"Grand Admiral Yamato." The super battleship stood up at attention from the command of the Holy Empress. Meanwhile, the lights of the throne room flickered as the emergency generator sputtered from its overclocking. "What is your plan for the defense of Okinawa?"
"My sovereign, I have devised a plan to force a stalemate with the Siren alliance until Shinano and our fortifications can be built." I bowed. "We plan to beach ourselves to defend Iwo Jima to the last ship if necessary."
"What about the Eagle Union Airstrikes?" Mutsu asked.
"We have refitted our ships to be able to deal with such trivial attacks." Yamato responded. "State of the line anti-air defenses have been installed on all capital ships. We will be safe."
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"I wouldn't say that the airstrikes were trivial." Mutsu contested. "They destroyed former Grand Admiral Zuikaku and-"
"Zuikaku was a fool." Admiral Yamato spoke up. "All the carriers are. They have been nothing but a failed experiment."
"Zuikaku was a bright ship!" Mutsu hotly contested. "The rest of the Carriers-"
"-were all fools." Empress Nagato interrupted.
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"The setbacks to the Sakura Empire lie on their shoulders and their shoulders alone." Nagato concluded, giving a nasty glare to her sister
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"Nagato, you can't-"
"Yamato, you have full clearance for the operation." Nagato interrupted her sister. "Take a quarter of the fuel. Mutsu, you don't have anything to add, right?"
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"No, Empress." Mustu nodded in reluctance.
Disclaimer: Indy is best Girl
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I have several choice words and a certain raised finger towards procrastination.
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Reviews:
Rick: Ah yes. Nothing could go wrong with paring Portland in the same room with her past assassin! That's a bright idea.
The One: If( ("Sexual Assaulter") or (0,3).equals("Ind")){ ()}
Severak: Ah yes, right before my "I have no Idea how to cook club" and after my "What the heck does this poem even mean club"
WarCorgi: Hamman meta: Twice the bust size, but still the same jailbait.
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"Enterprise, I've brought the thing you had me pick up." Indianapolis took out the oddly circular package.
"I see." Enterprise walked over to inspect it. "Did you open this at all?"
"I did not." Indianapolis stood at attention.
Enterprise fiddled with the package for a few seconds before looking back up at Indianapolis.
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"You've opened this." Enterprise falsely accused.
"I would never." Indianapolis immediately denied.
Enterprise inspected her face. Evidently, there was something she took offense to, and a slow scowl formed in the corners of her mouth.
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"You really haven't..." Enterprise sighed with suppressed resentment. "Then I suppose I will show you it."
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"Um, I'm not sure I'm good enough for such an honor..." Indianapolis failed to pick up on the Carrier's non-verbals.
"No, you would be perfect." Enterprise smiled crookedly, unwrapping the package to reveal a set of three bombs.
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"Are these collectables?" Indianapolis asked after Enterprise looked at her expectedly. "Maybe some fancy perfumes?"
"Sort of." Enterprise took out a bomb and put one of the set of three in the palm of the Cruiser's hand. "I suppose since you know about this ... trinket now, surely you would like to know what it does?"
"I suppose so?" Indianapolis inspected the little object before Enterprise curled Indianapolis' hand around it.
"Well, you will find out really soon." Enterprise promised. "Just to be safe and give you the full wonder of this enlightenment, could you stand over there?"
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"Over here?" Indianapolis pointed over to a dyed X on top of the sea just a few meters away.
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"Wonderful." Enterprise nodded, before walking over Indianapolis. A few seconds later, she returned back to a spot a far distance away from the cruiser.
"Wait, what are you-" Indianapolis walked forwards only to hit herself against an invisible barrier.
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"Enterprise?" Indianapolis knocked on the invisible cage.
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"Don't worry about it." Enterprise put on a pair of UV-sunglasses. "Are you ready?"
"I'm having second thoughts about this." Indianapolis admitted. "Can I leave?"
"You'll be fine." Enterprise reassured her. "Drop the toy."
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Indianapolis looked unconfident. "Perhaps there is a better-"
"Drop the toy." Enterprise instructed.
"But-"
"Drop it."
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Indianapolis took a deep breath and closed her eyes. And the nuclear bomb fell from her hands.
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"Magnificent." Curiosity watched in awe as the Mushroom cloud funneled into the air. "We've… We've done it."
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But unbeknownst to Siren, the propellers of a submarine started to rapidly spin in revelation.
Portland's POV:
As I neared the entrance of my small shared room, I rolled my head around to pop some neck joints as I inserted the key in the lock. After some final stretches, I pushed open the door.
In front of me was my smallish room with several unopened boxes stacked neatly along the wall. An unpleasant beige wallpaper stared back at me before I walked over to drop on the couch. Just as I was going to take a nap, I heard a slight rustling from the bedroom.
"Fake Indy, you can't use a vibrat-" I began to lecture, swinging open the door to unexpectedly find her shifting through my bag.
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"What are you doing?" I moved to snatch it back.
"Just checking." Independence continued to dig through my belongings.
"Checking for what?" I asked her.
"Just a routine check up." Independence informed me.
"You can't do that." I reached for the bag, but Independence held it away from my grasp.
"This is officer corp policy." Independence slapped my hand as it crawled for the handle.
"Well this is illegal!" I argued.
"No it's not." Independence muttered.
"It certainly is!" I pressed.
"Then where does it say that I can't check?" Independence crossed her arms.
"Do you have a warrant or probable cause?" I channeled my inner Gridley.
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"This is justifiable." Independence eventually answered.
"You don't get to decide that." I scoffed, tapping a fake copy of the Constitution to my forehead. "My right to be secure in my house, papers, and possession against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated! There lies no reasonable justification for a warrant, barring any legal entrance for the inspection of my property. My constitutional rights shall not be infringed on by anybody, any organization or any government, therefore Fuc-"
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"... So you can't touch that." I tuned out my Gridley brainwashed mantra. (1)
"Just start with that." Independence sighed, quickly fleeing the room. I instinctively sighed in relief.
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And after the coast was clear, I relabled my drugs and aphrodisiac bottles and hid them beneath my mattress.
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"I still can't believe that she'd go and search through my bag!" I frustratedly pounded the sandbag in front of me. "What if she had damaged the ball gags! Those things cost a fortune!"
"I don't think that's the thing you want to worry about." Louisville laughed it off, pitching artillery blows across the field.
"Why was she even assigned to your room?" Montpelier wondered, laying down on a bench.
"I don't know." I muttered. "Something about putting an officer in every room to avoid tomfoolery."
"I thought she assigned off ship class and that was just a name mixup." Montpelier shrugged.
"No, that was not true." Baltimore walking into the training field. "This was a special case authorized by Enterprise herself designed for you specifically. She didn't want you going off on your antics."
"Wait, that's not fair!" I pointed out.
"It's not the Eagle Union without unfairness." Louisville rolled her eyes.
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"Well, You're here now I guess." I threw a final punch at the sandbag before stepping off the mat. "Let's get started with the meeting."
"But first, why is everyone here early?" Baltimore eyed us suspiciously.
"Just a coincidence." Montpelier slowly sat up as Louisville took off her turrets. "I believe that Intrepid won't be meeting with us."
"Did her paranoia get the best of her?" Baltimore asked.
"No, she had to go on an assignment with several carriers to hunt a group of Sakura ships reportedly sent to relieve our blockade at Okinawa." Louisville responded.
"Then let's start our meeting." Baltimore pushed our agenda.
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"Um, okay." I cleared my throat. "F-"
"-So what have you been doing in regards to our recruiting?" Baltimore interrupted, turning to Louisville.
"Oh, um..." Louisville seemed a bit shocked by her level of enthusiasm. "I got some destroyers to support us. We'll have to lower the drinking age though."
"Beaver Squad is reliable." (2) Baltimore steered the conversation. "How about you, Montpelier?"
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"I haven't had much luck." Montpelier looked away.
"Shouldn't you be able to get your family in on it?" Baltimore wondered. "Can you try a bit harder?"
"Montpelier's family is somewhat strange." I took back control. "They're more focused on her love life rather than fighting."
"Oh." Baltimore nodded, then waited expectantly.
"How about you?" I took up on the cue. "What have you done?"
"I've managed to secure foreign neutrality from the Queen." Baltimore bragged. "Brooklyn has also traveled to Yalta in order to conscript help from the Northern Union."
"Brooklyn is on our side?!" Louisville nearly yelled in shock.
"It took a fair bit of work, but I've used some connections to get a list of some of the more displeased members of the Officer Corp. Most of them have signed on to support us." Baltimore told us. "We might actually be able to kick off the contingency now."
"Well your news is good and all, but I doubt that we have enough ships yet." Montpelier pressed on the breaks.
"We should have enough to assassinate Enterprise." Baltimore reminded her. "And in the end, that's all we need. I'd say we start preparing for the arrest."
"But we should wait for popular support." I pragmatically reminded the zealous Cruiser. "We still only have a handful of ships that are willing to sail with us in battle against the Government."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Baltimore responded. "We could-"
"Baltimore." Montpelier clicked her tongue. "We have at maximum a dozen ships that are willing to contest Enterprise's power. I would hold your breath; we are far from being ready to fight her."
"Even though our numbers are low, our signatories are made of quality individuals." Baltimore argued. "We could take on Enterprise if we tried."
"If we simply overthrow Enterprise in a military coup, chances are she'll return with a bigger Siren army and take back her power." Louisville warned. "And that will give the justification for the Sirens to take over. Any illegitimate way to power won't serve us well in the long run."
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"Fine." Baltimore disgruntledly compromised. "We'll keep our focus on recruiting for now."
"I suppose that'll wrap this up?" I decided to conclude the runaway debate.
"Sure thing." Baltimore picked up her unopened suitcase and walked off.
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"Where have you been Portland?" Independence asked me as I walked back into my house.
"None of your business." I dropped my training bag on the floor next to me.
"Why did you lock this?" The slightly miffed Independence pointed my bag. I walked into my bedroom, ignoring the invasive carrier, and lied down on the bed to reflect.
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After a fairly erotic daydream of Indianapolis, I reluctantly decided to contemplate the situation at hand. (3)
Curiosity was going to be a tough nut to crack. She had surrounded herself with capable members and an ever growing officer corp. Even without her physical Siren firepower, we still would probably fail to best her.
Louisville was surprisingly right. There was no way for us to overthrow her. We need Curiosity to deal the first strike, but that's never going to happen unless we can out maneuver her to do so. The best chance we'll probably have to oust her is during an election we outvote her, but the next election isn't until a few years at best. The Sakura Empire isn't going to last that long.
Then we have Baltimore's military option strategy. This won't work right now. We don't even have a quarter of enough ships to remove the Sirens, and even if we do, we won't be able to prevent a significant or worse, militant public backlash against our control.
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But if we can't force the issue now, then how will we get rid of the Sirens?
I pressed my head deeper into the pillow. Think, Portland!
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But instead of thinking, I fell asleep.
Footnotes:
(1): Oh no! Gridley's propaganda is spreading!
(2): And also Alcoholics. But hey, who said bootleggers couldn't be great mercenaries?
(3): Portland's secret ability is to create lucid dreams whenever she wants. Pls nerf!
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Bluegill's POV:
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"Let me in!" I shouted, banging against Portland's door.
"What do you want?" Independence's voice shouted back at me through the closed entrance.
"I need to tell Portland something." I responded, trying to pry the chained door open. "Let me in please."
"Then tell me and I'll tell Portland." Independence responded.
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"I can't tell you." I shook my head.
"Then I can't pass it along." Independence shrugged.
"Please let me in though, it's seriously important." I pleaded.
"If it's important, it's the business of the State." Independence asserted.
"It's private." I tried to slam my way in, but the lock didn't budge.
"And so is my residence." Independence grunted, shutting the door in front of me.
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"What's going on here?" Portland groggily groaned as she walked into the doorway.
"Some pesky submarine is pestering our-"
"Oh Bluegill!" Portland waved calmly, opening the door. "Do you have anything to report?"
"Report?" Independence turned to the cruiser.
"Yes." I handed her the camera. "It's about Indy."
"Well then it's my business!" Independence inserted herself in the conversation.
"Back off Fake Indy." Portland glared murderously.
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"So what happened to Indy?" Portland gossiped in a hushed tone. "Did she finally try out that one-piece swimsuit?
"No, it's something worse." I felt her jovial tone slowly sober.
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"What?" Portland's face hardened.
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"I…" I stuttered for a bit to find the appropriate words.
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"...I think Enterprise may have killed Indy."
In an instant, the door slammed open, cracking a hole into the wall beside it.