As she walked, Trinitite fished another wrapped 'Rice Crispy' from the box she was carrying, tearing open the plastic wrapper with her teeth and placing the large bar of food in her mouth. Dropping the plastic wrapper back into the box where it had come, the aircraft carrier tried to shake the feeling that she'd been cheated, somehow.
As the portion of the bar that was in her mouth started to dissolve, Trinitite reflected that these things tasted fine, but she'd expected a bar of food this large to have less... air in it. On a whim, she placed her hand against the end of the bar still hanging from her mouth and pushed, effortlessly squishing the thing against her tongue with a sudden crunch. The Wo-class sighed through her nose, unable to hide her disappointment as she shifted the compacted remains of the bar around with her tongue. The thing had filled her hand, but it seemed there only was enough real food in it for about a bite.
She'd been hoping to get a meal out of this massive box, but now she was just eating the treats to get the space-hogging sweets out of her hold. The abyssal had woken up later then she'd wanted, something she'd blamed on her crew but knew was really her fault, meaning she couldn't sit down and have a meal like she'd enjoyed last night.
After the small purchases at Luzon Blues, Trinitite had revisited the distant Walmart Fleet Warehouse. Her mind racing with the possibilities, the Abyssal had removed the needed money from her hold well before she'd arrived there, fiddling with the sheets of paper to pass the time needed to walk there. Once she'd arrived, procuring the camping stove hadn't been a problem…
Until she realized that wasn't all she needed. If she settled for the stove with the lowest price, she might be able to afford some of the fuel, pots, measuring instruments, and cooking tools she found, but something was telling her that if the lowest priced grill was actually effective, then the Walmart Fleet wouldn't bother going to the effort to trade for the more expensive stoves. From witnessing the effectiveness of her 5-inch/38s compared to the superficially similar 12.7cm/40 guns some other Wos had the displeasure of carrying, Trinitite knew the value of high-quality equipment. Sure, the stove wasn't nearly as vital to her safety, but it did use a flammable gas. She wasn't going to take chances with that.
Thus, the abyssal's meal that night had consisted of a pineapple, some very salty shredded tuna, the can the tuna had come in, as well as a block of cheese washed down with a container of cranberry juice. No major surprises (although the deep taste of cheese had been pretty pleasant), and nothing that might need expert preparation. She'll get everything she needed to cook tonight, then begin to make full use of her stockpile.
The trees lining the road parted for a moment, giving Trinitite a view of the distant crane that dominated her worksite. It seemed… farther then she'd expected it to. Shooting a query over to her navigating officer returned far worse news then she'd expected: At her current pace, she'd only arrive at the site ten minutes before she was supposed to, and factoring how much time it would take for her to find her PPE and get to her work location, she was practically late!
An angry grumble emerged from her belly, her mess crew confirming that what she was eating wasn't nearly enough to ensure she was ready for the coming day. Of course, a ship could be expected to sail for weeks without a resupply of food, but Trinitite hadn't really found the opportunity to eat as much as she could since the raid on the Fred Meyers, instead choosing to carefully ration her supplies. She'd survive the day, but her own morale would certainly suffer, let alone that of her crew.
Additionally, that kind of distraction might be dangerous. After the rest of Austin's division finished with the rebar skeleton for the building's stairwell and main support, they'd rushed to help Trinitite's team with finishing the cages for the rest of the floor's pillars. Trinitie and a few others had worked a few extra minutes to finish, but they had finished, meaning today's work was likely to be radically different then the last. Probably something to do with setting the concrete, or installing the proper conduits. In any case, if she needed to learn a new skill today, she wanted to be at her best, and the abyssal just couldn't if hunger pangs were distracting her.
The carrier stopped, taking another look at the box of air she'd been wasting time eating. Considering all of that…
The box suddenly collapsed in her arms, the frustrated abyssal cursing herself. She was wasting time with this… garbage!
Stupid, stupid Wo!
Ducking into a collection of bushes, she stowed the remains of her meal, almost frantic in searching for something to tide her over until lunch. She couldn't afford to spend any time on discovering new food, though, so she needed to grab something she knew had a bit of weight to it.
Her mind drifted to getting something familiar from the meat locker, but walking into work covered with thawed blood and grease would certainly look suspicious.
That wasn't the only meat though, was it? The Fred Meyers Fleet had felt safe storing plenty of shriveled, dry, versions of regular meat on shelves, instead of properly cooling it. The idea didn't seem particularly appetizing to her, but she'd made much more severe compromises over the last two weeks. Grumbling to herself, she withdrew the plastic container from her hold, tearing where the labeling indicated and downing one of the bite-sized chunks.
The first thing that she registered as she chewed was the salt. It wasn't something a ship like herself had an aversion to, obviously, but it also wasn't something she'd really associate with food. With some experimental chewing, the stiff food, shredding and softening, the rest of the meat's flavor began to seep from the 'Jerky.' Trinitite noticed even more odd flavors, but this time she wasn't sure they existed purely for their taste. She had no idea what kind of process would turn the meat from a fresh kill into something you could easily store like this, but it clearly involved a lot more work then just heating it. No, just like how steel transformed to rust and avgas broke into water and exhaust in certain chemical reactions, this had been similarly transformed. How much of this food's flavor was because of that?
Eager to make up time, she gobbled up another chunk of the jerky from the bag, then broke into a jog for work. She'd probably have the opportunity to ponder the question later today, at least. These packages were small enough to reasonably hide in her coat as well, so she'd probably have a good excuse to sneak some more while she worked. Nobody looked down on carrying water and coffee everywhere around the worksite, so a little food couldn't be suspicious, right?
With the bag of food tucked into her coat and a steaming cup of coffee cradled in her other hand, The Abyssal started up Building 2's scaffolding. The cup, sipped down so the bitter liquid wouldn't keep sloshing onto her gloves, was the second she'd ever had. She still wasn't quite sure what she thought about it. Since it was supposed to wake her up, and she wasn't feeling too tired yet, the utility of the drink was lost on her, leaving her to focus on the taste.
After following Thomas's preparation instructions, the bittersweet drink was okay, but she had only really gotten this second cup because the drink had seemed so popular. She was lucky, Trinitite supposed, that humans prefered this over something spicy, like that hot sauce she'd 'enjoyed' a few nights ago.
Unlike the rest of the worksite, which had started to settle into it's normal operational tempo, nobody on Trinitite's floor seemed to be working. It was… odd, since she was a few minutes late. Confused, she gave her fleetmates another look. A few of the humans were holding equipment: hammers, rebar benders, and other handheld tools, but they certainly weren't using them. They were just… waiting.
Her three familiar coworkers weren't far, so Trinitite adjusted her course for them. A part of her wanted to ask what was going on, but it quickly died in her lips. Initially that was to avoid interrupting their conversation, but as she approached, she realized no words were overcoming the general noise of the worksite. Both Alton and Sern seemed to be focusing on handheld instruments they were carrying, but given the angle Trinitite couldn't quite make out what they were. Tirto wasn't even trying to look busy, his hands resting in the pockets of his jacket as he observed the worksite below them. Unsurprisingly, the idle human heard the abyssal's footsteps first, lazaly glancing over his shoulder to meet Trinitite's gaze.
"Ah, Elizabeth!" He smiled. The exclamation caused the other two humans to look away from their devices, Alton quickly pocketing his before Trinitite could get a good look at it. "You get delayed by traffic?"
"Just forgot how long it takes to walk here." The abyssal admitted. If she was talking with Austin, or even the other two humans in their team, she might have tried to find a real excuse, but with Tirto… The truth just came naturally.
"...You're fine, Elizabeth." Tirto reassured her. "Even without the Crane Situation, work wouldn't have started by now."
"Crane Situation?" The Wo-class echoed. Remembering where Tirto had been looking, the abyssal straightened, getting a better view of the ground three floors down. Up close it wasn't that difficult to tell humans apart, but with everyone wearing coats, helmets and safety vests she couldn't tell the difference between them from up here.
"You know how you spent some time on getting all the cages finished?" The friendly human asked, standing besides Trinitite to survey the ground below them.
"It wasn't that much more work." Trinitite tempered, glancing over her shoulder to ensure that Austin really wasn't on this floor. "Around fifteen minutes?"
Part of that statement was just to ensure she sounded loyal, but compared to lost time created by convoys needing to adjust their course to deal with a crisis, a fifteen-minute delay was nothing.
"Good attitude." Tirto's off-hand complement caused a thin smile to spread across Trinitite's face, the Wo-class looking away from everyone in case her darkening cheeks were noticeable. "Anyways, part of the plan was for the crane folks to get the palettes with the formwork up here before work ended."
"...Someone down there messed up." Trinitite provided, comprehension dawning. "Austin's yelling at someone right now, then?"
"...Yep." Alton spoke up. Turning to face him, Trinitite saw he'd drawn the device he'd been using earlier again. She recognized it as the radio-like object The Navy had been jamming on the Pacific Lilly, but why he and Sern would be so interested in a communication device would be beyond her. "And we've got nothing to do until the snafu is cleared. As the military says, 'hurry up and wait.'"
"...huh." That phrase made a lot of sense, actually. She might have to use it later, although 'hurry up and look busy' might be a better way to describe her time under the command of other Princesses. Speaking of which…
"Shouldn't we still be doing something?" She asked. Surveying some of the other teams scattered across the floor. There were zero exceptions. Each and every human looked bored or relaxed, fiddling with their pockets, the surprisingly common communication device, a tool, or a steaming foam cup.
"Looking busy?" Tirto asked, his thick accent carrying a hint of amusement. "No point. We might as well be honest about not having anything to do."
"We could do something, though!" Trinitite asserted, her mind racing. Sitting on your aft around a princess was never a good idea. They weren't going to listen to why you couldn't do your duty, they were only going to be thinking about the lazy ships from another fleet who were lounging around while running on their fuel and eating their supplies. Everyone in the Crossroads fleet had developed their own favorite timekiller task, so they at least looked like they were contributing to the Princess' grand strategies when they were waiting. You could rest without much issue at Bikini Atoll, but this certainly wasn't home to Trinitite. She needed to find something to do for her own sake, if nothing else. "What about carrying the palettes with the formwork up here?"
She almost jumped when a laugh erupted from right next to her, looking over at Sern. He'd been focus on his own communications device until now, but Trinitite's suggestion seemed to have caught his attention. The noise seemed as unexpected to him as it was to the abyssal, as when she looked over at the human he covered his mouth with a gloved hand, the chuckle quickly dying. A second of silence passed.
What? The idea couldn't have been that ridiculous, right?
"...That was a joke, right?" Alton finally asked.
The human had a ghost of a smile on his face, but it didn't reach his eyes. Realizing she'd messed up, somehow, the Aircraft Carrier backed down.
"...Yeah, sure."
"I'm sure all four of us could lift a palette," Tirto reassured her, "but I'm not certain the scaffolding could handle the weight."
"Or if it would fit." Alton added.
"I get it." Trinitite acknowledged. She was looking directly down, now, because she was definitely blushing. "Sorry."
The suggestion had been a serious mistake. How could the humans respect someone who'd proposed such a stupid idea? She didn't plan on taking any leadership positions on the jobsite, but what if a crisis happened? If there was an emergency, Austin was incompacitated, and someone needed to take command, would they respect her enough to follow her orders, or would she just have to hope someone else took the initiative?
She needed to do something to repair her reputation, and fast.
Thankful she'd had the foresight to hide her white neck with a bandanna she'd hid under her coat, she zipped her jacet partially open. Reaching for the bag of Jerky tucked under her left breast, she worked it open with one hand and removed a chunk of chemically-treated meat. After extracting the bite of jerky, the Abyssal popped it into her mouth, making a show of chewing and swallowing to prove to the others that it was safe. After that, she moved her cup of coffee back to her starboard hand, making a show of washing the bite down with a satisfied sip.
It was a tried and tested tactic: Just like how abyssal princesses would engage in high-stakes negotiations to trade services or resources, ships of fleets that were expected to work together often casually exchanged fuel or food to get to know each other a little better. She had pretty fond memories of a Ru-class under the Harbor Refinery Princess who'd tried to ease the tensions between a few fleets by tearing the engine out of a human vehicle and splitting it between all the capital ships. It wasn't much in the way of resources, but the process had been a fun diversion while the Princesses a few buildings away argued with each other. As far as food went, a chunk of beef jerky was no piston or radiator, but hopefully it would be good enough for the humans.
Lowering her cup, her rangefinders darted between her coworkers to see the success of her tactic. It seemed that, for once, her plan was going perfectly. She'd soundly grabbed the attention of the three men in her team, all but Tirto's gaze focused on her open jacket.
"Do you all want a bite?" She asked.
"Yes please." Alton replied, focused on the corner of the bag that was sticking out of her jacket. "What's the flavor?"
"Oh-, uh, yeah." Sern suddenly looked up, pocketing his communication device.
"I don't think I've had that before." Tirto commented. "Sure."
Success! The humans gladly took their chunk of beef jerky, content to quietly chew while Trinitite zipped her jacket back up, ensuring the bandana was properly tucked in.
After they thanked Trinitite for the snack, the team fell into a content silence, waiting for whatever was going on with the crane to get fixed. The abyssal felt a bit better, but the lack of things to do still had her shifting in her boots, nervously scanning the build site until she finally settled on watching the workers at building 3.
"Hey, Elizabeth?"
The question came from Sern, surprisingly, the human shifting on his feet much like Trinitite had been.
"Yeah?" The Wo-class responded, her voice guarded. Her suspicions from earlier rose to the forefront as she mentally braced for a difficult question.
"Do you play any video games?"
Video games? She knew what those two words meant separately. There was her gun cameras that recorded videos, and the training videos she'd recently seen, and of course she was familiar with wargames, but they way those two terms intersected didn't make any sense to her. She guessed the training videos she watched on friday could be considered videos of war games, but that probably wasn't his meaning.
She still needed to say something, though. Looking over her other two coworkers for hints, she caught a glimmer of hope from Alton's expression. The human was looking towards Sern, and he did not seem amused. Had Sern said something stupid this time?
"We didn't have those." She admitted.
Defeated, Sern nodded, sighing.
"I... see."
She didn't trust Sern in the slightest, but the way he hung his head as he focused on his communication device had Trinitie feeling a bit sorry for him.
At least she seemed to have given the right answer.
I posted the wrong chapter! Sorry, everyone!
A bit of a late chapter, sorry. Had a bit of an issue getting inspiration for this, and when combined with my upcoming graduation and some other life stuff there was a bit of a delay.
Thankfully, coming up is the interrogation of those two lost pilots that I've been off-and-on planning ever since someone asked about them around chapter... eight, I think, so it should go decently quickly. Thanks to Jessetheswift for betaing this chapter, and giving me a suggestion that actually helped me finish it!