Disclaimer: I don't own Halo or Kancolle, please don't sue me!

A/N: So, this came out far later than I hoped, and is shorter than I originally wanted, but you've wanted too long for SOMETHING, so here's a bit more to tide you over for the next few days until the REAL meat happens!

Umbra shifted in her seat as she listened to the chatter going over the (supposedly) secure satellite feed. She was currently sitting with her back against the wall of a maintenance shed located just a few yards from the big dish in the middle of Yokosuka's communications hub, listening in on the different transmissions that kept going back and forth. The prowler's cloak kept her from being spotted, and all the interference from being so close to all the equipment nearby would keep her off of any other sensors that were nearby as well, but that didn't mean that Umbra wasn't still going to be careful. Still, at the moment, the corvette-turned-spy was frowning as she thought about the current predicament.

The convoy about to be attacked wasn't that high up the list of priorities, in her mind, yet it was still another battle that she could TECHNICALLY say that they were involved in, which meant that it was a question of whether or not it was her (and by that she meant both Levi and herself) duty to intervene. Certainly there were plenty of reasons, both common sense and not, to do so, but there were just as many reasons why she felt it might be better for them to sit this one out…

On the one hand, jumping in would involve either Leviathan, herself, or both of them moving towards the combat zone, which would be noticeable in the former's case, and risky in the latter. Leviathan could easily outclass any waterborne ship, between her armor and armament, but Umbra herself was another story. Not only was she not made for front line combat outside of supporting ground forces or acting as a scout for larger forces, she could easily see the worst case scenario occurring where she was shot down from the sky and then hauled off by some Abyssal for study. And while no doubt the underwater menaces would need decades to understand anything on her, it was still too high of a risk, to say nothing of the crawling sensation that it gave Umbra to think of being pulled into the deep.

However, there was the problem of justifying such a rescue attempt as well. Aside from outright admitting that they had been spying on the JMSDF and USN's communications, how would they claim to have known such an attack was going on? No matter how you looked at it, it would be logical for them to assume that they had known because they were Abyssals and therefore in on it, which would spell just as much bad news for the pair as admitting that they'd been spying in the first place. There was no magic word to make THAT problem go away, and Umbra didn't think that she could whip up some excuse to let them simply 'overhear that there was a problem'. She was good, no doubt, but she was still trying to teach herself the hardware that these Earthers (and don't get her started on THAT shit, she was pretty sure that she wasn't the only one calling bull on that label) were using. Creating bypass devices that she could just attach or plug in were easy, but that didn't mean that she'd been successful with all of her attempts… She again thanked whoever it was that watched over them that the young man whose laptop she'd borrowed and then accidentally fried hadn't made more of a fuss at it going missing when she'd made that trip into the city proper. Umbra shuddered to think of what would have happened if it had been a military computer that she'd done so to and then gotten caught…

So, while she didn't think she'd be able to slip into their systems and create a situation that would alert Levi to the attack, that didn't mean that the flagship would be okay with not knowing about this. If anything, Levi would be furious that she'd been left out of the loop again. And while Umbra may have found some amusement at tweaking the Marathon's ear a bit, there was the simple fact that it would be the biggest jerk move of the century. Levi was also the only other UNSC asset in the area… and no ship lasted long without support in a war. Given all of the assorted strangeness of this world, the red-eyed prowler wasn't fond of the idea of being… abandoned.

Putting such gloomy thoughts aside though, Umbra continued to listen as the convoy's escorts reported their course changes and headings, her thoughts about informing her fleet-mate still see-sawing back and forth in her mind..

Jericho felt the waves part for her as she rose to the surface, her turrets shedding water from their armored plates, water-tight irises opening along the barrels' muzzles and leaving them primed and ready for their shells to take their proper place. Sometimes the Helepolis-class wondered why water never seemed to stick to them unless it was in non-essential places, or unless they willed it. It struck her as odd that a species as aquatically based as they were would be hydro-repellent, but on the other hand she wasn't going to complain too much. Bad enough that they still had to drain themselves to use weapons on the surface, and that most of their guns were next to useless under the waves. That's why most Abyssals preferred the use of torpedoes after all. Then again, what reason did they have to use them on anything below? The only things down there were themselves, the normal sea life, and the Abyss. And while there were plenty of rivalries and fights amongst the Abyssals, any actual fight would be nothing but a temporary issue, given their seeming immortality. By the Deep, even their fight against humanity, while definitely fueled by hate and betrayal, was more about ensuring that they could live upon the waves unmolested than not. At least, that's why Jericho herself kept fighting, and she knew that she wasn't the only one.

Putting such thoughts aside for now, the battleship turned to see her sister ship Zaula surfacing south of her and similarly preparing for battle. The shorter-haired woman was getting her scout-plane up into the air while the Raau-class carriers were already putting up a series of CAPs (Combat Air Patrols) above them. The destroyers had confirmed the presence of multiple ship-girls along with their steel hulled counterparts, and with their forces splitting to pincer the convoy in a crab claw, it was up to her and her sister to swing the first hammer strike. Sadly though, the main element of surprise seemed to have been lost when one of those pesky ship-girls' scout planes spotted the scouts, getting the convoy to take defensive measures. Still, it would not save them...

Meanwhile, Akuma was moving at flank speed below the waves, a pair of escorts with her as the aviation battleship hauled ass to get into her own position. Within her hull, a series of dive bombers were fueling up in specialized cells resembling the VLS pods on modern human ships, the only way to allow her and the other Imítheos to stuff their aerial units onto an already well armed and crowded hull. Cannons moved into the loading position, their muzzles still sealed but otherwise ready to be put into firing position the moment that they were out of the water while her crews began to load them with high explosive shells.

The former Yamato glanced to the South where Santou was doing the same, unable to see her visually due to the distance but knowing that she was doing so regardless. The humans between and above them were already pinging their sonars to track them, a sleeper and two ship-girls from the looks of it, yet they would only be the first victims of the Helepolis' first volley if things went according to plan. In fact, they should be crossing paths with the first of the Abyssals' own destroyers right about…. now.

"See anything yet Barry?"

"Negative Shirayuki, no visuals as of yet, but we're still picking up sonar contacts coming in above the thermocline, coming our way. If they don't surface soon, I'll eat my hat."

"Roger that. I estimate that we've got four contacts in this area, but that last one is a big one. Definitely not a destroyer."

"We figured the same, Shirayuki. Keep your eyes and ears peeled though," Barry's captain said, switching frequencies for a moment. "Convoy this is Barry, be advised, we have confirmed sonar tracks in our area. Three destroyers and one heavy. Unknown classes yet, will advise as we go. Over."

As the other ships gave their responses, Captain Moore looked up through the bridge's windows to see a cluster of dots in the sky, the tiny shapes of fairy fighter craft from Bataan and Gambier Bay having already moved to provide air support just in case. He hoped that they wouldn't need it, but the feeling in his gut said that today was going to be a bad day to be on the water...

"Acoustics are picking up increased cavitation," said his sonar operator, hand pressing the headset to his ear like it was an ice-bag after a bar brawl. "Sir, they're coming to flank speed, heading… High speed screws! Fish in the water!"

"Thirty degrees to starboard, don't give a straight shot but don't give them a broadside shot either!" Moore called out before hitting the radio. "Shirayuki, Hatsuyuki, stay in loose formation until we've got them on the surface. Permission to depth charge granted at your discretion."

As the two ship-girls replied, the San Diego-born captain felt the Barry shift beneath him as its screws bit into the waves to turn them off their previous course and onto a new one. He knew that it wasn't likely that depth charges would do anything to the incoming weapons, but he was more worried about the enemy destroyers using it to shroud their advance. As the sonar operator called out distances, Moore watched the waves for the tell-tale sign of the torpedoes' wake, hoping to spot the trail of white foam that would let him know if they needed a last minute turn or not…

The destroyer heaved to, hull turning to a 60 degree angle as it shifted hard to starboard to change its heading, hoping to avoid being caught in a spread yet refusing to turn fully perpendicular. Hatsuyuki turned in to keep her course along the Barry's flank, while Shirayuki turned to port, spreading their formation out a bit but staying within each others' anti-air umbrella. A handful of explosions sounded out along the waves as depth charges continued to rain, but only one managed to get lucky and hit one of the torpedoes themselves, causing a gout of water to fly into the air as the twin-ponytailed ship-girl cheered.

Moore gave a thin smile as he watched the younger Fubuki-class celebrate, even though he knew it was premature. Any thoughts of admonishment though were kicked aside as his sonar operator called out again. "Contact surfacing, 700 meters ahead!" Snapping his head forward, the American captain had just enough time to see the prow of an Abyssal destroyer pierce the waves as it leapt upwards, jaws open in a roar as the barrel of a cannon flashed…

Leviathan set aside the disposable thermos that she'd filled with coffee as she and Nagato had left the cafeteria, having already drained seven cups during their little talk, yet the cruiser was still guzzling it down like she was a fish in water. Currently they were sitting at one of the benches set along the hills meant to break up the monotony of the terrain and give those stationed there some nature to partake in while also breaking up sight lines in case of attack. Their discussion had shifted from an abbreviated version of the UNSC's history, to some of the more pertinent details behind the World Wars that were influencing the current conflicts, and even to some of the more cultural movements that had come about due to the revelation of the existence of ship-girls and their appearance on the world scale. It was this last one that had eventually segued into the current topic of Abyssal materialization.

"Typically the Abyssals like to crop up with as little warning as they can, but most do utilize bad weather or the dark of night in order to gain an advantage," Nagato said, shifting the collar of her coat up in light of the light breeze that was blowing around them. "The more of them there are, the worse said weather tends to get, but not always."

"Is there a cause for it? Like, some phenomenon that they're using to set it up, or is it all natural weather patterns?" Levi asked.

She shook her head in response. "From what we've seen, it's definitely not normal all the time, but they either can't or just don't use it all the time. Numbers influence it, but as far as we know, they have some units that can use it actively. People used to think that it was just a side effect of the Abyssals' nature, shifting the world around them, but observations have proven that to be somewhat false."

"So it's a weapon in their hands then, like an overpowered smokescreen or ECM?"

"Yes, it would seem to be. Unfortunately with their ability to come and go at will, we get little warning before it sweeps over an area. I don't know if you know this, but during the battle at Manila, they cordoned off the area around the city and islands in order to prevent our forces from interceding…"

"Hmmm, I did think it odd that those clouds swept in so fast. Still, an enemy like them can't be completely without bases of their own… How do you track them then?"

Nagato gave a hum in thought before answering. "Well, we do know that they have facilities in place around the world, and while most are in fact hidden, there are a few that maintain those artificial weather patterns around them. They may block sight normally, but we know they have to have something in those regions to be willing to do so…"

"Oh? Like where?"

"There are a few along the Southern pole, off Antarctica and in the Faroe Islands, as well as Madagascar and the African Horn. There are some scattered zones elsewhere, but around the Pacific it's mostly the Aleutians and around the Marianas Trench."

"Huh… and your Intelligence services think that they're basing out of those areas?"

"We know that there's at least a few of them there, yes, though no concrete details without putting eyes on the area itself, which their patrols tend to keep out more often that not. Still, there have been breaks, yes… Hmmm?"

As Nagato watched, Leviathan's face began to turn into a frown during the kanmusu's words, her head tilting to one side as though listening to something only she could hear and causing the battleship's own sense of worry to start rising. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"...I think I may need to speak to your Admiral here. Quickly."

The ravenette felt a chill go down her spine at those words. "May I ask why?"

Leviathan's lips pursed for a second, before she replied. "Picking up satellite chatter from one of your convoys. I think they're going to need some help."

"How… How would you know that?" Nagato asked in alarm as Leviathan stood up from the bench.

"Put a camera up in orbit when I tapped into the satellite network after I woke up. Standard procedure when trying to investigate an… unmapped world," she said.

This caused Nagato's eyes to widen, reading between the lines and picking up on the unspoken admission of the space-born ship-girl having essentially spied on them and breached the satellite network… a network that had, up until now, but one of the only secure means of communication from Abyssal eavesdropping. "You… You're watching them right now then?"

Levi nodded, her lips pulled into a flat line. "Yeah. I don't think we should talk about it here in the open though. Any way you can get a secure line to your Admiral?"

A headache started to form behind her temples as Nagato massaged one of them. "I'll see what I can do. Follow me please…"