(Remaster) The Ship of the Tempest

Rising Red Glare

"Come on...work you little shit!"

Z73 was poking at the side of her rigging, her special mode still active as she tried fiddling with her Rigging to find something in it. At first, she couldn't even tell apart what was really what in her mind, but eventually, she did find the "radio" so to speak.

Only issue is that it's a model she never saw before, and she was currently fiddling with it's knobs in her mind. Riggings were weird and almost unexplainable, so she never bothered to figure out how they can use radios with their thoughts.

"Work you piece of JUNK!!" She slammed her hand into her Tail/Rigging, the dull thud of metal meeting her ears before she finally felt like she got through to something. "Thank God. Hey, anyone on this line?"

"Your call has been forwarded to an automated voi-"

"HOW DID I GET TO VOICEMAIL?!"

...

After an...uncomfortable amount of time, she finally felt like she broke through to something again, and crossed her fingers as she connected. The signal was all the way back home, and so she had zero clue how she connected so easily, but she did, so she chalked it to her new Rigging.

"Hello? Who is this?"

"Bismarck! Long time since I heard from you."

"...Is that you 73?"

"Yeah, who else would it be?"

There was an uncomfortable silence on the other end of the radio, before she heard a chair squeak as someone sat in on before Bismarck sighed. "Thank goodness you're alive..."

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, the British sent us a photo of Enterprise holding your shattered mask, and naturally, I assumed the worst had happened. Turns out you're still alive and kicking, and I don't need to tell your sisters that you died."

"Oh...see...funny story about that."
——

"—And that's how I got to Pacific waters."

She had spent the last while speaking of her experiences to Bismarck, from who she disguised as, to what she learned about each faction's Siren research. However, she did leave out the fact she has a Black cube in her possession now, mostly for Security reasons.

"This is...a lot to take in."

"I'd bet. But at least you know it all now, so we don't have much to worry about now."

"Actually, I have some news of my own about this topic regarding the Black Cube."

Z73 hummed, crossing her arms as she continued to admire her new form. "Go on..."

"During your excursion, we had a brief visit by Akagi of the Japanese Kansens, and she had an...interesting business proposal."

Z73 stayed quiet, the pause in Bismarck's words not making her happy in the slightest. Eventually, she heard the chair squeak again, most likely Bismarck standing up.

"She offered an alliance, and she attempted to sweeten the deal with an offering of a Black Wisdom cube."

"Did you accept?"

"...I did."

...

Z73 sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Okay...listen Bismarck, while I'm technically apart of the German navy, I'm also trying to make sure everyone stays together as a unit. So I'm giving you this warning only once, so listen closely."