Moisture dripped from where it collected along the edges of the steel catwalks that overlooked the dark pool, forming a series of steady drips downward. The splashes echoed on the concrete walls or fell with the soft pitter of water on canvas on the large Union Jack hanging from the center catwalks. The quiet scene was illuminated only softly through the small lantern resting on the catwalks above the flag.
"Oi, Rodney." a Scottish voice muttered in hushed tones, as if to avoid disturbing the room's ambience, "pass me some stout would ye?"
An unladylike grunt of acknowledgement replied, followed by the soft ringing of glass on glass and the light hiss of bubbling carbonation.
"My thanks," Edinburgh responded, glancing at the label before taking a hearty swig from the given beer. "Sure beats that finance briefing the rest of the poor girls are roped into," the cruiser muttered in exasperation. "I swear to God if they try to drag us down next year i'll just jam my sixes down my throat and pull the bloody trigger."
"Here's to that," Cumberland muttered, raising a half empty bottle in toast. "Course, that was your fault," she added, staring distractedly into the sloshing amber liquid at the bottom of her drink, "not sure what you're whining about."
"The fuck it was my fault!" Edinburgh retorted indignantly, raising her voice above the previously hushed discussion as she pilfered a new beer can from the remarkable large, but ever shrinking, pile of alcohol, "I've got better financial decisions than you lot." the cruiser defended, giving an accusatory point at her companion with a bottle filled hand.
"You dropped ten thousand quid not two weeks before!" Cumberland retorted, joining in on the raised voices and slamming her own alcohol down on the walkway, "the bloody hell did you expect, they were going to give you a medal?"
"Gold is an excellent wartime investment!" Edinburgh replied, her explanatory tone betraying her drunkenness. "It's one of those things that's always valuable. Worse comes to worse I lose a few hundred pounds to poor market planning. But I promise if I sell at the right time I'll make a killing." she pulled the tab on her can, "'sides, it looks cool all stacked up in me safe."
"Fucking hell," Rodney cried interrupting Cumberland's reply before it formed. The battleship raised herself up on unsteadily legs to lecture the pair of cruisers, gripping the railing with one hand and a pair of empty bottles in the other. "I thought we came up here to get pissed and avoid briefings, not to discuss fucking-" she stopped, clearly searching for a word as she swayed to and fro, "-discuss fucking money and shit."
The two cruisers stared for a minute at Rodney, the stocky redhead's attempts to look serious were mitigated by the constant rocking that had her crew tying down everything they could, which too was made more difficult by the amount of grog ration that had been distributed under Rodney's very explicit and firm orders.
Edinburgh's eye caught glimpse of a fairy throwing up off of Rodney's shoulder. One tiny hand held the gold shoulderboards that decorated the battleship's uniform, the other desperately tried to keep a cup of grog out of the projectiles way. "Fucking hell," the light cruiser slurred slightly, "and I thought I was drunk."
"I'm not that-" Rodney began angrily before stopping mid sentence with wide eyes and holding the back of her free hand up to her mouth. She swallowed what Edinburgh presumed to be bile and spent some time ensuring she had prevented the possibility of spillage before set her hand down again, "okay. I'm pretty drunk," the battleship conceded with finality.
Edinburgh let out an intoxicated giggle at the sight, "fucking hell Rodney slow down, it's not a race."
"Maybe we should head back before she blows something up." Cumberland giggled, joining in on the laughter through the beer bottle she still held close to her lips.
"And risk getting caught and having to keep her sober and quiet through the briefing?" Edinburgh asked, opening up another bottle with a sigh, "no, we've got the lesser of two evils right now lass, just let her have her fun."
Cumberland look unconvinced, but set down the now empty bottle and took another offering from the booze pile, signaling to Edinburgh that the debate was settled. "Hey Cumberland.-" the Scottish girl began.
A splash interrupted her thought.
"What the bloody fuck?" Edinburgh drunkenly wondered aloud, glancing about her surroundings, before settling a confused look on Cumberland. "What fell?" the Scot muttered, checking her immediate surroundings. Her fellow cruiser looked equally confused, until after a brief second of visual search Cumberland's eyes settled on Rodney.
"God damn it Rodney, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Cumberland hissed, grabbing the metal rail of the walkway and raising herself on feet only moderately more steady than the battleship.
Rodney gave her a confused glance and released her hold on the bottle she was carrying, glass falling gracelessly into the dark waters below with a quiet splash. "Getting rid of the empties," Rodney explained matter of factly, shifting another bottle to her newly freed hand. "Don't want to carry them back."
"They're going to find them in the morning you daft bitch!" Edinburgh added angrily, picking up on the situation, "now we'll have to clean them up them in the dark." the light cruiser pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, "I swear to fucking christ if I thought I could lift your heavy arse I'd send you down after."
"It's fine Edinburgh," Cumberland dismissed with a sigh and a placating gesture towards her fellow cruiser. "They don't try and summon more girls until the afternoon, I'll swing by in the morning."
Edinburgh looked unconvinced but let out a dejected sigh of acceptance, "god damn it Rodney, if your sister is half the pain in the arse you are when she arrives I'm torpedoing both of you."
"Hey, don't do that, I like my sister." Rodney commented, a twinge of sadness to her drunk and defensive tone, "she helped sink the Bismarck you know."
"That was King George," Cumberland countered, taking a seat again.
"Was it?" the battleship asked, her look and tone betraying genuine confusion.
"Yes Rodney, it was you and Georgie. Nelson never made it there in time." Cumberland confirmed.
"Oh, right." Rodney admitted, her tone carrying more of the slowly encroaching sad resignation. The battleship crossed her arms on the railing and staring down into the water as lantern light danced along its surface, she was silent for some time.
Edinburgh reached into her own trouser pocket, pulling out her smart phone, emblazoned with Scottish flag, and switched it on, scanning the screen "Hey I think the briefing is over." she muttered after glancing the screen over and flipping the phone off again. "We could probably head back soon."
Cumberland raised an eyebrow in feigned surprise, "Only two hours this year, cutting it short. Probably wanted to avoid another Destroyer riot."
Edinburgh laughed out loud, smiling at the memories, "Glowworm's speech on the desk almost made the whole affair worth it." She turned back to the battleship still standing behind her. "Hey Rodnol," she called teasingly, trying for the battleship's attention.
Rodney appeared unmoved, still staring quietly into the dark waters. Her uncharacteristic and sudden thoughtfulness drew an exchange of concerned glances from the two cruisers. "Hey guys." the battleship muttered finally, quietly breaking her silent search into the blackness. "I miss my sister."
What remained of Edinburgh's earlier grin quietly faded, the cruiser clutched her bottle between her legs and stared down into her drink as she took her own time to take the statement in with a sad sigh, "Me too Rodney. We all do."
"I'm just the idiot kid sister you know?" Rodney sadly reflected into the water, "I'm so fucking lost without her here."
"Here's to that." Cumberland quietly added, raising a half empty bottle in the air. "All us idiot kid sisters."
Edinburgh followed suit, "here's to that." the Scot echoed, raising her bottle and staring down into the liquid inside again. A half hearted smiled appeared on her mouth, "hey, but if the Japs summonings are anything to go by, they'll come around eventually."
Cumberland gave a melancholy nod, though Rodney said nothing, leading the trio to spend some time building thoughtful silence. Nothing but the return of the steady drips sounded in the expansive room for several long seconds.
"I know you never attended a summoning Rodney, but maybe give it a go." Cumberland suggested, suddenly breaking the silence. "It's her best chance at hearing you. What's the worst that could happen?"
"Hood." Edinburgh suggested out of hand, sloshing her beer around.
Cumberland gave a half hearted chuckle and smile, "Yeah. Hood was pretty bad." she agreed, bringing the her drink to her mouth.
The silence descended again, the three warships staring off and deep in their own individual thoughts and concerns. The sounds of sloshing beer as the cruisers finished their drinks replaced their previous conversation, joining in the steady drips.
"You know what! Fuck it." Rodney declared with drunken finality, suddenly stepping back from the railing and drawing surprised looks from her compatriots.
Ignoring the looks from her companions, the battleship returned to stare down into the dark pool beneath her, though her expression of melancholy was now replaced by a cocky grin. "Hey Neptune you there?! It's Rodnol!" She declared to the placid waters in a challenging tone. "You know? the one with the goofy turrets. You have a few things we need back from you you old cheeky bastard."
Edinburgh sent a confused look back to Cumberland, who returned an equally confused shrug.
"We've got some warships we need. The meanest toughest ones you've got!" Rodney drunkenly yelled into the cold unresponsive waters. "Right bastards who crack Nazi skulls and shit on Mussolini's cronies." she kicked a nearby bottle into the water to add effect to her outburst. "First on the list-" she began, continuing her rant before her words stopped frozen in her mouth, eyes growing wide.
"Oh fuck." Edinburgh echoed, her eyes caught by the waters beneath the platform.
The lantern's light began to wain, its electric bulb flickered and danced like a torch, blown by the sudden and bone chilling Atlantic squall that emanated from an unknown source. What caught the eyes of the three assembled warships however was that beneath Rodney's position on the platform, the now frothing water began to glow.
-xXx-
Ardent awoke with consciousness returning far more suddenly than it had abandoned her. She found herself opening her eyes to cold blackness, floating freely in an endless void. Vision blurry and eyes stinging, her instinct suppressed her shock and confusion. The destroyer searched frantically for any source of light in the cold water but was met by only darkness.
Her chest tightened, the same instincts began telling her to find the surface. Panicking and alarmed by the darkness, she picked a path at random, praying silently that her guess was right, she began pushing upward, churning water with awkward movements of her arms and kicking her feet upwards. Her chest burned as her new body demanded air but she pushed through the feeling, the desperation feeding her frantic movements through the water and her bid to escape.
By luck or providence, she breached the surface, clawing and flailing her way out of the cold saltwater pool in a violent coughing fit that brought the destroyer to her knees, hurling seawater out from her previously unused lungs in violent hacking breaths.
Her coughs abated and heavy labored breathing replaced them. Ardent took an unsteady step upwards and her worry deepened as she stared into the total darkness that continued even above the water's surface. Her breath slowly steadying and mental state slowly returning led to other fears. She raised her cannons, scanning her surroundings for danger, memories of her last days flooded back. Her eyes tracked the dark for movement, searching for the battle she had only just left.
But where before there was a pair of German battleships, now there was only unnatural darkness. She and her crew were alone.
No Germans
No Acasta
No Glorious
Her captain let out a hushed squeak of concern, gripping the railing on her bridge's edge as her lookouts searched for landmark or signal. Minutes stretched on, Ardent's breathing steadying slowly.
Suddenly, she heard the distinct sound of metal scraping on metal and snatched her head up in the direction. A hushed series of voices sounded out. First a pair of whispers talking in panicked tones briefly above her, then a third, serving only to hush the first two.
The destroyer raised her gun again and armed her torpedoes, searching for something to call out to before exposing her own position.
Ardent, searching diligently above and around her, never thought to search below. It was there an unseen opponent made their move. The sudden feeling of ghostly fingers brushing her ankle and a loud and sudden scream of startling fear and horror prompted the destroyer into action. Thrusting her turrets straight down ahead of her feet where the grasping hands originated from Ardent pulled the trigger, the noise and shock of impacting rounds and escaping gas sent a colossal fountain of water up before the destroyer, splashing down upon her exposed decks. It wasn't until the column settled and she slowed her panicked thoughts again that Ardent realized the panicked scream was her own.
She had little time to dwell on the exact nature of her subdued threat however, the darkness was suddenly replaced by a large concrete room coated in a deep crimson light which rotated around the chamber in conjunction with the shrill buzzing shriek of an alarm.
"Fucking leg it!" A Scottish voice screamed.