With Georgia 'N Friends:

We didn't move from the Yubuta's cabin for a while, sat around the small table built into the wall, as close to the table lamp as we could. Chitose was sandwiched in-between me and Lao, as Hakone clung to my other side. As we nervously gnawed at some military rations (and the fact that I could chew with the force of over 18 000 tons and STILL find it tough said something) Countess came back in from the dark, the Ta's body slung over her shoulder like a sack of flour.

"Where were you, Countess? You disappeared for a bit there." I asked the Battlecruiser.

"̵W̴a̶s̷ ̴m̷o̷v̵i̶n̷g̴ ̵t̸h̶e̴ ̷s̷h̶i̷p̵-̶h̸u̷l̶k̷ ̸b̸a̶c̸k̸ ̷i̵n̶ ̵l̸i̷n̴e̵ ̸w̴h̵e̵r̶e̷ ̶i̶t̷ ̶w̶a̴s̵.̸ ̵T̷h̷e̷ ̶c̵i̸v̸i̶l̴i̵a̴n̶s̶ ̸a̴r̷e̴ ̵t̸h̵r̷o̴u̶g̶h̴,̴ ̷a̵l̴s̶o̶ ̸h̸e̴l̶p̶e̷d̵ ̴m̶o̴v̸e̵ ̶t̵h̸e̶ ̷t̷r̴u̵c̷k̶s̸ ̷o̴f̶f̶ ̶o̷f̶ ̴t̴h̴a̷t̵ ̶d̷i̴s̷a̵b̷l̸e̸d̵ ̵s̷h̷i̵p̵ ̶H̴a̸k̸o̶n̶e̸ ̸w̶a̶s̶ ̸h̵a̸u̸l̴i̷n̴g̶ ̷o̷n̸t̶o̶ ̴t̶h̴e̷ ̴o̵t̸h̶e̸r̴s̴.̵ ̸I̵t̵ ̷w̷a̴s̶ ̷s̴t̴a̵r̸t̸i̶n̶g̸ ̵t̷o̵ ̴t̸a̸k̴e̶ ̸o̶n̶ ̵w̵a̷t̶e̷r̸.̸"̸ The woman replied, getting looks of awe from me and Lao at her bravery, while Chitose asked:

"W-Why move the hulk back?" Countess looked at her oddly, before replying.

"̷S̵h̵e̴ ̴t̶o̶l̸d̵ ̴m̸e̸ ̵t̶o̸ ̷p̴u̵t̸ ̵h̷e̵r̶ ̴body ̵b̴a̷c̸k̵ ̴i̵n̵t̶o̵ ̵p̷l̵a̶c̵e̷ ̶a̶ ̷b̷i̷t̷ ̷a̸f̷t̵e̵r̶ ̸w̸e̸ ̷c̵a̶m̸e̶ ̶i̸n̵.̸"My eyes widened.

"Umm... After we came in?" The large frankenship simply shrugged. Everyone looked around the cabin wildly, we didn't see anything of course, except for the human crew, who were making a valiant attempt to not stare at the group of scardy-cat Abyssals and Kanmusu on their ship as they went about their business. Lao gave up looking first, and nervously unfolded her map, placing it down on the table as I ate the drawn-aluminum container for the rations (it was more palatable.)

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep until we put some distance behind us..." She raised a hand, tilting her Pith helmet upward so she could see better. She pointed at a location about 17 kilometers North."We'll probably be able to get to Kaoh Thum before morning, the ferries will offload the transport-trucks there and I can give the Cambodians a call to let them know they are on the way to the capital."

"Why are the boats going all the way up there empty? Shouldn't we just ship the civvies the whole way to the city in one go?" I asked around my meal.

"The Cambodians don't take care of our people for free. Well, they would, but they can barely afford to feed themselves as-is, without sixty-thousand more people showing up. we only have about a third of that here in the boats, the rest are coming overland through Chau Doc. We're probably going to end up giving the river ships to the Cambodian government to use, they have a fair amount of ferry services to use them in, and they can use the rest of the ships for inland cargo hauling and in their freshwater fishing operations. In exchange, they'll take care of our people until they can be relocated to Hanoi." The Frigate explained.

"So... We're just waiting at Cow Thumb for the rest of the people to show up?"

"Kaoh Thum, Georgia"

"Potato-Tomato"

"Yes, it will probably take a few days. Luckily, The Abyssals aren't generally all that interested in Cambodia's inland areas despite the government's worries, they tend to keep to the Western coast if at all. So we can afford to wait." Lao said.

"They have any food there? These MREs are absolutely wonderful and all... but I think I could probably eat these guy's entire stock before I stopped being hungry. And that just me, what about you guys?" I asked, looking around the table.

"Yeah, I'm actually starting to get fairly low on fuel, I need to replenish some torpedoes and repair my armor as well," Hakone admitted, Countess merely grunted, making an all-encompassing gesture down her ruined front.

"I'm fairly hungry as well, I haven't sustained any damage, but I lost a fair amount of my AA ammunition. And I need to re-summon a fair amount of my pilots." Chitose admitted. Lao patted her arm comfortingly.

"I'm sure they have some convenience stores or restaurants we can pillage," Lao said. "And if not, I'm fairly sure there's a couple of Pagoda's there that give out food as charity to the needy. I wouldn't wanna impose on them, but I'm fairly certain a couple of girls who can bench-press a bus can find a few favors to do around the place for them in exchange for some grub."

We all talked for a bit more, before Chitose and Hakone went off into the bunks to catch a nap, Countess simply nodded off in her chair, the big-girls entire lower face dipping behind her spikey armored collar as she closed her eyes. As for Lao, she headed off to the helm, probably to avoid being stuck alone with me, as she struck up a conversation over her radio.

I was stuck at the table alone, still completely wide awake, as usual. I fiddled with my hull for a bit, scratching at my half-healed hull-fractures before my Captain told me firmly to stop picking at it. So I stared at the ceiling for a bit, counting the floorboards, (Deckboards?)

Man, this was boring. I looked over at Chitose and Hakone's sleeping forms, Chitose was wrapped up like a boat-burrito on the top bunk, while on the bunk below, Hakone tossed and turned on the covers, trying to make herself comfortable even as she slept.

I got up, walking silently over to the beds, and took one of the larger un-used blankets, carrying it over to the table, I crawled up onto the chair next to Countess, draping it over the large sleeping woman, I had to throw it twice before I managed to get it around her shoulders. Countess simply slept on, none the wiser. As I stared at Hakone's twisting form, an idea popped into my head.

"The things I do for my ships." I thought, silently climbing into the bed next to the Cruiser, who immediately latched onto me like a teddy-bear. pulling my small body against her cold chest as she mumbled incoherently. Getting an arm free, I tossed a blanket over the both of us, before settling in to wait again.

I may not have been able to actually fall asleep, but this was still far more comfortable than sitting in a chair doing nothing for the next several hours.

Interlude chapter mostly. The image of a wide-awake Georgia being smooshed against a sleeping Hakone like a teddy bear is F#cking adorable.