It did not take much for Alec to get comfortable in his new role. He expected there to be some time struggling with his new freedoms and capabilities, but that never happened. The information he was provided, coupled with the veil of having Whitney act as a figurehead gave him plenty of freedom to do what he wanted.
For him though, what mattered was getting the Azur Sky back to fighting form.
Although the girls were substantially strong, many of them neglected their daily training since coming here. Much of this was thanks to how they had to constantly help the Resistance out of some new trouble that sprung up every day.
Alec quickly found out that this too was a purposeful move done to keep the fleet busy. Turns out, the Resistance was under reporting a lot of their inventory to James. They made it look like they were struggling to get by, when it was actually the opposite. They had enough to feed everyone in the Resistance twice, yet Whitney's group kept coming to James for help saying they were struggling to get food, clothes and medicine.
When Alec found out the mismatch, he had Whitney come in and 'balance the scales' by cutting off her finger and offering it to him as a form of repentance. Since the others were dead and buried in a ditch, she had to bear the weight of all their mistakes.
Unfortunately, the task of finding Omega proved to be difficult. You would think that someone with a fleet as big as hers, that her base would stand out like a sore thumb, but no. The daily search reports Alec received on his desk indicated no progress. The search parties involved in finding Omega scoured through all of Russia and found nothing. Now, they were moving down to the other countries.
Alec slowly and steadily diverted more humans to the rebuilding efforts while giving James the time he needed to search for Omega while training the fleet. Alec was committed to ending this war.
Alexis meanwhile went from a pariah to everyone maintaining a cautious distance from her. Much of that came thanks to James, who took it upon himself to start training her. It helped many in the Resistance go from lobbing vegetables at her to just ignoring her.
It wasn't much progress, but it was progress and that was enough to Alec.
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Four days passed since then and things went on as normal. One fine evening, Alec was touring the base when he came upon a familiar group.
He noticed Friedrich, Eugen, Illustrious, Kaga, Roon, Taihou, Alexis and Richelieu all standing outside the main building.
He greeted them and they did the same. Then, they turned back to the entrance, looking at it in anticipation.
"What's going on here?" he asked.
"Well apparently, James is going out on a date with Akagi," said Kaga, not looking away from the door.
"And why is that such a big deal?" asked Alec "don't they normally go out on dates?"
"No," replied everyone together.
"We're all curious to see what James is gonna wear," said Roon "we even got a betting pool going between formal and casual."
"Obviously he's going to wear casual," said Alec and everyone looked at him curiously.
"Consider the facts: you only dress up in order to impress the one you're going out with," said Alec "James skipped over that part and is happily married to Akagi. Hence, he has no need to… OH MY GOD!"
Alec's sudden exclamation was the result of seeing who came out the door. Alec often believed that he and James were on a similar level. Alec was no fighter, but he was smart. James wasn't a strategist but he was a good fighter. Small differences like these helped Alec firmly believe that the two stood on equal footing.
Now Alec felt different and the reason was because he saw there was one area James excelled in: the looks department. Alec was no ugly duckling mind you, he'd often received compliments from girls during his school years and saw the odd glance or two coming from Alexis when she thought he wasn't looking. In comparison to James however, Alec knew there was no comparison needed. The opponent won.
James came out dressed in a three-piece suit with the suit on his right hand. The suit's colour was dark grey paired perfectly with a pair of black shoes that practically reflected the evening lights. Under the dark grey vest was a red shirt and a black tie.
The others saw him spin the suit around his back and while it was in the air, he put his hands through the sleeves with such speed, the rest of the suit slowly descended on him to complete the look. As if that weren't enough, he made sure the red sleeves of his shirt stuck out and adjusted his collar a little before coming down the stairs.
"Whoa," said Eugen, summarizing what everyone was thinking.
"Oh my," added Illustrious and the others could only nod.
"Need to be calm, need to be calm, think pleasant thoughts," muttered Kaga under her breath.
"Sweetie, your nose is bleeding," said Freidrich, shocking her. Kaga then turned away to wipe her nose.
"Hello all," he said in a tone that made the others gaze dreamily at him.
"What's up?" he asked, now tilting his head.
"James," said Alec "you're going out on a date not auditioning for the next spy movie."
"Damn anime protagonist," he added and James looked at him, more puzzled than ever.
"It's just," said Illustrious "it's not often we see you spend so much time on how you look."
"Oh this… this is just something…"
"I swear to god," interjected Alec "if the next words out of your mouth are 'that I threw on' I will pop a blood vessel."
James ignored the unflattering imitation of his voice and considered what other words to put there.
"… that was lying around in the back of my cupboard," he said, and Alec nodded, seemingly content with the response.
"That aside," said Alexis "this is a pretty nice selection. The suit really highlights your form."
"Oy," said Alec, giving James a menacing tone as he did not like the way Alexis was looking at him.
"But, aren't you going overboard for a date?" asked Alec "I mean, why go through all that effort? You're already married to her."
"You wanna know the reason why most marriages end in divorce?" asked James.
"I…"
"I'll tell you," said James, interrupting him. "Most marriages end in divorce because one side gives up trying to impress the other. During the courtship part, both sides go all out and do over-the-top crap to impress their beloved. But after they're together, that need to impress dies. They become complacent, relaxed, and lazy. They've already won, so why bother trying?"
"And then one day, you go up the stairs and find your other half in bed with the janitor!"
"That seems oddly specific," said Alec.
"Strange turn to take," added Alexis.
"I want Akagi to know that even when we're married or even when I'm old and grey, I'll make her fall for me at every opportunity."
"Show off," muttered Alec and got a swift elbow from Alexis.
"Um, James," said Illustrious, beckoning him over. He came to her and she whispered something in his ear. He moved back, looked at her doubtfully and she nodded.
Then, the group saw James drop to one knee, stretch out his hand to Illustrious and say "I'm sorry I arrived so late, were you waiting here a long time?"
The clothes he wore, coupled with the delivery, and that pose made Illustrious blush furiously. So much so that her white dress only served to highlight the red on her cheeks.
Before Alec could say something, he was immediately tramped by the other girls who all wanted James to try the same lines on them.
Just around the corner was Enterprise and Akagi. The latter was dressed in a casual top and skirt and was having a deep discussion with her friend about the kind of perfume she wore. When the two turned the corner, they saw the large group crowding around someone while Alec was seemingly pushed aside to the corner.
"Hey, what's going on?" asked Enterprise to Alec.
"Everyone's going all fluttery about how James dressed," he replied.
The pair looked and when Akagi saw how her husband dressed she let out a visibly loud "holy shit."
"Wha-" said James but Kaga quickly came over him and covered his eyes. As if through telepathy, the other girls (which had grown significantly larger in ten seconds) crowded around James to keep him from seeing Akagi.
Though it was a glimpse, Akagi and Enterprise saw how he dressed and both had the same thought.
However, the thought was a little too much for Akagi, who faltered a little and almost lost her balance were it not for Alec.
"Wow," said Enterprise.
"I need to put on something else," said Akagi, shooting up and looking desperate "the hell was I thinking coming on a date dressed like a damn hobo?"
To their surprise, Enterprise and Alec noticed Akagi grab their shoulders and wheel them back to her room. Despite their protests, she did not let go. She needed to match her better-half's attire and these two were the only ones that could help.
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What started off as a relatively small group ballooned in the shortest time frame. Now, more and more girls were crowding around James, some wanting to take his picture while others wanted him to greet them the way he did with Illustrious.
James, of course, did not mind it as he enjoyed any excuse to spend more time with the girls. The one thing that did weigh on his mind was Akagi's location. Given the noise this impromptu gathering was generating, it'd make sense that she'd overhear and want to join in. But, no, nothing at all.
Between the greetings and the pictures, James stole a glance around him to search for her. Kaga attempted to divert his attention but knew it was a temporary fix. Akagi had to appear before he got suspicious.
Soon enough, Kaga spotted Alec and Enterprise coming near. Behind them was the unmistakable ears that belonged to Akagi. As the trio neared, she parted the group so that James could get a good look at his date.
Akagi wore a flowing red dress with white gloves that stretched to a little above the elbow. At the end of the gloves were black frills. The dress was strapless, also had a lacy black pattern around her chest area and perfectly highlighted her figure.
Looking at the tired expressions on Alec and Enterprise, it would be easy to say that the pair had gone through the ringer in selecting the right choice. However, James did not notice that. Instead, he was fixed on Akagi who came towards him like some model at a fashion show.
"Hello there beautiful," she said, extending her right hand out to him "did you just get here or were you waiting a while?"
James though said nothing. Here, the crowd noted that the typically stoic and always sharp leader was at a complete and total loss for words. Then, as if to throw him a line, Alec went and whacked him on the back of the head.
The move was akin to how you'd 'fix' old electronic devices. An application of force in the right place seemed to do the trick. And that was the case here too. James went from being a silent fool to a babbling fool.
Chuckling a little, Akagi then took his hand and pulled him forward
"Well then," she said in a gentle voice that caused James to stop the babbling "where shall we begin."
Now James came out of his daze and turned his head around.
"Alec, while I'm gone, you're in charge of the base," he said before leaving.
The group watched the couple leave while Alec came to terms with his new responsibility. It felt like he was the babysitter meant to take care of the house while the couple went out to have fun.
But, as he turned around, Alec would soon wish he were dealing with a bunch of kids.
"Well, well, then," said Rossiya, stroking her chin as an ominous aura formed around her "with the Commander away, the girls will play."
"I like where this is going," said Friedrich, "what game shall we play?"
"Mind you," added Eugen "this has to be something everyone can join in on."
"Oh indeed, indeed," said Rossiya.
"I got it," shouted Kaga and everyone turned to her.
"We're not only going to have fun, we're also going to settle an old grudge: which faction is the strongest."
Alec and Alexis looked at each other and swallowed. This was getting out of hand and they needed to bring some order right away.
As if sensing their worry, a pair of hands shot out from the group, grabbing Alec's and Alexis' shoulders.
"Oh don't worry Alec," said Roon, to him "we'll find a way to keep you and Alexis involved too."