As the bright moon reflected on the ocean, and the cold breeze shook the leaves of trees on the Azur Lane Base. Many shipgirls were either having some evening fun or already fast asleep, the evening was that type of night where it's calm, yet something will be lurking in the shadows waiting to strike its victim.
Yamato arrived at the front door of the Admiral's room, after their one on one fight earlier, the Empress of the Sakura Empire still thinks how did the Admiral manage to fight equally as her? Yamato is a shipgirl that is faster, and stronger than an extreme professional athlete or bodybuilder. She knocked on the door to announce her presence before entering.
She saw the Admiral sitting down on the couch wearing glasses while he read a book that seemed to be written by William Blake. An English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age.
There was a whiskey bottle on the coffee table with a half filled whiskey glass, the Admiral flipped a page on the book as Yamato closed the door, and walked over to the other couch across from the Admiral then sat down. The Admiral closed the door, placed it down on the coffee table, picked up his whiskey glass then drank it. He placed down the glass on the table before looking at Yamato.
"Whiskey?" Justin asked, Yamato only shook her head.
"I'm a light drinker, with one drink from that Irish whiskey..? I will probably be drunk immediately." Yamato replied.
"All right… Let's get down to business, shall we?" Justin asked, he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket then gave it to Yamato. "On that piece of paper, is the list of shipgirls who will be participating in the tournament."
===============
Destroyers:
None
Light Cruisers:
Helena
Cleveland
Noshiro
San Diego
Heavy Cruisers:
Drake
Ägir
Azuma
San Francisco
Battlecruisers:
None
Battleships:
Yamato
New Jersey
Friedrich Der Große
Warspite
Carriers:
Enterprise
Shinano
Hakuryuu
Aquilla
===============
"[Wait, these ships are all meta ships! Is the Admiral one of those players who abuse the meta?]" Yamato thought. "Admiral, I know I'm not in the position to doubt you, but using these ships seems to be unfair?"
"Yamato… We are fighting against someone who bribes other people to make them win… You think I'm going easy on them? No… No… In the battlefield being merciful is like a double edge sword, you're here helping an enemy soldier then boom, that soldier stabs you on the back." Justin said, sipping on his whiskey. "I know what it felt like being stabbed on the back…"
"I see… I wouldn't go into further details because it's like we are going into something personal." Yamato said, awkwardly laughing.
"You know, Yamato? I once used the traumatic experiences of my shipgirls to force them into some kind of "berserk" mode." Justin said. "I watched how Hood brutality beat that Bismarck clone during one mission, it was because I made her remember the day where she was sunk by the German shipgirl."
"[Is he admitting to using manipulation!? What the fuck!]" Yamato thought. "I see… But you are not going to make the shipgirls remember their traumatic experiences during the tournament?"
"Heavens no, what are you thinking? Why would I let my shipgirls experience their darkest hours to secure a victory?" Justin asked. "I do not support that kind of action, Yamato. Don't ever mention such things to me ever again."
"S-sorry, A-Admiral… It won't happen again!" Yamato said, bowing down her head.
"Lift up your head, that's not how an Empress acts." Justin ordered, Yamato looked at him. "Anyway, you should head to bed. I have a mission for you tomorrow morning in the mirror seas."
"Yes, Admiral." Yamato said.
[Timeskip]
"I can't believe the Admiral actually sent a fucking battleship to do a scout mission instead of a faster ship like a destroyer." Yamato said to herself.
The Empress was on top of her bridge sitting down by the edge with a pair of binoculars, Yamato thought she was going to fight some enemy fleet by herself, but reality can often be disappointing. She can only see many wrecked ships wherever she looks, Yamato grabbed a picture from her kimono which was a picture of the Admiral she bought from that greedy green cat Akashi.
"Why did Shinano forced me to buy this picture..? I can't complain since it's a half naked picture of the Admiral inside his bathroom…" Yamato said. "Who was the creepy shipgirl who took this photo?"
The Empress stared at the photo for minutes as she remembered her old boyfriend she normally watches in the shower where she secretly installed a camera, but her thoughts were interrupted by the ship suddenly getting hit by something. Yamato quickly looks at the direction of where the attack came from, and sees two lone Siren ships.
"I was having a good time in my head, fuck you." Yamato said.
The 18 inch guns quickly destroyed the Siren ships with no problems, but something was wrong. Why were there only 2 Siren ships? Normally, Siren ships sailed with other different types of Siren ships in the mirror seas, not just two. What's more interesting is that the Siren ships were battleships, so that means they should have some kind of escort with other ships.
Yamato uses the binoculars to scan the area, then sees ships, human ships, the Empress looks at the flag to know which faction they came from, Eagle Union and Ironblood.
"[Did the Admiral send reinforcements? Wait no, most Eagle Union and Ironblood ships are on standby at the base or doing commissions that don't involve the mirror seas. So that means they are from another base.]" Yamato thought. "[I should leave before they see me, I already made a mistake by destroying those Sirens without checking my surroundings.]"
Yamato turned her ship into her riggings because they are more safer, and have a less chance to be seen by other ships from long distances since the ship is the largest battleship to be built. The Empress headed south then west trying to make it harder to get followed by those ships from that different base.
Her existence is still a secret, if anyone knows about her there will be chaos among other bases trying to get Yamato to their side. She's lucky to be with base #1 instead of other bases that might take an advantage on her, the Empress has already seen cases of shipgirls being treated as sex slaves.