Saratoga was on an ocean.
She wasn't sure how she arrived here despite knowing that she hadn't sortied yet after being reincarnated, this location obviously looking to be in the middle of nowhere with a small atoll off in the distance, and as Saratoga wondered where she was, she took the time to look around her in order to determine her exact location.
Her engines were turned off, much to her disappointment, but she tried not to make any silly moves as she turned around on the spot to try and observe her surroundings, and picked up a few American buddies of her own.
Sporting a few ghosts on the ocean with her, her radar identified them as American ships, but could only see them as grey, translucent female figures standing on the ocean off in the distance, all silently awaiting something or another.
This was all lost on Saratoga, who tried to hail them by raising her right hand and energetically waving to them in order to get their attention, spotting Arkansas the Wyoming-Class battleship, the amphibious assault ship LSM-60, Hughes the Sims-Class destroyer and Nagato the battleship further behind them…
Wait, what?
Saratoga squinted in order to see further across the ocean, and there she was, the damaged Nagato-Class battleship standing proudly on the ocean, and unlike the rest of the ship girls, Nagato was shown in all her glory with her horned gear, skimpy uniform and her hardened expression as Saratoga's eyes widened in shock.
Her expression morphed into one of dread as she took in the sullen body language of a standing Arkansas, the seated, crying form of Hughes with her face in her palms, and the fatigued expression of Nagato.
No.
Not here.
Anywhere but here .
But she had no more time to think as she felt the rumbling of the ocean beneath them, barely a millisecond before she was blown away by a searing shock wave of devastating proportions, almost like Hell itself roared and made the ocean quake in fear as it unleashed a geyser of burning seawater and seabed sand into the air.
Caught in the intense shock-wave, the hot air roasted her steel lungs from the inside and took her by surprise as her skin was singed and emitted wisps of smoke, the raging ocean rolling and shifting as it threatened to bring her to her knees.
The carrier failed to scream in the resulting low-pressure mist known as the Wilson Cloud as it blanketed the entire area, writhing around on the ocean in pain while attempting to shield herself for all the good it did, before the Wilson Cloud evaporated and vanished as soon as it appeared.
But the column of radioactive seawater began its downwards descent as Saratoga collapsed onto the ocean like everyone else around her, watching the base surge of boiling water rush towards her like it was out to get her, further shaking the ocean as it approached her.
Or was that her fearful body shaking?
LSM-60 was long gone after being in the epicenter of the nuclear blast.
Arkansas was partly sunk, her lower torso and legs the only two parts of her that were still above water.
Nagato was doubling over and was coughing up blood into the ocean, and she couldn't crane her head around to see how Hughes was doing.
The resulting "cauliflower cloud" cast a shadow upon her dying body as she floated on the ocean surface, blanketing the sky and enshrouding the survivors in a looming shadow with its ominous, towering presence that, in Saratoga's dying imagination, almost formed Yggdrasil, the World Tree.
If Yggdrasil were a radioactive mushroom cloud, and its seed was a nuclear bomb.
Somehow, despite experiencing this nightmare for the first time, it felt as if she already knew the outcome to this dream sequence.
And there was nothing she could do to change it.
She closed her eyes as the rumbling of the base surge engulfed her, soaking her from head to toe in ionizing radiation and silencing her screams with boiling, radioactive seawater, the fact that this was all a flashback doing nothing to stop the pain from flooding her systems.
Jolting up to the surprise of Houshou, Saratoga awoke from her nightmare as she almost fell from the couch of the cafe booth in the Shinsengumi, her skin glossy with sweat as the Houshou-Class light carrier came to her rescue with a towel and a bottle of mineral water.
And after a second of apprehension before remembering the situation at hand, where she was now supposed to be friends with the Japanese ship girls, she gave the carrier a weak smile and accepted the two gifts, wiping the sweat from her face as Houshou politely asked.
"Saratoga-san, did you have a nightmare? It seemed as if you were extremely perturbed by whatever you were dreaming about."
Saratoga nodded weakly as she felt as if this was one ship girl whom she could trust to listen to her, mostly because of her motherly appearance and her kind eyes which belied the fact that she, much like Saratoga, had survived the war and had endured the losses of her fellow carriers who sank around her.
"I… I was dreaming about Operation Crossroads, and I was there with Nagato-san. … And others."
Houshou's eyes widened before narrowing in understanding, sitting beside her in the cafe booth as she asked with the worry of a mother whose child woke up in the dead of night and was frightened about going back to sleep.
"And would you feel comfortable sharing with me how this dream sequence went? While I believe that it's best to be comfortable with sharing these traumatic experiences, please note that I also believe we should share them when we're emotionally prepared to do so. I respect your privacy as much as I wish to help you."
Nodding, Saratoga remembered that Haruna, Nagato and Houshou kept her company in the Shinsengumi, since she just wanted to be alone, albeit with someone to accompany her, and Nagato used her authority as a capital ship to keep several curious ship girls at bay for Saratoga's sake.
She spent the entire day in silence with two meals being served by the kind light carrier Houshou, the three of them keeping their meals relatively small for capital ships, since they didn't want to eat a hole into Houshou's food reserves.
Not that Saratoga needed to eat that much in order to think.
Haruna and Nagato essentially took a day off as they kept her company until she asked the two of them to leave her be for tonight at Houshou's bar, the two battleships reluctantly agreeing to her request as they retired for the night.
Focusing on the present, Saratoga opted to compromise as she answered the light carrier,
"Well, forgive me if I wish to keep this experience close to the chest, even if for a while before I feel comfortable with sharing it with you in the future. But I appreciate your concern and your presence, and I wish you'll stay here with me while I recover, please."
Houshou displayed her warmest smile, which made Saratoga feel a little warm inside as she saw the Houshou-Class light carrier making herself comfortable on the couch while agreeing to her request.
"Of course, Saratoga-san. You're now a part of this base, and you're one of us now, so don't hesitate to ask anything of us."
Nodding, Saratoga relaxed in the presence of the light carrier who showered her with maternal concern, something she never thought she needed while alone in a foreign land, asking innocently.
"W-Well, this is the first I've asked of anybody, but I'd prefer it if you called me Sara. Maybe it just feels a little awkward for you to call me by my full name while you're the motherly figure of this base, but I think if I were to allow anyone to call me by that nickname, I'd prefer it if you were the first."
Houshou nodded understandingly as she accepted another request.
"Of course, Sara."
And they spent about fifteen minutes sitting there in the silent, deserted pub, with Houshou sitting beside her and keeping Saratoga calm with her presence alone, while Saratoga occasionally took sips of water to pass the time.
And the IJN carrier must've been contemplating something or another, as she seemed to recall something and notified Saratoga.
"Perhaps this is not my place to reveal such things to others, but seeing that the both of you participated in the same event, I do believe you should at least be notified of this, Sara-san. I believe Nagato-san had the same nightmare about Operation Crossroads, shortly after she was created. And seeing you appear in this base might cause her to experience the same nightmare again, much like how seeing Nagato caused you to experience this nightmare."
Saratoga's interest was piqued, asking how the light carrier sounded so certain about this prediction of hers.
It sounded plausible when one considered how both parties reacted upon seeing each other, and it'd make sense if both ship girls experienced the same nightmare that was Operation Crossroads, albeit from different perspectives.
But Houshou simply answered with an enigmatic, yet caring,
"Call it a mother's intuition, after caring for so many ship girls for so long."
Saratoga exhaled tiredly as she nodded, thanking her for this tidbit of information to inform her that she was not alone.
"Thank you, I suppose."
And Houshou offered a suggestion of her own to help Saratoga get over her nightmare.
"You know, I find that one way to get over a nightmare is to walk it off, especially when breathing in the cool, salty harbor air at night would help to ease your nerves.
After all, you are a ship girl, and being close to an environment which you are familiar with would help you, right?"
Saratoga considered the suggestion, before accepting it with a nod of her head as she got up slowly while finishing the bottle of water, thanking.
"Thank you, Houshou-san. For everything."
Houshou gave her a warm smile as she responded warmly.
"Oh, don't worry about it. We're all comrades-in-arms now, and in some sense, I also consider us friends and even family to some extent, being fellow carriers in the same base. Is it presumptuous of me to see our relationship in such a way?"
But Saratoga shook her head, strangely accepting the light carrier's affection and the care that she showed her, an American carrier, despite being on different sides in World War 2.
And yet here Houshou was, worried about her well-being after experiencing a nightmare and admitted that she saw her as a friend and even a family member.
It meant a lot to her, since she was half a world away from her fellow American ship girls and craved this feeling of familial concern more than anything else.
She returned Houshou's smile as she responded warmly.
"No. I prefer it, actually."