The sea was dark, and the port was almost uninhabited save for the few spotlight stands lighting up the storage containers, standing tall over the shipyard as silent and watchful guardians to illuminate the night.
But at the edge of the port, where the poorly-lit pavement of the base was only guarded by a steel fence, the harbor platform ended as it let to a sheer drop into the now pitch-black waters, where a large ship was waiting.
When compared to other container ships, this ship was relatively unimpressive in size, built to serve its purpose than to impress others, with the anchor lowered into the water and several thick ropes secured to mooring cleats in order to moor the vessel.
And judging by the lack of activity of the cranes in the loading bay and the base that was next to the port, it was very safe to assume that this was in the middle of the night, or at least very late into the night for almost everyone to be resting.
The small container ship by the port, a modest-looking ship that had a superstructure about 17 meters tall that was jutting upwards while positioned at the rear to overlook the whole ship, immediately followed by what was supposed to be a relatively large area meant to fit dozens of steel containers in front of the superstructure, followed by a small elevation of the platform and ending with the sharp bow.
It was designed to carry containers larger than an average human, but now, the container platform was refitted with a mammoth-sized steel box that was more than half the height of the rear superstructure.
The large steel box had several large steel tubes either coming out of one part of the wall and going back into the massive steel box on another side, or into the lower deck of the container ship and marked out by the heavy-duty bolts holding it in place.
There were several exhaust vents and funnels jutting up from the steel box, and several cooling units attached to its sides in order to maintain the temperature of the environment within the enormous metal crate.
And at the hull, above the waterline, were a few holes easily large enough for a human to crawl in and out of to access the ship to allow for easy dispensing of the explosive contents stored within the steel box that was installed on the container-carrying platform of the container ship.
The bow of the ship had several almost human-sized giant metallic spheres resting on them, with metallic rods sticking out of them at certain angles around them, almost invisible in the darkness that engulfed the deck of the ship.
The searchlight stands installed on the deck of the container ship were currently inactive and the only source of light was from small light sources on the deck and from within the superstructure as its occupants didn't want to attract any attention and strove to sortie in the dead of night to that end.
The ship itself was outfitted with dark and mild colors, nothing that would help it stand out in the dark to maintain stealth.
The name of the boat was cancelled out with paint, and beside the crossed out name was the sloppily written, but still legible,
"爆発"
To stand for "Explosion".
The platform itself had several dozen barrels of fuel and naval mines strapped onto it wherever space was available, and had several ladders as access points to which the submarines that piloted this ship could board the ship whenever they wished.
There were also a few motor-powered, smaller boats strapped to the sides of the ship, ready to be used in times of emergency as lifeboats for the few sailors that helped man the gigantic mine-laying ship.
There were three submarines currently gathered around a person who wore a familiar white blazer and officer cap as Admiral Haru looked down at her girls fondly.
Around her, her submarines were awaiting orders, and almost all of them were wearing the signature blue swimsuit that would help others identify them as submarines.
The exception to this rule of fashion was one white colored, one-piece school swimsuit-wearing ship girl that was amongst the rest of the submarines tending to the ship that was designed to run with a small crew despite its relatively large size.
Goya was one of the main trio that stood in front of her, her peach-pink colored hair reflecting her default mood as she seemed eager to sortie, shifting her weight from one feet to another excitedly.
The second of the trio was Imuya, her long red hair in a ponytail and a hair ribbon adorning one side of her hair to the side of her face.
She had an ahoge atop her crown and her school swimsuit was like Goya, also possessing the same blue and white school uniform top to reach down to her waist and cover her school swimsuit.
She had her arms crossed, looking ready to take part in the new mission that they were given, and she was trying and failing to hide the giant smirk on her face, her reddish-pink eyes twinkling.
The last of the main trio literally had twinkling red eyes, her eyes designed to have stars in them as she hopped around impatiently and caused her massive "fuel tanks" to giggle about wantonly.
Her light-blue hair, with pinkish hues at its edges and end as they were tied into triple tails, and pinkish-white ribbons holding them at their root.
And it was almost unnoticeable, but there a hair piece that somewhat resembled an antenna on her left temple, and her school swimsuit had no school uniform top, but instead had an imprinted black letters on a white name tag that read "I-19", writing her name Iku out loud.
Admiral Haru pacified them with a half-raised hand, and the trio immediately stopped their movements to hear Admiral Haru out.
"Alright, like I told you subs. What is the objective here again?"
Goya raised her hand, exclaiming enthusiastically.
"Do everything the way you want it to, including this and that, right?"
Imuya lightly smacked her on the head, exclaiming.
"What do you mean, 'this and that', did you sleep through the briefing again?!"
Goya answered truthfully and without hesitation.
"Yes, I did!"
Earning her another light smack on the back of the head.
Iku raised her hand next, her chest giggling from the exertion as she answered.
"Mine the location determined by the Coordinators with our Anti-Abyssal naval mines, and also help the subs of other bases to mine the entire location and sail back without provoking or engaging the enemy, right?"
"Yep, that's about it."
"Yay! Iku's right yet again!"
As the submarine rejoiced, she deliberately hopped around, treating Admiral Haru to a view of two melons flailing around, attempting to escape the tight confines of her school swimsuit that was modified to be a size smaller and emphasizing her curves, all for the Admiral.
Admiral looked away with a small smirk and blush, and asked the trio.
"Did you account for everyone on the ship?"
Imuya nodded, counting on her left hand.
"We've got Hachi, Ro, Maru-yu and Shioi to all help us out, so that's a resounding yes!"
Admiral ruffled the trio's hair, muttering to them.
"You girls have been working hard ever since the renovations and carrying out my secret plans. So tell you what.
When you girls come back, I'll treat you all to Mamiya's best food. Remember to tell the rest of the subs, alright?"
The submarines all cheered and bowed as they turned away to walk up the plank to board the ship while the Admiral waltzed away to attend to other matters.
The submarines were getting into the mood, muttering conspiratorially to each other as their eyes slowly became crazed while they boarded the heavily modified mine-laying ship, Goya starting.
"So, we plant the naval mines, and as we detonate them, we go 'Yay'…"
Goya continued.
" … the mine goes 'BOOM!' …"
Iku trailed off.
" … and the Abyssals go…"
The three submarines, primary members of the Specialized Mining Fleet, hid their mouths as they snickered, too engrossed in the in-joke as they answered unanimously.
" … everywhere!"
And broke out into fits of giggles as they hoisted up the plank and cut the ropes, the anchor slowly pulling itself up via an internal motor as the boat sluggishly moved out into the darkness in order to plant its specially created explosive contents in the depths.