A/N: It has been a while since I uploaded the last chapter. After much struggling I herewith present you the next one.
Feel free to review it or ask me anything related on fanfiction pm or twitter. The link for the latter is in chapter 5.
Hope you will enjoy it.
Chapter #10: Calm days
Day 1
The night had been calm and Dragon woke up in the office. Her neck was hurting because she slept on the hard oak desk. After combing herself with the comb she got from Kamikaze, she places the admiral cap on her head and went out of the room. Checking on the two IJN kanmusu, she finds them sleeping in one bed, hugging each other. Dragon closes the door quietly with a gentle smile on her face. Her stomach growled, which was rather surprising but made her a bit comfortable now that she knew at least she retained the need to eat sometimes.
When she was first here and roamed through the abandoned base, she found a building which looked like a restaurant and was fairly intact. Remembering this Drake immediately set out for the restaurant.
The sun just rose from the horizon and everything was lit in a dim orange color. The clacking of her boots was loud as only some early birds were chirping on the trees.
After opening the locked front door with a precisely placed kick she went into the restaurant's dining area. The chairs were placed upside down on the tables and the kitchen door was on the floor. It may have ripped out of the casing because of the bombardment.
The kitchen was almost in perfect condition, with only some burned pans on the floor. Three more doors, two iron and one sliding wooden. Drake supposed that the latter was the hind door.
One metal door contained cleaning supplies and the other...
"Jackpot!"
There were sacks, boxes, metal containers in the room, jams and pickles on the shelves and in the corner there was a barrel. Plugging it out Dragon smirked.
"Sake. Great..."
Drake went to the sacks. Opening them she saw rice, wheat and all kinds of seeds. The boxes were full of dried meat and cheese while the metal containers held spices.
Hands on her hips, Dragon thought about the breakfast concept, looking from one thing to another.
First she wanted to make a traditional British breakfast but there were no eggs nor beans. She took rice, dried meat and some spices...
After cleaning the fireplace she boiled water in a pot, cooked the rice while roasting the spiced and cut meat. She took three bowls, put the rice and the meat on it and poured the spicy gravy which came out of the meat on the rice. Drake searched for two pairs of chopsticks and a spoon, put them on a tray and went back to the dorms.
She quietly opened the door where the two girls slept, put the bowls with the chopsticks on the table and went out of the room, this time closing the door a bit louder.
Drake went back to the office, ate her breakfast while looking through some documents regarding the gearing bay. After snickering over her success of the cooking, Dragon went to the bay, opened a gigantic toolbox which was at the other end of the room and began working on the machines.
Meanwhile at the room where the others slept…
"Heavy…"
Zao opened her eyes only to see Kamikaze lying on her. The next thing she saw were the two bowls on the table. She pushed the destroyer down of herself and got out of the bed. Unfortunately while doing this Kamikaze's head hit the wall.
"Ouch!"
"You okay?"
"Yeah, but why are you standing?"
"Look at the table."
"Food! Wait… Food?"
"So we do need some sort of meal actually. Drake must have made it."
"Why don't we try it. A bite won't harm."
They sat to the table, thanked for the food and took a bite. Kamikaze squirmed in pure joy.
"Delicious!"
"Agreed."
The two finished eating and went for the admiral's office. Dragon wasn't there, the only sign of her being there was the empty bowl on the desk. They went towards the strategy room until they heard some sort of hammering coming from the gearing bay.
As they opened the door to the bay they saw Drake hammering the control panel of the machinery. The next thing they saw was that the hamer flew into the ocean while Drake swore like an old sailor.
"Damn it! Move already you b****!"
The box of the panel clattered as the kanmusu kicked it with immense force.
The engines roared, the chains rattled as the bay came to life once again. The modules of the dry dock came to life and the water surrounding it gleamed.
"Finally!"
"Umm… Drake?"
"Wha…? Oh, it's you two. Have you slept well?"
"Yes. Thanks for the breakfast."
"It was nothing. If you're here please put your gear in the modules they belong."
Torpedo tubes, artillery, chimneys, turbines, landing deck and arrows, all to their respective places.
"Why don't we try them out now? We don't have anything else to do after all."
"Fine by me although we have one thing to discuss before that."
"And that is…?"
"The name of our fleet."
"What about First Peaceful Abyssal Division?" Kamikaze asked with a smile.
"You'd bettter be joking or else…" Drake said clenching her fists.
"Sorry."
"Let's clarify one thing. We are NOT abyssals. We're different from those monsters."
"So…?" Zao asked.
"Well, we're sunken for those who knew us and we're making a fleet. What about the Sunken Fleet?"
"Spooky…" Zao exclaimed, shivers running down her spine.
"That'd be the essence of the term. So, is this name ok for you?"
"Yes." They said in unision.
"Now that's creepy." Drake looked at the two IJN kanmusu. "Ready for a patrol round?"
"Yes, admiral!" They said while grinning.
"Please stop… Anyway, gear up!"
The three girls stepped on the gearing platforms. Chains rattled, hydraulics whizzed as they equipped their gears. After the process finished, the gates opened and they bursted out of the gearing bay.
At the harbor bay Drake stopped at the sign which she couldn't read at the time she arrived here.
"What does this say?" The battleship asked.
"Apra harbor. The name of this place." told her Kamikaze.
"Understood. Sunken Fleet of Apra Harbor, set sail!"
Thus they began their patrol which lasted until sunset. They came back exhausted but joyful.
Day 2
Zao woke up first. She looked around to find that the others were still sleeping. She changed her clothes and went out of the building with a morning run in her mind. As she ran she looked at the devastated base. The places which were once full of joy had now a dark aura, the aura of loss. The cruiser ran around the base and went back to the building to have a shower. As she went back to her room she heard speaking from the strategy room.
Opening the door she saw Dragon and Kamikaze talking while leaning over which looked like the map of the base.
"Good morning! What are you two doing?"
"Good morning Zao! We've been talking about our next task. Since we will mostly spend our time here I thought that the equipment and food has to be brought here. When I first arrived here I saw a couple of carts which we will use for bringing here the things needed. How does that sound to you?"
"That's quite a good idea actually. When do we begin?"
"As soon as possible. As I saw the collection, sorting and packing everything in their respective places will take about two days. So let's go to the carts and split the base into three pieces."
Dragon grabbed the map and they went to the carts. There, the battleship opened the map on the ground as there was nowhere else she could put it.
"Alright. Zao, yours is this Southern part. Kamikaze, you're in the centre and I take the shore of the bay and the peninsula."
"Okay."
"Understood."
They split, each of them pulling a cart with them. With easch round they took, more and more equipment, food and other things were bought to the starting point. It was late in the afternoon when they met up for a little rest.
"Drake, may I ask you a question?"
"Go ahead."
"Why have you brought flowers?"
"You'll see soon, just follow me."
They went to the peninsula north of the port. Zao and Kamikaze went pale –as pale as they could get in their current condition – as they saw the tombstone under the tree they stopped. The carvings on the stone formed a name.
Kanegawa Shiro.
The last admiral of the base.
The two IJN girls started crying. As soon as the girls' crying started to settle, Drake went over and hugged them.
"I'm sorry for your loss."
They put a flower in front of the tomb and stood there, silently, until twilight.
After the mourning was over they went back to the base.
Day 3
Getting up early, the girls finished collecting the things which could be used. The rest of the day went on with the sorting and placing of these.
"I feel sort of hungry." Kamikaze said to the bunch.
"Now that I think of it, we haven't eaten in almost 3 days." Drake told the destroyer.
"Say Drake, do you have any dinner ideas?"
"Of course I do. Would you help me collecting the ingredients?"
"Of course."
*slap*
*slap*
"Ouch!"
"Oww! That hurt!"
"The next one will hurt even more if you don't stop this syncrhonised speech."
"Okay…"
"Understood."
"Now that it's settled let's start searching for the ingerdients. I saw some hens running around the outskirts, which means that there must be eggs somewhere. Kamikaze, your task will be the egg-hunt. Find me a couple of them. As for you Zao, you will collect cabbage from the forest. I saw a couple of heads near the shrine. I will take care of the rest. Now, dispatch!"
Everybody went to their respective places. Drake went to the kitchen of the main building. She took out some flour and oil from the storage, weighed them and put them into a bowl.
Kamikaze was first to arrive.
"Will 5 eggs be enough?"
"That's actually more than we need."
She added 2 eggs and started mixing the ingredients until it became a sticky dough. She sprinkled some flour on the desk and put the dough onto it. First she kneaded it, then, after it became semi-solid rolled it out with a rolling-pin. Meanwhile Zao returned with a head of cabbage. Drake cut the dough into small squares and put it aside. She ordered the destroyer to make a pot of water ready to boil and asked the cruiser to cut up the cabbage into small strips. The battleship then proceeded to roast the cabbage with some oil until it was golden brown. As the water boiled she put the pasta into the pot with some oil and salt. Kamikaze was asked to prepare the dishes and forks for the three of them. Drake mixed the cabbage and the pasta together and served it.
"This is delicious! What's this called?"
"Thanks for the compliment Zao. It's called cabbage with noodles, it's a traditional dish from the country I come from."
"Where are you from again?"
"I was born in Hungary but was completed in Croatia."
"Isn't Hungary supposed to be landlocked? And what do you mean by 'born'? Weren't you summoned like the rest of us?"
"Well, yeah, the country itself has no connections to the Mediterranian sea but when the abyssals appeared the two countries joined forces and created Project Adria, which ment transforming normal girls into kanmusu, I was the first to launch. I was born human and given the avatar of the long lost dreadnought SMS Saint Stephen. After the trials I was sent to the US navy."
"So you have sisterships?"
"If my last information is correct, then the MHT Zagreb has already launched, the MHT Split is currently transformed and the MHT Sophianae is going to be the last of our class."
"That sounds so exciting! I wish I knew my sisterships."
"So you don't know who they are?"
"They were recalled after my summoning."
"Sorry to hear that."
"Don't worry, it's not a big deal."
After they finished eating they went to sleep. For some unknown reason Zao made her way into Drake's bed where they slept together.