Chitose told a very confused Hakone to get back to our shared room, after apologizing profusely to Giang and promising to fix the door later. I was still laughing my arse off, personally, but I had enough presence of mind to ask Chitose what she was doing through chocked gasps as she took my arm and led me down the hall.

"I'm giving you four 'The Talk" before someone does something irreversible!"

Oh dear lord this was actually happening, wasn't it?

...

Diane, Anne, and Hakone were gathered together on the edge of the bed, sitting in slight dread as Chitose attempted to explain 'the birds and the bees' to us, I was sat on the floor at the foot of the bed below my girls, trying and largely failing to hold my grin as Chitose tried to teach me stuff I'd learned a long time ago.

"Now, you're all growing girls, and with that scare just now, I feel its time to tell you about the 'ships and the sailors'" Chitose started, "all human girls have the ability to make new 'ships'-"

"-Like how you and Georgia made Anne?" Hakone asked reasonably.

"No! No, umm, ah, its... like a yard that they have, that together with a boy they can make ships with." Chitose replied.

Now, just because I look like a preschooler doesn't mean I'm an idiot, I knew how the whole thing worked from, well, before. Probably better than her! Honestly, I was just amazed that Chitose thought I had an innocent bolt in my body! God knows I used enough innuendo around her...

...I'm gonna see if I can wind her up.

"So let me get this straight, every human female has a ship-yard inside them?" I asked, the comparison was, accurate? But still, having it explained to me in nautical terms was amazingly silly.

Chitose nodded somewhat nervously. "That's right! And girls like us have them too! Boys have... T-The 'sailors' for the ship that the girls make, but they have to... 'Dock' with them, so that their crew can-"

"-But Giang said he doesn't have a crew, and he's a boy!" Hakone interrupted, "he told me a few days ago!" Chitose started to squirm.

"They aren't crew like fairies, they are more... Uuuh... T-They're just different OK!?

"Oh? So it's different than when I sent my crew into you?" I almost cracked up at Chitose's expression, I mock-gasped, "Are you saying you're making a ship using some of my crew?! Give them back!" I said, faking an outraged voice.

"We are in dire need of reinforcements, if what you've told me of the situation so far is true." Dianne started, looking at Chitose, "How quickly can you build a ship? Will she be a Seaplane Tender or a Submarine?"

"Oh Dianne bless you." I thought.

"N-Neither!" Chitose sputtered.

"S̷o̶ ̴w̵h̵a̸t̸ ̶i̵s̴ ̴i̸t̶?̶ ̵C̸a̵n̵ ̶y̴o̸u̷ ̴m̷a̸k̵e̵ ̷j̸u̶s̶t̵ ̷a̷n̷y̸ ̵c̵l̷a̵s̵s̵?" Anne looked at Chitose intently, "W̶h̸e̶r̸e̶ ̴d̶o̷e̸s̶ ̷i̴t̵ ̴g̷o̵?̸ ̸I̴ ̴d̵o̸n̵'̸t̷ ̸t̷h̸i̸n̵k̸ ̷y̸o̶u̴ ̶c̸o̵u̷l̵d̶ ̴f̷i̶t̷ ̶a̸n̷y̶t̴h̵i̴n̸g̷ ̸b̵i̴g̶g̵e̴r̴ ̸t̵h̸a̵n̸ ̷a̸ ̶s̷m̵a̴l̸l̸ ̶D̴e̶s̸t̵r̷o̷y̶e̴r̵ ̴i̸n̶ ̷y̶o̸u̵r̷ ̸h̸o̸l̸d̸s̴.̷ ̶M̵a̸y̵b̶e̴ ̶y̶o̶u̷r̴ ̷h̷a̸n̷g̶e̵r̸ ̸i̵f̸ ̶i̵t̶ ̷w̸a̵s̶ ̵i̷n̴ ̷s̶e̵c̵t̸i̸o̵n̶s̶?"

"I'M NOT PREGNANT OK!?" Chitose practically screeched, before getting control of herself, "Ahem! Right, ahh, so the new 'ship' or to humans 'baby' that gets constructed in the girl's yard starts really small, right? And grows bigger, until when it's just about to exit the yard it's about this big:" Chitose made a baby-sized measurement with her hands.

"That doesn't seem very big at all! that's not even a PT Boat!"

"They get bigger! The new human starts off as a baby and then grows up!" Chitose seemed to get some of her steam back, "And that's why I was worried for you Hakone! I thought Giang and you were, that is to say, that he...

"-What the hell are you guys yelling about in here? Who's pregnant?"

We all turned to see Pham Ngu Lao, rubbing her eyes with a yawn as she stood in the doorway of her and Chitose's shared room, her eyes were still puffy from her crying.

"Ah! I'm sorry I yelled!" Chitose yelled, "I was having the 'Ships and Sailors' talk with the girls, and I guess I got a bit flustered."

Lao rubbed at her eyes for another moment, before looking up, "'ships and sailors', what the hell are yo-ooooh, you mean having sex?"

I let out a short bark of laughter while the Frigate made her way into the room proper, "You know about all that? I'm surprised with how, well, you know..." Like I was one to talk, being the size of a garden gnome.

"Hey, I look like a pre-teen, but I've been living in one military Barracks or another with grown men for the past year, alright? They taught me the basics, well, once they got the guts to talk to me at all, anyway." Lao jumped up and sat on the bed across from the one we were gathered on, "So basically, when a man and a woman wanna get busy, they go somewhere private and..."

...

I had to hand it to Lao, she knew her stuff. Thankfully, she only traumatized the girls (including Chitose) a little bit before Giang's father showed up, asking about his door.

She paid for it after hearing from me how it'd been broken, I swear it almost got the girl to chuckle, which in her state I definitely would have counted as a win.

After that, she washed up in the bathroom before coming out to make up the new gameplan, we were gathered around her as she spoke;

"As I'm the only Vietnamese Naval officer left here right now, we'll be splitting off from the main body while they head to the capital via road, the lieutenants will be leaving to organize the refugees and get the trucks ready for tomorrow, while we can pick up our Rigging at the command-Junk in the morning and go downriver to drop off the empty ferries at the Phnom Penh docks. After that, we'll link up with the military portion of the convoy again, and see if we can get to Da Nang."

I spoke up, "Da Nang? that's in the middle of Vietnam, isn't it? Wouldn't we have to go right through Jersey's territory to get there?"

Lao looked at me, deadpan. "Ah, yes, if only there was some kind of well-hidden series of paths we could use to get around her forces."

"Yeah, that would be pretty sweet."

She sighed at my blank look, "Ho Chi Minh not ringing any bells?"

"The city?"

"No."

"The province?"

"No... And that's the same thing as the city, to be honest."

"The guy who invented the instant noodle?" I shrugged at her exasperation, "I DONT KNOW! Just spit it out I'm just guessing here!"

"Urgh, the trail!" Lao said, "We'll use the old Ho Chi Minh trail."