Smile, You're On TV. . .

Of course, the human tourists see her. See the Abyssal Rigging and features.

Cue a lot of screaming . . .

Meanwhile, back at the DARPA facility in Seatle . . .

The lower-ranked hunters had already been dispersed to begin their hunt for the missing Abyssal (Nuclear) Submarine Princess Georgia. Now that the more concerning business had been taken care of, there was the matter of what the hunters had been originally been tasked to find: Elizabeth (who had originally been known as Trinitite but had been re-christened to avoid confusion with her and USS Trinitite).

"So . . .lets get down to the elephant in the room," Admiral Saratoga begins, addressing the small group of shipgirls with her in Seattle and the others over in Japan. "The elephant of course being my newest daughter: Elizabeth. Who may I add still IS family for you, Sister Sara; ceded claims of motherhood to me or not."

The Lexington-class Admiral frowned a bit at that memory, it had left a bad taste in her mouth. After all, even IF Elizabeth had become the Admiral's newest daughter (and nothing was going to change that) it wasn't as if a "shared custody" could not be done. The idea that any and all claims of motherhood got annulled when Elizabeth had declared the Lexington-class Admiral as her Princess (not Hime); there was a thing that did not sit well with her. The thing? Young Saratoga seemed to feel that a TOTAL separation from family was the thing here. Okay, some kind of mysterious event HAD happened around that time that had annulled the younger Saratoga's claims on Elizabeth as Hime, but nothing about this had to mean the younger shipgirl should give up on being Elizabeth's mother! After all, Saratoga (Admiral or not) WAS the mother of all Essex-class aircraft carriers and Elizabeth WAS an Essex/Wo-class aircraft carrier. Houshou was viewed as the mother of ALL aircraft carriers (but seen as a grandmother in another case concerning Essex-classes we needn't rehash)...

The younger Saratoga and Elizabeth, meanwhile, share an uncomfortable glance before looking at the Admiral.

"I . . .would not be against having Saratoga over in Japan as an aunt," Elizabeth allowed, not against the other shipgirl being in the Family. Just not as her Mother. Definitely not as her Princess, since the elder Saratoga gained THAT right. When she had met her new Princess (not Hime!), she had been transformed into something new. She had become akin to her new elder sister. She had been reborn to report to her Princess, who she was to be loved and obeyed. "But Mother, I fear I . . .just cannot call her my mother anymore."

Not that I ever really was worthy to be called a proper Mother back when I was Jellyfish, thought young Saratoga to herself in shame. Even IF she had not been her right mind, it didn't much lessen the shame she felt on the shameful affair. Empty gestures of giving out ice cream and only pretending to care...

"And . . .I really shouldn't be called her Mother, in any case, consider that . . .I had lost all rights to be that," the younger Saratoga said softly, shame in her voice. "I didn't embrace my wayward Wo-class as you'd apparently had the bravery to do and . . ."

"Ah! About that," the elder Saratoga begins to confess, after giving Trinitite a look. "We haven't told you about how things played out in my world with MY daughter . . ."

Basically, while the younger Saratoga had gathered that the elder Saratoga and her daughter were from a similar world, it hadn't been clear as to how CLOSELY it resembled her own. Basically, besides a few details, the tale of her elder sister was the same as her own up to a certain point. In that other world, Trinitite had managed to contact her Princess by cellphone and all that, but the point here was that her elder hadn't been immediately ready to take Trinitite in as her daughter.

But she HAD chosen eventually, whereas the younger feared that she would have been foolish enough to turn her wayward Wo away in fear if she'd been allowed. The reportings of those at DARPA about what had happened with Georgia there had left her chilled.

To think that merely MEETING with her wayward Wo could have transformed her back into Jellyfish left her feeling ill. Something that her wayward Wo had also expressed feeling more than a bit ill about, considering what price being the Jellyfish Princess had actually entailed.

Elizabeth wanted to have brought her "back to her senses", not . . .that!

"Still . . .something got severed with you becoming her Princess," young Saratoga insisted. "And while I may be the mother of the Essex-class aircraft carriers and by that extension Trin-Elizabeth, you have the superior claim and right of Mother. But I am open to being an aunt since she's open to that idea..."

"I like that Auntie Saratoga," Elizabeth smiled at her former Hime. "And just as soon as the researchers say that it is safe for us to meet, I look forward to meeting you again in person. The Kanmusu-isation process should make that a reality, soon enough. The researchers want to do a few more experiments to compare me--an 'altered' Wo-class Abyssal--to the Wo-class Abyssals of Georgia's Fleet. See how I compare to them and such."

The Wo-class wanted to just get down and done with it, taking the last step and complete the process of severing her old life and stepping into her new life with her Princess and family. To join with the Fleet (and the US Navy of their world), when (and if) they returned to their homeworld. Honestly, their world sounded much more inviting than her world honestly. The Abyssal War was over and done over there, while it was still in full swing here. All desire to fight in it on the Abyssal's side of things had been killed right out after she had learned why her Princess had opted to serve under the Firebringers despite having used "the Fire" on her.

Trinitite and her elder Sisters had been very understanding with Elizabeth's shock when her Princess had revealed that human beings had been blind to the reality of ships having souls. Blind to them being more than mere tools. So the idea of testing "nuclear" devices on her and the other ships in Operation Crossroad made a certain amount of sense, otherwise, it would have been sheer lunacy...

Oh, and the added half-joke that Trinitite had made about having to worry about consumed cellphones coming back as Abyssals had been MOST disconcerting (considering SHE had consumed her burner phone back during that crank call earlier to avoid it being traced). . . .it had been hair raising disturbing.

. . .

"Well and good I suppose if it will keep you both from severing all family ties," Rear-Admiral Zuikaku smiled. While it would have been nice if the could have remained daughter/mother it fit into what had happened with her Fleet and the younger Zuikaku. There had been no "chemistry" between them and her Fleet, but both sides had been willing to at least entertain the idea of the younger Zuikaku being seen as an Aunt. "That said, any word yet on using the Summoning Pools to call forth more of this world's version of the Crossroad Fleet back from the Great Beyond?"

Admiral Zuikaku had been more than delighted with the accidental "extras" that had come along with the intended Summonings. Yes, young Zuikaku had been initially . . . hesitant in being part of it. Truth is that back in Admiral Zuikaku's world, the BEST summoners had always been former Abyssal Princesses like herself. While not as true HERE, Zuikaku had been tapped and . . .hesitant or not, the young Zuikaku had succeeded in Summoning. Oh, the Summoned shipgirl had been as Green as they come. That is, the shipgirl had been a new Summons (no prior experience or memories before the Summoning). But the shipgirl had been ironically enough an aircraft carrier (same class as Zuikaku) and . . .when Summoner and Summoned looked into each other eyes . . .

Yes, the young Zuikaku was going to make both a fine Mother and Princess, and Admiral Zuikaku expected young Zuikaku's Fleet to grow vastly here soon enough. Both willingly for the younger Japanese shipgirl AND the Japanese High Command, since more shipgirls to fight for the cause was good in Command's eyes and Zuikaku had a pretty good bead on the younger sister's heart in this matter.

The Admiral Zuikaku had been happy to welcome the new accidental Summons (analogs of various parts of her Fleet), and chuckled at the disconcertment the Japanese researched had over the extras to for the one intended Summoning they were trying for here. At this rate, all the analogs of her Fleet would be back amongst the living and joined with her family.

Yes, as a shipgirl she was used to a different idea of how large a "proper" family should be . . .and the more the merrier. She could handle it, easily. And High Command? Well, there were plans for shipgirls after the War, so more won't hurt that. . .

Mars exploration sounded like a splendid way to serve after everything. And maybe they could see if those Mars probes NASA sent over there had their own version of spirits. Be nice to show some respect then, if nothing else.

"Actually there is a LOT of noise about me doing a Summoning just to see how many can be brought back Over from the Beyond," Admiral Saratoga smiled. "Just hope they have the materials to feed the newly Re-Summoned else we'd better raid a few auto junkyards or such really quick to make up for the shortfall."

Georgia had made the most interesting suggestions in that regard. . .

The site head researcher comes rushing into the room, looking a bit rattled.

"Hey . . .you remember your version of Georgia the submarine that was misplaced?" the researcher begins.

Back at Pearl Harbor, Arizona Memorial . . .

A TV reporter had been at the Memorial doing a fluff piece when they'd spotted the Battleship shipgirl, Arizona. Sensing some kind of possible news piece beyond the fluff stuff she'd initially planned, she and the crew moved over to interview here, turning on the TV cameras when. . .

A group of Screaming civilians was the first clue, and then the Submarine Princess had surfaced, clutching her head at the noise.

"Oh my Gawd would you be quiet!!?" she screeched back at the civilians. "You're being loud enough to wake the DEAD!"

"Abyssal!" shouted Arizona, summoning her Rigging and aiming it at the Abyssal. This causes Georgia to jump back a bit and look at the Destroyer shipgirl in wide-eyed shock!

"Are you f*ckin nTS?!" Georgia shouts, pointing at the civilians who are still nearby. "You're too close to shoot those off for them to NoT gEt cAUghT in the crossfire!"

"Then . . .surrender?" Arizona asked after a short pause of consternation (an Abyssal Princess worried about collateral damage?!), not exactly sure at the conversation turn here. As if an Abyssal Princess is actually concerned about harming innocent humans? Oh, she had a point since the Rigging summoning had been a pure reflex . . .

1. " How about parley?" Georgia countered, calming down. "That and maybe we can speak with Either Admiral Saratoga or Admiral Zuikaku."

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