Negotiation and Vindication

"It was her skills in damage control," Smythe said from the smartphone's small screen. Apparently, whoever briefed this man did it rather well from appearance. "Sara taught her well, you know. You all know that."

"Yes," Trinitite said, smiling fondly at the memories only to have it crashing down at the end. Almost whimpering near the end. "It was a close-run thing and it took long enough that I could do nothing but watch as my Princess get transformed . . .and I had to watch and do nothing as she was taken away by helicopter."

Both sisters shudder, thinking about how utterly helpless and confused their sister must have felt. Must have felt like she'd lost everything!

But her still being Abyssal?

Wouldn't that mean . . . oh DEEP!

"I want my mother back!" Trinitite glared at the humans on the other side of the teleconference call. In a tone both sisters knew from their time when even at the worst, she was . . .at her best.

Determined. That is what she'd been before when in the Crossroad Fleet and both sisters saw that same kind of determination. She'd had enough of it to get herself to the US, after all. She was their sister and could be just as determined as they could be. Like "determined" enough to answer a Summons from their Mother, despite the very Abyss standing in their way kind of "determined".

That wasn't good...at all; Trin had been the one causing "family issues" for Saratoga! And in her quest to save their Princess and return her to the Jellyfish Princess? Trinitite would actually be dooming their Mother to a sad and doomed existence, and the sisters couldn't have that. Both knew now what the Abyss was about, and now know that that monster had done to their Princess. It had been chilling what the Abyss had been PROUD of her handiwork upon making their Mother as she had, transforming the then depressed Saratoga into Jellyfish. Transformed the poor Saratoga into . . .somebody who never had left the spot that she had sunk as a steel hull. Said that the price those who took her offer of power to be transformed into Abyssal Princesses was only a small thing. Just as long as the blood of humans flowed, it was more than fair! AS long as she got to watch it flow, anyway. . .

While hardly the same as the other Abyssal Princesses, the implied "price" that those others must have paid which created the narcissistic (and even monstrous) Abyssal Princess did not sound "small" at all. And there had to have been SOME kind of price that their Princess had paid, the sisters had discovered upon reflection....

That it took a session with Dr. Takahashi's gold watch to restore and enhance their memories to crystal clarity? To perfect recall? The sisters had felt almost sick for not having noticed before! Thankfully, Dr. Takahashi had been able to calm both of the former Abyssals down. Telling them that while the past was past, what counted was what they did for and with their Mother NOW that she was free of the Abyss' influence. Still...

How had they not seen the signs? Their Mother was still caring and loving, but now was more vibrant and alive as a Kanmusu somehow. Making her Jellyfish again would be . . .disgusting. She would become (again) a ghost of what she could and SHOULD be if Trinitite succeeded.

And that is if the Abyss did not opt at "improving" their Mother's disposition next time around...

No, that cannot be allowed, at all! But . . .how to do that without a screaming match? Deep, better a screaming match than having eventually had to try to SINK their sister. But couldn't there be . . .

"I want my sisters back," Trinitite adds, wilting slightly when looking at her sisters who blinked back at her. Maybe . . . it was doable. It wasn't like . . .their sister had given up on them. She said (and they saw) that she did want them back as well as their Princess.

Just that she's REALLY gotten thrown for a loop here, both sisters can observe easily. Both also could say the same about Trinitite having SURVIVED the Battle of Bikini! All the other shipgirls who'd participated in that debacle said all had been sunk . .

Of course, there had to be SOME idiot on the other side to interrupt the sisters' train of thought. Frankly, while perhaps at another time both Firestorm and Hypocenter might have been more understanding but even IF they'd known just HOW stressed and tired all the various Feds and Military folk were on the other side of the TV screen had been they'd have been just as crossed with the unnamed FBI female agent.

"So. . . that was all this was about?" a slightly exasperated woman's voice comes from some corner of the room on the other side of the screen. "You mean to tell me that you came all this way here. No abyssal submarine spy networks? No attempts at industrial sabotage? Avoided every attempt to block your way and capture you? Evading our attempts to so much as do ANY surveillance on you? This was all to just get back with your mommy?!"

Both sisters were almost struck mute at the sure . . .stupidity of that statement! Deep, what do they have to do? Draw pictures? Use signal lights or semaphore to get the message across?!

YES! That is all it had been about. A common Abyssal is willing to DIE to protect their Princess instead of letting her sink (or in this case, it turned out except for Trin they'd died to prevent their Princess from being freed from the Abyss' clutches). And they all did this not due to being mere "drones" who were programmed to do such things. Both Firestorm and Hypoenter. . .

GAH! Nevermind!

. . . .

Still, if they'd known what the reality of it had been, things . . .sure as Hell would have been different.

Besides, if there had been something like an Abyssal submarine spy ring then . . . surely the ring would have been LESS than pleased at the attention that Trin had brought to their operation. Submarines were . . .sneaky shipgirls. They had to be in order to survive. Oh, Trin had been able to avoid capture and all that from what Firestorm and Hypocenter gathered but had been "loud" enough to have gotten noticed. Besides, if there HAD been an Abyssal spy ring on land who'd been friendly with Trinitite? One who'd be willing to lend aid for nefarious Abyssal spy purposes by loaning them their Repair Berth (and any spy network worth its salt would have one socked away hidden somewhere for repair work on their spies and other Abyssal assets)? Well, surely by now the damage that had been done to Trinitite's flight deck--which both sisters had witnessed back at Bikini before being sunk--would have been fixed so she should have been the proper "Abyssal Terror" to launch some kind of aerial attack within the lands of the US? But while nothing sure had been said, the sisters were knowledgeable enough to understand such had not happened. Else all the secrecy that the humans back in "Washington state" would have been approaching the problem Trinitite presented in a much more open (and HOSTILE) manner than currently displayed. Firestorm was willing to eat her own rigging if she and Hypocenter were wrong!

That and the sabotage and everything else the agent was speaking about? A Princess would have soon have started bragging about successfully planting such a spy network, right before ordering the submarines to start causing havoc and chaos.

But that said, Trinitite was even LESS amused than they were at the interrupter.

"Abyssal submarine spy networks?!" their sister blinked from the back of the car she sat within, looking towards the spook woman in question as if she was an idiot. "As far as I know I am the first Abyssal to ever to penetrate your security and get onto American soil. And honestly, if some Princess was to send a spy, it sure as Deep wouldn't be an Abyssal Aircraft Carrier. Not like I did it, you know!"

Both sisters would soon learn the extent of the further damage done to their sister. NOTHING was going to be launched from her catapults before some drydock time was done here!

"Now shut up and stop interrupting us," the Wo-class practically commands, a fierce glare having gotten cast towards the sputtering woman before she had dismissed the fool. "I do not want to belabor the obvious with you anymore."

Both Firestorm and Hypocenter found themselves nodding in silent agreement with their sister here, as well as one other young woman that gave off the air of being some sort of shipgirl herself, somehow.

"I want them back," Trinitite says, firming up and repeating herself once back to staring at Smythe. She then begins to reach out to do something on her end of things."And I suggest you not try to stop me from doing that, humans."

And here it went, and it appeared they had little time left for "it"! Hypocenter had a few rational angles she's willing to try in order to sway Trin to their side of things. Firestorm had her own ideas (which were more emotionally based appeals that reflected her more passionate/hot-tempered state). Obviously, this was not to be an easy task, because Trin obviously thought that both Mother and their own rationality had been compromised by the humans.

But a much BETTER persuasive person stepped up to the bat before the sisters (or any of the humans) could. And when Mother speaks, the sisters were prone to stand back and listen!

"Trin!" Saratoga began, which naturally interrupted whatever exactly Trinitite was thinking of doing. "I'm here in Washington! We need to meet!!"

"Wha-at?" Trinitite blinked, not sure she'd heard correctly and having felt like she'd hit a reef. "How?!"

Both former Abyssal sisters already knew the answer to that question, but the man who'd stepped up to support their Mother while she had been weak in the knees confirmed that aloud. That and pretty much cemented the actual identity of the man; there were many human males named "Janson" out there the sisters believed.

"A very fast jetfighter brought about by one G*d d*mn question I just had to ask," muttered the marshal, looking rather perplexed as to why a question should have snowballed into this chaotic scene before him. Whatever the case, Firestorm couldn't help but notice that Trinitite was now is looking at him, having overheard that.

Janson Smythe appears to not be aware of how his voice seems to carry in that room, the fiery sister thinks to herself. The acoustics seem to be set up for it, somehow. The others back in Japan kept hearing various others whispering around the room despite them not being near any microphones.

Not that she was actually interested in merely eavesdropping on those others. Her business here was with three people as of this moment: Trinitite, Saratoga, and this man who's caught her and Hypocenter's attention.

Yes, she was willing to bet her new paycheck that THIS man was the one who had caused their Mother to be pulled back to America.

Hypocenter found herself nodding, actually glad to have guessed rightly. This had indeed been the marshal who'd asked a question leading to so much . . .excitment. Truly, she looked forward to chatting with the man if only to see what made him tick if one question should cause so much chaos!

"Wait!" Lt. Commander Dan Murray--a man who'd not made the best of impressions on both former Abyssals last time they'd met--waved to catch Trinitite's attention, and nicely cutting off whatever Mother would have said to their sister both sisters angrily observe. Who WAS this jerk?! Mother was handling their wayward sister, so why interrupt things?!

"We can arrange a meet,' the man desperately continued. " Make some kind of . . ."

"I . . . .might be willing to do that," their sister Trin managed, having glared at the US Navy officer all the while. "But not with you. I have had my fill of you even before I escaped from the Pacific Lilly."

"Not a fan of my ex-boyfriend eh?" Katie Harmon--an earlier overheard name muttered around the room over in America by only a few but the scorn has been very evident to the former Abyssals--chuckled softly over the cellphone. "Wow, we have an Abyssal of culture and good taste."

Both Firestorm and Hypocenter gave each other slightly confused looks before shrugging slightly and turning back to the scene playing out before them, not having wished to miss a single thing if their input should be needed. Yes, they knew what "friends" were and what "boys" were, but not exactly what the significance of putting both words together like that. Whatever the case, there seemed to be some bad blood between this woman and that man. Something that the shipgirls agreed with, Murrey had rubbed them the wrong way in the brief time they'd shared together earlier.

"I wish to do any future dealing with the Navy through 'the Cowboy'," Trinitite continued, gesturing towards the marshal --who had a nickname both sisters had no real idea meant but didn't particularly cared to learn of at the moment--in question. "He's been polite, for the most part!"

Yes! Yes, both sisters were really beginning to like how this was playing out here. While not done yet, at least Trin was willing to compromise here and not be committed blindly to "rescuing" both their Mother and them from the humans' clutches!

None of them wished to be "rescued", only to have had Trin try to get them back into the clutches of the Abyss in her misguided attempts to bring all of them back to reason!

Having ignored a human joke that the sisters found made no sense but not wishing to ask about, instead turned to the Admiral to ask about something else.

"He's concerned over a fleet mate's fate," Trinitite (of all people) admonishes the narcissistic PI. "Friends do that. Abyssals? Kanmusu? Humans? Oh, dare you to say differently?!"

"Good one Trin," Hypocenter nods slightly before cutting the mike and turning fully to the Admiral. "But that said, what's this about the 'Pacific Lilly'?"

The male officer gave a quick rundown of events since the sisters had been . . .indisposed since the Battle of the Bikini Atoll. Both sister's eyebrows raised higher and higher from the start of how Trinitite had hijacked the fishing trolley called the Pacific Lilly to manage to reach American soil to the raid of some supply depot called "Fred Meyers" to the problems the Americans had until now even being able to locate their sister!

Deep, their sister had been busy while both Firestorm and Hypocenter had been sunk!

A questioning look that the slightly overwhelmed marshal gives to those around finds almost everyone there gesturing that he was both authorized and GET TO IT! The only reason that those folk back in Japan are not doing the same was simply the fact they had no real say whether or not Smythe was authorized to negotiate with Trinitite, despite all there having wanted this business over and done within as quick (and positive) manner as feasible.

"I am . . .authorized to be able to do that," Janson conceded, having not been blind to all of the gesturing.

After a quick correction of what proper title and name to use between Marshal Smythe and Trinitite (which left the sisters nodding as there seemed to be less difference between humans and those who haled from the Abyssal fleet), there soon came something of a sticking point. Something about the amount of the "signing bonus" that Trinitite seemed to be DEAD set upon getting before agreeing to sign with the US Navy.

No, Trinitite had not lost her mind and somehow had forgotten the fact that their Mother had been betrayed by the Firebringers. Trin's sharing of Saratoga's revelation of humans being how blind to the metaphysical had been quite a shock to both Firestorm and Hypocenter.

The Japanese Admiral having added it would have meant sheer insanity to have done what had inadvertently been done back decades ago. No, human beings had no idea that ships had spirits like human beings. Much less than said ship spirits would return in vengeance to wage war upon humans decades later as what had happened with the Abyssal War. Honestly, if it had not been for the Kanmusu coming back to defend the unprepared populations, then the Abyssal War would have been even MORE bloody. As in bloody in the sense that "the Fire" might have made the scene kind of bloody, which caused all sorts of shuddering for those from the former Crossroad Fleet. Especially when Trinitite shared with her sisters what the "Fire" actually was and had been used for near the end of World War 2.

AS an aside, this cleared up for the Kanmusu-ized sisters just why their Mother had stayed with the US Navy so opted in joining the Americans as well. If only to be able to stay close to her, really this.

And also as an aside (and quiet behind Saratoga's and the other's from the Crossroad Fleet), the military high command in America agreed that it was the best way to keep both Trinitite and her sisters UNDER CONTROL after the chaos of what Trinitite alone had done earlier here. That and the fact that Saratoga had gone full Momboat on them over her daughters here was not lost to them; she acted in such manners when meeting other Essex-class shipgirls (her daughters) but THIS was . . .something entirely different. Now worrying different but until Firestorm and the rest of the shipgirls here matured some the high command felt it was best to have them all together anyway until that time, if even then.

Frankly, some in the US military had been playing with the option of just shuffling the lot of them off onto the Canadians with THEIR Navy and be DONE with it!! That Canadian Admiral had shown interest, after all, and actually (through Dr. Takahashi) made overtures to both former Abyssal shipgirls on joining his Navy!

That was something to be addressed at a later date, but that said it was to be done AT A LATER DATE!! Not now, while they had not yet gotten Trinitite Out of their hair and under their thumb!

...

Also as an aside when Firestorm and Hypocenter had shared their experience with the Abyss during a lull in negotiations? Well...

Flashback....

"What do you mean the Abyss threaten you?" Trinitite blinked, having trouble believing her own ears. "That and having 'marked' you as Traitors to Abyssal kind forever? For answering our Princess' Summons just because she is a Kanmusu? What?!"

"The Abyss . . .talked with you?" Smythe blinked himself, not sure he'd heard correctly. "Uh . . .pardon, but it had been thought that the 'Abyss' was some kind of . . .shadowy version of the Admiralty of a nation. That or some kind of cabal of high-ranking Abyssals, like say a Queen or Empress even. Not . . .something like some kind of Eldritch Abomination with delusions of godhood."

"Sounds almost like Khorne the Blood God from that game I played off and on on my downtime: Warhammer 40K," muttered Trinitite, really disturbed at this revelation. The only word she and her sisters had gotten from the Abyss had ever been to Report to their Princess when first Summoned years ago. And that order had been very . . .impersonal at the time. "She hadn't said anything like 'Blood for the Blood God and Skulls for the Skull Throne' but still!"

Various human beings who'd just witnessed an Abyssal confessing to playing that popular tabletop Game from England's Game Workshop were taken aback by the idea. Then again, the surprise was rather mute after everything else with Trinitite.

Hey, even an Abyssal needed a hobby, right?

"Trinitite~," Saratoga said softly, not liking the sound of the kind of games her daughter had been playing. "What's Warhammer 40k?"

Trinitite reassured her Princess that Warhammer 40k was merely some tabletop strategy game and not some kind of dark ritual one would find performed on humans like some Abyssal Princesses had been rumored to perform. That was reassuring to her mother, at least.

As for Trin's sisters? Firestorm and Hypocenter had no idea what Warhammer 40k was, but the part about it being a strategic wargame simulator wasn't too far out there. True, the games the sisters had played amongst themselves was nothing like the grim and dark stuff found in Trinitite's new favorite past time (much less what they'd learned about her favorite faction: the Tyranid), but it sounded . . .interesting.

Interest in Trinitite's new past time was shelved, however when they'd gotten back to the part about how badly the Abyss had treated her sisters and her Mother had left Trinitite almost beside herself in RAGE. The hesitant revelations of the how Saratoga's mind had been twisted into thinking that . . .

Well, it all left Trinitite in a rage so let us leave at that!

Meanwhile, the humans back in America who'd overheard the conversation had been alarmed about what the Abyss actually appeared to be. Mutterings about how to handle something like THAT were heard, but the Japanese Admiral had assured those present that this information had been passed along to the various higher-ups in the allied military . . .and was NOT something to be sidetracked with here and now. He was rather tired of negotiations having taken THIS long and really wanted it done.

END of flashback...

After mutters of horror from various Army Ranger officers having learned that recon techniques some of THEM had taught and left videos of at Youtube had been utilized by Trin's Marines in order to spy upon those like Shangri La, the business of ONE particular thing finally commenced.

And it had been a LONG, tedious thing. Trin just had NOT been willing to be swayed. Everything else? Had been quick and painless. She really wanted to be with her Mother again.

Smythe had been more than willing to just GIVE Trin the bonus, but somehow some tightwads higher up in the Navy chain wanted to be difficult.

Sighing, he concentrated on the positive by listing out the terms agreed upon thus far, if only for the record.

NOT that these records would ever see the light of day again if the spooks had their way. He wasn't going to breathe a word of this, even IF his inner fanboy having been involved with so much Kanmusu business that he was still giddy to this day. He wasn't an idiot.

" . . .And you agree that you're amenable to the idea of utilizing the repair bucket NOT only to fix the damage that had been done to you and your rigging instead of using a Repair Dock here in Seattle," US Marshal Smythe summarized while giving the unrepentant Abyssal a look. "Being a quicker solution to fixing your lingering injuries, said 'bucket' will also permanently alter your rigging to be in line with what your sisters are sporting."

It had something to do with utilizing a misconception inadvertently unleashed within the worldwide R&D community looking into all things Abyssal; namely from the realm of DARPA. This had happened well before the Japanese Admiral had thought to even ORDER Dr. Takahashi to not share anything about the REAL nature of Firestorm and Hypocenter. The order given, Dr. Takahashi had been more than happy to oblige. He saw no need for any fiends out there to get into their microscopic minds that doing vivisections on the Kanmusu-ized sisters was a good idea, even IF it was in the name of SCIENCE!

Some things were beneath contempt.

Ah, but what had been the nature of the misconception going about the R&D circles (by way of DARPA)? Whelp, it had to do with the rather Wo-class style of rigging the Kanmusu-ized got passed around when Houshou had put out requests for a specialist who could handle memory issued caused by "rough" Accidental Summonings. It was too close to various experiments which (you guessed it) involved mobile Summoning Pools on ships. Yep, it involved that drek! In this case, the fact that there happened to be TWO living Kanmusu with decidedly Wo-class twists in their rigging had been pretty damning. In prior attempts of that one quack in DARPA who'd had the good taste to die in an Abyssal torpedo attack (long story), the resulting summons had pulled forth DEAD shipgirls who . . . .looked kinda Kanmusu-ish, but with VERY Abyssal twists to them. The fact that Dr. Takahashi had been tapped to tackle Firestorm's and Hypocenter's problems had raised the hackles of some out in the community, but after failure after failure pride was swallowed and Takashashi was contacted.

THIS is why there had been calls from DARPA to speak with both Firestorm and Hypocenter, by the way in case you hadn't guessed. If not, there you go!

If this accidental Summoning at a regular (land-based) Kanmusu Summoning Pool could be studied enough, then the data could be utilized for the failed DARPA attempt.

Dr. Takahashi knew the truth, but had his own ideas on how to make DARPA's failed project a success but saw the merit of this cover story.

Hey, if it worked then lives saved! Then the war effort he'd been trying so hard to aid would be realized!

And he would have SHOWN THEM ALL!!

...

The fact that the torpedoing of the nameless quake's Summoning Pool ship was . . .BARELY within range of the course distance-wise and TIME-wise to that course that Trin took from the Bikini Atoll to Washington state was just . . .gravy.

The cover story from this misunderstanding would cover both Kanmusu-ized, and now Trinitite with her rigging (at least) getting "Kanmusu-ized" by the repair bucket.

....

Yes! The fact that repair buckets (as well as the local Kanmusu repair bays or whatever they're actually called in Kancolle) can change an Abyssals Rigging (and general appearance sometimes) into something more in line with the appearance of a Kanmusu is known to DARPA. Mad lads there conducted experiments on dead Abyssals which said as much, but the estimated damage it would do to any life subject was guaranteed to kill all but the hardiest of Abyssal. On dead Abyssals it left the results a twisted . . .mess and leave at that.

Just as well, the project here with the repair buckets and Abyssals had been some mad idea of a program to go out and capture live Abyssals (as if such was possible) and use mind control/brainwashing to have a fighting force for humanity. Honestly, that is just about as stupid as using mind-controlled Xeno-morphs (those nasty monsters from Aliens) in combat. IN other words, it would have been a disaster in the making and the project got shut down hard before it had gone too far.

All those fiddly extra details were told to Firestorm and Hypocenter (and the reasoning behind them), if only to keep them in the loop. Some of the science behind it hadn't been understood by the sisters, but they'd been thankful to at least be included (if only for the benefit of being able to keep their facts straight).

OH? What about the signing bonus for Trin? Why the bonus?

...

In case you missed it in the other story with Trin, it was an effort to satisfy her debt of honor to Elizabeth the Night Manager of Fred Meyers (back in Shelton, WA). She got the bonus, and it got sent Elizabeth's way.

And the JAGs and the Fred Meyers' lawyers had a fine day in court, but that was another story and one that Trin really didn't care about. Her sense of duty satisfied (if albeit by Abyssal standards), she was done with it.

Later. . .

After a "swearing-in" ceremony back in Japan for the Kanmusu-ized sisters with the shipgirl USS Enterprise as the US official swearing the sisters into the US Navy as the official swearing-in the sisters with a bunch of their new IJN shipgirl friends as a witness.

That done and a small party had by all, the Kanmusu-ized sisters were back in a teleconference with Trinitite and Saratoga.

After getting her rigging Kanmusu-ized (and marked herself as Traitor to Abyssal kind by a very PISSED OFF Abyss), both daughter and Saratoga had gone into the base proper. Paperwork was signed and the USS Trinitite of the US Navy was sworn into the fold (as an officer). A tearful and joyous USS Saratoga had been the one to swear in Trin, and a somewhat still tired US Marshal had been witness to the ceremony.

After having thanked Trin for the needed coffee (and the small breakfast of ham and eggs as an added gift), the man had made his way back to an office to slay a most fierce and evil enemy: paperwork!

There would have been a mountain or two of paperwork both Saratoga and Trin would have had to fill out, but . . .Trin had been smart enough to negotiate that away. Heh, she'd been in the human world long enough to know how annoying THAT evil stuff could be so took advantage of her position where she could, being NO fool! Just had to worry about some rather now cross officials being tasked to take care of it in their steed, that was all. Not her problem, if the fools should try to take revenge on her later.

That would end poorly, for the humans if they were fool enough to attack a shipgirl.

Trinitite and Saratoga had contacted both sisters back in Japan to update each other on the latest (all over secure teleconference). Some of the things discussed were NOT for the ears of those not in the need to know (or with sufficient security clearance). The meeting had gone on for a while but ended with a promise by the Kanmusu-ized sisters to check in with Dr. Takahashi over the results of his latest experiment.

On their end of things over in the US, the word was it had been a success and DARPA was about ready to give Takahashi their firstborn children over the results.

YES, the results were in and their cover story looked to be a viable thing!

But the sisters and Saratoga were interested in the fine details. Like exactly WHAT had come back from the former Abyssal Crane Princess fleet.

But when they found Dr. Takahashi and the gang?

"I'll miss Mr. Tails but . . .I got back my Mommy and Mommy LOVES ME!!" a rather hyperactive battleship (with rigging that looked rather . . .toothy in places) chattered away, hugging a rather frazzled looking but happy Zuikaku!

The unnamed battleship doesn't have glowing purple eyes, nor does she have the psycho happy smile of one, but . . .

1. " Re-class?" Hypocenter whispered, somewhat aghast at this development."

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