We finally got word from the Iron Blood and Sakura Empire about an hour after we'd docked. I was in the process of helping Vestal unload her three patients when the message came through. After making sure Vestal would be okay without my help, I dashed over to the CIC and found the two representatives waiting, at least in holographic form.
To my utter shock and surprise, I found myself staring up at Nagato, former Combined Fleet flagship, and Friedrich der Grosse, the mysterious Iron Blood battleship who had managed to outmaneuver the Royal Navy and, if what I've heard was true, negotiated the cease-fire between the Crimson Axis and Azur Lane. These were some heavy hitters for a rescue mission. And a more contrasting pair I doubt you'll ever find. Where Friedrich was tall, imposing, with a sense of fiery determination about her, and wore black, Nagato was diminutive, had an air of regal patience, and was clad in shimmering white silks.
I did my best to recover from my shock and compose myself as I bowed slightly to each woman in turn. "Lady Nagato, Fraulein Friedrich der Grosse, you honor me with your presence, virtual as it may be. I trust this is regarding your kansen we rescued?"
"Indeed it is," Friedrich replied smoothly, her voice low and sultry as she eyed me up. "I understand you have Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Taihou there with you. How are they doing?"
Even over the digital divide, her eyes hungrily watching me unnerved me quite a bit, but I managed to keep a good poker face as I adopted an apologetic tone. "Still comatose, I'm afraid. We're in the process of taking them off the Essex and getting the ships into drydock and the girls to the hospital as quickly as possible as we speak." I paused for a moment, unsure of how to broach the subject. "Were they the only kansen who are missing from your fleets?"
Both Nagato and Friedrich nodded, and I let out a quiet sigh of relief. "That's good news," I continued, glad I wasn't the bearer of bad tidings today. "In any case, as soon as they're settled in, we're going to work on getting them ready to travel as quickly as possible.
The pair seemed happy with my report thus far, although Friedrich's response took me off guard. "While we both appreciate you taking the effort of getting them back to us as quickly as possible, Lady Nagato and I have been discussing things in the interim and we've decided to have them stay there, under your command."
For a moment, I simply stared at her, mouth agape, stunned by her request. "That, uh...that is…" I tripped over my words as I tried to come to terms with what she just said. "That's a rather...ah...b-bold request you've just made."
"I'm aware, and I understand you'll likely need to get approval from your superiors," she soothed, "But if this peace between us is to last, for this intermission to transition into a harmonious symphony instead of the discordant trumpets of war again, we must take steps to understand one another. Perhaps this rescue has been the bridge to do just that."
"I see," I said slowly, turning the idea over in my mind. Her reasoning was sound, if not abrupt. But she seems to be the one setting the tempo as of late, and I saw no reason to antagonize either faction this way. "And you feel the same about this, Lady Nagato?"
The former Combined Fleet flagship nodded once. "I concur with my esteemed colleague from the Iron Blood-to ensure lasting peace, we need to begin to work together. While joint ventures are still out of the question, given the lingering hostility, perhaps this…'officer exchange' will help to ease those tensions."
Both of them seemed determined to go through with this, and so I resolved I would not be the thing that stopped them. "I will, of course, as you said, need to clear this with my superiors, but if they agree, are there any conditions or restrictions for me regarding the exchanged kansen?"
Friedrich smiled that motherly smile of hers. "Only that you treat them as you would members of your own command."
I looked to Nagato, who nodded in agreement with Friedrich, and with that, I nodded to both of them. "Well then," I sighed, "That settles it. As soon as this call is concluded, I will speak to High Command and if all goes well, integrate them into my command once they're fit to fight. Until next time."
"Auf weidersehen, Kommandant."
"Safe journeys, Commander."
While High Command certainly had its reservations(as did I), they agreed with me that the reasoning was sound and that if this could help cement peace between the factions, especially in the face of increasing Siren incursions, it would be worth it in the long run. With the hard part out of the way, the next stop was the hospital, both to see how the trio was settling in and to inform Vestal that we'd be repairing them back up to full functionality instead of the bare minimum for travel.
I found her in her office, poring over the charts for her new patients as she scribbled notes on each one. I softly knocked on the doorframe as I leaned inside. "Hey, Vestal, do you have a second?"
The perpetually overworked, but somehow still cheery repair ship looked up at me and managed a tired smile. "For you, Commander? Always. What do you need?"
"Just wanted to let you know the three girls we dropped off today will be staying with us as permanent additions to the fleet, so the goal isn't to get them seaworthy anymore, it's to bring them back up to one hundred percent."
I was surprised when she smiled and said, "Oh, good!"
"Good?" I repeated, clearly lost. "Doesn't this mean more work for you?"
"Yes and no," Vestal helpfully answered. "Yes, we've got more work, but now we don't have to work around a problem or jury-rig something just to hold on long enough to get them home. We can do a proper, thorough repair job."
I hadn't thought about it like that, but it made a lot of sense when she put it that way. "Huh. Yeah, I guess that is good. How are they doing, by the way?"
Vestal's smile faded somewhat as she looked back down at her charts. "Scharnhorst and Gneisenau took a pretty severe beating, and they'll be out of action for at least a month or two. I'm hoping they'll be up and about before then, but I have no idea how long they'll be comatose." Her eyes fell on the last chart and she sighed heavily. "As for Taihou...I have no idea. She did take a bit of damage, but nothing nearly as bad as the other two. In fact, she should be up and about, but she's just as comatose as they are. In theory, she should be ready for active duty in two weeks, a month at most."
I nodded as I listened, making mental notes for later, then smiled at her. "Thanks for the info, Vestal. Keep up the good work, and give me a call as soon as any of them are up, okay?"
"Sure thing!"
With everything else out of the way, there was only one place left to go. The one place I'd been putting off, dreading ever since we docked. My office.
As I feared, the light was on, indicating my secretary was still up, burning the midnight oil as we often had. I'd hoped that she would have gone home for the evening, but what else should I expect from her? I sighed, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door before opening it.
Shangri-La looked up from her paperwork, her eyes widening behind her glasses as she saw me. She quickly got to her feet and promptly froze there, wondering, like I was, how best to greet your former lover. "K-Kurt, err...Commander, sir…" she trailed off, flustered. "I...uh...wasn't expecting you back for at least another week…"
"It's alright, Shan," I said in a soft, but tired tone. "We ran into some unexpected complications and had to return early."
"And how's Essex? Did you ask her to stay on as secretary?"
I grimaced and shook my head. "Ah, no. I was going to ask her before this whole thing blew in and I never got the chance. And she headed back to help with OpSi almost as soon as we disembarked."
"Oh."
We both stood there, drowning in the awkward silence, not sure of what to say or what to do. It was easy to say we'd stay friends, but it was a lot harder when you're forced back into the same close quarters that caused you to become romantically involved in the first place.
"So...uh...been doing a great job of keeping things running smoothly while I was away," I haltingly acknowledged. Oh god, just end me now.
Shangri-La nodded and pushed her glasses back up her nose. "Thank you. Just doing what I always do."
That damned silence fell over us again and we stared at each other, expecting the other to do something...well, I honestly had no idea what, but do something.
I nervously looked around the room before pointing over at my desk. "I'm just...gonna...over here...and...uh...do some paperwork."
"Paperwork is good," Shangri-La agreed. "Helps...clear the mind."
"Yep."
"...I'm also going to also...do paperwork."
"Fun evening for both of us then," I said in what must have been the world's weakest joke. At this point, I was praying for a Siren attack. Or for the base to just sink into the sea and take me with it. For both our sakes, I needed to find a new secretary…
That opportunity would present itself later that night when I was on my way home. I had just left the office when Cooper came charging towards me. She nearly gave me a heart attack the way she came sprinting at me out of the darkness, only to come to a screeching halt right in front of me.
"Glad I caught you, Commander," she panted. "Thought you'd gone home for the night."
"I was about to," I slowly answered, looking her up and down. "Something the matter?"
The destroyer nodded, gulping in lungfuls of air before she spoke again. "Vestal sent me. Said Nice-and-now is awake."
It took me a moment to realize she was trying to say "Gneisenau" and I chuckled at her admirable attempt. "Thanks for the heads up, Cooper. I'll head over there right now." Actually, that last part was a lie. I quickly doubled back into the office to grab something and then headed right over.
As much as I wanted to dash over to the hospital, I kept my speed to a brisk walk. If someone saw Cooper dashing all over the base, it wouldn't arouse anyone's curiosity. But if I start running anywhere, it's going to immediately set off alarm bells and kick the rumor mill into high gear. Things were going to be tense enough with our former enemies living with us, I didn't need to fan the flames any more than they were already going to be.
In any case, I was grateful that Gneisenau was the first to wake up. Scharnhorst was, by all accounts, a hardened and pugnacious fighter, and if she woke up first in what she would perceive as an enemy hospital, who knows what kind of havoc she would cause. Taihou was largely an unknown but apparently seemed a bit...excitable if Albacore's report was to be believed. Gneisenau, according to intelligence reports, was a bit more level-headed and calculating than her sister, and hopefully could be reasoned with.
I made my way down the same corridors and hallways I had earlier in the day until I found myself at Vestal's office. For the second time that day, I knocked on the doorframe as I peered in on her. "You sent for me?"
Vestal looked up from her paperwork and smiled at me, immediately getting to her feet. "Ah, good!" she beamed. "Cooper found you. Gneisenau's awake and ready to talk to you, if you wish."
While I was fairly exhausted from the busy day, I was still more than eager to get their side of the story. "I've been waiting to talk to one of them all day. I honestly thought it'd be longer before they woke up."
Vestal nodded and strode out of her office, gesturing for me to follow her. I matched her stride as she led me to Gneisnau's room. "So did I," she replied, glancing over at me. "I'm hoping this is a good sign for the other two."
"Agreed."
She smiled faintly and stopped at the door to Gneisenau's room, gently knocking on it. "Gneisenau, it's Vestal. May I come in?"
"Enter," the muffled voice answered.
Vestal opened the door and ushered me inside before following behind. "Hello again, Gneisenau," she said softly. "I've got our Commander here, who will explain what's going on and help you get settled in, okay?"
The battlecruiser merely nodded as she sat up in bed, smoothing out the sheets over her legs. Vestal nodded once before she turned to leave the room. "If either of you needs anything, I'm right down the hall. Gneisenau. Commander."
"Vestal." I nodded to her and waited for her to leave the room before continuing the conversation with Gneisenau. Once the door shut, I gave the Iron Blood kansen a smile as I walked over to her bed, hand outstretched. "I've heard so much about you, it's nice to finally meet face to face. I'm Admiral Kurt Fraser, commanding officer of Azur Lane."
Gneisenau stared at my hand for only a moment before she reached out and took it in a surprisingly firm handshake. "Scharnhorst-class battlecruiser, Gneisenau." She glanced around the room before looking back at me. "Is my sister here as well?"
"She is," I assured her, "She's in the next room over, but she's still unconscious. You guys took a pretty beating out there. Vestal's doing her best, but she thinks it'll still be about a month before you guys are ready for combat again."
To her credit, she took the news well, nodding slowly before she stared out the window. "That would be commensurate with the damage we sustained," she mused. "Did you inform Crimson Axis HQ of our location and situation?"
"I did," I answered, taking a deep breath and readying myself to upend this woman's life. "Which is part of the reason I'm here. Do you mind if I have a seat?"
Gneisenau shook her head and I grabbed the nearest chair, dragging it over to her bedside as I sat down. "We picked up you and Scharnhorst, along with Taihou from the Sakura Empire in a different sector, and when we informed Crimson Axis HQ, they proposed a sort of…'officer exchange'. You, Scharnhorst, and Taihou would be temporarily reassigned to Azur Lane under my command as a gesture of mutual cooperation and understanding."
Her face remained an impassive mask, but her tone was full of doubt. "You'll forgive me, sir, if I don't take that at face value."
I had expected some pushback from her and came prepared. I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out the transfer papers sent over by the Iron Blood Oberkommando. "Of course," I smiled as I handed them to her. "These are your official orders for you to look over, and if that isn't satisfactory for you, Friedrich der Grosse also said she would make herself available if you wished to speak with her directly."
She took the papers, and I sat quietly while she skimmed through them, pausing to reread a line here and there. When she finished, she set them on her nightstand and folded her hands in her lap. "Everything appears to be in order, although I would still like to confirm them myself."
"Understood," I nodded. "First thing tomorrow, I'll set up a call between us and Iron Blood HQ. Anything else?"
She nodded and adjusted her glasses. "Yes. Vestal has said that I am cleared for light duty, effective tomorrow. If I am to be part of this fleet, I would like to be put to good use."
That came as something of a surprise. "You don't want to be here for your sister?"
Her expression softened for a moment, and she shrugged helplessly. "Of course I do, but considering she is unconscious and I have no medical training, there is little I can do for her. I would rather keep busy than sit by her side and wait."
"Alright, you have a point there," I conceded. "I'll see what I-" Just then, I was struck by a flash of inspiration. "Actually...are you good with paperwork?"
"Yes," she answered slowly, puzzled by my sudden change in direction. "I find it to be relaxing."
I nodded and leaned in, hoping against hope she'd accept this offer. "Good, good. I am in dire need of a new aide, and since you're on light duty, it'd be perfect for you. And when Scharnhorst does wake up, you'll know as soon as I do."
Gneisenau considered it for a few moments before she slowly nodded. "Very well then. Although I would prefer to get a layout of the base before I start my new assignment."
"Understandable. How about this: I'll have Baltimore meet you here at oh-seven hundred, she'll give you a tour, drop you off at the CIC so you can confirm your orders with Iron Blood HQ, and then have you at my office to do turnover with my current secretary, Shangri-La."
She nodded again, this time much more confidently. "Done. Was there anything else you needed from me tonight?"
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I might have been pushing my luck, but part of me just had to know. "If you don't mind, letting me know what happened to you and Scharnhorst out there?" When I saw her beginning to object, I quickly added, "You don't have to give me any details about what you were doing out there or with who, I just want to know the basics of what happened."
It was another few moments, and I could see the debate going on behind her eyes until she finally relented. "Alright," she sighed. "We were assaulting a Siren stronghold with several other ships and things weren't going well. We were going to fall back, but the Sirens were pressing the assault." Her eyes looked out the window, unfocusing as her mind took her back to the event. "At least one of us needed to stay behind, buy the rest some time.
"Scharnhorst hates to retreat, won't do it if she doesn't have to, and won't do it if she does half the time," she said with a wry, rueful grin on her face. "And of course, my duty is to support my big sister who is always charging too far ahead." Her eyes finally focus back and settle on me, that grin growing ever so slightly. "Admittedly, it gets a little irritating at times. But I would never leave her, and so, together, we faced down the Siren fleets as they tried to pass us. Tried and failed. When I fell, there was only one enemy left, so I can only gather that Scharnhorst finished it off before succumbing to her wounds. From there...we must have drifted until you picked up our distress beacon."
I sat back in my chair and tried to let it sink in, but something kept bugging me. "You said...fleets...plural?"
She nodded.
"How...how many fleets?"
She ran some calculations in her head before she shrugged. "I didn't have time to take an exact count, but...approximately three main battle fleets. Mass-produced, of course."
To say I was stunned would be an understatement. "Just the two of you took on three fleets and won?"
"I wouldn't say we won..." Gneisenau demurred.
"Nonsense," I immediately countered. "You're here, they're not. That's a win in my book. Still, three fleets…that's outstanding."
Her cheeks flushed and she glanced away, although I could still see the smile beginning to tug at the corners of her mouth. "Scharnhorst can be a bit reckless at times, but we do make an invincible team. I look forward to showing you that someday."
"I look forward to seeing it," I smiled as I got back to my feet. "In the meantime, get some rest, and I'll see you in the morning. Good night, Gneisenau."
"Good night, Commander."
A/N-As I'm sure you've noticed by now, Sundays will be the new regular updates due to a change in my work schedule. Until next time, fair winds and following seas!
