>Even with the tools and capabilities at her disposal, though, it was going to take a while to dig a hole that big

When I was reading this, I wondered just how exactly Akashi, or -anyone-, would do it without months and a fleet of construction equipment. Omega-class beam weapons are available, though.

>It was in his stateroom aboard that vessel, therefore, that Admiral Corwin Ravenhair found himself being shaken gently awake.

>"Admiral?"

It's not immediately obvious from the way the story is written, but Utena's here, too. I think the Admiral needs to institute a 'knock first' rule if he and Utena/Anthy are going to spending any more time aboard ship...

>The commercial area around Wai'alae Avenue

Like most other readers, no doubt, I knew exactly where they were going and why the moment I saw this street name. It must have sucked for Leonne to have to drop everything, but the way things went, she would never have had a chance to go back and pick up her life anyway.

>they were scale models of warships from the mid-twentieth-century Pacific War. One represented Lionfish herself, a Balao-class American fleet submarine; the other was unmistakably the Japanese battleship Nagato

>Both of them were portraits of human men, both dressed in the uniforms of Pacific War-era United States Navy officers, one significantly younger than the other. Kongō could find no matches in her intelligence database for the younger, but a match for the elder turned up within only a moment of searching: Vice Admiral Charles A. Lockwood

Leonne made it clear in Cantata what she saw in VADM Lockwood, but Nagato was her real CO. Not sure why Leonne would have a model of her CO. And the younger sailor is even more interesting. Leonne wasn't around during WW2, was she? I thought past husband at first, maybe, but the timing is way off (It's revealed later to be the captain of the Lionfish.) Kongo points some of this out herself, so I'm sure it'll be answered in due time.

>The only really odd thing about either one of them was the peculiar annular device hovering above Tatsuta's head, like a sort of cybernetic halo

I'm surprised Corwin didn't make the immediate connection--Tenryu's devil horns and Tatsuta's halo. The irony, of course, is both are outward appearances only. If you know what they feel deep down, I think the two should be reversed.

>Shimakaze, on the other hand, was dressed... arrestingly strangely

Given how strange all the other Mental Models are dressed, I'm not sure why this stood out, ridiculously risque though it is. The whole point is the ladies don't have a good grasp of human fashion. (Of course, the meta reason is Kancolle is much more fanservicey than Arpeggio ever was.)

>So now she's terrified. Looking for somewhere to hide. Waiting for the other shoe to drop

Ohhhhhh dear. Like I said in my earlier post, I didn't think it was like -that- for her.

>Or, rather, it took Kongō that long, with musical accompaniment

Carnival da yo!

>Léonne liked coffee, and appeared to make it using a process that involved salt

*chokegaspwheeze* SALT?!

>Standing here amid the hastily abandoned fragments of a human life—even a counterfeit one

The idea that Leonne's human life was counterfeit is arguable at best.

>But when Kongō received her buffered copy of Fleet Coordinator Nagato's last message, and under her direction we all manifested our Mental Models

Still VERY much looking forward to finding out the big mystery here--the connection between the kanmusu of Asgard and the Fleet of Fog. Oh, there's a story here waiting to be told...

>You're describing her as if she were the original ship from World War II, not a member of the 21st-century Fog fleet," Corwin pointed out.

>Tatsuta looked faintly surprised. "Yes... yes, I suppose I am. That's... since we manifested these bodies, that seems to be how we think of ourselves. Isn't that strange?

Yes; yes, it is. But far from uninteresting.

>And then, with quick, decisive motions, she unbuttoned the top button of the baseball shirt she was wearing, hauled the shirt off over her head, and held it out to the blonde. "Start with this

As was pointed out before, it really is a great thing to see Utena be herself again. It HAS been a long time.

>Kongō had no idea what to do. Interacting with ordinary civilians was not part of the mission parameters she had been told to expect

And this while they were being sent undercover into a human society to track down a person's house? Whoever briefed Kongo and Maya was an imbecile.

>Especially since he was an enlisted sailor. Senior Chief Petty Officer Captain Cook Kealoha, what a mouthful. And he wasn't a cook, either!

I'm almost afraid to ask what his rating actually was.

>To hear you and her describe it, it sounds like a nice place. Peaceful. Not..." She made a vague gesture. "Our usual kind of crazy

Can I just say I love how they're resigned to insanity being their lot in life? I love how matter of fact they are about it.

I had the chance to... just be human for a while. And I think... I think maybe Shimakaze needs that kind of chance. Hell, they probably all do."

>"Hmm. That's not such a crazy idea," said Corwin thoughtfully. "It's a seaport town, so they wouldn't be in a completely alien environment, but they'd be away from the fleet, the routine of station life... me...

Not sure how I feel about this. I work in a place where sailors and civvies interact all the time, and it's not a big deal. But I know some enlisted, particularly people who've been deployed, have a hard time adjusting to civilian life. I think it's good that the new Fog girls experience civvie life at a less hectic pace, but not so much because it's normal as because it needs to become the new normal. If that makes sense.

>With a flicker of violet light, the long-shanked glaive she favored as a melee weapon appeared in her hands; she regarded its edge thoughtfully

Oh, Tatsuta, you're just like your sister. Until the 'thoughtfully' part.

>What was more, she'd made a career serving in the humans' armed forces. Serving aboard ship, no less, which struck Kongō as a fantastically perverse thing for a Mental Model of the Fog to do.

Yes! I think Leonne did it partly just to -be- perverse, quietly laughing every time humans made a mistake she wouldn't have. I think she'd have had a blast.

>Did that mean it was going to happen to her? Would she wake from maintenance cycle one day soon to find herself acting as erratically, as strangely, as inefficiently as all the others? Forming irrational attachments to things, developing tastes and habits unconnected with, or even detrimental to, the performance of her function as a ship of the Fog? Perhaps even having... opinions?
>Inconceivable.
>Intolerable.

Ohhhhh dear. And I've pointed this out before, a long time ago, but this conflict is very central to the original Arpeggio story. I shouldn't spoil, but the last couple episodes show exactly where this could lead if things don't go right.

>It was also an annoying reminder that there was an uncomfortable number of things that hadn't bothered her until Midway

Amazing how a little human interaction can undo months of careful, planned brainwashing. Actually, come to think of it, that's a very common Fog reaction; coming to a belated realization because they only started -thinking- not long before. It's as true in the original show as it is here, and I like how smoothly the adaptation of Arpeggio was made. I don't know nearly as much about Kancolle, so I can't comment, but I'm just as well pleased to take their interesting characters and make them Fog. There's an inherent silliness to Kancolle that I have a hard time ignoring.

>The first thing she noticed was Clemson's ever-present aide. Kongō had wondered, seeing him alone out in the hallway, where she was, since she had never once seen him without her. She knew nothing about the woman

Color me intrigued. Black Omega operative? EoJ deep undercover operative? Inquiring minds want to know.

>As he spoke, Kongō realized that there was another human figure walking toward them from the direction of the strange hybrid ship's gangway. As it approached, it resolved into the shape of a teenage girl... of a sort

Holy CRAP. Question: Should I be thinking 'Kancolle Abyssal' here, or 'Night of the Living Dead'? I didn't see anything like the name Buran in the list of Abyssal ship classes, but that might mean nothing.

Anyway, this is long enough! Thanks again for continuing to write; I know how much heart and soul you pour into all of this.

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Fearless creatures, we all learn to fight the Reaper
Can't defeat Her, so instead I'll have to be Her