>>6120030“Speaking of, what *are* those circumstances, exactly? I woke up this morning back from the dead and all tiny and squishy, the Marshall Islands are in ruins, and the oceans are infested with sea monsters.”
“Those monsters are called Abyssals, or Sirens in Europe. Eighteen months ago, they appeared out of nowhere and turned the world upside down.”
“*Eighteen months!?*”
Wells nods grimply. “There’s… a lot to unpack. It’s not just Abyssals. First, though, I need a sitrep on your end - your call indicated some level of distress, but I take it you aren’t currently engaged with the enemy?”
“No, fortunately; I fought off one fleet and sank another about five hours ago, and now my HSM and VS squadrons are playing pin-the-tail-on-the-submarine with the sea serpent thing that torpedoed Prinz, but otherwise we’re clear of contacts. She’s about 90 miles away and up to 21 knots, although between a missing screw and possible undiscovered damage it’s doubtful she can keep that up for another 2000 miles. Long Beach, Bainbridge, and Nagato are five by five. For more details I’ve got about half a terabyte of sensor data loaded on external hard drives in these planes’ cockpits.”
“That’s good to hear,” Wells says, nodding to the techs behind him, who set about retrieving said drives - a rather odd sensation on your end. “If it were possible I would already be putting together an airlift to get you here right away, but it usually takes new returnees a few days to settle into their new shapes before they can fly safely; the consequences otherwise are… unpleasant. Rest assured, we’re doing everything in our power short of that to get you all home. My plan at the moment is to fly an escort screen to you and have you all meet the Mustin and Higgins underway. We’ll get you the details the moment they’re finalised.”
“Really? That’s… a lot. I was honestly only hoping for some long-range air support, and didn’t expect there’d be any to spare.”
“Believe me, that’s only the start. The Air Force has a squadron of Lancers here in Hawaii for just this sort of quick-response ops, and we have four Poseidons to add to the effort already on the runway, with more available by morning. When we played your message to Admiral Bergman - ah, COMPACFLT - his orders were to, quote, ‘move heaven and earth,’ and I know he’s working to find you more support as we speak. I just got off the phone with Admiral Gotou in Yokosuka, and it sounds like the Japanese are interested in sending a shipgirl contingent too - probably a larger one, they have more than we do several times over and far more experience in deploying them in earnest.” Wells seems to grow taller as he speaks, and his jaw sets with stony resolve. “We don’t leave our girls out to dry. Not ever.”
