"..."
"Hey, hey, wake up, wake up!"
"Are-you-OK?"
"I think I only disabled your ship's propulsion system. Your body should be fine, right?!"
When Takao opened her eyes again, she found Purifier poking her cheek.
She was lying in a completely unfamiliar bedroom.
The room was decorated in a sleek, futuristic minimalist style. Surrounding her were more than a dozen shipgirls she had never seen before, along with an unfamiliar man who was watching her with concern.
They all wore matching uniforms, exuding an air of authority.
Some of the Sakura Empire shipgirls even had beast ears and fluffy tails, which piqued her curiosity.
"You're awake? How do you feel?"
"Purifier might've gone a bit overboard. Your ship hull is heavily damaged, but your body should be fine, right?"
Setsuna examined Takao.
Unlike Azur Lane shipgirls, the Fleet of Fog's shipgirls had a clear separation between their human forms and their ship hulls.
"..."
Takao turned her head and looked out the window.
Blue skies, white clouds—
She had been captured by these strange aliens.
"After a thorough examination inside and out, I can confirm you're in perfect health."
Observer waved the mechanical tentacles on her ship rigging as she spoke.
"Although we're all shipgirls, there are some structural differences. Your core is something called a Mental Model, right? It's different from our Wisdom Cubes."
"Inside and out?!"
Takao's eyes widened in horror.
"I meant your body and your ship hull."
Observer replied matter-of-factly.
"My body?! With those tentacles?!"
Takao's face paled, and she felt a chill down her spine.
She turned her head away and muttered:
"Guh… just kill me."
"Please, don't humiliate me any further."
"Hey?! What kind of thoughts are running through your head?!"
The little Siren loli twitched her mouth in exasperation.
"Come on, we're part of the Terminal Unit. We research and observe the world. Having such indecent thoughts about us is seriously rude, okay?!"
"…You were the one who phrased it that way…"
Takao deadpanned.
Perhaps it was because they were all shipgirls, or maybe because she could sense no malice from them, but despite their earlier battle, she felt a strange sense of familiarity with these girls.
Even though they had fought, she instinctively recognized them as her kin.
"So? You captured me, but you're not killing me. What exactly do you want?"
Takao turned her gaze toward Setsuna.
Judging by his attire, he seemed to be the leader of this group.
"Not bad-looking…"
She noted to herself. Her Mental Model had an extra "girl mode" setting, which gave her some teenage girl tendencies.
"We're from another world, and we're here to conquer this planet."
Setsuna stated his intentions succinctly.
"Of course, I'm also very interested in the Fleet of Fog. I'd like you to join my fleet."
"???"
Takao froze.
She looked Setsuna up and down.
As a native of this world, hearing an alien declare that they intended to conquer Earth was… a bit much to process.
She took a while to digest it.
"Conquer… the world?! You're joking, right?"
"What do you think?"
Setsuna gestured toward the window.
Following alongside the Eternal Snowfall was a fleet of dozens of Sakura Empire warships, awaiting orders.
Their ship designs varied greatly, their undersides and aft sections glowing with eerie blue thrusters, maintaining a steady cruise formation.
Although they didn't look as futuristic as the Fleet of Fog's ships, they had the aggressive edge of interstellar warships.
This was, without a doubt, a fearsome space fleet unlike anything Takao had ever seen before.
"So big..."
Seeing the fleet of starships up close, Takao was a bit shaken.
For the natives of this planet, a fleet of space warships was already overwhelming.
Not to mention those two strange Siren shipgirls—who hadn't even gone all out—left her feeling a bit uneasy about their true strength.
"Why not consider switching sides? We offer excellent benefits—shipgirls who join get a free starship upgrade and a villa in Constantinople."
"In the future, you'll also have the chance to vacation in other worlds and beat up aliens. We've got orbital bombardment, glassing planets, integrating power grids, neutron extermination, and plenty of other fun activities."
Setsuna extended an inviting hand to Takao.
"???"
She didn't understand the latter half of his words—orbital bombardment, glassing planets, power grids? It all sounded so peaceful and loving.
But the starship upgrade did tempt her.
The lure of reaching for the stars was an irresistible draw for a shipgirl.
"..."
"No, no! I am a member of the Fleet of Fog…"
Takao hesitated for a moment, scratching her head.
"You can bring your colleagues too—I want all of them."
Setsuna continued his persuasion:
"Look, the Fleet of Fog's goal is to drive humanity from the seas, right? Meaning, you want to claim dominance over the oceans?"
"Our goal is to conquer the entire world—not just the oceans, but also the land. In a way, our objectives align."
"We can rule the world together, defeat the native humans, and then come with me to another world. I'll upgrade you into a starship, and you can either live there or embark on interdimensional adventures."
"Everyone wins—what do you think?"
In the original Arpeggio of Blue Steel plotline, the typical approach would be to help humanity defeat the Fleet of Fog.
Or, like the kindhearted protagonist, try to find a "coexistence" solution to bring peace between humanity and the Fleet of Fog through diplomacy and sentiment.
But Setsuna thought about his own situation, flipped the idea in reverse, and realized there was no need to follow the traditional approach—allying with the Fleet of Fog made far more sense.
After all, he wasn't here to save the world—he was here to turn them into a vassal state.
The Fog shipgirls and their technology were what truly mattered.
"Wait... what?!"
"Oh—!!!"
Takao was dumbfounded.
She counted on her fingers and realized that what Setsuna was saying actually made sense.
If their goals were the same, and they were all shipgirls, why even fight?
Wouldn't it be better to rule the world together?
The Fleet of Fog was invincible at sea, while Setsuna's starship fleet dominated the skies. Plus, they had Sirens for planetary bombardment and unparalleled landing operations.
This perfectly compensated for the Fleet of Fog's lack of ground warfare capabilities.
A combined force would make world domination effortless.
"Is this some kind of unexpected route?! This is just like when the Soviet Union and Germany formed their infamous wartime alliance!"
Gudako was absolutely stunned.
She never expected Azur Lane shipgirls and Arpeggio shipgirls to form a cross-world alliance to take over this planet.
Even the Sakura Empire shipgirls were a little surprised.
"Commander, I thought we were going to have an all-out war against the Fleet of Fog."
"The Sakura Empire fleet was preparing to prove its strength."
Nagato's ears twitched as she spoke.
"We won't need a fight to the death—we're not enemies, after all."
"Although, knowing how their Musashi thinks, we will probably have to duel for leadership in the future."
Setsuna rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"..."
Takao closed her eyes.
She activated her Mental Model and reached out to contact the other Fog shipgirls.
This was one of the Fleet of Fog shipgirls' unique technologies. Any ship of heavy cruiser class or higher possessed a humanoid consciousness, and their Mental Models could communicate within a shared virtual mental space.
They didn't even need communication devices—it was like telepathy.
"Oh, I'm kind of jealous of that ability..."
"It'd be great if Wisdom Cubes could connect like that too."
Yukikaze peeked around curiously.
"Mental Cubes and Mental Models each have their own advantages. You shipgirls can manifest equipment, enhance your gear, and enjoy nearly limitless energy reserves."
Observer crossed her arms over her nonexistent chest as she responded.
After detailed analysis, she had already gathered substantial data on the Mental Models. Both Azure Lane and Arpeggio shipgirls were manifestations of warship consciousness.
However, their fundamental traits were somewhat different.
...
Deep beneath the ocean—
A massive black-and-gold battleship cruised through the deep-sea region, leading the Fleet of Fog.
Standing at the bow, Musashi was commanding her fleet when she suddenly received a communication request.
She immersed her Mental Model into the network and entered the shared consciousness space, where she saw Takao.
"Hm?"
"Didn't I send you to intercept the humans' vibration warhead? What happened?"
Musashi asked coldly.
"Uh… it was partially successful."
Takao hesitated.
"We destroyed the human fleet, so they didn't reach the Eagle Union. But... the warhead was taken by aliens."
"???"
Musashi frowned in confusion.
"Aliens? What are you talking about?"
"..."
Takao paused for a moment.
"So, uh… a group of spacefaring alien shipgirls showed up and invited us to form an alliance…"
"They said that just taking over the oceans was too small-minded, and that we should conquer the entire world together."
"Oh, and they also mentioned upgrading us into starships in the future…"
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