Azur Lane: Arctic Command
00: Prologue
A/R: Yahoo! have decided to reboot Arctic Command due to the attention that it's been getting (the 17 favorites are appreciated!). Older chapters of Arctic Command were written without the next chapter in mind (which made them fit together rather awkwardly), mainly because they were all written at like 12AM when I was completely bored and couldn't sleep. Now however, I have a somewhat concrete plan in mind and am writing this at an appropriate time of day, so I hope that there will be an improvement in this rewrite of 00. Feel free to leave a review about the story, whether it be constructive criticism, hype for the story, or anything else that isn't the bot review that was here, because reviews about the story fuel me.
All seemed good in Edmund Hillary Naval Outpost
The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and there was barely any snow on the ground. Despite being located in a cold, unforgiving wasteland, the outpost seemed ready to fulfill its mandate of protecting the Arctic from Siren interference.
Except, it really wasn't
Compared to the massive headquarters of other oceanic commands, sporting full airbases, luxurious (for military standards) dorms, dozens of shipgirls and hundreds of mass-produced ships from a dozen other nations, Arctic Command was bare bones. It had a small airfield for several combat capable trainer aircraft and logistics planes, a port for several fast attack craft and ice-breaking ships, several communications arrays for contacting the multitude of radar stations that monitored the Arctic Circle and several barracks to hold the troops.
The base itself was understaffed and had very little of the latest technology, relying on aging legacy systems which were not only incompatible with each other, but were getting harder and harder to maintain by the day. Despite requests for reinforcements, High Command always prioritized commands near major population centers despite several Siren battlefleets moving further north, leaving Arctic Command with the scraps as it was being approached from all sides by an enemy it couldn't hope to fight off.
Admiral Rayleigh Adams knew the situation of the base better than anyone, and as such made sure to drill his men and make sure the base was in tip-top shape, which wasn't saying much. Despite his stress levels beginning to build up, he still kept his composure as best as he could.
Until one day, a fateful scroll through Juustagram finally made it break.
"WHERE THE FUCK IS MY INDOOR SWIMMING POOL AZUR LANE!"
The voice of the angry Admiral reverberated across the officer's quarters, with most simply ignoring the noise and continuing on with their day. Back in the Admiral's office, Captain Ace Montenegro grabbed the angry admiral's phone and looked at the post that he was raging over.
'We here at North Atlantic Command are thankful for the completion of our new indoor swimming pool! This facility will certainly help in helping our girls train on rainy days, allowing us to better protect Europa from any Siren threat!'
"Training purposes my ass!" Ace shouted "Don't they already have a pool?"
"Azur Lane has too much money" Rayleigh replied, anger replaced with a sense of apathy "And none of it is going to us. At least my request for reinforcements was finally approved last week, only took them six fucking months and the whole incident with the Knight"
Ace sighed "And after all that, they only give us one shipgirl and a few Bulins. Not even the maintenance personnel we requested"
"I would say be more optimistic and that probably this KANSEN could bring to light how shit this place actually is, but since when have our complaints worked" Rayleigh responded "Hell, I'm part of High Command, and Ive been outvoted because of 'Concerns with the Sirens on our doorstep', like bitch please we don't even have a modern defense system. If the Sirens attack us right now, were fucked. At this rate, I'll have to start selling Arctic Command merchandise to keep this place afloat. Actually, write that down"
"Arctic Command merchandise?" Ace scoffed "What are you going to sell, body pillows of Alonya?"
"You'd kill me if I tried to do that" Rayleigh replied "Though I could get you one custom made, with her consent of course. Though to be fair, she'd probably reject it because you've got the real thing right there"
"I told you, Alonya and I aren't like that" Ace softly retorted, his cheeks burning red
Rayleigh stood up, going towards a minifridge and taking a bottle of wine, pouring it into a red solo cup "Then stop acting like an old married couple then, why do you think I gift the both of you some wine every so often? Just don't get her pregnant, if I'm being honest the two of you have been the reason I haven't gone insane yet."
Ace ignored his remark, noticing that Rayleigh was pouring wine into his cup again.
"Rayleigh, how many cups have you drank today?" Ace asked
"Six" Rayleigh responded "Paperwork's been getting heavy, and both the Northern Parliament and North Atlantic Command have been bombarding me with a ton of it recently, with us set to gain one of their girls. Haven't had much time to sleep either."
"You should take care of yourself" Ace reprimanded "I'll take care of the rest of the paperwork"
"No, Ive seen you do paperwork, youre terrible at it" Rayleigh ordered "I'll be done by eleven, so there's no need to worry."
"But Rayleigh-"
"Its alright" Rayleigh interrupted "I only have a few piles left, most of them are supply reports and some letters from staff from other outposts. I'll finish this today, so by tomorrow I can take a big long nap."
"Aren't Alonya and the KANSEN arriving tomorrow? Aren't you going to greet them?" Ace inquired
"No, dont feel like it. I want to sleep in" Rayleigh responded nonchalantly "If they wanted me to be at the top of my game, they wouldn't have sent me the Mount Everest of paperwork piles. Besides, I already sent a rough timetable to Alonya for base touring, so it'll be fine. Want some wine Ace? I bet it gets pretty cold at the hangars"
Ace grabbed a red solo cup and poured some wine into it
"A little wine"
Rayleigh looked at his friend, raised his glass and smiled
"Goes a long way"
Ace downed his wine in one gulp, while Rayleigh took a small sip, before working on more paperwork. Tomorrow was going to be a big day, and he was going to 100 determined to not do anything
Her Majesty's Naval Base Portsmouth
The large Naval base was the headquarters for the behemoth of a force that was Azur Lane's North Atlantic Command, and it was well equipped for completing its mandate of protecting the North Atlantic from Siren influence. The base itself protected the city it was based in, as well as surrounding areas with a massive defense grid of both missile and gun batteries, a massive airfleet consisting of both Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force assets and most notably, a collection of ship-girls from most of the major powers in the area.
Most of these girls were out and about, enjoying the many amenities that the base provided like the shops, gym and indoor swimming pool. Chapayev however, was doing something different. She was in the office of the famed Admiral Olivia Mcmillan, which wasn't exactly unusual due to the Admiral's friendly nature but the reason why she was there was rather serious.
She was there to discuss her potential reassignment to a new posting.
Olivia cleared her throat, before looking at a piece of paper. After reading said piece of paper, she looked back at Chapayev.
"So are you ready for your big trip tomorrow Chapayev?" she asked "I know its a bit sudden, but the Arctic hasn't been in the best shape in a while, so High Command decided that they should at least give them reinforcements"
"I'm fine Livia don't worry" Chapayev answered "I'm just a bit nervous you know?"
"That's to be expected" Olivia replied "But you don't have to be so tense. Arctic Command may not have the same facilities as other commands, but the people are rather welcoming! Their Admiral is a good person, I can tell you that. Eccentric, but a great logistician with an eye for talent. The both of you would get along. Don't you agree, Alonya?"
A girl who Chapayev didn't notice was sitting on the couch looked up from her phone and towards the pair, before speaking
"Yeah, I think they'll get along" Alonya responded "Do you enjoy late nights? Cause he seems to enjoy those a lot"
Chapayev blushed in response, and it took Alonya a few seconds to realize what she just said.
"I'm sorry. I meant that as in he stays up late a lot. Ace says he sees his room lights on at 2 in the morning sometimes"
"I see" Chapayev said
"Shouldn't you introduce yourself first Alonya?" Olivia said
"Captain Alonya Hoshinova, Arctic Command flotilla leader" Alonya said "I was sent here to pick you up. Hope we get along"
"Lead ship of Project-69K class cruisers Chapayev" Chapayev replied "I hope we'll get along"
Alonya smiled, but at the back of her mind, she could only think one thing
Why would they send such a sweet girl to Arctic Command of all places?
Arctic Command 00 END
A/N: 00 finished! I wanted to polish up this fic because the concept seemed intresting, and when I posted the OG chapters, people really seemed to like them. I hope this version of 00 is an acceptable improvement over other iterations since it was written at a reasonable time of day where I was conscious. Aside from that, if you have any criticism, suggestions or just want to discuss the story in general, make sure to review, because those in particular fuel me because i love engagement.
-twocubed