Authors' Notes: Sorry, folks, no special Christmas chapter. It's not the right time in-universe anyway. SpaceBattles and Sufficient Velocity users got a sneak proofread/preview at a Merry Christmas with a hastily cobbled-together piece of "WTF is your worldbuilding smoking, you two idiots"! AO3 and users, you'll have to settle for a New Year's greeting. :/
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CHAPTER 10
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End May 2023
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The end of May saw the completion of the compressed OCS class and the candidates' official recommissioning.
"I finally understand why no one likes Full Dress," someone had muttered, and Ayaka had found herself agreeing wholeheartedly with the sentiment.
There weren't a lot of guests in attendance at the ceremony, but given how the shipgirl numbers skewed towards Summoned/Manifested, that wasn't a surprise. That said, solemnity of the occasion notwithstanding…
Ichiyo frowned as she peered up and up and up at the giant beanstalk, Ayaka's new lieutenant commander's shoulder boards in hand.
"Gran, do you think anyone will mind if I squat so you can reach?" Ayaka asked.
"I can do it, Mother," Yoshimichi said.
"It's fine, Mr Godai. I've got it." Gail Salazar Ramone, the perpetually harried-looking youngish dark green-haired Latina BERND aide assigned to Ichiyo, said as she piggybacked the older woman up into reach. The sight made Ayaka fight a losing battle against giggling.
"We should have gotten Mr Coventry or Dr Mysterio to come along," Ichiyo said as she put the shoulder boards on. "They are much better-equipped to do this."
"Ronald and Esteban weren't free, Ma'am," Gail replied.
"What a shame."
The freshly recommissioned officers were given the Memorial Day weekend off. For Ayaka, that meant a lot of rushing around. Moving out of her apartment to dump nonessential stuff back in the family home, meeting Hitomi and Morrie and other friends, putting a great many things in order.
Oh, and checking in on Uileag, of course. He had finally been medically cleared for the next CEC class.
{My Hero Academia Original Soundtrack - Lunch Break Song}
YouTube watch?v=T_PUlOkouho
"Not looking forward to it?" Ayaka asked over dinner.
"No," Uileag admitted, "not just because of what happened the last time."
He had finally received the Navy Cross along with a Purple Heart, but as it had been during the OCS month, Ayaka hadn't been able to witness it getting pinned on him.
"You're going to be fine," Ayaka said.
"You sound very sure of that."
"I might have cheated and did some divination?" Ayaka said with a nervous chuckle and pull at her sidelocks.
"For shame, how unbecoming!" Uileag exclaimed in mock outrage.
Ayaka pouted.
"In all frankness, since you outrank me now, do I need to salute and call you Ma'am?"
Ayaka sucked in a horrified breath. "Please don't!"
Uileag laughed. "Okay, I won't. Has anyone ever told you how cute you are when you're frantic like that?" He reached across the table and squeezed her cheeks.
"You, plenty of times," she said stonily.
Speaking of things, she had to fight down a sudden atavistic urge to get something else squeezed, a feeling she noted she had been getting more often after her Reawakening. No, that sort of thing came after the wedding!
"Hmm? What was that last bit?"
Oh, did she accidentally say something aloud?! "Nothing!"
"Talking about the wedding, though, I'm surprised Athair and Gran actually managed to agree on a date. I'm shocked and amazed. Shocked and amazed for real."
"I know! I was afraid they would just squabble for weeks and weeks."
"September 3rd this year, was it?"
"Yes, September 3rd. For the numerology, Gran says. The Labor Day weekend… probably didn't hurt."
"Only 3 months? That's not a lot of time to prepare." Uileag looked worried.
"I'll trust Gran to make it work." When Uileag still looked unconvinced, she frowned at him.
"I guess," Uileag said noncommittally. "Hopefully I can get posted to a nearby assignment after my course is over. Take care of yourself out there, Ayachi. I know you're not squishy like me… er, squish… er, never mind. You know what I mean." He scratched the back of his neck nervously.
"Yes, I know what you meant." Ayaka giggled. "Thanks, Uiui."
Uileag saw her back to the Shirokaze home and tightly embraced her; Ayaka did him one better by stooping to give a parting kiss.
The next working day, the recommissionees gathered at JB MDL once more to board the planes taking them to their respective assignments.
Next stop: Naval Station Everett.
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It wasn't a straight shot to NAVSTA Everett. JB MDL's default transport aircraft was the C-130 Hercules operated by the reservists of VR-64, but the priority need meant a C-40 Clipper from NAS Whidbey Island's VR-61 had been sent for them instead. There just weren't enough Skyrangers available to spare for a transport, not when any of each might be called into action at the drop of a hat.
The ride could have been worse, frankly. Ayaka had been expecting all the seats to be cramped together as closely as possible in order to maximise capacity, but on hindsight, since the class had been divided up across the bases, there had been no need for that.
Ayaka stared hesitantly at the other shipgirls, who had promptly taken off their footwear, used their engineering sections to rig a row's worth of seatbelts into a harness and then proceeded to conk out. "I'm not sure this is a good idea," she said to herself.
When the loadmaster walked through the passenger cabin some time later and, after looking around at the others, gave her a quizzical look at still sitting upright, she reluctantly followed suit.
There was a reception committee waiting when they disembarked. Okay, maybe "committee" was a bit generous. There were just two of them, both shipgirls.
Yorktown, CV-5, was a short-haired blonde with a Y-shaped blue barrette and blue eyes. A sharply-pressed blue beret rested on her head. She wore a sleeveless, cleavage- and midriff-baring white sailor blouse with a blue collar and red necktie, white elbow gloves and a belted blue miniskirt with white and red trim. Black thighhighs with gold pinstriping that ended in the letters "YKTN" and grey camouflage knee boots completed the outfit.
Practically clinging to her, eyes suspiciously scanning the newcomers, was Hammann, DD-412. She had long white hair and blue eyes with, incongruously, cat ears. She had a red and black bow on the top of her head. Her outfit was a monochrome maid uniform except for an Old Glory scarf. For legwear she had black thighhighs and grey camouflage knee boots.
"MDL class of May '23?" Yorktown asked after squinting at a tablet and counting off from a list.
"Yes, Ma'am," Ayaka and the rest of the newcomers said.
"Follow us. Your luggage will get taken separately to the dorms." She led the way to a truck and they piled in, which then led to Clinton Pier and a ferry in which they crossed Possession Sound to reach Everett proper. After clearing security, they were led to an already-occupied auditorium, mostly filled with other shipgirls but with a few conventional sailors too, including a bunch seated at or near the computer at the front.
"We're still waiting for the San Diego class before the construct CO's welcome," Yorktown said. "Please be seated."
The bunch found a few empty seats and put their butts down, after which Yorktown and Hammann left. It would be a while later before they returned, another group of shipgirls in tow.
"Where are they?" Ayaka thought she heard Yorktown ask, frowning. "Hammann, try again to contact-"
{My Hero Academia Original Soundtrack - Rampaging Evil}
YouTube watch?v=0JRgZH6AwB8
"Sorry we're late!" The voices of a bunch of young girls filled the air shortly after the doors to the auditorium were shoved open in a hurry. "Sorry we're-WHHHOOOOOAAAAAAA-"
The one in the lead was a stumpy redhead with thick round rimless glasses wearing her short hair in twin buns with a heart-shaped ahoge. Her outfit was almost a twin to O'Bannon's but for white thighhighs instead of black pantyhose. It was her who tripped over something and pitched forward, starting to fall down the auditorium stairs, arms flailing desperately.
Resisting a sudden chill that inexplicably shot down her spine at the sight of the shipgirl, Ayaka willed an image of sand shifting, flowing upwards in an hourglass into existence in her mind, even as a small voice said that the tests when there was no pressure involved were easy, but this was a different kettle of fish.
Biting down on the doubt, Ayaka rose from her seat, forcing herself to ignore the wince-inducing crunching sound as the fallen smashed a dent in the stairs with her forehead and continued to tumble.
Fingers moving as if to unmake a braid.
Her surroundings became fuzzy with a green tint.
Twirl counterclockwise.
Everything froze for a moment.
Left hand, spin counterclockwise.
As her hand spun, time began to rewind. The people who had been rising from their seats after finally getting over their surprise sat back down. The falling shipgirl reversed her fall, floating back up the stairs, the smashed step repairing itself, until she undid her trip, found her footing again and was walking backwards with the rest of the incoming shipgirls out of the auditorium, the door closing behind them.
Ayaka's hand stopped turning even as she settled back in her seat, but she looked in the direction of the doors.
The doors burst open.
"Sorry we're-WHHH-"
Weaving motions.
The surroundings started to fuzz over.
Double time hand signal.
"-OOOOOOOOOO-"
The shipgirl began to tumble in slow motion even as Ayaka rose from her seat at normal speed and, brows furrowed as she Willed, Stepped up the stairs and caught the shipgirl with both hands, left foot lunged forward for stability, before she went down the stairs.
"I've got you!"
"-A-mmph."
The shipgirl made a few confused sounds at getting her fall cushioned by something soft.
"You're going to be fine," Ayaka said. "You're-"
The shipgirl extricated herself from the muffling, blearily looked up at her saviour.
She promptly started screaming.
"AAAHHHHHHH!"
She Stepped down into a seat and flailed as she nearly fell over again, but was caught by her comrades and helped into a seated position without further incident.
As Ayaka returned to her seat, staring after the other shipgirl's panicked escape, it finally sunk in for her who she had just saved.
William D. Porter, DD-579.
She was suddenly aware that she was trembling.
"Willie, get a grip!" Yorktown snapped, her voice lined with Command, and Willie snapped to seated attention. Everyone else fell silent and sat up straight.
As if on cue, the door swung open again shortly afterwards.
"Officer on deck!" Multiple voices announced, and the room rose to its feet.
{Ace Combat 6 Original Soundtrack - Briefing 1}
YouTube watch?v=909truPDCGc
Construct Three CO, RDML Paris Abel, was a brown-haired, brown-eyed woman with sharp, almost harsh features.
"As you were."
The room sat back down.
"Ladies and gentlemen. We're here to welcome our new hands to Construct Three, NAVENSCIWARCOM, operating out of NAVSTA Everett. For those who are unaware, we are one of the United States Navy's contributions to the Pacific Protectorate of the global extradimensional entity combat project Task Force VALKYRIE."
The lieutenant at the computer clicked a world map into life, one that zoomed in on the Pacific Ocean.
"As the name suggests, the Pacific Protectorate is the division of TFV that operates in the Pacific region. The other primary contributing nations are Australia, China, Japan and Russia. Our construct's area of operations in particular is the North Pacific, including Japan."
The map highlighted the named nations and the AO.
"In the current situation, the majority of the responsibility for anti-abyssal operation falls on us. China and Russia," the two nations flashed on the map, "lack substantial numbers of enlightened operatives."
Based on what was currently known, the shipgirls that returned were almost entirely from the World Wars, with a minority of those older than that and even fewer who were younger. China's had been modest and had induced a fair bit of squabbling with Taiwan, who were technically the rightful owners as the Republic of China from back then. As for Russia, its fleet back then hadn't been tiny per se, but it wasn't the juggernaut it would develop into in the Cold War, and the loaned or prize ships had defaulted to their original allegiances, with not many being loaned back out again. This meant quite an unfavourable shipgirl-to-sea coverage ratio.
"Combined with the losses from the Week of Blood, this means they currently have limited ability to operate far from shore and have chosen to focus on local provision and fortification over producing for export.
"Australia faces similar issues." The map highlighted it now. "Resource-wise, they are mostly self-sufficient, but high abyssal activity in the South Pacific," the Pacific Island chains turned red, eliciting a shudder from the shipgirls whose past lives had seen fighting in the Solomons and the island-hopping campaigns, "has largely restricted them to acting as a hub for the defence of New Zealand and the remains of Indonesia, with limited capacity for long-range operations.
"That leaves Japan." The island nation flashed. "Japan has had the proportionate highest number of returning shipgirls, but its dependence on food and strategic resource imports is a bottleneck on operations. Hypertech-enabled designation for Chinese antiship missiles has made significant contributions in their defence, and that is a rare statement," a few of the sailors made muffled chuckles at this, "but they cannot keep it up forever by themselves.
"That is the current state of affairs; your respective amalgams will now brief you on your detailed duties."
"You lot," Yorktown said, pointing at Ayaka and some other newcomers, not all of whom were from her MDL class, "with us."
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Yorktown led them to a briefing room, a bunch of other shipgirls falling in line behind.
"Ladies, welcome to Amalgam 55."
The construct's Heavy Escort Amalgam was designated Uatu, commanding officer CAPT George Zelben. Dark-haired and -eyed with soft, vaguely Eastern European features, Ayaka thought he looked like he belonged more on the set of a film rather than in the navy.
"Element leaders, you've already had the chance to look over the newcomers' dossiers and discuss assignments. We'll give you a few minutes to introduce the new hands while we set up."
"Sir."
Thus acknowledged, he headed over to the terminal to speak with his staff.
"Iowa, over here," Yorktown said.
Ayaka padded over, acutely aware of Willie seated near the proffered place, trying her best not to make eye contact.
"Congratulations, FNG. Uatu One has been needing a XO, and it looks like you're it!" Yorktown slapped her on the back.
Wait what
Ayaka tried to suppress a reflexive startled squeak; she did manage to cut it down to a "ehhh?"
"I need someone who can keep up with the rest of the element without Stepping or needing to run Procedures, and neither of our existing battleships fit the bill. No offence, Mary!"
"Huh?" Another shipgirl, one with short black hair, a white hairband and blue eyes, shook herself. "Oh. Sorry. None taken, Yorktown," she gently replied.
"Ma'am, I would like to request reassignment to a different element," Willie said.
"Your request is noted and denied, One-Four."
Willie almost but didn't entirely succeed in hiding a frown.
Uatu Two's leader was Essex, CV-9. She was very tall, only a bit shorter than Ayaka. She had very pale blue, almost white hair tied in twintails and red eyes. Right now she wasn't emoting much. She wore a black and red tunic, a black capelet, a white miniskirt and black pantyhose. The capelet had the number nine on it.
"What?! What?!"
Oh, and there was a bald eagle squawking from its perch on her left shoulder. Well, whatever one called a majestic bird of prey's counterpart to a parrot's squawking.
"Bell…" Essex said chidingly. "Sorry. Bell McCamp can be a boor."
Ayaka stared for a moment before shaking her head. She supposed a talking bald eagle for a familiar made just as much sense as anything else she'd seen so far.
Essex's XO was West Virginia, BB-48. Ayaka knew there were certain circles that regarded American battleships starting from the Standards on as cousins; if she took that interpretation at face value, then West Virginia would probably be the closest-looking to herself, never mind the age gap of their past lives. The Colorado-class battleship had brown, almost purple eyes and long brown hair worn in a half updo with a white ribbon. Of course, she was noticeably shorter and more obviously white, which did put a cramp on the similarities. She wore a crimson jacket with white-cuffed puffy long sleeves over a white blouse with blue ribbon, a knee-length crimson skirt with black lace underlayer, black pantyhose and crimson shoes.
Her gaze was piercing, and Ayaka felt like she had been scanned by radar, even though her warning receiver hadn't lit up the slightest. It did make her wonder, though, whether it was possible to hang an acceleration onto an automatic knowing/unveiling "ping" so she wouldn't have to rely on slow natural reflexes, the better to avoid being caught by surprise.
Princeton, CVL-23, led Uatu Three. She was another short-haired, blue-eyed blonde. Unlike Yorktown, she was dressed like a magician. She wore white bunny ears. Above a red leotard went a white blouse, red bowtie and black coat. A black cane, a black top hat with a red band and red shoes completed the outfit.
"At Princeton, ours is the cause of education, and under God's light we flourish. Set an abyssal a fire, it's warm for a night. Set an abyssal afire, it's warm for the rest of its life!"
The light carrier began laughing maniacally, and Ayaka and the other newcomers took a few discreet steps away from her.
Her XO in turn, the former acting exec for Uatu One, was Maryland, BB-46. Ayaka had caught a glimpse when Yorktown had addressed her earlier, but now she took a closer look. The shipgirl wore a purple dress with white-cuffed puffy long sleeves that went down to shin level. It had a white collar like a Pilgrim's, closed with a blue ribbon. It wasn't possible to tell from a look where the black heeled riding boots she wore reached up to.
She seemed a little spacey, her gaze not all there.
"Alright, shall we begin?" Zelben asked once the introductions died down. There was a world map projected on the screen in front, similar to the one Admiral Abel had shown.
"Sir." The shipgirls that were still standing found seats.
"Welcome to Uatu. We're the Heavy Escort Amalgam of the construct. New hands, have you been told what our mission is?"
"Escorting trans-Pacific convoys, Sir."
"Correct." The LT at the computer clicked on, and the map onscreen zoomed into the Pacific, then sprung a dashed line heading north along the British Columbia coast up to Alaska, west across the Bering Sea into Russian waters and going south to Japan. "The rest of you have heard this before, so just take it as a refresher."
"Stu-stupid pervert commander, I don't need a refresher or anything like that," Hammann said.
Yorktown silently rapped her on the back of the head with her knuckles.
Zelben continued without the slightest sign of being perturbed by the byplay. "As Admiral Abel has covered just now, Chinese and Russian losses mean they currently lack the spare capacity to protect shipping, which is where we need to come in.
"Now, the plan is simple. Basing out of the Tripoli, you will serve as close escort for the bulk carriers and container ships all the way to Japan. Amalgam 451 will act as a covering force alongside Royal Canadian Navy assets up until you hit the Bering; after that, protection of the cargo ships will be solely on you until you get close enough to Russian waters for maritime patrol support. Once you reach the Kurils, JMSDF shipgirls will provide covering force as the freighters split off to their designated receiver ports. Your mission will terminate at Fleet Activities Yokosuka, and you'll move between these two bases along with the convoy.
"In addition, as the primary enlightened assets in the 7th Fleet's AO, you will be called on to provide all necessary assistance for anti-abyssal multilateral operations within the West Pacific region. This state of affairs is likely to persist until the command attains sufficient strength to permanently forward-deploy a dedicated amalgam or even construct to Yokosuka.
"The primary threat vector will come from the Bering." The map changed to a false-colour weather display, with the Bering coloured discordantly. "Ever since the Week of Blood, almost the whole area has been covered in some kind of fog so thick it makes 2000s Beijing look like a exemplar of clean air. Optical, infrared, radar, conventional methods of standoff surveillance can't penetrate far, and trying to send UAVs in for close reconnaissance gets them summarily shot down before they can gather any actionable intel. Attempting to bombard whatever abyssal facilities are within has thus been written off by both us and the Russians. Futurecasting also gives baneful warnings when the question of assaulting whatever's within comes up. As a result, we've been limited to evacuating the coastline and suppressing anything that tries to make landfall. You'll need to guard the freight from abyssal commerce raiders. Yorktown, bear in mind that due to recent changes to coastal defence requirements following New York, we cannot, repeat, cannot guarantee Shockwave support."
There was a bit of grumbling in the room at that; Ayaka thought she could make out "fucking politicians" through the coughing. Yorktown herself merely said, "Copy that, Sir."
"Questions?"
"Sir," one of the newcomers asked, "why are the Russians unable to cover us the whole way? According to the history books, they didn't have any qualms about flying within missile range of Anchorage during the Cold War."
"Officially, coastal defence requirements." Zelben's face twisted, showing what he thought of that particular excuse. "Unofficially, Admiral Zeleska says there's a whole mess of political complexities that need ironing out."
"Sir," another said, "with all due respect, why not just dash through the North Pacific? Start at San Diego," she raised her right hand and pointed at the map, made a circle before swiping it to the left, "waypoint at Pearl," she made another circle and another leftward swipe, "and then straight to Japan? I mean, if we've managed to retake Hawaii, then there shouldn't be a viable threat vector from Johnston or Midway."
"A good question. WeeVee?"
West Virginia nodded. "Sir. Johnston and Midway may be presently free of abyssal presence, but given the fluidity of abyssal deployments, we cannot count on their not suddenly re-establishing facilities on the said atolls or otherwise remaining unmolested across that vast, undefended expanse of ocean, even with long-loiter bomber support. Modern cargo ships may have a flank that beats Mary and I, but designs have lately been optimised for low-speed operation and fuel economy; it has only been in the most recent years that breakthroughs in letting economy and speed coexist have been made, and the merchant marine has been slow to make the higher initial outlays that the new technology demands. There remains a shortage of high-speed transports to make the run worthwhile."
"Indeed," Zelben said. "Iowa, that's why you're with us rather than at San Diego and your old hull under RADM Adams. Hopefully, by the time your sisters are back with us, we'll have enough capacity to run this route too."
"Y-yes, Sir," Ayaka said, surprised by her name suddenly coming up and, she had to admit, the existential question of her old hull she hadn't really been putting much thought into. She did know the loaning out of her rigging and fairies had helped accelerate the recreation of the equipment and retraining of the veterans.
"Any further questions?" When none came, Zelben said, "Very good. Element leaders will take over now and carry out tactical briefs. We'll spend today and tomorrow working up as the next run of the convoy will only be ready the day after that. Dismissed!"
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