Admiral Haru was together with Musashi while at a gazebo while on the 29th of April, and Musashi, being a Coordinator and one of Admiral Haru's lovers, was taking the time to review their plans of Project Psyche, Apocalypse and the plans for the Battle of Sagami-nada Sea.
However, the last thing she expected upon sitting down on a reinforced steel seat with a leaning back rest was for Admiral Haru to sit on her lap, lean back and rest her head in between Musashi's gigantic breasts while threatening the integrity of Musashi's sarashi, looking extremely relaxed with half-lidded eyes, a stoned smile and drool rolling down her jaw.
Musashi sweat-dropped as she looked down at Admiral Haru, who had removed her peaked Admiral cap in order to fit her head in Musashi's cleavage as she asked in a confused tone.
"Admiral? Why are you sitting on my lap and using my breasts as a head rest?"
Admiral Haru shifted while still seated on Musashi's lap as the Yamato-Class battleship inhaled slowly in order to exercise the utmost of patience with her Admiral lover.
And since Admiral Haru had invited her to an early lunch break in order to take some time off and relax, they were now off-duty and were thus allowed to express their love and be intimate with each other.
Like right now.
Admiral Haru responded lazily,
"Y'know we're taking a break and can relax now, right? And besides, you can just hold your reports up, around here…"
Gesturing to the space before the two of them as she continued.
"And we can both sit down, lean back and relax while reviewing these reports. Everybody wins, hmm?"
Musashi was unimpressed as she deadpanned.
"But you're still using my breasts as a head rest."
Admiral Haru's expression and posture melted upon hearing this, her body slouching and relaxing as she blushed, her eyes rolling up in ecstasy as she leaned further back into Musashi's soft mounds and drawled lustfully, Musashi's breasts almost overflowing from the sides in the process.
"Ehehehe… Oh yeah… And mommy likes what she's feeling…"
Musashi exhaled patiently as she prepared the reports, but despite witnessing her Admiral's unprofessional behavior when off-duty, as her lover, she accepted her partner's extremely easygoing personality, especially since she understood that her Admiral knew when to get serious as she held up the first report for the both of them to look at before explaining.
"Well, Akio-san reported that the two Tenryuu-Class light cruisers have accepted the offer to be test subjects for Project Psyche, and Kousuke, Aoba and our Fairies reassured us that there would be no hiccups in meeting their projected deadline. Admiral, are you sure…"
But Admiral Haru, having wiped away her drool, composed herself and looked up at the report as she explained herself with a serious tone.
"Musashi, please. I think that our ship girls, no matter which class they hail from, are mature enough to comprehend matters of life and death, and I think our two Tenryuu-Class cruisers have accepted the possibility of dying for real should we make a mistake. As World War 2 veterans who were part of the Kaigun, all of you have participated in a war before this, most of you have seen combat, be it heavy or light, and have experienced loss in the process. Even if it's a destroyer, I'd treat them as I would an adult when it comes to these matters, simply because everyone's been through their fair share of tragedy in the last war you were in. Every ship girl holds a unique opinion and belief about what we've done in the past, so I have all the reason in the world to believe that each and every single one of you is capable of thinking and behaving in a mature and responsible manner."
Musashi's eyes widened, seeing things from her Admiral's perspective and nodding as she lowered the report, thinking about how even though many ship girls possessed very exuberant and unique personalities, deep down, they were all capable of understanding and discussing matters concerning their mortality after being sunk during or after the war, or even discussing controversial matters concerning the Axis Powers (and even the Allied powers) in order to share their opinions and be provided with a new perspective on things.
Letting her mind wander for a while, Musashi recalled reading the recordings of how the people of other countries had reacted to the then-controversial introduction of the Axis Power ship girls, and the amount of backlash they had received.
Every Japanese, German and even Italian ship girl who came before them had already expressed their unanimously-agreed upon disgust at the past atrocities committed by their respective countries, and made it extremely clear that they wished for everyone to remember these war crimes, closely working with the public in order to make sure that the ship girls never got drunk on their own power.
But it was pretty well-established from the get-go that even though the ship girls wanted to take responsibility for the past actions of their countries, they were not to be treated as a punching bag for the citizens of other countries to blindly hate simply because of their past grievances, because the ship girls wanted to be treated as their own people and not warriors who were forever burdened with carrying the sins of their past regimes.
After all, back then, they were simply warships of steel who were out on the ocean fighting the good fight with the Allied warships, not terrorizing conquered countries by throwing people in concentration camps, forcing them to build railways and go on death marches, amongst others, so the main driving question back in the day was,
Were these ship girls supposed to be held responsible for past atrocities and war crimes which they themselves never instigated, participated in, or in the case of certain ship girls, never even knew about?
And being the saviors of mankind who fought the Abyssals and kept them at bay, it was eventually agreed upon that the Axis-Power ship girls would be allowed take responsibility by practicing a sort of "self-condemnation" by denouncing and distancing themselves from the brutal regimes which they once fought for, and the other countries would cut them a lot of slack in return.
"Musashi?"
Musashi looked down at a concerned Haru, who was looking up at her while still resting her head on Musashi's bosom, and the Yamato-Class battleship sighed as she explained herself.
"Nothing, Admiral. I was just reminiscing about our past, and how like you said, every ship girl is capable of behaving and thinking in a mature manner, since we are all war veterans. It's just that most of us don't have to feel the weight of the sins our country has committed in the past, but while others may see this as a bad thing, I choose to see this as a positive thing."
Haru's red hair tickled the tanned steel skin of Musashi's breasts as Haru shifted her head in order to look up at Musashi, while the battleship met her gaze as she looked down into her Admiral's eyes before continuing.
"I understand that every single one of us has been taught and fully acknowledge all the innocents who suffered and were even killed under our reign, and while we respect and remember the dead every year, I was glad that we were given a chance to… To be absolved, in a sense, and be allowed to live as normal girls. To be something more than simply weapons of war."
Haru gave Musashi a vibrant smile while Musashi allowed herself a break from her professional persona as she removed her glasses in order to look at her Admiral's golden eyes without anything coming between them.
She placed her glasses on the table as she looked down at her lover's beautiful face with 20/20 vision, since her bionic eyes were perfectly fine and the glasses were worn for decorative effect.
Her dark-skinned, gloved hand met Haru's smaller human hand as she relaxed a little and returned Haru's smile before turning to the next report, detailing the situation surrounding Apocalypse.
"After contacting other naval bases around the world and requesting Central for any information and clues about Apocalypse without giving everything away, we found that the response we got sadly didn't shed too much new light on the situation.
We believe this is because the Abyssals have been even more careful and secretive about their classified projects after the Abyssal Princess program was leaked in the past, allowing us enough time to prepare for their arrival. But something to note is the fact that unlike last time, where we learnt about their Princess program after an inside leak, this time, it seems as if they're trying to string us on by deliberately leaking information which they deem no longer damaging to them should we learn about them at this point in time…"
Haru hummed as she plucked at the ends of her fringe with her free hand, commenting idly.
"Well, that ain't much of a surprise now. Since we found out that Yuubari and Sakawa were somehow promoted to the Abyssal Commander-in-Chief and Secretary respectively, I think it's become personal for us. Certainly has been for Akashi, who's been a lot more emo than usual after learning about this, and Nagato was also emotionally affected by the news. They're certainly playing quite the twisted game with us by giving us a 'sporting chance'."
Musashi continued as she looked at the report and explained what little knowledge they had gleamed from partially cracked encoded Abyssal messages in the past.
"Central revealed that they managed to partially decipher some of the ever-changing Abyssal code which they use to encode their communication signals back in the mid 2000's about new Abyssal types being developed. With 'Apocalypse' being brought to their attention, and after Woxanne's warning about World War 3 occurring before the end of this year, we have enough reason to believe that alongside the humanoid Abyssals which will be remodeled into land units in order to participate in a land invasion, they may be developing Abyssal…"
Musashi lifted an eyebrow as she looked at the roof of the gazebo in order to find a suitable comparison for what was to come next.
"Princesses, or at least elite units whose strength and firepower will certainly be above the rank-and-file Abyssals and will probably be comparable to the Princesses, but are designed for land or amphibious combat. But one question is how they wish to recreate the might and firepower of a Princess with her Beast on land without sinking into the ground due to their own weight and armor, since that's one problem which all the existing Princesses and their Beasts face, and prevents them from stepping onto land."
Haru thought about the question as she looked up at the blue sky, building off of that theory about how an elite land unit would function, theorizing.
"Well, I think they probably won't waste their time even attempting that, because the ocean is a unique environment which allows them to create large Beasts for their Princesses. It's easy for the Princesses to manipulate the buoyancy of their bodies and footwear in order to submerge underwater and safely sail the seven seas or sail on the surface of the ocean in order to fight. But unlike the ocean, which is a 3-dimensional environment since the ocean consists of depth along with its surface area, a land environment pretty much consists of a flat plane and hard earth underneath. I think they'd sacrifice firepower in order to heighten mobility so as to get around quickly, although I believe they'd make up for this somehow."
Musashi blinked as she lowered the report and considered Haru's hypothesis, and how this sacrifice of firepower for mobility, in a completely different environment, would make sense from a pragmatic standpoint.
"I think I see your point. You're theorizing that since the land and ocean are two different playing fields, there are different rules to play by. These supposed land-assault elite units certainly require heightened mobility in order to traverse great distances quickly and easily, since they can't simply submerge in order to make a quick getaway like their oceanic counterparts can."
Nodding, Haru thought up of a comparison in order to drive the point home.
"Well, if you want to look at things from a World War 2 perspective, for powerful yet slow land machines like the Maus tank, Landkreuzer Ratte or the Schwerer Gustav, sacrificing mobility for firepower while on land just makes you an easy bombardment target. And on land, overweight machines of doom means you can't cross some bridges, your own weight will bog you down even when on certain asphalt roads, and the constant breakdowns and aerial bombardment means it'd be a repair bucket sink. Best to adapt your designs to a new environment by sacrificing firepower for increased mobility and evasion."
Musashi, now fully understanding where her Admiral came from, dropped the report on the table in order to pat her Admiral on the crown of her head as she cooed.
"Alright, Haru. I see your point. It would also be easier for the Abyssals to delegate the role of leading the front-line Abyssal assault to these elite units, like what they usually do with the Princesses. To find out what these alternative Princess units might be, I suppose we can sortie the Infiltration Fleet in order to find out more about such things."
Haru nodded as she thought about the availability of the various ship girls who made up the Infiltration Fleet, remarking.
"Well, Goya's out with the other submarines in the Sagami-nada Sea, so I suppose Kuroshio will replace Goya. The 1st Fleet's sortieing on the 14th of May, right? What's the phase of the moon on that night?"
Musashi cocked her head and looked away as she quickly checked her information archives for the relevant information before answering.
"It's a waning crescent phase."
Haru then threw up her hands, one of which was still holding Musashi's gloved hand as she exclaimed.
"Then we're in luck! Notify the two fleets later and tell the Infiltration Fleet that they're to sortie with the 1st Fleet on the 14th of May. The 1st Fleet is to escort them in the daytime in order to allow the Infiltration Fleet to slip into enemy waters under the cover of night, and it helps when there isn't a full moon shining down on them."
Nodding, Musashi picked up the last report about the preparations for the Battle of Sagami-nada Sea, and explained the recent developments and updates concerning the various naval bases in the Kanto region.
"We have a few more naval bases joining us, and this brings the number of bases participating in the Battle of Sagami-nada Sea up to seven, including us. The Kamogawa and Isumi Naval Base express interest in joining us, but they're worried that they won't be able to repair their best ship girls in time to join us, and while we've sent some supplies to help them out, they're temporarily excluded from the final list of participants until further notice. Add the incoming Abyssal armada into the equation, and that'd be eight navies all fighting in a large-scale battle on our doorstep."
Haru nodded as she gestured at the pictorial graphs on the report, pointing a few things out before moving on to outlining her plan on how their battle plan was going to play out in her mind.
"Well, I've already gotten the help of the JSDF a long time ago, so we will possess air superiority as well as some naval and ground support in this battle. But I think that in this battle, the Abyssals will likely send out more than five Princesses in order to take us all on."
Musashi gulped upon hearing that, her chest heaving in the process as she exclaimed in slight disbelief at the hypothesized number.
"More than five? I know that the Abyssals have tons of reserves, but I think that five may be stretching it a little…"
Haru shrugged, caressing the battleship's hand which she held in her grasp as she commented about how the Abyssals certainly wouldn't mind sending several Princesses into the fray.
"Look, the Abyssals know that they're going to face about half a dozen naval bases since they're taking the fight to us in our waters, and they would know that the entirety of the JSDF would quickly respond to their assault. And in order to give their armada a fighting chance, they'd certainly boost both the quality and quantity of the Abyssals in their large alien ensemble."
"And do you think The Flying Dutchman will appear and back the Abyssal armada up?"
Musashi could see that her Admiral seriously considered the question, mulling it over as she trained her eyes on the picture of the Kanto region and the Sagami-nada Sea, finally answering in a contemplative tone.
"I suppose the Abyssals would want to have their new symbol of power be present at the battle, but only participating as a shelling support. We possess jet fighters, warships, submarines and missile-launching vehicles on our side, and the battle's in the Safety Zone in broad daylight, so they wouldn't want to risk getting their new toy damaged by us.
But they will still want the Dutchman to be present since its vertical-launch missile system possesses incredible range, and its life-sized cannon shells deal a lot of damage to our girls."
Haru shrugged as she veered off into hypothetical scenarios and possibilities as she theorized about the capabilities of the Flying Dutchman.
"We also can't dismiss the amount of Abyssals it can ferry to the battlefield.
So when it appears, we probably need to prepare for a second bombing phase in order to thin out the reinforcements which the Dutchman brought in order to overwhelm us. It had 'aviation battleship' emblazoned on its hull, so I've given the JASDF a heads-up about the very real possibility of facing Abyssal aircraft in battle as well as Anti-Air missiles which it can launch at us, since 'Apocalypse' means that they aren't playing by our rules anymore. I also warned the JMSDF about the Flying Dutchman 's unknown capabilities with its missiles and large-caliber cannons, which can potentially one-shot them. I suppose we'll make preparations, and even get the submarines to lay outlying naval mines in strategic locations in order to slow down the Dutchman, but I believe the spotlight will ultimately be on the Abyssal armada."
Nodding along with her Admiral's explanation, Musashi clarified as she felt a breeze gently blowing in from the ocean, the weather being rather generous today as the sun was blocked by the airborne clouds, the condensed clusters of water droplets lazily coasting along the air currents.
"So what exactly is our plan, if we have the JSDF on our side and the Abyssals have the Flying Dutchman on their side?"
She could see the cogs turning in Admiral Haru's mind, probably trying to reveal some parts of her plan to the Yamato-Class battleship without compromising any sensitive elements, Musashi finally hearing her lover's voice sound out while her head was still comfortably nested in between her breasts.
"Well, the first thing we need to do is to fight them here, slightly beyond the naval mine formation for a while…"
Gesturing to the area before the relatively large highlighted green area on the blue ocean in between Oshima Island and Southwest Chiba, which indicated the formation of naval mines within the Safety Zone.
Haru continued.
"After that, I plan for them to lure the Abyssals into the naval mine formation for the next part to work, as the JASDF and USAF jet fighters will fly in from Yokota, Fuchu, Iruma and Kisarazu while our carriers launch their dive bombers."
Pointing to several air bases in Japan, most of which were active JASDF air bases while one of them was a USAF base, and Musashi was slightly surprised at the next step of Haru's plan as her human Admiral explained herself.
"We need to carpet bomb the Abyssals who will be caught in the smokescreen of the ship girls, who will utilize incomplete combustion in order to cover their retreat and several smokescreen grenades we will provide them with. The JMSDF destroyers and submarines will patrol the area around the Sagami-nada Sea and the Izu Islands in order to respond to the Dutchman's arrival, but will still be close to a port in case they get damaged mid-battle. The JGSDF will also have several Type 88 Surface-to-Ship Missile trucks parked at the coast of Southwest Chiba and on Oshima Island..."
Pointing to the Southwest area of Chiba, near the coast which faced the highlighted naval mine formation, Haru explained how the JGSDF was going to help.
"The JGSDF told me that while the Type 88 SSM-1 trucks on the coast of Chiba will fire at the Abyssals while supply routes resupply them, those on Oshima Island will wait for the Flying Dutchman to show itself before firing at the aviation battleship. Since the Abyssals are the invaders, they know that if they don't push forward in order to try and wipe out the ship girls who will retreat back into the Sagami Bay and the Uraga Channel in order to bombard the incoming Abyssals from a safe distance, they'd never get anywhere while stuck in the Safety Zone, right on our doorstep..The ship girls from the neighboring Shizuoka and Shimoda Naval Base will flank the Abyssals as we attack them from two fronts, and they can retreat into the nearby Suruga Bay if things go south."
Haru pointed at the two naval bases which were located in the Shizuoka Prefecture as well as Suruga Bay, which was sheltered by said prefecture of Japan.
Musashi noted something as she creased her eyebrows, pointing out the disadvantage they would put themselves in should they retreat into the Sagami Bay and the Uraga Channel, and if the Abyssals dared to call them on their bluff by advancing into their territory.
"Admiral, I'd like to point out that if we were to retreat into the Sagami Bay and the Uraga Channel, we'd be backed up against a wall even if there are naval bases which can accommodate the influx of injured ship girls, since we have nowhere to retreat to should your plan fall apart. I hope you have a backup plan should the Abyssal armada manage to survive our initial bombardment, since things will likely devolve into a close-quarters combat war-zone, like it always has with small-scale engagements."
Haru shrugged as her tone shifted into one of a light tease, responding to Musashi's concerns as she leaned back further into Musashi's chest, the Yamato-Class battleship feeling her large breasts deform softly as they supported her lover's head.
"Well, I have a secret trump card which hinges on our ship girl bait and the fact that despite getting our carriers to send out bomber planes, I need them to simply drop their bombs onto the area where I want the Abyssals to be, which is above the naval mines."
Musashi creased her eyebrows and inhaled sharply as she felt a strong chill run up her steel spine, shaking it off before asking in a questioning tone, now slightly wary about what was going on in her Admiral's mind as she asked her lover about her choice of words, and how it spooked her.
"Admiral, you do know that the second you said 'I have a secret trump card', all of your Coordinators probably felt a shiver run down their spines since you probably have one hell of a plan hidden from us, right? And is there a particular reason why we have to bait the Abyssals onto the naval mines? They're underwater, and even though it serves as a deterrent to prevent the Abyssals from performing an underwater assault, what other use are they going to serve when they only serve as a passive defense? Can't they just retreat from the naval mine formation and submerge into the water in order to evade the incoming air strike, even when we know that the Abyssals eventually have to advance in order to continue their assault?"
She could almost feel her Admiral give a knowing smirk to no one in particular as she coyly responded with a mysterious non-answer.
"We'll see."