Anchors Aweigh

Chapter 4

Saratoga and Essex had entered the main building while Enterprise waited for them outside as they reported to the Admiral.

As they walked through the halls, Saratoga turned to Essex.

"So, now that we're here, what do you think about all of this?"

"About what?" Essex said turning her head to Saratoga.

"I mean working with the Japanese ships."

"Oh, that."

"Mmhmm."

"Well, I'd be lying if I said I didn't at least feel a little bit uncomfortable." Essex said as twiddled her 2 pointer fingers together. "But what about you? I'd imagine it'd be tougher for you since you were in the war from beginning to end."

"That wouldn't be too far off." Saratoga said with a bashful smile. "I can only imagine that the same would be true for Enterprise. I thought that she would be the one that would be worse off considering her history. But after seeing her today, it seems like that working with the Japanese might not be too bad."

Essex smiled at Saratoga's optimism. But it was true that she herself was nervous about all of this.

They had finally reached the door to what was supposedly the Admiral's office. It's door was pretty ornate and it looked like the biggest office in the building. Saratoga grabbed the knob first and opened the door and let herself in while Essex followed from behind.

In there, they saw that it was indeed like an Admiral's office, but with no Admiral. Instead, they saw two girls inside the room already. One with long black hair and the other with short brunette hair. They were working on the desks and had turned their heads up to them when they had entered the room.

"Uhh, hello." Essex spoke up.

"Excuse us." Saratoga said. "We're American arrivals and we were supposed to report in to the Admiral here on this base."

"Well, you've come to the right place." The girl with long black hair said. She stood up to introduce herself. "I'm Secretary Ship Nagato."

"Hello there, I'm Mutsu, her assistant." The other girl said as she also stood up.

"Unfortunately, the Admiral is not here right now. So instead I will give you the debriefing in his stead." Nagato explained the to the two girls.

Essex nodded and waited at attention. But Saratoga had a more perplexed look on her face.

"Hmm." Saratoga put her hand underneath her chin and leaned forward. She was kind of eyeing the black-haired girl very closely.

Essex looked at Saratoga questioningly and Nagato could feel her scrutinizing stare. She raised her eyebrow in question to what she was doing.

"I feel like I've seen you somewhere before." Saratoga said.

Nagato still had a questioning look on her face. "I am sure that maybe we had engaged each other some time during the war if you've believe we've met before." Nagato said.

"No, it's not that. I saw you somewhere else." Saratoga said as she continued staring.

"Uh, Sara?" Essex questioned.

Mutsu giggled as Sara was still scrutinizing Nagato.

After a couple of more moments, it seemed a lightbulb lit up over Saratoga's head. "Wait a minute. I remember you now." Saratoga said as she placed her right hand in her fist over her left hand's palm. "You were there during Operation Crossroads weren't you?"

"Gah!" Nagato reeled back in shock. She wasn't expecting that statement to come from the girl. The memory of that time caused the her to reel back.