Our Bonds (A Kantai Collection Fanfic) (Remastered)

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.