Chapter Text
The docks are loud with machinery and shouting as kansen refuel and rearm over the course of the night. Even from my house, I hear the beeping of forklifts, and cranes creak under the sound of Little E’s soft breathing as we try to sleep together.
She’s tucked under my arm, her head on my shoulder as I hold her close. Ardent stares out the window from his perch, his eyes narrow. I’ve already used all the wisdom cubes we had to produce oil and other supplies for us, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve forgotten something.
TB feels my stress rising, “I would have told you of any inconsistencies in our inventory. We will be combat-ready by dawn.”
Not wanting to wake Little E, I tap on the bed in morse code, “I know. I trust you, but I can’t help but wonder.”
“Would you like me to distract you so you may drift off to sleep?” she offers.
I nod, “Actually, are you doing okay? During the battle, you sunk your sister ship after a cyber engagement.”
TB appears in my vision, looking down at Little E and I before wandering over to the balcony’s sliding door, “It is a pity. Nothing more.”
“Is that really all?” I tap, turning my head to watch her.
She places her hand on the glass, detailing her reflection which looks back at her, “I spoke to her in the midst of our cyber battle. She had the upper hand, in the beginning, so I sought to distract her personally. I inquired why we had to fight, that you were kinder than Forster, that she would be treated with care if she surrendered… that she would be treated like a human being,” TB turns to me, “She hesitated. She hesitated, (Y/N). So, I wiped her software.”
“You did what you had to,” I code, “I would’ve been distraught to see you shut down instead.”
“Verily,” she nods, walking over to the opposite side of the bed to stand beside me, “My algorithms fed me the same reasoning. My desire to continue serving you had simply overridden her directive to deactivate me. I do not regret it, but I certainly lament it.”
I tap on the bed again, “I’m sorry, TB.”
“There is nothing to forgive as you have not wronged me,” she lays beside me, tricking my mind into thinking my weight has shifted, “If people had to apologize for consequences beyond their control, you would have to rouse all the dead in history for it. Now, you must sleep. What can I do for you?”
I think for a moment, moving my arm to pull her closer, and I pat her back, “Pull up the names I told you to download.”
“Very well…” blue lines of names appear in my vision, “I will go down the list in alphabetical order by last name. Are you certain you will be able to sleep with this?”
“No,” I shake my head, taking a deep breath, “but I’ve got over a hundred fifty thousand names to memorize.”
The first one appears, and I whisper, “Mason R. Abbett.”
“Felix H. Abson.”
“Santiago I. Abundez.”
“John P. Acree.”
* * *
“One minute to Sunrise,” TB warns me, eyeing the digital map below her as we near our target.
I sit at the helm of the Resonant Verity, with Little E on my lap, my eyes flicking between windows as I watch the Gorgon Stare of the drones serving as my eyes. When Operation Rising Sun commenced and our ships went underway, Little E had begged me to bring her to fight. I refused, but knowing her feelings, I let her come along to observe a real battle.
If she really wants to join the Leviathan Armada when she’s older, then I need to show her the truth of warfare. She needs to feel the fear of being under the black eyes of enemy cannons as formations shift, making the moments between cannon-fire and wailing dive bombers all the more frightful. On this operation, she’ll witness the sheer scale of destruction that total war brings. If she still chooses to join the Armada… then I’ll do my best to prepare her, hoping she’ll change her mind. I don’t want to fight only for her to continue the bloodshed in her generation.
The deployment of over a thousand kansen to Siren-controlled territory is an enterprise only overshadowed by the Battle of the Pacific. In a single line formation spanning the ocean, our battle line advances with the intent of crashing upon any island like a tsunami.
Those furthest from the capital ship, and furthest to the north and south, are supplied with more fuel than those in the middle to return to the island safely. Where the reach of my commands become lost in the fog of war, my flagships command in my stead. We’re approaching Siren territory, and I’m not sure of what to expect. They could have new technology, at this point, and they could catch us completely off guard because of it.
In the view of Yamato’s overwatch drone, the first landform appears. In our radio silence, the drone rolls lightly to the left and right to confirm she has visual. Richelieu’s drone does the same, another island appearing on screen. The rest of the flagships do the same with their drones. I take a deep breath, Saint Louis and Sheffield glancing back at me, her spear and her guns at the ready, respectively.
TB zooms in on the incoming island’s form over the horizon, something I’d never be able to see with the naked eye, and I break radio silence, “Ladies… a couple of days ago, we bled humanity of any trust they might’ve had in us. Either way, these Sirens want us and them dead. We won’t have that. The good will of all the dead is with us, and we won’t make the sacrifices of the men who died in our waters be in vain. With our new level of firepower, we’ll teach the Sirens the true fear of facing a superior enemy.”
In drone cameras, jets previously launched from our carriers advance ahead of formations to deal the first strikes. TB zooms in on the island in one window, showing one Siren sitting on the beach as she watches a pair of other Sirens splash each other in the water. Her white hair is tied into a ponytail, her bored, green eyes staring off into space as she nibbles at the white flesh of a coconut. Little E sees a Siren for the first time, her hand clutching mine as she stares at the screen.
I hiss, “Turn this sh*t off…”
“Apologies,” TB cuts the camera when the Siren’s eyes widen.
Her bored expression remains in my mind, and I glance at Sheffield, who stares ahead with the same level of engagement. I close my eyes, but the roar of a formation of Super Hornets snaps them open. Five of them pass overhead in a V-formation, smoke trailing behind them as they surge forth with afterburners on.
They pull away from their bombing run, keeping formation as their cluster bombs open up over the island, drenching it in their steel rain. White sparks fly from under the shaking palm trees before the following naval barrage drowns it in feu d’enfer. TB doesn’t use our dense energy shells sparingly, our forward cannons making the ship shudder. The black smoke huffed from their barrels spark with white electricity. The captured Siren munitions land on the island, white-hot clouds exploding from their impacts as arms of lightning lash out at anything nearby, vaporizing their impact areas in a flash.
The kansen’s radio chatter echoes over each other as TB parses through them all, compiling their reports to tell me, “First line destroyed.”
“Tell everyone to hit the islands again,” I order, “I don’t want us getting pinched from behind by any survivors.”
Little E runs over to a window to watch the Reaper drones above the clouds drop more ordnance onto the island, the forest on fire as their explosions make the windows shake. Bataan’s flight of Super Hornets returns, draping another carpet of cluster munitions over the landform. We sail past the island, the remnants smoking as they’re consumed by the wildfire we started. I watch the beach, seeing no Sirens fleeing the flames.
TB watches it, too, “No signs of life detected.”
“Did you detect any distress signals?” I question.
“Negative,” she replies, looking down at her communication panel, “Flagships reply with negative as well. We may continue without resistance.”
I nod, “I’m reinstating radio silence until we reach the next island.”
Sheffield pulls the slide back on her gun, a miniature cannon battery, to check the chamber, “An entire defense line… wiped out by ghosts.”
We sail ahead as sure as the ocean current, the battle line not breaking stride as we advance to the next set of islands. However, they come early, their forms visible not far from our destruction.
“TB?” I glance at her in confusion.
“These islands do not appear on any maps known to me,” she reports.
I hiss, “They’re artificial,” I look up at the windows, seeing more islands in the drones’ views, “The Sirens aren’t willing to lose the Pacific, and they’re locking it down while they can.”
We can only move the fleet so far across the ocean before we must stop and refuel and rearm. By building artificial islands closer to normal ones, they deny any and all chance of building supply points to keep us going. They’ll try to bleed us of supplies with defense in depth, making sure we can’t rest until we’ve crossed the ocean entirely, which wouldn’t be possible as we are, anyway. No wonder the Sirens have been so dormant since the Battle of Atlantis.
“Change in plans,” I warn everyone, breaking radio silence, “We’re destroying as many of these artificial islands as we can. The Sirens are at their weakest, and we are at our strongest. We’ve got no greater chance than this. Tell all flagships to stay in formation but to engage the enemy at will. Keep an eye out for elite Sirens and Arbiters.”
“Affirmative,” TB says, my kansen already launching their jets through the drone footage, “The Sirens know we are here.”
Little E holds my hand, but I remain confident, “Good. We’d do well to see how they react.”
Siren fleets are mobilized in minutes, as expected of their computer-like efficiency. Battleships bring up the rear of cruisers and destroyers. No carriers in sight. They’re using the island for planes.
“TB, hit the island with our Reapers,” I eye the drone camera, “Right there, yes.”
A series of thousand-pound JDAMS hit the island, and TB concludes, “Airstrip nonfunctional. Air supremacy confirmed.”
After taking a deep breath, I watch as our fleet hammers the Sirens with accurate cannon-fire, our jets screaming overhead, “And so begins the modern arms race…”
Following this battle, the Sirens will know of our capabilities. While they may not understand it immediately, they’ll inevitably learn our technology and tactics with every battle following. Eventually, we’ll be evenly matched, and we’ll be back at square one after indirectly accelerating the evolution of the Sirens. For now, and the foreseeable future, we’ll reign unopposed on the battlefield.
I look at each of the kansen’s drone cameras, communicating one order or another to each flagship. When I’m finished and our island is rendered inoperable, TB holds her hands behind her back and faces me with a light smile.
“Your tactics are improving,” she says with a hint of pride.
I watch as the last of the Siren destroyers try to outmaneuver our jets, only for their bombs to pierce their decks and ignite their ammo racks, “It doesn’t feel like anything’s changed.”
TB swipes the Resonant Verity’s legacy onto the screen, highlighting the number and types of ships we’ve sunk, “It should be expected after this much time; the Sirens are superior teachers, and you learn quite well.”
New Jersey speaks over the comms, “New Jersey to Poseidon, I have visual on what appears to be a large storage of Wisdom Cubes on the island we’re engaging. Requesting permission for landfall, over.”
“Poseidon, New Jersey, you have the green light. Out.”
To my surprise, Richelieu reports the same thing. So does Yat Sen and Jean Bart. Eventually, every flagship reports cargo ships full of cubes fleeing their islands towards the backline. Thankfully, I haven’t bombed this one into oblivion yet.
“Everyone standby for plundering! Submarines, get out there and sink those cargo ships!” I run up to the comms station as TB pulls us around the island.
Shells smash against the ship and bounce off our shields, the Sirens trying to stop us from catching their supply ships. They must’ve been preparing to build more islands with these wisdom cubes. We caught them at the perfect time.
Island artillery smashes against the bridge, but our shields spare us from death. Nevertheless, Little E falls over in fright as she screams from the explosion. I pick her up in my arms as the battle proceeds. Saint Louis also comes over to comfort her, whispering in her ear as our main cannons obliterate the stern of the cargo ship ahead of us.
Wisdom Cubes are flung into the sky, shimmering and sparkling before they splash into the waves, left floating like hundreds of drowning fireflies. This load, alone, is enough to rebuild the entire island, and I grin, feeling my heart racing at the sight of them. Any cannon fire from the island is silenced by the counter barrage of my kansen.
“Get Kashino out there,” I jerk my head at Sheffield, who leaves the bridge, “All carriers, keep your jets on combat air patrol. We’re in range of the next island,” I order, turning to TB, “We’ll collect these cubes and head home. There’s bound to be an Arbiter or elite around here observing the construction.”
“Affirmative,” TB says, “Although, I am not detecting any distress signals despite our attack – a blatantly foolish mistake.”
I shake my head, “Must mean it’s on purpose, but why?”
Don’t they care about all this supply ending up in our hands? At least, do they care about the attack? This feels too purposeful, and I lean over our radar, seeing nothing behind us. No ships trickle through the battle line, either. Our submarines would’ve seen Siren ones, too.
A chill goes up my spine as I feel us being watched, “New Jersey, how goes it?”
“It’s the goddamn motherload, Honey!” She yips, “We got at least two hundred, and we’re still finding more.”
“Stay on your toes,” I order, ending the transmission as I pat Little E’s back, “Hey… are you okay?”
She trembles as she hugs my neck, and I lean back to get a look at her, seeing her grimacing.
I sigh, “You still want to join the Armada…?”
Little E nods as I set her down, “I do.”
“If we didn’t have shields, we’d be dead,” I remind her sternly, “You wouldn’t be smiling about that, would you? You still want to join, knowing that? Knowing that we’d be dead, otherwise?”
She looks up at me, my heart falling when I see the determination in her eyes, “I wanna fight like Mama! I want to make her proud!”
TB reports, “Collection complete across all fleets. Shall we retreat?”
I can only stare down at Little E, and she grins up at me despite the cannon fire shaking the battleship.
What have I done?
“Monarque?” Saint Louis picks up Little E, “Come now, we must let your father focus.”
I gulp and face TB as Louis brings Little E over to sit at the helm, “Order all kansen to retreat. Keep our jets lingering on our tails. Hard-a-starboard. Once we’ve made a one-eighty, hit flank speed.”
The ship lurches as we make a hard turn, and I have to hold onto TB’s console to stay standing. She informs, “All fleets are on the retreat. Aerial cover taking formation.”
Once we complete the turn, the engines hum louder in the belly of the ship, and we’re speeding away from the battle. Luckily, there aren’t any ships in pursuit. At least, not from what any of the carriers can report. The drones don’t show anything either. They must still be mobilizing into a larger force that can overwhelm us, or they’re afraid to meet us in open combat as we are.
As we retreat, we pass the first chain of islands, the one we destroyed still smoking with embers. A few mass-produced ships that had been anchored behind it are still sinking, their oil blackening the water around the beaches. I can only think of the Sirens playing in the water before we bombed them.
“Do you think they’d forgive me?” I whisper to TB.
“They knew the risks of fighting,” she says plainly, “Otherwise, they would not participate in war. If they wished to live, they should have surrendered.”
I glance at TB, who stands on her holographic platform, “What if they had no choice?”
Her gaze could turn the ocean to ice, “If soldiers had a choice in the matter, there would be no wars to fight.”
* * *
As the Resonant Verity docks itself at the port, Kashino docks in the space beside it, the area having been repaired by the Manjuu while we were out at sea. At once, the returning kansen begin to unload the wisdom cubes she found. Afterward, all of the other ships collecting cargo will unload one after the other, and we’ll finally rebuild the island.
Sheffield drops the gangway for us, and Little E is the first to run down, ready to go home to her friends to tell them all about the battle. From the bow, I watch her sprint straight for the tram, and Saint Louis puts her hand on my shoulder.
“When it comes to children, their path tends to find them, not vice versa,” she puts her arm around me, her voice velvety, “She may grow out of it. Do not despair.”
“What if she doesn’t?” I shake my head when the tram picks up speed and returns to the town, creaking as it runs along the barely functioning rails, “If she grows up to join the Armada… she could die. I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself, and Enty wouldn’t want this for her.”
Sheffield walks up to my other side, folding her hands in front of her, “I recall Enterprise teaching your daughter to use her rigging, did she not?”
I glance down at her, “You know about that?”
She bows her head lightly, “Forgive me, Your Majesty; Belfast and the maids tend to gossip when off duty. I hope you will forgive us for that.”
I huff and step away from the bow, “I’m not the thought police. You can talk about whatever you want. Now, let’s get to work. We’ve only got enough food and water for one day until we’re sleeping on empty stomachs. Akashi is probably already getting her grubby hands on those cubes, too, so let’s find her.”
After linking up with Akashi and the other flagships, we get together with one of the Manjuu captains who logged the necessary materials we would need to repair everything. We continue to unload the wisdom cubes in the meantime, not willing to go ahead with the reconstruction until we’ve taken a full inventory of everything.
Rain splashes onto my hand as I lean over a crate of cubes, and I look up to see gray clouds envelope the island. There was nothing like this in the forecast today. A chill goes up my spine, and I run over to the pier where Helena stares out at the sea.
“Commander…?” Helena looks up at me.
I grin, “It must be the Tempestas. TB, tell everyone to hold their fire.”
The storm passes without a thunder, and the island only ends up wetted by a short drizzle. Century-old frigates and galleons approach the island, Sao Martinho waving to us from the bowsprit as her comrades jump into the water. Kansen run over to the ladders beside the pier to pull them up.
Royal Fortune spins before curtsying in front of me, “You didn’t think we’d abandon ship, did ye, Captain?”
I huff and offer her my hand, “I did, but I didn’t blame you,” she shakes my hand, and I nod, “Thanks for coming back. We need as much help as we can get.”
Golden Hind leers at me, sighing longingly, “Oh, Captain, I will always return to you, but we didn’t come back empty-handed.”
Royal Fortune glances at the crates of wisdom cubes we’re offloading from Ting An’s vessel, grinning wider, “I think you’ll be in for a right gob smacking. Just let us dock, and we’ll show ye.”
I lift my eyebrows at her as New Jersey approaches us with the rest of the flagships, “New Jersey, take South Dakota and Massachusetts and check their cargo.”
New Jersey leaves, shouting across the docks as Royal Fortune stammers, “W-Wait, what’s the big deal?”
“I’m just trying to be efficient here,” I point at the beach, “Tell Martinho to bring the galleon closer, and my kansen will unload on the beach. We can’t afford to waste time.”
Royal Fortune swats Whydah’s shoulder when she nods off on her feet, “Hey! You heard him!”
“Wh-What did he say?” Whydah shrinks away from Royal Fortune when she groans.
I huff with a smirk and leave them, looking up at Tirpitz, “I left some of my plans back in my office. I’ll be back.”
Leaving the hustle and bustle of the docks, I walk up the stairs of the office building to my workspace. I freeze after I enter, seeing Dr. Anzeel sitting on the couch on one side of the office.
“The f*ck…?” I mutter.
She looks up at me with nonchalant eyes, “Hey.”
I stagger back in surprise, “TB?”
“I see her, too,” TB responds, “Strange.”
“Strange is right,” I shake my head, “How the hell did you get here? Why are you here?”
Dr. Anzeel tilts her head at me, “I got some help from my daughters, that’s all. As for why I’m here,” she stands up, patting dust off of her butt, “I merely wanted to check up on you.”
I step back into the doorway, “Think I’ll believe that?”
She sighs, pushing up her glasses, “Fine. I suppose I feared for my research after I freed you, so I decided to move everything here. Chkalov will find that I moved in with her. Hope you don’t mind the intrusion, but I trust your protection better than the Eagle Union.”
“Hold on… Who brought you here if it wasn’t the Unionites?” I question.
“I believe you met her already,” she looks me in the eye, “Ash.”
“Enterprise…” I murmur.
“She told me everything about your meeting. The flight from the Sirens in the pouring rain… the beach after the Battle of the Pacific,” she walks over to my desk, “That girl has quite the sob story, and you almost tempted her that time.”
I close the door behind me, “Let’s stay on topic, please. You really just came here to continue your research? You’ve got no other reasons?”
Anzeel shrugs, “The company of my daughters is quite nice. I am a bit curious about how they live their day-to-day lives outside of battle, but, yes, I came here for research, mainly. After your massacre in New York, I was forced to relocate when they figured out TB took the Verity and made a direct course to you. Such a plan could not have been pulled off in the moment with the help of your kansen,” she points at herself, “My time was limited, so I left while my cover was still in place. I believe we can help each other, (Y/N).”
“I don’t need your help,” I huff, “Chkalov is enough. We’ve got plenty of wisdom cubes to last a month, at least, and we are the strongest military power in all of human history.”
Anzeel walks over to the destroyed wall, peering out at the docks, “Hm… I see you’ve enough cubes to last longer than six months.”
I step over to get a look, but I keep well away from the window’s edge, “Your glasses broken or something? What we’ve got so far is three months’ worth of cubes, I’ll give you that. I wasn’t born yesterday.”
She sighs, “That tells me all I need to know. You have no clue how to properly wield the power of wisdom cubes. Allow me to teach you while I stay. It will be my way of thanking you for granting me asylum, and it’ll be a good trust exercise, won’t it?”
TB interrupts us, “New Jersey is requesting radio communication.”
I look away from Anzeel, “Granted. New Jersey? What do we got?”
“A metric f*ck ton of cubes, that’s what we got!” She laughs, “This is at least half of what we got from the mission earlier!”
“Half?” I repeat, “How’d they find so many?”
New Jersey pauses, “Martinho says they found a lone cargo ship full of them, but no one was pilotin’ it.”
“That’s impossible. Mass produced ships always need Sirens to pilot them remotely. There had to have been one nearby, especially if it was filled to the brim with cubes,” I reason.
“I’m tellin’ ya, Honey, they say no one was there,” she insists.
Although bewildered, I nod, “Okay… Check the cargo more thoroughly. Martinho will unload last. I’ll be down soon.”
Anzeel tilts her head at me, “How many cubes do you use to summon a kansen?”
“Why?” I ask with a shrug.
She stares at me over the rim of her glasses, not willing to negotiate an answer.
I sigh, “About a crate’s worth. At least, that’s what we’ve done whenever I personified a blueprint ship.”
Anzeel holds her hands out, motioning them with her enunciations, “And you haven’t resummoned your fallen kansen?”
Staring at her, my heart quickens, “I tried it in the past… I couldn’t revive Yorktown.”
She sighs again, “You should be grateful I’m here,” Anzeel walks over, standing an arm’s length in front of me, “Did you know that there was once a sloop-of-war in the Continental Army named Enterprise?”
“No…” my response comes out more like a sigh than a word.
Anzeel pats my shoulder again, “Any sailor will tell you a vessel’s spirit does not lie within its hull, but in its name. Remember this.”
Without a parting word, Anzeel leaves me with tears in my eyes as I stare out at the port.
* * *
It took no convincing for the kansen to assemble on the beach in rank and file, the spoils of war laid out beside the ocean waves. All of the kansen remember the thousands of men who died and washed ashore, but I’m certain they believe their sacrifices mean something now.
Anzeel guides me on how to summon more efficiently. I can hardly focus on her words as I imagine what I’ll say to all of them, but I have come to understand that I’ve been using wisdom cubes all wrong.
In the past, I’d hoped to more easily beckon a kansen from across the veil using a high quantity of cubes as a sort of beacon whilst I used my imagination as a conduit. Now, with Anzeel’s teachings, I figure out it’s the other way around. The cubes are a conduit, and I am the beacon.
Behind me, Amagi and Tosa grasp each other’s hands as they stare at the cubes in front of us, and I close my eyes. Anzeel instructed me to take my time, so I do. The images of Akagi and Kaga become clearer than ever before, and I continue repeating their names in my head.
I find myself back in the deep blue of the Pacific waters around Midway Atoll, and I look down, the two of them sinking below me. I reach out for them, both in my mind and in real life, and they swim upward.
“Come on…” I whisper to myself, tears bubbling below my eyelids, “Swim. Come on.”
Seeing me hold my hand out for them, Kaga grins like an audacious fox. Akagi, with familiar obsession in her eyes, kicks against the water and clasps her hand around mine. I gasp when I feel it, and I open my eyes wide.
In a plume of smoke, Akagi stands right in front of me, and Kaga holds her shoulder behind her. The two of them stare at me in awe. Tosa and Amagi are breathless like statues, and not a single kansen makes a sound. Anzeel grins beside us.
My eyes become cloudy, “Amagi-class battleship, Akagi… Izumo-class helicopter carrier, Kaga…” I bring my lips into a trembling smile, “Welcome home.”
Akagi leaps into my arms, and I grasp her in a tight hug as she laughs, “Shikikan-sama!” Tosa and Amagi tackle Kaga into the sand, sobbing, “Shikikan-sama… Akagi missed you so!” She kisses my cheek, “I knew you would save us! I always knew it, even in the end!”
“Akagi!” I cry into her hair, her warmth compelling, “I’m sorry. I should’ve saved you sooner, but I was a coward. I was a coward!”
“Don’t be silly!” She smiles as she cups my face, her tails furling around me, “Oh, Shikikan-sama… I would have waited an eternity if it meant I could see your face again,” Akagi’s tears mix with my own when she hugs me, her cheek brushing against mine, “I was right to entrust my love and sisters to you.”
Kaga has to nudge Akagi off of me, and her sobbing sisters wrap her up in another hug, “I always thought you were a weakling,” Kaga smirks, her arms strong and possessive when she curls them around my neck, “but a weakling never could have wrenched my soul from Death’s clutches. I am proud to sail in your fleet once again, Shikikan-sama… No… Heika-sama sounds much more fitting.”
Akagi laughs behind her, “A wonderful title! Why didn’t I think of that earlier?”
Her laughter gives me the strength to smile again as other Sakurans emerge to hail the return of their legendary sisters.
I walk over to the next assortment of cubes with Anzeel, “Now for Hiryuu and Souryuu…”
She holds her hand up to me, “There are no variations of them to summon, but don’t worry, I will bring them back.”
With wet cheeks, I gulp, “How did you know?”
She only grins before nodding at the next two piles of cubes, “Go on.”
My heart pounds in my chest as I approach the cube pile in front of the Eagle Union. Hornet stands at the front, never glancing at the cries and laughter that the Sakurans share with Akagi and Kaga. Her eyes are glued to the three stacks in front of her. Little E grasps Hornet’s hand, shifting back and forth with impatience as she sniffles silently.
I close my eyes, putting my hands on two stacks of cubes. A chill washes over my skin, the cold reaching my bones. It’s a chill I know well, and I don’t have to imagine the darkness as I remember the feeling of sinking to my watery grave. Yorktown’s body was heavy, and Hammann’s was in pieces. I’m already crying as I remember clutching Yorktown’s lifeless body against mine.
My hands slip from the cubes as I sob, the weight of Yorktown’s corpse too real for me to handle as we sink deeper into darkness. I hug her tight enough to feel her growing warmth. Tight enough for Hammann to yell at me to be careful. Tight enough for Yorktown to hug back.
Her fingers brush through my hair, and her angelic voice sighs, “You sweet thing…” she chuckles, only making me sob harder, “There is no need to cry; I have returned to your side.”
Yorktown grunts as I squeeze her in a hug, and Hammann barks behind her, “Stupid Commander, stop feeling her up, for god’s sake! You’re gonna kill her!”
I let go, and Yorktown smiles down at me, making me stammer, “You died… I tried to- It’s… It’s all my fault. I tried to save you. I should’ve saved you! I promised you and your sisters I would!”
Yorktown grins, “You have saved me.”
She holds my hands, and I study her top to bottom – from her silky hair to her laced dress shoes. Her white dress glows in the afternoon sun, and so does her smile. Yorktown smiles wider as I stare at her.
“Not here!” She covers her chuckle with her hand, her face reddening.
I smile back and nod before I glance at Hammann, “Edsall-class destroyer escort, USS Hammann,” I look back at Yorktown, but she speaks for me.
“I am the resurrected Fighting Lady, Essex-class aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown,” she looks past me at the Unionites and Hornet in the crowd, some of which are on their knees crying, “Actually… I am still the same Yorktown you have always known!”
Little E sprints over to her aunt, jumping into her arms and hugging her. Hornet stumbles over, her restrained expression breaking as she becomes a little sister once again.
She holds her arms out for eldest sister, her lips curled down and tears running into her mouth, “Yorktown…”
Yorktown closes her gleeful eyes after Hornet clings to her, wailing with tears of gratitude. Hammann clutches her skirt, a pout on her face as she stares at me with expectant eyes. My tears dry up at the sight of her, having no reason to shed them now that they’re home again.
“Come here, damn it,” I laugh, making her huff and stand her ground.
So, I run over to her and snatch her up in a hug, spinning her around as she slaps my back, “P-Put me down, you idiot!” Hammann blushes, “Yorktown! Yorktown, help me!”
She stops struggling when I set her down, but I keep her locked in a hug, “Welcome home, Hammann,” I lean back from her, smiling into her aqua irises, “Welcome home.”
She huffs, looking away, “Like I care if you saved me… Anyone coulda done it!”
“Well, I’m the one who did it,” I poke her nose, and she swats at me like an angry cat.
I stagger back from her, laughing as I escape to the safety of the Eagle Union, who all swarm her. Little E buries her face in Yorktown’s neck as Hornet and Yorktown giggle at the Unionites passing Hammann around like a house pet, taking turns embracing her and patting her on the back and head. The faintest grin crosses her face when she’s passed to the next series of kansen, and she hugs each of them with the same love they show her. At the sight of her sister ship, Sims, Hammann is set down, and she breaks down crying as the crowd clears a path for them to meet again.
The two girls slam into each other, but it’s Hammann who’s overpowered by her: Hammann staggers backward, falling onto her butt in the sand as Sims lays against her with drooping ears and a runny nose.
I walk over to Yorktown and put my hand on Little E’s back, “Mom’s coming home next.”
Little E looks up as I walk over to the last pile of cubes, and I turn around with a smile, offering my hand to her. Her puffy eyes widen, and Yorktown sets her down before she runs over to me to take my hand. I bring her in front of me, my hands on her shoulders as Yorktown and Hornet stand at either side of me to await their sister. The moment I close my eyes, I already see her, and I smile widely.
She stands with her back to me on the white shore as the wind brushes through her long, snowy hair. She stares across the ocean, and it only takes the whisper of the nickname I gave to her, “Enty,” to make her turn around.
Enty looks over her shoulder, her eyes narrowed, but when she sees me gazing back at her, the expression on her face melts into disbelief. I don’t hold out my hands to her. Instead, I open my eyes, the smoke around her thinning as she’s brought from the Realm of Forms and into physicality.
Little E’s shoulders tremble under my palms, and tears spill down my face again, “Enterprise-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier… CVN-65… USS Enterprise,” I smile, knowing these are the first words she’ll hear from anyone, “I love you.”
I let Little E go with a gentle nudge, and she dashes forward, screaming, “Mama! Mama!”
Enty’s eyes light up at the sight of me, her sisters, and daughter, and she squats down to catch Little E in a long-awaited embrace. Hornet and Yorktown run to see her, and the rest of the Eagle Union follows them forward, cheering, shouting, and hollering louder than the Sakurans. Anzeel shoves me from behind, a smirk on her face as she glances at the crowd.
Smiling the widest smile I’ve ever felt, I approach the writhing mass of kansen. Baltimore reaches back to pull me into the crowd. She pushes Ranger out of my way, and Ranger pats Biloxi’s back, who pushes more people aside. Bremerton brings me closer until, eventually, the entire fleet has pushed and pulled me closer to the center wherein sits Enty, collapsed on her knees crying with Little E in her arms.
Yorktown cradles both her and Hornet, who sticks to Enty like glue. Enty, who’d been shellshocked from the awakening, looks up at me with glistening eyes. I collapse in front of her, and Hornet seizes my collar to drag me into the hug.
In the crowd of kansen, our familial love is a beating heart, the Yorktown-class reunited. Little E and Hornet’s sobs melt away along with the crowd’s laughter, cheer, and cries until they become white noise. With a shaking hand, Enty brings my forehead to hers, our noses touching and our lips almost brushing.
Her warm breath carries her first words, “My light… I love you, too.”
