"All right, we've finally arrived at your new port, so it's time for us to part. Why don't you go and say hello to your new team-mates and admiral?"

I nodded at the admin and silently watched as he walked away. There I stood all alone in front of the large looming door. I raised a trembling hand to knock on the door, feeling somewhat pensive.

I've heard rumours about heartless admirals who would force their shipgirls to go on expeditions 24/7, completely wearing them out without even giving them any food or rest. Some evil admirals even send their new shipgirls on steel sorties without repairing, before dismantling them once they have been bloodied and beaten. What sort of person will I get as my new admiral? And what plans does he have for me?

The large door opened all of a sudden, and there stood a gorgeous shipgirl dressed in an orange Arabic belly dancer costume. Her smooth skin was tanned a healthy shade of olive, and she had the figure of a model.

I held out my hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Andrea-Dori... aaahh!"

The shipgirl's willowy arms suddenly reached out and grabbed me in a tight embrace, inadvertently pressing my face against her ample chest.

"Can't… breathe!" I gasped.

"Ah, sorry www…" the shipgirl released me with an embarrassed giggle. "Please, come in, and welcome to our humble abode. I'm Battle Cruiser Goeben, pleased to meet you!"

"Likewise, likewise."

"The admiral hasn't logged in yet, so I'll introduce you to everyone else first!"

Without giving me the opportunity to reply, Goeben took my hand and half-guided and half-dragged me down a well-lit corridor. We passed a number of rooms before reaching the last door at the end of the corridor. The door had a little blackboard hanging on it, with the words "DREAM TEAM" written proudly in capitals. Goeben gently pushed the door ajar and stuck her head in.

"Has everyone woken up yet? Look, she's finally here!" Goeben squealed excitedly. She opened the door fully and tenderly pushed me into the room before introducing me to the four other shipgirls in the room.

"First up, we have sisters Nevada and Oklahoma!" Goeben gestured at two cowgirls standing in the corner of the room.

"Yo! Let Nevada accompany you through your travels!" shouted the genki girl Nevada while tossing the large red dice nestled in the palm of her left hand.

"Hello, I am Oklahoma, second ship of the Nevada class, let's fight alongside one another," murmured Oklahoma, whose blond hair was tied into a single long braid.

"Next, we have the two big sisters of our group, Alaska and Lexington!" Goeben continued.

Aside from the Nevada sisters, there were two other shipgirls in the room. The first was a well-built girl with slightly toned muscles holding a pink electric guitar, while the second was an elegant young lady dressed in white.

"Ah hooo~ Alaska reporting. Let's play the melody of victory together."

Big sister Lexington moved towards me, as though she was about to give me a hug as well, but she was stopped by Alaska.

"Enough talking. How about us three onee-chans welcome our new imouto with our favourite musical performance!"

I heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing Alaska's words. After going through the experience of being hugged by Goeben, and seeing how large all three big sisters were, I wasn't particularly looking forward to being embraced by any of them…

Alaska began strumming her electric guitar. Coupled with Lexington's sultry voice and Goeben's bewitching dance, the three of them put on an extremely enchanting performance.

"Throughout my whole mind and my whole body
Are just illusions being confused with my memories
The emotion flowed through my fingertips
As I reached out closing the distance between us
If we find the strength to continue smiling
Then surely what was once a lie will become true happiness
My heart it thump-thump-thumps
Like a magic trick-trick-trick
We can be reborn WOW WOW
Freely Tomorrow"

They gathered up the Nevada sisters and me, inviting us to join in the fun. The Nevada sisters looked as though they were used to it and tried to join in the performance. Neither of them knew how to dance, but they added to the boisterous atmosphere. As for me, I merely stood to one side and watched these crazed lunatics jumping all over the place, not really sure how I should react.

The five of them were finally exhausted and fell down in a heap, panting and laughing with one another.

Just then, big sister Lexington smiled at me and said, "As you can see (huff), the five of us are the members of the admiral's DREAM TEAM (puff). We now officially welcome the sixth and last member of our fleet, flagship Andrea-Doria!"

Big sister Lexington's words astounded me. Flagship? Me? Am I, a shipgirl who has never fought a single battle, even worthy of being the flagship?

Big sister Lexington saw my puzzled expression and understood.

"Don't worry, the five of us will help to train you. The admiral has waited for you for a very long time. He once told us that every single member of his DREAM TEAM was personally handpicked by him, and he specially selected you to be the flagship."

The other four agreed with Lexington and gave me further words of encouragement. Though I still felt a little uncertain, I felt a little uplifted by their words.

We were interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.

"Onii-chan has logged in!" Nevada screamed excitedly.

All five shipgirls made a beeline out the door towards the entrance of the port. I followed closely behind, wanting to see for myself what kind of person the admiral was, to be able to gain the affections of all five of them.

"My apologies, I kept everyone waiting."

I stared incredulously at the person in front of me. Is this really the admiral?

"Hey, onii-chan, look who just joined our family!" Nevada called out.

The admiral looked around before laying his eyes on me for the first time. A smile began to spread on his face.

"I am Andrea-Doria, a little guy like you is the admiral? Try not to hold me back," I muttered a little too loudly without thinking.

"Airi! Don't be so rude!" big sister Lexington exclaimed in surprise. [1]

"It's fine, every shipgirl will have her own set of fears when joining a new port. It's my job as admiral to make you feel at home. I will do my best to prove that I am an admiral worthy of your respect!" the admiral replied, completely unperturbed by my words.

The admiral then placed two BL 16 inch MK 1 naval guns in my hands.

"These are the best cannons in my port. With these, regardless of how low your base firepower is, you will still be able to sink the strongest opponents. I will definitely train you well to be the great leader of my DREAM TEAM!"

I nodded at the admiral, but deep inside, I did not truly believe his words. Talk is cheap after all. Everything is easier said than done. I will withhold my assessment of the admiral until he actually walks the talk and turns his promises into reality.

-
[1]: "Airi" was Andrea-Doria's nickname before it was replaced by "daughter". The origin of the name "Airi" is very obvious.

Song lyrics taken from the English translation of "Freely Tomorrow" by Hatsune Miku, composed by Mitchie-M