A Matter of Honor

by wingkia

A story that developed from a Reddit challenge 'A Mother Like No Other' (I go by MetusR there), this one follows a Commander as he discovers his past and builds a future for himself.

10. Chapter 10

Part Ten – H.E. and Tea time

After my shower, I started to dress in the clean uniform, I had gotten everything on, save for the summer shirt and cap. I stood at the end of the bed, looking at the summer shirt, the name tag over the right pocket saying 'Thatcher', the ribbons on the left side, the rank badges on the shoulders... I let out a heavy sigh and looked at myself in the mirror, my body had become so much more defined, I could see the muscles that had been hidden before. They were a reminder that I was different now, I turn my attention back to the shirt I don't feel right putting it on.

I put it back on a hanger and put it back in the closet and looking for another nice looking shirt, good enough to be presentable at least. With me being onshore right now, it would be hard to avoid the meeting with the Queen I knew I had to have. There is a knock at the door and I ask, "Yes?"

"May I come in?" asked my mother through the door.

"Sure." I say to her as I run a hand through my hair.

As she opens the door, I see that she had done her hair and gotten dressed, I tilt my head to the side and she tells me, "U-47 headed off for the day, saying that you were in good hands with me."

I nod, it made sense really; U-47 always had things to do… My mother looks me up and down as she asks, "Mitchel is everything okay?"

I shake my head as I keep trying to find a shirt to wear as I answer her, "Not really... I was going to put on the summer uniform shirt, but I didn't feel right putting it on."

She moves to sit on the end of the bed as she says, "I understand, it's from a life that's not yours anymore."

I nod, trying to find a dress shirt of some kind, I frown as I can't find one that wasn't part of a uniform. With a heavy sigh I say, "Do you know where I can find new clothes? Nothing in here really works for me now…"

"I do, we can also see about getting you fitted with the proper footwear for use with rigging too." She says to me.

"Mom… I don't even know if I have any." I say to her.

She is quiet for a moment before she says to me, "Then we should head down to the shoreline and work on seeing if you do."

Once we'd gotten down to the water, I feel my mom put her hands on my shoulders and say to me, "Think about your hull, picture it in your mind."

I close my eyes and think about my other self, the sinister-looking hull as I say to her, "I have it."

"Good, now try and call it to you." she says to me, placing her hands on my shoulders.

I feel my brow knit together as I call out in my mind for it, I feel heavy for a moment, then it passes. I open my eyes and look around, I still see my hull sitting offshore and I frown while my mother says, "It's alright; sometimes it takes more than one try."

I sigh, closing my eyes again, letting out a slow breath as I picture the hull again in my mind and call out to it. I feel the turrets rotate and point in my direction, the gun cameras zooming in on me… I feel it resisting my call. I grit my teeth together and outstretch a hand at it, asserting my will over it as I say to it, "You are me and I am you. I command us."

The next thing I know I feel extremely heavy; I fall to my knees in the sand, my chest heaving in and out. I slowly open my eyes and look out to the water, the hull is gone… My brow kits together and I look left to see what looks like smaller versions of my A and Y turrets, the barrels in the sand. To my right, I see my B and X turrets. Below them, I see what looks like parts of my hull and my secondary batteries. I hear my mother from behind me say, "Those are some impressive looking cannons, Mitchel."

I try to stand but my knees give out and I fall back to the sand as I ask, "How do I move? This stuff is so heavy…"

My mother helps me stand as she says, "Your body is working on becoming strong enough to support your rigging… that is probably why you had such trouble summoning it."

I give a half laugh as I say, "Nothing can be easy for me it seems."

She gives me a warm smile as she confirms, "Sadly that seems to be a trait with our family."

"To banish your rigging, imagine putting your hull back into the water." She adds after a moment.

I close my eyes again and picture putting my ship-self back in the water like I was putting down a toy boat in the tub. As I do that, I suddenly feel so much lighter… I open my eyes and see that black monster sitting offshore again, I feel so drained and I pant out to my mother, "Mom… That is exhausting… And I think I want to repaint my ship..."

She nods as she still supports me over her shoulders as she says, "It is, but with time you'll get used to the strain and drain it puts on you… that's why we have drinks like oxy-cola or the special coolant… It helps boost our energy levels."

I nod and ask, "What about normal food and drink?"

She turns us towards the house and we start walking as she says, "Those work too, but it takes more… so does a good night's sleep."

I nod and say to her, "I never knew how hard you had it as a kansen… I don't think anyone really knew."

She shakes her head as she says to me, "I think you're right on that, but I wouldn't trade a thing to go back to being just a ship again. Being kansen let me have you, and that makes it all worth it."

We're almost back at the house and she changes the subject as she asks, "Now let's talk about you and miss 47… What have you done with her?"

I give my mother a sideways glance of shock as I say to her, "Nothing. She is my friend… we're close, but we are just that, friends."

My mother nods as she says, "I was just wondering is all, she is perhaps the one kansen you've been close to since your rebirth."

I sigh, it was true, U-47 had felt like the one I could count on and trust as I adjusted to this new life and learning how to walk again. I was going to say something when my mother asked, "How are you feeling though? Gneisenau has been asking about you, she's been asking me since she thought I would know."

I nod while she continues, "Gneisenau is concerned about you and has been doing her best to keep quiet about you being kansen now… Swiftsure has no idea what's going on though… she doesn't even know your back yet. But I know she's curious…"

I give a heavy sigh as I say, "I'd like to be able to walk fully on my own and be ready to present myself first…"

I look up towards the quarters and see Belfast moving like a blur in the kitchen and I ask, "Why do you think Belfast is moving like that?"

My mother looks towards the front of the house and sees something as she says, "Oh my… this… We need to get inside quickly."

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I was surprised how Wales managed to get me around the house without running into anyone and up to the second floor and into the master bedroom, once the door shut I looked at her and asked, "Mom, what's going on?"

She gives me a weak smile as she says, "I was expecting guests, but I wasn't expecting you to come off of your hull today…"

I sit on the bed and bend forward and take some deep breaths as I ask, "What kind of guests?"

"I had asked George to come for a visit this Christmas; it'd been years since we last saw each other… and I needed my older sister since I was dealing with your disappearance." Said my mother as she fidgeted with her hands and looked to the door as she added, "You don't have to come down, I understand…"

I cut her off by raising my hand as I say, "She's family… I'm done hiding from the family."

She smiles at me and goes over to the dresser and pulls out a white tee-shirt with a union jack on the chest as she tosses it to me she says, "It's not classy, but this is family."

I pull the shirt over my head and stand to look at myself in the mirror while my mother says, "I'll head down first and set the stage so to speak."

I nod as she goes, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly as I say to myself, "I can do this. I can greet the family."

As I start to make my way down the stairs, I can hear George speaking with my mother, "So who is that?"

I know without being there, that she's asking about my hull. I take note as my mother is cautious with how she answers, "That… is…"

I chose this moment, might as well dive into this headfirst…

One last deep breath before I say it out loud as I enter the living room to see them both standing at the window, looking out at me, "That would be me."

I watch as they both turn to face me, my mother giving me a smile and my aunt taking on a surprised look for a moment before she covers it quickly as she says, "Oh? Is that so?"

I reach out and brace myself against the door frame, and for a moment I see something flash in George's eyes as she looks at me, her head tilting to the side as she asks, "But how is that possible? You're human…"

I shake my head as I continue to cross into the room and say, "That is a long story that involves a lot of pain… long story short, I'm not… not anymore at least."

I take a seat on the couch and catch my breath adding, "I'm still getting used to this… it's taking a lot of out me."

To my surprised George comes and sits beside me, looking at me for a moment before she says, "I imagine it is… Johnathan is making some lunch for us, and likely irritating Belfast in the process, why don't you walk me through it."

With a shrug I go about telling her the tale, about how I was nabbed off the base, taken to the UK, my mind being wiped, being bound to that hull, sailing here with the intent of killing my mother, turning on and killing my father and dying and coming back as I am now.

To my surprise George took it all in, in good step, not judging, not speaking; just listening. She put her tea down and folded her hands in her lap before she spoke with an oddly warm tone of voice, "You should be a member of the Royal Knights."

Thinking on it, I think that was more for my mother than me and I say, "I don't know where I belong now, I just know that Mitchel Thatcher is dead as far as Azur Lane High Command is concerned. As for where HMS Thunderer belongs, that will be up to Her Majesty when I finally present myself to her."

George looks at me and nods as she says, "Thunderer is a good strong name, but don't let it define you, Mitchel."

I nod, again being called that doesn't seem to bother me… she is family so I guess it makes some sense that I would be alright with it. I was about to say something more when a knock came from the front door, I looked to my mother and she shrugged. When it opened I heard Belfast speak, "Your Majesty, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"We had heard that King George the Fifth was visiting… and since she did not come to the dorms, it only made sense that she would come here." Said a voice, I leaned around the side of the couch to try and see, what I saw was a little half-pint of a girl followed by a second one that sent a chill down my spine.

From the kitchen, I heard another voice call out, "Is that Lizzy I hear at the door?"

I look to my mother and I can see that she's trying very hard not to laugh, I raise an eyebrow as a man with dark hair comes out of the kitchen, wiping his hands on a towel as the first half pint looked at him, smiled and said, "Why Sir Hawker, what are you doing here?"

What surprised me more, was to see the two of them hug one another as he said, "Wales invited us to stay for the holiday, said she needed to see George…"

I keep listening as the half-pint says, "Yes… Wales has suffered since the loss of Commander Thatcher, again."

I force myself to stand just as I hear that half-pint speak again, "But We are also here to speak with Wales and about that monstrosity that is anchored offshore, so far she is one of the few to have been on it…"

I sigh inwardly, looks like presenting myself to the Queen is happening sooner than I'd like… I look to my aunt and then my mother, to see them look at each other and nod. My mother takes a deep breath before walking towards the half-pint and saying, "If you would be so kind Your Majesty to join us in the living room…"

I push myself off of the couch to stand as steadily as I can as my mother and both half-pints enter the room, my mother gesturing to me with an open palm as she says, "May I present to you, the kansen of the HMS Thunderer."

The first half pint seemed to take it in stride as she looked me up and down as she said, "Good Lord…"

I look to the other two of them, shock seems to be on their faces, I take a deep breath before I kneel before the Queen, looking at the floor as I say, "Thunderer, reporting."

"Wales, We do not find this amusing…" said the Queen to my mother in what was clearly a guarded tone of voice.

"No, Your Majesty, this is not amusing." Said my mother as she placed a hand on my shoulder she added, "His father made him into that ship, I made him kansen to save his life."

The half-pint Queen came up to me, bending at her knees to be face to face with me as she asked, "You are the talk of the port, young man…"

When I look up to look at her, I can see a plotting look in her eyes as she says, "We will have to find a good place for you, We think."

My aunt cleared her throat before she said, "If I may, Your Majesty, perhaps place him with the Royal Knights… He does not look the type to fit into the maid corps…"

I can see the Queen nod before she said, "Very astute George, but the problem is…"

My aunt continued, "He is not ready yet to be in a very visible position… his body is adjusting to the new demands on it. By being with the Royal Knights, he will be able to get the training he needs in a less than visible format for most."

The Queen eyes me up and down again before her eyes drift to my mother and I hear her say, "Well then Knight Commander, you'll need to get him a uniform… and I want him to be visible by the end of the month… I will not be embarrassed again by failing to present him at the new-years gala."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Spoke my mother

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Later that evening I found myself out on the beach, my toes in the sand, I found that it was still warm from the sun during the day, I let out a sigh, it felt very relaxing. I hear the sound of someone walking up behind me, looking over my shoulder I see Belfast, her hands folded in front of her, she comes to a stop beside me, looking out over the water as she says to me, "I'm sorry, Master, that I failed to protect you."

I shake my head as I say to her, "It wasn't your fault Belfast, they were highly trained operators that knew what they were doing. Besides, you couldn't possibly protect me from someone I thought was dead."

I watch as she takes off her shoes and stockings to stick her toes in the sand as she changes the subject, asking, "So how big are the guns?"

It took me a moment to follow what she meant as she followed with, "Considering that they are double turrets, are they fifteens or sixteens?"

I shake my head and point up. She blinks a couple of times and is hesitant to say, "Seventeens?"

"Nope… eighteens." I say to her.

"Good Lord… I think you might have the biggest guns in the port now Master…" she says to me.

I look up at the stars that had come out and say to her, "I'm kansen now; I don't think calling me Master is appropriate now. Mitchel is fine, or if you want to use my official registry name, Thunderer is fine too."

I look to my side and see her knitting her brow together as she tries to process the correct way to address me now. After a moment I watch as she leans back to look at the house before she tucks a hand into her dress and takes out a flask, sipping from it she hands it to me as she says, "To the mighty Thunderer long may he reign."

I laugh and take a sip, I note that it has a more metallic taste to it, raising an eyebrow at her she elaborates, "oxy-cola and rum… should give you a nice little kick."

I pass it back to her and she changes the subject again, asking, "Not to force your hand, but what are you going to do about Miss Gneisenau, Miss U-47, and Miss Swiftsure?"

I sigh to myself and look down as I say, "For now, nothing. U-47 is a friend, nothing more… I'm not ready to face Gneisenau and for some reason, I feel guilty about something towards Swiftsure and I know I'm not ready to face that."

She shrugs and turns her attention back to the water as she says, "If you were not the object of affections before, you will most likely be one now."

"What makes you think that?" I ask her as I adjust my toes in the sand.

She shrugs again as she says, "You are kansen, a male kansen. Now that it is known that we can have offspring with humans… Stands to reason that breeding with you would provide possibly more like you. If there were more like you, then we could be less dependent on humans when it comes to expanding our numbers."

Huh… I hadn't thought about that.

I hang my head and sigh as I say, "Being breeding stock was something that never crossed my mind when I came here."

"It seldom is for humans, but that changes when they get here." She says, shifting how she stands on the sand.

I sigh and rub the back of my head as I say, "Truth is known Belfast, that is honestly the last thing on my mind right now… I've been told I have less than a month to be ready to present, come hell or high water…"

I catch her bringing up a hand to her chin as her eyes close and she giggles and says to me, "That is good to hear, I would honestly hate to have to apologize to Gneisenau for calling her a trollop…"

I blink a few times as I recall the incident in the kitchen, that was when it hit me, the memories of Mitchel were more clear and starting to feel less like they weren't mine. I reach out a hand and touch Belfast on the shoulder as I say to her, "I'd never make you do that Belfast… we can't change the past… besides, I think Gneisenau won that fight."

I see her cheeks get a little red in the moonlight before she adjusts her dress and says, "Yes… well… I agree to disagree."

With another shake of my head, I laugh and say, "Fair enough…"

She looks back at the house and asks, "You don't want to head back in, do you?"

"Not really… I know what I want, but I don't want to go and do it… I'm not ready to face all of that yet." I say to her.

She is quiet for a moment before asking, "Well, is there a place you feel you could go and not face a lot of questions?"

I sigh and look back out at me on the water as I say, "Yes, but I can't get to it… but I know hiding out won't do me any good, it won't help me be ready."

She follows where I'm looking and nods as she says, "True, hiding will just beget more hiding."

She takes out her phone and sighs, "I was planning on going to the Eagle Union holiday party tonight…"

"Don't let me keep you then." I say to her.

She shakes her head and says to me, "I can't do that to you… Her Majesty trusted your safety to me…"

I rub the back of my head again and sigh as I say to her, "Let's go then… if the party is big enough, I should be able to slip in unnoticed."

For the briefest of moments, I saw a smile on her face before she turned and started to head back up to the rocks to get on her stockings and shoes.

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By the time we got to the party, I could see it was in full swing, I could hear music coming from the portable shelters that had been set up, strung together with Christmas lights, I could see tables had been put out and pushed together to make a stage as some kansen were on it, singing along with the music, others were dancing making a fool out of themselves. I look to Belfast and I can see she's smiling as she looks at the party and says to me, "This looks good, looks like everyone is well into the drink and just might forget they saw you tonight… if that's what you want."

I shrug and make my way down into the crowd, seems like she was right, everyone seems to be having a good time. Once I was in there, I had grabbed a beer and spun around to avoid crashing into a slender kansen with blue hair, but I still crashed into one…

This one had ample torpedo protection it seemed and I heard her say, "Oof!"

I looked to the voice and my red eyes locked with blues ones framed in gold, on her head a little red hat, I stepped back and saw that she was in a tight-fitting red outfit. She smiled at me and said, "Well there you are Commander… I was starting to wonder if we'd ever see you again."

I blink at her a couple of times, I know I met her, but the name is escaping me for a moment. I see her point up and I look up to see mistletoe and she shrugs while telling me, "Traditions are traditions…"

With a shrug from me, I lean in and she leans in, the moments our lips touch, I feel a jolt run through me. I'm surprised how soft her lips are with just the right amount of moistness to them. I figured a quick peck was all she was looking for, but to my surprise when I tried to pull back, she deepened the kiss and started to make little noises like she was really enjoying this. That lead me to start kissing back, as I did that she pressed herself against me, my hands sliding around her waist to rest on her stern, just as I had done that, I started to hear whistles from around us and calls of, "Get a room!"

That broke the kiss, really fast, she looked down as she stepped back, before looking up at me through her eyelashes, her cheeks a bright red as she adjusted some of her hair behind an ear with one hand, I could see a smile on her lips as she mumbled, "It was a good kiss…"

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A/N: Chapter ten done. I'll try to have chapter eleven done before my winter break slow-down and have chapter twelve up by new-years… failing that it I will have stuff up in the New Year. Now with that out of the way, some changes started happening for the Commander / Thunderer in this chapter, expect some snowballing to start happening in chapter eleven.