Chapter 2
Once Joseph got past the rather nice wooden door, he was greeted with some of the most beautiful architecture he'd seen in a while. Mahogany walls, velvet red drapes and felt chairs adorned the decently sized room. A crystal chandelier hung from the hand-carved ceiling, flawlessly illuminating the room. Joseph let out a relaxing sigh, in his mind, he was in heaven. A promotion, new command, and he got to stay on a beautiful island in the Pacific with a bunch of women. Albeit some of those women were kids and as far as he knew, he'd have to maintain a professional relationship, no matter how hot they may be.
His peaceful relaxation was broken by the sound of an annoyed, cocky kid. Joseph looked over to see a 4'6", 10-year-old with red pigtails, cheeks littered in freckles, a dixie cup, and an oversized Marine's jacket.
"Hey! Who's the new guy?" She nudged one of the two girls next to her, a frail, cut up, taller tween with a chestnut-brown ponytail and an old sailors' uniform. The girl seemed to jump when she was nudged and gave Joseph a pretty scared look, as if only just realizing he was there. On the other side of the shorter girl was another tween, almost identical in size and age to the other. This time, what Joseph had to assume was a destroyer from the information he'd been given, wore a sailors uniform with a dark blue skirt.
Joseph looked at them for a few seconds, as if trying to see if there were any more girls he'd be meeting. They looked American, and from what he'd been told, he was to be meeting five shipgirls, not three. He was a lot bigger than them, at least a foot and a half or somewhere around there. After a little while, the destroyer with the blue skirt decided to introduce herself with a salute.
"USS Johnston, reporting for duty Commander!" She stood a bit too rigid; her salute not flowing properly with her arm. He'd need to teach them how to carry themselves like a sailor. Not that he was a sailor, being SWCC gave him a few perks over your average ship guy. The other destroyer saluted quickly afterward, albeit with a much messier fashion. It was like she was hitting herself during the salute, something Joseph found quite funny.
"Umm...U. William D. Porter reporting for duty, Commander!" She seemed to shout it, and with the nervous tone in her voice, it was like it was her first time. Next was the girl in the middle, the more rebellious looking of the two, and considering who the last two girls had been, he was already expecting a unique ship.
"USS Samuel B. Roberts, ready for some action!" Her salute had bravado and, she spoke confidently, something Joseph appreciated while finding slightly troublesome at the same time. He had a feeling the little redhead was the troublemaker Ooyodo had been referring too.
"Sailors, I'm Commander Joseph Hunt, your new commander! I'll say this once to each of you, I expect the highest quality from every one of you, understood?" Even, Samuel B. Roberts nodded, she seemed to smirk a bit at the way he talked. Something Joseph guessed had to do something with his energy when speaking.
"Commander, I was told to inform you that the two unaccounted members of your division are currently out on the island working out some equipment issues." Johnston seemed to speak with a proper tone; Joseph suspected she was the leader of the destroyers.
"Equipment issues?" Joseph raised an eyebrow, wondering as to what equipment problems they were having in paradise. While they were technically deployed and would see combat, the island, and building around him seemed to snatch that feeling away from him.
"Down by the newly put up pier, we have the armory; the Jap armament fairies have been having a few problems in integrating our American equipment." Joseph nodded, his mind trying to wrap around whatever problem the mysterious fairies were having with the American equipment.
"Are there any American armament fairies?" Samuel B. Roberts smothered a small laugh as she stood lazily at ease.
"There are, the problem is they seem to have taken a pretty big grudge against the Japs. You can see them getting into arguments over everything, and while they understand us, unless it's through radio communication, we have zero ideas as to what they're talking about." Joseph was amused by the old patriotism shown by the American fairies, although if it was causing problems in workplace efficiency, then he wasn't going to have that shit.
"I'll get to that right away then," The exhaustion could be heard in Joseph and Johnston's voice, he guessed they didn't get much sleep the night before. "As for now, I want you three to give me a tour of the base, ending with the pier."
"Yes, Commander!" Johnston, accompanied by the two other girls turned around and began walking out one of the side doors. Samuel B. Roberts dropped back to Joseph while William D. Porter and Johnston led the way.
"So Commander, aren't you a bit young to be...well...a commander?" If he were any older, he'd probably feel a bit insulted but considering how he'd just been promoted at the ripe old age of twenty-five, going on twenty-six.
"I'm only twenty-five, so yeah, I'm beyond young for rank and position like this. But I've been killing since the beginning; I'm only here because, unlike my seniors, I wasn't blown to pieces." He spoke rather bluntly, with a bit of anger hidden in between his words, something he figured Samuel B. Roberts would pick up on and realize.
"Well Commander, if the Navy thinks that you're fit for this prestigious position in CruDiv 1, then I'd say you're alright in my books. Doesn't mean I'm going to take it any easier on you though!" She nudged him while laughing, not even five minutes into meeting her commanding officer and she was already treating him like her friends.
Joseph didn't want to be too friendly with those under him, but a strong bond between leader and men was always necessary for such small groups if one wanted to be effective. When she nudged Joseph, she only hit around his abs, and he instinctively flexed, his pretty ripped form causing her to bounce back a little. Samuel B. Roberts laughed at her 6'2", blond, tan commander, unlike the previous Admirals and Captains she had met, this one seemed different in a good way.
"So, do you guys have nicknames or something a bit shorter than full names?" While this was informal, it'd get annoying pretty quickly if he had to say full names every time he addressed them. Samuel B. Roberts, being ever so talkative, took his question immediately.
"Just call us Sammy and Willie Dee! Johnston wants to stay boring and keep her name that way." Johnston turned around and gave her a little death stare, her abyss like black eyes staring into Sammy's soul.
"Alright then, anything else I should know while you're at it?" He smirked down at Sammy, with her being 4'6" it was a bit hard for him to look down all the time.
"No, not really...do you have a nickname we can call you by?" Joseph didn't really like being addressed by his name by a lower ranking sailor, no matter what position they held. But he couldn't give her a cold no, somewhere deep down he still saw her as a ten-year-old and not a killing machine.
"Until I put your miserable asses into training and you beat me in a fight, Commander will be all you know." The ginger wearing a Marine jacket, blue denim shorts, and a dixie cup crossed her arms in a sassy manner.
"Oh it's on now Commander, I'll have you begging for mercy in seconds." Joseph gave her a good laugh and proceeded to raise his arms above his head and flex. Even in the long-sleeved uniform, his muscular form was visible.
"Not if these guns have anything to say about it!" Johnston and Willie Dee both turned around to see Joseph flexing over them, his bicep the size of Sammy's leg. Willie Dee looked a bit frightened, something that Joseph was both amused and worried about at the same time. After that, there was a bit of silence as the trio all stared at him for a few seconds.
"Commander, if you look around you'll see what constitutes for our mess hall." Johnston seemed to have a bit of annoyance in her voice; Joseph had a hunch why but he wouldn't address it now. Looking around, he saw another crystal chandelier, more red felt and golden chairs along with a long, handcrafted table. To call it a mess hall was a bit bland, this was a damn five-star restaurant.
"What time do most of them, and pardon me for my basic term, shipgirls get up at?" According to the files, they were called Kanmusu with a rough translation to shipgirl, and although he spoke Japanese, there wasn't a decent reason for him to speak.
"They should all be up within the next thirty minutes, you might see one or two of them practicing drills. We usually get up at around eight, we woke up at six today to make sure we were ready to meet you so pardon us if we're a bit tired.
"I have barely gotten any sleep over the past few days, so I feel you!" He smirked, dark bags visible underneath his electric blue eyes. In the corner of the room was a series of fridges, ovens, and various cookies tools. If you let your eyes drift a bit farther, you'de notice fridges marked with "Do Not Touch" and alcohol signs. Joseph quickly decided that he'd be paying a visit to that soon, hoping that they'd have the ingredients to make a few Carribean or islander drinks.
"I'm assuming you've already met the two base heads, Miss Nagato and Miss Mutsu, right Commander?" Joseph didn't even need to give the destroyer a spoken answer, he just nodded, and she understood.
"There's also another ship that's in charge of most of the base as a whole. The IJN Yamato is like the base's Master Chief, aside from the two nip secretaryships, she runs the place." Sammy seemed to cringe at the mention of the super battleship, it was clear she hadn't gotten over WW2 too well.
"I imagine with her eighteen-inch guns, the Japanese Navy loves to use her as much as possible." Again Sammy cringed, even Johnston at the mention of her armament seemed to wince, he didn't doubt these girls might have had a slight problem with PTSD.
"She costs too much to send her out, and the Japanese don't want to spend anything on her. She's as useless right now as she was in the damn war. If you want to piss her off, then call her the Hotel Yamato!" Sammy had a hatred burning deep down in her for the IJN Yamato, he didn't doubt she either actively avoided her or got up in her face whenever given a chance.
"Have you guys seen any combat yet?" His question was rather blunt, and he knew it, Sammy looked kind of pissed at her CO.
"No..." Johnston took the question head-on before Sammy could say anything.
"Alright then, until each of you has killed ten of those nightmarish monsters, I don't want to hear anything bad about your allies, no matter what flag they fly!" Joseph only slightly raised his voice, but that was enough for the girls to get the message. Sammy quickly looked down at the floor, and Johnston just turned around and kept walking, Willie Dee, on the other hand, looked like she was about to cry.
"Commander, if you follow me out through those two massive doors, we'll have reached the entrance. The only thing left inside this mansion, aside from what you've already seen, is just storage to keep this place running." As Johnston reached out to grab one of the doors, the other mahogany door swung out and smacked Willie Dee in the face.
"Oww!" She let out a little cry as she flopped straight to the floor. Joseph wanted to laugh, but considering that the petite destroyer was already covered in a few bruises, it'd be in bad taste. Sammy, on the other hand, was pissed. She didn't even bother to help Willie Dee off the floor before going after whoever opened the door.
A chestnut-brown haired, extremely pale, five-foot tall shipgirl, with a light green serafuku top and dark green skirt, poked her head around the door speaking in rapid-fire Japanese.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you to not stand in front of doors, imbecile? You could have hurt Kitikami-san!" The decently looking ship girl looked down at Willie Dee, you could feel the annoyance emanating off of her.
Before Joseph could say anything to the rude shipgirl, Sammy was already on the case, a fact that slightly unnerved him, Ooyodo's comment still fresh in his mind.
"Ooi, who the fuck do you think you are talking to her like that nip? I'll shove a 5-inch shell so far up your ass you won't be able to sit for a week. If you ever do anything like that again, Kitikami will be the least of your worries..." Sammy walked right up to her, face too, chest. Sammy was a lot shorter than the shipgirl Joseph assumed was called Ooi. Her fist was balled up to the side, and Joseph had a good idea about what she was about to do.
"Sammy put a sock in it Goddammit!" Joseph stepped in before Sammy did anything stupid, his face steaming red past the tan skin as he got in between the two girls. Sammy didn't respond, it was clear who was boss in this situation, and she probably didn't want to push her Commander's buttons.
"Take care of your little American bitch with an attitude problem." Ooi put a distinctive spin on the word American, prompting him to turn and address her. In the same tone Joseph gave Sammy, he towered over the shipgirl with his impressive form and started to chew her out.
"You're dumbass needs to apologize for what you've done. Stop being a self-righteous piece of shit and know that you're also at fault and if you ever call one of my shipgirls a bitch again, I will have your ass cleaning latrines so fast you'll think I was the head of the fucking Navy. Do I make myself clear?" Ooi clearly recoiled from his bombardment, shrinking back as he moved towards her, everyone else quiet.
"Y-Y-Yes!" She gave a shitty salute and rushed past Joseph and towards the mess hall behind him. Her bitchy attitude seemed to be put in check, her voice trembled as she tried to look into his electric eyes, a hurricane brewing in them.
A girl, about the same in every way aside from black hair tied into a ponytail followed behind her, not saying a word. He could here Ooi whisper something from back there but decided she had enough chewing out for one day. Whipping back around he looked at the three destroyers, Sammy still looking at the ground with embarrassment, Willie Dee on the floor on the verge of crying, and Johnston who was only somewhat moved by the ass whooping.
"Sammy, chill! I know that she hurt one of your own, but if you ever do that again, so help me God, I will tear you apart! Understood?" She snapped into the most rigid salute in the history of...well, shipgirl kind, if you could call it that.
"Yes, sir!" She was clearly intimidated, and Joseph was somewhat happy about that, the quicker he could get those under him to listen, the better they'd work as a unit. Exhaling, he looked down at Willie Dee on the floor and extended a hand down to her.
"Get up Sailor...you'll be fine!" He spoke in an almost fatherly tone, something he had picked up over the years of talking to dying SWCC members and sailors.
"T-T-Thanks...Commander!" She carefully grasped his rough hand with her smooth fingers, with one good pull he yanked her up. She looked at him, a few small scars adorning her face, a tear streaming down one end, and smiled.
"Now, where were we?" Joseph didn't like losing his train of thought, and he really didn't like not knowing where he was, it was just a little pet peeve he'd picked up as a kid. He didn't grow up in the safest neighborhoods; he was particularly close to Liberty City and Overtown, two pretty dangerous places. In the 90s, most of Miami was pretty safe, and the drug wars against the Colombian cartels were not nearly what they'd been earlier.
His mother was a short Cuban immigrant who came to Miami as a young teenager in the late 70s. His father was a Class 1 Offshore Powerboat racer from England, the sport was only a few decades old when he was racing in Miami and met his future wife at a bar in the late 80s. Life worked itself out and they married shortly after, his father had gotten Joseph into racing, and from there life went on. Joseph loved them but ever since the start of the war, and his time in the Navy he hadn't been given a chance to see them. His train of thought was broken by Sammy trying, cutely, to wave her hand in front of his face to get his attention.
"Earth to Commander, you there?" He blinked a few times before looking back down at the redhead, freckles noticeably covering her cheeks.
"Surprised you've learned that reference already." They'd only been back for a little over a month, and most of that time was spent cut off from most of the internet in newly formed Kancolle basic training program. Before anything more could be said by the energetic DE, Johnston cut her off. "Commander, if you'd follow me through these doors, we can go out into the courtyard of the base."
Joseph smiled as they walked past the heavy doors, the sea breeze flowing over the flat island and up to his face. The smell of the ocean dazzling his nose with different scents, the noise of seagulls high overhead called out to his ear. The general green of the island was beautiful, he could see a few shipgirls walking along various stone step paths. The island looked like a resort you'd see on those commercials for visiting Aruba or Seychelles, this was paradise at its finest.
Along the various stone and grass paths were dorms with roofs as blue as the Carribean Sea and white walls like the beaches of the Cayman Islands. He could barely make out signs above the various double doors along each dorm, he didn't know what they said, just that they were there. Palm trees were dotted around in open areas around the more luscious areas. A sandy court was placed in the middle of where the paths converged, an American and Japanese flag standing tall. Joseph admired the sight, everything seemed to flow naturally, like a wave crashing down onto the beach, it was pure bliss.
"You know Johnston...I think I'm in heaven." He looked down to see the destroyer with a gentle smile spread across her face and a small snicker from Sammy. "On an Island in the Pacific, a five-star resort, and the only guy around for hundreds of miles with at least 100 sexy bitches. You're living a sailor's wet dream right now!"
"I wouldn't go that far," He looked back at Sammy, a shit-eating grin spread across his tired face. "As far as I've seen this base has as much talent as a chairforce base."
"Hey!" The chorus of shouts made him chuckle, even weak, wee Willie Dee got pissed at that remark. "You girls are gonna need to step up your game before I give you anything."
He thought about what he was saying, these girls looked like kids but were almost a century old. He figured whatever he said, as long as it wasn't too bad, he'd be ok.
"Just wait till he meets Kongou...you're going to wish you never got stationed here." With the way, Johnston said that Joseph figured that life was about to hit a speed bump going forty miles per hour.
"Can we get back to the base introduction please...I'd rather have my mind taken of whoever this psycho shipgirl is."
"Yes, Commander! Each of these dorms is home to the different classes of ships. The carrier dorms are about half a mile from here in the corner of the base, they have their own little section. The light cruiser and destroyer dorm is the path to the right, the one with small palm trees full of coconuts. We all live there so if you ever need us, you know where to find us, Commander."
"What about the battleships, heavy cruisers, and subs?" Sammy looked happy enough to explain that, interrupting Johnston in the process. "The oversized, fatassed Nips are down the middle path that's closest to the armory. You'll find a few little sea snakes tucked into holes and trees the closer you get to the beach so, watch yourself."
Joseph knew that most sea snakes couldn't bite him...but in the off chance that one of them did, he'd be fucked. He didn't doubt that there wasn't a small cache of anti-venom nearby, he just didn't have faith in their not being a doctor on the island. In his mind, if the Japanese wanted to really get this program going well, they'd need to go expand onto actual naval bases.
"Dope...where's my place?" Johnston reigned back control over Sammy, the destroyer putting it like a bored tour guide who had been heard one too many screaming kids.
"You'll need to walk to the carrier dorms, take a right, and go for about a quarter of a mile. There's already a sign with your name there, says that your Hawaiin surf shack is the US headquarters on the island." He laughed at that, from the packets he had read, the island bungalow had an office, sleeping quarters, a small living room with a kitchen. The damn thing even had a tiki bar, so yea, he was pimpin.
"How big is the island?" He had flown over the island and gotten a decent idea on its size, but he hadn't seen anything about its actual size.
"About a mile and a half long and four thousand feet wide. The top of the island has the pier and armory, right now we're only about a half mile away from it. About four hundred feet from the shore is a sand bar that stretches across all but the pier part of the island. There's a reef full of fish and coral in between, the water around the pier is real sharky though."
"You girls ever have any problems with them?" He expected there to be sharks in the lagoon, and as long as they weren't a problem to anyone, then he'd freely swim in the water.
"Not at all, their just reef sharks so you can just swim over them and they won't care. Once you go outside the sand bar is where the depth drops. There's this one Jap destroyer, Asashimo, that has an obsession with sharks. She says that past the lagoon is where all the Tiger sharks are, we don't go past there unless we're rigged."
"Noted, where are we going next?" Johnston took a few seconds to answer, Joseph figured she was trying to plan out the rest of this little tour.
"We could walk by the beach on the way up to the pier, there's a volleyball net, little lifeguard tower, and chairs. You'll probably see a few other girls as we get closer to the pier, I'd put money that someone will be doing fleet exercises."
"How often are you girls participating in any of the fleet exercises or y'all still settling in?" Johnston looked down at the sandy ground, shame blanketing her face for reasons not all that clear. Joseph was smart enough to pick up on the cue and gave a small sigh.
"Mierda, I'll have you girls start training tomorrow so make sure to get a good nights sleep. My dumbass will probably spend most of tonight making sure everything is here, so don't be surprised if I'm in a shitty mood tomorrow." He gave the destroyers a small smile, the kind that just makes a person feel a bit better inside but not happy.
"What time?" Sammy jumped on the question so fast the air seemed to just disappear around her mouth.
"Not sure yet, depends on what I decide upon...expect information about it sometime around 2000 hours. Which, DOD didn't fuck me and say y'all had phones right?" Sammy snorted as she gave Joseph an ear to ear smile, her red pigtails shaking as she whipped out her phone from a pocket on her USMC jacket. The other two shook their heads, Joseph wondered as to why they didn't carry their phones with them, something that he had developed into habbit due to work. Johnston seemed to pick up on the memo Joseph's gaze was giving so she promptly answered his question.
"Willie Dee probably forgot it, and I usually leave it in my room, no reason for me to be carrying it around all the time." Joseph snorted as he shook his head in amusement, trying hard to remember the days when he could just not worry about work.
"Well then make it a habit because I'm going to start messaging you girls stuff a lot, any plans for the day and or last-minute meetings will be put into a group chat. Every time you fail to answer and or show up to something I sent that your phone received will end with a punishment, most likely a run or some shit, comprende?" They all gave him a nod, a more stern look coming over their faces, aside from Willie Dee who seemed a bit worried.
The group continued to walk down the stone path for a few more minutes in silence, the sound of the waves and screeches of the seagulls filling the void. Once again, Joseph relaxed listening to the sounds of the sea on his little island paradise, he knew it wouldn't last very long if this war were going to go anywhere so he might as well enjoy it while he could. He could see the small lifeguard tower and beach set up Johnston had described, it looked like your picturesque scene you'd see on travel ads.
Any further silence was interrupted by the sound of angry shouting ahead. Joseph wasn't sure what it was all about, but he could make out the American English, and he didn't need forty-six chromosomes to tell someone was about to go ballistic. The small group picked up to a jogging pace as the armory came in sight, the long concrete pier not too far off jutting into the sea. They didn't see any shipgirls yet, but the shouting was getting louder.
"I swear to Jesus Christ almighty if you sons of bitches don't stop arguing I will blow your asses away you HIJO DE PUTA!" The yelling was getting steadily louder as they got closer, even through the thick reinforced concrete walls of the armory Joseph could hear the sounds of pure hatred. A few more steps and he was at the heavy steel door that had been latched to the opposite wall to keep it open. As he walked through, he held his hand near his gun in case someone was to try something retarded. Various shells sizes, equipment ranging from sonar to AAA were racked along the walls, the place was packed.
As Joseph rounded the corner, he fell upon the sight of a 5'4" girl wearing a cowgirl outfit, spurs, revolver, hat and all shouting down at this pair of what Joseph assumed to be fairies screaming at each other. He took a quick breath before deciding to go into superior officer mode, just in case the shipgirl decided to talk back to him. From the last few words, he heard her say she spoke Spanish which gave him the ability to get her attention in two different languages.
"Cálmese! You don't need to yell so much...whatever your name is." The cowgirl whipped around before leaning forward and sticking out a finger.
"And who the fuck do you suppose you are to be telling me to calm down..." She stopped mid-sentence as he pointed at the commander insignia on his uniform, a shit eating grin on his face.
"Now cabrón, do you want to try re-doing that last sentence to me or would you like KP to be the least of your worries?" The shipgirl snapped into a rigid salute, her hand just off of the brow of her hat.
"USS Phoenix, reporting for duty Commander!" He gave the startled ship girl a little smirk as he looked down towards the two small fairies, little salutes presented for him to inspect. He had to admit, the sight of the fairies still unnerved him, they seemed too weird to be real, but at this point, so much crazy shit had happened that it was all becoming normal.
"Phoenix, names Hunt and it's a pleasure to meet you, now would you mind telling me what I just walked into?" She looked a bit embarrassed as she shot a glare down to the fairies.
"An engineering dispute Commander! Our chief armament fairy is refusing to allow our equipment to be stored in the same lockers as the Japanese material. Says that it should all be separated on different sides of the armory by country instead of equipment type." Joseph sighed, wiping a hand across his brow to wipe off the sweat from the heat outside as he looked towards the two fairies in very distinctive uniforms. He assumed that the male fairie with the cut sleaves and dirt covered face was the American.
"Now, Cheif, do I have to remind you that as the head of all our equipment on this fucking island that we are merely occupying with the Japanese, you are responsible for shit to flow smoothly?" The small fairy gave Joseph a dirty look before snorting and shaking his head.
"Good, because if I hear about more retarded shit like this, then I will put your ass on a line and go fishing! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" The fairy's face wavered for a few seconds as he considered the horror of being eaten alive before grunting. Joseph just responded with a stern but approving look on his face before turning back towards Phoenix.
"Now Phoenix, care to tell me where our other cruiser is?" The cowgirl looked around for a few seconds before looking back at the commander with a dumbfounded look.
"Honestly Commander, I have no idea where she went; she was just beside me a few seconds ago." Joseph sighed, annoyance building up in his tone as he looked around for their last remaining member of this shitshow. Before he could respond to anything, the building shook a little, and the sound of an explosion pierced the heavy air. Everyone looked around trying to find the source of the looming catastrophe until Phoenix seemed to have an idea.
Running out of the building at a full sprint, the other's tried to keep up with the frantic shipgirl as she ran towards the beach. A few more explosions later and they had found the source of all the noise, and it was at that second that Phoenix lost her shit.
"SAN DIEGO!"
AN
Howdy y'all, sorry for the break in between writing things but I've been hella busy with papers and crew recently so this is long overdue. Hope you guys liked the chapter and reviews are always appreciated! Expect a SEALs of Saunders chapter soon, I'm trying to make these chapters a hell of a lot better for y'all. Scrapped re-wrote this one three times.
I do not own Kantai Collection
