"Slowly, sloooowly, aaaand stop!" I watched as little welders swarmed Diane's new (used only once!) armor plate, welding torches lighting up all along the seams as the fairies tacked it in-place.
It was the last piece to be added to Diane. Once I'd marked out the affected area with the aid of her own fairies, I'd cut her open like a tuna with the Re-tooth still clutched in my hand. Whatever the tail's teeth were made of, it was strong, it had withstood the pressure I'd put on it, and sheered through Diane's hull and bent armor like it was butter.
I was suddenly very glad it hadn't been given the chance to try and take a bite out of me.
After I'd cut through the main hull, I'd had to wait for the fairies inside to cut away the internal compartments connections, before I could lift off the affected area in one whole piece. The entire section of Abyssal steel, Diane's former hull, was in a rough bowl-shape sitting next to me, the struts that connected it to her interior ribbing through it like... well, ribs. Some of the armor, being left quite brittle from the damage, had cracked off in places, leaving small shards in the workplace that Chitose had quickly cleared away.
With Diane's compartments now completely exposed on one side, we were treated to a very peculiar sight.
You know those cutaway pictures that you see of ships in documentaries? It was kinda like that. I could see more than six individual compartments.
"Hey... I think that's her gear turbines!" I'd said, pointing at the room closest to the right edge of the incision. A couple compartments over was her crew's shower room. Speaking of the little buggers, Daines crew had been swarming the area, cutting out and replacing the squished-in compartment walls as fast as they were able now that they could more easily access it.
The rooms appeared lifesized when you looked directly into one, it was like looking through the keyhole in a door into another room. It honestly had been really messing with my sense of distance.
Lao had almost hurled when she'd seen it, covering her mouth and darting back over to where she'd been watching over Anne with Hakone.
Chitose hadn't been all that well-off either, a bit paler than normal as she took the scraps Diane's crew cut out, 'keeping the wound clean' as it were. She also held the new material in-place, acting as a massive crane for the fairies to construct the new walls faster.
While they finished building up the interior walls, I got the measurements for the hole I'd cut out of Diane, with that in mind, I'd started marking the Re's side.
When I was fairly certain the measurements lined up, I started cutting the Re-Class open too for the hull-graft.
That's about the time I discovered the little bastard was still (technically) alive.
"Get offit you little buggers!" I'd said, shaking the piece I'd cut off. Little fairies in black sailors uniforms flew off the piece, landing in the grass with little 'pomf's' before scurrying off into the foliage.
"Are you sure it's okay to just... let them go like that?" Chitose had said.
"Well, what do you want me to do? Squish 'em? I ain't that heartless." I'd replied. It was funny how non-threatening they looked when they weren't the same size as you.
Fast forward to now, the welders were finished to the point I didn't need to hold on anymore, I slowly let go of the hull, and while I heard a few groans of metal, it quickly quieted as it settled on top of the struts Diane's crew had prepared inside.
The flesh was a slightly different color of pale, and there was definitely going to be a square-shaped 'scar' on her left side from all the welding, and I'm not honestly sure it would be all that watertight...
But it was better than it was damaged, and that's what mattered.
I nodded. "OK!" I turned to Chitose, "When the welders are done tell them to wake Diane up again, feed her anything she asks for, weboth saw a lot of materials being pulled out of storage to fix those walls in there," I thumbed back at Diane's former gaping wound.
Chitose nodded, even if it was a little hesitant, "Alright, if the," she gulped, "If the Re doesn't have anything she needs that I can easily get access too, I'll supply her out of my own holds."
I nodded as I made my way over to Anne, "Alright, just don't starve yourself, a Battleship might need a lot more stuff than you have to give, look over the Tsu and Ri if you can't find anything on the Re."
Chitose nodded glumly as I sat down next to Hakone, who was hovering over Annes prone form, "Hey, hows Anne?" I asked.
The Ri-Class shrugged, a worried look on her face, "I don't know dad, we had her bridge crew take leave like you said. We've been looking in on the damaged boiler room, but really all they've managed is to cut away most of the jagged edges and clear away some of the wreckage."
I nodded thoughtfully as I peered in myself. The wrecked remains of the Admiralty 3 boilers still sat where they'd ended up. Most squished to the side of the room, ripped from their (admittedly jury-rigged) moorings by the massive shell that had passed through.
The fires were gone, and I could see teams of her crew cutting at the interior walls, electricians getting the inert wires clear as crewwomen lifted out sections for replacing.
I stood back, looking over at the pair of girls. Hakone met my stare, eager to help her younger sister in some way, while Lao was struggling to meet my gaze. "Alright, I looked inside the Re, most convoluted mess of a ship I've ever seen, but I don't think there was more than one boiler section in her, so we'll have to take them out of the Ri-class," I said seriously.
Hakone gasped, putting her hands over where a humans heart would be. "I-I have to...?"
I looked at her oddly, "What do you-?" I got it a second later, smacking myself in the face, "NOT YOU Hakone, the other Ri class, the one Anne beat the stuffing out of?" I gestured at the Heavy Cruiser lying conveniently nearby, facedown in the dirt with the back of her head caved in.
Her torn-off arm laid a few feet away.
"...I knew that," Hakone said unconvincingly, nonetheless breathing a sigh of relief.
I just shook my head as I walked over, "Hey, Lao."
The Frigate looked over, still looking like she might blow chunks, "Y-Yeah?" she said shakily.
"Measure the hole going through Anne, we'll fix her back first, flip her over once Diane is up and ready to help, then put the new boilers and pressure vessels in. Then, while her crew are making the connections, we'll get her front walled off again, got it?"
The Frigate nodded hesitantly, "O-Ok, I guess. Uhm..." She knelt down at Anne's side as I looked over the Ri.
It was really a shame, she looked so much like Hakone that it kinda hurt, having to tear her apart for spare... well, parts.
Luckily, all of her boilers were still in working order, I had to cut into her side to get at them, the front and back hull was reserved for when Lao got me the measurements for a hull-graft. 12 boilers in all, a couple more than what Anne had lost, though they looked a bit... different, than most I'd seen, they were clearly drum-type, and almost looked like Admiralty 3's, but the design was slightly different.
"Hey Chitose, you recognize this model of boiler?" I called, waving the boiler at the Tender, who looked over.
"Ahm, a drum-type?"
"Yeah yeah I knowthat, but it looks a bit different than Diane's."
Chitose came closer briefly, taking a closer look, "Oh! Those are Kampons, they aren't quite as efficient as Admiralties, but the difference is pretty small. Its a Japanese model." She finished, quickly going back to her work watching over the welders.
"Huh," I looked at the boiler clutched in my hands, "Kampon... sounds like a candy." I shrugged, moving over to where I'd carefully stacked the other 11 boilers. Lao came over then, stumbling a little as she saw the pile of boilers.
"I... got the measurements," she held out a small piece of paper at full arms-length, snatching her hand away as I took it, she retched, "Oh my god I think I'mgoingtobesick."
She sprinted towards the nearest bush, before sounds of retching could be heard. I looked over at Hakone, who looked back curiously.
"So... Lao's out, wanna see what you look like on the inside?" I gestured at the Ri, "Fairly certain she's the same model as you."
Hakone's eyes lit up, like a child in science class that wanted to poke a dead frog, "DO I?!"