Thanks to DragonLatios, iZuikaku, and Abdi Shabill051096 for the follow/favs. You stoke my ego so.
Journal of Admiral Steele, January 3, 2558
Waking up with not-quite-a-hangover, but a decent headache was fun. Thankfully a quick application of water and coffee fixed that right off.
I went to the office first, to see if there was anything I needed to sign off/ignore/send back with several swears written on it, in four different languages.
Long story.
I was quite surprised to see Ooyodo sitting at her desk ahead of me, considering it was 0730 hours. I would think most people would sleep in a little later - it had taken me four months of UNSC training to get me up earlier than 0900 hours - but there she was, a steaming mug of coffee on her desk as she typed away.
"Morning." I greeted her, raising my own mug.
"Good morning, Admiral." She inclined her head in greeting. "Work morning?"
"Unless my office spontaneously combusted." I replied. Thankfully, it hadn't. Also thankfully, all the things were in a neat little stack. It only took half an hour to finish. I thanked Ooyodo for that, to which the shipgirl replied she was only doing her job.
If only actual UNSC secretaries could be clones of her. Then we might actually get work done.
I entered the mess hall to find a similar scene from last night, Tenryuu and DesDiv 6 eating, the two… I guess they're cooking ships now, in the kitchen. I got food and went to join them again.
"Morning Admiral!" Like yesterday, Ikazuchi was the cheerful one.
"Morning." I greeted before digging in, sighing as I really woke up.
"So what's up today?" Tenryuu asked me, leaning over the table slightly.
I pulled out my tablet, consulting the schedule I'd put on it in the office.
"Let's see… I think we're going to do some agility training today, then Phoenix is bringing by more shipgirls at 1400 hours again. I'll stick em in the range like you and see how they do, then pretty much last night without the drinking hopefully." I rattled off.
"I see." The light cruiser - seriously, human ship - leaned back. "Shipgirls, huh? I suppose that's a good enough term."
Oh shit. I forgot to ask.
"Uhhh-" I was aware of my face attempting to become a star.
"Nah, nah, it's fine." Tenryuu gave me a smirk. "If anything it's exactly what I'd expect someone would come up with after a day around us." I sighed in relief. I would rather avoid a 104'' tri-autocannon blast to the face.
Oh, I forgot to mention.
How shipgirls fight is they summon these sort of… pieces of their original bodies? I guess. Anyway, Phoenix did me the favor of updating their summon weapons to UNSC class standards. It still looked like WWII era naval weaponry, but it fired UNSC depleted plutonium/fibrosteel rounds at 10,000 RPM, or Archer missile pods instead of… torpedo tubes I guess? Unfortunately, they hadn't worked out a way to give them MACs yet.
Now, if I had a portable Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, there would be less problems in the galaxy.
On the subject of classes, there's about ten thousand of them in the UNSC fleet, and I'd rather not have all of them. I had a feeling this new fleet would run me ragged with only ten.
I contemplated applying for Fleet Admiral rank once I had a fleet. Bigger than five combat-capable shipgirls anyway.
Onto more boring things I guess.
The training course, different from the ranges, was more about movement. There were still targets set up, but the focus of the average UNSC soldier/Marine was making it through the course as fast as possible, as accurate as possible, with the least amount of paint on them possible. All while hefting about 85 pounds of equipment and trying not to drop their assault rifle.
What, you think we did live fire training? Jesus, no. We'd kill most of the recruits and the others wouldn't be very effective.
I explained as much to the five shipgirls, before sending Akatsuki in first to both test her improvisation and demonstrate. I was pleasantly surprised to see her come out with only one half of her coated in paint. Normal recruit would be soaked.
"You did that on purpose." She accuses me.
"Maybe. You did better than any other recruit if it makes you feel any better. Eyes closed." I aimed the cleaning hose at her. Look, I didn't come up with these weird-ass training things okay?
A spray of water later and the now clean Akatsuki was watching Hibiki run the course. She did better, having a vague idea of what to do, only having an arm steeped in paint. She sat with it in a water bucket as Ikazuchi and Inazuma ran it. Both had what amounted to a slap on the wrist in paint.
Then Tenryuu ran it. I will say, never saw anyone slice the paintballs in half to avoid getting hit. She came out clean.
Mind. Gutter. Out.
With that I mentioned that they could have told each other about the course to make it easier on them. The destroyers all gave some exasperated response, to which I replied that they should have thought of it themselves. I was taking it easier on them because I knew they weren't soldiers fighting extinction, but I wasn't gonna make it easy.
Then it was time to meet the new shipgirls.
According to the email, I was expecting Fubuki, Shirayuki, Hatsuyuki, Miyuki, Aether, Akagi, Luna, and Tatsuta. Tenryuu was particularly excited about the last one, since it was her sister ship.
Also as a side note, I'm asking if Phoenix has a Japanophile in their R&D, because all but two of the shipgirls I'll have are Japanese. Or they're just doing it because of easy reference pools. Though in that case I question why a United States ship hasn't shown up. They had the most powerful navy on Earth before the formation of the UNSC and UEG.
"Fubuki/Shirayuki/Hatsuyuki/Miyuki, reporting for duty!" The four destroyers stated in union, identical salutes in place. I dismissed them and they immediately booked it to DesDiv 6, which were greeting them like puppies, minus the ass-sniffing.
"Hey, sis!" Tatsuta called to Tenryuu. "If I'd known you were into girls-"
"Shut it Tatsuta." Tenryuu smiled as she clamped her hand over her sister's mouth. Looks like that'll be a common occurrence.
"Akagi-san, carrier service ready!" Akagi obviously. What the hell is she wearing? Is that a longbow? And why the hell is her bust size so large?
Finally, a non-Japanese shipgirl in a grey overcoat stepped forward. Nothing against them, but variety, ya know?
"UNSC Luna reporting," the first shipgirl said in a husky voice that would have driven most men (and quite a lot of women) wild. About the only things that hinted at her being a scientist were the glasses and grey lab coat. The rest of her, from the high heels to the long, thigh-clad legs, to the short skirt, to the purple curls, to the dress that exposed an endless valley of cleavage, all seemed more intended for a night at the club then a lab.
Tenryuu gave a low whistle, "She can explain the purpose of molecules to me any day."
While I didn't quite agree, (judging by the sound of a slap, neither did Tatsuta), I could see where she was coming from. I had a feeling Luna could walk into a classroom and have every hormonal teenager in it hang on to her every word. Whether they would remember anything of it afterwards, besides the amount of skin and... ahem, personality, was a different question of course.
"UNSC Aether reporting. Um, please take care of me," the shipgirl in question mumbled. Like her half-sister she too was wearing glasses and a grey lab coat, but that was were the similarities ended. Where Luna was sexual, Aether was comforting. With her long, blue hair pulled back in a thick braid and dressed in a thick sweater and a long skirt, she seemed more comfortable curled a corner reading a book or tapping away at her PC then out in a club. I was certain that if I had been a young teenager I would have immediately decided to protect her with my life. Of course, the fact I was a soldier meant I would have done it anyways. Thou doth not hurt innocents, or else thou gets dead.
Apparently Akashi thought the same thing since she dove toward the research ship in a tackle-hug and began cuddling the mildly protesting shipgirl. "Look, Ooyodo, she is so cute! Can we adopt her? I promise I will take care of her and give her everything she wants!"
Ooyodo just sighed and dragged Akashi away, who kept flailing and going on about "our daughter" all the way to the exit. That earned a tertiary glance from myself, and a hand on top of Tenryuu's head to keep her from attempting the same.
As promised, the new destroyers had their range time. They were rather effective, clearly used to improvisation and teamwork on their own, unlike DesDiv 6. I could roll with that.
Unfortunately, eight destroyers, two light cruisers and a carrier do not an effective fleet make. I remember the Covenant war, and we didn't win without a three to one advantage and suffered heavy losses anyways. They weren't leaving until I got a few more units, dammit. Besides, the Abyssals didn't seem to be moving around outside Sector A, which was both great and worrying.
Great, because I had an excuse to sit on my ass, which as any military commander can tell you, is to be worshiped with all your being.
Worrying, because that could mean they're preparing for something. All the way from expanding Sector A to raiding the FOB to cooking dinner.
On that subject, time to get some.
I brought my food back to the office this time - a sandwich meant maybe I could get something else done, failing that, eat while I procrastinate. I saw Ooyodo with her own sub sitting at her desk, and I've theorized she either slept there or didn't sleep at all. Considering the others have slept, why would we have the dorms otherwise, I'm probably just being the weird former ODST again.
As a side note, insanity does not preclude one from enjoying a quick season of Red vs Blue. The fact it was a satire of the training any soldier went through helped.
"Admiral?" A knocking on my door alerted me to someone wanting to speak to me. I called them in, then mentioned the door was unlocked.
"Yeah, but, privacy and all, y'know?" Tenryuu said as she raised the eyebrow above her visible eye.
"So, what brings you here?" I asked, glancing up from my email. Crap, crap, spam, daily report to FADM Hood, telling my parents not to use me and my sister's reputations to brag, spam, pornsite? Most likely a virus. Junk.
Don't you love technology sometimes?
"The rugrats were wondering why you didn't eat with us at dinner. I said I'd ask." The light cruiser shrugged as she dropped into a chair in front of my desk. She glanced around the office, taking note of my redecoration. "Nice digs."
"I don't sleep in here." I said. "But thank you."
"What are those?" I followed the outstretched finger to one of my favorite pieces of wall decor, two Gravity Hammers I'd crossed under my old ODST unit's emblem. Screamin' Leapers, 403rd ODST division.
"Spoils of war. Those Brutes don't let 'em go easy." I mentioned, then returned to my email.
"Brutes?" I flipped my monitor around to show her the official file. "Cool." She flashed me a thumbs up, and a toothy grin. "I can say now I really like ya, Admiral."
I snorted. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." I deadpanned. Then I remembered something from yesterday. "Hey, Tenryuu, c'mere."
"What?" She circled around my desk, completely confused as I began to navigate my computer's filepaths while rummaging in my desk drawer. C'mon, I know it's in there….
Bingo, controller. I set it on the desk and deftly plugged it in, then found Metal Gear Rising. I went and opened the game and handed her the controller.
"Here. Play this."
"Why?" She was giving the controller a sideways look. I gave her my best sunny smile.
"I think you'll really enjoy it." She shrugged, and began to play. She sat down in the chair I pulled around for her as we began to watch the first cutscene.
"RULES OF NATURE!"
"Holy shit I just threw that giant mecha and now I'm slicing it to pieces this game is awesome!" Tenryuu was squealing -squealing!- as she tore Metal Gear RAY a new one. I simply sat back in my chair and smirked. Suspicion paid off. I probably earned a friend for life with this.
"Hey." I looked up. The light cruiser had paused the game, in the middle of Raiden doing some particularly Flippy Shit(™), and was staring at the screen thoughtfully. "Think I could bring this out to the mess hall or something?" I winced. Already with that question.
"Unfortunately, no. I don't happen to have a projector on hand." She wilted slightly, until I patted her on the shoulder. "Which is why DesDiv 6 are on their way now."
"How'd you know?!" She asked, eye wide in shock. I smirked.
"Admirals are psychic, you know?" She punched me on the shoulder -thankfully, lightly- and went back to the game. So much so she didn't look up to find her destroyers cheering her on, with Inazuma parked in my lap until she took a small break to rest her hands and saw them.
So we had a small game night in my office. It gave me some ideas. But that would wait for some other time. I had a mountain of credits sitting in my bank account like a dragon's hoard -the benefits of military service for… coming on 7 years now?- but what I was planning would have to wait.
It'd work better with more than eleven ships anyways.
ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) Personnel File: Admiral Aqua Steele
Name: Steele, Aqua
Height: 183 cm (1.83 m), 6'0''
Weight: 172 lbs.
Homeworld: Reach
Birthdate: November 4th, 2542
Rank: Admiral
Relations: [REDACTED], sister, [REDACTED] mother, [REDACTED], father
Career: Marine; 205th Armored, ODST; 403rd 'Screamin' Leapers' division, Vice Admiral; UNSC heavy battlecruiser Radiant Dawn, Admiral; supercarrier Sworn Vengeance, Admiral; dreadnought battleship Infinity, Admiral; [REDACTED]
Commendations: UNSC Colonial Cross, Medal of Honor, Gold Star, Legion of Honor
Notes: Subject is observed to have excellent leadership capabilities. Subject also has massive chip on shoulder, likely due to [REDACTED]. Subject demonstrates lack of self-preservation, often completing tasks deemed too insane for an ODST due to this lack. Has been selfless in terms of allowing others a chance to reach safety first. Prefers heavy weapons. Also known to engage Brutes and Elites in hand-to-hand or melee combat and survive.
So I return! With a chapter written about…. A day or two after the last one, but not posted until the week before Christmas, because I love you all so.
Also because chapter buffer. I'm motivated now, and hopefully this will keep me so. And because posting new stuff gets me new followers, and that does these wonderful things to my ego.
Off topic somewhat, but I never really thought I'd get into a game like KanColle. I blame the internet.
The introductions for Aether and Luna were written later by KCNederland and stolen/grammatically edited by myself. Thank him/her for that, because I am shit at descriptions, and fully willing to admit that.