Azur Lane base, unknown
It had been months since I had taken up the job in this futuristic-looking floating naval base. Time had seen fleeting. My days had been great on this vast base. The Headquarter of Azur Lane accommodated for thousands of personnel and ships in the defense of humankind against the Sirens. Since I was an important person, I could ask for almost anything and get it. Being the commander is really an awesome job!
Since my arrival, I had met countless people. Being a naval commander for more than hundreds of shipgirls was no easy task yet rewarding. You always have someone with you, to talk to and to drink with. Some are colder than others. Some are more timid than others. The social game is as important as kicking the Sirens butt, which I'm really good at.
My little personal (miewficer) came to me, pointing to his phone in his little hands.
"Yes?"
"New girls have arrived for formations and combat," my current secretary, Brooklyn, said, "see you in the dockyards."
I made my way to the docks. Where had the breakthrough occurred? Ironblood? Eagle Union? Another Sakura ships? I wondered from the historical naval list I had at my disposition who would be the new soldiers. I was excited.
With Brooklyn, a man in uniform, an Azur Lane admiral, awaited.
"So, who are the newbies?"
"Oscar, Oscar II to be precise, is the leader, she is…"
"Oscar who?"
I was dumbfounded by a name I had never seen before. The old man sighed and asked of Brooklyn to take out the inscription sheet.
"Oscar II from Kalmaria, the united lands of Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Greenland. They came after a request from high-command for more defensive units."
I was still at a lost, not from the place, not from the request, but from the shipgirls involved. I needed to see it with my own eyes. As I entered the dockyard, fourteen shipgirls with riggings the size of cruisers but with guns the size of battleships, like the Deutschland sisters, were waiting. I was stunned by their blue, yellow, and red military uniform coming from the 18th century with a touch of modern woman clothing. A single girl, like an advancing soldier, came to us, saber in hand. Her oversized admiral hat had difficulties containing her beautiful blond hair. She removed her gloves before saluting.
"Good to see you commander, we are from Kalmaria. We hope we can be of use for Azur Lane's forces."
I was so shocked that I could only do a mechanical unnatural salute. She seemed cold and sympathetic at the same time, the type to take a drink with. I was then presented the other girls that had arrived early : From Sweden, Gustav V and her sisters, Sverige and Drottning Victoria; Charles XII and her sisters Carl Wrangel and Drottning Kristina; from Finland, Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen; from Norway, Norge, Eidsvold and Bjørgvin, Nidaros; and Peder Skram from Denmark. I would take ample time to get to know them better. Some names were a mouthful, and it would take me some time to get accustomed to it.
We guided them through the base, their face speechless with the amount of technology, but their mouths always commenting : "Where are your gun batteries?". As we went through the base, the casual British light cruisers, French battleships, Italian destroyers and American heavy cruisers formed a group of gossip following the main group. Did they knew we were aware of their presence?
"And here's your dormitory on the fourth floor. All the floors below are occupied by the more populous navies."
"I hope our destroyers won't be sleeping on the floor!" Drottning Kristina said.
"They won't. Destroyers get a different, more spacious dormitory to fit their higher numbers. Any more question?" I said.
"Where's the cafeteria? I need a snack," Charles XII said.
A little noise, then four of the followers fell to the ground. Jean Bart supported Bremerton who supported Newcastle who supported Nicoloso de Recco.
"You can hang with us, don't have to tail," Väinämöinen said as the Finnish sisters helped the girl up.
We were tailed by a mass gathering! Off to the cafeteria we went, and it went from a chatty group to an explosive brawl with the people of the cafeteria. It seemed bad blood was never settled between the parties. Did I miss something somewhere? I wasn't aware. Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen wanted to bash Gangut's skull in and the girls from Oldenburg had gathered around Schlesien, Schleswig-Holstein, Bismarck, Tirpitz and Friedrich der Grosse. Insults were thrown at each other when Oscar's voice silenced her side. It alienated her comrades by alliance and satisfied her comrades by blood. If I knew a little bit about the Eastern front, I did not know they arbored such hate towards Ironblood and the Northern Parliament.
"Stop this nonsense!" I shouted.
My voice had supreme authority amongst the accustomed factions, but the Kalmarian girls seemed a little more defiant. I had to use a old trick of my sleeve.
"And here's food!"
A little banquet of welcome was rapidly prepared by the cooks and the entire base was invited, filling even the corridors. The bad blood was replaced with chatters, the lights were lowered, the bar was opened as the night approached. Old faces appeared.
"Dante Alighieri, how did you get here?" I asked her, then I remembers she had some "special powers" as an experimental battleship.
"Good old gates of hell. Lucifer and Mammon are thanking you for sending the Sirens to hell. They seemed to be fond of Satan!"
"Stopped with your nonsense or your friends will think your head is not in his place."
Georgios Averof, Almirante Latorre and Yavûz Sultân Selîm, who had gone through the portal, chuckled.
"Is there anything you believe, commander?" Dante Alighieri asked with a little smile. A trick question.
"Well… you see…"
A hand touched my shoulder. Alighieri and her group left me with Oscar II, who revealed she had been eavesdropping.
"It is a bad habit of mine. But I like being at an advantage."
"I guess more information is more bullets," I replied.
"Oh. You don't seem fond of the political game thought."
"I was speaking on a strategical level. I don't have time for politics."
"It seems like a paradise over here. At our home, we debate more amongst ourselves than we fight on the battlefield. Maybe that is why we are late. Couldn't make a decision."
It seemed overly complicated, but I was interested. Shipgirls usually talks about what they do on the battlefield for their countries or Azur Lane, but they never talked about what happens behind the curtain, and that is despite me being behind it all the time. I asked for a little secret coolant that Oscar II thanked me for and a little beer for myself. I tried to talk over all the chatter.
"The little fight that happened earlier. I don't want to sound ignorant, but why? I know the bad blood between Sakura and Eagles, Royals and Sardignians, Hellenics and Ottomans. I know about the invasion, but like you saw earlier, and I don't want you to take it as an insult, but I was not even aware of your existence. It was a shock that we were receiving foreign guests out of nowhere!"
"A 'little' decision by our different constitutional chambers that took years to come to fruition," she said, as the world around me disappear and only her voice remained. "Even though the world is in danger, these politicians only think about themselves and their pockets. Only after Azur Lane promised all the expense and our safety, which was most likely last in the list of demands, were we authorized to make our departure. Such a long voyage! But now that it is all behind me. I feel so much at ease here! I'd rather hang out with my old enemies than these old politicians!"
"You just dissed half of our admiral," I laughed when I remembered a little detailed that I saw on her rear turret back in the docks. When I asked, she seemed joyful.
"The only old man I respect, Oscar Fredrik. He oversaw my conversion in 1906. He signed the turret in late 1907. We had good times together – her voice lowers – Lived long enough to see the schism between Scandinavian brothers, but not long enough to see the band getting back together against the Sirens. I guess he was lucky not to see the world go to hell."
"And it is what Azur Lane is all about," I tried lightening the mood, "preventing the world from falling apart because of the Sirens. Looking at your name, was Oscar Fredrik a king or an admiral?"
"He was more than a simple king. He taught me a lot of things related to science, mathematics and writing. He said again and again that I wasn't there to fight solely, that I could have a life. He should have said that to the congressmen! I learned after his death that he liked writing, mathematics, theater and education. He passed down his knowledge to me and it became my responsibility to pass it down to my comrades."
"Talking from experience, it can be difficult."
"Ahahah! You don't say. If only my comrades would listen," she laughed like no one in the world wanted to hear the rambling of an old lady.
"You have an ear right here, right now, how about that?"
Her expression changed multiple times in the span of seconds. Did she want to tell me or not? I could not tell. In the end, she inhaled with a smile. The old lady suddenly had a Mikasa aura around her.
"Did you ever get shipgirls with past experience?"
"A lot actually. Sometime PTSD, sometime memories. It varies. The power of the cube is mysterious."
"Then, I always wanted to tell it to my comrades, but they thought I was just being a playwright and pessimist grandma."
Her powerful gaze told me she wasn't kidding. It would be a story that is hard to believe. I was still interested to see the content of it. I was once again pulled in her world as a friendly ear.