Our Bonds (A Kantai Collection Fanfic) (Remastered)

Chapter 9 Saving CVL Zuihou (Preparations)

Enterprise, Illustrious, Javelin, Colorado, Unicorn, Belfast... I don't recognize one but the one with twintails is missing. Either way, we got the names of 6 of them. At least that's what I heard from the recording Shioi took. I even picked up some interesting words. Something about a cult called Sakura Empire, their Commander being missing and 'A world without Sirens'. I'm not too sure what the last one means though. One thing is for sure, they are definitely shipgirls as well.

I-401, or Shioi, is part of the unique i-400 class of Aircraft Carrying Submarines. They were the largest submarines back then, but never really saw any action since they were commissioned near the end of the war. Shioi is the tallest among her peers. Back when I was depressed because of that incident, Shioi stayed by my side till I pulled myself together. She is cute, hardworking, and eager to do work. She is one of my best and most trustworthy companion.

I wanted to start collecting information about their whereabouts as soon as possible, so I sent out the submarine girls to investigate every island in the Northern Area under the cover of darkness. Imuya and Goya searched the Moray Seas, Goya and Ro were sent to the Kiss Islands, and Shioi investigated the Alfonsino islands. For Shioi, she managed to find their location relatively easily. Unless the Abyssals decided to attack and set fire to a random piece of land, why else would there be a fire in the middle of an uninhabited island?

"I'm sorry. I wanted to find out where they were keeping Zuihou but I wasn't careful enough. I almost alerted them." (Shioi)

I pet the submarine girl's head,

"You did well. This information is more than enough. Thank you."

With this, I can at least know who and what we are up against. Taking account into their historical counterparts and how they sunk, I will put together a fleet that shouldn't be affected by the enemy's presence. I questioned Shouhou about her freezing up in the afternoon. According to her, the planes scared her. The sight of American Aircraft brought back painful memories, memories of her last moments during the Great War. At the time, aircraft from USS Yorktown and USS Lexington were responsible for sinking Shouhou. That's what I read from the War Archives.  If that's the case, Zuihou must be extremely frightened right now, since there is a shipgirl there who took part in her ending her first life.

"It's late. Go to sleep."

"Okay. How about you, Admiral?" (Shioi)

"Soon. I promise."

Another lie...

"I will just put together a draft, then I will go to bed."

"We will get her back. I'm always ready to sortie." (Shioi)

"Thank you."

Shioi closed the office door behind her. Alright, my turn.

First, I need to take a refresher course and find out which shipgirl won't be affected by this unknown group based on their historical encounters. I don't want to traumatize them any more than necessary so girls who were never sunk by those names are ideal. Ideally, I want to initiate the rescue mission in the morning but if I can't finish... No. I will definitely finish and initiate the rescue mission in the morning.

I scanned through the Archives, picking out the girls who are eligible for this mission. If their technology and attack prowess are better than ours, we might need to leverage on numbers and speed. A Combined Task Force and a detached force is probably the best way to rescue Zuihou. The CTF will engage and distract the enemy while the detached force searches and rescues Zuihou. So I need at least 16 shipgirls for this. It will be great if HQ can provide some backup.

My phone rang. Who is calling me at this time? Oh, it's Rondo.

"What's up?"

"I knew it. You haven't slept yet." (Rondo)