Guam

December 29th, 2002 - Abandoned Naval Base Guam - 2,000 km East of Leyte

The Imperial patrols were becoming more frequent. They were individual submarines, or a pair of destroyers, sometimes even a dozen aircraft flying by, but they were dangerous. Not because of their combat ability, no, their abilities there were laughable, rather, it was because of the fact that no matter how fast Fuji could fire her guns, the patrols could send radio messages faster. If that happened, it was likely that the entirety of the Imperial Navy would come to hunt them down, and they would be forced to flee from Guam. 

It was thanks to Salem that they had found shelter here. It was an old Westarian naval base that they had captured from Iberia more than 150 years ago, and was being used as a possible jumping-off point in a war against any of the powers in that region, until it was deactivated not long after the creation of the Singularity, as a frontline base was useless in a world of peace. Salem had helped in its deactivation, and the subsequent patrols that were done for the next few decades to make sure that no one else had taken control of it.

It was a large facility, not larger than Yokosuka, of course, but it could probably hold a decently-sized fleet in its harbour. Conveniently, parts of the harbour were sheltered from the elements, which meant that aircraft flying above wouldn't be able to see them docked there. 

When Myōkō had raised the question of whether the Westarians would re-occupy the base, Salem had quickly dismissed the idea. Between Pearl Harbour, Midway, and Leyte, Westarian had all the naval bases that they needed. Besides, she had said, it would take them a few years to get Guam up-and-running as an active base again.

Fuji hated to admit it, but Salem, despite having been their enemy and still wanting to bring the Admiral back to Westaria, was probably being the most useful to him right now. Because of his stupid vow of pacifism, her combat abilities were useless, and while Myōkō knew Imperial war plans, there wasn't really much that she could do with that knowledge. By providing a safe place where they could lie low for a long time without being found by either Westaria or Yamato, she was practically being their savior.

In order to take out her pent-up frustrations, as well as to stretch her legs, since she couldn't leave the harbour, Fuji had taken to going for walks around the island. It was far more scenic than Yokosuka; vegetation had spent the past 80 years slowly covering the base's facilities, turning the paved streets and concrete buildings into forests of tropical vegetation. There was no animal life on the island. Salem had said that this was because of the process of constructing the base. According to her account, the Westarians had destroyed all of the natural habitats on the island to make way for facilities, and all of the animals had been taken away to either Leyte or Pearl Harbour, where there was more space for them.

Aside from the crashing of the waves, and the rustles of the wind as it passed through the large leaves of the trees, the island was completely quiet. At first, it had unnerved Fuji, but, little by little, she had grown accustomed to it. If she had been an ordinary person, and not a shipgirl, then perhaps...perhaps she would have liked to live on this island, alone, until the end of her days.

But that was just a fantasy. She was a shipgirl, and there was no way to change that. She had already devoted her life to the Admiral, and would fight for him for the rest of her days, even if he tried to avoid the coming battles. She resented him for it, to be honest. It was a foolish decision, choosing not to fight. Especially when on the run from two world superpowers. Regardless of how his old world had been, Oceanus was different. Here, you had to fight to survive. And because of who he was, everyone would be fighting for him.

***

Salem had just gotten back from a patrol. She had gone out about a hundred kilometers, a trip that took a few hours each way. Every day, either Myōkō or Salem would go out on a patrol, spending most of the daytime hours surveying the nearby waters and skies for any sign of pursuit. The base normally felt empty and quiet, but whenever one of them was gone, it was especially so. Fuji was often going out on walks several times a day, probably in order to stretch her legs since she couldn't leave harbour, but it felt empty, in the sheltered dock, just Fuji's hull, whichever of the two cruisers wasn't on patrol that day, and Hasegawa, for hours on end, from sunrise to sunset.

Fuji hadn't trusted Salem from the beginning, but she seemed to be slowly warming up to her, even if she wouldn't admit it herself. She still acted openly hostile to her at times, but it was more for show than anything else. Myōkō had accepted into the fleet quite readily. After all, both of them had abandoned their countries, and had left their sisters and comrades behind.

The sun was setting, and they were gathered on a pier in the sheltered dock, in between Fuji's and Myōkō's hulls, with Salem's hull moored alongside Fuji. Myōkō, who had been staying in the harbour today, had prepared a meal for them. It wasn't much, just some cooked field rations, along with a few random fruits that Fuji gathered on her walks.

Myōkō and Salem were both trying to learn how to cook food. Since the bodies of shipgirls were bonded to their hulls, as long as they had fuel and ammunition, they didn't need to eat or drink. Hasegawa, as the only one in the group who needed to eat in order to survive, had almost starved on the way to Guam, when none of the three shipgirls had had any kind of food supplies (not that they had even considered that he might need them). Later, when Hasegawa had asked Myōkō about how almost every Imperial shipgirl he had met drank tea on a regular basis, despite not needing it, she said that it was simply because they liked the flavour, something that Hasegawa couldn't argue with.

They were enjoying their meal, talking about their past experiences (Fuji just listened when the past came up, as the past few months were her entire life), and discussing what was happening around the island. The last of those was the current topic. Salem had started off the conversation.

"Yamato has sent another fleet off towards Leyte. They're really having trouble there, if they're pulling away border forces."

Myōkō was the one who answered, setting down her cup of tea.

"No, everything is going exactly as planned. Since you don't know this, I'm guessing your intelligence network isn't really as good as you think."

"What do you mean?" asked Salem, sounding a little bit annoyed. Unlike Myōkō, she did still consider herself to be a member of the Westerian Navy, and was still somewhat of a patriot.

"What the Empire is currently doing is either Plan 71 or Plan 72. Both are strategies to defeat Westaria in a war with no third-party interference."

Myōkō's answer was factual, with a serious tone, but Hasegawa couldn't help but notice a hint of smugness. It seemed Myōkō was still a bit of a patriot herself. Salem was quick to respond, interrogating Myōkō as to the nature of these plans. Myōkō answered just as swiftly, not holding anything back. Fuji and Hasegawa stayed quiet, listening to the two of them talk. In the end, Hasegawa managed to piece together a pretty solid understanding of what they were talking about.

The Imperial Navy's 'Plans' were strategic outlines for winning wars, numbered based on the opponent. They were two digits when facing a single opponent, and three when facing several. The first digit was determined by the enemy that that plan was made to combat, and the last was the specific strategy. As such, all plans that were for the event of a war between Yamato and Westaria were '70-series Plans', and were numbered 70 through 77. The two that Myōkō had suggested, 71 and 72, were both plans for the event that Westaria attacked first, and had completely mobilized their navy. 

Plan 71 was the Empire's best chance at winning a war with Westaria, and relied on the entirety of the navy pushing themselves to their limits. It involved gathering the majority of the navy about halfway between the Yamato home islands and Pearl Harbour, while the rest of the navy surrounded Leyte. After a few weeks, and once the Westarians realized that their forces at Pearl Harbour wouldn't be able to break through the Imperial fleet, and the fighting calmed down, a large part of that fleet would pull back and relocate to Leyte, where they would, with the force surrounding the islands, destroy the Westarian fleet there. Afterwards, they would rejoin the main Imperial force, and overwhelm the Westarian forces Pearl Harbour, before moving on to the Westarian Island Mass. 

The other option, Plan 72, was similar, except that after defeating the Westarians at Leyte, the detached force would attack the Westarian Northern Territories, and then the main force and detached force would launch a pincer attack on Pearl Harbour. 

The problem facing the Free Fleet right now was that both plans involved the Empire taking every single one of the many islands and atolls held by Westaria would be attacked and occupied by Imperial forces. Guam, despite the naval base having been deactivated, would be one of the islands that would be attacked. The Free Fleet had to decide immediately whether they would run, or risk attack by an Imperial Fleet. 

"How long do we have until Guam is attacked?" asked Fuji, directing the question towards Myōkō. 

"It depends how long it takes to beat the Westarians at Leyte," she said, shrugging her shoulders slightly, "It could be anywhere between a few weeks and a few months. There isn't any real way to know."

"Well then," said Fuji in a bright and cheerful tone, "How about we leave the decision until the morning, and then, after a good night's sleep, we can make a choice?"

They all agreed on that, and headed off to their respective hulls to sleep, while Hasegawa spent the night in Fuji's Admiral's Cabin. 

***

It was the next morning, and they were going to make their decision during breakfast, but, while Salem was preparing it, her radar picked up an object to the north, with a cross-section the size of a destroyer, heading right towards them.