-------------------SEVENTH DAY, MORNING------------------

‘I’ve been trying to tell you, we don’t really know’ sighed Saratoga
‘Well, look at that, looks like i have to fix everything again’

Iowa took a little lap around Enterprise, looking over her very thoroughly

‘So, Ms. Mystery ship… Those ladies over there…’ Iowa pointed to the very threatening Japanese fleet ‘Claim you’re the grey ghost, and these ones over here claim they don’t have a clue what’s going on, getting it right?’
‘Seems about right. Who are you?’
‘Whaaa, don’t know who I am?! I’m Iowa!’
‘We’d never let anyone dressed like that into our navy’
‘Then I’ll just change clothes. Duuuh’

Iowa spun around, waving her golden lock to the wind and walked up to Nagato. 

‘If this indeed is the grey ghost, it would be very easy to figure that out, right? Those sunk by her should FEEL who she is in a matter of seconds. Send one or two out, don’t tell her who they are and see if they get it’

Nagato growled a little. Iowa did have a point. Ships that had been sunk by another ship in the naval district did have some unexplainable bond between them. They could feel it. No one really knew how that worked, but they could feel it. 

Soon enough, Enterprise was presented with two fleetgirls standing in front of her. Both with brown hair and eyes, somewhat similar height and build. One did however seem a little calmer and more reserved. The calmer did have something in her eyes. A curiosity. She walked around Enterprise, under the eyes of half of the naval district to see if she felt anything. The slightly more energetic one did much the same, and gave a very quick report

‘No. Nothing’

Strange sounds were coming from Japanese fleet. Even worse when the calm one spoke her mind too

‘Firstly, I thought she was supposed to be the size of Shokaku. Secondly, I don’t feel anything either. Less than Wo. ’

‘Wait’ Enterprise spoke for the first time in a while. ‘I can tell who you are. You’re Akagi, I… met you june fourth, forty two. And you’re Hiei, whom i met november fourteenth same year’

And now everyone went silent instead.

‘Wow, this actually makes even less sense’ Iowa said with a carefree expression. Who the hell are you’

The short silence was broken by heavy breathing and panting from Intrepid. She wasn’t in that good of a shape and didn’t much like running

‘Iowaaaaaa!’ Intrepid coughed a little  and wiped sweat of her forehead. Her- her planes!’

Intrepid now had the curiosity of every single ship within a half mile radius

‘H-hornets! Tomcats, Phantoms! Hawkeyes! Even four… f-four Vigilantes!’

Save for one single ship that listened, those names made no sense at all. But Iowa got increasingly pale in her face.

‘You what’

Forgetting any and all obligations to protect carriers, Iowa rushed over and took a cloth bag away from Intrepid. And just like she had said, the planes in the bag, one of each stretching form the old Douglas Skyraiders up until the F/A-18 Hornet

‘What’s the meaning of this? What’s going on?’ Someone shouted from the japanese. Iowa finally dug up a tiny little A-5 Vigilante, spun it around in her her hand and stared straight into Nagato’s eyes

‘We might have just won the war’

-------------

The Japanese fleetgirls were not happy about the americans pulling back to discuss things, at least until Iowa used a bit of subtle blackmailing about a certain “black book” kept by her bedside table next to the .45. Soon after she quickly retreated with Intrepid and Enterprise for some very quick and hushed arguing.

No, Enterprise didn’t have a clue how the planes worked.
No, she didn’t know what they were.
Yes, if they would work, they would win the war in months.

Intrepid and Enterprise went more into the details of carrier operations, but there was a much bigger question left to Iowa. One she couldn’t answer herself, since it would affect the entire naval district. 

Her mood took a swing in a direction no one had ever seen before. She became serious.

‘Intrepid, go and speak with Saratoga. We need a representative for the US navy, someone that can speak for the better for all of us. Please return here and wait for me when you’re done’
‘Wait, Iowa what are you doing?’
‘Something no one has thought about. Please don’t panic or anything. I’ll go and speak with the other navies’

And she did. Surprisingly and despite her attire, people took this new serious Iowa very serious. Gangut reacted very politely, as expected of her, Warspite accepted that as well, as did Bismarck and Roma.

The japanese ships were the problems. Back in their naval district, they still hadn’t disarmed themselves, and were still carrying all their rigging. Iowa put on a facade, but felt genuinely uncomfortable walking past Ooi and Kitakami and the 40 torpedoes on each side they could spit out from a combined broadside. Her visit didn’t seem appreciated at all as she stepped into the command room. Several of the bigger ships stood around a big desk, and all stared daggers into Iowa as she opened the door. Nagato was strangely not around, probably speaking to the admiral. Damnit

‘I’ll keep it brief. There is something very important i have to bring up with you. But I can’t do that for all of you. I ask you to send out two or three representatives that could speak for the rest of the navy. I realise this is sounding off, and you not really have a reason to trust me. But this really is, and i mean it in every sense of the word, more important than just us. Please’
‘You’re actually being serious’
‘Yes. Yes I am. Humor me this one time, and if you feel i was talking out of my ass i won’t bother you again’
‘That’s quite something coming from you’ Scoffed Musashi, who was standing by the side of the desk ‘I believe we’re going to find out about this mystery ship?’
‘You will. But more importantly, what she means to us’

Musashi didn’t seem so happy about any of that. Or anything american.

But to Iowa’s great surprise, Musashi actually showed up to that meeting in the park two hours later. Along with her was Ashigara, a Myoko-class heavy. She was a tutor for a lost of destroyers and would make sense to include her. To Iowa’s great displeasure, the last ship in the trio was Hosho. Nothing wrong in herself, but more because she was acting as a mother character to the other carriers. And Enterprise had sunken a lot of them. 

Fifteen minutes and the fleetgirls had assembled in what they thought was a storage room that no one really used, but was actually an entire extra apartment Iowa had made for herself. Tea was offered, as were snacks and some chairs around a table. Iowa sat at one end with a little notebook and didn’t look happy at all when she began speaking. 

‘Let me get a few things out of the way before I start. She-’

Iowa pointed at mystery carrier, with whom she had spoken to previously

‘-Is, and let me be clear about this, on our side. She is not Wo, as it has been claimed by some, as evident from the results of the battle fought two nights ago’

A buzz went through the room. The battle two nights ago had been the biggest victory some fleetgirls here had ever seen. 

‘Four of my planes…’ Enterprise began speaking softly ‘Were ordered to seek out and track the enemy fleet via radar and then transmit the target data via radio to selected allied ships’
‘Were the allied ships by any chance me, Mutsu, Ise and Hiei?’
‘I could never confirm the ships’ identities, but it does sound like one at just under 70000 tons, two slightly over and one a bit under 30000’
‘It does indeed…  but I want that demonstrated to me under controlled conditions’

Iowa was worried Musashi would start going after Enterprise, but the latter simply nodded and said it could be arranged. Hosho was quick to ask about the radars on these planes, and what else she could track with them. Iowa had to interrupt that conversation to go on. 

‘Here come the tricky bit. I, like many of you, still believe an abyssal is when a ship doesn't come to rest. I also believe that is what happened to CV(N)-6, Enterprise. Or the name she is given here, the Grey Ghost. What remains of her flesh and steel now roams the sea like Wo, with a wicked, villainous mind. We know that because she sends her planes out at night, like Enterprise’

A set of deep, dark blue eyes, Hosho’s, darted over to Enterprise, who was sitting on a chair across the table from her

‘Yeah… as Hosho noticed, this applies to our mystery ship as well. The case is as follows: she has memories from the very first day of the war until after it. We had three carriers that survived all of the war. Our lovely Saratoga, whom you've all met, Ranger, who served all her time in the Atlantic and the European theatre, and lastly, Enterprise’

‘You're testing my patience, Iowa? What's the meaning of this? Tread very carefully with that name? You claim Wo is the ghost, we've known this since we first saw her. And now you say this woman here is the same?!’

Musashi had never been the cool headed one. She had the spirit of a samurai, after all

‘Please let me finish. I believe there has been a rift, a split. See, Enterprise's hull, rigging and body is now Wo, controlled by a corrupted and wicked mind. The real mind, so to say, was still clean, clear and took from another ship, what Wo took from her’

The room was entirely quiet

‘Oh come the fuck on’

Iowa went over to Enterprise, ruffled her hair and then held her on either side of the head

‘This bit, is the Grey Ghost. And thiiiiis-’

Iowa ran her hands down the entire length of Enterprises, being very precise on where to put pressure and not

‘-Is another ship, alright? I mean c'mon, she's supposed to be smaller than Gangut, if she was a Yorktown, but she's taller than Yamato is. Of course she's something else’
‘Go on, Iowa. Maybe there is reason to your madness, because right now I'm letting this continue out of curiosity’

Musashi was losing patience, and fast. 

‘The CV(N)-6 you know was broken up for scrap after the war, the process being completed in 1960. I believe her rigging is from another carrier, also named Enterprise that was completed in 1961, named CVN-65, which-’
‘Oh of course, she's from the future, why didn't I think of that. A time traveller! Who is half abyssal. Why should I believe any of that?’

Then it clicked for Iowa. How could she? Enterprise couldn't launch any jets, certain key components were missing until she could operate any of them. No one would understand any of the reactors, not even the count did. Iowa had no real way to prove this. Well, except that one. The one she agreed with Intrepid they wouldn’t do.

‘Alright, Musashi. I’ll show you. It’s a bit sensitive, so I’ll ask for your discretion. Please come here’

Musashi stood up and went with Iowa through the door with a load of boxes in it. There was silence for a while, until a strong white light shone under the door, not much unlike a flash grenade going off. 

‘Let's leave them alone’ Intrepid stood up with sunshine in her voice and a bounce in her step. She had one chance to defuse the somewhat chilly mood in here.

‘I'll bet tomorrow's dinner that whatever happens in there, Iowa comes out on top’

It worked. It earned a smile, and even a giggle from around a table. 

‘How bold~’

Intrepid didn't realize her mistake before the pale woman in the corner of the table opened her mouth. That was Richelieu, someone who was generally acknowledged to be a mastermind in the kitchen. Fights had broken out over her desserts. And now she had risked that for a joke. 

‘I'll take that bet!’ Said Ashigara in a cheerful tone
‘Fine. I’ll bet mine on the bimbo’ Bismark hissed out in a rather smug way and leaned back

Bets fell in, most of them in favor of Musashi. Intrepid realized that the probable loss of her dinner had caused a bit better mood in the room. But Hosho was the first to speak.

‘Intrepid, as you seem to know as well…’
‘Yes?’
‘Let’s set aside the burden of proof for a moment, and speak in a hypothetical manner instead?’
‘Ah, yes. We can do that! Let’s start with the planes?’
‘Yes’
‘Okayokayokayokay.... First, we have this. This is the Hawkeye. It doesn’t have any weapons on It’s own, but it has an incredibly powerful radar, enough to act as a targeting instrument for a battleship, for example. We saw the results two nights ago. It can also direct and assist other airplanes for interception. Naturally, this is even more potent at night.

Nods and hums were heard around the room

Intrepid put a the hawkeye, and another, more familiar shape on the table between them. Not unlike a model airplane

‘Actually, this is the one i know something about. It’s a Skyraider, it’s a torpedo bomber’ Enterprise strung in
‘Err’ Interrupted Intrepid ‘It was designed as one. Then became a bit of a multirole aircraft, doing just about any task anyone could need of a carrier plane, short of an interceptor. It’s also a plane i am intimately familiar with, and frankly, really jealous that you have’
‘Oh’
‘B-but that was all later! For your time frame, it was spot on!’

That was a bit of a lie, but the “Dry I” didn’t like telling someone else what their equipment did. Not too much, anyway

‘I won’t bore you with all of them, but there are three you should know about. Firstly, this’

She put another aircraft next to the Skyraider. It was almost twice as long, but with far smaller wingspan. The whole thing was a mess of odd angles and shapes. To someone from the 40s, it must have looked like a spaceship.

‘Ohh, here comes the Phantom! This one is just amazing! It’s super fast, and it can shoot down planes, and bomb things, and scout, and sink ships! It’s great!’
‘How fast is fast?’
‘Mach 2 or so for most variants. the F-4X did mach 3, but that was a one-off’

It went silent for a little while

‘Forgive my lack of knowledge-’ Began Gangut ‘But i’m unfamiliar with the term “Mach”. Would you care to explain that?’
‘Oh, right. Mach is the speed of sound. About six fifty knots, seven fifty miles per hour or twelve hundred kilo-
‘Slow down for a moment. You mean to tell me this machine will fly more than twice the speed of sound?!’
‘Yeah… m-moving on. This is a Tomcat. It’s as fast as the phantom, if not faster. But, what makes this one special, is its missiles’

Most of the occupants around the table, had an idea idea or other about what a missile was, probably imagining it something like a rocket powered Fritz X

‘See, if we have an Hawkeye, this one’ Intrepid pointed at the big radar dome on top of the E2 on the table, ‘And use it’s radar to guide the missiles of the Tomcat, we can shoot down air targets further than the eye can see, over a hundred miles. It also has a gigantic warhead, and it could potentially knock out several air targets at once if they flew close to each other’

No one said anything. It made Intrepid very uncomfortable

‘S-so to the point. Theoretically, Entrperise is everything we need to win this war. But Iowa said we should be careful about that’
‘Excuse me?’ Ashigara stood up with a bit of venom in her voice ‘If what you are saying is true, we can truly turn this war, and you wonder if we should or not?! Victory! Victory is laying before us! And you hesitate if we should take it?!’

‘By god, she’s right’ Warspite sat as calm as ever in her chair. But there was sorrow in her eyes. ‘Ashigara, if you were to sit down as i explain the finer details that I believe Intrepid left out’

Ashigara was unhappy, but sat down

‘It was not her intention to lose, or hide away any advantages we might have over her foes. It’s simply a matter of us. A question so far into the future no one has thought about it. What i believe Iowa meant is a part of the life of a warship that us on the western side had the misfortune of meeting that you did not. You see, as the war draws to a close, many warships will find themselves without a target to train their guns to’

Warspite took a little breather. To everyone’s great shock, she was actually losing her composure a little. There was something in her voice that wasn’t soft as silk or as pretty as roses

‘I was there from the start. I saw the rise, and eventually fall, of the battleship. For the first world war, Jutland is probably the battle you would know about. I flew the Union Jack tall and proud for the 20 years to the next war. I wasn’t modern by then, but i carried my burden with an excellence unparalleled in the entire navy. The icy cold north atlantic outside norway, the mediterranean where the blazing sun was only matched by the scorching heat of my gun barrels. I spent a full year there, fired until my guns were so deteriorated the posed a danger. I was sent into the Indian ocean, and fought there, for a year, until i could be reunited with the mediterranean. When that chapter eventually came to a close, i were sent to normandy, until my guns no longer could reach a target. I did anything that was asked of me, despite the holes torn in my hull by the enemy aircraft, despite being filled with concrete, despite having a turret damaged beyond repair. The most decorated, top achieving, ship in the 400 year history of the Royal Navy’

Her voice was now filled with sorrow and hatred, something completely new for her. No one had ever heard warspite being angry before

‘And then, when the war drew to a close… Did they repair the X turret? Did they finalize the makeshift concrete repairs? No… Unlike most of my japanese likes, I was never allowed to fight a last battle. As the war came to a close, my honors, rewards, my loyalty and my service amounted to nothing. The only worth I had was thirty thousand tons of steel. Because after the war comes the rebuilding. They need steel for that. Steel for cars, bridges, tin cans and razors. And I was a battleship without something to shoot at. They couldn’t even tow me properly. Their tow cables snapped as i tried to make a break for the north atlantic, where i should have sunk. Instead, i ended up in a cove named for our enemies. It took them seven years to scrap and dismantle me. Seven years. I spent those even years wishing i had seen my end staring down the gun barrels of your sister’

As she looked to Bismarck, she saw tears had formed in the bottom of Warpsite’s eyes. They were not of sorrow, but pure, burning and blazing hatred. She even wiped the tears off elegantly.

‘Don’t delude yourselves, my sisters. We’re not worth anything to them when the war ends. Not a thing’

That really quieted down the whole room. What could anyone reply to that? Especially Intrepid who was still afloat

‘Same with me’ Enterprise said at last ‘They cut me up too’
‘The Ghost…’ Hosho’s voice was triling of as if she didn’t believe her own words
‘Yeah. I wasn’t a big carrier, i honestly don’t know half of what’s going on with this new stuff. I was deemed surplus to requirements at wars end and sold for scrap. It’s as Warspite said, we’re just not necessary once the war is over. Fuck, I’m even aligned to agree with the last part she said. A death of fire and then water is preferable to the one by a cutting tool’

An odd nod and a hum was heard from the room. What they just had heard was quite something to take in.

‘By the way, where did Musashi and Iowa go?’
‘Yeah, about that…’ Said intrepid, looking down at the floor and fidgeting a little with her hair’



-------------ABOUT FIFTEEN MINUTES EARLIER--------------

Musashi had followed Iowa into the room with lots of boxes. She was however not given any proof. Iowa instead put her fingers in her ears and hinted Musashi to do the same. Then there was the noise, which was described by the girls in the other room over as half a grenade going off.

Musashi found herself in pitch darkness, certain the light bulb had exploded. That's the only thing that would explain the darkness, the stinging pain above her right eye and the slow trickle of a warm liquid on her eyebrow

‘The hell are you doing?!’
‘Shit, sorry! I thought the lights would be on! Wait a second, uhh…’

With a click, the light came back on, and the two found themselves in a room that looked nothing like where they had stood in before. Not a storage room with boxes, but a large bedroom, sporting a gigantic poster and an even bigger closet. Iowa seemed right at home, happy even. 

It turned out it was not an exploding light bulb, but rather the bed that had caused Musashi’s injury.

‘Oh shit, you okay there?’
‘It’s just a bit of blood, give me a bandaid or something’
‘I would, but you used all bandages for your bra. Use that, and then take one of mine from the clo-’

For the looming fear of getting her teeth punched in, Iowa did not finish the sentence.

‘Aight, aight, sorry! But i really don’t have any medical equipment. Go make yourself decent or something, then i’ll help you with the bandaging’
‘...’
‘Really?’
‘Yes’

Iowa sighed and turned around

‘You don’t have to be so prude, it’s not like Ihav-’
‘Careful’
‘Alright alright’

Iowa went over to the kitchen sink and got a bottle of vodka and some cotton pads. Musashi just had a small gash, and it turned out the bandages weren’t even necessary. A bit of alcohol to disinfect, and then leave it alone. But questions started arising as Iowa ditched her red, white and blue stockings for something a little less over the top. The gloves and the headpiece had to go as well.

‘Iowa… where are we?’
‘Ah, gimmie a sec. I’ll show you everything’

She seemed less concerned with explaining what actually was going on than doing the finishing touches on her makeup

‘Now’
‘Okay, alright, suu--Uure~’

Sensing an impending right hook, Iowa swiftly moved over to the door.

‘Okay, Ms. Samurai, before anything, I need to tell you a few things. Stick close to me, and please take it easy’

Before any reply, Iowa opened the door to… something that wasn’t the room with the rest of the fleetgirls.

‘Ashigara? Hosho?’
‘SHHH!’
‘What?’
‘Most important rule. Don’t talk about any of us, and even more important, if someone thinks they recognize you, you have to dismiss that firmly and without hesitation, got it?’
‘Why shoul-’
‘No! Listen!’

Iowa raised her voice for the first time today. She was a little odd in how she was carefree, almost excessively so for most of the time. That did make those few instances where she was serious oh so more meaningful.

‘Someone recognizes you, and we’re fucked. Dead. Smoked. The risk that someone actually does should be minimal, but if it does happen, tell them to fuck off, or something. I know you can get creative~’

And thus, the tone was changed from a serious one to playful yet again. 

‘Let’s try again’

Iowa opened to the door, again. No Ashigara, no Hosho. No anyone, in fact. It looked as they had stepped inside… a factory? These were machines. Engines?

‘Where are we?’
‘You, Musashi, are now, for not-the-first-time in your life, inside me’

Iowa anticipated the slap, and ducked. However, she thought one step ahead, and not two. Musashi knew the blonde would duck, and just aimed a little lower

‘Oooowie!’
‘I told you not to speak of that’
‘I didn’t know you were an easy drunk! And I’m not even joking! Look!’

Musashi was about to point out that what they had that day was not a normal sake, but something else entirely. But her mind stumbled a little to what lay in front of her. It did look like an engine room

‘Where are we?’
‘If i tell you, I’m getting hit again. Just come with me’ 

Two stairs up on narrow walkways over massive engines, this was definitely a ship. By the armor and size, a warship. Just as her eyes had adjusted to the dark, a door opened and Musashi was blinded by a shining sun.

She covered out the sun with her hand and saw a city, bigger than anything she had ever seen before

‘By the gods…’

Musashi was speechless. Iowa grinned and held her hand out

‘That, my friend, is LA, Los Angeles. And you’re standing on the one and only USS Iowa’