18 Chapter 17: Questions Answered (Sort of)

In order to gain a better understanding of the current situation, a meeting was called and all Personnel-in-Charge are to be present at Yokosuka Naval Academy. The meeting room was quiet. Apart from Admiral Zain and our special guest, all five Grand Admirals and the Admirals from the main districts are physically present. Even Commanders from the Support branch are here. Standing behind us are our secretary ships and PAs. The PAs, Personal Assistant, are ensigns assigned to assist their superiors in the non-combat units such as Logistics and Intelligence. The folks over at Brunei are remoting in, since there is still work to be done over there. We are currently waiting for the Marshal Admiral, Kirihara Mikoto. Rondo's grandfather. The man in charge of the entire organisation in the country and its international branches.

The door swung open and an old man with ashen hair walked in, his skin etched with age. He is here. Escorting him is his wife, Ise-class Battleship Ise. All of us stood at attention and greeted,

"Good morning, Marshal Admiral!" (All of us)

I can feel the Marshal Admiral sharp gaze as he scanned the room, before walking to his seat. The sound of his boots echoed through the room as he walked. Despite being over 70 years old, he still looks tough. His rugged, stern expression, his posture, how tight his uniform looks on the outside, nothing about him seems like an old man way past his retirement age. The gold epaulettes on his shoulders glittered, the golden eagle and cherry blossoms attesting to his rank as Marshal.

Unlike the previous deadbeat rats who sat on their porcelain thrones and ordered their people around, Mikoto is the real deal. He served in the JMSDF as a ship Admiral for over 50 years before earning his current position in the IJN. He has an insane amount of experience under his belt, from dealing with pirates to assisting Shipgirls during the first year of contact. There are quite a few rumours about the Marshal Admiral, like how he killed an entire ship of pirates during a six-month tour in the Caribbean with just a knife or how he single handedly fought and beat a Light Cruiser Tsu-class. He did kill an entire ship of pirates, albeit not on his own or only with a knife. He was with another two guys and they carried Howa Type 89 assault rifles. The latter is only half true. He did wrestle with an Abyssal but wasn't able to beat it by himself and it wasn't a Tsu-class but rather a Battleship Ru-class. About five years ago, during a practice session to test the shipgirls abilities, they were attacked by an Ru-class. Mikoto jumped off the battleship he was commandeering and wrestled it to save a certain injured shipgirl from being shot at point blank. He was successful in both saving her and creating an opening for his group to sink the Ru-class. If it weren't for that, Ise wouldn't be standing by his side now. He was also the one who spearheaded and pushed for all of the reforms and turned the organisation into what it is today.

"Good morning. At ease. Take a seat. You girls too. No need to stand." (Marshal Admiral)

Even though it's not an order, we quickly sat down and remained at attention. It wasn't out of fear, well maybe a little bit since he is known to be rather strict, but out of respect and also basic discipline.

"I said be at ease. I want this to be a semi-formal meeting for all of us to share information. For starters, I believe introductions are in order. First of all, please introduce yourself, Commander of Azur Lane." (Marshal Admiral)

"Thank you, sir. My name is Suwanto Ao. It's a pleasure to be here." (Suwanto Ao)

"Greetings, Commander Suwanto. I'm Kirihara Mikoto, the head of this organisation we call IJN. I suppose the name sounds familiar to you?" (Marshal Admiral)

"No, sir. Not at all." (Suwanto Ao)

Apart from the information we know of, such as the Sirens, the war in the other world, the four main factions, a lot more was revealed by this Commander. In his world, due to the Siren's blatant interference, technology was advanced way more than what we have back in the 1940s. They have computers, smartphones, satellites, nuclear warheads deadlier than the ones that ended the war in this world, and terraformation and advanced land reclamation technology. Landmasses, however, were severely limited and the climate was all over the place. Over there, hail could fall in the summer of America and Haiti experienced a year-round snow. The size of Africa and Russia is way smaller to ours as nearly half the country is underwater. Venice was sunk and the rest of France had to build walls and taller infrastructure to counteract the rising water levels. More than half of South-East Asia has disappeared, either sunken or destroyed by the Sirens. Singapore, Brunei, Timor-Leste, Vietnam, and a lot more countries in the region have been wiped off the map over there. In short, by the 1940s, their world is in a mess. I thought there were only four factions. but I was wrong. There are the Italians, which have been split into two factions, one allied and one hostile, the Chinese, Russian, and French, which also split into two opposing factions. Currently, Azur Lane consists of Eagle Union, Royal Navy, Dragon Empery, Iris Libre and Northern Parliament. Their opponents, the Red Axis, comprise of the Iron Blood, Sakura Empire, Vichya Dominion, and Sardegna Empire. The Commander aims to reunite all factions under the Azur Lane and focus on fighting for humanity and against the Sirens instead of each other. As of now, a small portion of the Sakura Empire, led by Nagato-chan, has joined Azur Lane.

About a quarter through the meeting, the Marshal Admiral dismissed the shipgirls and the PAs, telling them to roam around the base while waiting for us to finish. It's times like this when I wish I wasn't in this position. These types of long, boring meetings are painful. Informative, yes, but it's way too long and boring.

We learned more about the Sirens and their different categories, more specifically, the Elites. The mass-produced ones and Executor classes are tough and aplenty, but that's all there is to them. They are just like our Abyssals so it's a no-brainer when it comes to fighting them. The Elites, regrettably, are on a whole other level. Their eldritch abilities include Energy Manipulation, Information Analysis, Non-Corporeal, Time Manipulation, Causality Manipulation, Immortality, Precognition, Reality and Conceptual Manipulation, and a whole list of god-level cheat powers. The only reason they aren't using these powers to enslave the world is because of some convoluted plan they have for humanity. They are obsessed with experimentation and pushing for the evolution of humanity. This obsession led to the creation of Wisdom Cubes, which in turn, created the Shipgirls of the other world. What is unclear is why did they teleport all of them into our world. What is the point of all this?

In exchange, we shared information about our world, the Abyssals, and our Shipgirls. Although both words mean Shipgirl, the Kanji for each of them is different. We use the word KanMusu, while they use KanSen to describe theirs. The KanSen are constructed from the same essence as the Sirens, Wisdom Cubes and data apparently, while our KanMusu are the manifestation of souls and memories of the sunken warships from the war. Since they are made of Wisdom Cubes, the KanSen share similar abilities with the Sirens, namely Energy Manipulation, Information Analysis, and Immortality. They can alternate between compressing and equipping their riggings and summoning their namesake ship. Compared to them, our KanMusu pale in comparison. Our KanMusu have the power to deal with the Abyssals, but only with their equipment. Without it, they are just like us humans, both biologically and physically, albeit with sharper senses, increased physical strength and stamina, and increased regeneration. The KanSen share these traits as well, and both of them can consume raw materials such as crude petroleum and steel. The KanMusu do not age physically but they are not immortal. They will die if they get killed, obviously. Sunken KanMusu can turn into Abyssals, and sunken Abyssal can turn back into Shipgirls. Using this two-way relationship, IJN has been trying to eliminate as many Abyssals as we can and save as much KanMusu as possible. No two KanMusu from the same namesake ship can exist at the same time.

The Abyssals are believed to be the lingering regrets of the sunken ships. All of them are beast-like in nature, with the exception of Princess and Demon types having a greater intelligence than their smaller and weaker subordinates. Early research on a captured and revived Destroyer I-class suggests that they share the same DNA sequence with us humans, but this theory has been widely dismissed worldwide by the public. I understand it though. How could we humans share the same DNA as these monsters? That's outrageous. This is what most people thought when such a discovery was released to the public. Then again, we share the same DNA sequence as monkeys and bananas. So why is that widely accepted but the former isn't?

"Alright. I think we have all we need to know." (Marshal Admiral)

Finally! My butt and back hurts from sitting so long!

"Likewise, Marshal Admiral Kirihara. This information is extremely valuable to us." (Suwanto Ao)

"So, what are your plans now?" (Marshal Admiral)

Hurry up and end this already!

"I'm not too sure. First, we need to set up a base island. Then, I plan to reunite Azur Lane under one banner. I don't understand why we were brought here. The fight in my world was far from over." (Suwanto Ao)

"That's for them to know and for us to figure it out. You can stay in my base if you want. There is no need to move out." (Admiral Zain)

"I appreciate the offer but we have already troubled you long enough. If we set up a base island, we will be able to find and bring back our lost girls." (Suwanto Ao)

"And how will you plan to achieve that? Do you have the land reclamation tech with you?" (Grand Admiral Hasake)

"Right now, no. I have yet to find sufficient wisdom cubes to recreate the necessary technology we need. I'm sorry but we will need to stay in Brunei for a little longer." (Suwanto Ao)

"No need for that. We are all in this together." (Admiral Zain)

"Admiral Zain is right. We are allies now. You can stay in Brunei as long as you need until you are able to establish a base of operations. We will help you as well in times of need." (Marshal Admiral)

"Thank you. Azur Lane will also support you in times of need. I swear on my name and position." (Suwanto Ao)

"We will keep in contact. With that, we have covered everything on our agenda. I hereby conclude the end of this meeting. Thank you all for coming today. You are dismissed." (Marshal Admiral)

All of us stood up immediately and at attention. God, my legs are sore! We waited for the Marshal Admiral to leave first, followed by the Grand Admirals with the exception of Rondo who chose to stay, before all of us heaved a sigh of relief.

"Christ, five hours of this. How the hell can he sit for five hours?" (Admiral Yuito)

"The old man is a tough one. He can remain motionless for two hours straight before needing to wiggle his toes. Sitting and talking for five hours straight is nothing for him." (Rondo)

"Does it have to do with age or something? The other old men seem perfectly fine as well."

"Nah. It's just an act. They are all so full of pride. They will be in a hell lot of pain tomorrow." (Rondo)

I arched my back and did some kicks to try and release some of the tension. Five hours is way too long for sharing information. My whole body is sore.

"What should we do now?" (Lieutenant Satou)

"Let's go have lunch first. I'm starving." (Admiral Kotobuki)

"Let's. It's curry rice today." (Admiral Akiyama)

"Ooh. You can never go wrong with curry rice." (Commander Satou)

All of us left the meeting room with shaking legs and an aching back. At least for me.

"Good work, Admiral~" (Zuihou)

Zuihou walked up to greet me as soon as I exited the meeting room. How long has she been waiting out here?

"It's finally over. Have you had your lunch?"

The cute girl shook her head,

"Not yet. I wanted to eat with you." (Zuihou)

Aww~ She is so sweet. I pet her head.

"Let's eat together. I'm starving."

She smiled brightly,

"Yes! Let's go!" (Zuihou)

We made our way to the cafeteria.

"Are you alright? You are walking funny." (Zuihou)

"I could use a massage, to be honest."

"Then, I will give you one later in the rest lounge. I already booked a spot for us. Ehehe~" (Zuihou)

"I will take you up on that offer."