DISCLAIMER: See Chapter One.
Chapter Four - The Inspection
The following day, with excitement over the previous day still fairly high, Avers decided to explore his new base. Leaving Nagato and Oyodo in the office to deal with any matters that came in, he headed off on his impromptu inspection accompanied by Blaskewicz, Mancini, and Mutsu.
Dorm inspections took up most of the morning, although Avers didn't look in each room of every building, preferring to let the shipgirls have their privacy. At the carrier dorms, he admired the open area that was covered in astroturf and had the markings of the front of a carrier flight deck that the carriers used to practice launching aircraft.
Once dorm inspections were done, the group stopped for lunch at Hosho's restaurant. The light carrier personally seated them in a private room and took their order before heading back to the kitchen.
"What's next after lunch?" Mancini asked, sipping from his glass of Yamato soda.
"The repair yard area," Avers replied. "We'll give Akashi and Yubari a chance to show us around their neck of the woods."
Mancini was about to reply when he looked at something beside Avers and grinned. Avers followed his line of sight and noticed Hoppo-chan was standing beside his chair, looking at him.
"Hello," Avers addressed her, "you must be Hoppo-chan."
The little Abyssal appeared to recognize her name, for she pointed at herself and nodded.
"Do you like living here?" Avers asked, and Hoppo-chan nodded again, pointing at a painting of Hosho's carrier form and stating, "Mama."
Avers was about to reply when Hoppo-chan suddenly grabbed onto his pants leg and started to climb up. Recognizing what she wanted, Avers hoisted the little girl onto his lap. The Abyssal immediately made herself comfortable and leaned against his chest, letting out a little sigh before waving a toy Reppu fighter around.
Avers pointedly ignored Blaskewicz and Mancini, who appeared to find the situation quite humorous, and especially ignoring Mutsu, who appeared ready to squee out loud at how adorable the scene looked.
"Is that yours?" Avers asked Hoppo-chan, indicating the toy plane. The little Abyssal nodded.
"Reppu," she stated, holding out the plane for Avers to inspect. Avers did so, looking over the aircraft with great interest. "I see you're taking real good care of it."
"Reppu," Hoppo-chan stated again before concentrating on playing with her plane.
The doors to the room slid open and Hosho came in with a tray bearing their meals.
"Mama!" Hoppo-chan spoke up from Avers' lap, and the retired light carrier blinked in surprise at seeing the girl on the new Admiral's lap.
"So that's where you wandered off to," she smiled as she set her tray down on a nearby empty table before turning to Avers. "Admiral, I'm so sorry about this -"
"It's fine," Avers replied, dismissing her concerns. "She was showing me her plane."
"Reppu," Hoppo-chan waved the plane at her 'mother', and Hosho smiled as she handed out the food.
"Yes, she loves that plane...she got it from Ryujo when it crash-landed in our back garden. It's been her constant companion ever since." Now finished with handing out meals, Hosho appeared to get nervous. "Admiral...would you mind if I took a picture of you two?"
If he was honest with himself, Avers was floored by her request. That was the last thing I was thinking she'd ask, he thought, but smiled and nodded. "Not at all." he looked down at Hoppo-chan. "Your Mom wants to take a picture of us...that okay with you?"
Hoppo-chan nodded and looked in Hosho's direction, while Avers put his hand on Hoppo-chan's back to support her and smiled for the camera.
"Perfect!" Hosho snapped the picture and nodded to Mutsu, who - unseen by Avers, but caught by Mancini, who grinned - was motioning for the carrier to send her the pic as well.
"Come on, darling," Hosho addressed her adopted 'daughter', "these officers need to eat so they can continue working. Say goodbye to the Admiral."
To everyone's surprise, Hoppo-chan leaned in and hugged Avers.
"Toku," she muttered before sliding off his lap and walking over to Hosho. As the two left the room, Hoppo-chan waved goodbye before heading off to the kitchen with her 'mother'.
Avers turned his attention to his food, but his Fleet Adjutant decided to voice her opinion on what just happened.
"That was so cute!" Mutsu squealed.
Avers groaned inwardly and merely smiled. "I wasn't exactly in a position where I could refuse, now was I?" He shrugged. "Besides, I didn't mind doing it."
"If I may say so, Admiral...you seem to have a knack with children. I think you'll make a great father someday," Mutsu smiled.
Mancini snickered, while Blaskewicz appeared to agree with Mutsu's statement. Inwardly caught off-guard, Avers again merely smiled. "Thanks, but I seriously doubt that will ever happen...I don't see marriage and a family as being in the cards for me. Now," he changed the subject, "let's dig in...we've got a base to inspect."
That afternoon, Avers and company spent about an hour touring the various repair shops in the shipyard. Akashi was only too happy to show off her territory, as Yubari was off training with Torpedo Squadron 4. While on the tour, Avers noticed Akashi seemed to completely avoid a small section of buildings in the far corner of the shipyard, and once they were back in Akashi's office he brought the matter up.
"I have to say, Akashi," he began, "you definitely keep this shipyard running like a well-oiled machine. Excellent work." The repair ship blushed at the words of praise. "But," Avers continued, "I must admit, I'm curious about those buildings over there," he pointed in the direction of said buildings, "that you continuously avoided. Might I inquire as to the reason why those buildings weren't on our tour?"
An uncomfortable look came over Akashi's face. "They're not part of our shipyard, sir."
Avers was confused. "What do you mean by that? They're on my base, aren't they? That makes them part of this repair yard."
"They're the Headquarters of a private firm. A man showed up one day, presented me with a large envelope full of papers, and told me those buildings were now off-limits to any active-duty kanmusu." To the Americans' surprise tears came to the repair ship's eyes. "I didn't argue because I never want to set foot in there!"
Surprised at seeing her get so upset at just a simple question, Avers asked gently, "May I see those documents?"
Akashi nodded and opened the bottom drawer of a nearby file cabinet. She withdrew a large manila folder and tossed it on her desk like it was diseased. Avers picked it up and pulled out the papers, wondering what in the world would cause her to act in that way. One look at the letterhead on the top of the first page gave him his answer:
SEIOTO SHIPBREAKERS, LTD.
"Oh, hell no," he snarled, rising to his feet and heading for the door. "I want the following personnel to report to this office in full combat gear: carrier Junyo, light carrier Ryuho, light cruiser Kashima, torpedo cruiser Kitakami, and destroyers Yukikaze and Ushio. When those ladies get here, bring them over to those 'off-limits' buildings. Captains," he addressed Blaskewicz and Mancini, "with me, now!"
He stormed out of the office, papers in hand, the other two Americans hot on his tail.
"Sir, if I might ask, what's on those papers that's got you so pissed off?" Mancini asked, as he and Blaskewicz struggled to keep pace with Avers.
Avers pointed at the buildings they were approaching. "The company that appropriated those buildings is a shipbreaking company, Captain...you make the connection."
Mancini's expression turned dark. "Permission to evict the bastards, sir?"
Avers nodded. "That's just what we're going to do."
The trio arrived at the main building only to find it locked with a security keypad, with a call button next to it. Avers pressed the call button and they waited.
After a few minutes, a man's voice came through the speaker.
"We're on lunch...come back some other time."
Before Avers could reply, the speaker clicked off. Avers saw red, but was surprised when Mancini spoke up.
"I've got a skeleton key, sir," he grinned. "I bought it after I became an officer." He reached down to his belt and Avers was surprised to see he was carrying his service weapon. What really shocked both him and Blaskewicz was that Mancini's service weapon of choice happened to be a Desert Eagle.
Avers grinned before pressing the call button again. "Oh, so sorry to have bothered you, gentlemen...thank you for your time."
He and Blaskewicz stepped back. "Unlock that door, Captain," Avers ordered Mancini.
"Roger that, sir...one unlocked door coming right up!" the Training Officer aimed the powerful handgun at the lock on the door and pulled the trigger. The resulting noise nearly deafened them all, but the lock was obliterated. Mancini raised his foot and kicked in the door.
"CABLE GUY!" he yelled before allowed Avers to precede him inside.
The resulting explosion had brought whatever employees inside the building running, and the foreman - a stocky man in a long white lab coat - met Avers as he stepped inside.
"What the hell - Admiral, sir!" the shop foreman wasn't in the military, but he appeared to recognize that the amount of gold leaf on Avers' shoulder boards meant he was someone of great importance.
"Are you in charge here?" Avers wasted no time in getting down to business.
"No, sir...I'm just a foreman," the man replied. "The man in charge would be Mr. Tsuji, and he's -"
"Right here, Admiral," an oily voice announced. A short, reed-thin man with a shaven head stepped forward, blinking at Avers with an unnerving, owlish gaze. His eyes were encased behind thick, coke-bottle glasses, and just being around him made Avers desire to take a shower and scrub himself repeatedly.
"Welcome to the main building of Seioto Shipbreakers," he greeted the trio with a huge smile that all three could tell was completely false. He extended his hand to Avers, who did not return the gesture. Tsuji's fake smile thinned somewhat before he continued speaking. "Admiral, I earnestly hope you're here to tell us you plan on throwing some business our way soon?" he giggled girlishly as Avers and Blaskewicz looked at him strangely and Mancini looked at him like he was something disgusting he'd inadvertently stepped in.
"As I understand it," Tsuji continued, "two of your ships, a carrier and a destroyer, if I'm not mistaken, were grievously damaged in recent battles. Why waste resources repairing such massive damage? My employees would gladly handle those matters for you."
The almost-eager way Tsuji spoke of disposing of two fleet girls made Avers want to bash the man's skull in.
"That won't be necessary. As a matter of fact, the presence of your firm on this island is no longer required, much less wanted." He turned to the gathered employees. "It's moving day, boys...grab your things and get out."
While the employees looked at each other uncertainly, Tsuji merely smiled his oily smile.
"Come now, Admiral...when we arrived here, I presented your repair office with a set of paperwork saying that we'd appropriated these buildings and no one was to set foot in here without proper authorization. So I'm going to have to ask to see your authorization for being here, and," he glanced at the now-useless door before turned back to Avers with a faux-regretful look, "I'll have to report your damaging of company property to your direct superior. I imagine he'll dock the cost of a new door from your pay."
"Who might give authorization for us to be here?" Avers wanted to know what sort of documentation Tsuji would accept.
"No one short of the Director of the Kanmusu Program himself," Tsuji smirked, seemingly under the impression that Avers was merely the new Repair Yard Commander or something similar.
"The Director of the Kanmusu Program, eh?" Avers mused as Tsuji nodded. He glowered at the Director. "Well, guess what? You're looking at him, Jack! Change of command as of this morning!" He pulled the papers Akashi had given him out of their envelope, then pulled a lighter out of his pocket and set them ablaze, tossing them on the ground to burn to ashes. As he set them afire, Tsuji's face went white with shock.
"And your contract was just terminated. You've got ten minutes to gather your things and get out of this building."
"Admiral, surely we can come to some sort of mutual understanding -" Tsuji attempted to placate Avers.
"Tick-tock, Clarice! Time's wasting!" Avers pointedly ignored the now-stammering shipbreaking director and spoke over his attempts. Tsuji's men, realizing this naval officer meant business, needed no further urging and made a mad dash to gather their personal belongings. Seeing things were proceeding nicely, Avers turned and walked out the door, Blaskewicz and Mancini following closely behind him.
As the trio came outside, Avers stopped short when he saw every kanmusu on base standing at a safe distance away. He turned to Blaskewicz.
"I did just specify certain ships to come here, right?"
Blaskewicz nodded. "Guess the invitation got around, sir."
"No matter," Avers shrugged. "I think they'll all enjoy seeing this."
Once a still-protesting Tsuji - he had to be literally manhandled out of the building by two of his employees - and the rest of the men were outside, Avers turned to his assembled fleet.
"I'd only intended for a select group to be here, but since all of you decided to show up I'll just make my stance on this matter known directly instead of some of you hearing about it through scuttlebutt."
He paused briefly before gesturing at the buildings behind him. "These buildings are the offices of a company called Seioto." When that failed to get a reaction he elaborated. "They are a firm specializing in the business of shipbreaking."
At that, most of the shipgirls recoiled; the battleships and carriers looked disgusted, while the destroyers huddled in terror around various light cruisers as though frightened by the boogeyman. Avers decided not to drag this out any more than necessary and asked,
"Would the shipgirls I requested please come forward?"
The six girls - each wearing their combat gear - approached him. The carriers and cruisers looked primed for battle, while the destroyers looked nervous - although both were making valiant efforts to hide it.
"Ladies, I requested the six of you because you all have...experience...with this sort of company."
The six shipgirls each repressed shudders at certain memories at Avers' statement. Noticing this, the admiral gestured at the shipbreaking buildings.
"There's your target, ladies...obliterate it." He turned to Akashi. "When target practice is over, level the site and build something we can use on it. Let's see..." he mused briefly before grinning, "how about a bath complex large enough to accommodate five times the number of the one we currently have? Along with full spa and beauty treatment facilities, of course."
Judging by the ecstatic squeals and murmurs of excitement this announcement produced, Avers could tell his suggestion had met with hearty approval. He waved his hand at the seven shipgirls.
"Ladies, you may commence demolition," he stepped aside as Junyo grinned wickedly and drew an arrow.
The next twenty minutes consisted of the kanmusu group pounding the scrapyard complex into rubble and Tsuji alternating between screaming threats at the shipgirls - which went mostly unheard over the din of gunfire, roaring planes, and collapsing structures - and wailing in anguish over the destruction of his headquarters. When absolutely nothing but rubble remained, the girls rejoined the others and Avers turned to Tsuji and his men.
"Now, I want you on the next ferry off this island. If for some reason you're not on it, you can swim for it and take your chances with the Abyssals lurking out there. And you'll be doing it alone because I seriously doubt any girls in this fleet are going to be willing to lift a finger in your defense. One way or another, today's your last day on this island...come hell or high water, you'll be gone by tonight."
"Admiral!" Avers turned to see Yamato and Musashi step forward, both wearing their own combat rigs.
"We would like to escort these...unwanted guests...to the dock to ensure they catch the ferry," Musashi looked at the scrapyard bunch like they were vermin that needed to be squashed quickly.
Avers nodded, grinning at the scrapyard bunch. "Permission granted, ladies...see they catch their boat home."
"We're not going anywhere!" Tsuji shrieked. His enraged demeanor combined with his owlish stare from behind the coke-bottle glasses he wore made the now-deposed scrapyard director seem completely unhinged. "I absolutely refuse to be summarily dismissed like some -"
Musashi rotated her 18-inch gun turrets around to aim right at his nose.
"NevermindI'llgoquietly," Tsuji quickly changed his mind and the scrapyard contingent moved off, Yamato in the lead and Musashi bringing up the rear with a smug look on her face and her gun turrets still aimed right at Tsuji, who now appeared to be one step away from either wetting his pants or having a complete meltdown.
Once they'd left, the kanmusu turned their attention back to Avers, who smiled at them.
"I don't know if those men were sent by the JMSDF, and frankly I don't give a damn if they were. It's time the higher-ups realized that you ladies are human now, not ships. They can't simply discard you because it's not worth modernizing you anymore. You have the right to live out your lives like any other human." He sighed, looking over the sea of faces. "God knows every single one of you deserve it." He shook his head and cleared his throat awkwardly, not having expected to get emotional. "That is all...you may resume your day."
He started back for the Headquarters building with Blaskewicz, Mancini, Nagato, Mutsu, and Oyodo following him, steadfastly ignoring the mass of fleetgirls who now looked on him with nothing short of sheer abject worship. Once they were through the group and walking alone, Mancini grinned. "I think you've got a lot of fans now, sir," he joked, and Mutsu giggled. Blaskewicz and Oyodo stifled laughter, and Avers was inwardly stunned when he spotted a humorous glint in Nagato's eyes as well.
"Yes, well...that was completely unintentional," he attempted to downplay it as they walked up the driveway of the Headquarters building. "A CO should stick up for the personnel under his command, shouldn't he?"
"Right, right...of course, sir," Mancini nodded and attempted a serious expression. Avers stopped and glowered at his Training Officer.
"Don't patronize me, Captain," he muttered and stomped inside, forcing himself to ignore the giggles behind him.
It wasn't until he got into the elevator alone to go up to his office did he allow himself to smile at a job well done.
UP NEXT: Avers gets his first taste of the chaos that is life as Admiral of the kanmusu, and starts a List like his predecessor.
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