With Georgia'n Friends:
watch?v=XfyEpmQM7bw&feature=emb_title
I surfaced near the ferry Hakone was hauling, startling Lao again as I let my ballast finish draining out of my mouth, sending a great spout of water at her. She dodged, and for a second I thought the Frigate would try to put a 5" round into me, before she slumped as she shook her head.
"Georgia, I know we don't know each other very well, but you really shouldn't come out of no-where like that, I almost shot you!" Fair enough, but I doubted I'd be able to restrain myself, spooking ships was hilariously funny to me for some reason.
"I'll try, but no promises." I continued despite the disappointed look Chitose shot my may. "I managed to scare off the Abyssal fleet when they tried to cross the oil fires, we should be in the clear. Think I sank about twelve or so ships before they wised up and left, don't know how many I disabled." Lao's eyes widened.
T-Twelve?!" She seemed to shake herself mentally, her voice regaining its composure. "How did you manage that? And what do you mean 'disabled?'" I shrugged.
"MK 48 Torpedo's are OP, what more is there to say?" I shared a superior smirk with a laboring Hakone as I said that. " Helped that I was just shooting the Destroyers with 'em. Those things go up like matchsticks if you hit them right." Lao bit her lip, oh yeah, she was a Destroyer technically kinda-sorta, wasn't she? Quick! Subject change! "As for the Cruisers, well, they aren't gonna be chasing us anytime soon, I ate their shoes!" Chitose looked at me, a little puzzled.
"What's wrong with them?"
"I ate them!" I repeated.
"But, but why do you hate them? And what does that have to do with you stopping them?" I facepalmed.
"Chitose, I know my American accent is thick but come on! Ate! Consumed! Put it in my mouth and crunch crunch crunch!" I made biting gestures to drive the point home. Chitose made an O of understanding, before a look of disgust overcame it.
"Why would you do that? That's disgusting Georgia!" I shrugged.
"I mean, it was just their rudders and propellers, I was feeling pretty hungry, you know, fromfiring almost my entire arsenal into Jersey's girls, so I decided to fill up on Abyssal steel by nibbling their toes a little, it keeps them unable to follow us, and helps me repair some of my hull-fractures, a win-win!"
Chitose actually looked a little MAD now. "Georgia! don't you get it? those propulsion systems are still part of the ship! I know you let Countess get away with it earlier because she doesn't know any better and she clearly needs it, but that's Cannibalism Georgia! Stop eating other ships! Promise me, please!" And wow I was feeling some serious deja vu right now, back when I'd made Countess promise not to eat humans. Aaah damn it, she was probably right.
"Fine fine!" I help a hand against my chest, where my reactor was. "I solemnly swear on my nuclear reactor I will not eat another ship, unless in self def-"
"Georgia!"
"-I won't eat any ships at all! There! Happy?" I put my hands on my hips, daring her to say no with my eyes.
"No..." DAMN IT. "But the promise is enough. I trust you, Georgia." And now I was back to grinning again. I playfully swatted at her shoulder as she harumphed.
"Your such a big softie Chitose!" It was then that I noticed Lao, the little Frigate, was now hiding behind the ferry Hakone was hauling, eyes wide as dinner plates as she quaked in fright, I gave a little wave. AAAAaand she ducked behind the hull of the ferry. I turned to the Seaplane Tender. "I think I scared the mini-you, mind giving her a talk?
"Mini-me?"
"She's a Seaplane Tender, but in miniature, IE: Mini-you, now get! Console the poor thing!" I made shooing motions. Chitose merely rolled her eyes before leaving, cruising behind the ferry to talk to the Frigate as I cruised up to Countess, who was still dutifully watching the sky, or maybe she was just letting the rain hit her face? "Yo Countess! How's my favorite little Light Battlecruiser?
"T̸h̵e̸r̶e̵ ̶a̷r̴e̶ ̴o̷t̷h̶e̷r̴ ̴L̸i̴g̷h̷t̸ ̷B̵a̴t̴t̶l̷e̸c̸r̶u̸i̴s̷e̷r̸s̸?̴"
"Not that I'm aware of, no!" I said shamelessly. "But if there were, you'd still be the best!" The woman cracked a smile at that, barely visible over her Riggings' toothy collar. I passed her the Ri's head I'd nicked earlier, the taller ship taking it gently. "Now, Ijust promised Chitose I'd lay off on the eating ship thing, so be mindful where you are when you disassemble this for parts, or I'll get yelled at by your- by Chitose, OK?" She nodded, putting the head... somewhere, I assumed her holds.
Thankfully it was out of sight by the time Chitose came back, a reluctant Lao behind her, peeking around her waist.
"So where are we off to next, miss Commander lady?" I asked the Frigate. "We are with Chitose, and she's following your lead, so I guess this is your circus now, right?" The Frigate perked up at that.
"Yes! that's right! I'm in charge! I need to send an update to HQ. We already have our orders though, keep course upriver, we are acting rear-guard until we can be sure no Abyssals are following us. After we cross over the border we can start to relax, the Cambodian Royal Army may not be very large, but they guard the river ferociously, and a lot of the officers in their navy were trained in Vietnam, so I might know a few of them. It's very likely we'll be dropping off the majority of these people at Phnom Penh, the capital city. After that, I don't know, I'll have to wait for Captain Lu to come out of the wilderness I guess.
And with that, she began to speak in Vietnamese to herself, using her radio, I imagined. I looked to Chitose.
"You ever been to Cambodia?" She shook her head.
"I was off the coast of Vietnam, back when Japan was occupying the country from the french, but that's the closest I ever got to the country, I think they have a King? And I'm fairly sure they have a lot of really neat architecture. To be honest I don't know much about the place." I nodded, it seemed like it would be a new experience for all of us.
"I hope they have good spicy food there, I was serious when I said I was hungry Chitose, I could seriously eat a damn cow right now." My gut was actually starting to hurt a little. Chitose licked her lips idly.
"I know what you mean, I haven't refueled properly since I left for Xuyen, and with all my shot down planes... I need comfort food" I patted the small of her back, (the highest I could reach) consolingly. "You may want to not talk about eating cows there though, I think a good amount of people there are Hindu." Lao interrupted then, a troubled look on her face.
"Buddist, actually, they have a really big temple in the capital called wat Phnom, I'll show you guys around when we get there. Though I've only been there once or twice, as part of a temporary officer exchange.
"Are you OK? you look a little shaken up." I replied, sure, I'd spooked her with the whole 'actual cannibal Georgia' thing, but I thought she'd be over it by now.
"Just something the Captain said, it was... Something we watched together once, it has me a bit worried." OK, that made me curious.
"What did he say?"
"The radioman told me he said, 'You are strong and wise, and I'm very proud of you.'" Oh, that was a Revenge of the Sith reference!
"You watched Star Wars?" I said incredulously. Lao looked at me, expression morphing into one of surprise.
"YOU watched Star Wars? You're an Abyssal, how did you manage that?" I shifted uneasily, this was the first time someone plainly called out my meta media knowledge!
"Ummm, I was made in the mid 80's! of course I saw Star Wars! What American HASINT!?" Lao seemed to buy it, though Chitose, knowing me, seemed skeptical at my shifting eyes.
Thankfully, there was a good distraction. "Oh look! I just got Radar contact! There are Abyssals in the Mekong river! Looks like they are on an intercept course!" I took a moment to let that sink in.
THAT WASIN'T A GOOD DISTRACTION AT ALL!
