the wall, before the dust had even settled. "She's gone!" The sub yelled back, before teleporting back to us.
"Who the hell was that!?" I yelled. Ineffective as it had been, I was thoroughly disconcerted by someone suddenly shoving a gun in my face.
Iku looked stressed, "One of my sisters. I-28, Niya." She spoke in a rush, "I don't know how she's active, but she tried to set that explosive charge in my engine room." She gestured at the bag in my hands.
My eyes widened. "Oh. Well that won't do." I muttered quickly holding it up to my ear. Sure enough, there was a ticking noise. I blanched and as quickly as I could, threw the charge well out into the harbour.
"That's one way to deal with it." Kongo remarked as it splashed into the water three hundred yards distant.
Iku continued, "She must be just outside the sub net, using her periscope to figure out where to teleport!"
I blinked, "Why would she need her periscope to teleport?"
Iku stared at me for a moment like I was an idiot. "Have you ever tried to teleport to something you couldn't see, from fifty feet underwater?"
"Oh."
"Someone needs to head out there and force her deep. Until then, she's going to keep planting explosives wherever she can!" She explained, "I'll do my best, but I doubt I'll find them all."
I glanced out at the harbour, where Sims and Jup were making their way out. Perfect. "Princess to Sketch and Sweets." I spoke over the radio. "There is a Japanese submarine just outside the nets, do your thing!"
"There's a what!?" Jup yelled back, "Damnit, let's go Sims!"
"It's Sweets! We're on the radio!"
"Right right! Whatever, we got a bigger problem!"
I keyed my radio again, this time broadcasting in the clear, "All vessels in Sydney harbour, be aware, there is an activated Japanese submarine somewhere near the harbour entrance. The active spirit is teleporting and setting explosive charges on targets of opportunity. If you can begin moving and attempting to locate these satchel charges. If you do find one, throw it into the harbour. That is all."
I turned back to the two Japanese girls (formerly Japanese?). "Hopefully that should take care of that."
"Good." Iku replied, "I'm going to help make sure my sister doesn't blow anyone up."
BAWOMPH
All three of us started at the muffled explosion. A quick glance out in the harbour revealed it to have been the satchel I'd thrown into the water.
"Case in point." The sub muttered, and teleported away.
1950 HOURS
It was late in the evening when things began to settle down again. I'd remained at the dock, acting as a command and control hub, tracking I-28 via radio calls from various spirits around the harbour, most of which were Murchies.
Luckily, thanks to the alert and their hull omniscience, I-28 was unable to set explosives on any ship in the harbour. We'd managed to catch her placing charges at several spots in the base too. But I dreaded how many she'd managed to tuck away on shore where there were no omniscient spirits to catch her.
But it seemed we'd got most of the explosives, and since Jup and Sims had managed to force the sub deep, the reports of the spirit petered off. I could only hope we'd gotten them all.
Kongo, seemingly out of boredom, had stayed, pulling a chair from aboard somewhere and listening in on her radio. I was just listening in now too, as spirits combed through anywhere they suspected was worth a satchel charge. It left me time to think. Mainly, about the elephant in the room.
The IJN had active spirits.
How? Who knew. There were so many ways it was possible, from the spirits hiding in occupied territory, to a neutral ship taking pity on a Japanese spirit. It had just been a matter of time. With hindsight, it had actually been incredible that we'd manage to deny the Japanese access for a full year.
Now, the fight was even.
Eventually I was broken from my thoughts by Iku reappearing beside us. "I think I got most of them in the base. She put two in the HQ, and three in the magazines."
"Good work." I replied, "If you're right, you'll have earned everyone's trust, Iku."
"Right."
For a few moments, she stood there awkwardly. Eyes glancing between Kongo and I in the orange evening light. I could guess what she was debating, "If you want to talk to Kongo, I'm not stopping you."
Kongo smiled, "You know I don't bite, dess. Take a seat. I have questions too."
The captured submarine did so, before meeting the old battleship's gaze. "You surrendered, didn't you, Kongo?" She asked.
"Yes." Kongo nodded, "I think everyone back home knows my opinion of the war."
"Many would call you a traitor."
"Surrender is not treason." Kongo retorted, "Despite what that bastardization of the Bushido Code may say. Besides, you're hardly one to talk."
Iku looked down, ashamed. "I… I didn't choose this."
"What happened?" Kongo asked the submarine. "You were reported sunk. Everyone thinks you're dead."
Iku wetted her lips, "Yeah. May be better that way. Niya… When she came aboard my hull with that bomb… I tried to talk her out of it. She's my sister. But she was horrified to see me. She'd wanted me dead rather than flying the flag of the enemy. She thought I'd welcome her and help her… Sink myself."
"I'm sorry." Kongo sighed, "Our entire country has lost its way…"
"Yea." Iku agreed, "I was captured just off the coast here last summer." She gestured at me, "Two of Wales' destroyers depth charged me and forced me to surface. Then they climbed aboard and… And…" She swallowed, visibly suppressing her emotions, "Their fairies killed pretty much my whole crew before they could scuttle me."
Kongo gave her a sympathetic look, "Oh Iku."
"I don't care about this war anymore." The sub muttered. "I don't even know who's right or wrong. It's all propaganda and bullshit."
"Do you fight for anything then?" I asked.
A fierce look appeared on her face, "My crew. Come hell or the depths of the sea, I will protect my crew. I will not lose them again. If I get them all through this, that's enough for me."
Kongo and I shared a glance, we'd both lost significant numbers of our boys. We could appreciate the sentiment. "Noble." I remarked, "I've seen far worse motivations."
"As have I." Kongo agreed.
That drew Iku's attention back to Kongo. "So how did you end up here, mate?"
Kongo smiled, "Well, she," She gestured at me, "sank me, with some help from her destroyer. Later in the battle she was badly damaged by Yamato, and came limping aboard my sinking hull to avoid a torpedo spread. We talked, and at the end of it, she accepted my surrender and activated me."
"Heh," Iku chuckled, turning to me, "You got lucky. She's prolly the only ship in the entire IJN that would agree to surrender."
"So I've been told." I replied.
"Surrender's the key word there." Kongo spoke, "I haven't provided any intel or anything like that. I am a prisoner of war, not a traitor."
Iku rolled her eyes, "Which means I am, yea?"
Kongo blinked, "That's not what I meant…"
"But I am." Iku continued, "I'm flying the enemy flag. I wear the uniform, and actively fight Japan. And you know what? At this point, I am okay with that. I have a crew that takes care of me. They don't get beat if they fail, and the others… Fucken' A, I get treated better by the other ships here, many of who still hate me for being Japanese, than I ever did by the surface ships back home."
Kongo grimaced, "I can unfortunately absolutely see that, dess."
Before anyone else could speak, a new voice came from behind me, "Sorry about them." Jup spoke as she and Sims approached us, "Most of the other girls are…"
"Very racist?" I finished for her.
"Something like that." Jup replied. I smiled at her. She'd begun warming up to Kongo. Even joining me on a few occasions for Kongo and I's weekly walks/tea time.
Iku glanced at the two. "What happened to my sister?"
Jup shrugged, "Slipped away, we think. Lost contact after the ninth depth charge run and didn't require her. No debris so…"
"...Is it bad that I don't know how to feel about that?" Iku muttered.
I blinked, "What?"
She bit her lip, "I mean, on one hand, my sister isn't dead. Which is great. On the other… Well, she's gonna tell everyone else about how Kongo and I are traitors now…"
"I wouldn't be so sure." Kongo replied, "If it comes to light that you're here, all of your sisters will share that dishonor. They will be shunned. And one of your sisters is the only one who knows."
"So she may stay quiet, and not tell anyone." Iku finished. "Yeah, Niya's the type to stay quiet, if only to save her own skin."
I nodded, "Right, well-"
BANG
Everyone jumped at the sudden shockwave that blew through us, eyes drawn behind us, towards the city. The sky flashed six more times in quick succession, the sound of the blasts only reaching us a few seconds later. Dozens of waterspouts erupted from the harbour as the disposed charges also went off. It was loud, but to ships used to the blast of our own guns, it was quite tame.
"Well, there go the bombs." Kongo muttered.
I glanced around. None of those had been close enough to have come from the base. "Well, you were right Iku. You got all of the ones in the base."
"But those were in the city…" Iku muttered, "Oh what has Niya done?
Blown up civilians, was the answer none of us dared to say. One thing was for sure.
The war had just gotten a lot more complicated and difficult.
The cat was out of the bag. The IJN had ship spirits. The fighting was about to get much more difficult. Still, we needed to know more about the attack. And I still had to chew out dear old Dad over some 'refits.'
JANUARY 2 1942
0803 HOURS
The morning after I-28's raid found me walking through the base, headed for the HQ building. My objective was simple. To all but interrogate Commodore Leach to find out if he'd had anything to do with the 'refits' Kongo and Haruna had been forced to go through. If he had ordered it… We would have words.
Of course, someone noticed my angry walk across the base.
"Ay, Captain!" I spun at the Aussie accent to find Iku, gazing at me curiously in her summer whites. "Where are you off to in such a rush mate?"
I slammed my mask into place. "Oh just the Commodore's office. I have something to discuss with him. You?"
She lit up, "Oh, perfect! Could you do me a solid mate? I was trying to get permission to head out into town, have a look at the… bombings… Might be able to learn something about why my sister was doing. Could you put in a word with the Commodore?"
I gave her a questioning look. "Why not go through your chain of command?"
She bit her lip, "Commander Salinsky's bloody busy. They're prepping me for another patrol. I didn't want to disturb him."
"Fine." I replied, "I'll see what I can do. No promises."
"Thank you, ma'am." She thanked me with a salute.
"I'll contact you on the radio once I have an answer," I replied, before returning her salute, "Dismissed, Leftenant."
"Aye aye, Ma'am." She replied, before heading off.
Distraction dealt with, I resumed my course for the HQ. It only took a few minutes before I was knocking on Commodore Leach's Door.
"Come in!"
I obliged, immediately beelining for the desk he was sitting behind. "Commodore."
He glanced up from his work. "Morning Wales. Need something?"
I was not in the mood for subtlety, so I went straight to the point. "Kongo and Haruna were forced to have a 'refit'. All of their guns were removed or made inoperable. Did you order it?"
He gave me a weary look. "Not directly, no. The base commander, Commodore Kinsey did. Though when he came to me for advice I admit I encouraged it. Is there something wrong with that, Wales?"
I had to remind myself he couldn't have known before I spoke. At least it hadn't been on his direct orders. "Yes. There is. They're battleships, same as me. Our entire reason for existing is for our guns. For us, removing or disabling the guns by refit is psychologically equivalent to a human being mutilated." I gestured at him, "It is the same feeling as losing a limb."
If there was anybody who knew what that felt like, it was John Leach.
The sudden look of horror on his face told me my comparison had hit home for him. Hard. "Oh. Oh hell." His face morphed through several emotions as he worked out the potential consequences. "They didn't fight it?"
"No." I replied, "Though neither are happy about it. If it was anyone other than Kongo, I'd expect they'd have turned their guns on Vestal the moment she'd tried."
"Fuck." He cursed, uncharacteristically. "No good option there. Either we mutilate them, or we let two POWs walk around with a battleship's worth of firepower."
"I've told you before, we can trust them not to use it." I insisted.
"If they just… Let us do that without snapping, I'm starting to believe you." He muttered. Suddenly, he stood, "If that's the case, I'll apologize right now, for all the good it'll do. Call up your sister and tell her to meet me outside their quarters."
I raised a brow, "Still not comfortable around them without an escort?"
"Doubt I ever will be." He muttered, heading for the door.
"Before you go…" I spoke up, making him pause, I still had to forward Iku's request. Though, I had a better idea than just asking if the Sub could leave the base.
"Yes, Wales?"
"With your permission, I'd like to request to be allowed off base. I'd like to take a look at the damage from last night's attack."
"Good idea." He nodded, "Granted. Do up a report when you're back. Perhaps we can get some intelligence about the sub spirit or her methods."
"Aye aye, Sir."
"Dismissed."
I ended up meeting Iku at the front gate a few minutes later. The purple haired spirit was leaning against the open gate, still in her whites, though she'd done her hair up in a ponytail under her officer's cap. It wasn't like she was going to be able to hide her vibrant hair. I'd donned a pair of aviators to at least give myself the ability to pass as a normal person.
I adjusted my own officer's cap, before gesturing to the sub as I approached. "Let's go, Leftenant."
"Aye, ma'am." She said, pushing off the gate and falling into step beside me.
"Do you know where the bombs went off?" I asked as we entered the city.
"I think so." She replied, "The nearest one was on the rail tracks, on the bridge."
"Oh, that's just over there. Let's go then."
It didn't take long to reach the rail line. The entire street the bridge crossed was closed off, and several fire trucks and police cars were parked all over. A crowd of civvies were gathered at the police line, gawking at the damaged bridge. A fair few looked to be journalists and photographers.
Unfortunately, one of them glanced back and spotted us as we approached. His eyes widened at Iku's hair, and he moved towards us.
"Oh hell." I muttered.
Then he was on us. "Excuse me…" He paused, obviously checking our shoulderboards. "Captain, Lieutenant. Anderson Weathers, Sydney Morning Herald. You're some of those ship spirits, right?"
My opinion of him shot up. He knew his ranks. Nonetheless, I waved him off. "Apologies, Sir, but we're working."
"I promise, it will only be a moment of your time, Ma'am." He insisted.
"Perhaps later." I replied, giving him my best diplomatic smile. "Let's go, Leftenant."
The two of us managed to slip around the side of the crowd. Luckily the journalist took the hint, and let us go. Soon we'd reached the police tape, and the next obstacle reared its head.
"Hold it." A Policeman held his hand up before we could duck the tape. "Police and first responders only. Who're you."
I quickly fished out my wallet, flipping it open to my military ID. "Captain Windsor, Royal Navy Special Naval Service." I spoke. I'd always wanted to do that, like an FBI agent or policeman from a movie. "We're here to investigate the attack. Who's in charge here? I'd like to speak to them."
He gave us a weary look, "Stay here, I'll go get the detective."
He walked off, and returned a moment later, an older officer in tow. "Detective Murphy, New South Wales Police." I couldn't help a small smile at the police force's name. "Officer Bullock here tells me you want to have a look around?"
I nodded, holding out my hand to shake. "Correct, Detective. Captain Windsor, Royal Navy Special Naval Service."
We shook, and he lifted the tape, "Come on in, we can have a slightly more private discussion over here."
Iku and I slipped under the tape. His eyes briefly flicked to Iku, and her distinctly East Asian features, but didn't react otherwise. "Lead the way."
The bobby nodded, and led us into the parked vehicles. Once we were behind a parked fire truck, we stopped. He turned to us and gave a slightly annoyed look, "So, what can I do for you, Captain."
"What do you know about last night's bombings? Has the navy shared anything with you?" I asked.
He shook his head, "No. We did interview a few of the civilian ships in harbour, so we know the basics. Something about a Japanese submarine?"
I nodded, "Yes. A Japanese Submarine snuck up just outside the ASW nets. The ship spirit then used her ability to teleport in order to plant bombs around the naval base and city."
A look of understanding appeared on his face. "And you're here to investigate and find ways to prevent further attacks."
I nodded, "Correct. So if you could allow us to examine the attack site and share anything you've learned, that would be much appreciated."
In an instant, all the standoffishness melted away. "Right, come with me." What had that been about? Perhaps he'd thought we were going to take over jurisdiction?
He led us over to the bridge, and then up a ladder from one of the fire trucks. Soon we were standing on the bridge itself. "Constable Mackwood!" He yelled. A younger bobby glanced up from here he was examining something on a table that had been set up on one side of the bridge.
"Detective?"
"Come with us." He ordered, and lead our group of four onto the bridge.
We stopped a dozen feet from the obviously damaged blast site. "Constable, this is Captain Windsor of the Royal Navy. Captain, this is Constable Mackwood, our only explosives expert. Constable, share what we know, if you would."
"Yes, Sir." The Aussie Policeman replied, turning to the damage and gesturing us closer. "The explosive detonated at about 2000 hours last night." He gestured to the damage. It didn't seem too bad, just a hole through the bridge deck between the tracks, and some minor damage to the rails themselves. "Analysis of the residue came back as TNT. I'd estimate about five pounds was used. Most of the residue was on the top of the bridge, rather than below, so I believe the charge was placed on the deck directly between the tracks. It blew out a portion of the structural steel on the deck, as you can see, and caused minor damage to the tracks. We also believe it was a timed explosive, as we found parts of a clock scattered about."
I nodded, "That matches the satchel charges the sub was using on the naval base." I glanced around. "What do you think, Leftenant?" I asked Iku.
The sub glanced around before looking off over the rooftops towards the naval base. Her brow furrowed, and she produced a pair of binoculars. "She probably teleported her way across the roofs."
The detective blinked, "Why? Why not teleport straight here?"
Iku glanced back at him, "Can't teleport if you don't know where to teleport to. That's how you end up inside a wall or something. And not only does that hurt like hell, it forces you back to your hull. You can do it if you're confident, but it's easier and safer to teleport line of sight."
She pointed to the buildings. "She would have worked her way across the roofs, making short teleports. Probably looking for good targets. If you look over there, you can see a few roof tiles knocked loose. That was probably her."
I blinked, quickly producing my own binoculars. Sure enough, a few shingles had been torn loose. "Good eye."
Iku turned back to us. "Between how haphazard the attacks was and her targets, I don't think it was planned. I think her Captain probably saw an opportunity and went for it."
I nodded, "I agree. It seems like it was a spur of the moment decision."
I looked over the bridge one last time, before turning to the bobbies. "Thank you for your help, Detective. I don't suppose you could take us to the other attack sites?"
"I don't see why not. Follow me."
We returned to HMAS Kuttabul late in the afternoon. We'd visited all six bombing sites. There was the bridge, one had been set in a pub, two had been left in public spaces, another in city hall, and the final charge had gone off in Sydney's main passenger train station.
Iku had gotten more and more distressed as we visited the various sites. It was clear just from her body language that she was ashamed and horrified by what her sister had done. We'd seen more than one body bag, and the train station in particular had been grisly.
I hadn't the faintest how to console the submarine, so once we returned to the base, I led her back to the docks where her hull was moored. The now Commander Salinsky was already on the dock speaking to a logistics officer. Luckily they seemed to just be finishing up as he signed something on a clipboard and the two exchanged salutes. As the other officer departed, he glanced over at us.
His eyes briefly widened, before he saluted me, "Captain Windsor!" He gave a weary glance at Iku's distressed face. "Can I help you with something?"
Did he think Iku had gotten in trouble? "Nothing Major, Commander." I replied, noting Iku already making her way down her gangway and aboard her hull. Assured she was out of earshot, I continued, "We went out to investigate the damage caused by last night's attack. I don't think the Leftanant's taking what her sister did very well. There were civilian casualties."
"Oh." Salinsky deflated, "I see. I'll see what I can do for her."
"Good man." I spoke, "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to report to the Commodore."
JANUARY 12 1942
0832 HOURS
"Morning, Princess." Vestal greeted me as I entered her workshop a week and a half later, a fag between her lips. She'd radioed for me, and I'd obliged.
"Morning." I replied, "You wanted to see me?"
"Yeah." She nodded, hanging the tools she'd been using up on the wall. "Got the last few parts I needed for your boilers, and I also have some good and bad news."
"What's the bad?" I prompted, crossing my arms.
"Well, you were right." She started, "They didn't build any extra turrets for you KGVs, so I can't just slot in a new one."
I grimaced. It took years to build the turrets myself and my sisters used. The thought of going without my A turret for that long… "...And the good news?"
Now the old collier smiled, "The good news is the Admiralty loves its spare parts stock. I figured they'd need to fabricate a bunch of new parts, but they actually have them in storage. They'll be here within a month. Not as quickly as a US ship or course, buuuuuut…" She shrugged. Was that a smug smirk? That was definitely a smug smirk.
"Yes, well, I'm afraid not everyone can be as filthy rich as the US Navy." I snarked, rolling my eyes in good humor. To be honest, Vestal was starting to grow on me.
She gave a chuckle, "I guess so. Well, I should be able to get your turret patched back up, but I'm going to have to replace the rotation and elevation mechanisms. Completely replace your flash protection, revamp it while I'm at it to reduce your jams even further. Replace your shell hoists, and do some welding work on the gunhouse to patch up all those holes, though I think the repair bath can handle most of that once I remove the worst of the damaged plates. All told, I should be done within a week once the parts arrive, and then you should be in the repair bath until… I'm going to say somewhere around the end of September."
I winced. "I was afraid of that." I was going to miss most of '43. Still, it was better than permanently being down a turret. "So, you said you had the rest of the boiler parts?"
"Yup! Lay down over there, and I'll get started. Trust me, you won't feel a thing."
After the 2nd Sydney Raid, things soon returned to normal. My repairs slowly progressed as the month passed. Vestal did a bang up job as always. It wasn't long before she'd finished her side of the repairs, and the rest was left to the repair bath. Things got quite boring, to be honest. But, if there was one thing I could trust my destroyers to do, it was to come up with creative ways to entertain themselves. Luckily, this time it didn't involve any property damage…
JANUARY 18 1943
1209 HOURS
Howe was many things. An adorable little sister. A surprisingly good baker (once Sims and Jup had taught her, at least). A capable battleship. But she most certainly was not a polite eater.
I had to keep myself from laughing as she scarfed down her lunch like a starving woman. There was a reason she always tucked her napkin into her collar, and it certainly wasn't any old style etiquette. Rather, simple pragmatism. Otherwise her summer whites would end up irreparably stained after every single meal.
"Slow down sis." I admonished for the hundredth time. "There's no rush."
She glanced up, mouth still full. "Mmmmr?" She quickly swallowed, "You say something, Wales?"
I just rolled my eyes, and shook my head, "Nevermind, why do I even bother?"
She stared for a second before shrugging. "Alright." And went right back to tearing through her meal.
With another shake of my head, I went back to my own sandwich. I'd just finished it when I spotted Express and Hammann enter the mess, and beeline right for us. They looked rather… excited.
"Something the matter, girls?" I asked as they approached.
Express shook her head, "No! Nothing's wrong." She gestured at Hammann, "We just wanted to propose something to you."
Internally, I winced. What hairbrained scheme had they concocted this time? I braced myself. "Oh?"
Hammann placed down a set of papers in front of me, stapled at the corner. "The TF79 Fairy Football League!"
For a few seconds, I just sat there. They weren't doing something stupid that would get me yelled at by the Commodore? "Oh." I muttered, picking up the paper.
To my surprise, it was actually a well put together proposal. They'd thought it out, and laid out why they thought we should allow it, and even gone into detail about how it would work. Before I could get past the front page, I laid it back down. "Alright. Explain."
Express was the one to start. "Well, yesterday I saw Hammann and Jup's fairies having a football match-"
"It's called soccer!" Hammann butted in.
Express just rolled her eyes, and continued, "And I thought, why not organize a fairy league? Each of us can field a team and we can have a little championship. So Hammann and I drew up some rules and organized a format."
She paused, looking at me for approval. I gave a small smile, "Go on."
"Ummm… Well…" She tried to collect her thoughts, but Hammann spoke up instead.
"We set it up so each team plays all the others twice. Standard international soccer rules. Two points for a win. One for a draw. Top four teams play off at the end of the season for the championship." The American destroyer explained.
"Rather like the professional leagues back home." I nodded, "Seems reasonable." I glanced at Hammann. "I didn't think football was all that popular over in the States."
She shrugged, "It's not huge but it's not like we don't play it. Baseball is still my favorite sport, but I'm not gonna convince you limeys to start a fairy baseball league now am I?"
I snorted. "True. Alright then. I'm in."
"Me too!" My sister spoke up from where she'd finished her meal.
I rolled my eyes. "Never change Howe." I turned back to the two destroyers. "You've done a good job so far, so I'll leave the organizing up to you. Just keep me apprised."
"You got it!" Express chirped. "Let's go Hammie! Pretty sure 'Lectra will be on board too!"
"Sure!"
JANUARY 25 1943
1437 HOURS
A few weeks later, I found myself walking to the Commodore's office once more. He'd gotten a short range radio installed in his office to more easily get a hold of us, should the need arise. Having subordinates that always had a radio on them was surprisingly convenient.
Of note were the posters I spotted on walls around the base advertising the first match of the Fairy Football League on the 30th. Express and Hammann had been busy.
"Afternoon, Wales." He greeted me from behind his desk as I walked in the door a few minutes later.
"Afternoon, Commodore." I replied, making my way over to my usual seat. "You wanted to see me?"
He nodded, and gave a small grin. "Yes. But it's not 'Commodore' any more…"
I glanced at his shoulders. Sure enough, he now had an extra stripe. My eyes widened, and I beamed, pride swelling in my chest. "Oh. Well, congratulations on reaching flag rank, Rear Admiral Leach."
"Thank you Wales." He replied with a small laugh, "Only took me thirty-six years service."
"Does that mean Hou and I will be getting promoted as well?" I asked.
He shook his head. "Not that I know of. That said, at the rate things are going… It'll happen eventually."
He quickly settled his face, and got to business, "Anyway, I'm sure you need to get back to the baths. We've got some new standing orders from the Admiralty." He explained, handing me a paper. As I began to read, he explained, "The Germans got access to their own active spirits three days ago. The cat is fully out of the bag."
"What about the Soviets?" I asked.
He blinked, "Oh, we gave them access back in August. I thought I'd informed you."
I shook my head. "That's news to me."
"Ah, my mistake then." He muttered, "Anyways, since the Axis have spirits, it's been judged that the propaganda and moral value to SHIPs outweighs any intelligence risks."
That meant one thing, "We're being declassified?"
He nodded. "Your location and movements are still secret. As are the specifics of your capabilities. No need to help the Kriegsmarine or IJN's own SHIP programs. But anything a SHIP could easily learn in a day or two is now freely public information."
"Understood. I'll let the girls know."
"One last thing." He spoke again, "You're scheduled for an interview with several reporters on the 30th, and a film crew from the Ministry of Information will be arriving mid february, along with a press secretary for us." He shook his head, "Damn vultures are going to milk 79 for all the propaganda value you girls are worth. Come summer I bet you'll all be household names."
Oh. Fame? "Ballocks."
JANUARY 30 1943
1247 HOURS
With ship spirits no longer an open secret, there was a sudden flurry of media attention. Luckily we were insulated from most of it, as it wasn't like a reporter could just walk into the base. But within a couple days all the local papers has run stories on what ship spirits were, with plenty of Merchies doing radio interviews. The public was understandably curious about us, and what exactly we were.
My first interaction with the press would come in the evening, and my scheduled interview with a reporter that Dad had arranged.
But before then, we had a football match.
I arrived at the fairy scale pitch almost fifteen minutes before the match. It wasn't that large. Only fifteen yards from end to end. But it scaled nearly perfectly for the six inch tall fairies. It was out in the field beside our quarters. Express and Hammann had had to mow the area and work it down to something almost like a golf green. Or their best approximation. Grass of that consistency took months to train. Either way, it wasn't bad, and short enough for the fairies to play a match on.
What surprised me was the number of people already gathering around the miniature pitch. There were plenty of off duty sailors and civilian contractors, easily two dozen. But what really surprised me was how many of the spirits in port were in attendance. It seemed nearly every steel hull in port, from the warships to the transports to the tugs and fishing boats, was present.
"Quite a crowd." I remarked to Express where she was sitting at a small desk beside the pitch with Hammann.
"Yeah!" The destroyer chirped. "We advertised the match on our radios. We're gonna broadcast it too!"
It was honestly incredible. The two destroyers had pulled out all the stops in organizing the league. Not only had they convinced (read as, peer pressured) every member of 79 to participate, but they'd gotten everyone to choose team colours, logos, and names. The teams had had almost two weeks to practice and draw up rosters. Sims had made each team proper professional uniforms and everything. It really was like a miniature professional league.
Speaking of teams, I turned to the pitch. Both Jup's and Andie's teams were finishing up their warm ups, Jup's fairies in their black and teal, Andie's in green and white.
And then Express and Andie started broadcasting.
"Good Afternoon! And welcome to the first match of the inaugural season of the Fairy Football League! I'm Emma Kalloway commentating here with my American colleague and colour commentator Hannah Sims."
"And aren't we in for a great soccer game today Emma. We've got two great teams lined up for this first match. We should see some good play out there today."
"Right you are Hannah. Playing here today are two solid teams. Playing as the home team today we have the HMS Jupiter's Tritons FC. A scrappy team, they have one of the best offences in the league from what we've seen so far. As the away team for today's match, USS Anderson's Stars FC."
"That's right. Now despite this being the first official match, we do have some idea of the teams' abilities. Each team in the league played two pre-season exhibition matches. The Tritons won both of theirs, two-nil and three-one. For the Stars, it was one win, three-zero and a draw, one-one. How do you think these two stack up Emma?"
"Well, let's start with the Tritons. As far as I see it, they've got three major strengths. The first is their general offence. The midfield and forwards all have phenomenal teamwork and coordination. We've seen them dominate an unprepared defence. Second, is the keeper, Danny Ables. That little guy has made some incredible saves already, and I suspect we'll see much more of that. And finally, their main striker Anne George. So far she's been the best striker in the league. Of the five goals in the exhibition matches, she scored three. She's quick, and is one of the best shots we've seen. That said, for all their offensive ability, their defence has been… let's say mediocre."
"And the Stars?"
"The Stars are definitely the more rounded. Both defence and offence have been solid. They can be a bit cautious with possession. That said, Henja and Dani Siedle, the Stars' twin strikers, are absolutely lethal together. If those two can get down field with the ball, they start generating chances. Their defence is also solid, anchored by the implacable Jimmy Evans. I haven't seen a striker yet able to outdance him."
It was honestly kind of adorable listening to the two destroyers commentate as they continued their short pregame show on the radio. That said, pretty much all of the ship spirits seemed to be tuning in anyways.
I soon spotted my sister, Hou and Perth all setting up chairs and getting settled in to watch the match, just behind the Tritons' goal. I soon joined them. "Hello girls."
"Hey Wales." Hou replied. "Take a seat."
"Don't mind if I do." I replied, producing a chair from my hold and plopping down.
"Who's your money on, Hou?" Perth asked as I got comfortable.
"I'm thinking the Stars." My 2IC replied. "The Siedle twins are stupid good. They thumped my Rough Riders, three-oh." She glanced at me, "What about you Wales?"
"Tritons." I answered immediately. "They just seem the better of the two. Hell, I think they may be the favorites for the championship, if I'm honest. They're a powerhouse. I'd bet money on them."
"Yeah?" Hou replied. A moment later she had a five Australian pound note in hand. "Five bucks says the Stars win."
"You're on."
Not even ten minutes into the match, one thing had already become clear.
These fairies could play.
Of course, it wasn't the Premier League. It wasn't the EFL either. But it was surprisingly close to EFL play. In short, it was some damn good football.
I hadn't thought I'd actually get invested in the game. I'd never been a huge football fan. Sure, I cheered for Liverpool FC (Liverpool being the closest to where I'd grown up in Flint) and watched a match now and again. But I'd hardly been a superfan like a few people I'd known.
But here I was, cheering on Jup's fairies as the ball went up and down the field.
"What's going on here?" A sudden voice broke me from the match.
I glanced back to see Dad and Commander Anderson looking on in curiosity. "Rear Admiral." I gave a nod. I was in civvies and technically off duty, so I wasn't supposed to salute. "Just some stress relief for the girls. Express and Hammann wanted to organise a Task Force Fairy Football League. I allowed it. Figured it would be good for moral and let everyone relax a wee bit."
"I see." He replied. When I glanced back, I realised he'd started watching the game. I shrugged, and went back to watching myself.
A couple minutes later, the Siedle twins managed a breakaway, and a beautiful pass from Henja to Dani set up a perfect shot.
Hou lept from her chair, "Yes! I told you, Wales!"
I chuckled, shaking my head. "We're only fifteen minutes in Hou. Long way to go."
Much to my amusement, Dad spoke up from behind me. "I don't suppose you have an extra chair?"
I chuckled again, producing another seat and placing it beside me. "It's surprisingly good football, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is."
From there, the game progressed, the Tritons managing to tie the game up just before the half. The crowd watching the game continued to grow, as people came to see what was going on, and spirits tuned into Express and Hammann's play-by-play.
By the fortieth minute, there had to be at least a hundred people gathered along the sidelines.
"What the hell's going on here." Our next interruption was American, by the accent. I glanced back to see a familiar gray haired woman approaching us.
"Oh, hello Washington." I glanced out at the port, trying to spot her hull. "When did you get in?"
"Just an hour ago." The American battleship replied, finally reaching us. "What's going on?"
"Fairy soccer." Hou spoke up from beside me. "Express and Hammann organised a league for the task force. This is the first match."
"Who's playing?"
Hou pointed to the fairy goal keeper in the net right in front of us. "The ones in green are Andie's. The Stars. In black are Jup's Tritons."
"Who's winning?"
"One-all." I replied. "It's been a pretty good match so far."
"Can't say I've ever watched soccer before." The battleship remarked, "My crew usually play baseball if they have free time."
"That's cause you're a Yank." Perth quipped, "For the rest of the world, there's football."
"Anyway." I changed the subject, "What are you doing here, Wash? Shouldn't you be back stateside in a drydock?"
"Oh, no." SHe shook her head. "I'm here to see Vestal."
"Vestal?" I blinked, "I didn't think she worked on steelhulls."
"She doesn't." Wash replied.
I met her eyes, concerned. "You sank?"
"Scuttled." She clarified. "Musashi mauled me badly enough that the repair estimate put me at near two years. I wasn't going to be back in service until '45. We need battleships now though, not later, so they stripped off all my valuables; guns, radios, directors, all that, and scuttled me."
"So that you could be back in service immediately as a SHIP." I realised.
"Yeah." Wash nodded, face souring. "Though someone probably should have told them that that counted as a refit, so I came off my hull unarmed."
I snorted in amused realisation, "Ha! And now you and your gear has been shipped over here so Vestal can attach it all again."
"Yup." She muttered, "Fucken idiots."
"Don't worry." I replied, "Vestal will have you ready to go in a week."
"She's really not as bad as the rumors make her out to be." Hou piped up.
I blinked, "What rumors?"
"That she's a bit of a mad scientist." Wash replied.
I paused. "I mean, that's not totally inaccurate."
"Not helping Wales!"
Wash had settled in to watch the rest of the game with us, and we all ended up making idle chatter. I hadn't seen her since the battle, and while we were not exactly friends, I did get on well with my American counterpart.
By the fifty-fifth minute, the Stars had gone up three to one. It wasn't looking too good for the Tritons… Or my bet.
Which was precisely when the man I would learn was named Jimmy Sanders made his arrival. He was a man of middle height, with a brown moustache that matched his hair. Everything about him just screamed 'reporter'. He would also prove to be a consistent pain in my ass.
"Excuse me, is there a 'Captain Windsor' here?" He spoke from behind us.
I glanced back to see him glancing about curiously, a camera in hand. As I watched, he snapped a quick photo of the game. I raised a hand. "That's me."
His eyes locked onto me as I stood and made my way behind our group. He stuck out a hand, "Jimmy Sanders. Sydney Morning Herald."
"Captain Gwendolyn Windsor, Royal Navy Special Naval Service." I shook, "I don't suppose you're the reporter that's going to interview me?"
"I am. A pleasure, Ma'am." He smiled, "Do you have somewhere quiet we can speak, or…?"
I glanced back at the match, just in time to see the Stars' score their fourth goal. The match was as good as over. No reason to delay then. "I do, if you'll follow me…"
She nodded, "Yes, Vestal!" Her face darkened into a grimace, "They had her give Haruna and I a refit, dess. She removed our breech blocks and welded shut the bolts on all of our weapons."
Mad scientist or not, I can absolutely guarantee that she is going to be compared to Josef Mengele.
Admittedly, it will probably be in a similar way to how the internment camps in the US are compared to the concentration camps in Germany (either as a reminder that while the Allies were definitely 'the good guys' they weren't perfect, or as a false equivalency by Nazi apologists), but this is going to be one of the biggest black marks on the Western Allies WWII record in the Pacific. Probably the starting point for the concept of 'Shipgirl rights.'
Nina "PT-109" Kennedy, POTUS
It had been a long and difficult campaign. Nina knew she would never have succeeded without the aid of her former captain and adopted father, John F. Kennedy. She hadn't been totally opposed to the sitting President. President Nixon had done wonderful things for Shipgirl rights for one. But she just wanted, a different America. And seeing the votes come in, so did many others.
The entire family was gathered, Kennedy and PT-boat girls both, then came the CNN interview with sitting President Nixon, in which he admitted defeat and congratulated his opponent. While in part a weight fell off, with the victory being confirmed. Nina knew the most difficult part was about to begin, her time as the 35th President of the United States. Which would make her the first shipgirl Head of State in the entire world.
But those were thoughts for later, right now it was time to celebrate with her family.
The day came, Nina Kennedy stood by the Chief Justice and raised her hand, "I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
_________________________________________
AN I don't know enough about American elections to give more details. But in this Omake, JFK didn't run for president, but convinced his adopted daughter, the PT-boat PT-109 to run instead. A bit short, but I didn't get any more out of it
I had no doubt civilian morale was always at the back of London and Washington's minds throughout the war. It was hard to fight a war if the public wanted peace after all. I'd seen some of the propaganda the Ministry of Information had been putting out, but as a frontline combatant myself, it wasn't something I paid attention to. I wasn't the target audience. I got most of my news through intelligence reports and the like. Sanitised tales of heroism for public consumption were all too common. No doubt I'd soon be one such hero soon enough, if the reporters got their way.
JANUARY 30 1943
1540 HOURS
Dad and I led Mr. Sanders to our dorms. Our small living room would be a good quiet spot to talk. As we entered I gestured to the couch and seats, while I headed for the small kitchen, "Make yourself comfortable. Tea?"
He nodded as he sat down on a chair, and began to unload his small bag. "Please."
I quickly got the kettle boiling while I watched him produce a notepad and pen. He was thin, I noted, and not all that terrible on the eyes, even if he wasn't my type, and a bit old. Early forties, maybe?
Soon enough the kettle was whistling, and I brought three cups over to the sitting area. "Here you are."
"Thank you." He replied.
I quickly handed off the other to Dad before joining him on the opposite side of the sofa. "So, where do we start?" I asked.
Jimmy Sanders met my eyes, before glancing at Rear Admiral Leach. "Well, to start I'd like to make sure I understand our agreement properly." At Dad's nod, he continued in his Aussie accent, "So, to clarify we have to wait one week before publishing, and only with your permission after the censors okay it. We are not to attach my name to the report, and publish it as by an anonymous reporter. And finally, we are not to disclose the date or location of this interview. Do I have that all right?"
The Admiral nodded, "Correct, though after speaking with my superiors, we do have one slight adjustment."
"Oh?"
"You are to hint subtly at the location." He explained, "But that location should be Guadalcanal. We may be able to throw the Japanese off if they think we're still in action."
"I see," Jimmy nodded, and quickly scribbled on his notepad, "I can do that. Anything else?"
Dad glanced at me, "You are not to disclose the Captain's rank or legal name. No need to allow any spies to find her paper trail."
"Uhhh, alright." He muttered, scribbling that down as well. "In that case, I'll just refer to her in the article by her ship name?"
I nodded, "Or just Wales. That's usually what I go by."
"Got it." He nodded, before glancing up to see if either of us would add any additional restrictions. When he realised we wouldn't he leaned down into his bag and produced a large tape recorder. "Am I allowed to record this conversation?"
Dad and I exchanged a glance, before he spoke. "Provided you observe the restrictions, I don't see why not."
"Great!" Sanders smiled, quickly setting the device on the coffee table. A moment later he had it rolling.
"Right! Interview with free shipspirit HMS Prince of Wales. Date and location unfortunately but understandably undisclosed. So Miss… Wales, I suppose. Rumours say you were one of the first free shipspirits. Is there any truth to that?"
"Sorry, free spirit? That's not a term I've heard before."
"Really? Well, it's what the public has taken to calling spirits free of their hulls. As opposed to 'hullbound spirits.'"
Dad had spoken to me on the way over on what was and wasn't still classified. Luckily this wasn't the latter. The Japanese had likely already put the pieces together, now that they had their own active spirits. "In that case, yes, I am. Technically, I believe I was the second, as I separated from my hull several minutes after HMS Repulse."
"And this was off Malaya?"
"Correct. The afternoon of December tenth to be precise."
"Until that moment you were invisible and incorporeal, yes? I've spoken with some merchant vessels. There have apparently been ship spirits for a very long time. There's been hundreds, maybe thousands of years of the status quo. Many ships were sunk before you. So why now? Why you?"
Of course he would ask that. I couldn't just share my past life's memories, and how we suspected that they were somehow linked, now could I? That was still secret, and if the Japanese found out, I'd have one hell of a target on my back. Besides, other than the tentative link to Repulse and I's reincarnation, we didn't have anything. So it wasn't really a lie when I replied. "We don't know. No one has any real idea."
"None?"
"No."
"I see." He scratched his head, "A proper mystery then. Moving on. How did it feel to separate from your steel hull?"
I bit my lip. "I can't remember a specific feeling. One moment I was sinking, and in a not inconsiderable amount of pain. The next, I'd passed out for a few seconds, and I was whole again. No damage, no wounds. It certainly was a relief."
"You've fought numerous battles since the beginning of the Pacific War. Just to clarify, you were a free spirit for all of them?"
"Since my sinking, yes."
"How does naval combat work as a free spirit? Are there any major advantages or disadvantages?"
"Have you heard of free spirits' 'rigging'?"
"I have. One of the merchant ships I interviewed was a free spirit."
"Right. Perfect. With my rigging on, I essentially can function the same way I did as a steel hull in combat. The projection means it's virtually the same for the enemy as well. Perhaps the only advantage is increased reaction times and coordination, seeing as I'm one person now, rather than over a thousand crew."
"I see. So all the battles you fought in, you were just another battleship. Nothing crazy or abnormal?"
"Same as when I was steel."
"Alright. Well, I'll save any questions about specific battles or stories for another time. Let's keep things a bit more general. Do you consider yourselves human? How about subjects of the Crown?"
"Of course! I think all of us do. Mentally, we may have a different upbringing, but we have feelings, wants, dreams… flaws. Just like anyone. Barring our supernatural abilities, we're just people. As for the crown, yes. I'm British. Always will be. Personally, and not just because of my name, I consider myself Welsh."
"Are you considered citizens in the eyes of the law?"
"I know I am. I have my identity papers, my rank, a passport. As for shipspirits in general, hopefully Parliament has a plan, because if we are not citizens… Well that's how you get a revolt."
"What are your plans for when the war is over? Are spirits legally allowed to retire?"
"Again, I should hope so. As for plans… I'll be happy to retire. I've been considering becoming a naval architect or perhaps a historian. We'll see what happens."
"Speaking of spirits, will you keep fighting against your fellow shipspirits in the Jap Navy?"
"What kind of question is that? Of course! We've all seen what they've been doing in their conquered lands. We have to defeat them."
"What are your thoughts on calls for the halting of construction of new ships for the time being?"
"Calls to what!?"
"There are some who believe creating new life only to use them as soldiers is immoral, and all construction should be stopped."
For a moment, I just sat stunned. They had a slight point. But the alternative… "The do realise that could lose us the war, and if the Japs win the morality of building warships will be the least of their concerns?"
Jimmy just shrugged.
"Right, well my thoughts are they're idiots. Next question."
"Alright. What would you consider the most important factor that free spirits like you bring to the field?"
"Versatility, and eased logistics. I can't say more though."
"Understandable. Japs don't need any help. Given your experience in numerous battles, how would you say the war has been progressing overall?"
"Well. Very well. I think the victory at Guadalcanal has already been in the news. It was rather dicy for a while there. Especially in the DEI. But between my own and other allied fleets' successes around Guadalcanal and the recent carrier battles, the tide has turned."
"What are your thoughts on the Japanese as opponents and as a whole?"
"As opponents? Skilled. Very skilled. It's all too common that inexperienced officers and men underestimate the Japanese, often for rather racist reasons. Hell, the racist assumption that the Japanese were too stupid to design fast modern medium bombers directly resulted in my sinking. Race plays zero factor in any physical abilities. They're just as intelligent as us, they're just as adaptable, cunning, and capable. And no, the shape of their eyes does not affect their ability to see in the dark. We are fighting people. Not idiots. Beyond that, their military culture is extremely fanatical. Their military culture sees anyone who surrenders as subhuman. Better to fight to the death rather than give up. We have the upper hand, but they will fight us for every inch."
"Interesting. What's your relationship between you and your fellow sister ships?"
"Ummm. Sisters. Siblings. My big sister, King George the Fifth and I are very close. We're family after all. And I can say the same about Howe. As for Anson and Duke of York. I haven't had the opportunity to meet either in person, but I do exchange letters with them."
"Alright. One last question. How does it feel to be scrapped? How did the other ship spirits feel about it before? And how would you feel about it now?"
"Before? It was a nice quiet natural death. Our version of dying of old age. The way most of us wanted to go after a nice long service life. Now… well, I believe now it was recently confirmed scrapping a ship with an active spirit frees the spirit?" I glanced at Dad to see him making a 'cut it' gesture at his neck. I winced, "I wasn't supposed to say that."
"I can cut it out." Sanders offered, "That said, does that mean free spirits are functionally ageless?"
I shrugged, "As far as we know."
"Fascinating." He said, as Dad signalled time was up. The journalist leaned forward to shut off the tape. "Well, thank you for your time, Captain Windsor, Rear Admiral."
"My pleasure." I replied as I stood and shook his hand.
"I don't suppose I could schedule another interview to speak about some of your battles?"
Before I could answer, Dad sighed. "I'm sure I can arrange something. We can speak in my office."
With that, the two men left, leaving me alone. I let myself slump. That had been exhausting. I'd had to be so careful not to mention anything still secret. But it was done now. With any luck, I could stay away from the press for a while. I let out a relives sigh, before standing up and heading to the kitchen. I needed another cup of tea.
FEBRUARY 1 1943
1248 HOURS
The next day we were once more out by the fairy scale pitch for another game. This time between Howe and Hou's teams. I'd invited Kongo and Haruna out this time, and the three of us had taken a seat beside the pitch in some folding chairs.
My repairs were going well. It would still be quite some time before I was ready for action once more, but progress was progress. The same went for the rest of my girls. Howe would be back in action by early April. And Hou by May.
The three of us were chatting away as the game got underway, and we were soon joined by Jup and Sims. The two had started warming up to our two PoWs.
"Why are the other spirits so fanatical?" Jup had asked after a short while. "I've heard the whole 'honour' thing, but why do the ships buy in?"
Kongo pursed her lips, a frown on her face. "Nagato. She's very much the flagship for the whole fleet. Most of the girls take their cues from her. I don't know what made her soak up the propaganda so readily. But she did. And then, over the next few years, she managed to manipulate everyone else into agreeing with her, one way or another. Nagato is many things, and a persuasive speaker is certainly one of them. Fuck, even Fuso and Ise fell for it. There were a few others who didn't agree, but really it was only my sisters and I who spoke up."
It must've felt horrible, I mused, to slowly watch your nation twist into something horrible. Your friends willingly going along.
"That's terrible." Jup muttered.
"Are we talking about old Nags?" An Aussie accented voice spoke up from behind. I glanced back to see Iku approaching us.
"Oh, hello Iku." Kongo greeted. "I was just explaining to them how Nagato is the de facto leader in the IJN."
"Yeah?" The captured submarine scoffed, "She can go fuck herself. She always treated us subs like complete shit." She spit on the ground, "Bitch thought we were a bunch of dishonourable murderhappy drongos."
We both blinked. "Drongos?" Kongo asked.
I chuckled, "Idiots. Fools. You're getting more and more Aussie by the day aren't you, Iku."
She rolled her eyes, "Blame my crew."
"Right." I smiled, before turning back to the game as one of Jup's strikers managed a breakaway, much to the crowd's cheers. She made a beautiful strike, only for the keeper to make an unbelievable diving save. I spent a few more minutes watching, before I was drawn back into the conversation.
Or at least, listening to it. For a moment I sat confused as Iku and Kongo spoke. At first I thought they were speaking Japanese, but I soon realised there was a not insignificant amount of English sprinkled in, as well as sentence structures that appeared to be from both languages.
I wasn't able to parse exactly what they were speaking about, but I heard Nagato's name several times.
Finally, I interrupted after Kongo finished a sentence. "And for those of us who don't speak Japlish?"
Kongo glanced over as I spoke, "Oh we're just complaining about Nagato. Iku and I both have quite a few bones to pick with her."
"That reminds me," I said, "I don't suppose one of you could teach me Japanese?"
The battleship blinked, "You want to learn Japanese? Why?"
I shrugged, "'Know thy enemy' and all that. Understanding uncoded radio intercepts would be handy."
Kongo paused, and seemed to think about it briefly. "Alright, I can teach you. When do you want to start?"
I grinned. "Why not now?"
MARCH 27 1943
1302 HOURS
Later in the war, I'd be immensely thankful that I'd had the forethought to ask Kongo to teach me Japanese. It was a useful skill to understand and speak you foes' language. But two months in, I was slightly regretting it. I may have already spoken six languages to varying degrees of proficiency, but I was no natural polyglot. I'd very much 'cheated' thanks to my crew transferring their language skills to me.
Learning a language the normal way? Especially one as divorced from my European languages as Japanese? God it was hard. But I had plenty of time, and I was nothing if not stubborn. By the end of March I was semi-fluent, able to carry basic conversation with Kongo. Not great, but progress.
I'd spent the morning in the baths before getting lunch with Kongo, and taking the opportunity to practice my Japanese more (My accent was still terrible). I was just heading back to the baths when my radio crackled with Dad's voice, "Captain Windsor, my office if you would please?"
"On my way." I sent back, quickly changing course for the headquarters building.
Dad was behind his desk as I entered, as usual. "Afternoon." I greeted, "What did you need me for?"
"Afternoon Wales." He replied, "We've orders from the Admiralty."
I blinked, "But, Sir, we're still being repaired. We're not ready for a sortie. I still only have two guns!"
"Oh?" He gave me a faux surprised look, "Are you too damaged to escort two Japanese battleships by train to Perth?"
I blinked. "Oh. Uhhh. No? I mean yes, we can do that. Why?"
"The brass have decided it will be safer to keep them away from the Pacific War. They don't seem to wholly believe Kongo, but they do believe her claims about hating the Germans. They've decided it will be safer to put the two up in the English countryside, where they can't simply sail away back to their Navy. Seven-niner is to escort them to Perth by a specifically chartered train, where you are to hand them off to a convoy that will take them back to Blighty." He explained.
"When do we leave?" I asked.
"The Thirtieth."
I nodded, "I'll make the necessary arrangements then."
AN: This one fought me, for some damn reason. Not fully satisfied with it, but hey, gotta get it out eventually. Funnily enough I think this was the longest gap between chapters since I started posting this. Shows you how much of a bitch it was to write lol.
George Thurston meets his daughters
George Thurston hadn't known how to react when he first heard about the ship spirits. It was a very strange feeling to know that all the ships he had designed, had their own feelings, a culture even. It was … a peculiar feeling.
Not long after the press had been allowed to disclose their existence (due to his links with Vickers, he had known quite a bit sooner), one of his grandsons had asked some questions he wasn't certain how to answer. But it did answer something else. Whatever else, his grandson was correct in calling the ships he designed family.
With the Japanese aware of Kongo and Haruna being allied POW's. And them hardly capable of getting to them now they were in England. George Thurston received permission to visit the two Japanese battleships.
"You are aware that those guns would barely even scratch the paint on a battlecruiser, right?" George couldn't help asking the guards outside, oh he knew they had received changes and were now considered fast battleships by the Japanese. But he couldn't help remembering Kongo as the battlecruiser he had seen completed on the 16th of April, 1913.
"Naturally sir", one of the guards admitted, "there aren't any real procedures for free spirit POW's just yet. As far as I know, they are the only ones. But we are mostly here to keep others out, the press for one. If miss Kongo and miss Haruna want to escape, there is nothing a few guards could do to stop them."
"I wasn't certain what to think about it, when I first heard about spirits", George Thurston admitted, he was sitting at a table with Kongo and Haruna drinking tea, "I am still proud of the work I did designing yourselves and the others. But it was a strange feeling, to suddenly become aware that I helped create life and never even realized it. It was actually one of my grandsons who finally made it click."
"What happened?" Kongo asked.
"He asked me why his Japanese aunts fought Britain", George Thurston clarified, "I couldn't find a way to explain this to a six year old. But it did clarify much. In a way you are my daughters. The both of you, built in Britain or Japan, it doesn't change that my team designed you girls."
"I never really thought of it like that", Kongo had to admit, "but now you say it out loud, it kind of fits."
The rest of the visit passed too quickly, Kongo and Haruna had been happy to see a picture of the boy that had called the Kongo sisters his aunts. Maybe one day they would be able to have a family meeting? Father's human children and all the remaining spirit children. A nice thought to be sure.
Thanks to the simultaneous threat and value of our two prisoners, the brass had chartered us a special train to transport us and our PoWs to Perth. Or rather, several trains, as Australia didn't have a unified rail gauge yet, necessitating swapping trains at a couple points. Still, each one had a pair of sleeping cars, and a dining car, so the trip was spent in relative luxury.
APRIL 1 1943
0901 HOURS
It was morning on the second day of our journey to Perth. It'd been a surprisingly enjoyable trip so far. The rhythmic clack-clack of the rail cars' wheels was almost as soothing as the hum of boilers and rocking of waves. Howe and I had joined Kongo and Haruna to eat, while the rest of the girls were scattered around the dining car eating their own breakfasts.
I'd just polished off my own eggs and sausage while Howe sat across from me, newspaper in hand. She'd made a habit of keeping up with the news. In this case, she'd gotten the paper when the train had stopped for coal and water just after we'd awoken. Beside us, Haruna and Kongo were enjoying their own eggs and sausage.
I'd just taken a sip from my tea when Howe drew all of our attention with a gasp. I gave her a concerned look, "Sis?"
She looked over the paper at me, eyes wide, "Hitler has agreed to surrender."
I froze. "What?" How? There was no way. The Nazis had fought to the end. Unless… Had us SHIPs really tipped the balance so far that even Adolf bloody Hitler realised how futile his fight was? Could it really be?
I gestured for the paper, "Give me that."
My sister was all too happy to hand it over. Sure enough, right on the front page of the Sydney Herald, was a picture of Der Fuhrer looking uncharacteristically calm and solemn before a microphone. 'Hitler Admits Defeat: Admits Nazi Atrocities Were Evil'.
For a few moments I just stared. It was too good to be true. But as I read the frontpage article, everything seemed real, describing how the Germans were suing for peace. We'd done it.
And then I noticed the date at the top of the paper.
Hurriedly, hoping I wasn't right, I flipped to the second page, and it's own Headline: 'April Fools!'
I lowered the paper and gave Howe a glare. She gave a full belly laugh, "April Fools Wales!"
I pouted. "Now that's just mean, Sis. You got my hopes up for a moment there."
"Sorry." She smiled, "You should have seen your face though."
Kongo was grinning when she poked me with her elbow, "She got you good, Wales."
I threw up my arms, "I hate all of you. Betrayed by my own sister!"
Kongo snorted, "Still, better than the time Hiei convinced Kirishima she could interact with her crew as a prank."
"What?" My sister blinked, "How?"
Haruna grinned at the memory, "Knowing her crew to a T, a lot of planning, and a lot of good acting."
Kongo giggled, "She had Kirishima trying to make herself visible for a whole week before she figured out it was a prank." She gave a wistful smile, before turning back to me. "You played any good pranks?"
A certain memory quickly came back to me. "Yes, I have," I replied with a grin, "The first thing you need to know, is that KGV and I are identical twins. Same eyes, same hair, same face, same everything. We just dress and wear our hair differently. So it's nearly impossible to get us mixed up. But as a steel hull…"
"You could change your clothes and appearance at will…" Kongo muttered, catching on. "Oh I see where this is going."
I nodded, a small laugh escaping me. "I made myself look like Kay, and we pranked Queen Elizabeth, by having one of us disappear while the other came from somewhere else. Elizabeth got so confused."
Everyone shared a laugh. "Kay never told me about that." Howe said, smiling. "But that seems exactly something she'd drag you into, Wales."
"Indeed." I smiled. I'd been so… young back then. "Hopefully we'll get to see her again soon."
Kongo's face fell. "The same for Kirishima and Hiei."
Haruna gave a sad look, "They probably think we're dead."
"Most likely." The elder sister replied.
I placed a hand on her shoulder, "I promise, if I can, I will give them your letter."
She turned to me and gave me a small smile, "Thank you, Wales." Then Kongo raised her breakfast tea, "To absent sisters."
"May they be happy, healthy and safe." I added, raising my own cup.
As we sipped, a sudden jolt caused some of Kongo's tea to spill onto the summer dress she was wearing. "Shit! Bloody train!"
I had to hold back a snort at her indignity. "First time aboard one?"
She glowered at my mirth as she tried to dry her dress with a napkin. "Of course. Not like I ever had reason to ride one when I was hullbound."
"Well, I think it's rather novel." Haruna chimed in.
"I'm not saying it's not." Kongo replied, "But would it hurt them to make the ride a bit smoother?"
"Oh, don't be a wimp." I spoke, "It's not that bad."
"Yeah." Haruna chimed in, "It's better than… Ummm… The other parts of being human?"
At that, Kongo gave a horrified shudder, "Eugh, don't remind me."
I shared a glance with Howe before my sister asked the question we were both thinking. "What other parts?"
Kongo went red. "Well… Ummmm."
"Big sis hates using the bathroom." Haruna suddenly spoke for her.
The battlecruiser gave her sister a scandalized look. "Haruna!"
"What? It's true!"
I blinked, dumbfounded. That had not been the answer I was expecting. "What? Why?"
Kongo shuddered again. "It's-! I… I'm making that. Inside me! It's… Euuuuuugh!"
Howe shared my confusion. "But, you had toilets and a sanitary system aboard right. With your crew…"
"That's different!" The brunette burst. "That just passes through and gets dumped in the sea. But this… My body is making it! Inside me!"
I just shook my head in amusement. What a strange thing to get hung up on. I mean, sure. Human waste was… well, human waste. But it wasn't that different than disposing of it as a ship.
My sister seemed just as confused and amused as me. "Still better than having your period."
That got a fresh disgusted shudder out of Kongo. "Can we please stop talking about how disgusting the human body can be?"
"Look on the bright side, sis." Haruna tried to cheer her up, "At least having a period means you can be a mother if you want."
I blinked. Huh. She was most likely right. I hadn't exactly given it any thought.
"Oh." Kongo muttered in realization. "I… Do you want children, Haruna."
The younger sister's face reddened slightly, "I… I think so, yes. Once the war is over and things settle down."
"Awww. That's sweet." My own sister chimed in.
A sudden thought occurred to me, "Speaking of children… Would our children be ships too, or normal humans?"
That caused everyone's brows to furrow. "That… huh. That's a really good question." Kongo muttered, "I guess someone will have to test it, once this is all over."
I hummed. "I suppose so." I gave a small shake of my head, "It's times like these that remind me of how much we still don't know about ourselves…"
"Too true." Kongo agreed. "Oh well, there will be time for scientific experimentation after the war."
"Agreed."
APRIL 9 1943
2020 HOURS
It was late in the evening when we finally arrived in Perth, only to be immediately bundled onto some Navy trucks to be driven to the Naval base. It was a bit maddening really. After so long cooped up on the train, most of us were rather antsy.
But finally, after a long drive, we arrived at the base, and were soon herded into the dorms. Guards were posted at the entrance, and we had a whole building to ourselves. Kongo and Haruna would be joining us, where we could keep an eye on them.
Most of the girls went straight to bed. I stayed up a bit longer, not quite being that tired yet. I ended up in the common room in a comfortable sitting chair, a book in hand, tea on the coffee table before me.
Kongo soon joined me, her own cup of steaming tea in hand, and settled down with her own book.
"You also enjoy a good book before bed?" I couldn't help but ask.
She nodded, "I find it helps calm me down so I can sleep better. You?"
"The same." I replied. "What are you reading?"
"For Whom the Bell Tolls." She held it up for me to see, "I'm told it's a good read. How about you?"
"Good book." I nodded, "I read it back before Guadalcanal. I'm reading This Above All at the moment."
"What's it about?"
"A love story about a British Army Private who survived Dunkirk. Takes place during the Battle of Britain. Romance Novels aren't usually my thing, but Howe recommended it to me."
"Hmmm." She made an acknowledgement, and we lapsed into a silence only broken by the occasional quiet sound of turning pages.
"So." Kongo spoke a few minutes later, "When does the convoy arrive?"
I glanced up at her, "Tomorrow. Then a couple days for them to unload and load, and then you depart."
"And we'll have a SHIP escort?"
I nodded. "Yes."
"Any idea who?"
I shrugged, "Need-to-know. They didn't tell me."
"Ah, so me bein' here's a righ' surprise then', huh lass?"
My eyes swung up to the entrance, behind Kongo's chair. There, leaning casually against the wall, was a certain blue eyed brunette Scot. "Repulse!?"
"Tha's me." She replied, with a grin. "Been a minute, ey Wales?"
Before I knew it, I'd jumped to my feet and pulled my old friend into a happy hug. "What the hell are you doing here 'Pulse!" I asked with a huge grin as we separated.
"Same thin' ye' are." She replied, gesturing at our two charges. "Escortin' me cousins back te' Blighty. Speakin' of." My old division mate turned to Kongo, who'd also stood up. "Long time no see, Cous."
The Japanese battlecruiser smiled, "It's good to finally meet face to face, Repulse. Sorry about shooting at you last time."
"All good, lass." Repulse beamed, "Ye' didnae hit anythin' important anyways. Come 'ere."
I couldn't help but smile as the two cousins hugged. Once they separated, my old friend glanced between us, "Nae, ken someone please tell me how th' fuck Kongo ended up as a PoW?"
Said PoW snorted, "That's a long story. Why don't we all sit down and get a cup."
"Sure."
A few moments later we were seated around the coffee (Tea) table, fresh cups of tea in hand. "Well," I began, "It was at the Fifth Battle of Savo. The IJN sent both Yamatos, Kongo and Haruna, plus ten or so cruisers and escorting destroyers to dig us out of Ironbottom Sound. We had myself and Howe, as well as Washington and South Dakota, just over a dozen cruisers and twenty destroyers."
"In a thunderstorm." Kongo added.
"In a thunderstorm." I agreed. "You couldn't see more than five hundred yards, at best. We were south of Savo, and just started to head north. Turns out, the Japanese had slipped in in between us and Savo, so the ground clutter prevented us from picking them up on our radars."
"We didn't spot the Allied fleet until their screening destroyers were through our line." Kongo took over. "When we did, well, everybody turned their spotlights on and all hell broke loose. When I looked to starboard, there was a certain modern fast battleship steaming right towards me at flank."
An amused smile crossed my face. "I broke their line between the trailing Yamato-"
"That was Musashi."
"Right, behind Musashi and across Kongo's bow. Then came hard about. We ended up broadside to broadside at, what… five hundred yards at most?"
Kongo nodded, "My rangefinders were reading 490."
The wide eyed look Repulse was giving us was comical. "Five hundred yards!? Fucken' Christ! Ye' two were doin' Victory proud, wern't ye'?"
I smiled, "Something like that."
Kongo gestured at me, "She got her guns around first. Blew up two of my turrets and a pair of boilers. Then I hit her with my remaining four guns…"
"Destroyed my A turret, and No.4 boiler."
Kongo nodded, "And then she finished me off with the help of Jupiter, I believe."
"Yes. After that I ran into one of the two Yamatos-I believe the nameship herself-And she… Well. No two ways about it, she took me apart. Destroyed my guns and left me operating on one boiler. I ended up climbing aboard Kongo's sinking hull to avoid a torpedo spread once Howe and Boise managed to cover my retreat."
Kongo nodded, "At which point, we ended up speaking. And after a few minutes, she asked me to surrender. I agreed, and she activated me. After which, we went and activated Haruna, and the rest is history."
Repulse gave a small nod, smiling. "Well, fer' once Wales' overblown conscience ends up bein' a good thing. Well done lass. And thank you. Thank you so much, fer takin' me cousin alive."
I smiled back, "It was the right thing to do."
"And may I apologize that such a thing was even necessary." Kongo added. "None of any of this should have happened."
"Hey." Repulse put a hand on her Cousin's shoulder. "None o' it is yer fault. Ye' could nae do anythin'. And nea' tha' ye' ken, yer' doin' the righ' thin'."
Kongo gave Repulse a small smile, "Thank you, Repulse." She sighed, "Bloody hell. I never thought I'd see the day that I wished I'd been commissioned into a different Navy."
Repulse's brow rose, "Now there's a thought. Imagine you'd been delayed 'til th' Great War. Think th' RN woulda' bought you?"
That brought Kongo up short. "It's scary how plausible that sounds."
I chuckled at her surprised look. "HMS Kongo has an interesting ring to it."
She shook her head, "They would have renamed me."
"Aye. Bu' what?" Repulse spoke, "Wha' does Kongo mean, anyway?"
"Oh, I'm named after a mountain near Osaka." She explained.
"Aye, I knew tha'." 'Pulse replied, "But does it mean anything?"
Kongo made a so-so gesture, "Not necessarily, but you could translate the kanji as 'Diamond.'"
"HMS Diamond." I muttered, "Isn't there a D-class destroyer with that name?"
Repulse winced, "Aye, I knew 'er in passin'. She wen' down off Greece, early '41."
I pursed my lips. "Oh. Sorry."
"Tha's war, lass." My old friend shrugged.
I quickly turned the subject back, "Well, what was the naming convention for battlecruisers back then?"
"Well…" Repulse began, before the spark of inspiration appeared in her eyes. "I've go' it!" She spun to Kongo. "Diamond. Diamonds are hard te' destroy. We had the 'In' girls back then. Invincible. Indomitable. Indefatigable." She grinned and pointed at Kongo, "I dub thee HMS Indestructible."
Kongo blinked for a moment before a grin appeared on her face, "Indestructible." She gave a small laugh, "I like it."
I nodded, "A good name. Perhaps if you ever need a codename…"
"Aye." Repulse nodded, what could be called 'a shit eating grin' inching onto her face "Jus' like 'ow Wales is USS Cambria te' th' comms boys."
I blinked, "I'm what?"
"USS Cambria. On th' official comms. Wha'? Nae one tell ye'?" Repulse asked.
I threw my hands in the air. "No! And really!? Cambria?! There's got to be some Nips who know Latin!"
Kongo quirked her head to the side, "A few."
Repulse gave another chuckle, before being interrupted by a sudden yawn. "Oh 'ell."
"Tired?" I asked.
"Aye." She replied, "Been awake fer' a week with me rigging on, sailin' over 'ere. If ye' don' mind, I think I'm gonna ge' some sleep."
Kongo nodded, "Good idea. It's getting late. And we'll all still be here tomorrow."
I gave a small nod, holding back a yawn of my own as I stood and headed for my room. "Agreed. I'll see you in the morning, girls."
